#Antibecho

[otp-armada]

Bellarke has been my OTP for The 100 ever since I watched the end of 2x16. So Becho was unpleasant and unwelcomed by me whenever they were present on my screen. Despite the matter of Bellamy's pesky relationship status, I still believe with every fiber of my being that Bellarke was the centralized love story of the narrative. This show was no more revolutionary than any other show wherein its leads envelop the core romance. In fact, I say Bellarke became my OTP because I knew with certainty that I was watching an epic, series-long love story unfolding with every building block the narrative laid for them, disagreements, obstacles, and all. I’m not deterred by the intermediary partners along the way. I’m not discouraged by Jason having used transitory affairs of romance and sex to push short and long-term character development for Clarke and Bellamy. It's not stubbornness buoying my spirits. The narrative agreed with me. It told me to sit tight and hold on for the journey. It's for this reason why I'm not dissuaded by Jason skewering Bellarke right before their slow-burn could reach its natural conclusion. It simply proves Jason is a storyteller lacking integrity. And it’s no fault of Bellarke’s. The failure is his alone. 

[when-emma-falls-apart]

Look I know we’re all really unhappy about this but CONSIDER THIS

We have to get B.cho breakup, Bellamy un-brainwashed, Bellarke together, and end the series in 5 episodes. You know how they’re gonna do that??!?

Next episode Echo realises she doesn’t know Bellamy and Bellamy (as a Disciple) breaks up with Echo for trying to commit genocide on them.

THEN Bellamy uses MCap on Clarke and WATCHES HER FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM AND ALL SHE HAS SACRIFICED AND IT BREAKS HIS CULTISHNESS

We don’t get the Bellarke love confession to each other until at least ep 14, but next week will be the episode where Bellamy realises once and for all that Clarke is in love with him

Have a little faith, people

[imruination]

Why does this one image represent the B/C/E dynamic? I am floored

[yiangchen]

Okay, but E/cho not really loving Bellamy and just being his follower makes so much sense??? This seriously explains so much about their relationship. We’ve been saying that she follows his orders like she followed Roan’s, but to actually hear Anomaly!Roan say it?? WE LOVE CONFIRMATION.

[historyofshipping]

I will never be over the fact that the writers and Zach pulled Roan out of the grave

just to tell Ec.ho that she doesn’t really love Bellamy and that she needs to get her shit together and be a strong independent woman. 

[poppykru]

[tarzan737]

Bellamy’s Girlfriend hears he’s dead: Murders the nearest dude (ie, what Bellamy would want to do but wouldn’t do)

Bellamy’s wifebest friend: ‘We do this for him’, does hold leader hostage but lets the Disciples go, sassy obviously but ultimately is up for negotiating (ie, what Bellamy wouldn’t want to do but would do) 

[bellamygateoldblog]

echo: *tries to be a supportive and loving girlfriend (x2)*

bellamy: *throws it back in her face and makes her cry (x2)*

me:

[pineapplebellarke]

Okay I just forced myself to watch the b/echo scene again and I have some thoughts.

He brings up loyalty is her weakness that causes her to do things when she knows she shouldn’t. I think this really tied into how she has seemed a little off the rails going around killing people even though those could be backed up with her being a spy and knowing war.

He also said she was a shapeshifter which I thought was an interesting comparison to make with echo especially with what we’ve seen this season.

“We’ve all done bad things, some of them to each other”

Also he kisses her after she says this isn’t real. So it’s like he’s trying to convince her that something is real. She was the one that had said things will change once they get to the ground and she was saying it again in that scene. Bellamy was the one convincing her it wouldn’t.

Idk I’m trying not to be anti becho in this but I’ll tag it as such just in case. The scene just felt odd to me and I’m trying to figure it out

[osleyakomwonkru]

Why do you think Echo finds it difficult to say no to and stand up to Bellamy? Do you think it’s related to her being brought up to just follow her orders without question?

I think it’s complicated and there are a number of factors in play, depending on the season, but they all add up to why I don’t think that Becho is a healthy relationship. I wanted to like them together, I’d been a fan of the idea since they first met back in season 2, but then once they were together in season 5 it just... yeah. The power dynamics are way off. I don’t get how people can say that Becho is an equal relationship, because in 90% of their screentime, they’re not. Bellamy’s the decision-maker. Echo follows his orders. When they were on the Ring it was different, sure, they were probably equal partners then, and in their shoot-the-cannons scene in 5x13 they felt like equals, but that’s literally it in terms of what we see on-screen.

In season 5, they didn’t have a huge amount of screentime together once they got off the Ring, but what I did see (save for that 5x13 battle scene) didn’t feel equal to me. In 5x06, Echo lets Bellamy speak for her to Octavia at the start, which is absolutely ridiculous because Echo of all people knows how you’re supposed to act around Grounder leaders in public and Bellamy is aggressively not doing it - and Echo knows that. She tries to clue him in later, but it doesn’t work. He won’t listen to her. She should have spoken up for herself from the start, because whenever she did, we see that Octavia respects that, even if she doesn’t like Echo, because Echo was a good strategist and someone who could be counted on for strategy. 

Then in season 6..... oooh boy. This is where the dynamic between Echo and Bellamy really breaks down, and the inequality is evident. In 6x01, suddenly Bellamy’s the Boss of Everyone (until they meet the Sanctum residents and then by his will be done Clarke is the Boss of Everyone), and what he says is law, and anyone who challenges that is dealt with accordingly. And Echo sees that, and you can see her fear and worry of “am I next?” throughout all of that first half of the season, so even when she speaks up in Octavia’s favour, she always backs down and defers to Bellamy.

Because yeah, anyone who challenges Bellamy’s authority is put in their place. Raven objects to Clarke going on the mission, Bellamy tells her she’s the one not going. Octavia doesn’t follow Bellamy’s orders in retaking the dropship, she’s exiled. Bellamy takes his anger about his sister out on Echo, she’s pushed into revealing a painful part of her past to him out of fear of losing him. 

So I don’t think it is necessarily because she was brought up to follow orders without question, because she’s also a badass strategist in her own right and people should more often than not be deferring to her, but that she feels vulnerable in her relationship with Bellamy, because his actions often prioritize other people over her (in her presence, that is, in season 5 we do see him care about her when she’s not there, but she doesn’t see that). I don’t blame her for feeling that way, and I hope that eventually she’ll realize that and that she’s better off without him. 

[wankadi]

The show: “E.cho proved herself dozens of times on the ring”

Also the show: *adressing Clarke* “You’ve done nothing yet”

Us, an audience:

[otp-armada]

If Jason wanted to convince me that Lxa was the love of Clarke's life, he wouldn't have killed her off, effectively cutting their love story permanently, with 4.5 seasons left of the show. Their arc, starting with their introduction in 2x07 and concluding with L's death in 3x07, is 17 episodes long, accounting for 17% of the entire narrative. If I generously add 3x16 to the count, an episode in which L is already dead in the corporeal world Clarke is trying to return to, it's a whopping, grand total of 18%. An 18% congruous with Clarke's intense connection to Bellamy and vice versa, which even A.lycia confirmed as romantic. Feelings romantic enough to spur the formation of a love triangle. An 18% ignoring Clarke's ultimate choice to go back to her people when L wanted her to stay.

CL is a chapter in the story begun and wrapped up in the first half of the narrative. And that's omitting further illumination on the finer details making CL so problematic for Clarke. Do you expect me to believe it was coincidental for CL to occur at a time when Clarke was spiraling down a dark path, commencing with Finn's death? Who played a hand in forcing Clarke's own hand, with Finn, and TonDC, and Mount Weather? Whose example inspired her to ensnare herself in armor and warpaint to be strong enough to save her people? Whose behavior did she emulate in the pushing away of support from her people? Who gave her a place to continue hiding from Bellamy, her mom, and her friends? A place to be someone other than Clarke Griffin? In lieu of facing her fears like the heroine she is? The purpose of CL wasn't to provide Clarke with a magnificent, fairy tale romance gone tragically wrong. I believe Jason's intent with the relationship aimed to further damage Clarke's psyche after L's death, to solidify the belief that her love is not only deadly to its recipients but renders her too weak to do what must be done for survival.

After 3x16, CL is an often superfluous namedrop or two per season for Clarke to briefly react to before carrying on with the plot. Season 5 aside, most of these references are needless enough to be able to interpret them as attempts at reparations for the L/CL fandom's benefit -and their views- without altering the course of the story. Crazy me for thinking it's not enough to constitute an ongoing love story. Crazy me for not thinking this was on par with interactions between living characters. Crazy me for thinking it doesn't befit a love story for the protagonist.

This sliver of the story is what Jason and the CLs would have us unquestionably believe is the pervasive love story of The 100's seven seasons?

Despite his lie and the constant gaslighting from the pineapple CLs, some of us know how to decipher what a temporary love interest is. Lxa? I think you know where I'm heading with this.

I'll acknowledge my admittedly negative appraisal of CL as someone who recognizes its value to the LGBT+ community and treats it as valid while not caring for L/CL on a narrative level. I felt, when swayed by L's influence, Clarke became the antithesis of what I found admirable about her. I resented Clarke's acquiescence of her power to the commander. I wanted nothing more than to remove the wedge L had driven between Clarke and Bellamy.

Let me try to give L/CL the benefit of the doubt for a minute. I don't hold L as responsible for Clarke's choices, but I recognize the prominent role she played in their upbringing. The push and pull was an intriguing aspect of their dynamic, as was the chance to meet a manifestation of who Clarke might have been if she was all head, no heart. Her fall from grace was arguably necessary for her to be a fully-rounded character, not a Mary Sue. It wouldn't be realistic for the protagonist of a tragic story about a brutal world to be a pure cinnamon roll. When forgiveness is an innate theme with Clarke, it would be my bias at work if I was content with her applying it to everyone but Lxa. Clarke saw enough commonalities between her and L to identify with the latter. When she extended forgiveness to L, I believe it was her way of taking the first step on the path to making peace with herself by proxy. None of this means I wanted them paired up. At best, I made my peace with seeing the relationship through to its eventual end. In time for L's death, ironically. My passivity about them notwithstanding, my conclusions are, however, supported by canon.

If I may submit a Doylist reason for romantic CL? Jason knew he had a massive subfandom itching to see them coupled, thereby boosting ratings and generating media buzz. A Watsonian reason? Without relevance, I think L would have been another Anya to Clarke. Grapple shortly with the unfair taking of a life right as they choose to steer towards unity, melancholy giving way to the inconvenience of the loss of a potential, powerful political ally. Romance ensured her arc with L would have the designated impact on Clarke's character moving forward in the next act.

For a show not about relationships, Jason has routinely used romantic love as a shorthand for character and dynamic development. It's happened with so many hastily strung together pairings. And when it does, everyone and their mother bends over backward to defend the relationship. It's romantic because it just is. Didn't you see the kissing? Romantic.

No, The 100 at its core is not about relationships, romantic and otherwise. But stack the number of fans invested exclusively by the action against those of us appreciating a strong plot but are emotionally attached to the characters and dynamics. Who do we think wins? Jason can cry all he wants over an audience refusing to be dazzled solely by his flashy sci-fi.

Funnily enough, "not about relationships'' is only ever applied to Bellarke. Bellarke, a relationship so consistently significant, it's the central dynamic of the show. The backbone on which the story is predicated. Only with Bellarke does it become super imperative to represent male-female platonic relationships. As if Bellarke is the end all, be all of platonic friendship representation on this show. In every single television show in the history of television shows.

Where was this advocacy when B/echo was foisted upon on us after one scene between them where he didn't outright hate Echo? When one interaction before that, he nearly choked the life out of her. If male-female friendship on TV is so sparse, why didn't B/ravens celebrate the familial relationship between Bellamy and Raven? Isn't the fact that they interpret Clarke as abusive to Bellamy all the more reason to praise his oh-so-healthy friendship with Raven as friendship? They might be the one group of shippers at the least liberty to use this argument against Bellarke, lest they want to hear the cacophony of our fandom's laughter at the sheer hypocrisy of the joke. Instead, they've held on with an iron grip to the one sex scene from practically three lifetimes ago when the characters were distracting themselves from their feelings on OTHER people? They've recalled this as "proof" of romance while silent on (or misconstruing) the 99% of narrative wherein they were platonic and the 100% of the time they were canonically non-romantic.

Bellarke is only non-romantic if you believe love stories are told in the space of time it takes for Characters A & B to make out and screw each other onscreen, a timespan amounting to less than the intermission of a quick bathroom break. If it sounds ridiculous, it's because it is. And yet, some can't wrap their heads around the idea that maybe, just maybe, a well-written love story in its entirety is denoted by more than two insubstantial markers and unreliable qualifiers. B/raven had sex, and the deed didn't fashion them into a romance. Jasper and Maya kissed but didn't have sex. Were they half a romantic relationship? Bellarke is paralleled to romantic couples all the time, but it counts for nothing in the eyes of their rival-ship fandom adversaries. Take ship wars out of it by considering Mackson. Like B/echo, the show informed us that Mackson became a couple post-Praimfaya, offscreen, via a kiss. Does anyone fancy them an epic love story with their whisper of a buildup? Since a kiss is all it takes, as dictated by fandom parameters, we should.

If Characters A & B are ensconced in a romantic storyline, then by definition, their relationship is neither non-romantic nor fanon. "Platonic" rings hollow as a descriptor for feelings canonically not so.

If the rest of the fandom doesn't want to take our word for granted, Bob confirmed Bellarke as romantic. Is he as delusional as we are? Bob is not a shipper, but he knows what he was told to perform and how. Why do the pineapples twist themselves in knots to discredit his word? If they are so assured by Jason's word-of-god affirmation, then what credibility does it bear to have Bellarke validated by someone other than the one in charge? They're so quick to aggressively repudiate any statement less than "CL is everything. Nothing else exists. CL is the only fictional love story in The 100, nay, the WORLD. CL is the single greatest man-made invention since the advent of the wheel."

We've all seen a show with a romantic relationship between the leads at the core of the story. We all know the definition of slowburn. We can pinpoint the tropes used to convey romantic feelings. We know conflict is how stories are told. We know when interferences are meant to separate them. We know when obstacles are overcome, they're stronger for it. We know that's why the hurdles exist. We know those impediments often take the shape of interim, third-party love interests. We know what love triangles are. We know pining and longing.

Jason wasn't revolutionary in his structure of Bellarke. He wasn't sly. Jason modeled them no differently than most other shows do with their main romances. Subtler and slower, sure. Sometimes not subtle at all. There's no subtlety in having Clarke viscerally react to multiple shots of Bellamy with his girlfriend. No subtlety in him prioritizing her life over the others in Sanctum's clutches. In her prioritizing his life above all the other lives she was sure would perish if he opened the bunker door. There is no subtlety in Bellamy poisoning his sister to stave off Clarke's impending execution. In her relinquishing 50 Arkadian lives for him after it killed her to choose only 100 to preserve. In her sending the daughter Clarke was hellbent to protect, into the trenches to save him. In him marching across enemy lines to rescue her. In her surrender to her kidnapper to march to potential death, to prevent Bellamy's immediate one. No subtlety in Josie's callouts. No subtlety in Lxa's successful use of his name to convince Clarke to let a bomb drop on an unsuspecting village. Bet every dollar you have that the list goes on and on.

There are a lot of layers to what this show was. It was a tragedy, with hope for light at the end of the tunnel. It was, first and foremost, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi survival drama. Within this overarch is the story of how the union of Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake saves humanity, ushering in an age of peace. In this regard, their relationship transcended romance. But with the two of them growing exponentially more intimate each season, pulled apart by obstacles only to draw closer once again, theirs was a love story. A romantic opus, the crescendo timed in such a way that the resolution of this storyline -the moment they get together- would align with the resolution of the main plot. Tying Bellarke to the completion of this tale made them more meaningful than any other relationship on this show, not less.

Whereas the trend with every other pair was to chronicle whether they survived this hostile world intact or succumbed to it, Bellarke was a slowburn. A unique appellation for the couples on this show, but not disqualifying them from romantic acknowledgment.

Framing Bellarke in this manner was 100% Jason's choice. If he wanted the audience to treat them as platonic, he should have made it clear within the narrative itself, not through vague, word-of-god dispatches. A mishandled 180-degree swerve at the clutch as a consequence of extra-textual factors doesn't negate the 84% of the story prior. It's just bad writing to not follow through. And Jason's poor, nearsighted decisions ruined a hell of a lot more than a Bellarke endgame.

The problem is, when Bellarke is legitimized, the pineapples are yanked out of their fantasies where they get to pretend the quoted exaggerations above are real. Here I'm embellishing, but some of them have deeply ingrained their identities in CL to the degree where hyperbole is rechristened to incontestable facts. An endorsement for Bellarke is an obtrusive reminder of the not all-encompassing reception of their ship. A lack of positive sentiment is an attack on their OTP, elevated to an attack on their identity. Before long, it ascends to an alleged offense to their right to exist. The perpetrators of this evil against humanity are the enemy, and they must attack in kind, in defense of themselves.

Truthfully, I think it's sad, the connotation of human happiness wholly dependent on the outcome of a fictional liaison already terminated years ago. I'm not unaware of the marginalization of minorities, of the LGBT+ community, in media. I haven't buried my head in the sand to pretend there aren't horrible crimes committed against them. I don't pretend prejudice isn't rampant. When defense and education devolve into hatred and libel for asinine reasons, though, the line has been crossed. You don't get a free pass to hurt someone with your words over a damn ship war. No matter how hard you try to dress it up as righteous social justice, I assure you, you're woefully transparent.

[when-emma-falls-apart]

Look, not to give him credit or anything, but it utterly wouldn’t surprise me that THIS is Jason’s big ‘Bellamy death fakeout’ of the season as opposed to episode 5 where he ‘gets blown up’ but no one believed it.

It’s the sort of grandiose, stupid thing he’d do and then cream his pants about how much (negative) press his show was getting as the internet breaks down about Bellamy’s death. Let’s not forget that it did get #the 100 to no.2 trending.

Jason obviously hates Bob and has always let his personal feelings (mostly spite) dictate his choices for the show. Yes. Regardless of whether it’s another Fakeout, he’s still committed a character assasination of Bellamy.

But it’s entirely plausible that he’ll be like “lol no Bellamy survived that, you all thought XD haha I tricked You, aReN’t I cLeVeR”

However, this scene assasinated both Of his lead actors’ arcs (Clarke can’t come back from shooting to kill Bellamy even if he miraculously) and was so out of character for the both of them.

He’s sunk his prequel. I certainly won’t be watching anything live, nor watching again until someone confirms that this was another fakeout or gets undone by time travel or whatever new shit Jason includes for shock value.

For all those of you who hate Bellamy/Bob/Clarke, just remember that if Jason wants to give Bellamy such an unsatisfying and out-of-character shock death then none of your faves are safe from his racism and poor writing either.

Fuck Jason Rothenburg. Fuck The 100. Fuck the racists.

(And long live the Season 5 ending -that was written to be a potential show ending if they weren’t renewed- of Bellamy and Clarke in each other’s arms staring out at a new planet #bellarke forever)

[imruination]

Yeah so this episode showed that E was fully aware that Clarke was one of the most important people in Bellamy’s life. Maybe Bellamy didn’t let her or anyone see the full blown breakdown he had over her death last season and just how deep that connection was and how much he relied on it, but E knows full well that he loves her.

We can take 2 things from this. First, that in s5 she must’ve had some idea what she was doing when she tried to kill Clarke. But to E, betrayal warrants death. Even after all that time on the ring, she doesn’t know anything of substance about Bellamy. She doesn’t know that Bellamy wouldn’t ever want Clarke dead, even if she did betray them. Flash forward to now, she genuinely doesn’t know or understand what Bellamy would do in this situation.

And second, is that she completely hates that. Bellamy is all she has. He’s her leader. He represents direction and meaning and was the in to the only “family” she’s ever had. And yet she doesn’t know him at all. Maybe they can be casual together, and laugh together. She knows he’s a good fighter, and hates algae. She knows the things that their little bubble allowed her to know. But the deep parts? What he does in a crisis? How he feels, where he finds his meaning? She has no idea. Unfortunately for her, that’s the part of Bellamy that Clarke and only Clarke really knows. And yeah she’s kind of bitter about that. Bellamy is the biggest thing in her life, and yet Clarke gets a piece of him that she doesn’t. Now her purpose for living is dead, and she’s being slapped in the face with the fact that so much of what she was holding onto was fragile and ultimately meaningless. What does she do now?

[yiangchen]

I refuse to be negative right now, which is so unlike me shut up I know okay, but the beating from 3x10 was finally addressed and condemned. I was on the edge of my seat watching Diyoza and Hope’s scenes because Ivana and Shelby’s acting and chemistry is off the fucking charts. When Gabriel told Clarke and co that Bellamy was dead, the focus was all on Clarke, even over Raven (a member of Bellamy’s supposed family), Miller (a good friend) and Jordan (the son of two other members of Bellamy’s supposed family), so I call that a win for us Blarkes! Also, the Blecho flashback wasn’t dated, so it’s not confirmed when Blecho started dating, and I can go on headcanoning that he didn’t even consider getting with her until after the five year mark had passed and they thought they might never get back to the ground. I was so worried this episode was going to suck, and yeah, some parts of it did (like the Blecho *cringe* first kiss and Octavia comforting E/cho), but I was pleasantly surprised by a whole fucking lot of it, especially by Octavia admitting that beating Bellamy was fucked up, and I literally could not be happier right now. 

[historyofshipping]

Things I accept as canon from s7:

Mackson got their happy ending on a beach 

Memori got a happy ending (and that they f- like bunnies)

Madi got Picasso

Indra got soup 

Octavia’s shirt at the very end

Be.cho got together because Bell didn’t want to think of the ground (Clarke)

Ec.ho really said “I fought for you for 5 years” and Bell said “sucks to suck, we’re breaking up. Also i’m saving my wife’s life over yours. byeeeee”

That’s it. The rest of the season goes in the damn trash can where it belongs.