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The 100: Memento Mori

"Don't worry. I'll try to make sure they only kill you."

This is an episode that's hard to write about because I can't exactly put my finger on how I feel about it.

Was this a bad episode? No. Was it poorly written, directed or acted? No, no and no. Was I bored? Still no. So let's try to figure out together why I don't feel great about it.

So what worked and what fell flat?

Bellamy knew in his gut from the jump that Murphy wasn't someone that would say no to surviving. He certainly wouldn't get himself locked up to keep some moral high ground. That kind of keeping to the truth of these characters makes watching a show a thousand times more enjoyable. And Echo knew that Bellamy wouldn't go off gallivanting around this moon alone. Our characters aren't stupid.

Even while we were wading through Josephine learning how to pretend to be Clarke and Bellamy practically foaming at the mouth to avenge his friend, we were getting set up to an inevitable peace treaty. Abby reminded us of the difference between revenge killing and doing what's necessary to survive. Murphy threw Monty and Bloodreina in Bellamy's face as examples of how differently doing the wrong thing and the right thing look. Killing an entire community of people because Josephine's parents are selfish murderers isn't the same as saving your people from torture and death in the mountain.

And that gives us the payoff for believing in these people. Time and again our guys have been put in situations where the only options are to do something horrible or die with everyone they love. This time is different. This time there's an option where even though Clarke can't be saved (so they believe), they don't have to be murderers. It's interesting that we are only shown Bellamy coming to terms with it. Did everyone else accept Clarke's murder begrudgingly like Bellamy? If she comes back will anyone besides Bellamy, Madi and Abby even care?

And what about Madi? How lucky for that evil ex-commander in her head to get the daughter of the commander of death to mentor. He's gotta be ecstatic, right? In a show with this many great characters, she hasn't really done much to endear herself to the audience. I don't know if that is the actor's fault or the writing or maybe it's all going according to plan. If she is about to go off the rails and start killing at will, then she's gonna be the new big bad here. How long will Bellamy have her back against the moon people? Could he really turn his back on Clarke's daughter after losing her? I feel like we should like Madi in her own right and not just as Clarke's daughter, but I just don't. And outside of Bellamy, I'm not even half convinced that anyone else does either. Has Abby ever even spoken to her directly? Or hey, maybe Clarke will be back before any of this matters and it'll be on her to ground Madi and take her cell phone away. Or however you discipline a person on a moon.

After this episode I don't really know what I want. I can't be missing all the death and gore and moral tug of war. Not after all the whining about recycling plotlines. Was this episode totally fine but just a little rushed?

2 out of 4 strong interpersonal relationships

Bits and pieces

Google says that memento mori means remember death.

EDIT: According to a sweet commenter, the meaning is more like 'remember that you are mortal,' which sounds a little ominous if you're a prime.

I can't decide if it's a little dumb that every one of Clarke's friends is just accepting that she is gone forever and not at all considering that she is just trapped somewhere in her own mind.

Was it odd to anyone that Russell was trying to rationalize with Bellamy about forgiveness when a few episodes ago he felt very strongly that they couldn't ever change? That's why he originally wasn't going to let them stay, right? Because he thought they weren't capable of peace. I can't see the logic in killing their leader making them more amenable?

The tree growing into Jade's friend was a little much. Ick.

Raven feels pathetically underutilized this season. I'd feel a little better if she was off screen finding peace or something but she's still hella bitter. I did enjoy her laying into that mechanic, though.

If they're showing us Clarke in some dream afterlife, then she's got a fighting chance at coming back. That sounds valid. I'm sticking with that.

A few things happened that are going to be important.
Abby agreed to create nightbloods. Will they continue lying to her about Clarke until she does?
Gaia was banished. How far does she have to go?
Murphy earned himself two mind drives for doing Josephine's bidding. How do we think Emori will react to this?
Oh, and Octavia, Diyoza and Xavier are starting their own super exclusive club.

Murphy: "We get everything we want. We get to live."
Bellamy: "Not Clarke."

Bellamy: "We don't need them to help us build a compound. We kill them all, and we take theirs."

Bellamy: "Clarke is dead."
Echo: "When do we attack?"
Bellamy: "We don't."

3 comments:

  1. Memento mori has a meaning more like "Remember that you are mortal" than "remember death".
    mazephoenix

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ugh, the internet is going to be hearing from my attorney.

    Thanks mazephoenix!! I'll update the review.

    Doesn't sound like good news for the primes, huh??

    ReplyDelete
  3. I do not like the dark commander plotline yet, because the dark commander is so obviously dark..it's like Sith dark.

    Here comes the theory train again: What if all the hosts are still there and the Primes just tell people the hosts are gone. Because when you can't bring someone back people tend to give up. There's no one to save. (Prime (haha) example: they think Clark is gone and they've given up)

    ReplyDelete

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