April7739

Yeah, Abby’s death was pretty horrific. Similarly to Clarke, she knew what was happening but couldn’t do anything to stop it. And the way it was filmed with the slow mo and the flashbacks and the odd sound . . . haunting.

madness

Haunting is a good word for it. Also, basically Russell's face being the last thing she saw is so scary because he truly looks like a different/insane person during these moments. Her seeing Jackson and then Raven just trying to get to her, how scared she must have felt.

April7739

I haven’t even gotten around to writing up my episode thoughts yet. Might make them brief. Or at least try to.



ETA: Here they are. They're not brief.


So I’m not actually sure if this episode or 6x04 is my least favorite of the season. I still think they’re both better than about half the episodes last season, so that’s good. But I might actually say this is my least favorite just because of how confusing it was in parts. My friend and my mom also said this episode was their least favorite, too. I do hope the finale ends on a stronger note.


Clarke: Just awesome. I think this is going to end up being my favorite season for Clarke, dethroning season 2. I’m just in awe of her strength, particularly in that last scene, keeping up the charade despite the fact that she found out her mother was murdered, despite the fact that her child had a gun to her head, despite the fact that she had to leave her people out there to fight for their lives. I’m so impressed with Eliza. Such growth, like others have said. There are so many subtle nuances to the variations in character she’s had to pull off this season. (Wouldn’t it be horrific if she had to kill Simone? Just due to the fact that it’s still her mom on the outside?)


Bellamy: Pretty straight-forward with him this week. I was glad he got to give another speech. It’s been too long. I think it’s natural for him to feel guilt over leaving people behind, but Bellamy, you did what you needed to do for your girl. We were saying in the Bellamy thread that it’s too bad Abby didn’t find out he was the one to save Clarke. That may have given her some peace in those final haunting moments to know that her daughter wouldn’t be left to fend for herself.


Octavia: Also a pretty straight-forward episode. I liked the interaction between her and Bellamy and how we got to glimpse them being more lighthearted with each other again, even if just for a moment. “My sister, not my responsibility” is going to be the best thing for both of them.


Gabriel: Episode MVP for me. Chuku Modu (sp? I never know how to spell his name!) is a really strong actor, and that confrontation between him and Russell was an episode highlight. It’s interesting that the “demons” they’re battling against are technically his creation. And he’s technically the same as them. I would totally not mind if this character sticks around, because he is intriguing and well-portrayed, but at the same time, I feel like he could die and find peace, too. So I feel like either one will work, though if I had to guess, I think he’ll stick around.


Russell: I’ve enjoyed his descent into rage and madness. JR has portrayed it so well, and it makes sense why it would be happening. It’s very rare for us, actually, to see characters on this show go from potential ally to straight-up villain. Usually they go from potential villain to ally (i.e. Diyoza, various Grounders, and even characters like Bellamy and Murphy). I don’t personally see how he can survive the season and still have a role/place in this show, but I think he’s added a lot to this season.


Abby: Oh, my. For some reason, I didn’t see this coming until during the episode itself. I thought that, with Kane’s final words to Abby telling her that she was strong and she could do this without him, she’d survive the season. But I guess not.

I’ve never been a particularly big Abby fan, though I did enjoy her relationship with Kane in seasons 3 and 4, in particular, and I think Paige is a very good actress. She always did seem to struggle with taking responsibility for her choices and leaned too hard on the idea of getting her humanity back while never actually taking continuous steps to do it. Her addiction storyline last season, though I said it was important, was resolved to quickly for me to praise as a really well-done portrayal of drug use. So this character and her storylines were . . . not my favorite. But having said all that, she still has been here since the very first episode, and she was the last of the “adult” characters. Do I feel like it was time for her to go? I mean . . . I guess. But my goodness, my heart just breaks for the Kabby fans this season. I can’t even imagine losing both halves of your ship within the span of just a few episodes.

Kane’s death was much more impactful to me, probably because I liked him a lot more as a character. Abby’s demise also became painfully obvious as the episode wore on. She got her goodbyes with Clarke, Raven, and Jackson, which, while nice, felt a tad too . . . convenient. But I’m not mad about them, either. I think I realized it when Russell smiled at her. I was like, “Oh, he’s turned on. He thinks his wife would look good in you.” (God, that sounded weird. ) Anyway, I wasn’t sure if he would actually succeed or not, but he did. Those last moments for her were pretty ****ing haunting. That must have been terrifying, knowing what was going to happen, not being able to stop it (much like her daughter back in 6x04), and seeing Jackson and Raven screaming and crying and trying to get to her. Very well-done scene. I loved the way it was filmed, the way the sound cut out for that weird noise to take its place, and the flashbacks. Yep, the flashbacks did kind of get to me, especially when they showed Clarke as a baby and a little girl.

Will Paige continue on past this season? I have a hard time imagining that, tbh, her still being second in the credits when she’s playing a character who’s not even Abby. And I don’t want that. I don’t want to see her as someone else.


Raven: Well, I think we can pretty much say it’s official: Raven has no tangible storyline this season. Even if she gets something in the finale, that’s an episode, not a whole storyline. I used to love Raven, but seasons 5 and 6 have seen her character devolve progressively. She’s been an accessory to others this season. And they couldn’t even have her hug Clarke or look the slightest bit relieved after leaving things on such a judgmental note with her.


Madi: Lola’s doing a great job, but . . . this storyline is going to roll over into season 7, isn’t it? Ugh, and it’s my least favorite of the season. I just want her back as a kid.


Jackson: I hope he can step up now that Abby’s gone. It was a nice goodbye moment that they had, and I appreciated that Abby admitted she was wrong to say what she did to him earlier this season.


Miller: Small moment, but I loved him growling at Octavia that he didn’t take orders from her anymore. They’re bringing Miller back for me.


Echo: Didn’t do much this episode, but cool leap over the counter.


Gaia: I hope she cares more about Madi than the flame at this point. The end leads me to think . . . maybe she does? That’d be nice.


Priya: Such a beautiful actress. That’s about all I have to say, though. She’s gone, deserves to be, just like all the Primes apart from, arguably, Gabriel.


Murphy and Emori: Okay, the absolute most CONFUSING part of the episode to me, and to many people, it seems, based on the reviews. It took me reading reviews to try to piece together what was going on. (Maybe I should have watched with subtitles. But if I have to do that, that should maybe be a red alert that it’s not very well-written . . . I mean, it should come across to the audience more easily than it did.)

Shallow note first: They looked super cool.

So Murphy and Emori were going to pretend to be the Lees, who had been erased from drives previously. Okay, that’s expecting a lot for the casual viewer to remember that, as even some of us dedicated viewers had trouble with it. But Russell needed them to do that to further perpetuate the myth of the divinity of the Primes and regain control over an increasingly restless population in Sanctum. (Did anyone else find it strange that, after his sit-down where he was going to tell them all about their new personalities, he didn’t tell them they were going to be siblings? Maybe he didn’t want them to back out.) In exchange, Murphy and Emori would get mind drives and be resurrected upon their deaths. Right?

So . . . they currently have mind drives installed? So they’re nightbloods now? I feel like so much happened off screen with them. It just feels like whole chunks are missing. Like for instance, how did Murphy think that what they were doing was going to help everyone else? What was the plan? Why did he say to Abby, “Believe it or not, this is good for you, too.” I just don’t get it. Not to mention the abrupt change of heart at the end. I’m glad they’re no longer going along with Russell, but it would have been nice to see them get to that point, particularly Murphy. All season long, I’ve said that, although he’s disappointed me, I have to admit that it’s a well-written storyline. Until this moment.

Side note: I also hope that they don’t have Clarke just instantly forgive him, but I feel like she will, if that last scene between them is any indication. Maybe at least Bellamy can make him earn his forgiveness back. Because I feel like that’s the only way Murphy is going to change. They can’t just let him off the hook, or he’ll pull a sneaky maneuver all over again.


Did I forget anyone or anything? I don’t think so.


Stray Thoughts: I quite like Antonio Negret’s directing.

No Jordan again, huh? They’re kind of wasting his character, and that’s sad, but at the same time, this episode already felt too bloated, so I get it.

So a lot of people, myself included, seem to think that this episode had too much going on. (Kim Shumway excels at writing bottle episodes, I feel.) So I was thinking about other episodes that had a lot going on, and another penultimate episode, 3x15, came to mind. And that episode is one of my favorites and seems to have gotten a good reception from fans and reviewers alike. So what made that episode work while this one (arguably) didn’t? Both episodes revolved around one big conflict (ALIE’s rising control vs. the Primes fading control), and both episodes involved lots of characters. I mean, in 3x15, Roan returned, the plan was hatched to the put the flame in Ontari, Clarke volunteered to be taken hostage, Roan got shot, we found out Jasper took the chip, Monty got stabbed, Clarke got impaled by her chipped mother, Murphy and Co. came to the rescue, Pike and Bryan got shot, Indra saved Kane from blowing up, Murphamy fought off chipped Grounders in an elevator, Abby hung herself, Jaha got shot, and Ontari got knocked braindead. SO MUCH! Yet that episode also allowed time for some really high quality character moments, too: Bryan and Miller talking about their chickens, Monty and “Jasper” having a heart to heart, “Start with Bellamy Blake,” a moment of Octavia grieving Lincoln with Indra, Bellamy noticing her grief. That episode had balance. This episode focused too heavily on the plot. I think it’s quite telling that my character sections, in general, are so short this week, with the exception of Abby’s section. (Murphy and Emori was more just me being confused.) I still don’t think it was a bottom tier episode of the show, but it was definitely a bottom tier episode of this season, which has been very high-quality.


Episode MVP: Gabriel.

6x01: Bellamy
6x02: Murphy
6x03: Clarke
6x04: Diyoza
6x05: Jordan
6x06: Bellamy
6x07: Clarke
6x08: Emori
6x09: Kane
6x10: Bellamy
6x11: Clarke
6x12: Gabriel

a little chaos

What made you put Gabriel as MVP? I thought you’d go for Abby

April7739

I don’t know, Gabriel just jumped out at me, in part because I thought all his scenes were really strong, and because he was actively doing things in the episode. But I could go with Abby, whose sacrifice ultimately saved Madi. And I also thought about switching it to Clarke.

a little chaos

Yeah Clarke is a great candidate actually, the episode made me fall in love with her all over again

April7739

Did you ever fall out of love with her?

Alright, so here’s what I have established as my interpretation of the confusing AF/too much happening off screen Memori storyline in this episode:

Murphy and Emori agree to play the parts of Daniel and Kaylee Prime. They get immortality someday, and Russell gets help in returning order to an increasingly restless population in Sanctum by further perpetuating the myth of the divinity of the Primes. I’m assuming that Memori did in fact become nightbloods and have mind drives installed now. I’m also assuming that the only reason Russell would not tell them they were siblings when he sat down to tell them about their new identities is that . . . he didn’t want them to change their minds and decide they valued PDA more than immortality. (And the episode wanted a joke in there.)

Murphy keeps insisting that they can help their friends this way and even tells Abby that this is good for her, too, because once he agrees to do this, he’ll have leverage over Russell. If Russell tries to hurt any of his people, Murphy can threaten to expose the charade and tell the people of Sanctum the truth, which would result in chaos and a potential overthrow of the Primes. (This is the only way I can make any sense of why he would say that line to Abby.)

They end up having an abrupt change of heart because, let’s be honest, that was always going to happen, but the writer could not be bothered to show their thought processes (particularly Murphy’s) leading up to that decision since the episode tried to cram too much in.

What do you guys think?

a little chaos

No but it just reaffirmed my faith and why she is my favourite character

Yeah that works for me, plus if they take those mind drives and pretend to be them that means not having to genuinely take two more lives for the primes? But we shouldn’t have to fill in the gaps and pick it apart like this, the writing was bad and I was so confused

Also I like your thoughts on Clarke, and I think you’re on to something with her having to kill Simone, it’ll be like Finn all over again poor Clarke

April7739

And it’ll also be kind of reminiscent of Monty killing his mom when she was chipped and not herself. Or I could also see it playing out where someone else does it for her. Maybe Raven? That would actually be . . . kind of touching, in a way, Raven killing “Abby” so that Clarke doesn’t have to, and it would kind of serve as an apology for how she’s treated Clarke and spoken to her this season. And it would be a throwback to Finn.

Yes, I agree, we shouldn’t be filling in the gaps days afterward. What do you think could have been cut out of the season (or edited down) to give this episode a little more space to breathe and evolve at a less frenetic (and confusing) pace?

a little chaos

Oh my god, if Raven doesn’t step up I’m going to be disappointed now because that would be brilliant writing! Clarke has had so much trauma so if someone were to step up and do it instead I’d have so much respect for that person!

That’s a good question. I’d say some of the Abby stuff with raven and Jackson but then again it was setting up her death so I get why it was there. The clecho scene wasn’t needed but I’m not complaining and I could have done with less Russel

But I haven’t rewatched any episodes yet so I’m not remembering a lot of stuff

April7739

Right? When I was first thinking about it, I naturally was thinking of someone like Bellamy doing that for her, but Raven needs more help in the respect department right now more than Bellamy does.

Man, if I wrote for this show . . . I might not have the best grasp on sci-if, but I can come up with good character-driven stuff.

See, I feel like nothing in this episode could really be cut out, and though the Gabriel/Russell scene was long, I didn’t mind because I thought it was well done. So I feel like things earlier in the season needed to be cut out. Abby’s scenes all season felt quite long to me. And Raven has virtually added nothing to the season, so I feel like a lot of her scenes could have been eliminated or shortened.

It gets tricky, though, because . . . when you have all these characters, it’s a question of, “Do we give everyone a storyline? Even if not all the storylines are super important? Or do we give only the main characters storylines, in which case viewers may complain that some characters are only getting dragged along for the ride?”

I feel like this season has really put Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, and Murphy at the forefront of a lot of storylines, which I think is good. But then with the introduction of prominent new characters like Gabriel, Josephine, and Russell, and a big episode for Kane and a big episode for Abby, it does still kind of feel like there are too many people to focus on at times.