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andiwriteordie · 2 years ago

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WHY DOES THE STORY BELONG TO JONATHAN BYERS (god you're so right but tell me why)

ABBY MY BELOVED THANK GOD I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED.

okay, okay, for starters, this song is just so good, like it's the perfect amount of realistic but also tentatively hopeful as well? and how the narrator of this song is just someone who watches and observes other people's lives, but then also relates this back to their own life? yeah. jonathan.

okay, let's do this:

Let me tell you a story About a boy and a girl It's kinda short, kinda boring But the end is a whirl They were just sixteen When the people were mean So they didn't love themselves And now they're gone Headstones on a lawn

this section, of course, reminds most people in the fandom of lucas and max, and honestly i agree! "they didn't love themselves" really just screams max to me, and then of course, the line "headstones on a lawn" is reminiscent of how lumax's arc has ended (thus far) in s4. now, we don't see jonathan interact very much with lucas or max; however, we do know that jonathan canonically is very involved with will's life and has always been. so, with lucas growing up as one of will's best friends, we can assume then jonathan knows lucas (as well as mike and dustin), and then with the upside down entering everyone's life, jonathan knows max too. jonathan doesn't have that much of a relationship with these two, but as we've seen from his personality and other subtext, jonathan is an incredibly observant person who is in the background watching others and how they interact. so, the less intimate, more detached introduction to this story, fits jonathan's dynamic with this couple.

And when I was younger I knew a boy and a boy Best friends with each other But always wished they were more 'Cause they loved one another But never discovered 'Cause they were too afraid of what they'd say Moved to different states

i mean... come on. we all saw this one coming. it's jonathan with byler, clearly. like we've already established, jonathan is someone who watches and who sees thing. jonathan, in my opinion, is the person who actually best understands byler's relationship. he was there for mike's shed monologue. he was there for will's van monologue. he was there for mike's pizza monologue. he's known mike since he was five, and he's witnessed how will and mike interact with each other for a decade now! so, if anyone is clued into what is going on, it's jonathan, and i think the show is telling this to us too (evidenced by the mirror shot in the van scene). also this is me advocating for a mike and jonathan conversation in s5 because pls my boy needs someone who can gently call him out on the lies and get him to be more genuine (in the same way jonathan challenged nancy's facade in s1).

Oh, and I'm afraid that's just the way the world works It ain't funny, it ain't pretty, it ain't sweet Oh, and I'm afraid that's just the way the world works But I think that it could work for you and me Just wait and see It's not the end of the story

okay, okay, god i love the chorus of this song. remember i said this song is the perfect amount of realism mixed with a tentative hope? yeah, that's jonathan in my opinion. jonathan is a character who has struggled so much in his life. the byers family has suffered a lot, even before the upside down entered their lives, and so, by the time we meet jonathan, he's a character who is more hardened. he's 16, but he's had to grow up really quickly. he knows how the world works. he knows how awful people can be because he's experienced it. he's lived through his father's abuse and abandonment of their family, through significant bullying from his peers, through having to raise his little brother, through stepping up in ways a kid shouldn't have to. and yet, we also see that jonathan (much like his mom and his brother) is inherently good. he has a good heart. he does his best to be there for will and for his mom, and he protects them with everything he possibly can. that extends to other characters too. most obviously with nancy in their relationship, because duh. and then we also see that in how jonathan is quick to take care of el (s3) and how he protects mike too (s3 and s4). so, for me, when i see that, i see that hope buried underneath all the things he's been through. (although s4 is probably one of the lowest points of jonathan, where he himself doesn't hold much hope in his own life, but still is able to extend that love and instill some hope in his little brother.)

Now it's on to the sequel About me and my friend Both our parents were evil So we both made a bet If we worked and we saved We could both run away And we'd have a better life And I was right I wonder if she's alright

alright, here we go. now, we shift in this moment towards the narrator talking about themselves, which fits incredibly well for jonathan's own story with nancy. the two of them come from different worlds, but they still connect and find ways to relate to each other. "both our parents were evil," most obviously points to lonnie, but also to nancy's own strained relationship with her family. and then the next lines, i see so much of jonathan and nancy's story here—how they're both dreaming and striving for something more than what hawkins has to offer. how neither one of them really want to get stuck in this small town kind of mentality (though for different reasons i'd say, but that's a separate though lol), and how they're navigating through those dreams separate but also together. and those last couple lines of this verse just reminds me then of how s4, we see jancy separated from each other... not really speaking, but still thinking of each other. they're in a rough patch of their relationship right now, and maybe they'll stay together (which i would hope tbh), or maybe they don't. but i still think however it ends up for jonathan and nancy, he holds that mentality of loving/caring deeply for nancy and hoping the best for her, even if it doesn't necessarily involve him. (again, jonathan's in such a rough place in s4 right now, so hopefully, we'll see more of that hope of "i think it could work for you and me" come as they work through their issues. or... ya know. jonathan and steve could just date. that'd be cool too.)

Okay And the movie's always running in my head All the people, all the lovers, all my friends And I hope that they all get their happy end In the end

skipping to the bridge now, since this is the last section of unique lyrics in the song! the line "the movie's always running in my head" sums up jonathan byers so well. i think about that scene in s1, where jonathan and nancy talk about how he takes pictures when he believes someone is "saying" something. jonathan has always been an outsider and is established as someone who chooses to stay back and to observe, rather than particularly join in with the conversations and the relationships with others (the exceptions being his family, nancy, and argyle of course). so, as i think about the bridge, i just think about jonathan just watching. seeing all these people in his life—some that he knows well, others that he doesn't know as well—and just observing what they're trying to say. what their body language and their interactions with each other show him. what, if he were taking a picture and considering what to capture as a photographer, is being communicated by the actions of the people around them.

and for the people that are in jonathan's life—people like lucas and max, and will and mike, and even nancy and himself—i imagine jonathan does want a happy ending for all of them. because authenticity is important to jonathan byers. he's seen how the world can be and how easy it is for people to hide pieces of themselves. he's done it himself, too many times. and you know, maybe it's hard for him right now to fathom that he'll get a happy ending (as we see he's in a low place in his own mental health right now), but i do think jonathan is over there hoping and just wanting what is best for the people around him—what will make them their most authentic selves.

(someone should probably turn the camera back on him and tell him that it's okay to be himself too and to care for his own needs, because god knows jonathan byers needs to be told this)

#andi's asks #jonathan byers #lyrical analysis

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jackietaylorsghost · 2 years ago

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no exactly! and like. this narrative masterpiece and it winning awards and being a critical darling is SO baffling cus everything it set out to do narratively it fails at. ellie is the person who, after untold suffering and grief, is the one who breaks the cycle of violence but she is the one villainised by the narrative - the david parallel, the loss of everything she loves as punishment, even the loss of her fingers so she can’t play the guitar which made her happy - vs abby who partakes in and prolongs the cycle of violence incredible brutally and is then given a redemption arc that is rushed (it’s literally 3 days) yet lapped up by the fandom when it holds no emotional weight at all. and meanwhile she’s STILL incredibly violent and brutal: see her complete slaughter of her literal own comrades and her behaviour in the theatre. it’s this latter one that baffles me the most and highlights the narrative mess/lack of consistency in the story they are trying to tell. we are meant to be three days into her narrative arc when she has been off bettering herself and supposedly learning lessons that we are meant to be taking from her. but she hasn’t learnt shit. she still behaves that way. she kills Jessie when he’s unarmed. attacks tommy. she’s brutally violent with ellie and dina and only stops because lev asks her too - not of her volition bcus she’s learnt anything across this character building redemption arc she’s meant to have had.

but what is most striking to me when we consider the message the game wants us to get (that everyone has their own lives/loves/reasons/points of views and are all just humans trying to survive) with abby’s line in the theatre scene: ‘we let you live and you wasted it’. that moment would have been the perfect time for her to realise the grief and loss she has passed on to ellie through her revenge. it would have been the moment for her to acknowledge the pain her revenge caused. that this young girl has lost something important to her bcus of what she did. but there’s never that moment. she doesn’t, for some wild reason, realise it when ellie is lying on the floor begging joel to get up and screaming at abby to stop. and by day 3 of abby’s gameplay she hasn’t realised it still. there’s no empathy. no apology. no remorse. just a patronising ‘we let you live’ as though ellie ought to be grateful she’s living a life abby ruined for her, as though she should thank abby even though abby herself should know all too well how it feels to lose a dad. and the real kicker is, it was owen who let ellie live, not abby. so what the fuck?

none of this reckons or deals with abby’s brutality either. her brutality far outstrips anything we saw joel do. it doesn’t reckon with the difference in their actions (one self defence, one purposeful and pointed and personal). it doesn’t reckon with how abby is the person who chose to start the violence. and the notion that ‘she’s just further along in her revenge path than ellie’ is absurd. it’s all happening at the same time. it’s just easy to forget that when abby’s gameplay is SO detached from the plot - it has nothing to do with it for god’s sake! it’s a 12 hour fetch quest. and it also perpetuates the idea that abby can begin this cycle of brutality and violence (im sorry but saying Joel did when he was in a kill or be killed situation is absurd to me, as is conflating joel’s actions with abby) and then just. bow out when she’s done, remove herself from it, and leave ellie to deal with the ramifications and loss and be the one who is fucking demonised. what exactly are we meant to take from that? what the fuck was the game trying to say there? it’s a complete fucking mess. ‘oh im gonna go out of my way to kill this person brutally and slowly, ultimately causing all my friends to lose their lives too, but it’s okay cus i removed myself from it so it doesn’t matter’. like what? and that’s why it falls flat. it’s too inconsistent in its treatment of ellie vs abby and it also never makes us or abby examine her actions and the consequences of them for her. it never forces her to face what she’s done and reckon with it on a personal level.

it’s still so absurd to me that abby just does not give any shits about killing joel. no regret no guilt not even a small moment of reflecting on herself as a person and wondering if she might be letting her morals slide by excruciatingly torturing someone and showing no remorse. she doesn’t even mention it that much aside from saying she thinks owen and mel were bothered by what happened in jackson. how the hell am i supposed to take any lessons about revenge seriously when the initiating act of revenge has no fucking weight on the story of the person who took it 😭

#anti tlou2 #the last of us spoilers

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carmenxjulia · 4 years ago

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I put together a transcript of the 1 hour Q&A Interview the Carmen Sandiego Discord did with Abby Trott (Ivy) and Rafael Petardi (Chase Devineaux). All of the questions were submitted by server members. You can read everything below the break!

PizzaHorse:

Hello everyone! Please welcome Abby Trott and Rafael Petardi to our Q&A today.

Abby Trott:

Hiiiiiiiiiii!

Rafael Petardi:

Hello Bonjour!

PizzaHorse:

Let's get started. How did you get started as a voice actor? Was there anything that inspired you to pursue it as a career?

Abby Trott:

Oh MAN. Long story.

Rafael Petardi:

Mine is very short. I'm an actor and my agent started sending me on voice auditions and eventually I booked some!

Abby Trott:

This is a novel so I started typing it ahead of time, haha. I was an acting/theater major, and when I graduated from college I moved to Japan on the JET program to teach English because I wanted to travel so freakin' badly. I had never even been on an airplane. I was placed in rural Akita, (inaka), and absolutely LOVED it. The only problem was I wanted to be and actor/singer… womp womp. At that time, I also started to mess around with characters and voices - I would record voice memos and conversations with myself while driving around. One day, a friend was in the car and my phone was on shuffle and one of my "scenes" started playing - I was absolutely MORTIFIED. But that moment solidified for me that I need to move to the big ole city if I wanted to really pursue acting. I ended up heading to Tokyo, where I performed in children's musicals, and did other gigs here and there. That's where I started doing VO professionally! I was able to do some character voices for the shows I was in, and some other side projects. I realized how much I loved VO, and eventually decided to move back to the States to pursue it, since most English VO for games and animation is produced here.

When I moved back, I started searching online for VoiceOver opportunities, and stumbled across a contest hosted by Bang Zoom! Entertainment. I BARELY got my entry in on time. The contest took place over several months, and in the meantime, I moved to NYC and started taking VO classes. For the finale of the contest, they flew me to LA. I ended up winning! Still can't believe it. (O-O) I got to dub my first anime "Miss Monochrome," and realized that if I wanted to work in games and animation, I should probably move to LA… and the I DID.

THE END

PizzaHorse:

What do you think are the best and worst things about being a voice actor?

Abby Trott:

Oooh. The worst things? Job insecurity... constant rejection...

Rafael Petardi:

The incredibly talented and cool people you meet and work with.

What Abby said

Abby Trott:

The best things? Working with amazing people, AND it's so much fun - even auditioning is fun!

PizzaHorse:

How did you land your role on the show?

Rafael Petardi:

I auditioned

Got the job

pretty boring I know

Abby Trott:

I auditioned through my agency, and got a callback. I went to the callback and their note was "more Boston." Then I had a second callback and their note was "even MORE Boston." So I went WICKED BOSTON and got the job

PizzaHorse:

What was your favorite/the most fun thing to record (episode/scene/line)? Any least favorites?

Rafael Petardi:

For me, the funnest scenes to record are the ones I got to play opposte the incredibly talented cast.

The least favorite... did not have enough scenes with the Wonderful Abby Trott

Abby Trott:

Awww Rafe! Singing was the MOST FUN! The Karaoke Ep, and the choose-your-own adventure one, where we got to sing the theme! Mikey (Zack) was cracking me up constantly.

Least favorite was the last ep because I didn't want it to eeeeeend

PizzaHorse:

Were you allowed to suggest lines to be said by your character, or improvise the script at all if you thought something would add to the scene?

Abby Trott:

YUP! And Mikey and I definitely did, hahaa. It was encouraged. Always fun to see what they keep...

Rafael Petardi:

Yes we were. I improvised mostly sounds and noises. Words once in a while but not very often. Thank God for Duane

PizzaHorse:

What was the hardest part of voicing your character on Carmen Sandiego? Was there a particular episode that was difficult to record?

Rafael Petardi:

Keeping the consistency episode to episode of the Chase's accent, pitch and energy

I did not want hime to sound different ever

Abby Trott:

I think the hardest part was keeping up the EXTREME Boston accent. But it was also SUPER fun...

PizzaHorse:

What traits do you share or have in common with the character you play?

Rafael Petardi:

I am like Chase in the sense of a Dog with a Bone. If I get pasionate about something, I go to extremes. Abby Trott has scene this for example in my bread making endeavors

Also, I'm an idiot in life too sometimes

Abby Trott:

Ivy and I are both... from Mass! we both have brothers who we argue with but really do love when it comes down to it. We love chocolate, aaaaand... I think we're both brave. (brag?)

Can confirm Rafe is v. passionate about bread. And and idiot.

Rafael Petardi:

All True

PizzaHorse:

What character on the show would you voice if you had the chance?

Abby Trott:

Chase

Rafael Petardi:

I would love Maelstrom

Abby Trott:

Jk... Coach Brunt seems SUPER fun

PizzaHorse:

If you could meet a character from Carmen Sandiego in real life, who would it be and why?

Abby Trott:

Carmen! she is the coooooleeest. I'd ask her to teach me some tricks

Rafael Petardi:

Julie Argent. She's cute

PizzaHorse:

Which character do you think you are most like or that you most identify with?

Rafael Petardi:

CHASE

I think that's partly why we're doing the roles we do

Abby Trott:

I think Ivy, for real! Casting was ON IT. I can be serious when I need to be, but I'm a giant goofball (if you couldn't tell from my latest tweet/insta post...)

PizzaHorse:

Who is your favorite character, other than your own?

Abby Trott:

Mime. Bomb.

Rafael Petardi:

Other than my own? Hmmm... uuuh... mmmm. tough...

Abby Trott:

Seriously, I think Mime bomb is hilarious.

Rafael Petardi:

Yes Mime Bomb!

PizzaHorse:

Do you wish your character had more interactions with another character in particular?

Rafael Petardi:

Yes, I would love to interact with Ivy and Maelstrom

I think the interaction would be odd and awkward and funny

Abby Trott:

Yes. I would love to see how Ivy handles the specific VILE members... I would love to see IVY try to go to VILE academy...

PizzaHorse:

Are there any themes or lessons from the series that you would want people to remember?

Rafael Petardi:

yes, don't jump to conclusions and be an idiot

Abby Trott:

Yes! That! also, don't be evil. ALSO also, be loyal to your friends.

PizzaHorse:

Do you ever look at fan content?

Rafael Petardi:

yes all the time. It helps when I'm tagged rafaelPetardi on Instagram

Abby Trott:

Yes! I look at fanart sometimes, and see what cosplays are happenin'

Rafael Petardi:

I've posted many as well

Abby Trott:

Haven't read much fanfic... but I know it's out there.

PizzaHorse:

What did you think about your character's development and arc throughout the series?

Rafael Petardi:

I absolutely loooooooved Chase's arc

Love redemption stuff

he was just misguided

just was alway his thing

Abby Trott:

I love Ivy's journey - she really grew up, from a troubled kid to an adult, accepting responsibility and accepting new challenges. Donning the hat, if you will.

Rafael Petardi:

*justice as always his thing

PizzaHorse:

How do you feel now that Carmen Sandiego is at its end?

Rafael Petardi:

sad. miss evrybody so much

we will have to have a cast reunion when this pandemic thing is over

Abby Trott:

SAD! But grateful. It was THE MOST fun to record, and I wish it could continue forever.

Rafael Petardi:

I'm grateful too. yes

Abby Trott:

and YES reunion!

PizzaHorse:

Yesss can't wait for that group photo to pop up on social media!

Were there any moments in the series that had you legitimately emotional?

Rafael Petardi:

yes ofcourse

losing Julia was tough

Abby Trott:

A lot. But one that stands out for me is after Carmen gets stuck out in the snow, and is reunited with her crew. (:_;). Also the stuff with Shadowsan and his brother... and anything with baby Carmen...

Gah. So many...

PizzaHorse:

Did you enjoy how the show ended? Is there anything you would have changed or would have liked to see more of?

Rafael Petardi:

I loved the way the show ended! I think Duane did a fantastic job tying loose ends and bring the story to a satisfactory close for all characters

I do hope for an ACME Ivy, Zak, Julia and Chase spin-off

Abby Trott:

I love how it ends. I think it wrapped so well considering the number of eps - the writers really got it done. I WISH Ivy and Zack could follow Carmen forever, but she has her own story to unravel it would seem.

And Ivy does look good in that suit let me tell ya

PizzaHorse:

Can you share a favorite behind the scenes moment?

Abby Trott:

Mikey. Is. So. Funny. Hard to choose one moment - he would make me laugh harder than anything. Especially when we were singing. Or any time he had to gag...

Rafael Petardi:

OMG!

That singing stuff we had to do together was hilarious

we could not stop laughinh

PizzaHorse:

What, in your opinion, are the best pizza toppings?

Abby Trott:

Cheese. Caramelized onions. Roasted garlic. Spinach. Mushrooms.

Rafael Petardi:

buffala mozzarella and tomatos period

oooooo fancy Abby

Abby Trott:

Rafe why aren't you as obsessed with pizza as you are with bread? And can you be?

Rafael Petardi:

I am

Abby Trott:

Rafael Petardi:

I just don;t like to share pizza

PizzaHorse:

Here's a specific question for Rafael. Did you sometimes get mad at your own character for the way he behaved towards Julia earlier on in the Series?

And one for Abby. As a Massachusetts native, how did you feel about voicing a character from Boston with the iconic accent?

Rafael Petardi:

I did not. I always felt, however misguided Chase was, he was always on the path of turth and justice no matter what was in his way. It's the same principals that led hin to see the truth about Julia

*principles

Abby Trott:

I think it's so cool, and kind of an honor, in a way. I was worried about it being too much, and people saying it's over the top. Turns out comedy wins, haha.

PizzaHorse:

Were you familiar with the older animated series when you started work on the Netflix original?

Rafael Petardi:

I never heard of Carmen Sandiego before I did this series

Abby Trott:

Yes! I had seen a bit. I also remember watching my brother play the game. Someone gifted me a mini arcade version of the game this year, and I'm excited to play :slight_smile:

Rafael Petardi:

Which I think helped when I had to say the iconic line

"Where in th world..." there was no pressure

LoL

Abby Trott:

LOL

PizzaHorse:

Okay, last question. Do you have a favorite quote from the show?

Abby Trott:

"La Femme Rouge!"

or Mime Bomb's classic "..."

Rafael Petardi:

"the game is over!"

PizzaHorse:

Woohoo!

Abby Trott:

Hooray!

PizzaHorse:

Thank you so much Rafael Petardi and Abby Trott for joining us today! I hope everybody had a wicked awesome time.

Abby Trott:

Thanks for having us! What a pleasure.

Rafael Petardi:

It was great! Thank you to all the great questions.

Abby Trott:

Thanks for watching the show! Great questions. I'm sure I'm going to think of more quotes as soon as I log off... haha.

Rafael Petardi:

See you all soon!

Abby Trott:

Stay safe, take care, and see you all on various social media platforms!

#Carmen Sandiego #Ivy #Chase Devineaux #CS Crew #Rafael Petardi #Abby Trott #Carmen Sandiego Discord #Carmen Sandiego Discord Server #Interview #Transcript

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thankskenpenders · 5 years ago

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You know, he had some real fierce competition between Geoffrey, Locke, and Anti-Sonic, but Ash sure is trying his hardest to earn the title of Least Likable Archie Sonic Character

He’s been around for about two years of comics now, and he’s displayed exactly zero redeeming qualities. He’s constantly belligerent to not only Sonic, who he’s clearly threatened by even though Sonic has no interest in Mina, but also Mina herself! Like, outside of a brief moment back in that Dear Abby story that Jon Gray just barley salvaged, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen him be nice to Mina? Even here, in private, he’s just yelling at her for not being completely over Sonic. And how can you blame her for still kind of having a thing for Sonic? It’s not like her boyfriend here is making a good case for himself or treating her right

It’s just so obvious that they made Ash a jerk to rile up the Sonic/Mina shippers and get them to hope Sonic would save Mina from Ash. It’s sucks

Like, oh my god... I am so sick of this brand of teen angst in these comics. I’m fine with the characters having relationship drama and having stories focus on their emotional states! Stargazing was maybe my favorite story in the series so far, and that was all about Nicole’s personal angst and a lot of romantic undertones with her and Sally with no fighting or adventuring. But like... that actually touched on interesting ideas! Nicole’s desire to be organic, the question of whether or not an artificial intelligence can be considered alive, Sally feeling like she can’t really turn to anyone other than Nicole due to her role as princess. We learned more about these characters and explored their hidden depths!

But stories like this or the agonizing recent Penders issues don’t do that. We’re not really learning more about the characters. The only questions being explored are “who likes who?” and “who ends up with who?” It’s just an endless game of musical chairs with everyone jumping from relationship to relationship to rile up the shippers

It’s also really sad to end Bollers’ run on a story like this, because the Return to Angel Island arc was so incredibly strong

#StH 154 #tkp post

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travllingbunny · 5 years ago

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The 100 6x06 Memento Mori

Another late review from me, putting in one place all my thoughts about episode 6x06, from things that everyone has talked and posted gifs about a lot (like Bellamy’s emotional state) and had different stances on (such as, how you feel about Murphy and his character arc), to things that haven’t been discussed much (like some of my thoughts on the Flame and the Sheidheda plotline).

In the end, I talk a bit about my expectations and predictions for episode 6x07, Nevermind, which many will see tonight, and that I’ll get to watch tomorrow, and the following episodes.

I have huge expectations for Nevermind, but Memento Mori was a great set-up. I have to say, much as I loved other things in the episode (particularly grieving, emotional Bellamy and the hardest decision he ever had to make), my enjoyment of the episode rose by about 100% because of the last scene. Sometimes you don’t need to be surprised by a TV show: sometimes a reveal is something you expect and enjoy all the more when it finally happens. And oh, did it deliver. The scene was amazing, with the dreamy atmosphere, cinematography, the introduction to Clarke’s mind-wall (the prop department really outdid themselves with this one!), and the wonderful music. The 100 always has great, on-point musical choices, and this season has been one of the best in that regard.

Eliza Taylor continued to be amazing – maybe even better this episode than in 6x05, as Josephine was openly Josephine in front of some characters, continued to pretend to be Clarke in several others, with varying degrees of effort and success, and intentionally put on a pseudo-Clarke persona in front of someone who already knew she wasn’t Clarke, just to mess with his mind (the last one was reserved for Bellamy). While Josephine’s Clarke-act was absolutely terrible in 6x05 – because she didn’t even know almost anything about Clarke, so she was making blunders left and right – this time (after learning a lot about her from Murphy) she was, at times, a little more convincing and almost approached some version of Clarkeness, but this only produced the Uncanny Valley effect: it was like a skewed, caricatured version of Clarke and felt really, really creepy.

One such moment of Josephine playing a skewed version of Clarke was when she was fooling Raven, Emori and Echo. She was putting on Clarke’s serious, concerned look and tone of voice (Murphy must have coached her on all of that), but her phrasing at times still should have alerted them to her flippant attitude – as when she said that the whole murder and bodysnatching thing really lit a fire in Bellamy. Maybe that hint was too subtle - it was similar to her line “the Kane problem”, which Abby noticed, but Abby is Clarke’s mother after all and knows her better. Echo was surprised that Bellamy supposedly left by himself, not just that he didn’t ask her, but also that “Clarke” let Bellamy go by himself with the foraging party – but she was more concerned with Bellamy’s safety than she stopped to think much of Clarke’s behavior (and after all, she doesn’t know her that well compared to most others).

Josephine also used the same argument she tried to sell Bellamy in 6x04 and that served as more confirmation to him that she was not really Clarke – the whole “we have all done bad things, what right do we have to judge them, so let’s just do nothing and let the bodysnatchers continue doing their awful thing”. Real Clarke feels guilty and is critical of her own actions, but doesn’t start criticizing all of her friends unprompted and talking about how they’ve all done awful things, and certainly not in order to justify tolerating evil actions of someone else! But JosephineClarke’s argument is actually one that I have seen in the fandom – this idea that “there are no good guys”, that everyone is a villain, that Clarke and Bellamy and the rest of them are just as bad as the Mountain Men or the Primes (with some BS equations between completely different things such as “well, they all murdered innocent people” – so, apparently, defending yourself and your loved ones, the only way you can, from an evil overlord society in the process of horribly killing you to use your body parts, is exactly the same as brainwashing people into worshiping you as gods and stealing their bodies because you think you’re superior and should live forever!)… so therefore, they don’t have the right to fight against evil. After all, fighting evil also makes you do things like kill people, so why do anything? Just keep your head down and don’t do anything. But the show has (in the Abby/Jackson conversation in 6x05) addressed the fact that doing nothing and letting evil happen is as bad as doing evil. And there is something incredibly meta about Josephine, the show’s villain masquerading as the show’s hero Clarke, cynically uttering these lines to deceive our protagonists and make them complacent about the horrible things she and her family are dong, just as the same morally bankrupt argument is used by some fans to defend the show’s villains.

(In this episode, we learned even more (directly and through Xavier) about how awful the Sanctum society is – in addition to the fact they bodysnatch the hosts, they call people without the Nightblood gene (who therefore cannot happen to have Nightblood children) “nulls”. Nulls are not allowed to have children and get to do the lowest jobs, and there is also the sacrifice to the trees in the Offering Grove – which is apparently also “voluntary”, in the sense of people being brainwashed by a cult to sacrifice themselves.)

Bellamy never bought that this was really Clarke, and that Clarke would argue in favor of tolerating murder and bodysnatching, but Raven and the others swallowed it. It seemed to play right into Raven’s recent conviction that Clarke is not feeling guilty over anything and is just putting on an act, and into her self-righteous streak, which was in full force, even worse than before. Do I even have to point out the ridiculousness of Raven’s line that, unlike Clarke, she never did anything she regrets? I could start listing (as many of us have over the past week) facts such as: Raven tortured Lincoln with electroshocks, Raven tried to turn Murphy over to the Grounders to be murdered by prolonged torture for a crime that Finn had committed, Raven tried to get Clarke to kill Lexa and start a war over Finn even though that would have gotten many people killed including Clarke, Raven withheld medication from dying children because of rationing (and felt horrible about it), Raven made Clarke make a list of 100 people who would get to survive in Arkadia – while simultaneously bashing Clarke over it (“choosing who lives or dies is your specialty”), Raven gave Echo an OK to kill Shaw at one point, Raven participated in many of the hard and problematic things Clarke and the others had to do – blowing up Grounders on the bridge, burning 300 Grounders who had attacked them, etc., Raven was OK with potentially killing Raven left Clarke behind to die (and Clarke ended up alone on the deserted planet for 6 years as a result) and was ready to leave Bellamy, Monty, Emori and Murphy to die in the season 5 finale… Some of these things I don’t consider wrong under the circumstances, some of these were just one of the two bad choices – but that’s also true of most of the things Clarke has done. Being angry at Clarke for her recent betrayal is something I expected and was perfectly fine with, but being as hypocritical as Raven is now, that is really annoying. So what is going on with Raven now? Like many others, I haven’t enjoyed her characterization in season 6. It’s one of the few things I didn’t like this season. Murphy has also had his annoying moments, but he also has a real storyline, one that’s not just about being mean to Clarke. Raven currently does not. But maybe, as I’ve been hoping, this is all building up to a real character development and some sort of soul-searching. We have had many indications that Raven actually feels guilty and unworthy deep inside – Sinclair’s remarks to her in season 3, Shaw’s message “Tell Raven that she deserves happiness” – and that her high horse attitude is just a cover. I hope this is something that season 6 gets to really explore and resolve.

On the other hand, it was much more enjoyable to see Raven turning her anger and moral outrage at someone who really does deserve it – one of the Primes. And since Ryker is not a sociopath or narcissist, and does have the capacity for compassion and remorse, Raven’s words are, hopefully, going to make him rethink everything and realize he can’t go on like that. He’s been raised since teenage years and surrounded by people telling him that it’s OK to move from body to body and see others sacrifice themselves for you, but he’s over 200 years old and responsible for his own choices. And feeling sorry about hurting people is really meaningless if you go on and do the same thing again, without any intention to change. That makes you a hypocrite like Russell and Simone with their “thank you for your sacrifice” mantra said while murdering people who definitely didn’t make a choice to sacrifice themselves.

Speaking of which – Josephine really is devoid of any deeper feeling for pretty much anyone other than herself. We already saw it when she killed her “best friend” Kaylee Lee, but that was supposed to be a permanent death. Now she managed to convince her mother to wipe the entire Lee family. (Interesting that she referred to Russell as being led by the heart. The show is again going with the pseudo-parallel between Russell and Simone and Bellamy and Clarke, as in the parallel Power Couple shots in 6x03). Bye bye, four of the Primes, including one we got to know a bit better. I can’t say I feel sorry, since I think all the mind drives will have to be destroyed by the end of this season, so a definite end would be put to bodysnatching. Now there are 8 more Primes who are “alive”, but two of them are still just on the mind-drives and out of commission (the two members of Miranda’s family, whom we haven’t seen in the present), and Josephine got 4 empty mind-drives. She gave two as payment to Murphy for his part in coaching her to fool Abby and getting the others (mostly Bellamy) to decide not to take revenge for Clarke, she promised Abby one for Kane, and it still leaves one. But the other Primes would certainly not be happy if they found out about all these things – now it’s not just the fact that Russell and Simone skipped the line for their daughter, when Miranda’s loved one was next, but also that they permanently killed four of the Primes. A good way to defeat the Primes would be to start by turning them against each other. Just saying.

Abby and Murphy are two characters whose current role and actions are pretty controversial at the moment and that fans disagree on. Both of them are the most convenient target for Josephine to corrupt and get on her side due to their current issues. With Abby, the debates are mostly about whether she has realized that Josephine is not really Clarke, and is just playing along and planning to wake the people on the ship, or if she really has been fooled, which many hold against her. I’m really not completely sure, even after watching the episode twice and replaying the last shot of the scene between Abby and JC. Abby did indeed notice several weird things about “Clarke” and seemed on the brink of realizing the truth, but that time, Josephine really went for the jugular and used all the cards Murphy has taught her to play: guilt over her addiction, over cannibalism and the Dark Year, turning Jake over, failing Kane due to her addiction and indirectly causing his injury/death by indulging Vinson because of her addiction, her idealization of Kane which is a result of both love and guilt, and even her relationship with Clarke – the last card JC used was telling “her mom” that she cannot lose her. But during the hug, as we saw their faces, Josephine was not the only one who didn’t look like a loving family member: Abby’s weird, blank look could be read in different ways. And I’m sure this is exactly what the show is going for, ambiguity. We’ll probably only be sure in two episodes. Abby’s face almost made me believe the theory that she’s just pretending, but at the same time, it would be too easy if she simply goes to the ship to wake an army to come to Sanctum. Or maybe she almost knows it, but doesn’t want to admit it to herself? At the same time, Raven definitely still doesn’t know that Clarke is dead, and if Abby hasn’t figured it out, she still won’t learn it for some time.

On the other hand, it’s pretty clear where Murphy stands and what he wants, but fans seem divided over whether it makes him a bad guy, whether they hate him, and whether it is in character. I think it definitely is, and shouldn’t be surprising. Murphy certainly genuinely wants immortality – he straight up told Bellamy in 6x05 that he finds the idea appealing. While he’s always been motivated by his own survival, it used to be all about trying not to die any time soon. I don’t think it would have extended to wanting to live forever – until he died this season and saw what he thinks is “hell”. I don’t know if we’ll ever learn what he saw, or if it will remain a mystery, and just used to motivate him. His fear of going to hell is driving him, and, of course, he wants Emori as his eternal companion. (That sounded like something from vampire fiction, which is weird.) Now, that doesn’t mean that Murphy doesn’t also care about Bellamy, Raven and the others, including Clarke. I do think he was sad to learn of her ‘death’, but, of course, his reaction was never going to be as strong as Bellamy’s or Madi’s. He would only feel that way if Emori died. But keep in mind that Murphy doesn’t know that Clarke is still alive and can be brought back. From his point of view, there is no use in antagonizing the Sanctum people, and risking the lives of Bellamy, Raven, Echo, Jordan etc. and of course, Emori and himself, just to avenge someone who’s already dead. And he’s never been a person with deep ethical convictions who would care deeply about the morality of bodysnatching in general, or the lives of unknown people who mean nothing to him. I do think he cares about his friends, and that he wasn’t just doing what he needed to do for immortality, but what he thought he had to do to protect them, even from themselves –as I’m sure he thought while he was trying to manipulate Bellamy. Now, when he finds out that Clarke can be brought back, it’s only then that he will really be put into a dilemma to choose between friends and immortality/fear of death.

What can I say about Bellamy in this episode that hasn’t been said by so many other people already, both in reviews and meta and in hundreds of gifsets and videos? Even the released script pages confirmed what was so obvious. This was a great Bellamy episode, and Bob Morley’s best performance this season. While I have enjoyed most of Bellamy’s arc over seasons 5 and 6 (just as every other season), and while I disagree with fans who claim that we haven’t seen Bellamy be emotional since season 4 (he had a lot of emotional, angry, hurt, passionate, happy moments over the course of the second half of season 5), we haven’t seen this kind of outbreak of emotion in a very long time. We can only imagine how Bellamy grieved for Clarke after Praimfaya, but I think this was even worse for him – because it wasn’t her choice and her heroic act this time – she was murdered (as far as he knows), and because, after learning to love on, he got Clarke back and lost her again, just as they had finally fully emotionally reunited. And to make things so much worse, he has to look at this person who is nothing like Clarke, mocking him by walking around in Clarke’s body. Bellamy’s arc in this episode was all about his pain, grief and despair, and the way he had to be strong and reign in his anger and desire for revenge, for justice, for something other than having to be there among people responsible for these her death. I love the fact that, even shackled and tied, he managed to tear Josephine’s self-portrait. On top of it, he had to endure Josephine messing by propos(ison)ing him to “help each other get through it” (hmm) while putting on a pseudo-Clarke soft, caring face and voice (which felt so fake, like a caricature) – which made him turn around because he couldn’t even look at her. She could have almost killed him there, and I don’t even know what he would have done if she had tried, but Murphy saved him through his and JC’s manipulation of both him and Russell.

Was JC’s lack of concern over her daddy’s life just because she expected Bellamy to back down from killing him, or did she expect him to kill Russell? I tend to think she thought he wouldn’t kill him, but wasn’t too worried if he did. In any case, I can’t imagine how difficult it must have been for Bellamy to decide to spare Russell and also agree to not take any actions against him and the Primes. And just like after Praimfaya, he decided to do “What Clarke would do” and what she would want him to do after her death – survive and try to keep all of their people alive.

Now, was their decision the right one? I think that deciding not to act out of revenge, prioritize that over survival and protecting people who are still alive, and especially, deciding not to get a lot of other people killed, was absolutely the right decision, and what Clarke would also do. Clarke could do all sorts of crazy and extreme things to protect her loved ones, but she never killed anyone out of revenge. However, that doesn’t mean that going along with the Primes is the right thing. Standing by and letting evil happen is not “being a good guy”. The Primes will keep killing and oppressing people and treating them like cattle if they are not stopped. And I don’t think Bellamy being for that in the long run. But right now, I think he feels defeated and has lost the will to live, rather than just survive and ensure his people’s survival. But everything will change when he finds out that Clarke is alive and can be brought back.

In the meantime, I really want to see Jordan’s reaction. He was MIA in this episode, but I don’t think he will be happy to play nice with the Primes, not just because of Delilah but also because he does have a strong moral compass and was horrified about bodysnatching.

Is anyone still pretending that Bellamy and Clarke are just BFFs? That’s a question I keep asking throughout the show. I’m sure that, if someone were to see just this episode out of the show, they would definitely conclude that Clarke was Bellamy’s girlfriend (wife?) that he is really in love with, while Echo is his good friend who works for him and may have a crush on him. Come to think of it, 90% of the show makes it look like that. He never seemed to think of his actual girlfriend while being broken up over Clarke, and Murphy never brought her up as a motivation for Bellamy to forego revenge and focus on his own survival and the reasons he has to live. Echo gave him a brief hug to try to comfort him, but Bellamy still left to grieve all by himself, away from all of them. He also once again rejected Echo’s suggestion (she assumed they would go and fight the Sanctum people) and instead chose the “What would Clarke do?” course of action.

At this point, I’m sure that the show is intentionally portraying their relationship like that, since it’s done that consistently, especially comparing Bellamy’s relationships with Clarke and Echo all season 6 – and the scenes where Echo gets some long-overdue character development have all been when she’s away from Bellamy. Echo figuring out that Clarke has been bodysnatched – not through JC’s behavior, as Bellamy, but based on other evidence, such as how Jade behaved – didn’t end up contributing to the plot, as everyone else already knew about Clarke, so it was there probably just 1) to confirm that Echo is indeed smart and perceptive enough not to be duped, as a spy is supposed to be, and, I think 2) to develop her relationship with Jade. These two could have an interesting dynamic, as both are soldiers/spies who define themselves by following orders. Echo threatened to kill Jade’s “master”, and during the eclipse, Emori taunted her that she was still just following another master’s orders (Bellamy now being her ‘master’) and this seemed to resonate with her. At the same time, this time, Echo showed that she does have a compassionate streak when she mercy-killed the guard who was being slowly eaten by the trees in the Offering Grove, in spite of Jade’s protests. It puts her in a completely new kind of dynamic – Jade is like an even more single-minded version of her old self. The fact that Echo didn’t kill Jade and instead promised to come back (she has to do it soon, though, before the trees get too deep into Jade!) suggests we’ll see more of that dynamic.

Bellamy had the hard task to tell Madi the news of her mother’s death. But Madi is the one person who is definitely not going to play nice and who doesn’t want to restrain her desire to “burn the whole place down” for revenge. The question I’ve seen brought up is, is the Sheidheda arc even necessary to motivate her? Isn’t an angry teenage girl with a head full of dead Commanders, most of whom believed in the “Blood must have blood” mantra, already enough? I think that Madi is going to take some extreme actions, or we are supposed to be afraid of what extreme actions she must take, and that this is why they wanted to give her an extra push – and another plot about “facing your demons”, with Sheidheda as a “devil on her shoulder” character.

The existence of Sheidheda also poses the question, why is it that the Grounders think that having the Flame in your head is a good thing for the next Commander, when at least one of the voices inside is one they fear and consider evil? When Titus said that the Flame makes the good and the bad in a person stronger – it is because Commanders literally have different voices, good and bad, inside their head. But really, how beneficial has the Flame “wisdom” proven to be, even without Sheidheda? Almost every time we learned about advice of past Commanders (with the exception of Lexa's in 5x12), and that wasn't often, it didn't seem to be good or useful advice. In 3x06, Lexa said that the past Commanders were upset with her new path of choosing to forego war and revenge. (Was it really all of them? Including Becca?) In 5x13, Clarke thought for a moment that Madi got the wise advice to not kill the prisoners of war from the Flame - but she didn't, she got it from Bellamy. And there's something about the Flame that never made sense and still hasn't been explained. It was created by Becca to help humanity by passing on knowledge and wisdom... and Becca was the first Commander. So how come Grounders managed to forget all about technology and history before the apocalypse? That never made sense even without the Flame. With it, and Becca's memories, they should have known even more about science and technology than the Mountain Men, and that could have helped defeat them. Mount Weather people were descendants of the US government employees, and some of them may have been great scientists, but Becca was a genius scientist. How did they instead turn into a medieval-level technology warrior society that worships violence and revenge? Something must have gone horribly wrong. And the only explanation seems to be Second Dawn, which seems to be behind the Grounder religion, and probably their world view as well. (That reveal really explained a lot.)

After we found out about Sheidheda from the trailer, there was some speculation to the effect of "since Grounder culture favors violence, war and revenge, what could have set this one guy apart, to the point that he is considered the Dark Commander?" From what we learned in this episode, Sheidheda was Chaotic Evil, whereas most Commanders were trying to stick to the tradition and were being either Lawful Neutral or Lawful Evil or somewhere in between. This guy apparently said, Screw tradition, killed his mentor, and actually did whatever the hell he wanted. And, well, killing your Flamekeepers, no doubt, the exact thing that would make the Flamekeepers talk of you as a dark, terrifying presence. Flamekeepers are mentors to the Commanders who want to maintain control and influence over the charges, even if they are technically supposed to be their subjects. And what Sheidheda said about killing your mentor before they kill you.... he may have had a point? Not about Gaia, of course, but we've seen that with Titus and Lexa. He did try to control her, taught her toxic views like "Love is weakness", which are apparently generally a part of Flamekeeper teachings. He got upset when someone else - Clarke - started influencing Lexa with ideas contrary to his traditionalist Grounder ideas such as “Blood msut have blood”… and, well, he did kill his Commander, not intentionally, but it happened as an almost direct result of his desire to maintain his control over her and her views and political actions.

The B-plot with Octavia, Diyoza and Xavier had some big revelations in this episode, with the healing power of the sap from the withered trees, the temporal flare from last episode that has apparently withered Octavia’s arm and made it look like she is 150 years old (which, come to think of it, is roughly her chronological age) and the mysterious spirals that are signs of the Anomaly calling to her and Diyoza, as it apparently once called to Xavier. Now, some people speculate that Xavier is Gabriel, but I don’t believe that. His personality is nothing like Gabriel’s, from what we’ve seen of Gabriel so far, and I imagine Gabriel is even more guilty and sad these days – nothing like Xavier’s lively, snarky personality. I don’t think we’ll see these characters in 6x07, but (spoiler – if you consider titles of future episodes spoilers) we should learn what the Anomaly is in 6x08. I expect the bodysnatching story to be wrapped up in season 6, but I think this plot with the anomaly offers a lot of different possibilities, with its time-warping theme, and may continue to be addressed in season 7, kind of like the City of Light was set up in season 2 but fully developed in season 3.

The last scene was a perfect intro into the upcoming episode 6x07. I have huge expectations, because I have been wishing for a Clarke-centric, character-based episode like that for a long time. I love psychological SciFi stories, and Clarke fighting Josephine in her mind, while dealing with her own demons and her own past, seems like a dream. I must say, while it’s been fun analyzing and identifying various scenes and characters from the drawings from the walls of Clarke’s mind-space and various lines that were heard on top of each other and half-drowned in music, most of these are just Easter Eggs for hardcore fans. What matters most is what the show focuses on. In this episode (ignoring the sneak peeks), the scene focused on the drawing of Abby (as we heard lines from the very first scene of the show), then Lexa, and then Bellamy, which was an interesting choice. But I hope people don’t get too distracted by questions such as “which characters will be referenced and how many times”, “which past actors will have cameos”, etc. I don’t want the episode to be a clip show – I would love references to everything that has impacted Clarke, but what’s important is that it is all for the purpose of Clarke’s character development, her emotional state, her ability to fight her own demons and decide that she really wants to live and deserves happiness. And for her to be able to fight Josephine and signal Bellamy others that she is still there.

Rating: 9/10

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#the 100 #the 100 6x06 #the 100 season 6 #memento mori #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #josephine Lightbourne #john murphy #raven reyes #abby griffin #madi #madi griffin #sheidheda #the flame #echo #echo kom azgeda #xavier #the primes #sanctum

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aliveandfullofjoy · 7 years ago

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Over the last 18 hours I saw both The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and I have thoughts on both! Thanks MoviePass! Spoilers below of course.

So first, The Shape of Water:

Sally Hawkins, y’all. She’s been one of my favorite actors for several years now after delivering one of my favorite performances (maybe ever?) in Happy-Go-Lucky, and her steadily great work continues in basically everything she’s in, whether it’s bit roles in Submarine or An Education or Never Let Me Go or Paddington or the role that she finally got her Oscar nomination for in Blue Jasmine. She’s superb in everything. It’s too soon for me to really say if this is career best or not (Happy-Go-Lucky is an absurdly high water mark for me) but she’s fucking phenomenal. This is the kind of performance actors dream of giving and every single soul who watches this movie will fall in love with her Elisa.

The supporting cast is real solid! Octavia Spencer, God love her, is delightful as always, Richard Jenkins is heartbreakingly lovely in a quiet, refined way, Michael Shannon is loud and white and straight and male, Michael Stuhlbarg is reliably good. It’s Hawkins’ movie through and through. Oh! And Alabama senator-elect (jk) Doug Jones as the fish man is really great too.

It’s gorgeous to look at, obviously. And the music is really effective.

The actual plotting of the story is pretty terrific, and it really does play out like a Cold War-era fairytale, and Guillermo del Toro is to be commended for that. The actual dialogue was a little iffy sometimes, but I can look past that.

Oh that musical sequence was unnecessary. Cute, but wildly unnecessary. The use of “You’ll Never Know” throughout, however, was beautiful.

My biggest complaint is that for the most part, it sort of felt a bit...familiar? There’s the obvious Creature from the Black Lagoon influences, but Caty was quick to point out Amélie and Pushing Daisies as well. And the sets that looked practically identical to Hidden Figures and Mad Men and that “Settle for Me” song in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. It wasn’t a distraction! And the last fifteen minutes or so are so strong that it made me forget about most of the issues I had with it up to that point.

Oh, I also felt like the movie was missing a scene in establishing Elisa and the Asset’s relationship early on? It all happened a bit quickly. And maybe it’s my own prejudices, but I wouldn’t be all that quick to jump into a romantic and sexual relationship with a fish man. But Hawkins sold it!

As for Oscar chances, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if it led the nomination count this year. It can get nominated in virtually every non-documentary/non-foreign language/non-animation category except Best Actor and Best Song, lol. I’m wondering how Best Picture and Director will shake out--Del Toro stands a real shot at Director, I think, as does Hawkins.

Real solid overall!

Now Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

So first off: In Bruges is one of my all-time favorite movies. Naturally, I was thrilled that McDonagh had this movie coming out, because I like pretty much everyone in the cast and I’m all for him getting some awards love.

Basically I’m not sure what to make of this just yet. I feel like maybe it has a lot of great and interesting ideas and doesn’t actually explore them all the way? Like, yeah, in the current political climate I can understand the temptation to praise a movie for merely saying that cops can be very shitty and the jobs lends itself to corruption, toxic masculinity, violence, racism, and homophobia very easily, but the film doesn’t seem to really do much with that other than show (repeatedly) how shitty Sam Rockwell’s Dixon is, until his redemption arc begins.

Frances McDormand is real good. It’s an incredibly powerful and entertaining performance, and a truly fascinating character.

I can’t tell how I feel about Sam Rockwell’s performance--a lot of his scenes were really great and honest and a lot of others felt really false and mannered. I’m not sure how much my perception is being colored by his character being so aggressively despicable, even with the attempt at a redemption arc. And for a character that was clearly meant to be some kind of comedic relief, I didn’t think he was very funny--probably because he was so despicable.

Most of the humor really fell flat with my audience unfortunately! I did think parts of it were very, very funny in the McDonagh way. Not all of it though.

Woody Harrelson was probably my favorite of the supporting actors. His letters were beautifully acted and written, so kudos for that, McD.

Most of it really feels like what it is: a non-American writer/director creating a story that critiques and comments on contemporary America. The problem with that is that it doesn’t actually feel like the America we live in right now. Which, weirdly, was sort of a positive thing for me since the story is so heightened and frankly unbelievable in the first place.

John Hawkes, Lucas Hedges, Željko Ivanek, and Peter Dinklage are all great actors and were all waaaaaaaay underused. Samara Weaving as Penelope was fucking hilarious but she was in a completely different movie from everyone else. Abbie Cornish was probably used too much, lol. I’m still not sold on Caleb Landry Jones as an actor but I liked him more here than I did in Get Out.

Also, what is it with Martin McDonagh and little people?

The makings of a really great, really important movie are here, but I don’t think it delivered all the way.

All that said, watching it, it feels like a Best Picture winner? And not in the way that it’s the best movie of the year, but in the sense that it checks all the boxes of one: just timely enough, enough of a crowd-pleaser, full of actors acting really hard, a VERY writerly script, etc. However, as last year showed, being perceived as an inevitable winner can be a bad thing. And the current voting system favors consensus picks. It’s a long road to the Oscars, and I’d be very surprised if Three Billboards kept up the buzz to actually take it all the way. But of course, I’ve been wrong before.

#sometimes elliott watches movies #the shape of water #guillermo del toro #three billboards outside ebbing missouri #martin mcdonagh

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hawthornewhisperer · 8 years ago

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Absolutely Speechless Thoughts about 407

So like, aside from the Octavia stuff, this episode was cooking on all cylinders for me, and god, did it land some gut punches.

I’m gonna get the Octavia stuff out of the way first because...yeah. I’ll buy what they’re selling (she’s hit rock bottom and longing for something-- anything-- to make her feel again) but I’m not happy about it. Her conversation with Murderous Elf Prince was well acted but really heavy handed, and the shift from suicidal to Ready to Bone was a little bit abrupt. But I’ve struggled with her arc this season and if this means she’s turning over a new leaf and we get some forward progress...sure, okay. Also, this show’s insistence on what makes a murderer and what doesn’t is shaky at best and I wish they’d stop using that phrasing because it bugs.

The Science Island stuff really worked though, from Clarke’s lovely reunion with Abby to Emori’s delightfully in-character twist at the end. I am INCREDIBLY CONFUSED how the mansion survived the first death wave not just intact, but pristine but I guess I can chalk that up to some Becca Invention of Future-Plot-Related Convenience because the initial scenes of Murphy cooking and Clarke taking a goddamn break with a well deserved shower and almost nap were on fire. I wish we could have had Raven in there, giving Murphy increasingly unhelpful hints as he cooks just like he did for her in the flight simulator, but I do like that she was also taking a goddamn nap because literally everyone on this show deserves a nap and a cuddle.

The very convenient red shirt breaking in was puzzling, but it paved the way for Emori to steal the fucking show, so as my darling Moses in Attack the Block would say: allow it. She really tore shit up, first with that brutal fight and then with her spitting out her whole horrible history and what I really liked about it was contrasting it to Clarke, who has darkness but in a very different way. I have a lot of feelings about how Emori honed in on how Clarke was clearly loved and cherished as a child, because that is a fundamental to her characterization in a lot of ways. It sets her apart from other characters, like Murphy and Bellamy and Raven, and it’s a sort of invisible privilege that she doesn’t always recognize. (Privilege isn’t quite the right word there, because “being loved by your parents” should be a baseline human experience, but it isn’t and it’s a sort of emotional advantage that Clarke has that other characters don’t). And having Murphy be totally fucking into Emori’s ruthlessness was a delightful surprise that still felt earned and in character.

Anyway, the red shirt solution was clearly an appealing option for Clarke, but I really, really liked that Abby was still all “this is fucking terrible of us.” I appreciated the wisdom that Abby is bringing to the table there, because Clarke is just like “oh thank god this guy is worthless we can kill him nbd” and Abby’s like “...yeah, but we’re still killing him.” (Or if he lives, they’re still torturing him.) It’s an organic difference of opinion built around age and experience and I just love how it’s playing out. It’s also highlighting how Clarke is unable to see the trees because of the forest, and that indicates some interesting moments for her in the future when they inevitably turn into Mount Weather: Bone Marrow Boogaloo.

Sidenote: real glad Zach McGowan was able to pick up a paycheck for this episode. Good to see you boo, and I hope next ep we get Roan like, poking at fancy tech stuff in curiosity while Raven impatiently slaps his hand away. I also totally forgot that Miller was on the island so when Clarke said Roan was unloading the fuel “with the others” I had this great mental image of him and Luna doing it by themselves, because they’re both ripped but he’s crossfit and she’s yoga and man now I want to write a fic with them as dueling personal fitness trainers.

The Arkadia scenes worked well for me too, although the “every other character who isn’t contracted for this ep is magically elsewhere” dialogue felt a little clumsy because how fucking big is Arkadia then? But whatever, it gave Harper her own storyline that was heartbreaking and human, and well done, show.

But what I really want to talk about is Beard Dad and Bellamy having it out over a radio. First of all, I’m really glad both Ian and Bob got some solid material for their highlight reels because they both acted the shit out of those scenes with just radios to play towards. But everything was gut wrenching and in character, because Kane was parenting the shit out of everyone and nobody was having it, not even his Favorite Son Slash Trainee Dad.

People have already said it already, but thank all that is holy for a Bellamy story that did not revolve around the massacre, but who he is as a person. And who he is as a person is someone who will save the person in front of him every goddamn time, no matter the risk. But lately, he’s been fading because he keeps trying to protect people and no matter what, they’re leaving him or dying and he’s utterly powerless against the oncoming radiation. Bellamy telling those men that he wasn’t coming was agonizing to watch, and it reminded me of Bellamy finding Atom in the woods-- he’s helpless and all he can do is listen to them die. He can’t even give them mercy like Clarke did for Atom. It’s a stark moment, and we feel every last bit of despair that Bellamy has been fighting for weeks.

And man, poor Kane. He was dadding Bellamy as best he could, but Kane has put his season one self so firmly in the past he forgot that not everyone has. Bellamy bringing up Kane’s role in his mother’s death complicates their relationship in a really challenging way, because so much of who Bellamy is now is because he lost her. He’s been carrying that guilt and anger around on his own for years, and you could tell it hurt him just a little to unload it on Kane, as deserved as it might be. (It’s also a very on-brand moment for the Blake Siblings, and let’s have a moment of reflection to thank the new writers who managed to nail this in one fucking episode). I am really interested to see where Bellamy is next episode, because “not wanting to be saved” is a really bleak place for him, but it’s also a place he’s been headed for this whole season and I cannot wait to see that arc come to fruition.

Next week: Bellamy and Jasper go on a very depressing looking road trip, and Jaha goes Full Cult!

#the 100 s4 spoilers #407 spoilers #there have been so many callbacks and retreads this season #I think I've made an electric boogaloo reference in each recap #thoughts with hawthornewhisperer

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nataliecrown · 8 years ago

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4x01 Recap - Echoes (The 100)

Alright folks, it’s time. My show has returned, and I am throwing myself back on this ride with wild abandon.

I’m adopting my Discussapalooza style from here on out. Which is to say that this recap is going to be very long. If there are any sections that you’d like me to pull out and post seperately, let me know. Otherwise, you have been warned - I like to go in depth.

We ready? LET’S GO.

Octavia feels right from the get go

First we need to talk about how stupid the Polis tower is, from a practical standpoint. It’s one of those choices where this show went for BIG BIG BIG without thinking of anything else. It is DUMB that they all got down without incident with the elevator out. And like...next episode they are back up there again??? AGSAJSABHFSAF.

Anyway, the little wobble that Octavia has as we see her climbing down the last chunk is hilarious to me because I feel it’s the only acknowledgment the writers make to the ridiculously death defying feat they all just accomplished? ANYWAY.

We then get all the emotions when Octavia runs to Indra, and this relationship means the actual world to me if I’m honest. When you look back at how they started, and the genuine affection and respect between them now - particularly from Indra’s side - it’s actually incredible. Plus I am just STRAIGHT UP EUPHORIC that Indra is still around.

Their interaction regarding Pike is really subtle, and I love it. As much as I am sad to have lost Mike Beach (though he continues to be the absolute best), I also really do not have an issue with Octavia killing him. He executed Lincoln, and this world is messed up. I enjoy Octavia’s ‘I waited until it was over line’ even though it’s only just true (she almost screwed everybody over beforehand when she couldn’t control her urges), but I think the delivery is spot on. It was a struggle for Octavia to hold back. In the end, she needed it to be over. And Indra’s nod? Mostly, I see understanding there. But I’ll keep an eye on where these two go this season, because maybe there was also a little bit of sadness? We’ll see.

Bellarke instantly blow my mind

HONESTLY. I’m not exaggerating when I flail over them standing next to each other. It’s actually iconic at this point. STAND TOGETHER ALL THE TIME PLEASE.

Polis is a mess. Would be super great if it would just...get blasted out of existence sometime soon? *innocent emoji*

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THEIR OCTAVIA INTERACTION. I’M GONNA LIST WITHIN MY LIST.

1. I love that Clarke is looking to make him feel better, despite everything else on their plates. That’s the first thing we get from Clarke in Season 4 - her reassuring Bellamy.

2. I also love that Bellamy isn’t racing after Octavia to check in, to follow up, or even just to keep an eye on her. We see this throughout the episode, and I’ll talk about it more, but I really feel like the Blake relationship is going to step up in a big way, and in a way that it needs to. Bellamy is going to step back from Octavia, not from lack of love, but from the perspective that she can take care of herself. And maybe, for the first time in Bellamy’s life, he can lift a little of the burden of responsibility off his shoulders (I mean, that’s a joke obviously...because the world is ending, but you know).

3. AND when Clarke mentions that people will believe Pike had it coming, Bellamy responds with ‘maybe we all do.’ His head almost snaps around when Clarke says it, and it’s clear that he’s thinking if Pike deserved it, then so do I.

Okay, so moving on. We’ve known for a long time that Clarke was going to tell Bellamy before everyone else. I want to point it out again though. Because.

It’s Bellamy that suggests they hold back on sharing the end of the world news until they have more facts, and Clarke points out that he’s afraid of how people will react. Meg and I have just shared our podcast recap of 1x04, so the episode is vivid in my mind and I LOVE how this moment calls back to that episode. Back then Bellamy told Clarke ‘be smart about this’. She didn’t listen, and things went a bit tits up. It was the end of that episode that Bellamy and Clarke became partners with ‘from now on, we make the rules.’ And we see their evolution presented here. Clarke listens to Bellamy.

THEY ARE STANDING VERY CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER JUST SO YOU KNOW.

Bellamy loves to drop in shit jokes in terribad situations. I love it. It’s like he’s constantly trying to lighten the weight on Clarke’s shoulders. Like he cares for her happiness or some shit.

So Clarke listens to Bellamy as he reassures her. It’s step by step Clarke, one thing at a time. We get down, we go home, we figure it out (hey, remember the 3x16 script revealing to us that Clarke thought of Bellamy as she pulled the lever? And remember how she said ‘we’ll figure something out, we always do.’ It’s a little bit like this sort of moment was EXACTLY what she imagined) and we survive. We get a long shot of Clarke’s face when Bellamy finished talking, and it is all about her looking at him and just being so grateful for him. She needs him, more than anyone (yes, I believe more than she needs Abby and yes I believe more than she needed Lexa - sue me).

‘Thank you, for keeping me alive.’ SO AFTER THE FLAILING IS DONE, there is a ton to unpack here. Most obviously, Bob is a master of his face. Like, he does the whole I AM TAKEN ABACK thing so goddamn well. There’s also a sadness to Clarke that Eliza carries in this episode. She’s tired, and she’s mourning, and she’s scared. It’s beautiful to me that she took this moment, looking up at this stalwart beside her, and said those words. We see her thank Raven later too, and I wonder if this is perhaps the legacy of Clarke’s S3 arc. Love is weakness is truly gone. Will we see her be more open in general now, knowing that they might all be dead in six months anyway?

I talked about this already, but I’ll go again because lbr this recap won’t have anywhere near enough words in it if I don’t (L O L). I think we can take this thank you in its most literal sense, which is probably how Bellamy takes it. By that I mean that Clarke is thanking him for his solid work in 3x15 and 3x16, and then for all the other times that he has stepped in to save her. But I also think it throws back to her pulling the lever in 3x16 again, especially when you consider the script. In that scene, Clarke essentially chose life or death for everyone. It was thinking of Bellamy that gave her the strength to survive. He doesn’t know that, and he probably never will, but without him ALWAYS doing what he is doing in this very scene Clarke might have chosen differently.

No wonder they stick to each other like glue.

‘You don’t make it easy.’ *giggles*

I like the confirmation that the people Lexa killed in the CoL are dead IRL. I wonder if this is just put in there to tie up a loose end, or if it’s going to be relevant later?

I also like the spinning shot of Bellarke because I am who I am, and I am not ashamed.

CREDITS! I always thought it was spelled Zach tbh. Surely they wouldn’t put a typo in the credits for an actor’s name though? Right? RIGHT?

Arkadia kru!

THIS SCENE WAS SO CUTE. EVERYTHING ABOUT IT. I’m like, give or take about Marper, but their shuffle dancing was adorable.

Jasper skidding in and pleading the chip was also adorable, but I’LL GET TO JASPER LATER.

RAVEN. HI RAVEN. HOW ARE YOU RAVEN. I LOVE YOU RAVEN.

Anybody else notice that Raven is almost a little bit S1 Clark in this moment? The others are taking a moment to chill, and savour their success. Raven is all business. We’ve all heard that Raven is going to have more of a leadership role this season, and I am already getting those vibes.

The moment between Jasper and Raven is wonderful and heartbreaking. Their scenes together last season were so lovely, and I really buy her checking in on him as she does here. I also think everything about Jasper in this moment is hella complex. I think he is happy that Raven is okay, but I also suspect he is incredibly jealous. He looks at her and her injury, knowing that she has ‘been through more than anyone’, and he sees how capable she is, how helpful she is, AND ALIE upgraded her brain on top of that? It must make him feel even worse about himself, even more useless. He’s beating himself up for not being as good as she is. But it’s not a competition, Jasper. It’s different people that deal with things in different ways. Oh my god I’m talking to him like he can hear me. YOU’LL BE OKAY JASPER.

‘There’s nothing like a little pain to remind you that you’re alive.’ LET ME WEEP. Also, NEVER say this to a person suffering from chronic pain. HOWEVER, as somebody that does suffer from it...I adore this line. I know that might sound like a contradiction, but this is the sort of shit that is inspiring when coming from the right source. And Raven is that source. She made it out, she survived. She can put things in perspective. Her pain is her choice, her life is her choice. AH.

‘Wish I could get an upgrade’ OH JASPER. I have complicated feelings about Jasper in this episode. I’ll get to it later.

RAVEN CHECKING THAT THE OTHERS HAVE LEFT AND THEN LETTING HERSELF REACT TO HER PAIN IS THE MOST IMPORTANT. THANK YOU SHOW. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

I refuse to speculate about Raven’s face fading into the skull, simply because a world in which Raven dies is not a world that I believe will ever exist. So I ain’t worried.

Bravenlarke Rises

Fucking Jaha.

Kane, you’re very kind. But ‘what have we done’? I don’t know if you can really take any of the blame for the CoL.

Kabby! Standing! People stand so well on this show.

Abby’s mum senses tingle, and we get some more classic Bellarke/Kabby because this show knows what it’s about and it’s FINE VESSELS.

And then BRAVENLARKE RISES. Bellamy and Clarke step away from the adults to chat to their BFF and there is SO MUCH HERE. MY GOD THIS RECAP IS GOING TO BE SO LONG I AM SO SORRY. I CAN’T BELIEVE ANY OF YOU WILL READ THE WHOLE THING. YIKES.

Also worth noting: Kabby observing Bellarke as they walk away.

FIRST AND FOREMOST - Raven wants to know if everyone is okay, AND ASKS AFTER CLARKE. And then CLARKE THANKS HER. You guys, we have been so goddamn deprived of Clarke and Raven. GIVE ME ALL OF IT PLEASE.

Clarke thanking Raven is also nice from the perspective that the show is acknowledging that Clarke wouldn’t have pulled any lever without Raven’s smarts.

ALSO, CLARKE PUTS BOTH HANDS OVER BELLAMY’S. NOTE THIS SHIT DOWN. I LIVE.

Bellarke split up here for no other reason than to set up the following scene with Echo, which honestly makes me laugh a lot.

ROAN IS ALIVE. I mean, this isn’t news but let’s YAY over it anyway.

Okay, so Echo grabs Clarke and Abby is all GASP and then from a million miles away Bellamy storms over, and the FURY in his face honestly gives me shivers. The point, the being held back by Kane, the ‘Bellamy, don’t’. Everybody in this bar knows in their own way that threatening Clarke is liable to set Bellamy the f off. And when you add the Echo/Gina to it all, it becomes ever more intense.

Much catching of Clarke. Much standing close.

Setting up the politics

Okay, so Echo is not about Skaikru and Azgeda have the numbers to back up their ire. Kane makes a lovely attempt at defending Clarke, but it doesn’t seem to faze Echo at all. We then meet random ambassador with spectacular eyes, and we then lose random ambassador when Echo slits her throat. I have a bit of an issue with this scene if I’m honest, because it feels a bit contrived. Echo JUST had a sword to Clarke’s throat, and no argument actually won her over. Yet she happily murders random ambassador? I’d argue that Echo spares Clarke because Bellamy is there and she feels residual guilt for what happened at Mt Weather...but then, she seems more than happy to see Clarke murdered later so that doesn’t add up. Essentially, I see the writer’s hands at work here.

‘Looks like saving the world will have to wait.’ *giggles* Also, HOW CLOSE ARE YOUR FACES HONESTLY.

Fucking Jaha.

Oh, hey Murphy! Nice to see you and your sass. And also nice to see you agree with me on the fucking Jaha front.

This Memori scene is super cute. I love the reminder that Emori was essentially banished by the grounders because of her deformity. I love Murphy calling his people his people, and thinking things are different now. I love how earnest and honest her is with her. And her acceptance. BUT THEN I GET SAD, BUT I’LL GET TO THAT LATER.

Family Gathering

So Abby sees Kane look at his crucifixion wounds, and we all remember that he was crucified because he wouldn’t let them hurt Abby. Paige nails Abby’s guilt, and the whole exchange is wonderfully tender. The best part of this scene is Clarke watching it happen. I love her little smile. She wants her mum to be happy, especially if the world is ending in six months. I also think there’s a little sadness in her expression. We can’t forget that Clarke was reunited with Lexa literally...what..an hour or so before this? I’m sure she’s thinking of Lexa here too.

KINDRA. The hug was everything.

Bellamy returns to Clarke’s side.

Octavia is SO SASSY IN THIS EPISODE MY GOD.

There’s a shot where Bellamy looks across at Clarke when she says ‘we have to save Roan’ that I really enjoy. Just thought I’d point it out.

Abby’s motherly intuition tells her that Clarke knows more than she does, but before Clarke informs the group she looks to Bellamy. He nods. THEY ARE A TEAM. And the truth is out there. They can’t afford a fight, nor do they have time for it. They need to save Roan and form some sort of truce with Azgeda if they have any hope of saving the world.

FUN FACT I actually did not at any point twig that it was Octavia in the bag, and that Jaha was in on the team effort. I truly thought he was just off doing some weird shit by himself. So I guess...I was pleasantly surprised? Good...good for you, Jaha?

Can’t say I was too emotionally impacted to see him get beat up though *shrug*. I mean, it wasn’t pleasant but whatever.

Bellamy, the Leader

Personally, I do not believe that Becho will happen. What I do see is the writer’s using Echo, and their history, as a means to bring Bellamy back to the forefront as a leader. Others have already mentioned the parallel to Clarke and Lexa here, and I totally see it. Because Echo will only deal with Bellamy, the show is allowed to pull back from just Clarke as representative of Skaikru. It’s actually pretty clever, and gives Bellamy a ton of agency outside of his partnership with Clarke. So, kudos.

GUYS I WAS JUST SO PLEASED WITH OCTAVIA THIS EPISODE. All the pre season stuff made it sound like she was going to be off on her own, and doing her own murderous thing. But her murderous thing is totally for her people! I love it! And yes, it is completely implausible that Octavia is suddenly a highly skilled ninja. I absolutely agree. But also, whatever. I accepted her sudden level up back in S2. I’m over it.

ABBY’S REACTION TO OCTAVIA’S MURDERS WAS HONESTLY AMAZING. I LAUGHED VERY HARD. More Abby/the Blakes please and thank you. Make the family complete.

Okay, so Murphamy lives. I love how Emori says she doesn’t like this, and Murphy’s reaction is IT’S OKAY, BELLAMY IS RIGHT THERE. And then as he approaches, Indra has to TELL BELLAMY TO PAY ATTENTION. Ahaha. Amazing.

CAN WE TALK ABOUT INDRA AND BELLAMY FOR A SECOND? LIKE. The last time they were alone together, Bellamy was chained to a wall and she hated his guts. And I mean, she probably still sort of hates his guts. But wow, progress. And progress on Bellamy’s part too. I actually think it says a lot for his self worth that he can stand there with her on such a level. It probably helps that his dad, and her BFF, is there too but still. IMPORTANT.

‘I know how you feel about her, but you can’t lose control’ was clearly put in to remind people that are less obsessed than us that Bellamy has a pretty solid reason to hate Echo. Much like we understand Octavia’s quest for vengeance re. Pike, we could understand Bellamy feeling the same here. But Bellamy has come out of S3 in a much better place than he started it, that’s for sure.

‘That’s probably because you’re not an idiot.’ Oh, Murphy.

AND THEN I GET REALLY SAD YOU GUYS. Bellamy gives Murphy his gun, in a throwback to S2 and like...I just....I GET it. It’s totally in character for Murphy to look at this situation brewing, to think of Emori, and to say screw it. IT TOTALLY IS. But I was really, really looking forward to Murphy being back with the group. And EVEN MORE THAN THAT I was looking forward to Emori meeting the group! Clarke and Emori scenes. Raven and Emori scenes. Bellamy and Emori scenes. GIVE IT TO ME. So I can’t help but be disappointed with Murphy here. And I really hope Memori aren’t off on their own for long. Maybe Murphy will have a change of heart? Maybe Memori have started back towards Arkadia? Maybe they will bump into Bellarke on the way? DOUBLE DATE?

‘I GOT THIS’ means everything, as does Bellamy’s power strut. HE’S BACK IN THE GAME. I’m sure he’s still full of self loathing, but it’s not crippling him like it was. He is finding his self worth again.

I actually don’t find it at all surprising that Echo seems to genuinely care for Bellamy’s opinion. She saw his courage and his strength and his compassion in Mt Weather. He saved her and all of the others that were trapped there. He is a good, in her eyes. But as Bellamy says, it’s not that easy. At the end of the day, Gina died because Echo betrayed Bellamy. You don’t just apologise for something like that. And while I don’t personally care for Gina (so so so scandalous - note: I care that the writers created the character just to kill her, but it was so obviously going down that way that I never formed an attachment. Sue me) her memory won’t just disappear.

Bob nails this scene by the way. He told the others that he had this, and he does. He IS control. But you can still see his anger in the stiff way he holds himself, the furrow of his brow, the occasional gulp, and the deliberate way that he talks.

OH LOOK. OCTAVIA LOVES HER BROTHER AND DOESN’T WANT HIM TO DIE.

Bellamy’s reaction to the Trikru massacre is ALSO on point, and I like that Echo had no idea he was there. She almost looks a little bit excited by it. Murder clearly turns her on.

‘The alternative is war. Is that what you want?’ makes me think of the Bellarke fight in 3x05 and I had to mention it because if I am feeling these emotions, you should be too.

Oh, btw, during all of this Clarke and Abby are trying to save Roan. I bring it up because I LOVE THE MOTHER/DAUGHTER BONDING IN THIS EP. GRIFFIN LADIES FTW.

And then we see the sliiiiightest break in Bellamy’s composure. Echo turns to leave, and he grabs her arm saying ‘I wasn’t done talking’’ and the delivery does things to me. But then, oops. Bellamy is on the floor with a knife at his throat. And the ANGER. The ANGER in his eyes. OOF.

OH LOOK. OCTAVIA LOVES HER BROTHER AND DOESN’T WANT HIM TO DIE PT II

‘Abby will come through.’ Kane’s faith in her is beautiful

OH LOOK. OCTAVIA LOVES HER BROTHER AND DOESN’T WANT HIM TO DIE PT III

I hate writerly contrivance, so I hate that Roan wakes up just as Echo is about to chop Clarke’s head off. It’s dumb. Don’t be dumb, writers.

ABS.

CLARKE give the guy a second before you pounce.

Also, thank you so very much for hiring Mr McGowan. You did me a solid.

I’m Niytavia for lyf but noting Octavia’s take no BS ‘we just saved your damn life’ juuuuust in case.

Sex and giggles and SADNESS

The Marper scene is cute. Like...I don’t know, it came out of nowhere so I’m not emotionally invested. But I want both characters to be happy, so yay.

Raven interrupting them eternally is my fave. Her delivery of ‘we’re all gonna die’ is also my fave.

Okay, let’s tackle Jasper being about to kill himself. It’s clear that the writers were going to kill Jasper off in S3, but decided against it. Cool. I’m glad. So why go for an attempt of suicide here after the lovely Jonty scene in the S3 finale? Because it’s not just that they postponed the storyline, because Jasper DOESN’T kill himself. It’s NEW story. I’ll jump ahead now to Raven revealing the radiation truth to them (kinda loving that ALL the delinquents know btw) and Jasper’s reaction. I personally kinda like it? I mean, I’m withholding judgement until I’ve seen more. But in this episode alone? I like that he has a different reaction to the others, and that - weirdly - knowing that he’s doing to die makes him want to live? The thing that stops me getting really excited is being fairly convinced that Jasper WILL die this season, but if they handle the death right (I still have faith) then I might actually like this arc? I JUST DON’T KNOW BASICALLY. (Jasper’s soundtrack theme is so haunting and wonderful).

Devon is really knocking it out of the park btw.

I’m intrigued by what will come of Echo and Roan. I’d pin Echo as the season’s villain, but from Tasya’s interviews it doesn’t seem to be what’s coming.

Will Roan cauterise his own wounds with blades once per season? Excellent.

Stupid crown.

Down to learn more about Roan’s family though. Siblings? Grandpa Theo?

Hell in a cell (not really an apt subheading, I just wanted to use it)

All right, let’s do this.

The conversation between Abby and Clarke is important on so many levels. Firstly, these two haven’t had such a moment in so long. It’s just plain nice to see. It’s also INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to see Clarke talk about her love for Lexa, in a room full of people, and to have her mother just smile and understand. It ain’t no thing, and that’s quality representation for so many people.

I’ve also already mentioned that while we’ve had months to get over 3x16, the events we witnessed have JUST HAPPENED in the shows timeline. Seeing Lexa and then losing her again is fresh in Clarke’s mind. I mean, she hasn’t even had one night to sleep on it. Of course, she’s upset.

AND I talked about this in Season 3 but I will never understand why so many people give Clarke shit for being attached to the chip. I know we’re all different, but it’s really quite normal to attach emotional significance to objects. In this case, I’d say it’s particularly justified.

The camera then hops to Kane watching Bellamy, and then closes in on Bellamy’s face. I’ve seen all the different interpretations, so here’s my take.

Overall, I think Bellamy is feeling compassion and empathy for somebody that he loves. He doesn’t want Clarke to be sad or hurting! It hurts him to see her that way, and to not be able to help. I do think that there is a layer of something else there though, but I’m loathe to call it jealousy. Jealousy sounds so...so negative. I am very much in the camp that Bellamy is aware, on some level, that he is in love with Clarke. But I also believe that he isn’t remotely thinking about it ever actually happening between them, and he’s okay with that. So not jealousy as such...but a twinge, let’s say. A slight twisting of the stomach and a twinge of the heart.

I’ve also seen the suggestion that he’s looking towards Octavia, and eh. I mean, perhaps. But for me the most important thing about this scene is that the writers chose to include it, and chose to showcase it in the way that they did. I think if they wanted us to know that Bellamy was thinking about Octavia, we would have seen a shot of her after Bellamy. We didn’t. Which tells me that the intention of the scene was for us to connect Clarke to Kane watching Bellamy to Bellamy reacting to Clarke.

In which case - SQUEE.

And then we get my absolute fave moment, because it was one of the few Bellarke scenes that wasn’t spoiled in one way or another - and that is Bellamy’s freak out when Echo takes Clarke. There’s honestly not much to say at this point. Obviously, he’d react that way. Obviously, Bob would nail it. But I’d like to draw attention to the writer’s intention once more here. We get a brief shot of Abby’s reaction, but the majority of the scene focuses on Bellamy’s reaction. Important.

Clarke, Crown, Chip

‘It’s always something with you, isn’t it.’ ‘This will be good.’ LOL FOREVER.

I can’t wait for Clarke and Roan to be BFFs.

‘Science is our only hope’ HEY IT’S LIKE THE REAL WORLD.

Clarke giving up the chip is a lovely scene. She does it for the sake of all, and ultimately I doubt it was that much of a struggle for her. Mostly, I think it makes her sad. Poor Clarke.

I also do think this a symbolic closing of the door re. Lexa. Which isn’t to say I don’t think she will be mentioned or referenced again this season, but it will be sporadic and only in relation to pushing forward other relationships or story arcs.

THE COALITION IS FORMED.

Until another Nightblood ascends? Where you at Luna.

Once again, we get a shot of Bellamy taking in Clarke’s reaction to the flame. The two of them are so in tune, it’s ridiculous.

We also get a shot of the woman who shouts out during Roan’s speech, and then Indra looking around. So...Indra’s daughter, yes? If not her daughter, then somebody significant. VERY excited to meet her next episode. And I’m intrigued as to how she might interact with Octavia.

The youth inherit the earth!!!!!!!

So the last scene with Echo bothers me just because I think Echo’s line about trust is stupid after everything she has done, at such an early point. Like...maybe if you had just saved his life (something I feel will inevitably happen at some point this season) and that just makes the scene feel really obvious. I am adamant that there will be no romance here, but I do see a future where the show will take Bellamy towards forgiving her. Please show, handle this well.

On the other hand, if I hadn’t read Tasya’s interview, I might take Bob’s delivery of ‘I doubt it’ as the final nail in the coffin, and confirmation that this is done. It’s cold, collected. Perfect.

Family pow wow!!

Octavia sass and then, ‘this is serious, O’ and again I sense a different Bellamy here in relation to Octavia. Further emphasised by his leaving without insisting on a hug, or even a lingering look. It’s like...he’s there, and he’s observing, and he’s contributing...but the relationship between them is on her now. Or something.

This is emphasised again by the parental goodbyes to Bellarke. Clarke and Abby is lovely as ever, so now let me turn to the scene between Kane and Bellamy.

I was surprised to see there was so much ‘controversy’ over this scene. I definitely did not take it as Kane admonishing Bellamy, or Kane implying that Bellamy did not deserve to live or that everything was Bellamy’s fault. I very much took it as Kane speaking from past experience, and knowing that Bellamy has a tendency to blame himself. It’s advice from the heart, and well meaning.

That being said, it has all the subtlety of being smashed in the face with a frying pan. That’s my issue with it. It reminds me of Bellamy spelling out his arc to Pike in 3x16. I was okay with that one because fandom last season had proven that it needed to be spelled out. I was hoping we could do away with such over explaining this season though.

I would have much preferred Kane placing a hand on Bellamy’s shoulder, the two of them nodding at each other, Kane saying ‘take care of yourself’, and then A GODDAMN HUG.

When Kane says ‘you’ll deserve to survive’ and Abby looks up at him - HEY SEASON 1 THROWBACK I SEE YOU.

Bellamy’s ‘I hope so’ is really important to me. He WANTS to live, to survive, to earn happiness again.

The shot of Clarke witnessing the moment is ALSO VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. again, they are just so in tune with each other, with their emotions, with their headspaces. Slay me.

Anyway.

So.

Like.

The shot of Clarke and Bellamy walking away framed by Kabby!!!!!!!!!!!

‘THE YOUTH INHERITED THE EARTH.’

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I ALMOST THREW MY LAPTOP WHICH WOULD HAVE SUCKED CAUSE I JUST BOUGHT IT

WHAT KIND OF EPIC SHIT

I’ve always said that Bellarke will usher in a new age on earth, but like….YOOOOO I NEVER THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SO EXPLICITLY STATED ON SHOW. FUCKING YES.

I also LOVE Abby’s ‘they have six months to save it.’ Gone are the days of her trying to step in and be an adult for the children. Kabby are stepping back. They are keeping an eye on the politics of things. Saving the world? That’s for Bellarke and the delinquents.

‘SO WHAT NOW, PRINCESS?’

Look, here’s the deal. I am so okay with Princess coming back in this moment. FIRSTLY, after an episode which really emphasises the S1ness of Bellarke in so many ways, the use of the old nickname really drives that home. But it also drives home how far they have come since then. It’s a light hearted moment, a joke, a tool again for Bellamy to lift Clarke’s burdens.

(Plus, Jason recently confirmed that the whole point of the Princess nickname between Bellarke was Han x Leia inspired so like HOW CAN I NOT LOVE THAT.)

AND IT WORKS. She is so clearly surprised, and delighted by it! She struts, she smirks! Walking out of Polis with Bellamy calling her Princess has her feeling all kinds of badass.

And I also love how lots of you have pointed out the contrast between everyone else, even Kane, calling her Wanheda. I LOVE IT AND I AGREE. Before Polis, before the grounders, Bellamy was there - and he’s still there now.

Fucking Jaha.

Oh hey, radiation. Sweet. Also, Egypt. People. World. Countries. LET’S GO SOMEWHERE.

SO THAT WAS MY RECAP. WHO’S STILL HERE WITH ME? NOBODY? GOOD.

I CAN’T WAIT FOR 4X02.

#I don't understand why the formatting went all weird #the 100 #bellarke #this is REALLY LONG PEOPLE #and mostly me rambling about stuff already said #but whatever #I had a fun time #the 100 recap #bellamy blake #clarke griffin #raven reyes #lindsey morgan #eliza taylor #bob morley #kabby

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travllingbunny · 6 years ago

Text

The 100 rewatch: 2x07 Long into an Abyss

A strong episode that moves the plot along in major ways and has some very tense scenes.

Rating: 8.5/10

It helps a lot that Finn’s storyline doesn’t get featured much, and that Finn is much more likable this time, showing actual guilt for what he’s done. The moment between him and Clarke, where she tries to comfort him: “Lincoln is saveable, and so are you” is actually touching.

This episode has one of the most effective creepy openings: starting out with an incredibly idyllic moment that feels like it’s from some other show, with a young woman enjoying the sunny, beautiful day on the outside, before turning into the horror scene of her dying of radiation burns while desperately begging people on the inside to let her back into Mount Weather. It’s a part of Dr Tsing’s and Cage’s experiment to find out if the blood treatments work – obviously, just for a short while – and they decide to let her die, so she wouldn’t tell about it to Dante, since they’re doing it behind his back. Tsing is firmly established as a completely cold evil scientist, and Cage is also OK with sacrificing their own people if need be, though he was initially uncomfortable with it.

Cage and Dante later have a not-so-idyllic father/son moment when Cage convinces Dante to go outside courtesy of the treatment and feel for a moment what it’s like, as a part of the plan to convince him to go along with his and Tsing’s plans. Cage says "This is out world, we deserve it". He’s quite a Mountain Man supremacist. It’s that conviction that they’re entitled to the good life more than any other group of people, who aren’t even entitled to not be tortured and/or killed, that’s the main problem of the Mount Weather society. But Dante is angrily refusing to go along, because he’s apparently more moderate or more concerned with morality, or just more hypocritical: "What we've done to Outsiders has corrupted our legacy, I can't go that road any further". So, he is bothered by what they have been doing to Grounders? But he is still doing it anyway? How is that not going that same road? Because he likes the kids and doesn’t look down on them as “savages”? (The Mountain Men never considered assimilating the Grounders into the “gene pool” as they planned with the kids, did they?) Whatever, Dante.

The stakes are definitely raised as what we always could have guessed is confirmed: Cage and Tsing are planning to kill all the kids. We get the exact number of Mountain Men at the moment: 382. Tsing tells Cage they need the bone marrow and they need 8 treatment by a kid, which means that all the 47 kids will have to die. Now, if they had instead decided to not be terrible people for once and not treat other people as cattle, if they had met up with the other Arkers, offered them support and asked them to donate bone marrow, they wouldn't need to kill anyone, because there’s thousands of Arkers out there.

Other developments in Mount Weather include the 47 learning that the Arkers are alive and on the ground, and making plans how to work inside Mount Weather to free themselves – using Monty’s hacking skills and Miller’s thieving skills. Although Jasper has faith in Clarke (it’s so sad that their relationship will deteriorate so much after S2), they are not sure if she’s even alive, so they have to rely on themselves. (This is most info we’ve gotten on Miller so far: he was a thief, and he’s from the Alpha station.)

Meanwhile, poor Harper gets experimented on. Knowing now that she was first meant to die in season 1 of the hemorrhagic fever, it’s so lucky that she got a chance to survive till the end of season 5 and get such a great arc.

But most of the episode is about the tensions in Camp Jaha, where Arkers are debating what to do about the imminent Grounder attack that was threatened at the end of 2x06. Jaha and Abby find themselves on the opposite sides of the argument, which is awkward, since they both think they’re the Chancellor. Jaha advocates that they should leave and go look for the City of Light (oh, no, not a good solution), and justifies this by saying: "This is not our home, it's theirs". Urrrgh. See me roll my eyes. Not that crap, please. Everywhere they go is going to be someone’s “home”, if it’s inhabitable, nowhere is going to be “your home” since you’re refugees/exiles who have spent a century in space, but it’s not like there isn’t enough room for everyone. And hey, Jaha, you’re gonna change your mind completely come season 4! He’s just saying this because he got into his head that it’s his messianic mission to find the COL. Yes, I felt the same the first time when I had no idea what COL would turn out to be. Abby, on the other hand, is like "I'm not ready to march our people into the desert". Again with the Biblical references.

Jaha’s better argument is that they’re going to die if they don’t leave, what with the Grounders being much more numerous, and if they live, they can fight another day and see what the best solution is then. This is basically the same argument Clarke made in her speech in 1x12, when she convinced the Delinquents to leave and try to search for Luna. But with one big difference: the Delinquents weren’t leaving anyone to die, and this time, leaving would mean giving up on the 47 in Mount Weather – so it’s a definite “no” for Clarke. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a big “no” for David Miller and the other parents of the kids trapped in MW. In one of the most tense moments of the episode, Jaha tries to stage a coup, unsuccessfully, but Miller and Byrne listen to Abby as the Chancellor instead of Jaha, and obey her order to arrest him. (I guess they’ll have to change the name of the camp soon.) Abby declares “I have faith, too, in my daughter". (But the mother/daughter relationship won’t remain that harmonious, with Clarke staging her own successful coup and showing her mom who’s really in charge in 2x11.)

The other big plot thread is Bellamy and Octavia asking Clarke to try to help save Lincoln, which Clarke can’t, but asks Abby to do. Lincoln’s friend, healer Nyko, tries to “save” him by killing him – clearly thinking that mercy kill is the only way to save a Reaper, but there’s a nice payoff to the scene a few episodes ago, when Clarke heard Anya say “Your fight is over” – it allows her to realize what Nyko is doing. But stopping the heart temporarily turns out to be part of the process of healing. And the two plot threads then become one, thanks to Clarke’s quick thinking and willingness to hope and take a huge risk: the possibility of healing Reapers is a big bargaining chip for peace and an alliance against the Mountain Men, which Clarke already tried to make happen by convincing Anya, and now she has to convince Lexa herself.

The first meeting of Clarke and Lexa starts with this exchange: “You’re the one who burned 300 of my warriors” – “You’re the one who sent them to attack our camp”. Thankfully, this is the last time Lexa mentions this, so I guess she must have realized that it’s stupid to complain about people defending themselves when you attack them, and was probably impressed by Clarke’s attitude. Grounder warrior culture respects strength, and Lexa is probably not used to people talking back to her. And this is probably why and how Clarke came to be regarded as the leader of the Arkers for the rest of season 2 – she acted like one, in her determination to save her people, so Lexa perceived her the leader and started treating her that way. Clarke then uses all her skills of persuasion and references Anya to convince Lexa to agree to an alliance against Mount Weather, with the promise of showing her the success of the Reaper treatment through Lincoln – even if she’s not sure that Abby will succeed in bringing him back. The most tense moment of the episode is the standoff that happens when Lexa and Indra come with Clarke to see Lincoln, but he appears dead, and for a moment, everyone is about to kill each other, until Clarke thinks of electro-shocking Lincoln to bring him back.

This is the beginning of the complicated relationship between Clarke and Lexa, and it pretty much sets up the parameters of it from the start: through everything that will happen between them, as allies, enemies or lovers, their dynamic will always be colored by the facts that Lexa has, at all times, the power to give orders to start killing Clarke’s people, while Clarke is determined to do her best to convince Lexa to not kill her people/not let them die.

And it gets additionally awkward when, in the big cliffhanger, Lexa tells Clarke the price of the truce: Finn’s death. I know from BTS comments that the writing staff wasn’t planning at this point to have those two romantically involved (they even didn’t give any thought to Lexa’s sexuality until the writer of 2x09 wrote the part about Costia), but once they did make that decision, this becomes kind of an awkward part of the setup for their romance. In a way, it’s nothing unusual for this show, which really loves developing romantic relationships from messed up situations (I think the only exceptions so far are Marper and Mackson), but “future love interest makes you kill your former love interest” is still high on the unpleasantness scale. What’s even odder is that it’s not even high on the list of the issues I’ll eventually have with their romance – because, in this case, Lexa is not doing anything bad, just following the law, and Finn is guilty.

Regardless of that, at this point my impressions of Lexa were predominantly positive (and remained so for 4 more episodes). She seemed reasonable, calm and controlled, which was very refreshing, since most Grounder warriors were constantly angry and talking about revenge. And Indra was one of the worst at this point. My god, I had forgotten how annoying she used to be – not only was she the Angry Black Woman stereotype, but she was the biggest warmonger at Lexa’s side and was constantly “Kill, kill, kill them all!” The only thing I liked about her was Adina Porter’s performance – she was way better than Dichen Lachman or any of the other actors playing Angry Grounder Warriors. This character has had such a huge character development.

One thing that did always bother me and still does is the fact that Lexa, Tristan, Nyko, Quint (annoying general who goes on to appear in 2x10)… all the white Grounders had such a strong fake tan. Wow, they must have great solariums in Polis! Who would think! And what about their cultural-appropriation-mishmash fashion sense? How did that happen? Did Becca tell her subjects: “I think it would be cool if you started wearing this, and this, and this…”? It makes even less sense as the distorted-English that the Grounders speak, even though it’s been less than a century since the end of the world, and that’s nowhere near enough time for a whole new language or even dialect to develop. But it’s not like anything about their culture and society is remotely realistic – however, overall it’s just a cliché of all post-apocalyptic dramas. The crap with bronzed tans and bindi and dreads etc.? That’s just idiotic and offensive. It doesn’t even make sense in the context of “Proud Warrior Race” stereotypes – I get the war paint, but why bindi and dreads, those aren’t even associated with warriors? If they wanted popular warriors/savages stereotypes, hey, how about Vikings? But nope – they were white, and the logic is “non-white cultures – savages” or something? Uuuum….

But that’s the kind of BS you get used to on this show after a while. What do you do? World-building has never been its strong suit. If I gave lower scores for episodes for that, I’ll have to give low scores to almost everyone episode from now on, so… never mind.

Body count: 1 - Keenan, the Mountain Man girl (and minor character that appeared in a couple of episodes before this) that Cage and Tsing used as an experiment.

#the 100 #the 100 rewatch #the 100 season 2 #the 100 2x07 #long into an abyss #clarke griffin #abby griffin #thelonius jaha #Indra #dante wallace #cage wallace

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