How does The 100 manage to consistently get better and more surprising every season? If you have not seen the first four seasons, stop reading now. The fifth season was the best as we gradually find out the fate of our problematic faves after Praimfaya consumed most of life on Earth at the end of Season 4, and we discover more about some new arrivals who missed the first two apocalypses. How will everyone survive?
The 100 impressed me and is one of my favorite shows currently on TV. I would have been satisfied with just focusing on Octavia for the entire fifth season. She went from the girl under the floor to full on evil Xena: Warrior Princess though she never drank her own Kool-Aid and knew when she was wrong though she stayed the course because she thought that she was choosing the best of the worst options. Marie Avgeropoulos deserves all the awards for simultaneously being a resolved, logical, cold badass who is completely horrified by her actions and accepts her guilt. At one point, someone tries to assassinate her, and she is barely bothered then later saves that person from dying. She may be a violent dictator, but there is reason behind her decisions. She has been consistently the most interesting person on the show, especially since her ruthlessness is not self-serving though she does get tunnel vision and crosses all the lines. Also all her fight scenes were amazing, and I probably watched the second episode final fight scene multiple times. “You are Wonkru or you are the enemy of Wonkru. Choose!” Chills. I’m not sure if I completely buy the exact point when she began to lose support, but I’ll sign a waiver. Also where is all the leather coming from? Did they raid all the consignment stores before Praimfaya?
The 100 introduces an impressive new threat to Wonkru. Diyoza leads the new group, and she is just as treacherous though her motives are a bit more mysterious. There are multiple stress points in her group: the irrationally violent, the insane and the tentative alliance with a more reasonable individual. How can there be a new group of people that we have never seen before? Somehow the TV series credibly pulls it off, and I was surprised at how much I began to like her in spite of her ruthlessness. I will state that I never bought that people would be so blind as to repeatedly trust her second in command/potential rival more than Octavia even momentarily, but as the actor in that role pointed out on Twitter, we have Presidon’t so shrug.
Some of our staple characters respond better than others to the new stresses of life after the second apocalypse. There is a topical opioid addiction that doesn’t seem shoehorned into the plot. The 100 always addresses the ethics of warfare and emphasizes that looking out for only one’s side will lead to destruction of all. If ever a show hammered home to stop thinking of your child’s welfare above all others, i.e. the selfishness and irrational nature of biology, it is this one. Jasper was always annoying although he wasn’t wrong, and Monty inherits the mantle of voice of reason with Indra coming in a close second. Humanity’s incessant threat to the environment escalates to unprecedented levels, and somehow manages to top prior seasons.
If you thought that the adults during the first season of The 100 were horrible, but your horror over their behavior began to fade over time, fifth season will remind you of not only how terrible they are, they also fail to own their mistakes unlike their children. I’m looking at you, Kane, you rationalizing, sanctimonious hypocrite. Their children definitely take more responsibility for their errors and learn to live with them while trying to instruct the next generation from making the same errors. Just because they are wiser doesn’t mean that they do better. Clarke annoyed me more than ever this entire season. Her mother is the last person that she should take advice from. Bellamy seems to have finally learned from past mistakes, but I’m going to need to remind him to go easy on his sister because he killed his brother-in-law, the literally last best man on Earth who was hot to boot, so you don’t get to hold grudges. I don’t care what Octavia did to you. You’re even. Echo, Raven, Murphy and Emori play pivotal roles, but were simultaneously their worst enemies as they fail to escape cycles of abuse and self-sabotage.
I wish that more shows that aired on network TV had thirteen episodes per season. It leads to better story telling instead of people trying to fill up the time by retreading well-worn storylines or expanding certain plots to boredom. As opposed to prior seasons, The 100 jumped around the timeline more, and it worked well without leading to confusion whereas shows such as Arrow seem to be doing it more as routine instead of as an interesting narrative alternative to linear storytelling.
I didn’t think that it was possible, but the sixth season of The 100 seems to be set up to even be more mind blowing and unexpected than what came before. I almost want to spoil myself by reading the books, but I’ll wait until the show is finished so I don’t get confused, which is also my strategy for Game of Thrones with the caveat that I won’t start to read anything until the book series is finished because Stephen King. Apparently book one consists of the first five seasons! How many books are there?!? I cannot wait until next summer to find out what happens next!