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The 100: Terms and Conditions

"I've learned that if something helps you survive, it's always the right thing."

It's a showdown, people.

"Terms and Conditions" was all about what's facing Arkadians. About what has been dividing them.

On one side, Pike is calling for war. He wants to fight bloodshed and violence with bloodier bloodshed and more violent violence. It isn't that he's stupid. This has been the way of the grounders for centuries and they became an undeniable force that is capable and feared. The Mountain Men released acid fog just to keep the grounders from bringing the fight to their doors. But as Kane so eloquently stated, that mentality might have been necessary then (much like the super strict rule enforcement on the Ark), but is it the smart play today? Kane doesn't think so. He is calling for peace and understanding. He is hopeful that there doesn't need to be a fight at all, but even that is messy since he is having to fight Pike in order to put peace back on the table as an option.

Finn was sort of haunting Arkadia this week. First Pike brought him up and said that Arkadia handed Finn over to be executed, which just isn't true. Then again Jasper tried to talk to Raven about him and flung her into the realization that she doesn't remember him. While I'm talking about this, when Raven realized what she lost by going to the City of Light, and immediately made the connection that she couldn't trust ALIE with the chip maker, I immediately thought about Wells. Thanks to Abby, Jaha now knows that he lost all memory of his son, but he didn't care enough to question it. Thanks to Raven, we know that it's possible for him to do so. I'll say it again... poor Wells. With a dad like that, who needs little girls to cut his fingers off?

The plan, the misdirection, the riot, it was all well thought out and entertaining television. Miller's boyfriend asked, "Is any of this worth lying to someone I love?" According to Bellamy, it is if it protects that person you love. Interesting how people have a loved one on the other side of the line and how that plays out. Miller is spending almost no time with his boyfriend so that he will have the free time to meet with Kane and carry out attempts to kill Pike's terrible plans. His boyfriend slipped a listening device in his jacket and was actively talking to Bellamy and Monty about Miller's involvement with Kane. When Clarke came to talk to Bellamy, he was going to turn her in to Pike and let Pike decide what to do with her. He'd probably have done the same with Octavia had she not been taken to Polis. So much broken trust. How do you forgive someone you love of that? How do you forgive yourself?

Monty and Bellamy's dedication to Pike has been, at best, shakily explained. I get that Monty was probably following his mother's lead and that Bellamy is scarred from having seen too many of his friends die, but come on. They've been on the ground long enough to know that the actions they've taken on Pike's behalf were bound to have consequences. And I feel a little annoyed with them that it took Kane's sentencing and the possibility of condemning Miller and Harper to the same fate to make them accept that they are on the wrong side of this civil war.

After blindly following a dictator for most of this season, Bellamy is finally coming to his senses. I love that Kane hadn't written him off, and was still trying to get him to see the bigger picture right up to being sentenced to death. But I don't see how he could trust him with any real power ever again. That's only relevant if they both live through whatever coup is going to go down when the season resumes. Oh, no. Are they setting Bellamy up to be redeemed by sacrificing himself to take down Pike? I really, really hope not.

3 out of 4 distraction riots

Bits and pieces

How sad that Kane's plan fell apart only because he wasn't willing to cross the line that he condemns Pike for constantly leaping over. Morals are tricky little bastards, huh?

In Kane's corner there is Miller and a chick with blondish hair named Harper. Why do I feel like Harper has died a few times? I find it odd that Abby isn't a part of Kane's crew.

This episode and "Thirteen" feel like two parts of the same story. Separating what happened in Polis and what happened in Arkadia was necessary to keep the momentum of both stories from crashing while they were being told, and both are wildly important turning points.

Ugh, please please please don't let the next commander be chosen off camera. I've been waiting for so long to find out how it works. Knowing that the ALIE chip is involved isn't enough!

How is Jasper charging Maya's ipod?

Harper: “Or we could just shock-lash Pike’s fascist ass and hand him to the grounders.”

Momma Monty: "Down here, I've learned that if something helps you survive, it's always the right thing. You do what it takes."

Bellamy: "Wasn't much of a plan, sabotaging the rover. Keeping an eye on Sinclair was an easy call."
Kane: "Was it? Spy on your friend, that was easy?"

Pike: "I hope you're ready to negotiate the terms and conditions of your surrender."

Bellamy: "Sir, are we really killing our own people now?"
Pike: "We're at war. Crimes against our leadership can't be tolerated."

Momma Monty: "Let's hope today's actions make it clear to the people of Arkadia which side they should be on."

Momma Monty: "It’s not really that hard choosing what’s best for your people, is it?"
Bellamy: "No. I do it every day."

4 comments:

  1. It is so way past time for Bellamy to wake up and smell the coffee! Has he? Finally? And I was so oddly proud of Raven for having the strength to do what no one else ever has -- put the facts together, and resist ALIE.

    It would be just like this show to actually execute Kane. Hey, guys. You don't have to go through with that to impress me.

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  2. Separating what happened in Polis and what happened in Arkadia was necessary to keep the momentum of both stories from crashing while they were being told

    And also to prevent the clumsiness of Bellamy’s arc to lower the quality of the story being told on Polis.

    This was a good episode. It says a lot about how much the writers messed up Bellamy as a character that I wanted Kane to run the car through him and was disappointed when Kane didn’t. Then again, my heart filled with a “hell yes” when Bellamy delivered his “I do it every day” line. I’m such a sucker for that kind of stuff.

    Can he be redeemed, though? Bellamy did much worse than Finn ever did. He is responsible for the assassination of 300 grounders. And he killed two more now. The grounders surely would want to kill him too to avenge all those deaths, right?

    Pike is so one note, I’m ready for him to go… Big time. The writers almost gave him layers this episode (when he was the voice of reason, twice!), but it’s not enough to overcome the fact that he is a terrible person and a terrible character to watch. Monty’s mom, on the other hand, is an evil character done right. I’m very much looking forward to the inevitable family drama. It would be totally this series to have Monty being forced to kill his mom.

    Yay for Raven waking up. That was my favorite scene of the episode. Both actors did a great job. Elsewhere, Henry Ian Cusick is doing some amazing work this season.

    And now some promo complaint: the promo for this season showed pivotal scenes that HAVE NOT AIRED YET. Come on, people. You don’t spoil over half the season on the trailer.

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  3. Bellamy. At least he's finally waking up to how far past the line he crossed a few episodes back. It finally came down to a threat to "his" people. Miller has been a trooper for him since basically the beginning, and Harper was the poor girl who had her bone marrow harvested for several episodes last season.

    What kills me about all the drama in Arkadia is that the 'adults' are playing their political game with no real idea of what the hell is going on around them. Even Kane only knows half of the story. The real leaders, Bellamy, Jasper, Raven, Octavia, and of course Clarke know so much more about the complicated world that is now literally a mile from their doorstep.

    Except that's the rub, things are progressing exactly like they should progress. Leaders come and go, some are dictators or tyrants or warmongers convinced that their way is the only way. Most of the time that involves expansion of territory, hatred of another people or country, or just plain evil. Pike is a mix of most of that, a man torn apart by grief and hatred, and incapable of understanding the nuance of the real situation on the ground.

    Pike has no idea that Clarke had to kill Finn because he crossed a line (ironically the exact same line that Pike crossed when he butchered that army sent to protect Arkadia from the Ice clan) that meant war with a far superior enemy. Pike doesn't grasp how many grounders there are, and how they train for war from a very young age.

    There is an old story (which may not be true), about an army trying to invade Mongolia. This was fairly modern because there were guns and supposedly tanks. The modern army, with all their technology came to a vast field with great line of sight. In the distance they saw a dust cloud coming, and they couldn't make it out. As the dust cloud got closer, it turned out to be thousands of men on horseback with spears, swords, and bows and arrows. In short, it was a slaughter.

    If Pike thinks their superior firepower will even the odds, when half of his encampment are civilians who have never picked up a weapon, he is not just foolish, he's dangerously stupid.

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  4. It was a pleasure to watch the double and triple-crosses with multiple bugs planted left and right. And finally Bellamy realized what a moron he's been the whole time. The internet was outraged with Lexa dying but the assasination of Bellamy's character is an actual flaw of the season. At least he was only stupid in 4 episodes, so maybe they'll manage to redeem him. That or they'll kill him, I could see it going either way.

    Elsewhere I was expecting for Jasper to make the connection about erasing all memories, but Raven did it faster. Good for her. Time to also mount a resistance against Jaha who is the embodiment of "You either die a hero or see yourself become a villain."

    The lack of Abby really bothered me. She was already absent last week, two weeks in a row is too much.

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