Taryn74

I was thinking of some other storylines (series-wide) today which might have been better served if they had been tweaked a little, and Octavia was on my mind, and suddenly it occurred to me that we were never really told (that I can remember) the mechanics of how the one-child-per-couple rule was supposed to be enforced, and in turn what circumstances led to Octavia's birth. I know they were given semi-permanent birth control devices on the Ark (because the 100 mentioned removing them, I think, or something??) which unless they were only given to the younger set was honestly was kind of dumb (if they intended to be that strict with the one-child rule they should have taken permanent measures, which is not hard to do) so if the birth control failed, which all birth control methods have a small chance of doing, were they supposed to abort the child and Mother Blake didn't, choosing instead to let her child be born and live in secret? Were they supposed adopt the child out to a childless couple and Mother Blake didn't, choosing instead to hide her child and raise her in secret? Is it something in between? I'm fascinated by the possibilities!

girl under the floor

They were always expecting/hoping to go back to earth one day. And they assumed that no one had survived on earth. So taking permanent measures would not have been preferable I assume. Who's going to repopulate earth if you sterilized them all?

I always assumed a forced abortion, but I never considered other possibilities

Taryn74

Ha! That's true, they were. Duhhhh. I don't care for S1 that much (I just can't with Finn) so I really haven't rewatched it that much. I totally forgot going back to the earth wasn't a total suicide mission and they just got lucky.

sourburst

I'm catching up on this show atm, just started season 4. I'm slowly getting there. Really enjoying the story arc so far, except the A.L.I.E plot.

destroyer of worlds

Abby was pretty frustrating to watch in season 5.

IKR? It's a bit on-the-nose for me.

Yeah, that was aggravating and clearly a plot device.

I'd assume forced abortion too. I feel like adoption was not really an option for the Arkers. The device did not have a 100% success rate (as proven by Octavia's existence) but I presume that it did its job well enough that there weren't many accidental pregnancies.

We've also talked about this before, the Arkers didn't have the concept of marriage in their culture but I wonder if they still had some sort of civil ceremony to mark their commitment to each other. The pairings certainly seemed monogamous for the most part (Jake/Abby, Jaha/his wife).


That's great, Jade. Have fun catching up with the rest of the episodes. I actually like the ALIE storyline in general, though some parts did move slower than I would have liked.

adam23089

must you be neutral in the titlel I'm just asking?

kenni727

Just barely finished watching season 5. So many thoughts. Not even sure I can think straight right now.

Damocles

Ooh I wanna know your thoughts.

destroyer of worlds

Normal reaction, I think, Kenni. Do let us know your thoughts when you've fully processed it.

kenni727

So I think the best way for me to break this down is by characters. I mentioned in the Bellamy thread that he was one of few characters who at no point pissed me off. But as I think more over the season there were actually just a few to really piss me off - at least of the already known characters. Diyoza, McCreary and Shaw are their own category.

First of all, I was least pissed and/or irritated by the Spacekru. I was a bit annoyed with Raven, Murphy, and Emori at times for not killing the prisoners or McCreary when they had the chance. But that annoyance was a mere blip. Bellamy, Monty, Harper, and Echo? Near flawless.

I struggled with Octavia. I kept seeing her making poor choices and shutting down those who would help. I knew there had to be a reason she was where she was. They kept referring to the Dark Year, and I suspected once we got that story it would make sense. And it did. Bellamy never learned everything she went through, but he knew it was horrific and he wished he could have been there to shoulder that burden. Makes me want to slap the adults that were with her and shoved that burden on to her.

Bellamy and Octavia turned me into a sobbing mess more than once. As angry as Octavia was with Bellamy in the previous seasons he was still ALWAYS there. Which is why should could lash out at him. There was no pushing him away. But she didn’t have him through the hardest years of her life. She needed her big brother. And yes, I am crying all over again just typing this.

I have more thoughts. Many more thoughts. But will have to get to other characters later.

Damocles

tbh I love reading your thoughts/thoughts of someone just watching this season - I feel like it was forever ago that I watched it now. There were alot of super emotional circumstances and moments this season.

kenni727

Yeah there were. But, as usual, it was the Blakes that got to me the most.

Though Abby also pulled on my heartstrings plenty. When she shocked Raven? I was both screaming at my TV and crying. Is it weird that the relationship between Raven and Abby gets to me more than Clarke and Abby?

The characters that pissed me off the most were Clarke, Abby, Octavia, and Kane. By the end of things I understood the first three better.

I didn't like Clarke's tunnel vision in saving Madi. To the point of not caring that the world would be left to only violent criminals. Do you want Madi living in that world anyway? And stripping Madi of choice. I wanted to slap Clarke several times. Her behavior was similar to Bellamy early season 1. And I appreciated when Madi was able to point that out to him.

As much as Abby angered me I knew it was due to her addiction. That doesn't make her actions okay. But allows me to see past her actions and know she can come out of it.

Similarly with Octavia. I understood early on that she had to make hard choices and do less than pleasant things to make it in that bunker. But the way she clung to all that? Not healthy. Indra was right; she needed her brother. In so many ways Indra is the hero of this season.

As for Kane...I don't understand his betrayal. I know he was concerned about Octavia. But McCreary? Did you take stupid pills!

Damocles

Yup I saw almost a switch between Clarke and Bellamy - he was levelheaded, mature, responsible, etc. She was kind of lost and her only goal was to protect Madi - just like Bellamy was with Clarke.

Kane totally took stupid pills I think

Taryn74

Totally agree! At least Indra had the decency to admit she was wrong for letting Octavia bear the brunt of that decision alone. For the life of me I cannot understand Kane's attitude toward her by the end of the season. He used to be one of my very favorite characters on this show. Not anymore. And don't even get me started on Abby.

Damocles

Ugh I know - after this season I'm pretty much done with them, which is sad but it's just the way their story went while in the bunker. However I'm also totally open to a redemption