Marking the directorial debut of Bob Morley, this episode wasted no time in thrusting us full steam ahead towards the conclusion of the sixth season.
Much of this episode was spent building up to what I’m sure will be an explosive final two episodes. The Children of Gabriel are ready to fight to put an end to the Primes and Sanctum is standing their ground.
It felt as though this episode was a good time to take a breath between all the craziness that took place in the past few episodes and for what’s to come. Let’s break down exactly where we are at to hopefully prepare us for the next two and final episodes of the sixth season.
The Wonderful World of Sanctum
There are a whole lot of messes going on both in and outside of Sanctum.
For starters, Madi is still under the spell of Sheidheda. Miller and Gaia are being held captive by the Primes. Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia are busy trying to find their way to protect everyone while convincing the Children of Gabriel that they are doing just that. Some, like Gaia and Miller, are succeeding, unlike Madi who is now being held prisoner by both Sheidheda and Russell Lightbourne.
Speaking of the Children of Gabriel, it appears as though not everyone was exactly privy to knowing that Gabriel was no longer ‘The Old Man’. Even though we knew that Xavier became Gabriel, his own followers did not. Neither did Xavier’s own sister.
Being a Prime is hard I guess. Just ask Ryker who decided to no longer help the resistance. His hope is to avoid any more death that could come out of rebelling against the Primes. And he’s right – more people will inevitably die because of this war being waged between the Primes and the Children of Gabriel. But just because he wants to spare lives doesn’t make his actions right.
People are being murdered at the expense of others. It needs to stop and there are right ways to go about it. Just look at Clarke and Gabriel who are willing to go the extra mile and risk their lives to avoid killing innocent people. Although, I can’t help but notice the similarities being echoed between the reasoning behind what the Primes and people from Earth have done.
“This is how we get our family back,” says Russell. Sounds familiar, right?
That’s nearly exactly what Clarke and Bellamy said before they flipped the switch in Mount Weather. Killing all the innocent people there was just their way of saving their people. Is there then truly a difference between them and the Primes?
As Gaia says, “Mistakes are forgivable. Not learning from them isn’t’.” We have gotten to see Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia learn from their mistakes and evolve. It’s why we root for them. Guess we’ll see if people like Russell get the same chance.
The Blakes
With Bellamy not being able to bury the hatchet, the chance of a Blake sibling recolonization looks pretty bleak.
I am 100% done with Bellamy’s double standard when it comes to Octavia. He is dating someone who literally tried to kill his sister and forgave Clarke for leaving him to die in the pit. Yet, for some strange reason, he is incapable of forgiving his own sister.
Bellamy’s continual cold behavior toward Octavia makes their latest task quite awkward. After Octavia volunteers the both of them to retrieve ingredients for the red sun toxin the Children of Gabriel are looking to make, they are stuck together. It’s during this mission that Octavia practically begs Bellamy to just recognize that she is trying to redeem herself and become more than just her past actions.
Bellamy, while at least admitting that she is still his sister, refuses to give her the even slightest bit of slack. I’m sorry, but Bellamy was willing to and did kill an entire civilian population because he thought Octavia was his responsibility. And now, that’s just gone? At this point, Octavia deserves better than Bellamy. She deserves a brother who can understand what she did and forgive her for her past mistakes.
If she can do it for him for when his actions ultimately led to Lincoln’s death, then Bellamy should be able to as well.
The Assassin
In case anyone was asking for it, we finally were given some backstory into Echo’s life.
After the Primes captured her thanks to Ryker, Echo became the latest nightblood test subject. While being spared a public execution, Russell decides her fate is to become the new host for Simone (hallowed be her name).
Trying to convince Ryker to not kill her, she shares a story about herself that she apparently hasn’t told anyone.
It turns out, Echo only became an assassin in an attempt at self-preservation. When forced to dual her childhood friend, Echo was given the grime option of either killing her friend or letting herself die. Her actions are understandable. Plus, we know just how ruthless Azgeda can be and that was the environment she was raised in and has ever known.
This just proves how far she has come – willing to do whatever it takes to save other people. Including letting herself die for the cause. While I am not a huge fan of Bellamy and Echo as a romantic relationship, I am fond of how being a part of Spacekru has shaped her into a person who would risk her life to save others. Going off that, it’s refreshing to see her as a character apart from her relationship with Bellamy.
Echo is a fearless warrior and is much more than just the girlfriend of Bellamy Blake. I think she has shined this season and really come into her own as a character. For the first time, I’m excited to see what more they have in store for her.
How We Do Better
On the other side of the moon, Josephine is back. Or at least Clarke’s version of her which I have to say is pretty spot on.
Spending time with the rebel forces, Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia along with the help of Gabriel devise a plan to save their people as well as take out the Primes. When their original plan of infecting all of Sanctum with the red sun toxin proved to be too risky and harmful to the innocents of Sanctum, Clarke figures the only way to prevent any further blood loss is to infiltrate Sanctum as Josephine.
I don’t know why Bellamy was so worried about the plan. Clarke does a fantastic job of pretending to be the person who hijacked her body for too long. Even faced with her own daughter, Clarke powers through and is able – for now – to pull off the masquerade. Got to hand it to Eliza Taylor, who continues to prove her acting chops this season.
We only just saw a glimpse of Clarke’s portrayal of Josephine and as each minute passes with Clarke feet away from the man who raised Josephine and spent centuries with her, it’s going to become increasingly difficult to convince everyone she is who she says she is.
But if time has taught us anything, it’s that Clarke can pretty much accomplish anything if she just puts her mind to it.
The 100 airs on Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
READ ALL OF OUR SEASON SIX REVIEWS –
- ‘The 100’ 6×01 Review: “Sanctum
- ‘The 100 6×02 Review: “Red Sun Rising”
- ‘The 100’ 6×03 Review — The Children of Gabriel
- ‘The 100’ 6×04 Review — The Face Behind the Glass
- ‘The 100’ 6×05 Review: “The Gospel of Josephine”
- ‘The 100’ 6×06 Review: “Memento Mori”
- ‘The 100’ 6×07 Review: “Nevermind”
- ‘The 100’ 6×08 Review: “The Old Man and the Anomaly”
- ‘The 100’’ 6×09 Review: “What You Take With You”
- ‘The 100’ 6×10 Review: “Matryoshka”
- ‘The 100’ 6×11 Review: “Ashes to Ashes”
- ‘The 100’ 6×12 – “Adjustment Protocol”