Friday, May 30, 2014

The 100, Season One, Episode Eleven: The Calm


The 100 are hyper vigilant, firm in the belief that the Grounders are coming.  Bellamy informs Clarke that Jasper believes he can make more gunpowder and Raven thinks that she can turn that it into landmines. Clarke comments on the irony of surviving 100 years and returning to earth so that humans can go back to slaughtering each other and wonders if there is another way.  Clarke adds that maybe Abby was lucky because she died quickly on the Exodus and that no one is coming down to save them.

On the Arc, Cain slowly comes to consciousness and finds himself alone, so begins to look for fellow survivors.

Back on earth, Octavia is supervising the smoking of meat and Bell snarks that she learned how to do this from her Grounder boyfriend. Murphy questions why Octavia didn't talk to Bellamy about getting a better job and she simply replies if she didn't do it, someone else would have to do it.  Am I the only one wondering what the hell Murphy is still doing in camp?  Octavia is working with ammunition and she is joined by Finn, who says that he keeps wanting to apologize but Raven assures him that they are good.  Raven adds that she isn't just keeping busy but is keeping the 100 alive.  Finn starts to leave and Raven assures him again that they are good and that she just wants him to be a happy.  Okay the Grounders are probably coming, they have lost contact with the earth, and the Exodus has crash landed but by all means, take time to angst about the love triangle.. Calls of  a fire break up the conversation and when Finn and Rave head outside, the smoke house is on fire.  Octavia asks what they are going to do because the smokehouse contained all of the food.

Later, with the ashes of the smokehouse still smoldering, Bellamy tells Clarke that Bell kept feeding the fire because Octavia told him it was a bad idea. Yeah, we didn't need another reminder that the 100 are juveniles but I suppose that this sufficiently puts them in jeopardy.  Clarke questions if they should believe Murphy and then brings up the scant supplies they have left, suggesting that they have to hunt.  Bellamy questions if this is a good idea because of the Grounder army but Clarke makes it clear that they cannot defend themselves if they are hungry.  Later, Bellamy organizes a hunting party and makes it clear that the bullets are for Grounders only and that the 100 are to use spears for hunting.  He orders that they are all to return before it gets dark. Finn asks Clarke to go with him and she turns him down but Finn invites himself along, as Raven of course sends him pained looks.  Raven returns to her tent to pack supplies but Bellamy tells her that she is not leaving. Raven points out that on the Arc, Bellamy was a janitor.  Bellamy points out that it's too dangerous to go alone and asks Raven what else she has in her head.  Raven brings up building radios so that the 100 can talk to each other. Bellamy says that they need her because she is smart.

On the Arc, Cain continues to look for survivors.  Cain come across a survivor named Wood, who informs him of a hull breech in engineering. The two start walking, looking for more survivors and Cain comments that it's like they are on a ghost ship.  They come across a group of people.

Back on earth, Miles, Finn and Octavia find themselves following suspicious tracks.  Miles is shot with arrows, (yep, I knew Miles was the red shirt of that little team) so Clarke and Finn decide to leave him but they don't get far before the are knocked unconscious by Anya and a group of Grounders.

On the Arc, Cain realises that the temperature is dropping and says that it must be a message that they are being monitored.  He is however told by Wood that he must have hypoxia. Cain says that they have to get moving now.

On earth, Clarke ad Fin are marched into a holding area.  Finn whispers that he knows where they are because he tracked their distance along with memorizing markers.  Clarke suggests that this doesn't matter because they weren't blindfolded because the Grounders didn't care what they saw. Clarke believes that they are going to be killed. Anya joins them and uses her sword to free Clarke.  It seems that one of them is sick and so Clarke is ordered to make her better.

Cain and the rest of the survivors come to a collapsed area.  Wood  uses a communications device to contact the earth monitoring station and discover that Jaha survived. Cain reports that he has one dozen survivors with him.  Jaha tells Cain to lead his people to the mess hall because Sinclair is re-rooting power and heat there.  Cain agrees to do so only after he gets Jaha but Jaha says that fire burned through most of the oxygen in his section and all access to it is blocked off.  How many times is Jaha going to play the role of brave hero by offering to die? Cain tells Jaha that he is not going to let Jaha die but Jaha orders him to gather as many survivors as he can.  Cain decides to go on a one man rescue mission and orders the rest of the survivors to the mess hall.  Instead of leaving Cain behind, the other survivors work with him to free Jaha. Exactly why are the survivors interested in saving Jaha when it has been revealed that all he has done is lie to them? I think I would have left him there.


On earth, Clarke is ordered to save Beatrice.  Clarke says that she doesn't have any equipment but Anya says that they will provide what they can.  It turns out that Lincoln was the healer for the Grounders and he is gone now. Finn encourages Clarke that she can do this.  Clarke asks what happened to Beatrice and we learn that Beatrice was on the bridge when the bomb exploded.

Raven and Monty are working with equipment from the Exodus wreckage and they find a recording from the ship. Raven moves to disassemble the radio saying that they need all of the equipment they can find. This concerns Monty because they won't be able to contact the Arc, but Raven turns on the radio and there's nothing there.  Raven declares that the Arc is gone.  Monty  insists that his family is up there but Raven disassembles the device anyway.

The hunters are returning to camp and Raven goes to search for Finn.  Monty snarks that Clarke is keeping Finn out of trouble.  Raven returns to her tent to angst about Finn and Clarke together but Bellamy makes it clear they don't have time for this.  Raven stands and starts taking off her clothes and offers herself to Bellamy.  Bellamy tells her that he is not going to talk her down and Rave initiates a kiss. The two begin to have sex.

Clarke and Finn begin to work on Beatrice and Clarke realises that Beatrice is drowning in her own blood. Clarke cuts into Beatrice to relieves the pressure of blood in her lungs and Anya rushes in and tosses them aside in the belief that they are hurting Beatrice.

Cain has broken through to Jaha and justifies his actions by saying the people in the room are the best chance of saving the Arc.  Jaha thanks him and asks what they are to do now.

Finn and Clarke are huddled together and Clarke says that Beatrice is breathing a little better. Anya announces that Beatrice is hot and when Clarke checks on her, she realises that Beatrice's heart rate is way up and that she is probably septic. Clarke asks how they could send a little girl into battle but Anya argues that this is how they train children to be warriors and points out that it was the 100 who put the bomb on the bridge.  Clarke gets back to medical thinking and suggests that what Beatrice needs is a transfusion.

Bellamy and Raven have finished having sex so Raven hops up and gets dressed and leaves.

On the Arc, Cain informs Jaha that two stations may be been lost. Wood interrupts to say that he has found data from the Exodus launch and they realise that there were survivors, or people who jumped ship at the last moment.  Cain questions how to get to them and Wood suggests trying the maintenance shaft.  Yep, this means that Abby probably survived and that she sabotaged the Exodus ship causing it to crash.

Clarke is ready to do a transfusion and discovers that Beatrice is not breathing.  Anya pulls out a blade and cuts off part of Beatrice's braid.    Finn and Clarke watch, as Beatrice is carried out and Anya orders that Finn be taken away and killed, as Clarke struggles.

Cain and Wood head to the maintenance shaft and Wood asks Cain for his shoes when he dies. Cain snarks that they are too stylish for Wood and heads into the shaft.

Back at camp, Raven apologises to Monty about taking apart the radio. Monty brings up that Miles, Finn and Clarke are all missing and says that they are going to look for them.  The presence of  Miles means that Finn and Clarke couldn't have gone to a love den, so of course, Raven cares again.

Cain is crawling through the shaft and pauses to use the battery that Wood gave him to open the door. He finds a group of survivors including Abby. Gee was anyone actually shocked.  Cain holds Abby in his arms.

Back on earth, a Grounder tells Clarke that Anya will take no pleasure in Finn's death.  Clarke is told that if she proves her worth, she will be welcome to stay with the Grounders. Clarke points out that she couldn't save Beatrice and questions why they would want her. The Grounder reminds Clarke that their healer is gone. Clarke asks if she will be able to return to see her friends but is told that tomorrow there will be nothing to go back to.  Clarke asks about the marks on Beatrice's shoulder and learns that each mark is a sign of a kill in combat. Beatrice had five marks which means she has killed five people.  Clarke of course mourns the loss of innocence before  slashing the throat of her captor and making a run for it.  I didn't think that Clarke had it in her to do that but good on her for not giving up.

In the search party, Raven is still angsting and Octavia tells her to stop torturing herself.  Monty is picking up something in the signal and says that it's the same thing they heard in the blackbox.  They find Miles (this episodes red shirt), who reports that Grounders took Clarke and Finn.  Bellamy says that they have to head back to camp.  When Bellamy tries to use the radio to contact Monty, he gets no answer.  We see Monty's radio on the ground.

Clarke continues to make her way through the woods but ends up running straight into a trap, which leaves her hanging upside down high off the ground.

We are starting to learn a little bit more about Grounder society.  It makes sense that just as life on the Arc necessitated some form of brutality, life on earth necessitated the same.  Training children to be warriors suggests that the Grounders are by no means a cohesive group and that they continue to wage war upon each other.  This is something that the 100 should pick up on. I do like that the Grounders are lead by a woman as it suggests that humanity on earth at least has dismantled patriarchy but I will be watching closely as Anya's story line progresses.

Angst, angst and more angst.  I do like that we had both Octavia and Bellamy pointing out that with everything going on - yeah life and death situation - that now was not the time for Raven's relationship drama. Personally I find it absolutely irritating and unnecessary to the story.  I also liked that Bellamy pointed out Raven's value to the group.  She is smart and other than Monty, the only one able to repurpose the supplies they have into usable items.

Murphy is still with the group and with everything going on, I don't understand why either Bellamy or Clarke would allow him to hang around.  Neither of them trust him for one moment, yet there he is in camp biding his time.  They have already shown their willingness to punish him before and so I see no reason why they didn't follow through.  Murphy being a typhoid Mary doesn't change who he is.

On the Arc, Cain has clearly been reinvented to one of the good guys.  With the destruction on the Arc as well as a high number of casualties clearly  how they do things is going to have to change.  Wood, who would have been disposable before is proving to be very useful.  I found it interesting that he just spoke up when he head an idea and Sinclair apologized for Wood not following protocol.  It will be interesting to see how the power balance shifts.