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The 100: Unity Day

"Best Unity Day ever."

Most holidays, it seems, are based on some form of falsity or an outright lie (or two). Unity Day is no exception, which is totally unsurprising given the nature of the society on the Ark.

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Unity Day wasn't about bringing people together out of a desire for friendship, but a need for survival, and brutal survival at that. The Ark is not a nice place. It is hardly worth living for, let alone worth fighting for. Which makes the actions of the people, especially those at the top, all the more intriguing. The political game going on here is one of deception and timing. Jaha doesn't know how to reveal to the people of the Ark that more than half of them are going to be left behind.

Which makes Diana's actions almost valid, except she isn't about saving everyone, either. She chooses her select group and tries (and succeeds) to steal the one drop ship available that has the best chance of surviving the journey to Earth. It is also the biggest ship as well, tied into a lot of the systems on the Ark. It was both callous and more than a little evil of Diana to just try and hastily break off from the Ark and leave everyone to die. At least with Jaha, I imagine he wouldn't have compromised the systems while leaving for Earth.

At least it looks like Kane's personality is starting to take shape. He isn't the cold hearted villain he was originally painted to be. Turns out he's a zealot. His personal code is all about the survival of the Ark, and following the rules to the letter. Much like his mother, he has absolute faith which revolves around this code and he has blinders on when it comes to the moral questions about those rules or even his own actions. That is until he is forced to see how those actions affect the lives of others. It is clear the deaths of those three hundred and twenty people got to him on a very basic level. Add to that the death of his mother by Diana, and you have a character that is now a big question mark.

Much like Jaha who lost his son down on Earth, without any real explanation as to why. It makes me wonder what these two will do now that Abby is no longer there to come between them or stand up for the moral choices. Will one of them become a voice of reason, or is the Ark painfully screwed with them in charge? One thing is very clear: Diana made the wrong choice and her karmic reward is the drop ship crashing. How many people did she just kill? Is Abby alive? I have no idea how the dynamic on Earth will change with Abby and Diana there.

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The ground story was equally as twisty on a political front as Clarke had to become a diplomat for the first time. I'm not sure how trustworthy the Grounders were, since they brought just as much armed back-up as Bellamy did (maybe more). Anya didn't seem like she was all that interested in forming a truce or striking a deal with Clarke at all. There is no way to know if things would've worked out if Jasper hadn't shot first, but at least Clarke is alive if it was a set up. Unfortunately, this failure of diplomacy means war is coming.

Bits:

How much time has passed since the last episode? I got the impression it was at least a couple of weeks. Finn's wound was much better, and Lincoln seemed almost healed as well. Which brings up the question, how many times has Octavia snuck out, and how far has her relationship with Lincoln progressed?

There was another station that was supposed to be a part of the Ark, but something happened and it fell to Earth. 97 years is a long time, I'm curious if the 13th station has something to do with the grounders.

Clarke bluntly threatened Anya by implying that the superior firepower of the Ark soldiers could wipe out the Grounders quickly and without much resistance. Anya rebutted that with the rather cryptic, "They wouldn't be the first to try." Of course that begs the questions, who tried, when did it happen, and why?

Jasper is a horrible shot, and the way he reacted makes it clear some actual training is needed for the 100, or they will lose very quickly to the Grounders.

The Travelers Blessing: "In peace may you leave the shore. In love may you find the next. Safe passage on your travels, until our final journey to the ground, may we meet again."

There was some good character development and plot moving events in this episode. What will happen to the Ark now that most of the systems appear to be compromised? Will Jaha and Kane manage to save the rest of the people on the Ark? What is this war with the Grounders going to look like? I'm not sure if the episode was great, but it was definitely exciting.

3 out of 4 Characters with questionable motives

Samantha M. Quinn spends most of her time in front of a computer typing away at one thing or another; when she has free time, she enjoys pretty much anything science fiction or fantasy-related.

6 comments:

  1. Why Jasper, Whyyy?! Loved the awesomeness of Anya though.

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  2. Oh, Diana. Man, I didn’t like her at all. She had “EVIL” written in her forehead the minute she walked in, and that’s all she is in the end. Bummer. That scene with her group trying to close the door and Jaha’s group trying to open it was... weird. It must’ve been fun to shoot, though.

    I also didn’t like Jasper shooting and, with that, ending any peace possibility. Yes, it was bound to happen, but I wished the writers had come up with a better way to do it.

    My complaints apart, the biggest event of the episode is, of course...

    Anya! Yes! The Boss is here. I think Anya is my favorite Dichen Lachman role. She’s also my favorite grounder. Anya freaking rules. That’s all for the moment.

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  3. Any show immediately becomes 37% more awesome the moment Dichen Lachman appears on screen. :)

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  4. Dichen Lachman! I’m much happier to see you than I was to see Kate Vernon, even though you are obviously as much a threat as she was. (I knew Diana and the red-haired guy were up to no good! And she just made things so much worse. Argh!)

    The Traveler’s Blessing was really lovely. That moment between Kane and his mom made me choke up a fair amount.

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  5. Maybe it's too much Hunger Games but I bet the 13th station wasn't destroyed and actually landed on Earth and is the source of the people who live on the surface.

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  6. You're right J.D., it wasn't perfect but it was exciting. And the way the grounder parlay went down was plausible. I think both sides were prudent in bringing backup; the danger of kidnapping in a meeting like that is too great not to do it. And Anya was quite right; there really wasn't any point in her negotiating with Clarke because she couldn't promise the treaty would hold once the others arrived. The best she could offer was a 2-day truce and good intentions. It's unfortunate Jasper shot first, but that too was plausible. People make bad decisions under that kind of pressure.

    I almost gave up on the show after the first few episodes because of the sheer ridiculousness of some of the plot devices. I mean, they seriously can't distinguish a dead person from a transmitting device failure? And they sent them with no way of measuring radioactivity? All they really know from the survival of the 100 is the radiation isn't lethal in days, which they could probably have guessed by the lush vegetation. It doesn't mean they won't all come down with cancer in a few years. The only real evidence that the earth is liveable is the grounders, and for all we know, all their women have ten children so that two are born without unsurvivable deformities. The bizarre lack of preparation for the mission of the 100 leaves me thinking it's not surprising the Arc is at death's door. They're bloody incompetent.

    Still, there are some interesting character arcs developing.

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