The 100 Episode 7×10: A Little Sacrifice

I kind of loved this episode. Don’t get me wrong, it completely broke my heart over and over again, but in a really satisfying way, if that makes sense? Anyway, it felt very appropriately The 100.

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

The Time of the Commanders

Woo boy, this horse has been beaten to death and back again. The Time of the Commanders was over, then it wasn’t, then it was again, and now it isn’t. Again. Or something, who can even keep up? The irony here is, that none of them can be legitimate commanders because there is no Flame. The blood alone didn’t make a Commander, but Sheidheda seems to have forgotten that when he decides he must go terrify the living hell out of the only other Natblida in Town. (I guess he doesn’t care that Emori and Murphy are too? Emori is a Grounder, why doesn’t she count? Science? I don’t know, Sheidheda isn’t one for explanations I guess.)

He storms the tavern whilst our former Heda is eating cookies and drinking Jo Juice or something equally endearing. When Sheids opens the door, the few patrons flee. I do not understand why Madi, an intelligent young woman, sits there nomming her cookies while everyone else runs in terror. I know Jae the Cookie Man does good work, but girl. When everyone else is getting out of dodge… join them.

Even Picasso knows he sucks.

I digress. Russheda is mad because Madi is the one person, in his small twisted mind, that is capable of out-Heda-ing him, and he would love to kill her because he loves to kill stuff. But alas, he worries that will make him more enemies than friends, so he’d rather avoid the butchery at the moment.

This is a totally normal conversation. 

Madi is… appropriately horrified. The rest of Earthkru, who was busy worrying about which clans want to sit with Indra at lunch and which want to eat in the courtyard with Sheids, realize that he went to Madi, and they high key panic. Murphy finds her, does some adorable breathing exercises with her, and assures her that he will protect her forever and ever and do you see my heart, that large red puddle on the floor? But then, Sheidheda starts announcing to everyone in Sanctum what an evil, ne’er-do-well Indra is. Because see, she lied, which is totally worse than slaughtering hundreds of innocent people. Honestly Sheidy, the hypocrisy is on overdrive. So Indra figures, I guess, that if she wants to win over the Grounders, she’s got to do it all Proper Grounder™.

I legit begged her not to say the words while watching the scene. She did not listen to me.

But alas. Sheidheda is positively giddy that he gets to fight, and like, no one will even be mad at him! Did Indra not see the actual dozens of people he killed with a candlestick, like five minutes prior?! Look, I get it, Indra’s a badass, but she hasn’t exactly been training, and Sheidheda is known for being brutal as hell, so. And, homie won a conclave. Le sigh. It goes… about as well as I expected it to go? She holds her own, because she is awesome, but eventually Sheidheda bests her. He says he will let her live if she kneels to him, and she isn’t about that life. But then Madi attacks him, ironically blinding him. Does… does no one see the machine guns laying legit everywhere? I am so lost. Anyway, he bests Madi, as well, and is about to deal a death blow. Indra may have let him kill her, but no way in hell is she letting Madi die.

Yeah Indra, you need to stop expecting Sheids to ever be honorable. Lost cause, my friend. 

Madi uses that time to get the hell out of there, which, good call. Everyone else has to kneel for Sheidheda which frankly just straight up sucks. He tells Knight to kill Madi, Indra, all the families of the Faithful victims and the survivors. Knight is a bit unsettled, because he doesn’t feel like slaughtering kids and old ladies, but Knight, this is what your ass signed up for. Murphy and Emori have gathered all the survivors (including Madi) into the um… I forget what it’s called, the place where Raven cooks men, Idk. The point is, the doors lock from the inside and Sheidheda can’t get in, so they’re safe. You know, until they need food or water, I guess.

And he is now the de facto leader of Sanctum, which is wild. The fact that he cares enough for these people is just.. ::chef’s kiss::. Also Indra had better be okay, or the people will riot. “The people” being us, the viewers, obviously.

A Little Very Big Sacrifice

Over on Bardo, Clarke and Company are a wee bit worried about their friends-come-disciples, and rightfully so. Clarke is done with Cadogan’s crap, and she wants to talk to the women alone, sans Anders creeping over their shoulders. Which… fair.

This is at least the third absurd pun this season, yeah? I won’t lie, I kind of love it.

They do have some doubts about whether O, Diyoza, and Echo were actually with the disciples, because they didn’t tell them the truth about Clarke not having the Flame. So they need to go find their friends and get to the bottom of all of this, stat. Especially since Echo looked so… ruthless.

Accurate.

But they needn’t have worried! Echo was just playin’, that’s all! Hope isn’t going to Penance, because Echo is going to kill the other Disciple sent to retrieve her, and then they’re going to get off of Bardo, because there is a plan afoot! Hope has an hour to get their pals and get to the Stone. Seems totally plausible. But Echo refuses to tell Hope what kind of shenanigans she’s signing up for, and I am on board because Hope’s judgment has been questionable, right? (Spoiler, I was totally wrong.)

Clarke and Crew finally reunite with Octavia and Diyoza. It sucks obviously because Bellamy is “dead”, and half of these people hated each other a week ago for them, but a decade ago for O, so it’s obviously complicated.

Beyond here for the hugs.

Hope meets up with her fam and Clarke and the gang, who are like “whoa hold up who’s this bitch”? And Diyoza’s like “nah, it’s cool, I made this one” and they all act like that is a totally legitimate thing even though they saw Diyoza like, last weekend. Hope knows them all via O’s descriptions, which is cute. But she realizes that reunion time will have to wait, because Echo is up to something. She tortured Levitt to make it happen, and killed a few guards for good measure. Obviously, nothing good is coming of this.

It’s okay Levitt, she can save your people without you easier than with you, frankly.

So now we know that Echo isn’t just trying to save her people. She’s trying to kill everyone else with the Gen-9. Which.. is no bueno, really. Especially when just getting out is probably good enough at this point? Could have just killed Cadogan and Anders and left, but okay. Now that they know where she’s heading and what her plan is, they can stop her, yay! Clarke tries to tell her that this is not what Bellamy would want. Which is true, he zero percent would have been on board with massacring an entire population. But Echo pretends to know Bellamy better than his sister and his soul mate, which… cool story Echo? You’re wrong, but cool story. Then Raven tries a different tactic.

Raven says she will straight up not allow her to do this, and if she insists, Raven will refuse to leave. So if Echo’s killing Bardo, she’s killing Raven. That seems to do the trick, and Echo collapses and relents. But, bad timing, because Anders and the Invisible Men walk in, just as Echo hands over the Gen-9. Diyoza tries to play peacemaker, explaining that they don’t need to fight anymore, the Gen-9 wasn’t released, they can all just pretend it didn’t happen. Anders comes back with a counteroffer: Echo can enjoy a two-decade long vacay on Penance, unless Clarke refuses to give them the code, in which case, Echo can just die there. (Am I the only one who finds this a no-brainer? ?‍♀️) But Hope is done with Bardo and all its nonsense. We saw last episode what a mess she was, and here… we see it come to fruition.

And with that, Charmaine Diyoza has made the ultimate sacrifice. As she literally crystallizes before our eyes, she reminds Hope to do better. That she is giving Hope a do-ever, essentially. The others have to literally drag Hope out of the room before the Gen-9 can spread, and Hope is understandably horrified.

Frankly, I found it a beautiful end for Diyoza. She told Hope to do better than Diyoza had done, but I don’t think she needed to. She showed Hope how to do right. She saved Hope from making a choice that she could never have lived with. She saved an entire civilization. Like she had told Octavia in the woods back on Sanctum, she learned so much from her time as the villain. In death, Diyoza won’t be remembered for her murders on Earth, or even her crimes on Eligius. She’ll be remembered for being a loving mother, an incredible best friend, and the savior of her enemy. A people she refused to let die for vengeance and anger.

Kombucha and Korean Lessons

While all hell is breaking loose on Bardo, things are fairly calm in the Stone room. Cadogan is all kinds of giddy to talk about the good ol’ days, and how pleased he is that Callie’s legacy lived on. Niylah tells us some great stuff, that answers even more questions.

She died at like, age 100 in her bed, surrounded by loved ones, right? Right?!

Then he turns his focus from his dead daughter (I guess he had already come to terms with her having been dead for centuries, but it was weird to see him so… unaffected, regardless) to trying to start up a bromance with Gabriel, who he perceives as his contemporary (to which Gabriel reminds him that Bill is more like his mom’s age, which cracked me right the heck up). Bill’s got a craving for some avocado toast and a frappuccino, so Gabriel escorts him to lunch. It’s kind of fun at first, watching them talk about Earth present. I loved hearing about Gabriel’s grandma, and fine, Gabriel is so charming I could listen to him talk about the weather all day and be happy.

But Cadogan moves the conversation to the last war, which Gabriel isn’t about. He finds the Disciples’ way of thinking messed up (which, yes, accurate) because what is the point of fighting a war for mankind if you don’t even want to be human? Also this is a good a time as any to remind everyone how much I adore Gabriel.

Cadogan and Sheidheda should be having lunch instead, bonding over “love is weakness” ?

Cadogan insists that terrible things have been done in the name of love. And sure, but haven’t more terrible things been done in the name of hate, or even apathy? Whatever, I love that Gabriel shuts him down. Then Anders comes strolling in, “relieving” Gabriel of both his duty and his weapon. I guess this is when they realized what Echo’s plans were, because Anders was clearly breaking the deal with Clarke at this point. Gabriel has to go back to the Stone room and tell Niylah and Jordan that he has lost his Shepherd and his gun, whoopsie.

But it’s fine, because Jordan has been busy letting Monty save the world again. Apparently, Monty taught him Korean, and he is seeing the code differently than Cadogan did. Niylah is suspicious, but I liked Jordan’s point that Cadogan may have been seeing what he wanted to see.

They conclude that maybe it isn’t a war at all, but a test. Well that is a lot less rabidly violent, I like it! The theory is, the person who puts the code in is the one who must take the test. I bet one million dollars it will be Clarke when the time comes. And I’ll bet a second million that the test has a lever! Anyway, one thing at a time, because the most pressing matter is, if one person can input the code…. we know who we don’t want to have access.

This will not become a problem at all, especially if Sheidheda and Madi are the ones who know the thing.

Random Thoughts:

• Hope is really going to be going through it, wow. This is good for her though, I think, in an awful way. She has to now understand what her mom was trying to explain to her over and over these past few episodes. It’ll be so interesting to see where she goes from here. Will she embrace Diyoza’s messages, and think before acting, try to reign it in? Or will she just go batshit and kill everyone anyway? Anyone’s guess, she is half McCreary, after all.
• Jarod deserves an actual Emmy for saying “Get the Flock Out” with a straight face. Seriously, everyone else can go home, he wins. 
• Octavia cannot lose anyone else. Please, writers.  She has been through enough. I want her to go back to Sanctum, hug Indra, and start building a house for she and Levitt to raise babies in. The end.
• Malachi kom Sangedakru, I dig it.  Sheidheda finally having a name gives me some sort of deep satisfaction, tbh. (Also, could JR Bourne be killing this role any harder? I honestly think not.) 
  
• Why has no one gone back to the ship? My ass would be on EIV eating Monty’s algae in peace and damn quiet, Idk why this is not a very popular option ?‍♀️
• Adina Porter blessed Twitter with the most fun, incredible thing ever. And frankly, it’s what we all needed after Diyoza ?
  

  A little something from behind the scenes of #The100 I think you’ll appreciate, especially tonight. I ❤️ @iamjrbourne & we’re ready for #DWTS ? pic.twitter.com/hryPESpkvP

  — Adina Porter (@AdinaPorter) August 6, 2020

Episode 7×11: Etherea

Doth mine eyes spy a Bellamy Blake in the (very) wild!? Finally, he’s back! (Or you know, back-ish, which I will take). 

• Where’re Gaia and Orlando hiding? EARTH!? I have seen some theories that Bellamy is with Gaia, and some very questionable photo evidence, but nah. I still want Earth back. (Also, do you love how I now don’t even question Orlando having Gaia, I have just accepted it as my own headcanon?)
• I saw a theory floating around on Twitter that Bellamy becomes besties with his Etherea Disciple, and when they return Echo kills the bud. Heh.  Fine, it just might be my new favorite theory, okay? I like Echo as much as the next guy, probably more, but she needs to get out of the damn way here.
• Etherea looks fun! Do we call it Nakara Lite™? Has Bardo explored it properly? Does Bellamy’s new bestie know anything?
• Levitt knows Bell is alive! Does he seriously get to be the hero who gives O her brother back? I’d melt, tbh.
• The gang has left Bardo already though, yeah?  I mean, the description for Episode 12 says something about Clarke being on Sanctum and I figure we’re not getting this reunion that easily, le sigh.

Devastated about Diyoza? Love Murphy as a leader? Giddy that Monty’s still saving us from the beyond? Let’s chat!