“War is brewing.”
The past week after the season premiere was torture because Wanheda Part 2 was so far away but now I know this is just going to be a never-ending cycle. Guys, I love this show so much! Each trailer for this week’s episode had war drums playing in the distance and that’s what this whole episode felt like: war drums.
Warning: MAJOR spoilers ahead. If you haven’t watched this week’s episode yet and you don’t want to be spoiled, turn back now before the Azgeda get you!
Bellamy and Crew vs… Farm Station?!
The episode picks up a couple of hours after we left off in the premiere. Bellamy and his Clarke-rescue crew
are surrounded and the people who did it are waiting patiently for them to come out of the rover. After Monty and Indra point out that the people outside can wait longer than they can, Kane orders Bellamy to cover them while they run for cover outside the jeep. Bellamy’s look of disbelief and reluctance as he tells them that they better run fast makes me believe that the progress made between Kane and Bellamy is a fragile one.
The plan goes awry as soon as Bellamy opens the hatch. One of the attackers grabs Bellamy and threatens him if Kane and the others don’t get out of the car. Kane gives up straightaway and Indra’s face when he does slays me every time. Adina Porter is a joy to have on the show and her portrayal of Indra being so done with the Sky Crew gives me life.
Turns out that their attackers are survivors from the Farm Station. Monty recognizes his mom’s voice right away and their reunion is quite touching. I’m so excited at the prospect of having a Monty centric storyline that doesn’t involve Jasper and I can’t wait to see how else Monty has grown in his time estranged from his best friend.
Another character we’re introduced to is Charles Pike, the former Earth Skills teacher on the Ark. Pike is clearly the leader of the Farm Station survivors and they’ve gone through a lot because their station landed in the Ice Nation. Throughout the episode, Pike demonstrates an entirely hostile attitude towards all Grounders. When they make it to Niylah’s trading post and rescue her from a bounty hunter looking for Wanheda, Pike demands Indra to speak English instead of the Native Grounder language (Trigedasleng). Pike’s crew proudly calls themselves “Grounder Killers.” The ruthlessness of the Ice Nation shaped their perception of all Grounders and that makes Pike a dangerous opposition to Kane and Abby’s truce with the coalition. As unforgiving as he is towards the Grounders, he still holds a lot of compassion towards his own people. He reassures both Monty and Bellamy and you can just see how his almost instant connection with the latter rubs Kane the wrong way.
Abby, Jasper, and Mt. Weather
Back at Arkadia, Octavia and Lincoln spot their old Grounder friend Nyko just outside the gates and discover that the Azgeda (the Ice Nation) attacked him and that he needs to see Abby for healing. Unfortunately, he has a rare blood type and wouldn’t survive without the top-of-the-line medical technology at Mt. Weather. The only problem? In last week’s episode, Lincoln told Abby that multiple trips to Mt. Weather would threaten the truce between the Sky People and the Grounders. Abby’s reluctance earns her a proper chastising from Jackson who believes Abby can’t function as a good doctor and a good chancellor. This is a great interaction between the two because Jackson had always stood with Abby in the past. It also reinforces the idea that Abby’s role as leader of Arkadia could be coming to an end. To save his old friend, Lincoln gives Abby the okay to transport Nyko to Mount Weather, a decision that could have dire consequences for the truce later on. See what I mean when I said that this whole episode feels like the chorus of war drums on the horizon?
Just before Nyko came to Abby, she was looking after Jasper, who has been getting worse and worse since Mount Weather fell. This was a great scene because Abby calls back to Finn and how his inability to deal with loss caused his death and Jasper replies by saying that her daughter was the one to kill Finn too. Oh snap. For some reason, Abby forces him to go with the transport to Mount Weather and Octavia tells him not to do anything stupid while the rest of them focus on Nyko. Honestly, I don’t have much love for Jasper but seeing him go back to Mount Weather and break down was a bit heart-wrenching. I don’t know if he’ll get better from here or what part he’ll play in the grand scheme of the war but the scene between him and Octavia in front of Maya’s favourite painting definitely brought back some season one feels. Look at how far they’ve come and look at how much they’ve lost.
Murphy and Emori vs. Jaha and the City of Light
While I couldn’t care less about Jaha, in this episode we finally get to see what the City of Light is and what it means for the future the 100. A.L.I.E. basically created an entire virtual reality that people can access through implant chips, like the one that Jaha gave to Murphy in the season premiere. Jaha vows to fill the City, starting with his people.
Murphy and Emori are less than convinced and have a sass-off almost the whole episode and it went a long way to make the City of Light storyline a bit more interesting to me. After his last interaction with Emori left two of his friends dead, Murphy is understandably wary of Emori’s intentions and motivations. She and her brother are contracted thieves, taking tech and providing it to Jaha and A.L.I.E. but the “bitch in the red dress” isn’t their only buyer. Jaha takes Emori’s brother aside to teach him about the City of Light and Emori uses the distraction to her advantatge. Once Jaha’s muscle goes into zen mode, which we now know is their way to go to the City of Light, Emori goes for the metal backpack he guards. Hey, Emori. If even MURPHY thinks it’s a bad idea, then it’s probably a really bad idea. The over-sized Frankenstein’s Monster snaps out of the City of Light and tries to kill Emori for her treachery. Murphy goes to help her by smacking Lurch over the head with a metal rod of some kind and we find out that being connected to the City of Light really means not having to deal with pain and death. Seriously, what the futz. Murphy and Emori escape with the motorboat, leaving Jaha and a newly converted Oton stranded.
I’ve got to give it to Richard Harmon, he made me go from hating Murphy to actually really sympathizing with his character and this episode solidified that for me. The way he softens when Emori looks at him like he’s her hero made my heart melt. Emori knows what kind of guy he is and he knows what kind of person she could be and they still like each other.
Clarke and Roan and…
While ALL this is happening, Roan and Clarke are off on an adventure filled with killing, drowning each other in the water, and sassy heart-to-hearts. After capturing Clarke at the trading post, Roan is dragging her to an unknown location in order for him to get his banishment lifted. But who is Roan exactly? I was totally prepared to hate him because he just gave off a bad guy vibe but his entire presence in this episode, especially when he’s interacting with Clarke, just added so much depth and complexity. At this point, I shouldn’t even be surprised anymore.
Clarke is amazing in all her scenes in “Wanheda Pt. 2.” Even though Roan has her captured throughout this episode, she never stopped fighting him. I’m constantly amazed by the lengths she’d go to in order to escape. First she plays being unconscious and once Roan has his back turned, she jumps on his back and chokes him. He easily counters but it’s the though that counts. Later on, they come across a trio of Azgeda scouts and she screams to get their attention, knowing that she risks so much by doing so and hoping that she could run away while Roan and the scouts kill each other. Again, Roan kicks ass and still captures her effortlessly. She ends up injuring him and they have to rest while he burns the wound close. (JFC, this guy is SO badass). Clarke only gives up her fight to stop Roan from killing Bellamy, who had found them by disguising himself as Ice Nation to get through a field full of Azgeda soldiers marching across the boundaries set by the Commander.
Of course, the episode ends with Roan bringing Clarke to the person who ordered her found. Clarke had believed it to be the Ice Queen but it was really Lexa, the Commander of the 12 Clan coalition and the woman who had betrayed her last season. Lexa tells Clarke that there is a war brewing and that she needs her but Clarke is having none of that. Without Lexa’s betrayal, Clarke might not have been forced to kill the Mountain Men and seeing that anger boil and build up in Clarke’s eyes was extremely satisfying.
Eliza Taylor and Alycia Debnam Carey, who play Clarke and Lexa respectively, were utterly fantastic in this scene. It’s amazing to see such young talented actresses emote so many complicated feelings and thoughts through their facial expressions and body language. Commander Lexa is hardened and mechanical but softens when she sees and talks to Clarke. Clarke is just a bundle of unbridled rage. Their chemistry is epic and when Clarke is being dragged away for spitting in the Commander’s face, her cries of outrage and distraught are haunting to both Lexa and the audience.
Verdict: With how much the writers can fit in a single episode, it’s easy to forget that this isn’t a cable show and that it’s only forty-five minutes long without commercials. The writers, actors, directors, etc. were on point this episode and through all the subtle beats and moments, you know that these are just the war drums. There were so many pieces to different storylines laid out and that this is still just the calm before the storm. It moved at a much faster pace than the season premiere did and I can’t imagine the rollercoaster ride we’re in for the rest of the season.
