Another strong episode, woo! I was getting kind of nervous, but now am just plain excited about what is to come! So, let’s go!
Just a reminder, spoilers galore!! Like ALL the spoilers- proceed with caution!
Planet Bardo, 45 Days Ago
O and Diyoza are separated immediately upon entry to Bardo. Not surprising, but as such we’re only going to see what became of O when she arrived in this episode. She runs, immediately and obviously because this is Octavia Blake and she’s not being taken without a fight. Plus, it’s great for the viewers because we get to see a good chunk of Bardo along the way. It’s super cute when she thinks she’s in a forest and can actually run free, but since Bardo is uninhabitable, it’s just a ruse. It actually high key reminded me of a Hunger Games arena. I digress.
She’s captured, of course, and brought back to whatever the hellscape that steals people’s memories is called. There, we meet Levitt and Anders. Anders is the rude leader who keeps capturing our friends, but Levitt… okay at first meeting, Levitt is some kind of mind tech specialist and all-around brainiac. At further inspection, Levitt is the sweet cinnamon roll we shall protect at all costs, but we’ll get there.
Anders directs Levitt to do his thing and steal all the memories. Octavia responds as you’d expect, and shuts Levitt out for days. Until she accidentally lets a quick memory of Hope slip out. She makes a deal with him that she’ll share everything else if he erases Hope from his report. Done and done. Honestly, I think Octavia could have asked Levitt to slaughter puppies and he would have done so gleefully as long as it was for her. Anyway, he starts really enjoying O’s trip down memory lane.
Frankly, I would too, seems a lot more fun than whatever white-suited nonsense is happening on Bardo. He even assures her that he has seen inside her mind and knows she is more. But their newfound friendship is interrupted.
He. Must. Be. Protected.
Levitt wastes no time being the hero I’d hoped for. He helps both women to the Stone, tattoos O’s back up real quick, shoves her murder gear back on her, and happily lets her kick the crap out of him so no one suspects he’s helping them of his own volition.
If this isn’t the start of a beautiful relationship then Idk what is.
Anders is sure that Clarke Griffin is the key to everything. Why? Who knows. He was seemingly interested with her being in the City of Light, maybe there is a connection with ALIE/ALIE2? Clarke is the only person to have experienced both, and S3 was in most of the featured memories that they were talking about. It could have been that it’s as far as they made it before Hope arrived, but who knows. But for whatever the reason, Anders can’t let O go. He says that Hope knows “nothing about ‘the key'”, which… could be the Chip? The Key like Monty and Jaha used to get into the Bunker? Or is “the key” Clarke herself? Regardless, no one else has the memories of Clarke that she does, so he’s willing to let Hope go (and let Diyoza live) in exchange for tagging O back into the game.
They do not part ways as friends.
So, back into Bardo pops Octavia. I think she’s even okay with it, knowing she can trust Levitt, thinking that Hope is safe. Levitt tells her that they’ve taken him off her case (this is bad) and that Bellamy is holding a bunch of Disciples hostage (this is extra bad) and she needs to talk him down. And to her credit, she tries hard. She is so calm, and is clearly trying to get the message across to Bellamy that he needs to go back. Interestingly, when he hears mention of Clarke, he is now definitely not giving in.
Ah, just like old times!
Eventually, he acquiesces, probably figuring he’s outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, outplanned. And he’s about to take Anders up on his offer, when some rogue Disciple decides to do… something.
That… didn’t look good. Look, I have no idea what actually happened here. O thinks he is dead. I guess everyone does? Well, except for Bellamy and the Disciple who just ended up who knows where in space or time. Can I guess Earth? My guess is Earth. Anyway. Let’s move to the present!
Planet Bardo, Present Day
Of course, we know that Octavia is back on Bardo, Diyoza is presumably still there as well. Bellamy was taken and might be here, and we finally see Hope, Echo, and Gabriel land ashore. Or astone, whichever. And because this is not Hope’s first rodeo, she kills any fool who stands in her way. Gabriel is yelling at Echo (which, fair) until he realizes it was Hope slaughtering anyone unfortunate enough to be in the Stone room. They take off to get Levitt, but a millitary leader of some sort yells at them to join the band, so what choice to they have? Turns out, they’re headed to some kind of ill-advised gardenside brainwashing symposium. I have no idea, but Anders is preaching some crap, these are obviously descendants of Cadogan’s cult so of course they’re saying weird stuff. Anyway, Hope starts to get a case of the stabbies, even though this is not the time, but Echo talks her down. And Gabriel sheds some light on the situation as no one else can.
After this super fun church cult service, the gang finds O. She’s not in a good way, mindlessly saying “I am not afraid” to block them from getting her memories. But it is more than that. There are tears. She is not okay. That is when the tech plays the memory that Octavia cannot even speak of. The one that has destroyed her spirit. Watching the replay of Bellamy’s “death”, Echo loses it. Completely and totally unhinged and overcome, she kills the crap out of thank-goodness-not-Levitt.
That’s… unpleasant. ?
No one can stop her. Even though it wasn’t this guy’s doing, and maybe Echo even knows that logically, she’s spent five years fighting and working to get Bellamy back. And now, she thinks he’s gone. I truly don’t know if she can come back from this. She’s lost her whole Spacekru family at this point- through death or through time and space, and I can see her feeling like she has nothing left to live for. I’m worried about her, basically.
Will the real Slim Sheidy please stand up?
Meanwhile, on Sanctum, things are going about as well as you’d expect. The Believers or whatever they’re calling themselves now require an audience with Clarke, only she’s skiing on Nakara, so they’re stuck with Indra. (For the record, they should be thrilled to be graced with her presence as we are, but no one can say these fools are reasonable.) They inform Indra of their new-old plan: Self Immolation, y’all! Like didn’t you already try that and have it not… go great? Anyway, Indra informs what is left of Earthkru, and they seem worried for a second.
I mean…. at this point, right?
Maybe I am a terrible person, but I am kind of with Murphy. But there are problems with that, like Indra doesn’t want to have to report to Clarke that she allowed half of mankind to light themselves aflame, so they need to stop it. And they need a Prime. Russheda isn’t really an option, and Emori still has the Radiation Swoons™, so it’s up to Daniel Prime to save the day! Indra’s his backup, and can I please say how much I love these two working together? Always have, always will. They get to the tavern, and Murphy gets a bit of a shock.
When Murphy is your moral superior, it’s time to reassess.
So while he was not really up for stopping these idiots burning themselves, he is not about to let them set kids ablaze. He is pissed and dear god I love this side of John Murphy! He swoops in to save the kids, but after he leads them to safety, Daniel’s lover Zev has a few questions for his beau. Like the tenets of Sanctum or some such. Trey comes to what Murphy thinks is his rescue, but it’s a trap, and he confirms that oopsie, Dan’s dead too. So now, instead of burning themselves, they’re gonna go ahead and burn Murphy.
Enter Earthkru to save the day! These foolish Believers, they still don’t even think to question Russheda when he reprimands and scolds them like children and makes them swear fealty to him by kneeling. My oh my, where have we seen this before? Must be a Heda thing. Anyway, guess who else recognizes it as a “Heda thing”? Indra kom Trikru.
THIS is our queen. The key word is “yet”, Sheids. YET.
I cheered, guys. Because of course Indra figured it out, she’s awesome. And she heard some of these bonkers speeches that Sheidy used to give back in the day, and I figure that’s the sort of thing that will imprint on one’s psyche. And to his credit, Sheidheda doesn’t even try to bullshit her. He knows she can’t tell or Sanctum will revolt, so she’s stuck with whoever he is. But even though she can’t kill him now, she’s sure as hell going to make plans for when she finally can.
Wave goodbye to immortality.
This is genius. I do worry that it will be a problem for our other chipped friends in the future, but let’s just worry about today.
Random Thoughts:
- Okay but what if Orlando isn’t dead? Like why exactly are we believing this Disciple who would say anything to get Clarke? What if, hear me out, Orlando cut himself free, threw on a jumpsuit, and ended up back in Sanctum just in time to grab Gaia and get the hell out of there? ?♀️
- Indra’s backstory is everything. I know I mentioned it above, but just when I think we’ll not be blessed with enough Indra, she’s sippin’ soup and telling childhood Sheidy stories. You gotta love it. Here, we’re told how her father died in the Sheidheda wars, and her mother knelt to him, making Indra think less of her. That sounds about right.
- Speaking of Indra, how refreshing is it that The 100 knows how smart its own characters are? Other shows feign character ignorance to drag out the plotline, and not ever here! Clarke isn’t Clarke? Bellamy notices. Russell isn’t acting like a proper Prime? Indra remembers Sheidheda saying some of those lines (and sneering I bet, Sheids is quite the sneerer) from her youth. It’s so great to see a show that understands that its characters have brains and insight and such.
- Bellamy is back! Okay only for like two minutes and he kind of gets blown up but shhh, I’ll take what I can get. He’s fine. He’s fine. I mean, he’s probably somewhere back on Earth, maybe picking up a few things the gang left behind. Grab Helios and Zoran out of the Art Supply Store while you’re there, yeah?
- If Levitt and Octavia end up living happily ever after in the Sanctum farmhouse, I wouldn’t be mad. He bakes, she hunts. I am here for it.
- Every day is a good day when Blythe Ann and Jae the Cookie Man show up. Extra especially when they’re making fun of “The Faithful”.
Episode 7×06: Nakara
I am so very excited to see more of Nakara! I mean, first, our heroes are going to be really cold, and that’ll be fun in itself but also… what is going on there!?
- I don’t believe in karma either, Clarke. If karma were real, Lincoln and Sinclair and Nyko would still be here. Duh.
- I am high key claustrophobic just looking at them! Dear god, that cave looks terrifying!
- Which other locale will we be seeing? I doubt it will be all Nakara- hopefully we’ll catch a bit of some of our other faves!
Levitt is adorable! He was really invested in Octavia’s memories. He did a fist pump when she killed Pike. I may be reading too much into this but his first thought after the explosion was Octavia, not Anders and his fellow Disciples. I’m not on the Levtavia boat just yet but I won’t be mad if it happens. The scientist in him would love baking. He can start with cinnamon rolls. I was thinking that the Flame might be the key but the chip would make sense too. Maybe they have to go to the City of Light to survive whatever Gen 9 is. If the key is the Flame, Anders will be ticked to find out it’s destroyed. Maybe that’s how Russheda and/or Madi tie into this part of the story. The Flame is gone but they still have the memories contained on it.
Your Orlando theory is interesting. There were more than 3 soldiers so it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that he put on a suit, jumped to Sanctum, and met up with Captain Meredith. If that’s the case, they probably concocted the suicide note plan and had Orlando waiting in the wings in case things went south with getting Clarke. I would think only someone really high level would know the shutdown code too.
Indra was holding down the fort! After barely seeing her last season, she’s really getting her due. We’re really getting to know her more this season and I’m here for it! I agree that The 100 excels at not making their (major) characters look like morons by having them miss obvious signs that something is off with someone. The Believers/Faithful are another story. What a bunch of morons! Russheda was clearly slipping with his impression of Russell but they were none the wiser. The move to take out “Russell’s” mind drive was brilliant! It prevents resurrection and appeases the Children of Gabriel all at once. They’ll be her army now. I had wondered about whether Sheidheda would be confined to Russell’s chip or would jump to others. I think they’d fight harder than Russell though.
I was thinking that Earth was “offline” so Bellamy might have gone somewhere we haven’t seen yet. I agree Echo is going to have a hard time coming back from this if at all. I hope it doesn’t end for her the way it did for Finn.
No I definitely think you’re right- he rushed RIGHT to her, Anders be damned. Him cheering for Pike’s death made me laugh, until we see Octavia crying. That was a hard moment to watch. Levtavia, LOVE IT. I was all about Gabriel and Octavia, but now I am kind of digging Levitt with her more- because honestly she needs someone who will treat her like the damn sun(s) rises for her. She had that for such a brief time with Lincoln, but she deserves it again. Though I also hope Gabriel finds someone. He was with Josephine on and off but that wasn’t healthy at ALL, so.
OOOH I like your theory about Sheidheda/Madi coming into play! I definitely think it all has to connect- because Becca and Cadogan had such a (brutal) connection , so it stands to reason this would too, as it’s seemingly the Becca-produced faction of Grounders/Eligius and the Cadogan led faction on Bardo finally interacting.
YES I was thinking that too- a level 12 would definitely know how to shut things down. And I do NOT put it past Meredith to fake a suicide note and try to pull at Clarke’s heartstrings. Hell, could have even been his way of testing her. I’d also be quite happy to see Orlando back, and have Echo kind of have to face what she did to him.
INDRA YESSS! I agree, I was SO disappointed last season with how little we saw of her, but she is all OVER this season and I love it so much! You know, I feel like they almost HAVE to make the Believers a little dumb because… they ARE a little dumb! The smarter folks like Jae and Blythe Ann obviously exist, but this faction is the ones who will not or cannot move past this idea of Primes. And I think that makes sense because in every society, there are people who refuse to change with the times and such!
And you are right about appeasing the Children of Gabriel! I hadn’t even thought about that but YEP now Nelson knows she can be trusted! I HOPE he isn’t dormant in ALL the chips- I think that is my biggest concern. Who has chips now? Murphy, Emori, Clarke, and Gabriel, right? They WOULD fight of course. But only Clarke and Emori have the neural mesh!
Well sure Earth WAS offline but who knows what that Disciple messed with! I really want someone to go check on Earth hahah I am sure this is just wishful thinking on my part! And YEP I was thinking it could end up with something like Finn, too. Bardo can say like, everyone else killed in self-defense, but Echo killed this unarmed guy, so she’s gotta die. UGH that would be a really crappy exit for Echo.
I just finished watching it and now I’m cracking up that we’re on the same page with Murphy, and Indra. YES. I do not remember Cadogan at all. Do we think he’s the Shepherd? I’m confused how Gabriel knows there’s a stone on Earth (I mean, timelines being wonky here, could they not be from a non-Elgius spacecraft originally? Also, my ears perked about this whole “native Bardonians” thing….say what now? And yeah, uh-huh, suuuuuure they died out because they poisoned their world. I’m sure the Shepherd had nothing to do with killing them. But ALSO if they aren’t around anymore, what’s with this “last war humanity will ever wage” stuff? Who are we fighting? I’m not seeing fighting happening anywhere. Unless Bardo is some future version of Earth (maybe the other hemisphere)?
I’m reasonably certain Bellamy was shoved back through the bridge by the explosion, as we saw it had a concussive quality. Not sure how blood spray ended up on O’s face from that, but it’s what I’m going with. I’m a little worried about Gaia’s lack of an appearance. And Diyoza’s. It’s not like anyone trustworthy is telling us they have Hope’s mom, so….how do we know she’s on Bardo, and alive? Hm.
And the tattoo on O’s back is now permanent coordinates to find Hope? Because that’s the most heart-squeezing thing ever.
So Cadogan is the guy whose bunker Jaha discovers in 4×03. He’s the guy who is the leader of Second Dawn. Then that bunker wasn’t THE bunker, and they found the REAL bunker in 4×08. THEN in Madi’s flashbacks in season 5, we see Becca being burned at the stake by Cadogan and his people. So, everyone has been wondering how and when Cadogan comes into play, obviously Madi wouldn’t have been seeing him if it didn’t mean soemthing. And since S5 no one has heard a peep about him, but we’re SURE he fits in. So yes, the general theory is that Cadogan is the shepherd and he found the Anomaly Stone on Earth before Apocalypse 1. BUT we see him burn Becca a full two YEARS after Apocalypse 1, which means he had to have been on Earth then. So who knows what the connection will be!
So, Anders specifically said that “by the time the Shepherd delivered us with the Stone, the Bardoans were gone, extinct.” And he says it is BEFORE Apocalypse 1. So that is where the whole thing gets messy. And we don’t know for sure that EIII didn’t land there too, just that someone else had first. I agree that I don’t buy that the Bardoans are all dead. Maybe that is the last war, who knows? I am curious too, obviously we will eventually find ouT! I kind of wonder if he wants them to all go into the City of Light and live brainwashedly ever after?
Bellamy is fine. There was no body! They were there, and when O looked out, they were gone. Hell, O’s blood could have been her own for that matter, Hope HAD just stabbed her! No way they’re killing Bellamy offscreen in episode 5, it’d be absurd. Gaia is somewhere. Somewhere cool. With Orlando hahah. Nah she’s probably filming Sabrina, she’ll be back! As for Diyoza, I really don’t think she is long for this (or any) world sadly. I see her sacrificing herself somehow to save O and Hope. And omg you are RIGHT about O’s tattoo! That IS so sweet I hadn’t even thought of that!! My heart!
I am totally onboard for Levitt and Octavia, and I hope it sticks. 🙂 Also, why on earth would everyone just believe that Bellamy was dead after an explosion right in front of an open Anomaly? Like, no one even considers that he might have ended up going through it? BUT I do agree with you that, for the most part, our crew is smart and people not knowing stuff doesn’t get dragged out as a plot device.
RIGHT!?!? From what goes on in Bardo, I think they have to slip something in people’s drinks, which you will soon see. I think the Bardo people played it up too, which helped lead them to think he was dead which of course was silly. I LOVE Levitt though, regardless. He is such a fave.