by Hayley Charlesworth
In this blistering mid-season finale, The 100 leaves behind the action on Mount Weather for an episode purely focused on Clarke and Finn. This is an episode that takes our heroine to places she has never been before, and can never return from. It also reveals Clarke Griffin to be one of the strongest characters on television.
In this blistering mid-season finale, The 100 leaves behind the action on Mount Weather for an episode purely focused on Clarke and Finn. This is an episode that takes our heroine to places she has never been before, and can never return from. It also reveals Clarke Griffin to be one of the strongest characters on television.
Despite everything that happens in the episode, from Kane’s return to Bellamy and Murphy finding some sort of truce, the only thing that really needs discussing here is Finn’s death, and Clarke’s role in it. Finn was a character who was not a villain, but who committed the most heinous crime seen yet on the show. But while characters like Murphy entered the show with some sort of darkness in their heart, Finn was a character corrupted by war and desperate to rescue or avenge those he loved. While the show didn’t put in as much effort in redeeming him as they did with Bellamy and Kane until this episode, Finn’s execution should be seen as a sacrifice, not a punishment. Which brings us on to Clarke.
It has been commented on numerous times that Clarke and Finn didn’t share enough chemistry for their romance to work, but it was scintillating in the face of tragedy. After a desperate attempt by Clarke, Raven, Bellamy and Murphy to protect Finn, it was obvious that all Clarke could do was let him die, but he died on her own terms. Rather than be forced to endure the excruciatingly slow execution by the Grounders, Clarke performs a quick mercy killing as she tells Finn she loves him. The strength it takes to perform this act, knowing it could get herself killed by the Grounders, and having her mother, friends, and a heartbroken Raven watch, is immeasurable, but not unexpected. Clarke was the first character to kill in the show, putting a dying Adam out of his misery, and the only difference here is that she is killing the man she loves. In making the toughest decision in the show yet, Clarke proves herself beyond any doubt that she is a more capable and strong leader than any of the three Chancellors, and one of the most complexly written women on a show full of them (this episode also adds some fascinating layers to Raven’s characters via flashbacks to her and Finn on the Ark.) At once, this episode was Clarke Griffin’s finest hour and darkest moment.
It has been commented on numerous times that Clarke and Finn didn’t share enough chemistry for their romance to work, but it was scintillating in the face of tragedy. After a desperate attempt by Clarke, Raven, Bellamy and Murphy to protect Finn, it was obvious that all Clarke could do was let him die, but he died on her own terms. Rather than be forced to endure the excruciatingly slow execution by the Grounders, Clarke performs a quick mercy killing as she tells Finn she loves him. The strength it takes to perform this act, knowing it could get herself killed by the Grounders, and having her mother, friends, and a heartbroken Raven watch, is immeasurable, but not unexpected. Clarke was the first character to kill in the show, putting a dying Adam out of his misery, and the only difference here is that she is killing the man she loves. In making the toughest decision in the show yet, Clarke proves herself beyond any doubt that she is a more capable and strong leader than any of the three Chancellors, and one of the most complexly written women on a show full of them (this episode also adds some fascinating layers to Raven’s characters via flashbacks to her and Finn on the Ark.) At once, this episode was Clarke Griffin’s finest hour and darkest moment.
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