#also side note do you think the Murphy men are taught to drive by their mothers

[wherevenusholdssomeofficespace]

When thinking about young Milo, I've gotten in the habit of thinking about Murphy's Law in opposition to the capacity to handle Murphy's Law.

So as long as the capacity to handle it is greater than the law, you're golden. The problem comes in when the law is greater than the capacity to handle it (see Orgaluth's Law with no one helping). Obviously both can vary, Murphy's Law is shown to be lighter and heavier at times and clearly people can get worn out. But it got me wondering about the kinds of situations that could have arose before Milo was old enough to take care of himself.

Generally as kids grow up they become capable of looking after themselves. But Murphy's law would definitely make that progression more complicated since even most adults aren't shown to be capable of dealing with it. Just because you trust someone to babysit a 6 year old doesn't mean you trust them with a more needy newborn so its not like Murphy's Law adds a novel concept to childcare of more capable children need less capable caretakers, but it still makes me wonder about logistics of raising kids with Murphy's Law before they are capable of handling their own condition.

We see it a little bit with Veronica, who is very capable of handling Murphy's Law, but doesn't have it. But baby Milo probably wasn't capable of handling Murphy's Law. So he depended on people taking care of it for him until he grew old enough to take care of himself.

But we also know that Murphy's law tends to get more intense with more Murphy's around. I wonder about how much Martin took care of baby Milo by himself, could he handle double dose Murphy's Law on his own? I mean I wouldn't doubt it, but maybe it depended on the circumstances. All babies are a lot even without Murphy's Law and breaks are important. I'm sure that was even more important for Milo. Was it worse for Martin looking after Milo solo because he also had EHML and it was a lot of Murphy's Law to be handling by himself, or did he handle it better than Brigette because he was used to it even if it was more intense? We know baby Milo's Murphy's Law was at least strong enough to cause walls to randomly collapse. I say this because as of the time of the show there are no dependent Murphy's, they're all capable of handling EHML mostly on their own so we never see them having to handle double doses of it on their own so to speak. We know Veronica babysat, but that probably wasn't until Milo was at least a few months old so did the other Murphy's help out when Milo was a newborn?

But then where did baby Sara fall in this spectrum. We already see 3 or 4 year old Sara being helpful with Murphy's Law stuff when Milo was born. To what extent growing up was Sara more a help or a hindrance. Obviously Sara and Milo would have family on there moms side who was less used to Murphy's Law. Did Milo ever spend time with family on that side without his parents. Was it a matter of "oh Grandma can watch Milo, Sara's with him" or "Grandma can watch Milo, since Sara's coming with us".

It's suggested that Milo never went to preschool or kindergarten (probably for obvious reasons), and he had his backpack by the time he did (so around the time Veronica stopped babysitting for him). So I think its fair to say 1st grade was probably around the time when Milo started being able to take care of his Murphy's Law on his own (though in First Impressions they still got a bit of help from Cavendish and Dakota, that doesn't mean too much since Milo still gets help from people at times and always will. Everyone needs help sometimes).

Obviously Milo learning to handle Murphy's Law was a gradual process, so there would be a period of time in which Milo couldn't handle Murphy's Law quite on his own yet but he could with some help. We did see him starting to help Veronica out as he got older in his flashback Secrets and Pie's.

Obviously handling Murphy's law is a lot, but being around Murphy's Law you learn to handle it better. And like it is a physically intensive condition to deal with. Have to develop a fair degree of endurance and strength to deal with it (comments are made on Milo's backpacks weight and we see the kids do a lot of running and hanging on for dear life). Obviously as a Murphy boy grows up they learn to handle it. But that doesn't mean they are the only ones. In now I am a Murphy we have Grandma Murphy who is shown to be extremely capable of handling disasters. Which makes sense for someone who has two sons and a husband with EHML. And we see in athledecamathalon that all of Milo's classmates, by proximity to him, are pretty used to dealing with disasters and are pretty tough all things considered.

Actually what this all boils down to is me asking what is Sara capable of as someone who has spent her life getting used to Murphy's Law but isn't held back by it.

I mean obviously the answer is the patience to make cosplay and store merch in a house with her father and brother but honestly that is so funny to me. Also the girl has two moods "this mortal peril is barely an inconvenience" and "the idea of this relatively inconsequential thing going wrong is the worst possible thing I can imagine and I'm going to put 1000% of my energy into freaking out trying to prevent/fix this". And of then usually she has them at the same time.

I think that dichotomy would be pretty funny from an outside perspective as like a college student who does not have the context of Murphy's Law. What do you mean she had a backup hazmat suit why does she have one to begin with, and how did she finish a paper on her phone while sheltering from extreme weather while loud sirens went off while complaining about the page count. Some idiot lit the microwave on fire in the commons and she put it out without even glancing up from her tv show and was screaming in excitement about the twist. She spent 3 hours freaking out searching across town when she couldn't find the glue she needed to finish her costume and almost got into an accident with a semi but managed to avoid getting hit and then moved on without even hesitating.

Also can you IMAGINE the trouble the Murphy cousins must have gotten into when Milo was small. With or without Milo. I bet Sara and Nate have some stories. Their own Llama incidents if you will. I can see someone asking Sara about her favorite Murphy's law story and it turns out to be a story that not even Milo knows. Sara and Nate floating in the ocean on driftwood surrounded by orcas after a family get together by the ocean went wrong. Sara and Nate with a toddler Milo covered in ice cream and bees and running away from a giant ball of mud that fell from the sky while they were trying to play at the park. Just the idea of three Murphy's hanging out when they are all all children and two of them have Murphy's Law, and between the three of them they can barely handle the two doses of Murphy's Law but their getting there.

[the100theory]

The Echo, Bellamy, Clarke, Octavia of It All....

Okay, I have a theory just based off of the end of the first episode. The first episode seemed to spend a lot of time giving us parallels/callbacks to the past seasons:

Clarke swimming in the lake in a very Octavia style way from the series premiere aka 1x01 “Pilot” (also, when did she have time to learn to swim?)

Jasper’s Goggles (1x01), Maya’s iPod, and Monty’s Letter (4x01)

Lexa’s throne...if you missed this, it’s what collapsed the temple when Clarke pulled her walking stick out.

Diyoza, our new evil female badass, saying “We’re not alone.” (1x01 after Jasper got hit with the spear)

Bellamy and Echo with “Wouldn’t it be easier to step outside?” (4x13)

Octavia and Madi both being the girl from under the floor. Octavia hiding from being known since there was a one child rule. Madi hiding from the Flamekeepers so they wouldn’t find out she’s a nightblood.

Clarke driving to the music in a Raven Reyes styled manner (3x01)

The bodies were resting just like the ones from Mt Weather (2x16)

Clarke using the map skills her father taught her (1x01)

Clarke saying “I used to think that life was about more than just surviving...” (2x14) “but I’m not sure anymore. Animals don’t feel guilty when they kill. They just do it. They kill, or they get killed. I tell myself that every life I took was for a reason, but the truth is, the other side had reasons, too. The grounders, the mountain men, even ALIE—their reasons to want us dead were the same as ours. It was us or them, kill or be killed. Simple as that.” Almost similar to Bellamy’s line from season 1 to Charlotte (1x03), “You can’t afford to be weak. Down here, weakness is death, fear is death.”

Echo referring to her banishment (4x10) and how she almost killed Octavia (4x04 and 4x05)

This season started off as sort of a love letter to seasons past. It’s a soft reboot, and I can safely say that I am absolutely in love with it. It feels as if the show has completely started over, but at the same time it still feels like the same show.

My biggest theory refers to Octavia making the promise of Echo’s banishment. From the small glimpse we got of her, I am dead set that Octavia is going to take on an almost villain role. She’s sort of been spiraling down this path since 3x09 when Lincoln was murdered by Pike. My thoughts go back to when Octavia says, to Bellamy, after he discovered she was alive, “Octavia is dead. She died when you killed Lincoln.” We all know that Bellamy had nothing to do with Lincoln’s death, but since he had been an ally of Pike’s for a good portion of season three, it’s easy for the viewer to see how Octavia could have seen it that way. Octavia’s behavior from 3x09 through the small snippet we got in 5x01 is a downhill swoop. I personally thought she was going in a good direction around the time of the conclave in 4x10 through 4x13 since she seemed to have forgiven Bellamy by saying “I love you, big brother.”

Octavia seems to have had a hard time in the bunker. You know, since they have Fight Club™️. I do think that this is going to be a callback to the Culling from season 1, 1x05, since there are nearly 1,200 people down there and that amount of people was to be sustained in a five year time span (hint: they’ve been down there 1 year and 7 days longer than they should have). So, to deal with this, there’s rumors of Octavia having to take serious action. We know that Fight Club™️ is a bloodbath, and I presume our former Chancellor Jaha has been one of the victims as Isaiah Washington is leaving the show (I think he’s only in a handful of episodes). There is also rumor that to deal with population reduction, and the food shortage, Octavia and the bunker have become cannibals. It makes sense, and this season has already proved that the human race will do anything they can to survive...like eating dead bugs off the grill of your rover.

So, how does Echo factor into this? Well, she said it herself, “I was banished.” She was, and Octavia is unlikely to forget this detail. She despised Echo, and I’m sure she’ll hate her even more to know that she is alive (and sleeping with her brother....). Bellamy seems to be super chilled this season and just says “Octavia is the least of our worries.” Oh boy, do I have news for you, buddy. I think Octavia is going to be a huge threat to Echo, and honestly, I do think Echo will die this season, around the 5x10 marker just as our Azgedan King did in 4x10. We need Echo in the plot for tension, and she’s going to create a lot of it. She’s important to the Bellamy and Octavia storyline. They’ve been together for potentially three years (she said it took him three years to forgive her) and she probably helped him grieve for Clarke (romantic or not). However, her death I think will be a huge parallel to Lincoln. Octavia blamed Bellamy for Lincoln’s death and this left them on a huge out for almost two seasons. Bellamy clearly believes he’s in love with Echo, and if Octavia kills her. There’s no going back for those two. He thinks he still knows his sister, and six years is a lot of time. These are important years for a young adult. Octavia was still 17 when he went back with SpaceKru. Ages 17-25 are such important years for a human being, and it’s where we really learn who we are. I don’t think 23 year old Octavia will be changing any time in the future. The Octavia we will meet in “Red Queen” will be someone we might not love anymore. Echo’s potential death would make Bellamy hate his sister for the first time in his life, and cling onto something that isn’t his sister. His friends, as he’s already said, are his family. Clarke is now excluded, but I’m almost positive that they’ll fall back into old routines. So I see a huge role reversal between Bellamy and Octavia in the face of a loved one. Death motivated Octavia...I wonder what it will do for Bellamy post Praimfaya (we all know him after Gina...)

I also think Echo’s extremely important to the Bellamy and Clarke arc, hence why I think her death will happen later in the season. Bellamy has clearly been Clarke’s crutch for the last 2,199 Days. In the days post Praimfaya, she spent her solitary time talking into the radio praying he hears her. I’ve had people suggest that the messages aren’t just to Bellamy, but to me, it’s pretty obvious. Especially the one scene after she found the berries in Shadow Valley, “It’s been 58 Days. By now Monty should have the algae farm producing. How bad does it suck (no offense Monty).” Her messages all seem to be tailored to Bellamy, and she seems to miss him the most. We see her saying in the ruins of Arkadia, “What’s the point if all there is, is pain and suffering? Real cheerful, Clarke. I’m sorry. Ignore me, okay? I haven’t had water in two days....In case this is the last time I get to do this...please don’t feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to do. I’m proud of you.” This statement just screams that she is talking to Bellamy, and you can really tell she misses their conversations. She misses the comfort he gave her, and perhaps that’s why she radios him and not anyone else. This also makes me think that Echo and Bellamy is some tension between Bellamy and Clarke. They’ve had six years to think about those eight months on the ground. They haven’t said anything, but maybe feelings were realized? In the opening SpaceKru scene, we get Bellamy staring at Earth with an almost reminiscent look in his eye. He’s probably thinking about Clarke, just as he had when watching the scorching Earth in the season 4 finale. They’re clearly on each other’s minds a lot, Clarke says “God, this would be so much easier if I knew you were alive. If I knew I was gonna see you again.” And Bellamy seems to bring Clarke’s death into a lot of things, and like Clarke, he has also kept track of the time passed. So much so that every time it’s mentioned, he gets extra chores....he chooses Murphy.

Echo is very much the teetering point this season. She is going to be important to both of Bellamy’s story lines. She even asks what will they be once they get back to Earth. I think this is both to Octavia and, unknowingly at the time, Clarke. Once SpaceKru knows Clarke is alive, I’m fairly certain Echo will know she doesn’t stand a chance. We’ve had a lot of references of people noting their relationship. We don’t know what how Bellamy grieved, or what was said about Clarke during those six years, but we do know this:

Murphy knows Bellamy would do anything to save Clarke. He even said to him in 3x15, “You’re not the only one here trying to save someone you care about.” Octavia wasn’t in immediate danger, but Clarke was. This was after Bellamy said, “Clarke’s in trouble” and Murphy replied, “Clarke’s always in trouble.”

Jaha points out in 4x03 that “[Bellamy] keeps [Clarke] centered” to which Bellamy replied “[Jaha] got it backwards.”

Roan definitely knew, but never said anything

Abby asked Bellamy and Clarke to protect each other...she also knew (4x12)

Raven, As ALIE, said to Bellamy “Too bad you were never that devoted to Gina” (3x11).

Monty knew. He was there for two different instances. Bellamy saying in 3x02: “I CANT LOSE CLARKE....we can’t lose her.” And Bellamy saying in 4x13: “I left her behind. I left her behind, and we all die anyway.” Both those lines just break my heart.

I really think they’re using Echo as a catalyst this season. Her presence will change things, and I think she may even give us Bellarke. We didn’t see Bellamy and Echo become a thing, nor did we see them truly interact until the end of 5x01. Therefore, we don’t have any real attachment to them as we do with Bellamy and Clarke. Jason Rothenberg, the show runner, even said that this is Bellamy and Clarke’s story. So, when Bellamy says “nothing is gonna change on the ground,” we know that shit is about to go down. Long story short: “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride!”