The 100 returned with another episode that dealt with the aftermath of Lexa’s death, and killed off yet another main characters – oh and about 8 others too!
After the all-Arkadia episode 8, it was back to Polis for Stealing Fire, episode 9 that saw the return of Ontari, the Ice Nation nightblood who has her eye on taking the flame and becoming the new Commander.
Clarke tries to secure the safety of her people by making sure young Aiden, Lexa’s choice to succeed her is the chosen one, but the pretty deranged Ontari (those face scars and she seems to like Murphy – must be a nutter!) soon puts a stop to that by beheading Aiden and the other 7 novitiates who are part of the conclave to select a new commander. Titus is persuaded to pass the flame – the ALIE2 AI to Clarke who leaves Polis in search of Luna, the missing 8th novitiate at Lexa’s conclave, who we learn fled the city after not being selected. She is the only remaining nightblood and so the only other contender to take the flame.
Meanwhile over in Arkadia, Kane is due to be executed along with Lincoln and the other bloke (ex-BSG Gaetor, can’t remember his name!) Thanks to Octavia and Indra and some of the others (Miller and his boyfriend get a bit of a storyline) they manage to rescue them. However, Lincoln sacrifices himself as Pike will execute all the Grounder prisoners if he does not give himself up. After drugging Octavia so she cannot stop him, Lincoln is shot in the head by Pike as Octavia watches helplessly from a distance.
Fans of The 100 knew that along with Alycia Debnam-Carey, Ricky Whittle had been cast on another show. There were also strong rumours of Whittle clashing with show runner Jason Rothenberg. (Whittle’s mum tweeted some direct accusations of bullying against Rothenberg) so Octavia/Lincoln fans were prepared for his exit, while also being very upset that a character who has been on the show since the first season was killed off. Lincoln and Octavia were the Romeo and Juliet of the show in the first season – Grounder and Sky people. I must admit I didn’t greatly invest in them. I like Octavia’s storyline as someone who really embraced the Grounder culture more than really getting behind the two of them as a couple. Lincoln’s death also made more sense in that his sacrifice was one for his people. Of course there is little guarantee Pike won’t kill them later – he did lead the slaughter of 300 warriors for no reason not long ago.
As for the Polis story, once again we race through a lot of plot with little pause for Clarke to take in the events of 307. She is trapped in the room where Lexa died – her bed still stained in Lexa’s black blood (although Murphy didn’t seem to mind resting on that same bed!)
We see Clarke’s anger at Titus but she is pragmatic enough to try to secure the succession of the flame to young Aiden. I must admit, the killing of the young nightbloods was pretty harsh – especially Aiden who we got to know a little. Thankfully we were spared the sight of his severed head! Ontari is not interesting to me yet. She just seems psychotically murderous. Not that different from her mentor Queen Nia I suppose.
It was good to see Zack McGowan as Roan back (RIP Charles Vane from Black Sails – and he got a pretty ignoble death there!) I think Roan could be an interesting character but not sure we are going to be following him. Ontari’s actions are setting her up as the new Commander, despite her not having the flame. Titus was the other big death of the episode – throwing himself on Roan’s knife rather than be around to give her the flame. Instead, Titus has passed it on to Clarke along with the Commander’s journal – that should be interesting reading at some point when ALIE1, Jaha and the City of Light people meet up with Clarke again. Of course Titus was the one who killed Lexa and was trying to kill Clarke. We saw him beat up Murphy and he definitely seemed a bit of a zealot. However, Lexa clearly valued him and he obviously cared for and was loyal to her. I actually kind of liked him, despite his being the one to kill Lexa and he got a pretty good death – throat slashed and tumble into a nice warm bath!
So we leave Clarke galloping off to find Luna to pass on the flame, Octavia and Kane escaping from Pike and Arkadia, Bellamy tied up by Indra as she heads out to greet the new Commander – an Ontari who is going to lie to the Grounders and claim she has the flame. I’m also guessing she is going to be intent on wiping out the Sky people so Pike’s rule is going to be challenged. Abby stayed behind – after a quick snog with Kane! So lets hope she will be ok as she deals with zealot Pike and the City of Light hippies!
This episode had the usual stuffed to the gills storyline. As has been the case this year, we are racing through plots. The shadow of Lexa’s death is still hanging over many of us – but then The 100 has thrown huge plot shifts out so regularly it is a case of hang on and enjoy/endure the ride!
The fallout from Lexa’s death in the fan community has been remarkable. So many articles and opinions. I know I’ve changed my mind a few times on how everything unfolded. A view from the LGBT community of how it all went down and the reasons why there was anger is well laid out in LGBT Fans Deserve Better – which collects all the news and tweets and includes a detailed timeline of what was said. There is also a link to The Trevor Project, a charity that supports LGBT teens. One amazing outcome of the fan reaction – over $110,000 raised for the charity which is very impressive.
Very interesting piece on the AV Club today entitled When Fan Engagement Goes Wrong about the implications for how show runners interact with passionate fans on social media
Pretty much every piece on this issue has hundreds of comments and it has certainly created a lot of discussion.