April7739

Wow, what an episode! While parts of it were stronger than others, as a whole, it was very captivating throughout! There were many different things happening, and the suspense was palpable. Perhaps what was most exciting, though, was knowing that all the action of this episode was still leading up to something more: the next episode.

Random thought: Bellamy is hung in this episode and will nearly choked to death by Kane during the 3x16 finale. How freaking traumatizing is all of this? Good lord.


Quotes:

“Well, I think the princess is dead. And the king is about to die.” –Murphy (I know this probably isn’t word for word)

"Long way from whatever the hell we want." -Jasper

Bellamy’s entire speech at the end. Clarke’s is pretty good, too, but Bellamy just has that charisma when he’s giving speeches


Plot/Storyline: A
If the Clarke/Finn storyline had packed the same emotional punch as the Bellamy/Murphy one, this may have been a A+. The good news for Clarke and Finn is that they have plenty of high-intensity action things to do. Reapers? Ugh. And their storyline gets to include Lincoln, which is fantastic, because we can never have too much Lincoln. We have the happenings on the Ark, too, and it's exciting to know that it's coming to the ground. Feels fitting, too, that we're setting up the season to end that way. But where things are REALLY interesting are back in the dropship, with Murphy going full-blown psychopath, first holding Jasper hostage until he finally gets the chance to exact revenge on the person he really wants to see suffer: Bellamy. Not only does that storyline provide two of the show’s best actors a chance to explore their characters’ complex dynamic, it also provides the other characters (i.e. Raven) to step up in the leaders' absence. But at the end, we see that the leaders are back, and they each take their turns giving their speeches. A course of action is set for the finale, but is it the right one?


Characters: A+
Soooooo much good stuff for the show’s most intricate character at this point, Bellamy Blake. He really has come so far from the beginning of the series. No longer is he the man who cares only about himself and his sister. Now, he is a true leader who cares about protecting everyone. They have become his family. The fact that he wants them to keep working, even as he’s entering the dropship, presumably heading to his death, is a testament to how much their lives have come to mean to him. And it’s also quite telling that the working stops when he’s in there. At this point, he has earned their trust and their respect, and they care about him in return. Nowhere is this more clear than in the moment where Jasper gives Bellamy that hug. That moment really shows that Bellamy is no longer in charge because they fear him, but because they respect and love him.

Bellamy’s dynamic with Murphy is extremely intriguing. In the early episodes, it seemed as if Murphy gravitated towards Bellamy because of his alpha male bravado, and perhaps Murphy idolize that or at least wanted to be “in the power.” Now, that has transformed, and Murphy sees Bellamy not as an idol, but as something to unleash his hate upon. I do wonder how Murphy would have chosen to deal with Bellamy had Jasper not found him out in advance. Murphy is clearly a smart and sneaky guy. Had things not happened the way they did here, Bellamy might not have survived Murphy’s wrath.

Part of what is so haunting about all this late season 1 Murphy stuff is knowing that . . . Murphy may have always been a jerk, but he wasn't always this enraged, this crazy. And how did he become this way? It was his own peers, his own people, who made him this way, who sparked this awful transformation. That doesn't excuse his actions, but it does explain them.

Honestly, these two characters are such standouts that it’s hard for me to even comment on anyone else. But we once again get Raven “I’ll Be Savin’ Everyone Else” Reyes. Having watched the episode before, knowing that her efforts this time will end up with her being partially paralyzed, is very sad indeed.

It’s a little moment between the Blake siblings, but when Octavia is chastising her big brother for not doing anything to save Jasper, only to realize that, secretly, he is . . . and then she mumbles “Sorry” . . . it’s a great moment between the two of them. Small, but kind of wonderful.

Finn kills his first grounder in this episode, right? Perhaps they should have made a bigger deal out of it, but I don’t know if they knew what direction they intended to take his character in Season 2 at the time. He also confesses his love for Clarke, right? Snooze. I’m glad she doesn’t confess her love for him back. He’s not the world’s worst guy or anything, but he hasn’t earned that!

Lincoln continues to play both sides here, and it’s great. Without Lincoln, I think I would have lost hope that the grounders could ever appeal to me. And let’s be realistic here, they still don’t, not really. I will always identify most with the “Sky People.” But Lincoln is one of the exceptions, mostly due to the fact that he doesn’t just blindly go along with the traditions and expectations of his culture. He challenges, questions, and sometimes defies them, like he did when he saved Clarke. (And how gross and cool is that mutated horse he rides away with her on?)


Acting: A
Well, it’s no coincidence that the two strongest characters in this episode are also going to receive most of my praise for the strongest acting. The scenes between Bellamy and Murphy are so riveting because Bob and Richard play them so well. These two bring that extra oomph to their characters—they’ve been doing that this whole time—and they play off of each other so well.

Can we just talk about Bob Morley during the speech at the end? I don’t know whether it was done on purpose or if it was a result of him having acted out the hanging scene, but his voice is even scratchier/more gravelly than normal. So this totally works with the fact that his character was just hung. If this was a choice Bob made, then it was brilliant. If his voice just sounded like that at that point, then kudos to him for still blasting it out there as charismatically and passionately as he did.

Richard Harmon . . . you know you’re doing something right with your character when, even after hanging my man Bellamy and accidentally shooting my girl Raven, I still like you. Now when I watched this the first time, maybe I didn’t like him. But I never was rooting for him to die, never got annoyed or angry when he reappeared on the screen. And that’s saying something. Because he’s very villainous. Yet I was always intrigued.


Directing: A
One of the most overlooked shots of the entire series is that shot where Murphy has the noose ready to go, and Bellamy looks up at it. It shows him through the circle, and it’s chilling. In fact, the entire filming of the hanging itself, with Bellamy kicking and flailing there, struggling (particularly the "underneath" shot), and then the shot of him not moving as he's dangling . . . it's all very bluntly filmed, which drives home the horror of what's happening. The action sequences are filmed extremely well, a sharp contrast to the softness with which Finn and Clarke’s scene was filmed. I loved the slow-motion horse-riding with the fade in/fade out (maybe that’s more of an editing praise than a directing one, but whatever). And the speeches at the end felt so panoramic and cinematic, really helping build-up what the viewer knows will be an epic season finale.


Overall Episode Score: A
Take out the Bellamy/Murphy scenes and this would be a lot lower. But hey, this episode has those scenes, and they really pack a punch, both in terms of how the characters are written and how they are portrayed. Two of the major storylines at play resolve themselves here (with the Ark one left to be resolved in the next episode), and we’re left with our group of delinquents, facing impossible odds, just as they always seem to be. And up in space, the odds aren't looking much better. But both groups still seem to be holding onto some semblance of hope.

CanIcallYouKate

Lisa! I love that you read all of our silly comments for every episode!

Yup, it made my day the first time around and I still find it extremely gratifying this time. You can see the wheels turning in Bellamy's head when it happens too. He knows he has changed and he knows his place among his people has changed. It might all be a bit strange and he certainly has absolutely no time to dwell on it what with all the non stop action, but at least imo, it was a very important hug he got there

I'm really glad you put that in your review. It is for me one of the most memorable scenes in terms of shot selection from s01! And that moment where you see Bellamy through the noose? Iconic. I'm getting inspired to do some Murph/Bellamy art now That would definitely have to be in there

April7739

Very well-said, Kate. Man, we could do a Bellamy Blake hug survivor at some point. The man's got the best hug scenes on the entire show.

Everyone always looks so happy when they're able to hug Bellamy, too.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that shot was iconic, by the way! I'm loving the cinematography of this show, and getting to pay attention to the ways in which everything is framed and filmed has been a highlight of my re-watching process, because it's not as easy to do that when you're watching the episodes the first time through.

Alexa

i totally agree with this and the thing is, murphy was awful yes, but i truly the feel the the entire group turning on him, accusing him, and stringing him up is what sparked this intense hatred in him. That included with what the grounders did to him and being banished. I felt like it all just accumulated in a really horrible way.

April7739

Yes, it was all . . . a painful and tragic confluence of events. I think he was really on the verge of being driven mad, like becoming a psychopath. Which makes it all the more incredible that he's managed to find some redeeming qualities in himself as the series has gone on.

Damocles

I agree - although he did awful things yes, the way he was treated by the others seemed to be a total mob-mentality thing.

girl under the floor

X


Random thought: I'm really happy there was no awkwardness between Raven & Bellamy after their hook up last episode

destroyer of worlds

I love and agree with your random thought, Paula.

girl under the floor

I would've been so awkward

destroyer of worlds

Me too, but they were so chill about it.

Say go?

girl under the floor

Go!

destroyer of worlds

Jaha really is quite ready to die, huh? He was ready to go when the culling happened and he was ready to go here too. I get that it looks very bleak but I would agree with Kane, it's not over until it's really over.

BTW, his wife was dead and so was Wells? But he still had family left on the Ark?

girl under the floor

I always took it to mean that Jahaha was gonna reminisce?

destroyer of worlds

He said something like he was going to be with family? Unless I misheard.

He was like "Welp, okay it's time to go." whereas Kane was still trying to find a way for them to survive.

Gosh, annoying dark scene in the woods.

girl under the floor

I am SO not interested in this Clarke/Finn stuff

Stupid dark show