susan vance

The depiction of the little girl vanishing as Vic opened her arms to her was a beautiful, heartbreaking, and true depiction of miscarriage to me. We often say that a woman "lost a baby" but to me it felt bigger than that; it's the loss of a future as a mother to a particular child. Vic saying that she didn't feel alone while she was pregnant also rang true, as did Vic's initial desire to not make any arrangement for the remains only to later have questions that could no longer be answered because of that initial decision. I almost didn't watch the episode because I thought the story might take this turn but I'm glad I did. It really worked for me, and felt like a truthful depiction of an experience many women have that is not often explored as fully as it was here.

This show is such a delight. Nicole Richie had so many great line deliveries, but I think my favorite was, "Literally ONLY this!"

I thought Sam's parking lot rant was cathartic but not necessarily a moment where Sam was in the right - I think she was expressing frustration with how she'd let herself fall into this non-relationship, one she saw the beginnings of again at her friend's party. Her use of the word "nice" makes sense to me -it connotes a kind of compliance, a forced pleasantness and do-what-you-need-to- make-it-work that women are often conditioned into performing. It's very different from kindness, which comes from a more authentic, altruistic place. Sam was being "nice" - trying to give the guy a chance, find ways to make it work - and also tremendously unkind.

Personally I hate all teacher/student supposed love stories, so I took everything Miss Grundy said with a grain of salt. However, one possibility I've been considering is if Jason may have been mistaken for Archie by her abusive ex-husband after seeing Archie and Miss Grundy together in the woods that morning. I can't help thinking that the mention of Jason being one of Miss Grundy's students is important, as well as Archie's resemblance to Jason.

I agree with others who felt the turn of Bellamy's character was too quick, unearned, and possibly character-destroying. I can understand Bellamy being hurt, betrayed, and angry, but after all this time on the ground and seeing how few the Sky People are in number compared to the Grounders-how could it make any sense to take this kind of action? I understand that he's hot-headed, but he's not stupid, and the person closest to him in the world-his sister-has made herself part of the culture he's about to carry out this violence against. There are too many things that should have made him hesitate, and when he was still set on this course after having a night in jail to think about it-disappointed is too weak a word. I generally love the actor but maybe part of it was the performance-Bellamy looked too present and thoughtful for me to believe he wasn't in his right mind (which is honestly the only way this action makes sense to me from a character standpoint, even if it is a bit of a retread of Finn's story from last year). I'm going to keep watching in the hopes that things turn in a way that makes this all seem truer to the character we've come to know. All that said,I can see what the writers we're going for-I think they're trying to demonstrate how essential Clarke is to the continued survival of the Sky People. Without her guidance and strategic thinking, the wheels come off. The one thing the show has dive really well is set up that side of the story so I believe it-I believe Clarke is that capable and essential.

My favorite small moment of the episode was Joshua Sasse's perfect "Whaaaaat?!" when Richard pulled the sword in and out of the stone. I love everyone in the cast but his ability to deliver those funny reactions in such a natural way when I imagine it would be easy (and tempting) to go bigger is such a big part of why the show works.

I feel like this show kind of flew under the radar this year after getting a big promotional push last year-maybe I'm imagining things? But part of me is wondering of the loss of the McCawley clan might have been a budgetary call as much as storyline dependent. That said,I really enjoyed this episode. I liked that one of the charges Stahma leveled at Alak was that his captivity forced her to betray her town - it brought me back to the first episode, when Rafe and Datak were competing for prominence in Defiance. I'm also enjoying how the Irisa/Nolan storyline is progressing; he's respecting her wishes and coming to terms with how his misguided attempts to prepare her for the brutal world affected her. I do believe Nolan truly loves her, and she him, but I also like that the show doesn't shy away from the uglier aspects of what growing up with Nolan must have been like, and the toll it took on Irisa. But seeing her in this episode, and the scene between Nolan and Alak in the bar, showed that ultimately their relationship did become a truly loving and restorative for both of them. I think in many ways Irisa saved Nolan as much as he saved her-I'm hoping the show will continue to explore that. Speaking of the scene between Nolan and Alak in the bar - the actor playing Alak did a great job there. Alak and Christie's love story felt forced at first, but last season it became one of my favorite storylines, and the way he said "I miss Christie" so simply, and Nolan's sympathy, really moved me. The baby playing Luke/Bear is incredibly cute, and I love his connection to Irisa. As much as I did appreciate Alak with Christie, I have to say I am rooting for Alak, Irisa, and Luke to form a new little family unit.

I'm hoping that Berlin's reaction was a misdirect and she's going to get the doc to help Irisa. I think a lot of her anger at Irisa stems from the fact that deep down, she knows that Tommy loved Irisa in a way that he never loved Berlin. I was glad to see Irisa stand up for herself against Berlin in their argument. Pottinger was a great character, so compelling and somehow human in spite of his tremendously twisted behavior.One thing I loved about his character was how freely he acknowledged that he was screwed up - he knew he was profoundly broken but took too much pleasure in it to ever try to redeem himself. I thought they set up the reveal of him as Amanda's attacker well-and I loved that he never admitted it, weasel that he was. I didn't love the premiere and was really upset by the loss of the MacCawleys, so I was a little worried about the show, but last week's episode and especially this week's both feel like the show I love. Also, Stahma admitting that she thinks Alak is lost to them was a great character moment for me, underscoring just how clear-sighted and ruthless she is.

I think it's pretty routine for the network or studio to pair less experienced tv writers with an experienced showrunner for the first season, and it looks like that's what happened here. The fact that the experienced showrunner is leaving to prep another syfy show makes me think the network is happy with her work and confident that the creators are prepared to take the reins. Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but I'm hopeful.

I think you and I are in agreement,biakbiak. I believe most police officers are good people in pursuit of justice, but I think it's important that people realize the second they're asking you questions, they're no longer your friends (no matter how friendly they might act). That said, I definitely understand how these false confessions happen and don't blame the people who give them, they are under tremendous psychological pressure and we are all more vulnerable to that than we might think. I'm glad the phenomenon of false confessions is being discussed more, hopefully it will lead to fewer miscarriage of justice and maybe the correction of cases like Melissa's. We can only hope.

I'm pretty sure Melissa could have left at any time, and wasn't under any obligation top talk to the police-whether Melissa realized that is another story. I think she was a person with a strong respect for authority and was responding to the unspoken cues from the cops that they wanted her to stay. I don't think she was under arrest until she gave her confession - that was the point at which she couldn't leave. I might be wrong, but once you assert your right to a lawyer, the cops have to stop questioning you, and they make you aware of those rights when they read you the Miranda rights after arrest. But before then, they can just say it's a voluntary interview, she could leave at any time, etc. This was a real nightmare scenario. I wonder how those cops feel now. At the time, they'd been told that the medical evidence showed that the baby had been injured immediately prior to death, and I can see how they would have fallen back on that and used it to justify pulling that confession out of Melissa. Really a tragic story.

Looking back, what happened in the finale was painstakingly built up over the course of the season, and yet I still didn't really believe they were going to do irradiate the bunker. Well done, show! I loved so many things about the episode, but I think my favorite moment was between Clarke and her mother. "Maybe there are no good guys"-unexpected for a show theoretical aimed at teens to convey such a dark and unflinching message. At the same time, I like that the show isn't cynical or casual in its use of violence. You can see the characters feel the weight of their actions, and that they truly want to act heroically, but are living in a world where that isn't always possible. Bellamy joining Clarke in pulling the lever was a great moment, as was their goodbye at the gate. Clarke's role and journey on the show is probably my favorite heroic journey since Buffy, and this finale felt a lot like the second season finale of that show to me. The heroine heading off on her own after making an impossible choice to save the world-Buffy mourning the loss of her lover, Clarke mourning the person she'd hoped to be.

I'm still living the show and the complexity and moral ambiguity the show allows its characters. Clarke's journey has been fascinating to watch - I never thought that after killing Finn, the show would present her with another, even more difficult choice. I think it's also impressive how they've rendered the Mountain inhabitants. Their actions are monstrous, a will to survive twisted to the most horrifying conclusion (essentially vampirism). I like how the show acknowledged that by having the show's purest moral voice state what they should have done instead (die). Because "our" people are the 40-something members of the 100 trapped inside, the actions of the young president seem more awful, but within the universe of the show, are they really? I would argue that the older president's inability, or deliberate refusal, to see the grounders as people, is as or more horrifying. The young president seems willing to carry out this terrible plan, which will render the groinders' blood unnecessary. Why is this one-time horrible act worse than what they've been doing for generations? Because we know the kids, of course. But I like that the show has presented the situation with enough complexity that we can see both men are rotten at the vote

I think there was some ambiguity to Clarke's "I love you too" to Finn. I'm inclined to think she did love him, but I also think she could have said it as a kindness to him in his last moments. I am so impressed by this show. I know others have compared it unfavorably to Battlestar Galactica, but honestly, this is the show I wanted Battlestar Galactica to be, a show about difficult choices people make when they're struggling to survive. The moment when Clarke said to Finn, "The things we do to survive don't define us" was when I realized that Clarke loved Finn. In the moment, I think she wanted that to be true for Finn's sake (because she loves him), but the reason Clarke has become the leader of her people is because she knows how important choices are, and because she's willing to carry the weight of them. Eliza Taylor was fantastic in that last scene, she does a good job of letting the teenaged girl Clarke is peek through every so often (like when she was reunited with her mother a few weeks ago, or the way she said "you're okay" to Finn at the end) and those moments are really heartbreaking.

I feel like a fool. I quit this show after Lily was killed at the end of the second season and vowed never to watch again! EVER! ...and then I got sucked back in at the beginning of this season, and caught up on the third, and now I find myself again facing the demise of an awesome female character I loved. I feel stupid because I should have known better! That said, Kasha Kropinski was phenomenal in this episode. If nothing else, this storyline gave her a showcase, and I guess that's a good thing. I thought she was wonderful in every scene, but the moment at the end when Ruth saw Cullen in the crowd was something special. I'll probably keep watching just to see how it ends, but as the show has gone on, it's slowly stripped away the things I found most interesting, particularly any meaningful exploration of race and gender. The departures of Joseph Black Moon, Lily, Elam, and now Ruth have gradually made this a story about white men, and that bums me out, because I liked that the show seemed to be doing something different at the start.