Coming off such a self-contained episode as the conclave, The 100 had to naturally expand back out a bit to check in with not only the bunker, but also the death wish party people and Raven, which was both a good and a bad thing.
On the one hand, each plot away from the bunker had some great moments. On the other hand, the bunker resolution felt a little rushed to me and could have benefited from pulling more of the focus.
At the bunker, after her initial rage about Skaikru stealing the shelter for themselves, Indra decides to trust in Octavia and wait to see if Bellamy can save the day from the inside. Echo also agrees to wait, but more so because Octavia threatens to expose Azgeda’s cheating at the conclave if she doesn’t keep her mouth shut.
Inside the bunker, Bellamy and Abby (the ones who have someone to lose trapped outside) manage to overcome Jaha, Clarke and everyone else to save the day, just in time for the clans to arrive—and no one is the wiser that Skaikru betrayed the other clans and stole the bunker. It’s all very tidy, which is honestly kind of disappointing.
I personally would have rather listened to the main players inside the bunker argue the merits of the different choices, rather than watch Bellamy and Abby simply outsmart everyone at every turn. The episode touched on the arguments here and there, but didn’t really dig into the moral quandary of what Jaha and Clarke did and why it is or isn’t the right choice anymore.
At one point, Clarke even says, “This isn’t about saving my people, it’s about saving the human race” and no one is around to call her on her B.S. No, Clarke, that’s not what this about anymore—if that was what this was about, you’d open the bunker and fill up the 800 empty beds with more human beings.
Her argument barely holds water when Luna was one of the final four, because at that point, three other victors guaranteed the survival of the human race. But with Luna vanquished and the bunker able to hold 1200 people, plus viewers getting confirmation that Skaikru has roughly 400 members? Now you’re just being selfish—and it absolutely is entirely about saving your people, or else you’d open the door.
The writing of this whole plot just feels a little off. Like Bellamy telling Clarke, “This isn’t like shutting the drop ship door, or pulling the lever in Mt. Weather, or in the City of Light. We knew what we were stopping then. Now we know nothing.”
What does that even mean? Bellamy’s point should be that they are wasting hundreds of survivors by doing things Clarke and Jaha’s way. Why wouldn’t they want as many people as possible to survive?
It’s all a little baffling, and I feel like in light of Raven’s storyline this week, it’ll all be a moot point anyway.
Doesn’t it feel as though now that Raven is going to survive, she’s somehow magically going to come up with a solution to save everyone? I sincerely hope not, because it would really diminish the impact of the conclave and now next week having to choose which 100 people get to live, but I do wonder if that’s the way things are heading.
Either way, while “The Other Side” didn’t really grab me as an episode, next week should be pretty great, even if it’s a bit of a retread back to when Clarke was trying to decide who would get shelter in the Ark from the radiation rain. But watching the Ark inhabitants try to figure out which 100 people get to survive should provide some meaty material and high stakes—hopefully with some strong writing to back it up.
Stray observations
- Jaha: “We did the right thing, Clarke.”
Clarke: “Yesterday we were right. Today we have to live with being wrong.”
Um, then FIX IT, CLARKE. You realize you were wrong, you have all these extra beds—the choice seems obvious, why are you sticking with crazypants Jaha on this one? - While Raven’s survival does make me wary of how exactly she comes into play in the final two episodes, I will give props to the reappearance of Sinclair. He and Becca were wonderful representations of Raven’s brain arguing with itself about what to do and there were some really great moments between the three of them and between Sinclair and Raven as friends.
- Speaking of friends, I was probably supposed to be more sad about Jasper’s death, but honestly? That guy has been on my last nerve for a while. Great work by Devon Bostick and Christopher Larkin with that scene and the “I love yous,” but it still didn’t pack nearly the emotional punch it would have two seasons ago.