Discussing Ep. 7.3
Well, it looks like Clarke isn't the only one causing chaos around Sanctum!
My Raven! She really, really messed things up now. Though not only her but it seems in her attempt to save everyone from a nuclear meltdown, she's gone and made an enemy of someone who you don't want to make an enemy of. Throughout all the scenes with Raven, I knew that things were just not going to turn out well. Mind you, some of it wasn't her fault (and I'll get to that later). But the nuclear reactor scenes were, by far, the more nailbiting of the entire episode. And not necessarily for the fact that Emori and Murphy were racing against time, but for the fact that Raven didn't tell Hatch or the other convicts about the radiation levels. I kept hoping that those convicts would come out of it okay because if they didn't, Raven was going to be in HUGE trouble with Hatch's girlfriend, Nikki.
Right from her first introduction, you knew she was going to be a shit stirrer. And her attitude seemed far more antagonistic than Hatch's. And sure enough, from the story that Hatch told, she was the one who shot the police when they were on the run with hostages after a robbery on Earth, essentially forcing Hatch to shoot the hostages too since they had already committed murder. I can totally see Dark Commander stoking the fires of Nikki's rage, making her a powerful ally because she has absolutely nothing to lose now. And she could easily stir the other convicts to follow DC's banner, because he will find a way to manipulate everyone against Clarke and Co. Though I wanted Raven involved in a storyline, this isn't what I had in mind. Now Raven has an enemy in Nikki and only one of them is coming out of this alive!
Speaking of making enemies....good grief! Are these two ever going to get along? It's funny because I still have not tired of Murphy being the wild card in every single season. You really don't know where his loyalties lie (outside of himself and Emori) because someone always does something that just goes and pisses him off. Sometimes he's justified in his rebellion, other times he's not. Here, it was difficult to make that distinction and that's what has defined this show, the "grey area" that they all constantly swim in. Raven had a point. She couldn't tell Hatch and the others what the real risks were because they wouldn't have done the work and everyone would be dead. But lying to them wasn't morally correct either. You get the sense from the brief conversation that Murphy had with Hatch that the two of them might have been buddies at one point. Murphy is an outlaw at heart and I could see him finding kinship with Hatch and the other convicts. Whether he will ultimately turn his back on Raven and Clarke and the others remains to be seen. And that's both impressive and tragic....that Murphy's loyalties are still in question after all this time.
Although the nailbiting revolved mostly around Raven's deception, I did have concern over Emori and her attempting to fix the reactor. I kept yelling at my screen for Emori to move her cute ass because she was taking too much time just looking at the dead bodies! And then, she took too much time trying to get that wrench unwedged when she couldn't figure out that she needed to lift that cylinder first in order to get the wrench free! I sat there questioning what that genius at the beginning episode was doing (other than having sex on his mind) because he really went and fucked things up for everybody! However, I was happy to see Emori do something other than being Murphy's partner. She seemed to have some kind of role last season when she was training under Raven and so I do hope her role is expanded to be something beyond just Murphy's moral compass.
It seemed Clarke got tired of causing all the mayhem on the show and both Raven and Gaia decided to help out! This was incredibly stupid on the part of Gaia. I get her rationale and she's not necessarily wrong, but the timing definitely was. The fact that she would think that Wunkru would accept that she was lying to them about Madi still being Heda on top of her destroying the Flame...RIGHT AFTER one of the Wunkru members openly challenged Indra?!? Challenging Indra is the most disrespectful thing you can do! That woman has done so much and has seen so much that she's like Yoda but with an even deadlier edge! You don't fucking challenge that woman all willy nilly like that unless you've lost all respect and don't care about the consequences.
And yet, a member of Wunkru did indeed challenge Indra and doubted her word! If that alone didn't signal to Gaia that Wunkru's respect and belief in the Madi and even Indra had been compromised and that they were not going to be understanding in regards to Madi no longer having the Flame inside of her and that Gaia and Clarke and Indra had been lying to them the whole time....then Gaia's naivete cannot be underestimated. I loved Indra's line here: "Faith may be blind, but loyalty isn't!" Mind you, they were probably going to hit this point eventually because they couldn't keep up that Wizard of Oz facade for very long. And had they managed to get some members of Wunkru to help Raven out with the welding of the pipes, they would have died. Raven's guilt might have been even greater as a result, and their deaths would have put a greater strain on Wunkru's faith in the leadership, which probably would have led to this rebellion, regardless of whether Madi had the Flame or not.
But if Clarke and Co. couldn't get the job done in sabotaging themselves, then they always have RussellDC to go and do it for them. I have to admit, I was rather confused as to DC's plan because there was no way he could anticipate Jordan speaking up for him on his behalf or anything going on with Clarke and all of them. And I do wonder if DC has access to all of Russell's memories and his knowledge because it was just brilliant how he was able to manipulate everything to his favour. How did he even get into Russell's brain anyway? I forget. Anyhoo, what was brilliant were his answers to Clarke's observations. How could Russell go from wanting to die to suddenly putting up conditions in regard to the manner in which he died? "Wanting to die and facing it are two different things." That was a really good answer. But I thought he was toast for sure because how in the world would he have stopped Russell's execution?
This was fucking brilliant! DC manipulated Jordan enough to get Russell in front of the crowd of Sanctumites to deliver a speech that would quell their anger and fear, only to then have another of his followers essentially be like John Wilkes Booth and attempt to assassinate him. The wound wasn't serious enough to kill him, and kudos to the shooter for having good enough aim not to kill him. Everyone played their part and once the chaos erupted, it showed both Clarke and Indra that killing Russell was just going to make things worse! Fucking brilliant strategy on the part of Dark Commander to avoid going to the pyre!
Now it's onto the second phase. Like I said, I can totally see Dark Commander recruiting Nikki and the other convicts. Also, now that Wunkru is all splintered, Dark Commander still has the knowledge and experience of Trikru's past and can totally reach out to the disillusioned members of Wunkru and recruit them too. He's going to have to be more subtle about how he knows so much about their history and culture but he's slick enough to accomplish it. Swelling the ranks of Sanctumites with convicts and Wunkru members....it would be the irony of ironies that DC could essentially do what Clarke could not....unite everyone! It's going to be a battle between DC and Clarke and perhaps Clarke's salvation lies with Echo, Hope and whoever or whatever Bardo is and the technology they have. Because I envision DC getting the numbers on his side!
