The 100 7×10 Review: A Little Sacrifice

The 100/ The CW

Episodes of The 100’s final season become easier to watch the longer the season continues. This isn’t due to an increase in quality, but merely due to the fact that the time has given the audience the opportunity to adjust to The 100’s new normal. And while the grievances and weak spots of this season continue and, in some cases worsen, the outrage and hope has quieted to a dull whisper. If there was one word to sum up the emotions that The 100’s current trajectory elicit, it would probably be resignation.

The 100 is enjoyable if you can go into the episode without attachment. Is “A Little Sacrifice” fun? Surely. Is it what many viewers want for the conclusion of series-long arcs and storylines? Not at all. But, if the episode is approached in a way that forgets past seasons, character arcs, and developed dynamics, then yeah, it’s interesting.

The 100’s season seven begs to be looked at as its own entity. But, that’s the problem. This season shouldn’t be it’s own story, or a launchpad for a new one. It needs to be a final chapter in a seven season-long arc. This season feels more like a movie that’s based on a true story. It draws upon influences and roots from the first six seasons, but it’s more of a loose interpretation. The writers take creative liberties.

The 100‘s farewell season is like a bad high school theater production that tries to be quirky by setting Romeo and Juliet during World War II, but instead of solely changing the settings and updating the characters to fit a nonsensical interpretation, it swaps out Romeo for Benvolio and makes Juliet and Mercutio a couple.

However, with a following as large and passionate as The 100’s, being uncaring and resigned is not an easy feat, and it shouldn’t take effort to enjoy a fan-favorite show. Putting away the resignation and low expectations, there’s still a healthy amount to digest in “A Little Sacrifice.”

Sanctum Puts Murphy in a Corner

“A Little Sacrifice” moves Sanctum from its war between factions to a war within a single faction. Some of our bigger players are missing: Nikki, Nelson, and even Murphy and Emori’s roles this episode are significantly reduced in favor for the struggle between Sheidheda and Indra, and subsequently, Madi as well. This continues to follow the trend of swapping in the new for the old, even neglecting to focus on Murphy in certain episodes when he’s the only cast member in Sanctum who has held a leading role in seasons prior.

JR Bourne continues to lead this storyline with his acting chops, though his new make-over does NO favors for the character and only adds levity to the situation. Then again, it’s rather humorous to witness the recycled Grounder antics, especially after the backdoor pilot to The 100‘s hopeful spin-off, led by a character who appears very different from what the Grounders represent in our current timeline.

Upon Sheidheda’s massacre, Indra and Memori regroup, and quickly come to the conclusion that the Dark Commander will seek out Madi.

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Murphy’s elevation to leader status is still interesting, albeit not always easy to comprehend. Perhaps being seen as a God had eye-opening results for Murphy. Or maybe this was spurned by the loss of Abby, someone Murphy looked up to. It’s either that or his sudden concern for the people could have been inspired by the role he was thrust into, especially in the absence of Clarke and Bellamy.

Murphy has had bright spots of self-sacrifice before. He muddied his standing with Raven and possibly others when he stole the medication for Luna’s people in season four. He helped Monty when they were down to the line. He eventually helped Bellamy escape Sanctum to save Clarke (although success was looking dim at the time). Murphy knows how to put others first, he just easily regresses back to his inclination towards self-survival with Emori included in the self.

Even if his focus on others almost feels suddenly consistent, it’s interesting and almost ridiculous that The 100 doesn’t take the necessary time to flesh-out his motivations, that is if the survival of others isn’t just a means for his and Emori’s own. After all, we’ve seen conflicts between the clans and we’ve seen duels for the Commandership. This is not new. Even if this is foreshadowing for the Memori baby that seems likely to happen, there’s plenty of time to focus on him.

Speaking of the foreshadowed Memori baby, it is no coincidence that Emori happens upon her fiancé as he’s helping Madi through her panic following her encounter with Sheidheda, displaying a glimpse of fatherly energy that may become pertinent later.

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Murphy and Emori’s growth and story should be at the forefront of Sanctum, not a result of what the plot needs for another Grounder squabble. Instead, Murphy and Emori spend the episode mostly offscreen, protecting the young girl. They’re initially too late, Sheidheda immediately confronting his threat.

Don’t look now, John, but I think you might be someone worth believing in.
– Emori

If this season has proven anything, it’s that The 100 knows how to stall, as this confrontation should have happened much earlier in the season. While Bardo is the strongest and most intriguing arc of season seven, it’s back and forth pacing hinders Sanctum, and its stalling is a direct result of the achingly drawn-out explanation and wold-building of The Disciples. Add-in a deja vu of a plot and that’s Sanctum in a nutshell.

Grounder Games

Sheidheda confronts Madi, and as a mere child still haunted from when he inhabited her, there’s not much she can do to help herself. Picasso does make a brief appearance, snarling at the Dark Commander — the dog’s senses are accurate. Sheidheda is angry, as he usually is, and frightens Madi into submission.

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I offered you the world, and you chose weakness. Love.
– Sheidheda

Sheidheda can’t kill Madi like he wants, which is a problem he’s working on solving. For now, seeding fear is enough, and some of the Commander’s lines are self-aware of a society that he helped reign.

It’s unfortunate that Madi continues to be a tool of the plot, either as the vessel of Lexa and Sheidheda or as an easy way to introduce conflict between Clarke and Bellamy (and the others). While not every character in a program needs to have agency, some characters need to exist to further the lead characters and plot. However, Madi exists purely as a way to threaten Clarke’s happiness, causing fear to loom over the audience as they constantly are made to wonder: is Madi going to be the next person Clarke blames herself for losing?

With a stagnant plot, JR Bourne still continues to make Sanctum entertaining at the least. Even if he’s given redundant dialogue laced with overused bad-guy tropes, he’s enjoyable to watch, from the way Bourne runs with what he’s given, to his delivery of threatening Madi via speaking to Picasso.

In fact, despite the issues in Sanctum that have continued throughout the season, some of the scenes in this arc have been the strongest due to the strong ensemble in this location. Putting aside the uncomfortable feeling this scene evokes, as a man forces a child to kneel to him, this scene is one of its strongest.

Not only do both JR Bourne and Lola Flanery deliver powerful performances (which is a feat for younger actors) but the scene also is exemplary due to the direction of Sherwin Shilalti, as well as the set decoration, lighting choices. Let’s not forget Picasso either, or the dog handler responsible for him, as scenes with live animals are never as easy as they appear.

After goading Indra by speaking to Wonkru through the intercom system, Sheidheda easily pulls her into his trap. If anyone has picked up on his thought processes, it’s Murphy, who is able to predict his next moves thanks to the convenient chess game played in “The Queen’s Gambit.” And as the pressure increases, Sheidheda’s strategies begin to take its toll on everybody, even Emori, as her otherwise helpful and caring demeanor begins to see its first cracks as she realizes the danger they’ve gotten themselves into.

[The faithful] will be [a threat]. When we were playing chess, he made sure to take my pawns so they couldn’t move across the board to get promoted. Taking out the faithful before they get revenge will be right below Madi on his list of priorities.
-Murphy

Sanctum, however, lost all good standing when Sheidheda got a wardrobe change and started promising to uphold the Grounder traditions like a conservative talking point. Not to mention that somebody needs to tell Sheidheda that “bending the knee” isn’t a reliable way of discerning loyalty among followers.

Regardless, this is what is presented to the audience as something to take seriously. Instead, these moments of grandeur are soured and silly, as The 100 still takes substantial time to beat the audience over their heads with silly whims of a culture that sprung up in less than a century and yet somehow have followed its people into a new sector of the universe.

No matter how unrealistic it is to have Grounder culture survive when surrounded by artificial intelligences, memory capture, and wormholes, this is where we’re at, and with much of this set-up to capture viewers for The 100’s prequel, it can only be expected to continue to play heavy-handedly moving into the final episodes. Even when time would be better served focusing on the intricacies and constantly concealed motivations of the characters stuck on Bardo.

Although Indra appears to be in an emotional spot — facing the person who stripped so much from her and her family when she was younger — she keeps playing into his hands, which is surprising for a militaristic strategist and chief. First, Indra gave Sheidheda the opportunity to commit his massacre, and now, she allows him to take the leadership from her in a way deemed acceptable by their society.

A combat for power is exactly what Sheidheda needs to retain his followers, and Indra gives it to him with yet another needless make-over. The 100 revels too much in the details that some may believe makes the Grounders edgy and cool even though they distract from the real conflict at hand.

Thank you, Indra, for giving me exactly what I wanted.
-Sheidheda

The fight scene is shot well, with dynamic camera work, but is all too reminiscent of past fights, such as the combat between Roan and Lexa from season three, to the point to where Madi’s entrance seems pointedly similar to something Lexa would do, even drawing a parallel by the hint of red in her costuming, immediately reminding the audience of Lexa’s red cape. Seeing Madi take Sheidheda’s eye is fun, and the last thing he needs as a Dark Commander, but he pulls off a pirate astoundingly well.

But even that is not all too surprising, considering Madi’s primary role as a conduit, and this fight doesn’t offer up much of anything new. Sanctum hasn’t changed much since the last episode, except Sheidheda now controls the society from the open, and not from the shadows.

Nothing much noteworthy happens in Sanctum, although not much of it is noteworthy to begin with. Knight, who fills the role of Sheidheda’s right-hand seems to become uncertain, which could lay the foundation for another mutiny later on. And, other than Murphy correctly predicting that he would kill anyone connected to those killed in his massacre and hiding them inside the reactor room, Sanctum continues to merely exist, with no real change or impactful character moments. Let’s hope this is all worth it in the end, but with only six episodes left, there are huge strides that still need to be made.

Convergence

Four episodes have passed since beginning the same five minute scene, and Clarke finally has something to do! Unfortunately, it is only to further Echo’s storyline, but at this point, it’s a relief to see her finally move out of a singular room.

In fact, this episode has many special moments in Bardo, but the common denominator between them all is that Echo isn’t in the room. It’s amazing what The 100 can do when they expand the narrative and allow people other than Echo to experience their emotions, even if the focus on Bellamy isn’t to the level that it needs to be.

With Bellamy likely showing up in next week’s “Etherea,” not a lot of hope is present for the cathartic resolutions and reactions to his reveal considering the fact that these characters aren’t given time to react currently to his death, and when they have the opportunity, Echo’s grief takes precedence. While Echo doesn’t have much else than Bellamy, this is partly her fault for not taking stock in the other relationships she developed in her time-jumps, nor is it the fault of other characters. Octavia has Hope, and Clarke has Madi, but that doesn’t make it fair that their grief isn’t allowed to take up space.

And while these are issues prevalent throughout this season, “A Little Sacrifice” puts these issues in the spotlight as it includes scenes with the group alone, and the group with Echo, bringing what almost feels like disrespect for Bellamy’s relationships to the forefront.

For example, even as Echo declares they have a war to fight, while Diyoza and Octavia concur, as they leave not a single characters asks, “What happened to Bellamy?” Surely this is to propel the plot forward, but once again, The 100 opts to avoid even short moments of grief and concern for the once-male-lead, which makes the connections and motivations for their actions much harder to grasp. Especially in the case of Clarke, a woman who called Bellamy for six years on a radio, and whose loss wracked Bellamy much more noticeably than the former.

Even some clunky dialogue detracts from connections that the audience wants to make with the character. While Miller’s, “Get the flock out of here” is just awkward (though it’s nice to see Jarod Joseph have something to do other than being LGBT representation in the background), and it’s frustrating that the question of Echo’s and the other’s motivations while previously shrouded in mystery are given a quick explanation. With all the flashbacks and back-and-forth in the show’s timeline, a longer explanation could have been provided. These decisions leave the audience disorientated, but not in a compelling way.

And Clarke’s comment isn’t edgy, in fact, it just feels like a line forced in for the hell of it. It just distracts from the moment and the way she processes it.

Let’s go find out what the three most dangerous women on this or any planet are up to.
– Clarke

I will give her that Diyoza is dangerous. Even Octavia fits this title as well, even if the amount of time it took her to reach that level is suspect. Echo, however, is rarely successful. Her Mount Weather attack went as planned, but since then, she’s never successfully completed a big task, or even won a fight without help. She’s even taken a liking of jabbing unconscious people’s throats as an easy fix. She even fails her mission in this episode. Echo isn’t exactly the most dangerous woman in the world, and it’s almost an insult that Clarke isn’t considered among the ones on this list. She should be. Although she isn’t a warrior, she is powerful and the very definition of dangerous.

Dinner Time

This is awkward.
– Niylah

With Niylah, Gabriel, and Jordan keeping watch over Cadogan, he begins talking about his daughter, seeds to bloom more interest in a potential prequel series, but the lingo raises more questions. According to the philosophy of the Grounders, are the commanders truly dead if they reside in The Flame, which Cadogan believes still exists within Clarke? Is this a mishap or a seed for later conflict and repercussions for Clarke once her fib is revealed.

Cadogan takes an interest in Gabriel, however, both survivors of the world before. They know of each other, and Gabriel seems more annoyed by Cadogan than anything, having his own experiences with idle worship.

I lost my way for a while, but I never believed I was a God.
– Gabriel

Cadogan leaves abruptly after explaining some information about the Bardoans to the remaining group, and Gabriel follows him, but not without Jordan’s gun.

The dinner Gabriel and Cadogan have thereafter is enlightening. Gabriel is a bright spot for a muddy season, and his quips and humor elevate the episode and gives the audience a break from the rashness of other characters such as Echo and Hope.

Cadogan, although an antagonist, is probably the most amusing challenger The 100 has had. From his sandals to the delight he takes in their meal and conversation with Gabriel. Not unlike ALIE, or other villains The 100 touts, his intentions aren’t completely impure, even if Cadogan verges on heartless and cruel in the way he moves to achieve them. However, he still knows when to play nice, and uses his manipulative streak of a cult leader to get what he wants.

It’s obvious how much fun the writers had with this scene while incorporating facets or our modern world into the setting, from fast food jobs to avocado toast.

We also learn a little bit about Gabriel. His family is from Colombia and he endured the hardships of being poor in a society not unlike our own. Gabriel serves as the perfect foil for Cadogan, his character arc focusing on the aspects that Cadogan wishes to throw away. Gabriel recognizes the importance of love and all the things it brings, good and bad. But, he also realizes no matter the outcome, love and emotion also makes humanity worth fighting for, despite his egregious mistakes.

Join your war to save the human race by renouncing everything that makes me human. Love. Family. Those are the things that connect us. They’re not just DNA. They’re emotion. Without that, what are we fighting for?
– Cadogan

We also learn about Cadogan. Although he obviously has a soft spot for his daughter (no Reese mention yet), he’s removed himself from personal relationships, focusing on the transcendence of humanity itself.

This makes Cadogan an excellent final aggresor in the world of The 100. He poses questions that The 100 has been addressing throughout its run. He sets aside and discards any emotion for a higher cause, while the protagonists of this show let their emotions drive them to save those they care for, even if cataclysmic results follow, even if they try to do better.

As Gabriel is a man changed and affected greatly by love, and also one of the few characters taking Monty’s advice to heart yet never meeting him, but also a man of science and enlightenment, this conversation sets up the decision that season seven has been posing for Gabriel. Which will he choose?

And even as he leaves the dinner, gun confiscated, this is a question that will likely drive all of The 100’s lead characters. Is that sacrifice worth it? What matters more: the now or the future?

Convenient Revelations

Another word used to explain this season (aside from resigned) is convenient. Many times, plot developments don’t seem organic, either forced to progress further, or untrue to characterization.

After Cadogan introduces Jordan to the code the Bardoans left, describing a final war to meet transcendence, Jordan investigates, and comes to a revelation expected. He knows Korean (which is a new revelation) and he deduces that The Disciples translated the Bardoans’ language wrong.

This is where the convenience comes into play. The Disciples have studied these texts for centuries, and not a single person attempted to translate it off of a different translation technique? Convenient.

Convenience is a major issue for this season and contributes to the lack of authenticity the season exudes. Not only is this scene convenient, but others from this season are as well: Hope’s happening upon Disciples on Penance, The Disciple’s body suddenly being found in “Hesperides,” Indra’s lack in normal judgement, and the list goes on.

However, this is the revelation needed to gear the plot, and hopefully divert away from the stories of warriors such as Echo, and focus more on the earned development from other protagonists such as Clarke, Octavia, and (fingers-crossed) Bellamy.

Now it just sounds like you’re trying to find proof to support what you want to believe.
– Niylah

With Niylah’s help and effective role as the sane man insert, Jordan figures out that “the last war,” is more like “a final test,” which alters the ideology of The Disciples completely. Whoever enters the code represents humanity. Maybe Clarke is actually the key. Although, don’t get your hopes up too high for this. Based on current trends, maybe Hope is a more likely option.

True Intentions

Meanwhile, Hope is angry. Echo has seemingly betrayed her, subjecting her to extended isolation once more, a sore spot if you will. But Echo rescues her, in a way, as it was revealed this was all an act.

It’s understandable that the audience wasn’t sure of Echo’s true intentions. That speaks to how The 100 potrays her. For someone who values loyalty, it’s difficult to discern where her loyalties lie, and whether Echo would focus on revenge or finding her next place to belong.

You didn’t really think I believe this garbage?
– Echo

Her words are ironic. Just a few episodes she was carving into her face, clearly still believing the garbage she was taught to believe as an Azgeda spy. Echo is still clearly loyal to some things, and no matter what progress she seems to make she always regresses back into those core believes exhibited in the first few seasons she was present in The 100.

Maybe not every character is meant to improve or change, but they usually don’t overstay their welcome, and they usually aren’t potrayed in a way that sends so many mixed signals. It doesn’t make Echo cutthroat or interesting, it just causes frustration and exasperation to fester inside the minds of viewers, especially ones who are more focused on the previous leads of the show.

Breathing Room

As previously mentioned, the most interesting scenes are when Clarke, Raven, and Miller reunite with Octavia and Diyoza. Interestingly enough, this is a moment when The 100 allows these characters to have a moment to focus on their own feelings, not Echo’s.

Clarke’s M.O. for this season is to shut most everything down and focus on saving the people she loves. This moment doesn’t change that. But the pain is evident in the embrace between Clarke and Octavia, and they actually have a moment to experience pain without having to pull themselves up to absolve Echo of hers.

Octavia even gets an emotional moment with Miller, which is very well-done. Miller is mostly a background character, someone seemingly included to cover The 100’s representation bases, but remembering he was also Bellamy’s best (non-soulmate) friend is impactful and emotional. If only The 100 gave Miller more weight as a character earlier in the show’s run.

The moments are strong, albeit brief, as Hope enters naming all the people she’s met before, a la Madi, and explains Echo has a plan and they all need to escape Bardo. Octavia is concerned about Levitt, of course, which leads into another well-done scene as Octavia and the others happened upon him, restrained and beaten, thanks to our favorite Azgeda spy.

She’ll kill us all.
– Levitt

Levitt has been such a good little helper, although showing up at oppotune times, for Octavia. It’s sad to see Echo so callously hurt and bind him. Again, she is never afraid to sacrifice the right person for her own selfish whims.

And, while it seems like there have already been times when Octavia and Levitt shouldn’t have forgiven each other (that first escape plan was dubious), could this be the turning point that shifts Levitt to the opposite side and makes him less sympathetic to Octavia, despite peering into her mind?

On one hand, Octavia intends to save him. She wants to stop Echo of course. On the other hand, for all Levitt knows, she’s left him in favor for her own escape. Octavia is a dynamic character and her past could indicate several paths she could take when dealing with this.

These scenes are the strongest of “A Little Sacrifice.” Clarke, Raven, and Octavia are all strong characters, and it’s worth the show’s time and investment to let them have their own stories. They have the biggest attachment to the audience out of characters currently on Bardo, and it doesn’t serve them well to exist to serve Echo’s plot which, before now, they mostly have. Not only is this what the audience wants to see, and at one time expected to see, but they also have the prowess to carry these arcs, when Echo doesn’t have the same charisma, even as a concealed spy.

“A Little Sacrifice,” does well to include these moments that are easier to settle in, but at the same time, placing them in the same episode where Echo attempts to commit genocide out of revenge doesn’t do The 100 many favors simultaneously, as now it’s more obvious what the final season is lacking.

Genocide Club

Echo wants revenge. This is clear. But, she has almost no doubts as the timer hits zero and she prepares to release the toxin, having no clue whether the people she claims to care about have reached safety. She even reiterated this idea to Hope earlier in the episode. Another stark difference between her and Bellamy is that she prioritizes revenge over the people still alive. The people Bellamy loves.

And it’s up to them to talk her off a ledge, like a scene straight out from any cop procedural with the “good guys” talking the criminal off the ledge. As long as Echo is in the room, her pain is the only one that matters, even if her act would take family members, significant others, mothers, and sisters (in Raven’s words) from the people they belong with. And they all take their turns.

Bellamy’s sister conveys her understanding with what Echo has been through. She also had Bellamy taken away from her, yet Octavia has learned from the ways she’s handled grief in the past.

Bellamy’s best friend (and soulmate) attempts to remind Echo who she is, although she doesn’t really know either. She explains her experiences with grief, but Echo shrugs it off, making wild claims.

This is not what Bellamy would have wanted.
– Clarke
You have no idea what Bellamy would have wanted! If they killed me, or you, or you, Octavia, you’d be standing right where I am.
– Echo

Except, Bellamy wanted to honor Clarke’s memory. Did he initially want to resort to anger and revenge? Yes. But it was what Clarke brought into his life that talked him down and made him realize that he needed to save their people, even if she was gone. As Clarke was the one who was lost, she knows this. Hell, she saw some of it via the mind space. Clarke has lost before, but has only taken when there was no other choice.

Clarke wouldn’t be standing where Echo is. Neither would Octavia. They lost Bellamy too, and yet, they’re on the opposite side of her, trying to restore life.

Bellamy’s claimed sister and family member reminds Echo of Bellamy’s growth, albeit using one of the most misunderstood actions of Bellamy’s to prove he had changed.

The sleeping army argument, like many things, should have died off of the show a long time ago, and almost serves as a purposeful trigger to fans of Bellamy. With an absence so ongoing, The 100 continues to tarnish his memory, opting to focus on action like these instead of the countless times Bellamy put his life on the line to save others.

It’s Bellamy’s family member that causes Echo to lash out and break down, giving Raven the opportunity to move her away from the dispersal system. Diyoza steps in to take the chemical agent, while Echo breaks down while everyone else is forced to remain strong.

Echo’s actions are outlandish and selfish. If she wanted to be like Clarke so bad, well, she already got the guy. And no matter what Echo seems to do, there always is someone there to absolve her of the guilt without holding her to the work she needs to do to change and learn.

With the combination of earlier scenes with her absence, and this scene where all the people who loved Bellamy most are shelving everything to keep Echo from off the edge, clarifies how unnecessary all this is, especially as there will be no change in Echo because of this.

And Bellamy isn’t even dead (from what we can assume).

How long will the plot and character development earned be set aside for some bad-ass morally dubious plan from Echo that she inevitably ends up failing at anyway?

It’s resigned and convenient.

Thankfully, Anders calls her bullshit out. The murder part, the Levitt part, the genocide part. And Diyoza, who has been watching this unfold, is the one to extend the olive branch, one of the few who is emblematic of “doing better” as she pushes Hope to this throughout their short-lived relationship since they reunite.

You people disgust me. Look at yourselves. Raised in the wild, you’re nothing but primal beasts, utterly enthralled in your feelings, prioritizing the want of self over the need of all others. You don’t deserve The Shepard’s mercy.
– Anders

Through his anger, he doesn’t sentence them all to damnation, only Echo, but at this point, Penance is an empty threat as nobody ever goes there. Yet. With a plot device like Penance it’s hard to believe that nobody will get the opportunity to die of old age there.

Hope then slits Anders throat, like she’s been aching to do all season long, sending the chemical agent falling to the floor. Diyoza makes the sacrifice needed to save them all, stopping Hope from taking the caught device to the filtration system, exposing herself in the process. She and Anders crystallize as the others run from the room, leaving Hope without a mother once more, although she is culpable in this turn of events.

Don’t waste this little one. Be better than me.
– Diyoza

Echo wanted revenge, but all she ended up doing was pushing her friend closer to the darkness, subsequently causing Diyoza’s death. Not completely her fault, but maybe just a little.

All in all this scene is a headache, and definitely brought this episode’s rating down. The audience may be rightly exhausted by this plot after this moment, as the other characters deserve so much more, and Echo sucks up all of it at this point. This isn’t to say Echo can’t or shouldn’t have a story, but one more balanced with the needs of a final season, especially if there isn’t much dynamic storytelling involved.

Goodbye, Diyoza

Rest in Peace, Charmaine Diyoza.

As one of the post-“Praimfaya” introductions to The 100 (There are two eras of this show, before “Praimfaya” and after,) Diyoza is one of the strongest late additions, her complexity boosted by Ivana Miličević’s real-life pregnancy. While this wasn’t initially planned, it took the character on an intriguing journey, making her stand out.

Although, she had a rough season with most of her time spent on doing everything she could to steer her daughter on a path she wouldn’t regret, attempting to save Hope of her own pain.

I know what it’s like to kill innocent people for a cause, and I promise you it’s not going to fill that empty hole in your heart. Only we can do that.
– Diyoza
There are no innocent people here.
– Hope

Unfornately, as her death is ill-timed, her goals will most likely never come to fruition, as Hope will have more anger to bear, whether that will be towards Echo or towards The Disciples remains to be seen.

While her ultimate demise was well-shot, and Ivana is as wonderful as ever, the beginnings of the scene drags her death down from the impact it should have, as her swan song should have been more about her, and less just a moment tacked onto the end. The death is finite, but similar to Roan’s death in season four, something seems left open about it, even though that may be just a fluke feeling.

Regardless, Charmaine Diyoza was a hell of a character and a woman, and as the end of The 100 approaches, here’s to hoping her sacrifice isn’t for naught, and we don’t have two rabid, revenge-seeking fighters on our hands.

Etherea

The 100’s eleventh episode, “Etherea,” airs next Wednesday, at 8/7c on The CW. With a description with, “BELLAMY – Where in the universe is Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley)?” it’s expected to be the most highly-anticipated episode of the season. Will it meet expectations, or continue the trend of downplaying Bellamy’s story? Stay tuned next week to find out!

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