S07.E08: Anaconda

[CooperTV]

Quote

Clarke (Eliza Taylor) confronts a new adversary. A surprising connection takes us back to the past and the nuclear apocalypse that destroyed the Earth.

Original airdate 7/8/2020.

This is supposed to a backdoor pilot for the spin-off.

Edited July 2, 2020 by CooperTV

[quarks]

So for a backdoor pilot it wasn't bad, but I also felt that a couple of the character introductions were really rushed, even for this show, with only a few standout performances - two from characters we already knew and who presumably won't be in the spinoff, Clarke and Becca. The people that will presumably be the focus on the spinoff? A lot less memorable. 

1. Geography continues to be a Thing for this show. How exactly did Callie and her mother manage to get from their house into a helicopter and out of the way in twenty minutes, especially given that the helicopter wasn't even there? How far away was the helicopter, and given that we also saw that most of the missiles were all shot off at once (something we also saw back in the third season, and, if memory serves, was mentioned in the first two seasons), how did the helicopter manage to fly through all that to get to the Second Dawn Bunker?  For that matter, how did the Second Dawn Bunker manage to get everyone inside within that given time frame? 

Which is to say, watch the specific words in your script. I would have bought this a little bit more if the script had said that they had an hour.

2. Which still seems a bit fast for missiles but let's move on.

3. Ok, how come more of the Grounders don't have nightblood? I know the show keeps saying that nightblood is a recessive gene, but everyone who left the bunker presumably got Becca's treatment and thus had nightblood, right?  If both partners are carrying full sets of recessive genes, the offspring should also have a full set of recessive genes. Even if both partners are only carrying half sets, at least 25% of their offspring should have nightblood -- and since the kids without nightblood would have limited resistance to radiation, only the nightblood kids should have survived. By the third or fourth generation, everyone should have had nightblood. 

Or maybe I should just stop trying to ask genetic/scientific questions of this show.

4. So, Trigedasleng wasn't just a code to use against the Mount Weather people, but was around before that? Hmm.

5. I kinda liked the symmetry of finding out that the Grounders were also initially just a bunch of rebellious teenagers. 

6. Cadogan: evil, and terrible at reading people. Why on earth would you assume that Gabriel and Clarke are telling the truth about the Flame?

7. Hey, look! A rare case of The 100 admitting that countries outside the United States exist! Granted, only if they host well known tourist places like Machu Picchu, but, still.

8. Echo, Octavia, Diyoza, you're only pretending to be brainwashed, right? Right? Because otherwise I am very disappointed in all three of you.

9. So once the Second Dawn people walked through the glowy thing it just vanished, right? Because otherwise I kinda feel that it should have come up at least once during the fourth and fifth seasons. "Hey, we've found this glowy thing that people can just walk into and disappear forever!" "Interesting, but we're currently EATING PEOPLE. Can you put that on hold for us?"

10. Where's Hope? Did Cadogan kill her? My opinion of him will go up if that's true. (It's almost certainly not true.)

[KittenPokerCheater]

Well that's 60 minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

[roctavia]

57 minutes ago, quarks said:

So for a backdoor pilot it wasn't bad, but I also felt that a couple of the character introductions were really rushed, even for this show, with only a few standout performances - two from characters we already knew and who presumably won't be in the spinoff, Clarke and Becca. The people that will presumably be the focus on the spinoff? A lot less memorable. 

1. Geography continues to be a Thing for this show. How exactly did Callie and her mother manage to get from their house into a helicopter and out of the way in twenty minutes, especially given that the helicopter wasn't even there? How far away was the helicopter, and given that we also saw that most of the missiles were all shot off at once (something we also saw back in the third season, and, if memory serves, was mentioned in the first two seasons), how did the helicopter manage to fly through all that to get to the Second Dawn Bunker?  For that matter, how did the Second Dawn Bunker manage to get everyone inside within that given time frame? 

Which is to say, watch the specific words in your script. I would have bought this a little bit more if the script had said that they had an hour.

2. Which still seems a bit fast for missiles but let's move on.

3. Ok, how come more of the Grounders don't have nightblood? I know the show keeps saying that nightblood is a recessive gene, but everyone who left the bunker presumably got Becca's treatment and thus had nightblood, right?  If both partners are carrying full sets of recessive genes, the offspring should also have a full set of recessive genes. Even if both partners are only carrying half sets, at least 25% of their offspring should have nightblood -- and since the kids without nightblood would have limited resistance to radiation, only the nightblood kids should have survived. By the third or fourth generation, everyone should have had nightblood. 

Or maybe I should just stop trying to ask genetic/scientific questions of this show.

4. So, Trigedasleng wasn't just a code to use against the Mount Weather people, but was around before that? Hmm.

5. I kinda liked the symmetry of finding out that the Grounders were also initially just a bunch of rebellious teenagers. 

6. Cadogan: evil, and terrible at reading people. Why on earth would you assume that Gabriel and Clarke are telling the truth about the Flame?

7. Hey, look! A rare case of The 100 admitting that countries outside the United States exist! Granted, only if they host well known tourist places like Machu Picchu, but, still.

8. Echo, Octavia, Diyoza, you're only pretending to be brainwashed, right? Right? Because otherwise I am very disappointed in all three of you.

9. So once the Second Dawn people walked through the glowy thing it just vanished, right? Because otherwise I kinda feel that it should have come up at least once during the fourth and fifth seasons. "Hey, we've found this glowy thing that people can just walk into and disappear forever!" "Interesting, but we're currently EATING PEOPLE. Can you put that on hold for us?"

10. Where's Hope? Did Cadogan kill her? My opinion of him will go up if that's true. (It's almost certainly not true.)

It was definitely more interesting than the sanctum crap, so I'll give it that. 
With the blood treatment being an injection that takes over in an hour, it must not be a true/lasting genetic mutation as far as reproduction. Having it be sporadic that some of the reproductive germ cells would randomly carry the mutation but not all of them makes sense for why there were less and less in the population. They also must have found some other survivors eventually, in other bunkers or what have you, that were either able to withstand the radiation or the radiation decreased again to not be as fatal to certain people. 

So Bill doesn't actually care about his daughter, he just cares about what she remembers/becca's memory of the special code to enlightenment. Think we'll learn what that is by the end of the series? 

I assume Bill figured out how to go back to the bunker or sent a disciple on a suicide mission to destroy the stone? Or at least move it out of the bunker. No way was that stone in there the whole time Wonkru was...   Are the 100 going to end up back on Earth? I wonder what the time difference has been between earth time and Bardo...

[thuganomics85]

You know, show, it's hard for me to take this all seriously, when you have your characters referring to the time sphere or whatever it is as a "space ball" all the time.  Do you want me to spend the entire episode quoting the movie, Spaceballs?  Because that's how you make me spend the entire episode quoting the movie, Spaceballs!  Man, I that was a great movie.  Really need to watch that again...

So, this was the episode that didn't just flashback back to how "the world ended" and showed the origins of the Grounders and Second Dawn, but also served as a backdoor pilot for a possible prequel.  I'm guessing; if it gets picked up; this Callie character will be the main focus.  Plus, we'll likely follow her brother and his quest for vengeance/taking the chip back from her.  Oh, and there is that other dude that's probably being set-up as a love interest.  And I guess we would follow Bill and the Second Dawn too?  Can't say any of this is really peaking my interest.  It's kind of bad that the new character I found the most likable was Callie's friend.  Who is already dead.

I generally like John Pyper-Ferguson, but his performance as Bill is reminding me of when he played the final main baddie on Burn Notice, and how underwhelming it was.  He's good; even great; when playing a villainous henchman or snarky antihero (Tex on The Last Ship), but he just lacks the presence to be a major threat.  I guess it was too late since they already casted him years ago, but I still kind of wish Anders was the main threat, because Neal McDonough is someone who can nail down being the big bad.  Still hoping that maybe Anders will end up becoming a major threat down the line.

Cool seeing Becca again.  I wish Erica Cerra got bigger roles.

Interesting that Raven seemed more distraught over Bellamy's death than Clarke.  Then again, Clarke has probably conditioned herself at this point to not let the death of those she cares about her effect her emotions in public.  Of course, everyone is going to feel foolish when Bellamy ends up not being dead.  Because he's totally not dead!

Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza are certainly acting like they are now part of The Shepherd gang.  We'll see, I guess.  I wonder where Hope is? 

[quarks]

37 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Interesting that Raven seemed more distraught over Bellamy's death than Clarke.  Then again, Clarke has probably conditioned herself at this point to not let the death of those she cares about her effect her emotions in public.  Of course, everyone is going to feel foolish when Bellamy ends up not being dead.  Because he's totally not dead!

Also this is at least the third time that she's had good reason to think that Bellamy is or might be dead, only to have him be not at all dead. I think she needs to see a very very dead Bellamy corpse in order to fully believe it.

[AudienceofOne]

One of these days in a perfect world.

Far far away.

Maybe in another galaxy even.

Longstanding popular shows won't destroy themselves to give birth to their mutated offspring. 

I honestly do not have words for how much I hated every terrible retcon this cynical hack just rained down upon me. 

I am genuinely angry even though I have no right to be. I've hated this show since Season 3. 

And yet.

I am still genuinely angry.

Turns out I had some affection left for this mess after all. 

At least before they just hacked up their own creation for their personal longevity. 

There was one line that made me laugh though. It was when Crazy Cult Bill said something like, "As everyone knows, to dial a location you need seven symbols". And for some reason didn't follow it up with, "At least that's what I learned from Stargate SG1, which is what this show has been blatantly ripping off for the last two years". 

Gosh I hated the Trikru and Trigedasleng retcons, they were horrible. Just the worst thing anyone could come up with. It's like they took anything interesting or organic out of the show and replaced it with the most trite explanations possible. Suddenly the entire show is just the game of a petulant child. Fighting with her brother in her tree house with their special language because she had a fight with Dad. Trikru! 

I'm starting to think this show's own creators hate it and want to destroy it before they leave. Makes sense - a show obsessed with nukes created by a guy who nukes it before he moves on. KABOOM! Nothing but radiation and ash. Farewell 100. You will not be missed.

Edited July 9, 2020 by AudienceofOne

[ottoDbusdriver]

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza are certainly acting like they are now part of The Shepherd gang.  We'll see, I guess.  I wonder where Hope is? 

Was that Octavia ?  When they took off their helmets I was trying to figure out who the new girl in the middle was -- because it didn't look much like Octavia.  Does Clarke even know about Hope ? Probably not, so where is Hope ?

The retcon that Bill and his followers called themselves Trikru BEFORE the nukes flew -- that is just so much bullshit.

So, it's awesome that the rebellious teenagers left the bunker, with dangerous radiation levels all around them but they all have nightblood so it's ok, but what were they planning to do for food ?

If Bill and his followers lived in the bunker for at least 2 years, how come the bunker did not look like it had ever been lived in before Wonkru moved in back in Season 3 or 4 (I can't be bothered to look it up) ?  Did Bill and his followers clean the place before heading out to parts unknown ?

And then there is the glaring plot hole about the stone.  Maybe the Earth Space Ball just moved into another dimension or time after getting tired of being called a space ball by the 'Level 12' 2nd Dawners.

I was just waiting for someone to say '7th symbol locked' when Rebecca opened the portal.  They have ripped off so many other ideas from Stargate SG-1 why not that as well.

[KittenPokerCheater]

I hardly recognized Octavia too. I feel kind of bad for the actress- such a beauty when the series began.  Somewhere in the series she got some terrible filler/surgery done to her face and now she looks puffy.  Or, if she's sick, the medication must have awful side effects and I hope she gets better.

I felt like I was watching an awful stargate episode.  And I don't know if the place Becca went to was the planet they are all on now or where she went?

All this time travel is so confusing- I don't know who/what/where is going on half the time.

I miss Bellamy.

[Lady Calypso]

I mean...it was an episode, I guess. 

I didn't mind the character of Callie and I do enjoy Becca, but everyone else annoyed the ever loving shit out of me. 

So, Bill Cadogan herded his sheep into the Anomaly while everyone else wanders in the apocalyptic world. And yeah, apparently they have enough serum to give to 2000 people, yet 97 years later, there seems to hardly be any Nightbloods. I get that their offspring's chances of having Nightblood becomes more slim, but 2000 people being Nightbloods would STILL make it possible for there to be even more Nightbloods than we saw on the show...right? Because it seemed like a total rarity for Nightbloods to exist in the first place, unless they all took off to Canada, or something. 

Of course, the tired trope of 'I can't explain what I saw because it needs to remain a mystery for the rest of the season until another character reveals it' with Becca going into the bright flash of white light and coming out praying on her knees.

Oh, great, Callie's brother Reese is the antagonist for the series that probably won't even be picked up. And Callie also gets a forced romantic moment with this August guy. I hate forced romances before you get the chance to see the characters really interact on their own. It failed with Finn/Clarke for a reason. 

And I recognized Gun Guy/Second Nightblood Tristan from Degrassi so that's about all I have to say on that.

As for the end scene, we already knew that Echo, Diyoza, and Octavia decided to surrender to the Disciples. Maybe Echo is the only brainwashed one, but Diyoza and Octavia would bide their time and play along, so no doubt they'll gladly turn on the Disciples, especially now that Clarke, Raven, Miller, Niylah, and Jordan are there.

11 hours ago, quarks said:

4. So, Trigedasleng wasn't just a code to use against the Mount Weather people, but was around before that? Hmm.

I mean...I guess it makes more sense than the language already being well established with thousands of people only 97 years later? But, at the same time, meh, I liked their original explanation. Hint: Callie doesn't need to ALWAYS be the smartest person in the room. 

Overall...I'm just ready to get back to the action. I'm still not interested in this spinoff. 

[quarks]

26 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

I mean...I guess it makes more sense than the language already being well established with thousands of people only 97 years later? But, at the same time, meh, I liked their original explanation. Hint: Callie doesn't need to ALWAYS be the smartest person in the room. 

 

I feel as if ever since the show introduced Trigedasleng, then realized that 97 years was just not long enough to develop a new creole language that most Grounders would be bilingual in, it's been trying to backtrack with increasingly questionable explanations.

In retrospect they really should have just had the Grounders speaking Spanish or French or something and have the initial 100 realize that yeah, they really should have spent more time paying attention in foreign language classes, or asked hard questions about why Spanish/French/Mandarin/etc. wasn't taught on the Ark, but Latin sorta was to a few people.

[Ziggy]

I'm guessing Hope didn't come forward at the end, because Clark wouldn't know who she was.  She isn't one of their "friends."  (I'm not even sure Diyosa is one of their friends, but whatever.)  I don't think any of them are brainwashed, just trying to play along until they come up with a plan.  It's better than those mind probes and being tortured!

12 hours ago, quarks said:

7. Hey, look! A rare case of The 100 admitting that countries outside the United States exist! Granted, only if they host well known tourist places like Machu Picchu, but, still.

Right?!?  It really didn't bother me too much during the first couple of seasons, as the Grounders didn't have the technology to communicate.  How are they to know about Europe and Asia and Africa?  But when Clark referred to living on "the only green space left on the Earth," I did think that was a bit ridiculous!  When they showed the Earth from the Ark at the beginning of Season 5, there really was only one small patch of green space.  But how would Clark know that?

[SiobhanJW]

6 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

The retcon that Bill and his followers called themselves Trikru BEFORE the nukes flew -- that is just so much bullshit.

Bill & His followers didn't call themselves Trikru- It was the group that Callie & August were protesting with and got those bruises before they end up in the bunker. 

[tennisgurl]

I totally forgot that this was going to be our backdoor pilot for the spin off, which I guess will be a prequel, so I spent half this episode wondering who these people were and why we were spending so much time with these randos. The curse of all backdoor pilots! Hi random people, hope your show gets picked up or this is going to be even more random in retrospect! This seems like it will be alright, as far as new shows go, even if none of the characters are really grabbing me, and its connection to the show is pretty tenuous. Not bad I guess, but I wasn't like "oh my God I cant wait to see more" more like "maybe I will give that a watch". Prequels in general have a bad habit of raising more questions than answers and retconning things from the OG show, but this seems like it will probably be pretty disconnected from our current characters and situation, so maybe it wont be such an issue. Of course, I am trying to figure out how the nightblood and all of that fits into this, so who knows? 

Our new bad guy is not exactly Mr. Intimidating, especially if he is supposed to be our final boss big bad. He just seems like some random dude, and not an interesting way. 

Aww Raven is so heartbroken by Bellamy supposedly dying, while Clarke is trying to manage the situation and pushing her emotions down. Of course maybe Clarke knows that with no body there is still a good chance that Bellamy will be back again...which of course he will. 

I am rather amused that the Grounders were once a bunch of teenage rebels much like the original 100, albeit with more of a social justice bent. 

[eelpout]

17 hours ago, KittenPokerCheater said:

Well that's 60 minutes of my life I'm never getting back.

 

6 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

I didn't mind the character of Callie 

OMG. I rolled my eyes every time she uttered something, the defiant daughter personified. If she's part of a pilot, I shan't be watching.

[Lady Calypso]

13 minutes ago, eelpout said:

 

OMG. I rolled my eyes every time she uttered something, the defiant daughter personified. If she's part of a pilot, I shan't be watching.

Yes, I agree that she was annoying...but out all of the new characters, she was the only one that I can genuinely remember and don't actively hate so...

[UNOSEZ]

2 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Yes, I agree that she was annoying...but out all of the new characters, she was the only one that I can genuinely remember and don't actively hate so...

I could only sit thru her wanting to leave the bunker with Finn 2.0 and just turned it off everything about her got under my skin.. And I'm sure if its ordered to series her attitude will be better explained.. But she was soooo petulant in the first few scenes that I just couldn't. 

[ottoDbusdriver]

6 hours ago, SiobhanJW said:

Bill & His followers didn't call themselves Trikru- It was the group that Callie & August were protesting with and got those bruises before they end up in the bunker. 

Missed that point, must have been bored.  :)

 

[Ziggy]

1 hour ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

Missed that point, must have been bored.  🙂

At the beginning of the flashback, when Callie was stitching her friend's head, the news says something about Tree Crew.  The news also mentioned Becca.  I really want to go back and try to listen to the news cast.

[paulvdb]

On 7/9/2020 at 5:18 AM, thuganomics85 said:

It's kind of bad that the new character I found the most likable was Callie's friend.  Who is already dead.

Was Lucy 100% certainly dead? Or could she be alive and show up again if this is picked up to series?

[Ziggy]

10 hours ago, paulvdb said:

Was Lucy 100% certainly dead? Or could she be alive and show up again if this is picked up to series?

Duh, duh, duh ... excellent question!

[ketose]

On 7/8/2020 at 11:08 PM, roctavia said:

It was definitely more interesting than the sanctum crap, so I'll give it that. 
With the blood treatment being an injection that takes over in an hour, it must not be a true/lasting genetic mutation as far as reproduction. Having it be sporadic that some of the reproductive germ cells would randomly carry the mutation but not all of them makes sense for why there were less and less in the population. They also must have found some other survivors eventually, in other bunkers or what have you, that were either able to withstand the radiation or the radiation decreased again to not be as fatal to certain people. 

So Bill doesn't actually care about his daughter, he just cares about what she remembers/becca's memory of the special code to enlightenment. Think we'll learn what that is by the end of the series? 

I assume Bill figured out how to go back to the bunker or sent a disciple on a suicide mission to destroy the stone? Or at least move it out of the bunker. No way was that stone in there the whole time Wonkru was...   Are the 100 going to end up back on Earth? I wonder what the time difference has been between earth time and Bardo...

It's basically impossible to change DNA with one injection. But even given Becca's stupid magic blood, the Grounders would round up all the children every time the previous Commander died and had them kill each other until one survived. That will reduce the numbers pretty good. Also, the "Commander" label on Becca's suit has no significance because she never landed at future Grounder HQ under this retcon.

 

On 7/9/2020 at 7:34 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

Was that Octavia ?  When they took off their helmets I was trying to figure out who the new girl in the middle was -- because it didn't look much like Octavia.  Does Clarke even know about Hope ? Probably not, so where is Hope ?

The retcon that Bill and his followers called themselves Trikru BEFORE the nukes flew -- that is just so much bullshit.

So, it's awesome that the rebellious teenagers left the bunker, with dangerous radiation levels all around them but they all have nightblood so it's ok, but what were they planning to do for food ?

If Bill and his followers lived in the bunker for at least 2 years, how come the bunker did not look like it had ever been lived in before Wonkru moved in back in Season 3 or 4 (I can't be bothered to look it up) ?  Did Bill and his followers clean the place before heading out to parts unknown ?

And then there is the glaring plot hole about the stone.  Maybe the Earth Space Ball just moved into another dimension or time after getting tired of being called a space ball by the 'Level 12' 2nd Dawners.

I was just waiting for someone to say '7th symbol locked' when Rebecca opened the portal.  They have ripped off so many other ideas from Stargate SG-1 why not that as well.

There's this thing called polar coordinates that defines a relative location with 3 numbers. The 7 point stuff works for the Stargate when the symbols are actually constellations. But hey, let's introduce some more mythology, an evil dad and tie them to the history of the show. That's pretty much stealing from the iZombie final season.

Becca's "judgement day" observation was annoyingly vague. Also, why are they mapping symbols all the time when the "key" seems to be an interface to the brain that lets you see how they all work? At least hook up a spectrum analyzer to the thing.

[roctavia]

6 hours ago, ketose said:

It's basically impossible to change DNA with one injection. But even given Becca's stupid magic blood, the Grounders would round up all the children every time the previous Commander died and had them kill each other until one survived. That will reduce the numbers pretty good. Also, the "Commander" label on Becca's suit has no significance because she never landed at future Grounder HQ under this retcon.

 

Yes, having the nightblood kids kill each other to become commander probably didn't help with the rarity. Though we saw in Sanctum, too that it became more and more rare with time.... but I also wouldn't expect it to be a normal genetic change that follows any known genetic rules, since... you know, plot genetics.

Edited July 11, 2020 by roctavia

[ketose]

This is mere speculation, but what if Bill somehow released ALIE to blow up the world? You can't have a cult without desperate followers. It would also absolve Becca of her major sin of the show, creating an AI that tried to wipe out humanity twice.

[SourK]

I'm glad I have this forum to explain what's going on to me. Now that I know they're trying to have a spin-off, this episode makes more sense. I liked Callie okay, and I'm curious about the dynamic between her, her brother, and that other nightblood guy who kept changing sides -- but not really enough to want a separate show about it.

I thought the most realistic part was the part where they leave Lucy behind, and Callie's just calmly like, "Yeah, I always knew we'd abandon the poor when the time came, because they're not the chosen people, but it sucks for Lucy, I guess." Rich kids are like that.

On 7/8/2020 at 11:18 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Interesting that Raven seemed more distraught over Bellamy's death than Clarke.  

I wish that this show spent less time on plot twists and more time on character relationships. Theoretically, Raven and Bellamy were close, because they were on the ring together and -- I think???? -- hooked up at some point in the earlier seasons. But we so rarely see anyone interact for a reason other than telling the plot twists that it's hard to remember who's supposed to be friends with who.

On 7/9/2020 at 6:08 AM, AudienceofOne said:

Gosh I hated the Trikru and Trigedasleng retcons, they were horrible. Just the worst thing anyone could come up with. It's like they took anything interesting or organic out of the show and replaced it with the most trite explanations possible.

On the one hand, the sarcastic part of me wants to say, "It makes sense that the dumb Grounder language was made up by a kid," but, on the other hand, you're right -- I think we were all willing to believe that slang just changed its meaning in the intervening years without needing an overly specific explanation of how or why.

On 7/9/2020 at 7:34 AM, ottoDbusdriver said:

I was just waiting for someone to say '7th symbol locked' when Rebecca opened the portal.  They have ripped off so many other ideas from Stargate SG-1 why not that as well.

Honestly, when she said that seven of them were quiet, I was like, "That's because it's the address for Earth," and I was expecting people in the main plot to need the address for Earth at some point... but, no. Seven of them were quiet because it's the super apocalypse.

As an aside -- I think the idea of opening a portal to an unknown time and place and just hurling yourself through it is TERRIFYING, and I'd be really interested for the show to explore that more. But, the way things are going, I no longer feel suspense when someone goes through  a portal, because there's always air on the other side.

On 7/10/2020 at 4:10 PM, ketose said:

Also, the "Commander" label on Becca's suit has no significance because she never landed at future Grounder HQ under this retcon.

Not that I remember the earlier seasons well -- or sometimes at all -- but I did spend the whole episode going, "Wait, so, Becca is the first commander in the sense that she had the chip but... the grounders didn't really exist before she died?"

I guess there had been a question of why she got burned at the stake, and now that question is answered... but I didn't really remember that that was a question

[AudienceofOne]

5 hours ago, SourK said:

As an aside -- I think the idea of opening a portal to an unknown time and place and just hurling yourself through it is TERRIFYING, and I'd be really interested for the show to explore that more

With these dumbasses? All I could think of at that point was that Stargate Command would test the connection, send through a MALP to assess the environment on the other side and only then send through people - all of whom were highly trained. In this episode, these idiots just opened it up and wandered on through without even knowing what the atmosphere on the other side was. This is how Clark and Raven ended up in the digestion system of a planet animal. It'd be hilarious if the sun went nova after the device was built and they walked into an icy vacuum.

[Taryn74]

On 7/10/2020 at 3:10 PM, ketose said:

Also, the "Commander" label on Becca's suit has no significance because she never landed at future Grounder HQ under this retcon.

Is it really a retcon, though? Callie and a handful of her friends were there when Becca landed, just like we previously saw in early seasons, so that part lines up. I don't think we can say that this is all a retcon until we get more info about the way the Original Trikru (Callie and Co.) set up the Grounder's mythology. We saw in this episode that Callie was fangirling over Becca pretty hard, and Callie grew up in a cult so it would be difficult for her to distinguish cult reality from real world reality, if that makes sense, which would bleed over into her entire worldview and put Becca on an even higher pedestal than would be normal. I could easily see Callie setting up a mythology for future Grounder generations to believe that Becca Pramheda (the honorary first Commander because she was the original Natblida, even if she never was an actual Commander) descended from the heavens with the means to save the world, which IIRC is what the pictographs represented when we first saw them several seasons ago.

(Caveat: It has been quite a while since I've rewatched the early seasons, mostly because several of the early characters work my nerves so hard LOL, so I might not remember the details clearly.)

[ketose]

On 7/13/2020 at 10:12 AM, Taryn74 said:

Is it really a retcon, though? Callie and a handful of her friends were there when Becca landed, just like we previously saw in early seasons, so that part lines up. I don't think we can say that this is all a retcon until we get more info about the way the Original Trikru (Callie and Co.) set up the Grounder's mythology. We saw in this episode that Callie was fangirling over Becca pretty hard, and Callie grew up in a cult so it would be difficult for her to distinguish cult reality from real world reality, if that makes sense, which would bleed over into her entire worldview and put Becca on an even higher pedestal than would be normal. I could easily see Callie setting up a mythology for future Grounder generations to believe that Becca Pramheda (the honorary first Commander because she was the original Natblida, even if she never was an actual Commander) descended from the heavens with the means to save the world, which IIRC is what the pictographs represented when we first saw them several seasons ago.

(Caveat: It has been quite a while since I've rewatched the early seasons, mostly because several of the early characters work my nerves so hard LOL, so I might not remember the details clearly.)

I'm almost certain Becca landed near Polis and I'm pretty sure there were more people than the search party from this episode around. I don't have Netflix (or the episode number) so I can't check it. I do remember the "Commander" patch on her stolen space suit, which was supposed to foreshadow the whole "Heda" thing. But, according to this, Callie knew all about Becca.

So, now there were about 95 years between Becca landing and the drop ship arriving in the pilot (97 - 2 years later from this episode). We've had maybe 12 commanders in that time (short gig) who are supposed to have the memories of the previous commanders (including the "dark" commander). While the Grounders aren't exactly big in the life expectancy department, Indra is in her late 40s. With a surviving group of maybe 2000 people after the nukes with a lifespan of 50-60, how did they lose most concepts of the world before in that short a time? Why do they all know English and Trig? The only reason for a second, made up language is for subterfuge. It's not that effective if everyone speaks it.

Edited July 15, 2020 by ketose
Grammar and word changes.

[Samwise979]

I'm confused about Clark having the flame. Didn't they destroy the flame? The grounders are giving Indra a hard time because they don't have a commander anymore. Wouldn't this make Clark their commander? 

[Lady Calypso]

2 minutes ago, Samwise979 said:

I'm confused about Clark having the flame. Didn't they destroy the flame? The grounders are giving Indra a hard time because they don't have a commander anymore. Wouldn't this make Clark their commander? 

Clarke doesn't have the Flame in her head anymore but the Disciples THINK that she does, as Levitt only got to the end of season 3 in his The 100 binge watch in Octavia's head. He didn't get to the part where the Flame was taken out. 

[Samwise979]

22 minutes ago, Lady Calypso said:

Clarke doesn't have the Flame in her head anymore but the Disciples THINK that she does, as Levitt only got to the end of season 3 in his The 100 binge watch in Octavia's head. He didn't get to the part where the Flame was taken out. 

Oooooohhhhh thank you!!

[AudienceofOne]

On 7/9/2020 at 10:50 PM, KittenPokerCheater said:

I hardly recognized Octavia too. I feel kind of bad for the actress- such a beauty when the series began.  Somewhere in the series she got some terrible filler/surgery done to her face and now she looks puffy.  Or, if she's sick, the medication must have awful side effects and I hope she gets better.

I was going to ignore this when you posted but what the hell. The actor is clearly pregnant, her bump was quite noticeable in the memory device torture scenes.  

[CooperTV]

31 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

I was going to ignore this when you posted but what the hell. The actor is clearly pregnant, her bump was quite noticeable in the memory device torture scenes.  

I think you're mixing two actresses up. Marie Avgeropulous (Octavia) doesn't have any children nor was she pregnant at the time of the filming. Unlike Eliza Taylor (Clarke), who indeed was pregnant during the filming of the first half of the season of season 7 (unfortunately she had a miscarriage).

[Ziggy]

8 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

I was going to ignore this when you posted but what the hell. The actor is clearly pregnant, her bump was quite noticeable in the memory device torture scenes.  

 

7 hours ago, CooperTV said:

I think you're mixing two actresses up. Marie Avgeropulous (Octavia) doesn't have any children nor was she pregnant at the time of the filming. Unlike Eliza Taylor (Clarke), who indeed was pregnant during the filming of the first half of the season of season 7 (unfortunately she had a miscarriage).

 

I thought Diyoza looked like she was pregnant at one point in the last episode.  Once she broke out of her cell, I thought she looked quite slender, but I do remember seeing what looked like a baby bump at one point.  I read that Ivana Milicevic (who plays Diyoza) really was pregnant during Season 6, and that's why they had her go through the anomoly ... but I'm not usually in the know on such things, so I could be wrong.

[CooperTV]

21 minutes ago, Ziggy said:

I thought Diyoza looked like she was pregnant at one point in the last episode.  Once she broke out of her cell, I thought she looked quite slender, but I do remember seeing what looked like a baby bump at one point.  I read that Ivana Milicevic (who plays Diyoza) really was pregnant during Season 6, and that's why they had her go through the anomoly ... but I'm not usually in the know on such things, so I could be wrong.

Ivana Milicevic was pregnant at the end of season 5, I think? She was not in as advanced condition as Diyoza herself, though. She gave birth in April 2018. But season 7'd been filming since August of 2019, so IDK about Ivanna's figure.

[Ziggy]

1 hour ago, CooperTV said:

Ivana Milicevic was pregnant at the end of season 5, I think? She was not in as advanced condition as Diyoza herself, though. She gave birth in April 2018. But season 7'd been filming since August of 2019, so IDK about Ivanna's figure.

I hope I didn't sound critical ... I am in no position to judge anyone who may or may not be carrying around a little baby weight 🙂