I enjoyed this episode more than I thought I would, though episode 2 was still my favourite one so far. So many questions though.
I'm worried for Diyoza being outcasted but knowing her, she'll find a way to scrap through and survive. Her face when she heard about her name in the history books though, priceless.
The "old man" that the Children of Gabriel are referring to is Gabriel (presumably being hosted in another body as well)? And Gabriel was the geneticist from the first mission so perhaps, at some point, he and his family were outcasted by the Primes and that's why COG hate the Sanctum peeps so much. Hmm.
I'm of two minds about Bellamy leaving Octavia on Sanctum. He wants to protect the others which I get, but it still hurts my Blakes heart that he did that. But then again, she did throw him into a fighting pit, knowing full well that he would probably die ... whereas he probably thinks that she has a decent fighting chance to survive (given her skills) on Sanctum whilst hoping that she will finally come to her senses, for lack of a better word. I do think that she will thrive with the COG people, they seem like people that she would gel better with anyway.
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On the other hand, Clarke's leadership isn't purely situational. It's not just a result of what she's done recently, it's a result of who she is. And there the show has I think done a great job of consistently presenting her as a character with innate leadership qualities: She steps up in hard moments when others are silent. She thinks ahead when others are just caught up in the moment. And, except for last season, she works for the good of the whole group, not her own selfish interests. Her leadership qualities have been recognized by other leaders: Lexa, Roan, now Russell. This, in my view has been well and consistently established throughout the whole series. I'm really excited to see how things develop this season now that Clarke is determined to be not just the protagonist but a "good guy."
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To me, Clarke as a leader is not merely a balance sheet of her "good" choices or deeds and her "bad" ones. Throughout the seasons, she has been shown to take on the responsibility, the tough decisions, the guilt. Sadly, more often than not, she gets the blame and the criticism (mind you, I'm not saying some of it wasn't deserved) but usually by people who have not been offering to do her job (looking at you here, Raven). Also a lot of the criticism throughout the seasons has been made with the benefit of hindsight, a luxury not awarded to the one who has to make a choice in the moment. In politics, being the opposition party is an important role, but criticizing is easier than DOING. I even feel the show has done a decent job to drive this point home, especially for Raven and Octavia for example. It's hard being in charge. Mistakes are made, sometimes with horrific consequences. Seems to me that criticism flows freely but when the **** hits the fan, these people look to Clarke to come up with a "save them all" plan (only to then swiftly blame her for whatever she decided).
I know a lot of people feel Bellamy would make the better leader now. I disagree somewhat. As much as I love this character, I have to wonder what great life-or-death-decisions he had to make in those 6 years up in space? I get that spacekru has forged a bond during that time and that they look up to Bellamy but when was the last time Bellamy made consequential decisions affecting the lives of many? And how did that go?
I'd wager that the most impactful times in these people's lives happened during the time that Clarke was their (official or unofficial) leader.
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Word to all of this, couldn't say it better myself. Do I think that Clarke is the best leader ever? Of course not, and neither should she be. It's not like she was raised/nurtured with the specific purpose of having to lead a group of (volatile) people someday. Also, she was an adult when she started leading but for all intents and purposes, still didn't have the right life skills to really know how to lead best. And snide comments/snickers don't make a good leader, the others can talk the talk but reality is a whole other ballgame. (I feel like Octavia maybe can see Clarke's POV a bit better now, given that her own leadership has led her to be put through the ringer) The others pick on Clarke's leadership skills but do they step up in her place? Nope. And when crap hits the fan, they look to her time and time again. I don't blame her for putting herself and Madi first last season, Spacekru sure didn't seem to care much about her (apart from Bellamy) and was putting themselves first so why shouldn't she as well? After all, she had already saved them once (and no time can ever erase that deed).
I think that Bellamy can lead but how good of a leader he can be, remains to be seen because he simply hasn't been tested (what key decisions would they have to make in space, anyway?). Also, in this specific episode, he observed that Russell had taken a liking to Clarke and knew that it was key to leverage on that to help them stay. It made sense, in that context.
Having said that, I do agree that it feels slightly forced at times and that is partly because of the fact that she is the protagonist and has to be the focal point in key storylines, so that's one way of achieving that.
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Speaking of Josephina, I believe her last "host" was the one who died six years ago that Russell referred to as his daughter, and he is the "host" of the original Lightbourne father who went cray cray during the first Red Sun episode.
What else? I hope Delilah doesn't end up being a real baddie as I liked her, but her playing Jordan for information which she immediately passed on doesn't look good.  |
Huh, interesting. So I'm guessing that everytime a host dies, they have to find a new Nightblood as a host but Rose's mum referred to Russell's "daughter's turn", so presumably the Primes have to wait in line for the new hosts.
I like them too but yeah, not a great start.
I reckon that she kind of had to though, because it was her naming ceremony the very next day. Maybe Russell and co threatened to not hold the ceremony until she got some information out of Jordan.