Shadowhunters

It's soapy and action-packed while still paying attention to developing its characters, the typical ABC Family Freeform mix of elements that's proved successful with its audience so far.

It’s too moody and self-serious for a pulpy action show in which monsters dissolve into hot sparks when stabbed. Part of the problem is the script, and part is performance; the dialogue is sometimes written more sassily than it’s delivered.

McNamara does her best, but Clary has been written as all breeze and no storm, which makes her central relationship with Jace more an algorithm of attractiveness than chemistry. Decter appears far more interested in Revelations than revelation, and in his rush to get to the "good stuff" he has forgotten that this kind of stuff is good only when it takes a while to get there.

The pilot is so bloated, attempting as it does to relay all the rules of its fictional universe through nauseatingly clunky dialogue and disorienting time- and location-jumps (including some to freaking Chernobyl, where the series’ big bad has randomly chosen to camp out), that it’s difficult to make sense of anything going on, but here are the basics.

A dull YA fantasy adventure that takes itself so excruciatingly seriously it invites mockery.

What remains is origin-story drudgery (much talk of lost magical objects and Clary's "destiny") that's occasionally leavened by bursts of unintentional humor.

Not even the directorial efforts of McG can salvage what’s happening here. There are some mild action sequences, but they don’t do much to elevate the proceedings.