Shadowhunters Discussion || Pt. 3: The TV Series

Part Three:

The TV Series

Raphael: Stay. Good dog.
Luke: Bite me.
Raphael: Roll over.

Luke: Play dead.

Simon: Boom! *High-fives with Luke*
-Raphael and Luke banter, while Simon supports Luke, Shadowhunters Season 1

The following post contains spoilers. You've been warned.

From left to right: Isaiah Mustafa as Luke Garroway, Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood, Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle Lightwood, Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray, Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland, Alberto Rosende as Simon Lewis, Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane (from www.cafecomlivroo.com)

I have to say, people of the Shadowhunter fandom has been through a lot. They've been through the incest, the excessive love triangles, the passion cries for the right casting for the film, the movie itself, the failure of the movie, and finally this. The Mortal Instruments converted itself into a television series on Freeform, and it started to air last January of 2016. Before the series even began, the reactions to this has been a mix-bag. Everyone was pretty comfortable with the movie casting, so I can understand if everyone panicked when the casting has been brought to a clean slate. Then the trailers came, and people worried. It was easy to say that the budget given to this series is not as big compared to most, and it is quite evident in the special effects. Plus, a lot of people were not comfortable with the acting skills of the actors and actresses portraying the characters. Recently, the series has ended and it has been renewed for a second season in 2017. Now the question remains...did it give justice to the Shadowhunter fandom? Welcome to the last day of our Shadowhunters Discussion, where we finally tackle the first season of Shadowhunters.

Fangirl Moment (?) Shadowhunters Teaser and Trailer

www.dreadcentral.com

Remember when I fangirled about the announcement of The Mortal Instruments becoming a TV series? Well guess what, it actually pushed through and after all the casting announcements and progress, we finally get a glimpse of a teaser and a legit trailer! Unless you're one of those people who went to New York Comic Con, then oh, well. You already.

Now I am well pleased with the very first teaser. For me, all the colors and all that mystic shiz going on accurately captured the vibes of the TMI series, at least for the first book. Also, for once, the casting is pretty good. Isabelle finally looks Isabelle, Clary's hair color is correct, and so on. My only concern now for the show is that if it will also be able to transition into a much darker and eerie tone, like that of the movie. The problem with the movie was that it was trying too hard to be scary and kinda dark. The Mortal Instruments has that very element but it is wrapped around with some light and vibrant stuff. Kinda like ecstasy, but not really. The teaser is able to give me that very feel, but I'm really hoping for some serious things to happen, because as of now it really aims to cater to a much younger audience. I am honestly hoping they would be able to make the show look enticing for adults too, because the series deals with also very mature topics as the story progresses.

And then we have the trailer. Honestly, this very trailer kinda reduced my excitement. First and foremost, we again talk about casting choices. Kat McNamara pulled off the Clary look, but the acting skills? I'm not so sure about that. Her acting technique seems a bit ten times more awkward compared to what Lily Collins offered. Her screams and yells were too sweet-sounding, and Clary Fray is anything but sweet. Unfortunately, the trailer only showed her frightened side, but as they put in more teasers, I'd like to see another angle of Kat McNamara as Clary, preferably her stubborn side. I also have a good feeling about Harry Shum Jr. and Dom Sherwood who are playing Magnus and Jace, respectively. Harry, for me, will somehow never pull off the complete Magnus look compared to Godfrey Gao, but his acting was really good. It is the first time I've seen him act in such a setting, and so far I like what I see. As for Dom Sherwood, we only get to see barely a glimpse of his character. He managed to say a line that was very Jace ("What? No thank you?"), and that's probably the only Jace line I've ever heard. The rest was him explaining what Shadowhunters are. Mostly, the trailer and teaser highly focuses on Clary, who is obviously the main protagonist. I didn't get to see much Jace, and it is something that I still look forward to because he's also a very major character. Apart from that, I think he did okay. So apart from the eerie element, I am very concerned with the acting. Yes, I am looking at you, Kat. I will be watching each and everyone of the cast, especially her.

I do hope that the next trailers will reveal the other characters as well. I am also kinda disappointed that these guys do not have accents anymore. Having accents almost seemed like a shadowhunter trademark to me. But, whatever. Shadowhunters will premiere on ABC Family this January of 2016, and this time, I will lower my expectations for this. I get that most of these actors and actresses are still not that established, so I will cut them slack. But it's very important that they do the storytelling right. I'm not saying that it should be book accurate, but hopefully it would still be very interesting and that they will be transition to different types of tones.

And that is it for my post! Till the next one~