The 100’s Marcus Kane and Abby Griffin are a badass power couple who somehow manage to both wrangle their 42 adopted children and keep their people alive in the face of weekly apocalyptic events, all while loving and supporting each other in true #relationshipgoals fashion.
The 100 focuses primarily on the mistakes and mishaps of its adolescent population as they attempt to weather one apocalyptic scenario after another.
As the two stable and relatively level-headed adults awash in a sea of adolescent angst and romance, Kane and Abby have a tendency to get overlooked when it comes to general The 100 show and shipping talk.
Yet amidst the high drama and lightning speed of many of the teen romances in the series, Kane and Abby consistently differentiate themselves by the slow, steady and stable progression of their relationship.
Far from making them one-note or boring, this dynamic between the two has elevated them to the position of number one power couple on the show.
Read on to learn why Kane and Abby are one of TV’s most underrated power couples — then head on over to the Battleships Tournament and make sure to vote for them!
They’re each powerful people individually…
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In order for a pairing to be considered a power couple, they need to each bring their own individual strengths to the relationship, completely separate and independent of one another.
For Kane and Abby, these individual strengths are what make them such engaging characters — but also what led to so many conflicts for the two initially.
In the first season, Kane acted as Captain of the Guard and second-in-command to Chancellor Jaha, both positions that he approached in a hardline, unsentimental manner. This was directly in conflict with Abby, who, as Chief Medical Officer and a well-respected member of the Council, took a decidedly more measured approach.
While Kane wished to ensure the survival of the human race — at any cost — Abby wanted to ensure that we were a race worthy of that survival.
As the seasons wore on and both characters developed, and the amount of no-win situations increased, these distinctions became less defined.
Still, the two sustained their own individual strengths, even as they traded the Chancellor’s pin back and forth multiple times throughout the seasons.
Kane used his years of political strategizing to become the Skaikru Ambassador, attempting to broker deals and peace agreements in a constantly fraught environment. Abby used her considerable medical skill and knowledge to stave off life-threatening illnesses and come up with new medical advances.
Kane and Abby are both dynamic characters who change and grow throughout the course of the series. However, one of the most powerful things about them is the fact that while they grow together, they don’t become one another.
In this way, they remain as they are at the beginning of the series: two separate characters with their own considerable strengths and skills, each capable of great things on their own.
…Who also support one another’s leadership
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However, being a power couple isn’t just about two powerful people getting together — it’s about each respective person using their strengths to both augment and support the other.
Though Kane and Abby are each powerful characters in their own right, neither of them has ever really wanted power for its own sake. They instead see that power as a way to work toward a shared goal — ensuring the protection and survival of their people.
This was the case even when the two were constantly at odds with one another; their conflict lay in the way they each chose to exercise that power and influence.
The start of season 3 introduced us to a Kane and Abby who had effectively laid this conflict to rest. Rather than constantly being at odds, the two had instead clearly joined their considerable experience, knowledge and influence to work together toward a goal they had always shared in the first place.
This is exemplified by the fact that throughout the duration of the show, each of them has passed the mantle of Chancellor from one to another.
They’re both secure enough in their talents and abilities to realize when they’re the right person for the job — and when someone else can do it better. And even in those positions of power, both recognize the value of both supporting the other, and even challenging one another when the need arises.
Their love for one another doesn’t negate their strong opinions; instead, it becomes another way for them to love and support each other.
Their respect for each other as individuals only strengthens who they are as a couple. Far from being threatened by their partner’s strength, they instead use it to reflect, make them better and move forward.
As Marcus once told Abby: “No matter who wears the [Chancellor’s] pin, we’re in this together.”
This complete sense of trust and support makes them a formidable force who have been able to weather multiple wars, apocalypses and fraying alliances, and what makes them such a great power couple.
They’ve haven’t let their past interfere with their future
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A power couple exhibits strength in a variety of ways.
For Kane and Abby, one of the things that makes them so strong as a couple is the fact that they’ve successfully overcome their shared long and bitter history.
The first episode has Abby breaking the law despite knowing that it will lead to a death sentence for her because — as she tells Kane to his face — breaking the law to keep him from becoming Chancellor is “the easiest decision I’ve ever made.”
Kane, on his end, does indeed sentence Abby to death, seemingly without any regret or remorse. The only reason she doesn’t end up on the wrong side of an airlock is due to Jaha’s timely recovery and pardon.
This pointed antagonism between the two persists for much of the first season, with Abby’s steadfast belief in ideas of goodness and morality constantly butting up against Kane’s ethos of survival at any and all cost.
However, in the last few episodes of season 1, we begin to see a change between the two which persists into season 2. The introduction of an enemy that threatens their people unites them and allows them to move past their bitter history.
They begin to see the value of one another’s strengths, and we begin to see their progression from enemy to ally, from ally to friend. By the end of season 2, a question hangs over their relationship — one that asks whether these two really are friends, or have now become something more.
It’s a question that the show dances around for the first half of season 3, but one that it definitively answers in the ninth episode of the third season, when the two finally share a confession of feelings and a passionate kiss.
A show that begins with Kane sentencing Abby to death for breaking the law ended its most recent season with him saving Abby from certain death despite her express wish that he do otherwise.
Kane and Abby show that love is many things — a look, a phrase, a passionate kiss — but it is above all a choice.
Love is choosing to see the best in someone after they have given you their worst, choosing to understand that we can be more than who we’ve been, choosing to believe that we can deserve more and better.
And that act of choosing — that act of loving one another — makes them an incredibly powerful couple.
They are ridiculously RIDE OR DIE for one another
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In the fast-paced, high stakes world of The 100, there’s really no such thing as half measures.
This is a characteristic that both Kane and Abby exhibit to the fullest extent, usually and especially when it comes to one another.
The entire run of the series is generally just a laundry list of all the times both Kane and Abby have gone to great lengths to ensure the other’s safety.
In season 1, Kane literally dragged himself through a burning air shaft just on the mere hope of finding Abby alive (okay, yes, he was ostensibly just looking for survivors in general — but I’ve watched that particular episode at least a half dozen times and no one will ever convince me that he was not, in fact, looking specifically for Abby).
Season 2 had Abby digging through bombed out rubble and refusing to leave Kane, who was buried under a metric ton of rock. The end of the season showed Kane begging for Abby’s life as she was tortured by the Mountain Men.
Season 3 had both of them risking their lives to ensure that the other would remain safe and alive, with Abby planning Kane’s risky escape from Arkadia despite Kane’s plea for her to do otherwise and Kane later in the season enduring hours of crucifixion due to his refusal to yield to Jaha — only then to succumb once Abby’s life was threatened.
The point is, these two are the definition of ride or die when it comes to each other. They’ll endure whatever is needed when it comes to themselves, but the minute the other is threatened, all hell breaks loose.
They inspire one another to be better
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The best indication of a true power couple is having two fantastic people who encourage and inspire one another to become even more amazing than they already are.
This is absolutely something that Kane and Abby do — and something that the show takes care to always call out.
When the two were still in the “enemies” stage of their enemies-to-friends-to-lovers journey, they’d often have heated confrontation that called to task each other’s flaws.
Now firmly in the lovers stage of their journey, Kane and Abby still have that same heated energy — only now they use it to push one another to be better, to lift each other up when the world seems intent on bringing them down.
Each of them has learned from one another, has learned to compromise on the hardline set of beliefs that have always guided each of them. They have each taken from one another, each seeing the value of hope and of empathy, of pragmatism and efficiency.
They’ve learned how to rely on one another implicitly no matter what, to believe in the capabilities of their partner.
They’ve learned how to make the hard decisions when there are no good ones left.
And because of their status as a true power couple, they’ve learned the best way to live with the consequences of those choices — by drawing on one another’s strength and love and support and learning how to move forward together.
In a sea of television romances that seem to highlight couples engaged in some unending power struggle with one another, Kane and Abby are an inspiring example of two strong personalities who use their respective strengths to build their love and support of one another — and show us all what a power couple truly looks like.