If you thought Jonathan’s death was going to be the big cliffhanger of Shadowhunters‘ second season, you could not have been more wrong. Not only is Jonathan still alive, but he has summoned some sort of demon he calls “mother.” Oh, and then there’s the little fact that Valentine killed Jace, which sent Clary into a rage spiral and resulted in Clary killing Valentine and using his “one wish” with the angel to resurrect the man she loves. (Yes, they love each other again — or at least according to that kiss they do.)

EW spoke with star Katherine McNamara about the biggest moments of the finale, starting with Jace’s death and that moment being the very thing that spurred Clary to kill Valentine. “Clary losing Jace was a breaking point for her,” McNamara says. “It’s the last thing that Valentine can take from her and it’s the one thing that she was holding onto. That is the final straw for Clary and you see it, you see her break. You see Clary for the first time quit caring about her own life and you see her go into almost a blind rage.”

That blind rage is what leads Clary to kill Valentine by stabbing him repeatedly, something McNamara reveals was exaggerated when they edited the episode. “I didn’t actually stab him that many times consecutively on the day, but I’m glad they edited it the way they did because it really drives home the point that she’s made her choice, she has taken that step, she is a Shadowhunter now and she will do what’s right. I think she surprises herself even in that moment, the brutality that she shows toward Valentine, but it’s such a great step for her character because finally, we get to see that fire and that warrior within her.”

McNamara points out the irony that it’s the Morgenstern within her that is the very thing that ultimately kills Valentine. “It’s that fierceness and that feral nature that Valentine and Jonathan both have that comes out of her for the first time, and I think it even scares Valentine a little bit,” she says.

But Clary isn’t the only person who made a big decision in the finale. The show’s final minutes revealed that Simon did, in fact, make a deal with the Seelie Queen, and it’s one that, odds are, Clary’s not going to like. “Here’s the thing: The Seelies are very good at hiding things, so it kind of leaves an open door to see what’s going to happen, what they want with Simon,” she says. “The Seelie Queen is very good at collecting powerful beings and Simon is one of those powerful beings and so moving forward, we’ll see what happens. But honestly, Clary has a bone to pick with the Seelie Queen. This child or woman or whatever form she takes is the one person in the Shadow World that Clary cannot give the benefit of the doubt to, and I have a feeling — or at least I hope in the future — that there will be a confrontation between the two.”

Unrelated to the action happening in the Shadow World, the finale was also a big moment in McNamara’s personal life when her first original single played over the party scene at the bar. “It’s called ‘Ember’ and it’s one that I wrote a while ago, but it’s really special to me and I’m glad it found its way into the show,” she says. “I wrote it right after we shot season 1 and it’s partially inspired by the characters but also by some things that happened in my life — we all have moments in life when we doubt who we are because of someone or something that’s happened to us, but despite all of that, there’s a little ember of hope that always is within each one of us — there’s a spark in the ashes that’s ready to reignite at any moment and that moment is what the song is about. I thought that was so perfectly placed in the finale that I was so grateful that they included it.”

SOURCE:EW