April7739

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wickedrum

the title sequence looks amazing!

a little chaos

April, you’re going to be shocked by what I have to say about the episode

April7739

I am? Okay, I’m intrigued.



To be honest, I was approaching this episode with something akin to dread when I saw who wrote it. I had flashbacks to my least favorite episode of the series ever. This one was a lot better. Not my favorite episode ever, but not my least favorite. Kind of middle-of-the-road to me. I can’t quite pinpoint it, but something about this writer’s writing style doesn’t gel as well with me. There were so many plot points that I feel like were just dropped in as background dialogue or rushed dialogue in that first scene. I feel like I have to have subtitles on to pick up on everything, and I don’t think it should be that way.


Clarke: I have to admit that I was questioning how Clarke would be the one chosen to speak with Russell, just because it seemed odd to me that people would be okay with her speaking for them. And to be fair, I’m not sure they all were. I think Bellamy trusted her with that responsibility (just as she trusted him with the responsibility of bringing Madi to her – OTP, just sayin’), but I doubt many others were happy with that decision. Besides, Abby, I guess. I honestly think Bellamy may have done a better job, even without night blood, just because he’s learned how to be more diplomatic, and even though he’s killed a lot of people just like Clarke has, I feel like a lot of the stories Jordan heard about Bellamy would be pretty positive since his parents were with Bellamy up in space for 6 years and looked to him as a leader. I don’t know. But I find it interesting that Clarke didn’t actually succeed. Nightblood made Russell reconsider. (I’m kind of tired of nightblood, tbh, and it's a little frustrating that it's once again going to be a big deal.)

Eliza looked beautiful in that dress! I know some people thought that scene was cheesy, and that a lot of the episode was, and though I see where that complaint is coming from . . . I don’t know, I’m okay with letting that play out for now, because it’s something different, and it really does add to a sense of newness about this world. Same with the whole hippie/religious/cult vibe. It's definitely different. Bob said at our lunch that we're either going to jump onto the newness of this season and go along for the journey or . . . not. So I'm going along. I mean, really, if I want to keep watching the show, what choice do I have?

Clarke is the MVP of the episode for sure for me. Even though she didn’t really have the most success with Russell, it wasn’t an absolute failure, either. Plus, I thought Eliza did really well, and she and J.R. played off each other well in scenes. Simple things like her delight at seeing a dog was really cool. (I loved that, too! Finally, a cute animal on this show! That two-headed deer could never. Side note: Imagine if they just used Chewie as the dog. )


Bellamy: Aww, Bob finally has an excuse to limp! Him getting stabbed in the leg in 6x02 will be the most realistic and long-lasting injury of the show. Can we just give all the praise to Bob for shooting this season on a bad leg? What a trooper.

I’m so glad that Bellamy got a chance to kind of atone for putting the flame in Madi by bringing her back to Clarke, and that he was successful in that. Him promising to bring her back reminded me of 5x08 when he promised to take care of her, and then 5x09 when he (arguably) didn’t. I do still wish that they would have Bellamy apologize for putting the flame in Madi, even though I do think it had to be done at that point. But I don’t think we’ll get that.

Good on Bellamy for giving Octavia some major tough love. And to be quite honest, I think he just gave her what she needs (kind of reminiscent of Clarke’s walkabout after season 2). Plus, let’s be honest, he recognized that she’s not in a peaceful place and would be a detriment to what they’re trying to do. And I love it when we get to see Bob cry, although . . . dammit, that scene would have resonated a lot more if it hadn’t been for Echo randomly lingering there with him! (I say random because she was, like, a non-factor in this episode to me.) I wish the focus had just been on him there, maybe a close-up of his face and his tears.

As much as I love Clarke, I do love Bellamy more, and I think it would have made more sense for him to be the one to stay behind and talk to Russell and for Clarke to insist on going to get Madi.


Octavia: Look, I know she’s a good fighter and everything, but her taking out these huge groups of people without even breaking a sweat . . . I’m having to stretch my imagination there a little bit. But you know, whatever. It’s not an episode anymore without Octavia in a fight scene. She didn’t need to kill those people, but I almost wonder if she’ll join them. You know, she’s beheaded people, too, so maybe they can bond over that.

I love that this forgiveness is not coming easily to her. It shouldn’t. I’m happy with what they’re doing with her so far this season. Yes, she’s still infuriating me, but I continue to think that it’s well-written and that they’re devoting adequate time to showing us everything she’s going through, and that’s really what matters the most.

I do think this tough love from Bellamy will ultimately help her. But her lines about “saving him” do make me wonder if she actually will save him somehow this season. Right now, she can’t even save herself, so it’s hard to imagine her getting to the point of saving anyone else, but she could. Probably will.


Murphy: This is an interesting storyline. I really like that Murphy seems to have much more of a defined purpose this season than last season. He’s a great character. I know not everyone is as big of a fan as I am, but I think most people can agree that Richard’s a great actor. He really embodies Murphy, and Richard was so complimentary of what Eliza has done on the show this year, but I think he’s doing some awesome stuff, too. I have no idea where this storyline of his is going, but it seems to have propelled him towards alcohol a bit in this episode. I’m not sure if that will be a big storyline after we did the addiction storyline with Abby last season, or more of a recurring image/pastime. We’ll see.

Also, I just have to point out again . . . I know Murphy killed two people for really selfish reasons, and nothing can justify that (I think he knows this), and he can definitely still be a jerk a lot of the time. But if he’s going to hell . . . Octavia will be waiting there for him. Echo will be there. Clarke and Bellamy would be there. Even Madi’s killed a number of people at this point, so one could argue she would be there.

Murphy was lashing out at Clarke a lot in this episode, but with him experiencing whatever he experienced and then drowning his sorrows a bit, it felt less OTT than before to me.


Abby: I just don’t get much from the Abby/Clarke dynamic. Never have. I don’t know what it is about their scenes that always just feels kind of stale to me. Abby in general just kind of feels out of place to me without Kane being around. It’s like she doesn’t belong with all these “kids.”

Now, Abby saying that they won’t be judged for what they did but for why they did it . . . yeah, that sounds great and everything, but that kind of comes across as her not wanting to accept responsibility for her own actions again more so than a genuine kind of comfort for Murphy.


Diyoza: She’s AWESOME! What a cool character. If she keeps going this way, I think she’ll be cracking my top 10. I mean, her telling Gaia to let Madi be a kid was everything to me. She clearly does not give two ****s about the flame/commander thing, so she and I have that in common.

Her presence will be causing some problems, though. LOVED the dark humor about how her photo was next to Hitler and Bin Laden in their books.

Also, why isn’t Ivana a series regular? Her character brings a lot to this series.


Madi: I’m glad Madi is seeming a little less stoic and a little more like the pre-flame Madi again. But the commander thing . . . oh, I was over this three seasons ago. They’re clearly just making stuff up about it as they go along. I mean, WHY on earth would you continue using the flame if you know that the mind of a “dark commander” is in it and that it has the power to sway someone to one side or the other?


Raven: Not much to do in this episode. After these past two episodes, it seemed weird that they didn't have her oppose Clarke staying behind. (This writer doesn't always do the best with character consistency.) I guess she’s supposed to be grieving Shaw so they didn’t want her to do much? I don’t know. Hope there’s a storyline for her this season that I can get behind.


Miller/Jackson: I used to love Miller. Give them something to do, please!


Gaia: I don’t care.


Echo: They really have no idea what they’re doing with her, do they? What even was her purpose in this episode? She was just there. (By the way, 5x04 called and wants to demonstrate how ship’s hugs should be done. Sorry, that did nothing for me.) I could say more, but . . . I’m just at a loss for what to say about how poorly they’ve handled this character.


Russell: J.R. Bourne is such a strong actor, and I really enjoyed him on Teen Wolf. I understand where he was coming from with not wanting to let people into Sanctum, but he was also, like, signing their death sentences by doing that. I don’t know. He’s a pretty interesting character so far.


Jordan: Oh, Jordan, you ****ed up! But that’s so in character when you consider the fact that he was raised with only his parents. He’s so naiive and innocent and trusting, because that’s all he’s ever known. So it makes sense that he would trust blindly and spill everyone’s past to a pretty girl. (What was her name again? She was STUNNING. My goodness, the crush was cute, but can we get some ships with actual proper development, please?)


Anyway, overall, it was decent. But I’m very confused on a lot of things. (That’s what happens when you introduce all these new characters at once.) Too much crammed into the dialogue at times. Happy with some character stuff, scratching my head at others. Loved the Bellarke moments, loved the small Murphamy moment, and Diyoza’s existence. LOVE the fact that Bellamy and Clarke were only separated for part of this episode. I was expecting a multi-episode separation, so that’s a nice surprise.

Anyway, that’s about it for me.


Shiit My Mom Said:
I don't have any idea what's going on.
I just want to hug Bob again. I love how he switches to the Bellamy voice.
They didn't do much with Raven this episode.
Echo didn't do anything once again.
This was a big Clarke episode, so I liked that.
Honey, I really have no idea what's going on with this new planet.
I wish Zach was still part of this show.
You just know Bellamy and Octavia will reconcile.

a little chaos

I read your post before, I will respond after work tomorrow, I have a lot to say, we'll be very agreeable this week, thats all I'll say for now . Also you don't need to spoilertag Echo stuff here, I will read it regardless because I'm addicted to your Echo reviews

April7739

Oh, yeah, I forgot that I still had it spoiler tagged since I just copy/pasted from the other board. I’ll remove it here.

Interested to know your thoughts.

a little chaos

I’ll be home soon to post my thoughts and respond to yours.

But for now, I ship Raven/Murphy/Emori. Hope they have a threesome.

April7739

I can’t hardly tell Raven and Echo apart anymore (bring back Raven’s ponytail!), so I didn’t even know who Emori was hugging in your icon until you clarified it.

destroyer of worlds

I really want Ivana to be the next regular, she brings a lot to the dynamic of the show.

I enjoyed the episode more than I thought I would. I got some season 1 vibes actually, though some parts were pretty cheesy.

a little chaos

Everyone seems to think Josephine with inhabit Clarke’s body, I haven’t really indulged in the theories, but it did get me thinking... what if Bellarke have sex/kiss, but Clarke isn’t Clarke.

April7739

The fandom would riot?

I don’t think that’s happening, but if Clarke is not really herself, that would be interesting to see “her” interactions with Bellamy. Especially if a Prime can access any thoughts, feelings, etc. of their host.

a little chaos

Come back to The 100 board please

April7739

I did eventually. The episode thread?

a little chaos

Yes I didn’t understand what was happening, I couldn’t compute it.

April7739

I shouldn’t have even engaged. I usually ignore that person because they always like to post outlandish opinions just for the sake of disagreeing with the majority. But it was just SILLY! Bellamy has become one of the least dictatorial leaders on the whole show!