Want some coup de grâce with a side of betrayal? The 100 season 2, episode 11 was a wild ride of power shifts, so let’s dive right in!
This week’s episode of The 100 was, as always, spectacular. It was also very much a transitory episode, putting all the pieces into place for the final showdown.
With five episodes still to go, we can expect many more (probably unpleasant) twists and turns, but by god, I hope those kids make it out of Mount Weather alive. It feels like they’ve been in there forever.
Let’s recap The 100 season 2, episode 11, very aptly titled “Coup de Grâce.”
Fifty Shades of Bellamy
The episode opens with the most dramatic shower sequence ever seen on network television. It’s like a raunchy fanfic gone wrong, and I’m sure this is not what the fangirls meant when they begged the writers for a scene in which Bellamy was tied up and hosed down. Careful what you wish for, boys and girls.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is: the captives are disinfected, and it’s horrifying.
Bellamy is locked in a cage, where – because he’s Bellamy – he immediately befriends a pretty girl. She’ll later help save his life, because who can resist that side-smirk, eh?
When Doctor Singh and her team of evil minions come to take the girl away, Bellamy (ever the gentleman) draws attention to himself, and they take him instead. He’s suspended upside-down, and that scream you heard ring out across America? A million fangirls losing their sh**.
I’ve said before that there is no way Bellamy is going to get killed off, but you know, the writers might just be anarchistic enough to do it, just because they can. We’ll see.
However, today won’t be that day! Because help comes in the unlikely form of Maya, who’d been trying to figure out what had happened to Harper and Monty.
She follows the blood trail, literally, and gets Bellamy down from the bondage contraption. The guard oh-so ironically named Lovejoy catches them in the act, and Bellamy freakin’ chokes the life right out of him – with the help of his new girlfriend.
“I’ll come back for you, random pretty Grounder girl,” Bellamy tells her, then heroically saunters away. Chalk it up to the strength of the acting that I’m already invested in this pairing.
Maya, meanwhile, is understandably overwhelmed by the sight of Bellamy’s shirtless body. Oh, and the dead guy. She decides to join Bellamy’s kind of stupid plan, which has him not only try to make it to the radio room undetected, but also stop by and visit his friends on the way.
We’ll skip right past the hold-the-elevator schtick to the scene in which Bellamy encounters a group of kids – and, because of dramatic irony, is confronted by Lovejoy Jr.
Bellamy’s wearing his thinking cap, and realizes (for the first time? The Grounders and Sky People are really putting all their hopes on this guy?) that there must be children in Mount Weather, and so his vow to kill everyone may have been a tad bit overdramatic.
In a glass Cage of emotion
In this very Mount-Weather heavy episode, Cage finally comes through with the backstabbing ploy we knew was coming (and I’m kind of relieved it wasn’t an actual stabbing in the back), turning the guards against President Wallace and assuming control.
Although it was kind of inevitable, it was still sad to see the benevolent leader fall – there are so few genuinely compassionate people on this show.
…Okay, so compassionate may be an overstatement: after all, Wallace has facilitated the capture and slow draining of Grounders all his life. Cage and Singh, cartoon villains as they may be, would at least be ending that practice by finding a way to send their people to the surface.
Either way, Wallace was doomed to fail the moment he showed compassion towards his would-be enemies. It’s a consistent pattern on The 100: the moment a character shows compassion and/or acts on their emotions, they fall. This world isn’t built for softies – as Clarke is beginning to realize elsewhere.
Wallace did secure the temporary release of Monty and a tortured Harper (do we know why Doctor Singh didn’t just give the girl a sedative? Is she really that much of a deprived masochist?), who swap one cage for another as they’re locked inside their dormitory with their fellow 47-ers.
Still, it did allow for this beautiful reunion to take place.
Bellamy and Jasper also have a sort-of reunion when they see each other through the tiny window. There’s nothing Jasper can do but wait, so let’s hope Bellamy pulls through before Cage gets off his power trip and starts killing the kids!
Clarke’s on a horse. A TROJAN horse.
I see what you did there, The 100.
Clarke and Abby are riding back to Camp Jaha when a couple of Mountain Men take aim at them. Octavia and Indra save Clarke’s life when they attack from behind, and Octavia discovers that Mount Weather has singled Clarke and Lexa out as their respective groups’ leaders.
Through this episode, Abby fights a losing battle to get through to her daughter. There’s an obvious parallel here between Clarke/Abby and Cage/Wallace, where the more ruthless child overthrows their benevolent parent.
After they’ve captured the Mountain Man, Abby refuses to use torture against him. And while Clarke agrees, she also knows that they’re fighting a war. Things can’t be like they were on the Ark.
As Clarke tells Abby, this torture and death is, “just another day on the Ground.” Clarke needs to stay strong, because if she shows weakness, she loses the alliance. Abby is still trying to hold onto the civility that ruled on the Ark, and while that’s definitely the right way to live, right now it’s also the fastest way to die.
It’s a super interesting look at psychology and warfare, and just another reason to praise the brilliant writers and actors working on this show.
Marcus, meanwhile, is beginning to accept that Clarke is the true leader of their people – because the Grounders perceive her as such. He has an interesting exchange with Abby in which he basically tells her, “I’ll support you as long as you do things the way I want you to do them.” Make of that what you will.
Raven and Clarke have a pow-wow, and Octavia walks in – and is this the first time the three of them have been alone together? Um, more of this please!
When Clarke realizes that the kids at Mount Weather are already being bled, she is as close to giving up as she’s ever been. Surprisingly, Raven talks her back up. “You don’t get to give up. You killed Finn and I didn’t give up,” she tells her. And then hilariously defines Clarke’s job as, “to come up with something.” Which is 100% accurate.
That’s when the radio scratches, and Clarke and Bellamy have a great little exchange. You know, I really like what the writers are doing with Bellamy and Clarke, whether or not it leads anywhere romantic. It’s small moments like these that remind me why their friendship is such an important aspect of the show – they need each other, and ultimately the fate of the Sky People stands or falls with whether or not Bellamy and Clarke can combine their skill sets and work together.
Bellamy tells Clarke of his mind-blowing realization that Mount Weather people don’t spring out of the rocks as fully-formed ruthless killing machines. So, yeah, they need a plan that doesn’t kill everyone. He tells them that their people are still alive, and she communicates their Trojan Horse idea.
“And, Bellamy? You came through. I knew you would.”
“All I’ve done so far is not get killed.”
“Keep doing that.”
It just so happens that heartfelt walkie/phone reunions are one of my favorite romance tropes – see this scene from Lost and this other scene from Lost for examples – but you know, it’s hard to get too caught up in a will-they-won’t-they when so much cool fighting-for-your-life-stuff is going on.
The show moves on to one of its very rare montage sequences, in which we see Wallace in captivity, Monty treating the injured Harper… and Clarke stepping up as the leader she has to be to win this war.
She frees the Mt Weather soldier, giving him a message for his leader: the Grounders have a secret army, and they’re coming for the mountain, The Hobbit style. Clarke turns his oxygen supply down to six hours… which is somewhat dumb because if he dies, he won’t be able to deliver the message. But she does score +10 Badass Points, so I guess it’s worth the risk.
Clarke tells her mother that, “You may be the Chancellor, but I’m in charge.” She even feeds Abby’s own words back to her, saying “you need to trust that I know what’s right for us.”
She’s got the Grounders behind her, and Abby has no choice but to step down. But damn, it must be a hard pill to swallow. I’m not gonna lie, I’d be pretty pissed off if my future child ever did that to me!
But there’s no doubt that Clarke is the natural leader, and their best chance of getting through this. We’ll just have to wait and see if they do.
Closing thoughts
– “Bellamy is the key to everything. If he dies, we die.” – Jason Rothenberg to the writers’ room?
– Have you noticed how free Octavia seems, having adopted the Grounder lifestyle? She even walks and talks differently. It’s so awesome. Don’t we all want to give in to that side of ourselves sometimes?
– If that Monty/Jasper hug didn’t melt your heart, I’m judging you.
– You know, I don’t think that Cage and Singh have really thought their master plan through. Considering how many years they’ve been tormenting the ruthless Grounders, what exactly do they imagine will happen when they take their helpless civilians outside? All those children? You think the Grounders will just leave them in peace? Hahahahahaha. They’ll be dead faster than you can say “Trigedasleng.”