The second episode of The 100’s final season answered a lot of questions – but also gave us a bunch of new ones.
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about the whole anomaly storyline especially after this episode. As someone who genuinely liked the City of Light story in season three, I’m a bit surprised I’m not too thrilled about this one. The whole idea that people can jump through worlds sounds absurd to me.
Still, that’s not to say that the anomaly isn’t interesting. It’s also confusing as hell despite the writer’s best efforts to explain just exactly what it is and how it works in this episode.
I’m hoping that as time goes on, I warm up to the idea of the anomaly storyline. For now, I’ll just continue to be a bit dumbfounded about why the writers decided to go in this direction.
There’s a lot that happened in this episode. Let’s break it down.
Welcome to Skyring
The mystery of what the anomaly is and where exactly it takes those that fall in its grasp was finally answered.
After Bellamy gets pulled into the anomaly, it’s up to Gabriel, Echo, and Hope to find out what happened to him. With the help of Hope, they manage to get to Skyring aka Planet Beta which is a bridge between worlds. Yeah, you heard that correctly.
The 100 has decided to dive deeper into the science fiction aspect of the show this season. As Hope explains, Skyring is a place they send “prisoners” to atone for their sins. What’s even worse is that time works differently in Skyring. It’s revealed Octavia spent ten years there, but for the people on Sanctum, it only lasted a few minutes.
The reason Octavia spent so much time on Skyring is that there is literally no way for her to get back to Sanctum.
One of the biggest misfires of the episode is the writer’s decision to have Echo involved at all. Literally, if any other character joined Gabriel and Hope (two very interesting characters already), this episode would be so much better. I don’t find Echo the slightest bit intriguing despite all the writer’s attempts to shove her down my throat.
To me, Echo is not a likeable character especially when she starts promising to kill a bunch of people. So, to spend half the episode focusing on her was just a waste of time in my opinion.
However, Gabriel and Hope are the two of the most promising new characters of The 100. Both introduced last season, I’m curious to see how big of a role they’ll continue to play as the final episodes roll out.
This Is Your Home Now
The absolute best part of this episode was the time they spent telling the story of Hope, Diyoza, and Octavia’s time in Skyring.
Those three are the dream team I never knew I needed. The little moments of watching Octavia garden with Hope filled my heart with such joy. This is the peace that Octavia needed. As Octavia even said herself, her time spent with Hope and Diyoza was necessary to get rid of the darkness inside her.
What warmed my heart, even more, was the number of parallels we got throughout the episode. Hearing that Octavia told Hope all these stories of Bellamy, Clarke, Murphy, and everyone else back in Sanctum reminded me exactly of how Clarke spent her time with Madi when they were alone in Eden.
Even worlds apart, Octavia still cares about all the people she has left behind. But that doesn’t stop her from creating a new family.
The best parallel came towards the end of the hour when “the disciples” finally found their little spot of paradise. Putting Hope before herself, Octavia decided to hide her away – just like her mother did with her back on The Ark. Telling her to “be brave” just like her mother once told her solidified my belief that Octavia finally has a family again.
It’s storytelling like this — full of human emotion — that The 100 does best. The fact that they managed to get me attached to this specific group of characters after only one episode just goes to show why The 100 has remained so good over the years.
Seven years later and they’re still ripping my heart out.
Honestly, Octavia should’ve just listened to Diyoza so that they could keep their cute family together. Between Diyoza and Octavia, they’ve had enough war and deserve some peace and quiet.
Big Brother
Despite not seeing Bellamy once in this episode, this was a big Blake siblings episode.
It broke my heart watching Octavia try over and over to make her way back to her brother only to fail every time. But her failures allowed her to continue to build her relationships with Hope and Diyoza which undoubtedly led to some much-needed enlightenment.
Through her relationship with Hope and Diyoza, Octavia was finally able to come to understand just how much Bellamy loved and wanted to protect her.
I don’t blame Octavia for taking so long to understand. It’s a type of thing that you never really know unless you experience it yourself. She was able to see just how far Bellamy was willing to go to protect her because she could see herself doing the same for Hope.
It’s a shame the letter she wrote to Bellamy explaining just as much never reached him. I can only hope that the Blake siblings will reunite soon so she could tell him in person.
A reconciliation between the Blakes is one of the biggest wants I have for this season. If it doesn’t happen now, it never will. I don’t know about you, but I can’t see a world in The 100 in which Bellamy and Octavia aren’t a happy family.
Like I mentioned, there are still a lot of questions that still need to be answered. We know where Octavia was, but where is she now? How are Echo, Hope, and Gabriel going to get anywhere now that Gabriel’s device is shattered?
As we continue to make our way through season seven, I’m sure we’ll get plenty of answers. For now, we’re just going to have to sit back and wait.
The 100 airs on Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.
