S03.E07: Thirteen

[Julie335]

https://www.reddit.com/r/The100/comments/49v31y/s3_spoilers_tumblr_users_are_trying_to_run_a/d0v7ae6

 

Interesting commentary from a PR professional on how The 100's show runners have handled the fallout of Lexa's death. 

 

Mainly:

"If Jason (Rothenberg) was Coca-Cola and 10% of buyers reported getting urine in their cans of Coke after a certain shipment and all Coca-Cola did was post rave reviews about their new recipe, then COCA-COLA WOULD HAVE A PR PROBLEM that would systemically grow for as long as it remained unaddressed.  Jason, categorically, has a big-ass problem, which he is choosing to avoid and dismiss. This is something you CAN'T do when you are in his position over a product (The 100).  And while the disenfranchised group has become overly aggressive at times and crossed lines, I think their core movement is sound.

Their message is: It's 2016 and we will no longer support shows that turn them into a trope for the sake of plot. They deserve better."

 

And:

"How can these people NOT feel used? They categorically were, by definition. In PR, they're called a "street team"--which is a group of passionate volunteers who work out of love for the project and really get no other payoff, other than the occasional thanks, shout out, or access to the product.  Jason had two active street teams in Clexa and Bellarke shippers. He encouraged them both to trend for him even as he disavowed shipping.

In short, Jason played a dangerous PR game and he lost. Hard core."

Oh, I like this. Well said.

 

I just peaked at his twitter account. He's doubling down on Coca-Cola with pee being the awesome-est thing evar! 

[Cranberry]

It's not entirely The 100 related, but definitely sparked by this episode -- people have been trending "LGBT fans deserve better" worldwide on Twitter for more than three hours now. There have been more than 230,000 tweets (many of them about Lexa), and that Trevor Project fundraiser is up to $26,600. Nice to see some good come of this.

[Tvtimebomb]

I started watching The 100 after it trended on Twitter after the first episode of season three.  I tuned into episode two of season 3 and was instantly intrigued by Clarke going crazy and spitting on this woman (Lexa).  I then watched the first episode of season 3 online and liked it so much I binge watched season one and two on Netflix.  I was so impressed that this show presented two women leaders who worked together and learned from one another.  I can't remember seeing anything like it on TV.  It's rare that I count down the days until the next episode of a show is shown.  However, I just loved the relationship between Clarke and Lexa and couldn't wait to see them in action the next week.  The fact that Lexa was gay and Clarke is bi-sexual didn't really mean too much to me because you love who you love regardless of gender.  I prefer shows that don't label the romances but let them happen organically.  However, I certainly understand where it would be very important to others.

 

I watched the show for the Lexa and Clarke relationship.  I found most of the other story arcs fairly boring as I've seen those hundreds of times on other shows and I'm not sure they will be compelling enough to watch going forward.  I mean, it's hard to watch Pike and the others make such stupid decisions (kill 300 people who weren't attacking) and the rest of Skaikru just accepts it.  Plus, Skaikru will starve long before they will ever be able to win a war against the grounders.  They are vastly outnumbered and they don't know the land.

 

I feel cheated that my favorite character has been killed and I just started watching.  I'm not sure if I believe JRoth and the scheduling conflict for ADC.  He has said it was and issue and also said it wasn't an issue.  I tend to believe the second because I don't trust him after he baited the LGBT community.

Edited March 17, 2016 by Tvtimebomb

[kieyra]

Tvtimebomb, that's pretty brutal, and as someone who loved Clarke/Lexa for the reasons you state, I get it.

 

It's not quite as bad, but I fell in love with a podcast (Alan Sepinwall/Dan Fienberg's TV podcast), listened to all the back episodes, and caught up with the 'present day' episode JUST AS THEY WERE ANNOUNCING THE PODCAST WAS CANCELLED. (They work for different media outfits and I guess there were conflicting issues.) I remember that feeling well, though.

[AudienceofOne]

I was debating whether to comment on this episode because I was not as invested in Clexa as others. Despite Lexa's determination to rise above her past mistakes and the fact it made her a much better leader (I personally admired the character a lot) I struggled with Clarke's interest in her romantically. That could be my own issues regarding the destruction of her relationship with Bellamy, which I always thought was Clarke's most important (platonic) relationship and which has been massacred (language used deliberately).

 

But from the moment she walked in and said "I'm leaving right now" and then didn't, it just seemed so contrived. I can completely understand why people would have a problem with the fact that if Clarke had left, Lexa would still be alive. And that this smacks of a character being punished for sex. And the fact this was lesbian sex is an issue too.

 

But I have just seen too many TV shows and films where the main character consummates their relationship with someone only for them to die ten seconds later. I can't be anything but cynical about it happening again here. I don't think it's a gay thing. I think it's a flawed writing thing. Count me in as someone who's a massive fan of Javi as a writer. I doubt he would have chosen to do things this way if he'd been a showrunner - this is the guy who gave us Middleman after all.

 

If they thought it was so important for Clarke and Lexa to consummate their relationship they should have either done it earlier or delayed her death. Doing it in precisely this way was always going to upset shippers and will counterintuitively upset those who weren't but feel this death was cheap. And that's the second cheap death they've gone for this season. And this from a show that has defined itself by not doing cheap deaths.

[Coxfires]

It took me quite some time to digest that episode, and its consequences on my enjoyement of the show as a whole. I feel it was the last straw that turned me away, and I still couldn't bring myself to watch episode 8.

I was already supra disappointed by Bellamy's storyline, and the poor execution of it. I mean, he never was the brightest, but his  overnight 180 turn against the Grouders makes no sense. On a bigger scale, the whole Skikru vs Grounders was already grating. First because it is really "been there, done that", and second, because the people of Arkadia, if they managed to rub two brain cells together, would quickly realize that they are no match to 12 clans and that, in any case, if the Grouders wanted to wipe them out, they could easily do so (first because the Grounders are far more numerous, and second because all it would take them would be to set up a siege around Arkadia and Skikru would die starving). But not only do they have Bellamy be a dimwit, they also make him a mass murderer who cowardly kills people in their sleep and expect their audience to later on whitewash him, when all he deserves is to die, full stop. so yeah, one character that I really appreciated for all his imperfections that I can't stand anymore. and not only do they do that, but they have him reiterate it by attacking a nearby village, and have Monty be part of it.

Basically, by the end of 306, I had a hard time rooting for anyone in the Skikru. Jasper is useless, Octavia tends to be a tad too "holier-than-thou" despite her badassery, and although Kane and Raven still being ineteresting, my interest was seriously waning at that point.

So I hoped that the Polis stuff would be great, and after all, I still had Murphy and Lexa to root for. No that I don't like Clarke, but I will admit that I didn't like the "special snowflake" treatment that she was given, and particularly the fact that Lexa would bow to her or change her ways for her. 

Lexa was definitely the most fascinating character to watch for me. She was strong, fierce, capable, she showed times and again that she knew what it was to be a leader and that she stood by her choices and jnew their consequence (minus the betrayal at Mt Weather that for me made no sense on the long term, but I never felt outraged by her actions).

So her death, even if it had been telegraphed from a mile, was already a bummer, but the way they did it, a mere stray bullet afetr sex, gosh that was loathable. I didn't know about the Dead Lesbian Trope before, to be honest, and even without it I found myself shouting at my laptop. and now learning all the lengths they went through behind the scenes to lure the Clexa audience.... that is disgusting.

So here I am, with a show filled with people I don't really care about anymore, with a writing that has forgotten everything about character development and characterizations consistencies, that wants me to root for effin' Jasper and to forgive a coward who kills people in their sleep, while falling into tropes and playing its audience? eurgh.

What I liked about the 100 was that it was able to surprise me by avoiding the usual tropes. It was able to work on its characters and make their action understandable if otherwise morally grey or even totally dark. It was a great show of female empowrement and LGBT representation. It didn't pander to the shippers. And in the span of only 4 episodes, they managed to trash it beyond repair. Wow.

[infinitewanderer]

wow, I'm OBVIOUSLY in the minority here but I loved the episode. I saw Lexa's death coming a mile away, actually I'm surprised she lasted this long. Not because of the LGBT theme but because she upset all of the grounders by not following their "blood must have blood" and letting her emotions get in the way of her political decisions. 

[Lady Calypso]

Now, that sucked. Seeing as Lexa was probably my favourite character up to this point, I'm not ashamed to say that her death definitely affected me...well, in whatever way a fictional TV death could. I understand why they did what they did and how it progresses the plot. The unfortunate part is that the Polis storyline was my favourite, by far. I never thought I'd be interested in this kind of plot, but it worked. It worked because of Clarke and Lexa, and now Clarke is going back to Arkadia and we're stuck with Pike the Dictator. I'm definitely upset about that. 

At least Murphy is back with the main group. He got to witness Clarke's devastation over Lexa's death. And he has a lot of the information needed to progress the season, so that's a good thing. Not that I like the AI storyline in the first place, but I guess it explains the whole spirit of the commander passing through to the next person. It just sucks that we had to sacrifice one of the better written characters for it. I get the actress was on another show, and they set up Lexa's death since her earlier appearances. I just wanted it to be way down the line...like, at the end of the series. I think they rushed into Lexa's death too soon. I know they only had Alycia for a select number of episodes, but I think they should have found a way to work around it. 

I didn't miss the Skaikru at all. Like, not even one bit. That's how little I care for most of them now. The only one I missed was Kane. Well, the show did one thing right and that is make me love Clarke, the main lead. I started out hating her and annoyed by her. But this season turned her around and now she's one of my favourites. Everyone else could literally get killed by Pike and I wouldn't really care. Just have it be the Clarke and Murphy Adventures from now on, and I'd be happy. 

Man, I knew her death was coming because of the outrage when this episode first aired so I was fully aware of her death, even if I didn't know the circumstances. But damn if I don't feel upset about it now. I totally get the uproar. 

It's just that now, that's one less story I'm interested in and one less story with a likable character.

The flashbacks at least gave us backstory. I guess Becca found a way to counteract the radiation, hence why people were still alive on Earth. Though I think I'm missing information or confused about it. Only select people have black blood.