Discussing Ep. 7.4
So this really felt like the 'We Hate Echo' episode of the season. Either that or the writers really felt like she needed to be brought down a few pegs, which I don't understand why.
It sometimes amazes me how 'well adjusted' these characters are given their backstory. For Hope to suddenly wake up and have the two women that have been there her whole life suddenly disappear without a trace must have been absolutely jarring! Though it was fortuitous that she was taught how to survive on her own and how to grow her own food, nevertheless it appears that she wasn't taught all aspects of survival. Enter Dev.
I have to say that this was probably the weakest aspect of the entire episode. I didn't like it. First off, it was HIGHLY fortuitous that Dev was a good guy and not some creepy pervert. Because let's face it.....he could have done anything to Hope and no one would have been around to help her. I'm sure had this not been on the CW and was on HBO or something like that instead, Hope would have had a very, very different (and tragic) backstory! But to her good fortune, Hope saved Dev and he, in return, provided training that apparently surpassed everything that Diyoza or Octavia could ever teach her.
Though I understand that they couldn't show everything that Dev taught Hope, just showing her practicing throwing a knife over and over again just didn't cut it (no pun intended) as far as developing that relationship between them. Personally, I would have preferred if Dev were somewhat older, like Orlando's age and therefore it would make it more believable that he could take on that mentor role in Hope's life and therefore Hope would have had a stronger connection and memory of him. I just didn't feel any kind of connection between Hope and Dev at all. But we're supposed to believe that he taught her how to fight, how to track, how to be a complete warrior and he filled a void in Hope's life. I didn't feel that mentor-student relationship at all between these two.
Maybe that's why his death didn't do anything for me and it didn't seem to do a hell of a lot for Hope either. It seems that any relationship forged on Skyring means fuck all in the long run because people move on from their so-called friend's deaths really quickly! It was the first death that Hope ever had to endure and she grieved for all of like a minute before putting a suit on and venturing into the wormhole. Yes, I get that she was on a mission to save her mom and Aunty-O but for someone who froze at the prospect of killing someone and then experiencing the death of a person whom she supposedly cared about and trained with for years, to all of a sudden shut that emotional part of herself off and continue on with her mission in the span of 20 seconds? I'm not buying it.
There was A LOT that I wasn't buying in this episode. So we get to the here and now and Echo, Hope and Gabriel are trying to figure out how to get back onto the Bridge so as to save Bellamy and Diyoza and Octavia. Hope figures that they're going to have to wait over 4 years because that's when Orlando's prison time is up and that the Disciples will eventually come to retrieve them and the wormhole will be open again. So they are stuck together for four years. Now, I'll get this point out of the way. Either time works differently on Skyring and 4 years to them is NOT the same as 4 years to us...AND/OR...they were stuck for the equivalent of 4 years on Earth and all of them had the incredible discipline and restraint to fight biological urges...AND/OR...they don't have biological urges anymore! Because how in the blue hell could Gabriel and Orlando and Hope and Echo hang with each other for four years and not engage in any kind of sexual or romantic relationship...at all?!?
I get that Echo loves Bellamy and is holding out for him so maybe that was her motivation for not pursuing anything with Gabriel. And one could argue that Gabriel is somehow more developed or evolved in terms of his ideals and ethics and saw Hope and Echo as sisters rather than as anything beyond that. And maybe Orlando just didn't see Hope or Echo in that way or maybe he was neutered as part of his experience with the Disciples. And hell, maybe Hope is a lesbian or she's asexual. But human nature is human nature, and this show has consistently shown that human nature does not change and that we are all weak when it comes to giving in to our human nature. Echo and Bellamy spent 6 years on that space station and they got together. You're telling me that these four individuals spent four years, training closely together, and none of them ever developed romantic or sexual feelings for each other? Bullshit!
Ya know what else was bullshit? Echo getting owned time and time again. Look, I get that they're trying to build these Disciples up as elite fighters and what not, and having Dev train Hope to become a fighter that was even better than Echo was one thing. But having any Level 12 Disciple being able to easily beat Echo? First off, Echo got humbled when she didn't know how to garden. Then, she challenged Orlando, which to be fair, was stupid on Echo's part. I have to admit, I did like that exchange between Echo and Orlando.
"Is [Level 12] supposed to scare me?"
"If it doesn't, it's because you don't know what we can do."
I did like that.
Then they cut off Echo's hair! If it wasn't for Tasya Teles's beauty, that hairstyle wouldn't work at all. It's incredibly close to being a Karen-type of hairstyle, and you don't want that. I don't think anyone would want Echo wanting to speak to the manager because that would be a whole lot of trouble! But it seems like that when Orlando knighted them all as Level 12 Disciples and cut off Echo and Hope's hair, he cut off that part of themselves that had any shred of loyalty or even love and compassion. They trained with him for four fucking years! And Echo and Hope were able to turn on him in the blink of an eye? Again, bullshit! I was not happy with this turn by both Echo and Hope and their wretched hairstyles only serve to remind me of that which was lost.
Funny enough, they both reminded me of Clarke in that moment, who also has short hair! On the other side of the Bridge, here was Clarke, trying to get Raven on board with analyzing the tech from that dead Disciple, and Clarke seemed SOOOOO detached and uninterested in Raven's crisis of conscience. The best Clarke could do was tell her that it wasn't her fault and to essentially to get over it and move on because they've got other things to worry about. Again, I understand that they're all on a time frame and there is shit to do but Clarke really came off as very unsympathetic to Raven's problems. With Raven hallucinating about seeing Hatch's face in that dead Disciple, you can't tell me that she's okay.
And then you have Jordan, who I don't get as a character at all. I get that he's naive and is still trying to figure out his world and those living in it but he seems rather inconsistent. One minute, he's in league with the Sanctumites. The next, he's betrayed by them. The next, he's trying to connect to Russell Prime. The next, he's in league with the Sanctumites again. The next, he's staring creepily at Raven while she's working. The next, he's doing weird commentary like "Raven Reyes, ladies and gentlemen" when she kills those Disciples and "Clarke Griffin has left the building" when they go through the wormhole. Like...what? What the hell is this guy's problem?
But back to Clarke, who is literally being built up as the saviour of humankind! That's what that Disciple said, that Clarke is "the key to winning the last war mankind will ever wage." What the motherfuck does that mean? If anything, I hope it means that she dies, but unfortunately in that death, her character will be remembered as a saint and not as the Commander of Death that she perpetually seems to embody everywhere she goes. I had to laugh when that Disciple mentioned how Clarke had already killed 9 of his people and none of them had even been formally introduced. Didn't Clarke and Co. start out on the same foot with the Sanctumites? Didn't she just waltz in and start killing people as a greeting? You can't tell me that the Commander of Death title no longer embodies who she is. Unlike Octavia, who you can tell has moved on from being Blodreina, Clarke clearly has not moved on from being the Commander of Death.
What I liked about the exchange between these two was how cocky Clarke was with her "maybe you think we can't shoot through the shield. We can." and he replied with "Good! That means we can too!"
And then his troops de-cloak and reveal themselves. What I didn't like was that they still got owned by a lone Raven in a suit. I love Raven but the idea that these highly trained soldiers...who are able to teach a child techniques that could best Echo in a one-on-one fight and have superior technology that even Raven was in awe of....that she was able to get the jump on them and come out on top? Again, bullshit!
What I also thought was bullshit was the planet that Raven randomly chose to go to. Why...in the world...would you choose a planet...that looks like it's all white? Basic astronomy could tell you that the planet on the top left of the chart looks most like Earth. Why not go there? No, she chose the planet that looks like fucking Pluto! And it was funny because Niylah even warned about going to an inhospitable planet (and I'm curious as to why she was even there. Her presence felt very random). So they all go to that one, and I was already getting upset because when Gabriel and Echo and Hope went through the wormhole, they held hands lest they each arrived on Skyring at separate times, perhaps even months apart. Clarke and Co. didn't do that and they arrived on Planet Frozen all at the same time! Again, bullshit!
So they arrive here and Gaia is left behind where's she's knocked out and some Disciple destroys the wormhole device and takes Gaia with her to who knows where. In the meantime, Clarke and Co. arrive on Planet Frozen and Raven informs them that without a wormhole stone, they can't go back to Sanctum. Why did they not think of these things before? Why only now that they're stuck on Planet Frozen is Raven informing them that they had no way to get back? What was their plan to get back? Raven knew they couldn't travel without a wormhole device so why didn't she tell them that before they leaped into the unknown? For fuck's sakes!
So now a bunch of questions arise. Who is the Shepherd that Orlando spoke about? How is it that the Disciples found Orlando's suicide note? How do they know so much about Clarke and Co. and knows even about their aliases? How many appearances will Bellamy make this season? How many will Madi make? How will they all get back from Planet Frozen? And will Echo's beautiful hair ever grow back? Here is a tribute to Echo and her beautiful hair. May it rest in peace along with Echo's sense of humanity!
