The 100 4x04 Recap: "A Lie Guarded" (Broken Treaties) [Guest Poster: Ilene Friedman]

"A Lie Guarded"

Original Airdate: February 22, 2017

I’m going to let season four finish, but, I’m just saying: this is the best season of The 100 we’ve ever had. The parallels between season one Abby/Jaha/Kane and Clarke/Bellamy/Raven are so strong and so important to these characters’ developments/stories that I could cry. These character arcs are finally getting the justice they deserve!

So, what exactly happened this episode? Well the episode starts with a homage to The Parent Trap, with the delinquents floating Jaha in the middle of a lake. The entire camp is laughing as Jasper screams: “It looks like you got floated.” It seems like the delinquents still aren’t over everyone they love getting killed in space -- fair enough. However, things turn for the worse quickly when clouds roll in and everyone is screaming that it is black rain. The problem? Jasper refuses to go inside and decides to dance in the rain instead. It turns out to be regular rain, but no one is happy with Jasper’s unstable antics (I am also kind of sick of them, even though I get why he is the way he is).

But two crazy moments aren’t enough for Jasper: he and Monty decide to rig up a prank in the Chancellor’s office as well. Bad news bears -- Jasper finds The List. Monty tries to play it off as not a big deal, but Jasper is livid. He can’t let Clarke decide who is worth saving; she’s not God. Clarke enters the room, only to be hit with fire extinguisher foam in the face, and a raving Jasper.

But before he can tell the whole camp about The List, Clarke shock batons Jasper, much to Monty’s horror. This leads to Jasper getting locked up and Monty going against Clarke and reading The List to the entire camp. The crowd quickly gathers and Clarke is forced to explain why she picked who she did -- including herself and Bellamy. She told them she picked strong females who could reproduce, people who were healthy, valuable workers, etc. As the crowd's anger escalates, Jaha quickly steps in before things get out of hand. He then defends Clarke and Bellamy's actions as leaders, but proposes a lottery system. Those who work hard get entered into a drawing to be on The List; those who don’t get cut. They will draw names in two months.

Defeated, Clarke releases Jasper and apologizes for locking him up. He called her “Jaha-Lite” -- OUCH. However, a peek of old Jasper appears, which even causes me to laugh: “Someday, when all of this is over, you’re going to realize that foam bit was funny.” He’s not wrong.

Now back in Polis, Bellamy and his hunting party have been captured by Echo and Roan. Ugh... I’m so sick of Echo. Apparently Bellamy’s hunting partner Steven told Echo that Clarke and crew were reinforcing the Ark to ride out the radiation. Roan is now, understandably, enraged and feels betrayed. Kane tries to explain that the ship is a back-up plan, but it is too little too late: the truce has been broken. Echo slices Steven’s neck and imprisons Bellamy and Kane. Haven’t we moved past this by now? The Ice Nation then goes after Indra -- who escapes -- and Octavia.

Octavia rushes off on Helios to warn Skaikru about the breach in the treaty. Echo rushes after her and the two go into battle against one another. Octavia gets stabbed and falls into the river. Echo heads back to Polis and tells Bellamy that Octavia is dead. That obviously goes over well. Luckily, Octavia survives the fall and has time to go warn Skaikru -- which obviously Bellamy doesn’t know. That’s gonna be an interesting reunion.

Meanwhile, Skaikru group three is heading to Becca’s island to try and find a way to reverse engineer Luna’s blood. Luna feels like she is only being protected because of her blood, but Nyko tells her that the Sky People are good and she should trust them. They arrive at Becca’s island, where drones immediately start shooting at everyone. Luckily, Raven and Luna come up with a plan to save the group. Luna grabs a drone -- FROM THE AIR -- and Raven is able to hack into the system to take down all the drones. Now, it seems that Raven had a little brain glitch, but maybe I was seeing things -- it looked like she got a headache before getting to work on the drones.

The crew then safely arrives in Becca’s lab and the real work begins.

Final Thoughts:

• You know who I think can reproduce? Clarke and Bellamy. 
• I like this version of Jaha, but dude has so many personalities these days that it’s hard to keep up. 
• Monty not being on that list was BS. 
• Murphy will always be my problematic fave: holding Emori’s hand over the line, saving Raven’s butt, etc. 
• Anyone else beginning to ship Luna and Raven? I see it. What are they called? Runa? Laven? HELP.

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The 100 3x16 Recap: “Perverse Instantiation-Part Two” (One Last Chance) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

“Perverse Instantiation-Part Two”

Original Airdate: May 19, 2016

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s read my reviews that this season has been a disappointment to me as a fan of The 100. Among my biggest complaints were the character assassination of Bellamy during the middle of the season and of course, the removal of agency for so many of the main characters as they were taken in by the City of Light. But it wasn’t all bad and the season finale was actually quite exciting to watch, as the group of delinquents finally managed to succeed after episodes of failing to take down ALIE. While it took a long time to get here, the way the season ended was promising and proved that the writers still do know how to write this show in an engaging and captivating way, something they’ll hopefully manage to do more of next season.

Having spent the last three episodes implementing plan after plan only to be foiled at the last minute, the group had one last chance to stop ALIE in the season finale before all hope was lost. Naturally, it was our beloved leader Clarke who came up with the newest idea, as she decided to once again put herself at risk to save everyone. Her idea was to transfuse Ontari’s nightblood into herself and then take the AI, giving her the opportunity to stop ALIE. After having accepted the A.I., Clarke quickly realized that she too would need to enter the City of Light to actually find the kill switch and end ALIE — a sacrifice she was willing to make. With Abby’s help, who they had managed to extract the chip from, and Bellamy’s faith in her, Clarke took this big step, making her their last hope.

Problems arose once in the City of Light however, as Ontari’s body in real life began to fail and the protection that the A.I. gave Clarke also began failing because she wasn’t getting enough nightblood. Losing her invisibility to those in the City of the Light and losing steam herself because her normal blood was rejecting the A.I., it wasn’t looking good for Clarke. This was the perfect opportunity for the show to give closure to a fan favorite character by bringing back Lexa, who was connected to Clarke through the A.I., and have her fight off everyone in the City of Light until everyone in real life could figure out how to get Clarke going again. Seeing these two connect once again and allowing them to have a real goodbye was much needed for the show and it was fantastic to see Lexa have one last shining moment.

While all of this was happening, Raven and Monty were back still trying to figure out how to help from afar while also having to deal with Jasper. They managed to trap him, Monty going so far as to shoot Jasper in the leg in order to stop him from hurting Harper. With Jasper neutralized, they were able to focus on helping Clarke, and Raven played a big part in aiding our heroine once she realized that she was in the City of Light. It was Raven who gave Clarke the tool she needed to enter the room where the kill switch was located, proving herself once again to be one of the strongest characters on the show.

Once in the kill switch room, though, Clarke had a major choice to make. ALIE found her there and informed her that within six months, the Earth would no longer be inhabitable and the only hope for humanity's survival was to stay in the City of Light. Destroying her would destroy the human race eventually. ALIE’s creator was also in the room with them and explained to Clarke that ALIE has only simply been following her one core command — to make the human race happy. She truly believes that the City of Light is the only way to do this and would not ever give free will, the pain, and the memories back to the people there because she believes this is what’s best for them. For Clarke, it came down to deciding whether all that pain living in fear for their own lives would be worth it. Of course, she decided it was, having tried to run away from the pain in the past and not finding happiness by doing that. She finally succeeded in killing ALIE, releasing everyone from the City of Light, and putting an end to the frustrating storyline once and for all.

Where does this leave us going into next season? Many of the characters are going to have to deal with the horrible things they did while under ALIE’s influence — things that they will have trouble forgiving themselves for. This very well could bring Kane and Abby closer as they find forgiveness in each other. For Jasper, this is already starting to seem like a good thing, as it forced him to take a step back and realize that he’s been a jerk all season. We finally got a heartfelt and real apology from him to Monty, setting their important friendship back on track.

And as the season ended, one more surprise was in store for us, as Octavia — who had been working with Pike to save everyone — could not let go of the revenge she needed for Lincoln’s death and ended Pike’s life. She’ll have to struggle with this decision and more as we pick up again next season. Finally, everyone will need to come to terms with the fact that their lives are still in danger, once Clarke informs them that the Earth will be uninhabitable in just six months. With everyone in their right minds again and some of the nice character development in this last episode, I’m optimistic about where the show is going next season. Hopefully the writers will be able to return to the show we all fell in love with.

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The Destruction of Bellamy Blake [Guest Poster: Ilene Friedman]

The CW’s mid-season sleeper hit The 100 has just wrapped up its junior season and what a roller-coaster it has been. As Emma Caulfield so artfully put it, “The 100 was a smart, original, and created a world that artfully side-stepped any attempt to limit its intentionally broad scope.” So, what happened? Starting with minor pacing issues to fans boycotting the show because of the overuse of the dead lesbian trope, The 100 writers and producers have not had an easy year in the fandom.

This is not to say they do not deserve the obvious fan backlash. And, in fact, I am going to add to it throughout this piece. One of the biggest transgressions the show committed is the absolute obliteration of its male lead — Bellamy Blake — and his characterization. There are currently hundreds of articles out there addressing the disastrous handling of Clarke/Lexa and their relationship (including Lexa’s death), but I don’t believe enough attention has been brought to Clarke’s co-leader.

Inspired by Caulfield’s EW article in which she summarized the issue with season three as: “BELLAMY, Mr. American Apparel villain, turned hero, turned awesome, turned possible quagmire. The mess of him has been so pervasive, he can be described as both an adjective and a verb,” I have decided to write my own little addition to the backlash.

WHAT MOTIVATES BELLAMY BLAKE?

We are taught in school that good storytelling absorbs us into the world and takes us away from reality. Well, every decision Bellamy Blake made this season threw me back into reality and then slammed my brain against a wall repeatedly. At some pints, I didn’t even know what show I was watching anymore. Maybe I was spoiled in seasons one and two. The characters were three-dimensional, the plot had barely any holes, every act and reaction in the world made sense — so maybe my expectations for season three were too high going into it. But to spend more than half of this season asking: “Bellamy, what are you doing?” is a problem. I should know why a character as well developed as Bellamy Blake (and as pivotal to the story) is doing what he is doing. He’s not just some good-looking side piece, after all. The only way the fanbase was even able to justify this breakneck reversion in character was to see him as a completely new character: Borus Blake.

Let’s begin with what we know about Bellamy’s core motivation: Octavia. Season one Bellamy Blake was a douchebag. We were not meant to like him right off the bat, but we did understand him. Everything he ever did or has done has been for the safety of his sister. That is who Bellamy is, as Clarke pointed out. Season two Bellamy had become a co-leader of the 100, and at the very end of the season he repeats his mantra, “my sister, my responsibility” before decimating an entire population. In two seasons, we have now established that Bellamy Blake will do anything and everything to protect his sister.

That is, until season three. Pike — oh, how I loathe him — threatens to “deal” with Octavia multiple times. Remember, Octavia is Bellamy’s core, the thing that we have learned makes him who he is. And how does Bellamy react to those threats against his sister’s life? CRICKETS!

How did we go from Bellamy Blake shooting the chancellor and boarding a potentially toxic drop ship to Earth and killing over 600 people at this point to make sure his sister was safe, to barely batting an eyelash when Pike threatens her life? I get that Bellamy endured tragedy. The girlfriend that we hardly knew died. Lexa left them all for dead, and Clarke just left. But one of his friends was Lincoln, a Grounder, and he knew and cared about Indra. Where is the connection between Bellamy’s motivation to murder Grounders, and his central motivator (Octavia)? Have I misunderstood who Bellamy is this entire time? Did I get rose-colored glasses implanted on my face? Bellamy isn’t perfect, but his motive has ALWAYS been the safety of his sister first. So what happened?

THE DISCONNECT

Now that everything we know about what motivates Bellamy Blake has been set on fire by angry elves, let’s get down to the trainwreck that was his alleged characterization for season three. In order to do that, let’s first briefly talk about his character in season one. In season one, Bellamy was a jerk (as stated above), but he was a jerk with a heart — a really big heart. Exhbit A: “Day Trip” where Bellamy almost gives up living because the guilt of shooting the chancellor. The guilt of what he’s done almost destroys him. He basically collapses in on himself as he confides in Clarke that he is a monster. This was a huge turning point for the character. Look at that growth. Wasn’t it beautiful? This concession lead to a wonderful field of character development where Bellamy slowly became a hero of sorts. Now we meander onto season two, where Bellamy is starting to develop hero-like qualities by volunteering to go into Mount Weather and sacrificing himself for the good of his people (and Echo! Remember that? His willingness to be tortured instead of her?). Then a storm approaches: season three.

Bellamy suddenly gets trigger-happy once again. It’s as if he didn’t learn from the culling. We knew that he feels things deeply. No one hates themselves as much as Bellamy Blake hates himself. But somehow this is all overlooked. He is now fine will killing an entire innocent Grounder coalition meant to protect the Arkers. But, wait, didn’t Bellamy save the Grounders in Mount Weather? Now he wants them all dead? Isn’t his sister pretty much a Grounder? Bellamy Blake is a lot of things, but to be an equal to Clarke, he can’t be stupid. He has been portrayed as hot-headed, but also tactful. And yet, all of this was all erased. Sure, in some world Bellamy Blake siding with Pike might make sense. But thanks to lazy writing and lack of apparent understanding in the writers’ room of how Bellamy Blake can go from hero and protector to trigger-happy child, the show effectively glazed over and justified his regression. This story made zero sense.

ATTEMPTED REDEMPTION: TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE

The last five episodes of the season attempted to redeem his character — to bring him back the tortured and morally conflicted leader we know and loved, rather than a directionless and heartless, genocide-committing character. But these episodes were just damage control. As a fan, they were proof that the writers actually did understand Bellamy Blake, and were capable of writing him well. These episodes proved what I suspected all along — the writers created conflict this year with his character just for the sake of it, and not to move the story or develop his character deeper. The writers were just being plain sloppy. They didn’t want to show us Bellamy’s regression or why he would do these terribly out of character things; they just wanted us, as viewers, to blindly accept it. And that is not fair to Bellamy or to us. It is almost if the writers intentionally wanted the viewers to hate him because he had become so popular. Maybe it’s because something within his core character resonated with us and they felt Bellamy had become too predictable. Maybe the world will never know why they chose to write him that way this season.

These final episodes had Bellamy “redeeming” himself, something he already had to experience in seasons one and two. But this time, the fans couldn’t keep up. Instead of following the journey of Bellamy Blake, we were forced to break our necks trying to keep up with his erratic characterization from one scene to the next.

I love Bellamy Blake. I love The 100. I, of course, am going to continue watching the show until the day it dies. But speaking as a fan, for a moment? Please writers, don’t betray us like that again. I mean, you can’t have a character homicide on such a grand scale and not expect a ripple effect throughout the rest of the season. Bellamy Blake is the main male lead. He is connected to every single character on the show, which means his actions will impact every character on the show — for better or worse. And this ripple effect almost killed the entire season. Because of course Bellamy’s storyline is going to color every plot point and character. He’s Clarke’s co-leader, after all. The heart to her head; the yin and yang.

So let’s bring back some balance to season four, and maybe learn from the mistakes of three. And fans? Let’s cross our fingers that Borus never returns again!

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The 100 3x15 Recap: “Perverse Instantiation -- Part One” (One Step Forward, Five Steps Back) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

“Perverse Instantiation-Part One” 

Original Airdate: May 12, 2016

One step forward, five steps back seems to be the motto for the end of this season of The 100, and frankly, it’s getting quite boring to watch our core group fail time and time again as they attempt to kill Alie and release everyone from the City of Light. Every time it appears that they may actually succeed, Alie and the rest do something predictable to stop them, resulting in the same old cycle. Understandably, they want to wait until the season finale to actually kill the big bad but then perhaps they shouldn’t have spent so many episodes leading up to it, only for the group to fail.

Watching family members torture each other and almost kill themselves to get their loved ones to enter the City of Light was never really fun to watch at any point in the show, and now it’s simply annoying. As character after character loses their agency to Alie and turns against their friends, the show becomes more difficult to watch. Hopefully by this time next week, the nightmare of the City of Light will be done once and for all.

We’re not quite there yet though as naturally, Jasper joined the City of Light this week, having been tempted many times before to take the pill and finally giving in. The show went so far as to tease a Monty and Jasper reconciliation — something many have been waiting for all season as Jasper has become more and more unbearable — only to have him turn on Monty and stab him.  When Jasper began apologizing, it became evident that he had to be under Alie’s control because the man we’ve seen all season would never make a change that quickly. So while it was disappointing, it wasn’t surprising when he attacked Monty in an attempt to get the technology that would let Raven access the program to destroy Alie. Jasper couldn’t even succeed at this, however, as Monty got away and was able to lock himself and Raven in the room where they could work on getting the system back up and running.

The true difficult choice for Monty this episode came from the fact that Harper, who he recently started something with, was still outside where Jasper could easily find and hurt her. And when worse came to worst and Jasper did attack Harper, we saw Monty left with an incredibly difficult decision to make, once again. He’s already sacrificed his mother twice in order for them to keep going forward in their mission to stop Alie. The question now is: will he willing to sacrifice one more person? Jasper has made it clear by flashing his gun that he would have no remorse in killing Harper, and the only way to stop it would be to destroy the computer they’re rebuilding to access Alie’s code. The end of this week’s episode left it open-ended as to what Monty will decide. But once again he’s faced with a lose-lose situation.

Unbeknownst to them, Raven and Monty staying their course and completing the computer might be the only option left to bring Alie down. Another foolproof plan from Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, et. al once again hit a rough patch, as Jasper’s involvement with the City of Light alerted Alie and the others to every part of their plan. This time they had Roan with them, who had agreed to join forces with them in one of their only options left: remove the A.I. from Ontari like they had with Raven and give her the new A.I., allowing them to destroy Alie.

Having known they were coming, Alie and Jaha prepared for this, immediately capturing Clarke and killing Roan, as he was useless to them. They did need Clarke alive though, as she is the only one who knows the passcode that will allow Ontari to take the new A.I. while still chipped and give Alie more power. They turned to their usual methods to try to get this information out of her, first having Abby torture her and when that didn’t work, making Abby hang herself in an attempt to break Clarke. Alie thought for sure that this would work, as it has every time in the past, but Clarke once again proved how strong she was. It was truly disgusting to watch this all play out, with Abby being so far gone that she would torture her own daughter with no remorse. She’s just one of many characters we’ve lost to the City of Light this season that has had a real negative effect on the show.

For Bellamy, Octavia, and the others, they were immediately captured while attempting to complete their part of the plan but thankfully Murphy, Indra, and Pike were able to find them and come to their rescue, and they joined together. Knowing that Clarke was upstairs, they realized their only option was to go save Clarke, defeat Jaha, and successfully follow through with their original plan for Ontari. Murphy once again proved that he has a heart, telling Bellamy that the reason he was willing to go with him was because they both have someone up there that they care about, referring to his relationship with Emori.

Their plan didn’t go off without a hitch though. Pike was injured and Indra and Kane’s fate was left in the air as she went back to save him when a bomb they’d planted was about to go off. Everyone pressed forward though, and they were able to get Bellamy and Murphy upstairs, where Clarke was being held. Realizing that despite all her efforts, the group had still managed to succeed, Alie turned to the only way left to ensure they wouldn’t be able to destroy her. She had Jaha attack Ontari, causing her to become brain dead. This meant that even with the new A.I., she wouldn’t be able to give Clarke and the others the kill code they needed to destroy Alie.

Again, we’re practically back where we started at the top of the episode, with the team's plan to destroy Alie once again failing. Literally the only option left is for Raven to figure out the kill code on her own and destroy Alie from afar, and that's assuming Monty holds strong and doesn’t give in to Jasper. Out of everyone, Raven has been the true hero this season, despite her brief stint in the City of Light. She came back much stronger, not letting anything stop her from succeeding. I’d love to see her be the one to save everyone in the season finale, putting an end to all this nonsense once and for all.

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The 100 3x14 Recap: “Red Sky at Morning” (Now What?) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

“Red Sky at Morning”

Original Airdate: May 5, 2016

If this season doesn’t end with our core group destroying Alie and the City of Light, I don’t know if I’ll be able to keep watching next season. As a viewer, it’s not exciting or captivating to watch so many characters be forced to enter this illusion where they lose complete control of their actions. And it’s not all that interesting watching the rest of the characters who are trying to defeat the City of Light fail time and time again. With the season coming to an end, the show has been focusing more and more on the City of Light, with no one being able to stop it. And this week’s episode left us with two big questions: what was even the point of anything we saw if it all led to nothing? And where exactly does the show go from here?

We finally saw a concentrated effort from everyone not under the influence of Alie, as each faction tried to bring down the City of Light in their own way. For Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, and Jasper, this meant further trying to convince Luna to take her rightful leadership position — the most effective way that they could end Alie. However, Alie knew this as well and somehow managed to bring the City of Light to those on Luna’s ship in the middle of nowhere, where so many had gone to escape violence and killing.

For the first time in years, this escape saw a return of violence, as those under Alie’s influence turned to any means possible to force Luna into taking the chip that would send her to the City of Light. Alie knew that if Luna took this chip before accepting the A.I. into her body, it would stop her from being able to destroy Alie. But Luna is a force to be reckoned with and she was willing to do the unthinkable to stop this from happening: for the first time since she killed her brother at the conclave all those years ago, she murdered again. This time it was her most trusted friend who had fallen under Alie’s influence.

Despite seeing all the bad that the City of Light could do, the episode still ended with Luna refusing to take the AI.., telling Clarke that by going to any means to stop the City of Light, they are no better than those who are going to any means to convert everyone. So then where did this leave our heroes? Back at the same place they started, as Luna drugged them and returned them to where they were found. The only difference now is that they are out of options and have no idea where to go from here.

Things aren’t looking any brighter for Raven and Monty, who were trying to destroy the City of Light using their skill set — technology and coding. Arguably, Raven came closest in this episode to putting an end to Alie, despite Monty’s protests that she shouldn’t use their one chance to kill her using the password until the others returned (hopefully in possession of said password thanks to Luna). However, Raven has never been one to sit on the sidelines and wait, and she has always been one of the strongest characters on the show. (Not to mention, the smartest.) She used this to discover that Alie was hiding something in the Citadel within the City of Light. And it all paid off, as she found that the thing Alie was hiding was a kill switch.

Knowing that Raven had discovered this information, Alie sent in backup to stop them from activating the switch. That backup was in the form of Monty’s mom, whom he had killed but whose mind was still in the City of Light. Once again, Monty was faced with the most difficult choice a child could make. By letting Raven get past the blockade, he would be putting an end to his mother once and for all and would never have the chance to see her or hear her voice again. Even though she was just a shell of who his mother used to be, this was not an easy decision to make. But Monty realized it would give them the chance they needed to destroy Alie, so he again went through with killing his mom. Of course, this too led to nothing, as Alie was immediately able to disconnect herself from Raven’s computer — stopping the engineer right before she was able to use the kill switch. Monty was forced to face the fact that he had killed his mother for nothing, and Raven not only has to carry the guilt that comes with that, but also the knowledge that they gave up their one chance.

The third and final attempt in this episode to destroy Alie came from Murphy, Indra, and Pike who managed to escape the prison they’d been put in for refusing to take the chip. Their plan for ending Alie centered around finding her power source, which Murphy remembered was in Jaha’s backpack. By finding this and destroying it, they’d be able to put an end to her once and for all. Again, things looked promising as they managed to make it all the way to the power source. In a moment of hesitation and weakness though — perhaps even showing his humanity — Murphy was unable to take the final step and destroy the power source because he was afraid of what it might do to Emori, who was there with them. Pike then stepped up and took the final step, but naturally was seconds too late. Alie had managed to finish her migration right before Pike smashed the power source, making it ineffective.

So where does that leave us? Alie now has more power than she ever has had before and is essentially untouchable now that the migration is complete and she’s uploaded herself to the Ark. As for those who have been trying to stop her, while each group came close to succeeding, no one was actually able to, eliminating the only three ways they could have possibly defeated her. As Bellamy so succinctly puts it at the end of the episode... now what? Unless Luna somehow has a drastic change of heart, which seems unlikely since if anything were to inspire that, it would be the events of this week’s episode, they are literally out of options.

With two episodes left, we’ll have to wait and see what the group can come up with, if anything at all, to finally end this disastrous storyline.

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The 100 3x13 Recap: "Join or Die" (The Unbearable City of Light) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

"Join or Die" 

Original Airdate: April 28, 2016

As this season of The 100 draws to an end, the focus has centralized on the unbearable City of Light. From the start, this magical place free of pain has caused me so much pain as a viewer, as it’s taken away agency from so many favorite characters and left them as mindless drones who are willing to do anything to bring others to their crusade. They took it a step further in this week’s episode, forcing Abby to use her growing relationship with Kane to bring him to their side. Right now the only hope of this terrible storyline coming to an end lies with Clarke and the others, as they attempted to find Luna in this episode to convince her to become the next leader and — by accepting the artificial intelligence — destroy Alie.

One highlight of this episode came from the format, as they brought back flashbacks and effectively connected the characters’ time on the ark to their present situations. I hadn’t realized how much I missed these flashbacks until they returned, and now I’m hoping we get more of them before the end of the season. In this week’s flashbacks, we saw a different version of Pike — one who was tasked with the job of teaching the 100 kids (who would be sent to the ground) about Earth skills so that they’d be prepared. Without the knowledge that they’d actually be going to the ground, the 100 weren’t very receptive of the lessons, leaving Pike with the challenge of figuring out how to get through to them. He used Murphy to do so, going so far as to actually attack the boy to prove that on the ground, no one could ever give up and that they’d have to work together.

In present day, this lesson proved to be useful, as Pike was brought to the Grounders after being given to them by Bellamy. But, as we saw in last week’s episode, many of the Grounders are now under the influence of the City of Light. As a result, Pike and Kane — who had come along — were left to Jaha. For Pike, this meant joining Murphy, Indra, and others who refused to enter the City of Light in a prison. Upon seeing the man who destroyed her entire village and killed hundreds of her people, Indra’s first instinct was to finally get her revenge. However, it was Murphy — who clearly is not Pike’s biggest fan — who topped Indra from ending his life. He reminded her that in order to stop Jaha and the City of Light, they would all need to work together, and Pike’s strength would go a long way in helping them accomplish that. Despite his disdain for the man, Murphy did demonstrate that the lesson Pike taught him all those years ago was one worth learning, as they’ll be working together now to bring down the City of Light.

Meanwhile, Jaha also had to figure out what to do with Kane and quickly realized he could use the man’s connection with Abby to force him to reveal where Clarke and the rest of the 100 were hiding out. Kane wouldn’t go down so easily however, and once he realized that Abby was under the influence of the City of Light, he stood strong in his refusal to do what they wanted. In the end, it wasn’t his own torture but instead Jaha threatening Abby’s life that forced Kane’s hand and made him finally give in to their demands. As another beloved character fell to the City of Light in yet another despicable way, this plotline continues to be more and more unbearable. Our only hope is that it will be over after this season, and we’ll get our characters back — damaged, but hopefully themselves again.

Of course, the main hope for ending this pain is determined by Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, and Jasper finding Luna and convincing her to take the AI and become the next leader. This group had a lot to figure out in this episode amongst themselves as well though, as Octavia is still unable to forgive Bellamy for his betrayal (and his part in Lincoln’s death). Distraught, Bellamy had to take a moment to himself and Clarke used this as an opportunity to reconnect with him.

In a scene between the two that I would have easily loved a few seasons ago, I now found myself not caring as much as Bellamy and Clarke had a heart-to-heart about Clarke leaving and the need to forgive themselves for that they’ve done. This is a conversation we’ve seen between them before, of course. Only now with everything Bellamy has done, it’s harder for me as an audience member to forgive him. His hand was in no way forced to turn against the Grounders, but he did it anyway, making this different from any other difficult decision he or Clarke had made in the past. Because of his actions earlier in the season, I’m finding it very hard to care about Bellamy, and with that comes less enthusiasm about Bellarke. While the bond between the two is still strong and it’s clear they once again need each other, perhaps the relationship will grow into something I can love again. But right now, too much has happened for me to be as invested as I have been in the past.

With all of this happening, the group did manage to make their way to Luna, who is apparently living on a ship in the middle of the ocean and has pledged to never kill again. When Clarke confronted her with the knowledge they have and offered her the ability to become the next leader, though, she refused. Surely by the end of the season, the group will be able to convince her to change her mind. Because she is desperately needed in order to put an end to Alie and the City of Light for good so that The 100 can move onto better things next season.

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The 100 3x11 Recap: "Nevermore" (Character Study) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

"Nevermore"

Original Airdate: April 14, 2016

This week’s episode of The 100 was all about looking for the absolute worst in each of the main characters who were first sent down on the arc, just in case we didn’t already dislike them all for things they had done. Of course, the whole point of the episode was to point out once again that maybe there are no good guys in this post apocalyptic world, which would be an interesting revelation if it hadn’t been the exact same thing they concluded at the end of last season. Despite pointing out all of the flaws of every single character in this episode, the show still tries to make us have empathy for and connect with them, making us believe that everything they have done has been for the good of saving their people. In a lot of the cases, this actually works and even when characters are at their worst, we still feel for them. Other times, it’s not so successful. So let’s take a look at each character’s big flaw and how successful the show has been in still making them redeemable.

Obviously, the main character all along has been Clarke, stepping up as the leader from the start and making the tough decisions for everyone. As we’ve been told time and time again, every single move she has made has been for the good of her own people. Raven pointed out that this included things like letting Finn die and killing hundreds of innocent Mountain Men. In the eyes of a character like Jasper, who had to watch Maya die because of Clarke’s decision, she is absolutely not redeemable. But for the audience to connect with the main character, they would have failed majorly if they hadn’t made her redeemable in our eyes. Showing her struggle with decisions and watching her thought process along the way has done that for Clarke, helping us to understand that while she has done horrible things, at her core she has done them for good reasons.

Next we’ve got a character like Bellamy, who also took on somewhat of a leadership role since the beginning. At the start, he was very damaged, memories of the terrible way in which he tortured Lincoln still a reminder of who he was at the start. But slowly, they built this character up and let us see who he was. A brother who cares deeply about his sister, a man who, like Clarke, is only doing what he thinks is best. But Bellamy has always chosen the violent path more than anyone else and when things get hard for him, he lashes out. Following Pike completely destroyed every bit of character redemption and progress we had seen for Bellamy over the seasons, reverting him back to someone very unlikeable. Clearly, for Octavia, what he did to the Grounders and the role he played in Lincoln’s death, is something that can never be forgiven. As an audience, it’s difficult to know what to do with Bellamy right now. There’s a lot of anger still present from his betrayal of everything he had learned up until this point. They’re obviously trying to make us feel some empathy for him right now, though, showing that he was just hurt and confused. The jury’s still out on whether this will work or not, but for some, it’s fair to say that he’ll never be able to return to the character he once was.

As Raven so aptly pointed out under the influence of Alie, Jasper’s biggest flaw has always been his selfishness. Even on the arc, he would steal medicine from those who needed it, for his own purposes. He also stepped up over the seasons, showing that he could be strong but still at every opportunity, letting his true colors show. With the death of Maya, he became so consumed in his own anger and pain that he failed to realize how much he was hurting those around him. He refused to focus on helping his people, instead wallowing in his own guilt and doing nothing to try to confront his feelings, other than drinking them away. This season, he’s really become one of the most intolerable characters and it’s in large part because of that selfishness. He’s spent the whole season pointing fingers and placing blame and has done nothing to actually help the situation. While he might be finally starting to turn a new page, it’s going to take a lot to make Jasper likeable in the eyes of the audience, and it’ll be interesting to see if they manage to do this.

Monty never had the pleasure of having a heart to heart with Raven in this episode, but instead was doing the one thing that he may never forgiven himself for, even if we as an audience completely understand why he did it. As a character, Monty has always been somewhat of a follower, most of his life being spent going along with Jasper. This season, with the arrival of his mother, he went along with her, helping Pike for a short amount of time. He finally took agency for himself and started making his own decisions by going against Pike and running away, knowing he was on the wrong side, something Bellamy still may not have fully realized. By killing his mother to save Octavia, Monty made the biggest decision of his life so far, one that needed to be made in the moment. But knowing now that there was a way to get rid of the AI, Monty is going to struggle with ever being able to forgive himself for that decision.

Finally, we have Octavia, who also never had a chat with Raven in this episode. Instead, she herself struggled internally with who she is and where she belongs. Octavia has been struggling with this her whole life and it’s something we’ve seen a lot of on the show. She was never really a Sky Person, having to be hid away her whole life. Once on the ground, she connected with the Grounders but many of them never fully accepted her either. After Bellamy’s betrayal, she’s being forced to decide if she wants to even stay with this group of Sky People whom she first came to the ground with. The thing is, Octavia is genuinely a good person. In fact, if there is a single character on this show who has always acted as the good guy, it’s been Octavia. She doesn’t look at what group people belong to when making decisions, she simply wants to help people because she is able to have empathy and care about anyone. Faced with people she’s grown to care about once again in a dangerous situation, she simply couldn’t walk away because that’s not who she is as a person. She isn’t selfish like Jasper, a follower like Monty, or concerned with only one group of people like Clarke and Bellamy. If she sees injustice or people in need, she will try to help, no questions asked.

By placing Raven under the control of Alie, who was willing to do anything to make these characters falter, we were able to take a look at the worst parts of them in this episode. Ultimately, they were all able to come together and save Raven, despite their anger at each other and their own guilt.

A character-driven episode that took a look at the core group from the beginning of the series was probably a good idea for the show at this point. Still, like some of the characters, the show has quite a way to go to redeem itself after this season. With two episodes left, we’ll see what they can accomplish as they wrap up one of the darkest and frustrating seasons of the show so far.

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The 100 3x10 Recap: “Fallen” (The Aftermath) [Contributor: Laura Schinner]

“Fallen”

Original Airdate: April 7, 2016

Despite less-than-stellar audience reception to the season, The 100 continues on each week. And if you’re one of those who are still watching, hoping that they’re going to turn things around, this week’s episode may have been a step in the right direction. While in no way making up for the horrendous character assassination earlier in the season, we’re at least finally seeing characters like Bellamy and Monty come out of whatever weird Pike-induced stupor they were in, making moves that will actually help their people. For Bellamy, in the eyes of the other characters and the audience, it’s too little, too late, and he’s going to have to do a lot more to earn even a smidge of forgiveness for what happened to Lincoln. But turning in Pike to the Grounders doesn’t hurt his cause, even if his motivations for doing so are still unclear.

Obviously then, this episode focused a lot on the aftermath of Lincoln’s death, especially in regard to the other characters’ reactions to Bellamy. Everyone who escaped from Pike, including Kane and Octavia, reunited in the cave where Octavia was keeping Bellamy. It became immediately evident that no one trusted him, and rightfully so, even after he claimed he was now on their side. The confrontation between Octavia and Bellamy was a powerful one, as she very clearly sees Lincoln’s death as Bellamy’s fault. There was so much he could have done to stop it, but instead he went along with Pike’s ridiculous ideas, doing nothing to stop him from killing Lincoln until it was too late.

Watching the siblings at odds with each other, while completely justifiable, is hard to watch. Seeing Octavia brutally attack Bellamy, getting all her anger and frustration with him out, was painful, but even Bellamy was able to acknowledged that he deserved it. The strong relationship between these two has always been one of the highlights of the show, and listening to Octavia declare Bellamy dead to her was rough. It seems unlikely that the two will ever repair that bond they had, no matter how hard Bellamy is willing to try to redeem himself.

His first attempt at redemption came in this episode, after Monty radioed Bellamy to tell him that Pike knew that he had betrayed them and because of that, Monty was on the run. Planning to meet up at the dropship, Kane and Octavia took Bellamy along, knowing they might be walking into a trap. As they predicted, Pike was there waiting for them and they had no choice but to surrender. Still having Pike’s trust, Bellamy was able to convince him that he was leading him to where the rest of their group was hiding, but instead walked him right into a Grounder attack, where he turned Pike in. There are few things more gratifying than seeing this despicable character finally get what he deserves, and hopefully this will be a bit of a turning point for the show. Bellamy has come nowhere close to redeeming himself, and, like Kane pointed out, he may have only turned Pike in for Octavia and not because it was the right thing to do. Either way, no one is going to complain about Pike getting what he deserves.

Elsewhere, in City of Light land, things are still entirely unbearable, made more so by the fact that Abby is now also brainwashed. Because why should any of your show’s awesome ladies have any agency for themselves? Of course, being the strong woman she’s always been, Raven did everything she could to try to escape from having Alie inside her head. She came up with a plan that would actually work, but before she could enact it, Jaha and Alie put a stop to it, giving Raven back all her painful memories to the point that she surrendered and let Alie back in. Now completely under the control of the artificial intelligence, Jaha and Alie used this to force Abby to enter the City of Light by cutting Raven’s wrists and leaving Abby to either watch her bleed out on the floor or take the pill. Watching character after character being controlled by this thing hasn’t been fun or interesting, and hopefully it’ll be over soon.

The light at the end of this tunnel comes from the fact that Jasper was able to grab Raven and escape, running into Clarke on his way out of camp. It looks like the three of them will meet up with the others in next week’s episode, uniting so many of the characters that haven’t seen each other all season. With everyone working together, they will hopefully be able to get this thing out of Raven’s head, putting an end to her loss of agency that has been so frustrating to watch. If they can succeed, then hopefully they will also be able to help Abby in the future as well.

There’s still Lexa’s death to deal with as well, which Murphy is alone in navigating back with the Grounders. He’s been working to earn the trust of the self-declared new commander and help her convince the people that she is their new leader. Murphy has had quite the interesting journey on the show, and his constant snark has been welcome this season as one of the few enjoyable things. He has more than learned how to look out for himself, but also seems to have more of a conscious than he did when the show started, caring about more than just himself. But he will do whatever it takes to stay alive, adjusting to whatever circumstance he’s in, something we’ve seen him do time and time again. This is no different, as he’s once again making decisions to keep himself alive.

Overall, as The 100 is coming to the end of the season, we’re seeing them try to resolve every terrible decision they made prior to this point. Unfortunately, some of the decisions they made are unable to be repaired in the eyes of many members of the audience. They’re going to keep trying, though, and as the season wraps up, I’m thinking we’ll see an end to Pike’s reign and the destructive City of Light. There’s not a ton of hope for the show at this point, but for those who are sticking with it, it will be interesting to see how they continue trying to make up for everything that’s gone wrong.

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How The 100 Went Horribly Awry This Year: A Special Roundtable with 4 Your Excitement

Before season three aired, The 100 was one of the most critically-praised shows on The CW. It was a show that garnered acclaim from all around the Internet. Everyone was talking about this show, and everyone was praising its writing and its characters. Slowly but surely, The 100 picked up momentum.

And then, this season happened.

Now, more than ever, The 100 is the target of critical scrutiny, backlash, and bitterness. It’s once well-rounded characters have fallen prey to character assassination. The show doesn’t seem to remember who it is anymore or anything that happened in the two years preceding this season. As a fan of this show, I’m disappointed and angry that something so beautiful could go awry so horribly in such a short amount of time because of a showrunner’s lack of empathy and a writers’ room filled with people who don’t understand their own characters. And as a critic, I’m just appalled that this promising show could fall from grace so easily.

And I’m not the only one who feels that way! That’s why I’ve gathered together some members of my team, as well as some ladies from our sister site, 4 Your Excitement, so we can talk about how badly this show messed up and how desperate it is for a reboot when it returns next season. Let’s dive in, shall we?

WHAT, SO FAR, IN THIS SEASON WAS MOST OFFENSIVE TO YOU IN TERMS OF BEING A FAN OF THE SHOW AND OF BEING A CRITIC?

Ilene:
Hands down, Bellamy Blake’s character development. I understand the need to show multi-dimensional characters, and that the writers of the show wanted to show the audience moral gray areas. But at what cost? We, as an audience, should be able to see why characters do the things they do — make the decisions they do — and not have to decipher motives from tweets, news articles, and interviews. Bellamy is the male lead of this show and for the writers to just throw out his character development, his “heart” to Clarke’s “head,” did nothing for the plot, nothing for the other characters, and undermined everything we had learned about Bellamy Blake thus far.

Bellamy’s core was that he would do anything to protect his sister. But when Pike threatens to turn her in, instead of reacting with the rage we are all so familiar with, he just nods along. It’s a shame when such a multi-dimensional, strong, and caring lead that we all originally hated regresses so far that his core traits are completely erased. It doesn’t help that his “redemption” is being handled just as poorly — it’s both chunky and crass and in your face. It does not move the plot forward, it does not represent Bellamy Blake, and it basically exists in a vacuum. We already knew why Pike was motivated, and that gray area was already established. Bellamy’s character assasination really messed with this season for me.

And don’t get me started on Lincoln.

Verena: 
Honestly, there are a lot of things wrong with this season. But to me the most offensive was the treatment of Lincoln. My sweet baby child. Where is the brave warrior with a heart of gold? He’s gone and has been replaced by a shell, and as a fan of the show — and Lincoln as a character — that broke my heart. If you’d ask me to sum up his role in season three, I couldn’t do it. That’s how irrelevant he’s become. His death wasn’t surprising as we all knew Ricky was headed to American Gods, but Lincoln’s whole existence this season was a cruel joke. That’s just no way to treat your characters, no matter what may have happened behind the scenes. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your cow!

Emmy: 
I think that the writers’ logic behind this whole season has been quite offensive. It’s really hard just to single out a moment because, for me, it feels like they thought that we wouldn’t notice how poorly this season has been done. From the lack of any solid Lincoln storylines to the complete character assassinations of both Clarke and Bellamy, the main feeling I get is the writers were just throwing everything in simply because they could.

If I really had to pick out a moment, it was the introduction of Pike to Arkadia. That whole storyline and every little tie to it has been horrible. It has brought a Bellamy that we don’t even know existed and worse — we were given no clues as to why he’s been reacting this way. From the second Pike and his hate-spewing rhetoric was introduced on the show, I’ve been dying for him to be killed already, which is a first for me because anyone who knows me knows I love a good villain.

Abby:
Am I allowed to say all of it? I have several issues with this season, from horrible character regression, to Pike’s takeover, to the City of Light. Every reason I have loved The 100 for the past two years has essentially gone out the window. Clarke’s bravery, leadership, and ferocity? Not so much anymore. Bellamy’s compassion and how I grew to not hate him? Gone. Monty and Jasper’s bromance? R.I.P. bros. You get where I’m going with this.

It all comes down to characters, and how literally nothing has felt right this season. I know that, as a show, the story needs to grow and evolve — they couldn’t have stayed on that drop ship or in Mount Weather forever — but this feels like an alternate universe. I mean, Indra was going to stay behind at one point, and I just can’t deal with that. My only favorite intact right now is Octavia, but for how long? #SaveOctavia

Lizzie:
I want to say all of it too, because there’s so much that I have problems just fixating on one thing. But if I close my eyes and try to concentrate on what’s the worst? Bellamy wins. Bellamy, who was kind of an idiot at first, but one who grew so much. And then, this season happened. And, boy, did they just straight-up murder one of my favorite characters for the sake of... I’m not sure. Shock value? The pacing has been off this season, and that has hurt Bellamy more than anyone. Almost every storyline can work if you do them right — if you give people REASONS to act one way or another. Bellamy wasn’t allowed that, so I’ve basically been staring at the screen all season thinking: "Who are these people and what did they do with my faves?"

Isabella:
I’ve also got to go with Bellamy’s characterization. He has had one of the best story arcs on TV and it was ruined this season. The fact that Jason Rothenberg chose to not show it on screen is very frustrating. We’re not even allowed to watch Bellamy somewhat growing into this person and we’re just supposed to take it at face value? No, we’re not dumb. I also don’t get why this arc was done in the first place. I can’t even get into Rothenberg trying to justify it by saying that he knew of liberal people who became really conservative and scared after the 9/11 attacks. I mean... what?!

Jenn:
Agreed 110% with all of you, and especially you, Abby. This whole season has been really shoddy storytelling-wise and pacing-wise. But the most offensive thing to me is the fact that writers and Jason don’t even seem to know their own characters anymore. That’s the reason I have so many issues with shows — writers seem to forget the amazing nuances that made their characters who they are. And when that happens, you don’t just make your fans upset; you mar your characters. Characters suffering for the sake of bad storytelling is what truly offends me, and The 100 has produced that in spades this year. Yay?

Melissa:
The one thing I loved about the previous two seasons of this show was just how solid the characterizations were and the plot; there were no massive holes and it was just so great to finally see that on TV.

... And then this season happened. I totally agree with all of you on the treatment of Bellamy Blake’s character. Because to have him regress as a character further from even where he was even in season one? That was just so painful to watch. It’s like everything he is as a character and everything that is important to him — like, you know, his sister — was put on the back-burner so that he could be part of the Pike storyline. I’m not going to get into Pike because he just makes me so angry it’s insane.

Another thing that really, really annoyed me was the entire situation with Lincoln. You give us this amazing character and just dump him in a jail and then kill him? NO THANKS. Not here for this treatment.

THE SHOW SEEMS TO HAVE A HUGE PROBLEM WITH PACING THESE DAYS: REVELATIONS AND BIG MOMENTS ARE UNDERCUT WHEN THEY DON’T HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO DEVELOP. IN WHAT INSTANCES HAVE YOU SEEN THAT OCCUR THIS SEASON?

Ilene:
Clexa. Where to even begin? Jason Rothenberg’s decision to place Clarke and Lexa sleeping together over the plot of the show is absolutely mind-blowing to me. For someone who values plot and in-depth character development, to throw away serious character development and plot time, along with downgrading Clarke to a stereotypical love interest hurts my soul. This show is called The 100, not The Commander. Why, this season, was I asked to care more about Lexa than Clarke? To throw away Clarke’s stubborn, willful, and kick-ass personality and downgrade her to the Commander’s love-sick love interest is pitiful. And this was all so we could get a scene where they sleep together? It’s crass, it disregards the viewers, it undermines the story, it weakens both Clarke and Lexa’s relationship, and it forced both a reconciliation and death to all happen in a matter of minutes.

Emmy:
The escalation of the war between Pike, Skaikru, and the Grounders. For me, it has felt like all this hatred and the leap directly to genocide happened WAY too quickly. There wasn’t a foundation established, no background story, no insight whatsoever. The election of Pike as Chancellor should have taken longer. Like, where did he suddenly get all those supporters when Kane had more people in Arkadia than Pike did? It’s kind of like the writers forgot that the 100 have only been on the ground for a grand total of four months. Too much has happened far too quickly, especially in this season. There hasn’t been a slow burn for anything.

Lizzie:
I’m going to go with Ilene on this one. The Clexa was less than it could have been — mostly because it was so rushed as to be utterly nonsensical. Everyone’s motivations seemed to be off, and that’s partly because no one was given time to explain their motivations. Clarke was mad at Lexa for exactly two seconds, then she got over it, then she was full on in love, then they were having sex, then Lexa was dead, and I was here mourning what could have been. It’s insulting. The reconciliation shouldn’t have happened so fast. The “love scene” shouldn’t have happened so fast. And then Lexa’s death shouldn’t have happened so fast. It’s like a theme! Everything happened TOO FAST.

Isabella:
In reference to Ilene and Lizzie, I’m pretty sure this show has no semblance of time. If I’m correct, the Clexa kiss happened only six episodes after Finn died, meaning Clarke got little to no time (at the most maybe two weeks?) to “get over” Finn. Of course, there is the excuse that in this world, they have to act fast or else they might be dead by the next day (see: episode).

But I have to agree in one part on the Clexa pacing. I didn’t really have an issue with how quickly Clarke forgave Lexa, but more of an issue with the fact that they consummated their relationship and were incredibly happy and then in the next moment, Lexa was dead. There was quite a bit of potential to see Clexa happy and at peace before Lexa died, but it didn’t happen. I just think that the writers got in way over their heads with this one.

Jenn:
I think that having no sense of time, Isabella, is one of the things slowly choking the show. There are some shows in which that happens, and you just kind of roll with it. But with this show, we need to know when our characters became the people they are whenever we pick up an episode. The thing that made me SO mad this season is that Clarke spit in Lexa’s face in an episode, and then literally TWO EPISODES LATER, is suddenly extremely worried about Lexa dying?

I get that Clarke has compassion, but to me, none of the Clexa arc made sense in terms of pacing. And Clarke and Lexa both suffered as characters as a result. By rushing them into a resolution before Lexa died, you a) cheapened their story, and b) undercut Clarke’s emotions. Suddenly, she was in love when there was no gradual lead-up to that. And the problem is that Clarke’s emotional response was SO dramatic and SO severe when Lexa betrayed her that the rift between them needed time to heal so we could see their story progress from one of forgiveness to one of love. But for whatever reason, the show decided to rush everything about their story and everyone has suffered as a result.

I agree, too, Emmy with the pacing of the Grounder war. I get that time has elapsed between the season two finale and the point we pick up in the season three premiere, but really? What in the world happened and why is everyone on this show so totally and completely emotionally reckless and not at all who they were in season two?

ONE OF THE WORST STORYLINES IN RECENT YEARS ON THIS SHOW, IN MY OPINION, HAS BEEN “THE CITY OF LIGHT.” WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON IT, AND OF THE SHOW’S DECISION TO ROPE RAVEN REYES — ARGUABLY ONE OF THE SHOW’S STRONGEST WOMEN — INTO IT?

Ilene:
I am actually — surprisingly — not mad about this. I am really enjoying this storyline. I know! I am just as shocked as all of you. If one person is going to take down A.L.I.E., it’s going to be Raven Reyes.

Isabella:
When the story was first introduced, I thought it was so boring. I didn’t find it even worth tuning in for and paying attention to until the writers got Raven involved. My favorite character is Raven and I yearn for any and all scenes she’s in. Don’t get me started on how much she’s suffered, but at least we saw her somewhat happy during this storyline. And I cheered when A.L.I.E. told Jaha that Raven was too strong for her to control. Raven knows the truth about the City of Light, and now we just need for her to expose it.

Verena:
At first, I decided to ignore this storyline as much as I could. But the more it is explored, the more I find myself intrigued. Adding Raven into the mix was probably the smartest thing the writers did all season. She was one of my favorites from the start, but lately she had suffered for no good reason and I needed that to stop. Now what I want to see by the end of season three is Raven Rayes kicking everyone’s pretty butt.

Emmy:
Raven’s inclusion to the City of Light storyline is the only reason I started paying attention to it. Jaha is one of the worst characters on this show, and this storyline just made his presence even more intolerable. I really love that Raven was quick to notice that A.L.I.E. is crap, and that she is now worried that Raven may be the one to bring down their whole foundation. I am so here for that.

Abby:
WHY? It’s so bad. Number one, I think the City of Light idea is stupid and a cop-out. Frankly, the fact Raven got roped into it just pisses me off. If it had come shortly after Finn’s death, I could stomach Raven buying into it, but not now. This just felt like boredom in the writers room to me.

Also, Jaha can go away any time now.

Lizzie:
I’ve just started paying attention to it, to be honest, mostly because it was so boring. So so boring. Raven’s inclusion makes me care, at least, so in that regard... good for you, show. But the whole thing doesn’t strike me as Raven-esque, and that’s the problem with this season — everyone is acting out of character because the writers are just glossing over everyone’s motivations.

Jenn:
Well, okay — the whole argument from me about why this is crap is that Raven being introduced into this story is the ONLY REASON audiences (and most of us) care, right? Because Murphy is fun and all but Jaha is one of the weakest characters by far on this show. And the writers knew by separating him in this City of Light story that they would have to make us care about it somehow. Enter: Raven, a character nearly every single person I’ve talked to loves. Introducing a fan-favorite was a lazy way to tell the story though, in my opinion. Because if you remove Raven from the story, it’s a horrible story. So why even bother with it in the first place?

I think I like the story, but only in theory. In execution, it’s getting to the point where I just want to mute my screen or roll my eyes every single time I see Jaha’s dumb face. But I do totally agree — Raven being the one strong enough to break A.L.I.E. is GOOD and right.

Melissa:
I too hated the City of Light storyline... that is, until Raven showed up (well, I still hate it, but I hate it a little less). I am so excited to see what she does with it and how she goes about trying to destroy it. I hope it’s as satisfying as I want it to be. It won’t be as satisfying as seeing Pike dead, but satisfying enough.

CHARACTERS DON’T NEED TO BE LIKABLE TO BE GOOD, BUT THEY NEED TO MAKE SENSE. TALK ABOUT THIS!

Verena:
If there is one character this applies to, it would probably be John Murphy. During the first couple of episodes of season one, I didn’t have to try too hard to hate him — he was a stereotypical bad guy, after all. But once they made him a more complex character, likeable or not is debatable, I was done for. I’m a sucker for problematic faves. I’m praying to every higher power there is that the writers don’t mess him up.

Ilene:
Exhibit A: Bellamy Blake!

I hated his character beginning of season one, but he made sense. His motives were always protecting his sister above everyone else’s safety. He was a douchebag, but his motives were clear. I also hated Kane mid-season one (now he’s a fave) because of his self-righteous “must obey all rules, screw sentencing 300 people to death attitude.” But, again, his actions made sense. He was doing what he thought was right, and as an audience, we were able to sympathize with him (even if we didn’t like him) because what he was doing came from a place of logic.

Finally, Murphy is my problematic fave who must be protected at all costs... even if he would sell out everyone in ten seconds flat (and I agree with what Verena said).

Oh, and Pike is actually a terrible human, but he’s a good character — his actions make sense for what we know about him. His character has purpose and drive and plot. He moves the story forward, even if I hate him. This season just happened to disregard the core values of a lot of characters.

Emmy:
A great example of this is Jaha. Unlikable as all get out AND he doesn’t make any sense. The writers needs to be consistent with making their unlikable characters make sense. They did a great job with Murphy, and Kane in the first season, but have failed with Jaha and are epically failing with Bellamy. As Ilene can confirm, I wasn’t on the Bellamy boat on the first season but it made sense to not like him at first. It’s like they forgot how to write his character all of a sudden. Same thing with Jaha. I hated him during the first season, but — again — the reasons to hate him made sense because his motives made sense. Now, he’s just crazy and there’s no method to the madness.

Abby:
I am going to mention Kane here, because he is one of my least favorite characters. While he slowly is becoming less of a jerk, he started out pretty awful. Kane has become a driving force of the show, especially now that he is coming around to the idea of compromise. Let’s remember he was the “Big Bad” before Pike was. He’s not great, but he is necessary. I know people are liking him more this season, but I still find him wholly unlikable.

Lizzie:
YES. This. And The 100 had done this so well in the past. Bellamy in season one wasn’t exactly likable, but he made sense. Kane is another good example of this. He’s gotten better now, but he wasn’t anyone’s favorite at first. He always made sense, however. And what about Murphy? He’s problematic at best, but he also makes sense. Bellamy this season? Jaha in general? Now, THOSE don’t make sense. At all.

Jenn:
Totally agree with everyone talking about Jaha. He’s become one of the actual worst characters because he makes no sense. He just kind of exists to cause occasional trouble and annoy me. His story was far more compelling when he was on the Ark, but now? Now, not so much. Also if anyone should escape to the City of Light, it should have been led by one of the kids. Jaha has a lot of pain and is older, but the kids have done some horrific things to survive that I bet they wish they could undo.

I agree regarding Kane though — the show found a way to redeem his character, and it was a slow progression but a good one. Now he’s a leader in all the right ways and I couldn’t be more grateful for that. Same thing with Murphy: I absolutely LOATHED him as a character but the show has really done a great job of making him both redeemable and also (in some ways) irreplaceable because of the levity and comedy he brings to the series.

But the problem is that so many characters this season are making no sense whatsoever. I don’t have to like Pike, but I need to understand his motivations. And as he is now, literally all of his motivations are... what? “Kill the Grounders because if not, they’ll kill us?” That Pike’s character had no build-up and has been turned so severely into this season’s villain is baffling and maddening, considering the fact that we did not get to know him before this season. We are missing a lot of what would make him a good villain by barely knowing anything about him except for the fact that he apparently likes genocide.

I don’t need to like every character on this show, writers, but at least give them some compelling motivation for their behavior.

Melissa:
I’ve been bored and over Jaha since season one. I’ve never felt anything for him and I just don’t care at all. I used to be like that with all the adults but Kane and Abby (more so Kane) have both really grown on me especially when they actually started listening to the kids and understanding how things are on the ground. John Murphy is, much like all of you, my problematic fave and I don’t know what I would do if he wasn’t in my life at this point. Here’s to hoping they don’t mess his character up too.

And I’m not going to discuss Pike because we have to keep this PG and it’s just a bunch of really inventive swear words that run through my mind when I think of him.

WE ALREADY TOUCHED ON THIS BRIEFLY, BUT LET’S DISCUSS BELLAMY’S CHARACTER THIS SEASON AND HIS TRAJECTORY. DID IT MAKE SENSE TO YOU?

Ilene: 
I did talk about this, and the term “I can’t even” applies here. Someone bring in the Blake triplets — those are my feelings.

Verena: 
No. Do I really need to elaborate? What annoyed me the most was the changing relationship between Bellamy and Octavia. Once upon a time, he would have died for her. Now, he barely seems to care. It also felt like, despite his actions, Bellamy always acted according to a certain moral code. That morality has been disregarded. In favor of what, I ask?

Emmy: 
Jason Rothenberg owes Bob Morley a huge apology. Just saying because he’s assassinated Bellamy’s character almost beyond recognition. For a second, I thought there had been an episode that I missed where Bellamy had been taken by body snatchers and lobotomized.

Abby: 
Nope. Season three Bellamy is who I thought season one Bellamy was going to turn out to be. Honestly, it’s pretty disappointing he doesn’t even back up Octavia anymore. It’s all sorts of wrong.

Jenn: 
This is a classic case of great actors getting horrible storylines. Remember in season one when Bellamy was the worst and then he evolved into this compassionate leader? Remember how in season two it was all about self-sacrifice and partnership? Remember then how the writers undid all of that in season three because they needed to... Wait, actually I’m still not sure WHY Bellamy needed to become an absolute horrible human being. So he could be redeemed and help Octavia in the end? So that someone that we knew and cared about would be siding with the villain for most of the story? None of this makes sense. And the whole “catalyst” of Bellamy going dark and you know, becoming a genocidal maniac, was implied to be the death of his girlfriend — whose name I literally couldn’t remember and would barely be able to pick out of a line-up.

So what I don’t get is the fact that Bellamy barely ever wavered when he faced more harrowing circumstances. So why, suddenly, did he go from leader to mass murderer, apart from the writers needing a scapegoat for their horrible story and a stepping stool for the ascension of Pike?

NONE OF THIS MAKES SENSE. NONE OF IT.

I feel so bad for Bob Morley.

And I have more rage than that, but most of what has needed to be said is already said.

Lizzie: 
If I could curse, Jenn, I’d be doing it right now. It makes no earthly sense. I just. ... No. No. Look at Bob Morley’s face in any interview he’s given this season. That tells you all you need to know.

Isabella:
Speaking of, Lizzie. Just... this.

   

(via)

Melissa: 
Bellamy wasn’t on the show until last week's episode, I’m not sure what you’re talking about!

...

APART FROM BELLAMY, WHOSE CHARACTERIZATION WAS THE WORST THIS YEAR SO FAR? EXPLAIN WHO AND WHY.

Emmy: 
I’d like to nominate Clarke as the second to Bellamy as far as poor characterization. Clarke has been a fighter since day one and this season, she’s not been one. And it’s driving me nuts.

Abby: 
I’ll second Emmy’s nomination. I know love and war are confusing, but the core of her character seems all messed up. I cringe thinking of where her character will end up as we move on from Lexa’s death. The girl has a habit of letting her guilt take her over.

Ilene: 
I third Emmy and Abby’s analysis.

Lizzie:
Fourth!

Verena: 
Yes to all of it.

Jenn: 
FIFTH! I watched this past week’s episode and literally had the thought: “Is Clarke even the main character of her story anymore? Or are things just HAPPENING to her and around her?” Like, go back and watch the episode. Pretty much every decision Clarke had to make, apart from trying to steal the A.I. (which she FAILED TO DO anyway) has people deciding things FOR Clarke. Things are just happening around her and she is reacting to them, rather than her driving the actual action. I rewatched a few scenes recently from seasons one and two, and to see how much she’s been sidelined in her own story is kind of offensive. I know that Eliza Taylor is capable of more than just crying on cue or brooding, but she really hasn’t done much apart from that this season.

Melissa:
I agree with all of this.

OF COURSE, THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM IS LEXA’S DEATH AND NOW THE RECENT DEATH OF LINCOLN -- BOTH EXTREMELY POPULAR, DYNAMIC CHARACTERS IN FANDOM AND THE REAL-WORLD OF THE SHOW. AND BOTH DEATHS HAVE RECEIVED (UNDERSTANDABLY) BACKLASH FOR THE WAY THEY WERE HANDLED. WHAT BOTHERED YOU ABOUT THESE DEATHS?

Isabella: 
Wow, where do I begin? I guess I first have to say that I knew these deaths were going to happen. I mainly knew this because of how Ricky would talk about acting as Lincoln and use the past tense. Additionally, some spoilers about Lexa were released, too. Despite this, I still sobbed for both deaths. I didn’t expect the deaths to impact me as much because I knew they were coming, but apparently that didn’t prepare me any better.

My main issue with Lexa’s death was how she died, but not her goodbye scene with Clarke. In fact, I thought they gave Lexa a very sweet and long moment of death. Enough time for her to tell Titus what she wanted him to do and say her goodbyes to Clarke. On that: I hated that her death was an accident. It seemed like incredibly weak storytelling and, to make matters worse, it happened right after she and Clarke consummated their relationship and were given just a few moments of happiness together. I honestly think that it was really dumb and the writers should have at least done it in a more honorable way. And don’t even get me started on how the writers and Rothenberg fed Clexa fans false hope in order to win more viewers.

Lincoln’s death made me furious. I had heard about what happened before watching the episode and I seriously didn’t want to watch it. I avoided it for about three days before finally gaining the courage to power through the episode. We haven’t been given the full story of what we went on behind the scenes between Ricky Whittle and Jason Rothenberg, but we know that there was some form of bullying going on by Rothenberg to Ricky. Lincoln was barely given anything to do this season and was instead just locked up for the majority of it then killed off.

All in all, these two deaths were incredibly detrimental to the LGBT+ community and PoC. They fed into and reinforced two tropes that should be finished once and for all. Ricky and Alycia Debnam-Carey’s leaving of the show could’ve been solved in a different way other than death. I simply can’t accept whatever excuse Rothenberg comes up with because enough is enough. Stop killing off minorities in such horrible ways.

Verena: 
I talked about Lincoln before so let’s focus on Lexa. We all know about the dead gay characters trope — it’s stupid and ridiculous, and we need to protect LGBTQ characters with all we have. But that is not really why her death upset me. It upset me way more because I loved Lexa. She was an amazing character who did not deserve to die in such an anticlimactic way. Had she died in an epic battle, maybe I wouldn’t have been as annoyed with this turn of events (jk, I totally would have). However, I do understand why Clexa fans are even more upset; that whole episode was a total cop-out. I did enjoy the both of them together, but their big moment was rushed, which — in my opinion — took a lot away from it. Go ahead and rage, fans. I’ll hold your poodle.

Ilene:
I am definitely in the minority here, but I have never liked Lexa or her character. I never saw a point to her existence other than to move the plot along, which, by mid-season, she was not even doing. Her purpose was to be a love interest and a supporting character and she was neither — it became The Lexa Show. The plot only started moving forward again after her death. Now, I think the way she died was terrible. I think the way they treated the Lexa/Clarke arc was tactless. I also believe the writers completely trashed their fan base by undermining the intelligence of their audience. Everyone knew Lexa had to die to move the story forward — but to a) lie to the fans about it for “shock value” and then b) do it in such a cliche way? It’s disrespectful.

Lincoln dying is just tragic. Lincoln’s entire storyline was tragic. I am okay with the fact everyone is at risk of dying, but his death was pointless and due to an actor being bullied. The entire Lincoln situation rubs me the wrong way. Both Lexa and Lincoln’s deaths had so much outside writer/producer involvement that it actually hurt the show.

Emmy: 
The Lexa death didn’t really bother me as much as Lincoln’s death because it explained the whole Commander spirit background, connecting the A.L.I.E./A.I. storyline to what was going on with the Grounders. What bothered me was the way she died. She definitely deserved a hero’s death versus a stray bullet. Also the backlash from the fandom could have been avoided if it hadn’t been teased by the showrunner that she was going to be around for the finale. That was a HUGE mistake on his behalf.

Lincoln’s death is unforgivable. From start to finish, Lincoln’s presence on the show was a breath of fresh air — he showed us the humanity that lies within the Grounder community, and gave fans the connection they needed to the Grounders. I get that no one is safe on this show but like I stated earlier, this show needs to work on its pacing desperately. Lincoln dying in battle or later on, say, three seasons from now would have made more sense to me.

Abby:
I have a lot of feelings on Lexa’s death, but they mostly come out as a frustrated string of letters that don’t make sense. Look, I understand that Alycia Debnam-Carey had an awesome career opportunity come up. Great on her for taking it. There are only so many ways to write off a character, and pretty much none of them would have been satisfying to me in this specific case. Lexa quickly became my favorite character after she was introduced; somehow I related to her more and more with every episode she was in. More importantly, I admired her as a strong, but still vulnerable female character on television.

Now let me say this: I am incredibly upset that Lexa died, but I can’t say I’m mad at their decision to do it. If there had to be a permanent departure, I would have been livid if there had been a falling out between Lexa and Clarke. Like, if one had double-crossed the other or Lexa just straight up disappeared, I would legitimately have thrown something. So, again, I’m not mad that she died, but I am mad about how she died. A stray bullet? COME ON. She was the Commander. Give her death some dignity.

As for Lincoln, I don’t want to talk about it. I love you, Lincoln. You were the best.

Lizzie:
I understood that both characters had to die; or that they were both going to die. Lincoln didn’t need to die to move the story forward. That being said, the way both deaths were written was atrocious, and it all comes back to the main problem this season — pacing. Well, okay, this wasn’t just pacing. This was straight-up bad writing and bad writing decisions. Lexa’s death felt, frankly, disrespectful, considering what the character was and had been. And Lincoln’s death was just a joke. I mean, why build up his character so much to do this?

The worst part is, I don’t know how — at this point — I can trust a showrunner or a writing team that would let outside things influence how they handle characters. I’ve had this issue with Shonda Rhimes and I stopped watching her shows. I want my characters coherent, 100% of the time. Outside factors should remain outside. And if Rothenberg has shown one thing, is that he can’t do that.

Jenn:
So most people who are vehemently anti-Lexa’s death cite the fact that LGBTQ characters rarely ever get happy endings. And like, while I am really upset by the death of Lexa from a lazy storytelling standpoint, The 100 isn’t a show for happy endings. I mean, I would liken whatever this show has planned in its eventual series finale to the end of The Hunger Games series — whenever you face situations this dark and harrowing, sometimes happiness isn’t exactly realistic. So for Clarke and Lexa to end up together happily wouldn’t have made much sense given the context of this show. And the problem with Lexa’s death is that perhaps the show could have left a door open for her character to return and not killed her off, but that would have required extra pacing and forethought in terms of storytelling and some hoops to jump through for the writers.

(It would not, also, have made a lot of sense either way you sliced it. I mean, she is still the Commander and even if the show just simply had Lexa send Clarke away to the Ark again, this season is totally built on the foundation of seeing and interacting with the Commander and with Polis. I can’t really see an easy way of making excuses for not seeing the Commander on screen for like, the entire rest of the season.)

Nevertheless, I don’t have a problem with Lexa dying, because we knew it wold likely happen, so much as I have a problem with the horrible pacing and way in which she died. I mean, a stray bullet? Seriously? That’s the kind of storytelling one might see on a daytime soap opera. It was an insult to her character that she went out that way — by accidentally just walking into a room. Though I never really liked Lexa as a character, that was just plain lazy.

And then Lincoln? Oh, geez, Lincoln. First of all, it was a travesty that this show did absolutely nothing with him all season. His character had zero stories or motivation to do anything. And yet Ricky Whittle continued to be impressive and slay every scene he was actually in. All of the build-up to Lincoln’s death was beautifully acted. As far as the writing goes? It was absurd. Lincoln deserved so much more in terms of story and he got exactly zero of it.

Melissa: 
What I hated most about Lexa’s death was the way in which it happened. She was this amazing warrior who died by a stray bullet not intended for her? That’s so insulting to that character. I understand why they had to kill her with Alycia’s other commitments work-wise. And it’s awesome that she’s working on another great show, but that death needed to be handled WAY differently.

Lincoln’s death hurt. I’m so happy that I knew where that storyline was going or it would have broken me. It was so unnecessary.

IF YOU WERE GOING TO FIX THIS SHOW IN SEASON FOUR, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT FOR THE SHOW MOVING FORWARD? (EX.: DOES JASON DESERVE TO REMAIN SHOWRUNNER, OR SHOULD HE BE REPLACED?)

Isabella: 
I would probably try to channel as much of season one as possible. I feel like Jason tried really hard to make the world as large as he could that he lost a lot of what made the first season so good. We stuck with our main characters and were given really good character progression because of it. He’s got to commit to telling the best stories he can about our original characters and not push them to the wayside to focus on guest characters.

With that being said, I strongly believe that Jason either needs to get his crap together and stop killing off/hurting minorities or they’re going to have to replace him. I mean, we went through this with Community and the season that didn’t involve Dan Harmon as the showrunner definitely didn’t feel like the Community we all grew to love. I fear that that might happen if Rothenberg was replaced and that some of the stories he’s wanted to tell for awhile now wouldn’t happen. It’s just a really tough situation all around.

Verena: 
Get rid of Pike, and everything related to this awful character and this stupid story arc. Focus on those people we fell in love with in the first two seasons. Give Bellamy a chance to redeem himself and return to his roots, give Raven something to fight for, have Octavia suffer through Lincoln’s death and not brush it aside. And most importantly, give Clarke back her spark. I miss the natural leader she once was. Stop killing people for no reason — no one likes unnecessary character deaths. Find a story that is interesting and go with it, instead of having several little story arcs that just don’t work together. One thing I want more of are female friendships. Always.

Ilene: 
I miss the delinquents. I miss them trying to just survive Earth and rebuild a society. I want to see them trade with Grounders and see how everyone works within Grounder politics. This season lost focus and decided to throw all this crap at us and just expect us to accept it as truth. There was no linear progression from one story to the next, and it was as if we were dropped in a different show. I know The 100 is fast-paced, but this season left the characters in the dust. Seriously, where is my character development and growth? Also, if you have to constantly keep separating your main characters in order to stop their chemistry, THAT IS A PROBLEM.

Abby: 
Have you seen X-Men: Days of Future Past? For real, though... I don’t even know. The factors that made the show so great in the beginning are null and void anymore. However, I’d like to get back to basics and see more of the 100 — you know, those kids they sent to Earth. I’m over the whole Pike/Arkadia/City of Light crap. I want the kids back, and I want them how they used to be. Alas, it probably isn’t doable at this point.

Emmy: 
I agree — the show needs to go back to its basics. We need to see the 100 and Skaikru struggle and build their place on Earth up; it feels like we missed out on a bunch of steps. I want to see the main characters have more of a say in how things are run at Arkadia like they established their rules for the drop ship. I need all the adults except Kabby to go away because I honestly thought they were going to stay away for a while and we would have gotten a show about young adults trying to set up a civilization. I also think that the only way we’ll get this is if Jason Rothenberg steps down or is replaced, sadly, as it’s quite obvious he’s lost his way with this show.

Lizzie: 
Get rid of Jason Rothenberg. I’m sorry, but at this point, I can’t trust the man with these characters, and if I can’t do that, why am I even watching?

Jenn: 
I agree with everyone in some way. In this case, I think a reboot in leadership is necessary. Rothenberg is far too absorbed in his own belief that what he is doing is right that he can’t see how he’s killing his own show. He’s far too close to this work, and in this case (unlike Community, Isabella), I feel like someone else taking over the reins could be good. Throwing away whatever plans Jason had for the rest of the series would be worth it if someone else who had a grasp on who these characters were and are came in and took over.

But I also do agree that this show needs to remember what made it special — its teenagers. I feel like we’ve lost a lot of who these characters are within the context of this grand, big world that has been created. The relationships between the characters are what I really care about. Not the City of Light. Not Pike. I care about Octavia/Clarke, and Raven/Bellamy, and Jasper/Monty, etc. I just want to see the characters I grew to love actually interacting and not simply existing to further plot.

Melissa: 
I really want to see them get back to season one/season two in terms of feel. There is so much about those two seasons that is missing in season three, and the reason people were sold on the show. I don’t think the hook has really been present in season three. And just get rid of the City of Light and Pike.

   

THE SHOW DID A LOT WRONG THIS SEASON SO FAR. BUT DID THEY, IN YOUR OPINION, GET ANYTHING RIGHT UP UNTIL THIS POINT?

Ilene: 
Kabby. That kiss was the best thing to happen all season. The first two episodes of the season felt like The 100 before the writers decided to murder the main characters character development. Miller and Harper — they are my everything. Murphy is so on-point, redeeming what I thought was going to be a crap storyline with the City of Light. I am currently super psyched for this.

Isabella: 
I’m actually really happy with how the fight between Bellamy and Clarke went down in episode five this season ("Hakeldama"). It definitely hurt me, don’t get me wrong, but I’m glad that their feelings about Clarke leaving were finally out in the open. I’ll continue to say that some of the best scenes The 100 has to offer are the ones with Bellamy and Clarke together. Their scenes are just so moving.

Verena:
I’m really excited that they introduced some kind of origin story for the Ark. I’d like to see more of that. I can’t be the only one to wonder what the first years up in space were like, right? I also didn’t hate the A.I. they introduced and how it is connected to the Commander. I feel like I might regret those words in the future. Don’t ruin this story, please.

Emmy: 
Kabby! The show got their relationship right — slow burn and all, and it was beautiful. I also loved the Commander backstory and actually want to learn more about it. Additionally, the only character they have written correctly has been Murphy. So thank you for that, writers.

Abby:
Um, pass.

Lizzie: 
I’ll agree that they got Kabby right. But at this point, even that feels like too little too late.

Jenn: 
The writers made me really care about Kane/Abby. I think Kane’s evolution has been one of the only things this show did right and seeing him as the selfless leader was great. (Also, I’ve already decided he’s basically a surrogate dad to Bellamy and Octavia at this point.). He and Abby have a really great story and generally I don’t care about the adults, but The 100 made me care again by selling their romance.

I guess apart from that, at least Raven and Octavia have been written consistently. That’s something. And Indra. More Indra please.

Melissa: 
I agree with the Kabby. I didn’t think I would but then when they kissed last episode, I started cheering. So I mean, clearly I was more invested than I thought. Murphy is also always a great time so I can’t complain about him either.

ANY FINAL THOUGHTS ABOUT CHARACTERS/PLOT/OR WRITING?

Ilene: 
Just because you have 16 episodes does not mean you get to just create conflict and shock for the sake of conflict and shock. Everything should have a very visible freaking purpose. Also, why is Roan an enemy now? What gives?

Emmy: 
Slow your rolls, writers. We get that you have a short season order with episodes, but please don’t insult our collective intelligence and abuse our patience by rushing everything. There’s a reason other shows have filler episodes — that’s why they make more sense than this one currently does. Do us a solid and just write an episode of strictly background information and exposition. Please and thank you.

Abby:
Something that initially drew me to the show was the writers’ ability to show the complexity of uncertainty and vulnerability, but also strength and perseverance. It seems that lately the writers are trying so hard to undo the entire two seasons' worth of progress my favorite characters have made. Let’s just relax, bring back the delinquents, and remember to #SaveOctavia.

Lizzie: 
Stop the drama for the sake of drama, please. This show already hurts its characters enough just by virtue of being what it is. No need for you all to add unnecessary drama to the equation, writers.

Verena:
To quote the great Hillary Duff: “Let’s go back, back to the beginning.” Focus on the original story you wanted to tell: a bunch of lost kids trying to find their way in a world that is not their own.

Isabella: 
Stop hurting Raven!

Jenn: 
Learn from your mistakes, rather than just pretending to care about what your audience has to say in order to appease them. Until you’re humble and admit your shortcomings, writers, your show will continue to fall further and further from grace.

Melissa: 
I just need everyone to settle down and relax. Don’t rush into things, don’t try to make something you aren’t. We loved the show for a reason in the first two seasons, so we just need to find that groove again.

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