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The 100: The Dark Year

"All of them for all of us."

The writing has been on the wall. There are only so many panicked starvation-centric flashbacks before they inevitably circled around here.

Cannibalism.
It didn’t make watching it unfold any less stomach turning. I sort of secretly thought I wanted to see this story play out. Somehow interesting seeing how everyone came to the same horrifying place and how they lived with it. Until I actually saw it.

Right out of the gate, I have to tip my hat to everyone in the cafeteria that got a close up. I felt that struggle. Every beat. Every twinge of guilt and uncertainty. Even those that wanted to live badly enough to choke it down right away weren’t able to get it down easily. It didn't look like it tasted like chicken.

This week is the first time I thought about how sad this new world has turned out to be. Before time jump Octavia bringing all clans into the bunkers to be shared and lived in together and kumbaya. The promise was that there could be peace. There could be joy again... inclusion and acceptance for all. And everyone was able to live in that ignorant bliss while they were separated. Even in the bunker. They thought if they could just get out, then the air will be breathable instead of stifled of (un?)cooked flesh. Even now, as she cries in secret and sets fire to viable food sources Octavia thinks that there is still light coming. None of this is particularly new for The 100. The elation the delinquents first experienced when they realized the ground wasn't going to kill them was pretty short lived too. But still it struck a chord in me this time. Maybe it's Octavia's pain that's really hitting home how truly sad this life is.

Bob Morely and Marie Avgeropolous broke my tender little heart. Bellamy’s face every time he spoke to his little sister was wrought with ache and genuine pained emotion. I wish we could make them hug it out. It feels a lot like we are going to lose one of these characters and I'm just not ready.

Clarke has lost her edge in a big disappointing way and before you get mad at me for saying it, Madi agrees. The edge has been passed down at least. Pulling out that Mt. Weather factoid was seriously intriguing character development and something Claire would do. Even when Madi is logical, Clarke can’t see the wisdom in what she’s saying. And this is who Clarke has always been: stubborn, strong willed, single minded. But now her only goal is keeping Madi alive. Not happy or thriving – only breathing. And for me its getting boring real quick.

Much like Clarke, for best or worse, Kane had picked his side. Octavia is the devil in his story. It's not that I necessarily disagree with him, the girl has come undone, but how is McCreary any better? Here's hoping Diyoza still has a plan up her sleeve to deal with him.

I'm glad we finally got to see the goings on during The Dark Year, but there was too much hype going in. It wasn't a bad hour.
2.5 out of 5 shots of adrenaline? 3?

Bits and pieces
so many quotable quotes, so little time

Why did the people meat look so odd? Was it raw? That can’t be safe. Human tartar? ICK. Why/how was it all so perfectly squared off? So many questions.

Raven got a love interest. I’m not mad at it, but how truly out-of-left-field? And it doesn't exactly bode well for him, does it.

I think we saw the birth of all of them for all of us. Ickkkk.

For the record, I think I'd take a bullet over snacking on my sister too.

I got a kick out of the idea that Echo was holding Trig classes (the grounder language, not the branch of mathematics) on the Ark.

Was anyone particularly shocked that Abby played such a big role in carving out Octavia's path? Thinking back to what we know about the Ark, she's sort of always been on the fringe of these really dark powerful dictatoresque decisions.

Murphy: “They can’t shoot us with what they don’t have.”
True.

Madi: “I love you, Clarke, but we’re on the wrong side of this war.”

Diyoza: “It includes everything I could think of... and I think of everything.”

Octavia: “Bellamy, this is how it was meant to be. You and me. Fighting side by side.”

Bellamy: “I’m not fighting for you, I’m fighting to get back to my family.”
Freaking ouch.
I feel there was an undertone here like Bellamy you shouldn’t have left me in the bunker to make the horrible choices that I had to make. It felt reminiscent of Indra apologizing to O for having to bear the cannibal burden alone. Maybe that’s just me feeling sorry for Octavia, though.

Madi: “As awful as it was, taking away their choice, putting it all on her, she bore it so that they didn’t have to, just like you at Mt. Weather.”

Indra: “They died so that we can live. Honor them. Don’t let their sacrifice go to waste.”

Clarke: "You will get to live, Madi."
Madi: "But living with ourselves is another story."

4 comments:

  1. I too wonder where in a human body can You cut out so many perfect cubes of meat. Maybe it was processed into cubes from multiple bodies. That's the kind of questions the 100 makes us ask. :D

    Vinson would fit right in with Wonkru, I wonder what they did to him after eating teh two guards last episode.

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    1. Holy bananas! Vinson ate people. I completely forgot this. Introducing a character that eats people of his own free will can't be a coincidence when cannibalism is a big plot point this season. Wow wow wow. What does it all mean?

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  2. This was a powerful episode. I didn't think it would get to me, but it certainly did. That scene in the cafeteria, as Octavia was forced to kill her people -- just wow. One episode, and it totally explained Abby's struggle with addiction and Octavia's seeming lunacy.

    Yeah, the cube thing was indeed weird, like sushi, or blood colored tofu. Maybe they did it that way to make it look revolting, instead of like a strangely shaped piece of cooked chicken. I'm sure Abby wouldn't have allowed them to eat it raw -- she would know better. The point is survival, after all.

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  3. Dark year indeed. Wow. This was a much needed episode, it gave depth to the arcs of both Octavia and Abby. Part of me wishes they had placed it earlier in the season, but it also works as a preparation to the big battle.

    It has been obvious for a while that Wonkru became a cannibalistic society, but it really got darker than I expected. Octavia obligating everyone to eat human protein, even those who didn't want to, and Abby being the mastermind behind that idea, was strong storytelling. Octavia's face when she begged people to eat and shot the ones who didn't broke me. Marie Avgeropoulos did very good work there. Paige Turco also delivered the goods.

    What is wrong with Clarke? Betraying her people like that, not listening to Madi... What does she think will happen to her and Madi after Wonkru is defeated? McCreary doesn't seem to be a reasonable leader, siding with him is NOT the smartest choice. Clarke knows better than that. What a frustrating arc this has been for her.

    I so hope Kane is working an angle. I understand why he sees Octavia as a lost cause, but there are only so many betrayals I can take.

    Miller has gotten a bigger role this season, and I just don't care for him. I think I have a problem with the actor, to be honest. He doesn't act as if Miller is the lover of Jackson, he plays it as if they were straight pals. It annoys me.

    Raven got a love interest. I’m not mad at it, but how truly out-of-left-field?

    I thought they did a good job building up to it. And they have nice chemistry, I like it.

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