User Reviews

I read the first three novels in The Mortal Instruments series. I love them and I'm planning to read all of it soon. In 2013, they tried to make a film franchise out of it and failed. The movie was a box office bomb and critically panned and I'm in that small group of people that actually liked the movie. I didn't love it, I was aware of the mistakes, but I thought it was an okay movie.

With this show, they promised a lot, but didn't live up to it, at least in this episode. The episode was entertaining and it was fun seeing a new spin on the story but there are a lot of flaws. Writing is a little cheesy, I had no complaints about the acting, but it wasn't anything outstanding and it wasn't as dark as they said it be. It was even a little bit campy at times. The biggest complaint I have about this episode is that there is almost no Gothic stuff at all. It's one of the main reasons the books were so awesome! Here they only dress up in a Gothic way. And what the hell was that Institute, like, seriously? All those people and all that fancy technology were so out of place! And their weapons kinda reminded me of light-sabers. But this pilot was still decent as an adaptation too. There are some things changed but they stick with the most important parts, which is a very good thing and I hope they keep up that way. And if they improve on the writing, CGI and gothicness this might be a perfect show for the fans. But, so far, I can even say the movie did a better job, but there is still a lot to see because thankfully, this was just a pilot.

it wasn't as bad as i thought. i had really law expectations cause i saw the trailer and in an instant i new that it wasn't going to be that dark and mysterious as the book was and as the series really should be. it seemed more like a fun series which you watch in your spare time and don't really follow. i personally thing that CW could do a waaay better job than abcfamily/freeform. don't get me wrong i like the channel but it's good for drama series like pretty little liars and stuff but for something as serious and mysterious as TMI maby not so much...

the main problem was the rush. it's a TV series, there's plenty of time to get the story forward and they just dived into it and took all the mystery and replaced it with confusion.especially for the people who haven't read the book.

I've got my hopes up though and i REALLY hope they improve it. I've already seen the second episode (you can watch it on FreeForm app) and it was better than the first.

the actors need a little more time to get into character but i really liked the cast and the little changes they made from the books.I also liked what they did to the institute and how it's more high tech and modern.

Hope it gets better...

I personally have never read the book, so going in I had no expectations. I was disappointed to find that this show was extremely corny with some seriously mediocre writing.

One thing I did like about the story is that it was fairly fast paced and dove right in rather than dwelling on unimportant details in the pilot. The story itself has substance, and I would like to see how the story unfolds in later episodes.

At some points I just have to cringe at some of the dialogue because of how poorly it's written and acted out by the actors. I found the main character, Clary, to be bland and uninteresting, (like I stated earlier, I've never read the books so I'm not sure how much of this is the show and how much of it is her characterization from the book.) The special effects have to be one of the worst parts of this show. They come off as campy and cheap. The fight sequences are cringe worthy, and overall blah.

I hope to see improvement in later episodes, but all in all, the show holds my interest, despite some of its corny parts.

So I finally got to watch Shadowhunters.

And okay: it doesn't follow the book (so far) that closely, but I can understand the changes necessary for a television show adaptation. Unlike a book, where we get sucked in by (typically) the writing style and character introductions first, a TV show is towards a different audience. So they need to give the general public more of what to expect later on - to be like, "Hey! It's worth watching if you stay with us!" type of thing.

That being said, I did thoroughly enjoy it. Anytime there is a book-to-movie/show or game-to-movie adaptation, I walk in with an opened mind - knowing that things are gonna change, but as long as they keep the main characters the same with similar plot points, I'm perfectly content (hence why I LOVE the first Silent Hill film, though it wasn't that close to the game). And I thought it was well done in the show.

Simon's reactions were hysterical and, if I do have one complaint, it's that he is WAY too good looking. However, that aside, his character hasn't really changed. I liked how Magnus and Valentine were given little snippets of their personalities and situations, as well. Even though we all know they weren't mentioned until much later in the book (again, they gotta hook the general audience). I liked how Iz made that comment to Alec, hinting on his crush - I thought that was cute and in-character for her.

My only complaint on Alec was that, for him, killing a demon in the book was a huge deal because he'd never really done it before and in this, he was slashing away with Jace and Izzy. I feel like that was a change that was unneeded because his shy demeanor (which is still there) was much more prevalent in the book.

I did like Clary's character - especially considering I could not STAND her until the third book. So that's a good note. I like her more down-to-earth character in this show and I hope it stays that way.

All that being said, I think it's a good adaptation and I look forward to seeing it every week.

In the first episode of "Shadowhunters" we meet Clary. Clary is your ordinary teenage girl, but on her 18th birthday, something happens. She gets to know Jace. He is part of the Shadowhunters (people who keep humanity save from demons etc.), and through him, she gets to know that she is one to. There happens a lot in this episode and I am afraid I am going to spoil things. So that was my synopsis without spoilers.

The directing was fine, nothing too special. There were no Shaky cams, which was a good thing. It were almost (no sure though), steady cams. As I have said in my pilot review of "the last kingdom" I like it when they use hand-held camera, but this isn't my favorite style. Hand- held camera is my favorite style. In this way you see everything way better and makes it look like everything is way more modern. Now something about the 'you see everything way better' part, in this episode that wasn't always the case. This came through the editing and filming overall. They had some close up of the fighting scenes, which made it harder to follow, and through the fast editing. It wasn't a disaster or so, there are a lot of movies who do it way worse, so don't get me wrong on that one. But overall the directing and cinematography was fine. The set design. Here is one of my complains with this subject. The HQ of the shadowhunters didn't fit the theme for me. It felt too modern for those people. The hyper-modern screens and slide out the wall closets didn't fit for me. The clothing wasn't that great either. It all looked to new, not worn at all. The swords used by the shadowhunters looked to much like lightsabers. They should have taken real swords or something like that. The special effects were good, especially for a TV-Show. Of course, it looked fake, a lot of the time, but for me it was good enough.

The acting was just OK. The actress who played Clary is called Katherine McNamara. She was like I said OK, there were some moments I thought she wasn't even trying, but at other moments she was fine. Her Character is likable, not very well developed in the first episode (more on that later on) I think that we will get to like her more throughout the rest of the season. The next person i am going to talk about is Alberto Rosende. He played Simon. Simon is the best friend of Clary. He was my "favorite" character if I had to choose one. He acted the best, but still not that amazing. Likable as well. Now we have the actor of Jace. I actually didn't like him that much, I haven't seen a lot of him yet, so I can't really say. But the actor was fine. The rest of the supporting cast was fine. No other character really stood out to me.

Now the screenplay. Oh, God. This was cheesy as hell (no pun intend). Sometimes I just rolled my eyes. I am trying to explain what I mean: When a character said something that is going to happen in the future, but says that it wouldn't happen at all, and you know that it is going to happen. I hope that it was clear? This happens a lot in the first 20 min. There are also some cliché, as you could have guessed. As I have said earlier, there is little character development. You didn't really care about the characters. I hope there will be a character driven episode in the future. Another thing that bothered me was that they tried to put a lot into this episode. Due to this everything felt to rushed.

Overall this was a fine pilot. I went to watch it with zero expectations, I thought all the trailers looked bad, just as the photos I have seen, but I was pleasantly surprised. If you have read the books I think you won't like it that much.

6.75/10

I'M NOT SAYING IT WAS GOOD.

I expected it to be atrocious, so as I watched it was less bad that I thought it would be. Which is good. There was a lot of CGI involved and you could see moments when the actors were visibly kicking air or stabbing air with a sword, because the computer-visual-effects are in charge of putting the SHADOW to the HUNTERS.

I expected Kat McNamara to be a stupid carrot-haired potato, but she did a decent job. I trusted Dominic Sherwood to be fabulous and he was half-good, which kind of disappointed me. I'm waiting for more to give a full opinion regardin Jace. I'd turn gay for Izzy/Emeraude and I'm happy I'm straight because of Alec/Matt. And Simon is such boyfriend material. I just like how light he makes the show look like.

I don't know what to say, but I've got my hopes. Hopefully it will get better. I hope it will.

The opening scene was exciting and great, I've read the books and I liked the Pandemonium club in the show more than the books

Firstly, I have to say that the book series are amazing and this episode barely translates any of the book elements that kept me reading. Did they even work with the author on this? So many things wrong with this episode I could cry. All the stuff they tried to add to the episode to make it move along- the fight scenes and jokes and even the dramatic background music- made it feel over-edited to me. The acting was embarrassing, I was cringing for almost the whole episode! The changes in the story and plot were confusing for me (probably because I expected to see the book translated into this) The movie version got some stuff right that this one didn't. My one huge problem with this (among everything else) is the STELES!! They are supposed to draw runes not whatever they did in this episode. Please; stop trying to jazz it up with technology (especially the Institute) and effects. The team may want to go get the books and the author and work with them. As this is the pilot; I'm hoping for a better season.

Unlike many, I hadn't heard about shadowhunters until the movie showed up on my Netflix recommended list. I was fairy new to Netflix as I was dealing with health issues (non covid related) that has me staying home more. I fell in love with the movie. That message of love and acceptance was important. I resisted watching the series when it was added to my recommendations because I didn't see how a TV show could match the affects. Boy was I wrong. This pilot was able to match the movie but had a lot more character development. I actually connected with the characters better. Clary losing her mom (my mom had just died), the confusion and bravery was the medicine I needed. Just like a brand I'd chips, I couldn't stop at just one episode.

It's A brilliant series and deserve another season please

I get that when you stretch out a book (or books in this case) into a series, creative licences need to be made in terms of tweaks and changes, but the series moves a lot away from the contexts of the books for me to meaningfully like the series, and the changes make the series more into a very bad teen drama than anything else. Also, it moves too fast in some areas and slow in others, making it really difficult for those who didn't read the series to understand the why on the major plot points, and makes the character development horrendous. The terrible acting and special effects in this was also a major turnoff.

In comparison to the movie, which also had a lot to improve as it stuffed so much into it, this acting is terrible, the wigs are terrible, the actors aren't as satisfying.. but if it's made enough seasons I'm sure some improvement has to be made, right?....right?

I read the first book in a night, I absolutely love the Mortal Instruments. I hated this. I hated this so much. They changed so much of the opening scene from the book, that the movie didn't change and the movie was SO much better than this. If you liked the books, don't watch this.

Positive sides:

• Fast paced story
• Good background story ( from the books )
• They've catched the ambient with the music
• I kinda want to see what gonna happend next

Negative sides:

• Really bad writing. The dialog was awful.
• The characters are worse than my grammar
• Another villain called Valentine
• Bad casting
• Their costums are so gay and cliche. They are supposed to be mysterious and cool. By cool i mean dark.
• Mediocre acting

I will continue to watch this show, just because people are saying that it gets good in season 2.