@_kazbrekker_ did you watch this convo b/w Leigh Bardugo and Veronica Roth about adapting books to TV/movies https://www.twitch.tv/videos/586007770? I though of you (and your handle :-) when LB talked about finding partners who fundamentally respect the source material.

It’s not that an adaption has to be verbatim. The author may want to make changes (e.g., aging up), and storytelling on screen is not the same as in books. But the best adaptions, as LB said, fundamentally respect the world/stories/characters/storytelling of the source material.

For me, this, fundamentally, is what was missing from SHTV. It’s not that TMI is some perfect thing, and that all they had to do was transcribe the books. But, they should have respected the core of the TMI series and the shadowhunter world.

For me, this means a few things. First, Clary’s journey from art student to skilled, beloved SH as the scaffolding of the story, with Jace’s related story of recovery from a childhood of abuse and neglect; the central role of parabatai bonds in the SH world, with /+

Jace and Alec’s bond in particular, as a source of yes, tension sometimes, but ultimately love and support and growth. And (critically) the idea of agency: Clary’s choice to embrace the shadow world, the idea of chosen family, everyone learning from experience (inc pain/ loss)

SHTV undermined/forgot/rewrote so much of this. In the zeal to “fix” some character, punish others, and bend the narrative away from Clary’s journey, they ended up (for me) losing track of the emotional/narrative logic of the story. I hope the S&B people do better!!