TV Review: The 100 1×9 “Unity Day”

Ivanna Barrera

10 years ago

The CW would’ve looked like fools had they decided to cancel The 100. This show is on its first season, with only 9 episodes in—it’s on fire! The writers seem to have no limits on the amount of intensity, drama and suspense that they drop on our poor souls every week.

If you haven’t tuned in, this is the perfect moment to do so. Your calendar is sure to open up as most shows are going on their summer hiatus. It’s the right time to binge watch, it’s only 9 episodes after all, and I promise it will be worth it!

Anyways, Lincoln and Octavia are going strong, hot and heavy may I add. Octavia weasels out from campgrounds as everyone is busy getting a turn with Jasper’s new batch of booze, as they celebrate Unity Day just as any teenager should. Unity Day commemorates when the 12 stations joined as one and become what we now know as the ark.

However, there is someone who notices Octavia slip away—Finn. As annoyed as I’ve been at his player ways, Finn has a good heart. After being stabbed by Lincoln, he’s convinced they need to come to an agreement with the grounders to stop this impending war before anyone else from the ark arrives. He tries to explain this to Raven, but since she was too busy making bullets to attack the grounders, she missed an opportunity to connect with Finn once again.

Finn is relentless and follows Octavia as he stumbles upon her and Lincoln’s love nest. Finn and Lincoln agree to have their leaders meet without any weapons in order to gain some peace between the two groups. I found it quite interesting that Lincoln views Clarke as the leader and not Bellamy.

Leader Clarke isn’t really keen on meeting with grounders without carrying weapons. Smart cookie, cause those grounders don’t play. Clarke (behind Finn’s back) tells Bellamy to back her up; he brings Jasper, and Raven annoyingly tags along as she finds out that Clarke and Finn are in on this deal together.

Raven—get it together. Her clinginess is severely unattractive and is slowly becoming pitiful. You’ll never get Finn back like that, he liked the independent and strong woman you once were. Sigh.

Meanwhile, Unity Day took a very unexpected and tragic turn for the worst. Diana plants a bomb that sets off during the children’s reenactment of Unity Day, and it kills 6 innocent people. Diana, how evil and gross are you that you’ll plant a bomb where there are children? All-time low.

One of those who were killed was Kane’s mom. A powerful moment occurred between these two as we got to see Kane’s walls come down. He prays the departing blessing over his mother as they make amends to their conflicted relationship.

Kane has shown one of the greatest growths on the show. I once believed he was the one behind Jaha’s murder plot because he seemed to have all the motives to do it. But, in this episode especially, we have seen how he is extremely loyal to Jaha, saving his life many times. The 100 consistently has shown us that we have to give people time to get to know them before we judge them. They’ve proven me wrong quite a few times already about what I believed about certain characters.

However, Diana is on my blacklist right now, probably in permanent marker because there’s no way to excuse her behavior. She’s set up a massive coup and hijacked the exodus ship. She’s cunning and uses information at the most strategic moments making Jaha look like a useless and deceitful leader that can’t be trusted. Abby was on the exodus ship and tried to open its doors but was zapped by Diana’s men. Abby showed not only heroism but true integrity as her values did not waiver when being asked to join Diana’s team—she declined even when it meant seeing Clarke again. That’s true moral standing right there. So props to ya, Abby!

Diana successfully takes the exodus ship which is unfortunately linked to the ark’s resources. This means that the ark’s energy will be profusely depleted affecting all of the population’s survival. Not to mention that everyone has found out that there isn’t enough room on the drop ships for their return to earth. So…we can say they’re all pretty screwed. How will this mess get fixed? I’m all out of ideas.

Meanwhile, the encounter we have all been desperately waiting for has occurred. Grounders vs. The 100. This scene was ah-may-zing.

The grounder leaders appear in their majestic, gigantesque black horses and their fearless head leader is a female too. She is intriguing and oh so very mysterious. Her eye make-up was fierce! She also kind of reminded me of Mary- Kate Olsen, who would’ve appropriately fit this role. So, I did a little research and the lead grounder is played by Dollhouse‘s Dichen Lachman. Check out her transformation!

Anya and Clarke are trying to come to terms, and we discover the grounders have seen The 100 as trespassers of their territory. They also began attacking because the flares they sent as a signal for the ark ended up burning one of their villages. No biggie, no wonder these people were pissed and stabbing people left and right. Anya drops a very important detail—The 100 haven’t been the first to come up against the grounders. So did she insinuate that there have been more humans on earth before The 100 or another strange species? This comment surely gave us chills and was enough to leave Clarke with raised brows.

Throughout the whole discussion, Bellamy and his A- team are hiding in the woods on-looking all the action. Raven getting jealous at Finn’s touch of Clarke’s arm, Bellamy and Jasper in shock at the passion between Lincoln and Octavia, for different reasons of course. Just as all beef is being put aside between Clarke and Anya, Jasper sees grounders hidden in the trees that granted did look ready to attack.

Unfortunately, Jasper initiated the first shots as he warns Clarke and this ignites a full on combat with bullets and arrows flying everywhere. One of them stabs Lincoln, as he gallantly throws himself in front of Octavia to save her. He rushes them away insisting he will be fine and I certainly hope so cause Octavia can’t lose another lover. Regardless, she’s fuming as she yells at Jasper for it all being his fault.

It’s the lack of communication between everyone in this group that keeps getting them into trouble. They’re hardly upfront and clear with each other which brew mistrust and resentment.

Finn pointing it out to Clarke that she didn’t need to trust the grounders but just needed to trust him. Ouch!

Clarke and Bellamy are the only ones to stay outside of the camp gates after the heated debate. They seem to grow closer each week. As they’re staring at the sky the exodus ship swishes through the sky except Clarke notices the parachutes haven’t opened. She watches in absolute horror as the ship seems to crash in a fiery explosion in the distance.