Episode 36: A Window Into An Empty Room
Episode 36 of The Descent Is Easy discusses A Window Into An Empty Room, Episode 6 of Season 3 of Shadowhunters.
Frankly, this episodes is a ball of amazing, beautiful, poignant parts, wrapped up in a whole lot of What the hell are you doing? It’s quite frankly a mess, saved only by the Lightwoods. However, Ruth is disarmed by bare feet and we spin the most crack theory about Underhill, so this is definitely an episode of tDiE you want to tune in for!
Read about Petra the swan, who fell in love with a swan boat
(We promise this makes sense, if you listen to the episode)
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8th January 2019 @ 8:17 pm
Hello!! I am a new listener so I know that this comment is coming extremely late, but I was really intrigued by what you guys were talking about regarding what Underhill said to Alec about shadowhunters only falling in love once. When I watched this episode, I never really thought too much about what he said and I think that’s because I didn’t take it quite so literally. To me, it was more about the fact that shadowhunters die so young or at least have a much higher chance of this, and because of that tend to only fall in love once, not that they actually can’t fall in love more than once. One thing that gave me this idea was because Underhill did refer to it as a custom rather than just a thing that is. So going by that definition, it more of just a way that is accepted as the right way or as tradition. I think this also explains why Clary did say that she loved Simon because she didn’t grow up with the idea that you only really fall in love once and that saying I love you in the shadow world holds even more weight than it does in the mundane world. I also think that shadowhunters actually falling in love is generally kind of rare. I think arranged marriages and marriages of convenience are actually much more commonplace in this society than actual loving marriages.
Anyways, I just talked a lot about something from an episode that happened almost a year ago, but I am still glad I got to think about this, and analyzing these episodes so deeply is never something I did before but it is actually really fun!! I really loved the whole Jiminy Underhill theory by the way and the best part is that I know it’s not true, but there is enough plausible evidence that it totally could be😂
10th January 2019 @ 11:32 am
No such thing as late! I love talking about old episodes of shadowhunters. especially these ones which I’ve only seen once, due to this entire cancellation nonsense!! I would have been three times through a rewatch by now, but noooooo… so it’s always fun to go back and think about stuff again, but also to be reminded of things that frustrated me and things that i LOVED.
I think it is fair to say that basically everything we do is taking things too literal and putting too much weight on stuff and then not letting it go. EVER. hahaha
I completely agree that it makes sense for shadowhunters to fall in love fast, get married young and have families young, because they die young. Of course it does. And the strong influence from the clave and the value of old family names that and all that slightly antiquated stuff means that political alliances and marriages of convenience etc are all not going to be new concepts to the shadowhunters and that love is rare and yeah, when you find it, you’ll hold onto it.
I do think that’s what underhill meant. Rather than ‘you’re a swan’. but our version was a lot funnier 😉
also, I now of course 100% cannot remember when and where and who, but in one of our recent commentary rewatches someone (maybe Jace?) makes a similar comment… it has to be episode 11 or 12 I think, as that’s where we currently are in recording and I’m pretty sure we call it out.. anyway, the ‘only love once’ had come up before, which I was utterly unaware of, when watching window into an empty room…
we got some hilarious trouble from a few people about the Jiminy Underhill theory, with people going “You’re just looking for stupid drama where there isn’t any!” and “Another Alec stan trying to make Alec more special, for no reason what so ever!” and I couldn’t believe that people were taking this so serious… it’s a joke, and the thing that makes it funnier, is that it totally works. that’s why it’s hilarious haha. glad you thought it was funny!!
19th January 2019 @ 8:41 pm
First of all, thanks for answering!! Second, I am almost finished listening to all of your guy’s episode commentaries, but after that, I will have to start listening to your rewatch ones because I never realized that the “only love once” thing had come up before so that will definitely be interesting to see how it compares to what was said in episode 3×06!!
Also, people in this fandom can really cause drama about anything, huh? It was very clear that you guys were just joking about the whole Jiminy Underhill thing and I was laughing my ass off every time you brought it up😂
Finally, never stop taking things too literally!! That is what makes listening to your podcasts so much fun!!😂
30th January 2019 @ 5:24 pm
also, actually to be fair, Isabelle (as MalecCrazedAuthor pointed out at the time of 3×06/07) says to Clary “You can love two people at the same time” so that’s the whole ‘shadowhunters only love once’ theory shot in the foot, by a shadowhunter lol it’s still fun to think about the implications of it all though!!
I can’t believe we are so close to season 3b!!!!!! I’m so excited!!
6th February 2019 @ 2:19 pm
I think Izzy actually said “you can have feelings for 2 people at the same time” lol. I don’t know, its very inconsititant and it doesn’t look like were gonna get anywhere so we’re just gonna have to wait and see if its brought up again in 3B!! 19 days to go!!😱
7th February 2019 @ 11:02 am
IT’S SO SOOOOOON!!!!! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!!!!!
29th April 2018 @ 8:19 pm
I had the chance to listen to the podcast on friday but i haven’t had the time to respond yet. I’m actually watching the ep again now. Hopefully that will help me to figure out what Michelle’s quote is…
I agree that the whole thing with Lillith and Jace is very uncomfortable to watch and that’s probably intentional. I really hope that they will deal with aftermath of this whole mess on Jace’s mental stability. He can’t come out of this like nothing happened. It’s got to mess with him in some way.
I love, love, LOVE all of Nicola’s scenes! She is so beautiful and she looks like a completely different person when she smiles. I don’t like that fact either that she was deruned off screen. Or that it wasn’t even mentioned in the previous ep. I really hope that we’ll get back to it at a later date and that perhaps we get to see some of it in a flashback. I love all of the Lightwood family scenes. You guys had me laughing so much discussing the jewelry business scene, Jace mining for silver in the basement and Alec being a snobby Artiste. 😂 I am totally shipping Maryse and Luke, they make such a lovely couple. I think the fandom is going with Maruke for their ship name. Ruth, you actually had me going there for a minute with your ‘Underhill isn’t real’ theory. You had some very convincing arguments. It would be a very sorry state of affairs if he did turn out to be all in Alec’s head. I for one am very happy that he is real, Alec needs a friend. I do hope that they give the poor guy a first name at some point. If not, he will always be Jiminy Underhill. 😁
I guess the drunk Alec bits weren’t as bad as i had feared though it’s sad that he got drunk because of his issues with Magnus. Who I still am not happy with. I still don’t understand why he is treating Alec the way he is. The argument at breakfast was hard to watch. I do love salty Alec though. And thank you, Ruth, I hadn’t even noticed his bare feet the first time around. 😉 But I hate how Alec is hurting over this situation… About the whole Nephilim only love once bit.. the romantic side of me likes to think that Nephilim can fall in love multiple times but that they only have one Great Love. One love that surpaces all other love. The One for lack of a better word. And for Alec that is Magnus. He could fall in love again, but it would never have the depth of that One Love…. ❤ That’s what i’m sticking to anyway.
That’s all that i can think of for the moment. I still haven’t figured out Michelle’s quote…
29th April 2018 @ 9:48 pm
Oh, and why hasn’t anyone noticed that Raphael is gone? Simon should have had a much bigger reaction when Izzy told him what she had done. And she is basically Magnus’ sister in law, why hasn’t she told him? Or is that another thing that happened off screen? Also, where is Lorenzo? For the High Warlock, he isn’t around much. 😄
30th April 2018 @ 2:14 pm
Thanks for commenting! Nicola is so beautiful, I am always tempted to just pause the TV when she’s on, just to look at her for a bit.
Bare feet FTW!
Yeah, poor Alec. I think the good thing about all this, is that it’s very much what we’re dealing with re: Magnus and Alec this half-season, there’s not chance of them not talking about it and working it out, it literally is their plot. So whilst we hurt when Alec hurts, it is building towards their “unending happiness” or at least better communication and ultimately a closer and healthier relationship.
Ha, I will win over the fandom to the Jiminy Underhill theory, one soul at a time… mwahaha.
That’s a more palatable way of looking at the OnlyLoveOnce thing – I could maybe sort of come around to that idea…
Re: Raphael. I have no idea. And it is vexing me greatly. Grrr.
Good luck with Michelle’s quote – you’re so close to a full card!!!
3rd May 2018 @ 10:07 pm
I realise this comes too late; oh well.
Further to “The One” discussion: I agree with this interpretation, but I also don’t see it as “only Nephilim have a One” so much as “everyone has a One but Nephilim are better at identifying that One”.
To be clear: I LOVE soulmate AUs in all my fandoms. I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, and I’m not trying to change anyone’s mind, but that’s where I’m coming from. I imagine feelings on soulmate AUs correlate closely with how people feel about this line.
So everyone* mundane/warlock/vampire/werewolf/fae/nephilim has a* One but realising “this is my One” is something most aren’t very good at: some people think it about those who aren’t their One and some people might fail to recognise someone is their One when they do find them. Nephilim are just better at it; they’re still not perfect but they’re more likely to be correct when they assert that someone is/isn’t their One.
** Some people (aromantics) don’t have Ones, and some people (polyamorous) have more than one, but they’re (a) unusual and (b) not acknowledged by most – Alec might not even be aware of aromanticism or polyamory, so it makes perfect sense for Jiminy Underhill to fail to reference them. (Plus, if he did mention them it wouldn’t exactly flow: one of those situations where you can either be succinct or precise. I mean I just included them in a footnote longer than the exclusionary explanation.)
4th May 2018 @ 1:59 pm
never such a thing as too late!!
I’m actually a big fan of soulmates AUs but it’s mainly down to the fact that fic writers (for the most part) are bleeding hearts-soppy date-romantics at their core, so I trust them to have their soul mates meet, fall in love, live happily together for 80 years, then quietly pass away, in bed, in each others arms. Or something like that.
Whereas in real life / the real life in a TV drama (emphasis on drama) the idea of a soul mate just leaves so many many maaany ways of hurting your characters, it scares me. Kill your darlings, and all that… Though I can get on board with the idea of The One, but also, some – lower case – other ones. Best of both worlds that! 🙂
ps: I just wrote Soup Mate about 5 times… which makes me laugh.
28th December 2018 @ 9:42 pm
maybe people like underhill have SOUPmates. cos they arent REAL. dam you ruth now i cant stop seeing this whenever hes onscreen.
also, to quote jace
‘sorry for ruining the mood’, but i had to say this.
1st January 2019 @ 2:36 pm
soupmate still makes me laugh haha