by Hayley Charlesworth
The increasingly fascinating Blake siblings take centre stage in the latest episode of The 100, as Bellamy leads an expedition to rescue younger sister Octavia from the growing threat of the Grounders. With scenes on the Ark limited to flashbacks of the Blake family backstory, His Sister’s Keeper serves mostly as an in depth character study of Bob Morley’s Bellamy, the most fascinating and morally ambiguous of this team of dubiously motivated teens.
The increasingly fascinating Blake siblings take centre stage in the latest episode of The 100, as Bellamy leads an expedition to rescue younger sister Octavia from the growing threat of the Grounders. With scenes on the Ark limited to flashbacks of the Blake family backstory, His Sister’s Keeper serves mostly as an in depth character study of Bob Morley’s Bellamy, the most fascinating and morally ambiguous of this team of dubiously motivated teens.
With Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) captured by the Grounder Lincoln (Ricky Whittle) at the end of the previous episode, Bellamy is hell bent on rescue, despite a good portion of the camp turning against him. Clarke (Eliza Taylor) and Raven (Lindsay Morgan) break off from the rescue team to find a new radio transmitter, having witnessed the ejection of 300 bodies from the Ark (unaware from the ground that the victims of the cull were all volunteers), leading to heightened tensions between them as Raven discovers Clarke’s tryst with her boyfriend, Finn (Thomas McDonell). Meanwhile, Bellamy’s team of rescuers, including Finn and the smitten Jasper (Devon Bostick) hunt down the erstwhile Octavia, and very soon the numbers dwindle way below zero as the Grounders launch their own attack. But while Lincoln is keeping Octavia hostage, he also frequently saves her life and helps to heal her wounds, indicating perhaps an ulterior motive in the Grounders’ plan.
Flashbacks to the Ark show the development of the Blake siblings’ relationship, right from Octavia’s birth. Bellamy spends his every moment keeping his sister hidden from the authorities, while Octavia has never seen outside of her sleeping quarters and has to hide herself under the floor during inspections. When Bellamy becomes a cadet in the guard, he sneaks Octavia out of her room for the first time to a masquerade ball, but an unexpected solar flare leads to disastrous consequences for the siblings. Following Octavia’s capture, we see that Bellamy’s failed assassination of Chancellor Jaha was purely to follow Octavia to the ground, and the identity of the person commissioning the hit: Commander Shumway.
Flashbacks to the Ark show the development of the Blake siblings’ relationship, right from Octavia’s birth. Bellamy spends his every moment keeping his sister hidden from the authorities, while Octavia has never seen outside of her sleeping quarters and has to hide herself under the floor during inspections. When Bellamy becomes a cadet in the guard, he sneaks Octavia out of her room for the first time to a masquerade ball, but an unexpected solar flare leads to disastrous consequences for the siblings. Following Octavia’s capture, we see that Bellamy’s failed assassination of Chancellor Jaha was purely to follow Octavia to the ground, and the identity of the person commissioning the hit: Commander Shumway.
Since the very beginning, Bellamy has been the highlight of The 100, and this episode proves why. Playing Bellamy both as a young boy with ambition and hope, and his current self, desperate and cynical, Bob Morley is a captivating screen presence. Bellamy is a character who does bad things but with good intentions, and it is difficult to do anything but sympathise with him. Equally, we get an opportunity to dive more into the character of Octavia. Her sense of naivety and wonderment at the masquerade ball is perfectly pitched by Avgeropoulos, and in her attempts to escape Lincoln’s clutches, she is presented as both resourceful and understandably terrified.
The only problem with the episode comes with the cutaways to Clarke and Raven’s subplot. These are two strong, complex female characters who were fascinating to watch and wonderfully performed by Eliza Taylor and Lindsay Morgan. Now, however, they have been reduced to little more than romantic rivals for Finn, who, in all honesty, isn’t very interesting. While the innocent relationship between Octavia and Jasper is a sweet side plot, this love triangle feels both distracting and unnecessary. Both Clarke and Raven have proven themselves as worthy of so much more than a tired cliché.
So with the Grounders well and truly out of the woodwork, and the Ark having bought itself a bit more time, it should be full steam ahead in the fight for survival. The 100, while proving in this episode that it has skill in character development, works best when the stakes are high, so one can only hope for a real adventure in the episodes to come.
The only problem with the episode comes with the cutaways to Clarke and Raven’s subplot. These are two strong, complex female characters who were fascinating to watch and wonderfully performed by Eliza Taylor and Lindsay Morgan. Now, however, they have been reduced to little more than romantic rivals for Finn, who, in all honesty, isn’t very interesting. While the innocent relationship between Octavia and Jasper is a sweet side plot, this love triangle feels both distracting and unnecessary. Both Clarke and Raven have proven themselves as worthy of so much more than a tired cliché.
So with the Grounders well and truly out of the woodwork, and the Ark having bought itself a bit more time, it should be full steam ahead in the fight for survival. The 100, while proving in this episode that it has skill in character development, works best when the stakes are high, so one can only hope for a real adventure in the episodes to come.
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