The 100 Episode 6×07: Nevermind

This episode was absolutely everything I had hoped for and then some. And my expectations were through the roof, so you can imagine how thrilled I was that it somehow surpassed them. Every single thing about this episode reminded me of what I love about The 100. And it reminds us all why Clarke Griffin is the hero we love. So buckle up as we take a trip through Clarke’s mindspace!

 Just a reminder, spoilers galore!! Like ALL the spoilers- proceed with caution! 

Clarke Awakens

Okay let me just say it: this had the potential to be irredeemably cheesy, but it absolutely was not. The concept (and execution) of the mindspaces was meticulously thought out and fit the story perfectly. Clarke wakes up to her drawings (which contain her memories) in her old prison cell on the Ark. Every person she has known and loved speaking to her from the past. When suddenly she sees a door. I don’t know about you, but I’d be quite to keen to leave my graveyard of memories, so off she goes through the door and into her old gas station home in Shallow Valley.

Projection #1: Jake Griffin

Enter Jake Griffin! Clarke is equal parts happy and confused to see her dead father hanging out in the home she shared with Madi.

At least he didn’t call her a bitch this time.

At first she thinks she must be dead, but Jake helps her figure it all out. While we knew that Chris Browning was returning since, Idk, 1994, Jake’s appearance wasn’t a surprise, but the role he’d play in Clarke’s story was. I am glad that all these years later, he is still the solid, guiding force that Clarke needs. Jake doesn’t tell Clarke what is happening (because he’s clearly Father of the Year™, even from the beyond), he gently prods her to find the answers herself.

So now she knows: Russell didn’t kill her that day, and she has a chance to live. But he assures her that she won’t find the answers with him in Shallow Valley, she’s going to have to venture out and find them.

Projection #2: ALIE

Seeing Erica Cerra’s name in the credits was fun, because were we going to be blessed with ALIE? Becca? Both? Mostly ALIE, but a little Becca sneaks in to satisfy, but that comes later. Clarke jumps back into the mindspace, this time wearing her Wanheda gear, and is greeted by ALIE.

Wow ALIE, taking the high road. It’s a good look on you.

ALIE is pretty damn helpful, considering Clarke is the one who killed her. As it turns out, the neural mesh from the chip is what is keeping Clarke alive. It protected her from the memory wiping process, but ALIE warns that she must keep the memory of how to fully remove the chip (the EMP used on Raven and Abby) to herself. If Josephine finds it… it’s game over.

Clarke Battles

Enter Josephine Lightbourne

Well, we knew she was coming! In her mindspace, Josephine sees herself in her original body (played impeccably by Sara Thompson). Josephine, as awful as she is, has such a tremendous personality and presence. And let’s be real, she’s funny as hell.

I mean, I should imagine not! 

But apparently, brain hemorrhaging is a thing that happens when one body hosts two minds, so this is just not going to work out for them both. And here we have two incredibly strong-willed women who will do anything to survive.

And so, Jo begins the hunt for the memory that will allow her to kill Clarke- once and for all. Clarke thinks she has won when she defeats Josephine in a pretty grisly death, but alas, Josephine’s mind is protected by some uploading thing Gabriel designed. But Clarke’s is not. If she dies in the mindspace… she’s gone. The stakes are now even higher.

Projection #3: Octavia Blake

Whew, this was a conversation a long time in the making. Since Tondc, when their relationship was irreparably damaged. You can tell a few things by this encounter: One, how badly Clarke feels for letting Octavia down;and two, how much it hurt Octavia that Clarke let her down. Octavia also calls into question why Bellamy hasn’t shown up in Clarke’s mind. Is it because she cannot face him, after her betrayals? I think that it’s definitely a possibility. I also think that a possibility it is that Clarke does know that Bellamy forgives her- maybe she doesn’t need that reckoning the same way she does with Octavia?

Then O tells Josephine to go take Clarke out, which of course gives Josephine life. And ammo, which we will eventually see. Jo has a point- why is Clarke projecting people who don’t seem to want to help her, but instead kind of hate her?

I mean, she kind of has a point.

Projection #4:Maya Vie

And we’re back in Mount Weather! Clarke opens the door of her hospital room, but instead of being confronted with Monty’s empty room and Maya cleaning, she’s confronted with a body bag. She unzips it, obviously terrified of who she’ll find inside.

Yikes.

I think the audience knows that Maya didn’t hate Clarke for what happened inside Mount Weather, but we can be sure that Clarke hates Clarke for what happened there. She didn’t want to hurt Maya, it’s true. She was faced with an impossible decision, but it’s one she has to live with every day. And truthfully, it must be exhausting. Maya is just the manifestation of all the people she feels guilty for.

This has been eating Clarke alive, no matter what she claims.

I’m glad we’re revisiting Jasper’s death here, especially in relation to Clarke. He was the first person she saved, the first person she made promises to. While his death wasn’t truly Clarke’s fault (she is correct in saying he made his own choices), her actions did play a role in his decision. And she’s never been able to let herself off the hook for his death, clearly.

Josephine catches up with them, and Maya sells out Clarke almost immediately. So they head to the cave where Clarke tried to collar Madi to keep her safe during the Eligius/Wonkru War. Only… guess who doesn’t truly hate Clarke?

Melty Girl to the rescue! 

Clarke Acquiesces

Josephine “dies” from the collar, which leads her to come back with her own projection in tow: Russell. He and Josephine start to chase Clarke down, but they have a plan. Josephine shows Clarke a snippet of memory of Bellamy “giving up” and taking Russell’s deal. And that’s it, it’s what lets the air out of Clarke. Coupled with Josie’s promises (which I cannot imagine anyone believes she’d keep but okay) to keep Earthkru safe and Bellamy’s perceived white flag makes Clarke wave her own. She is so, so tired, and agrees to unlock the safe to the memory.

GAH my heart

We see how much Jasper meant to her when we see that the vault that she put the EMP memory in includes her father’s announcement that lead to his execution, and Jasper’s goggles. In the forest where she killed Finn, next to Lexa’s throne. These are the deaths she will never get over, those that she never wants to see.  And with that, Josephine has the memory, and promises it’ll be over soon.

Clarke goes back to Shallow Valley to draw peacefully until the end. We all understand why. Josephine convinced her that by dying, Clarke will truly be saving her people. And while we the viewer know that Josephine is likely full of all the shit, Clarke has just been through the emotional wringer. And let’s face it, she genuinely does just want to save her people.

Projection #5: Monty Green

Guess who isn’t letting Clarke go gentle into that good night?

It’s everyone’s favorite hero, Monty Green! Not putting Chris Larkin’s name in the front credits was beyond genius, because it was the happiest surprise of ever when I saw his face walk up. But he’s none too happy with Clarke at the moment. She is confused, because she genuinely thinks this is her doing better, her being the “good guy”. But Monty is pretty sure that letting people body snatch and kill babies isn’t being the “good guy”. And like hell is he going to watch Clarke give up.

Clarke Rises

It’s time to pay a visit to Josephine! Luckily Monty can hack just about anything, and Clarke gathers some intel from Josephine’s creepiily organized bookshelves while he makes the attempt. And what she sees in Josephine’s life makes her know for sure: She absolutely cannot give up. She cannot let this monster win, and be in control of her people.

First, we see Josie VII and Kaylee The Last hanging out. It’s funny that they never “grew up” so to speak- they act quite young, even in older bodies. Josephine realizes that Kaylee has poisoned her, but can’t wrap her head around why. Kaylee isn’t shy, so she explains: Oblation is disgusting, and also, Jo killed her boyfriend Isaac. Well, that’s a lot to take in! So we open a new book and zoom to another memory.

I guess Kaylee’s lover was not a host or a Prime, so Jo saw no use for him. And worse, he was… rescuing babies that she left out to die? Wait excuse me? This piece of human waste was killing babies because they weren’t nightbloods?! And might “dilute the bloodline”!? Apparently, yes. And since Isaac was grabbing the babies and giving them to Gabriel, he had to go too. The last scene we see of Jo VII is Isaac dead alongside the baby in the forest, and I won’t lie, I could not GIF it if I wanted to. Which I didn’t. Because it is awful.

Monty’s in! (I was really hoping for a good “Bob’s your uncle”, but we can’t have everything I suppose.) And they find themselves in a pre-Praimfaya diner. You can tell it isn’t exactly our world, because people are wearing masks, and there’s talk of water rationing, but it’s close. There’s evidence of those we know who were alive, like Becca’s magazine cover, and the capture of Diyoza.

Bad day for Diyoza a couple centuries ago.

Clarke and Monty can’t help but wonder why they’re here, but soon we see Josie and a pal sitting at a table, doing homework. Seems mundane enough, until this dude with the crazy eyes and a really rapey look walks in. Josephine politely rejects his advances, and he… doesn’t take it well. He pulls out a gun, which sends the whole diner into a tailspin. But he doesn’t shoot Josie, he shoots himself. Blood spatters everywhere, Josephine looks on in horror, and then… she’s awake.

Monty and Clarke realize that they can make her move Clarke’s body subtly by jacking up her mindspace. So Monty tries to get some morse code Christmas light thing happening, and I was confused at first, I really was. Jo heads off into a meeting with Russell and Bellamy, confident that as soon as it’s done she’ll be able to EMP Clarke right out of her head.

OR WILL SHE?

But guess who picks up on the clue immediately? It’s using its left hand and Bellamy was Mr. Earth Skills after all. He giddily pulls Miller aside to tell him what is going on.

Best. Smile. Ever.

Song of the Week:

“The only thing that’s black and white
Is that you don’t have to walk alone this time”

I chose Avicii’s “Broken Arrows” because, well… Monty sees the hope in Clarke’s heart. Literally, “as you wade through shadows that live in your heart”, which is what she is doing this whole episode. And then add Bellamy to the mix and it’s just perfect and it also makes me desperately miss both Monty and Avicii so here we are. 

Random Thoughts:

• I asked last week how much of the episode I’d cry through, and the verdict? At least 75%. From Jake to Monty to mere mentions of Jasper, the only times I wasn’t crying was when I was chuckling at Josephine.
• We get our first clue that Gabriel is not using host bodies. It was stated that his current host must be nearing 95, so we can safely assume there’s way more to that story playing out over in Anomalyville.
• I wish I could include every single one of Josephine’s quotes. Her telling O “you look fun”? Priceless. Jo to Clarke: “just between us girls, I kinda like your body”. I’m cackling ?
• Can I have all the Millamy going forward? Please and thank you. These two are a fucking treat together, and I just remembered how much I missed it.
• Still grieving over the loss of mindspace Pauna. I get why, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.

Episode 6×08: The Old Man and the Anomaly

I am giddy excited for this episode! I feel like Nevermind marked a bit of a shift, from Earthkru being despondent about Sanctum and Clarke’s death to again having something to fight for.

• We are not done in Clarke’s mindspace, woo! I kind of like this place, freaky as it may be! Maybe she’s got a way to buy a little time while Bellamy figures out a plan? Cause I feel like that’s what she needs at this point. Time.
• Murphy better make a damn ruckus. If he takes part in the EMPing without even trying to save Clarke, I don’t know if anyone can (or should!) forgive him. 
• What is Emori going to think about this? I feel like she is not exactly going to be tickled. Yeah, she’s a survivor, but like this? I just think/hope she has a bit more sense.
• Are we finally meeting Gabriel!? And I guess seeing what will become of O’s old man claw and such. And maybe getting some Xavier backstory too!
• Still no Indra? I mean, maybe we’re heading back to the mothership but… there’s a lot of other crap happening so I doubt it. But if it means I get to cling to the hope of Ian/Kane, I will take it.

How thrilled were you to see Monty? Our other special guests?Thoughts on how the EMP will go down? So much to discuss!