The 100 is forcing us to reconsider the meaning of the word “entertainment,” as “Hakeldama” delivers a series of huge, heartbreaking twists.

Hey guys, remember this?

Oh, how easily we are lulled into a false sense of security.

To say I enjoyed last night’s episode of The 100 would be doing it a disservice. It was a fantastic episode, but it was not intended to be enjoyed, exactly — it was intended to frustrate, confuse, anger, and nervously excite its viewers. And if you are feeling any/all of those emotions, the show is doing its job.

The 100 appears to have changed a lot in a very short amount of time, but in the words of Bellamy, “This is who I’ve always been.” We get wrapped up in loving certain characters and ships, and that’s fantastic, but the intricate story tapestry that is being weaved on this show goes so far beyond all of that.

Related: Listen to Hype Podcast’s The 100 Special #2 – Bellamy, Why?!

Right now, I feel like The 100 is taking the best bits of Battlestar Galactica and Game of Thrones, and adding its own brand of intricate, character-centric storytelling. I am constantly surprised that The 100 goes beyond what I expected, and right now I am in total awe of the depth of the story, and the unpredictability of the narrative. Unlike most shows, The 100 in no way aims for a “status quo” — it is a spiral, and right now, that spiral is out of control.

What’s my line?

The first scene of the episode is, in many ways, representative of The 100‘s central concept: on the ground, any happiness is temporary, and most of it is an illusion.

Lexa and Clarke just have time to assure each other of their respective heroisms and good deeds before coming upon the Hakeldama: the field of blood, where Pike and Bellamy have laid waste to 300 Grounders. They find Indra, mercifully alive (at Bellamy’s request), and Lexa — oh, Lexa’s face throughout this entire episode held so many emotions. Betrayal, disappointment, anger, and exhaustion are all warring for control inside her, and Alycia Debnam-Carey’s understated performance was perfect.

It seems like they have no choice but to retaliate, but Clarke convinces the conflicted Lexa to contact Kane. Kane sends Octavia, and in one of the episode’s many best scenes, the four most powerful women on the show hold a war council to figure out how to deal with the men’s dumb mistakes. Only The 100, guys.

Lexa agrees to let Clarke return to Arkadia, in an effort to talk sense into Bellamy. They’re buddies — what could go wrong?

Earth to Bellamy

“Wake up,” Kane tells Bellamy in this episode. But from Bellamy’s perspective, he is finally thinking clearly.

For Bellamy, the war with the Grounders never stopped. The moment they set foot on the ground, his people have been treated as invaders, subject to the Grounders’ violent whims. Bellamy and Pike, ironically, share the Grounders’ ruling sentiment that “blood will have blood.” And as Clarke later tells Lexa, the only way to get peace is to break the cycle. But Bellamy (and Pike, and humanity at large) don’t work that way. Which is why Clarke (and the show) need Lexa.

I understand that, in some ways, this feels like a regression for Bellamy. But I honestly think it shows a lot more consistency than you’d see on most shows. Bellamy hasn’t forgotten his own history for the sake of “advancing” either plot or character; his actions hark back to his warped sense of responsibility first for Octavia and later for his people, and his motivation is a (justified) belief that the Grounders will never stop attacking them. It’s easy to forget that Bellamy hasn’t seen what we’ve seen, and I think the episode did a great job of reminding us what Bellamy’s reality looks like.

All the same, I think what Bellamy doesn’t understand (and what he’ll hopefully learn) is that even though he’s right that they’ve been at war since they landed, wars can end. This is why he needs Clarke.

Unfortunately, Clarke and Bellamy’s reunion does not go as Clarke had planned, although their heartbreaking confrontation was without a doubt the best scene of the episode — perhaps even the show to date. The level of complexity in their relationship was beautifully and perfectly vocalized, and shows just how talented of a writer Charlie Craig is.

Bellamy and Clarke have been through so much together, and somehow it was all vocalized in this one, heartbreaking exchange. “I need you,” Clarke tells him. “You left me,” Bellamy retorts. And there we have it: Clarke has broken him. In his mind, Clarke is his link to becoming a better man, and the problem is that Clarke already believes he is a better man. As she says, the only reason she could leave her people in good conscience was because they had Bellamy. But Bellamy didn’t have Clarke, and without Clarke, he found himself reverting to the monster that he’s not, but that he’s always believed himself to be.

Clarke believes in peace. Even when it means sacrifice, even when it means compromise. Much like Lexa, she thinks beyond herself. By contrast, Bellamy internalizes and reacts accordingly, making everything — betrayals, challenges, and threats — circumstantial. His ‘us vs them’ mindset, spurred on by Pike is so at odds with Clarke (and Lexa)’s desire for unity, but the beauty of Bellamy/Clarke is that this doesn’t necessarily make them enemies.

This season has put a lot of focus on how important the union between Clarke and Lexa is, and it is, because the two are so in sync (er, most of the time anyway) and seem to want the same thing. And certainly, when Lexa and Clarke work together, they seem like an unstoppable force.

Bellamy and Clarke, on the other hand, compliment each other not because of their similarities but because of their differences, like two halves of a complete whole. It’s not necessarily that they’re direct opposites, but there’s a certain yin-and-yang ness to their relationship, a sense that they need each other for balance and stability.

Across all three seasons of The 100, Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship continues to be the most important, consistent dynamic (which is why the romantic aspect is largely irrelevant, at least right now), and it feels like once they learn to work together, something at the heart of the show will click.

Unfortunately, as is the case very often, the state of Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship reflects the state of affairs on the show in general, and Clarke’s attempts at reconciliation is met with complete betrayal: in sharp contrast to when he tried to free her from Roan, he now handcuffs her and almost brings her to Pike — if not for Octavia’s timely intervention.

Clarke escapes, after a short rendezvous with Kane, and here we have our new dream-team: Abby, Kane, Octavia and Clarke will probably come to represent the “sane” Arkadians, caught between Pike’s warmongering faction and Jaha’s mounting suicide cult.

Finding a better way

The 100 writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach helpfully sums up what I was about to spend 500 words arguing:

This is why Pike and his war is necessary: One thing is Lexa negotiating peace for the Arkadians, fighting Clarke’s fight and extending mercy to a helpless, innocent group of people. It is something completely different, and far more interesting, for Lexa to essentially have to force hundreds of years of societal development on a nation of Grounders who has only ever known the way of violence.

We already knew that Lexa was challenging “the Grounder way” — she’s united the Grounder clans, and finally managed to get Azgeda under her command. But is her desire for peace strong enough to withstand through the greatest challenge of all, extending mercy? Pity, after all, is already a weakness she had to fight for the right to extend. Mercy and forgiveness are unthinkable concepts.

And the stakes were just raised exponentially for Lexa, who is quickly becoming the show’s focal point character. Right now, Clarke has the most powerful ally imaginable, and together, the two are truly unstoppable — which really leads me to believe that in one way or another Lexa has to be taken away from Clarke. Clarke is our lead, after all, and narratively I imagine there’ll have to come a point where Clarke will have to take charge.

But right now, Lexa continues to stand with Clarke, and vows to fight for “the better way.” She took the first step toward true peace, and from here, a brand new age can begin — or, more likely, all their plans will once again crumble to pieces.

A few notes on Pike, war and peace, and the circle of history

I love The 100 for the same reason I love BSG. I don’t expect you all to have seen the latter, so let me explain. When Battlestar Galactica started airing in 2004, it was at the height of George W. Bush’s presidency, and this sci-fi show set in space with evil robots did something few works of fiction would be able to do: it made Bush a character on the show. Laura Roslin in many ways embodied Bush, an untested leader unfit for the war she found herself in the middle of.

What The 100 is doing with Pike (played brilliantly by Michael Beach) is similar. We’re seeing Donald Trump, we’re seeing the embodiment of a xenophobic, fear-mongering insurgent. And what’s more, we’re seeing the colonization of America. Isn’t this pretty much what happened: A bunch of ships landed on what they believed to be conquerable land, and when the natives fought back, they did what any invaders would do and wiped them out with superior technology? At the same time, aren’t we also seeing a people, refugees from space, returning home to find that they’re no longer welcome? (The duality of this is so interesting.)

We hate Pike. Everything he does, from slaughtering an army to mistreating humans in pain (and locking up Lincoln!), is designed to make us despise him. At the same time we feel betrayed by Bellamy, and are desperate for him to grow and change and come to see the world our way. And that’s the point: Only through fiction can we truly be allowed to experience all the nuances and shades of grey in reality, and we are allowed to examine our own history through unbiased eyes. After all, it’s “only fiction,” right?

The 100 is better than it’s ever been, tackling real-life questions of war and peace, reality and illusion, and “us vs. them” through the medium of science fiction. This is the true power of this genre, and I just love everything The 100 is doing right now. I love that it dares to tackle real-life issues, making strong political statements without saying a word.

For your consideration

• Murphy and Emori’s little Robin Hood game was adorable. I ship the heck out of Memori.
• What do you think about the show skipping the massacre scene? I liked that we didn’t have to see it (we already had that with Finn after all), but telling us about Bellamy’s mercy rather than showing it made it seem like an afterthought.
• How far we’ve come from Octavia refusing to have anything to do with Kane, huh? I really enjoy their dynamic, whenever we’re treated to a slice of it.
• I didn’t really talk about Jaha this week because I figure the next episode will be largely about him. I did love that scene of him returning to Arkadia, and Abby and Kane immediately realizing that he’s batshit crazy.
• I’m gonna need some clarification on how, exactly, Jaha’s forever chips work. Raven swallowed one and her pain disappeared, which I guess makes sense since it affects the brain. But what about her leg? If she continues to use it too much won’t it give out due to physical trauma? Guess we’ll find out… P.S. at the beginning of the season I predicted that she and Jasper would be the first to sign up for the Church of Jaha, and if next week’s promo is any indication, I was right. Yay?
• Miller proved that he, at least, has grown: He’s no longer Bellamy’s henchman, but is instead working with Abby and Kane. Definitely yay.
• The more the show is setting us up to like Lexa, the more I’m convinced she’s going to die. It’s too easy for Clarke, with Lexa fighting her fights for her. Eventually she’s going to be forced to take the reins.

Next week on ‘The 100’ season 3, episode 6

In “Bitter Harvest,” Jaha’s plan takes shape, as more desperate Arkadians swallow his eternity chips.

Check out the promo below: