Thursday, May 18, 2017

The 100 The Chosen



The 100 has always been about choices. Choices and the characters that have to make them. That is never more true than tonight, when some of the most momentous decisions have to be made. The stakes- life and death. The fate of humanity. The death wave is less than twenty- four hours away and the choices made here will define who these people are, and who they want to be. And no matter what they decide- who they decide- they have to live with the results of their decisions. Spoilers for this episode of The 100.

Two very important decisions are made in this episode. First of all, Kane and Jaha make a fateful decision that will decide the fate of Skaikru. Bellamy and Clarke meanwhile must also make a decision, when time runs out to reach Raven- do they go back to the bunker and leave Raven, or do they go on to get her and take a chance on a risky survival strategy? Both decisions surprised me- but in different ways. First of all at the bunker the Grounders have taken over and Indra is pushing Octavia hard to keep the pressure on Skaikru- they have twelve hours to pick their hundred survivors. The rest will be removed from the bunker. Pretty harsh- the four hundred plus Skaikru people thought they were safe only to find out there will be a lottery to determine who survives. Needless to say they're not happy to hear it.

Some of them want to fight and when Niylah gets roughed up, Octavia lays down the law and rescues her. She gives Niylah a spot and now Skaikru have lost one. Kane and Abby have identified the essential personnel they need to survive (including children- some of the first we've seen on the show) and that leaves eighty spots. Jaha is among those who wants to fight, and even has a plan in place- to gas the Grounders, threaten the food stores, until Skaikru has the upper hand once more. Kane fights him on this, and they're in the middle of executing the lottery- with Octavia and the Grounders coming to enforce it- when the shoe drops. The big twist of the night- Octavia and Indra enter, to find all of Skaikru unconscious. Kane did get through to Jaha- they gassed Skaikru instead.

This shocked me actually- but in a way it fits right in with this show from the beginning. They had to cull the Ark, and now they're culling the entirety of Skaikru. The Grounders will stay, and Kane and Jaha are falling back on Clarke's list from earlier in the season. Yes, the infamous list- Jaha knows right where it is (because of course)- and then Kane and Jaha have the heartbreaking task of directing which people to keep, and which to remove. Octavia and Indra just stand there, stunned.

Meanwhile Bellamy and Clarke go to rescue Raven, who is cooling her heels at the island, but they have a short window of time to make it there and back. And of course they blow it- Bellamy and Clarke are chatting and clearing the air between them and Bellamy hits a Grounder who jumps out in front of the vehicle. I was just thinking too that Bellamy needs to watch the road! Turns out there are some Trikru survivors who want their radiation suits, and things look grim until Echo shows up on horseback to save the day. Man that looked hokey. Echo as it happens wants to survive, and her best chance is the bunker on the island- the same one Murphy and Emori are pinning their hopes on.

Yes Murphy and Emori are along for the ride. Murphy figures (correctly no doubt) that he and Emori will not be picked to survive, so they figure their best chance is the island. But since Bellamy cracked the truck up none of them can get back now. They have a choice to make. Go back and leave Raven, or carry on. They decide to go on, thus setting up a split here at the end of the season- Bellamy and Clarke will not be in the bunker with Kane and Abby apparently when the death wave hits.

So... Raven is watching the countdown clock when Bellamy and Clarke arrive. They're not alone- Murphy, Emori and Echo are with them, as are Monty and Harper who also came. They're going to try for space, to return to the Ark, and survive by leaving Earth behind- if they can find a way to live up there. For five years. I'm skeptical of all this, but the show has shown that Raven can do anything when they need her to, so no worries. 

Random Thoughts

Kane used to make expedient choices, hard choices, on the Ark- just like Jaha. So it seems fitting here that for the twist we have Kane and Jaha not fighting each other- as I expected- but in the end working together to decide for Skaikru who lives. Based on Clarke's list. So essentially it's Clarke, Kane and Jaha making the final call. 

Going to space? Whether they do a five year time gap for season five, it sure is an interesting development to see this happening. Going back to the Ark? I thought it wasn't habitable. I'm not sure how I feel about this but I'm not loving it. And who else thinks one or more of these people are going to have to sacrifice themself to make it work? 

Does Indra push Octavia too hard? You can certainly make that case, especially when she finds the armory and the Grounders arm themselves. O wavers at the end and you wonder if she can do this- if she should do this- but Kane and Jaha make it a moot point. I wonder if Indra was thinking something along the lines of dang, I thought I was cold? These two - I got nothing on them! 

Miller's dad puts his sons name in the lottery bowl in place of his own. And Kane has the older Miller taken away and the son left behind. Not only that but when Jaha picks up the child, after the father is taken out, that was a powerful moment. Especially since the man had asked Jaha earlier to care for his son if he didn't make it. 

"This is how we save our people." Didn't see that  coming.  

3 comments:

  1. Ohhh this episode. I also never realized why the Grounders were attacking- I just assumed it was because they were pissed at Skaikru, but you're probably right, they probably wanted the suits, or whatever else they thought they could get from the Rover.

    I saw none of this coming, my goodness. Well, except Bellamy hitting the tree hahah. Also, I like how it WAS Kane, Jaha, and Clarke. You're right about that, she really is part of the decision even though she isn't there. I think I am actually glad about that, because mass death isn't really the same without her.

    The end killed me. KILLED. ME. I was ugly crying with Jaha picking up FYO Kid. Like, Kabby WILL adopt that kid, right? Because if that doesn't happen, I am started my own rebellion. Ha, they'll have a time jump, age the kid to like, 17, and pretend he was just Bryan all along ;)

    SHIT, you make a good point about someone having to sacrifice themselves. Shit. I hadn't thought of that. I assumed Clarke would be the sacrifice but... what if ONLY she survives because of nightblood? Nope nope nope not okay. I just feel like... more than one person (you know who) has to die in this one? Even though I don't want anyone else to. But hey, no one died in last year's finale! (This is me lying to myself, for the record.)

    I think you're right about Indra thinking that too- I think sometimes she thinks that Skaikru are savage. Because they ARE, and I think that is sometimes overlooked. They are savage, more so than the Grounders sometimes. Because while the Grounders fight a lot, Skaikru is so very calculating in their decisions, where the Grounders' fights often come from desperate, in the moment decisions. Not that Skaikru is any less desperate. Honestly, I think neither of them and both of them are savage. They're... human. Bottom line.

    You didn't like Echo's entrance?! I kind of loved it- I mean, fine, I will give you it being a little shady, but I bet she was hiding in Polis and saw them leave, which is why she followed. I thought it was really creepy actually- because the horse was all jacked up, and she was sick, and the blood in the white snow. Plus, I knew she would be showing up again.

    OH! Apparently, the death wave has already hit Arkadia! I didn't notice this in the episode but I read that if you look closely at the map that Raven was looking at, Arkadia was already hit. I need to get a good look at this map, because how the hell far apart ARE all these places!?

    Great recap, as always! I wrote mine earlier tonight, but now have the task of making 8372 GIFs because how can I NOT for this one?

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    1. I kept thinking watch the road Bellamy!! Lol about mass death! They can't leave her out! I wonder now that they've played out the Jaha thing, and they're all on the same page (aren't they??) what will happen next? Is Jaha really leaving the show or is he going to somehow go off in the wilderness and be an occasional guest star? And yes- that ending. Jaha picking up the kid was tough, especially after just having had the dad hauled out. Imagine them going around and saying this one stays, that one... goes. Man.

      That's the impression I got from various comments was Clarke was going to wander alone for 5 years. But I'm not sure that's right? I stopped looking at spoiler comments so maybe that was rebutted or whatever. I honestly DK.

      Good point about Indra. She comes from a totally diffeent cultural mindset, and I think that's part of the problem- Grounders don't think like Skaikru. And the Skai folks have trouble dealing w/ that.

      I sadly did think the whole riding in on horseback at the last minute was kind of iffy, but I liked the result. Echo saving them was nice since she is supposed to be a badass warrior, and fighting in those suits would be tough, so I can see Skaikru having troubles. And yes the horse was all fucked up lol, and everything was like ashy white- man the place is going to And YES I saw that! Sayonara Arkadia.

      Can't wait for the GIF's. :)

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  2. I tried the first ep but just could not

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