That's My Girl

i like the flame bc it brings us a bit of lexa but also security for the clans but i agre 125 years is a long time so i wonder how madi will be over that time

a little chaos

My favourite thing about Madi taking the flame is we get to see that journey from the beginning, and I think it allows for new perspective on Lexa and the person she came to be.

April7739

Okay, you have to help me out with this, because I feel like I’m kind of losing my sense of who Madi is at her core now that she’s being so influenced by the flame. How do you envision Lexa to be pre-flame? I know it’s supposed to only amplify what is already there, but . . . I see some pretty drastic changes in Madi, and I wonder how it changed Lexa.

That's My Girl

i think the flame is bringing up confidence and knowledge so they're more into running things/people but also i think the personality of the commander influences the things she sees or who she sees...i think it becomes part of the person but don't alter it and we get to see also the kid part of Madi when she is making a decision but then the doing it is another level.

a little chaos

I actually don't think she's changed that drastically, maybe cause we didn't actually know her that well pre flame, and I know people go on about her only being a child, but look at the world they live in, kids grow up fast, and she is a natblida, they have a duty to the flame, as harsh as that is.

For me, whether Madi is altered/influenced by the flame or not, doesn't really bother me, yes she's a child and it sucks but this has always been their way of doing things, young natblidas are warriors that go on to be commanders, and Madi is no different, plus she was the last remaining one, this was always going to be her path.

I guess we'll never know how Lexa was before the flame, that'll always be open to interpretation, but I also think Lexa was hugely changed by her lover Costia's death, thats when she started her "love is weakness" mantra.


This

April7739

I just picture Madi from 5x01 trying to talk Clarke down from killing an Eligius guy who she thinks might be a good guy, and then I think of her at the end of the season giving the order to kill everyone and Bellamy having to talk her down, and it feels like a pretty drastic change to me.

I also just don’t know what role the flame could possibly have now that they’re on a new planet. And shouldn’t it be completely degraded/deteriorated by now? Oh, so many questions. I can’t say that I’m a fan of this plotline, that’s for sure.

However, I will say that the overall incorporation of the Lexa mentions in season 5 was done much better than it was in season 4. Having fewer of them made something like 5x12 more impactful.

That's My Girl

i think the mention of her is also affecting clarke a lot and that's why clarke was so scared of Madi having the flame bc it's part of lexa in it and clarke didn't want to share it
i like when there is not many mentions of her but just significant one.

a little chaos

I'm not saying Madi didn't change throughout the season, but pilot Bellamy wasn't the same Bellamy at the end of Season 1, characters evolve throughout seasons, and very fast on this show too, so we can't just say the flame is the only thing that changed Madi this season, I also think the harshness of the Earth had an impact, Madi hadn't had to deal with this kind of thing before so it is going to affect her.

Madi may have given that kill order, but she was still very virtuous throughout the season, even with the flame, when Clarke killed that guy right before her and Madi escaped Madi asked "why" and Clarke said "you know why", even with the flame, Madi didn't want to kill him, how do we know Clarke's harshness didn't impact Madi's decisions? Also Madi judged Clarke for leaving Bellamy behind and for being on the wrong side of the war and she told Bellamy about the radio calls, those were all acts not like a commander so for me, Madi is still very much Madi.

That's My Girl

this she's herself, she just has new knowledge inside of her that make her sometimes a little bit wiser/older

April7739

Those are good points, Becks. To be honest, I think it’s still a storyline I’m going to struggle with if they continue it further, but I’ll just try to roll with it. More so than anything else, I’m just worried that the flame will become a magical fix-it for every conflict, sort of like it was in 5x13. Madi closed her eyes, came up with the plan, and the plan worked.

a little chaos

I think when it comes to this storyline, the majority of non-clexa fans don't like it and the remaining clexa fans love it. With rare exceptions like me, most Bellarke fans don't like the flame and it's because it is heavily linked to Clexa. When Lexa was on her death bed she uttered the words "The next Commander will protect you" and Clarke responded with "I don't want the next Commander, I just want you", this carries a lot of meaning to Clexa fans and now Madi is Commander (someone Clarke cares for deeply) it holds so much weight for us.

When Lexa died, the flame was all we had left to cling onto, so thats why the flame means so much to me, it's a part of Lexa and it's a part of Clexa, it isn't a plot device to me or a storyline, it's a piece of my beloved ship.

I think that is the difference for people who love the flame and those who don't. Not everyone has an emotional attachment to it.

April7739

Yeah, that’s definitely true. Since I have no emotional attachment to it, I tend to look at it through much more of a plot lens than an emotional one, and I have all sorts of aggravations with the plot. Not that there’s one way to view it that’s better or worse than the other, of course.

a little chaos

Exactly, we all value different characters, relationships, arcs, so it's only natural that some storylines gravitate more to us than others.

Like how I completely overlook the ALIE storyline cause I couldn't care less.

April7739

That wasn’t my favorite storyline, either.

That's My Girl

i just wish we could have seen these two interact bc they mean so much to clarke and they could have an incredible chemistry too