Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers in this episode review. Read with caution!

The show went on a week break and now it's about to embark on another one? This irks me. Next episode airs June 19.

While the plot did little movement, a lot of character dynamics were established or rehashed to give the audience a good sense of where everyone is or isn't after the time jump. Octavia hates Echo, Bellamy doesn't recognize his sister, Murphy/Emori are not in a good place, and Clarke's relationship with Madi is tested.

Let's get into what all that means.

Everyone got separated again!

The 100 crew was back together for a hot minute, but this time jump really messed things up in the character dynamics. This is what went down in the episode essentially:

Emori helped Murphy and talked about their relationship.
Clarke tries to hide the truth about Madi (unsuccessful) from Octavia, Nyla, and Gaia
Bellamy tries to reason with Octavia about Echo
Diyoza/Kane offers Wonkru a chance to abandon Octavia and come to the Valley.

My favorite part (bias is here) is the Emori and Murphy of the hour. They are given the least attention (besides Diyoza herself) but have some emotional beats going off in Emori. She explains to Murphy how she found community in Raven's mentoring, but all he did was punish her for figuring out herself.

This is why Emori broke up with Murphy during the time jump. She guesses correctly that he only did that because he was jealous of the attention he wasn't, and they begin to make amends. They would've have sex if McCreary didn't survive the trap they laid out for the Prisoners hunting them.

The "couple" take him hostage, which will work because he is the most mysterious/interesting character in the antagonist group. McCreary being sick and a potential power-player is what makes him incredibly dangerous but also equally entertaining to watch.

Clarke is more concerned about Madi than anything else going on. Her priorities have shifted because she has grown a motherly bond with the child. While Madi wants to believe in the Octavia she heard about in the stories (Girl living in the floors), Clarke has to tell Madi they cannot trust her.

Madi is a true nightblood, not an artificial one like Clarke. If Octavia knew the truth about Madi, she would see it as a threat to her reign as Blodreina. Matters get worse when Nyla and Gaia get involved. Nyla wants Clarke to reveal the truth to Octavia because she believes in Wonkru, but Gaia is insistent on keeping the flame alive.

Gaia is not a true believer of Wonkru and is still committed to her original mission: to protect the nightblood and to protect the flame - the spirit of the commander. She even tries to kill Nyla, but Clarke stops her out of loyalty.

This causes an uneasy trust/distrust between Clarke and Nyla. The time jump changed Nyla, who was always committed to Clarke under the most distressing situations. Nyla hopes Octavia will spare Madi once the truth is out but cannot guarantee it.

In the end, Madi took matters into her own hands and confesses to Octavia the truth. Clarke tries to stop her, but it's too late. Octavia welcomes Madi into Wonkru and begins her training. This was a horrible decision on Madi's part, and now it'll become even more difficult for Clarke to protect her.

Octavia does have sympathy for Madi though - both girls being forced to hide for being themselves. I enjoy the parallelism between them, and Madi's admiration may stem from that one strong commodity. However, this may not be enough to stop Octavia from one day killing the girl to keep her leadership strong.

Bellamy is really beginning to see how everyone truly changed: specifically Octavia and Clarke. He is begging his sister to spare Echo and to give her a chance to join Wonkru. He even sword-fought her to convince Octavia, but despite besting her, she would not be swayed easily. Love is a weakness.

Bellamy's love story with Echo is really well-done in my opinion. I wish it really started back when they met in those cages because their chemistry was on fire at time.

It's still blazing when they initiated a love scene right before she went to take Diyoza's offer to go undercover for Octavia. Two love scenes in one episode? The 100 is not messing around.

Kane and Diyoza are playing Octavia perfectly. He is the perfect traitor for Octavia to oppose, and I love how Diyoza barely appeared yet her presence is felt throughout the entire episode with her offer and how that is affecting Wonkru.

Blodreina's leadership over them is faltering.

Echo's interactions with the Wonkru couple also reveal how much we don't know about the bunker's dark days. There is a lot of undisclosed information and that is enough to give Echo her conscience. She will not rat out the people who want to leave, but that doesn't stop Octavia from taking action.

She orders Kara to shoot down anyone who tries to board Diyoza's ship but only enough of them to show Diyoza that she didn't simply let her people go. In a way, Octavia gave Echo and the others a fighting chance to survive. How far has Octavia fallen?

Bellamy thinks Octavia killed her own people, but she believes she simply executed traitors.

Monty's one-role in the episode was to hack Diyoza's computers but it can only be done on the inside with Raven's help. This is where Echo's role comes into play. Monty crafts a device attached to her wristband to give Raven for the hacking.

While everyone was getting searched, Echo cleverly hid the device inside her friend's bullet wound - the one she received getting on board. Wow that sick in the awesome definition and the actually "ew" sick way too. I loved that scene exists. It was so creative, but it caused her friend obvious comfort. She literally took one for the team.

I'm surprised Kane turned into a real ally to Diyoza. When he helped the Wonkru people who came aboard the ship, he appeared genuinely on her side. He didn't get enough screentime for a good sense of his emotional motives, but I'm sure he'll hold regrets later for siding with the enemy. Octavia didn't give him much choice, but this is still a pretty low blow.

I'll see ya in two weeks for the next episode. If one more break happens after this one... I swear... I do not enjoy hiatuses. They break the natural flow of the episodes for me.

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