Season 1 - Episode 12 -We are Grounders Part 1On Earth, things are desperate with an imminent Grounder attack and Clarke still under Grounder captivity. Bellamy is preparing for the worst by trying to make sure everyone is ready for the inevitable attack; he's exerting great leadership skills by keeping everyone focused on the coming battle and pragmatically deciding that devoting resources to saving Clarke is a bad idea where the safety of the group is concerned.
Much of the episode takes the form of a nicely tense hostage situation involving Murphy and Jasper. Bellamy handles this situation really well and shows true leadership. He immediately offers to trade Jasper for himself which makes a lot of sense given that Bellamy is far more capable of protecting himself than Jasper is. This gives Raven a chance to do her thing and sneak in the back entrance. Naturally Murphy and Bellamy are given a chance to talk; Murphy has many reasons to hate Bellamy after what he's been through over the course of the season so it's no surprise that Murphy would revel in the opportunity to be in control of such a situation. These scenes are the highlight of the episode as it shows Bellamy suffering further consequences for the decisions he's made as a leader. Murphy is right in a lot of what he's saying but he's clearly been driven a little insane by his experiences so isn't quite going about things correctly but I like it when conflicts aren't black and white and this show does these shades of grey consistently very well.
I really liked Clarke's story in this episode as she runs from The Grounders with the aid of Finn and Lincoln, this is where we are introduced to a new threat called Reapers. The episode keeps them mysterious but I suspect they are introduced now to set up the threat for season two. In essence they seem like savage humans which is what The Grounders were initially set up to be and so far they seem fairly uninteresting as concepts go. That isn't to say they were used poorly because they were used really well. Clarke's plot is full of a massive sense of urgency helped by the dark and claustrophobic cave setting. As usual the show ruins a good thing by an unnecessary teen romance interlude.
Things are incredibly bleak for the people on The Ark, the events in the previous episode have all but crippled it meaning they have little time left. Chancellor Jaha has done the humanitarian thing and decided to release all resources to the entire population which I found to be a nice sentiment. I really enjoyed Jaha's private introspection moment where he watches happy videos to remind him of simpler times. It's a little clichéd that this would give him the idea to save the human race but I can let this go for such a nice moment.
Overall, this episode is well paced with very little to hold it back. Save for the standard teen romance nonsense this is a really good first part of a finale that keeps the audience on its toes with some really tense moments and great story progression. It never feels like it's purely setting up the last episode and really plays to the strengths this show frequently exhibits.
Season 1 - Episode 13 -We are Grounders Part 2Almost immediately after the episode begins, The 100 leave their camp and head to the ocean following Clarke's suggestion. I really like that Bellamy and Clarke are opposed in this plan but Bellamy is willing to come along to help protect the people. There's a nice scene where Bellamy and Clarke discuss the losses where Bellamy thinks about how many died while Clarke reminds him how many are alive. I really liked the contrast between their styles and personalities being reaffirmed in a very small moment.
Ultimately leaving the camp is an idea that doesn't work and they're force to defend the camp instead. Bellamy proves himself an able strategist by coming up with a decent plan to fight off their enemies. The scene itself is a standard "here's what we're going to do" using a map as a prop sequence but the characters are all playing to their strengths here. I liked that Bellamy's strategy seems effective yet clinical and it's enhanced by Clarke's imaginative outlook giving them something else to work with.
There are some really nice character moments in this part of the story. I enjoyed Raven and Clarke's discussion that directly addresses their apparent expertise for anything they set their mind to. For the first time in the show Clarke is faced with something that she can't do and Raven is too injured to apply her skills, it becomes a major problem and greatly humanises these characters who were starting to get closer to Mary Sue territory. I liked seeing the vulnerability of these two characters as it was a welcome change of pace and raised the jeopardy in the story effectively.
One thing that really lets the episode down is the battle with The Grounders. It's far too dark and not at all well shot so it's completely unclear what's actually going on. What it really amounts to is darkened figures shooting at other darkened figures which made it completely visually unappealing. An eleventh hour predictable Reaper appearance does nothing to up the ante on this sequence. It feels like they were only introduced so that the battle could end like this.
In true The 100 tradition, The Ark story is bleak but has some hope as they prepare the risky plan to land The Ark on Earth. Not everyone will survive this and the show doesn't give them a simple fix to ensure that everyone survives. I continue to be impressed by this as it feels like there are real stakes attached to everything that goes on. All of the characters handle this with a sense of fearful dignity as they attempt this fully aware that the chances of survival aren't good. It reminded me of the earlier episode where people were volunteering to die to save the group. This is nicely punctuated by a volunteer being needed to handle the separation manually and there being no shortage of them. It makes perfect sense for Jaha to be the one, offering up redemption for this character following his guilt of having to condemn hundreds of people to death while surviving himself. The final moments of him on The Ark condemned to die when the air runs out are particularly powerful.
The ending of the episode is something of a mixed bag. We learn that one of the sections of The Ark made it to the surface with survivors but we aren't told how many others, I liked this as it leaves some potential for consequences in the next season. There's an implication that many of the characters have died but I'm sure that won't be the case come next season so it feels like something of a red herring. I'm not sure about the last minute revelation of Mountain People and their capture of the group. They've not been mentioned before and the sterile looking facility they seem to be running feels a little too familiar. As always it depends what they do with it but so far I'm not encouraged.
Overall, this was a really good finale where the characters all shone and the story was tightly paced with stakes that continued to rise. It definitely felt like an ending of the current status quo to make way for a new one next season which I liked, if the current format had continued then it risks becoming stale so changing things up is a good idea. The action in this episode was really dull with a very predictable outcome and the ending wasn't quite as exciting and mysterious as the producers probably wanted it to be. Not as strong as the first part but still a strong ending to the season.
Season 1When I'd read about this show before it started I wasn't entirely sure what to make of it. The premise seemed interesting but it struck lots of familiar chords that reminded me of things like Lost plus the prospect of a bunch of teenagers being left to their own devices seemed like something of a dodgy prospect, especially on the CW. That being said I've noticed that The CW as a network has been able to pull off programming that's more mature than their norm, they've proven that with Arrow which has well rounded characters, high stakes plots and very dark themes much of the time. That's not to say the familiar CW tropes aren't there but they're in the background instead of being the focal point of the series.
With all that in mind I decided to give this a go and see what it was like since the sci fi premise intrigued me enough. The pilot did enough to make me want to continue with it despite the fact that the opening was really clumsy and set up the world that the characters inhabit really poorly. Seriously, to watch it there's lots of "Why the hell would anyone do that?" questions flying around. Once I was able to accept what was going on there was plenty to like even then. Some of the characters were really interesting and the actors portraying them were doing a really good job with particular accolades going to Eliza Cotter's Clarke Griffin who steals most scenes that she's in. I also liked the idea of the binary story structure with some of the story taking place on Earth with the teenagers and the rest taking place on their space station, The Ark. It's a clever way of reminding the audience why everything is happening and what is at stake should they fail.
As the series went on, it got a lot better. Thematically it was much darker than I expected and just continued to pile on the intensity. The early revelation of a young 12/13 year old girl murdering others was a complete shock that I never thought I would see on a CW show. It became clear early on that this show wasn't afraid to go dark and really test the characters and the premise with some really bleak situations. It wasn't difficult to keep going with the show when they were doing so much right.
As I said above, Clarke steals most of the scenes she's in because she's such a well rounded character excellently played. In some ways it seems like she's good at everything which actually becomes a problem that they address in the finale but the show never paints her as being right about everything which is really important for a protagonist. I like that her ideas aren't always brilliant and cause their own problems. She needs the skills and knowledge of those around her to arrive at better decisions and this is something that's frequently addressed throughout the show. Her confidence is what keeps the group together and her rationality stops them from tearing each other apart as well as saves their lives on many occasions. 
Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley) started off as a complete douche who should be avoided but he quickly matured and nurtured his potential as a leader and gave The 100 someone to rally behind. It's a testament to Morley's acting ability that he managed to tow the line between being unlikeable and likeable. He also serves as a perfect contrast to Clarke's naive optimism which would certainly have gotten them all killed if it were entirely up to her.
Raven (Lindsey Morgan) ran the risk of simply being the sassy alternative to Clarke but thankfully the show went a different route with her. When she appears on Earth she quickly learns that her closeted upbringing has made her unprepared for life in ways that she doesn't even understand. Like Clarke she seems to be good at everything but she's really a very vulnerable individual who relies on Finn for emotional support and guidance. When she starts to feel betrayed by the man she implicitly trusted all her life then her character begins to grow in really interesting ways.
Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) is Bellamy's sister and represents a weakness in Bellamy in that he'll do anything to protect her. This includes stringing someone up simply for kissing her. We learn why he's so overprotective as the series progresses in a flashback that is really well executed. Octavia grows a lot over the course of the season. She isn't terrified by Earth or the threats that they face because she's so profoundly curious and not afraid to learn about everything they come across. I was concerned she'd be consistently annoying and she sort of is but she's presented in a way that forces her to begin to overcome that.There are many other characters like Jasper (Devon Bostick), Finn (Thomas McDonell) and Monty (Christopher Larkin) but I don't feel that I have much to say about any of them. In most cases they serve as story functions rather than characters. Jasper and Finn have the potential to become more but for the most part they serve their purpose in the plot and in the case of Finn, make up one point in a love triangle. Maybe they'll get more to do next season but for now they pale in comparison to what I consider the main four.
The Ark story was always a joy to return to. The characters up there were always faced with desperate situations where the station was falling apart around them. There were air supply problems, mutiny issues and a criminal element that really didn't get enough screen time to flesh out the potential. I liked Isiah Washington's Chancellor Jaha who was consistently an effective leader who was willing to make the hard decisions but also had a lot of respect for those he was in charge of. There was a really powerful episode where hundreds of people volunteered to die so that the air supply could be extended for everyone else, Jaha's merits as a leader were really shown in that particular episode and from then he was a more tortured man.As above, there are other characters on The Ark such as Kane (Henry Ian Cusick), Sinclair (Alessandro Juliani) and Clarke's mother Abbie (Paige Turco) who all have plenty to do but with the exception of Abbie -who serves as the distant mother figure trying to reconnect with the daughter who doesn't quite respect her- they are underdeveloped and mostly serve to relay information about how bad everything is. With many of them on the surface of Earth for season 2 there's lots of potential to develop their characters.
Much of the series was plagued by the fact that it's a CW show so therefore must have shirtless love triangles and teen romance. This isn't something I'm at all interested in as I think I've seen every possible example of this nonsense in other shows. The love triangle between Clarke, Finn and Raven was something I could really have done without. Thankfully the relationship nonsense never really got in the way of story progression but whenever it was on screen I was lifted out of the show almost completely. Hopefully this is something that will die down by season two.
Beyond the internal conflicts the external threat mostly came from The Grounders who were underplayed initially but became a big part of the narrative as time went on. I'm in two minds about how well this was done; some of it was really good like the mistrust between both sides and the bad decisions on Clarke's part that unknowingly sparked a war. The conversation between Clarke and their leader Anya where it was revealed that flares sent up by The 100 burned one of their camps was a particular shock.On the other hand the motivations of The Grounders often came across as shaky and they seemed fairly one dimensional as antagonists much of the time. The character of Lincoln was transparently used to show that there is some humanity inside their society and that they're not all bad but it's all a bit familiar and felt like an excuse for another unnecessary teen romance.
Overall, the first season was a massive success I'd say. I managed to get something out of every episode and I found myself rooting for the better developed characters. In the second season I hope that they'll tone down the teen romance stuff and concentrate on developing their characters as well as fleshing out a more interesting antagonist. This show has a lot of potential and I'm glad that it's getting the chance to realise it by being renewed for another season.
No comments:
Post a Comment