"Maybe there are no good guys.": Characters of the 100

[Taryn74]

3 hours ago, CooperTV said:

incidentally alie i mean “becca” is wearing her assistant’s lab coat and glasses for some reason. perhaps because alie knows what reads as “science lady”?

I think you may be on to something.  I noticed the lab coat and glasses when I watched, too, and meant to go back and see if we'd ever seen Becca wearing those.  I just finished a rewatch of S1 - S3 this weekend so the lab coat and glasses really jumped out to me as odd.  (Also, ALIE was able to upload herself to the mainframe . . . or whatever . . . in space right before they disabled her backpack power source, right?  We see her looking out of the window of the station, and then they never really did anything with that.)

[CooperTV]

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"The show's inconsistency in developing any kind of an arc for Octavia is becoming a huge problem in S4. Here's 45 minutes of Claire and Erin breaking down all the Octavia stuff in 409, our concerns about where her plot might be going, our giant question mark about what Ilian's role is supposed to be, and our enormous frustration that the show can't decide from episode to episode who she is."

[CooperTV]

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Octavia:

1. Brutally beats her brother, only stopping because she got tired (this is in the script).

2. Yells at her brother about lashing out and people getting hurt because of it the very next episode. 

3. Disables Pike purposely, which endangers the lives of everyone in the tower who is not an ALIE!Zombie. 

4. Murders Pike for revenge. 

5. Cuts off a kid’s head for….reasons, I guess?

6.  Tells her brother the only reason she didn’t kill him is because he’s family.

7. Allows a mob in to attack Ilian and then attempts to shoot him, only failing because “Dramatic trauma memory”.

8. Kills 2 people (who sure attacked her first, but she definitely went overboard with the head smashing.)

Luna:

1. Kills her brother in a Conclave that she was forced to participate in as a child (and yes, in 4x10 they tried to make Luna out to be a bad guy because she killed her brother because she wanted to live, but….wanting to live isn’t a bad thing!!!). 

2. Runs away and tries her best to live peacefully on her ocean rig away from everyone else. 

3. Only fights to save Adria from being murdered by Derek. 

4. Seeks out the Arkadians to get help for Adria and her clan as they die from ARS. 

5. After her entire clan dies and they realize she is radiation resistant, allows the Arkadians to take numerous samples of her blood for testing (taking so much that Jackson has to tell Abby she needs a break).

6. Volunteers her bone marrow for reproduction of Nightblood. 

7. When she no longer wants to participate, is forcibly knocked unconscious and harvested.

8. Finally gets fed up with all of the hate/violence/pain and decides to fight back.

And for some reason, the writer’s really thought it would be a good idea to have Octavia Blake tell Luna kom Floukru that she didn’t deserve to live?!

Oh…OK. 

 

Octavia vs Luna

[CooperTV]

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The 100 Season 5 will not premiere until 2018. However, an interesting sizzle reel was revealed at the 2017 San Diego Comic-Con. Additionally, the cast and crew spoke about what fans can expect. Will viewers actually see Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor) kill all the “monsters?” Could Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley) be the reasonable one this season?

Possible spoilers might be ahead. Do not continue reading unless you want clues on what could happen on the post-apocalyptic TV show.

In the sizzle reel, Madi is telling a story, the same tale that Clarke has recited over the years. The Sky Crew were the “bad children” and the Grounders were called “monsters.” Madi asked what would happen if the monsters came back. To this, Clarke replied that she would kill them all.

According to IGN, executive producer Jason Rothenberg compared Clarke’s parenting style to Sarah Connor from Terminator 2. Like Sarah had to prepare John Connor for what was coming, Clarke is getting Madi ready for battle. This explains why Clarke had weapons with her when the prison ship started to descend from the sky in the Season 4 finale.

With the prison ship arriving, Clarke views them as unwelcome strangers. Rothenberg hinted that Clarke would protect Madi and the Sky Crew. In fact, she will protect them “at all costs.” Could Clarke become a killer and deal harshly with the new arrivals?

As for Bellamy in The 100, Season 5 might have him be the reasonable one this time. He has a different idea in mind when it comes to the guests from the prison ship. He will try to reason with Clarke and explain to her the similarities between the prison ship passengers and themselves when they first arrived on Earth.

 

‘The 100’ Season 5 Spoilers: Will Clarke Kill All The ‘Monsters’? Bellamy To Be The Reasonable One?

[CooperTV]

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Since The 100 kicked off in 2014, Bellamy Blake has been many things – unpredictable, irrational, protective, heroic, exasperating, a rebel and a leader, to name a few. But it wasn’t until this year’s fourth season that all of Bellamy’s best and worst parts finally came together and his character learned to lead with both his heart and his head. When faced with a second apocalypse, Bellamy was forced to accept decisions he didn’t agree with. From understanding Jasper’s decision to die on his own terms to letting Octavia go when it came to her complete integration into Grounder society, in 2017 Bellamy proved to have more nuance than the black-and-white, us vs them mentality he’s had so far, and it was brilliant to see all of the elements of his personality click into place. It helps that actor Bob Morley can inject every possible moment of conflict playing out in Bellamy’s head in one facial expression too. – Megan Davies

11 Best TV Characters of 2017: Michael Burnham, Celeste Wright and More

 

[CooperTV]

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"Definitely, yes, there absolutely is. It’s not like everything’s forgiven or they’ve forgotten about anything like that, they’re very much the same people. I would say particularly, well some have just totally gone the opposite way of who they were. I would say Bellamy has stayed the core of who he was, but he’s not hitting the two extremes. He’s much more balanced in a way that I found really confusing. I was like ‘why is he letting this happen?’, I was like 'he would be so much more aggressive’ and they’re like 'no, but he’s changed’, and I’m like 'you don’t know him, I’ve known him for five years’ and they’re like 'yeah, but it’s been six years’, I’m like 'goddamnit, ok, I guess you’re right’. Yeah, I found myself really fighting for old Bellamy, really resisting his story this season. Not because it wasn’t right or anything like that, it’s just because I was confused. It’s only until we’ve reached the end of the season that I’ve gone 'ahhh, right, you guys had a plan all along’, and I had to be wrong."

Bob Morley about Bellamy's season 5 development.

You and me both, Bob, you and me both.

[CooperTV]

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Octavia and Octavia/Bellamy: Where do I begin?

Okay, let me start out by acknowledging some good things. First of all, Octavia’s storyline, though divisive, has at the very least been thought-provoking. I don’t really see anyone feeling Finndifferent about her, which is good.

Second of all, Marie is killing the material. I think we can all agree on that.

Third, I can definitely admit that Octavia had the roughest road after season 4. Clarke had it rough in the beginning, and I’m sure not everything was easy for Bellamy up in space, either. But Octavia had more people depending on her than either one of them has ever had, and she had less leadership experience under her belt than they did. She was thrust into a role she wasn’t prepared for and probably nobody would have been prepared for. She’s a young girl who ended up with more power than she knew what to do with.

Fourth . . . two thirds of the people in that bunker are still alive, a year and seven days after the time they were supposed to be out of there. They are a devoted and loyal unit, so Clarke’s word of “impressive” is . . . one word for it. In some respects, I can see the argument that it’s impressive. In some respects.

Last of all . . . I have not given up hope completely on this character. Let’s not forget that, at the start of the season, I had her at #6 on my favorites list. I had her up as high as #5 at points during season 4. This is not a character I “hate on.” In fact, there have been moments, small moments and few and far in between, where we get glimpses of the Octavia we used to know. Her momentary happiness upon seeing Bellamy descend into that bunker last week, her reaction to hearing Indra say she loved her, her thanking Clarke for saving her, and that little wave to Monty . . . thank God for that little wave to Monty. My heart actually breaks for Octavia there, for some reason. The Octavia we knew is not gone; however, she is deeply buried.

Okay. So there’s me acknowledging what I perceive as the good things. Now, onto my feelings of frustration and anger towards her, neither of which is surprising, given the nature of this storyline, and neither of which I feel the need to censor because, quite frankly, I’m not hating on the character. I feel negatively towards her right now and have every right and reason to feel that way.

So last week I wrote a lot about how upset I was with the fact that Octavia nearly killed Kane. I won’t rehash all of that this week, though it’s worth noting that it still bothers me. This week, most of my anger towards her is stemming from how she’s treating Bellamy. Of course I was not happy with the way she blamed him last week at the end of the episode, but this week is even worse.

It was noted on this thread that perhaps part of the reason why people are so upset with Octavia right now is not just that she said something cruel to someone, but that she said something cruel to Bellamy. Yes, Bellamy is a fan favorite character, someone a very large portion of the fan base rallies behind and gets very passionate about. That’s no secret. And yes, he’s my favorite character; that’s no secret, either. When someone like Octavia lashes out at him in what I perceive to be an unfair way, I automatically get angrier than I would if somebody were to lash out at a character I care less about. That’s normal and natural. But let’s also remember that Bellamy is her brother. So regardless of whether someone is a hardcore Bellamy stan or not, the argument can be made that the things she has said to him are very, very hurtful and wrong because it is simply not okay to say something like that to family.

First of all, continuing to blame him for starting this war with Eligius . . . excuse me? Huh? That literally makes no sense. (But then again, Octavia isn’t thinking rationally or making a whole lot of sense right now.) Is Octavia so brainwashed by her own cult of personality that she can’t take ownership of her role in provoking this conflict? Bellamy was literally doing everything he could to prevent the conflict. He was the only person who made any progress with Diyoza and Eligius whatsoever. Without him, they’d still be in that bunker fighting (and probably eating) each other. Which leads me to believe Octavia may not have even wanted to leave that bunker. She’s become so dark, I almost think perhaps she was happier just wallowing in that dark place.

There is no question in my mind that Bellamy does not deserve ANY of the blame for a war starting between the two groups. And even though I’m a big fan of his, I’ve never shied away from admitting when he should shoulder the blame for something. But not this. This is not his fault, and I feel horrible for him having to hear his sister say over and over again that it is. But even so, being the best big brother in the world, where is he when Octavia has that worm burrowing in her arm? He’s right there with her, assuring her it’s going to be okay, holding her, not leaving her side.

And then, of course, there is the ending. Apparently we can’t have nice things, because we get this sweet moment that is immediately and completely destroyed when she basically threatens him. If it was supposed to come across as a warning to him, it didn’t. It came across as a threat, and that is just NOT OKAY. I don’t care what the circumstances in the bunker turned Octavia into. She’s gonna have to own her **** to make up for that one with me. I felt so bad for Bellamy, how he was basically lulled into this sense of a happy moment with the sister he’s thought about reuniting with for six years. And then she pulled the rug out from underneath him.

The question arose last week of whether or not this was a toxic relationship between the Blakes, and I hesitated to call it a toxic relationship then. I said that, while I believe there are elements of a toxic relationship there, I was not going to label it as that. Yet. But I’m not hesitating anymore. Yes, I’m calling it a toxic relationship. And it’s not because of Bellamy.

Signs of a Toxic Relationship
Just linking this article if anyone cares to look through this and see how many of these things could apply to Octavia and Bellamy.

I’m gonna throw out a hypothetical here: Let’s say the situation were reversed and Bellamy was the one blaming his sister for starting a war, Bellamy was the one saying she would be his enemy if she ever spoke out against his group, Bellamy was the one who said, “Why do you think you’re still alive?” in 4x06, and Bellamy was the one who physically beat her in 3x10. Would anyone even hesitate to call that a toxic relationship? Now, I know the situation is not reversed, but I’m asking people to consider that because I honestly do sometimes feel like there is a huge gender double standard at play here: Octavia gets away with doing and saying more to Bellamy than he would ever get away with doing or saying to her. If the situation were reversed, I feel like people would be absolutely appalled (rightfully so) by Bellamy behaving this way towards her, in part because he is the older brother, in part because it would be OOC as ****, and yes, in part because he is a man.

It’s so sad, honestly. I’ve said for a long time that the relationship between Bellamy and Octavia is my second favorite relationship on the show, but as it currently stands . . . no. Not this iteration of it. The problem is, I don’t trust Octavia when it comes to Bellamy anymore. I don’t trust her to love him the way he deserves to be loved by his sister. Bellamy is far from perfect, but he’s been a damn good big brother to this girl. He has devoted his life to her since he was 6 years old. And this is the thanks he gets?

So how does Octavia come back from this? Or does she come back at all? I doubt she’ll ever go back up to #6 on my favorites list. I don’t know if she’ll even crack the top ten again. That’s how much I’m struggling with her right now. And I’m not struggling because I can’t analyze or empathize with her character. Trust me, I’ve put a lot of thought and analysis into this post alone. I’m struggling because I believe her treatment of her brother is morally and fundamentally wrong.

I really hope the writers hold her accountable for this. I really do. The Bloodreina concept is compelling storytelling (as I said, I don’t see anyone feeling Finndifferent about it), and it is an arc that makes sense for her, but I don’t want them to take the easy way out and say, “That was the Bloodreina side of Octavia doing that. That wasn’t really her.” No, it’s all Octavia. Just like Wanheda is a part of Clarke. I really struggled with Clarke early on in season 3, but I do believe the show has done a good job of having Clarke internalize the Wanheda part of her identity and accept and own up to it as a part of herself rather than pretending she was a whole different person at that time. I hope that they will do that with Octavia. But Bloodreina is on a whole different level than what Wanheda was. We're in a territory of extremes with Octavia.

Interesting to note, too, is that Bellamy doesn’t have a special title like these two do. He doesn’t get to be Wanheda or Bloodreina. Everything that he does, he does as Bellamy Blake. As I was thinking about this, I actually came to realize how much I appreciate this about his character. Because I think not having any mythologized persona to rely on has forced Bellamy to be really hard on himself and really critical of his past mistakes, and because of that, he’s learned a lot, and his evolution and developed maturity feels very earned to me.

So here we are. Octavia is basically a dictator, deciding who gets to live and dies, claiming land that technically doesn’t belong to her as her own, and marching a group into a sandstorm and then proceeding to have to have them shield her from that sandstorm, her mentor getting shards of glass in her lungs in the process. Does she feel bad about any of it? Or has she turned her humanity off to the point where she can’t even feel bad? I’m not sure. Will she ever turn that humanity back on? Will it be too late? Will any of this be able to justify what she’s done? I’m really not sure. An entire cult has been built up around this girl, and she’s drunk her own Kool-Aid, it seems. It’s so similar to our current-day North Korea, honestly, that it’s just eerie. A leader with a god-like persona who everyone claims to respect, but really . . . do they allow her to continue leading because they truly respect her? Or because they fear her? I suspect more people are afraid than they’re letting on, and that we will see some defectors in the future.

I’m holding onto hope for this character with the edge of my fingernails. But something is going to have to change in order for me to not give up on her completely. Something has to change with her as an individual, and that change has to provoke some changes in how she treats her brother, because I can’t keep supporting a character who is so cruel to the one person who loves her more than anyone else in the world does.

Well. That’s about it. I’m sure there’s more I wanted to say and just forgot to. I know these are some pretty passionate opinions, but I stand by them.

 

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[CooperTV]

I'm glad someone is able to satirize the nonsense The 100 fandom says about Bellamy and Becho after 5.06 right now.

Edited June 6, 2018 by CooperTV

[CooperTV]

Indra and Bellamy are the best.

[CooperTV]

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I'm genuinely baffled people think Octavia's in the right because she cried a bit and had to make hard choices like literally everyone else in the series. Hey, remember when Monty had to kill his own mother to save Octavia? Or when Bellamy had to irradiate hundreds of people, including children, after he'd come to trust and care about Maya and some of the others? Anyone?

Not to mention the fact that they're glossing over her Skyrippa arc during which she killed innocent people without any remorse and has since never even reflected on it just so they can double down on the pity party. Octavia spent three seasons treating her brother like shit; she chained him up and beat him bloody, constantly reminded him of her "mercy" for sparing him when she became an assassin, put Lincoln's death on him, literally threatened to kill him for speaking out of turn, wanted to kill half his family, who were being held captive by Diyoza, via flesh-eating monster worms, burned the hydra farm which Monty worked years on to make to help them survive, tried to gaslight him, put Bellamy in the pit and forced him to fight again after he saved her from Gaia. And now people on here are hating on him for finally speaking up after years of abuse? Because she cried a few times?

Sorry, I'm just not feeling this at all. People defend Octavia for "doing what needs to be done" and then turn around and hate Abby for proposing a plan that would ensure the future of mankind. Why is "the ends justify the means" only valid when Octavia does it?

 

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Also, there's a LOT of "Forcing people to became cannibals is what a good leader supposed to do" defenses of Octavia. And I thought the show jumped the shark after Clarke tried to become a Commander.

[CooperTV]

#Snowkru

[CooperTV]

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A theory, or wild speculation, or whatever; anyway there’s some Bellarke

Here follows a collection of thoughts that don’t quite add up to a thesis yet

Season 5 had one of the best runs of episodes I’ve seen on this show ever - strong themes, great setups, impactful character beats. 9 straight episodes of near-perfection.

But imo it fell short in the last couple of episodes. How short depends on your perspective, but my feelings about it range from mildly disappointed to Jane Austen mourning weeds and little weepy handkerchiefs. Either way - the collapse into fudgy incoherence and loose ends actually undid all of the great work the show did in the first 9 episodes.  WHICH IS FUCKING INFURIATING. 

The show painstakingly put together so much excellent character and relationship set ups which either never materialised or didn’t pay off or just fizzled out. And now I’m left wondering what it all meant, which not only frustrates me on a viewer level but also makes me feel like an idiot for wildly overestimating what the show was doing with the material.

*looks at the X Files forever*

Just to pick a few things out at random.

a) Bellarke were put in conflict, but there was no emotional pay-off, the framing was all over the place and the resolution basically a post-script. 

b) We spent the series agonising about the wisdom of going to war on a fragile planet, but the actual harbinger of Apocalypse 3.0 (I can’t believe I have to write that) was someone only tangentially related to that storyline, whom every single named character bar Kabby was trying to stop. So was everyone wrong? Or just ineffectual? The latter is far less interesting and more depressing tbh.

c) The worms

d) Memori

e) I could go on

I repeat, I would not be so pernickety if the run up to the s5 finale hadn’t been so good, and the set up so promising.  The idea of a reboot was genius.  The Bellarke separation was genius.  Blodreina = genius.  Mama Bear Clarke = genius. Eligius = genius. Spacekru = genius. 

But ultimately?  Can ANYONE tell me what s5 meant?  What difference did any of those things make in the end?  What conflict was resolved satisfactorily?  I’d argue that the Blodreina/Blake siblings arc worked the best (although *howl* Bellamy was never given any in-universe context for Blodreina) but generally I’m left with the feeling that very few of these stories or conflicts had any meaning whatsoever, and especially not Bellarke.

So I have a theory and I stand to be corrected as ever because I am very much processing.

I think there’s a strong possibility Jason and/or the 100 writers room began rewriting the back end of season 5 as they were filming the early season 5 material.

Given Jason’s comments immediately after the finale, I’m inclined to believe that the rewrites, if I’m right, were mostly around Bellarke and the Flame.  Specifically, I think that at some point when they were filming mid-season, Jason changed his mind about how Bellarke-y he wanted the season to be, if at all.  And on top of that, I think as he was pitching season 6 around that time, he realised that he wanted to go full-hog with the Flame in season 6. 

Those two things might be connected.  Perhaps Jason realised the full extent to which he coud “bring Lexa back” without actually bringing back ADC, around the Flame.  Perhaps he wants to recreate the show’s Clexa glory days.  And perhaps romantic Bellarke isn’t compatible with that vision. Dumb, in my view, but hey.

Perhaps, he just realised that he can’t doesn’t want to write romantic Bellarke.

If that’s the case, then well, *shrugs*.  Less satisfying for me, but I don’t own this shit.  I do, however, own the prerogative to speculate wildly on how and why they squandered all that promise in the last couple of eps.

Certainly, a mid-season back end emergency rewrite would explain a few things:

1.The loose threads and wonky framing

For example, Clarke’s fury at Bellamy for putting the Flame into Madi’s head was just…dropped?  Why? When it was SUCH A BIG DEAL in 509?  What were we supposed to the think about that?  What was she? And Bellamy, who didn’t appear to even remember who Clarke was until he saw her at the ship, being angry at her? Really? Where? Since when? And importantly - why? 

I’m a writer and it’s my experience that the best planning you do for a piece is when you approach it at the start.  You brainstorm.  You get your thoughts together.  You address each problem and question and mould it into a whole so it all makes sense.

But when you finish the thing and you look at it and you think - the thesis is wrong! I need to restructure the entire thing!  That’s when mistakes get made.  Especially if, for example, you’re up against a deadline or in this case a filming schedule, the threads that you would usually pick up at the planning stage or in the editing stage get missed.  And because they are part of the final editing process, there’s nobody around to pick them up and properly address them.

Result?  Fudge.

2. The curious ambivalence about Becho. 

Look I ADORE Becho. They are soft, and loving and real af.  I fully believe that was always intended to be the case. 

I think Becho was set up as a benchmark, for Bellamy in particular, a symbol of his peace and prosperity in space,. And, of course, I think it was also set up as a point of conflict for Octavia and Clarke. In the case of the latter, it was definitely a silent love triangle. How do you explain the love triangle framing on two separate occasions? How else do you explain the two separate interviews Jason gave about love triangles?

But here’s what Becho was not set up as: a relationship that was supposed to develop on-screen and take the audience with it.  Becho had no arc this season. It wasn’t “a story” per se, however much Tasya and Bob’s chemistry electrified me. It was the backbone to *other* stories. 

So, why, then, were Becho given every single Bellarke beat, especially towards the end? A background of forgiveness? Check. A steadying influence on each other. Check. The person they’re fighting for? Check. Plotting together? Check? Battle couple? Check.

Contrast with Bellarke. Forgiveness?  That’s something for Bellamy and Madi to discuss without Clarke!  Battle plans? Clarke will do that with Echo instead (oh my GODDD my ot3 came to life there *clutches hands and wishes upon a star*). A steadying influence on each other? Maybe! Until they forget each other’s names when they’re not in a scene together! People they’re fighting for? Definitely not each other.

Meanwhile bts, the messages were VERY confusing.  So the show was giving us a Becho that, while very real, was not the core of the story. Which was probably why, in early season 5, some deep Becho nods (the extra forehead touch, the “I love her”) found their way on to the editing room floor. All legit. But then, the script-to-screens then BROUGHT THOSE THINGS BACK to the viewer’s attention?  Why? Why give us those things even though they were cut? Was it because maybe, the show had changed direction after the fact?

And don’t get me wrong. I loved every second of the show’s affirmation of Becho. I still adore them.  But how does it fit into the jigsaw of the show as it stands?  It doesn’t really.  In fact, if you just swap Echo for Clarke in Bellamy’s storyline this season, you would have a hard time telling me that this isn’t exactly what romantic Bellarke would look like - the only difference is that in terms of screentime, Becho’s antagonism has had far more time, and Bellarke’s forgiveness/working together has had more time. IN-UNIVERSE, IT’S THE OTHER WAY AROUND.  It’s why shipping Becho comes so easily for me. And if the show wanted to frame that as Clarke’s personal tragedy, I would get it and probably relish it. But the trouble is, I’m having a hard time understanding what the show *is* saying about Becho and Bellarke, because it seems to be constantly changing its mind.

WHICH. BY THE WAY. MADE THAT ENTIRE WAKE-UP MARPER VLOG SEQUENCE A MASSIVE DAMP BELLARKE SQUIB.

SORRY.

3. The Flame suddenly jumping to prominence as a tool rather than as a symbol late in the season.

The show went from framing the Flame as a threat to this kid, who had hidden from it her whole life, for whom it meant literal nightmares of people burning at the stake, something for Clarke to rightly protect her from, to something that turned her into a mouthpiece for Lexa, to Clarke’s hostility to it being framed as “wrong”. There was an abrupt change of tone imo, to Clarke’s fears being justified to Clarke’s fears making her, and I quote Jason from an interview that nearly made me choke on my cereal, a “helicopter” mum.

Excuse me while I punch the nearest object to smithereens.

The Flame “gave” Madi battle ideas (which were different from Octavia’s how, exactly?) by Gaia’s bedside, with just a MANTRA? That whole scene felt cobbled together at the last minute. Like a film student’s badly edited homework.

It’s giving Clarke life lessons, ffs! 

*clenches fist*

The whole thing feels like a season 5 retcon, hastily put together to justify Madi still having the thing in her head for season 6, when it can do it’s victory lap for real.

4. The scenes that were dropped

a) Bob and Eliza both referenced a big Bellarke scene that got cut.  My guess? Not a romantic scene but some kind of Hakeldama that allowed them to hash out their various beefs with each other and probably involved some shit talking about the Flame.

b) And like, if that scene had some tenderness in it? Too Bellarke maybe? No, Bellarke BAD BAD BAD *stern looks*

c) also, wasn’t Echo supposed to have a sad scene of sitting in the snow and remembering Azgeda? That was supposed to be at the snowy back end of the season, but Echo had no sads really.  Only fierce spacekru love and some cuddles and some good sexy time. Was there an Echo sad that got cut? What was it related to?

5. The writers room walkout

Yeah. I don’t know what that means, but it sure means something.

Just fyi…for some context.  I love Becho and they currently own my heart but until recently Bellarke was very much my otp. Probably, deep down, it still is.

But I’m getting tired of running this race. I have no problem with the show doing a slow burn. I have no problem with platonic Bellarke. But I need consistency and, importantly, I need the show to remember that Bellarke are the backbone of this show. Their relationship - however you frame it - is the heart and without it the show is nothing but a collection of Elon Musk conspiracy theories on reddit.

JUST LETTING THEM HAVE A CONVERSATION =/= BELLARKE ROMANCE.

If you want them platonic, fine, you win. But gutting their relationship from the inside out to try to ward off the sniff of shipping is just counterproductive. It’s the lack of real, meaningful connection that really turned me off Bellarke this season, not the lack of kiss or lack of romantic framing. Early in the season? Yes, the set up was all there and it looked GREAT. But their conflict never got off the ground and we never got a cathartic resolution to show us the characters really, truly mean something to each other. 

Ultimately the show forgot that they were friends who love each other, and I just *clenches fist* can’t ship that.  Maybe that’s what the show wanted. But the flipside is that at this point I’m not really invested in their relationship in any context, which is why the end shot left me cold. I hope Bellarke hasn’t died in my heart forever but…idk it doesn’t look good.

 

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[CooperTV]

 

[CooperTV]

Farewell Bellamy, it’s time for the big sleep, rest easy. You are finally free.

[CooperTV]

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So to recap:

• Clarke tells everyone she kills Bellamy and victimized herself and his own sister hugs her, his ex girlfriend hugs her, they all group hug, say it’s okay, and move on. When in season 2 Clarke killed Finn they all shut her out and made it seem like she was the worst person in the world. Cool.
• Every single possible ship pairing got a sweet romantic moment/conversation when it’s been stated multiple times this show isn’t about ships or the relationships. But sure, let’s literally spend the entire episode having everyone talk things out and be emotional but only AFTER Bellamy is gone so he has no chance of getting thag himself.
• Murphy saying Bellamy manipulated Raven for 6 years in space further destroying Bellamys character. Nice.
• Spacekru being so chill and not caring about Clarke killing Bellamy after they literally tore her apart for saving their lives multiple times. Sure yeah, makes sense. So much for ~family~
• An entire scene where we see a child self harm herself just for another useless plot twist everyone say coming. Great rep there guys. Really.
• Ruining Madi and Clarke’s relationship by making Clarke kill Bellamy “for Madi” and Madi saying she never wanted that? Yeah hunny me too, pop off.
• After never bringing up echos “Ash” story to Bellamy like she should have, we ~get~ to see her open up to Niylah, a character that has never interacted with Echo, about it. Solid writing choices on that one.
• Don’t even get me started on Shiedheda or Cadogan cause honestly who the heck cares? Their stories are useless, make no sense, have no purpose, and are boring. Thank you next.
• Circling back to the way they villainized Bellamy again because I actually cannot believe they wrote down, on paper, that they physically handed to Tasya to say, “Cadogan gave him meaning and that meaning is what killed him” yeah okay, a character not wanting his family to die anymore, a character not wanting more wars and death, sure that’s so despicable of course we wouldn’t care if that character dies by the hand of his best friend. He ~deserves~ it. And then Clarke saying she “begged him to stop” ? Hunny he begged YOU to stop! He begged you to listen to him, just for once! I love when writers keep ruining a perfect character even after death. Beautiful.
• ✨Killing another MOC for no reason!!! Literally no reason! ✨
• Oh a fun parallel I forgot: Octavia getting a whole season of redemption arc after she “died a long time ago” and is “no longer my sister” but Bellamy who “was lost a long time ago” is just a disposable piece of trash for loving his family and trying to do right by them. GENIUS WRITING, TRULY.
• Nanotracking. WTH is that. And why is it only brought up now? So all these characters can conveniently disappear at a moments notice? When really I’m sure the only reason they came up with that is because they had to bury the anomaly stone so far down to make it plausible that it’s been there this whole time without us knowing so they needed another easy way for everyone to come in and out of Bardo or wherever they come to and from. STUPID.
• I feel like there need to be a point about the timeline. And not the timeline you think. But how Bellamy saved Clarke’s life, spent a whole season trying to save Clarke’s life, literally like 2 weeks ago in Clarke’s time. Bellamy was “dead” for a solid 2 days their time before he came back and they had the audacity to say “we lost Bellamy a long time ago” ???? But it’s okay for the writer to kill him off because he had a spiritual experience and wanted to share. Honey what’s not clicking???? This is blatant erasure of the Male Lead. Plain and simple.

 

About 7.14.

[quarks]

Popping into this thread because this is more of a multiple episode vent about EvilHeda, and specifically, the issue of How the Hell Is He Still Alive? 

It bugs me. Because EvilHeda is only alive because:

1. Neither Lexa, Alie or any of the other Commanders were able to delete him from the Flame. We know that Alie had at least some access to the Flame in the Season 3 Finale - enough to make Clarke think that she was running through downtown Vancouver instead of the state parks around Vancouver. We also know, from Madi in season 5, that Lexa was present enough in the Flame to be able to send cheery messages to Clarke, and, from seasons 2 and 3, that Lexa was a pragmatic person who did not hesitate to kill anyone she deemed a potential threat to a lasting peace for the Grounders - a description that absolutely fits EvilHeda. 

2. Somehow or other, Raven's Season Finale Computer Stunts managed to delete all of the Commanders/other info except for EvilHeda.

3. Somehow or other, Russell, who had managed to take over the minds/mental places of multiple people over his lifetimes, couldn't withstand EvilHeda.

4. Clarke and about half of Our Protagonists, including Echo, Diyoza and Octavia - any of whom could have taken out EvilHeda - happened to be on another planet during EvilHeda's return.

5. Indra - INDRA - has failed to kill him multiple times now - and even left him in rooms with weapons. Even now, in this latest episode, Indra paused to deliver some final speech or other before plunging a blade into his chest - giving him time to escape.

6. Somehow or other, Madi failed to kill EvilHeda despite stabbing him in the eye.

7. And even though Madi also failed to sanitize that knife before stabbing EvilHeda with it, bacteria ALSO failed to kill EvilHeda.

8. After agreeing not to follow Commanders anymore because the Flame was gone, and to accept Indra as their leader, the remaining Wonkru Grounders....decided to follow EvilHeda. Who, we need to point out, does not have the Flame, and thus, by their own definition, is not a Commander and not someone they need to follow.

9. The Eligius 4 group, who are all criminals with absolutely no reason to follow any of the Grounders and every reason to try to kill the Grounders and their leaders, especially after the earlier reactor incident, took one look at EvilHeda and said, sure, we'll follow this guy even though he's wearing an eyepatch and sitting on a chair made out of skulls. (Had any of them said, "You know, I'm following this guy because his first step was to get a chair made out of skulls and sit on that, and I respect that sort of dedication to evil," I would have accepted this, but no. Worse, the entire Eligius 4 group goes along with this, even though in canon the Eligius 4 group doesn't get along with each other.

10. Gabriel's group, who have been somewhat successfully working as saboteurs for years now, and who know the local area, are unable to take down EvilHeda.

11. The Sanctum group is easily tricked into believing that EvilHeda is a Prime.

12. When the Sanctum group finds out that EvilHeda is not a Prime, they pretty much go into hiding/give up instead of violently revolting, even though they have all been established as religious fanatics capable of violence.

13. After arriving on Sanctum, Cadogan decided to kill off EvilHeda's followers - who were pretty much just standing there - and not EvilHeda, the person actively challenging him.

14. The Bardo people decide to take EvilHeda - who was trying to kill them - back to Bardo and cure him, something they failed to do for their own Bardo people.

15. Cadogan then decides that instead of sending more of his trained invisible Bardo people after Madi, he will instead send EvilHeda after Madi. Even though, in script, Cadogan had a) just met EvilHeda, and knows only that b) EvilHeda likes to kill people, c) multiple people decided that hanging out in a nuclear reactor without sufficient food, water or toilet facilities was preferable to/safer than hanging out with EvilHeda, d) he had just killed EvilHeda's followers, giving EvilHeda every reason to want revenge. I know this show is based on shifting loyalties/alliances, but this one doesn't even make sense on "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" level.

(Of course, the most ridiculous part of this is that Cadogan doesn't even need Madi - he has EvilHeda, who has the exact same information from the Flame that Madi does! EvilHeda even tells Cadagon that he shared Madi's mind! Why send anyone after Madi when EvilHeda and the sketchbook are RIGHT THERE? But that's not part of the WHY IS EVILHEDA STILL ALIVE list so I'll let it go for now. Cadogan would only need to send EvilHeda after Madi if EvilHeda was a) dead or b) untrustworthy. SEE THE PROBLEM)

16. Echo just happened to be sulking during the entire KILL MADI KILL KILL KILL scenes so unable to deliver one of her patented assassinations. 

17. Even after EvilHeda lost his invisible helmet, Octavia, Gaia and Indra - all trained fighters/killers - were somehow unable to kill this guy. Again.

And look, I can accept quite a lot of this. Especially the bacteria part - for a show featuring a lot of mass death, almost no one seems to die of infections, which, whatever. Maybe something in Sanctum's air kills off bacteria. I'll buy that.

What I can't accept is all of this. Because, if you check, EvilHeda's continued existence only works if virtually every other character on the show except for the dog, but including several of the extras, is either out of character or grossly incompetent in his presence. It bugs me.

 

[CooperTV]

Is Clarke a sociopath? Does Jason Rothenberg actually despise his fanbase and his lead actors? Found out in the next episode of The 100!

[ParadoxLost]

On 9/17/2020 at 6:08 PM, quarks said:

Popping into this thread because this is more of a multiple episode vent about EvilHeda, and specifically, the issue of How the Hell Is He Still Alive? 

It bugs me. Because EvilHeda is only alive because:

EvilHeda is only alive because of the prequel.  I am positive- with no spoilers- if the sequel ever makes it to air that he will be a character, probably a main character.  It will be one of those shows that introduces him as a young and decent person but you know how his story plays out.  They are making sure we know how his story plays out.

[quarks]

9 minutes ago, ParadoxLost said:

EvilHeda is only alive because of the prequel.  I am positive- with no spoilers- if the sequel ever makes it to air that he will be a character, probably a main character.  It will be one of those shows that introduces him as a young and decent person but you know how his story plays out.  They are making sure we know how his story plays out.

Well, yes.

But the narrative should be able to keep him alive without having to make virtually everyone act out of character to do so.

[ParadoxLost]

Just now, quarks said:

Well, yes.

But the narrative should be able to keep him alive without having to make virtually everyone act out of character to do so.

I agree with you.  But the 100 has its limitations. Which includes mainly the writers and showrunner.

[NeenerNeener]

I used to think Murphy was a major asshole and didn't want him on my tv screen. He's had quite a bit of character growth over the years since the introduction of Emori and now he's one of the heroes and also one of my favorite characters. Go figure.

[quarks]

2 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

I agree with you.  But the 100 has its limitations. Which includes mainly the writers and showrunner.

What's frustrating is that the show was better at handling things like this in earlier seasons. Not perfect, but better.

 

[CooperTV]

[CooperTV]

Quote

 

If we disregard Bellarke for a moment, lets say Jason ONLY wanted to destroy them, then what the hell was up with the rest of the story?

What was the point of Jordan? What did Jordan do? What did he chage? The only thing he did in S7 was know enough Korean to understand the last war was just the last test. That was the point of his ENTIRE place in the show? What was his character devolepment?

What was the point of Niylah? What did she do? How did her part in the story change anything? What was her character development? Jackson, Miller? They didn’t have a storyline at all. They were just there.

Echo had this whole identity storyline that ended up… nowhere. So the very relationship that kept her back, didn’t even have closure. He just died. And so did her storyline. Suddenly she just disappeared. Did Echo end up finding a purpose? Did she choose her own path? What does an identity do, when you are not allowed to actually live? Echo, like the rest of them, will live until she’s old and then die without finding more for herself. How is her being trapped on a beach living life? She’s just doing what she’s always done, following others.

What was the point of Madi? She grew up hiding. All she wanted was to grow up and be happy. Be a kid. Have a life. Yet she had nothing to do the entire season and then just died. There was no hope, no future, no own life??

Hope. What was the point of Hope? To give Octavia someone other than Bellamy to love? Just like they gave Clarke Madi. So that the women in Bellamy’s life would always love someone else more than him. What did Hope do that changed anything? How did Diyoza’s future vision of having a school, a place for kids to play and grow up etc mean nothing? Not even Hope got to grow up and make that a reality? She’ll live some years in the woods and then die, childless, family-less, future-less. There’s no reason to build anything for the future.

What was the actual point of Hope and Jordan? You want them to represent doing better? Well then, shouldn’t the kid of Marper and the kid of terrorists actually make the world better? Have their own kids to build the world? Didn’t Diyoza literally ask her to be better than her? Where did that storyline go?

What was the point of depriving a future and kids for Memori? They both grew and became mature adults doing better for others. You are telling me Emori, someone who was cast out as a baby was never allowed to have her own and break the cycle? Murphy, who started as a selfish, unloved kid never got to grow up to be a dad and follow his own father’s path of loving his kid and making sure they didn’t feel cast out and unloved like Memori had?

Raven. Raven who wanted love. Above all else. She wanted love and to be chosen first. Family is love too. But for Raven, a romantic relationship, HER PERSON was always a big part of what she wanted. She tried to find that yet they all kept dying on her. Now, she’s got a family sure but what about her personal individual desires? And she doesn’t even get a future where she can do what she loves. No tech. No evolving or building the world up. No work accomplishments that will survive 97 years worth of weather?

What was the point of giving Hope to Octavia when she time and time again kept leaving Hope behind? We had an entire episode watching Octavia trying to find ways to get back to Bellamy because Hope and Diyoza weren’t enough for her. We saw how when she was reunited with Hope, she still went back to Sanctum, leaving Hope behind. We then saw Octavia have a rushed love story with a random dude who kept poping up whenever. By the end of the show, all Octavia could talk about was how important Hope was, yet they didn’t even share scenes? In name she was important, just so they could force Octavia to understand Clarke murdering Bellamy but on screen, they barely spent time together? Again she left Hope behind on earth to go back to Bardo to fight a war with Clarke. Was she even around Hope at all in 7x16? The last scene on the beach had Octavia sitting with Levitt as her endgame, meanwhile we still didn’t get to see anything with Hope, because Hope is an adult who stuck with Jordan. But she had to forgive Bellamy’s murderer because “she understands”?

What was the point of Gabriel in season 7? Seriously, what was the point? Other than watching him walk around in white and eating all the time. What did he change? What was his purpose following them to earth? Did he use his 200+ years of knowledge to change anything/understand anything? Why did Gabriel die for Madi? Had Gabriel even met Madi? Other than Hope, Echo and maybe Octavia, the rest of them didn’t even have a relationship with him? Yet Echo wasn’t even there when he died?

Gaia??? Who went missing ¾ of the season. Who had barely a reaction to Madi’s death. Was kept around just in case Clarke needed an endgame on that beach, lol. Because that’s what Gaia was worth, a standby for a white woman.

And let me just get to Bellarke. Fine, they got the ending they got. Did someone bury Bellamy? Where is his body? Did anyone go back for him? When Clarke walked around looking for people in 7x16, did she just step over his cold dead body still on that floor? Did Clarke not care where his resting place was? How did Clarke have a happy ending with spacekru? How could she stand there laughing and smiling with them when she murdered Bellamy, didn’t even regret it at all and then lost her kid too? Is Clarke so ungrateful and so disgusting, that’s what she apparently wanted for her ending?

Seriously, what was the reason? They just dropped character developments. They didn’t finish storylines. They didn’t even finish plot story!

 

Ramblings of a bitter fan

[TMM]

On 5/12/2017 at 4:45 AM, CooperTV said:

Octavia vs Luna

Over 80% of the stuff Octavia did to Bellamy. He deserved it. He's made the most terrible,  illogical, stupid, damaging choices in the show by far. Most of Octavia's crap was at least fair and could be justified, can hardly say the same for him.