This review contains spoilers.
6.4 The Face Behind The Glass
Sanctum’s Naming Day – an occasion for making amends – is perfectly timed for our Kru to do some much-needed exploring of their feelings. As Bellamy points out, they lost Monty and Harper just three days ago, which means the valley, the torture, and the fighting pit were mere days and weeks before that.
Clarke goes on an apology tour to Raven and Bellamy, and after three episodes of Raven’s huffing and puffing, it was so satisfying to hear her tell Clarke off accurately, taking her to task for hurting everyone over and over, making her apologies feel meaningless. “Clarke Griffin and her impossible choices,” could have been the title of the show. And as Raven pointed out, this past season in particular, unlike with Mount Weather or the drop ship, Clarke made choices that she can’t really stand by. Clarke and Bellamy may have had a beautiful moment of reconciliation, but not everyone is always going to forgive you, Clarke. You’re going to have to earn it.
It’s always good to see Raven Reyes smile, and I imagine it won’t be long till she runs the machine shop. But I’m less certain what to make of Ryker. He seemed nice enough, though his Prime status was no secret to us, until that cavalier comment about getting her on the list. That said, anyone who is currently beefing with Russell seems a-ok in my book.
I’m glad we finally got to learn something meaningful about Echo’s past. She’s right – her life has always been about survival, and Bellamy was incredibly harsh to call her the good little Azgeda spy. But it was also far too soon and not his call to decide immediately after her revealing an intense story that it was time to just move forward. I get why Bellamy wants to move forward – as he said, too many sins on his lantern. However uncomfortable he seemed with Clarke apologising, it has as much to do with his own behaviour as it does with hers. But that doesn’t mean everyone else feels the same way.
It’s no coincidence Bellamy’s fight with Echo was juxtaposed with his hashing things out with Clark and seeing her with Cillian. Bellarke shipping might be a lightning rod for parts of The 100 fandom, but from a storytelling perspective, Raven is right: what’s the difference between Octavia and Clarke? Why reason could he possibly have to forgive one but not the other? Bel sees trying to save someone you love as more sympathetic than being power hungry, sure, and like the rest of this show, does not grant that Octavia making tough choices while trying to keep everyone alive the same way Clarke always has.
I was hoping that Rose’s death – seemingly facilitated by Octavia’s own bloodlust – would be the thing that finally got O to really stop and take stock. Something about seeing her back in a familiar environment, stripped down of power, protecting someone vulnerable, gave me hope for her path. But it seems she’ll have to take the long way round to redemption. She and Diyoza meeting up is certainly a good thing, storywise. I’m still missing Indra in a big way, although I can see how the writers would want to save her for later, since there’s so much going on already, and it might strain belief if she couldn’t get through to Octavia, or if she didn’t raise enough hell in Sanctum.
So far the pacing of this season has been spot-on, with new morsels of information dropped consistently throughout each episode in the course of conversations – either you catch it or you don’t, and only occasionally does someone like Octavia repeat a tidbit or two at the end, like she does here with her analysis that the Children of Gabriel aren’t even sure that he’s alive (neither are the Primes). Other choice facts: the Children of Gabriel aren’t killing the hosts but saving them (so maybe they have the moral high ground after all), the Primes were nearing mortality since so few “royal bloods” are being born, host can’t take Primes until they’re 21, something called “the Anomaly” exists (sounds an awful lot like “the shimmer,” no?), the Children of Gabriel used to be with him & are trying to get back, and there’s some rancor among the Primes – and possibly beyond.
On the other side, Sanctum is chewing through the plot that I had assumed they’d take all season to get through, which excites me for what they’re speeding their way towards. I think of it as explorers trying to sail off the edge of the map: there’s the story that nine out of ten television shows would tell given this setup, and they’re burning through it to get to something else, something beyond that. I’m always happy to see a show swing for the fences – hopefully this means The 100 will be digging in deeper to some of the concepts we’ve only begun to explore or don’t even know about yet, whether the Children of Gabriel, Gabriel himself, or whatever the Anomaly is.
Clarke finally gets some joy in her life and it turns out hot doctor is secretly a mole. Of course, given everything we know, he actually seems like he had her best interests at heart, even if his delivery could use some work. After all, he was ready to die smuggling her out of Sanctum, and we have a few data points now that indicate that the Children of Gabriel don’t harm “hosts.” Even after everything she’s been through, finding out someone you just slept with was lying to get close to you and then watching them slit their throat while you’re literally paralysed has got to be one of Clarke’s bad days, made worse by Russell deciding to erase her so he can use her body as a vessel for his daughter.
Remember the City of Light? Clarke couldn’t fully take the chip because she wasn’t born a Natblida; she was made one. Eventually, things went sideways and it would have killed her. Now this mega-chip isn’t exactly the same as the commander’s. It doesn’t merge with the host and retain multiple people but rather takes over and the host’s mind dies (they think – but what do they know?). It’s also physically bigger. Still, the Primes are nuts if they think they can put another person in Clarke Griffin’s mind and not have some consequences, both from her friends who will surely figure it out, and from her mind, which is strong as hell.
Josephine Lightborn is in for a wild ride.
Read Delia’s review of the previous episode, The Children Of Gabriel, here.
