S07.E16: The Last War

[CooperTV]

Quote

After all the fighting and loss, Clarke (Eliza Taylor) and her friends have reached the final battle. But is humanity worthy of something greater?

    

SERIES FINALE. Original airdate 9/30/2020.

[CooperTV]

[Guest]

This show is like some perfect metaphor for an abusive relationship.

Kicks the shit out of you and then apologizes and promises it will never happen again.  Well this time it will never happen again because its over and I will not be watching the prequel if that ever happens.

[ketose]

So, this season's budget went to music rights, apparently.

I was going to watch this later and skip the commercials, but the recorder cut off and I had to watch the last 15 minutes live. It seems like I didn't miss any "plot."

I guess Clarke decided to pull the trigger instead of the lever. At least Octavia said Bellamy was right.

The ending was some Lost with some more Stargate to boot.

[speedroc]

WTF?????

This series finale is Dexter-level in its suckage!!!!! What in the world were they thinking?? I figured it would be some sort of time travel deus ex machina to tie things up, but never like this.

And if Bellamy’s death wasn’t bad enough, this ending (the dead cannot transcend) makes it even worse and unnecessary than it already was.

[ketose]

2 minutes ago, speedroc said:

WTF?????

This series finale is Dexter-level in its suckage!!!!! What in the world were they thinking?? I figured it would be some sort of time travel deus ex machina to tie things up, but never like this.

And if Bellamy’s death wasn’t bad enough, this ending (the dead cannot transcend) makes it even worse and unnecessary than it already was.

And that's what rips off Stargate. People could ascend, but it would cut them off from the people who died and went to the afterlife. So, it ends up being this endless purgatory where you're a ball of energy. I think Stargate had a whole population ascend in one episode. Star Trek Lower Decks made fun of this idea a few weeks ago when a crew member actually went to a higher plane of existence, in terrible pain and terror.

[Guest]

15 minutes ago, ketose said:

I was going to watch this later and skip the commercials, but the recorder cut off and I had to watch the last 15 minutes live. It seems like I didn't miss any "plot."

You missed a whole lot of build up that was aimed solely at convincing the viewer that this entire finale and entire season and entire series was intended as one giant middle finger to Clarke. Just so they could slide in the last minute of the episode with a final "gotcha" which frankly I'm hugely relieved about.  But still pissed about the manipulation of it.  And while it "feels good" on the surface, it doesn't really hold up that well under close examination.

[thuganomics85]

Whelp, that was a finale I guess.

Basically, it really was a test all along, and after hilariously taking out Bill before he could "take it", Clarke ends up "failing" it, because the alien or whatever it was, wasn't too impressed with her bodycount and humanity's need for violence in general.  But then Raven ends up hanging out with the alien, and once said alien realizes that humans can be capable of not killing each other for a few seconds thanks to a motivational speech from Octavia, everyone gets "transcended."  Oh, except Clarke, because apparently she needs to stay back and carry humanity's sins or something.  Really, it's just because the show fucking hates poor Clarke.  But wait!  All of the regulars decided that they don't want Clarke to be alone, so they "un-transcended" or something, and everything lives happily ever after!  I think.

Also, the alien or whatever takes the form of whoever the person considers to be the one they loved the most, so that made it easier to throw in some cameos!  For Raven, it was Abby, which, sure, I guess I can roll with that.  And for Clarke it was (cue drumroll) Lexa.  Which I was surprisingly mixed about.  On one hand, I liked the character and it was nice to see her again.  On the other hand, I couldn't help but to once again think that it would have made way, way more sense from a story/character perspective for the alien to have been Bellamy instead.  Even if they never pulled the trigger on an actual romance, he was always important to Clarke in a way that no one else was.  Meanwhile, while I do think Clarke's time with Lexa will always be a special, I kind of feel like the Clarke we have now would have moved past that relationship.  All in all, I just didn't buy it for whatever reason.

Meanwhile, Emori actually does "die", but then Murphy implants her chip inside his mind as well, so I guess they're now together again.  Did the whole transcending thing allow her to get her body back?  Wasn't able to see if she was with the group at the end.

At least Indra finally righted her wrong and killed Sheidheda for good, but I wish it was done in a way where it would have been long enough to see that smirk of his fade and realized he was doomed, instead of just getting incinerated in a second.  At least Bill's pathetic death was fitting, but, as usual, I still wish Anders had been the final baddie, because Neal McDonough.

So many characters pretty much got the short end of the stick here, like Indra/Gaia, Jordan, Miller/Jackson, Niylah, Echo, and even Octavia on some levels.  It's too bad this season didn't focus more on the characters that have actually been here for so long, instead of... well, all this other dumb shit and characters that we had to deal with.

I did like the final shot being Clarke, Raven, and Murphy hugging it out, since they've been with us since the very beginning (along with Octavia.)

All in all, a disappointing ending for me, but I'm honestly not even upset about it, because this season (and probably the last one too) was so underwhelming, that I really kind of gave up on a satisfactory ending.  I won't say I regret watching it or anything, but I suspect this will end up being another series for me that simply failed to live up to its potential, and was another forgettable installment in a genre that is capable of so much.  I got nothing but love for the cast, and I can't wait to see what they do next; with special shoutouts to Eliza Taylor, Tasya Teles, Adina Porter, Luisa d'Oliveira, and especially Lindsay Morgan and Richard Harmon; but I suspect I'll be side-eying any future series from Jason Rothenberg: including the potential spin-off.  Because it really feels like he's a showrunner who cares more about his petty vendettas and need to depress the audience, than creating a good story and, well, actual showrunning.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Meanwhile, Emori actually does "die", but then Murphy implants her chip inside his mind as well, so I guess they're now together again.  Did the whole transcending thing allow her to get her body back?  Wasn't able to see if she was with the group at the end.

No Emori at the end.  She's either still a chip in Murphy's head.  Or totally gone. 

[ketose]

So, the "aliens" are not God, but they set up a bunch of "stargates" throughout the universe (they mentioned 48 billion light years, which is the approximate radius of the observable universe). Then they built in a code to take beings to the bonus round. How do you get the code? Who knows? Becca got it through dumb luck and then realized she was not going to get the right answer.

So, some fun questions JR can't answer:

How many people can take the test? It seems like anyone was able to jump in the sphere.
Was Clarke trying to stop the test? Did she think Bill was going to fail or did she just want to see him bleed out?
Was Bill going to pass the test? It seemed like he really believed in humanity.
It's kind of horrific that the aliens would let any moron with the address book make the decision of taking the test. And the outcome of transcendence or total destruction is pretty unenlightened. At least there are only a few hundred humans left.
What's the scale of this collective? There are like 2 trillion GALAXIES in the known universe. They're probably testing every minute.

[quarks]

Was anyone else trying to figure out if the aliens were judging humanity, Clarke, or the show?

Because I kinda think it was the show? And if so, I just have to say, aliens, it seems seriously unfair to judge our entire species on this show?

Anyway, onto the episode:

1. Nightblood: sure, it causes all kinds of problems, but on the other hand, it means you don't ALWAYS have to rush off to save people! Sometimes you can just relax and donate blood instead!

2. "You have to stop Cadigan." NO PRESSURE OR ANYTHING, RAVEN.

3. Is it just me, or should the aliens really have tried to get better CGI for their testing area? Because that was just terrible.

4. Becca refused the test, hmm?

5. Not going to lie: Clarke shooting Cadogan in the middle of an ethics test was downright hilarious. 

But also, a nice confirmation of what we were all theorizing several episodes ago - that Cadogan was less a character and more a plot device to get Clarke to the finale, who could be killed off the second he accomplished that.

I admit I didn't expect the show to confirm this quite so blatantly.

6. Glad to see at least SOME of the characters are interested in saving Echo and Niylah.

7. I mean, this is all very sweet and all, but why exactly are we wasting time on Hope and Jordan in a series finale?

8. So, uh. I guess that whole travelling between planets thing is no longer a big deal? 

9. And speaking of no longer a big deal, I guess the shared enemy of Bardo was enough to get Wonkru, Sanctum and Eligius prisoners to join together?

10. YOU KILLED EMORI??????

11. Why would you kill Emori, show?

12. I mean, I know your entire focus is on cruelty and despair but WHY WOULD YOU KILL EMORI, SHOW?

13. Call me crazy, but I don't think putting your partner's mind drive into your mind is quite as romantic as Murphy thinks it is?

14. Point for bringing back Lexa, minus several thousand points for not actually bringing back Lexa.  

15. "Your species must now be judged through you." See, this is exactly why you don't necessarily want the star of the show taking your ethics tests!

16. Saying "have you ever considered that you're the problem" to the image of Lexa seems really harsh, show.

17. Ok, I'm sniffling a bit with this Murphy/Emori scene. 

18. I do like that the aliens are pointing out that this show has committed a lot of atrocities.

19. I get why this was done from a show perspective, but from a story perspective, I think it would have been better to have Sinclair or even Finn show up for Raven, instead of Abby.

20. So humanity, like this entire season, is doomed because of EvilHeda?

21. Levitt, I would feel sorry for you, but we ALL TOLD YOU WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU SLEPT WITH OCTAVIA. IT NEVER GOES WELL.

22. THANK YOU, INDRA, for finally killing off EvilHeda. I only question why this wasn't done SEVERAL EPISODES AGO. 

23. I'm not at all sure Octavia's character arc deserved that speech, but, uh, yay Octavia for saving humanity!

24. I'm pretty sure that Raven was asking the aliens to give humanity another chance, not to have them all ascend right there!

25. So, Octavia and Raven save humanity and then HUMANITY DIES ANYWAY? Geesh.

26. Except for some characters who come back from the dead but will eventually die.

Also the dog.

27. Just so I'm clear here - Bellamy was right about transcendence all along, and yet, thanks to whatever happened BTS, was the only member of Clarke and Friends who didn't get to come back with his friends?

That seems unnecessarily cruel. 

28. So we're all agreed that this eventually led to a Clarke/Echo hookup/relationship, right? Just me? 

(It's ok if it's just me.)

29. Quick question on the dog: was that the ONLY dog in Sanctum? If so - and I don't mean to get too focused on the details here - what happened to his parents and the other puppies of his litter? And what happened in Sanctum that allowed them to keep the dog species going for a couple hundred years, but then suddenly brought them down to just one dog? Or are there other dogs in Sanctum, and if so, is anyone feeding them? Did you think about that, aliens, before suddenly transcending everyone? PETS HAVE NEEDS, ALIENS.

#

So, parts of this episode were great - the Murphy/Emori stuff, the Miller/Jackson stuff, Raven and Octavia getting to save humanity (kinda) even if the end result of that was humanity dying out forever, which, uh, and the fact that the dog got to live. I loved the callback both to "Your fight is over" and "May we meet again,"  And I gotta admit, yes, my heartstrings were tugged just a little bit when I realized that Clarke's friends had chosen to join her on Earth and had already found one spectacular camping spot. 

Had the lead up to all this been better, it might even have worked.

But the episode as a whole, unfortunately, just did not make any sense. We have Raven and Octavia persuading the aliens to give humanity another chance to improve and grow - which the aliens take as an excuse to just transcend everyone. We have the aliens telling us that the test is about ethics and love - only to have the aliens agree to transcend a number of people who completely fail both tests, by any definition: the Bardo people who have been trained not to love/have emotions; the cannibal killing Wonkru; and the Eligius VI criminals, who we were told, in script back in season five, were mostly murderers. I get why the Bardo kids and the remaining Sanctum people were all allowed to transcend and enjoy eternal peace and joy. I do not get why, after jumping all over Cadogan and Clarke, the aliens were like, ok, sure, these other deeply ethically challenged people all get to transcend. Not to mention why, after making the ultimate sacrifice - giving up eternal peace to ensure that Clarke wouldn't spend the rest of her life alone - none of the survivors will get to transcend either.

Which is to say, aliens, your ethics? Are muddled.

And Clarke bringing up that point in script meant that the show and more specifically JR knew that it was a problem.

And speaking of aliens, why was Cadogan the only one to go WOW, ALIENS! THEY REALLY DO EXIST AND I AM TALKING TO ONE! Like, yes, I know Clarke and Raven had been alerted to the possible existence of aliens but I still feel that their first ever alien contact should have generated more of an emotional response than "Oh. Aliens. That's nice."

And speaking of the aliens - I liked the idea that they appeared in the form of whoever the person loved the most - but the execution only worked for Cadagon. With Clarke, not so much. I absolutely buy that she was in love with Lexa. But it's also canon that the Clarke/Lexa relationship was short - they met, hung out together for a few days, Clarke vanished for a few months, they hung out together again, and then Lexa died. Meaningful? Sure. As meaningful as Clarke's relationships with her father, mother, Madi, and, for that matter, Bellamy, Finn and even Wells (in canon her best friend for years on the Ark)? No. Clarke has spent more time with Emori, and in canon, risked her life three separate times to save Emori - more than she ever did for Lexa. And yet no 

Which brought us to the mess of having Raven's most important person be Abby, which even the script acknowledged was questionable. And sure, I get that actors are hard to schedule - and that The 100 was dealing with the added issue of coronavirus while filming this, making things even worse - but Abby was just not Raven's most important person in the show. It would have made far more sense for the alien to take the form of Emori or Echo - especially since both actors were available - or Sinclair or, again, Finn. 

And the thing is? This problem could have been eliminated with just one slight tweak/edit to the dialogue - leave out the love part, and instead have the aliens say that they are appearing in a form that the human can trust. That would have made sense.

I also could have done without the sudden ability to just flip from planet to planet given how difficult this was for everyone earlier this season (and I guess that the time dilation factor no longer was a factor with Sanctum/Earth/Bardo? But again, moving on.) And the massive dropping of a number of storylines at the end there - some of which, sure, might end up getting addressed in the prequel series, but most of which won't. 

But the biggest problem with that final scene? Given seasons 5 to 7, I have no idea why most of those characters have decided to give up a joyful, peaceful eternity for the sake of a few more decades with Clarke. At the end of season 4 or the beginning of season 5, sure, or if the show had spent more of the last three seasons rebuilding the friendships Clarke damaged in season 5. But I still am at a loss to explain what Miller and Jackson are doing there (other than proving that JR has Learned His Lesson About Burying the Gays).

This episode tried to give a bit of a leadup/explanation for that with Murphy, Miller and Jackson arguing that all they wanted was more time with the people they loved, and with Levitt saying that he just wanted a chance to live - but did this in the same episode that had Madi, who earlier this season also told us that she just wanted a chance to live. Again, muddled. 

It's frustrating, because elements here and there suggest that this could have been one hell of an ending to one hell of a show.

Ah well. 

I did like the dog.

[KittenPokerCheater]

With the exception of Murphy/Emori, and Raven and Jasper, this season is a hard F (I gave it an F in tvline poll in their recap).  In my mind, whathisname (who was Octavia's love interest) was written in to replace Bellamy i the last episodes, and so Bellamy ascended with Echo.  But hell, I'd re-write the last two seasons.

Things I loathed:
The weird Alien/God "I'm holier-than-you" race who gets to pass judgement on others...how do they have the right??

Catogen was a boring, annoying villain and his death was boring too.

ascending into a golden tree that doesn't go anywhere?  How is this something to aspire for?

The whole "if you're dead you don't ascend" bs.  BUT I guess Emori's mind was alive so she got to ascend  because we saw her in the last scene (whew).

"these are the last humans EVER?  Again. why do THEY get to decide?

The only thing I want to see or read is the alternate ending where Bellamy lives.

Edited October 1, 2020 by KittenPokerCheater

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, ketose said:

It's kind of horrific that the aliens would let any moron with the address book make the decision of taking the test. And the outcome of transcendence or total destruction is pretty unenlightened. At least there are only a few hundred humans left.

I was pretty convinced that someone had watched Babylon 5 most of the episode.  There was this test an alien species sent out and if the test was passed they would get medical and technological advancements.  If they failed then they would get annihilated.  It was a trick.  The aliens were looking for advanced species that might be advanced enough to be a threat to annihilate them.  The key to survival was to fail the test.

I was really thinking that was where this was going because it was so illogical.  The enlightened species judges an entire species based one person deciding to take a test and they wipe out the whole species if they fail.

But apparently the bar to pass is really low and no one is required to stay ascended.  And that would have made things make more sense but then the consequences to coming back from ascension to live out life with Clarke is no kids because humanity must end even if they didn't want to be asceded.

[ketose]

2 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

I was pretty convinced that someone had watched Babylon 5 most of the episode.  There was this test an alien species sent out and if the test was passed they would get medical and technological advancements.  If they failed then they would get annihilated.  It was a trick.  The aliens were looking for advanced species that might be advanced enough to be a threat to annihilate them.  The key to survival was to fail the test.

I was really thinking that was where this was going because it was so illogical.  The enlightened species judges an entire species based one person deciding to take a test and they wipe out the whole species if they fail.

But apparently the bar to pass is really low and no one is required to stay ascended.  And that would have made things make more sense but then the consequences to coming back from ascension to live out life with Clarke is no kids because humanity must end even if they didn't want to be asceded.

Hey, wait. Clarke never ascended. They could just clone her and continue the human race. I see no drawbacks to this plan.

Also, I would have preferred if only Murphy came back (because Emori was gone) then shot Clarke to death because she's a giant pain in the ass.

[quarks]

3 minutes ago, ketose said:

Hey, wait. Clarke never ascended. They could just clone her and continue the human race. I see no drawbacks to this plan.

 

.....you know, you're absolutely right. And they have all of the baby clone growing things back on Bardo, which they can easily reach through the stones. They might even have some DNA databases around to provide genetic diversity.

And then they can grow a brand new army and go off and kill the aliens.

This could definitely work. 

 

[Guest]

50 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

No Emori at the end.  She's either still a chip in Murphy's head.  Or totally gone. 

Maybe I'm wrong about this.  There was someone in a grey sweater with long brown hair fishing that was standing with Murphy when everyone else was hugging.  Who else could that be but Emori?  I guess its good they have a happy ending if its Emori, but its pretty stupid if the dead can't ascend but being in a chip somehow bypasses that.  Just comes across as trying really hard not to have to have Bellamy back.

Edited October 1, 2020 by ParadoxLost

[quarks]

9 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

Maybe I'm wrong about this.  There was someone in a grey sweater with long brown hair fishing that was standing with Murphy when everyone else was hugging.  Who else could that be but Emori?  I guess its good they have a happy ending if its Emori, but its pretty stupid if the dead can't ascend but being in a chip somehow bypasses that.  Just comes across as trying really hard not to have to have Bellamy back.

I checked, and yes, Emori is there in the final scenes. How, exactly, given that she was dead and we were specifically told that dead people can't ascend (sorry, Monty and Harper and Bellamy and Jasper and Real Lexa! Not even remotely sorry Jaha!) was not clear, but I guess the memory chip and being inside Murphy's mind was enough to let her return?

Speaking of possibly questionable resurrections, the TVGuide post-interview with Rothenberg confirms that yes, originally Bellamy was supposed to be in the final beach scene, and that everyone was working 14/15 hour days to try to get the show wrapped before filming absolutely had to shut down. 

I'm going to continue to theorize that something went down behind the scenes of episode 13, causing all kinds of issues. Because the concepts here weren't completely bad - largely stolen from Stargate, sure, but not completely bad. Moments here and there suggested that this episode - and thus the ending of the show - could have been spectacular - or at least improved with some dialogue tweaking. Instead, an actor was abruptly terminated while two of the last three episodes were in preproduction, and just days before the series finale moved into preproduction - with the showrunner and scriptwriter for the series finale inexplicably chose this moment to try directing, and just as the showrunner was getting his first hints that he might have to end production early.

Which does help explain why this episode ended up as a bit of a mess, but geesh.

[KittenPokerCheater]

nm

Edited October 1, 2020 by KittenPokerCheater

[xtwheeler]

They used my absolute favorite song at the end, so I can't even be objective. 

It should have been Bellamy at the end. And I'm unnecessarily bothered by the offspring & no ascention for our crew. 

Never imagined Murphy would be my favorite. 

[CooperTV]

[sweetandsour]

Well, all of that happened.  I don't have the same similar reference points that many of you know of, but even without personally knowing it's very similar to what other shows have done - I'm just like, meh.  Really just mcmeh.

For sure that girl at the end with the long brown hair was Emori.  They didn't really show her face, but when after Clarke is greeted by Raven and Murphy, and then Clarke greets everyone else, Murphy goes to the side with the brown-haired girl and Picasso.  He puts his hand on the girl's back in such a way that it is definitely not any of the other women.

But Madi did not choose to "untranscend" and come back to Clarke?  Or was she not able to?  Because of the state of her mind when she transcended?  I mean, Emori was in the chip and she was able to transcend and untranscend.

How's that for some permanent birth control?  Untranscend and you're guaranteed to have no children - no need to bother with vasectomies and tubal ligation.

What was that sort of watermarked scene of Clarke at the end of the final pullout shot on the shore?  I don't know what to call it - I'm saying watermarked because it was laid over the shore pullout in a transparent way.  Was this a callback to some scene of Clarke from the pilot to artificially bring this all full circle?  All I could see was that she was definitely clean and her hair was pulled back and orderly as she was smudging something with her left hand?  Was this her back on the Ark?  Otherwise, the scene itself shows nothing of importance, so I assume it's from the pilot, but I haven't seen it since it first aired so I don't know.

Whatever happened between Bob and Jason, I'm pretty annoyed that it cost Bellamy a peaceful (we would hope) life with Clarke, Octavia, and Echo and i'm exponentially annoyed that it cost the viewers the chance to see Bellamy with them.

I've watched the show since the beginning (no Netflix catch-up for me), but for the most part, not followed fandom at all or the BTS stuff.  With the exception of the stuff with Ricky, since that was widely reported.  That said, I do feel for the fans who are so let down emotionally.  For me, this was just one of the many shows I watch, but I can empathize.  Different situations, but I felt quite strongly about Veronica Mars season 4 and the BS "justifications" from the creator/showrunner.  It turned me off of trusting Rob Thomas' judgment in the future, and I am certainly adding Jason Rothenberg to that list.  I think my most favorite actors in the world would have to be in one of Jason's future projects for me to check it out.  Frankly, I'm happy that The 100 prequel has not been ordered to series by the CW.

[paulvdb]

4 hours ago, quarks said:

Or are there other dogs in Sanctum, and if so, is anyone feeding them? Did you think about that, aliens, before suddenly transcending everyone? PETS HAVE NEEDS, ALIENS.

Animals in nature have been taking care of themselves since the beginning of time. Any remaining dogs in Sanctum would just have to learn to take care of themselves.

[AudienceofOne]

That's seven years of my life I'll never get back.

7 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Whelp, that was a finale I guess.

This was a show that existed and that I watched

[tv echo]

Rothenberg (who wrote and directed this episode) confirmed in this Wrap interview that Emori ascended because her mind was still 'alive' in the mind space, even though she physically died...
https://www.thewrap.com/the-100-series-finale-transcend-clarke-griffin/ 

So I assume that she and Murphy both chose to un-transcend at the end.

Rothenberg also said in other media interviews (posted in the Media thread) that discussions are still ongoing about the prequel spinoff, but those discussions are way above his pay grade. He's "just waiting for the phone to ring."

He also said in other post-finale interviews that Lexa was the love of Clarke's life and that Lexa's death was his biggest regret on the series.

He also said a lot of other stuff in his post-finale interviews, some of which I just eyeroll.

Edited October 1, 2020 by tv echo

[tv echo]

7 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

What was that sort of watermarked scene of Clarke at the end of the final pullout shot on the shore?  I don't know what to call it - I'm saying watermarked because it was laid over the shore pullout in a transparent way.  Was this a callback to some scene of Clarke from the pilot to artificially bring this all full circle?  All I could see was that she was definitely clean and her hair was pulled back and orderly as she was smudging something with her left hand?  Was this her back on the Ark?  Otherwise, the scene itself shows nothing of importance, so I assume it's from the pilot, but I haven't seen it since it first aired so I don't know.

Rothenberg explained this last shot in his post-finale interview with ComicBook.com...

Quote

There was that powerful little touch -- that was nothing of my doing, that our editor, Jeff Granzow, did -- where the very last shot, as we pull back above our heroes on the beach, is superimposed against the very first shot of Clarke on the floor of her cell drawing, and the whole full circle of it, closing the book on it. When I first saw that, when I first watched his editor's cut, I was like, "Holy..." That blew me away and I obviously kept it in the show.

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by tv echo

[Lady Calypso]

7 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

But Madi did not choose to "untranscend" and come back to Clarke?  Or was she not able to?  Because of the state of her mind when she transcended?  I mean, Emori was in the chip and she was able to transcend and untranscend.

I don't know if she was there at the end (I don't think she was) but Alien Lexa did tell Clarke that Madi had been talking to her so she's most likely fine....but maybe chose to stay a glowing gold ball? The issue has always been Madi not being around people her age so staying transcended might allow her to still be friends with the other kid glowing gold balls? 

It was a weird series finale. I really thought JR said that there'd be no aliens. But, lo and behold, ALIENS! There WERE some nice moments, like Murphy/Emori's mindspace scene and Raven and Octavia actually saving the day. And, hell, even the final scene was very nice. But it still had a lot of moments that made me think that this season, in general, wasn't worth it. 

Like....this entire series was apparently building up to aliens deciding the fate of humanity. And, furthermore, the human race can't even be repopulated. How's that for hope and growth and change? And yes, the issue that Clarke's the ONLY one to not transcend because she took the test. What. The. Actual. Fuck. Clarke may make a lot of bad choices and her decisions this season have been odd, but she was right in calling out Alien Lexa, who didn't even seem to give a shit. 

It was nice to see Octavia really help save humanity. After all the growth that SHE'S gone through, it was very deserving. It was good to hear her talk about Bellamy but I'm perpetually annoyed that Bob Morley wasn't brought back. They literally could have filmed a quick scene with Octavia, at least, before he left or got fired or whatever happened (at this point, I don't particularly care because the show is over and done with and these people can move on with their lives). 

Miller and Jackson had a nice scene together but, once again, apparently the actors or the show itself is allergic to two men kissing onscreen. C'mon, JUST A HUG? Ridiculous. 

And how come animals don't transcend? What did they ever do to you, aliens?!?!

The Murphy/Emori stuff was powerful. I didn't think she would die so I was surprised when they legit killed her off. But then they both transcended because Murphy put her drive in his head and that was all for nothing...much like how this entire season has been.

I did laugh very hard at Cadogan's death. Sheidheda's was more anticlimatic because it should have happened ten episodes ago. 

7 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

 Was this a callback to some scene of Clarke from the pilot to artificially bring this all full circle?

It was a shot of the very first scene of the pilot, where Clarke was drawing on the ground in her cell. Probably just an artistic thing to showcase the first and last scenes of the series in one shot.

 

[Taryn74]

8 hours ago, sweetandsour said:

But Madi did not choose to "untranscend" and come back to Clarke?  Or was she not able to?  Because of the state of her mind when she transcended?

"Lexa" told Clarke that Madi knew Clarke wouldn't want her to have to live out her days with no one her own age around. That's why she chose to stay transcended. Kudos to Madi for her strength in that choice.

Gotta admit Clarke's yeah, well, what's your point? shrug when "Lexa" chastised her for killing Cadogan during his test made me laugh. Clarke often annoys me a great deal, but she is who she is.

Okay, I didn't hate the last scene even though it had shades of the LOST ending (which I did hate with a fiery passion). It was nice and touching that our favorite regulars would choose to continue to live - sort of - so that Clarke wouldn't be doomed to years on earth alone. But for the love of all that is holy and good, Jason, you couldn't write in that those who came back could choose to have one person who had previously died (and thus didn't even have the option of transcendence) come back to this quasi life, and bring Bellamy back for one final scene? He could have been there for Echo or Octavia, been friendly and at peace toward Clarke without being overly emotionally attached to her (because she lost that right) and gave us some sort of comfort and final wrap up for Bellamy's character. But no. You couldn't even give us that. Eff you. You just cemented my decision to NOT watch the prequel if it gets greenlighted. Fool me once!

[KittenPokerCheater]

In the closed captioning at the end, 

Emori:  Wow, look at all the fish!

I won't be watching the prequel, but anyway I don't like prequels very much.  What's the point?  You know where it ends up.

With NY come-on happening, I wonder if any of the cast members are contractually bound stay silent for awhile. I hope they will spill the tea though.

Madi could have un-transitioned with whatsisname she was flirting with.  

I just realized that the 100 was basically a homo-sapiens snuff film.

[quarks]

6 hours ago, paulvdb said:

Animals in nature have been taking care of themselves since the beginning of time. Any remaining dogs in Sanctum would just have to learn to take care of themselves.

Assuming none of them were in cages or aquariums at the time.

46 minutes ago, tv echo said:

He also said in other post-finale interviews that Lexa was the love of Clarke's life and that Lexa's death was his biggest regret on the series.

The problem is, we didn't really see this on the show. 

We saw:

Clarke and Lexa meet, with an instant attraction, and then, visually, Lexa starting to lead Clarke down various dark paths (there's a great shot in season two where Lexa visibly leads Clarke down into a tunnel - or the underworld - in a visual callback to multiple paintings/illustrations of people descending into hell).

Lexa abandoning Clarke at Mount Weather.

Clarke abandoning everyone for three months to hide in the woods.

Lexa and Clarke spending a couple of weeks together.

Clarke getting ready to leave Lexa - sadly, sure, but willingly, unwilling to put her people at risk for Lexa. (After she had been willing to put her people at risk for Bellamy in the previous season - granted, that was partly as a strategic move to ensure that she would still have an inside person in Mount Weather, but still.) 

Lexa getting shot.

Occasional mentions of Lexa afterwards.

We also saw:

Clarke cutting off ties to her mother and risking jail/exile/death for her father.

Clarke risking her life to ensure that Raven, Bellamy, Monty, Harper, Murphy - and to a lesser extent Emori and Echo - would live.

Clarke spending three whole seasons going MADI MADI MADI MADI and being willing to doom all of her former friends/people to keep Madi safe to the point of shooting the person described in canon as her best friend, and nearly dooming all of humanity to extinction without transcendence in this episode. 

Clarke imaging Monty, not Lexa, as her savior in the Josephine/Clarke headspace.

Josephine, who had the advantage of being in Clarke's head, referencing numerous characters not named Lexa as more important to Clarke. 

You don't have to be part of the shipping wars to see that in canon, Clarke has had stronger emotional ties to at least one (Madi) and arguably up to seven others (her father, her mother, Raven, Bellamy, Monty, Wells and even Finn), and that in canon, Clarke frequently risked her life to save multiple people and never once did this for Lexa. You also don't have to be part of the shipping wars to see that in canon, Clarke was more emotionally devastated by the deaths of Finn, the Mount Weather people, and her mother than she was about Lexa's death, with multiple scenes this season alone showing her grieving her mother.  Is it also canon that Clarke fell in love with Lexa? Absolutely, yes. Was some of what I mentioned - specifically the Monty bit - more about actor availability than Clarke's feelings? Again, absolutely yes. But you cannot claim, especially after three seasons of MADI MADI MADI, that Lexa was the love of Clarke's life. A love of Clarke's life, sure. The love, not so much.

Unless you are still flinching from the fan response to Lexa's death.

3 hours ago, Lady Calypso said:

Miller and Jackson had a nice scene together but, once again, apparently the actors or the show itself is allergic to two men kissing onscreen. C'mon, JUST A HUG? Ridiculous. 

That was a bit weird, and I don't think it was the actors - according to everyone, the actors came up with the idea of a Miller/Jackson relationship, and Sachin Sachel has been pretty vocal about wanting to see more queer representation on TV. I also don't think this was the CW or the WB, who have allowed men to kiss on their other shows.

So, not to add fuel to the JR fire here, but I think this one does come down to JR. And, well, it's just weird. He went out of his way to bring Lexa back and try to convince us that Lexa was the love of his life, and to assure us that the four remaining canonically queer characters (Clarke, Niylah, Jackson and Miller) all made it to the Happy Beach, even though in canon there was no real reason for Jackson and Miller to join the others on the beach instead of staying transcended, the way Madi did. In canon, they weren't close with Clarke, and although the same thing could definitely be said for Hope and Jordan, Hope presumably wanted to stay with Octavia and Echo (who presumably wanted to stay with Raven, Emori and Murphy), and we did get some rushed scenes suggesting that Jordan wanted to stay with Hope. So I could sorta buy that. Same with Gaia (friends with Clarke) and Indra (wanting to stay with her daughter.)

So to go through all that just to Not Kill Off Those Gays, and yet not let the actors kiss on screen....yeah, that was a bit weird. 

[NUguy514]

4 hours ago, tv echo said:

There was that powerful little touch -- that was nothing of my doing, that our editor, Jeff Granzow, did -- where the very last shot, as we pull back above our heroes on the beach, is superimposed against the very first shot of Clarke on the floor of her cell drawing, and the whole full circle of it, closing the book on it. When I first saw that, when I first watched his editor's cut, I was like, "Holy..." That blew me away and I obviously kept it in the show.

Oh, Jay-jay, no, hon.  That superimposition was so terribly done that I genuinely thought the editors just fucked up the last shot.  So glad you found it powerful, though.  Good luck with every future project I won't be watching.

[NeenerNeener]

I wouldn't be allowed to transcend because I cheered when Indra vaporized ShitHeada. 

All in all, that finale seemed kind of rushed and nonsensical to me. This isn't a show I'm going to go out of my way to ever watch again.

[AudienceofOne]

At this point I'm just glad the whole thing is over and I can put it behind me and never have to find myself watching another new season of The 100 and wondering why when it's been a bad fall downhill since Season 3. But if I can take a moment to gripe a little, this episode just MADE NO SENSE.

So Cardigan finally found his aliens (what was it btw that Becca saw that freaked her out so much?) Clarke came along and killed him and then the aliens said, "sorry the test has already begun, the whole of humanity is being judged". This despite the fact that humanity clearly didn't want to 'transcend' (sorry that is so stupid, I can't even type it without laughing). And then the test involves them looking at the person in front of them - somebody that humanity did not choose and who clearly didn't want the test - and then going, "nah, you're not good enough on account of all the genocide so now we're going to commit genocide".

Clarke says, "Sure I'm not worthy so just kill me and let the other ones live" and the aliens basically say that it's not a choice and it's all or nothing. The whole of humanity 'transcends' or the whole of humanity dies.

And then after they change their mind and 'transcend' them, Clarke is excluded despite them literally saying that it was all or nothing. 

And then a bunch of Clarke's friends decide they'd rather live out their human lives and die and Clarke says, "You mean 'transcendence' is a choice?
And Lexa alien says, "Of course", despite the entire episode being structured around the idea that IT'S NOT A CHOICE.

I mean be badly written, kill characters off because your showrunner chucked a tantrum, sacrifice your show for the potential of a trashy prequel, and destroy all your own mythology, but at least make it internally consistent within episodes.  

[tennisgurl]

I guess the most I can say about this finale was...it sure was a thing I watched. Its so weird, this show has always been about pushing the limits, going big, even when it failed it failed BIG, but this seems so half assed, even with the fate of humanity on the line. We got some speeches, we got some fights, we got some annoying smug extradimensional alien or whatever to come in and change everything up, for an episode that had had big stakes, it felt like it was all just a rush to the finish line because everyone involved was over it and wanted to be done. 

I would have liked to see more references to the shows history, maybe some references to long dead characters like Finn, Jasper, Wells, Kane, etc even if they cant get the actors back, even if it was nice seeing Lexa and Abby at least. It kind of didn't feel like a big series finale, it just felt kind of dull and rote, like it was just any other season finale and not the end of the entire show, just checking boxes so they can get to the end. Its been seven seasons, I think we deserve more than this. I guess as far as endings go, it wasn't awful or anything, there were some things that I liked. I liked the stuff with Emori and Murphy, as always, even if I was already getting pissed about Emori dying and Murphy dying with her, I am glad that Raven got to play a big part in the finale (and stood up for Clarke), I liked that Octavia gave the big finale speech that convinced everyone to lay down their arms, which I thought was a nice way to bookend her character (when she got to Earth she learned to fight to find her strength, used that strength to do terrible things, and she got back to Earth by showing strength in not fighting) and finish her redemption arc, and Clarke killing Bill right in the middle of his test was hilarious, as was her refusing to apologize. He was just shot in the back like the nonentity and pathetic loser that he was. The ending itself...was I guess it could be worse. The main characters are going to finally get some peace, while the rest of humanity went and got uploaded to the cloud or whatever, which I guess means that humans are technically gone when the main cast dies, but will live on in tiny balls of light in the cloud. I would have preferred if everyone passed the test but instead of transcending just tried to rebuild their society as a mix of the different cultures all together and trying to do better, but I guess it could have been worse. I am glad at least that everyone decided to come and keep Clarke company after everything she did for them, even if the show has its massive hate on for poor Clarke. Most importantly, the dog survived, and thats what I really wanted. 

Poor Bellamy, he actually joined the one cult that was apparently right about their crazy mission, only to die right before uploading, killed by his best friend for the daughter who died in a few days anyway and didn't want to leave the cloud to be with her. What a huge massive fuck you to the character, even by this shows standards thats needlessly cruel. Yeah apparently Bellamy was supposed to be back in the last scene, but all of this reeks of JR and his petty feud with Bob, its just such a terrible ending for a character that has been arguably the male lead since episode one. 

So the whole show ends with Clarke having to take a test given by some smug dickhead aliens huh? Thats what this whole show was leading up to? I know that the whole "what do we do to survive and how do we justify what we do even if its awful and where is the line when it comes to survival" is a major theme of the show, but having some stupid alien show up to be judge, jury, and executioner to the whole species just seems so out of nowhere and so on the nose, it just doesn't fit the show. Also screw these smug asshole higher beings, running around the universe judging people and then killing them when they dont live up to your standards. You apparently truck around the universe basing an entire species worth on one person, and if they dont pass your test, the whole species has to pay the price. No waiting to see if they develop, no asking the rest of the species they're thoughts, for all they know these people dont even know what they're up to, they just all have to die based on what these guys say. What gives them the right to judge and to do any of this? You think Clarke is a monster for committing genocide? Well what the hell do you call what you did to those other aliens!? At least Clarke did that to save other people, they apparently just did it because of some massive ass god complex and a love of giving smug speeches about how much everyone who isn't them sucks. I just hate these sorts of characters, these smug condescending asshole omniscient higher beings who love to do nothing better than to sit around and tell people how much they suck and how flawed and awful what they do is, which is pretty easy to do when you also have god like powers and the only problem you ever have is coming up with especially long winded speeches about hubris or violence or sacrifice or whatever, so its easy to be all high and mighty and smug. Then they always end up doing even worse things to people all the while saying how its their judgement or punishment or whatever, while not noticing the irony of them doing the exact thing that they accuse people of doing but without all of the mitigating circumstances. Someone should just punch them all in their stupid smug omniscient faces. 

Why does this show hate its main character so much? Clarke might have done bad things and made hard choices, but it really was because she thought it was for the best, and it clearly weighs on her, but apparently she alone has to bear the weight of humanities sins, even being the only person not allowed to be uploaded. I dont get it, especially when she has tried so hard to do right, and gone through so much, especially on a show where pretty much everyone has done awful things, why is she always singled out? 

At least Indra FINALLY killed Sheidheda, which she should have done ages ago! He almost doomed humanity by running around like some bloodthirsty five year old on a sugar high, what a twit. The season just should have never bothered with him. 

A rather sad whimpering end to a show that I once really loved, it had some very high highs and very low lows, but while this episode has been rather aggressively lame, I dont regret watching it, even playing catch up when I dropped the show for awhile. I can at least still have my memories of when this show was good, even when watching characters like Bellamy will probably just make me sad, knowing his pathetic ending. Still, I dont regret watching the show, I still have a lot of fond memories of it, I found a lot of actors that I really love that I would love to follow to their next project, and I have found a showrunner I will now avoid like this season has avoided continuity. No thank you to the spin-off that will probably never be, and I have no desire to commit to a show that is run by a guy who bases creative choices on petty vendettas and clearly cant stick the landing, too excited about moving onto the next show than finishing this one to satisfy its audience.  

[ketose]

4 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

At this point I'm just glad the whole thing is over and I can put it behind me and never have to find myself watching another new season of The 100 and wondering why when it's been a bad fall downhill since Season 3. But if I can take a moment to gripe a little, this episode just MADE NO SENSE.

So Cardigan finally found his aliens (what was it btw that Becca saw that freaked her out so much?) Clarke came along and killed him and then the aliens said, "sorry the test has already begun, the whole of humanity is being judged". This despite the fact that humanity clearly didn't want to 'transcend' (sorry that is so stupid, I can't even type it without laughing). And then the test involves them looking at the person in front of them - somebody that humanity did not choose and who clearly didn't want the test - and then going, "nah, you're not good enough on account of all the genocide so now we're going to commit genocide".

Clarke says, "Sure I'm not worthy so just kill me and let the other ones live" and the aliens basically say that it's not a choice and it's all or nothing. The whole of humanity 'transcends' or the whole of humanity dies.

And then after they change their mind and 'transcend' them, Clarke is excluded despite them literally saying that it was all or nothing. 

And then a bunch of Clarke's friends decide they'd rather live out their human lives and die and Clarke says, "You mean 'transcendence' is a choice?
And Lexa alien says, "Of course", despite the entire episode being structured around the idea that IT'S NOT A CHOICE.

I mean be badly written, kill characters off because your showrunner chucked a tantrum, sacrifice your show for the potential of a trashy prequel, and destroy all your own mythology, but at least make it internally consistent within episodes.  

This is what sucks about a lot of scifi / fantasy lately, and I'll leave out examples because they'll be a huge fight. Writers seem to think that because it's not "real" they can write *anything* they want. But the constraints are having to MAKE SENSE. It's easy in the real world, because everyone knows the rules. In fantasy, you have to make an effort to be true to your universe. One example from a good show is Continuum (starring Richard Harmon). They did a show about time travel, but they only traveled 5 times in the series and constructed a set of rules and consequences that made sense.

The other problem is that unless you're doing a complete laser light show of a series, most people follow a scifi series for character development. This was also lacking in The 100, where the plot had far too much of a role in defining people's motivations.

Ironically, with so few humans left, a majority may actually have been ready for the Last War / Test. I would have been interested in the aliens putting 6 or so characters on trial (Cadogan, Clarke, Raven, Octavia, Murphy, Shitheda) and using that to make a decision. Becca's biography has been retconned beyond all recognition, so who knows why she does anything. These aliens also don't do much research as they were surprised by everything about humans after they transacted.

[AudienceofOne]

It doesn't matter how ridiculous your mythology is as long as it's internally consistent. I mean they ripped everything else from Stargate but they left behind the one thing that made SG1 a great show - its strict adherence to its own internal laws. 

[ketose]

1 minute ago, AudienceofOne said:

It doesn't matter how ridiculous your mythology is as long as it's internally consistent. I mean they ripped everything else from Stargate but they left behind the one thing that made SG1 a great show - its strict adherence to its own internal laws. 

Stargate survived for years as basically an anthology, where each planet represented an aspect of humanity given a different set of conditions. The mythology came later, and it was generally well written. Also, there was good character development.

[AudienceofOne]

SG1 may have been an anthology show but I disagree that its mythology and worldbuilding came later. There was a lot in there about the rules of the Stargate, the Goa'uld, the Jaffa. There are 'micro' and 'macro' levels to a show. On a macro level anything can be handwaved as long as the micro level is meticulous. If it isn't, then that's when your suspension of disbelief crumbles.

So we can easily accept that e.g. we found a magic ring in the sands of Egypt that can transport us to other planets in our galaxy along a network that was built by parasitic aliens who took human hosts as slaves - as long as the rules relating to those aliens and using that ring are clear and consistent. Which for Stargate SG1 was one of that show's greatest strengths. Copy and paste that onto a different show and it just looks ridiculous. 

It's true that ascension came later but that was well-developed. SG1 canvassed religious themes but it never veered nonsensically into religiosity like The 100 often did. And this ending was the worst example of that. Humanity went to heaven because Clarke sacrificed herself for our sins. Except she kind of didn't and her comment that she bore it so they didn't have to made zero sense in this context. Why was she the receptacle of humanity's sin? 

[dippydee]

Well....that happened....

Things I liked:

1. Indra finally killing Sheidheda. I guess the reason she took this long is she was just waiting for the giant cannon thing because An ordinary gun wasn’t good enough.

And that’s about it. Ok the ending on the beach was nice. Everyone happy and together and Emori and Echo were alive so yay! But those people don’t know how to be peaceful. I give them 10 minutes before Raven figures out how to use the stones to get to other planets and they travel the universe picking  fights with other aliens. Or teaming up with them to bring down the judgy transcendence aliens once they realise those guys basically exterminated humanity thanks to their ‘join the hive mind or die’ Borg-Like mentality. 
 

I stopped watching after season 4 and did a massive catch up for the end of the show and damn it went off the rails. There was so much potential but it was never realised. The show was best on a small scale with a smaller cast, they added far too many people I just didn’t give a crap about and took screen time from the original characters who I was actually interested in. It’s a real shame. It was a show that could have been so much more in the hands of competent showrunners.

 

 

[tennisgurl]

When Bill and then Clarke showed up at the magical CGI pier for their test, I swear, I just expected this exchange: 

Alien: "What Is Your Name?" 

Clarke: "Clarke Griffin." 

Alien: "What is your Quest?" 

Clarke: "I seek to get to the end of this show." 

Alien: "What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?"

[ketose]

1 hour ago, AudienceofOne said:

SG1 may have been an anthology show but I disagree that its mythology and worldbuilding came later. There was a lot in there about the rules of the Stargate, the Goa'uld, the Jaffa. There are 'micro' and 'macro' levels to a show. On a macro level anything can be handwaved as long as the micro level is meticulous. If it isn't, then that's when your suspension of disbelief crumbles.

So we can easily accept that e.g. we found a magic ring in the sands of Egypt that can transport us to other planets in our galaxy along a network that was built by parasitic aliens who took human hosts as slaves - as long as the rules relating to those aliens and using that ring are clear and consistent. Which for Stargate SG1 was one of that show's greatest strengths. Copy and paste that onto a different show and it just looks ridiculous. 

It's true that ascension came later but that was well-developed. SG1 canvassed religious themes but it never veered nonsensically into religiosity like The 100 often did. And this ending was the worst example of that. Humanity went to heaven because Clarke sacrificed herself for our sins. Except she kind of didn't and her comment that she bore it so they didn't have to made zero sense in this context. Why was she the receptacle of humanity's sin? 

The thing that turns me off on any show is when "prophesy says" something because it completely eliminates world building. The 100 kind of got to that point, especially when they never answered why Becca's magic chip popped out the code immediately. She's also deus of machina as she created everything advanced before the show went to Bardo.

It's amazing that a show like The 100 managed to get to 100 episodes on the CW. It's also funny how hard and fast it broke away from the original YA novels. Those books focus on Clarke and Bellamy on Earth, where the series is like The Walking Dead, going from place to place, destroying everyone and trying to find a new home.

[foxfreakinmulder]

What kind of fuckery was that!?!?! You killed Emori and let these useless nobody cares about characters live.  

I don't understand how Emori could be at the beach at the end if she was dead and only in Murphy's head, could anyone else see her?

Since when did this show become about aliens? So stupid, this final season was a waste and didn't make much sense.

So now you can planet hop (that's what Clarke and dog was doing right?) and not lose your memories like Hope did after she stabbed Octavia?

I agree it should've been Bellamy that showed up for Clark instead of Lexa.

This show had an interesting premise when it started but really lost it's way. Too be fair it happens to a lot of shows, I'm looking at you Lost.

I will not be watching the prequel.

Murphy ended up being my favorite character!

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

So.  That happened.  It's finally over !

So Emori transcends from the mind drive, and then untranscends .... getting a whole new body in the process.
Raven untranscends and somehow still ends up with a leg brace.  That seems like a big FU from the space aliens.

Where did the axes come from exactly ? And the clothing ?  Because they looked brand new.

Olivia basically uses a quote from the movie 'War Games' to try and end the battle -- the only way to win is not to play.

I had to laugh at Shitheda getting 'sploded by Indra.  That was SOOOO satisfying.

[ketose]

2 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

So.  That happened.  It's finally over !

So Emori transcends from the mind drive, and then untranscends .... getting a whole new body in the process.
Raven untranscends and somehow still ends up with a leg brace.  That seems like a big FU from the space aliens.

Where did the axes come from exactly ? And the clothing ?  Because they looked brand new.

Olivia basically uses a quote from the movie 'War Games' to try and end the battle -- the only way to win is not to play.

I had to laugh at Shitheda getting 'sploded by Indra.  That was SOOOO satisfying.

I thought about War Games when I heard Octavia's speech, but I forgot when I got around to posting. JR ripped off all kinds of things for this finale.

There's a company called Transcend that makes SSD and USB flash drives. I'm thinking they should come out with a line of mind drives. Transcend death with Transcend!

[SourK]

LMAO, the end of The 100 is that everyone gets raptured except Clarke.

I liked seeing Lexa and Abby come back, and I liked that Lexa did a callback to the whole blood demands blood thing, which I had forgotten about, but which was a nice illustration of how Clarke has changed for the worse.

I thought it was kind of cheap that the aliens were like, "Never mind, you can transcend" after only a moderate number of people died, and that all of the main characters decided to come die on Earth with Clarke so she wouldn't be alone. It would have made more sense to me if it was one person who really loved her but, other than Madi, everyone who really loved her was already dead. Of the people who are left, I guess it might have made sense for Raven or Octavia to come back for her. But not everyone.

 

[dippydee]

2 hours ago, SourK said:

would have made more sense to me if it was one person who really loved her but, other than Madi, everyone who really loved her was already dead. Of the people who are left, I guess it might have made sense for Raven or Octavia to come back for her. But not everyone.

Yeah I don’t think they’re all necessarily back for Clarke specifically, I mean I can totally buy Raven and Octavia coming back for her (especially Raven) but I assumed Levitt, Echo and probably Indra came back because Octavia did and Hope came back for Echo and her Auntie O, so that meant Jordan came back too. And Murphy and Emori are far far too pretty to remain glowing light trees so they came back too (also I assume they didn’t want to be separated from Raven because OT3 foreva!!!). Not entirely sure why Gaia, Miller and Jackson came back but hey it’s nice to see them too.

[ketose]

I think there are 2 possible outcomes:

The group lives for another 60 years, resenting Clarke and each other for the majority of it.

They get killed by bears or something else in the first 6 months.

[Guest]

11 hours ago, dippydee said:

Yeah I don’t think they’re all necessarily back for Clarke specifically, I mean I can totally buy Raven and Octavia coming back for her (especially Raven) but I assumed Levitt, Echo and probably Indra came back because Octavia did and Hope came back for Echo and her Auntie O, so that meant Jordan came back too. And Murphy and Emori are far far too pretty to remain glowing light trees so they came back too (also I assume they didn’t want to be separated from Raven because OT3 foreva!!!). Not entirely sure why Gaia, Miller and Jackson came back but hey it’s nice to see them too.

We have aliens that tests a single representative of other species and transcends or annihilates the entirety of a species based a pass/fail grade.  Its entirely possible that they just didn't want to be part of that hive mind.  I wouldn't.  But it is pretty sad that they kind of ruined the show and relationships enough (or never built up some of them) that its kind of unbelievable that they would all descend so they would live out their lives together.

I said at some point in the very beginning of this season that I didn't understand why the different factions didn't retreat to the four corners of the planet if they couldn't get along and live peaceably rather than Clarke and Wonkru trying to force everyone to get along.

Apparently its because the entirety of humanity needs to be wiped from existence before the remnants of Spacekru and their closest allies can let go of their need to lead or fix their messes or whatever.

5 hours ago, ketose said:

I think there are 2 possible outcomes:

The group lives for another 60 years, resenting Clarke and each other for the majority of it.

They get killed by bears or something else in the first 6 months.

A third.  Other sentient life has evolved and the fish are sentient.  They have a nice meal, to celebrate their reunion, that turns out to be the beloved spawn of the ruler of all fishes.  And then the planet gets destroyed.

[ketose]

1 hour ago, ParadoxLost said:

We have aliens that tests a single representative of other species and transcends or annihilates the entirety of a species based a pass/fail grade.  Its entirely possible that they just didn't want to be part of that hive mind.  I wouldn't.  But it is pretty sad that they kind of ruined the show and relationships enough (or never built up some of them) that its kind of unbelievable that they would all descend so they would live out their lives together.

I said at some point in the very beginning of this season that I didn't understand why the different factions didn't retreat to the four corners of the planet if they couldn't get along and live peaceably rather than Clarke and Wonkru trying to force everyone to get along.

Apparently its because the entirety of humanity needs to be wiped from existence before the remnants of Spacekru and their closest allies can let go of their need to lead or fix their messes or whatever.

A third.  Other sentient life has evolved and the fish are sentient.  They have a nice meal, to celebrate their reunion, that turns out to be the beloved spawn of the ruler of all fishes.  And then the planet gets destroyed.

By Clarke.

[CooperTV]

19 minutes ago, ketose said:

By Clarke.

Wouldn't be the first time. Because of her inaction in season 5 finale, Earth had been already destroyed. At least JRoth finally admitted she's not a hero (even though he had been trying to convince himself otherwise for years).

[dippydee]

2 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

We have aliens that tests a single representative of other species and transcends or annihilates the entirety of a species based a pass/fail grade.  Its entirely possible that they just didn't want to be part of that hive mind.  I wouldn't.

But they’re so special and shiny no other species that forcibly ‘evolved’ decided to devolve ever[/sarcasm] For real though I wouldn’t want to be a part of a hive mind with those judgy jerks either. 

2 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

But it is pretty sad that they kind of ruined the show and relationships enough (or never built up some of them) that its kind of unbelievable that they would all descend so they would live out their lives together.

Yep. One of the things I did like in the finale was the couple of Hope/Echo moments they snuck in there. After we didn’t get any reaction from Echo about Gabriel dying I was happy they actually remembered that Echo and Hope spent 5 years together and she was like one of only 3 people Hope had any real relationship with. That was the problem with the show getting as bloated as it did. No real time to let relationships build and grow. They just kept chucking more and more new and uninteresting people into the mix and letting them suck up all the screen time.