My Thought's on Malec's First Time

            Malec’s scene at the end of How Art Thou Fallen (season 2, episode 7) left me feeling awkwardly uncomfortable. Let me just include the clip, so you can watch it for yourself.

There were so many moments of unreciprocated affection going in. Magnus’ reaction to Alec’s impetuous kiss wasn’t to engage with the kiss, but a step back. He isn’t quite sure why Alec is suddenly so amorous, especially considering his history of being reserved and closeted.

Alec presses that he would like to take the next step – the “sex step” – I think I was as taken aback as Magnus.

What the… they only just started dating and he already wants to take it to the next level?

What happened to second base? Or third base?

He just wants to slam out the home run?

I felt like someone needs to sit down with Alec and explain the bases theory to him.

Simplified version of the Base System of Dating

Magus explains why he is hesitant to take the next step. He talks about being vulnerable and being afraid of losing Alec. Very legitimate reasons to wait. Alec presses and Magus, well, he never says yes but he also didn’t say No. It was really very awkward.

I work at a University, so CONSENT is a really important word in my world. So, that being said, this was not my favorite Malec moment. 

To make things worse, a day or so after this episode, a news story mentioned that more teens are feeling coerced into sex. I keep trying to find that article, but I can’t.
Which annoys me.

Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who felt that this scene wasn’t played out in the best way possible.  

Fans took to Twitter to voice their concerns about how this scene played out. They called out the scene because Magnus doesn’t explicitly give his consent to have sex with Alec, which makes the interaction less than romantic. For LGBTQ fans, this is a slap in the face as it equates same sex relationships as lacking intimacy or legitimacy.

I think that this is the biggest part of the story because fans were able to directly tweet to showrunners Darren Swimmer and Todd Slavkin regarding their feelings about this scene. Not only that, but Darren and Todd replied to tweets acknowledging the fans and their feelings. I think everyone agrees that Malec is a power couple that needs to be treated with care.

Not necessarily without drama.

Drama is what makes a show.

I know that this is another element to this story - #MalecDeservesBetter. I’d like to save that for another entry. Don’t think I’m skipping over it.

As a final piece, I’d like to share my thoughts on this one brief clip.

It took me a long time to come to terms with this clip because of the lack of consent. Why was the narrative written this way? Everything on screen is driven for a particular reason – what was the driving factor to write Alec so forceful?

I decided that this was a moment for Alec. He has finally developed from that guy who only followed rules and did what was asked of him, to someone who was able to go after what he wanted. Alec also felt less than comfortable with Magnus’ past relationships because he lacks experience in the sexual department. Perhaps he felt that if they don’t take this step that Magnus would tire of him. .

This is especially exacerbated by Jace’s romp earlier in the episode.

Everyone is doing it but Alec.

 Magnus, on the other hand, is letting Alec take the lead. He’s letting Alec explore the side of him that wants things and goes after them. I think that’s part of why Magnus is attracted to Alec. Magnus is also vulnerable, and I think that’s fair. Having that much history with other people might make him unattractive to Alec.

It’s SO DEEP.

There was a lot of power in this segment – relationship power. I was afraid that Magnus was simply giving Alec all the power because he was so enamored. You never want that in a relationship. Magnus needs to be able to tell Alec NO when he really means it and we as viewers need to see that. We need to see that this is a healthy, balanced partnership.

Thankfully, a few episodes later, we do.

All in all, Malec is one of the main reasons I watch the show. Is it the only reason? No. In fact, the Simon and Jace scene earlier in the episode was way more amusing.

I do think that Matthew Daddario and Harry Shum Jr. put a lot of life into their characters and I enjoy watching how the show takes the basic elements of Malec from the books and re-weaves it. 

Okay, actually, I take that all back.

I mean, yes, I love the Malec relationship, but I like pretty much everything else about the show too.

There. 

Are you happy now?