The 100 season 4, episode 5 has come and gone, and holy heck did all our theories just get blown to pieces! Where do they go from here!

The 50th episode of The 100 featured several huge developments, with not one but three tinder boxes to stress over. Luckily, only one of them blew — all eyes on Raven (and Abby!) now.

Excuse me, we were just having such a good time

As if this season wasn’t enough of a ticking time bomb, The 100 has now seemingly put expiration dates on two of its leading ladies. Losing either of them would be a huge blow to the series. Raise your hand if you’re terrified right now.

Raven, bless her, got a rare moment of unadulterated joy at the beginning of the episode as she floated out of her seat, an out-of-body experience (was it astral projection or just a hallucination? What do you think?) that called back to the fateful season 2 episode “Spacewalker.”

It turned out that as she was auditioning for Peter Pan her body was going into shock, and we later learn that she had a stroke. I find that science fiction is at peak eeriness when they mix ‘mortal’ maladies with huge big-concept ideas; the danger doesn’t just come from an abstract concept of having traces of AI in her brain, but from the very real medical side-effects that this would logically cause. That somehow makes it a lot more scary.

The ‘upside’ to this development, if we can call it that, is that Raven’s brain is firing on all cylinders and she’s connected to Becca’s memories. She can therefore lead Jackson and Abby to the rocket that will take them to space to obtain the zero-G conditions that’ll allow them to create Nightblood. (Haha, that sentence. This show. I love it.)

That’s a pretty bold idea for the show, this whole going back into space thing. And what an interesting way of introducing the concept. I also like that Becca apparently had a backup rocket just sitting there since she obviously was in a totally different space station when the world ended. But hey, whatever works.

It’s pretty heartbreaking watching Raven tell Abby to let her go, basically confirming that she’s ready to sacrifice herself to save them all. We always knew Raven was a hero, and she’s certainly been in pain and peril (too) many times, but this calm acceptance of her probable fate is something we haven’t seen from her before.

As that wasn’t bad enough, we discover that Abby — the only other person to have their chip removed like Raven’s — is having symptoms of brain damage too, seeing a radiation-wrecked Clarke standing in the lab at the end of the episode. Clarke tells her, “You’re running out of time, Mom,” and it scared the shit out of me. Like, are they BOTH dying? Guyyyyssss.

Right now, I’m honestly more worried for Abby than Raven, but I like to believe there’s a fix that can save them both. After all, even though this isn’t the exact same kind of chip as the Flame, one might imagine that Nightblood could cure or at least help treat whatever is happening in their brains, right?

Well, let’s pretend to believe that everything is gonna be fine for now, and just hope that neither of them end up like this:

The 100 would totally go there, and you know it.

They’ve got to stop meeting like this

The bulk of the episode plays out in and around the ravine as Roan’s army faces off against Clarke and her people. The whole thing was incredibly tense, and harked back to the season 1 episode “Unity Day,” when Clarke met Anya on the bridge for her first attempt at peace talks with the Grounders.

I love how similar, yet so different, the two scenes are: Unlike in season 1, when the Grounders were presented as scary, dangerous warriors attacking children, the Skypeople are now hardened to the realities of Earth, and they’re the ones with the high ground. Clarke, no longer a child, confidently stares down a whole army, and demands Roan’s attention because she knows she’s earned it.

But some things haven’t changed: Now, as always, it all ultimately comes down to the frailty of humanity. Regardless of the prowess of their leaders, the group’s weakest link — Jasper in season 1, Riley in season 4 — ultimately has the power to ruin it all. Later in the episode, the scene with Bellamy, Echo and Riley in the woods proves that ultimately, the show’s leaders need to do more than just lead: They need to inspire and empower the ones who need it most. Luckily, that’s what Bellamy does best.

For Clarke, another unforeseen complication is the reveal that Roan has taken Bellamy and Kane hostage. Roan, sneaky bastard that he is, knows exactly what Bellamy and Kane mean to her, and as hard as she knows she has to make herself be, they both know she won’t risk their lives lightly.

But despite his undeniable advantage, Roan still has enough respect for Clarke (and/or she’s just that convincing) that he agrees to a parley. This (and the ensuing deal they strike) says a lot about Roan, and might just be the most Roan he’s been all season. I love it.

After Clarke and Roan leave it’s Monty — once again the hero they don’t deserve — who steps in and fixes The Riley Situation (“Riley?! He’s not even supposed to be here!” hahahahahah indeed). And I think that’s ultimately what I love most about this episode: How much subtle teamwork is going on, and how much they all need each other to succeed.

It’s not about Clarke saving the day; it’s about Clarke and Bellamy and Monty all stepping up and getting the job done, and it’s also about Roan, Echo and Riley being able to ultimately see reason. They truly are only as strong as they are united, and however amazing Clarke is, she just can’t do this by herself. Luckily, she doesn’t have to.

Live together, die alone

KING ROAN IS BACK Y’ALL. This is the Roan we (barely) know and (kind of) love: Even though he was well on his way to taking Arkadia, he is still willing to listen to reason, especially when it’s coming from Clarke.

It’s pretty clear that this whole situation could have been avoided if Clarke and Roan had just stuck together and communicated, and it’s equally clear that Eliza Taylor and Zach McGowan are amazing scene partners and need to just always be casually hanging out in the background of each other’s shots. Don’t ever split them up again, writers.

To the point of The 100 basically being a show about faulty people making short-sighted decisions, I think it was necessary for this situation to almost-escalate like it did. Roan’s decision to claim the Ark for his people makes perfect sense from his (limited, through no fault of his own) perspective: he wasn’t coming to start a war specifically, he was coming because he believed Clarke had betrayed him, and he is ultimately terrified that his people will suffer because he wrongfully put his faith in a Skyperson.

Remember when Lexa and Clarke entered an alliance, and then Lexa withdrew her forces at the last moment leaving Clarke standing alone in front of Mount Weather? Yeah, that’s how Roan feels right now.

The only thing Clarke can do is what she should have done from the beginning, which is to share the ship. Of course as far as species survival goes it makes sense to prioritize people from space (whom we learned in season 2 have a higher radiation tolerance) but she can’t keep hiding behind that excuse if she wants Roan’s cooperation. As much as it might make her life simpler and ultimately save the world if she’s just allowed to lie ad-lib, that’s just not how humans work.

And, as Roan argues, if she’s hoping for a better solution anyway, she’s got no good reason for making the Ark an exclusive refuge for the Arkadians. So they agree to share it, for all the good that’ll do them.

One might say this whole ‘war’ plotline was a red herring, and in some ways it was, but it was also hugely significant part of Clarke’s journey to transcending the tribalism that Roan reminded her that Lexa aimed to rise above. It’s one thing to preach it — quite another to stand by it when her ‘own’ people are clamoring for her to choose an already much too low number to survive.

From here, without the headache the Ark was clearly giving her, hopefully Clarke can ‘rise’ to the occasion with a newfound sense of purpose.

’War makes murderers of us all’

At this point, it’s pretty clear what’s happening with Bellamy and Echo. This is a story we’re very familiar with, because we’ve seen it play out with Clarke — twice.

First it was Anya, with whom Clarke only found common ground right before her death, and then it was Lexa, through whom Clarke not only learned to understand the Grounders but learned the fundamental value that has come to define her character and the show: That humanity must unite in the face of a greater threat. One of The 100’s many core themes has always been that people need to learn to set aside their differences if they want to achieve anything good, and Bellamy/Echo is only the latest in a long line of character pairs who have to learn that they’re not as different as they think they are.

As Clarke and Roan bond over both wanting to save their people and being willing to sacrifice their mothers to do so, Bellamy somehow manages to find common ground with the woman who for all intents and purposes killed his sister. That’s not only significant for the show, but it’s a sign of real progress for his character, and helps hammer home that Bellamy truly understands what’s at stake. “Don’t you get tired of it?” he asks Echo, clearly as frustrated as Clarke that they have to run around in a forest playing petty war games when the future of humanity is at stake.

It says a lot about Bellamy and how far he’s come that he’s able to emotionally distance himself enough to understand the difference between killing in battle and in cold blood, and can use his own experience in season 3 to connect with both Echo and Riley.

And yes, I may emotionally struggle to accept that Bellamy could ever connect to Echo after what she did to Octavia (and Gina), but what I appreciate about this particular Grounder/Skyperson bond is that it feels like it’s mainly forged out of a shared exhaustion and desire for the constant ‘us vs them’ battle to be over.

Echo may seem like a relentless force of cold-hearted violence, and that’s probably what she’s made herself out to be up until this point. But I think a big part of why she’s so intrigued by Bellamy is because a part of her wants to buy what he’s selling; from that first moment when they met in the cages and he promised to come back for her, I think Echo has seen Bellamy as a truly good person — something it doesn’t seem like an Azgeda warrior would have many opportunities to come across.

I also think there’s a case to be made for Bellamy, who has never been able to see himself as good, recognizing himself in Echo. My guess is that a part of him wants to believe that if she can be good then maybe he can, too.

It’s certainly an interesting dynamic right now, and I’m sure we’ll see it develop over the course of the season. I’ve said before that I feel like Echo has kind of taken over the role Anya might have had, and I’ll be curious to see her begin to come around to the non-murderous side of life.

Of course Bellamy doesn’t only interact with Echo this week, cause there’s also RILEY! Oh Riley. Riley who came out of nowhere and nearly screws it all up for everyone, Riley whose life was apparently “saved for a reason” according to Bellamy.

I mean obviously there’s a super special reason why Riley was saved. But what could it be?! I of course have some theories:

Possible reasons why Riley was saved


(YES he is looking right at the camera, the show 100% trolling us with this guy.)
  1. He is a super-Nightblood.

  2. He is Bill Cadogan in disguise.
  3. He is a Horcrux.
  4. He is the Last Jedi.

  5. He is the prince that was promised.

  6. He is the apocalypse.

Naw guys, I got nothing. But if Riley takes Bellamy at his word and believes he has some cosmic destiny and goes on to become the new Jaha, I am 1000% here for it.

RIP Arkadia, thanks for the memories

So much for the Ark being a refuge for 100 people. Part of me is glad it’s gone, so the plot can move on and they don’t need to stress about who gets a spot on the list anymore, but another part of me is wondering why we spent ⅓ of the season building up to this.

And it’s not just the Ark, is it? So far, The 100 season 4 has featured failed plan after failed plan, building anticipation for things that ultimately get dropped from the narrative fairly quickly. Between the hydro generator, the list, Roan’s war, Bellamy thinking Octavia was dead and now the Ark, this is basically shaping up to be a season of failed plans and bad decisions.

Which makes sense, because the world is ending. There’s no fix for this. No one knows what’s going on; despite all the plans they’re making, no one really talks to each other. They share the hows and whens but not the whys; Clarke, especially, is so far inside her own head you can see her physically having to take a moment to focus on whomever she’s talking to and whatever — to her — relatively insignificant problem they’re dealing with. It’s like she’s a time traveler stuck in the past: Clarke’s mind is two months ahead and she’s got thousands of people to save, and it’s clearly hard for her to spare much attention for the fleeting here and now.

You saw it when she was trying to explain herself to Monty in “A Lie Guarded” — she was genuinely sorry but also just tired, resigned — and you see it when she’s negotiating with Roan in this episode. It would be kind of hilarious if it wasn’t so sad; Clarke is becoming the Frodo of this story and she’s reaching Mount Doom, or like Buffy in “The Gift,” succumbing to the inevitability of it all and losing her spirit, letting the fight for survival define her. There is nothing but the end goal; everything else is a distraction. It’s a quietly tragic story they’re telling with our fearsome lead heroine who once delighted in crayons and firing a gun and who has always, always cared too much.

Whatever happens at the end of the season, Clarke is gonna need a reeeeally long holiday before she’s ready to go another round, just saying.

Hello… it’s me ♫

Well, Ilian… you’re still cute. But aaarrggghhhh.

You know that Oscar-nominated movie Arrival, which used an alien invasion plotline to basically tell a story about how humans needed to learn to communicate with each other to prevent destroying their own planet? Yeah, well, welcome to The 100.

Yes, I know that Ilian did a terrible thing — however the show spins it, the dude just blew up people’s homes — but I also feel bad for him, because no one told him what the heck was going on and why the Ark was so important. As a direct result of the decision to keep the apocalypse a secret from the wider public, Ilian simply thought he was destroying the base of the people who made him kill his family.

Ironically, one of the reasons I first fell in love with the show was the unusually satisfying way in which the characters shared information and were allowed to express exactly how they thought and felt without it becoming overwhelming or rushing the emotional development; the plot moved fast, but that was because there was a lot of plot to move through, and we didn’t need to linger long on things like jealousy, misunderstandings or growing discontent.

Flash forward to season 4, and the lack of communication and ability to grasp the big picture is what drives most of the emotional arcs of the characters. The drama is in what they aren’t saying to each other, and in the fallout of bottling up all those secrets and feelings.

Ilian burned down the Ark because no one opened their mouth and told him what was going on, Octavia is circling around her faulty reasoning for blaming Bellamy for Lincoln’s death, Clarke lost her people’s trust and Roan started a war, all essentially because of misunderstandings, a lack of communication and/or wilful misinterpretation.

So why the change? Why the stuttering and jarring patchwork of character- and story development where in earlier years it was a smooth, linear progression of actions and consequences?

The way I see it, it’s all adding to the uncertainty, the uncomfortability and the panic of the impending end of the world. They keep trying things; nothing works; their actions get bolder and more desperate as they fling around for a solution, any solution.

Time is running out and the characters are feeling the pressure — the world is about to blow — so they rush to judgement and action. They feel so much, yet don’t know (or aren’t able to) express any of it. They are stuck between passive despair and wild action, just to feel alive. And we, the audience, are made to feel exactly the same way. ‘Just ask!’ I want to yell at them. ‘Just tell the truth! Just do this, just stop that! Just get over it! Just say the thing!’

And damn, sometimes I wish The 100 was a Netflix show, because I feel like the format rally lends itself to binge-watching so the Ark plot would not have captured our attention for several weeks. But it’s not, and here we are, and Arkadia has just burned to the ground. Holy shit, that really just happened. The ‘backup plan’ that might have become the only plan is gone.

So now there are ashes… how the hell do they rise?

For your consideration

In 2 weeks on ‘The 100’

It’s time for that dreaded one-week break, which means season 4, episode 6 will air March 15! That gives us lots of time to discuss and speculate, right? Yay?

Without the Arkadia back-up plan, the next episode, titled “We Will Rise,” sees our heroes go all-in on the Nightblood solution.

Raven finds herself needing both Luna and Murphy’s help in getting the rocket ready, while Bellamy, Clarke and Roan lead a mission that directly ties into the same storyline.

Stay tuned for more episode-specific teasers in the coming week!

What did you think of ‘The 100’ season 4, episode 5?