The 100 5x11 "The Dark Year" Review
Major spoilers are included in this episode review. Read with Caution!
Hello The 100 Fans! We finally got some answers in this episode about the mysterious "Dark Year" everyone kept blabbing about. It's like what we suspected, but the execution of it was definitely unexpected.
"The Dark Year" is a dark time for Wonkru during a short food supply of protein and seeing why in addition to the deadliest decisions Octavia and Abby had to endure was also stomach-churning. The show did not play around the idea of cannibalism and effectively utilized how uncomfortable/disgusted everyone was.
The flashbacks are seen whenever Abby slipped in and out of consciousness while she also confided in Clarke about the things they had to do in order to survive. Abby and Octavia pushed Wonkru to eat, but not even Octavia's speech was convincing enough.
When Octavia chewed and made it go down with the broth, it was the most uncomfortable thing in the world. The audience could feel the uneasiness with them. But when Kane and many other people refused to eat their own people, Octavia had to take drastic measures, which probably put her on the path to becoming the ruthless woman she is today.
Octavia kept shooting whoever refused to eat (ironically making more food... ew), until Kane complied and everyone else fell in line. The worst part about this was Abby... it was her idea to force people to eat people and to make Octavia enforce that ruling in order to keep Wonkru alive for that year.
In the present day, Clarke made a deal with McCreary to keep her, Madi, and Abby alive. The tension between Madi and Clarke is high, as Madi does not approve of Clarke's actions (healing the prisoners of their disease) and is ashamed of her mother. This does not sway Clarke to reconsider her decisions as she continues to do the "wrong thing for the right reasons".
Side note: I did enjoy Madi trying to knife one of the prisoners. Very teenage rebellious.
Elsewhere in the forest: Echo, Raven, Murphy, Emori, Shaw, Diyoza, and Kane are hiding out figuring out how to help Wonkru and Bellamy. Murphy suggests stealing the Prisoners' bullets and guns, which is a typical Murphy thing to do.
Then they discover McCreary stole Diyoza's battle plan against Wonkru, which is airtight and efficient. Echo warns Bellamy, who warns Octavia, but they continue marching like planned. The tension between the siblings is high too, and it is clear Bellamy no longer considers Octavia his sister. He cares more about his other "family".
Shaw and Raven are officially love interests too. I called it... I have no other opinion on it.
By episode's end, Diyoza and Kane approach McCreary willingly. They are switching sides because they do not want Octavia taking over the Valley. Kane has never approved of Octavia, the flashbacks to The Dark Year made this clear, as the leader and wishes to start over with peace rather than violence.
Next week is part one of the season finale! We're finally going to war (Finally! The pacing has been off this entire season!) and we shall see who will reign over Shallow Valley... Wonkru? Prisoners? Madi out of left field as the New Commander?