The 100 season 3, episode 11 united the delinquents in a quest to save Raven. Bellamy, Clarke, Monty, Jasper and Octavia all had some powerful heart-to-hearts, that will permanently alter their relationships.

Guys. If this is Stage Two, I like it.

The 100‘s audience has been, understandably, hyper-critical of the show since Lexa’s death. Add to that the bad timing of Lincoln dying just a short while later, and people were left to question the show’s agendas, and call out for it to be more socially responsible.

In the tumult of social media fandom, it’s been hard to draw the lines between the backlash caused by behind-the-scenes tension, the criticism of network television in general (after all, Lexa was one of 10+ lesbians who’ve died this TV season alone), and genuine worry about the shifting tone of the show.

But I think we do need to draw these lines, because it’d be a crime to punish The 100 for telling a dark story very well only because we wish it was a different type of show than it really is. With Clarke stating out loud that “there are no good guys” on this show, we should all feel pretty confident that its increasingly morally ambiguous tone is intentional, and has been from day one.

And from there, we can all decide for ourselves whether this is a world we want to visit every week.

Speaking as someone who’s 100% committed to the world and its characters (you may even say I’m… one of the 100), this episode was fantastic. Not only was it chock-full of fantastic character moments and insightful meta commentary about the state of the characters and their relationships, but it was also a more than welcome return to what the show is all about: The actual 100.

Having had them sequestered for half a season was meant to make us crave their reunion. When it finally came, it was beyond satisfying. And if not for the BTS controversy (based on personal feelings, not the quality of the show itself), I think a lot more people would be calling season 3 the best season yet.

And you know what? I’m gonna go ahead and do that anyway. Yep, I said it. In terms of the scope and intensity, season 3 has blown me away at every turn, and brought me some of my all-time favorite scenes. Yes, it’s dark, miserable and highly uncomfortable, and has disposed of two fantastic, highly beloved characters — but I like the darkness. I like when TV truly moves me. And I’d be a hypocrite if I said The 100 somehow crossed a line, when Battlestar Galactica and Lost (two of my all-time favorite shows) both did much worse, and I kept watching anyway.

Whether or not you agree with that sentiment, what this episode did prove — to the writers, the fans, the critics — is what direction the show needs to take in season 4 if it wants to leave a positive legacy: The delinquents, together, in all their broken glory, taking on the world one maddening plot twist at a time.

Quoth the Raven, Nevermore

It says a lot about the delinquents’ dynamics that despite how fractured their relationships have become, saving Raven was the one mission that could make them set aside (ish) their resentments.

Sinclair, Hero of my Heart, had a really insightful monologue this week, when he told Clarke, “Raven is all I have left.” Not only was this a testament to the beautiful dynamic that’s developed on the sidelines between Sinclair and Raven, but it also speaks to the show as a whole. Raven truly is the best of them — the cleverest, the bravest, the one who suffers most and yet fights the hardest to help her friends — and ultimately, she’s the one who grounds all these messed-up people and reminds them not to lose perspective. The characters need Raven. And so does the audience.

Raven, via ALIE, is also able to give some of our heroes a slice of reality, pushing all their buttons and forcing important confrontations.

To Clarke, she says, “Everywhere you go, death follows. You always want to save everyone, but what you don’t realize if that you’re the one we need saving from.” She sums up all the people Clarke ‘failed’ to protect (I call bullshit, by the way — neither Clarke nor Bellamy could possibly have predicted what Charlotte would do to Wells), and when she brings up Lexa, Clarke lashes out — and Raven bites her. Yikes! I said it last week but it’s doubly true after 3×11: Lindsey Morgan deserves ALL THE AWARDS for her performance this season.

Next up is Jasper, to whom she poses the question that I’d been asking myself the whole episode (so… am I ALIE, too? Who knows at this point): Why exactly is he so quick blame Clarke for Maya’s death, rather than Bellamy?

We never really get a straight answer to this, because she goes on to incense him by pointing all the uncomfortable truths about his debilitating grief and PTSD. But I have a theory about why Jasper blames Clarke and not Bellamy, and it’s not just because Bellamy stayed while Clarke left. It’s also about the power dynamic between the pair, that Raven so brilliantly managed to define.

A knight and his queen

As I’ve said before, I think The 100 is at its best when the delinquents are working together. And that includes Bellamy and Clarke, whose dynamic is — again, as I’ve said — the core of the show. Forget shipping wars for a second. Bellamy and Clarke’s dynamic is what binds it all together, no question.

And so having Raven vocalize everything we’ve been thinking — and everything they’ve been thinking — was extremely satisfying.

For all of his good intentions, Bellamy is not a leader. Or, more accurately: He doesn’t see himself as a leader. He is deeply afraid of being inadequate, a self-fulfilling prophecy that ultimately led him to follow Pike, and Raven-ALIE obviously knows this. She knows exactly how to hit him where it hurts.

And in some ways, she’s right. While I do think that ultimately Bellamy and Clarke are presented as equals in the narrative, Bellamy does follow, in a way that Clarke does not. Clarke, for better or worse, is a natural born leader. Even Lexa, for all her superior power and position, recognized Clarke as an equal.

With Pike gone and Clarke back, Bellamy easily falls back into the old pattern of ‘What Would Clarke Griffin Do.’ “The good little knight by his queen’s side,” indeed. But Raven calls him on it. Invites Bellamy to ask himself if, after everything that’s happened, Clarke is really better at leading the delinquents than he is.

Raven also put her finger on another key point about their relationship: How easily Bellamy takes on the role of Clarke’s protector. He consistently stands up for her, runs to save her, and supports her even when he doesn’t quite agree with her. And from Bellamy’s perspective, Clarke hasn’t done the same for him. “You left me,” he told her earlier on in the season, and those wounds are still wide open. When Raven pokes at them, he bleeds.

This dynamic is just so intensely layered (as seen by the widely different interpretations of it in fandom), and this is obviously just my interpretation. But I’m very intrigued to see where the show takes it from here. Ideally, one day they’ll be united in leadership — but I have a feeling that scenario is still a long way off.

Of course there were a lot of other significant exchanges, notably the one between Clarke and Jasper, where Clarke tried to apologize and Jasper just would not accept it. Even though he did spare the Lexachip later on, it looks like that friendship is broken for good now. But then again, with them back on the same side once more, maybe Clarke can still earn back his trust, if not his forgiveness.

The Full Monty

Okay, I’ve kept my cool long enough. WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MONTY.

I had a very bad feeling about Monty and Octavia’s little side-adventure. I live in a constant state of worry for Monty, and I don’t trust this show to keep anyone alive at this point. This season in particular I keep thinking, ‘Well, if I was gonna kill him, this is where I’d do it’… but it hasn’t happened (yet). So yay!

But also, not yay, because as much as Monty’s mother was #TheWorst, the heart-wrenching pain of watching him kill her was almost too much to bear. I’m still kind of in shock, to be honest.

What I did love about it, so much, is how it ultimately brought everyone together.

Earlier on in the episode, Octavia was fully planning on leaving. “I’m not Trikru, I’m not Skaikru, I’m nothing,” she told Monty. His reply, “You’re one of the 100,” was heart-warming, yes — but it was only words. It became truth the moment he watched his mother choke out Octavia, and realized that he had to make a choice. He chose The 100, and later, so did Octavia.

The 100, or what’s left of them, are his true family. And for all the heartbreak (especially knowing that his mother could have been saved), the fact that these kids have finally chosen each other, as opposed to being pushed together, is extremely powerful.

The Monty/Octavia storyline was ultimately a stark reminder of what — and who — the show is really all about. I hope to see much, much more of this dysfunctional little family in the future.

We are The 100

And here we are, at what truly feels like the start of a new era. You might say it was the return of the show as it used to be, but I think it’s so much more than that. In season 1, the delinquents were forced together, bound only by a shared desire for survival. In season 2, they were mostly divided in very unconnected stories, only coming together at the very end for what was ultimately a very bittersweet reunion.

The first half of season 3 meticulously broke down every single relationship that has kept these characters together: Monty/Jasper, Bellamy/Clarke, Bellamy/Octavia, Jasper/Clarke; all these dynamics were gone by the time “Nevermore” rolled around. But by shaking all their skeletons out of the closets and forcing everyone to confront their sins, ALIE ironically opened up for the delinquents to come together in a much more significant way. Because this time, they’re staying together by choice.

So no, this episode wasn’t a return to how things used to be. It was a rebirth. The delinquents are rising again as The 100, a label that finally means something to them. For better or worse, they’re all they’ve got left — they’re family. And they’ve got a common goal again: To stop ALIE.

WE ARE THE 100. If I could make one thing trend on Twitter, that’d be it.

For your consideration