by Hayley Charlesworth
With just one week to go until the season finale, the stakes are higher than ever before on The 100, a show that has unexpectedly been one of the most consistently gripping, action-packed and well-plotted debuts of the year. Last week, we left off with Finn the prisoner of the Grounders, Clarke trapped, and the revelation that there are still survivors on the Ark. But with the Ark only having a few days of survival left, and Clarke and Finn at the mercy of the Grounders, this is a nailbiter of a penultimate episode.
With just one week to go until the season finale, the stakes are higher than ever before on The 100, a show that has unexpectedly been one of the most consistently gripping, action-packed and well-plotted debuts of the year. Last week, we left off with Finn the prisoner of the Grounders, Clarke trapped, and the revelation that there are still survivors on the Ark. But with the Ark only having a few days of survival left, and Clarke and Finn at the mercy of the Grounders, this is a nailbiter of a penultimate episode.
Sentenced to death by Anya and believing Finn dead, Clarke is left behind with a single Grounder as the army, led by Tristan, follow a signal beacon. Lincoln leads Clarke and Finn to safety in honour of Octavia. The only problem is, the route back to camp is through tunnels populated by Reapers, savages who make the Grounders look merciful. Back at the camp, there’s an even more immediate threat in Murphy, his release only secured by trading places with Bellamy. Up on the Ark, Chancellor Jaha chooses to spend his final days watching old videos of his late son, Wells, until a conversation he watches with young Wells and Clarke gives him a new idea. Together with Kane, Sinclair and Abby, they choose not to die in space, but to risk themselves bringing the Ark to the ground.
This is a perfectly balanced episode, with each of the three plot threads given equal weight. The morality of each character is also brought into question with startling effect. Lincoln is a man of sacrifice, killing one of his own to save Clarke and Finn, then sacrificing himself to the Reapers so that the others may escape. Clarke and Finn both have blood on their hands, Clarke killing a Grounder in her escape attempt last week, and Finn now killing a Reaper. And yet, we still see Clarke and Finn as our heroes, their actions necessitated purely by survival. Unlike last week, which revealed some weakness and empathy in Anya, the Reapers are truly monstrous, keeping their victims alive but on the verge of death, forced to suffer. It is unlikely we’ll discover more about the Reapers until season two, but it is one hell of a mystery to go out on.
The most exciting development of all, however, is the showdown between Bellamy and Murphy in the drop ship. Murphy is psychotic, that much was clear from the first episode, but the trauma of his hanging at least makes it understandable why he wants Bellamy to suffer the same fate. Bellamy, however, is a character that can be mirrored with Lincoln, the other most important person in Octavia’s life. Both offer themselves to save another, and ultimately save Octavia, but while Lincoln’s fate is not shown, Bellamy’s hanging is stark and brutal.
The 100 is a show full of strengths and weaknesses, and morally grey characters. We’ve seen complex characters like Raven, tough, no nonsense and smart, but broken by losing Finn to Clarke. There’s characters like Bellamy and Kane, at first villainous before being revealed to be true heroes, and now there are hints of further development with the Grounder characters. Whatever happens in the finale, whether the Ark survives the journey to Earth, the Grounders attack, or Murphy and the Reapers make their return, this show has created one hell of a hook to lure viewers in for the season finale, and for season two beyond that.
The 100 is a show full of strengths and weaknesses, and morally grey characters. We’ve seen complex characters like Raven, tough, no nonsense and smart, but broken by losing Finn to Clarke. There’s characters like Bellamy and Kane, at first villainous before being revealed to be true heroes, and now there are hints of further development with the Grounder characters. Whatever happens in the finale, whether the Ark survives the journey to Earth, the Grounders attack, or Murphy and the Reapers make their return, this show has created one hell of a hook to lure viewers in for the season finale, and for season two beyond that.
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