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The 100: From the Ashes

"New world. Same problems."

This season premiere began right where season six left off, and it was very The 100: difficult decisions being made by young people in a place with no laws.

But this time, nearly every one of our important characters was living in a beautiful yellow farmhouse, sort of like The Real World: Sanctum. The settlement already looks nicer, with flowers and picnics on the grass and a dog named Picasso, or does it just look less apocalyptic? But of course, Sanctum is still a powder keg. There are so many factions that they really ought to have team costumes so that we can tell them apart more easily.

There's our beloved Wonkru, of course, featuring our core characters, versus the nasty convicts from Earth being used as forced labor to clear the ground for the new compound. And there are the idiots who still believe in the divinity of the primes, even with evidence to the contrary right in front of them, versus the Children of Gabriel who quite understandably have an angry axe to grind. It feels like Wonkru would most likely ally with the Children of Gabriel, since they have sanity in common. We shall see.

Thankfully, Clarke is still a badass and in charge, and she still wants to "do better." Determined to make lemonade out of what's left of Sanctum, Clarke has decided to put the past and Abby's death behind her and kept saying she was fine – which of course, she isn't.



It was a weird time for Clarke's relationship with Madi to start falling apart. Madi is now wearing little girl white so that we'll remember she's not a commander controlled by the evil Sheidheda any more. (Although you'd think that if our heroes want Madi still pretending to be a Commander, they'd keep her in black leather, huh?) Madi hurt Clarke's maternal feelings by remembering her real mother dying in her arms, although after it was revealed that Madi was drawing strange pictures, I'm wondering if that could have been another commander's memories.

The best part of the Believers part of the story was Murphy and Emori trapped in their previous roles as Daniel and Kaylee Prime. Murphy is probably my favorite character in this story (after Clarke and Bellamy) because he's inner-directed, basically a good person, but often uncontrollable. If Murphy doesn't want to pretend to be Daniel Prime, he won't, no matter the consequences. And Murphy is feeling terrible guilt about what happened to Abby, and is lashing out. Emori is doing her best to keep things together and continue faking it, and maybe she'll succeed. Can't underestimate Emori.

It's interesting that Russell Prime was also wracked with guilt, or maybe just suicidal because of overwhelming grief for his family. It wasn't surprising that him giving Clarke her mother's clothing would set off Clarke's anger and grief to the point of burning down the Prime Palace.

But it was surprising that the sentient program Sheidheda would choose Russell Prime's minddrive to hijack. Okay, maybe not that surprising. Why bring in a strong character actor like JR Bourne if you're not going to give him a juicy role? I am assuming Sheidheda/Russell will find a way out of being executed the next day.



Meanwhile, in what felt like a completely dissociated plot thread, I was very confused by what happened with the Anomaly. It took Diyoza first, then Octavia, and now Bellamy, but it spit back Diyoza's daughter Hope. Right? Hope had put what looked like a mezuzah complete with scroll with the words "Trust Bellamy" scrawled on it into the flesh of her arm, and ouch – why not just write on your hand, Hope? – so remembering what happens in the Anomaly is clearly an issue.

And then there was toxin and the night scene in the woods and... ray guns? And the ghost of Roan, and the original Echo? And Octavia is now "Auntie" to Hope? And then Hope, Echo and Gabriel entered the Anomaly together? I hope this all turns out to make sense.

This is the final season of a show that takes a lot of risks, and I'm betting it will be nuts. We could lose anyone in any episode, and that ups the stakes. I know how I want the series to end – with a hundred survivors, led by Clarke, once again parachuting down to a now recovered Earth. Maybe that's what the Anomaly is for, to take them all back to the beginning so that this time, they could save the Earth and actually create a society that will work. I also want Lexa back, somehow. Although I probably won't get what I want.

How do you want the series to end?

Bits:

— New credits. Very pretty. And cast changes. Paige Turco (Abby) is gone, of course. Added to the cast were JR Bourne (Russell), Chuku Modu (Gabriel) and Shelby Flannery (Hope).

— Gaia is now a flame keeper without a flame. And Indra isn't sure what her role is now. Is Indra the only one left of the older generation? That's sad. Not that she's a bad choice to be the one left. I've always liked Indra.

— Madi said the Sanctum schools are still teaching about primes. It takes a while for reality to catch up, I guess.

— Nelson, the leader of the Children of Gabriel, made more of an impression on me than he did last season. So did Trey, the nerdy ponytailed leader of the Prime Faithful.

— Russell Prime smashed Jordan's carefully hidden and treasured minddrive. I am actually blanking whose it was. Priya's? It's been awhile since I watched season six.

— A big thank you to Laure Mack, who covered seasons three through six of The 100 for us here at Doux Reviews. Samantha, Panda, Lamounier and I will be reviewing season seven. Can't leave the final season undone, now can we?

Quotes:

Murphy: (to Clarke) "I see you took the master suite."
Niylah: "To the victor go the spoils. We all share the clothes, though."

Murphy: "An army of cannibal peacekeepers, huh? What could go wrong?"
Murphy always gets the best lines. Or maybe it's just his delivery.

Murphy: (in the pub, surrounded by factions) "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right."

Raven: "This place is a powder keg."
Not a new situation for them.

Indra: "Who knew putting a broken society back together would be hard work?"

An interesting start to what I'm sure will be a complicated final season. Three out of four factions,

Billie
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Billie Doux loves good television and spends way too much time writing about it.

3 comments:

  1. I think Madi was trying to get Clarke to let her own pain and frustration at Abby's death out so told her about her 'real' mom so they could bond. Clarke was still in full guard up mode.

    People prepare for Bellamy to be missing for a while. Bob Morley had to take a break before shooting. So his abscense will be very noticeable first 4 - 6 episodes.

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  2. I thought this was a strong opening, but god forbid you have started to watch this series now. The factions and alliances run so deep and are very stable that it is hard to believe anyone out side our core group really stands a chance. But like you said, I'm prepared for anyone to die at any point along the way, I don't know if this can have a happy ending.

    Anyway glad to have this show back and I'm looking forward to finding out how it ends.

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  3. I love Indra so much. The way she put herself between Clarke and the believer. What a wonderful person.

    Russel is around? God, think about someone I didn't want to see more of. Nor I wanted to see him redeemed. Then he is no longer Russel, it's Sheidheda, and, oh boy, do I not want Sheidheda around. Can Russel come back? See, it's all a matter of perspective. How did Sheidheda jump into Russel's head anyway?

    Clarke's arc in this episode was perfect. The final act was fire, pun intended, though I was surprised she decided to take Russel out after all.

    Too many factions, plus the anomaly. This will be an interesting season.

    It feels like Wonkru would most likely ally with the Children of Gabriel, since they have sanity in common.

    LOL. And yes, that's the alliance I want to see.

    I don't know how I want the series to end. I don't want the anomaly to undo what happened, though. I want a happy ending for our core characters, with them finally achieving peace. Although I can see Clarke sacrificing herself for the greater good, I hope she survives.

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