Damocles

Basic Rules:

- Be Respectful of other posters. Not everyone is going to agree or have the same views. Discussions are encouraged, but let’s keep things civil.

- No Character/Actor/ship Bashing. We love your opinions on storylines, but keep in mind that these are real people who are just trying to do the best with what they are given. We might not always like how things turn out, but just remember things can always get better.

- Everything is a spoiler until it has aired. Please do not post any promos or promotional photos without a spoiler cut (only the TV promo that has aired is considered not a spoiler).

- Any talk of Illegal Downloading should not be brought up here. Live Streams & such can be discussed through PM's.

- Most importantly, HAVE FUN!

Continue here, guys!

Damocles

btw, I totally thought Murphy was literally going to start a fire in this episode.

This is true - did that many people commit crimes, some as small as stealing an item? You'd think people would learn, after awhile?


Good point!

Plus, how could one person keep that many years worth of memories in their head from multiple people? I mean I know the brain can handle alot of info, but wow @ that. How could you even sort through all that?

But then again, it was so specific that Madi (via Lexa) knew that guy's backstory, etc.

Alexa

Yeah, which is why I might not watch next season until right before the finale, then Ill just binge the episodes and watch the finale live. I think it might be so much better for me. If the season doesnt end how I want it to I think I will be doing that tbh.


I agree. The way they are building it up seems like something really bad happened to Octavia or something.

But if its called the dark YEAR then surely, something had to have been happening for an entire year…. so weird.

Hmm, thats an interesting theory. That would be pretty traumatizing but it would make sense why they would need to do that to keep population down…



To answer your question April, I liked the pacing of the episode, even though I didn’t like what was happening, I felt it flowed and i was fun to watch even if certain things pissed me off.

I love Murphy, of course.

I loved Indra too and watching her take out Jackson was one of my favorite moments.

I also loved the ending scene with Madi, I think the flame makes her 10x more interesting.

And Octavia’s tears.

destroyer of worlds

Thanks, Lisa!

Yup, it's probably too much for a child to take in? Though again, Lexa was her age when she became Commander and maybe their default "setting" allows them to be able to process this level of information much better than any non-Nightblood.

That is the confusing part to me, it specifically referenced Lexa and not the Commanders as a whole.

April7739

Ideally, if Madi is to be the Commander (if for some reason they decide to stick with that silly system of leadership), I would love to see her do it without a flame in her head. It’s be so different having a Commander who didn’t have to fight in a conclave, didn’t have the flame, but was followed just because she is a genuine nightblood who, let’s face it, is most definitely a “good guy” in a world full of “no good guys.”

But she’s still just a young girl. Set up a better system, people. It’s called democracy. Learn it and use it.

Fuzzy Dunlop

I think she specifically mentioned Lexa because she was the most recent commander, so she was the commander that particular guy served under. He wasn't personally serving commander so-and-so from 50 years ago because he wasn't even alive. It brings up the loyalty when he realizes the person he served was in there.

Alexa

That wouldnt work for me at all. The only way I can see Madi as commander is if she has the flame because otherwise following a child would be so stupid. At least with the flame in her she seems to have this weird sort of maturity and knowledge. It almost feels like... magic (dare i say) of some sort. So, for me, it just makes more sense. idk.

girl under the floor

Lexa said the old commanders speak to her in her dreams. So that'd make nee think it's not a direct thing where the new commanders gets all the memories from the old commanders just like that.

I assume Lexa "spoke" to Madi about this specific guy when she was still unconscious?
The entire thing is indeed set up in a way that I just can't follow how the flame thing works Maybe it works differently when you're aware of what's happening

destroyer of worlds

That is the ideal situation but TBH, I'm not surprised that it's not been considered yet ... just because of how things were settled in the bunker still reflected the kill-or-be-killed mentality and absolute loyalty that Wonkru culture dictates. There's no way that they're close to being a democracy.

Okay, that makes sense.

Honestly, I don't think that TPTB knows either. I feel like they're making it up as they go along. If it's like a system reboot thing everytime the Flame enters a person, I'd imagine that the information download/communication with the Commanders happens when the person is unconscious (though that wasn't the case for Clarke, which is why Bellamy freaked out when Madi didn't wake up immediately ... but then again, Clarke isn't a Nightblood) and then the person wakes up with all the knowledge/memories of the previous Commanders and their mind picks up on the information relevant at that point in time and uses it accordingly.

CanIcallYouKate

I don't understand why this is such a conundrum.

Never did the writers imply that ALL memories and details would be readily available at all times. Like I posted before, I understood it to mean that it is somehow an "interactive" way of memory retrieval in dreams or while meditating.

We, without a flame in our head, cannot willingly access a ton of memories in detail because there simply isn't enough processing power to have every single detail at our fingertips.

Yet there are techiniques one can learn on how to better access information otherwise lost in the depths of our brain cells. In my understanding, the remnants of the AI facilitate this memory retrieval (and save memories/ consciousness) of previous commanders. Computers obviously do not have the problem our brains do when accessing vast amounts of information much more efficiently than we do.

So while human consciousness saves data influenced by emotions for example and retrieval is based on subjective impressions (you'll never forget touching a hot plate as a child, yet something relatively meaningless as finding your car again in a vast parking lot can be hard), the AI does not suffer from such "limitations".

Again, I understood Lexa's "the previous commanders speak to me in my dreams" (not an accurate quote) to mean that these previous consciousnesses have a certain level of autonomy. And while it might not be as clear and defined as the actual person being there and present (as for example iwith Lexa in the CoL), it probably is not a simple set of drawers with biographical information on that random grounder guy either.

BlueDog9

TFTNT

I blame Becca for making such a confusing piece of tech

Regan

In fairness to Becca, the chip is a century old at this point, has been implanted in who knows how many Commanders with primitive surgical tools, and in between, it's kept in a tin box. It would be astounding for it not to have degraded.

Fuzzy Dunlop

Lol, they don't even use surgical tools. The flame just projects its little tentacles and burrows into the commander's neck. I'm just shocked none of them have had a terrible infection yet.

April7739

I think the ultimate purpose of the flame is going to be to give Madi some insight into Becca and Eligius 3 or something.

BlueDog9

I hope so. It'll be boring if it's just there for make a child be in charge.