Apparently, all I can write about is The 100 now. I swear I have other things I care about.
Loved episode 3. Exciting. A few disappointing things. I hate to harp on disappointing parts, but it’s easier to say something interesting about the stuff I don’t like than the stuff I like.
One of the greatest characters on Lost is Arzt, the science teacher. The second he shows up, you know he’s marked for death. He’s a bit obnoxious, and you’ve never seen him before, and they’re going on a dangerous mission to get dynamite. He blows up. It’s a bit tropey, but it’s fun.
When Gina, Bellamy’s girlfriend, shows up, Stevie said she was surprised that I didn’t think she was going to die. I didn’t get the same marked for death vibes, but I guess I didn’t pick up on it. In retrospect, it makes sense given how little backstory she got. We literally know less about her than Arzt (haven’t re-watched episode 3, so maybe I’m wrong). In this episode, she gets stabbed and dies before she can disable the self-destruct for Mt. Weather. The problem is that it feels a little tropey, but the more sexist kind of trope. That is, her death seems to be purely plot fodder for Bellamy. The AV Club review called her a fridge girl, which is fair because of how little her character was developed. Given the history of this trope, it’s not great that the show would rely on it. It feels cheap. Hopefully the next episodes take it in a different direction. This show has earned the benefit of the doubt with its other more developed female characters, making them powerful while flawed in different ways.
The whole Mt. Weather thing felt a little rushed, but I like that this show can still build tension and still surprise me. I was expecting consequences for Mt. Weather. I wasn’t expecting it to blow up the very next episode! The show can do the ticking time bomb, but the heroes don’t always succeed, which makes the tension more real.
At first, I thought all of Farm Station was gone, but there were only 36 of the 60-something at Mt. Weather. I suppose Monty’s mom is still alive. Also, anyone who was upset with Jasper tossing around priceless art… well, it’s all moot now.
That first scene of Mt. Weather, with the mess hall, is really jarring. As viewers, we know the history of the place. The first time we see that mess hall, though Clarke’s eyes, it’s a real WTF moment because we don’t know what Mt. Weather is. There’s an odd feeling of decadence when they’ve been fighting ever since they got to the ground. Now we have the weight of knowing the corrupt system that kept Mt. Weather alive and the subsequent genocide. Then, there we are again, with a similar shot. And people are there again. Oblivious to all of it. For them, it’s simply an abandoned space that’s nice to eat in. They also were fighting since they got to the ground, and it must’ve been a relief to be there. Too bad we don’t get to explore that more, which is why I said the whole thing felt a little rushed. But I do like that the plot is moving forward.
They did develop the Sinclair-Raven relationship more, telling a bit more about their history and then showing him telling her to believe in herself. As a BSG fan, I can’t get over the fact that he lost his leg in BSG and she has a lame leg in this one. I need to make some type of comic/mashup where Sinclair is like, “I lost my leg once. Don’t be like me. Man, I made some bad decisions.” I was glad to see that his character was still around after not appearing in the first two episodes. Sinclair said Abby could fix Raven with the equipment at Mt. Weather. Now that option is gone, so I guess Raven is unfixable now. Except in the City of Light!
The whole Ice Nation plan was confusing and seemed needlessly complicated. I didn’t really get it. Why send them on that wild goose chase? I think it distracted them because Raven said something about some alarms going off or something? Or maybe it was so that the Ice Nation delegate could conveniently say, “Yo, it was us.” Was it just Lexa who banished Roan? The Queen seems cool with getting her son back. Roan also bought off guards, but was he part of the plan too? Where did you get all that money from, exiled dude? I’m not sure why they needed to blow up Mt. Weather and tell Lexa instead of just killing her in the first place if that’s the plan. She is the coalition. Maybe it’s to help convince other clans to join them. I guess the fake-out was kind of cool. I was pretty sure it was a fake-out all along, but it wasn’t until the last minute that I knew it was going to be Mt. Weather. I also knew Emerson would be the one who gave the code, but only knew that after the code first was seen. I was wondering where he went, and didn’t predict he’d be at the Ice Nation before this season. I really wonder how he ended up there. I also have to believe that he has more to offer the Queen than just self-destruct codes. Maybe they’re buying more tech? That assassin did have a watch. Maybe they have more weapons? Also, I have to say that I loved the first Ice Nation delegate who was like, “They were military exercises.” Haha, utter BS. Politics will always be politics.
Here’s a little thing: Titus said, “We’re so close to our goal.” Then, they never explain the goal. What goal? Tell us, what goal???? This is the kind of thing you forget later because there’s so much shit going on, but the show usually does a good job of bringing back all these threads.
I’m glad Abby and Kane, the oligarchs, decided that hey we should have an election. Yay democracy. The campaign against Abby can write itself, though. Posters of Mt. Weather and dead children. Bad decision, Abby.