What do you do when a present proves that issues solely get so dangerous earlier than they get even worse?
If all this led to the ultimate message that The 100 is attempting to painting, they lastly achieved it. It is extremely clear that this entire season was simply proof that there isn’t a hope left for humanity.
As a result of if these are the alternatives that The 100 desires to make in its last season, there may be nothing left to battle for.
This journey was nothing greater than inconceivable selections and a tragic finish to a narrative that many as soon as liked.
Throughout The 100 Season 7 Episode 15, everybody is split as they attempt to take care of their very own points. Murphy, Raven, and Jackson discover themselves combating to search out the Anomaly stone to allow them to save Emori’s life.
In the meantime, Clarke and Octavia attempt to get to Bardo to avoid wasting Madi and cease Cadogan. Sadly, that does not finish nicely when Levitt lastly will get them there, solely to find that Madi suffered a stroke at Cadogan’s palms and is unable to talk or transfer.
They suppose there isn’t a different alternative however to kill her till they get distracted and as a substitute resolve to cease Cadogan first.
“The Dying of The Gentle,” written by Kim Shumway, was a cautionary story in dropping sight of your personal story. A mixture of random obstacles to distract and an amazing reminder of simply how emotionally constipated most of the characters are, this was the introduction to the final episode ever. And all of that was nothing in comparison with the ultimate sequence meant to kickstart motion as soon as and for all.
Seven seasons have apparently all result in a baby being tortured to the purpose the place she loses all of her company, all in order that the lead character has nothing to lose as she walks across the our bodies of her family members for one final ineffective conflict.
There aren’t any phrases to correctly grasp how horrifying the final sequence was, one more try and current torture pron in a brand new and edgy approach. Besides it is not something near that. As an alternative, the narrative rips the final remaining a part of Clarke’s coronary heart as a result of she must be stripped of all emotion for the ultimate battle.
On the similar time, a baby is put into hurt’s approach and is once more graphically injured for the sake of a plot twist.
That is not one other ineffective impediment; it’s an try and make the lead serve the final storyline at the price of Madi’s life. Her daughter turns into a pawn that prepares Clarke for a showdown in opposition to Cadogan, all whereas breaking any belief the viewers nonetheless might need had for significant storytelling.
The 100 can declare that that is the message they have been writing in direction of, nevertheless it escalated as soon as the present misplaced its coronary heart. The second the narrative determined that Bellamy was disposable was when all hope for a satisfying ending went out the door with him.
However a minimum of the battle is lastly revealed to be the final conflict. Or the final take a look at. Or possibly it’s the final conflict of assessments. Or was it assessments of conflict?
Make This Mess Make Sense
Talking of issues that do not make sense, right here we’re.
In a wierd self-sabotage case, the present continues to make selections that make their last journey extra complicated. The final episode earlier than the collection finale and all that we’re left to consider is what’s the level?
The folks in Bardo are getting ready for the final conflict regardless that the code hasn’t been acquired but. However Clarke and Octavia shock them as they’re organising weapons for his or her final battle.
The factor is that it has by no means been hinted at that weapons are essential? They do not even know if this can be a conflict or a take a look at, so there isn’t a approach they know what they’re combating. However the disciples are nonetheless organising these weapons as if they’re the reply that they spent all these years decoding.
If something, this final season (and the collection as a complete) has one clear focus; gun promotion.
However possibly there’s a cause for all of this. Perhaps all of the questions will magically be answered within the final hour of the collection.
For now, although, it’s time for the collection finale, and it is not even clear what everybody can be dealing with.
Cadogan thinks it’s the final conflict. Jordan believes it’s a take a look at. There was additionally point out of the unique individuals who lived on Bardo and their loss of life, which walks hand in hand with the bio-weapon nonetheless current. Becca noticed Judgement Day, and that’s what she tried to cease Cadogan from accessing.
There’s additionally the difficulty of continuity, particularly on the subject of Cadogan. As the top will get nearer, characters are slowly being rewritten exterior of their preliminary conduct.
Cadogan’s one rule is for all mankind. He was most likely one of many characters who adopted it by and thru. Besides on the subject of his circle of relatives?
He pushes Levitt to go deeper into Madi’s thoughts, not even for the code but additionally for his daughter. This is not precisely search for a pacesetter preaching that nobody is extra necessary than anybody else.
It is not even clear what he hopes to search out out about his daughter, particularly since he left her on the market to outlive independently, and now he’s all for what occurred to her now that she died.
That goes to my subsequent level: the battle that these episodes are on the subject of the prequel. It’s locking in tales that they will not inform, like Cadogan ever coming again to see his youngsters once more.
It feels just like the unsuitable time to restrict the number of plots that may very well be explored in a brand new present, however that is simply me.
This episode additionally takes away any qualities that they boosted about when it got here to Cadogan. He was an easy-going man who had a unique tackle the longer term, however then offscreen; he reverted to a model of himself keen to danger a baby’s life. It’s a stark distinction from the person that spent all this time with the primary characters up to now.
There’s additionally a query about transcending, the foundations of that are nonetheless off.
Anders and others complained that somebody who died could not transcend. The main target was on recruiting folks with the promise of crossing over. However then Cadogan mentions that Clarke and Octavia needn’t enter Bardo to transcend later.
What’s the level of all of this?
Why restrict your storytelling by writing the characters into corners they now cannot escape from?
Then once more, this is similar episode that targeted on the aftermath of an explosion, as if that bears the identical weight as getting ready the characters for the final battle they may ever face.
Everybody needs to be in the identical place, already combating off the primary battle of the season and the collection, however as a substitute, they’re all unaware of the place the opposite groupings are or what’s unsuitable.
There isn’t a time left for something to be answered or for any characters to search out closure. It could be a fear, however a lot of the characters are so unrecognizable at this level that possibly the viewers is best off.
Why? Why? Why?
There’s something unsettling about how Madi has been written up in opposition to white males who take all her company away time after time.
First it was Sheidheda, a person who threatened Madi’s life if she did not kneel to him. That dynamic was uncomfortable for some time, however the best way it was framed in that Sanctum bar remains to be a unique form of haunting.
Now it’s Cadogan forcing himself into Madi’s thoughts with out her consent. She first permits them to look by her reminiscences for these she cares about, however that turns into Cadogan forcing his approach in, and the outcomes have been horrifying, to say the least.
However what was even worse if the present’s choice to do that.
The 100 actually thought that after the criticism they bought over Clarke electrocuting Madi throughout The 100 Season 5 Episode 12, that the one affordable alternative within the overhyped up penultimate episode was to take it even farther?
Merriam-Webster describes that “the phrase penultimate provides an additional emphatic syllable to the phrase final, which makes folks suppose it one way or the other means “extra” than final — nevertheless it actually means much less.”
Say what you’ll, however this episode introduced much less to the desk than it tried to promote beforehand.
The explosion was one other excuse for the characters to remain within the house they’re already in. Everybody is split by location, and nobody is aware of the place the opposite group is.
It’s a stalling tactic that enables nothing to occur; in the meantime, the reward of phantasm creates the concept the plot is definitely transferring alongside. However in traditional The 100 type, all the pieces means nothing till the ultimate scene.
However episode is not measured by the shock that you simply create on the finish, particularly in case you lose all frequent sense and compassion alongside the best way.
It was troublesome watching Nelson’s folks get killed in a bloodbath, just for him to be shot within the head proper after. It was excruciating to see Bellamy shot within the coronary heart for daring to imagine in one thing past violence and blood-stained survival. It was ridiculous having to mourn Gabriel a number of occasions over, because the plot stabbed him again and again till he bled out.
But none of that ready the viewers for Madi’s storyline.
Clarke lastly finds Madi, solely to have her thoughts torn aside by Cadogan. He dug round so deep that he prompted a stroke, making Madi unable to talk or transfer.
It’s heartbreaking (and disturbing) {that a} youngster is put into this place, to start with. However then her mom would not even give it a minute between discovering out that Madi cannot be introduced again as a result of she was locked in her thoughts and Clarke selecting up a gun with the intention to mercy kill her daughter.
If you’ll have Clarke solely be a mom, then a minimum of put within the effort of getting her be one.
As an alternative, she tries to drag the plug on her daughter with out even attempting to get a second opinion or some recommendation on what she will do subsequent. Simply because Madi cannot communicate or transfer does not imply she has nothing to supply anymore.
She remains to be an individual. She remains to be a daughter. She nonetheless has her life to exist for, and in a single brief second, Clarke takes all of it away from herself. Or has it taken from her?
It’s an understatement to say this sequence was sickening to look at. It did not must occur, it did not make sense, and the apparent try and create a darkish actuality was simply one other reminder of how a lot The 100 is failing.
This present is not solely letting down the viewers they seemingly hate, however they’re letting the characters down as nicely.
Madi was simply stepping up for herself and her place on this planet. She did not need her mom to make selections for her, and he or she simply needed the happiness she present in Sanctum.
However as quickly as Madi took management, the present punished her.
She spoke out in opposition to Clarke’s selections, and the others have been making in her title, very controversial selections that left many lifeless for no cause. And as quickly as she began to exist for herself, The 100 took her voice away from her.
It was traumatic, and it was a visceral reminder that the present is not interested by what would make sense for Madi (or Clarke).
Just like then permitting Clarke to hurt her daughter earlier than, now she is sort of pushed to make it official.
Clarke spent this complete episode screaming that she was nothing with out Madi, and but she would not even take into consideration attempting to maintain Madi alive. It’s a choice she makes with out pondering it by, and this can be very ableist.
Which brings us to the actual concern; The 100 by no means thinks concerning the message they’re sending to the viewers.
It isn’t okay to place that ending as the suitable alternative within the scenario. Simply because an individual may be disabled does not imply they don’t have any high quality of life and simply have to be killed to assist them. That is not okay.
The narrative that’s being created that members of the disabled group don’t have anything fulfilling to supply is absurd and insulting.
It should be even worse for Madi, having to see all the pieces that is happening and perceive the selections being made with out you having the possibility to talk. Madi has to look at her mom and Octavia purpose for her coronary heart, regardless that her opinion wasn’t even taken under consideration.
There isn’t a correct clarification for what the present was pondering, most likely as a result of they weren’t.
Particularly when Clarke and Octavia solely pause as a result of Levitt realizes Cadogan bought the code. Clarke even says how unsuitable it’s that Cadogan bought the code after which left Madi like that.
Then she straight away decides this implies she has to go discover Cadogan, leaving her daughter precisely in the identical worrisome place that she complained he left her in.
Make it make sense.
Clarke does all the pieces she will simply to get to Madi. When she does, she virtually kills her after all the pieces she did to guard her. For no actual cause. It’s scary that there have been no different concepts that might have been picked for all of this.
Madi’s sense of self is taken away for the sake of the plot, and the stakes have by no means been decrease. It actually looks like Madi wasn’t killed as a result of she’s going to simply transcend, and it’ll all be okay.
However the lackluster funding within the story and the characters exhibits nicely onscreen. The present has given up on Madi now, and Clarke exists solely to push the story alongside.
It’s a lot for Eliza Taylor and Lola Flanery to have to hold, particularly when you think about the fabric. It’s a lot for the followers to expertise, all for no cause besides to be as graphic and excessive as potential.
Madi deserved higher although, She deserved to live on as her personal individual. She earned to live on as her personal individual. She deserved to say goodbye to her mates on Sanctum and to have extra time with Picasso.
Now she is an afterthought that units up Clarke’s betrayal in direction of Bellamy and people round her. Madi would not exist for herself once more, and that’s the actual steady disgrace.
The previous Clarke cannot come to the telephone proper now. Why? As a result of she’s lifeless.
It’s exhausting to look at Clarke as a result of that is not her anymore. She was once somebody with empathy and the flexibility to be clever at a second’s discover. Now she simply threatens everybody if they do not care about Madi as loudly as she does.
And look the place that bought her.
Clarke was outlined not by one label, however by many.
She was a pacesetter and a strong presence on our screens. She was a selfless pal and a bisexual icon. She made errors however they have been on her technique to stopping the top of the world. She struggled to permit herself to point out feelings as a result of she was at all times attempting to maintain another person alive.
Clarke had flaws, however on the similar time, she had so many inspiring traits that made her the feminine lead that she was.
However now, on the finish of the journey, when she ought to have essentially the most quantity of energy, she has been stripped of it. The one phrase that may outline Clarke now could be a mom and a nasty one at that.
As quickly as she finds her daughter, she desires to euthanize her. It’s chilling, unsuitable, and never the best way to write down a mom.
However The 100 has lengthy forgotten do proper by its feminine characters, or by most of their characters actually. It ought to come as no shock that Clarke was the subsequent one to go, though that’s the hardest one to look at be molded into somebody she is not.
The truth is it is not even Clarke’s fault that that is occurring to her, not after the present went out of there technique to take everybody she liked out of commision. Clarke is not allowed to have anybody, not whereas The 100 wants her in ache.
However on the similar time, Clarke remains to be an terrible instance of a personality who cannot survive off dangerous writing and one persona trait. Being a mom is not all the pieces, particularly when it takes away greater than it offers.
However the present determined to double down even more durable and restrict Clarke’s id. She will’t exist exterior of position as a mom, a lot in order that even the very obvious love curiosity thrown at her is rooted in her connection to Madi. Clarke is not allowed to exist exterior of being a mom, so even any romance she’s going to get as a session worth can be an extension of her youngster.
If it is not clear but, however the present is gunning to place Clarke and Gaia into a possible ambiguous/unambiguous endgame. You’ll suppose a lead deserves a a while to have a romance explored and to make it worthy of endgame standing.
Effectively, suppose once more.
As an alternative, Clarke and Gaia have their scattered talks that solely exist round Madi, as a result of that’s all they’ve in frequent. They actually cannot speak about the rest as a result of they don’t have anything else.
Gaia exists as an alternative choice to Bellamy, an individual that Clarke seemingly has all these talks with and that understands her love for her daughter. However with Gaia it’s all floor stage, which is what occurs when the writing is naked minimal of what it needs to be.
It’s disturbing that the narrative believes Clarke is now outlined solely by being a mom. A lot in order that she needed to kill Bellamy for Madi in order that he could not be a romantic possibility, but on the similar time is connecting with Gaia, a relative stranger, solely as a result of she is pleasant to Madi.
It’s not all about what or who may make Clarke pleased as of late. It’s like musical chairs the place the final possibility has to finish up with Clarke, whether or not it provides to the lead character’s life or not.
Completely happy Bisexual Visibility Day to Clarke Griffin, I suppose.
Bellamy Blake Shade Shrine
The title for this episode is a little bit later, contemplating the present’s gentle died a number of episodes in the past.
However irrespective of how distant he’s from the narrative now, he’s nonetheless there. Bellamy nonetheless exists within the errors that others make with out him round to encourage them to do higher. Bellamy nonetheless exists when folks wish to rewrite their historical past with him to create the non-public phantasm they should transfer ahead.
Bellamy nonetheless exists within the storylines that at the moment are given to others, however you then marvel what might have been.
This time round, it goes to Levitt, somebody who exists to at all times be on the identical facet as Octavia. He’s the within man that at all times comes by, even whether it is in opposition to the religion he grew up with.
He sees that Madi is struggling and tries to supply her assist, particularly on the subject of Cadogan. He’s too late, however he dangers all the pieces to convey Octavia and Clarke to her.
This can be a attribute unique to Levitt; the story likes to make him handy sufficient to look when essential. And it’s attention-grabbing the best way that Clarke could not belief Bellamy for another second due to his religion, however Levitt attempting to assist them is ok.
What did she suppose Bellamy was aiming for?
However you’ll be able to’t assist however marvel if this complete storyline on this episode was meant for Bellamy Blake after which was rewritten for Levitt. The potential storylines for Bellamy are all over the place, and it solely makes you miss his presence extra.
On the one hand, the practice wreck that’s unfolding is messy sufficient that Bellamy is best off not being dragged round with it. However then however, so many of those issues began when The 100 forgot do proper by Bellamy.
Like a domino impact, all the pieces else collapsed with the center of the present gone for good.
Perhaps Bellamy Blake deserved to get away from all of this earlier than they tortured him or rewrote his total characterization, however selfishly it’s exhausting to not miss him.
And the substitutes that they’re creating to fill his place as a result of, as we all know, Bellamy wasn’t meant to die throughout The 100 Season 7 Episode 13, which suggests these episodes did plan to incorporate him, are ridiculous.
With Bellamy gone, the narrative goes proper again to Clarke, solely opening as much as Gaia, somebody she barely spoke to in earlier seasons until Madi was concerned.
Now they’re having these deep and significant conversations about Clarke’s emotions in the very same spot the place Clarke pointed a gun at Bellamy on Earth. Again then it felt inconceivable that she would pull the set off and now right here we’re.
Oh, how the turntables have …
And these hints proceed in a removed from refined approach when Octavia presents to kill Madi for Clarke, so she would not bear the ache of dropping one other liked one. Identical to in Season 1 with Atom, Clarke took over as a result of Bellamy could not. Now one other Blake is taking up as a result of Bellamy could not be there for Clarke.
Every thing from the mercy kill to the tune Clarke hums brings us again to the primary kill they needed to make on Earth. The irony of the scenario is a bit excessive, with The 100 attempting so exhausting to push nostalgia in all of the unsuitable locations.
Nobody desires to recollect Clarke’s first kill by watching somebody shot her daughter. Who would suppose that was the perfect final result right here?
It’s exhausting to not search for hints of what might need been, which storylines Bellamy Blake might have been a part of. However on the similar time all this darkness simply is not it. He deserved higher than to be surrounded by much more ache and violence, not like this.
Bellamy deserved higher in life, however possibly at this level he’s getting higher together with his everlasting distance from this chaotic season.
Perhaps him taking away the center of the present was a good suggestion; there is not anybody else extra deserving of a life that The 100 simply could not give him.
Stray Ideas
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All of that chaos from Bardo to Sanctum to Earth, just for them to only find yourself again in Bardo?
Are we nonetheless pretending that Season 7 wasn’t nearly losing our time with each new episode?
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We completely should take a second to thank Luisa D’Oliveira, Richard Harmon, and Lindsey Morgan for completely killing it this episode. They have been the perfect a part of all of this, and Emori is not dying.
I refuse, so it’s legislation.
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Can anybody clarify why Raven thought them attending to Bardo would cease something? A ridiculous quantity of individuals is popping out and in of Bardo, and none of them have stopped Cadogan but. What’s going to another individual do that everybody else hasn’t tried already?
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Talking of Raven, it’s fairly a twist to have her in comparison with Clarke. It was written throughout her face too how a lot she did not wish to grow to be somebody who selected the numerous over the few that mattered to her.
It could have by no means hit me that I’d be agreeing with Raven whereas disagreeing with Clarke, however she is a shell of the individual she was once. Now all the pieces is all about Madi and everybody else is a suitable loss, that means Raven is popping out of this with smarter selections and precise causes for what she does.
At this level it’d even be attention-grabbing to see Raven take the street that Clarke will not as she focuses on her family members like Emori as a substitute of the better inhabitants first.
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The partnership did not final lengthy however Clarke was keen to work with Sheidheda on a plan however not with Bellamy.
Bellamy made it clear all the time that his precedence have been the folks he liked. He was doing this all for them, and he was targeted on maintaining all of them secure. In the meantime Sheidheda was all about attempting to hurt Madi and anybody else who did not observe him.
However the greater menace in Clarke’s eyes was her finest pal and never the precise villain.
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Jordan saying he needs he informed Bellamy that he believed in all of this too is the explanation he’s nonetheless our favourite.
Not everybody else although. They’re nonetheless out.
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My soul is completely exhausted.
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Bellamy Blake deserved higher. So a lot better.
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Perhaps the title of the episode represents that final piece of sunshine left on the present, and the way none of it exists anymore. Any hope that some might have hoped for actually did die when the present thought torturing Madi and Clarke like that was the best way to go.
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Sooner or later Clarke must cease framing her family members as misplaced to her, as if she did not make it possible for one in every of them wasn’t alive first.
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Is it simply me who felt just like the characters are speaking however not likely participating? The emotional constipation extends to them speaking at each other, as a substitute of which one another.
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So what’s the plan for all of them now? How do you cease what has already begun?
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I miss the previous Clarke Griffin.
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So are Bellamy Blake and Gabriel Santiago hanging out proper now and making enjoyable of everybody else? I wish to suppose so.
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Let me repeat another time how completely horrible that final scene was, the way it did not have to be within the episode, and the way extreme it was.
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So what did Cadogan see in his little prequel sneak peek.
What do you suppose? Are you excited concerning the collection finale? Or are you over the fixed doom and gloom? What are you hoping to see subsequent week? What do you suppose the message of the present can be? Do you suppose there may be sufficient time for them to wrap all of this up?
Which character’s story have you ever been having fun with essentially the most? Which character are you lacking? Do you suppose Emori will truly die? Do you suppose anybody else is in critical hazard of giving killed off up to now?
How a lot did you hate that final Madi scene from a scale of 10 to 10? Is anybody nonetheless invested within the prequel?
Tell us what you suppose beneath!
Stick round for extra interviews, options, slideshows, and critiques of the upcoming season, and watch The 100 online proper right here on TV Fanatic.
Yana Grebenyuk is a workers author for TV Fanatic. Comply with her on Twitter.