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The 100: Hesperides

I liked this one. It was effective, and helped earlier episodes make more sense.

The extended flashback to ten-year-old Hope so desperately alone after Diyoza and "Auntie O" were taken kept making me go, "Awww." So did her long and rather sweet friendship with Dev, who arrived through the Anomaly shortly afterward with a ten year sentence to serve. He became her new family and taught her to fight so that when his sentence was up and their moment finally arrived, they could take out the Disciples and go rescue Diyoza and Octavia. How terrible for Hope to wait so long for that opportunity and then fail, losing Dev in the process. This flashback finally made me like Hope, and understand what was going on with her.

The subsequent five years with Gabriel and Echo as Hope's third "fake-happy" family finally made me like Gabriel, too. He is, after all, quite old and was fine with hanging out for five years, waiting for Orlando's sentence clock to count down. Those same five years didn't make me like Echo, though, although I completely understood why she found it so frustrating. It was like life on the ship, years and years of struggling to survive, but with powdered jellyfish instead of Monty's algae.

The new and rather pitiable character Orlando was the real loser in all this, though. First he gets a five year sentence for not resting on the Sabbath day – way harsh, and making the Disciples sound even worse than they already have. And then the three of them, Hope, Echo and Gabriel, manipulated Orlando into believing they were his friends (losing the cabin to him on a bet was hilarious), only to betray him and tie him up in the end. Orlando was used up and gone, almost like a repeat of what happened to the unfortunate Dev.



Meanwhile back at Sanctum, Clarke was trying to do the same thing that Hope was – mount a rescue op for Octavia, et al. – and what did it get her? Abandoned on a wintery planet with no interface to call back the Anomaly. Sadly, Raven was one of the four that went with her. I would have felt a bit better if Raven had been left behind to figure things out and rescue them. I mean, look what Raven just did with the golden suit interface. Pretty cool.

The Disciples appear to believe that Clarke is the key to the War that will End All Wars. Why is that still a thing, a war to end all wars? It never works out that way. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. A mantra applicable to The 100 as a whole.

Bits:

— When Dev arrived, he was carrying a box like he'd just gotten fired and had emptied out his desk. I also thought Dev looked a bit like Murphy. Probably not intentional.

— Raven is clearly melting down, pun intended, after the radiation deaths she was forced to cause in the previous episode. It bothered me to see Raven so upset.



— Six planets in the network, and wormholes to each. Very cool. So there's Sanctum, Skyring/Beta, and winter planet. That leaves three, including Bardo, and I can't wait to learn more about them.

— The characters written on Hope's face are all about levels. Orlando was an L12, which is apparently high.

— Gaia was supposed to stay on Sanctum, take care of Madi and warn everyone. I hope she isn't dead.

— Loved the new short haircuts on Hope and Echo.

— Title musings: "Hesperides" are the three mythical maidens guarding a garden, as in Diyoza, Octavia and Hope. I suppose the Hesperides could also have been Hope, Gabriel and Echo, too. Just three happy, powerful people stuck in a garden for years.

Quotes:

Clarke: "Invisibility."
Jordan: "No way."

Echo: "We should hunt them down."
Hope: "Is that how you make friends in the Ice Nation?"
Echo: "Just 'Ice Nation.' There's no 'the'."
Gabriel: "There's clearly no gardening, either."

Hope: "The garden will be producing soon. But for now, jellyfish etouffée!"
(Gabriel and Echo groan)
Hope: (to Orlando) "Do not listen to them. They love it. It was my mother's specialty."
Gabriel: "Yeah. Navy SEAL turned terrorist chef."

Gabriel: "He's our friend."
Echo: "Yes. But we are not his people."

Jordan: "Ladies and gentlemen, Clarke Griffin has left the planet."

What do you think? Three out of four standing joke jellyfish recipes?

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

1 comment:

  1. Agree on all points here, Billie. I’m also feeling not so great about what Echo did. It was so brutal but I do think it was somewhat in line with who she is. I hope she gets the chance to make up for what she did on Penance when they eventually find Bellamy.

    Speaking of, I only just read the reason Bellamy’s not around as much is because Bob Morley asked for time off. I wonder why? Hopefully he’ll be back soon.

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