Shadowhunters Episode Recap: 3×03 What Lies Beneath

Olivia
11 Min Read

Episode three, “What Lies Beneath,” gave viewers a variety of shocking and heartbreaking moments. This episode involves Magnus and Alec having dinner with Maryse, a mission featuring Alec’s mom, Clary, Izzy, and Jace, Raphael grieving the loss of a loved one, and Simon dealing with a mysterious marking on his forehead.

Jace has been up many nights and isn’t sleeping. He’s been using his stamina rune to keep himself awake, as he’s obsessed with finding the identity of demon they have dubbed “The Owl” due to the mask he wears. Jace discovers there is no record of anyone who looks like that, and given The Owl’s latest victim used peppery spray on him to get away, Jace concluded The Owl is part human. Jace, given he keeps having these dreams and visions of Jonathan, assumes The Owl is him. Clary tells him it can’t be, since Jonathan died, but Jace tells her that he died before she brought him back, and ever since then he’s been having the visions of Jonathan.

Raphael is dealing with his own issues and is seen taking an elderly woman in the park at night for a walk. The old woman talks about a brother who ran away and who she misses dearly. Raphael tells her all about her brother, under the pretense that he was a friend of his, and reminded her of all the memories they shared. This elderly woman is Rosa, Raphael’s brother. Raphael starts to cry, thinking of their past and the times they shared, when they first moved to the United States from Mexico. This was such a beautiful scene that was equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming.

Raphael receives a call informing him Rosa has passed away. When Izzy drops by to comfort him, Raphael tells her that he’s seen many members of his family pass away during his time as a vampire, but he was closest to Rosa, and her death hits him hard. The funeral is during the day, meaning Raphael can’t go, so Izzy offers to go for him. Their meeting ends abruptly when Raphael thinks about sucking her blood, again.

Alec and Izzy are dealing with their own problems and family drama. When Magnus visits the Institute, Alec and Izzy tell him that their mom will be visiting, who will probably be very critical and will be trying to improve everyone’s lives as a way of coping with her divorce from their dad. Magnus offers to host the dinner at his house, and given his relationship with their mom and her disapproval of his relationship with Alec, that’s an amazing move by Magnus. It shows how much he loves Alec that he’s willing to do this for him and Izzy.

Simon is also dealing with his own problems, and Luke is caught in the middle. The wolves don’t want the vampire on his pack, especially since he has now hurt one of their own, albeit on accident. Simon and Maia go to Clary for help with the marking that the Seelie Queen branded him with. Clary looks up the marking, but says it’s not a Shadowhunter marking and tells them she’ll keep looking through some books to see what else she can find.

Soon it’s time for the big dinner at Magnus’ house. While Izzy is getting ready, Clary stops by and tells her she and Jace are going on a mission to stop The Owl, who Jace thinks is Jonathan. Izzy joins them, telling Clary that Jonathan is a much bigger problem to face than dinner with her mom.

Alec and Magnus are left to themselves now that Izzy has gone with Jace and Clary. The two of them prepare a meal for the dinner, and are showing cooking together in the kitchen in a very cute scene. It’s clear Alec is nervous, but he’s doing his best to make a pot of stew that he and Izzy always made for their mom when she was feeling down to make her feel better. Magnus samples the stew, and fixes it up when Alec isn’t looking because it tastes terrible.

Maryse enters with a bottle of wine, and appears to be in a cheerful mood, as she hugs both Alec and Magnus, both of whom seem to be confused by her mood. The dinner is going well, and she doesn’t show any signs of being upset about her divorce. Even she and Magnus are laughing and getting along, something that Alec is surprised about. Alec asks Maryse how she’s doing, and says he’s surprised to see her in such good spirits. Maryse says she’s okay about the divorce, but has some other bad news.

She informs them that she will have to face severe punishments due to her previous involvement with Valentine. Maryse tells them she is going to be stripped of her runes and exiled. Alec and Magnus are shocked. Alec can’t believe this, given how his mom has dedicated her life to The Clave and wasn’t involved in Valentine’s more recent attacks. Not to mention there were many others, including his dad, that were also previously involved, but did not receive as severe of a punishment. Maryse says her punishment is more severe because of how deeply involved she was before. Alec still doesn’t accept that as a good enough reason and wants to fight for his mom. Maryse tells him not to, and to not risk his job as head of the New York Institute. The dinner ends with her leaving, and thanking Magnus for loving Alec. She says while she may have had her doubts before about him, she’s grateful Magnus is in Alec’s life. She tells him all she wants is for someone to love her son, and even thanks him for loving Alec. This is such a sweet moment that shows how far she has come in accepting them.

Meanwhile, Izzy, Clary, and Jace are in a nightclub trying to prevent The Owl from attacking. Jace keeps seeing Jonathan and eventually goes after him. They have a fight and a talk, so it looks like Jonathan is alive after all, and may not just be a figment of Jace’s imagination. However, The Owl still attacks, and Clary yells to him to show his face, but he just runs off. After the attack, Jace appears to be missing, and they confirm The Owl is not Jonathan since Izzy’s whip didn’t react like it would if it was him. The Owl is then show in Edom with Lilith, and it’s revealed The Owl is actually Jace.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Simon tries to get help from both Raphael and the Seelie Queen to help with his marking on his head that keeps sending off blasts of energy. Raphael doesn’t want to help as he’s grieving and is upset that he couldn’t attend his sister’s funeral. He’s resentful of Simon being a daylighter, because that means Simon would have been able to go to the funeral. Raphael lashes out at Simon, activating the marking. After hurting someone else on accident, Simon goes to the Seelie Queen to ask her what the marking is. However, that plan doesn’t work out because Simon is now locked out of the Seelie Realm. He goes back to his place, and finds Luke waiting to tell him he has to kick him out in order to do what’s best for his pack.

The preview for the next episode shows Jace losing his mind as he is constantly going places he can’t remember going to, and it appears those times are when he is The Owl that Lilith is wanting him to be. It appears as if Lilith is controlling Jace somehow at certain times, perhaps through a spell. The episode also shows Raphael tied up, outside in the sunlight, likely done by the vampire that he had trapped in his basement, who then escaped.

Shadowhunters airs on Tuesdays at 8:00 EST on Freeform.

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