TV Recap: The 100, Wanheda Part 1

Hey guys, we’re trying something a little new and experimenting with mixing TV reviews into our repertoire. As some of you may know, a little show called The 100 had it’s season 3 premiere last night. If you follow me on twitter, you’ll know I’m utterly obsessed and have been fanatically looking forward to this day since, well, March.

I can’t really talk about the ep without spoilers because I have a lot of feelings (shocking, I know, I’m normally so stoic) but I’ll keep the first part spoiler-free and give you plenty of warning before switching over to specific things.

Overall I think this was a fairly strong opener. I love so many of the new plotlines and character arc seeds being sown and I think the show did a really good job bridging the left over season 2 stuff and mixing in exposition details while keeping the show moving forward. A lot of this episode dealt with what everyone has been up to in the 3 month gap between season 2 and season 3 (I love that they’re portraying how messed up everyone has become, some are dealing with it better than others) and laying the groundwork for things to come but the pace still felt active and forward-moving (for the most part, Jaha what are you even doing?). 

A massive high five to The 100’s continued commitment to depicting LGBT+ rep. While some of it felt a tad like fan service, this is the kind of fan service I am 100% behind (I SEE YOU MONTY x MILLER SET UP. I. SEE. YOU.). Actually, a number of things about the ep felt a little straight out of fanfiction but it was the best parts of fanfiction so I’m good with it.

As far as new plot direction goes, I love that we’re going to see a lot more of grounder society and am super excited to see where all of that goes. I’m a little hesitant about the Arker vs Grounder continuing conflict, though it makes sense, (if everyone were sitting around holding hands and braiding each other’s hair I think that would’ve been disingenuous and cheating,) mostly because it feels like it could get stagnant and repetitive but I’m willing to reserve judgement for the time being.

One thing I am absolutely not on board with? Whatever the fuck is going on with Jaha. The big reveal about the City of Light was so underwhelming and blech. I said it through all of season 2 and I’ll say it again, WHY IS JAHA STILL A THING? They had the perfect opportunity to kill him off in the season 1 finale and they didn’t and honestly, the amount of screentime devoted to his story bothers me a lot. It’s entirely disconnected from the main plot (for now, I’m assuming) and it takes screen time away from characters and stories that have actual heart, depth and relevance. I can’t see what it’s adding to the overall story aside from background on how the world got to the state it is which I’m honestly not sure is necessary. We’ve consumed enough post nuclear apocalypse media at this point to know that there are basically three ways humanity gets wiped out and starts over and seeing as the show utilizes one, I think we could’ve filled in the blanks ourselves. It’s really hard not to think Jaha is only there for the star power Isaiah Washington’s name brings to the show and considering his history, hard pass.

On a last un-spoilery note, I am in LOVE with the new characters. I really hope Niylah (played by Richard Harmon’s super hot sister, Jessica Harmon) sticks around and not just because I’m deeply into her face and back tattoo (which seemed intentionally highlighted so I’m hoping this means she’s got layers we’ll find out more about later). 

Same goes for Roan (played by Zach McGowan who you may know as Charles Vane from Black Sails, another awesome show I’ve been binging and highly recommend). I really like that actor (and not just because his voice is sexy as fuck) and I’m pumped to see what he brings to the show.

OKAY. Onward to specifics.

Here is where the spoilers start.

Leave if you don’t want any.

I’m assuming if you’re still here you’ve seen it and/or don’t care, yes?

You were warned.

Some assorted thoughts on specific parts/characters:

Hands down my absolute most favorite part of the episode was the Adventure Squad road trip scene. I am 400000000000% here for Bellamy, Raven, Monty, Miller and Octavia going out and exploring and having road trip singalongs (I’m politely ignoring that Jasper was there, more on him in a moment). While it could be argued this was ripped straight out of 78% of the post season 2 fanfiction, I can’t bring myself to care because oh dear god how I wanted this. THEY’RE SMILING AND LAUGHING AND RELAXING AND DID YOU SEE RAVEN SMILE AND MILLER GRIP MONTY’S ARM WHILE SINGING THE LINE ABOUT MAKING LOVE TO YOU? BECAUSE I DID AND I AM HERE FOR IT.

As much as I adore the adventure squad singalong, I have a few questions. Specifically, where did Jasper get a working iPod? I assume Mount Weather but like hell that thing still works after 96 years with no software update. Ditto the rover. How does it run? Gasoline expires. Have they set up a drilling and refining operation? It definitely doesn’t sound like an electric engine (I say with my abundance of automotive/mechanical expertise).

While I am happy that the show is exploring and depicting the effects of grief and PTSD, I am less pleased that they chose to use Jasper to do it. Part of this is because his character has been steadily getting more and more on my nerves over the course of the show. Part of it is because his grief seems to focus around Maya’s death which, while I believe he cared deeply about her, they knew each other for what? 2 weeks? I have a hard time buying that their love was so epic he’s more obviously wrecked than the other survivors who have gone through equal levels of horrifying shit and loss. Having Jasper as the token traumatized character feels a little too much like a stretch to keep him relevant.

I don’t have too many thoughts on Gena, Bellamy’s new girlfriend (although I’m still laughing over how fucking hard the writers were trolling shippers in this episode). I’m glad he has someone to do nice things for him and am absolutely here for anything that points to secret nerd Bellamy so there’s that. We’ll see where that goes (my guess is not too far and no that is not because as far as I’m concerned he’s already married how dare you suggest that).

AM ABSOLUTELY HERE FOR BELLAMY AND LINCOLN BEING BFFS MORE OF THIS PLEASE.

(HI HARPER AND MONROE GOOD TO SEE YOU I LOVE YOU GUYS PLEASE MAKE OUT)

The jury is still out on Bellamy trying to redefine the guard. On the one hand, his whole ‘the ground is our chance to make it mean what we want it to mean’ is straight up Clarke season 1 with ‘maybe the ground is a second chance to do better’ and it gives me A LOT OF FEELINGS that he’s picked up so much from her. On the other, it seems slightly uncharacteristically naive and optimistic of Bellamy to trust the Ark given his history and his rampant fuck authority attitude in previous seasons. But also after everything he’s been through I guess I accept him trying to start over and needing to let someone else make decisions for awhile. Idk, undecided on this. It helps that I think his dynamic with Kane is kind of adorable and who else is waiting for Kane to make dad jokes?

As much as I hate tension between Lincoln and Octavia, aka the shows only functional ship (which is kind of hilarious when you consider they were born out of kidnapping and torture but whatever, water under the bridge, this is The 100, who hasn’t been tortured at this point?) (#stophurtingravenreyes2k16) ANYWAY. Love the tension, I completely see where both parties are coming from and this kind of relationship strife feels realistic and not like manufactured drama for drama’s sake. Lincoln is advocating his hardest for grounder/arker peace and acceptance which makes sense considering “The world’s been trying to turn me into a monster for as long as I can remember.” and his desire to not let it. He sees this as his chance for a peaceful community existence and he’s working his ass off to make it happen. On the other side you have Octavia who grew up with the Ark authority as the ultimate boogeyman. She spent 16 years living under the floor in terror that the guard who one day come in and destroy her family and oh look, they did. Is it any wonder that she can’t handle seeing Lincoln in a guard jacket? As for her choosing to sleep in the forest/align herself with the Trikru as much as possible, they were the first people outside of the delinquents to accept her. Of course she’d want to get away from the Ark and closer to the Trikru. I’ve seen a couple of people saying things along the lines of ‘but she turned her back on the Trikru in the season 2 finale’ right, but remember that was only because they wanted her to leave her brother behind and her love for Bellamy trumps pretty much everything. I fully believe if Indra hadn’t forced her to choose, she’d be living with the Trikru visiting Arkadia occasionally.

Update: Just when I thought I was sad enough about the gap between them, Ellis pointed this out: “Octavia is totally projecting on Lincoln right now, right? Because he used to be the middle person like her, not quite grounder not quite skaikru. But now he’s starting to wear the Ark clothes and becoming more Ark and she’s afraid to lose him because he was the one person who was like her right?” and now I need to lie down.

I still haven’t forgiven Abby for slapping Raven in season 2 but their relationship gives me A LOT of feelings. I know some people ship it but to me it’s a really beautiful surrogate mother/daughter relationship for both of them. While never described in great detail, the show has made it clear that Raven’s home life was the worst and it’s nice to see her being cared for and taken care of. Shout out to Raven dropping another one of her deal-with-your-shit-Abby truth bombs. God, I love her.

I also love that the show is back to depicting Raven’s injury as a real thing she has to deal with. One of my major complaints with season 2 was how they kind of gave her a magic brace that rendered her leg injury largely a non-issue and I’m glad they’re going back on that. I’m going to turn the mic over to Natalie Crown who says everything I think and then some about Raven’s developing storyline much, much better than I ever could.

It was really nice to see Richard Harmon’s name in the credits. As much as I am not pro-Murphy (godammit show stop making me briefly like him), I really like the actor and credit him with single-handedly making Jaha’s storyline watchable. Congratulations to Richard for his upgraded regular status, he’s definitely earned it. Now, let’s see his character earn some of the good feeling his one-liner delivery forces upon us.

And finally, Clarke. Oh Clarke. My Buffy Summers risen from the grave. (But seriously, just try tell me Clarke’s dead-eyed stare is not totally reminiscent of Buffy’s stint as Anne) (Just kidding, don’t tell me that, you’d be wrong and I’d have to fight you). Eliza Taylor does an INCREDIBLE job depicting a broken shell of the girl who tore down a mountain. You can straight up feel her desperation to shut down her feelings and distract herself in anyway possible and I am so here for this as much as it hurts me. Especially considering it’s manifesting itself in a desire to drink and fuck her way through her grief (HIGH FIVE CW FOR A PRETTY LENGTHY NON-FADE-TO-BLACK F/F SEX SCENE, I AM THOROUGHLY IMPRESSED), a traditionally masculine coping mechanism and fuck yeah dismantling gender roles. Sidebar, while I don’t hate the red hair (dyed with berries according to the writers), I’m glad that the blonde will apparently come back next ep.

I’m also thoroughly into seeing how this whole the Ice Nation quest to kill Wanheda (Commander of Death) to absorb her power/Lexa and the coalition being weakened by Clarke’s resounding defeat of the mountain (the previously unstoppable enemy Clarke took down in a DAY after Lexa’s betrayal) plays out. Hopefully the show will ease up the Jaha nonsense and focus on this because this is infinitely more interesting.

Casually ignoring the whole Shawn Mendes thing because honestly that felt like the most transparent ploy to lure in a new audience.

On that note, I will leave you with this gifset of what was undoubtably the absolute best part of the premiere:

ADVENTURE SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD

The 100 airs Thursdays at 9pm ET/PT on the CW.