Thursday 28 April 2016

Shadowhunters Season One Review II


We've reached Day #4 of my Shadowhunters Week. I do hope you guys are enjoying yourself as much as I am. As promised here's part II of my Shadowhunters Review. This post will be all about the cast and characters. If you're interested in reading my review about the episodes and show itself then head over to Part I


My Opinion on


Katherine McNamara - Clary Fray
From the moment I heard that Kat would be playing Clary I was very excited. To be honest, she looks exactly like I imagined Clary. I love how eager Kat is to do her role justice and although I noticed that she wasn't a very experienced actress before, I think she's doing a great job. You can already see how much she's evolved in season one and I think Kat will be able to really bloom in this role. As for Clary I'm still not quite sure if I actually like her or not in the show. Sometimes she just appears way too confused, hesitant or too direct for me to really like her. I can't wait to see what season two brings for her. I really love the fact, however, that she knows what she wants also does anything to get that (for example she's the one who initiated the kiss... just saying).


Dominic Sherwood - Jace Wayland
Confession: I wasn’t and still am not very happy with Dom as Jace. Do not get me wrong! I think Dom is a great actor and I like him a lot, but he’s not the Jace I imagined. Also, I think he just brings a natural hardness to the character that will make it difficult for him to show Jace’s soft sides and easily breakable heart… In my opinion, show Jace is way too aggressive. He doesn’t hesitate in blaming anyone and in quite the hurtful way and I’m not convinced by his act at all. I think Dom is doing his best and a great job at it, but I just don’t like this version of Jace.

Matthew Daddario - Alec Lightwood
MATT! Okay, where do I start? Is there even anything else to say than that Matt is absolutely gorgeous and perfect? Seriously, he’s the biggest reason for me to keep watching the show no matter what. He’s my sunshine. No, but really, I think Matt is the perfect Alec and I love his acting so much! It doesn’t hurt that now Alec has become my all-time favourite character in the Shadowhunter series (including the books). I think we’ve already seen Alec evolve so much during season one I wonder if there’s still anything left for season 2?

Emeraude Toubia - Isabelle Lightwood
How is it possible for a woman to be so perfect? I love Emeraude and her version of Isabelle and it’s the only one I can think of at all from now on. I love how she’s mature, beautiful and intelligent. Her willingness to sacrifice herself for her brother and how much she really loves Alec just softens my heart every time. We just all need to appreciate Emeraude so much more and I can’t believe that there were actually a lot of people who doubted her just because she’s Latina. I mean, come on, really?

Harry Shum Jr. - Magnus Bane
Who makes the absolute best facial expressions on the entire show? This guy! It cracks me up every single time and I just love pausing scenes with Magnus just to see what kind of face he’s making. I’ve been a big fan of Harry ever since Step Up because he’s an amazing dancer and seeing him in a role as Magnus just brings me so much joy (god is this post really going to be so cheesy for me to constantly keep using such phrases?). In the books I had some difficulties liking Magnus, but in the show he grew on me instantly and he has become one of my absolute favourite characters. But I still feel like he came on way too strong onto Alec.

Alberto Rosende - Simon Lewis
Simon has always been one of my favourites in the books and so I was a little concerned about his adaptation. But for no reason because Alberto just portrayed him so perfectly I can’t even remember how else I imagined Simon before. I think Alberto is a really great actor and for his first big role (I think?) he’s overdone himself and put a lot of the other actors in the background with his acting skills. He’s got so many different talents and I can’t wait for him to show us more. All in all, Simon is still in my top 5 characters on the show. I do think, though, that he could have become a vampire a little later on so that the writers could have explored his human nature first more thorough to the extent of making his transformation more dramatic.

Isaiha Mustafa - Lucian Graymark
If I could choose a god parent from the show I’d choose Isaiha without hesitating. He’s got all the qualities you’d want from an older friend / relative / guardian and he portrays Luke so great. We’ve seen different sides of Luke on the show and it has become clear that he carries more weight as a character than in the book and I’m really okay with that. I hope they will explore this even further in the second season.

Short recap of side characters

The character that surprised me the most was Raphael or better David Castro. Seriously, he’s too hot to be a vampire who can never feel warm or cold anymore. I really disliked him in the books, but in the show he’s such a great character! You can see that he actually cares what happens around him and to be honest I’m not that far away of shipping Saphael (Simon/Raphael)… I think Meliorn is a really interesting character and I want to see a lot more of him. Maybe as we’ll be introduced to the Seelie Queen next season, we’ll even meet more faeries. I distaste Camille so much (but I think Kaitlyn Leeb is doing a great job playing her), maybe even more so than Valentine. Which reminds me: does anybody else only see King Henry when Alan van Sprang appears on screen or is that just me? I can’t seem to shake my memories of Reign off. Max Lightwood played by Jack Fulton is just the cutest! It hurts me so bad knowing what should happen to him, but I mean they could change things in the show, right? I really like the fact that Maxim Roy and Kat actually look alike which makes it so much easier for me to like her role as Jocelyn. I wonder why they decided to wake her up so early already. Does that mean we’re not going to see Idris? I have become very fond of Lydia Branwell and hope to see Stephanie Bennett return as this character. This could be a possibility to explore more Shadowhunter families which I’d love to see! Not everything has to be as they were in the books. That’s the beauty of screen play. There’s so much more space to explore.

  

I'd like to know

What did you think of the cast and characters of Shadowhunters? Were you as satisfied as I was? Who is your favourite actor/actress or your favourite character? Who would you like to see in season 2 more?