Shadowhunters The Final Hunt: What we know about “Aku Cinta Kamu”

The latest episode of Shadowhunters ended with a major Malec break up, leaving many fans devastated over their favorite couple. But with what we know about the series finale, all hope is not lost. Keep reading for our breakdown of what we expect to happen in the remaining episodes.

Warning! Spoilers for the latest episodes of Shadowhunters follow. You’ve been warned.

The last time Shadowhunters dared to break Malec up was in Season Two, Episode 8 and it’s arguably one of the best episodes of the show to date. Their break up in “Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fallen” was a bittersweet moment in an episode that highlighted many significant moments in their relationship. It’s only fitting that their break up in “The Beast Within” would up the stakes significantly.

While their previous break up stemmed from Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.) having to choose between Alec (Matthew Daddario) and the potential decimation his fellow warlocks were facing, Alec is the one doing the breaking this time under some serious duress from Magnus’ father, a Greater Demon and Prince of Hell, Asmodeus.

Last week’s episode set Malec up for a possible engagement, but unfortunately, the situation didn’t play out quite as Alec (and the fans) had hoped. When Magnus shows up late—and drunk—to the romantic dinner he planned, the proposal takes a backseat to Magnus’ clearly declining mental health. He’s been coping very poorly with the permanent loss of magic and Alec is there to witness the full extent of his breakdown.

At the start of episode eighteen, Alec is clearly very worried about what Magnus said the night before about how he may never feel like himself again without his magic. Unfortunately, just as they’re about to talk about it, Jace (Dominic Sherwood) and Clary (Kat McNamara) show up to inform Alec about the Drevak demon situation, which puts everything on hold. Alec tells Magnus that his mother needs help decorating her new shop in hopes of lifting his spirits while Alec keeps secret his new plan to get Magnus’ magic back.

Alec’s plan is a risky one, and even though he doesn’t actually summon Asmodeus, there’s still significant danger in even talking to a demon who feeds off people’s emotions. Nothing spells this out more clearly for Alec when Asmodeus is willing to give Magnus his magic back…for a price. If Alec ends their relationship, Asmodeus will give Magnus his magic back. Even though Alec balks at the suggestion at first, Asmodeus easily manipulates his emotions by telling Alec that he makes Magnus weak and vulnerable and will “be the death of him.” Alec struggles with the decision for the rest of the episode, but as he’s talking to Isabelle (Emeraude Toubia) about the deal, it seems like his mind is made up.

Alec believes that even though breaking up will hurt, Magnus will at least be able to recover if he has his magic and immortality back, though Isabelle points out that Alec might not recover himself. Still, he pushes through with the plan and tells Magnus they need to take a break. It’s even more heart-wrenching as well to hear Alec tell these half-truths to Magnus about how he doesn’t want to watch Magnus suffer for the rest of their lives, words that he knows Magnus will take differently than he means. Magnus knows something is up, saying “you’re not this selfish,” but Alec tries to stay strong—he doesn’t even look Magnus in the eyes for the rest of the scene—and despite Magnus pleading for Alec to stay, he leaves.

It’s a tense cliffhanger to leave the couple on, but this heartbreak is only the beginning. The next episode, “Aku Cinta Kamu,” promises to deliver even more poignant scenes as we see in the promo that Magnus wants Brother Zachariah (better known as Jem Carstairs) to erase his memories of Alec. With what we know about Jem, however, is that he deeply values the memories of his past life with Will Herondale and Tessa Gray before becoming a Silent Brother. It’s very unlikely that he would agree to just erase Magnus’ memories simply because they are painful.

One of these memories we see is featured in the newest Malec sneak peek. We see Magnus walking the streets of New York to a row of love locks and in flashback, we see Alec leading Magnus to the wall of locks because he wants to add their own. Magnus magically engraves the lock with the phrase “Aku Cinta Kamu” which he tells Alec is “Indonesian for ‘I love you.'”

It tells us that the episode title is occurring in such a romantic way in the sneak peek when it’s origins in the book stem from their break up. The situation also suggests we’ll be hearing it again in the episode if it’s coming up in a sneak peek, but perhaps the next time won’t be such a happy moment. The flashback is also tonally similar to what viewers experienced with “Awake, Arise, or Be Forever Fallen,” and given that it “isn’t even the best #Malec moment of the episode,” the likeliness that there are more happy flashbacks is pretty high.

Another sneak peek with Alec and Jace shows how well Alec is dealing with the break up. Jace insists he knows something is wrong, but Alec clearly doesn’t want to talk about it. While fans typically dislike angst an arguments coming from their favorite couples, in genre television those moments usually end up showing how great and complex characters are.

Considering how Alec is bottling up his emotions about the break up, an explosion is bound to happen. And given that Asmodeus is going to stop at nothing to have his son rule beside him, Magnus might find out about Alec’s deal sooner rather than later thanks to Asmodeus’ manipulations. A Malec confrontation in this episode could be exactly what the couple needs to move forward in their relationship, and while a proposal might still be off the table for now, it would be interesting to see it brought up again in an argument.

It’s hard to say how long this breakup will be—the last one spanned two episodes—but we do know Alec and Magnus are going to be getting married in the series finale in two weeks. If they do reconcile by the end of this episode, it likely won’t last long with Asmodeus still in the picture, and it’s hard to imagine he’ll take kindly to Magnus turning his back on him once again.

What are your theories for what will happen in episode nineteen? Let us know in the comments down below.

Shadowhunters: The Final Hunt airs Mondays on Freeform. All three seasons of Shadowhunters are currently streaming on Hulu, with new episodes being added on Tuesdays. For more on Shadowhunters, follow us on the Hulu Watcher Twitter Account @HuluWatcherFS or on the Hulu Watcher Facebook Page.