Hello everyone!
I'm back this week, even though I'm fighting off one heck of a cold (it went through our house like wildfire, and I'm not kidding, dad brought it in and then it went through all of us, ugh). Yesterday my eyes were watering so bad I thought I was going to have to sleep through the rest of today! Luckily, it seems to have just been a rebound or something, since Sunday had been the worst day for me with most of the afternoon spent in bed and nursing a headache, a sore throat, runny nose, and maybe even a slight temperature, not that I checked. That being said, however, I feel sufficiently better this morning to get this blog post up and running, and stop complaining about it! It won't help, either way.
So I know The 100 finished a couple of weeks ago (boo!) and most of the reviews are already in, the recaps obviously overdone, but I figured I could toss my own two cents into the mix while I was at it, considering this is one of my absolute favourite CW shows the network has pushed out in the last couple of years. And I mean, talk about a finale!
To cap it off really quick: the 100 tells the story of how humans destroyed Earth with a nuclear war, which resulted in several nations launching spacecrafts out into orbit, where they eventually joined into one massive entity called 'the Ark' (Bible reference right there), where they continued living in crammed conditions and death sentences (a simple theft could get you 'floated' aka shot into space without oxygen). 97 years after the war, 100 juvenile delinquents are sent back to Earth to see if it's now able to sustain them again, and for most of season one they dealt with a sinister threat: the Grounders, people who have apparently survived the holocaust and adapted. But in season two, we learn that there's another group, the Mountain Men, who live in Mount Weather, an ancient army base that the original 100 were making for. Turns out, however, they aren't as nice as they may sound, considering they need blood transfusions from the Grounders, and later bone marrow transplants from the roughly 50 kids they have in their custody from the Ark, so they'll be able to go back and claim the Earth. See, they can't live on the surface because of radiation, while both the Grounders and the Ark population adapted over time.
The story follows several main characters, namely Clarke, appointed leader of the 100, Bellamy, a second leader, Octavia, his sister, who falls in love with the Grounder Lincoln (and spends most of season two saving him from becoming a monster), Jasper and Monty, a pair of nerds who are stuck in Mt. Weather all season long and become heroes, Raven, mechanic and physicist extrardinaire, Finn, Clarke and Raven's love interest who we sadly say goodbye to, Lexa, the Grounder commander, and certain adults, like Jaha, who believes he's the next Moses, Kane, one-time chancellor and apparently turned good guy, Abby, Clarke's mother and resident doctor, both Presidents Wallace in the Mountain, and some others.
As explained, season one was all about repopulating Earth and getting the Ark to the ground. Season two is all about the alliance with the Grounders and getting the captured kids out of Mt. Weather.
One thing I really love about this show is the dynamic between characters and how they interact with one another; Clarke becomes the de facto leader because of her knowledge of Earth, and her drive to keep her 'people' (aka the 100, or what's left of them) safe. Bellamy does what he does for his sister, Octavia, and she for him, as well as for Lincoln, because, love. Abby wants to protect her daughter. Kane just seems to want power, or maybe he wants to stop a war. Jaha ... well, Jaha needs someone to knock him out.
Of course it's interesting (and annoying) to watch the adults as they finally make it to the ground as they try to assume command over the kids again, after pretty much sending them down to Earth to die if it wasn't survivable, but surprise! the kids made it (mostly) and they're not taking the adult bullsh*t anymore. Clarke and Abby literally come to a standpoint during which Clarke calmly tells her mother to get out of her way or people will get hurt. The adults needed to adjust, and realize they kicked the kids into overdrive to grow up - and they can't make decisions for them anymore. It's amazing.
And then, of course, there was the two-part season two finale. Can we just say OMG right now?
Blood Must Have Blood was a fitting title for both episodes as the alliance of Grounders and Sky People (from the Ark) march on Mt. Weather to get the kids and the Grounder prisoners out. Most of the first part is spent in front of a door where they're waiting for Raven to dissable the turbines and knock out power, after which they pretty much blow the thing up. Yay! Tense and action-packed in the extreme in the sense of a lot of running around from Bellamy who's in the Mountain helping out, but then ... slam.
Lexa makes an agreement with Cage (Wallace Jr.) to release the Grounders, and she walks away from the alliance, leaving Clarke and the rest of the kids inside the Mountain, still, with a 'May we meet again' quote.
I wanted to claw her eyes out.
Tactically, it might seem like a sound decision from her point of view, but I disagree: she basically dishonoured an alliance she pretty much almost had to make a coup d'etat over to make it stand, the Sky people have helped the Grounders a lot, and so a question arises: how can she hope to keep the nation together if they see she can't honour her word? We'll see what happens.
So then Clarke is left with no alternative but to go in - and go out with a bang. She wants her people back, and she won't stop until she gets them, which leads to a heartbreaking choice of irradiating the mountain and basically killing everybody inside who hasn't had a bone marrow transplant yet (read: pretty much everybody). I loved the moment when she had to pull the lever, and Bellamy, who had previously been cautioning against the decision, helps her do it because Octavia has by then entered on the scene and is in danger. The stakes just changed for him, and he's ready. It's still sad and heartbreaking, especially as Clarke reunites with her mother and explains that 'she tried to be the good guy', but ultimately failed because she was pushed into a corner, and because she was 17 years old, everyone thought she couldn't do it. And, hint: "maybe there are no good guys."
End result: Clarke doesn't return with everyone else to the main camp, even though Bellamy pleads with her, telling her he was right there and did the same thing, and he forgives her. But she feels she doesn't deserve this kind of peace, is doing it for her people, and walks away.
Dun, dun, dun!
Of course now we have to wait for season three - but thankfully CW already picked the show up so we're definitely getting it! I mean, SO MANY FEELS! And despite the Clexa (Clarke+Lexa) kiss, I still want Bellarke (Bellamy+Clarke), because, they just work and complement each other well, supporting the other's decisions and making it through tough times. I hope we get to see some other Grounder tribes in season three (how cool would it be if Clarke joins the Ice Nation, since we know they were the ones to kill Lexa's lover back in the day? That would be a nice 'may we meet again' calling card for Lexa, I think).
Besides, there are bigger problems on the horizon: as in, a nuclear warhead and Jaha in a house that magically survived the Apocalypse (I'm convinced Dumbledore worked his magic with one of those Fidelius Charms) and, apparently houses a deranged artificial intelligence ... thing.
Whaaa - ?
*images not mine
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