Shadowhunters 3×14 Review: “A Kiss from a Rose”

There aren’t many episodes left of Shadowhunters, but there are quite a few threads that need to be tied up before the series can end. “A Kiss from a Rose” re-introduces one more.

“A Kiss from a Rose” seems overburdened with plotlines. We’re all over the place, with everyone in a different location, tracking down different things. They are more connected than they let on, but it’s clear that season 3 is starting to be spread a bit thin as we try to wrap everything up before the series finale. Jace and Clary’s date (which was incredibly sweet and long overdue) gets crashed by Jonathan, who is still after the Morningstar sword, which Alec, Magnus, and Luke are trying to track down. Izzy is still trying to get to the bottom of the torture of downworlders at the hands of the Clave. Maia and Jordan are trapped in the Jade Wolf, and Simon is trying to track them down.

I’m not sure who is being set up as the final big bad. Jonathan seems the most likely candidate, but despite all of this talk about him tracking down the Morningstar sword, he certainly hasn’t put a whole lot of effort into finding it. Could it be Heidi, who is doing a damn good job at trying to start a war between the downworlders? Perhaps we’re meant to be wary of Lorenzo, who seems to delight in humiliating Magnus and may have more sinister motivations. Or are they setting up a battle with the Clave, who is secretly torturing downworlders and lying about it?

I’m not going to lie; I’m increasingly creeped out by everything going on with Clary and Jonathan. Last week, he carved “I miss you” into his arm – and therefore hers – and this week, he glamoured himself to look like Jace and went on a date with Clary, even kissing her. This isn’t the first time Shadowhunters has flirted with incest, but this time it’s not two people who developed feelings for each other and then learned they were related (even though they weren’t). Jonathan is actively deceiving Clary and pursuing her against all of her wishes. Even if he weren’t an evil human being, that would be enough to turn my stomach. But, is his obsession with Clary just because of those conflicted feelings, or is it something else? Does it have anything to do with their rune? Is there something more to their connection?

Meanwhile, Magnus goes to Lorenzo for help in regaining his magic. Lorenzo agrees to help him – for a price. The price is Magnus’s loft, a fact to which Alec takes great offense. He confronts Lorenzo and essentially threatens him, warning him not to slip up because the Clave is watching. We haven’t seen much of Lorenzo since Magnus attacked him earlier this season, and their relationship remains as antagonistic as always. They’ve never really explained why Magnus and Lorenzo dislike each other, and after their interactions in “A Kiss from a Rose”, I have to believe that it’s somehow important.

What will be important is that – as Lorenzo warned – Magnus is now dealing with the risks of magic transference. I really enjoyed the scene where Magnus explained to Alec how his magic was a part of him, how it connected him to the world. I found it interesting how Alec reacted to Magnus using magic so much in this episode; he never seemed to have any issues with it before, and I don’t feel that Magnus was showing off any more than usual. Perhaps he was concerned about the effects, and rightfully so, it seems.

There are a lot of great character moments. Say what you will about Shadowhunters, but it does these little moments well. I’m the kind of person who tends to have one ship per show, and mine is Malec, so I’ve never particularly cared for the Clace scenes. However, their date to the ice rink was very well done – a nice, cute, light-hearted moment between two people who love each other. Similarly, our main Malec scene – with Magnus’s speech about what his magic means to him – was also a nice moment between two people who love each other. Likewise, Jordan and Maia had a good moment where she admitted she wasn’t really angry with him, she was just going through a lot. He was a little unconscious at the time, so hopefully he heard it.

We don’t learn any more about the torture of downworlders, though we do get a clue. Now that Maia knows Heidi is behind the vampires’ assault on the pack, she can pass that information along. But now our heroes have to worry about Heidi, Jonathan, possibly Lorenzo, and whatever is going on at the Clave. It is an awful lot to deal with in so few remaining episodes.

Have you seen “A Kiss from a Rose”? What did you think?

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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