The 100 – Season 3 Episode 3
“Ye Who Enter Here”
The 100 further expands the scope of the political landscape that is evolving as Clark has a tension filled reunion with Lexa.
Season 3 is positively exhausting and we’re only on the third episode. The beauty of The 100 is that it’s able to juggle a lot of moving parts while still developing the plot and story naturally.
At least that’s the case most of the time but this episode had a really frustratingly contrived subplot that only seemed to exist to move things along and create more conflict rather than make real narrative sense. Echo showing up out of nowhere to warn Bellamy that the summit is a trap and that there’s an assassin planted to slaughter all of the Sky Crew only really makes sense from the point of view of furthering the plot. Bellamy seems all too quick to trust her despite not really having any reason to do so. The possibility of the summit being completely derailed in this way is a serious threat that bears consideration but I didn’t buy that Bellamy didn’t really question the information in any way.
It’s made worse by the fact that the plan they hatch involves killing two Grounders so that they can get inside. Bellamy has never been shy about killing people but he has always had a good reason for doing so, at least since the early episodes.
Another contrivance is the use of Bellamy’s new girlfriend Gina (Leah Gibson ) who has appeared in the previous episodes but hasn’t been worth mentioning before now due to the fact that she hasn’t really done anything. Her appearance here is almost as brief and she seems to exist only to be killed so that Bellamy’s emotional arc can kick in from next week onwards. Her death comes across as really empty because we really don’t know her beyond her capacity as Bellamy’s girlfriend. It really sticks out when The 100 cuts corners like this because the show is normally so much better than that.
Her death was really effective as it was tough to watch her brutally stabbed by the assassin then see the life slowly drain from her body. The image of her having died from her wounds holding the walkie talkie while Raven tried to give her the code to shut down the self destruct was really tense and powerful. There was a real inevitability and desperation to it. Imagine how powerful a moment it would have been if Gina had been a character we were the least bit invested in.
I did like the twist that Echo had tricked Bellamy and the assassin was actually inside Mount Weather rather than at the summit. The betrayal only works because Bellamy took the information at face value and didn’t exercise any intelligence but making the audience believe that the summit would be attacked was an effective misdirection.
The destruction of Mount Weather isn’t quite a game changer but it does show how serious the Ice Nation are and it robs Arkadia of some important resources. The shot of the people inside just before the explosion was a powerful reminder that this act killed a lot of people. The Ice Nation better know what they’re doing as they have the Sky People and Lexa’s people are united against them now.
Before this plot kicked in there was a really good scene between Octavia and Bellamy where she declares how eager she is to leave with Lincoln. It’s a nice scene between brother and sister when there hasn’t been many of them in a while. I like that Bellamy is understanding of Octavia’s need to leave and that he offers her unconditional support. There’s an as yet undeveloped story around Octavia’s sense of isolation that could have been dealt with here but hopefully that’s coming.
Bellamy’s mission also produced some solid character beats for Raven and Sinclair. Raven’s big issue since her injury has been accepting help from others and Sinclair reminds her that she’s not someone who gives up. He points out that she shouldn’t resist recovery just because it’ll be difficult. Appealing to her nature as a mechanic was a nice touch as it forces her to consider her situation in a different way. I think there’s still some work to do before Raven is ready to let someone help her but she is coming around to the idea. It’s a great scene and I like that Raven returns the favour by saving him. It was also great to see Raven work on an engineering problem.
Clarke’s reunion with Lexa was wonderfully layered and a great continuation of the complex relationship that already exists between these two characters. Both of them are committed to protecting their people but have different views on how to do that. There’s a lot of respect between them but also a lot of tension in so many different ways. It’s never clear whether they are going to kill each other or sleep together and I’m sure that doubt exists for each of them as well as the audience. In a lot of ways they are evenly matched in both strength and wits so they manage to be close allies as well as bitter enemies all in the same breath. Watching them interact is always fascinating as it’s unclear which way it will end up going. The scene where Clarke seriously considers killing her is a really emotional one. It’s easy to understand why she would want to kill Lexa since there is a betrayal in there but the decision to accept her as an ally also makes sense.
This opens the door for Lexa’s idea to have the Sky People officially become the 13th with her as the leader. Clarke fully supports it and Kane sees it as the only way. The citizens of Arkadia are no match for the Ice Nation so creating a lasting partnership with Lexa’s people really makes sense from a protection point of view as well as being a definite road to peace. It all fits together as this has been building since last season so this offers a payoff to some really long storytelling. Clarke offering herself as the symbol to legitimise the union was a great idea as well. She is effectively using her status as a folk hero to inspire confidence.
Abby and Kane continually passing the responsibility of being a leader between themselves was getting a bit ridiculous so I’m glad there will finally be an election. This episode does show how rational Kane is and considers the practicalities of an alliance very carefully where Abby is a little distracted by the prospect of seeing her daughter again. Between the two of them they make an effective team but it’ll be interesting to see what the people think. I’m also interested to see what the politics of the alliance involve.
Outside of the major political movements the scene where Abby and Kane wandered around the Grounder settlement and got involved in the day to day life was really good. It was a great reminder that there are innocents on both sides and that most people just want to get on with their lives. It was a very colourful and pleasant atmosphere which provides a welcome contrast from the darkness that so often fills this show.
Verdict
This was a really powerful and politically charged episode that took advantage of a lot of character development from last season. Clarke and Lexa’s relationship remains wonderfully complex and well developed to help feed into the political situation. Bellamy’s subplot drags down the episode a fair bit as it takes shortcuts simply to further the plot.
Overall
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8/10
Summary
Kneel Before…
• the layered and complex relationship between Lexa and Clarke
• Raven’s vulnerability and the start of her real healing
• the interesting political maneuvering
Rise Against…
• Bellamy’s stupidity in trusting Echo without enough information
• the expected emotional investment in Gina’s death with no development to deserve it