Home Featured TV Shows All TV Shows Movie Reviews Book Reviews Articles Frequently Asked Questions About Us

The 100: The Other Side

"You have to be willing to die to really live. I am."

All season we've been talking about who will get to live. It's all come to a head in this episode. That fact that the number 100 gets kicked around again and again makes me smile uncontrollably.

So there is enough room for a hundred people from every clan. All we have to do now is get the damn door open. This should be good.

I really hated seeing Clarke so allied with Jaha. And I really, really hated that she couldn't admit that she was wrong right out of the gate. Putting Jaha anywhere close to power is insanity in my book. I don't care what else he's done, he's bad at putting humanity first. He's still a float first, ask questions later kind of leader.

— Monty, get out of there. They want to die.
— If Monty makes it to the bunker, and has a place inside, I really hope there is a therapist.
— Poor Monty. They refuse to live for him. That has to hurt so hard.

These are some of the things I wrote down during the episode. But Harper came through in the clutch. When she told him that he wasn't worth living for, I wanted to kick her in the shin. I was unreasonably pissed that she would be so cruel in what I thought was their final interaction. I'm glad he didn't lose them both.

Christopher Larkin did a phenomenal job as Monty watching his best friend die. Gold stars for sure. My heart broke into a thousand little pieces. I hate Jasper for not being able to pull it together for his best friend but I can't say I'm sorry to see him go, and I don't remember anything being shot more beautifully in 100 history. Here's hoping Monty makes a new grounder BFF in the bunker.

Jasper has taken his band of unmerry followers from not wanting to fight to straight up suicidal. Which made me think of two things. Like Monty pointed out, why save Riley just to let him die on the floor? But then again, there was an episode only a few weeks ago titled 'DNR.' So maybe I should've seen this coming. Secondly, something else that's come up a lot this season and what we owe the bunker to: a cult. Also known for mass suicides. Also usually led by an unstable madman. Odd coincidence or was it on purpose?

The battle happening in Raven's mind is the most beautiful and authentic thing I have ever seen this show do. Of course there is a part of her, the human emotional part, that would rather live. And she conjured up Sinclair as a (non)physical representation of that. He tied (non)physical Becca up and taped her mouth so that the other side of Raven, the logical scientist, couldn't talk her out of looking for a way to survive. So that logic couldn't overrule. The Becca side of Raven is the one that been flying this rocket for a while now. It's about time she gave into the fact that she is a genius and could maybe fix her brain. Not to mention that Abby will be dealing with this eventually too, right?

This was a really well done episode. Albeit, not so fun for me to watch but only because characters that I love were acting insane, turning against each other and generally being survival instinct ridden jackasses humans.

4 out of 4 ice baths for survival.

Bits and pieces

For all of us that were unsure, Abby did not know about the plan and didn't choose to save her daughter over Kane. For whatever that's worth.

DO NOT TAZE BELLAMY EVER AGAIN. EVER. Do you hear me?

Having Monty run around in the suit while everyone else looked like death with their undereye circles and crazy stares was a really nice representation of the differences in their mental states. Monty still has some fight left in him, some color in his cheeks and pep in his step. Jasper and Harper are running on empty and losing steam fast.

The bitterness in me is reluctant to give Abby props for helping Bellamy. She only ever does what is best for her and her conscience. She got her husband floated for wanting to warn the people about the dying Ark. She wouldn't allow Clarke and co to go get Finn when he was on the quest to find Clarke. She smashed the tube that could've proved that turning people into night bloods would save them from acid rain. If Kane were in the bunker, she wouldn't have helped to save Octavia, I don't think.

When Clarke took her sabbatical and Bellamy fell off the deep end with Pike, I wondered if he was only an effective leader and decision maker when he had her to balance him out. Now I am convinced. Left to their own devices, neither one of them is very good. They are better together. They need each other because alone they are just Pike and Jaha. Unstable. Unfeeling. Uncaring. Ineffective.

How terrible that Raven and Harper decided to live right when the possibility of doing so falls so significantly. Harper didn't make Clarke's original list. But I say, give her Jaha's spot. For the love of Christmas, don't give him a spot.

Octavia: "When I won, I decided to share the bunker. A hundred from each clan."

Echo: "The plan is to wait? To hope that Bellamy comes to your rescue?"
Octavia: "Yes."
Echo: "Knowing how Bellamy feels about you, I'd say that's a good plan."
It's a little bit pathetic that even Echo was thinking more clearly about who Bellamy is than Clarke was.

Pretend Becca: "With me in her brain she is Da Vinci, Einstein, Mozart."
Pretend Sinclair: "And I choose Raven Reyes over those three hacks any day."

Bellamy: "Clarke, what are you doing?"
Clarke: "What I have to. Like always."

4 comments:

  1. While it was nice to have the most positive outcome for a change, I found the episode a bit predictable. Not once since floating her husband has Abby ever let people in power stand in the way of what she wanted to do. It was so utterly predictable that she would help Bellamy that Jaha and Clarke should have seen it coming a mile away.

    Clarke just isn't thinking clearly. Not only has she apparently forgotten who Bellamy and Abby are, her rationale doesn't hold up. Even if Luna had won, I really doubt everybody was going to just give up and die. She wandered into the contest after it was set up; nobody agreed to her terms. And if another clan wins, as she rightly points out,no one can operate the systems, so they won't be able to maintain the shelter without the help of the Arkadians. Which is why they would have been able to bargain to save at least the engineers and probably the doctors. Humanity was going to survive, no matter who won.

    In fact, Clarke made the choice that maximized the chance of getting everybody killed. By seizing the bunker and leaving everybody outside, she ran the risk of them figuring it a way to break in and making it useless. After all, they have nothing to lose.

    It's going to be tough for Raven, Monty and Harper to get into the Bunker now. The 100 will likely have already been chosen by the time they get there. I think at that point, the only way they get in is if somebody voluntarily surrenders their spot. Possibly Clarke, who's a nightblood, and might survive outside? I wonder if she can donate her bone marrow and make some more. I'm thinking Murphy and Emori will find a way to hide so their thought to be trapped outside.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jasper dying has been a long time coming. I'm glad the writers didn't chicken out this time like they did in the Pilot/2nd episode and then in the season 3 finale because the scene was powerfull.

    Harper changed her mind but there is a problem. I doubt she will make the cut just like she didn't on Clarke's initial list. There will be more heartbreak for poor Monty soon.

    Riley was such a waste of space character... Existed just to show the futility of everything.

    Too bad Raven won't go into space, there was so much build-up to this and it looks like nothing will come of it. Even with the bunker am immunity for radiation poisoning would be invaluable for the surviving population. I would accept losing Raven for that, plus goign out on a spacewalk would be poetic because that's how she got Finn into this mess. Of course they can just harvest Clarke now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I keep thinking that the entire Raven subplot is heading toward a way for her to stop the Wave from space. But that's probably illogical on my part.

    ReplyDelete
  4. For me the plot is intended to go full circle with the bunker as the new arc and with all the associated tensions of having grounders down there. They could even do a bigger time skip. How long did they say they would have to be locked up? 5 years?

    ReplyDelete

We love comments! We moderate because of spam and trolls, but don't let that stop you! It’s never too late to comment on an old show, but please don’t spoil future episodes for newbies.