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We would be remiss if we didn’t use Dominic Sherwood’s birthday as a way to celebrate all the ways he continues to impress us week after week as Jace Wayland on Shadowhunters! Below we countdown our favorite scenes this season featuring Jace Wayland, a large part due to Dominic Sherwood’s fine acting.

5. Jace endures Valentine’s wrath

At the end of last season, we saw Jace sacrificing himself, and his position as a Shadowhunter, to save those he loves by choosing to leave with Valentine and his army. When we revisit Jace at the beginning of season 2, things are looking very bleak for our favorite shadowhunter. He continues to be mentally and physically tortured in new and inventive ways by Valentine, like using Clary’s likeness to confuse Jace into submitting to his plans or dousing him with cold water and having his men brutally beat him in hopes of breaking his spirit. Much to Valentine’s dismay, he does not easily break and Sherwood wonderfully displays Jace’s inner strength and willingness to endure the pain. We expect those scenes aren’t easy to film, and Sherwood knocks it out of the park everytime.

4. Jace stands trial

This scene was brutal. Aldertree has Jace stand trial for his betrayal of the Clave and cruelly and unnecessarily brings up Clary while Jace is in possession of the soul sword, forcing him to speak his truth. He admits he loves Clary as more than a sister when pressed by Aldertree to answer, his eyes and heart clearly full of guilt. He also admits to not always agreeing with the Claves decisions and dreams of the man his father could be. Wracked with anger, guilt and despair, Jace attempts to take his own life once he’s sentenced to life of imprisonment by Aldertree. This was an incredibly intense and emotionally powerful scene, thanks to the skillful way Sherwood approached it and subsequently nailed it. There’s no shortage of heavy scenes for Jace this season, and Sherwood handles them all with care and due diligence.

3. Jace and Izzy training

Shadowhunters season 2 is much darker than it’s predecessor, so we are increasingly thankful when we get lighthearted training scenes. Especially when those training scenes involve Jace and Izzy. Watching these two spar and tease each other reminded us how important it is to show these wonderful bonding moments between characters. Not to mention they both have some serious moves and look seriously good while kicking butt. No seriously, where do we sign up for a sparing session with these two and can Jace teach us that cool backflip off the wall move?

2. Jace begs Maia to let him save Alec

We think it goes without saying that ‘Parabatai Lost’ is one of the best episodes of the series to date, this moment being one of the many reasons why. Desperate to save an unconscious Alec, Jace is willing to surrender himself to Maia if she agrees to let him bring back his brother first. With tears in his eyes, he pleads with Maia and her pack members to let him complete his journey to Magnus’ place where his brother is barely holding on. The subtle inflections in Sherwood’s voice and sincerity in which he delivers his lines make this scene so tragically beautiful. Sherwood excells when he shows the depth of Jace’s emotions and the deepness of the parabatai bond between Jace and Alec.

1.Jace recites the parabatai oath

Speaking of Jace and Alec’s parabatai bond, we give you the number one reason to love the greatness that is ‘Parabatai Lost’. We dare you not to cry when Jace recites the parabatai oath to an unconscious Alec while his eyes fill with tears. This was BY FAR Sherwood’s best performance on the show thus far and it’s evident he put all he had into this scene (and man did it pay off!). He won, you won, we all won with this epic, tear jerking parabatai moment that showed the immense range of Sherwood’s acting and the importance of Jace and Alec’s parabatai bond to the very fabric of the show. The entirety of this scene was well-acted by all involved, from the subtle hand-holding between Clary and Magnus to the single tear sliding down Izzy’s cheek. It’s moments like this on the series that make us so thankful for Shadowhunters and the care in which they handle their character’s relationships. We predict this episode and scene will be talked about long after Shadowhunters ends.

We are only halfway through season 2 of Shadowhunters, so we are sure there will be plenty more reasons to love, and also hurt for, Jace Wayland. We can also guarantee Dominic Sherwood will continue to reach new heights with his acting abilities and will undoubtedly continue to impress us with his portrayal of Jace Wayland.