The 100 surprises me every season, and season 4 was no different. If you do not watch the show, go back and read my review of season 1 and 2 and season 3 then question all your life choices because you really should be watching this show. There was one overarching threat, Praimfaya, which was basically a metaphor for global warming, that threatened to literally burn up all life on Earth from nuclear plants collapsing, and three minor threats: without a Commander, there is a constant threat of civil war among the Grounders or with the Grounders and the Skaikru; a religious crisis of who should control the Flame and fundamentalist fallout from dealing with ALIE and a leadership crisis of who should make decisions for Skaikru. Every single aspect of the story was well done and unexpected. The 100 combined the most interesting elements of Game of Thrones and The Hunger Games without seeming derivative, pulled a Parks and Recreations time jump and left me desperate to see Season 5.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
Like Season 6 of Game of Thrones, women are at the helm of every region by the end of the season. Octavia, who is clearly coming for that Xena: Warrior Princess crown reboot, is in charge of all the clans, i.e. the Grounders and the Skaikru, underground after a crazy season when she got stabbed, fell off a cliff then nearly drowned, but survived to later fight in a Hunger Games type battle where she beat a suddenly not taking any sit, y’all can die Luna, who killed all the other clan representatives, including Roan, whom I loved. Octavia is the most interesting character because she always felt a closer allegiance to the Grounders than Skaikru, but she is from Skaikru so there is always an internal conflict. She owns being the girl under the floor and being the Champion and Queen of the Grounders. Raven is in charge of the survivors in the space station. Clarke, who is now a Nightblood (will she get the Flame next season), which was teased, but never seemed to be a plausible possibility, in the season finale of Season 3, is in charge of survivors (there may only be one) on the ground.
The overarching theme of this season, and indeed the entire series, is the ethics of survival: who makes the decision, how do you define what is fair, what should you be willing to do, why fight to survive or should people survive considering that people keep causing the problems in the first place. Unlike prior seasons, I could see the argument from all sides. For example, The 100’s depiction of medical experimentation challenges viewers’ empathy. On one hand, Praimfaya will kill everyone if you don’t use human beings in the Nightblood experiments, but the problem is that they are not using volunteers, but forcing people, specifically those with the least connection to the ones in charge of the experiments, which happen to be Grounders, including a disabled one. Skaikru are basically the Mountain Men. So there is clearly exploitation and privilege at play based on status.
Some past minor characters got more screen time this year, specifically Echo, a shady, but loyal Ice Nation bitch, and that is a compliment. She always has angles, and it will be interesting to see her role now that she is in space and without a clan allegiance. In the last episode, Echo functions as the muscle, which is kind of thrilling considering that she is a woman, but as a Grounder forced to live with Skaikru in space, she will have to adapt to technology in ways that Lincoln never had to, and I wonder how she will emerge. She is always a wild card so I am excited to see who she will be.
I have never been so happy for a character to die. Bye, Jasper! He actually made some good points this season, but he vexes me. I will miss Roan, who got a promotion from Prince of the Ice Nation to ruler of the thirteen clans. He always sounded like he was against Skaikru to keep up appearances, but his actions indicated that he and Clarke were roasting friends, and he had a soft spot for Skaikru. He always provided the necessary checks on Skaiku’s colonialist view that they were more enlightened than the Grounders and should make decisions for them. I preferred Zach McGowan in The 100 than Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
The last scene of the last episode of The 100 is provocative. Are we going to deal with corporations in an entirely unexpected way or like the Alien Quadrilogy? Or is it something else entirely? I can’t wait to find out.