Tuesday 9 September 2014

TV recap: The 100, episode 10, I Am Become Death

Last time on The 100, it was Unity Day. On Earth, it went wrong because The Grounders and The 100 couldn't trust each other, on the Ark it went wrong because Dodgy Diana is an untrustworthy so and so who sacrificed the whole of the Ark to get herself and a chosen few to Earth (not very successfully by the looks of it).

Earth-bound
The 100 (some of them) head to the site of the crashed exodus ship to discover there are no survivors, just a whole lot of debris and some really explosive fluid that Raven warns everyone to keep away from. Clarke's upset because she thinks her mother is dead, Finn is protective over Clarke, and Bellamy is concerned the Grounders will retaliate after the groups' previous encounter.

Jasper's revelling in his new-found popularity, regaling the women at camp with stories of how he shot at the Grounders. It's all a bit exaggerated, and BFF Monty is getting a bit sick of things, and later they have a horrible break-up.

And well, weel, well, look who's back - Murphy. Remember how he constantly beat up on Wells (RIP)? Remember how he urinated on a guy to teach him a lesson? Remember the time he wanted to kill a little girl who then committed suicide so that Murphy wouldn't hurt Clarke and Bellamy? Well, all that and the fact that he's weasel-y and evil make me think that whatever Murphy is doing back, it's not good. Also, I'd like to say that when Clarke banished Murphy, I called it that it would be a bad decision.

But anyway, benefit of the doubt (but not from me). So Murphy is back, looking like crap, with his fingernails torn out, bleeding everywhere and acting like a man who has seen bad things (his own reflection in a pre-nuclear bomb mirror, perhaps). Thankfully, Bellamy is too savvy to trust him and his story about being chased by Grounders, but Clarke and Finn are determined to give Murphy a second chance. Ugh.

Raven is trying to connect to the Ark, with no luck, and as she chats to Clarke, the latter's eyes start bleeding. As if Murphy just being back isn't bad enough, it turns out he's ill - in a bleeding from random places kind of way. Murphy's illness is also contagious (hopefully his evilness isn't) and suddenly it's like The Exorcist in camp, just with fewer spirits and spinning heads and more blood-filled vomiting everywhere. Clarke puts two and two together to realise that the Grounders released Murphy so that they could use him as a biological weapon against The 100.

Octavia seems to be fine, and uses the opportunity of being in quarantine to go and see Lincoln (with Clarke's urging) to find out if there's a cure for the virus. Lincoln tries to persuade Octavia to run away with him to somewhere safer because the Grounders are planning to attack The 100's camp come morning. She agrees to meet him, but first heads back to warm Bellamy.

Bellamy finds out that Octavia has gone to see Lincoln, but his anger is put to one side when one of The 100 turns around with bleeding eyes, and then another blood vomits on someone else. Clarke stops the rioting by shooting a gun in the air, and then promptly collapses, with Finn running to catch her, much to Raven's displeasure (and mine, Bellamy should have caught her).

Murphy graciously gives up his bed for Clarke, while Octavia tells the group that Lincoln believes the virus doesn't last long, but they'll be too weak to fight when the Grounders arrive in the morning. Clarke tries to get Finn to leave camp with the healthy people, but he refuses, although he seems to have something else up his sleeve.

His plan is a bomb - to blow up the bridge between the Grounders' camp and The 100's. Bellamy isn't sure the plan will work, but Raven has faith in her bomb making abilities (and the explosive fluid from the ship that crashed to earth). Raven successfully builds a bomb, and now it's just a matter of getting to the bridge to set it off.

Before he can head out to set the bomb, Bellamy gets sick, which is just guaranteed to tug on the heart, since he's now all vulnerable as well as being emotionally damaged. Look, secretly, many women (and men) watching certain films and television programmes have a soft spot for the damaged guy (honourable mention for Bucky Barnes here), and we all fantasise about helping them recover (and then having them put their strong arms around us). So basically, what I'm saying is that we all want to be Clarke at this point (without the bloody eyes) and we all want Clarke to be helping Bellamy.

Anway... Bellamy sends Jasper off to plant the bomb, but when he goes to collect it, he and Finn discover that Raven has gone off with it herself. Finn figures it out, but we cut to Raven to see her get a massive nosebleed, so will Finn be too late? 

Bellamy's still looking all vulnerable, and instead of Clarke coming to help him, evil Murphy tries, and Bellamy threatens him with banishment again. And then Clarke, much better now, does turn up. The two have a heart to heart, not about how they're a perfect couple, but about how Murphy shouldn't be trusted, and about how everyone being sick and in the drop ship is better than a bunch of them dying outside at the hands of the Grounders.

Raven, sick as a dog, shows just how tough she is by making it to the bridge and setting up her bomb. But the Grounders are fast approaching her, with their war drums ringing out. Finn and Jasper are close by, but not close enough to set the bomb off. As Raven crawls away Finn runs towards her and Jasper lines up the shot from the woods while the Grounders approach the bridge. Finn manages to get Raven away, and yells at Jasper, who has some performance anxiety, to shoot. Jasper misses, but luckily Monty turns up with a loaded gun, which he hands off to Jasper with a 'you got this'. Pressure on, Jasper misses again, but with his second bullet hits the bomb, setting off a huge explosion and destroying the bridge, as well as some Grounders.

At camp, the gang see the bomb go off, and Clarke quotes Oppenheimer, giving the episode its name and also giving Bellamy the chance to reveal he's actually pretty book clever too.

Octavia heads to see Lincoln, who warns her that there is worse out there than the Grounders - people he calls the Mountain Men will come to get them. He's annoyed at The 100 for the bomb, but not annoyed enough to not want to run away with Octavia, who has now decided she will stay with her brother. Credit to Lincoln, he doesn't try to pressure her, and understands that she wants to stay with her people. The two have a tearful, and rather touching, goodbye.

And Jasper, Finn, Monty and Raven return to a heroes' welcome at camp. Raven is recovering quickly, and has enough lucidity to realise that her relationship with Finn is over. In the most heartbreaking moment of the series so far, she breaks up with Finn, telling him that while he loves her, it's not the way she wants to be loved, and the way he loves Clarke. Oof. I feel like I've been kicked in the chest.

Clarke, meanwhile, is at the gravesite, where 14 of The 100 succumbed to the illness. Bellamy approaches her to talk about Murphy, who he doesn't trust, but who Clarke is willing to tolerate because they need all the people ey can get.

And Murphy, what's he doing? Suffocating one of The 100 to death as an act of revenge. I'm not even sorry for saying this - I told you so.

On the Ark
No scenes aboard the Ark this week, but communications are still down, so it can't be good news.

Solid ground?
Another excellent episode of The 100, although this was clearly an episode setting up for something in the future. Despite that, it managed to be packed with action and emotion. And never let it be said that The 100 is afraid to show what hurts - whether it was tragically ill people, murder or even just a heartbreaking break-up, The 100 this week handled it all with brutal honesty.

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