S02.E14: Bodyguard of Lies

[maraleia]

 

While preparing for battle, Clarke and Lexa have a heated discussion. Desperate for help, Raven has Wick summoned to the engineering room. Jaha and Murphy encounter a perilous roadblock. Meanwhile, at Mount Weather, Bellamy is in a race against time.

 

[ottoDbusdriver]

Is that your field ?  No, it's mine field.   </snark>

 

Jaha's little field trip has now lost all their weapons, their water -- and now a few redshirts.  But having started out with 12 men and 12 guns (as shown in the previouslies) plus Murphy and Jaha, their should have been 12 people left, not four after the minefield explosions.  Where did everyone else go ?  Did half of Jaha's followers simply die or head back towards Camp Jaha ? Plus, how are these guys not dead from dehydration -- they are in a desert !!  And Jaha gets a sign from the gods about the City of Light -- keep the baby, faith .... ummm, keep the faith, baby !!  What exactly was that reflecting the light -- turns out its an old solar farm, with the panels point away from the sun.  Who would have built a massive solar farm somwhere north of New York -- BEFORE -- the nuclear war ?  Murphy accidentally wakes up a drone which surprises all of them and it heads away from them across a lake that just happens to have a rowboat of convenience parked on the water's edge.  Jaha rowed his boat ashore, hallelujah.

 

Hold on, the acid fog can only be deployed in the vicinity of Mt. Weather ?  That doesn't play with Season 1 where the acid fog showed up in the middle of nowhere near the sex bunker and enveloped the entire forest, which was a days walk from Mt. Weather.  And now, somehow, Clarke knows the limits of the acid fog and has had the combined Grounder army halt at the edge of the acid fog's about a mile or two from the mountain.

 

How many days has it been since the last episode ?  It seems like it has only been a day, yet somehow the entire grounder army marched from D.C. to Mt. Weather and brought a lot of stuff with them.  That tent that Lexa and Clarke were in was HUGE !!!

Finally, Bellamy gets busted by Mt. Weather security.  And they saw his face so they know who the mole is inside Mt. Weather, but Bellamy just knocks out the guard and steals his keycard.  And they know he's been using Lovejoy's security card, but once that guard wakes up, that keycard will be invalidated.

 

Raven decides she's going to reverse engineer the acid fog.  Oh come on, a chemical solution that never existed before the fall of civilization that scientists and engineers worked on for years to develop -- but Raven will re-work it in about a hour or so.  And Raven is totally creaming her jeans (to borrow a lyric from the 80s group 'Rough Trade') with Wick and all that science talk -- they will bang later for sure.  After all, she is single again. Wait a minute, Raven is an engineering tech -- how is she all of a sudden a chemistry major as well to the point that she knows what Wick is saying is not jibberish ?

 

Lexa thinks Octavia will be a security leak about the foreknowledge of the missile strike so she arranges to have Octavia killed, but Clarke figures it out and saves her life.

 

And then confronts Lexa about it -- if they keep this up, these two will never bang.  But then they make up and kiss -- finally !!!  Bom - chicka - wow - wow !!  But Clarke pulls back, eventually, and says she's just no ready to be with anyone.  So, does this officially make Clarke bisexual or just bi-curious ?

 

250 people died in the missile attack -- really ? That seems like a pretty large number considering the missile warhead was so small, and they only showed under a dozen dead bodies.  If 250 people died, there should have been bodies and body parts everywhere.

 

Raven is walking just fine as if she doesn't have one leg with no feeling in it, in fact she pivots on that bum leg walking into the lab to make out with Kyle ?  And since it's time to go to war, this means its time for Raven to bang someone.  And it's so cliche that they just swipe all their work off the table and screw on it. And have all of Raven's cuts healed, since it's only been a couple of days since she was sliced and diced at the D.C. grounder camp.  And its confirmed once Raven whips her shirt off that she has no cuts on of her triceps which previously had a big cuts in both of them.  And she has no cuts on her stomach.  In fact she doesn't even have any bandages anywhere -- she should at least have one where she was shot on her right hip.  Hello ?  Continuity guys ?  Anyone ? Anyone ?  Bueller ?

 

Bellamy deactivates the acid fog, and Raven sends up the flare to notify Clarke that the acid fog is disabled. Unfortunately it's all a con, the Mt. Weatherites faked out Bellamy and fed him false info and then killed his radio connection to Raven.  Even if Bellamy could get out a message, Raven and Kyle are too busy banging to answer the call.  But Bellamy has a Plan B by blowing up an oxygen tank.   Ummm, about that oxygen tank explosion, that's not how that works.  You need fuel to burn with the oxygen -- oxygen doesn't burn on its own.  Because of .... science.

 

Here's a quick question -- did Clarke swing by Camp Jaha and pick up more frequency generators that Raven was supposed to make in order to control the reapers ?  Because I haven't seen any reapers as they get closer to Mt. Weather.  Heck, Lincoln wandered all the way from Mt. Weather to D.C. on his own and just happened to run into Octavia while he was feeding on a dead grounder.

[Agent Dark]

Well this show delivers.  I'm going all in on the Clexa ship.  Yay for having a queer (bisexual one at that!) leading female character. 

[Carrie Ann]

Well, that was certainly a sweeps episode! Kissing and violence and things blowing up! Loved it.

 

I LOVE that they went there with Clarke and Lexa. It felt very earned to me, and very real. Not sure how long Lexa will be on this show though, and that makes me a little nervous.

 

I loved the conflict between Clarke and Octavia too. I am basically always on Octavia's side, because I'm a softie at heart, and she's so emotion-forward (despite her badassery), so I appreciated that though Indra defended Clarke and Lexa's decision, O was still not sold. At the same time, I was relieved to hear Clarke tell Lexa that denying her emotions and ignoring her feelings about things could make her a weaker leader. It was a fairly short arc--this Clarke turns off her emotions thing--but I'm glad we went through it and are maybe out the other side. I still think she will continue to pay in various ways for everything she's done since killing Finn, though. She's certainly lost the trust of several of "her" people.

 

I'm so on-board the Raven/Wick train, sweet Lord. They have great chemistry and a fun dynamic. And I absolutely loved Wick just telling her that he was in for this, but wouldn't play games. She shut him down for now, but the ball is in her court.

 

Also, when did John Murphy end up in my Top 5 characters on this show? Every line was perfect, and Richard Harmon is doing really good work this season. He sells so much of what's going on underneath the sarcasm, just with microexpressions.

 

Finally--I don't understand at all how Bellamy wasn't burned when the flames shot him out of that pipe. His hair should have been singed at least, right?

[kdm07]

I just...honestly I ended up giggling with giddiness about Clarke and Lexa. It was hot but it wasn't just a PSA or done for sweeps (as confirmed by the executive producer on Twitter). Go on you two, get all the loving you can get because you might not get another chance (you too Raven).

[absnow54]

Also, when did John Murphy end up in my Top 5 characters on this show? Every line was perfect

Oh man, his dry comment about wanting to wash the rest of their deceased travel companion off him was hilarious. That whole story line is from another planet. I know it's dystopia and a ravaged Earth and whatnot, but throwing a desert on the East Coast, when the mid-Atlantic region, thus far, hasn't changed much in ecosystem was just really bizarre. And when they hopped into that row boat with no food or water, and Jaha is so obviously insane and they know it, and they're just following him anyway. More of that, please.

 

I really, really like how the show is handling the fluidity of sexuality. Clarke has feelings for Lexa and it isn't a very special episode. It's just two characters who connect regardless of gender. It's similar to how they handle gender roles, where being a man or a woman has nothing to do with one's ability to lead. It's nice to see a network show be progressive. Too bad nobody watches it.

Edited February 26, 2015 by absnow54

[In2You]

I just...honestly I ended up giggling with giddiness about Clarke and Lexa. It was hot but it wasn't just a PSA or done for sweeps (as confirmed by the executive producer on Twitter). Go on you two, get all the loving you can get because you might not get another chance (you too Raven).

I wouldnt hang on his word. He's proven he does thing for shock value and buzz. He's also constantly online baiting shippers.

[shrewd.buddha]

The Jaha story is just crazy. And Jaha is crazy. How did he ever become leader of anything?

 

The Clarke+Lexa thing was ... something. But would Clarke be into someone she realizes is a detached killer of friends and family? 

Octavia nailed it when she accused Clarke of being the new Ark Council, deciding who deserves to live and die. 

 

This show started with an interesting premise ... but, for me, it has just become a show about people covered in blood and dirt who kill and kill and kill.

...And gratuitous deaths by land mines, spears, radiation, or mutated bears.... And finding new groups of people to kill and be killed by. 

Edited February 26, 2015 by shrewd.buddha

[kdm07]

I wouldnt hang on his word. He's proven he does thing for shock value and buzz. He's also constantly online baiting shippers.

I don't ship and try to stay away from fandoms so his baiting isn't anything important to me. What was important was that the kiss didn't come out of nowhere and wasn't played for the male POV (as a heterosexual male, I did find it hot but I liked the build up more). As long as they stay true to who Clarke is, I don't care who she ends up with.

[Ceeg]

I wouldnt hang on his word. He's proven he does thing for shock value and buzz. He's also constantly online baiting shippers.

 

Shipper baiting notwithstanding, literally saying on twitter "Yes Clarke is bisexual" seems genuine. It has nothing to do with Lexa or Bellamy or any other ship Clarke could be in.

[maraleia]

Yes Jason Rothenberg confirmed that Clark is bisexual over and over last night and told the haters essentially to fuck off.

I'm glad that they went there especially when last season we had no idea if the LGBT community even existed in this universe.

[Riful]

This episode is definitely one of my favorite. Bellamy was the MVP in it with his frantic attempts at getting the Acid Fog disabled while being chased around. It was great to see him being on the inside give a big pay off, and also see him succeed. However the whole explosion and not even singed by fire bit took a fair share of suspension of disbelief. But hell, I'll roll with it when what I got in return was Bellamy kicking ass.

 

So happy to get more Raven on screen, sadly it was tempered a bit by Wick since I dislike the actor. Her reaction after they had sex was a nice emotional beat that showed her grief over Finn and how she is (not?) dealing with it all at the moment. Sex seems to be something Raven will use to distract herself or feel a human connection when she feels adrift. It was also just great to see the science/engineer side of the group contribute towards the war, instead of it all being about the warriors and fighting.

 

Before this episode I was enjoying the Lexa and Clarke dynamic but after this, it really took me into the area of loving it. That scene in the tent with Clarke all wired up? That was so intense and so good. In those few minutes there was so much great individual character stuff. The discussions of the ethical ramifications of leading and fighting to survive and the involved responsibilities of leadership are just very entertaining to me, and there was a lot of that this episode.

 

This part in particularly stood out to me

Lexa: “The truth is, we must look into the eyes of our warriors and say, ‘Go die for me.’”
Clarke: “If only it were that easy.”
Clarke: “Can we please just get back to the plan(?)”
Lexa: “No”
Lexa: “You could be a leader your people look to, pour their hopes and dreams into. Someone they would fight and die for.”

Clarke: "I never asked for that, I'm just trying to keep us alive"

 

Those few sentences really gives such a great insight in them as characters, particularly Lexa. She views leading as something that you should almost be honored by. You become the vessel that your people pour their hopes and dreams into, and that is responsibility and in a way gift, that she takes very seriously. She did not have a choice in being the Commander going by how the Commander is chosen, but she seems to view the position with reverence and believes it takes precedence over everything else. Even if she has to disregard her own wants and needs, it is worth it for her people. She will shape herself in a manner she thinks will benefit her them the most. It is sort of tragic in a way, but on the other hand it makes for a really interesting character and possible character development. She is in the extreme end when it comes to that question of how much should a leader be guided by their emotions, and if they should allow them self any at all. But she is also willing to listen and adapt at times, instead of staying rigid, which makes the entire thing so much better.

Also I loved how when Clarke was all, "Lexa lets get back to talking about the plan" and Lexa just firmly went "No". Clarke has been in charge for a while and getting increasingly used to being able to have people follow her lead/order others. I don't think at this point in time she can even turn it off. But Lexa is not a guard or someone that she leads. Lexa is an equal and while she might bend when she thinks Clarke is right or give her the benefit of the doubt, she won't back down when she believes Clarke is wrong. I love how she also zeroed in on Clarke's extra worry/guilt about Bellamy and attempted to calm her down while still putting down the truth as she saw it. She doesn't baby Clarke and it makes for some really nice push and pull, and interesting interaction between them.

 

I really also liked how the writers showcased the weakness in Lexa's way of ruling. Because Clarke is more emotionally attached to the people around her, she knew she could trust Octavia to keep quiet. Whereas Lexa's way results in being able to trust no one, and therefore paves the way of a more ruthless approach as trust is a none-existing commodity. Her insistence on distance towards everyone else closes down several paths for her, as she has no proper reading on who the people around her truly are on an emotional level. It was also good to see Clarke stepping a bit back from the path of trying out Lexa's philosophy, and trying to reconcile it with her own. There is a - maybe not happy - better medium between those two extremes, and it is intriguing to see both Clarke and Lexa influence each other to what will most likely be a middle ground. Though I suspect Lexa will always try to keep her distance more, and Clarke will continue to run a little too hot at times when the pressure is high.

Also that scene with Clarke confronting/calling Lexa out, was practically melting my screen. Some really great chemistry, and it was great seeing Lexa fall a part a bit. But the reaction shots of them afterwards, particularly Lexa? A+ facial expressions. They really picked well with Alycia Debnam Carey. Lexa could easily become very unsympathetic and come across as completely cold and ruthless. The character it self has to appear detached and without emotions, but Carey manages to show the cracks so well, and the whirlwind of emotions that simmer underneath. It also helps that the narrative allows us to understand the motives and emotions that drive her more ruthless way of leading. I would actually extend that praise to most of the characters on the show. I think in general the writers are pretty good at allowing us to understand what drives most of the characters, which helps a lot towards making them more 3 dimensional.

On a slightly different note, pretty damn happy also with Clarke, the female lead, being established as a bisexual. Think it is a first on standard (none cable) network channel ? At least for sure in such a show. Just hope the writers and actors won't get much shit for it. I recently joined the twitterverse and were surprised at the amount of Clarke/Bellamy shippers (I honestly never thought of them before). It was quite disheartening to see the writers, actors, bts people etc get so much shit and rage from some members of that shipper base because of Clarke/Lexa. Hopefully it won't get worse than when the promo came out with the kiss. The show people are way more patient than I, with the dusin of tweets they sent out in their attempts to calm them down. I truly hope that they don't listen to those that scream the loudest because it will take away from this show immensely.

Jaha is a character I can't muster any interest in at the moment, and I really dislike the whole Faith theme he got going. Murphy on the other hand has been growing on me this entire season, and his running commentary made the desert scenes so much more barrable. However it made no damn sense for me that Jaha was finding mines with a stick. Like shouldn't he at one point trigger one? They are meant to be pretty pressure sensitive so poking them with a stick just seemed a wee bit suicidal to me.

 

Lastly so far with the show we had the Grounders that represent a low tech society, where as the Mountain Men have stayed pretty much the same technology wise except a few things (though killing gas and fear conditioning mixed with an addictive drug is something we also currently have). I suspect with the City of Light that they will represent a high tech society that has managed to keep developing despite the nuclear apocalypse. They would definitely then provide a different challenge to our group that is used to being in conflict with people they have superior or pretty much equal technology to.

[kdm07]

So happy to get more Raven on screen, sadly it was tempered a bit by Wick since I dislike the actor. Her reaction after they had sex was a nice emotional beat that showed her grief over Finn and how she is (not?) dealing with it all at the moment. Sex seems to be something Raven will use to distract herself or feel a human connection when she feels adrift. It was also just great to see the science/engineer side of the group contribute towards the war, instead of it all being about the warriors and fighting.

I'm not on board with Raven/Wick either since Raven has been all "woe is me" about Finn. We'll see where the writers are going with this.

 

Jaha is a character I can't muster any interest in at the moment, and I really dislike the whole Faith theme he got going. Murphy on the other hand has been growing on me this entire season, and his running commentary made the desert scenes so much more barrable. However it made no damn sense for me that Jaha was finding mines with a stick. Like shouldn't he at one point trigger one? They are meant to be pretty pressure sensitive so poking them with a stick just seemed a wee bit suicidal to me.

 

 

I'm also not even remotely interested with Jaha or the City of Lights story. The only reason I watch is to see what Murphy's up to.

Edited February 26, 2015 by kdm07

[thuganomics85]

Well, they went there.  Since I saw the magical "S" under the TV-14 rating, I was wondering if they would actually go all the way, but not quite ready for that yet, I see.  I do think Clarke was clearly into it (took a while there to pull away), but not surprised that she probably doesn't want to pursue a relationship with Lexa quite yet.  I do like how they set this up, that it feels believable, and not like just a sweeps stunt or anything.  I thought that Lexa always seemed interested in Clarke since they first met, and I could see that turning from mere interest to romantic interest.  Curious to see where this goes, 

but I'm still worried that the actress being on The Walking Dead spin-off means Lexa isn't long for this world.

 

Meanwhile, the "S" was actually there for Raven hooking up with this Wick dude.  Not surprised about that either; Raven's clearly got a lot of pent-up aggression over everything that has happened, and she and Wick always had the whole "argue, but secretly have the hots for each other" thing going for them, so that was bound to happen.  For a second, I was worried their hook-up would dick over Bellamy, but it sounded like Mt. Weather cut-off his radio anyway, so that wasn't an issue.

 

At least Bellamy got the job done, even if he almost scorched himself doing so.  But, they know about him, so I hope he find a nice place to hide or meets up with everyone else soon.

 

Octavia figures out what Clarke did, and is pissed.  Indra does too, but understands.  I actually liked seeing Indra agree with it and even compliment Lexa; it would have been so easy to just make Indra hate Lexa, but I think this shows that even during all their disagreements, Indra does trust Lexa as a leader.  Still, I can see why Octavia is upset, and I don't blame her for especially getting mad over Clarke trying to stop her from going into the mines.  I get that Clarke was probably still shaken by the assassination attempt, but it came off like she was trying to undermine Octavia, or didn't trust her.

 

The Jaha/Murphy stuff continues to be nuts.  Jaha is just so kooky now, and I love that Murphy has somehow become the voice of reason.  Assuming both of them make it out in one piece, I hope Richard Harmon gets bumped up to regular status next season.

 

Glad to take a break from Abby and her self-righteousness.  But, I hope we check in on Kane next week.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Lastly so far with the show we had the Grounders that represent a low tech society, where as the Mountain Men have stayed pretty much the same technology wise except a few things (though killing gas and fear conditioning mixed with an addictive drug is something we also currently have).

 

If Team Jaha keeps going any further north, we'll find out that the City of Light is a high-tech society populated by Canadians.  Team Jaha will get to the gates of the city and they will be told to "Take off, eh.  We don't need any more hosers here".

[Agent Dark]

Not sure how long Lexa will be on this show though, and that makes me a little nervous.

Me too :|  I had no idea Alycia Debnam-Carey was cast as a lead in a Walking Dead spinoff.  I only found out when I looked her up because I swore I heard a hint of an Aussie accent in her voice in this episode (yes she is Australian too!) only to also find out that she's probably going to be pretty busy if her new show takes off.  I don't watch The Walking Dead, so I'm just going to be selfish dick and hope that the pilot doesn't get picked up...

[GaiusB]

I loved the episode. Always liked Lexa and i am glad they went there with Clarke, because her chemistry with the grounders leaders, Anya and Lexa, was great and far superior to her chemistry with male love interests. Both Wells and Finn were very bland, and her chemistry with Bellamy seemed to be purely on actors part and not much supported by the writing. I have feeling even writers were suprised about Bellarke shippers and their numbers. Both the kiss and especially the lead-up to it were nicely done. I hope Abby will learn about it, can not wait on her reaction, she clearly consider Lexa to be a bad influence. Reactions of Octavia, Bellamy and Raven would be also interesting to see.

[SourK]

Oh my gosh. I so wanted Clarke and Lexa to get together, but years of disappointment stopped me from thinking the show would really go there. I am afraid that Lexa's going to get killed in the coming battle, though. And that her spirit will choose either Clarke or Octavia to be the new leader of the grounders (or whatever happens when you die on this show).

 

Loved this episode though. It's the best they've had in a while.

 

Finally--I don't understand at all how Bellamy wasn't burned when the flames shot him out of that pipe. His hair should have been singed at least, right?

 

Yeah, the fire gently pushing Bellamy out of the pipe was the second funniest part of the episode. The funniest part was Octavia trying to scream like a grounder -- I guess that's what happens when you're raised under the floor. She's trying. (Actually, I blame the sound mixing more, because it singled her voice out from the group too much, but it was still hilarious).

 

Also great: when Jaha chased that crazy guy through the mine field and they showed a reaction shot of Murphy where he had a little, secret smile, as if to say, "I am not the most unbalanced person in this group."

[Minneapple]

I'm thinking Lexa's dead meat. The minute they kissed I was all, welp, that's it for her.

[Artsda]

Jaha's crazy, everything that happens or he sees is a sign to him and I don't understand why Murphy knows he's crazy but still following him. Murphy was voice of reason to Finn when he was losing it and now again with Jaha.

Liked seeing Raven again and Octavia figuring Clarke out and telling her Bellamy wouldn't have wanted that. Really hope she tells Bellamy Clarke was leaving his sister to die when she sees him again.

The fire pushing Bellamy was funny.

[Misty79]

I really enjoyed the irreverent reaction of Murphy at the end there when Jaha was going all Moses. It would have been a super cheesy scene without it! 

 

I am still in shock that they actually went there with Lexa and Clarke. We've been joking about it here for weeks, but I never really thought they'd go there, this being the CW and all. The show-runners continue to amaze me with their bravery and progressiveness. Just wow. 

 

But yes, I'd be surprised if Lexa is long for the world. Clarke's love interests don't live long. Wells and Finn are both in the ground already. I suspect she'll die in battle. 

[In2You]

Its progressiveness and bravery that they had two females kiss on The CW? Since when? This is the same channel that aired the threesome on Gossip Girl. And 90210 had a lesbian character as well. And a whole race of pansexual people on StarCrossed.

[Misty79]

Its progressiveness and bravery that they had two females kiss on The CW? Since when? This is the same channel that aired the threesome on Gossip Girl. And 90210 had a lesbian character as well. And a whole race of pansexual people on StarCrossed.

 

No. It's progressive for the CW to have the major character have fluid sexuality and having it be an organic process, making nothing of it. For once this was not about the male gaze. It did not come out of nowhere, we'd all sensed the chemistry for weeks.

 

The threesome on Gossip Girl was a once off titillation. 90210 had Adrianna have a thing with Rumor Willis's character but at the time neither were major characters. Never has the CW had a "Mary Sue" (your suggestion for Clarke last week) swing both ways. 

 

It's the equivalent of having Elena from TVD make-out with an established secondary character like Rebekah or Oliver from Arrow make out with Ray Harper. 

 

But most importantly it's a small act of bravery on top of a zillion others. This show keeps doing the unexpected. 

[absnow54]

I call it progressive because Clarke didn't kiss Lexa and then spend the rest of the episode telling everyone that she was bisexual. The scene played out organically, as an intimate moment between two characters that had been built up over several episodes, a scene that is generally only reserved for heterosexual couples on television.

[kdm07]

Also wanted to say I had a little chuckle at Octavia's war cry. It was bad but also endearing.

[Smug47]

Also wanted to say I had a little chuckle at Octavia's war cry. It was bad but also endearing.

That's exactly how I would describe Octavia as well!

 

I think we all saw the kiss coming, and I really loved that it was so natural. If Lexa had been a man, it would have been the next logical step to have a kiss with Clarke, so I super appreciated that they allowed it to grow like that.

So this episode I noticed Clarke's outfit is starting to evolve. She's still wearing the weird pleather "Bad video" jacket thing but now she's added some Grounder Gauntlets and some sort of weird harness thing that goes across her chest and around to her back (but only covers, like, the top half of her back, so it can't be armor?). I like to imagine Clarke and Lexa sitting in their tent on their downtime, trading leather goods and wearing each other's clothes. I tried to search for a good picture and all I pulled up was this: 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/thehundred/images/7/7d/Jasper-clarke-finn.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140826042501

Look at how young and fresh and not bloody they look! I weep for the Season 1 cast, especially Finn's hair and Jasper's goggles. 

Edited February 27, 2015 by Smug47

[bluebonnet]

Mount Weatherites deserve to die considering they are stupid enough to have pinned all of their hopes on 44 kids who are apparently smarter than they are.  The grounders and sky people are their one and only hope for getting out of the bunker and they decide to acid fog them all to death?  Seriously?  Ugh.  Does the antagonist really have to be so incredibly stupid in order to create drama?  

[Agent Dark]

I tried to search for a good picture and all I pulled up was this: 

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/thehundred/images/7/7d/Jasper-clarke-finn.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140826042501

Look at how young and fresh and not bloody they look! I weep for the Season 1 cast, especially Finn's hair and Jasper's goggles.

That scene incidently is further proof that Clarke is into the ladies. All but drooling over a half naked Octavia... ;)

[kieyra]

Briefly but: I've only been half-watching this show for a while, and occasionally making fun of it, but last night was firing on all cylinders. The Clarke/Lexa dynamic seemingly came out of nowhere*, but yet at the same time the chemistry was absolutely there and made sense organically because of what they've been through.

 

And I actually got chills during the final battle march. Including Indra's battle cry. On a lesser show it could have been ridiculous. Or with a lesser actress.

 

(*Maybe there has been more buildup or subtext in some of the episodes I've skimmed, or missed. But from my perspective it went from "huh, those two have some pretty remarkable chemistry" to the kiss not long after, and I was 100% fine with it.) 

Edited February 28, 2015 by kieyra

[driedfruit]

This show keeps getting better and better. 

 

Hopefully this kiss between Clarke and Lexa is leading to a larger romantic arc. I was surprised at how much chemistry the girls had given how bland Clarke has been with her male potential love interests. 

[BooBear]

I am still in shock that they actually went there with Lexa and Clarke. We've been joking about it here for weeks, but I never really thought they'd go there, this being the CW and all. The show-runners continue to amaze me with their bravery and progressiveness. Just wow.

 

I will give them credit where credit is due... I was blown away when this happened and the way it played out. As if I was watching HBO or something. That said, I remain disappointed that the show has decided to take a detour from Clarke and Bellamy. I thought they had extremely good chemistry last year and I feel like the creators decided they didn't want to be controlled by the shippers so they pulled away. I am not a shipper... but I happened to enjoy the relationship between the two characters and I feel like I am not even watching the same show anymore.

 

I am also disappointed at how stupid the mount weatherites are. As someone pointed out up-thread they should be doing everything they can to get the ark people on their side or at least alive. Instead they are indiscriminately killing them. Ok sure, their leader is a moron but surely someone would have taken over by now. I just don't buy the "struggle". They also had no back up plan on the acid fog? Seems they have no back up plans at all and are quite vulnerable.

 

I love Wick and Raven but hate the choppy nature of their relationship. Obviously the Wick actor isn't available all the time.

[placate]

Wait...they were going to New York?  I thought they were going to Baltimore or something...

[Smug47]

I dunno you guys, do the Mount Weatherites know about the Ark Adults? On the one hand, I thought they did b/c they have surveillance and ground scouts, but the way they're acting like these kids are their only option is making me think otherwise. When they bombed Tondc, I got the impression they knew just the Grounder leaders would be gathering, not the newly formed alliance. Do they realize that the Grounders' numbers have swelled and their weaponry is more advanced or do they still think they're just fighting superstitious primitives? President Senior knows that Clarke is going to try to rescue her friends (with her support behind her) but it's like Junior can't even see that far ahead. They could have been stealing Camp Jaha members for weeks without anyone noticing, but instead he's risking everything on these tough kids.

[WearyTraveler]

I dunno you guys, do the Mount Weatherites know about the Ark Adults? 

 

Yes, they know.  Their guy was a prisoner in Camp Jaha and he saw the adults and the sky guards.  He talked to Abbie and Kane before Clarke sent him on his way to Mount Weather with a message that she and the grounders would attack.  Jr. is just being an evil little shit because it suits the plot.

 

Personally, I think there's a glaring hole right there because he could negotiate with the adults and possibly get bone marrow from everyone and eventually get all his people out, not just in an accelerated time table as he wants.  But I guess the way they are dealing with that is to have a few Mount Wheatherites dissapprove and disobey Jr by hiding the 44 and helping Bellamy.

[Smug47]

Oh, ok, I forgot all about that. Then yeah, I've got nothing to explain his nonsense.

[bluebonnet]

Oh yeah, that plot hole is huge.  It's impossible for a group of people to be so stupid, so the writers have deliberately overlooked the fact that Mt. Weather could simply ask the Arkers to donate bone marrow.  It's not like Mt. Weather didn't have anything to trade for it.  At the start, the sky folk needed help with the grounders.  The arkers also needed food and such, which Mt. Weather had in plenty.  They all needed a more diverse gene pool.  

 

It simply makes no sense for Mt. Weather to be acting this way and it's becoming too impossible to overlook this glaring hole.  

[Agent Dark]

I think it makes sense from the point of view of the Mountain Men being extreme isolationists.  They would view everyone - Grounder or Sky Person, tribal or technologically advanced - as threats.  That's how they've lived for the last 97 years.  Remember, they deliberately turned on that jamming beacon which caused the 2nd Dropship to crash.  So before they even knew that the Sky People could cure their medical problems they were actively working against them.

 

The Mountain Men remind me alot of The Enclave from the Fallout video games (it's a post apocalyptic RPG series).  Both factions claim to be succession of the Legitimate Pre-War American Government, they both have Mountain bases (Fallout 3), they are both technologically advanced and they both use Chemical/Biological weapons to keep enemies at bay.  But it's mainly how both factions view themselves as the rightful inheritors of the land, and how the other factions currently inhabiting it are mere obstacles to be removed.  I don't have any problems viewing the Mountain Men as the bad guys.

[bluebonnet]

Fair enough.  They were isolationists.  Yet now they know that the Arkers can cure them and they are still trying to kill them all.  At the very least they should be actively trying to capture and cage as many Arkers as they can.  Instead they are bombing them and acid raining them.  It's truly the dumbest thing imaginable.  

[Agent Dark]

I got the impression that the remaining kids they had captured was enough to cure all their citizens?  Of course things have turned to shit now, the kids are on the loose and the Arkers have allied with the Grounders to take them out.  Dante appeared as if he might have the inclination to try things more diplomatically, but with his son's coup all hope of that seemed to have gone out the window.  It's no real difference from when Ellen Tigh (lol can't remember the character's name, Sydney something?) decided to screw over everyone else on the Ark when she and her people took that last Dropship and all but doomed the remaining Arkers.  Of course that made complete sense because she's a Cylon :)

[ottoDbusdriver]

The biggest problem with Jaha's quest this episode was the massive solar panel farm they encountered.

 

Building a solar farm in the middle of the desert makes sense, except that desert didn't exist around the New York City area BEFORE the nuclear catastrophe 97 years ago.  Add in the fact that the solar panels were in a state of disrepair and most of them were pointed away from the sun indicates that they were not in active use.  So why was the drone parked on top of the panel ?  Did it belong to whomever owned the boat that Jaha et al stole ?

[Riful]

 

Oh yeah, that plot hole is huge.  It's impossible for a group of people to be so stupid, so the writers have deliberately overlooked the fact that Mt. Weather could simply ask the Arkers to donate bone marrow.  It's not like Mt. Weather didn't have anything to trade for it.  At the start, the sky folk needed help with the grounders.  The arkers also needed food and such, which Mt. Weather had in plenty.  They all needed a more diverse gene pool. 

 

It simply makes no sense for Mt. Weather to be acting this way and it's becoming too impossible to overlook this glaring hole.

 

I don't see it as such. Why would the Mountain Men believe the Arkers would help them? Their jamming caused one of the Ark drop ships to crash and killed a lot of people right from the get go. Furthermore they have held captive a bunch of their kids with the intent of draining them for bone marrow. So yeah I get why they do not even consider any sort of trade. They pretty much burned that bridge right off the bat with their very aggressive behavior. I don't think either the Ark people would want to help them, no matter what they traded, because they killed all those people on the second drop ship and the whole taking their kids capture.

 

  Instead they are bombing them and acid raining them.  It's truly the dumbest thing imaginable.  

But they are primarily going for the huge Grounder army. Get them out of the way and there are seemingly plenty of people back at the Ark base. Besides it does seem like they have enough with just the 44 left inside. I think it took what? One or two of the kids to create full on resistance for 10-12 of the Mountain Men (we saw one girl dead from excessive bone marrow procedures).

 

[WearyTraveler]

Why would the Mountain Men believe the Arkers would help them? Their jamming caused one of the Ark drop ships to crash and killed a lot of people right from the get go. Furthermore they have held captive a bunch of their kids with the intent of draining them for bone marrow.

 

 

 

 

But that's the thing.  They didn't have to do either one of those things.  When Clarke and the 44 first showed up, the Mountain people were all secretive and with shades of evil when they didn't need to be.  The 44 were very happy to have food, a shelter safe from the Grounders (who had been attacking them back at their main camp), and other amenities such as showers.  The Mountain men could have approached Clarke right then and said: "Our people can't go outside because of radiation, we have done some experiments with grounder blood and it turns out that it helps us.  We think your blood is a lot stronger and we would like to run some tests.  Here's the deal: all your people can come and live here, safe and sound; they can come and go as they please, with some protocols to protect our people; they can eat as much as they want and use our resources as much as they want; in exchange for all of these, we need a blood donation from every member twice a month.  How's that?"

 

If they had done that, Clarke wouldn't have escaped, and there would have been no need to jam the signal that caused the crash.  Later they could have asked for bone marrow, when the rest of the people landed from space.  

 

It just wasn't this logical because they needed the Mt. Weatherites to be ev0l.

[Riful]

But that's the thing.  They didn't have to do either one of those things.  When Clarke and the 44 first showed up, the Mountain people were all secretive and with shades of evil when they didn't need to be.  The 44 were very happy to have food, a shelter safe from the Grounders (who had been attacking them back at their main camp), and other amenities such as showers.  The Mountain men could have approached Clarke right then and said: "Our people can't go outside because of radiation, we have done some experiments with grounder blood and it turns out that it helps us.  We think your blood is a lot stronger and we would like to run some tests.  Here's the deal: all your people can come and live here, safe and sound; they can come and go as they please, with some protocols to protect our people; they can eat as much as they want and use our resources as much as they want; in exchange for all of these, we need a blood donation from every member twice a month.  How's that?"

 

If they had done that, Clarke wouldn't have escaped, and there would have been no need to jam the signal that caused the crash.  Later they could have asked for bone marrow, when the rest of the people landed from space.  

 

It just wasn't this logical because they needed the Mt. Weatherites to be ev0l.

 

But ain't they already evil so to say? They have been hunting and kidnapping Grounders for 90+ years. They have used them like lab rats where they torture and experiment on them like animals for their own gain. And not only that, they twist some of them into Reapers through a drug cocktail, violence and fear conditioning. Furthermore these Reapers in return go and hunt down their former comrades/friends/family so the MM can reward them with the drug they made them addicted towards to begin with. That is pertty sick and twisted and a terrible thing to do towards another human being. They have bleed thousands of Grounders to death to sustain their own parasitic existence throughout decades, and that is not to mention how many they have killed with the acid fog, the other missile or when trying to capture Grounders.

 

If the Mountain Men were ever going to set up an on going business arrangement for blood, I think it should had been done with the Grounders early on. Instead they went the way of violence, torture and murder and hanging up Grounders like slaps of meat to drain dry. I get what motivated them to do this, but they obviously chose a very dark and bloody way when it came to their own survival. One I feel is rooted in a bit of an elitist self-perception of them being more 'civilized' and considering the Grounders as less than human.

I do not believe for a second if Clarke and the rest of the group found out about the 'setup' the MM got going with the Reapers and Grounders, that most of them would want to work with the MM. The Mountain Men were secretive with shades of evil because they were doing horrendous things to other human beings, and were trying to hide that from the 47 in order to use them in the near feature. They might have been able to keep it a secret for a bit initially, but the whole thing is suspicious to begin with. Clarke and the others knew already back in S1 that the Grounders feared the Mountain and the people in there etc. So I think some of them would naturally be suspicious of this deal, and able to put 2 and 2 together with the whole needing blood to live and Grounders being terrified of the MM.

Edited March 3, 2015 by Riful

[Milks26]

Its nice to see a lot of people can clearly see the true chemistry between Lexa and Clarke - more so than she's had with other suitors.

 

Their chemistry is palpable and anyone who cannot see that is not truly watching the show. Yes, Clarke and Bellamy play well off each other but, I can only see them as friends.

 

I can see Bellamy with 'Echo' since he was so anti Grounder. I read that she will be in the 3rd season but not necessarily involve with Bellamy's storyline. Will see what they have plan.

[Lady Calypso]

This may have been my favourite episode this season, mostly because there was something in each storyline that I liked. Even Jaha's dumb Moses storyline, it has snarky Murphy. Seriously, I couldn't care less about Jaha's story, but Murphy's gotten a lot more likable this season. I originally hated them manipulating me into liking him, but now it doesn't feel like manipulation. I think them dropping his psychopath personality helped a lot, as they explained why he did what he did in season 1. If it wasn't for Murphy, I'd be fast forwarding through Jaha's storyline.

I thought the progression with Clarke and Lexa was beautifully done. I loved all of their scenes this episode, especially after the kiss. I think that having Clarke state that she's just not ready for a relationship yet helped establish that this wasn't a one-off kiss. I liked seeing them discuss their leadership choices. This might be the first relationship they've gotten right. 

Raven and Wick are both pretty people, but I see them as a comfortable, fun pairing, rather than a serious one.

I liked Bellamy's action storyline as well. Ok, the fire explosion was cheesy at the end, but whatever. He stopped a major offense that'll help the Arkers and the Grounders. I also love Bellamy and Raven working together.

[Taryn74]

I love reading your thoughts on the episodes, @Lady Calypso!  I fiercely love this show (even though sometimes I think that's a UO on this board, ha ha) so it's nice to get to see it through fresh eyes again.

[Lady Calypso]

13 minutes ago, Taryn74 said:

I love reading your thoughts on the episodes, @Lady Calypso!  I fiercely love this show (even though sometimes I think that's a UO on this board, ha ha) so it's nice to get to see it through fresh eyes again.

Thanks! I'm trying to work my way through the episodes as quickly as possible, which is why I'm trying not to comment on every episode thread. It helps that I don't know that many spoilers, so I can go into episodes without expecting something to happen because of knowledge (for the most part).