What an explosive episode of The 100 this week, eh guys? It packed quite a punch. Weren’t you just… blown away?
The 100 season 2, episode 12 aired last night, and what a wild ride! In an episode that felt more like the first half of a season finale, several of the major storylines took huge leaps forward.
When you find out that the bad guys have missiles, you just know that sh** is gonna go down.
Burn, baby, burn
“Rubicon” opened with Cage chillingly declaring, “The ground is ours.”
Last week I wondered how long the Mountain Men would hope to last in Grounder Country without the mountain to protect them, but now that we know they have missiles, it’s a whole other ballgame.
I mean, the moment they don’t need the Grounders’ blood to survive, they’re probably just going to eradicate them, right? Way to up the stakes, show.
Cage and Tsing continued to do their best impressions of cartoon villains this week. Honestly, the way Tsing carefully deliberated which kid to suck dry next, like she was at the butcher’s picking out choice pieces of meat, was a bit ridiculous.
It reminded me of those Buffy villains, the Gentlemen, that were all like “no please after you kind sir, it’s your turn to carve out some innocent teen’s heart with a scalpel.”
But you know what? Tsing’s insane power trip only made her gross and painful demise so much sweeter to witness, so it was all worth it in the end. The wicked witch goddamn melted, and it was glorious.
Jasper (whose crazy-wide eyes suggest that he’s had just about as much as he can take) even got to feed her back the infuriating, “You’re incredibly special to us” line, which was a big fist-pump moment.
(The lesson: violence solves everything! Wait, what?)
Bellamy also did some good this week, even though he got no closer to disabling the acid fog and helping Clarke and co. With Wallace’s help, he caused a radiation breach, which not only killed Tsing and her lackeys, but also bought the delinquents some time.
At the end of the episode, Cage forced Wallace to take the cure, which means radiation can no longer kill him. Now he only has to worry about, like, everything else in this merciless world. (Let’s face it, Wallace probably isn’t going to stick around on the show much longer – but I really wish he would, because Raymond J. Barry is fantastic.)
Coconut phones and pillow fights (not really)
Clarke and Raven had some lovely bonding moments this week. Clarke was clearly stressed out about this leader thing (who wouldn’t be?) and tried to order Raven around again, but Raven impressively kept her cool.
Then Bellamy phoned home, and was all like “hey guuurls you having a slumber party?” But the gurls were not interested in his shenanigans, because they were busy trying to win a war.
Through Bellamy, Clarke learned that Mount Weather was getting ready to launch a missile to wipe out Ton-DC. Having just sent Kane off to treat with Lexa in her place, Clarke realised that the only way to warn them was to go herself.
Once again, Clarke proved why she’s a worthy leader: because she’ll sacrifice herself in a heartbeat if it means saving others.
Raven sent her off with a hug, and a caution: “Don’t get blown up.” It’s one of the rare awww-inducing moments of The 100, and it’s nice to see that Raven is taking the high road after Finn’s death.
It’d be very easy for the writers to launch her on some hate campaign against Clarke, but Raven (and the show) is smarter than that. Finn is gone, and Clarke and Raven are now both doing everything they can to prevent further losses.
How I Met Your Murphy
Meanwhile in the desert (which seems to be our new “meanwhile in space”), Jaha continued his awkward destiny quest. I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m just not feeling it. In a story so intent on showing us the harsh reality of life and death, having a character’s arc advance based on faith alone seems painfully out of place.
It’s kind of like with pregnancies in soap operas, where you just know that if the first baby is a girl, the second will be a boy, and the third will be twins/triplets cause the writers are running out of ways to keep the story interesting. It reminds you that the show is a fictional construct, because real life would never be that neat.
But let’s forget about Thelonious and his delusions about being Jesus and/or Daenerys Targaryen for a moment. The true star of this storyline is obviously John Murphy, whose moves were hella smooth this week. Plus, the desert looks really good on him.
I mean, just look at that… cinematography:
Jaha and his 12 disciples (really…?) came across an overturned cart, from which a damsel in distress sprung forth. And I was like, come on, Jaha, don’t you watch the show? No such creature exists.
The girl’s name was Emori, and she told them that although, “Everyone in the dead zone is looking for the City of Light, almost no one finds it.” I always wonder, when someone claims something like this, how do they know that ANYONE has found it, if they never find it themselves? Who’s told them it exists? Anyway.
Murphy and Emori had an instant connection when they bonded over murder, and she revealed her claw hand! Murphy was all like, “not gonna lie, I’m a little turned on right now.” Sigh, the greatest love stories never last.
It was obviously a set-up, and Emori immediately turned on Murphy and his people – but she did leave him with a little clue, sending him North to what we assume is the City of Light.
Jaha’s group is now following the Star of Bethlehem North Star, after Jaha told John some nonsense about, “this is what they call faith.”
You better be going somewhere with this, show. I didn’t like it when it was Mr Eko pushing his faith on John Locke in the jungle, and I don’t like it when it’s Chancellor Jaha pushing his faith on John Murphy in the desert.
Anyway, I hope they reach their destination before the giant-ass moon crushes them all, Majora’s Mask style.
A welcome role reversal
Back in the real world, Indra told Octavia that, “Lincoln is no longer your concern.” As Indra’s second, Octavia can’t waste her time worrying about crap like romance and stuff anymore.
I’m loving this new Grounder Octavia, by the way. So fierce, but no less worried about the safety of the people she loves.
Marie Avgeropoulos is doing an amazing job showing her character’s transformation: as Octavia gives in to her warrior side, she begins to carry herself differently, and her expressions are coarser and less guarded. She’s not trying to impress anyone with her looks, least of all the audience, and this only makes her 10 times more captivating.
In the forest, Octavia discovered Lincoln sniffing around a Grounder body. He seems to be a Reaper again, but without the frothing? He can think and speak, but claims he “can’t fight it.” So he’s like the main character in iZombie, basically: he craves human flesh but still has his conscience… I guess.
Anyway, Octavia gave him some tough Grounder love, and delivered the best line of the episode: “Either you get up and we fight this, or you crawl away and die alone like a coward. It’s your choice.”
Octavia is the BOMB. Pun intended.
An explosive finale
Clarke arrived at Ton-DC and went straight to Lexa, who insisted that they sacrifice the camp (and everyone inside) to avoid blowing their cover.
If you’ve seen The Imitation Game, you might notice the obvious parallel to WW2: to win the war against the Nazis, the Allied Forces had to ignore intelligence that could have saved lives, because they couldn’t reveal that they were listening in on their enemies.
It was an impossible choice to make, but as Lexa reminded Clarke, “sometimes you have to concede a battle to win a war.”
(Lexa also said “it’ll be a blow,” which I found to be a very inappropriate but hilarious pun.)
Lexa then proved that she’s basically the Jedi Master to Clarke’s young Padawan, telling her: “This is war, Clarke. People die. You showed true strength today, don’t let emotion stop you now.”
Translation: fear leads to anger, Clarke. Keep a clear head you must.
Cage launched the missile, and Clarke and Lexa were rushing for safety when Clarke spotted Abby inside the camp. She ran back to save her, and they only just made it out alive.
But it seems that while Clarke may have saved her mother’s life, she’s completely lost her trust. “Their blood is on your hands, and even if we win I’m afraid you won’t be able to wash it off this time,” a horrified Abby said before leaving her daughter alone in the dark.
As we watched Octavia and Lincoln come upon the horrible scene of destruction, we were left wondering whether Kane and Indra made it to the forest. Have we just lost two more characters?! Stay tuned…
Very important questions:
– What exactly is Lincoln’s deal? Does the serum make him crave blood? Is he like a vampire with a soul now?
– Has the great love story of #Memori ended before it even began?
– Will Jasper’s eyes ever go back to their normal size?
– Do you think Clarke is wearing a hood now to indicate that she’s turned to the dark side of the Force?
– Is the City of Light a real place?
– ARE INDRA AND KANE ALIVE?!?!? Aaaahhhh!