Camp Jaha
We join Camp Jaha two days after Finn's killing spree in the Grounder camp, as guards patrol the electrified fence. Inside, Clarke is telling Bellamy about Mount Weather and how they can get in. While Clarke is conversing with Bellamy, she's not so chatty with Finn, as she doesn't know what to say to him after seeing him kill so many people.
Finn approaches and Bellamy takes a hint, making himself scarce. Finn wants to be included in the plan to head to Mount Weather, and before Clarke can tell him that she doesn't want him involved (I assume she doesn't want him involved), Murphy interrupts. Clarke isn't so ready to forgive Murphy as everyone else has been, and Finn huffs off in a strop at the fact that Clarke is clearly not at ease with him.
Raven heads to Clarke to tell her that she figures Mount Weather is jamming any signal she's sending out to other Ark stations. It's interesting to see how Raven has gone to Clarke with this, and not Abby. She, and Bellamy, clearly still see Clarke as their leader, which makes Major Byrne suspicious, and Abby unhappy. Abby thinks Clarke is putting people in danger by still acting like she and the others from The 100 can take care of themselves, but I think Abby has no understanding of just what her daughter and friends can do, or what they've been through. Plus, Clarke has earned her position as leader on earth, Abby has most certainly not.
Clarke wants Abby and Major Byrne to let the guys from The 100 infiltrate Mount Weather, while the Camp Jaha guards protect the Ark survivors from the Grounder attack sure to come after Finn's killing spree. Surprisingly, Abby agrees, but she wants to go with Clarke. Half of me thinks it's a bad idea, the other half thinks it's a good opportunity for Abby to see what her daughter has faced and overcome. For once, Major Byrne is talking sense, and urges Abby not to go - she thinks the Grounders are readying an attack. I think Abby really needs to learn to be a leader first, and not a mother.
In the woods
The group set out, complete with Finn, who as an excellent tracker earns his place.
Raven spots the jammer Mount Weather has been using, while Abby discovers that Octavia and Bellamy have gone missing. Clarke has sent them to find a way in to Mount Weather, and Abby is not happy, sending her military guards to find the siblings. Finn goes with them, mainly because he's feeling ignored by Clarke. She runs after him, and they speak for about 30 seconds before acid fog approaches.
The guards catch up with Bellamy and Octavia, and Octavia finds some ruins just in time for two of the guards to take shelter inside along with Bellamy and Octavia. The third guard isn't so lucky.
Clarke and Finn find their own little bunker - I think the same one they used back in season one. It's clear memories of that night aren't going to help Clarke, but the close quarters will help clear the air. Or something.
The ruins Octavia found seem to lead to a massive underground bunker. The guards, instead of keeping Octavia and Bellamy close, show some faith in them and decide they need to split up to explore further.
Finn and Clarke aren't having the best time. She doesn't know how to deal with this new Finn, and Finn doesn't know why Clarke sees him so differently. Well, he knows why, but he's not happy about it. He returns her father's watch to her, perhaps mending the first rung on the ladder leading back to whatever it was they had before.
In a tent in the woods, Raven, because she's awesome, has managed to hack in to the Mount Weather signal, and what she and Abby hear isn't good - it seems that the acid fog is not a result of the radiation poisoning, it's a weapon created by Mount Weather.
The guards in the mountain find a wind- up radio which plays Carol of the Bells. Stupid. Of course they're going to get captured, that's what happens when you make lots of noise in a secret underground bunker belonging to the bad guys. Octavia and Bellamy head towards the music, and find that reapers are feasting on the guards. And one of those reapers is Lincoln. The horror!
Octavia and Bellamy manage to escape, but the former is understandably distressed. Not just by the fact that Lincoln is a reaper, but by the fact that he didn't recognise her at all. Bellamy promises they'll save Lincoln, which is such a turn from season one, when he would do anything to keep Lincoln and Octavia apart. Their plan is simple - Octavia will lure Lincoln out, and Bellamy will stun him unconscious, and then they'll take him home. It's not clever, but it works.
In their bunker, Clarke finally talks to Finn about his attack on the Grounder camp. In three words, she sums up everything wrong with what Finn did: "They were unarmed." She explains that she doesn't know who he is anymore, and he says he's also lost.
The acid fog lifts and Clarke and Finn head back to Abby and Raven. Raven has persuaded Abby not to blow up the antenna, as then Camp Jaha can still spy on Mount Weather. And Abby's time in a tent has also been used for reflection, and she's realised they do need to rescue The 47. At last Abby and Clarke are on the same page.
Raven, because she's awesome (have I mentioned that?), has a little chat with Finn, which will hopefully assuage some of his guilt (although I think his actions were heinous and he should feel really guilty).
And then, to top off a fairly successful day, Jaha appears from the trees, stunning everyone. And his message from the Grounders stuns them further: "Leave. Or die."
Mount Weather
Creepy doctor one is excited (yes, I know her name is Dr Singh, I choose not to use it) - Maya appears to be processing and keeping radiation out herself now that she's had blood from Jasper. Creepy doctor one wants to move forward with The 47. Dante says no, but his son urges him to push ahead. Cage says they should skip the whole thing where The 47 become part of the gene pool, but Dante doesn't want to forcefully harvest the kids. I think I underestimated Dante in some ways - I definitely thought he'd do anything for his people's survival. Instead he's going to ask The 47 to volunteer.
Dante's first stop is Jasper, who has always been the weakest of The 100. The President spins a story about how Mount Weather has vulnerabilities, and how Jasper and the others from the Ark could help save everyone in Mount Weather.
Of course Jasper does as Dante says, and appeals to The 47 to help the Mountain Men. He's not got Bellamy or Clarke's way with words though, and his not-so-rousing speech persuades absolutely no one. And then Maya turns up, with messages written on a notepad. She's somehow found on that the radiation breach wasn't an accident, and it seems she's genuinely surprised. And betrayed of course. The people she thought were her family threw her in front of a truck to see if theory about The 47's blood was correct. She's so betrayed that she shows Jasper and Monty the Grounder experimentation bay.
Turns out everyone in Mount Weather knows about the Grounder experimentation, but just don't talk about it. The news is enough to make Monty determined to leave, but Jasper isn't keen. He doesn't want to leave the others, and thinks their only choice is to volunteer.
Which they do. Including Monty. I'm not convinced by how easy this is. But Dante is happy, because he doesn't have to step over his skewed morals and harvest the kids. Cage is sucking up to his dad now that the kids have volunteered, but Dante is not as soft as he appears to be. He makes it clear that if Cage is proved to be behind the radiation breech or any similar stunts, there will be consequences.
Jasper heads back to the dorms, and it turns out that Monty and the others volunteered as part of a plan to make Dante trust them - they still plan to go after Clarke.
Grounder camp
Kane is trying to free himself from his shackles in the Grounder prison, but Jaha is a lot more zen, saying that if the Grounders wanted them dead, they'd be dead already. Grounders come in and beat Jaha up, so his zen-ness hasn't done much good. Kane tries to say they came in peace, but one of the Grounders, who seems to be the leader, says that he needs revenge for the killing of his villagers by Finn. He throws a knife down, and says that either Kane or Jaha needs to die. In addition to the knife, a Grounder woman remains in the cell.
Her name is Lexa, and she tells Kane and Jaha that 18 people were murdered by Finn (although she doesn't use Finn's name). One of Kane or Jaha will die, or the commander will use the knife to kill them both.
I don't really understand why Lexa has been left in the cell with Kane and Jaha. Is she a spy? A prisoner herself? Jaha wants to trade with the Grounders, Kane thinks sacrifice is the answer. Does he mean he'll sacrifice himself, or that he'll kill Jaha? I never know with Kane. Thankfully, he wants Jaha to kill him, but of course Jaha refuses. So Kane slits his own wrist instead, in a scene which made my face twist into a horrified expression. And once Jaha has Kane's wound bandaged, he takes Lexa hostage, putting the knife at her throat, and once again showing that the Ark survivors think they need to resort to violence to survive.
The other Grounders come back in, and it's clear a moment later that Jaha has made completely the wrong decision. Lexa manages to twist round and get him on the floor in one smart move, and it turns out that she's the commander, not the massive guy from earlier. Feminism for the win! Lexa frees Kane, who she says has honourable intentions, but Jaha is beaten up as a message - I assume he'll be delivered back to Camp Jaha a broken mess.
Solid ground?
Sacrifice and faith - two themes that have been explored in The 100 since it first started, and that in this episode take on new meaning.
While we probably spent the least time with Kane and Jaha, I found their storyline perhaps the most compelling in this episode. I like how both men are honourable, but how both are taking such different paths. Kane has fully come to understand sacrifice without ever having had to sacrifice himself, while Jaha, who made the ultimate sacrifice in choosing to stay on the Ark so others could survive, seems to have forgotten what sacrifice means.
Hurrah again to The 100 for continuing to create nuanced female characters who show both vulnerability and strength, cunning and naivety. I think we saw two different females here, both changing from how we (I) originally saw them. First up was Maya, who I've been, I can admit now, unfairly suspicious of until this episode. It's clear that she is not the manipulative character I had her down as, and that her faith has been abused by the very people she trusted. And then there was Lexa, who started as vulnerable but turned out to be far cleverer than expected.
Also finding faith was Abby, who needed to see what Clarke, Raven and Bellamy could do in order to learn to trust them.
Against these big storylines, I feel that perhaps Clarke and Finn's encounters were a little lost. Far more effort seemed to go into the pair's love for each other and the need for them to reconcile than perhaps it should have taken - Bellamy was right to point out that everyone does bad things, and Raven had a similar view in her little chat with Finn as well. Clarke is absolutely right to be scared and uncertain, but I think against everything else going on, it felt a little too personal when everyone else is just trying to survive.
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