5 reasons Isabelle Lightwood was an MVP in Shadowhunters Season 3, Episode 11

Shadowhunters Season 3, Episode 11 was full of heart-wrenching moments and Shadow World drama — and Isabelle Lightwood was a true MVP.

We’re still not over the Shadowhunters Season 3B premiere — Clary and Jonathan are taking twinning to new levels, Alec is supporting Magnus while he tries to figure out daily tasks without magic, Jace is going on a mission for an inter-dimensional traveling apartment with Luke, Maia is helping Simon work through his fear of the Mark of Cain, and Isabelle is taking names to try to uncover what’s been happening at The Gard.

So many things went down in Shadowhunters Season 3 Episode 11, but it was Izzy who kept things grounded at The Institute, solving problems and thinking on her feet to be the best friend, sister and Shadowhunter possible. We learned from the showrunners that Isabelle Lightwood is going to drive a political storyline this season, and we’re very excited to see how her character develops throughout Season 3B.

5 reasons Isabelle Lightwood was an MVP:

1 – Interrogating Gard escapees to learn about unjust torture

Isabelle played a large role in catching the escapees from the Gard, and while questioning them, she learned of a trend involving illegal torture. We wish we could have seen more of this on screen, but from what she gathered during her interrogations, Izzy felt strongly enough about the claims to challenge Consul Penhallow about Downworlder rights and what’s really happening between The Clave and prisoners at The Gard.

2 – Comforting Jace and facilitating that parabatai moment

Isabelle was the one who went to Jace and took the dagger from him when his grief over Clary — and the weight of his memories from his possession — caused him to lash out in anger. Not only was Isabelle a source of comfort, reason and support for her brother Jace, but she also confided in Alec to make sure he talked with his parabatai.

More from Teen Dramas

• When do new episodes of Harlan Coben’s Shelter come out on Prime Video?
• Is Heartstopper canceled? (Will there be a season 3?)
• When do new episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty come out on Prime Video?
• 3 School Spirits characters who definitely won’t be back in season 2
• School Spirits season 2: Everything to know about the second season

3 – Clueing Maia in about what happened with the Lewises

We loved that Maia was focused on doing whatever she could to help Simon in Shadowhunters Season 3 Episode 11, which meant turning to Shadowhunters and warlocks. When that brought her to seek out Isabelle Lightwood at the Institute, their conversation turned to Simon’s self-isolation, and Izzy explained what happened with Heidi, Becky and Simon’s mom.

Maia is taken aback when she realizes that Simon hasn’t confided in her, and Izzy is a little salty when she calls Maia out for leaving, but we’re glad that Izzy helped Maia see the whole truth.

4 – Creating the plan to stop Iris Rouse

After learning that Iris could use Magnus to find out where Madzie had been taken, it was Izzy’s idea to use Seelie magic to trick Iris into her own capture. (Not to mention she looked like a total badass walking through the smoke when fake!Madzie disappeared.)

5 – Helping Maia get intel to destroy the Mark of Cain

We learn about this indirectly, but Maia says it was Izzy who gave her the advice to seek out Raphael in hopes of learning more about the Mark of Cain. This led Maia to then independently seek out a warlock who could portal Simon from New York to Detroit.

What was your favorite part of Shadowhunters Season 3 Episode 11? Let us know in the comments below! Shadowhunters is back with new episodes Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform.