Arkadia
This whole episode was set in Arkadia and centered on Arkadia, and I was so happy about that. I'm tired of Polis. I've been finding that what's going on in Polis to be pretty boring. Hopefully that should change with the events that happened in Episode 7 mwahahahahaaa. Arkadia is kind of a semi-dangerous place, when compared to the overall outside world. The blockade that Lexa imposed has taken effect, where any Arker that crosses the border will be killed on sight. So, Arkadia is just getting wind of that development. And the Grounders have done a pretty good job of making them miserable by poisoning their water supply and them having no way to hunt food. So, I mean, Pike did a pretty messed up thing with killing a Grounder army and all, but the Grounders aren't innocent in this situation either. They are both making it hard for each other to survive and thrive.
So, I was just really happy to be back in Arkadia.
Pike Vs. Kane
VS 
This was probably the most interesting little bit of the episode. The battle of wills between Kane and Pike. Each wants to take the other one out, but they hope to do it subtly. I did question the numbers of Kane's resistance force, in that it wasn't very big. He has like 4 or 5 people who are really active in his resistance. It seems like he would need a little more influence and numbers to really overthrow Pike.
I enjoyed the twist and turns in Kane's over all plan. I thought it was going to go one way, but it was just a trick to surprise me with how it really turned out. Kane first led me to believe that Sinclair would tamper with the Humvee and stop Pike that way, but Sinclair being caught and imprisoned was all part of the plan in order to make the prison riot happen. Kane's real plan was to have the prison riot get all the guards to the prison and then be able to kidnap Pike, and hand deliver him to the Grounders as appeasement. Didn't work, but it was exciting watching it happen. Kane ends up getting captured and in the most heart-wrenching of moments, gets sentenced to death in order to set an example of what it means to go against Pike. I mean, I know somehow, Kane is going to get out alive, but there's always that chance that he could get hurt, and I don't want to see him die. When The 100 finally comes back, I'm excited to see how this all plays out.
Side Note: Kane is looking sooooo suspicious just reading that book in the mechanical hangar. Like, he's just asking to get caught. Don't worry, it's all part of the plan.
Jasper and Raven
So Raven and Jasper got to team up in this episode and I really liked it. They made a great team. Raven is on the hunt for Jaha's pill making machine which was confiscated by Abby, and is now kept in the Chancellor's office. Raven needs Jasper in order to figure out Monty's password for the locks. It was kind of sad remembering a time gone past when Jasper and Monty were the best friends. I think, maybe, Jasper is missing Monty. This little endeavor was also great because Raven kind of came to her senses because of Jasper. Jasper started questioning her about Finn, to see if she remembered anything about him. Jasper was with Abby when we realized Jaha had forgot his own son, so I think Jasper was testing the waters with Raven to see if she had forgot people she loved too. I think Jasper is weighing whether to take the pill or not. He wants to forget the pain of Maya's death, but he doesn't want to forget the good stuff about Maya. It was nice for Raven to realize ALIE was messing with her brain and for her to deny ALIE and Jaha the pill making machine.
GO TEAM GO!
Jaha and Ali?? (I'm scared)
So after ALIE and Jaha's plan goes awry with Raven and Jasper getting the pill machine back, we learn that ALIE can't interfere with her subjects free will. That's why Raven was able to resist her, because she's a strong person, has a strong mind, and is able to reject the pull of ALIE if she really wants to. ALIE has never had to cope with this kind of challenge before, because all her other inhabitants have always had no problem doing what she says. From the conversation ALIE and Jaha share about this development, I'm a little scared about what's going to happen next. Jaha seems to think that he can find a way to override a subject's free will when it comes to ALIE. What does that mean? Is there going to be more stuff in store for Raven? Will the City of Light inhabitants become robots with no minds of their own? It's not looking good folks. This just further cements Jaha's level of crazy and the wrongness of ALIE. I sense bad ALIE things in the future.
Missing People
This episode was absent of a few people. And most of the missing one's made sense. Clarke and Murphy were no shows because they're still stuck in Polis. Locked in Clarke's room after the whole Lexa's accidental death thing.
Octavia and Indra were also no shows because they are still on their way to Arkadia.
Also, out of my own curiosity, what's Emori doing? I assume that maybe she's trying to rescue Murphy, but it's been weird not getting a glimpse of what she's doing.
The only absence that doesn't make sense in this episode was Abby. She never once showed her face in an episode entirely dedicated to Arkadia. That was just weird. It was even weirder that it wasn't addressed at all. There's was no, oh Abby's busy in medical right now, or even Abby's asleep. And since Abby has such a soft spot for Kane, it was just weird not seeing her encouraging his resistance plan or even being there as he's led off in cuffs. No Abby was a bad move.
Bellamy
Oh Bellamy! I won't lie, I always love seeing his face in an episode. A lot of people have been anti-Bellamy this season, and I think that's because he's been given a rough, confusing, doesn't really make the most sense concerning his previous character development storyline to play. But I have never hated Bellamy. If you listen to what Bob has said in interviews or what Rothenberg has revealed in behind-the-episode information, I can understand where Bellamy's character is coming from. There's a great, big reason he doesn't trust the majority of the Grounders; it's because ever since he's been on the ground, they've been trying to kill him. I think the lack of screen time invested in showing us his arc, is really what's led to some anger about what's happening with Bellamy's character.
Bellamy, in this episode, starts on his path to redemption. YAYY! I really liked his repeating line of how he does what he thinks is best for his people everyday. I mean, he really decides to change course after Kane gets sentenced to death. Bob Morley has been killing it with all his scenes this season! Such a good actor. So glad that the Bellamy he's always been will finally start to shine through again.
Random Thoughts: As a midseason finale, I'm just a little ehh about it. It was a really good episode, but when it comes to a midseason finale, I expect epicness and the worst cliffhanger of all cliffhangers. In a way, Lexa's death episode would have been a better midseason finale than this.
This is a completely me thing, a thing that I've spotted in a couple of the episodes that just really gets on my nerves, and I spotted it in this episode too. I just hate! the spinning camera trick. If you're gonna give me a spin, then just spin it the maximum of 2 times, don't keep it spinning again and again and again. Because that's all I'll notice after that, the stupid spinning camera, and how it takes away from whatever's going on in the scene. The first time I noticed the stupid spinning camera was when Clarke was facing Emerson, the camera just kept going around and around and around. This episode had the stupid, spinning camera when Kane was under arrest and right before Pike sentenced him to death. I hate that spinning camera. Please make it stop.
My last random thought is in relation to the ratings for Episode 8 and how they were down from 0.5 to 0.4, and that's just not acceptable. I know it's from this whole firestorm that has been Lexa's death. Honestly, I'm just sick of all the whiners who boycotted a show just because they didn't get their way. In my opinion, watching a show only for one character, makes you a fake fan. I watched The 100 before Lexa even showed her face, and I'll continue to watch it now that she's left. I don't want "fans" like that determining the fate of a show that I love. Fortunately, The 100 has been renewed for a fourth season, which makes me giddy with excitement! But seriously, I am soooo tired of those people that only watch it for Lexa. You take an awesome show, narrow it down to just a single person, and then revolt when that person goes. Fake, fake fans. I will not miss you. Hopefully the ratings will rebound, because it really is an awesome show.
Also because of Lexagate, Rothenberg has lost a significant percent of his twitter followers. Now I don't really care about that, because I found his twitter to be a little annoying in the first place. I do think he played this game of taking the popularity of Clexa and baiting that audience with tweets that made it seem like a happy ending could happen. But, I also got annoyed with the media that focused on the Clexa relationship and ignored everything else. Recognize the show for what it truly is, awesome! It's about soooo much more than relationships. I know I say that as an admitted Bellarke shipper, but hey, Bellarke hasn't happened yet and I still watch the show. And if Bellamy died, my heart would hurt, but I wouldn't leave.
Episode Grade: B+
Good episode, but it fell a little flat in the midseason finale department. Yay for Bellamy's redemption finally starting to happen. Boo for the wait until March 31 for the next episode. Waiting is always the hardest part.
All The 100 images taken from http://screencapped.net/tv/the100/ gifs are taken from various sources through google images.
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