Post — Aaron Ngo

Major spoilers are included in this episode review. Read with Caution!

This episode gave us insight on one character who needed it the most: Octavia Blake. Also known as Blodreina. While other characters have been judging, criticizing, defining, and defying all of Octavia's motives throughout this current season, this is the first time we got a glimpse behind the blood.

We saw her vulnerabilities and the moments where no one was looking whenever she made a tough decision. The private two seconds she uses to cry or struggle with the decisions she has to make: to kill or not to kill her most two favorite people.

Indra and Bellamy have their stances clear in this episode. Indra is willing to kill Bellamy and then herself in order to save Gaia, her blood-daughter. She cares for the Blake siblings, but she values her blood more. The same goes for Octavia, who'd rather have Bellamy "be the last" than Indra.

Then there is Bellamy. He plans to not fight in the hopes Octavia will call the entire thing off. Before the fight in the Pits, Octavia pleads with Bellamy to survive, but he calls her pleads silly because her entire rule is "unreasonable" to him. He regrets not being there for her during the time jump, but he warns her that "there is no coming back" if she goes through with this.

Damn. He is unable to see her side of things at all. He's right and she's wrong. Nothing else matters. Alright then, brother!

The fight was nerve-wrecking, but we all knew they'd find a way to survive. Honestly? I was sure Bellamy and Indra were going to survive, but Gaia was either way for me since I'm not as attached to her. Luckily, she did survive with the rest of them... all thanks to Monty and his algae! --- this gives Wonkru no reason to claim Shallow Valley as their own from Diyoza.

It looked like Blodreina's rule was coming to an end. The heroes have triumphed over the dictator, but alas, it was not meant to last. Octavia heads to the Hydrofarm and burns the entire thing down, leaving Wonkru the only option of marching into war.

I'm so sorry, Monty. But at least everyone survived the Pits. That's something...

On a serious note though, I can't believe Octavia would rather have Wonkru march into a war they could easily lose than rely on the replenished Hydrofarm for crops to live on. I think the plot made her go with the illogical plan.

I believe Octavia did this in order to keep control of her people, as she values having followers - her leadership - more than their actual well-being. This is shown when she lost about half of Wonkru to Madi, the new Commander.

Clarke and Madi head toward Shallow Valley to reach Diyoza. The Flame begins to show Madi some visions of the previous Commanders, something we never experienced with the previous ones. Madi sees Becca get killed, which makes Clarke wonder if she's seen Lexa yet.

Any mention of Lexa is like getting pierced by a sharp spear. Plus Clarke calling Madi "her child" was also a sweet moment.

Clarke does not want Madi to end up like all the other Commanders, like Lexa, and pleads with her daughter to remove the Flame. But Madi confirms that its too late to extract it... if anyone tries to remove it, Madi would die.

The dynamic between the two of them is pretty outstanding in this episode. This is the best we got of Madi and Clarke as daughter and mother all season. They truly fight like mother and daughter, full of angst and immaturity to an extent despite the high stakes involved.

Back at Shallow Valley, Abby is going through withdrawal and a need to outlast McCreary, who is now the new boss man. She has only one ally, Vinson, who is the one man she cured. She begs Vinson to get her more pills because she thinks that without them, she'll seize and die.

Vinson gets her the pills, but at what cost? After Vinson is discovered as Abby's ally, he murders the guards in pure gory, but all Abby can care about is the pills scattered all over the floor. She has completely lost control of herself and apparently overdoses.

Eventually, Clarke and Madi find Abby overdosed in the house, wondering what could've happened to her. I forgot Clarke has her own mother to deal with it as she is not aware of her mother's pill addiction (if I'm recalling correctly) and this ominous "dark year" that transpired inside the bunker.

Next week's episode looks like it will definitely dive into the Dark Year and how it affected everyone inside the bunker, particularly Octavia, Indra, Kane, and Abby. An event mentioned once every other episode but never fully explained, if not explained at all. This horrible year will shed some light on why our characters are the way they are, and how it has darkened Octavia to the point of almost no return.

I have faith in Octavia. She'll come back or at least consider the idea of returning.

We'll see how everything plays out as Diyoza is no longer in control of Shallow Valley and Wonkru is headed there now to claim what is "rightfully" theirs?

Sound off in the comments and discuss how we're feeling about the latest episode!

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