#I also considered also having gaia but ran out of actors

[nivienne-grovant]

Junelezen Day 28 - Homecoming

I'm home

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

[travllingbunny]

The 100 rewatch: 5x01 Eden

One of my favorite episodes of the show. It’s incredible how much I enjoy it every time I watch it. Clarke being my favorite character certainly helps, but the episode is so well done in terms of cinematography, music, acting, direction, and 95% of the writing. (The only thing that makes it less than perfect are 80 seconds towards the end that are very, very badly written.)

The fandom is split on whether the time jump was good or bad for the show, but I think it brought more good than bad, overall (especially since it was necessary, so the actors wouldn’t still be trying to pass as teenagers well into their 30s). If nothing else, then for Octavia’s storyline and this epic beginning of the season - the first 3-4 episodes of season 5 - probably the strongest of all seasons of the show.

Full disclosure: I already rewatched season 5 and season 6 while waiting for season 7, so this entire season is pretty fresh in my mind, but season 5 is still the only one that I haven’t covered in my episode reviews (since I wrote season 6 reviews week by week as it was airing), and I want to get that done. And then I also wanted to rewatch Eden after 7x02 The Garden, because of the parallels and contrasts between the two episodes which I mentioned in my review of The Garden. (Review of 7x03 is coming soon.)

In light of season 7,  when the main characters are also separated and the timeline is very weird, it’s also interesting to see how this season 5 premiere is structured:

The opening shot is the Rings seen from space, then we see the Earth from space, before zooming in and seeing Clarke coming out of the ruins of Becca’s lab, 42 days after Praimfaya. ^^^

Almost 25 minutes of this episode are a Clarke flashback, and most of it is just her, fighting against the nature and her own despair and isolation, until she finds Eden and meets Madi, almost two months after Praimfaya. This is the show’s first full uninterrupted flashback that lasts longer than a couple of minutes, but it’s also the first time the show has covered a time jump in a flashback - its previous biggest time jump was 86 days, rather than 2199 days. (And the next time jump will be 125 years. Things have really escalated.) 

Then we go “6 years later” (actually 5 years and  about 10 months later) and the remaining 16-17 minutes are all set in the present. And even though this is a very Clarke-centric episode, it actually manages to feature all the main characters. First we see Clarke and Madi in the present, then it goes back to the Ring, but this time we see Bellamy and the Spacekru for the first time this season, to check in with them and see how they have or haven’t changed in 6 years.

We see them noticing Eligius,, then we go back to replay the present days scenes from the end of the season 4 finale, where Clarke was expecting Bellamy and kru in the pod, and instead saw the Gagarin transport ship coming down.

We meet Diyoza, McCreary and Shaw for the first time. There’s a few more minutes of Clarke and Madi trying to defend themselves against the prisoners, and killing two of them, but also alerting Diyoza to their existence. Then we go back to the Ring to see Spacekru preparing to board Eligius 4, and, almost at the end of the episode, we get the “OMG look at this twist! You didn’t expect these two to be together, did you? Or maybe you did because you saw the clumsy hints in the season 4 finale, I mean if you stop someone from committing suicide and then you happen to fall right next to each other that counts as setup for romance. right?” twist-reveal of Becho in a 1 minute 20 second scene.

But - that’s not the last scene (you need something actually dramatic for the last scene), because - right after Bellamy says the ironic-foreshadowing line “Octavia is the least of our worries”. we get a cliffhanger-teaser ending - our first look at the fighting pit, with Miller, Indra and Gaia looking on (yes, they’re all credited for this episode, alongside Marie/Octavia, though they all appear for about a second or two), until the winner of the gladiator fight turns to Octavia, and we see her for the first time with her new Blodreina persona. Leading into 5x02 Red Queen (which I hope to rewatch and review soon, too) - unlike this episode, fully set in one place, in the bunker, and most of it is the longest uninterrupted flashback the show has ever done. It only jumps back to the present at the very end, with another teaser-cliffhanger that’s again set in the fighting pit (this time, the twist is that Kane is one of the fighters), setting up a “how the heck did they get there?” question for 5x04 and flashbacks from 5x11 to explain.

(I wouldn’t be surprised if in season 7 we get more of such cliffhanger-teasers where a character or set of characters only appears in an episode for a minute or two, setting up their longer storyline in another episode. I don’t think all episodes will be like 7x02 and 7x04, fully set in one place and with all other characters fully missing.)

So, the first 2 episodes of season 5 had the task of showing us what happened to the three set of characters in three completely different locations over the time jump - with the focus on Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia. But we got almost 25 minutes of Clarke flashbacks (about the time that was the hardest and most eventful for her - trying to survive on the ruined Earth in the first few months after Praimfaya, meeting Madi), a full episode plus later flashbacks in another episode (about 50 minutes?) of flashbacks of the bunker; and.... 0 flashbacks of Spacekru on the Ring. And that says a lot about what the writers considered important to show. The boring, everyday, humdrum life is what you skip in fiction. So, the show told us right from the start that there was nothing of note that happened on the Ring. While Clarke in this episode - after her “death”, goes through her 40 16 days in the desert before she finds Eden (literally paradise!), and the bunker is clearly Hell on Earth, the Ring is basically just 7 people being stuck in quarantine for 6 years and trying not to get too bored.

The cinematography on this show since season 5 has been so good! Here, the sepia, grey and pale yellow tones help make Earth look desolate and ruined, and like a real desert. Until Clarke finds Eden, which is in normal colors. (This contrast in the color scheme between Eden and the rest of the Earth is there throughout season 5. Later we get the almost too colorful Sanctum, and the soft light and blue-green tones of Skyring.)

With how often TV does the Beauty is Never Tarnished trope - where female characters have to look as gorgeous as possible even when their circumstances are such that it doesn’t make any sense - I love the fact that the show let Clarke have radiation burns on her face and wear a dirty top for half of this episode. This shouldn’t be an exceptional thing in TV shows, but sadly it is.

42 days after Praimfaya - that’s how long Clarke was in Becca’s lab, until she either ran out of food, or judged it was safe to go outside because the death wave had passed, or both. 

Oh hi, Rover, maybe the most memorable inanimate “character”. It got a lot of memorable screentime in this ep.  The sea is no more - the one good thing is that Clarke has an easier time travelling from the island. First stop Polis - back when Clarke was hoping to reunite with her mom and the rest of the people in the bunker. How much would things change if she had? That shot of the destroyed Tower in Polis is such a memorable symbol of not just the physical destruction that happened in Praimfaya, but the end of the old way of life. Even though season 5 will then weirdly try to resurrect the position of Commander. 

I love the opening titles! I can’t believe I have never paid attention to them before the hiatus between seasons 6 and 7. Starting with the title shot of the desolate Earth with the ruins of the Tower, the opening sequence is showing the death wave as it’s happening in the area where the first 4 seasons took place, going from Polis when the tower was still there, to Arkadia burning (where the death wave came before it got to Becca’s lab and Polis), to various other shots including the one that’s clearly the remains of the Statue of Liberty, presumably already broken during the first nuclear apocalypse, to shots of sea and forest burning, to a shot of Earth from space with a green spot, to the really cool animation of most of the Tower disappearing. (The shot of Eligius landing is the only one that doesn’t fit.)

The temple collapsed 46 days after Praimfaya (according to 5x02 - I’ve written that down before). Clarke was trying to dig out the entrance to the bunker for quite a while, stopping occasionally to get some rest and eat. That moment when she desperately pounds at the bunker door and yells “I’m here! Mom!” is one we see from Abby’s POV as she hears the sounds and  learns her daughter she’s out there and not in space. 

While unsuccessfully trying to clear the path to the entrance, Clarke notices the remnants of Lexa’s throne in the other rubble. A broken throne, another symbol of the past. The Clexa theme starts playing for a moment as Clarke notices it and take out one branch - probably just as a remembrance, because I’m not sure it looked that useful for her current task. And that somehow (however unlikely) seems to cause the rest of the Temple to collapse (a moment we also see replayed in 5x02) - meaning that Clarke loses her chance of being with her mother and other people during the 5 years, and the people in the bunker lose the hope they’ll be able to get out after these 6 years (or maybe ever). 

The branch does prove useful later when Clarke uses it as a walking stick as she’s walking through the desert when she’s at the end of her strength.... And... this could all be seen as a metaphor? She met Lexa at the time when she was desperate to save her people, then she became isolated from them, then in her traumatized state, her relationship with Lexa became a crutch but was also isolating her further from her family and her people.

Back to the ruined Arkadia, where Clarke says she was looking for food or water but only found ghosts. One of the most emotional moment of the episode when Clarke cries after finding a chest with Jasper’s goggles, Maya’s music player he had kept after her death, and his letter to Monty. Clarke probably learned about Jasper staying behind to commit suicide off-screen from Bellamy some time at the end of 4x09, and learned about his when she reunited with Monty and Harper, but we didn’t see her react to his death in season 4.  (This scene would later be a flashback in 6x07 Nevermind, where Clarke used that same chest in her mindspace to hide her memory in the Dark Place.)

(Maya had really good music taste! And it’s a neat way to hear some good songs and for Clarke to be able to listen to them while driving her rover.)

The hardships Clarke undergoes here and the way she fights shows her strong she is - one of her main character traits is that she does not give up, no matter how desperate the circumstances are. Clarke’s way of fighting despair was to talk to Bellamy on the radio. Sometimes she told him very meaningful things - as when she thought she might die: “If this is the last time I ever do that, I just want to say... Don’t feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to. I’m proud of you”. (This reminds me of the time in 2x05 when Bellamy told her he knew she had to leave him and Finn outside to save the others when she closed the dropship door.) Other times she’s telling him about her current problems, musing about her life, chatting about Monty and Raven and all sort of things, imagining he could hear her, even though it must have become obvious to her pretty early on that he can’t reply, and probably can’t even hear her. She wasn’t at this point even sure if he was alive. As she says at one point: “God, this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive, that I will see you again.” But it’s in Clarke’s nature to hope. She was also refusing to believe he and Finn were dead after the Ring of Fire, she refused to believe Bellamy could be dead or captured even while she was worrying about him all the time while he was in Mount Weather. At one point right after getting out of Becca’s lab, she is trying to encourage herself: “You got this” - the way she sometimes tries to encourage others and also the way Bellamy sometimes does it. And other times, she definitely was channelling Bellamy, gently mocking her: “Positive thoughts, Clarke”. He was the one who told her they had hope as long as they were breathing.

And I must say I’m impressed that Clarke had Jasper’s letter to Monty for 6 years and never succumbed to the temptation of opening and reading it. But to do that, would have meant she was giving up hope that she would see her friends again and give it to Monty.

 But it would be far less realistic if she hadn’t had a moment of complete despair. (Another character known for being a survivor, Murphy, had that moment after 86 days of sitting in a bunker alone.) Long isolation is a torture in itself and can drive you mad, as it was emphasized in 7x02. It’s not the first time Clarke has been isolated - she was in solitary for a year on the Ark when she was 16-17 (she only had the walls and her drawings to distract herself with), she isolated herself because of her trauma for 3 months, and now she was again forced into isolation. This time she was also losing hope due to the terrible conditions she had to fight, and the way everything seemed to be getting worse. “I’ve done! I’ve lost everything! My friends, my parents. I have nothing!” As Buffy would say - she still had something left, herself. But this is the first of the three times we see Clarke almost lose all hope and the will to live - but the other two times were under the influence of a psychosis, and when she had been bodysnatched. This time it was the tiny hope that there could be a place to live, with basic living conditions, that made her change her mind.

Who was Clarke talking to when she said “You think you can kill me? Have at it” and later when was yelling that at the sky? Nature? Gods or gods? (There has never been any indication that she was religious. Probably not.) It’s the only times during in her solitary moments when Clarke isn’t talking to Bellamy, or, occasionally, to herself.

Finding Eden saved Clarke from despair, at least for a while, I don’t think she would have been able to keep her sanity and her hopefor 6 years  if she hadn’t met Madi, almost two months after Praimfaya. Having someone for company, having someone to take care of, is very different from being all alone. Still, even after meeting Madi and became her surrogate mom, Clarke still needed to keep talking to Bellamy every day, for 2199 days in total, to keep herself sane, to have something to look forward to.

These people from the Shallow Valley clan seem so cool, they’re already my favorite Grounder clan from the little we see of their way of life (at least this community - I wonder who the 100 chosen for the bunker were), and most importantly, from the fact that Madi’s parents must have had support from their community in keeping her from the Conclave and all that garbage. Of course they didn’t want to give their child away, so she would be forced to fight and kill other children, probably die at 12, or at best become Heda and be separated from her family tor the rest of her life, because ‘love is weakness’ etc. 

The shot of the dead boy is so sad. But he and the other dead people look far too peaceful for radiation victims?

Poor Madi - 6 years old and already she saw her family and everyone she’s ever known die. Her mother died in her arms, and she was left alone. And even before that, she had to hide and learn to fight and lay traps to avoid Flamekeepers, whom she saw as her archenemies. She was another girl who had to hide from birth, like Octavia. No surprise she was a “child from Hell” when Clarke first met her.

Clarke’s world view has gotten so dark. Her old moral certainty from season 1 has been chipped away gradually, and, at this point, she has accepted the moral relativism idea that “everyone does things for their people” and there is no right or wrong - which so many of her enemies or temporary allies have tried to install in her. She’s started to see herself as the “Commander of Death”, too, believing fighting is all she does and can do. “I used to think that life was about more than just surviving… I’m not sure anymore. Animals don’t feel guilty when they kill. It’s kill or be killed.” Interesting - this is the same thing Pike said in season 3a. Clarke has more empathy for her enemies “ I told myself that every life I took was for a reason, but the other side had reasons, too",  but the end result is now the same, as we see later...

“There are no good guys” - this line has been said in so many versions and contexts throughout the show, and many people seem to think it’s the show’s motto. But it’s more complicated than that. Those words have changed their meaning and been challenged and opposed.  When Abby told Clarke “Remember that we’re the good guys” in season 2, she was telling her: don’t lose yourself, don’t become as ruthless as your enemy in order to beat them. When Clarke said “I tried... I tried to be a good guy” and Abby replied: “Maybe there are no good guys”, she meant that it may not be possible to keep your hands clean in a world like that. (Mind you, neither of them ever said there were no bad guys, or that Mountain Men weren’t that.) When Clarke said to same to Bellamy when he was wondering “What do you do when you realize you may not be the good guy?” in season 3, she was comforting him and telling him she knows what it’s like to hate yourself because of the things you’ve done, in a grey world where it’s often hard to see right and wrong. But Abby in 4x12 told Clarke something different: “I told you there were no good guys. But there are. You are.” Clarke needed to be reassured, so she wouldn’t hate herself, that she was a hero, because her motives were good and she was trying her best under the circumstances, where, as they both agreed, they were no good choices. Sadly, Clarke obviously didn’t take that to heart. In season 5, she does not consider herself a hero. And when Madi says “I think he may be a good guy” about one of the prisoners, the one who argued against killing a child, unlike his buddy - Clarke’s reply “There are no good guys” before she kills him, has a darker meaning: she has lost her faith in humanity (with a few exceptions, at this point), and this a different Clarke, one that isn’t ready to give people the benefit of a doubt. She as at her most murderous in season 5 - because she’s now ready to kill even when it’s not absolutely necessary and when she can’t see another choice, as pre-Praimfaya Clarke. It would take her the whole season to start coming back from that - and decide to try to be a good guy, as Monty asked her to.

First introduction of Diyoza, McCreary and Shaw. Diyoza has changed so much since. Her similarities to Octavia have been emphasized much more because they were the opposing sides in season 5 and because of the relationship they develop later, but she also has similarities to Clarke. She also used to fight for what she believed in against who she saw as bad guys, went through a lot, killed a lot of people, was considered a monster, started to fear she was one, became jaded, and finally decided to find peace and happiness and leave violence behind. 

“We’re not alone”.  Season 5 is really going for the callbacks to season 1. And I’m still not sure how I feel about this comparison between the Delinquents and the Eligius prisoners. Because there are two ways to look at it. If it’s a part of the “let’s see the humanity of these people rather than see them as one-dimensional villains” thing, I’m all for it. But it makes no sense to see it as an exact parallel. Because in one corner, we have the level of threat posed by 100 unskilled and (at first) unarmed teenagers who just went about, vs thousands of people who had hundreds and hundreds of armed and experienced warriors and who saw fit to immediately almost kill one of these teenagers and start terrorizing them... and in the other, a bunch of adult murderers with all sorts of powerful weapons and a military strategist at the helm, immediately moving in to take over a valley, and the threat they pose to a lone woman and a child...

Before we meet the Eligius prisoners, we get some sweet mother/daughter moments between Clarke and Madi. We learn that Clarke is telling her stories about her friends (Octavia is Madi’s favorite) and drawing events from her past (as they sit by the fire and look through her sketchbook, we see portraits of Octavia in the Conclave, Bellamy and Clarke looking as her friends are leaving her on Earth). Clarke says she doesn’t regret staying, because she met Madi. But she still yearns for them to come back and gives a longing look - and we get this transition: 

Spacekru

When we see Spacekru after 6 years, we get the updates on what has changed and what hasn’t, and what the time on the Ring has meant for each of them:

Raven has been unsuccessfully trying to get them back to Earth for a year - which Bellamy, in particular, isn’t happy about. He has no idea that Clarke is alive, but he is eager to see his sister again. 

Monty has been keeping everyone alive with his algae farm, although we get a lot of jokes and complaining about their taste (which seems so out of place after you have seen what was going in in the bunker in the meantime).

Emori has been learning to pilot.

Memori have broken up at some point (and Raven has had Emori as roommate since) and Murphy is the one person in the group who has been negative and bitter, to the point they have “exiled” him (history repeating, but in a much more benign way?) to another part of the station. It seems realistic that at least one person and one relationship would crack under the pressure of peace and boredom and being forced to spend time with the same people every day. According to Bellamy, Murphy needs to feel like a hero in order not to feel useless - and without dangers and conflicts, he can’t save anyone and feel like one. According to what Emori says later in season 5, their relationship is one that works better when there is some kind of danger they can face, and Murphy as a fighter and survivor is the version of him she loves.

Bellamy is the obvious leader, in spite of the easy camaraderie between the group - this will become more obvious when they start planning to board the ship and go to the ground, but even here, he is the one who gives pep talks and tries to inspire others - like Murphy, telling him he is not useless. This friendship has certainly developed in those 6 years - before Praimfaya, Bellamy still wasn’t even ready to trust Murphy and was constantly questioning his motives. And they have certainly come a long way from season 1... 

Bellamy’s calmed and lighter manner has been discussed a lot. I’d say it made sense 90% of the time - it was simply a result of 6 years of peace, something he had never really had before. It doesn’t mean he was super happy - but simply that, for a change, he didn’t have to constantly fight and he under stress.

Two people who definitely were happy on the Ring are Monty and Harper. Monty is the only one who is even reluctant to go to the ground - scared that he will be pulled again in the world where he will have to fight and kill again.  Earth has bad memories for him, from having to kill his mother - twice  - to save others, to his best friend’s suicide. The Marper scene is the best of all the Spacekru scenes here. And when Harper tells him his strength - which he showed in all the hard things he had to do - is why she loves him, he has the best line in the episode: “No one should have to be that strong”.

Echo is friendly with everyone and has been teaching them to fight Azgeda-style. And oh, yeah, did we mention she’s been dating Bellamy for a while? Here’s a brief confirmation through a kiss and a conversation where we only learn that Becho is a thing, we don’t know how long it’s been a thing but it’s at least less than 3 years, since he took 3 years to even forgive her (and I don’t think it necessarily means immediately starting to date).; and Echo is worried if it’s still going to be a thing after they go to the ground.

Here’s a thing with Spacekru: the time jump worked much better with Octavia and Wonkru and with Clarke and Madi, because we saw flashbacks, and because we got a good idea what those 6 years were for them, even for things we didn’t see. But the complete lack of flashbacks for Spacekru means that the audience won’t be able to relate to their new “family” unit, because Show, Don’t Tell is the main TV storytelling principle. Even when viewers learn about something in dialogue (like the Farm Station’s tragic backstory since they landed on Earth), they don’t care because they haven’t seen it.

But with Spacekru, there is an additional problem: the show keeps giving us contradictory info about what those 6 years on the Ring were even like. Or rather, most of what we know is consistent with the idea that their biggest problems were boredom and lack of tasty food. *OK, the first batch of algae apparently put Murphy in a coma, but that’s the only traumatic event we hear about.) There were no other people, no one who could be a threat - and while they could have, in theory, had some malfunctions they had to deal with, we never hear anything about it. But the show also has characters saying things like “we kept each other alive” or that Echo has “proven herself on the Ring”, which makes it sound like there was something much more dramatic going on, but they never explain why.

As a result, the idea of Spacekru as a tightly knit family unit - comparable to what the Delinquents were like in season 1 - just doesn’t work so well. The relationships that work the best and are the most compelling are those that had already existed before - Marper, Memori, the friendship between the former 100+2. The Emori/Raven/Murphy trio works because we saw them already interacting in season 4. But Echo is the character who gets the short end of the stick, because all the development she was supposed to have, including her friendships and romantic relationship, happened off-screen. And with the way the show positioned her as a villain in seasons 3 and almost all of season 4, threw her pretty much accidentally (and because she had no other choice and the others accepted her) with the group, and then said “here, she’s one of the good guys now”. That’s really crappy writing. And it set up Echo to be hated, or at least irritate a large part of the audience. Imagine if there had been a time jump in mid-season 2 where Murphy went from being barely tolerated by everyone, to being everyone’s best friend and dating Raven. That’s pretty much that.

Most of these problems are concentrated in the Bellamy/Echo scene at the end. So much bad writing in those 80 seconds. Now, I’m not one of the people who say that this relationship makes no sense. It does make sense for what is it - two people got stuck for 6 years in the same place, with just 5 other people, 4 of which were coupled up. After so much time forced to spend together, you either have to start tolerating and forgiving someone, or your life will become unbearable. There’s a force of habit, the closeness that comes from seeing someone every day, and the lack of other options. There’s also the fact that Bellamy had mourned Clarke and was convinced she was dead. They are both physically attractive people, I’m sure they trained when she taught him Azgeda fighting and he taught her shooting. I have no problem with it as a  placeholder relationship that the show is very obviously using as a plot device. And it’s not even subtle about it. Here we learn about the existence of that relationship as a surprise twist at the end of an episode that was focused on Clarke, Clarke being left alone on Earth and struggling, Clarke talking to Bellamy for 6 years and waiting for him to return. (And later episodes will keep making B.E scenes always about Clarke or connected to Clarke, in even more obvious ways.) There is no attempt to show what exactly it is that these two people like about each other, what drew them to each other, how they went from enemies to friends to a couple off-screen, anything apart from the mere fact that the relationship exists. Here, they are kissing, therefore you know they are in love. Maybe. As if the show is saying: no, it doesn’t matter and you don’t have to see it. Yes, you can conclude that it’s just a relationship of convenience and circumstance.

This kind of relationship and love triangle has been done to death in many TV shows. But even for what it is, it’s remarkable how little the show even tries to make this relationship compelling, compared to just about any other relationship in the show, including those of minor characters.   I gotta say, as a Bellarke shipper, I kind of enjoy all the B/E scenes, because they are so devoid of chemistry, so forced, so empty. But as someone who appreciates good storytelling, they are pretty painful. When the show tires to focus a little bit on this ship, we get terrible dialogue like this:

"Wouldn't it be easier to just walk outside? This is Bellamy's callback to what he told Echo in 4x13 when he talked her down from suicide. He says it in a lighthearted way and she smiles.Her suicide attempt is a cute remembrance they joke about?! Really? Also, it;s been 6 years for them. Do they joke about that often? Or does he think going to the ground is a cool opportunity to remind her of her suicide attempt? Which is a cute memory for her, apparently?! I’m pretty sure this is not how human beings interact. This line may be even worse than the infamous "We found each other in cages".

."We kept each other alive". How? Unless it's just about that half an hour while they were getting to the Ring, they were never in danger of dying during those 6 years. Bellamy even tells Murphy "Up here, there are no heroes."  Monty is the only one who kept them alive, with food. They may have kept each other sane, maybe. However, that goes for all 7 of them. And Bellamy does say “We are family”. Which extends to all of Spacekru and doesn’t really say anything about whether he and Echo will continue being a romantic couple. (Or maybe that was the whole point?)

Bellamy again, making light of the fact that Echo tried to kill Octavia and telling Echo that Octavia will not be a problem and will understand and forgive her easily - even though it took him 3 years. “I’m more stubborn than she is”. Oh come on, Bellamy! You know Octavia better than that! You know more than anyone that this is not true!  Is he simply lying to calm Echo’s mind? I like season 5 Bellamy 90% of the time, but he just comes off so fake and weird in this scene - even if “Nothing will change on the ground” and “Octavia is the least of our problems” are enjoyable for their irony.

Body count: Two Eligius prisoners – the bad one (Baines) shot by Madi, the possibly “good” one (Janson) shot by Clarke

Two Wonkru members killed in the fighting pit

Rating: 9.5/10  (half a point knocked off for the B/E scene)

[aproblematicpanda]

IF YOU ARE BORED I WILL APPEAR: the 100 for the in depth fandom questions 💖💖

Excellent timing, I just sent you an ask, too! :D Thanks babe. <3 I feel like I have so much more to say than I just did but the inspiration seems to have bailed on me. Oh well. If you have any follow-up questions hmu!

Top 5 favorite characters: Octavia, Echo, Lexa, Lincoln, Murphy Other characters you like: Gaia, Raven, Emori, Monty, Harper, Diyoza Least favourite characters: Clarke, Abby, Kane Otps: Octavia and Lincoln, Lexa and Clarke, Bellamy and Echo Notps: Bellamy and Clarke, basically anything involving Abby Favourite friendships: Murphy and Raven, Monty and Jasper Favourite family: Spacekru Favourite episodes: 4x10, 5x02, probably more but I can’t really think of anything else right now (I appreciated 7x02 but I’m not quite sure yet if I’m gonna call it a favorite, that will depend on how the rest of the season turns out) Favourite season: Season 2 Favourite quotes: “We’re back, bitches!” “I don’t choose pain. I choose life.” “Not everyone. Not you.” “ You're the most beautiful broom in a broom closet of brooms.” “ I can't change the tide if the moon won't cooperate. It's basic physics.” (I’m including this last one because of an amazing Monty/Jasper gif set I saw once.) Best musical moment: Ehh... Well I stll tear up basically every time I hear Cloud by Elias, the song that played during Lincoln’s death scene. It’s an amazing song and anything related Lincoln’s death still gets to me, not just because of the characters but also because of everything that went on with Ricky and everything he was put through, it’s just... it’s a very loaded moment in the series as well as behind the scenes. I’m not sure ‘best’ is the right word here but it’s the moment I’m going with. Moment that made you fangirl the hardest: When Octavia became Skaikru’s champion. I found it rather poetic that a young woman who had been spat out by her community simply for being born was their only hope for survival. Plus, she looked incredible. When it really disappointed you: It’s not just ‘a moment’ but I’ve been really disappointed by the show’s treatment of Octavia and how its hypocrisy concerning other characters who have done way worse shit than Octavia yet they are patted on the back and protected for it by the narrative. It aggravates me. I’m not mad that Octavia has had it rough, when a character gets everything handed to them on a golden platter with no real consequences, that’s boring. But it makes me mad that she’s the only one who has to pay for her mistakes and none of the others have to, and the way the characters are now comfortable joking about what has been the most traumatizing, horrifying and scarring thing anyone has ever had to go through really pisses me off. Octavia deserves so much better, the show really dropped the ball here. I’m also extremely disappointed by the way the show handled Lexa’s death. Octavia survived a sword through the gut and falling off a big ass cliff, but Lexa can’t take a stray bullet in the presence of someone who is meant to be a doctor? I mean I get that this was supposed to prove that we’re all vulnerable and that even Lexa, Heda of the thirteen clans can’t escape death, but come on. Also the way Jason treated the Clexa fandom was gross. Saddest moment: The moment Bellamy called Octavia “the queen of cannibals”. Up until that point I held onto hope that things would get better, that the show would still turn things around, that everything Octavia had been put through would be put into perspective when she could tell the one she loved the most about the horrors the bunker put her through. But when Bellamy called her that, it was made clear that not only did he find out about the most traumatizing part of his sister’s life (and it’s not like it lacked trauma before) but he also didn’t care. It was the moment where I had to give up hope that they could ever get to a place where I would respect and care for their dynamic again and it made me sad, because Octavia deserved so much better. Most well done character death: Oh god, this is a difficult one, because I have issues with most of the main characters’ deaths lol. So I’m gonna go with Nia for this one, because I really liked that Lexa recognized who the real threat was and took matters into her own hands and did what she could to maintain the coalition. I can’t think of another death that I didn’t hate. Favourite guest star: Probably Jessica Harmon Favourite cast member: Marie Avgeropoulos Character you wish was still alive: Lincoln, hands down. So many things would be different right now if he had still been around. One thing you hope really happens: I hope Bellamy and Echo are endgame and not just that, I also hope that the show will allow Bellamy to treat Echo with the love and respect she deserves. Because so far the show hasn’t really shown their relationship much respect and most of the effort is coming from Echo’s side and I don’t care much for that. Bellamy clearly loves her a lot, so I hope the writers will let him show and prove that to us in the final season. Most shocking twist: I don’t really think the 100 is good at shocking twists? You see most of them coming from miles away lol. When did you start watching: When it came out, basically. :) Best animal/creature: Helios! Favourite location: Ehh... I’m gonna go with the dropship or Arkadia, not because I love those places so much but because they’re where the show’s best seasons (one and two) basically happened. Trope you wish they would stop using: BYG One thing this show does better than others: Pissing off its fanbase! :’D Funniest moments: Most of Monty and Jasper’s interactions in the earlier seasons, those two were amazing. Couple you would like to see: I wish the show would make Niylah and Octavia a thing even if I don’t passionately ship it. I also became a huge fan of Clarke and Gaia! Actor/Actress you want to join the cast: I really don’t know anyone for this question... I’m a big fan of Kristen Stewart so I’d probably be thrilled with that, but it’s not something that I actively want or anything. Favourite outfit: Ehh... As much as I hate to say this, Clarke does get the best outfits and I think I’m gonna go with the dress she wore early in season 6. I’m also a huge fan of Octavia’s grounder look bw. Favourite item: Lincoln’s diary Do you own anything related to this show: Nope What house/team/group/friendship group/family/race etc would you be in: Well I don’t know which one I would be in, but Spacekru or Trikru seem like the most fun so I’d want to be a part of one of those! Most boring plotline: I never really cared for the City of Light although I will admit that storyline had a lot of potential, I’m just not sure the show really handled that well? Most laughably bad moment: The fact that Clarke just becomes anyone’s leader anywhere while not doing anything for it. And how fast she was forgiven and integrated into Spacekru in season 6 while doing the bare minimum to work for their forgiveness and showing no signs of remorse or wanting to change. Best flashback/flashfoward if any: I really liked the flashbacks of Octavia’s childhood, they did a good job of portraying what life had been like for her and it helped us understand her character better, even if they were short and limited to one episode. I also really enjoyed watching Octavia during those ten years in Skyring, but I’m not sure those qualify as a flashback and I do have some issues with them, still, so I’m gonna go ahead and stick with 1x06. Most layered character: Octavia, hands down Most one dimensional character: Oh god, how do I answer this... Of the core group I guess I would go with Raven. And that isn’t because I don’t love her, because I very much do, it’s the show’s fault for not really digging into anything that’s related to her. She’s just in the background until they need her to fix a problem they’ve been having or until they need someone to be tortured, or lately when they need to make Clarke look less horrible. She just doesn’t really get much else to work with, we don’t know what motivates her, we barely see her feel a type of way about the things she’s put through and when she does get a voice, it’s obviously meant to create sympathy for other characters so... yeah. Scariest moment: I don’t find it a very scary show hahaha. Grossest moment: The graphic scene of Lincoln’s execution, it was in such poor taste, especially considering everything that had been going on with Jrot and Ricky. Best looking male: Murphy Best looking female: Octavia and Echo Who you’re crushing on (if any): Octavia and Echo Favourite cast moment: Ehh, I don’t really keep up with the cast so idk? I did love Marie calling Echo Octavia’s sister-in-law though. Favourite transportation: None I think, I don’t really care? Most beautiful scene (scenery/shot wise): The one that comes to mind right away is the one of Octavia swimming towards the surface after she ran into the anomaly, it’s just such a pretty shot. Other than that, well, The 100 is shot in a beautiful environment so a lot of their scenery is gorgeous but I just immediately thought of this one. Unanswered question/continuity issue/plot error that bugs you: Jason’s blabbing about the damn worms. The way 3x01 felt completely disconnected from everything that happened in 2x16 also still bugs me. And how it feels as if the new writers never really saw the previous seasons and instead just read character descriptions, I feel like they didn’t really grasp the relationships and stuff like that in season 6. Best promo: Ehh, I usually just watch the episodes so I don’t really have an opinion about this. Loved the uproar the one for season 7 caused, though, because I’m a sucker for drama hahaha. At what point did you fall in love with this show/book: As soon as I met Octavia, she’s my baby and you will have to take her from my cold. dead. hands.

Send me a show/fandom and I’ll answer

[pnnzzlr]

Unity Days 2018 (masterpost)

A collection of UD related stuff I found interesting. Sources are linked.

Day 1: 20th January 2018

*******Disclaimer: [[[asdfghjkl]]] : my comments, not part of the tweet********

Panels:

*** Panel with Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia ***

via (Afictionados @ Unity Days @theafictionados)

One adjective tease on what the reunions are like: Bob: Emotional / Eliza: Awesome / Lindsey: Hmmm. Okay. (She is a troll omg) #UNITYDAYS2018 (x)

Q: One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you’d teach them? Eliza: I’ve learned some pretty badass moves! I would teach my character to like, take a break. Bob: Learning how to use guns [Eliza hi-YEAHS while he talks] and I’d probably teach him how to drink. (x)

Q: If you were to do the musical episode, what song would you do? Nadia: Eliza and Lindsey can sing like professional singers and aren’t, which drives her NUTS (x) there’s footage of Bob participating in an old singing show and Lindsey is LOSING IT trying to get him to reveal what it was. DO YOUR THING, INTERNET. (x)

Q: Hardest or worst thing to film? Eliza: “They threw a gigantic studded panther at me and I had to tackle it. I felt so stupid!” / Bob: “There’s one from last week that I couldn’t stand. [...] Also when I was wearing the adult diaper and hanging upside down?”  (x) / Lindsey: “All the torture. It gets exhausting, and your body hurts.” / Nadia: Being wet all day. I was wet for 14 hours. Eliza: We did become best friends on that day! Nadia: Did we?! Wait it wasn’t that day. It was not that day, babe. (x)

If they were in the hunger games, who would be their ally and who would die first? Nadia: Eliza, Bob, Lindsey, Me. And I’d bring a hug bear. Lindsey: “I want someone really, really intense. Pikachu? No. I WOULD BRING ONE OF THE AMAZONS.” (x)

Your 1st impression of the person on your left: Bob on Eliza: It was at a Kid’s Choice Award in Australia. Eliza: When we first met, I was 16! // Eliza on Lindsey: I was like “you’re SEXY.” //  Lindsey on Nadia: “I thought you were badass! But also HOT.”  (x)

Bob on Bellamy: “This season is the most honest version of my character. This is the best version of him.” (x)

This season was a real chance to reinvent their characters. Eliza: “Who is the new Bellamy, the new Raven, the new Clarke? [...] This season is amazing, I really hope you guys fuckin’ enjoy it.” She immediately felt bad about swearing (x)

x

via (UNITY DAYS *:･ﾟ✧‏ @jasperskaikru)

Question: “One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you would teach them.” Bob: “I’ve liked learning how to use guns… And I’d probably teach him how to drink alcohol, because I know how to do that.” (x)

bob’s been kinda quiet during the panel so far bc he’s been distracted by playing with bowie. SO CUTE (x)

as far as bellamy’s hobbies in space, bob jokingly said bellamy’s gonna go back to being a janitor. “cleanliness is godliness.” LMAO (x)

eliza says it’s “official” that clarke gets her hair color from berries! (x) [[[fya - the writers also confirmed this during season 3]]]

bob and eliza are on one couch. lindsey and nadia are on the other couch— and nadia sat on her lap RIGHT AWAY (x)

jo asked a question about how filming was like in the bunker and in space for s5, and eliza was like: “i wouldn’t know. they left me behind.” (x)

Question: “One thing you’ve learned from your character and one thing you would teach them.” Eliza: “I’ve learned some pretty badass moves... And I’d teach my character to take a break every now and then.” (x) / Lindsey: “I learned how to slice a wire!” (x)

eliza says she’d love to play poison ivy! / bob says he’d like to play dr. manhattan! (x) / lindsey says she’d love to play batgirl!

bob’s talking about how it’s funny that bodies just kinda disappear throughout the show like pike and the guy who created ALIE  (x)

nadia says that bob and eliza have amazing “walt disney singing voices” and she’s so bitter about it LOL (x)

Question: “What was the hardest or worst scene to film?” Eliza: “When I had to be tackled by the panther, they threw a stuffed toy at me.” // Bob: “When I was wearing the adult diaper and hanging upside down.” (x) // Lindsey: “All the torture stuff was tough... I was just exhausted.” // Nadia: just GRIMACES LOL

Question: “Who would die first in the hunger games?” Answer from everyone: “Eliza.” (x)

Question: “What character would you bring with you to the hunger games?” Nadia: “A care bear.” / Lindsey: “Black widow... or one of the Amazons from Wonder Woman.” / Eliza: “Pikachu... or Neil Patrick Harris.” / Bob: “Deadpool- to lighten the mood.” (x)

THE BELLARKE FAMILY IS HERE AND ELIZA RAN DOWN TO HUG BABY LARA!!!

bob and eliza said they met at a kid’s choice award show in australia! eliza was 16 at the time! (x)

Bob: “Season 5 is the best version of Bellamy.” Lindsey: “I feel like this is the most honest version of Bellamy.” (x)

Eliza says that season 1 will always be nostalgic, but season 5 will be cool because the writers conferred with the actors on what they thought their character would be like after the time jump! (x)

Lindsey says that Raven is always evolving. And that she really enjoyed playing the aftermath of Finn because losing him was the end of innocence for Raven. (x)

Eliza, on advice for people struggling with body image issues: “I think about me at 21 and how I feel like I was perfect then, but at the time hated my body. And in 10 years, I might feel that way about how I look right now. So why not love the body you’re in?” (x)

Jo: “How was the conclave?” Nadia: “It was bullshit. I’m a nightblood. Nobody stabs me from the back. That was just bad writing.” Bob: “So you heard Jason’s not coming today, right?” (x)

x

via other twitter users:

Eliza says it bizarre to her that the show can end the world and restart it every year. (via ConfettiClarke) (x)

Bob said it was hard to get used to what they are this season since it's been 6 yrs, but he thinks this season has the best version of bellamy (x) 

Eliza: it's bizarre to me that we can end the world and restart it. every. single. fucking. year (x)

Bob: I was first against who Bellamy was at the beginning of this season but on reflection it’s the best version of Bellamy (x)

A lot of interesting bits from the first cast panel at #UNITYDAYS! Best might be Bob and Eliza taking about how much their characters have changed & in Bob’s case being resistant to the change but realizing it was the most “honest” version of Bellamy. (x)

Bob said that there was a really tough scene to shoot last week. (via heda_skaikru) (x)

Relationships have “regressed and developed” over 6 years in space- expect some changes (SelinaW) (x)

x

*** Panel with Sachin and Richard and Tati ***

Jason gets so amped about the show like a kid x

The bunker is really claustrophobic according to Sachin x

Richard said he hadn't seen Sachin in 2 months. Sachin says it was like they really were separated- earth and space x

Richard: we are getting short haired sexy Murphy this year x

Richard characterizing murphy in 5 words:  relentless. passionate.  sadistic. caring. sweet-eyes x

Richard says Murphy and Raven’s chemistry is “undeniable” x And Murphy considers Bellamy his “best friend” x

The bunker is “the most confining, frightening thing” -Sachin x

Tati wants Gaia to make Indra proud and wants “full reconciliation” for them x

Bob and Richard are neighbours now. Sachin is so spicy that Richard moved away from him. x

What’s your favourite relationship? Richard: “Honestly, my favourite relationship is Raven. [...] I think Murphy has so much respect for her. Also, Bellamy. I think Murphy would consider Bellamy his best friend.” x

What would Tati like to see for Gaia this season? (Past tense to make herself past Tati btw!) Tati: “I guess I would have wanted to make her mom proud, not with the conceptual things Indra would have wanted for her, but to show proof of faith.” Reconciliation. x

How do Gaia and Octavia get along as almost-sisters? Tati: “At some point we’ve had to kind of learn to put our differences aside.” x

Richard thinks Murphy’s dad died when he was 10, and his mom 1-2 years after that. Six months later he set the fire, around 13. So he was in jail for years. Sachin: “That’s not fanfiction, that’s Murph-fiction.” x

Richard says that he thinks murphy was 10 when his dad died, and that he was 1.5-2 years older when his mom died. and murphy set the fire at age 13. and that’s why murphy is the way he is— there wasn’t a lot of love at a young age. x

Richard (about working with Bob): they love pushing each other. He also said they are next-door neighbors now in rl (x)

Who are their favourite new characters? Richard: “I have a clear favourite for many reasons.” William Miller! “He’s a bad mother fucker. He’s an incredible actor. You’re gonna love and hate him at the same time.” x

Themes for season 5? Tati: “What truly is unity?” x

Q: Favourite scenes to film? Tati: Opening the bunker with Adina, Henry, Isaiah, and Chris. And then a deleted scene where she rides a horse! Sachin: The truck scene with Jarod. They slid their “too sweet” signal into their hug so that it couldn’t be cut. x Richard: The first Murphy and Raven scene from season 2, hanging Bob, and him in the bunker alone. From Season 4, it’s the Raven and Murphy goodbye. x

On finding out about #Mackson: Richard: “I laughed my ass off. It made so much sense. I can’t believe it took 4 seasons for it to get there.” x

Richard and Sachin are imitating Bob’s voice while stating that one of the themes of the season is “you need to make decisions with your head and your heart”. (Via heda_skaikru) x

Tati, Sachin, and Richard said that a major theme for the season is: what truly is unity? x

Theme of S5: you need to make decisions with both your head and your heart, lol also this has devolved into them imitating Bob’s Bellamy voice (x)

x

*** Panel with Luisa, Chelsey, Jarod, Jessica ***

Emori finally gets a new costume this year after having the same outfit forEVER x

“Miller’s outfit is BADASS” - Chelsey x

Chelsey and Luisa had to discuss their character dynamic because they hadn’t had many scenes together previously x

Luisa wants to play bellamy and i would 100 percent want to see it x

which character would you rather play? Jess: I love Murphy and I could do a way better job / Miller: Murphy but their characters are already similar so Bellamy / Luisa: Bellamy - seems like a lot of fun / Chelsey: always Octavia because she loves stunts x

There’s a scene this year Jessica and Jarod were both part of, and half of the cast involved in the scene were on the verge of vomiting x

Emori is in this spacekru with a “full heart” x Emori thinks space is “the best thing in the whole world” x

Jess would have a hard time if Niytavia was canon because they wouldn’t be able to stop giggling - Luisa ships it irl and Jarod has seen it! x

Jarod had an emotional scene this season but didn’t feel he did as well as he would’ve liked to x

Emori was so excited to go to space SHE DIDN’T EVEN KNOW THE EARTH WAS ROUND x

favorite set to work on? Jarod: Mount Weather was warm and comfortable / Jess: Trading Post / Luisa: The Sand Dunes / Chelsey: a S5 set x

“God I love rubbing that thing.” - Sachin has an affection for @hicusick’s beard. x

Sachin called Paige: Paige’s favourite Kabby moment is their first kiss “because he stopped Abby from talking!” x

Tasya gets overwhelmed by how many weapons she uses at one time and has broken a few weapons.  (x) 

Tasya had a really hard time holding her position with her bow drawn during the Bellamy and Riley scene! “JUST MAKE A DECISION!!!!” (x)

do the Harmons want scenes together? Richard: “I don’t want to relive the first 18 years of my life.” x

x

*** Reviewer’s panel ***

The reviewer’s panel is speaking thoughtfully about how they’ve grown as writers through covering

*** Crew panel ***

During a crew panel at Unity Days, the lovely members of the props department talked about some of their favorite details that weren’t shown in the final cut of the show. One member, Anthony Vani, discussed the sword Octavia received when she became commander at the end of season 4. The sword is a relic of old commanders. In order to make it her own Octavia hand-made a special engraving. The enscription reads “Ge Smak Daun Gyon Op Nodotaim” (via linctavias) x

x

Other: 

Clarke’s list or here [[[CLARKE GRIFFIN.]]]

I have lots of pics of iconic props! [The Prop people] were so nice and explained so many fascinating details. ALSO, the super nice prop guy said they’re already planning on being back for season 6 and was totally and completely confident nodding that there will be one. x

x

Infos at signing/photo ops/M&G:

BOB IS SO SWEET. He thanked me for getting this shirt and I told him I care a lot about it.  I asked him to sign my photo "best unity day ever" and told him i liked it because Bellamy smiles. He then hinted to me that Bellamy would be smiling a lot this season x

Bob is having convos with everyone he's literally so personable. I was like, "Please tell me bell smiles at least once this season, can you hint that??" the way he talked about it was so cute jordan [[[twitter user’s friend is jordan]]] said "probably becuz murphy's his best friend now" he laughed x

bob did mention today that bellamy smiles more this season than ever before [[[hopefully because he finally got to kiss Clarke]]] and that that felt very weird for him! x

bob was at a promotional photoshoot the other day and the photographer asked him to smile and bob said, “my character doesn’t really do that.” so the photographer asked if bob could literally give him any other expression and bob was like “not really (x)

I asked Bob whether Bellamy had any hope Clarke had survived, since in their conversation before he insisted that he still had hope in the nightblood solution (Bob: “He was right!”). Bellamy thinks that Clarke was destroyed in the radiation wave. as far as he knew, Clarke was still fiddling around with the satellite dish when the others made it to space (since the lights weren’t already on). In Bob’s words, ‘He still has hope but he’s not hopeful, if you know what I mean. x

Bob said that he made Bellamy giggle in one episode of S5 but he thinks they kept it mostly because they were running out of time to refilm it x

I had Bob and Eliza sign the Day Trip script. They both read the whole thing before they signed. Bob said, “Oooohh this is the scene that got cut. They just cut another good one this season.” And I asked if he meant a #Bellarke scene and he said yes. x [[[the signed Day Trip script here]]]

Bob said that he’s gotten a few movie roles that he ultimately had to turn down due to conflicts with the 100 x

Bob has mixed feelings about driving the rover because he’s one of the only ones who can do it, but it’s also kind of dangerous because there aren’t seat belts and it’s in the forest with no road. x

Bob said that he liked the filming location where the beach scene in 3x13 with Eliza took place x

Bob dropped out of the movie with Zach because he had a significant disagreement with the producer x

At his meet and greet, Bob said that if Bellamy doesn’t use his [head] and his heart he’ll feel like he let Clarke down x

They were supposed to be back down on the ground for like a year and they haven't come down. So there's other stuff that happens up in space and there's a reason why they haven't been able to come down. So there's that kind of dilemma first off x

Bob on Bellamy being happy during his meet and greet on Saturday: "No, [...] Happiness. It's secondary on this show it seems like." x

I WAS EXPLAINING THAT I WANTED THIS SCENE FOR BOB AND ELIZA AND THEY TOOK IT SO SERIOUSLY. BOB WAS LIKE, “I NEED TO HOLD YOU AND YOU NEED TO FALL BACK AND I NEED TO STARE AT THE RAIN” AND ELIZA WAS LIKE “I NEED TO STARE AT YOU” x

bob was like “listen, i need to hold you and you need to sit on my knee” and i straight up was like “the internet will hate me though” x

LINDSEY IS WEARING A RAVENCLAW SCARF FOR HER AUTOGRAPHS x

Photos/ fanarts:

PHOTO: Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia via UnityEventsCa’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

PHOTO: Eliza with an organizer

PHOTO: The 100 props, rifle + knives/swords, 

PHOTO: smiling Bob with fan x

PHOTO: Richard Harmon during his autograph session at Unity Days on January 20th, 2018 [UnityEventsCa] x

PHOTO: Bob with fan (nice one) or here

PHOTO: Sachin and Jessica via Chelsey Reist’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

PHOTO: Group photo (Bob, Eliza, Lindsey, Nadia) - The breakfast club.

PHOTO: Bob with pikachu hat

PHOTO: BrightCuPenny Successful photo op with Bob and Eliza! We were waiting for our turn and from around the corner we heard Eliza say, “Laraaaaa…” Baby was super sleepy but such a trouper! So here are season 5 Clarke, Bellamy, and Madi! #UnityDays2018 ( = beliza photo with bellarke baby)

PHOTO: elizajaneface All of my favorites. @richardsharmon @mr_sacho @linzzmorgan @officialbowietaylor #bob ❤️ (insta)

PHOTO: blake family photo re-created in real life @WildpipM, @MisElizaJane #UnityDays2018 

PHOTO: cute beliza photos with fans here (head and heart pose) and here.

PHOTO: Eliza posing for a fan today (holding the face caress photo)

PHOTO: Bob has Vegemite in his teeth

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza holding a Bellarke edit that they had just signed for a fan

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza holding hands

PHOTO: Bob and Eliza signed an edit thanking Bellarke fans for voting the face caress scene from 4x13 as @eonlineTV’s sexiest moment of 2017 x

PHOTO: Bob with Bowie at #UnityDays2018 (x)

FANART: HEAD AND HEART FANART signed by Bob and Eliza

FANART: another bellarke fanart signed by Eliza [[[one of my faves]]]

x

Videos:

Bob Morley, Eliza Taylor, Lindsey Morgan, Nadia Hilker and Jarod Joseph during their panel at Unity Days via Chelsey Reist’s Instagram Story on January 20th, 2018

video of @Mr_Sacho and @harmon_jess dancing dramatically around the autograph room at @UnityEventsCA? (x)

x

Twitter:

@JRothenbergTV: Once upon a time, they lived happily ever after. A fairy tale foursome @RichardSHarmon @ivanamilicevic @WilliamMiller #KatieMcgrath #the100 #Supergirl (x)

Props props props! #UNITYDAYS2018 (x)

x

[torisfeather]

Also on AO3

The bus station was crowded, that Saturday morning. The girls were running to the dress rental shop, and the boys to the costumes. The romantics were flower-shopping for their partners. The first real party of the year was an event at the academy, and even the new kids understood that.

The shuttle was struggling to carry all the students, there weren't enough seats for everyone. Romano, brought there by his brother, had shown off his best curses when the driver asked them to step out and to wait for the next trip. Feliciano was also a little disappointed but waiting was not that much of a problem to him.

So they were several kids waiting for the bus to unload its passengers into town and come back to take them next. Romano was sulking, as always, and Feliciano was in the middle of a seducing Sophie, a young second-year Monegasque who gave amused answers to all of his pick-up lines. There was also Elizaveta, kind of pissed by the waiting the shuttle had imposed on them, Kiku, the Japanese boy who was apparently appointed "official shipping club camera-man" considering the large camera hanging around his neck, and half a dozen other impatient students.

Everyone turned to the road with hopeful eyes as they heard the sound of an engine coming their way, but to their surprise, it wasn't the shuttle that parked in front of the dorm building. It was a black ordinary Ford, the kind that could belong to any citizen. Had they been anywhere else in the world, the students would have thought that was a kid's parents coming for an appointment with the principals. Except they were at Hetako Academy and seeing a car outside the town was as normal as seeing white tigers in New York. Curious whispers drifted around the students as the car came and parked just a few feet away.

Two businessman-like men with suits, ties and leather suitcases wiggled out the front seats. Give them sunglasses, futuristic guns and a laser and they would be perfect Men in Black. They probably tried to be stealthy with their townsman car but it would have been hard to be any more suspicious.

One of them opened the backseat door and a young boy jump out like a spring. He was barely out before he stretched with a pained wince. "Seriously, guys, you need to do something about the seats. Sleeping in here was hell," he grumbled as he bended himself in every direction to crack his joints.

The two men in suits didn't answer and powerwalked past the students' inquisitive looks towards the academy's front door. The boy didn't follow, he just started to jump up and down on his heels, looking around like he was wondering what to do. He was about thirteen or fourteen years old, had reddish hair, a strange angular curl and the academy's uniform. A cry sounded among the students at the bus stop. "Ah! It's Romeo!"

And everybody minus the first years started whispering about him hurriedly. Feliciano turned to the kids around him, looking lost. "Veveve, what, who?"

"Romeo. He's a second year. He disappeared at the beginning of summer without a warning and the principles didn't explain anything," someone said to him. "I hear he ran away."

If it was the case, he looked rather happy to be back. His eyes scanned his surrounding like he was looking for something and he had a large smile on his lips. He did not look like a runaway. His uniform was clean, slightly crumpled by his night in the car but still in a good state, his hair was combed and he seemed healthy. His eyes suddenly stopped on the group waiting for the bus and his smile grew larger as he ran up to the students who didn't know how to react.

"Wow, everyone, I missed you guyyyyyys!" he exclaimed, grabbing anyone he could put his hands on, especially the girls. When he faced the Italian twins, there was like a pause as all three of the shared a gaze. Two older ones thought there was something very familiar about the boy but couldn't tell what it was. "Well, I see we have new faces! What are your names?" he said eventually.

They introduced themselves and both received a greeting hug. Feliciano was glad. Romano wasn't. Then Romeo turned as he seemed to look for someone that he found very quickly. "Sophie!" he shrieked, throwing himself at the Monegasque. "How are you? Did you miss me?"

He didn't let her answer and stuck a beautiful kiss on her lips. A couple of kids catcalled them. Sophie quickly recovered from the surprise and firmly pushed him away. He took a step back but kept holding her waist. She wasn't smiling, her expression a perfect poker face.

"You are still beautiful," he complimented with a wink.

She squinted at this, like she was thinking intensely, but the rest of her body didn't move. She needed a moment to answer. "Thanks."

Romeo smiled sheepishly and ran a hand through his hair before scratching the back of his head. "You're mad?"

"Yes."

"Oh. And what can I do for you to forgive me?"

She went quiet for a few moments which he took advantage of to snuggle up to her and kiss her forehead with fondness. "Tell me what happened."

He laughed nervously and looked away. "I can't."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not allowed to. I could tell you but I'd have to come up with something and you'd know right away that I'm telling bullshit and we'd fight and you wouldn't let me celebrate coming back tonight and…"

"Okay, okay, stop," she interrupted, blushing and a few snickered around them.

He laughed and played with a lock of stray ash-blond hair that fell out of her braid. Then he stopped and stared at her breasts. "Wait, isn't that the bra I got y…"

A slap to the face cut him short. "Romeo! What was the deal?!" she cried furiously, stomping out of his embrace.

"Ahah, sorry, I forgot," he said, rubbing his cheek."

"What was the deal?!"

"No x-ray vision outside of lessons," he replied with a bored look. "Sorry, Sophie, I won't forget again, promise."

She didn't answer, going back to her poker face. She turned her back on him, pretending to ignore him. Romeo sighed loudly but his playful smile grew back almost instantly. "If that's what you're worried about," he said charmingly, "I didn't look at any other girl while I was away…"

She stayed perfectly still for almost a minute, like she hadn't heard him. But eventually, she held out her hand to him without looking back and he held it with a knowing smile. "Lier…" she whispered.

"Not at all and you know it," he replied, snaking his free arm around her shoulders.

They argued a little more until someone in the group stopped them in favor of asking Romeo to tell where he had been all this time. Romeo refused with a grin, claiming that it was a secret, but the other students joined in and, quickly, the entire group was begging him loudly. There was a short respite when the shuttle finally arrived but, once they were in the bus, they all started asking again. After all, it was exceptional for the principles to allow a school trip outside the campus's limits, so it was absolutely phenomenal for a student to leave for over two months.

"Okay, okay, fine," he conceded after at least fifty demands.

He stood in the middle of the bus to make sure everyone would hear him, pleased with all the attention the whole thing was bringing him.

"So here's the story," he announced. "My grandma died at the beginning of summer and I absolutely had to attend the funeral. My mom called the principles to ask them if I could spend the vacations with her, to comfort her, you know? At first they refused but my mom can be super convincing. She has tons of family in Italy and they could do a vendetta if she asked. So the principles said I could spend a week with her but no more, so you guys wouldn't hear about it. And I had to keep it secret or everyone would want to do the same and it had to stay an exception. But my mom outwit them. I went to Grandma's funeral, the week passed but instead of sending me back here she took me on a car trip around Italy and France. It was great, we'd never spend two nights in the same town, it was like a spy movie! Since I wasn't coming back, the principle sent those two gentlemen you saw after me but they couldn't find me until last Monday. The thing is I hadn't realized school had started again so I was pretty happy they found us. So… Yeah, that's how I spent my vacation!"

Everyone cheered and Romeo bowed like an actor who just played the role of his life. He went back to sit down next to Sophie who was looking absently through the window. "What did you think of my story?" he whispered.

"I wasn't listening," she answered just as quietly. "I'm not interested in lies."

"I thought you liked my stories."

"Stories. Not lies." He laughed and kissed her cheek. She smiled and blushed a little. "You dirty lier."

"But you like that about me, don't you?"

She didn't answer but leaned onto his shoulder, swearing to herself that she'd make him spit the truth out sooner or later.

If there was one thing Young Soo was adamant about, it was how necessary it was to have K-pop music for a party to be good. And he did not accept that Ling, the appointed DJ, wouldn't play any. So he had written a formal demand to the principles in order to be allowed to choose a few songs.

But just when he was about to knock on Gaia's office's door, he heard voices inside. Two men and two women, and all seemed extremely tense. His curiosity took over the rest, he pressed his ear to the panel to listen. The wood was thick and he couldn't get all the words but he made out most of the muffled conversation.

- … absolutely unacceptable!" said Luna's voice, obviously angry. "Your part of the deal was always clear!"

"No need to blame us," one of the two men firmly answered. "We are only telling you about the council's decision. Please understand we are not trying to upset you."

"Well so much for that," Gaia sighed, almost to herself.

"You can probably guess our answer," Luna continues. "Gentlemen, I believe you know where the door is…"

The other man raised his voice. "Miss Chrones! Maybe this wasn't clear at first but I'll be a little more explicit: this is not a favor we are asking but an order you both have to follow in accordance to the contract that, may I remind you, you both signed. So please stop wasting our time!"

"You can shove that contract up your…"

"Luna!" Gaia exclaimed. "That's enough, calm down."

There was a long moment of silence and Young Soo figured out that the principles were whispering with each other. The two men didn't react, waiting patiently for them to finish their debate. After a few minutes, there was a very long sigh and the sound of a chair scraping the floor.

"Very well. We'll fulfill your request in accordance with the contract," Luna said. She spat the last word like an insult but nobody called her out for it.

"Thank you for your cooperation," said the first man with a monotonous voice. "Please be assured of our utmost esteem."

"Right, now get out."

That was Gaia's voice and before he could step back the door suddenly turned, making him fall forward. Gaia, her hand on the handle, threw a fit of laughter when he fell face first on the floor of her office. Her sister and visitors looked slightly less pleased about the presence of this spy. The men stood, throwing a rebuking look towards the older woman, and left like everything was normal, stepping over the Korean boy's body as he was too scared to stand up again. He sent a pleading look towards Luna and winced at her furious expression.

"I guess I don't get my request either?" Her brows knitted together. He stood and dusted his pants.

"You won't tell anyone about this conversation, right?" Gaia said with a peaceful smile.

"Pr-promise."

She stepped away from the door and he didn't wait for an invitation to run out, ashamed of being caught spying.

Tino was waiting on a chair, next to a still and silent Berwald. He did not know what to do. It had been two weeks. Two weeks that Berwald had been following him everywhere, or been making him follow him outside his lessons. Two weeks that he'd been trying to tell him he was creeped out by a stranger doing that to him. But to no use. Each time he started talking about that, Berwald would have this terrifying expression and he'd start stuttering apologies when he wasn't too scared to even talk. He really didn't know what to do.

"Sorry for the delay! I found it!"

Tino jumped and looked up. The shopkeeper had just come back from the stockroom and was proudly dangling a light grey costume in front of him, along with a dark shirt and a tie. Tino stood to go and try it on. The tie was too short and the pants would fall on his shoes. When he stepped out of the changing room, Berwald gave him another one of his scary looks and Tino shivered but the shopkeeper stepped close. The Finnish boy didn't really see what she did but when she stepped back again with a satisfied smile the entire costume fit him perfectly.

"Magic!" she smiled as only explanation. Tino burst out laughing.

When they left the shop, it was almost noon. Tino wanted to go back to the bus station but Berwald offered in his incomprehensible gibberish that they'd stay a little longer. He didn't refuse. It was a nice day, although the wind was blowing, bringing the temperature down to the autumn norm. Compared to what both Nordics had known at home, it was like a heat wave.

They wandered through the streets. Tino was making all the small talk by commenting nervously what he could see, like every time he was alone with Berwald. The taller boy was as mute as usual, only using little "uhums" to communicate. Sometimes, he'd open his mouth to say something but, in those moments, his face was so terrifying Tino would let out a strangled cry and the Swedish boy had second thoughts.

As they walked by a toy store, Tino stopped before a little stuffed animal at the window. It was a small white dog, sitting down, with large black button eyes and a pretty blue ribbon tied around its neck. Tino couldn't repress a fond smile as he looked at this cute furball. He only managed to walk away after a couple minutes. He was going to apologize for the delay when he realized Berwald wasn't there anymore. He looked around, confused and slightly worried, but couldn't see him. That's when something move at the shop window. A shopkeeper moved the cardboard scenery that separated the little scene from the rest of the shop and took the toy he'd been admiring earlier before disappearing again. Tino barely had the time to feel disappointed before Berwald came out of the shop less than a minute later, holding the little dog.

The Swedish giant walked up to him and handed him the stuffed dog, slightly blushing. "F'r you."

Tino took it, looked at it and needed a moment to understand what had happened. His eyes widened when he realized Berwald had just offered him the toy. "Th-that wasn't necessary!" he exclaimed, panicked. "I promise there was no need for a present I… It's too much, it's…"

"You d'n't w'nt it?" Berwald still had that scary expression but, this time, watching closely, Tino could see something like disappointment and felt guilty immediately.

"No! That's not what I meant! It's… It's very pretty, thank you so much I love it, but I… I don't know what to do in exchange, I…" He did not want to owe him anything.

Berwald seemed to calm down from behind his glasses. "It's f'r you. You d'n't h've t' do an'thing."

Tino was hesitant but Berwald was insisting so he couldn't refuse. He looked at the stuffed toy and melted as he watched those big dark eyes. A happy smile settled on his face and he hugged the little dog close. "Thank you," he said.

Berwald watched him as he cuddled the toy silently, a short while, without looking away for even a second. Tino felt a little uneasy under his insistent gaze but pretended he wasn't. "F'ling bett'r?"

"Huh?" Tino looked at him, not sure he got it right.

Berwald looked away, almost… shyly? "You look'd w'rried," he explained vaguely.

"Ah, no, I assure you, I'm fine! Well… Alright, I am a little tense but it's… probably because of school or…"

"Th't's n't wh't your aur' says."

Tino needed a little more time to decipher that sentence. Berwald seemed to be mumbling more and more. "My aura? What do you mean?"

"'t s'ys y'or sc'r'd."

"What?"

Berwald closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You. 're. Scared," he articulated slowly.

Tino needed a few seconds to piece the whole conversation together. When he finally understood what Berwald was saying, he mentally slapped himself for how slow he was. The Swedish boy could see auras, so he knew for a while now how he was feeling about his company. Well that was one thing down, now he just had to ask for an explanation. Go Tino, you can do it! "It's nothing it's just that I don't understand why… You're following me around all the time… We barely know each other but you suddenly decided we were together and I don't know what to think and I want to know why you're doing this."

"'cause you're m' w'fe."

Tino frowned and pouted. "I'm not a girl. And I… Don't love you."

Berwald went silent for a moment. His eyes seemed deeper here, like the color of the sea. Tino held his gaze, determined not to back off again. He thought to himself that, when you looked at them long enough, Berwald's eyes weren't actually that scary. You could see emotions in their icy color. Right now, there was sadness, surrounded by a halo of determination.

"It's 'kay," he eventually said. Tino didn't answer, he wasn't sure what to say. Berwald didn't wait for an answer and continued : "Wh'n you meet your soul m'te, you c'n f'll 'n l've 'mmediat'ly b't, m'st 'f the t'me, you need t'me t' 'nderst'nd…"

Berwald stopped. Tino couldn't understand a thing he was saying, it showed on his face. He sighed and let it go. Instead, he reached out and slowly touched Tino's hand. He didn't push it away. "Ev'n 'f 't t'kes t'me, ev'n 'f you're n't read' yet, I w'nna stay w'th you. B'cause I've kn'wn s'nce I've m't you…"

Tino thought through Berwald's words. He barely understood half of them, at best, and wasn't sure what he meant by that. Could he really trust him? Berwald barely ever spoke about himself. No, really, Tino didn't know what to think of it.

So he just stopped thinking about it. He held his little stuffed dog close with his right arm and started walking again down the street. "We need to hurry, the next bus is coming soon," he said like the whole conversation never happened.

Berwald was walking close, and there was a reason for that: Tino still hadn't pushed him away.

At the corner of the street, half-hidden behind a flowerpot, Elizaveta was frenetically writing something down on a notepad. "I hope you didn't miss anything," she whispered."

Kiku appeared from behind a trashcan and gently tapped his camera. "It's all in the box, Elizaveta-senpai."

Eduar, Toris and Raivis were alone in the music room. It was kind of like their private hangout, safer than the common room were the Russian boy was bound to be. If someone came to bother them, since they were part of the music club's choir, they could pretend to be practicing so that they'd be left alone. Eduar was surfing on the web, Raivis was reading a comic and Toris was working on his future visions that he'd note down step by step on a sheet of paper.

He'd cross out most of them that kept changing and had to give up on some that were too blurry to mean anything. Up until then, the only really clear image he'd seen was the BTT, obviously planning one of their awful pranks. He was desperately focusing on that one, trying to get details about when it would be time to be careful. He really hoped the three pranksters wouldn't do anything during the party. They'd probably bring some alcohol they found god-knows-where, like every year, but hopefully it wouldn't be anything more…

"Hey, Toris!"

The Lithuanian looked up. Eduar was still focused on his computer but he was sure he was the one who called him. "Yes?"

"You look deep in it, did you see anything interesting?"

Toris took a look at his papers. "I thing the BTT is planning something but I don't know when. There's… Elizaveta who keeps hesitating between a red and a green dress. And I can't see Ivan so maybe he won't be there tonight, but I have no idea why. Oh, and it's raining tomorrow."

"No Ivan tonight? Cool! We'll finally be able to party!" Toris smiled. Eduar was joking of course. Both of them were very introverted when it came to parties. "Do you think the BTT will bring drinks, like last time? I'll ask the girls to take pictures of the "shota" this time."

"I can hear you, you know?" protested said "shota" looking up from his comic.

This time, Toris laughed. "Shota" was what people called Raivis after the shipping club tried to match him with someone, the previous year. His two makeshift friends had heard the term in the yaoists' mouth and kept using it ever since. Although Raivis was the youngest of the three, he loved alcohol and drank every chance he got until he couldn't walk straight. At least, the drinks made him happy, even if he ended in… at least strange positions.

"What girl are you guys dancing with, tonight?" he asked.

"You know we don't dance, Raivis," Eduar said.

"Yes, but there's gotta be a girl or two you like! Parties are the best meet-cute settings!" Raivis was also a romance novel and lovey-dovey poem lover, and had no problem starting "girly" conversations about them.

"Well, if I had to choose one…" Toris started. He needed a moment to think, blushing. His two friends wondered who he was thinking about to look this embarrassed but he quickly turned back a normal shade of pink. "I'd say… Natalya." Eduar looked at him with wide, incredulous eyes. "Yes, I know she is obsessed with her brother but she's very beautiful. And if Ivan isn't here tonight, than there aren't as many risks as there could be."

"But Toris!" Eduar cried with an offended expression. "I was planning on asking her out!"

"Wha- Well yeah, me too!"

Eduar and Toris stared at each other straight in the eye for a few moments, in a staring contest that seemed like it could decide who would win the gorgeous Russian girl's heart. Raivis placed his comic in the middle to make it a tie. "You're not going to fight over her, are you?" he said, taking it back.

"No, you're right, it'd be stupid," Toris admitted.

"We'll just let her choose," Eduar finished. Raivis let out a sigh that made both the other boys turn to him. "What about you?"

"What, me?"

"You've got things to tell us too! Which girl would you like to go out with?"

Raivis blushed wildly and looked away. "Nobody."

The older one send him a dubious look and he sat back into his chair. "We told you who we were into so it's your turn, "shota"." Raivis frowned and muttered something they couldn't hear. "Sorry, what?"

"…-sha."

"Be even more quiet, maybe we'll hear it better."

Raivis tensed up even more, took a deep breath and finally said a name. "… Katyusha."

There was a long silence. Toris and Eduar stared at him with unfathomable expressions and the only comment the Latvian boy got was from Eduar: "She could be your mom."

"Don't say that, she's not that old."

"She can drive and you're not even fifteen. So she could be your mom."

"You know, if it's because of her breasts, there are other pretty girls…" tried Toris.

Raivis rolled his eyes and went back to his comic. He wasn't expecting his "friends" to understand anyway. Eduar and Toris started talking again about who had the best chances with Natalya.

"And why don't you try seducing your lovely roomie?" Eduar joked with a sly grin.

Toris rolled his eyes. "Leave her- him out of this."

"Beautiful slip up."

"Stop it."

"What, you look like you're getting along."

"He's nice but way too annoying."

"I thought you loved getting stepped on…"

"Not true! And I'm not even gay!" Someone coughed from the room's door, interrupting them. As one, they turned and spotted the Polish boy watching them with a mocking expression. Toris blushed, praying that Feliks had heard as little as possible. Then he wondered why it bothered him and blushed even more.

"I know you got, like, tons of stuff to talk about but Luna said that, like, Tor-Tor totally had to get ready because he's got to help preparing the party room."

Toris glanced at his watch and hurriedly put his stuff back in his bag. "Gosh, I didn't know it was already that late."

"See you later "Tor-Tor"," Eduar laughed as he walked to the door. Toris didn't answer and just followed his roommate.