Initially I was not going to watch The 100 because it was introduced midseason on CW and seemed like Terra Nova, which I never watched, meets Lord of the Flies, but after the first season, the accolades were fairly universal so I decided to give it a chance. What is not to love about a nuclear apocalypse in space?
Initially The 100 was Lord of Flies meets Battlestar Galactica. The survivors, who lived on the Ark, a space station, had to try to return to Earth or face destruction as they ran out of oxygen. They hold vigils to remember how humanity nearly destroyed itself almost 100 years before, but came together to survive in space. Unfortunately they should have spent less time patting themselves on the back and struggling for power, because dun Dun DUN!!!!!! The Ark’s inhabitants weren’t the only human survivors of the nuclear war. SAY WHAT!!!!!
The 100 gets positively riveting when it departs from wrestling for power within the 100 and the Ark, and the juvenile delinquents are forced to grow up and stop acting like jerks. The 100 hits its stride when it deals with what it is like when surviving groups clash. The second season is way better than the first. Notions of colonialism, exploitation, racism, justice and privilege abound. Most of Earth’s shenanigans take place in Washington D.C., and if the writers are not using a vampire metaphor of power and how it influences the distribution of drugs to maintain the power hierarchy, then I am giving The 100’s writers more credit than they are due.
The 100 has some really awesome surreal tableaus-think Game of Thrones meets Xena: The Warrior Princess when Clarke emerges from unconsciousness with a Grounder on horseback. Technology meets the primal world. Who knew that the survivors of a nuclear apocalypse would eventually become a battle-ready matriarchy against the barely-surviving patriarchy?
Issues of faith and spirituality are alluded to, but not deeply explored except as a schadenfreude punchline teaser for the next season, which seems promising and threatening.