The 100 - Nakara

Discussing Ep. 7.6

So this was a rather weird episode. I felt like the Planet Frozen scenes and the Bardo scenes were more filler than anything else and I was far, far more invested in what was happening on Sanctum.

This was another wonderful episode that featured the bad ass Indra. I feel like this more than made up for her absence last season because her character is being featured but also going through some growth. I love the growing antagonistic relationship between her and Russell/DC. I feel like there is no other character that could stand up to Dark Commander the way Indra could and receive his respect the way Indra does. Madi couldn't do it. Clarke definitely couldn't do it. Neither of them have the maturity nor the experience to trade barbs with someone like Sheidheda. Plus, with Indra's own family history with Dark Commander, there really is no other character on The 100 cast that could serve as the main rival to Sheidheda.

And I can think of no other character that could rival Indra the way Sheidheda does. I have to say, I loved his interactions not only with Indra but with Nelson as well. Their fight scene alone was just incredible. He almost literally beat Nelson with one arm tied behind his back! I wasn't counting on him being able to turn the Children of Gabriel over to his side because I figured that they'd be more aligned with Wonkru than anything else because they were against the Faithful and the Eligius prisoners. But the way DC was able to manipulate and convince Nelson that an alliance with the prisoners might be beneficial was impressive.

If he was able to turn Nelson and the CoG onto his side so easily, I can only imagine how easy it will be to turn Nikki and the Eligius prisoners to his side as well. Though I'm curious how he will maintain the allegiance of the Faithful if they find out that he is not Russell Prime but rather someone else. Nelson now knows the truth and I can't imagine that he would keep the truth from Nikki and the other prisoners because why would he? And also, how would he merge the CoG and the Faithful since they obviously have very opposing beliefs and the CoG hold a very real grudge against them. Once again, I wish we had a longer season because I'd love to see a more fleshed out approach to DC's machinations and manipulations. I get the sense that he's going to rally everyone to his side far too quickly to be believable.

It's funny because I mentioned in the last review that I'd like to see Indra and Murphy in more scenes together and I got my wish. It's just so hilarious because Indra doesn't mean to be funny, but she can be with her deadpan and no nonsense demeanour that when she says stuff like "Excuse me, but I need to borrow your god," it just comes off as hilarious. Also it was rather interesting that of all the people who would convince Indra to take her rightful place as leader of Wonkru, it would be Murphy. Because he was right....behind Clarke, behind Octavia, even behind Kane, there was Indra. And her opinion that she was just a soldier and a warrior and nothing more was obvious nonsense. She deserved that position. Far more so than Clarke!

She proves it time and time again. With her interrogation of Nikki, I didn't even catch on that Indra had never mentioned what was stolen and her observation that Nikki never even bothered to ask what was stolen either told her all she needed to know. It's that kind of experience, that kind of insight and intuition that makes Indra such a great leader. But she's also humble enough to ask for help. Her approach of Madi (who I'm surprised to see at all this season) showed that she isn't the stone hard warrior that lives without doubt or fear. She felt lost and needed Madi's help. Madi wasn't able to and finally Murphy and Emori were able to convince Indra that she's the person for the job of Commander. And Indra proved their point.

And what do I always say about Indra in every episode she's in? You don't fuck with Indra! And she proved why, taking Knight down with ease. But again, she shows leadership qualities by not killing him but ordering him to go and find those lost guns. She can't afford to lose any followers at this point and plus, it would go a bit of ways to show mercy, if only a little. I can't imagine that Trikru won't follow Indra at this point. They have to. It's going to be a very interesting chess match between Indra and Sheidheda. I suppose that's why they had DC have a chess board set up in his room (which is weird because who could he be possibly playing with?).

 
There's not that much to say about the Diyoza storyline, other than that she obviously hasn't lost her touch when it comes to killing people and being utterly merciless about it. Her biting that guy's neck was just fucking brutal! But what I didn't necessarily appreciate about her ability to take everyone down with ease is that it once again shows how utterly inept Echo is. Echo got beat by Hope (who trained for all of like 5 years under Dev). Echo got beat by Orlando (an older man but a Level 12 Disciple). And yet, Octavia (who has trained for less time than Echo has) was able to take Disciples down with ease. Diyoza was able to do the same. Now, Diyoza I could accept considering her experience being a former Navy SEAL and what not. But Echo has really come off as rather incompetent as of late.

Not to mention very cold hearted. Again, I get that she's upset about Bellamy and all that but for fuck's sakes! I suppose that assassin's training never goes away (much like Diyoza's training didn't go away either) but as Echo and all of them are going around killing innocent people, I can't help but wonder what Bellamy would have thought about it all. Now, granted, Bellamy isn't innocent either. But it begs the question: when does it all stop? When is it justified and when is it not? How many innocent people have to be killed in the name of love?

Which brings me to the discussion between Raven and Clarke on Planet Frozen (or Nakara as it is called in the episode). At least Raven was able to look at what she had done and admit that she wasn't a nice person for doing what she did. She had that level of clarity and self awareness to see that she was a coward for letting Hatch and the other prisoners die in her place. But then there's Clarke, with her fucking not-so-sage words of stupidity: "The people we've killed, we killed to save the people we love." Well, that's just makes it all better, now doesn't it?!? Raven rightly pointed out that those people loved other people too. And she asks the question: where does it end? And I ask that question of Echo and Octavia and Hope. Where does it end? They went and killed a fucking old man! A gardener by the looks of it. What makes their lives or the lives of Bellamy or anyone else any more precious than his?

As far as the rest of the Planet Frozen scenes, like I said, it was filler. I will say though that it was really intense and borrowed a lot from other sci-fi franchises, most notably Star Wars. I couldn't help but hear Han Solo utter one of his many famous lines: "This is no cave!"

Them crawling through that narrow tunnel just gave me all kinds of claustrophobic feelings! I felt like they borrowed a page from The Descent series with those scenes, as well as borrowing from Cloverfield a little bit with that spider monster just coming up and trying to chew Raven's face off! My goodness, it was very, very fortunate that she was wearing that helmet because she just would not have a face after having endured an attack like that!

In the end, it seems like the Planet Frozen sequences were there to fill time, give that moment between Raven and Clarke and also to confirm what Baby had suspected, which was that Bardo was connected to the Second Dawn cult that had built that bunker on Earth. I am curious to know if Raven did indeed choose Bardo as their next planet or if they went somewhere else. Also, considering that they didn't find Bellamy, if they do go to Bardo, will that mean that Bellamy and Gaia are perhaps on the same planet together as well?

It will be interesting to see what other planets and environment that exist and just how inhospitable they may be.

The 100 - Welcome to Bardo

Discussing Ep. 7.5

This episode kicked ass, and it's for a couple of reasons.

First, no Clarke, so we didn't have to endure her asinine decisions.

Secondly, with no Clarke around, it fell on the bad ass Indra to assume control.

This was awesome. With an Indra-centric episode, you can't go wrong! What I loved about it was that she was cool under pressure, but you could also tell that she was tormented inside about certain things. It was all about the look on Indra's face. Especially when she was saw that that Sanctumite woman was going to set herself on fire. Indra looked real concerned. But she also maintained her edge throughout the episode, especially when challenged by Nelson. I had to laugh because when she asked if he was challenging her and he asked what she would do without an army if he were.....DAMN! The look on her face and the look on his face said it all! You do not want to mess with Indra!

And yet she was able to provide some levity, even though she didn't mean to. I really wish that Indra and Murphy had more scenes together. They couldn't be more dissimilar in terms of personality and experience and yet, when Indra had the idea to have Murphy pose as a Prime and they went to the tent where all the Faithful were gathering, she told him she'd have his back. Murphy hesitates to go knock on the door and Indra just gives him this look that the photo above just doesn't do justice. I fucking laughed when she gave that look and Murphy was "Alright, alright!" as that look alone was all she needed to say! 

I will say that it was really fucked up how the Faithful were willing to not only set themselves on fire as a means to force Indra to release Russell, but that they were going to light up children also! That was absolutely insane and shame on that father for letting them do it. I don't care how faithful he was, you don't let anyone do that to your children! Thankfully, Murphy saw it and intervened though I knew that he was going to get found out. The minute that guy asked him to recite the four pillars and he couldn't, I knew he was done for.

 

Enter Indra with Russell/DC and Emori in tow. I have to say, I loved this particular scene for a number of reasons. First, I love Dark Commander's style. He did what I would have done. Just go and slap the taste out of the mouths of your dimwitted followers for questioning your authority and for planning to light themselves and their children on fire! His whole demeanour was so damn dictatorial, it was impressive. "Kneel or die!" I think this personality fits the actor, JR Bourne, so much better than Russell Lightbourne did because it's just so much fun playing an evil guy! There are no moral chains and I could see that being quite liberating as an actor.

Then you had bad ass Indra realize the truth. I'm assuming DC's use of the phrase "Kneel or die" is what set off alarm bells for Indra, or at the very least confirmed what she had already suspected, and that was that Russell was somehow different. Because of course he was...he was all about peace and harmony before and now he's choking out his own followers and slapping the shit out of them and demanding that they kneel or die. I thought it was incredibly clever how Indra spoke that line in Trigedasleng as a means to test her theory, and Dark Commander fell for it. Fucking brilliant! I honestly thought that DC was going to order the Faithful to rise up and kill Indra then and there but thankfully that didn't happen.

I loved the little backstory they gave here, about how Indra's parents were given the choice to kneel and her father did but her mother did not. So there is a sort of history between Sheidheda and Indra and I think that she's made a very dangerous enemy of him now. Having him endure that surgery without any anaesthetic so that he would feel every bit of pain.....that look he gave her at the end told me that she's in his sights now. It will be very interesting to see where this all goes since Indra and all of them know Russell's true identity and how he plans to circumvent all of that to reclaim authority is a mystery.

On the other side of the wormhole, we got the backstory to Octavia and Hope's journey through Bardo (which I'm curious why it's called that). I had to admit, it was somewhat confusing keeping the timeline in mind as they were going back and forth, back and forth. At the very least, they answered a lot of questions but brought up a slew more. They were able to determine who everyone was thanks to the reading of Octavia's mind. I have to say, that was rather impressive technology they were wielding. It seems with every new civilization that The 100 crew encounter, the technology factor goes up as well. 

Apart from the Indra/Murphy scene, this one made me laugh out loud too. Levitt was essentially binge watching The 100 from Octavia's memory! Although, to be fair, I don't think he got the full extent of what happened. He's only seeing it all through Octavia's point of view, which would be biased, obviously. It was interesting, if not touching, how Octavia named Bellamy as the one whose hand she would reach for when Levitt presented her with that odd scenario. Of course, various faces popped up including Lincoln, Clarke and others. There were a few questions arising from Levitt's sessions that made me go "what the fuck?" I have to admit that I found it a bit too convenient that Levitt would be such a sympathetic person as to be so inspired by Octavia's journey that he would volunteer to assist her at the risk of his own life. A tad too convenient.

So let's address the blonde elephant in the room. Through Octavia's memories, they came to learn of Clarke's existence, and this is what prompted Anders (the guy with the white hair) to determine that she was the key to ending the last war that humanity would ever fight. Seriously?!? I'm going to be very interested to see how they turn Clarke into this messiah of sorts because it sounded like a whole lot of bullshit to make her the Neo of The 100 series. The other thing was the focus on Murphy in Octavia's memory. Levitt made it a point to specifically ask about Murphy and I can't help but notice that this is the second time that someone has asked specifically of Octavia about Murphy (the first being Hope when she was little). I don't know if there is any real significance to this or if they're playing to the Murphy fans on Twitter but if it's the latter, they better cut that shit out because it's getting annoying. I like Murphy but there's no need to highlight him like that.

In a lot of ways, I'm glad that this is the final season as it seems like the writers are running out of ideas and reusing the same character template over and over again. Anders is like the third guy in a white robe who is in charge of a small community of people who devote their lives to him and regard him as some kind of infallible and charismatic leader. There was President Wallace at Mount Weather (and to some extent, his son Cage), there was Russell Lightbourne and the Primes on Sanctum and now there's Anders on Bardo. Hell, you could even include Jaha on The Ark as being of the same ilk. How many of these types of characters are we going to run into? 

So we get to the here and now and a lot of questions came up for me. First off, as Baby noted in the last review, not only did they cut Hope's hair but they also dyed it blonde. How? Seriously....how? I can see them fashioning a pair of scissors and maybe some razors so as to give a proper haircut....but how the fuck did they dye her hair blonde using nothing but what you find in nature? It's not like they had bleach handy or even hydrogen peroxide, let alone a L'Oreal Preference hair colouring kit! Secondly, why did they cut her hair? Why did they cut Echo's? There were plenty of women on Bardo who had long hair that was tied up in a tight bun, so it's not like it was the norm for women to cut their hair short, military style. 

Thirdly, during the flashback, they explained that when Hope and Octavia were to go through the wormhole and return to Sanctum, they would lose their memories of Bardo and would arrive on the other side not knowing anything but what they remembered before they entered Bardo. Why? Why does it only work when leaving Bardo? Why doesn't that work when leaving Sanctum or Skyring or any other planet that they jump from? And my last question was....

....who is this guy? He looks familiar.

So we finally see the elusive Bellamy after all this time. But it's for such a brief blink-and-you-miss-it moment that I wonder what the point was in the end. Well, I think I know what the point was and it was stupid. Of course Bellamy isn't dead. I'm willing to bet that the explosion that Disciple set off pushed Bellamy and that conductor into wherever it was that Anders had programmed into the wormhole. Somehow, I don't think it's Sanctum and I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Clark and Co. find Bellamy on Planet Frozen sometime down the road. Or perhaps Gaia will find him in whatever world she got transported to.

But it seems that all this was set up so that Echo would go batshit crazy. I'm beginning to think that with that Karen haircut, she somehow inherited the Karen personality, so much so that not only did she speak to the manager about her complaints....she fucking killed him! I think Orlando unwittingly unlocked Echo's Karen Level 12, otherwise known as Karen Beast Mode! This was insane and it didn't help matters than neither Hope nor Gabriel bothered to stop her. The most they did was tell her to stop, almost halfheartedly. They made no real effort to stop her from killing that guy who had nothing to do with the explosion or with Bellamy's fate. They had ample opportunity as Echo was just wailing away on the guy's face, and then when she reached up for that metal rod, there was no question as to what she was planning to do. They had time to stop her but they didn't so as far as I'm concerned, they're all implicit in that guy's murder. 

So now the questions that arise for me are: where did Bellamy go to? How will Hope, Echo, Octavia and Gabriel get out of Bardo? How will Sheidheda get out of the situation he's in right now? How will Indra manage the rest of the Faithful along with those Wunkru members who have seemingly lost respect for her? And how in the world does Clarke become the Neo of The 100?

I guess we'll find out!

  

The 100 - Hesperides

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!

The 100 - False Gods

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!