S03.E14: Red Sky At Morning

[Tara Ariano]

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Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia and Jasper hit a tragic roadblock. Meanwhile, Raven and Monty make a significant discovery.

[ottoDbusdriver]

Seriously, one of the guys on the oil platform is named Derrick, like an oil derrick -- really ?

Could Clarke have been a little more ham-handed trying to plug the AI into Luna ?  For starters, don't show her what you're doing.  FFS !

Jasper finds himself a new girlfriend -- and she gets killed too.  Seriously, this guy needs to stay the hell off the Grounder version of Tinder.

Waterboarding, really show ?  As if crucifixion isn't enough for this show they have to take it up a notch.  And even if that wasn't enough, they follow it up with just outright drowning.

So the nuclear power cell in the backpack that they had to be super careful not to disturb -- Pike just smashes with the butt of a rifle. No harm, no foul.

Monty gets laid -- quoth the Raven "Finally".

So, is it in the contract this year that every character gets laid -- Clarke (a couple of times), Lexa, Imori, Murphy, Monty, Abbie was making moves on Kane.  

Speaking of Abbey, she and Kane were noticeably absent this episode.  So was the so-called new Commander.  Has Alie 1 got them all on kitchen duty ? And could someone get a mop for all the blood pooling in the streets ?

And now Alie 1 has taken up residence in what's left of the ark -- but how are we (the audience) able to see her in that window if she is a computerized projection in the minds of her followers.  That makes no fucking sense at all.

[patchwork]

Surprisingly I didn't hate this one, there was no plotline that irritated me so much that it poisoned all the other plotlines so by the low, low standards I'm now judging The 100 this episode was alright.

That said Harper is now on death watch and I still haven't given up on the idea of Miller/Monty.

Hopefully that's the last we see of Luna, I didn't dislike her and I think she would make a good Commander, but as we trudge onward to Clarke being chipped I'm glad the last Nightblood is taken off the board without her dying. Plus it's nice that there's somewhere in post apocalyptica that's a refuge of sorts. 

[Nostariel]

The backpack scene was really confusing. First, the glowy bit was a nuclear power cell, then it was apparently a data drive? And now ALIE is on the old Ark, but I honestly have no idea how she got there. Luna continues to give no fucks about our people, which makes me like her. 

[blixie]

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Hopefully that's the last we see of Luna, I didn't dislike her and I think she would make a good Commander, but as we trudge onward to Clarke being chipped I'm glad the last Nightblood is taken off the board without her dying. 

Right? How NOVEL. I actually would like to see her again, but only after Clarke has taken the chip next season  I love the actress and I loved how she was utterly unswayed by Clarke's bullshit arguments, please get involved in my war that I brought to your door Luna, like we need you and stuff! Still it made no sense how a drone dispensed the key to Luna's people, but okay. 

I found the episode pretty tedious, boring, and an obvious attempt to make Monty VERY ANGRY so he will do something dumb.  I love you generally Monty, but do not get in Raven's face, she has suffered personally more than any single one of The 100, so shut it bish. I didn't find Raven feeding into Monty's mommy issues while she was on the damn clock remotely believable, nor Murphy having that many feels about an obviously not Emory Emory, also while on a clock. 

[CooperTV]

Clarke, be even more of an complete idiot and come with some another completely shitty plan that based on you being unconvincing in your manipulations and lying to everyone, why don't you? Ugh. Everything about her was just incredibly annoying, because it's like she never learns. Ever.

Luna is definitely the hero we all need and deserve.

[diebartdie]

6 hours ago, Nostariel said:

The backpack scene was really confusing. First, the glowy bit was a nuclear power cell, then it was apparently a data drive? And now ALIE is on the old Ark, but I honestly have no idea how she got there. Luna continues to give no fucks about our people, which makes me like her. 

Best I could tell, in Titus' temple the backpack was connected to that old pod the a.i. creator had ridden in to get back to earth, that's how ALIE was uploading to the Ark. Still doesnt make much sense, how does the ark even still have any power? How is its orbit not rapidly decaying causing it to tear apart and plummet to earth? Anyway, that's WAY too much thinking! Another thing I was thinking while I watched.....if people are being tortured and the overwhelming majority of people are chipped, I think I would probably say "fuck it" and take the chip, even knowing that would mean I would lose so much that makes me me but seriously, if everyone that I loved that was still alive was chipped, Id rather be chipped than tortured. I dont enjoy scenes of torture, I dont want to see any more of that. I'm still really pissed all the rich, interesting things that were happening at the beginning of this season got swept away in this entire stupid AI plot.

[jay741982]

First of all Monty you lucky dog! Harper is gorgeous BUT now I'm worried she's gonna die or Monty is cause Harper said she hadn't been this happy in a long time and we all know no one on this show can be happy for more than an episode if that.  I'm so sick of this Allie storyline and the hypocrisy. They preach taking the pain away but the followers torture abuse and force you to take a Chip. How ironic. I'm worried for Harper though I like the pretty???

[kdm07]

6 hours ago, diebartdie said:

Best I could tell, in Titus' temple the backpack was connected to that old pod the a.i. creator had ridden in to get back to earth, that's how ALIE was uploading to the Ark. Still doesnt make much sense, how does the ark even still have any power? How is its orbit not rapidly decaying causing it to tear apart and plummet to earth? Anyway, that's WAY too much thinking!

My science might not be great but even I was wondering about this. I guess we should hand-wave it away?

I'd also like to add: if the season ends with them all being back on the Ark I might throw something at my TV.

EDIT: 

Unless I'm mistaken, Buddhists don't fight to the death to choose their next Lama do they? If they do, my mistake but if they don't, this is clearly another case of retconning no?

I seriously am becoming quite bitter about this show lol

Edited May 6, 2016 by kdm07

[piequinn35]

Ahaha Luna still declined. Now Clarke put the damn thing inside you...

[Primetimer]

The crew takes their campaign of war to the last known refuge of peace, and things go just as you'd expect.

View the full article

[Artsda]

This was a good episode. 

I love Raven, she or Octavia should lead. Clarke was just stupid. 

Monty has no business considering all he did being on team Pike getting mad at Raven for trying to stop things. Monty didn't have the chip forced on him like Raven and he slaughtered innocent people.

[ShortyMac]

This episode was decent. Clarke was stupid, expecting Luna to trust her right away.

I'm thinking someone close to Clarke has to be chipped. Otherwise, how would ALIE know that Sinclair is dead?

Edited May 6, 2016 by ShortyMac

[diebartdie]

Ive wondered for a while now if Octavia is who is chipped...

[xaxat]

Add my vote to the "good episode" column. It was hampered by all of the garbage that happened earlier in the season, but it had a good amount of suspense (three plots to thwart ALLIE that failed) and featured people having to make hard decisions. And I liked what they did with Luna (and her fabulous hair).

I wonder if the writers realized how much they screwed up with the whole Pike/Bellamy plot and decided to just move on. With the exception of Lincoln's absence, there are not really any repercussions from their actions. Bellamy is one of the cru again and Indra(!) is working with Pike.

[jtb34]

The crew takes their campaign of war to the last known refuge of peace, and things go just as you'd expect.

View the full article

I think the title might be an oddly worded reference to the saying, "red sky at morning, sailor take warning," but that's only my best guess. They would be implying that a storm is coming? (As if they weren't in the middle of a storm from Day 1 on the ground.)

[Jack Shaftoe]

I can just see Rothenberg and co patting themselves on the back for this "amazing twist" which basically boils down to "Hurray, we actually have one character who isn't a complete moron". Good job, guys. Too bad we will probably never see Luna again and will need to stick to watching one bunch of morons fight another bunch of morons. So excited about the season finale...

ALIE is such a James Bond villain. She (it?) doesn't bother protecting nether her mainframe, nor her "mobile version". And I guess she hasn't bothered upgrading herself in the past 100 years, so the kill switch Becca left will miraculously still be working. Honestly, these writers either don't have a clue when it comes to any kind of hard science or they don't give a shit. Or probably both. This "AI" is now literally space magic.

And of course more gratuitous torture, more gratuitous fridging, more contrived conflicts (Monty's mom), more of Clarke being too dumb to live, more "pacifism is for losers" anvils and more of that desperate last resort of the hack writer - the secret tunnels. Why am I watching this again?

I am rather confused by Clarke's plan? Why is she thinking that if they shove the "flame" into Luna they will be able to literally talk to Becca? That sure wasn't the case when Lexa had it.

[diebartdie]

I dont really see ALIE (a lie) as the villain though, she's just an incomplete program that apparently was just cooling out for almost 100 years on an island. The villain is Jaha. ALIE had a protocol where she was unable to "force" humans to accept her, they had to do so willingly. When she encountered 3% resistance, she was confused, she confided this in Jaha. He stated to her that he knew a way they could get greater compliance, the next time we saw them Polis was crucifying people or threatening to kill people to get resistors to take the key. That's all on Jaha.

So here's a question. Becca's AI (ALIE 2.0?) has been passing from a chosen nightblood to the next chosen nightblood for however many generations. When Becca returned to Earth right after the bombs went off, the first thing she said was, "Im here to help" and she was wearing a spacesuit with a COMMANDER patch so I take it to mean she is more or less the commander inside Lexa or whomever comes next. If so, why did she let her people, people that became Trikru and the other 12 clans become so utterly focused on war? How is war helpful? I mean I can see how she might have wanted them to shun advanced tec they might find lying about, who knows how Alie 1 might try to infiltrate her folks but being war war war. Well. Bottom line, the AI storyline has problems.

[ottoDbusdriver]

9 hours ago, piequinn35 said:

Ahaha Luna still declined. Now Clarke put the damn thing inside you...

All Luna needed was some quality sexytime with Clarkie, and then Clarkie could have implanted the AI in Luna's neck during some post-coital snuggling.  Problem solved.

[CooperTV]

3 hours ago, ottoDbusdriver said:

All Luna needed was some quality sexytime with Clarkie, and then Clarkie could have implanted the AI in Luna's neck during some post-coital snuggling.  Problem solved.

Luna's boyfriend (the one she had to kill this episode) wouldn't agree with that arrangement, unfortunately.

[Solace247]

23 hours ago, Nostariel said:

The backpack scene was really confusing. First, the glowy bit was a nuclear power cell, then it was apparently a data drive?

All I kept thinking about that scene was, how does the earth science teacher know anything about how to safely destroy a backpack AI housing a nuclear fuel cell--one that apparently took Jaha and ALIE three months to build? Ridiculous!

16 hours ago, diebartdie said:

Best I could tell, in Titus' temple the backpack was connected to that old pod the a.i. creator had ridden in to get back to earth, that's how ALIE was uploading to the Ark. Still doesnt make much sense, how does the ark even still have any power? How is its orbit not rapidly decaying causing it to tear apart and plummet to earth? Anyway, that's WAY too much thinking!

......

I'm still really pissed all the rich, interesting things that were happening at the beginning of this season got swept away in this entire stupid AI plot.

Again, how does a Polis escape pod from 95 years ago communicate with a depowered Ark? Maybe I'm misremembering, but I had assumed Jaha had shut down all systems before space baby appeared, but then he did somehow manage to fire a missile to earth, so... You bring up the much smarter point about orbits and such.

11 hours ago, xaxat said:

I wonder if the writers realized how much they screwed up with the whole Pike/Bellamy plot and decided to just move on. With the exception of Lincoln's absence, there are not really any repercussions from their actions. Bellamy is one of the cru again and Indra(!) is working with Pike.

Everyone keeps saying that this time we'll really see Bellamy deal with the repercussions of his actions, meanwhile I've just been sitting here like, "Yep! Over it with a few tears... Seems about right." Seriously, they can't do these storylines justice because they refuse to slow down in their story-telling because they pride themselves on fast-pacing. "You can't have it both ways, writers!" Having said that, I've actually found a lot of the backend to be filler, which is confusing, since I've pretty much said they need better characterization. I mean, obviously, the plot has progressed, but the offerings have been slim considering all the choppy editing in the first half of the season. I guess I'd just like the character moments woven throughout as the plot moves forward, instead of stopping for a couple of episodes, tossing out some overt lines about feelings, and then motoring on. I would have thought that by this point there would have been more exploration of the concepts behind AI and the COL, instead of just subtextually.

Having said all that, I did enjoy the episode more than the preceding ones, which surprises me as it was filled moments of stupidity, and ended as I imagined it would--with Luna refusing to take the Flame.

Edited May 7, 2016 by Solace247
Grammar

[thuganomics85]

So, basically Clarke's journey to making Luna into the next Commander ends up being a waste of time, because Luna wisely just looked around and was like "Hmm... it seems death just follows you wherever you go.  Nope, I'm good!" about it.  Actually, I think I kind of like that.  I was cracking up when they all started collapsing and were like "Not again!"  Can't shed too many tears; especially since Clarke and Bellmay were willing to force the chip in her, like a bunch of assholes.  Leave to Octavia to at least be "Um, are we really going to be assholes like that?"  And, of course, they were like "Yup!"  Ha!  Suck it!  Besides, I have to think this is all leading to Clarke taking the chip and being the new queen or whatever.

Did I miss past flirtation between Monty and Harper, or was this just a case of "Well, no one else is around, so why not?!"  Either way, you lucky little bastard, Monty!  Harper is gorgeous!  I hope she doesn't die because of this, but this show has gotten me edgy anytime someone hooks-up.  Or, in Jasper's case, someone he just smiles at.  Who has Jasper pissed off in a pass life to have this shitty of a love life?

So, ALIE has now somehow transported herself to the Ark, after she shut herself out of Arcadia and used Emori to distract Murphy long enough to escape the backpack?  All of that confused me, but whatever, I guess.  ALIE is still a threat, because we got two episodes left.  Hope the gang gets rocket or a spaceship soon.

They really do seem to just be handwaving both Bellamy and Pike's horrid acts.  No one is giving Bellamy any heat outside of Octavia, and it already feels like Pike and Indra are just a typical get on each others' nerves pairing, instead of "You killed three hundred of my people and only spared me to send a message" pair, that they should be.  I still hope Pike at least gets his, but I have a feeling Bellamy's relationship with everyone will more or less be back to normal by next season.  Sigh.

So, the City of Light is really just the outside of a mall in Canada or something, huh?  I'm pretty sure I have seen that location in almost every other show shot in Canada.

[Jack Shaftoe]

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I dont really see ALIE (a lie) as the villain though, she's just an incomplete program that apparently was just cooling out for almost 100 years on an island. The villain is Jaha. ALIE had a protocol where she was unable to "force" humans to accept her, they had to do so willingly. When she encountered 3% resistance, she was confused, she confided this in Jaha. He stated to her that he knew a way they could get greater compliance, the next time we saw them Polis was crucifying people or threatening to kill people to get resistors to take the key. That's all on Jaha.

IIRC, Jaha taught ALIE how to get around this pesky free will thing before that - back when ALIE tortured Raven and later Abby too. What I don't understand is how ALIE now can basically mind control everyone while in the first half of the season she could only try to force them to do her bidding by say no longer suppressing their pain (in Raven's case). I am not really paying much attention to this plotline so I might have missed something or it's just another plot hole?

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Well. Bottom line, the AI storyline has problems.

Understatement of the week. Of course it has problems, not least because they only came up with the AI angle after already depicting the Grounders society. So, of course, Becca's actions as a commander make precious little sense. That is, unless you are like me and think Becca in the flashbacks was always shown as being too stupid to live, in which case it sort of makes sense - unintentionally, though.

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All I kept thinking about that scene was, how does the earth science teacher know anything about how to safely destroy a backpack AI housing a nuclear fuel cell--one that apparently took Jaha and ALIE three months to build? Ridiculous!

They had to come up with some reason for Pike being indispensable, thus Indra sparing him not looking quite as stupid as it actually is. Problem is, the reason was quite silly itself.

[GinnyMars]

12 hours ago, diebartdie said:

ALIE (a lie)

Ohhhh... Nice.

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

Did I miss past flirtation between Monty and Harper, or was this just a case of "Well, no one else is around, so why not?!"

Yeah that came completely out of nowhere, I didn't get Raven's "Finally!" at all.

18 hours ago, ShortyMac said:

I'm thinking someone close to Clarke has to be chipped. Otherwise, how would ALIE know that Sinclair is dead?

Well it was one of her followers that killed him in the hangar bay, wasn't it? And she's always standing next to her followers in high-stake situations, so she must have seen it. I don't see a mystery there. (Which doesn't mean that no one around Clarke is chipped, of course. I'll have to pay closer attention to her crew. How delicious would it be if it was Bellamy?)

[diebartdie]

I wonder if Raven is now going to turn her attention to building a giant EMP blaster in order to zap ALIE out of everyone's head? Also, I wonder how many people drank the kool ade without taking the key? HAHAHAHAAAA That's too subtle for this show.

[roctavia]

3 hours ago, GinnyMars said:

Ohhhh... Nice.

Yeah that came completely out of nowhere, I didn't get Raven's "Finally!" at all.

Well it was one of her followers that killed him in the hangar bay, wasn't it? And she's always standing next to her followers in high-stake situations, so she must have seen it. I don't see a mystery there. (Which doesn't mean that no one around Clarke is chipped, of course. I'll have to pay closer attention to her crew. How delicious would it be if it was Bellamy?)

 

He was killed by Emerson, who as far as we know wasn't chipped....

[GinnyMars]

3 hours ago, roctavia said:

 

He was killed by Emerson, who as far as we know wasn't chipped....

Oh. I didn't remember that. Thanks! Will definitively keep a closer eye on the whole crew now...

[Nay]

Again I enjoyed this one.  I liked that Luna was a dead end and they now have to do this the hard way.  I jump from Jasper to Harper as to which of the adventure squad is chipped, but I'm edging closer to it being Jasper.

Harper/Monty didn't really come out of nowhere for me, season 2 trapped in mount weather had some moments between them if I remember right. It was a bit surprising but it wasn't out of nowhere. 

As for Bell not getting grief for killing the 300 apart from Octavia, think about who else he has around him right now.  Clarke and Jasper.  Clarke and Bell forgive each other pretty much anything, we have seen that over and over. Jasper really doesn't care about much of anything (either because of PTSD or chipness), neither is going to take him to task and be in character.  The closest you are going to get is Clarke telling him he has blood on his hands but its not Lincolns.

[Gulftastic]

Right Murphy, smash this and we've won. Anytime you like, just smash it, and we've won. No time to waste, if you could just smash it and we've won. Only 30 seconds, so you should smash it and we've won.

Oops, too late, we've lost.

I hope my neighbours appreciate how hard I fought the urge to shout 'JUST SMASH IT!' whilst watching the scene.

Also ,'Now all I have to do is hit the kill switch.....'. Words fail me.

[AudienceofOne]

On 06/05/2016 at 1:47 AM, kdm07 said:

My science might not be great but even I was wondering about this. I guess we should hand-wave it away?

I'd also like to add: if the season ends with them all being back on the Ark I might throw something at my TV.

EDIT: 

Unless I'm mistaken, Buddhists don't fight to the death to choose their next Lama do they? If they do, my mistake but if they don't, this is clearly another case of retconning no?

I seriously am becoming quite bitter about this show lol

I feel like the Conclave was invented more recently and they didn't think it through properly. I too was very confused about how it worked - not to mention a fight to the death with all the Nightbloods would mean the Nightbloods would have been wiped out decades ago. And yet there are still Nightbloods, which is why I rejected that interpretation of the Conclave at first.

[Jack Shaftoe]

"They didn't think it through properly" should be the motto of this season.

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As for Bell not getting grief for killing the 300 apart from Octavia, think about who else he has around him right now.  Clarke and Jasper.  Clarke and Bell forgive each other pretty much anything, we have seen that over and over.

Except for Clarke leaving poor Bellamy alone for three months because he is apparently incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions. Snarking aside, forgiving "pretty much everything" sounds nice in theory but when this includes things like mass murder this isn't friendship, this is sheer lunacy, IMO. Or in terms of writing fiction - it is character assassination.

[Solace247]

1 hour ago, Jack Shaftoe said:

"They didn't think it through properly" should be the motto of this season.

Except for Clarke leaving poor Bellamy alone for three months because he is apparently incapable of taking responsibility for his own actions. Snarking aside, forgiving "pretty much everything" sounds nice in theory but when this includes things like mass murder this isn't friendship, this is sheer lunacy, IMO. Or in terms of writing fiction - it is character assassination.

Not to mention, they've been 'forgiving' each other since the beginning for things that they can't technically offer forgiveness because they weren't the wronged parties. I get that that is kind of the point of those scenes, but as I've heard others online say--I'm not sure anyone associated with this show knows what they mean by forgiveness. Also, you never really see these guys going to the wronged parties and seeking forgiveness or atoning. These scenes always come off as stupid, but this last one between Clarke and Bellamy really had me disappointed in Clarke. I'd rather head cannon that she's saying what she needs to to keep the team on task. Apparently, this season is supposed to be about atonement, but all I see are shitty doings followed by team-ups to save the day by all parties.

[RCharter]

I don't understand Luna.....is she going to move all of her people?  If so, where?  ALIE found them once, she will find them again.  At the very least, she now knows they exist.  I have no idea why she thinks she is that hard to find, aren't they sending up giant plumes of smoke 24 hours a day?

[RCharter]

On 5/7/2016 at 5:37 PM, diebartdie said:

I dont really see ALIE (a lie) as the villain though, she's just an incomplete program that apparently was just cooling out for almost 100 years on an island. The villain is Jaha. ALIE had a protocol where she was unable to "force" humans to accept her, they had to do so willingly. When she encountered 3% resistance, she was confused, she confided this in Jaha. He stated to her that he knew a way they could get greater compliance, the next time we saw them Polis was crucifying people or threatening to kill people to get resistors to take the key. That's all on Jaha.

My understanding was that ALIE was designed to figure out how to save Earth and decided there were too many people so she had to kill! kill! kill!  If she is controlling the minds of others, she may be "forcing" them to tell her how to overcome resistance as part of her plot to get more people into the COL.  As far as I understand, his mind has been just as brainwashed as anyone else who takes the chip.

[AudienceofOne]

2 hours ago, RCharter said:

I don't understand Luna.....is she going to move all of her people?  If so, where?  ALIE found them once, she will find them again.  At the very least, she now knows they exist.  I have no idea why she thinks she is that hard to find, aren't they sending up giant plumes of smoke 24 hours a day?

This plays into my most hated trope of scifi stories. It's the one where the main characters need somebody to do something and never actually explain the situation to them. So then the other person says 'no' and looks like a myopic asshole when they literally have no reason to say yes because they don't know what's going on. I hated it this episode. Luna has no clue what ALIE is, why she's a threat, why Clarke needed her to take the key. Because Clarke never told her. As far as she's aware, there's just another Grounder war and the only reason her people were attacked was because Clarke was there.

I know when Clarke left Polis it was to find the new Commander and she hoped that Luna would come back and continue Lexa's legacy. But by the time she got there, she knew what they really needed was access to the AI. So why wouldn't she sit down and tell Luna that taking the flame didn't mean she had to be the Commander if she didn't want to? That they needed the code to shut ALIE down and then they could deal with the aftermath when it came.

I'm sure there's a word for the trope. I just call it "didn't bother to give them vital information because of PLOT" trope.

[Carrie Ann]

3 minutes ago, AudienceofOne said:

This plays into my most hated trope of scifi stories. It's the one where the main characters need somebody to do something and never actually explain the situation to them. [...] I'm sure there's a word for the trope. I just call it "didn't bother to give them vital information because of PLOT" trope.

TV Tropes calls it Poor Communication Kills.

[shireenbamfatheon]

I find it interesting how both fans and writers have completely forgotten Clarke's (and Lexa's) very conscious decision to let a bomb drop on 300 Grounder allies, some of them no doubt kids considering their tradition of having young apprentices. What Bellamy did this season is no different than what Clarke did last season. Hell, I'd even say that Bellamy's motivations were partly understandable, however never justifiable, considering Lexa's betrayal last season, while Clarke's decision happened at a time when the Grounders and Sky People had settled aside their differences to join forces against a bigger enemy.

People say Bellamy got off too easy; I disagree. Literally everyone in the show, in his vicinity at least, has been in his face about how wrong he was, he was chained up because no one trusted him, his sister beat him up while everyone watched, he had to face the daughter of one of victims, his mentor and father figure, who he mutinied for, pretty much told him he didn't trust him, and he's still plagued by guilt to the point that he seems like a shell of who he used to be. In contrast, Clarke had both Indra and Marcus "all life is precious" Kane defending her actions by prattling on about how leaders make tough choices, there were neither any short-term or long-term consequences for her actions, literally every person we knew at TonDC - Octavia, Indra, Lincoln, Kane and Abby - survived by sheer "luck" (plot armor), the incident was never brought up again in the following season except that one time by Bellamy, who served the role of an antagonist at that point. Fuck, when Octavia confronted Clarke, the only one to do so, Clarke didn't even apologize about leaving her or her beloved Lincoln for dead, and instead tried to justify her actions. Where are the family members of the victims at TonDC? Why didn't Alie point try to guilt trip Clarke about it when it's the darkest act she's committed? Why is Octavia completely over Clarke's willingness to leave her and Lincoln for death? 

I think it's BS how Bellamy's apparently become irredeemable in the eyes of fans when the same people act like Clarke's a pacifist who only kills when she absolutely has to. Like Bellamy's the only one who's fucked up. He isn't. He and Kane are the two characters who constantly have to earn their redemption in the eyes of the viewers while others - Clarke, Lexa, Jasper, Abby, Monty - can fuck up however they want and still not have to earn the forgiveness of the audience. Murphy's a frickin fan favorite and he crippled Raven, which he's never even apologized for. God forbid if that had been Bellamy in his stead.

The writers focusing on the genocide of Mt. Weather where Clarke's related rings false to me. Not only does it erase Bellamy and Monty's sacrifice as well since they were just as responsible, it also focuses on a plot element where the audience quite obviously sympathizes with her since she was left with literally no other choice. Want to truly delve into morality and guilt? Focus on TonDC and her role in it. At least Bellamy feels bad about what he did; Clarke doesn't even remember TonDC since the narrative won't even acknowledge it.

That's not even me getting into how Lexa can let 300 of her own people die, attempt to assassinate Octavia for knowing the truth, torture Raven and never apologize upon learning she was innocent and then leave the Sky People to be tortured and killed, adn still be considered a revolutionary peacemaker by the characters and audience alike when her decision to not wage war against the Sky People had less to do about her believing in the same ideology as Luna, and more about doing whatever would keep Clarke by her side.

But yeah, sure, Bellamy's the one who gets off too easy...

[Jack Shaftoe]

Personally, I thought the TonDC missile attack was a badly written mess. That said, I can't agree that Lexa and Clarke's actions in that story arc were "no different" than Bellamy's personal participation in the war crimes Pike ordered. Refusing to take action to save somebody is not the same as actually killing somebody. Furthermore, making sacrifices in order not to let your enemy know that you know what their move would be is a perfectly legitimate military strategy. In World War II the Allies broke just about every German and Japanese code and were very careful not to take actions that might lead their enemies to find that out. if that meant not warning military units or civilian population about an upcoming attack (unless it could be done in a way that the enemy wouldn't suspect something is amiss, of course) they did just that. Where the TonDC storyline failed for me was in refusing to really present a situation where I could believe that Lexa and Clarke would feel that there was really no choice other than either exposing Bellamy or letting hundreds of people die. I don't like "magical third option" scenarios but I don't like scenarios where the characters refuse to contemplate the obvious other options, either. I agree that Lexa and Clarke didn't get nearly as much criticism from other characters regarding the missile strike as they should have but I still think Bellamy has a big lead over them the biggest Karma Houdini contest. Pre-emptive strikes on your supposed allies where you don't take prisoners but kill everyone but one person, shooting emissaries in cold blood and ethnic cleansing are generally considered to be a lot worse crimes than not giving warning that an attack is imminent.

Quote

People say Bellamy got off too easy; I disagree. Literally everyone in the show, in his vicinity at least, has been in his face about how wrong he was, he was chained up because no one trusted him, his sister beat him up while everyone watched, he had to face the daughter of one of victims, his mentor and father figure, who he mutinied for, pretty much told him he didn't trust him, and he's still plagued by guilt to the point that he seems like a shell of who he used to be.

He is so plagued by guilt that he was quite literally unable to comprehend why Octavia was still mad at him mere days after Lincoln's death. In any event, most characters in this show are shells of what they used to be because of terrible writing. And yes, characters have told Bellamy how wrong he was but what tangible consequences has he actually suffered? His sister beating him up was presented as some hugely noble act of self-sacrifice by Bellamy, as if he is a magician who can escape from his bonds whenever he wants. Compare the way Indra treated Pike prior to Pike's plot armour being activated and the way she treated Bellamy - she didn't even bother to pay lip service to the idea that he deserved to be killed - as if she had read the script and knew the option wasn't on the table.

Quote

That's not even me getting into how Lexa can let 300 of her own people die, attempt to assassinate Octavia for knowing the truth, torture Raven and never apologize upon learning she was innocent and then leave the Sky People to be tortured and killed, adn still be considered a revolutionary peacemaker by the characters and audience alike when her decision to not wage war against the Sky People had less to do about her believing in the same ideology as Luna, and more about doing whatever would keep Clarke by her side.

Lexa was a revolutionary peacemaker before she met Clarke and she has never claimed to believe in the same ideology as Luna anyway. Also, unlike Bellamy, she paid the ultimate price for her transgressions. Sure, there are fans who claim Lexa was a downright saint who never did anything wrong but I don't think that's the stance of anyone in the show.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Jack Shaftoe

[Gabe Torres]

On 12/5/2016 at 7:35 AM, shireenbamfatheon said:

I find it interesting how both fans and writers have completely forgotten Clarke's (and Lexa's) very conscious decision to let a bomb drop on 300 Grounder allies, some of them no doubt kids considering their tradition of having young apprentices. What Bellamy did this season is no different than what Clarke did last season. Hell, I'd even say that Bellamy's motivations were partly understandable, however never justifiable, considering Lexa's betrayal last season, while Clarke's decision happened at a time when the Grounders and Sky People had settled aside their differences to join forces against a bigger enemy.


I think it's BS how Bellamy's apparently become irredeemable in the eyes of fans when the same people act like Clarke's a pacifist who only kills when she absolutely has to.
 

People aren't forgetting. They just aren't buying fake equivalencies that the show and some people try to set up in order to excuse Bellamy.

Clarke and Lexa warn people? The spotter watching the village still calls in the strike when seeing people leave -> people still die (albeit fewer than if no warning) -> MW knows there is an insider -> Bye bye disabling of acid fog -> Mount Weather Harvest the delinquents  while safe and cosy behind their acid fog, maybe shot another missile or 2 for funsies or as punishment for trying to stand up to them.

Either way, there was no good option. However there was a complete urgency of a choice needed to be made as the missile strike would had happened no matter what. There was a genuine moral dilemma here, where the people in charge had to pick between who lives and who dies, unlike with Bellamy. With TonDC, Clarke and Lexa prioritized Bellamy life over those people, because they considered his role to be of a larger contribution and significance to the majority of people.

Lets see what happens if Bellamy don't go on a murder spree on a peace keeping force of 300 Grounders:
???
High probability of peace between Grounders and Arkers.
Less man pain
Likely less Bellamy treating Clarke like garbage
Likely less Bellamy blaming other people for his fuck ups
Less Bellamy guilt tripping Clarke
Less Bellamy whining to Octavia over being angry his role in getting Lincoln executed like 2 days after his death
Probably no dead Lincoln

Bellamy likely doesn't gun down two envoys so that is subtracting another war crime from his column

Bellamy likely doesn't go into a village to murder a bunch of civilians

Much less instability back at Polis. Without Bellamy and Pike causing a mess Lexa would be doing her best to aid the Arkers.

Likely more able to be on the ball regarding ALIE as not distracted by trying to mass murder innocent people 'cause xenophobia and man pain
???
Genuinely struggling to find the negative side to this.

There is a very important thing with all of this. There was no intimidate threat to the Arkers from those Grounders, and Bellamy thinking there was doesn't make it ok? Unlike the TonDC missile that was something that was going to happened and decisions had to be made immediately.

Also you completely brush over that Bellamy lead a team into a village to kill children and elderly that were the remaining family members from many of the Grounders he killed a few days ago. If Octavia haven't intervened he would had committed another war crime, and this time Pike wasn't even by his side. Bellamy took point there on his own.

Like how can that in any manner be painted in a grey tone? What exactly can that be compared to regarding actions of Clarke? Lexa? Jasper? Heck even Murphy? No one ever gone as far as Bellamy did there that we are supposed to be able to root for, and the show and a bunch of people do ignore that part completely. Others don't and therefore find him irredeemable.

For some Bellamy first whole aid Pike into getting weapons and power and genocide of the Grounders were enough to make him irredeemable. For others it was him going to murder civilians in their sleep later on 'cause corn. For some it was the way he treated Clarke like trash. Others it is his actions with Octavia. Some it is him placing sick people into a prison cell away from medical care. Some it is his role in imprisoning Lincoln and his execution. For some it is his horrible attitude towards people and/or woe-is-me crap coupled with lack of proper remorse over his xenophobic genocidal ways.

Like there isn't just one thing to pick from, and it is likely combination of these factors that push many people into considering Bellamy to be irredeemable. The show wanted to make Bellamy go dark this season (iirc so did Bob), but there is such a thing as too far, and the show definitely went there. And Bellamy has come totally off easy. He has just brooded a bit, whined and blamed people, some teary eyes and Clarke is right there patting him on the back and comforting him. Never mind she couldn't look Finn in the eyes after he killed 18 innocent Grounders. When Bellamy goes and butchers 100's and attempts to kill more, she gets stuck being his cheerleader. She isn't allowed to call him out on his atrocious actions towards the Grounders or shitty treatment of her or Octavia. Finn died for his actions, but Bellamy? He gets moral support and hugs and people not bringing up 90% of the shit he did with the worst being Octavia beating him up and some stern words. A dude being sad and brooding for a few episodes is not remotely related to being worthy of redemption.

Edited May 13, 2016 by Gabe Torres

[AudienceofOne]

4 hours ago, Gabe Torres said:

For some Bellamy first whole aid Pike into getting weapons and power and genocide of the Grounders were enough to make him irredeemable. For others it was him going to murder civilians in their sleep later on 'cause corn. For some it was the way he treated Clarke like trash. Others it is his actions with Octavia. Some it is him placing sick people into a prison cell away from medical care. Some it is his role in imprisoning Lincoln and his execution. For some it is his horrible attitude towards people and/or woe-is-me crap coupled with lack of proper remorse over his xenophobic genocidal ways.

 

He lost me the second he agreed with Pike about attacking the Grounder army. But then it was like a playground slide of human rights abuses. I really didn't see how the character could be redeemed at all. But, since I never believed that Bellamy would actually do any of those things anyway, I was willing to work with the redemption arc.

And now... what redemption arc? Bellamy's angsty, puppy eyes have all been about the fact that Octavia is mad at him. He's shown zero awareness that killing a village of unarmed civilians for their land was maybe not the right thing to do. Or that locking up the sick Grounders who they invited to Arkadia for treatment was a war crime. Or that locking up Lincoln who he made a Guard and who was like a brother to him was a gross personal betrayal. It's all been "my sister doesn't like me anymore".

I thought the show made a good case as to why Bellamy was never going to get external blame for his actions because he's always just following somebody else. But that doesn't justify the lack of acceptance by him that he's done anything wrong.

And, I'm sorry, but there is no equivalence here about the TonDC attack. At all. Clarke didn't launch that missile. Clarke couldn't have stopped that missile. All she could have done was start an evacuation that Mount Weather would have noticed. And then Mount Weather would have asked why they were evacuating and gone looking for a mole.

Clarke wasn't happy with the decision and she has felt guilt about it ever since. And can I point out, she and Lexa did come up with a third option. They went out to find the spotter. Killing the spotter would have stopped the attack in a way that wouldn't have alerted Mount Weather to the mole. They just didn't find the spotter in time.

[ShortyMac]

On 5/7/2016 at 5:49 PM, Nay said:

I jump from Jasper to Harper as to which of the adventure squad is chipped, but I'm edging closer to it being Jasper.

Spoiler

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! (Jasper is shown to be chipped in 03x15).

[piequinn35]

OK I am confused if Jasper was chipped when Luna was tortured, who was chipped before this that's why ALIE found Luna?

 

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

Edited May 13, 2016 by MostlyC
Possible Spoiler

[piequinn35]

Who was chipped in Luna's clan?

[diebartdie]

I think Luna's ferry boat guys got chipped when they went back to the mainland for something.

[AudienceofOne]

4 hours ago, diebartdie said:

I think Luna's ferry boat guys got chipped when they went back to the mainland for something.

Especially since Clarke never actually warned them anyone about that happening... Yes I'm a broken record #poorcommunicationkills

4 hours ago, diebartdie said:

I think Luna's ferry boat guys got chipped when they went back to the mainland for something.

Especially since Clarke never actually warned them anyone about that happening... Yes I'm a broken record #poorcommunicationkills

[millennium]

I'm kinda tired of Alie's blank, constipated expression.   The actress is awful.

[millennium]

3 hours ago, doram said:

She is supposed to have a blank, constipated expression. She's a virtual robot. 

I don't care.   It's grating and annoying.   Brent Spiner managed to make a non-emotional robotic being an engaging, interesting personality.   Allie's like hour after hour of dialogue from the voice on the phone that tells you to press 1 for English.

[CooperTV]

On 19.11.2016 at 11:38 AM, millennium said:

I'm kinda tired of Alie's blank, constipated expression.   The actress is awful.

Playing unemotional blank character doesn't mean being unemotional blank actor. Seeing was she played Becca, with all the regret and humanity she had, it's kind of strange to think the actress is awful.

[millennium]

It didn't help that she almost always shared scenes with the hated Jaha.   

[Lady Calypso]

I guess this was an ok episode, as far as The 100 standards go for episodes.

One underrated moment I really appreciate is when Emori appeared in the City of Light and Jaha said that she could correct her defects here, only to have her retort "I would if I had any." One of the rare things this show does right is in terms of disability. Disability and female characters are all done very well here. If anything, I'd hope that they never ruin either of these positive bright spots. 

There was a lot of tense non-tense moments. As in, "We gotta do this in x amount of time...oh look, time's up." 

Luna was a dead end for now, which is not surprising. They need to waste a couple more episodes before they can shut down ALIE, after all. 

There's not that much to say about this episode. Harper/Monty was a complete surprise, but in a good way.