Shadowhunters Episodes Guide: Three Seasons Explained, Splits Included

Season 1: the Mortal Cup (13 episodes, 2016)

Season 1 aired weekly from January 12 to April 5, 2016. In the first episode, Clary learns that the world she knows has a hidden layer, and the season follows her search for her mother, Jocelyn, and the hunt for the Mortal Cup. Valentine Morgenstern is the figure at the center of that hunt. McG directed the pilot, and J. Miles Dale directed three later episodes, among them the finale, "Morning Star." Mick Garris, Andy Wolk, Kelly Makin, Oz Scott and Jeremiah S. Chechik are among the other directors. Episode titles in the middle of the season include "Dead Man's Party," "Raising Hell," "Moo Shu to Go," "Of Men and Angels," "Major Arcana" and "Bad Blood." The last stretch runs through "Rise Up," "This World Inverted" and "Blood Calls to Blood" before the finale.

The season is the most self-contained part of the run, and it is the one to sample if you are unsure about the show. It spends its time on the rules of the world and on the central group, and the second episode was released online on the same day as the premiere, so a new viewer could start with two episodes in hand.

Wikipedia notes that the first season received mixed reviews and that later seasons were received more favorably. That is a reason for a viewer who is lukewarm after season 1 to give the second one a try. The first season's 13 episodes make up just under a quarter of the series' 55, so the cost of testing the show is low. Seasons 2 and 3 together hold 42 episodes, just over three quarters of the run, and that is where most of the story sits.

Season 2, part 1: the pursuit (10 episodes, January to March 2017)

The second season opens on January 2, 2017, with "This Guilty Blood," directed by Matt Hastings. According to Wikipedia's summary, the first ten episodes center on Jace's captivity and the Clave's pursuit of him. A new episode aired each Monday through March 6, and the group is under pressure from the institutions it works for.

This half includes "Parabatai Lost," the third episode, directed by Gregory Smith. It also has "A Door Into the Dark," "Day of Wrath," "Dust, and Shadows," "Iron Sisters," "How Are Thou Fallen" and "Love is a Devil," and closes, after "Bound by Blood," with "By the Light of Dawn" on March 6. Viewers should expect a gap of three months before the second half, because it did not return until June.

Season 2, part 2: the Soul Sword (10 episodes, June to August 2017)

The second half began on June 5, 2017, with "Mea Maxima Culpa," and ran through August 14. It follows the Soul Sword storyline and the larger conflict that the first half built. Paul Wesley directed the sixteenth episode, "Day of Atonement," and Peter DeLuise, Michael Goi and Bille Woodruff are among the other directors in this stretch.

Episode titles in this half include "You Are Not Your Own," "Those of Demon Blood," "The Fair Folk," "A Problem of Memory," "A Dark Reflection," "Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fallen" and "Hail and Farewell," and the season finale is "Beside Still Water." At 20 episodes in total, season 2 is the biggest stretch of plot in the series, and anyone short of time should treat the two parts as one unit.

Season 3, part 1: the Owl and the mark (10 episodes, March to May 2018)

Season 3 premiered on March 20, 2018, with "On Infernal Ground." Wikipedia's summary says the season centers on Lilith, a figure called the Owl and the Mark of Cain. The first ten episodes ran weekly to May 15, with titles such as "The Powers That Be," "What Lies Beneath," "Thy Soul Instructed," "Stronger Than Heaven," "A Window Into an Empty Room," "Salt in the Wound" and "A Walk in Darkness." The directors include Peter DeLuise, Amanda Row, Emile Levisetti, Geoff Shotz, Alexis Ostrander and Ari Sandel.

The ninth and tenth episodes, "Familia Ante Omnia" and "Erchomai," aired back to back on the same night, May 15, 2018. Freeform canceled the show the following month, and viewers waited more than nine months, until February 2019, for the rest.

Season 3, part 2: The Final Hunt (12 episodes, February to May 2019)

The last twelve episodes carry the subtitle The Final Hunt and aired from February 25 to May 6, 2019. Freeform's order of two extra episodes after the cancellation was meant to let the story conclude. Matt Hastings directed the opener, "Lost Souls," and the following episode, "Original Sin."

Siluck Saysanasy, Shannon Kohli, Salli Richardson-Whitfield and Michael Rohl directed episodes in this stretch. Titles along the way include "Beati Bellicosi," "A Kiss from a Rose," "To the Night Children," "Stay With Me," "Heavenly Fire," "The Beast Within" and "Aku Cinta Kamu," and the penultimate hour is "City of Glass." The two-part finale, "Alliance" and "All Good Things...," aired on the same night, May 6, 2019. Both were directed by Todd Slavkin, and neither is described here.