The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy

The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy
Broadcast Information
Premiere date	January 19, 2016
Written by	Ed Decter (story) Hollie Overton (teleplay)
Directed by	Mick Garris
Episode GuideSeason One 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
← The Mortal Cup
Dead Man's Party →
FILES
VIDEOS
PROMO
STILLS

The Descent Into Hell Isn't Easy is the second episode of Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments.

Synopsis

THE RACE IS ON TO FIND THE MORTAL CUP AND CLARY'S MOTHER: Clary's memories may be the key to finding her mother and the Mortal Cup.

With the knowledge that Valentine is alive and on the hunt for The Mortal Cup, the Institute is on high alert. Not wanting to waste time, Jace jumps into action and figures that Clary's memories are the key to finding Jocelyn and The Mortal Cup. Unfortunately, Clary's memories were wiped leaving her without any recollection of this other life that could help her and the team. With only one other option remaining, Jace, Isabelle and a very reluctant Alec take Clary to the City of Bones to face the powerful Silent Brothers.

Meanwhile, Luke continues his search for Clary, and Simon tries to come to terms with his best friend's new life.

Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Clary decides to head into the Institute with Jace, and Simon follows, temporarily being given the Sight so he can properly interact with and perceive the Shadowhunters. Jace partly fills Clary in on the Circle's background: they led a violent and bloody revolt in the distant past, and as a result, contemporary Shadowhunters are forbidden from discussing or learning about the Circle. One of the casualties of this revolt was Jace's father.

They seek advice from Hodge Starkweather, a former Circle member who atones by serving as a combat trainer and is banned from leaving the Institute. Clary learns that Jocelyn used to be part of the Circle as well, and that the Circle's leader Valentine Morgenstern is seeking a powerful artifact, the Mortal Cup, to gain power over the Shadow world. When Clary finds she cannot recall anything about the cup, Jace theorizes that her memories have been removed by a warlock, the magically empowered offspring of a human and a demon. They realize that Dot is a warlock, and set out to find her.

Luke kills a Circle member to stop her from preying on an innocent warlock in order to locate Magnus Bane, the most powerful warlock in New York. He gathers Clary's belongings from her burned-down bedroom to prevent others from tracking her, running into Dot in the process. Dot intends to seek Magnus out and place Clary under his protection. At the Pandemonium nightclub, Magnus is evacuating new York's warlock population, knowing that the Circle is hunting them down to undo Jocelyn's enchanted sleep. Desperate to protect Clary, Dot refuses Magnus' offer to flee to safety. She's eventually taken by the Circle and tortured to enforce her cooperation. Clary's necklace gives her a vision of Dot heading to Pandemonium, but they arrive too late to help her.

Desperate to recover her memories, Clary subjects herself to potentially dangerous treatment by the Silent Brothers, an ascetic group of especially powerful Shadowhunters. At the Brothers' stronghold, the City of Bones, a magical artifact known as the Soul Sword is used on Clary, but instead of regaining her memories, Clary only learns that Valentine is her father.

While the others are preoccupied, Simon is kidnapped and held hostage by vampires in exchange for the Mortal Cup.

Credits

• Cast

Starring: Katherine McNamara as Clary Fray Dominic Sherwood as Jace Wayland Alberto Rosende as Simon Lewis Matthew Daddario as Alec Lightwood Emeraude Toubia as Isabelle Lightwood Isaiah Mustafa as Luke Garroway Harry Shum Jr. as Magnus Bane

Guest starring: Alan Van Sprang as Valentine Morgenstern Maxim Roy as Jocelyn Fray David Castro as Raphael Santiago Jon Cor as Hodge Starkweather Shailene Garnett as Maureen Lisa Marcos as Captain Vargas Vanessa Matsui as Dot

Click 'Show' For More!

Co-starring:

Joel Labelle as Alaric Curtis Morgan as Pangborn Jordan Hudyma as Blackwell

Mouna Traoré as Midori Stephen R. Hart as Brother Jeremiah James Godfrey

Multimedia

See more here

Images

Videos

Shadowhunters Season 1 Promo Preview

Shadowhunters 1x02 Promo

Music

A list of the known songs and score music featured in this episode:

• "Street Clothes" - Marz Ferrer ft. Voli
• "Emmanuel (Instrumental)" - BASECAMP
• "Maced in Space" - Extreme Music
• "Great Disaster" - Desoto Jones

Trivia

• Production notes
• In the books
• In the film
• Other notes

• Shooting ran from June 9 to June 18, 2015.

The following are elements adapted from The Mortal Instruments:

• The Circle and the Uprising were mentioned.
• For Hodge's involvement with the Circle, he was cursed with the inability to ever leave the Institute.
• Isabelle is a bad cook.
• Clary is condescendingly called "little girl".
• Clary was taken to the Silent Brothers in an effort to access her blocked memories, specifically for the whereabouts of the Cup.
• Clary sees the Shadowhunter creed on a statue of an angel near the entrance to the City of Bones. Jace translates the motto as "Looking better in black than the widows of our enemies", before Clary is informed of its true meaning immediately after.

Like in the film, Simon was intentionally kidnapped by vampires to be used him as bait to lure Clary to them for the Mortal Cup.

The statue of an angel in the City of Bones was first used for the film.

This episode was made available for viewing on the Freeform app after the premiere of the previous episode on January 12, 2016, a week before its airdate.