Friday, May 12, 2017

The 100, Season Four, Episode Eleven: The Other Side

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Skaikru is divided between three locations.  Raven is still on Becca's little Island, planning her space walk.  At Arkadia, Monty is desperately trying to reign in Jasper's little death cult and at Polis, we have a bunker stand off going down. Prime Fiya is coming for all of them and some important decisions need to be made which will decide who gets to live and who dies. 

Let's start with Arkadia, where Jasper is presiding over an end of the world party. Jasper has been very clear for a long time that he does not want to survive what comes next and he's managed to convince some people to join him in his little suicide party.  Harper, who seems to be holding onto some guilt has also chosen to stay. With Harper and Jasper choosing to remain at Arkadia, Monty feels compelled to stay behind in the hopes that he can convince them to change their minds.  With both of Monty's parents dead, he feels that Jasper and Harper are all the family he has left. 

Monty has created three hazmat suits and tells the rest of suicide crew that he can also take seven people in the rover without too much exposure to the radiation. Monty pleads with people to leave with him while they can but they only continue to party. They party so hard that Riley overdoses.  An upset Monty tries to revive Riley but it's too late.  Watching Riley overdose however gives the suicide crew a new idea. They realise that they have enough drugs for everyone to overdose and die a pain free death. 

Monty brings Harper to see the changes that he's made to the rover so that it will be safe for them to travel. When Harper tells Monty that he should leave, he's adamant that he's not leaving without her or Jasper.  This is when Harper declares that she doesn't love Monty and that he's not enough for her want to live.  Harper then leaves but stands outside of the rover crying. I don't know about you but if I were Monty, I would be long gone. It's like Bellamy said, "you cannot save someone who doesn't want to be saved". 

Monty's next move is to go find Jasper, who's staring out the window at the red moon. The moon is beautiful, but it's also a sign of the approaching death wave. It doesn't take long for Monty to figure out that Jasper has taken a lethal dose of drugs. Jasper asks Monty to tell him that he loves him and Monty responds by trying to put his fingers down Jasper's throat. Jasper fights off Monty complaining that, "this is really unsanitary".  Jasper then kisses Monty's hands and promises to see him on the other side before dying. A desperate Monty cries, telling Jasper repeatedly that he loves him. Bye bye now. I am so not  going to miss Jasper, who has irritated me with his man pain for the last two seasons. 

With Jasper dead, Monty decides to take one last shot with Harper. As he runs through Arkadia, Monty sees that the others have also chosen to overdose on drugs.  As it turns out, Harper couldn't go through with killing herself and when she sees Monty, Harper tells him that she loves him. The two then hug it out. 

On the island, Raven is preparing for the world's most awesome space walk ever. Becca even points out that if Raven wants, she can go to the moon.  Raven has been one of my favourite characters for quite some time, so I find myself actively hoping that the writers can pull one out of the hat and save her. There's no reason for Raven to go the way of Jasper. 

As Raven works away, she realises that there's someone else in the room.  That's right, it's Sinclair, who is adamant that he didn't die so that Raven can go out like this.  Sinclair wants Raven to choose life and is convinced that there's a way for her to beat this.  Becca however tries to encourage Raven on her little space walk and points out that if Raven survives this that she'll be in pain.  Raven however points out that the decision isn't about pain but about life and that she chooses life.


With Sinclair's help, Raven decides that what she needs is to treat her brain like a computer and reboot it. To do this, Raven is going to have to stop her heart beat for 15 minutes. Raven has to drown herself in an ice bath in order not to lose brain function and then use a defibrillator on herself. Raven gets moving and just before she's ready to enact her plan, Raven pauses to say goodbye to Sinclair. It's sad but feels like this relationship is finally getting the closure that it needed. Fortunately, Raven's plan is a success and she grabs the walkie and announces that she's still alive.  Thank you writers. You've killed off Jasper and saved Raven.
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Alright, so we had to get to Polis eventually.  Skaikru has taken over the bunker and in the process locked out the Grounders as well as Kane and Octavia.  Jaha explains to Bellamy and Abby that they tried to get to Kane and Octavia but couldn't in time.  Jaha is absolutely adamant that they won't be opening the door again. Why are people even listening to Jaha? Clarke however does still have her humanity in tact and decides to let Bellamy say goodbye and Jaha being the epic asshole that he is, tries to stop even this small concession.  Bellamy gets on the radio with Octavia and learns that she survived and promised the grounders that each tribe could have 100 people in the bunker. Bellamy begins to promise to find a way to get to her when Jaha walks in with Miller and a couple of guards. Bellamy is attacked with a shock baton and dragged away. Jaha tries to assure Clarke that they are making the right decision and Abby asserts that at least she and Clarke feel bad about it. 

Jaha is all too aware that Bellamy has some friends in the guards and is worried that they won't be able to keep him locked up.  Clarke of course has the perfect solution - put Murphy on the door.  Murphy can always be counted on to act in his self interest above all. When Murphy checks on a screaming Bellamy, he finds that Bellamy's hands are cut up because he has been pulling against his chains.  Murphy calls Abby, so that Bellamy can get medical treatment for his wounds. 

Bellamy appeals to Abby directly to open the door, knowing that Kane is a weakness for her. It's not until Bellamy promises that he won't let anything happen to Clarke that Abby is all in.  Abby calls out to Murphy for help and when he rushes in, Abby injects him with a sedative. Murphy may be out of the way but they still have Jaha to deal with and he's taken up residence in the control room.

Outside of the bunker, Echo shows up and rightfully accuses Skaikru of betraying the Grounders once again, having figured out why exactly Kane has been stalling for time.  Fortunately, Octavia has a card to play. Not only does she know that Echo entered the arena to cheat on Roan's behalf, she has proof of it. Octavia also knows that Roan banished Echo. This absolutely shocks Indra, who of course is angry about Agzeda dishonoring their sacred battle. Octavia however is determined not to punish an entire clan for the actions of one and says that if Echo keeps quiet about what is going on, that she'll ensure that Agzeda gets a place in the bunker.  That's enough for Echo to remain quiet while they wait to see if Bellamy can get the bunker door open. 

Abby heads to the control room to once again talk about opening the door but when Jaha insists on offering Abby condolences, she jabs him in the leg with a sedative. Bellamy then sneaks into the room and Abby explains that one of them has to open the door from here and the other has to head to the hatch itself. Bellamy races off to the bunker door.

Clarke decides to go and check on Bellamy and it's then that she finds Murphy on the ground.  Clarke quickly figures out what is going on and races to the hatch door. Clarke catches up to Bellamy before he can open up the hatch and points a gun at him, explaining that she will do what she has to do. Clarke is worried that they could all die if the door gets opened. Bellamy argues that this is not like before and that they don't have all of the information like they did with Mt. Weather.  Clarke continues to point her gun and so Bellamy tells her that she's going to have to kill him. 

Bellamy opens the door and greets Octavia with an epic hug and tells her that he loves her.  Octavia says that she knew that Bellamy would come through for her. No matter how much these two fight, they are always there for each other. Now that the door is open, it's time for a little payback.  Octavia makes it clear that Agzeda will get the 100 spaces that she promised but Echo, will not be one of the people saved. 
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Later, Octavia meets with Kane, Jaha, Abbie and Clarke.  There's only 12 hours left before Prime Fiyah will be upon them and since she's promised 100 spaces to each clan, this means that Skaikru is also limited to 100 spaces.  Octavia makes it clear that she doesn't care who they choose but Bellamy gets a spot.  And with that epic mic drop, Octavia walks out of the room. 

There are only two more episodes in this season so we know that the battle of who is going to get to survive Prime Fiyah is most certainly not over.  Monty and Harper have to make their way to Polis and when they get there, will there even be a spot for them?  They better not turn Monty away.  Then we have Raven who is on Becca's island alone.  Because Miller came and picked up Emori and Murphy, the boat is on the other side, thus cutting off her escape.  I know my girl didn't go through all that shit with Becca in her head to just die in Prime Fiyah. 

This episode is absolutely Octavia's episode.  I love that she finally got to give it to Echo and I love that it was Octavia who made the rules about who would survive the bunker.  Skaikru may have the technological knowledge but that doesn't make them anymore worthy to survive than anyone else. Clarke tried to frame the argument as saving humanity but it only works if you think that Grounders aren't a part of humanity.  Abby made the right decision in the end but I suspect that she only did so to save Kane, rather than a belief that the Grounders deserve to live. It's amazing how quick Skaikru can revert to the way they lived on the Arc. 

You know damn well that Jaha isn't just going to play along with Octavia's decision.  Jaha absolutely prioritizes Skaikru above all else and he's shown that he's capable of making horrible choices in their name.  We already know that Isaiah Washington will not be returning next season and so it's quite easy to assume that Jaha will go out in a blaze of glory.  Personally, it cannot happen soon enough for me.  Jaha has been irritant at best and irrelevant for quite some time and I'm ready to see the back of this character.

We finally got to see the end of Jasper this episode.  I'm glad that Japser and Monty were together at the end though.  Jasper making jokes with his last few breathes is typical of his character.  I know that some are going to miss him but for me, his man pain had become intolerable.  To some degree, all of the characters on this show are dealing with PTSD.  They've never had a moment to relax because some new threat always appears on the horizon. I could have followed Jasper down that trail but when he made it about Maya's deaths of all things, it felt forced and didn't resonate with me at all. 

Bellamy deciding to drag Clarke felt great.  Clarke has done some pretty harsh things in order to save her people.  Sure, some of it can be justified but much of it cannot. Clarke doesn't always make the right decision regardless of her intent. That being said, I'm not sure that Bellamy of all people is in the position to lecture Clarke given his actions last season. I will say that it was nice to see Bellamy step out of his beta role and make a decision for himself.  

Things are about to get even more grim and dark, and all that remains to be seen is who is going to survive.