Riful

First off, I have already replied today to one of your posts describing parts of fandom, which was your typical run of the mill vilification of a rival fandom. I remember how your fandom sent Lindsey racists tweets because Bellamy and Raven slept together, and do stuff like tweeting pictures of Eliza with photoshopped cum on face with the text bellarke s4 on it. There is no angel fandom but I'm not really here for any attempts to vilify lesbians and bisexuals speaking from a point of experience and sharing their fears. Lastly I'm not new to the fuckery of straight people trying to silence us because you don't like what we are saying by throwing around your standard 'ship wars buzz words'. I also been part of fandom and the Clarke bisexuality discussion, and I know you are misrepresenting things. After Lexa's death, many people were joking that the only way "to be free" was if Clarke died, because they love Clarke's character and relate to her a lot. So they still feel compelled to watch for her but also very concerned over how the show would treat her and her bisexuality moving forward. It is a shitty situation that there is a character you relate to deeply but feel near certain that seeing more of that character, will only result in more mistreatment of said character. This is my currently dilemma as well alongside other factors. Even before Lexa's death there was discontent over how Clarke was treated, with how Bellamy had a lot more screen time than Clarke, and Bellamy's hissy fit that turned Clarke into this passive little girl that doesn't call out his bullshit (which used to be part of their balancing factor but that is gone). It only got worse when Clarke never got to stand up for herself, and continued to be stuck being Bellamy's cheerleader at the expense of her own character. So what happened it started up a in fandom meme (are you the ever suffering bisexual to? Tag yourself)/joke with people going Free Clarke/Eliza 2K16. And Cooper, if you have been a part of fandom as you describe, you know the same has been said and done for other characters, particularly Raven. I would argue it has been even said more about Raven than any other character. Even the bellarke fandom after 3x05 also started with some of the Free Bob/Bellamy talk, and some planned to trend about the shitty turn of Bellamy's character. But then the Clexa sex scene leaked and that suggestion got run over with people wanting to trend to cancel the show cause Clexa was shown together having sex. And I am saying as someone that is bisexual; your posts are definitely inside the ignorant area that you have been called out on. GT is correct when relating BYG to treatment of female bisexuality in TV. They even flat out described in clear steps how it usually goes hand in hand, but you chose to ignore that. So I'll repeat. When the BYG trope happens, there is the following typical pattern that bi woman ends up with man. It is also an overall pattern that we are shown to end up with men, and most of the meaningful relationships that get air time tends to be with the male partner(s). Another thing very often with any female same sex relationship is it will be between a lesbian character and a bisexual, so when drama happens, the female bisexual character other relationships definitely tends to be male. Shows do tend to have some sort of gay quota in the sense it limits how many lgbt characters it will introduce. This also means the viable dating options for a female bisexual character skewers heavily towards male characters, and add in the heavy tendency towards the killing for the lesbian character. What you end up with is a lot of very male leaning bisexual characters. That is why some of us find Sara Lance refreshing, as she seems to be (the only) female leaning bisexual character I have seen on US TV (there is however a small matter that they might be actually making her gay which afklafjlaskfjklafjkla biphobic shit. But for now stuff can be interpreted as female leaning and ill take it.) I'm a bit of the opinion these days that the writers saying race/sexuality/gender is irrelevant is partly their way of excusing writing that for example does dip into being racist. They say this when people point out things in their writing, and I think it is also a clutch for them to not have to bother education themselves about matters of race or sexuality. While it can be refreshing, it does have it's downsides as it seems the writers think it makes them immune to criticism along the lines of matters of race or sexuality. - For the record, no one is saying Clarke can't have a relationship with a man. What people have done, is pointing out that going that way will (inadvertently) play into another negative trope, this time one rooted in biphobia. Acknowledging that is not something anyone loses anything over. Likewise acknowledging this show has a thing for killing off their female Asian characters (we are 5 out 5 atm) and what that entails isn't bad either. With that spoiler about someone she knows? I never saw source with actual proper quote from people from the show. Just rephrasing and presenting speculation as fact. Not saying it won't happen. Just never saw a real source on it.

So Clarke (possibly) forgiving Lexa after months passed, with Lexa trying to make up for it with protecting Clarke's people, is wrong. But Clarke forgiving Bellamy one day later after he caused 320 people to die so he wouldn't had to face punishment is totally ok? Why exactly is a situation that showed outright forgiveness given under no time much more acceptable than the assumed one from Clarke regarding Lexa after a much longer period and actual effort shown by Lexa? Also everyone has done something terrible? Sure. But lets not pretend the burden of horrible actions is equal across the board. Bellamy was the one who helped put Trump Jr. in charge and armed him. Bellamy went with a handful of people in the night and butchered 300 people that were there to protect them. Bellamy is the mid twenties guy that took a day before he started fucking teenage girls that he had an insane power difference over, being the sole adult in charge of water, food, weapons, shelter and security. Bellamy went to murder kids in their sleep, and got angry when the old people there placed a trap that killed one of his wannabe child killers friends. Bellamy was fine with a girl getting her face burnt off in order to further his own agenda. Bellamy got 320 people killed, while trying to get the entire population of the Ark killed (that is how many kids and babies?). Bellamy is the one that stopped Lincoln and a bunch of sick grounders from breaking out of prison that they were meant to die in. Bellamy is the one that previously supported a friend leaving to take care of herself, and then withdrew that support and threw a massive bitch fit at her for not being around to be his mom. Bellamy is the one that not even two days after the death of his sister boyfriend, whined over her still being mad at him. Bellamy is the character that has shown to creep over in abusive controlling behaviour of his sister, complete with assigning a man to ensure she only talked to people he thought he should talk to, and confined to certain areas. Not to mention leaving a guy his sister liked out to die because they kissed, and then be pleased when he was so traumatized over it that he didn't want anything to do with his sister afterwards. This controlling behaviour started showing its ugly head again in S3. And I haven't even listed all the shitty and horrible things Bellamy has done, and yet would be hard pressed to produce such a list for one of our other protagonists. Things only get worse if we then start putting in motivation for those bad actions, where quite often Bellamy's are either selfish or in the case of S3 based on Man Pain and Xenophobia. Like Bellamy has done some good things, particularly in S2 where he swapped personalities with Finn, but the amount of bad would had landed any other character as a villain, and not in the 'grey area' many of the other characters are perceived to exist in. He got a free pass of his S1 actions by most cuz he started trying not act solely on his own self interest in S2 and Bob's skills. Problem is, season 3 added much more without a doubt morally black actions from him coupled with xenophobic rhetoric, misogynistic narratives, unnecessary genocide, attempt to purge a village etc. Also an utter lack of proper remorse and acknowledgement of his wrong doings. IF audience members are expected to deal with such horrid actions, we need to at least understand the motivation and feel like there was no better options. There is a point where good looks, charisma and sad eyes stops getting you good will from the audience. Particularly as we can tell he did have a viable options to not do those things that would result in actually more positive outcomes with less dead people by his hands. It wasn't S1 where the Grounders were charging the Dropship, or S2 where their people were being drained and dying in front of them. Him simply not choosing to murder people would had been win/win for all.

I would urge anyone that is still scratching their head over this shit storm to entertain reading the donation comments on this fundraiser that was made in response to all of this: https://www.classy.org/fundraise?fcid=625415 The next is probably also the best tackling I have read about the use of tropes, the backlash etc. http://www.fandomfollowing.com/an-open-letter-to-jason-rothenberg-of-the-100/ Re that periscope: I read a summary from someone that I feel no reason to mistrust, and it sounds like it was the messiest mess ever. Several people also commented that they think the writers were drunk. Apparently the writers babbled about that they have been listening to what people been saying, and that they were even writing a show with a trans lead, BUT they couldn't actually remember the word for a trans individual when trying to talk about it. That is just insane. Also one of the writers started drunk girl crying, and the other teased Bellarke. Train-wreck feels like it doesn't even cover it. Oh they also let it slip Jason is under advisement regarding social media or something in that vein. You can tell they got their party line now. They are saying they are listening, which is exactly what a wronged party hungers after. However it is clear it is just what they been told to say. Also Javi was initially defensive about the whole she-bang, but then the shit storm grew and he flipped around. Also the TrevorProject donation LGBT* people have set up has reached 16K $ and people are gearing up to trend in relation to this with intent to spread the link, so it is likely to grow. However it will probably get messy because other sides of fandom consider it negative PR for the show, and want to counter trend and try to drown it out. Which sometimes I honestly think I can't be more grossed out by the acts others are willing to do in order to undermined LGBT* but then there is shit like this. I also recognize some of the front runners for the counter trend were after episode 5 trying to trend #BoyCottThe100, but now when Lexa is dead the tune has changed. Respected critics such as Mo Ryan have donated, and even Devon Bostick (Jasper) and Layne Morgan (Writers Assistant) have donated. Not sure if that is subtle shade towards their bosses or they are trying to throw water on the fire. quarks The thing is, I am not even advertising a standard happy ending for Lexa, and I didn't mean it as such when talking about it. I'm sorry for being unclear, I think am used to people taking it for granted that when talking about this, it is meant as "happy by the standards of the 100". That is also what I seen in fandom, and also honestly most of fandom never expected Lexa to get a happy ending per say. The best was a bittersweet one, and most would then hope for the "happy by the standards of the 100". My impression is most at least wanted a send off or ending worthy of the character. That was definitely one thing she didn't remotely get. Furthermore due to the blatant courtship like behavior the writers employed and the things the writers said, many didn't expect it to happen so soon. There is no way any one in their right mind could honestly think this story was satisfying or a story we would be happy with. I would say I feel you can to a certain extent make a case for the show giving the underlying message that romantic/sexual F/F -> pain/tragedy/death. And even link Lexa's death to being related to her same sex relationship with Clarke. We have 4 female characters so far that are confirmed as being romantically/physically interested in women. We got Costia whom was kidnapped, tortured, her body mutilated and her head placed in Lexa's bed because she was romantically involved with Lexa. There is Niylah that after sleeping with Clarke got the crap beat out of her Then we have Lexa. Why was Titus trying to kill Clarke? It was because he considered Clarke and their relationship a negative and dangerous influence to Lexa. The killing of Lexa also happened within 2 minutes of them giving into their feelings and having made love. Now that Clarke and Lexa are two women don't factor into the mindset of the people in the world of the 100, but it does into the minds of people in the real world. Be it on a conscious or subconscious level. I don't think it is remotely intentional of the writers to send this message, but I can't fault anyone if that is the take away for some. I can't recall a single straight character so far has died because of their romantic relationship to another character. So far the score is 2 - 0. Even with Gina being an obvious case of fridging for Bellamy's character, the things that lead to her death was completely unrelated to her romantic involvement. The same can't be said for Lexa or Costia. (By the way not saying I feel like this. I am however putting out the argument because yeah I can't fault the people I have seen making it as there are some basis for it) I would had also very much preferred they didn't have sex this episode either and developed things better, but the writers felt Lexa had to die in that episode for the sake of the ALIE plot. Or that is the impression I am getting, because Lord knows the writers still haven't been able to settle on one singular story. You would think at least Jules, Kim, Shawna, Javi and Jason would make an effort to sync up their stories but no. As a more general thing with Lexa it seems like the writers truly had no clue just what they could had achieved in certain aspects. Lexa's character appealed to so many LGBT* people and also had a border appeal outside of that. With the LGBT* community how a LGBT* character received often has to do with factors such as quality, uniqueness and most importantly, how many identify with the character. Lexa was hitting very hard on all 3 and honestly was still in the early to middle growth phase in regards of fans. Lexa's character moved the fabric of entire societies in the TV settings she was operating within. Lesbian characters never ever get to be that person. That is a privilege that belongs 99.9% exclusively to straight people. Likewise does other larger than life roles such your standard super agent in an action drama (e.g. Jack Bauer) or superheroes. I cannot stress how important it is for LGBT*, particularly the young ones, to see themselves represented in characters that are world movers. Characters that get to be brilliant and leads lives that have a huge impact on the TV scenery they exist in. By removing Lexa they effectively removed the sole lesbian representation they had on the show, so logically there is focus on that right now. it has nothing to do with somehow undermining what Clarke represents. There is another thing underpinning all of this from my perspective. The Big Count Down to them going into a much dreaded bisexual trope. The show already with full awareness went into the Death Lesbian Trope, and they did it with reproducing the scene that helped burn the trope into the minds of many LGBT* in a decade ago. Female bisexuals? Have a high tendency to be shown to always go back to men and never shown to be interested in females afterwards. That is the bookend to the Death Lesbian Trope by the way. The lesbian dies while the bisexual cries over their body, and skips back to men if they want a life of happiness (and therefore it is implied yet again that for a person to be happy, they must lead a life of being straight). That is the in the top 3 if not the number 1 when it comes to tropes and offensive portrayal. It also goes hand in hand with undermining female bisexual romantic relationships to other women, insinuates or at time outright calls it a phase, and crowns the M/F relationship as the real one. The one that leads bisexuals to not have a tragic life or die like the lesbian. To make it more messy an annoying aspect of media and audience perception in the eyes of many is always that the bisexual character will often automatically be considered to be straight if M/F relationship and vice versa. There is however a heavy favouritism for a female bisexual to find her "happily ever after"/be at the end of a show, in the arms of a man. Female bisexuals die as well, though at a lower rate than lesbians, and it is a rate that goes down if in a relationship with another male character. I am not even joking, the survival rate of a female bisexual character increases if her character is in a relationship with a male character vs a female character. It is that grotesque. My expectations for the writers have also plummeted and I am expecting a rekindling after the finale. I am half way towards placing my bet that Lexa will urge Clarke to move on, maybe even quote the line that is very much connected to Clarke/Lexa with "life should be about more than just surviving". The writers will probably consider that a nice (bitter)sweet send off, when anyone with a functional brain would know it is basically pouring gasoline on a fire.

Same or higher because people want to see the fall out from everything that happened. It is rare that it goes down immediately. The interesting bit will be after next episode of pure Arkadia, which has been the weakest part of the show, and a two week hiatus. However I think the show has settled on a core audience, and any bleed has probably been prevented by the Legends of Tomorrow lead in and lack of competition.

Quick googling shows this episode was shot in September. FTWD didn't start shooting until December. That means ADC was free all up to 3x12 that was shot in December, but Rothenberg been trying to pass it off as AMC locked her down after episode 7. So schedule conflicts my ass as she was free for months (and sniffing a bit more around, she spent some of those months just chilling between Australia and LA). Then there is also . Also having her unable to be in 4 episodes or so is hardly reason to kill off the character. Lastly what a shitty way for a character to die. She didn't got out as a warrior, or for her people or for anyone she cares about but to a random bullet. This seems so carelessly done purely for shock value. Like they couldn't even give her a 'good death'. I honestly knew Lexa was gone the moment I looked at social media before even watching the episode. Mind you I am not straight so my network is dominated by LGBT* people and some fandom stuff. Lots of self loathing, anger (parts of it self directed) and the suicide hotline for LGBT* youth, so I knew what had happened. It is not rare that when we finally see ourselves on TV, that we die or get some shitty ending. It is actually so so damn common and even have been enforced by law at one point. That ever since LGBT* characters were allowed in the media, we were not allowed a happy ending or well... existence. We either had to die, become "normal" or have a miserable life, with our pain used for entertainment for straight people and a deterrent against being anything but straight. Otherwise it wouldn't be allowed to be published or put on screen. Even now with those rules gone, the entire shitty construct still bears down on us. There are over 70+ years of media constantly pushing this construct. Please don't try to peddle the "it happens to straight people to", because the thing about straight people? You guys are everywhere. There isn't a story that hasn't been told 10000 times over with a straight person at the helm. Not happy with the current story you got? Change the channel. You guys had millions of happy endings, while I am still searching high and low for just a single one where the journey isn't also shit on the way. I have watched F/F couples from US, Canada, Spain, Japan, China, South-Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Portugal, Brazil, Italy and so on. And I can't think of a single regular F/F couple that had a good story and a not shitty ending. Not. A. Single. One. And I been looking for 16 years starting from when I was 12 years old. So don't try to pass it off as the same as straight people. When the majority of the media that features you have you dying, raped, miserable, psychotic, turning straight or disappearing at one point etc., it is quite different how you relate to what little (seemingly) positive representation you can get. There is a certain alienation that media is soaked in that effects you, and you tend to grab on harder when there is finally, fan-fucking-finally, something relate-able among the sea of stories, relationships and characters that ring hollow to you. Also this show being the 100 is no excuse for it to follow to the letter the receipt for the trope of the Dead Lesbian. Saddest thing with the show doing this is how utterly blind some parts will be to the effect. Not any show having a lesbian character dying can provoke such a reaction as is currently unfolding. We (LGBT*) are very much aware that we tend to get murdered in the 0.5% of the media that represents us or get shitty treatment, problem here is that people dared to believe in what the writers were saying and that they were aware of the damage of this trope. There is always this dance that happens when a F/F couple pops up that aren't shit of the bat. This tentative stage of hope mixed with the behaviour of once bitten twice shy. Here LGBT* people believed that this might be the one time that we get to exist as full human beings and be on equal grounds with our straight counter part, and dodge tropes that originates from homophobia. They were actively encouraged by the people involved to have faith and hope that things would be alright. And what happened? One of the top 3 most common tropes in homophobic propaganda took place. Lesbian sex followed by death of the lesbian character. Did the writers intend to enforce this? No. Were they completely aware that they were indeed doing that? With 100% certainty. LGBT* fans been all over social media with the concerns about Lexa dying for over a year, talking about the trope and problems, and the writers chose to put on a front of positivity and spreading hope despite knowing since Comic Con apparently, that they were going to kill Lexa. That is pretty shitty, and will definitely cause some anger because people feel like they been played for a fool. Doesn't help Jason going on twitter with "who saw that coming", because basically everyone was expecting it but they decided to hope it would be different - better. And really, saying the "they just want viewers/are being business people" don't hold up, because they could just had kept answers vague or non-committal, and people would still be curious. What is truly sad is Lexa served as a role model to many young LGBT* people, and was very unique. Lesbians don't ever get to be badass leaders like this, particularly ones that navigate a post apoc landscape and interesting shades of grey. She is definitely the biggest in the past few years, and seeing young LBGT* angry at themselves for daring to believe things could be alright for just once, that they thought the writers got it, that they understood is just.... I sincerely hate it. And the fact that they didn't need to kill Lexa off just sours it all so much more. It wouldn't exactly be hard for Murphy together with Clarke and seeing that scar/infinity symbol + Lexa's talk about the Commanders within, to put two and two together. Rothenberg claimed schedule conflicts where there appears to be almost none, and there will be none for S4 of the 100 and S3 of FTWD. I am definitely out for now. I honestly didn't think I cared enough about Lexa and Clarke/Lexa for that to happen. I thought if the show actually did this to Lexa I would still be fine to watch for Clarke, the themes of the show and several of the other characters. But this kind of shit just alienates and taints everything so much, and it grates that I just know, that the writers and others, just won't even truly get why this was such a dick move. It is just not within their life experiences to understand this, nor do they truly have the interest to do so.

I actually don't think Bellamy is acting super OOC at all. Especially with regards to the horrible things he has done and is willing to do. Bellamy never been guided by this innate sense of right or wrong. In S2 he did heroic things, but it wasn't born so much out of a need to do the right thing. His actions have often primarily been guided by his need to protect his own ass, and the few he cares about. The number of those people grew as the show went on, but it still includes a very sharp us vs. them divide in his mind. To protect himself and those he cares about, Bellamy has consistently shown to be willing to do monstrous things. In S1 he was fine with letting Murphy burn a girl's face off because it served to protect his own skin. That is a pretty horrific thing. For large scale killing, even when unprovoked, we have seen that before as well with his plot to make all the Arkers die in space. There he was working towards having not only innocent men and women die a slow horrible death, but also elderly, children and even infants. Death by lack of oxygen is not a fun pain free way to go, but Bellamy was working his ass of trying to make it happen in S1. So mass killing of innocents of all ages has been within Bellamy's scope from the start. I think it is very consistent with Bellamy that if you are not a part of the group of people Bellamy cares about, he will when it comes down to it, not give a fuck about you in comparison. Currently the battle lines drawn in Bellamy's mind is Arkers vs Grounders, which is why he can disregard their lives so easily and do such horrible things. There are parts of Bellamy that knows what is right or wrong, but when it comes to his motivation and how he divide things up, right and wrong has never been the place he formed that basis from. It has from the start being me and mine. So he might object here and there, but when push comes to show he defaults to his us vs. them mentality. What I do find OOC is how utter short sighted Bellamy is. He has never been good at thinking long term and the bigger picture, but he has been at the receiving end of the Grounders guerrilla warfare tactics and know they can present a challenge against their technology when you are wandering about in their forest. But definitely not OOC with how far he is willing to go in my view. I know the show gave him a huge pass and ignored a lot of the shitty and outright terrible things he did in S1, but they are still part of his character and the history of his character. Ot seems as if the writers remembered some of those things in this season. Now the fact that they skated over it in the end of S1 and in S2, has probably caused some whiplash. For other characters being OOC, I don't see it. Clarke had a very well plotted out character arc so far with her slowly coming back to herself while still exhibiting her core traits (could probably write a 11 page essay on this as a huge Clarke fan I have been very happy). Raven's story line is just starting and it is looking good and I dont see her actions as far out so far. She has suffered a lot and we seen her seek refuge from it using stuff such as sex, so I could see her curiosity make her lead her into trying the chip. She probably didn't expect much past maybe getting high/feeling of drunkenness with some pain relief. Monty is getting more involved, but sadly a scene with him showing reservations over Pike and Bellamy, and that he was mostly just following his mom was cut for time, which definitely caused some sense of lacking character insight. Octavia and Lincoln been consistent with Lincoln wanting to integrate more into SkyKru and Octavia clearly identifying more with the Grounders. We are getting more Indra, Kane been great and we are seeing the payoff from a long character arc where he has now evolved into the diplomat trying to guide others like Bellamy. Abby been Abby, we learning more about Miller, Jasper spiral seems very in character to me as well. Lexa always aimed towards peace, even if it meant making alliances with enemies and letting go of big transgressions (Ice Nation + Mount Weather).

Regarding Miller and Bryan, it didn't bug me that there was no goodbye kiss with them. We seen one interaction/dialogue exchange between them so I aren't going to get up in arms yet. What bothered the shit out of me, was how the actors played the goodbye. You can make a goodbye hug very intimate, and show care in how you hold another person. But here we had that awkward "bro shoulder and back patting" straight dudebros do when they don't want to come across to "gay" in their physical interaction/affection with another straight dude. Like what was that? Would a guy ever stand and shoulder pat his girlfriend like that? It would look so dumb and awkward. But we have that with these two, instead of something softer. It was played so badly compared to what it could had been. quarks You can find a time line here: http://the100.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline The first season happened over 29 days and the 2nd was over 22 days according to that time line. I think they got the time-line from the writers that posted one at one point if I remember right. I think Jason mentioned S3 will . How all of this interacts with the weather seasons are just something near impossible to figure out, as it seems like the writers didn't think of that remotely. We had snow in S2, but then did a 3 months jump to S3. The weather conditions been looking practically the same throughout all 3 seasons minus the brief glimpse of snow. BookElitist The show hasn't given so much information yet. What we know is A.L.I.E. was created and she deemed that a problem she had to solve was that there was too many people. A.L.I.E. creator Becca fled to space, where she apparently finished or worked on a A.L.I.E. 2.0 version. From the dialogue we can figure out that Becca was already working on that before going into space. It seems like Becca was on the 13th Station Polaris, which was in conflict with the other 12 stations. This conflict resulted in the 13th station being shot down, so the other 12 could join together and form the Ark. The existence of the 13th station was erased by the leadership at that time and a more nicer story of coming together was pushed to the forefront. We don't know the specifics of the conflict but it is likely An escape pod from Polaris with the infinity sign landed in Grounder territory and from there on it is more so speculation what happened. We know there is religious connection to the infinity sign, and it is likely the Polaris Pod or Lexa carries the code or key to A.L.I.E. 2.0. It could be that Becca - the creator of A.L.I.E. was in the pod and integrated knowledge to fight A.L.I.E. into their society. There has definitely been some infusion of likely distorted information regarding A.L.I.E. placed into the Grounder religion. On top of that, Titus did say in episode 3x03 to Lexa that they were close to their goal. I do wonder if that relates in some way as well to A.L.I.E. and just how much do they know or if they are pawns. Something interesting that might be right is someone pointed out that Lexa's helm of awe or bindi (depending on whom you ask), looks like the Ark if you do a flattened image of it to a certain degree. Could just be a weird coincidence or reaching. nosleepforme If we compare screen-time to the previous seasons, Monty has actually surpassed his total S1 screen time in just these 6 episodes of S3. So this season been good for him so far, although he isn't often the driving force in the scenes he is in. Sadly that follows the pattern of S1 and S2 with him being the supportive role, but hopefully with his mother being there and the Pike plot he will become more of a focus. Lincoln is on track of having the same amount of screen time he had in S2 and same for Jasper. Screen time that was used on Maya/Cage/Dante/Tsing/Wick/Anya/Finn in S2, are going into Pike/Lexa/Titus/A.L.I.E./Emori/Roan in this season. Also Bellamy has increased by a fair share in screen time this season compared to S2 (and slightly edging over his S1 screen time by 1x06 despite him having had a flashback episode by then), and currently in the lead for most screen time (although by very little now). So there hasn't actually been any negative changes to the screen time for Monty/Lincoln/Jasper, it is either on same level or improved. Edited for spoiler tags. Sorry.

So Bellamy and Co were going into village to kill not only crippled and elderly in their sleep, but also children, and we are expected to accept a redemption story line later on? Just what are the writers on. This show is at times fantastic in setting up moral quandaries and operating in the grey, but killing children in their sleep because you want to farm on the land they live on? There is no proper grey there. There is this thing that has been around since dawn of mankind that man often indulges in when other people have something they need, its called trade. The Arkers have plenty of worthwhile things to trade and make, but apparently why trade when you can go into a village in the night and murder every man, woman and child? Bellamy is way to far gone. It took like 1 minute with Pike for any objections from his side to fall away and off he goes to spearhead the group into massacring a village they know that have no warriors, because they butchered those warriors after they went to help them against any future Ice Nation attacks. I know his predicable redemption will drag the show massively down in my view. I seriously hope the writers wont use Monroe's death as some sort of reasoning behind Bellamy's and Pike's actions. They went into that village to murder them all. One of them being killed by a trap is not anywhere near what they deserve. I feel like Bellamy's redemptions will go like; He will do his turn about in episode 8-9, have some people be seriously angry at him while he takes it, he will cry (I remember reading about invoking the man cry tends to up audience sympathy by a factor 10 or something as an (alpha) male crying translate as he is truly remorseful or something like that), spend time making sad faces at people, maybe also tortured to help some people (likely Grounders) to up sympathy, and then he will do some heroics involving helping the Grounders. Also just what was Monty doing with that group? I never imagined him as someone that would go along with this. I hope we learn more about his views on all of this, because it drags his character down if he is on board with this mess and actually meant to go there to kill civilian men, women and children. With the Polis name I know some people called it coming from the 13th station ages ago but got shot down. I feel trolled by the writers. Aspects I enjoyed was we did learn a lot more about A.L.I.E., CoL and to certain degree the Grounder religion. The writers tied strings back even to small sentences in S1, like Anya saying it wasn't the first time they (the grounders) had fought against people from the Sky, or the two different versions of Unity Day/creation of the Ark. It was so disturbing to see Jaha not remember Wells. I still think his line delivery of "I lost my son" was one of the best and most heart-wrenching in this show. CoL not only removes physical pain but also tempers with painful memories or suppresses them. The writers were so trolling with finally giving us a happy smiling Raven, while we know what is happening to her is terrible. For sure her injury is going to be much worse when she gets de-plugged from CoL and its effects, because the lack of pain causes her to not listen to her body and therefore aggravate her injury. A.L.I.E.having Raven is definitely a major plus on her side. Before this seasons started I was thinking Monty and Raven would be the main team up that would be a huge threat to A.L.I.E.. Now one of the smartest minds in that area that knows a fair share about tech is in A.L.I.E.'s hands. A.L.I.E.looking for the upgraded version? That was a nice twist. It seems like her creator knew the original A.L.I.E.was flawed, and therefore created the 2.0 version. This 2.0 version is definitely tied into the Grounders, and likely the nightbloods might be the code/key to this upgraded version of A.L.I.E. that I suspect is less of the destroy mankind type and probably created to counter A.L.I.E 1.0. I wonder if Becca was the first commander or then at least if she created the nightbloods. Not sure how she would do the latter since they are scattered among the various clans, but I bet Lexa's tattoos and the stuff in Titus worship chamber got a lot of answers to a lot of questions. Lexa receiving visions from the previous Commanders? It got some shades of her already being connected to something. Maybe the A.L.I.E. 2.0 is something she is tied to, which gets moved from Commander to Commander during the Conclave, and offers in a limited amount of several lives worth of experience and plants some dormant info/software. It also gives more weight/sense why Lexa would push for peace so hard. She would have about 15? 20? Commanders life experience somewhere in her. While maybe not there as direct memories, they could still be an influence, and it would make sense after so many lives as a Commander at war in every lifetime, that she would at one point just try to halt this vicious cycle of war and death. Jaha and A.L.I.E. are also interesting in the way they contrast against Pike and Bellamy. The latter strive on fear, anger and hatred and use that as their rallying cry to do and justify monstrous things. Jaha on the other hand is going about doing his business, offering to take away the pain and fear and give them happiness, just by swallowing something. While we have Kane, Miller, Abby and Octavia team up - which I am enjoying immensely - I think Jaha actually is the biggest threat to Pike and Bellamy right now. If there aren't any fear and pain for them to prey on, how can they keep pushing their agenda based on fear? Lexa has committed to changing this core Grounder belief, and she doesn't go at it half-arsed. But it might be to rapid a shift vs. gradual. An age old debate with many societal values and beliefs and change. In this world it does put her rule and therefore her life at great risk. It was a good speech that laid out why she would pursue this path but I don't think many of her people care enough. They know they could destroy the Arkers, and be done with them, so they probably don't feel like having to be "the bigger person". I think Lexa must or will try to find some sort of middle ground. As it is, it looks like she gives out free passes, when I think what will happen is she will aim towards holding the main perpetrators responsible. Anything less than that would be foolish. One thing I enjoy with Clarke and Lexa's interaction is that they do call each other out on their shit (in a more mature/straight forward way). Be it Lexa trying to pretend like she successfully detached herself from her feelings, or Clarke hypocrisy/double standard that often pops up in connection with her people and Abby. But they also let the other work shit out and make their own decisions, which means sometimes they listen and take the other person advice and sometimes they don't. It is a realistic dynamic that allows for character exploration and insight in an natural way that is interesting to watch. I have really enjoyed how Clarke is through various interactions and plot lines, have been confronted with what happened at the Mountain. First her reputation as Wanheda, then Lexa, then meeting her mom again and choosing to own the title for the sake of her people, then coming back to Arkadia and confronted by Bellamy (though calling it a confrontation instead of Bellamy being a huge whiny prick and blaming everything on her and others might be more accurate), and in this episode it was Emerson. She has been dealing with the different sides of it and causes and effects, and been coming back into her own, healing and getting her feet back. I think we will probably by next episode have reached the point where Clarke will for good start moving forward more actively. Without a doubt the actions at Mount Weather will haunt her, but now she it won't be bearing down on her so strongly as before, and she will be more focused on moving forward and be a fully active player (arguably she started on that already in ep 4). One could definitely sense Titus being displeased with Clarke throughout this episode, and that will definitely have some interesting consequences. He now has Murphy in his worship chamber, who is getting tortured for the 4th? Titus wanting information on Clarke from him definitely indicates that Titus will make some move against Clarke soon. A bit random but the actress for A.L.I.E. is nailing it. She looks so impeccable and put together among all the post-apoc dress code, and her mannerism got just enough of an edge of not-quite-human that it is slightly unnerving. Next episode looks to be really damn interesting. With

Coxfires I get your critique. I can see the Grounders being better at handling the MW people out in the forest using the warfare tactics they e.g. used on the Delinquents, but on the other hand it also meant they (the MW) lose a huge vulnerability. It is a criticism that is pretty fandomwide as well as people do perceive her to be someone that thinks more long term. When Jason was confronted with people saying it was short term, he said Lexa also got a peace deal out of it. Which sounds a bit like bs.... I can see both sides of the argument tbh, but overall I feel like the writers made a bit of a mess of it all in order to get the betrayal to happen, and put Clarke in a situation where she then commits genocide. They handled the fall out very well though, with Lexa feeling the consequences of her actions with her Coalition turning against her and so on. So I can roll with it. One quick thing relating to your latest post. I never ever got the idea that the Grounders inside MW were any sort of army. We saw them all coming out, limping and leaning on each other. They were all unarmed, flimsy clothes so no armor, been bleed for weeks/months/maybe even years, and I doubt they been getting 3 good square meals a day. How could they do anything really? Besides severing as a short distraction to be gunned down? Which would go against the objective which was to save them. marie The only people I can think you are indicating is being "fan pandered" to, is the Clarke/Lexa ship, which is quite weird considering Clarke is the lead and Lexa is her canon love interest. Exploring Clarke and Lexa is a continuation of what happened in S2, where there was the start of something, that got completely blown up due to Lexa's actions at MW. Also I really object against this idea that the writers are doing this out of some petty ship based annoyances, and not because it is a network of stories they want to tell. You talk about the writers trying to drive the audience away from the idea of Bellamy and Clarke as a romantic couple, but seriously, have they ever been presented as truly an option to the audience in the various seasons? Clarke was romantically tied with Finn for S1 and still getting over him in S2, and then she started having interest for Lexa, which is still on-going. The Bellarke fandom has a presence on the internet, partly fuelled from being the main couple in the books, but they have not been presented as a valid romantic couple on the show. On the show, Bellamy and Clarke were antagonists to each other for the first 8 or so episodes, and then started working together towards the end of S1. Then in S2 they were together for like 3 episodes? With the focus being on Finn, his actions and the fall out. Then they were separated again. For most audience members, I doubt they see some romantic love interest in Bellamy, particularly as Clarke has never given any such indication either. Your perspective - no offence - is the one championed by hardcore Bellarke shippers. That Bellamy is being ruined for Clexa, and it puts my teeth on edge because it is typical anti-shipper vocab. It is also an idea that Bellamy possess any sort of hindrance to Clarke/Lexa, which he doesn't. It places him on a level that on the show he isn't on. I am fine if people wanting to read subtext into their interaction. Considering I am not straight I am intimately familiar with shipping subtext, and I don't begrudge anyone doing that. I however seriously side-eye the heteronormativity implied here, along side accusation of fanservice and the writers maliciously trying to ruin Bellamy for the F/F ship. I asked previously in a post just what good would it had done Bellamy's character to have stayed in Polis? Would he had done any more past being Clarke's soldier, objecting but eventually doing what she says? It would had done very little for his character imo. Currently? Bellamy has the most screen time out of all the characters on the show afaik. What the writers have done was poorly executed, people here have already given ideas that I think could had worked much better, but they did spend time on it. They do intend to redeem Bellamy and make those relationships be re-built. The idea it was done for Clarke/Lexa is absolutely bull to me. I been talking about Bellamy needing to stand on his own, and I stand by it. I find it the logical progression of his character. We know about how Clarke leads, how Kane leads, how Dante lead, Cage, Lexa and so on. But Bellamy? We can't really tell because in S1 didn't give us a proper insight as most of his actions in the beginning was fuelled by his own agenda. I feel like Clarke moved past him in S2, and for them to be on an equal level of understanding, Bellamy got to face some hard moral choices and work out a path of his own. To do that, he does need to be away from Clarke some of the time. Simply because she would take over if she was there. As we saw in this episode, and have in many others, Clarke is a fixer and won't stand by if she disagrees. They have also been re-united 2 times in 4 episodes so far and they will interact in the . So it is not like there is some grand separation. Reason why either character been where they been at, makes logical sense from a character perspective imo. If you disagree I am more than curious to hear your thoughts because I do view Clarke in Polis healing while giving us Grounder Politics, and Bellamy getting to have his own story line in Arkadia, to be a reasonable split for these episodes we seen so far. Bellamy will be ruining his relationship with Octavia and Kane by his actions because his character will be going through the wringer this season instead of being all Die Hard. Trying to place it on the continuation of the Clarke/Lexa relationship due to what? Writers wanting to burn down a ship mainly pushed by a group of online subtext shippers? Just no. And again, we all know he will be redeemed. JR and from the various statements coming from the writers, it is clear they don't consider his character ruined and feel very defensive about it/Bellamy. patchwork I agree they could had made it all much more believable. Right now they got him falling from (what has pointed out) xenophobic rethoric, when he should know better. And if he doesn't, it is still a massive strategic blunder to take out a smaller army, which should be assumed would bring a much much larger army at your door steps.

There been various hints and lines dropped so far and several BTS stuff (some of it spoilery), so I think this is the thread to post these things and discuss possible theories. If I'm wrong please move the post with my apologies. I feel like all of these things are tied together into a greater picture that will be revealed later on. Emori said in 3x02 that we have other buyers when talking about ALIE tech. Here she was after the remade nuclear powered device that stores A.L.I.E. and makes her portable. Just what would others want with that? Luna - the leader of the Boat Clan - has gone into hiding. One writer also had a TeamLuna (tweet? T-shirt? I can't remember). It was also mentioned that the ambassador that took point in the vote of no confidence was the Boat Clan ambassador. So there is definitely something up with Luna and her clan. Perhaps her clan is one of the other buyers for the tech that the desert people find for A.L.I.E.? Titus has a room with a drop pod, silhouetted female character on the walls in what looks like a nuclear blast, and most significant the infinity symbol tied with A.L.I.E. which leads to another mystery... ... Lexa has the infinity symbol tattooed on her neck. Another tie to A.L.I.E. and strong indication of A.L.I.E. having a hand in the Grounders society. Furthermore Reddit pointed out that upon closer inspection, Lexa's tattoo down her back looks like circuit board symbols. Spawning the theory that it might be code or blueprint to a device that is either to use against A.L.I.E. or something else related to her. The infinity symbol wasn't really that visible in 3x04 (at best one blurry half). A picture posted by the make-up artist (or was it costume designer) that showed it clearly was pulled down very fast. Before that no one had noticed. Here is a link the to image: http://i.imgur.com/aiW5i9i.jpg Jason also mentioned the black blood is not a mutation in an interview, and stopped himself from completing a sentence that sounded like it was needed for something specific. In episode 3x03, Titus was clearly annoyed at Lexa over her actions regarding Clarke indicating it was putting some long term plan at risk. But we have been given no further clues what that plan is. Just that they were close, which means it likely can't be the Coalition/The Grounders living in peace. I can't really say with any certainty, but my best bid on these things with current information is Luna's clan will be a 3rd party into this mess, ALIE is the main creator of Grounder religious belief/the creation of the Heda position, but I can't figure out if Titus and Lexa are aware of whom A.L.I.E. Also the black blood and tattoos. Would love to hear others thoughts/spec though

Clarke doesn't trust Lexa nor has really forgiven her. Clarke has forgiven and/or trusted other people that done horrible things before so yeah it might be incoming. Take for example Bellamy in S1. That took only a few days despite that he lied, manipulated and used the Delinquents, and actively worked against her to kill of everyone on the Ark including her mom. That forgiveness came from a mix of the hallucinations of her dad teaching about her forgiveness, and also because Clarke thought it was necessary to do for her people's odds at survival. The latter being a lot what drives a lot of Clarke's actions, but it is also an aspect of how she leads that means Clarke truly understands why Lexa did what she did, and why she knows there was no malicious intent behind it. Also lets look at if Lexa turned down the deal. The hundreds of people on the inside? The MW guards would had killed them instead of letting them go. And then what? She sends in more of her warriors as canon fodder to be gunned down while slowly fighting their way through narrow tunnels? Just this episode "10 dedicated men" and MW weaponry was going to kill 300 people in an open field. Imagine if it was in a long ass tunnels. MW people also had knockout gas and C4, which the writers conveniently forgot because things had to look more dire. I honestly don't understand when people believe Lexa should throw away the lives of her people so carelessly. The Arkers contributed with about 6 guards despite there being hundreds of Arkers in Camp Jaha. Clarke understands the consequences of what would had happened if Lexa turned down the deal, and she isn't indifferent to them. As explicitly pointed out in episode 3 of this season, Clarke made the exact same choice as Lexa. Her people above every-bodies else. So did Cage, so did Dante. Their people at the cost of others. Clarke chose to irradiate it all because she couldn't wait any longer as it risked Cage killing her mother. That was what tipped things for her, just like Bellamy that been protesting changed his mind when Octavia was at risk. Otherwise what could had stopped them from using the speaker system and tell the MW people that hey, we will radiate the floor if you don't stop killing our friends. If you surrender though, we will not kill yall and work out something? Odds are many MW people would had chosen to not die (like the ones with kids) and overthrown the people that opted to side with Cage. But to do such a thing, Abby and Octavia would surely had died, and also a handful of other Arkers important to our main characters. I don't remember if it was Eliza or Rothenberg, but it was stated in an interview that it all depends on whether Clarke thinks she would had done the same thing, and its been stated that she would had. The betrayal hurt Clarke deeply, but she as a leader recognizes and understands why. She understands all too well, what it means to do something - even something terrible - for your people. For who does that to a person as you ask? A person that disregards their personal feelings and judge things for a more detached and pragmatic view. Ways of leadership is something this show always have been exploring. Currently we got Pike and Bellamy being super emotional and letting that dictate their actions into mass murder, where as Clarke in Polis just in the previous episode went the way of burying her emotions in a bid to help secure her peoples safety.

lnfie I get what you are trying to illustrate with Bellamy, but I still just can't get behind it at all. Like my ex-girlfriend (a lesbian and an Italian-Iranian Muslim) been physically assaulted around 8-9 times (that is disregarding all the verbal harassment throughout her life, and instances of men following her saying nasty shit and rape threats). Each time by white straight men. By that notion she should consider them all bad no she doesn't. Because she realizes there are good and bad people, even when her family kept her fairly isolated (she grew up country side and was one out of 2 Muslim families in her small town). I can't buy that Bellamy is incapable of the same thing. I can make sense of why he wouldn't trust certain people. I definitely agree with why he would be mistrustful to a certain extent, but to generalize it to everyone and to such an extent that he will go butcher 300 people? No. It is too paper thin (if even that) imo. I feel like the writers really messed up here. Bellamy is smarter than what this story line is making him out to be. I get why he wouldn't trust Lexa for shit. I 100% agree he has no reason to trust her whatsoever. But that also means he would believe she might kill Clarke and retaliate with full force after he butchers those 300 grounders no? What point is there to killing 300 people that are currently not actively doing any harm when killing them means you will bring a 10 times bigger army down on you? It is utterly idiotic on any tactical level. He isn't protecting anyone, he is putting them all in a much bigger danger than before. That is one of the most frustrating parts with this to me. Even from the view of trying to protect Arkadia, it makes zero sense to go kill those Grounders. He only endangers everyone even more. And he should be capable of seeing that. Sure he is often short sighted, but this is on a whole new level.. There is also Octavia and Indra. He knows how Octavia feels more closer/at home with the Grounders, and Indra was her mentor. The 3 months cease fire he has also had contact with Grounders, most likely Indra. Indra that is in charge of that army near Arkadia. Why would he suddenly think she would want to attack them when she never did during those 3 months? 3 months that allowed the Arkers to build better walls, grow food and overall have stronger defenses and learn the land? The main thing that has changed from then to now is they are now supposed to closer allies. So that makes even less sense. He also crashed the ceremony in Polis and saw clearly how it was the Ice Nation scheming and behind it all. So he knew that those Grounders were being called together to work with them - lead by Indra - against the Ice Nation. Also while Lincoln screwed up, he knows that had to do with the drugs and conditioning he went through, and nothing to do with being a Grounder. Another aspect is it is not like Bellamy been a super trustworthy guy himself. He lied and manipulated the delinquents for his own agenda for half of S1, and he has changed and seen others change as well. So he is himself a prime example of how someone can change into someone you can trust or at least give a shot. Also re: MW. If Lexa turned down the deal those Grounders on the inside would had been killed by the guards instead of them letting them out. I know Bellamy can be irrational, but he is capable of thinking of things from other people's perspective. So he knows why she did it, and I do believe he would at least be able to understand it. Like I think it is a safe bet that if Bellamy was offered the same deal as Lexa, he would had taken it. Also nothing about Lexa's deal included those at Camp Jaha, nor did the MW people give any indication they would go hunt for them? At least I don't recall such a thing. They had enough with the 44 delinquents so they had no reason to go attack a group that had their tech level available to them and the same numbers, if it could be avoided. It would probably had meant mutual destruction between them. So I don't see how that would be part of his mindset. However I can believe he is hunted by what if's regarding the 44 in MW if they haven't irradiated it all. But in the end so what if the contacts (that we know of) he had with Grounders often lead to negative experiences? He is a 26(?) year old guy that knows the world is shaded in greys. He knows there are many different Grounders with their own sub-culture and leadership. The total black/white angle just seems way to forced. I know Bellamy is capable of horrible things given the proper or correct motivation, but it is just too dumb for me. The thing he excelled at in S1 when he was in his prime asshole mode, was knowing the crowd and playing it. He is no idiot when it comes to human behavior and the complexity of it. But now boom apparently he is, and all Grounders are the same so lets go kill a force in the name of protection despite the logical fall out for that would be a much larger army coming and annihilating us all. Honestly I feel like he should had Pike pegged from the get go, and be side-eyeing him for how he plays the crowd. Bellamy should be recognizing someone that did the same as he did back in S1. Using people's emotions in order to fuel a certain agenda. But instead he is being played. If I have to try to think of what (imho) should be Bellamy's mindset I think it should had been more based on sense of failure, loss of direction and repressed emotions - particularly over Mount Weather and living among people in Arkadia where he caused several of them to lose family and lost ones in The Culling. If the writers had gone deeper into that with him feeling hunted and struggling to figure out how to do things, make things better, I could see Bellamy being more easy victim to Pike's manipulations that offers a very simplistic angle and mode of attack in "making things better". But for his current mindset? I feel like all those various dots people suggest are way to far apart of make a sensible pattern/motivation for all of this. The writers didn't do enough leg work for the viewers at all for this to feel like a way Bellamy could had ended up like this. Edit: This became so long yikes. TD:LR version; I think Bellamy is too smart and knowledgeable about people to truly ever fall down into such a black and white mindset, which pushes an action that would likely lead to the death of everyone in Arkadia.The show is usually a lot better at making the audience understand why a character is doing certain things, even if those actions are morally horrifying, but here they dropped the ball.

piequinn35 Maybe the shock-waves from the nuke blast somehow knocked all the other buildings down? Yeah I got nothing. It does make for a pretty badass look, so I guess that is probably the real reason Minneapple I guess agree to disagree? I felt the narrative was basically screaming at me to feel sorry for Finn, and they even added in flash backs that made his imprisonment on the Ark be all because he tried to do something for Raven. Also at that time most of the Grounders were unknown to us or known as the enemy. The only people we had to serve as "moral compasses" were the kids and adults we have been following, but not a single one of them went wtf Finn went psycho and deserves punishment. Hell Finn even tried to spin it as doing it for Clarke, and she accepted the blame and offered to die in his place(!). Sorry I have a lot of strong feelings about that episode. I consider it probably the most hateful and annoying that the arkers (adult or kids) have ever been. ljp and doram Roan was supposed to have a love interest at home, that was his primary motivation to remove his exile. It ended up not making it in the end, but there been slides where the IQ threathened the life of that unknown woman if Roan lost, and if I remember right also where she is mentioned in a conversation between him and Clarke. Also JR mentioned in an interview that it ended up being cut (him having a woman he loved at home). He was never ever brougth on as a possible LI for Clarke (and that is ignoring the massive age difference for 18 year old Clarke, and what 35 year old Roan?). If they were going to bring on someone, I do think it wouldnt be someone twice Clarke's age, and someone closer to her age-wise. Overall there is no love triangle or the settings of one regarding Clarke. JR has shut this down more than once. Also JR has repeatedly shut down the idea that there is a Lexa/Clarke/Bell triangle going on. Even responding "what triangle?" when a Bellarke fan tweeted him about it. In an interivew JR also talked about how they did try to do love triangles in early S1 (referring to Finn/Clarke/Raven), but dropped it and have zero intention of doing any love triangles. Furthermore JR has bluntly said that Clarke will not be in any love triangle, which means with Lexa in the picture, there is no 3rd person be it Roan or Bellamy. Regarding romantic Bellarke, the "best" JR has given them is saying if they went to interpret Bellamy's feelings for Clarke as romantic they can do that (which I think is him trying to compromise with the Bellarke fans after a lot of rawrrawr between him and them). But he also mentioned at the same time that Clarke is not in love with him/have some repressed feelings (paraphrasing). Her interest was early on Finn, and then shifted to Lexa. Personally I am so happy that Clarke won't be in some bs love triangle. I never enjoyed any of those type of story lines and it grosses me out how often it happens with female bisexual characters (and it is always 1 female and 1 male character she is caught between ughhh) I don't believe Bellamy's currently story line has anything to do with trying to tarnish him. Bob been wanting to play more S1 Bellamy (I get the impression he felt his cowardly asshole to hero transformation was too quick, also he probably enjoys playing the more dark grey character). If I recall right, he was offered both the role of Finn and Bellamy, and he chose Bellamy because the character was something he wanted to play. Now I don't think Bob is the main reason for this story line, but I do think the writers want to put Bellamy through the moral wringer that Clarke experienced in S2 (and others). Bellamy has been more of a follower and that is going to cause the butchering of 300 people, with him personally killing dozens of them. I do believe this might be a story line that will push him away from the follower part, and more into (finally) forging his own path as a leader with his own leadership "ideology". Now I aren't sure what that ideology will be. We already have numerous between Clarke, Kane, Lexa, Abby, Pike, Cage and Dante. But I think that is going to be the interesting bit. All those characters had different influences shaping their way of leading, and right now I can't really tell where Bellamy's will go. This however requires one hell of redemption arc, because his motivations right now for doing this are not very good (based on fear, hurt and anger). It also doesn't serve the perspective of "best for my people" that is the motivator of pretty much all the other leaders. Killing 300 people sent to protect you, that are a part of a group that probably has thousands of warriors is utterly idiotic. I sincerely hope the writers won't just make Bellamy feel sorry and cry, and then that's that. It is something that requires careful character exploration and proper repercussions.

This was an episode with more focus on Arkadia and our male cast and it felt a bit odd since that isn't the usual of the 100. Sure there was Clarke/Nia/Lexa, that was paired with a bit of Titus/Roan stuff. Otherwise it was mainly Pike/Bellamy/Kane/Jasper/Monty, with some minor screen time to Lincoln and smaller yet to Octavia and Abby. I really feel like the whole she-bang at Arkadia could had benefited from having Raven there, and also Octavia not being so quiet. Then again, it would had made it harder for the writers to execute this piss poor story line they are trying to sell The Arkadia plot felt like it got way to much time, yet for how rushed it felt, it is like it had to little time as well to cover the proper emotional beats. I went looking for a video of the nightblood scene, and found one that compiled all the Polis scenes, which made barely 13 minutes. So around 30 minutes on the other stuff (including intro/credits) for the rest. I think the Pike stuff needed to be stretched out over probably 2 more episodes at least. Like why would any other the regular Arkadians that been lead by Kane just jump on board with Pike? Who somehow could be on the ballot despite being put in jail for breaking the rules. I feel like the story line with Bellamy not only suffers over moving to fast, but also because Bellamy's character needs to play off other characters with strong active personalities to really work/shine. Be it Clarke, Octavia, Raven, (Murphy) or Hell I bet it could work with Lexa to. Pike despite all his talk and wave making just doesn't feel like a strong character to play off because it is so one note. I love Bellamy's moments with Kane but for it to suck me in there just needs to be something a bit more. Another part I don't know how to describe it properly but it just doesn't feel like I am seeing some active protagonist moving stuff forward. It comes across as more reactionary and therefore dull. I need Bellamy to be the active person in his story line, even if he is going down the path of pre-meditated slaughter of 300 people. I love that we saw more of Clarke being manipulative and actively moving things around in an effort to have the fall out be like she would like. Her manipulative trait is one of my favorite of hers. I have also been getting a wee bit tired of certain parts of a fandom infantilizing Clarke as some 'naive poor princess', that has been manipulated/controlled around by the 'evul predatory abusive lesbian'. Clarke isn't someone that really gets manipulated, she is often the one doing it. I love that she is one of the most manipulative people on the show, and it was great seeing her trying to work the angles. She is great at reading a person and use that for what she considers would be the best for her people or people she cares about. You could see it with Roan, where she zeroed in on the idea of making him king. He caught on to it, which I think he should because it wasn't very subtle lol. But they then managed to pair up and Clarke again tried to play on what she had read of the Ice Queen and heard about her. She would also had succeeded if it wasn't for Ontari (btw it tickles me so much that the big bad Ice Nation are probably Canadians. I guess it only took a nuclear apocalypse for them to stop being so nice) Lexa is very accurate with how Clarke needs to fix things. It is one of the main things that caused her to start stepping up as a leader to begin with, and I think it is also one of the things that will drive her out of her post-MW emotional and mental state. We are starting to see Clarke coming back into herself, with how she refuses to accept certain things and will scramble hardcore to get shit done. Also she sorta even cracked a joke and made Lexa smile. I liked the part with Clarke asking what Lexa will do now that all the ambassadors betrayed her, and Lexa just replies that they just did what they thought was right for their people to. It again solidified Lexa's view on leadership decisions, and also that even if directed "against" herself, she stands by it and understands. Another pro with this episode is we gained more knowledge of the sessions and training of Commanders, and I bet it won't be the last we see of Ontari. Things won't be so neatly tied together, and with Pike and Bellamy messing things up, I can see things becoming rather dire for Lexa if/when they butcher the force sent to protect Arkadia from future Azgeda attacks. This is also a force coming from the surrounding villages around Arkadia, that already lost a lot of people in the S1 conflict + the flares + to Finn + the Missile in S2. Ouch. Random observations/stray thoughts Being a candle maker must be the most secure job in Polis. There are lighted candles every damn where, even when its day time The Roan and Lexa fight was awesome Nia had way more presence than Pike and worked so much better even if she wasn't around much. Brenda Strong is tall and the striking eyes really made me follow her on screen. Where as Pike just got me annoyed. I understand that in the wake of those types of attacks, extreme people rise to power that utilize the fear, hurt and anger of people. But the actor lacks the charisma and it is just a rushed mess. I could feel Clarke restricting her outward signs of exasperation when Lexa was all; "see things will be alright because I'll be reincarnated into this man" *pulls out 10 year old*. If I was Clarke I wouldn't know whether to laugh or cry. Though to be fair she did send an army to protect Arkadia under Indra. The conclave selects the Commander but there are a group of night bloods. Something tells me it is more Battle Royal/Hunger Games style selection than anything else. The writers really need to be careful to not step into manpain territory I am happy Clarke is in Polis where she is getting back into being herself/healing, and also because I truly feel like her character wouldn't benefit at all from being dragged into the Arkadia mess. Plus Bellamy needs to grow out her of shadow so to say, and I am nhf the whole Clarke needs to be by Bellamy's side so he will make good decisions I seen pop up in some areas of fandom. 50 shades of Delena to me right there. However I am curious how she will now react to the whole Pike in charge and Bellamy by his side stuff that has gone down, What was with Lexa's armor that conveniently had cut outs where her breasts were at? Like that is not how armor works or is actually made. Unless they took their inspiration from MMO's Perhaps the black blood denotes some sort of difference in genetics that means they will have a different reaction to ALIEs illusion and her chip. Minneapple I would say they did white wash Finn's actions considering that practically every named Arker was defending his ass, and they were going to go to war against a force that would surely annihilate them all in order to keep him from facing any consequences as they had completely acquitted him and even gave him back a weapon. Finn even acted all upset when people were a bit nervous with him waving a gun around. I also got the distinct impression that us the audience, was supposed to see him surrendering to the Grounders as very noble of him, despite the fact that he was surrounded and would had been caught anyway. ottoDbusdriver If you are referring to the stuff Clarke did when trying to assassinate the Ice Queen, I believe she got it from Roan who seems to have been the brain behind that plan. He was probably also the person whom got her the knife and taught her the words. If you meant something else then sorry

absnow54 yeah that is the station people identified. I can't remember where exactly I saw it. I am a total spoiler hound with this show so I end up all over the place. Best I can recall is that I think it was a tweet or an ask. They typically reject wrong spec about the location of Polis like e.g. some people thought maybe the Polis tower was the Bank of America building in Charlotte NC, and Polis was named for Kannapolis. Sorry I can't come with a link to something more concrete. I just have a memory of reading about this and thinking it was nice to finally know. kingshearte What you are suggesting with Roan and Lexa I think is probably way to standard TV and predictable. Also I don't think the writers will fuck with their lesbian character like that. I rarely put my trust in any showrunner regarding female bi or lesbian TV characters, but here I am very sure the show would never do such standard TV fuckery where somehow a convenient plot always comes around that pairs the lesbian in some way with a dude. Furthermore Lexa position is passed on through reincarnation so you are correct regarding the possible importance of hiers. The nightbloods we saw earlier are likely to be Commanders in training, where this hinted conclave decides who 'has the spirit''. Also in the S3 trailer For keeping Roan around. There is the leverage that comes with having the Prince of the nation you are at war with. The Ice Nation leadership goes by monarchy, so he might even be the sole heir or the firstborn, which would grant him greater importance. Another thing could be that I think if picking between a prince whose primary goal is to go home, and a queen that wishes to expand her lands/start wars, you want to possibly get rid of the queen and get the prince in charge. While Roan was/is pissed at Lexa, he does seem rather chill and I think he could be someone Lexa might be able to work with. (I am assuming a bit here his relationship with his mother probably isn't the best. If they are close then my theory is probably dirt)

TonDC was never the home base for the Trikru clan. It was just the nearest village to where the Arkers were at. The people there was also categorized as scavengers, and a village that didn't have many warriors, just mostly kids and elderly. It became such an important point of operation strictly due to its geographic location in relation to Mount Weather and Camp Jaha. Polis might be the original trikru captial turned Grounder capital. The writers havent said anything about that yet on SM or elsewhere. Maybe it was it is something Lexa built to create a center for all the grounders to trade, interact and so on as she seeks towards making them more united. It could also have belonged to a different clan but got converted into being the Grounder capital after Lexa took over. I am really curious just how Polis came into being. For people speculating about the location of Polis, it is in Baltimore. Someone identified a subway entrance sign in one of the promo stills for this episode behind Kane, Abby and Indra, and I think it was confirmed on twitter. Polis is named after some subway line that goes from there that ends in 'polis'. Thank you so much for the kind words. This is such a great show to dissect, and I cant help but agreeing immensely with thuganomics85 about how much this show has grown, and in such an awesome way.

This was probably the most political episode of the 100 yet, with multiple assassination attempts (hinted or otherwise) lurking in the back. It seems we will be heading towards a 5 factions split? Arkers with Kane, Arkers with Pike, ALIE and outcast Grounders, Ice Nation & Allies and Lexa & whats left of the Coalition. Very ambitious of the show, and so far it is looking intriguing. It was nice to have so much Kane and by extension Abby. Kane has grown into quite the diplomat, and he offers an interesting middle path among all the other leaders in this show. We also had Clarke take a step back from the more personal and emotional perspective, in order to look at the bigger picture. Meanwhile we had Pike and Bellamy do the opposite, with negative consequences for all parties except the Ice Nation that is excelling at pulling the strings of the various factions currently. Then with this attack by the Ice Nation it seems only a certainty that Pike will be gaining a lot of traction among the Sky People and be elected when put up against the more diplomatic Kane. It is very true to human nature that after such things happens, people gravitate towards leaders that are more extreme and black and white in their views that speak to peoples desire for revenge, but also their grief and fear. Pike is definitely going to be making use of that. Whew. It didn't take long for the Arkers to look into getting those missiles working for them to use against the Grounders. And it was initiated on the word of a member of the Ice Nation, whose people were just "conducting drills that got a bit off course" and somehow also involved killing villagers. Like seriously. How dumb were Bellamy and co? When I saw the truck with the dead guards I was like... if they were going to assassinate Kane, Abby and Clarke at the summit, why kill those guards before it happened? It would give cause for alarm if they didn't radio in, so it would make no sense to kill those guards beforehand if they were going to kill of those 3. Like Bellamy and O, please think for a second. Speaking of dumb. Yes lets move the arkers that refer themselves as the Grounder Killers into Mount Weather that has plenty of weapons, explosives and shit lying about. Titus said to Lexa they were close to their goal, which is what? It can't be the Grounders united together, because the Coalition was already in place in S2. So what goal can he and Lexa have, where in the Arkers can jepodize it? I wonder if ALIE and the Grounder religion somehow play into this. Finally some Raven focus. I used to be quite heavily on the stop hurting Raven 2K15 and 2k16 train, but damn. I talked to two other people whom are disabled, and they appreciate how Raven is still struggling. They mentioned how often someone that gets disabled in a TV show bounces back way too fast, and they like that Raven is still struggling and fighting off questions of self-doubt/worth because it feels true to reality. Lindsay also really sells those scenes of frustration and self-doubt that leaves me glued to my screen. I do want to see Raven get some happiness her way, however I'm withholding any malcontent so far as they seem to be giving her a more meaty story line, which should hopefully have a (positive) payoff for Raven. Bellamy Bellamy Bellamy... sigh. You were super cute with the whole "only garden variety heroics, got it", but I wish he would be less gullible. If something confirms any sort of prejudices a bit too easily, maybe be a bit more critical towards it? Particularly considering the source. I suspect it will have consequences for this modified Coalition considering that, A: The Arkers killed innocent guards, B: they barged into the ceremony with weapons and threats. It also weakened Kane/Lexa/Clarke's move and probably made more Grounder Clans reluctant to have anything to do with the Arkers and played right into the Ice Queen's hands I suspect. Lexa and Clarke. Such a complex and intriguing relationship that allows the show to play around in a lot of sandboxes through their characters and interaction. Lexa leadership moves are often layered, and doesn't just aim to get one objective done, but multiple instead. It makes for interesting viewing, but you also feel there is a less chance for it to go right simply because it would then make her succeed both at something that involves her political plotting, but also something that would make her "happy" emotionally - and no one gets both in this show really. Typically even when succeeding at one thing it will have a price. I suspect Lexa trying to incorporate the Arkers into the Coalition will be one of the biggest factors in her losing it. It represents too much 'success' as 1: with Wanheda reputation it should strengthen her Coalition and 2: remove Arker and Grounder divide and thus no "your people and my people" distinguishing which should annihilate dilemmas as the one at the Mountain. It is just too good for Lexa to work out properly. Emotionally, there is a lot of shit between them and damn. Two sides pushing for one to kill the other, and Eliza's face in the knife scene was great. Their initial scene was throwing me back to s2 where Clarke hammered down Lexa's defenses and called her out about her caring. This time Lexa didn't censor herself at all, and it was pretty brutal for Clarke that have emotionally been burying things. Lexa was coming in from a complete emotionally detached angle, where as Clarke was still simmering in her feelings and anger. Then in the knife scene we had much more of a break down, followed later on by Lexa bowing to Clarke. I do suspect others must have caught on to Clarke and Lexa's not-relationship-but-something. I doubt the Commander says "I am sorry" often, but we have had 3 cases of it, and 2 were in hearing of others. While politically Lexa has been able to justify what other Grounders percieve as leniency/soft spot for Arkers, you can tell several question her for not taking using a firmer hand, or don't quite agree with her reasoning. The Ice Nation and Emerson ohhhh boy. That is only going to spell out trouble for everyone. They see the way to consolidate power around them with attacking Mount Weather and to a lesser extent Arkers (cant say for sure since Pike's group just got moved into MW so not sure if they expected t hem in there, however I bet they are only more than happy to kill them as well). Also it was nice to finally get a peak at the Ice Queen played by Brenda Strong whom is a great actress. RIP Gina.I wish the show had waited with the killing off of her character. It makes it a bit too obvious that she is just there to propel Bellamy's story line, and I really hoped the writers were better than that with female characters. I find fridging is always weak and aggravating as hell story telling. Maybe it is a consequence of the show always trying to move at a swift pace, but it is so obvious she will be used as an excuse/reason for Bellamy to adopt a very black and white view on the Grounders and side with Pike. That is despite a common factor of the Ice Nation with these things, which again shows Bellamy's lack of bigger picture but damn it. I want him to do better and be smarter. It is however true to character for him to act emotionally I guess but I still wish for him to be more able to detach himself emotionally, which is what drove a lot of leadership decisions from other characters this episode. Random observations: INDRA WAS SMILING. Adina Porter is awesome, and it is nice to see more of Indra that is more relaxed. It also looks like she offered Octavia her spot back, or well offered is maybe a generous word lol. It was great to see so much life on screen with Polis, where it was just the common people and not just only warriors we were seeing. Lexa sparta kicking out that arrogant Ice Nation ambassador was great although feared he would land on someone. The nightbloods/the kids Lexa was training? Commanders in training I take it. Which means we might finally learn more about how Commanders are chosen, but doesn't spell well for Lexa. The fact that Titus has served 4 Commanders before Lexa also speaks volumes of just how long the average Commander lives. Despite it being a position of power, it seems to be a very tragic one. Raised to be a leader that has a short expiry date. Reminds me a bit of Buffy, that always had death hanging over her head. Despite Lexa's politicking, she still told Clarke she was free to go without agreeing to joining the Coalition. There is no way it won't bit Lexa in the ass that she has a soft spot for Clarke. Be it Titus, Roan or Nia. Someone will use it. Clarke represented an important focal of power, but we still haven't heard her talk much. She is still dealing with the Mountain, and I think it shows in how she is more quiet than what we are used to. I suspect it is about to change as we are now seeing her coming back into the field, and is again trying to help her people. It is not within Clarke's nature to be passive, which is partly what makes her a great protagonist imo. The fighting style of the Ice Nation Grounder looked pretty great. THAT BOW.

Except the Grounders haven't attacked or betrayed them at every single turn? A bit too much exaggeration. Like their initial attack came when Jasper was crossing into MW territory. Until then they were just observing them. If they wanted to they could had flat out attacked them in the beginning before they even found weapons and killed them all. Also it was Jasper whom opened fire on the peace negotiations on the bridge, killing several Grounders, which he then preceded to brag about. But somehow it is the Grounders betraying the Arkers at every turn? Then there was the flares from the Delinquents that burned down a village, which they just pretty much shrugged at. And despite of that, Anya did agree to come meet them on the bridge that Jasper then opened fire at. The Arkers been asked to leave more them once, and find lands of their own, but they say no every time. Would also say the Grounders showed pretty huge leniency when it came to Finn, particularly considering how much the Arkers were trying to cover his ass. This show tries to avoid black and white, and one thing they have done well imo, is to show that both sides here are responsible for the escalation that happened in the previous seasons. Both Grounders and Arkers have been the aggressors in the conflict, and also backtracked and/or lied (e.g. Clarke making it seem like MW people killed Anya, when in fact it was Arkers). With Bellamy I think it is his inability to truly look at the bigger picture at times and act rash/emotional that will get him into hot waters. Just look at this previous episode. If he haven't gone off Roan wouldn't know he was being tracked and Clarke would had kept resisting, enabling Bell/Monty/Pike etc to catch up. Bellamy seems to be floundering this season, and a man like Pike tends to be very good at snaring in that type of people and twist them around. I just hope that whatever Bellamy does, they will actually make it a believable redemption story line instead of him just eating some berries and being sad for 2 hours in the woods. I have the suspicion that Bellamy will play a key role in setting off the Grounder Civil War on a high level, and also help Pike gain control in Arkadia where he will probably not be very kind to Lincoln, which sets off Octavia. I think for a while Bellamy will be taking in by Pike's view point before he snaps out of it, and makes some big moves to rectify things. As a wild spec I can see that Bellamy maybe plays a key role in helping Lexa's side of the Coalition hold control of Polis/save it, while Jasper, Clarke and Lexa are in the CoL dealing with ALIE. At least spoilers seem to indicate that there will be a lot of blood being spilled in Polis while the CoL stuff that was filmed in public, is going down. And the Ice Nation is definitely not being presented as the better side of the Coalition to be a part of (assuming the Civil war is basically Lexa allies vs. Ice Queen allies). ETA: Promo pictures for 3x03 is out. And things are looking very interesting. http://www.ksitetv.com/the-100/the-100-ye-who-enter-here-preview-images-clexa/94867/nggallery/image/hu303b_0006b/ Interesting seeing Abby, Kane and Indra in Polis together. An adult trio that I haven't really considered but now that I think about it I think they could be very interesting to see play off each other. On a minor side note, so happy to see extras in the background of various skin colours. Too often shows just hire all white except one token background extra (if even that).

Lexa got some nerve asking Clarke for help, though on the other hand it again showcases her very pragmatic view of leading that boils down to "if she thinks it is the best action for her people, she will strive towards it no matter personal feelings of any of the parties involved". That is sure to backfire in some manner I think, because people are emotional, and won't always see things in such a manner. They will let feelings make decisions for them. Like Bellamy did in this episode, which costs them the opportunity to catch up with Roan and get Clarke before he reached Polis. I had hoped Lexa would had learned a bit more from Clarke and not to underestimate that type of influence, but maybe she didn't. However I do get with Clarke why she believes going by the path of pragmatism could work. Clarke can be very emotional, but she is also capable of taking 20 steps back and look at it from a more detached bigger view. Poor Roan. You can feel he wants to go home, although like there is no way Lexa will be such an idiot that she would allow the Prince of the Ice Nation to just skip back home, and be able to take his place next to the Ice Queen while an ice nation army is invading Trikru lands and marching towards the capital. That would be so idiotic on so many tactical levels, but still. Had to suck hard for him and it looks like he will be really pissed off. I do wonder what he did to become banished to begin with though. The directing/camera work and editing was so bad this episode at certain points. There were some really beautiful shots but it felt a bit like amateur hour with so much dramatic zooming happening. Like the triple zoom on Roan's Ice Nation face scar. And it even had accompanied "dum dum dummm" music. Like what even. I truly cant summon any fucks to give about Jasper. I understand what he is going through, and it makes sense, but the character is just blaaaaaaaaaaaaah to me. Making use of MW is definitely going to bite everyone in the ass, and it is so obvious Pike will come and fuck things up. Some reviewers have referred to him as the Donald Trump of the 100, and I am definitely feeling that with him barking at Nyilah and Indra to speak English (and that is after the girl took quite the damn beating), and the whole all Grounders are the same. Also Indra? I am so loving her this season. Adina just has such a presence and exudes this quiet (slightly deadly) confidence. I am getting an idea of where they are going with the City of Light story line but still? I just don't really care for it. I can however see the potential that in a world focused on survival with so much fighting, war, pain and loss, the City of Light offers a sharp contrast. It can easily be looked upon as a paradise where the fighting survivors can seek peace. But it comes at the cost at what makes them arguably human - the ability to feel all those emotions particularly the "bad ones" like angry, pain, fear. I hope the show manages to fully play around with this sorta themes properly and manages to execute it well. Also so happy to see Monty get a bit more screen time, particularly screen time not tethered to Jasper. Also the fact his mom is part of Pike's group that is surely going to cause trouble, give me hopes that Monty might finally be a key part of a more meaty role. Interesting tidbit. Emori mentioned having other tech buyers. Guessing Emerson together with the Ice Queen? It would explain why she seems so emboldened right now to attack. I am also curious just where Camp Jaha/Arkadia lies in relation to Ice Nation territory and Polis. As in will that huge ass army be coming close by Arkadia? Also MW still got missiles left, so if they come close by who knows if someone will be trigger happy. Last thing. Eliza? She has been absolutely damn killing it so far. In Part 1 the look on her face when Nyilah was cleaning her wound was heart breaking, but in this episode when the removed the hood? Woah. A+

There goes my last shred of hope that they might make any character of note LGBT on this show damn it. I guess I should had figured it was a done deal after they introduced that one bit guest star at start of season, which was probably done to shut up the criticism the show received for being so super straight that it even degays characters. I love Jemma but the episode had problems keeping my attention as it wore on. I think having her on different planet could had been done in a much more interesting way. Why chose to make it some boring ass desert planet**? Why not pick a planet that ties into the greater Marvel Universe? I feel like they could had made the planet much more interesting, with some form of civilization or something, instead of just desert and some generic gritty bearded dude ready to be a Love Interest for her. Best part for me was definitely the first 10-15 minutes where she was on her own, though all the "Fitz this Fitz that" bugged. I was happy when it seemed like the show was keeping them just friends, but now I am seeing the whole "he wins her as a prize for being the one holding out hope for finding her and eventually rescuing her, where in the end she will give in to this awesome super fantastic guy that has earned her" narrative playing out. Now with Will maybe that narrative won't happen or it will just be mixed in with a love triangle, which doesn't make it any better. Elizabeth Henstridge was fantastic in this episode. I guess I just wish the show chose to be more creative with what they had instead of being so standard. *Small edit: I realize we didn't see much of the planet so there could be a lot more going on than what we saw. But drab desert was still what they opted to show us thus far.

That is incorrect? The plan laid out by Clarke pushes for minimal blodshed (she is trying to be the good guy). In the begining of 2x15 Clarke said the plan was to make a huge ruckos at the front door, while Indra etc. sneaked inside to the place with the Prisoners - where Bellamy, the 44 kids and drained Grounders should had been waiting. Then while the MW people were distracted, they would sneak out, and then they would retreat and be home "before MW would even know they were gone". They never intended to invade Mount Weather and kill them all per the plan laid out. Main problem with the plan, besides being a bad one, is that everything went wrong. E.g. a bunch of the 44 kids got captured and placed in a secure barricaded location, Cage sent down guards to the Prison Chamber thus 'recapturing some of the few 44 kids there and all the grounders/gaining hostages, Emerson went out to negociate those lives with Lexa, Raven and Wick got captured at the dam and so on. The plan was to go get their people, where Lexa succeeded as managed to get hers by taking the deal and minimize her losses. Very likely if she refused refused the deal, MW would just had killed off the prisoners inside since they had no use for them. That would probably made some Grounders angry with her. I think if the Grounders would start to follow Clarke, it would probably have to do with her overall record of "taking out the enemy". I am sure some Grounders will definitely look sideways at Lexa for not somehow taking out the MM and Clarke managing to do it, but Clarke is also an outsider. Not to mention the Sky People are overall not very popular among the Grounders, what with being invaders and the conflicts they have had. The Grounders also seem very tied into their clans, where as Clarke is just a person from a people that are more like the MM than Grounder.

I don't recall that coming up in e.g. Boo's conversation about the heroin, or when she 'comforted' Penns about the abortions she had where she also mentioned Freakonomics, or any of the times addressing the rape Penns experienced. Personally I find it refreshing that Boo's sexuality is addressed more than once and she is brazen about it. 99% of the time with gay (or bi) female characters on TV, some audience members will often praise writers for 'not letting the sexuality of a character be their defining trait'. However what they often mean is that they are happy it is barely mentioned. It is so not in their faces that they can pretty much pretend the character is straight or at least not be confronted by the clear presence of someone that is not straight on their screen. Boo is a character that does not make it easy for audience members to forget she ain't following the entrappings of society regarding sexuality (and conventional gender expression). Here is the thing. Yes we (LGBT*) are just like everyone else. Being queer is not our sole characteristic. However we do actually also talk about being gay/bi/pan/queer - quite often. Not a week goes by without discussions or comments between myself and other queer friends about LGBT* stuff or just random comments like say cute girl walked by. There is a difference between letting a queer character be more than just that, and having it be so un-addressed that the character would seem straight unless you tuned in during two episodes a season. Boo is someone who represents the more butch identity, however try to think of 5 butch TV lesbians. I don't even think there is 5 within the past 10 or 15 years. At least not as an actual character instead of some crime victim or perpetrator one off on a procedural show. The more 'acceptable' tv lesbian package is the more fem looking one, and Boo is one that tends to make a lot more people uncomfotable. Mostly because her sexual identity seems so 'loud to them' (that is ignoring the fact that it is their own prejudices that heavily creates that notion). So what if her sexual identity was part of her flashback (although I could argue it was more her gender expression there)? It is very integral and huge part of her. She knew from early on she was different and tried to be true to herself, and her surroundings tried to force her to not be. That was the essence of it and paralleled to her current story line with the pastor. It also showed that Boo was unwilling to downplay that part of herself for money in the end. And more specifically, I think one of the main reasons she changed her mind was when the pastor mentioned that her fake story would go on a pamphlet to be spread around. I don't think she liked the idea that it would be a story of conversion that other LGBT* kids might read.

Honestly my expectations to these writers are so low that I am half way expecting Ra's to tell Nyssa that he will bring Sara back, if she marries Oliver and produces an heir. TV writers have a way of creating ridiculous so called "reasons" to make the lesbian character sleep with a man. I just don't have any faith in Arrow's writers when it comes to being mindful regarding their female characters agency nor matters of bi- or homosexuality. Anyway, no matter the whom is going to be marrying whom, I don't think there will be any switcheroo. The writers seem unsure how long the 'marriage' will last, which seems to indicate that they haven't resolved it by the end of the season. I do expect if anyone switched in as the bride, there would had been some talk about what to do afterwards or at least some comment. Of course a NP wedding many here have pointed out isn't actually binding in the eyes of the law, so for any none League member that marriage wouldn't really count for anything.

Actually statistically for the past 10 years, gay female characters (and bi) on Western TV get the worst misrepresentation at the hands of gay men i.e. tendency to get killed, be psycho, sleep with men (and shown as enjoying it), conversion sex and so on. There is very comprehensive list somewhere of gay and bi women on Western TV the past 10 years that I saw few months ago, and gay men as showrunners = highest chance of disaster, especially for lesbians. And they were proud of that. As someone that is bisexual it annoys the shit out of me that TV writers pat their own backs when they make (always the female) bisexual characters never identify as such. It is also often used as a 'get out of hell free card' if they decide to backtrack on the character bisexuality. The lack of proper identification also makes it so much easier for the F/F aspect to be handwaved away as just a phase. Honestly I have also absolutely no faith whatsoever in the writers will handle Nyssa's sexuality well, especially if they pull out of their asses some contrived reason for Oliver and Nyssa to marry each other. I can't even think of how it would make sense for Ra's? He already had an heir - Nyssa. Also given his age I would think he would had been a grand dad many times. Furthermore if he really wanted some blood line thing going, why did he not do as Genghis Khan? He has lived for quite some time so he could easily had had many heirs and a huge family. And I am still unsure why Nyssa really isn't worthy anymore but Oliver suddenly is (I realize it basically boils down to because the writers wants it to be like that, but my mind still just doesn't get how they believe they have given any tangible reason)

I have a feeling that Jessie might be the abuser. The husband drinks because of it, and the kid is scared. It seems a bit to straight forward if it is the husband. They also made sure to not explicitly give an idea of the whom the son was scared off. This would also lead to Rick going after a man that is a victim instead of perpetrator, which would make for more dramatic story telling.