Shadowhunters Season 3, Episode 17 (spoiler-free) review: Heavenly Fire

A Morgenstern power struggle

In a sweet but eerie Clace parallel last week, we learned that Jace is the only person who’s able to pull Clary back to reality when she starts to feel the pull of the twinning rune. In a similar way to how Clary was the only person who could wake Jace up after he acted under the possession of The Owl demon, now it’s Jace who must stay by Clary’s side to ensure that the control of the rune doesn’t put her in danger.

With Jonathan Morgenstern in the Institute’s basement prison cell, he’s being interrogated about his plans for the Morning Star Sword, but of course he’s going to want to only speak with Clary – and though she obliges, she’s not coming to play games.

In past episodes, we’ve seen Clary lose self-control because of the twinning rune’s effects, but in Shadowhunters Season 3 Episode 17, we’re going to see Clary struggle a bit with her own personal moral code because of an entirely different connection.

Without giving away any major plot spoilers, the scenes that Jonathan and Clary share in the prison cell are visually enhanced by flashbacks where we learn more about the Jonathan’s past, and the abusive relationship Lilith had with her son in Edom. It’s because of these heartbreaking scenes with Jonathan that we get insight into other complicated connections among the Morgenstern family.

If you’re already having mixed feelings about whether Jonathan is a true villain, this episode is only going to make things more confusing as we dive into more of his motivations, rationale, and understanding of good and evil.

Of course, the Shadowhunter team’s goal is still to find a way to break the bond between Clary and Jonathan, and though more of the lore behind the connection is fleshed out in the episode, there’s a fun set-up here that will leave fans curious about how this group of characters will work to move forward with their plan in the future.