#more so than when lxa died

[shayera-the-magpie]

A piece of score that never should have existed.

[otp-armada]

Archiving another Twitter meta, based on this thread: https://twitter.com/otparmada/status/1557854311245557760?s=21&t=9Gy0hl6-VLLQJHQMufOZ9Q

Once upon a time, Clarke admired the fortitude, steadiness, and resolve Lxa projected as the leader Clarke wished to be while she was drowning in grief and guilt over Finn's death and grappling with doubts that she could help to save her people. So she deferred to Lxa's example. I still believe the most influential parting lesson Lxa left her with is that if she wants to be strong enough to protect her people, she must be willing to do whatever is necessary, morals immaterial. It's a prevailing sentiment that colors Clarke's path up to 5x12's overturning of "love is weakness," during which the plot drives Clarke toward more desperate and darker means of saving her people, weighed against her continual compassion and heroism.

Once upon a time, Clarke identified with Lxa's projected loneliness, which stemmed from her people's dependence on her leadership. She's an 18-year-old girl with limited life experiences, flattered that she could bring a leader of Lxa's stature to bow before her in seeming respect and support.

In wanting Clarke to stay with her in Polis, Lxa provided Clarke a shield preventing her from returning to her people, where she would be looked upon by at least a few to lead them, where she would have to contend with the effects of her absence, namely among Bellamy and the delinquents. Lxa enabled her to keep running, and in surrendering her agency for the most part, she transferred her power to "decide who lives and dies" to Lxa. In this way, Lxa is her shield. She's Clarke's barrier that keeps her from the danger of being responsible for the lives of others, while the advisory role Clarke accepts gives her the semblance that she's still helping her people from the distanced vantage she's comfortable with.

I believe that getting Lxa to abolish blood must have blood as the grounders' rule of law engendered a speck of confidence in herself. Relief and maybe a bit of pride that she might have helped to foster peace at a time when the world exalts or lambasts her as a harbinger of death, when she believes herself to be more a danger to others than a savior. For a minute, she found hope that their warring clans could finally - genuinely - forge a bridge of peace.  

And so enmity reverts to admiration and attraction again.

She loves Bellamy and is drawn to Lxa, but only one of them is open to the affection she craves. She isn't ready to let herself fully love someone, and with Lxa, she has an exit strategy. They are over before they can begin. So she allows herself to embrace affection in the physical form she'll permit herself to engage before she says goodbye.

Lxa dies from a bullet intended for Clarke, and once more, grief and guilt return to form to reign supreme among her emotions, just as they did when she lost Finn.

This all contributes to what is arguably a nuanced dynamic in this segment of Clarke's life.

For Lxa to stand as her final proof of how deadly Clarke's love is to its recipients, for Clarke to then look to shelve her heart for the next harrowing stage of her journey, Clarke had to love Lxa first. That's all well and good, but we also know Clarke's fond remembrance afterward is partly due to the backlash, given such examples as the added ILY. CL and Bellarke were affected by influences outside the narrative, with opposing effects. Grievances worked in CL's favor and against Bellarke.

[sometimesrosy]

Rosy that's fantastic news for your book!! I'm really happy for you. And just seeing "bellarke consum their love and even have grandkids" makes my heart full. Bob and Eliza said tthey were disappointed that 1/the charaters couldn't have kids in the end and that 2/ there was no hope. I totally agree with their interpretation of the end. Some people said the ending was super cool, and inkeeping with the whole show, and somehow hopeful. HOW WAS IT HOPEFUL?? the human race gets wiped out...

People said the ending was “super cool?” How?

Wait. I need to wrap my head around that. What are they looking at that seems super cool?

I actually don’t have a problem of the concept of transcendence that they worked on all season, nor Cadogan, the fake-spiritual, love-your-fellow-man-but-also-sacrifice-them-because-they-mean-nothing cult leader who favored his daughter, used his son, tossed his exwife into the apocalypse and killed Becca because she had power and knowledge beyond him.

Like, that could have been super cool if they’d kept him the villain, the antagonist, but instead they made him the protagonist who was, somehow, right about transcendence as if it wasn’t just another fucking doomsday cult that wanted humanity to end. I mean, it WAS just another fucking doomsday cult that wanted humanity to end, and the aliens vacuumed up humanity and allowed for no dissent. Here, have your perfect happy transcendence...but your body dies, the world ends, and humanity is gone. That is EXACTLY what ALIE did, and she was a villain. Perhaps a well meaning villain, but a terrifying villain.

How did the SAME story, get switched around to being some sort of victory for the state of humanity? How did the end of humanity, no chance to continue on, because they removed their ability to have children and carry on?

Why couldn’t they just fucking stay on The Ring if that was going to happen. At least they could have a small community up there.  But no. Without the info that our heroes brought, they wouldn’t have reached transcendence. 

That wasn’t transcendence. It was judgement day. Transcendence means you have worked your way to a higher state, and yes, it might be condescending and elitist, but you at least worked for it. And it wasn’t really a judgement day because they just took everybody, despite the fact that those idiots were fighting for no fucking reason. It was a PUNISHMENT day for Clarke, one of the only people who was actually TRYING to be better and do better. 

What was cool? The way the aliens brought back the people they cared for? Yes, that was cool. It wasn’t them of course, but some people would be impressed by the alien dressed up in the costume of their fav. I could see that being considered super cool. But honestly... that’s a story line that would have worked better in season 3 and in fact DID work remarkably well in season 3 when Lxa showed up in the COL. And it was ACTUALLY her, not some facsimile.

Was it cool to take away the agency of the hero of the story who we’ve been following for 7 years? Was it cool to erase the personality and motivation of our dual protagonist? Ok. So lets say you didn’t love Clarke or Bellamy. Octavia’s character was erased and she didn’t have a thing to do until the final battle, and then she got a romance that frankly made me uncomfortable but that’s taste. Echo was erased and she didn’t have a thing to do until the final battle. Raven was also erase although she got to be the one to convince the aliens that they weren’t totally awful beings. That was cool, but it seemed like a patch put on top of a story that had failed. The story being about how Clarke saves humanity, and Bellamy saves Clarke, which has been THE STORY FOR SIX YEARS. We spent six years building up a team with these two heroes who have been through so much shit and made the CHOICE to be the good guys, and in the end, Bellamy gives his power over to a charismatic obsessive leader (also happened in season 3 with Pike who was a great character and FAR better than Cadogan and actual sympathetic awful villain who thought he was saving his people while doing evil.) And Clarke actually becomes THE BAD GUY, who loses her sense of reason and commits violence due to loving too much-- a really tired, misogynistic storyline. Give women power and they go crazy. The hysterical woman. THIS DOES NOT FIT WITH CLARKE GRIFFIN. Also, we saw her go through that trauma of fear for her daughter, and she DID NOT GO CRAZY. Ruthless, yes. And then she worked through what she had done and recognized she was wrong and promised not to do that again. I honestly don’t know why she did it again.  Even if Bellamy betrayed her again, it didn’t make sense that she couldn’t work through it.

They had to keep the two characters apart in order have that ending happen. Why? Because Clarke acts as the center to Bellamy and Bellamy acts as the Center to Clarke. This season is the story of the FAILURE of the duo protagonists of the show. They separated them and broke them individually, and this meant they were unable to save the universe. 

Is it cool to make a show about heroes and then destroy them in the last season? But frame that destruction and the end of humanity as a VICTORY and positive ending? Maybe if you hate those characters and humanity and think there’s no hope for us anyway, so lets just burn it down.

Oh wait. I’m trying to figure out what’s SUPER COOL about that ending.

The purple sparkly aliens. Ok. How is that cool? That there’s actually an omnipotent alien out there that has the ability to just snap a whole race of people out of existence or into their big ole stew pot of consciousness.

1. Why? 2. How? 3. Where did that power come from? 4. Who are they? 5. What do they get out of erasing races and basically eating them?

Okay, putting aside the questions about how these omnipotent gods aliens came to be... is it possible they can be see as “super cool?” Let me go through.

1. Omnipotent aliens going through the universe, deciding when life forms were “ready” to be judged and then either wiping them out totally, or wiping them out totally but accepting their consciousnesses into their massive consciousness where they don’t want any “bad” lifeforms, which makes them now a higher lifeform but not at all what they once were. 

Cool/Not Cool. I dunno. Kind of seems like some sort of puritanical god who willy nilly decides if people are worthy of heaven. Will He, Nil He. That’s what that means. If we’re gonna get aliens at the last minute, I want aliens. I want to know who they are and what’s up with them. THAT’S the story. Those alien guys. Instead, the story was about the flotsam and jetsam at the end of humanity, either getting swept up into the god-form in the sky or being pounded to bits on the rocks. The heroes of our story have no say in what happens. They’re toast either way. Oh you mean we can be erased into nothing or erased into your hive mind? The only way this is cool is if you like nihilism. Which, yeah, some people do. NONE of their struggle over the past six years meant a damn thing. None of it. Their beliefs, their sacrifices, their mistakes, their heroism. It al reduces down to whether those sparkly purple aliens like them or not. That’s some bullshit. 

Not cool. 

2. Cadogan. Cult leader from the first apocalypse who conned the bulk of his followers and left them shady shelters that let them die. Kept the good stuff for his “best” followers. Paternalistic, obsessive, ruthless, megalomaniac framing his leadership and personality as “Love for Humanity,” while discarding every human who he deemed unworthy. Including his own family. Actually. Pretty cool.  AS A VILLAIN. Ending up at his cult colony in space hundreds of years later with thousands of years of development in time dilation. Cool. They’re creepy but make some bit of sense. Ok. Waking him up and then making him this fucking GURU who preaches love for humanity but sacrifices 99.9% of humanity all so that he can reach his mythical transcendence which is really the eradication of all humanity.... well, that’s actually cool. AS A VILLAIN. But somehow in the last season, Cadogan turned out to be the one who was right all along, and the story seemed to accept HIS concept that transcendence was the best thing that could happen to them, because humanity sucks and they always fight so they should be erase by paternalistic omnipotent gods. CADOGAN’S choices were the ones that were enacted. Bellamy gave his will to Cadogan and made CADOGAN’S choices, not his own. Never before in all the seasons did Bellamy “need it all to make sense.” He fucking KNEW it made no sense and he didn’t want to make those choices any more. And he did it to be a better person and make better choices and keep his family safe. The excuse they used for our hero to side with Cadogan did not fit. CADOGAN became the protagonist in the second half of the season. CADOGAN made all the choices that furthered the story. Our heroes were reduced to either brainwashed followers or ineffective, hysterical messes, our really not wanting anything to do with anyone’s salvation and just interested in their love life. It left Raven, Echo and Octavia to scramble around in the end and try to convince the purple sparkly gods not to erase them out of existence, just erase them and swallow them. :/ Cadogan as protagonist bringing humanity to “transcendence.”, Our supposed heroes as useless flotsam and jetsam floating around on the wreck of humanity whose choices and actions make no goddamn difference.

NOT COOL.

3. Character Storylines

Clarke’s storyline. NOT COOL. Bellamy’s storyline. NOT COOL. Octavia’s storyline. S.A COOL. S.B NOT COOL. Raven’s storyline. COOL. Echo’s storyline. S.A COOL. S.B NOT COOL. Murphy’s storyline. SUPER COOL. Emori’s storyline. SUPER COOL. Indra’s storyline.  COOL. Hope’s storyline. S.A COOL S.B NOT COOL. Jordan’s storyline. NOT COOL.  Diyoza’s storyline. COOL Gabriel’s storyline. COOL. Madi’s storyline. NOT COOL The grounders. Fucking morons. You really shouldn’t make a whole culture’s choices based around being absolutely too stupid to be allowed to live. EVEN when you get past xenophobia and learn about who they are and why they do things. NOT COOL. The culty people. Cool set up and world building. The society was dumb and had too many plot holes. MIDDLING SHEIDHEDA. NOT COOL. pointless plot device just used to make everyone forget everything they learned from 6 seasons. CADOGAN. COOL AS A VILLAIN. But he was the protagonist. So the ruination of the entire show and universe they created. NOT COOL.

SEASON A COOL OVERALL.  SEASON B NOT COOL. TOTAL SEASON NOT COOL

I think if people think the ending was supercool, they’ve never heard of a deus ex machina, and how that’s a BAD ending that is really just a cheat because you can’t figure out a way to get out of the story mess you made. 

I really hate post apocalyptic fiction that ends with no hope for humanity. JR kept telling us there was hope. I mean narratively, not in interviews, although he did that too, and in the last half season, he switched it around so they wouldn’t have hope, not even just our heroes, but all humanity. It was a bait and switch I did not appreciate. And I’m not talking about ships, I’m talking about the essential genre of the show. 

PS. thanks. I love my book and I hope someone picks it up so you all can read it. It also has elements of Han/Leia and another couple, Brashen/Althea from the Live Ship Traders book by Robin Hobb. They are, however, less traumatized than the characters in The 100. 

[bellamyblinkingrapidly]

Unpopular opinion but I think it was handled pretty well when Lxa died & it ended up being good.

It is foreshadowed. We see young kids training for a future conclave. We know commanders die young. Lxa singles out the kid she wants to lead after her.

She gets a redemption arc first. She gets to win back Clarke’s trust (and ours). She makes up for the betrayal at MW by calling skaikru her own people.

It adds to Clarke’s tragic love history: Wells, Finn, Lxa. Also her dad (for non-romantic love).

The whole season a conflict is brewing centered around Azgeda. They want the throne from Lxa. They are breaking their deals. Skaikru has been at war with Azgeda. There’s so much tension there and the only thing keeping it all from boiling over entirely is Lxa. She’s holding it all together, so it makes complete dramatic sense for Lxa to die. When the ruler dies, the kingdom goes into chaos. Thats the best time for a coup... and that’s what Azgeda had been wanting.

It’s poetic irony that her most devoted advisor who loved her so much was the cause of her death. It’s also ominous for grounders taking up guns (which happens with wonkru and goes pretty bad overall). And ominous for flamekeepers and hedas... Gaia has to make a choice between the flame and Madi later on.

Lxa dies from a bullet meant for Clarke. She dies because she loves Clarke. This hits home again that “love is weakness.”

Lxa dies for Clarke. Lxa tells Clarke that Finn dies for her. Wells comes to the ground (and dies) for her. Her mother turned her father in (and killed him) for her. It all adds up and compounds to make Clarke who she is.

Lxa’s former love interest died because she was loved by Lxa. Lxa’s worst fears almost come true... Clarke is almost killed because Lxa loves her. But Lxa takes the bullet herself. She dies because she loves Clarke and Clarke loves her. That’s a really tragic repetition and pattern.

Clarke could not be in a relationship with Lxa long term for the show. She couldn’t. In fics, go for it. But the face and leader of skaikru... needed to go home. That’s also what the season was about: Clarke running away (from who she was, from her people, etc.) Lxa dying forces Clarke back to her real life, back to reality, back to skaikru. That needed to happen for the narrative. Could they have just broken up? I guess. Sure. But the alliance between skaikru and the other clans was built on Lxa’s feelings for Clarke so that would be kinda complicated to say the least.

Lxa and Clarke have a tragic romance. There’s betrayal. Confusion. Promises. Unspoken feelings of love. They finally act on their feelings — finally kiss and sleep together. In a romance novel, this would be like the midpoint of love. The false high where they almost can be together. They’re falling in love but not admitting it to each other. They also haven’t faced down the reasons they have to NOT fall in love yet & worked through their problems. After the midpoint usually it’s when the worst fears about being in a relationship come true... whatever was keeping them from love actually happens. In this case, I think they were both afraid of love because it meant they could lose someone else & it would hurt them and make them “weak” leaders. So what happens? Lxa almost loses Clarke. Clarke does lose Lxa. An abrupt ending to their romance... but Clarke does get to confess her feelings. There’s a slight bit of epilogue and resolution in the form of Lxa via the flame. But they were telling a love story, it just ended in tragedy rather than a happily ever after.

I can see how it would hurt people to have a lesbian character on the show killed off in a plot twist, especially when she was one of like two and especially right after Clarke and Lxa finally sleep together. I don’t think that’s a reason she shouldn’t have died. It means there should be MORE representation. Also possibly it didn’t need to happen right after they slept together. Clarke herself is bi representation. She also hooks up with Niylah in S3 & S4 & then Niylah becomes a more featured character on her own in S5. But Niylah is mostly just a love interest compared to the awesomeness of Lxa & how she was a fully fledged main character. I can see how losing that representation hurts.

Lxa’s death has ECHOES specifically in regards to the flame that make it valid and important and constantly remembered.

Clarke getting close to Lxa puts her close to the flame. It sets up Clarke becoming a flamekeeper, seeking out nightbloods, becoming heda for a short time, and taking the flame.

Clarke cares about who has the flame because of Lxa. Lxa gets to live on through the flame and come back to us a few times.

Clarke doesn’t want Madi to become heda because she remembers what happened to Lxa.

Clarke survives in S6 bc she had the flame.

Sheidheda returns because of the flame.

Bill Cadogan wants Clarke because of the flame.

Supposedly the human race could be saved by the flame.

We also learn more about history because Clarke has the flame at one point.

Clarke is able to take down the City of Light because of the flame.

(Essentially: the flame is really important, and getting something that important into our main character’s hands is more dramatic than having someone else lead the way with it the whole time. Also—the writers have ensured that Lxa’s death and memory is protected because of the flame. Clarke makes certain decisions as a direct result of her time spent with Lxa. She isn’t forgotten.)

All in all, I know that a lot of people think it didn’t make any sense & came out of nowhere. And I just couldn’t disagree more.

It may not have been their initial choice because it may have been a scheduling conflict with the actress. But ultimately it was the ballsy move. The most dramatic move. A Game of Thrones type move. Take out the leader who is holding everything together & see what the hell happens. Maybe at the time when it first happened that’s not where it seemed like the story was going... I’ll never know because I watched it after S6 was on Netflix.

Watching it all together the first time and then multiple times after that, I don’t find it shocking. I don’t find it out of place or strange. There are tons of other times I find a choice taking the story in a weird direction. But Lxa’s death is not one of them.

It’s something that feels like it needed to happen and they’ve done a really good job of reinforcing that choice over the years. Every single season it makes more and more sense why Lxa had to die IMO.

[lightcomingthroughthedarkness]

I can’t believe the audacity of Jason to say that lexa was Clarke’s greatest love, when so many things in the canon show disprove that. Like she literally said lexa is nothing compared to Madi. And YET jason has the gall to say he doesn’t write based on fan reactions lol. The delusion. Every L mention since S4 was bc of fan reaction.

That's the least of his audacity.

He deliberately misled and baited the Bellarke fandom.

He punished Bellamy, Bellarke and the fans for whatever issue he had with Bob.

Every single character got their happy ending. Except for Bellamy who was left to rot in a pool of his own blood on a dirty floor. Because he wanted to punish Bob.

He changed the whole narrative when ADC said yes to coming back in the finale, changing the story completely.

Bob was the male lead and under contract yet Jason did not invite him back for the finale but instead made a new rule to make sure he couldn't come back at all. He cut him out of the credits too. Yet, Chuku wasn't cut from the credits even though Gabriel died.

He gave the last line of the entire show to Lxa. Not Clarke, the lead of 7 years. Not even Octavia. He cut Bellamy out entirely. And he ended the show on Lxa.

When the show ended, he didn't thank Eliza directly for being his lead for 7 years. Bob instead went online to do it.

His biggest mistake and regret was killing Lxa so he kept her alive any way he could. He kept Clarke a hostage in her own story, never to be anything other than a heartbroken 18 year old girl who wasn't allowed to move on. Stripped Clarke's other relationships importance right away. No one could have been more important to her than her dead lover of 2 weeks. Not even her daughter.

Yeah, the least of his audacity is what he called Lxa in a interview after an episode.... when he did all of the above.

[ragnarssons]

Okay I’m gonna need y’all to explain to me why y’all are like this- The finale was underwhelming, yes, that I can say. But?? “Nothing was resolved it served no purpose a finale should serve”??? I’m sorry, have y’all been watching the other seasons’ finales? I mean, ofc the main vilain storyline was resolved every other season too, and it has been this season as well- Madi is freed from Shei-whatever and the Primes are gone and aren’t a threat anymore. So? Nothing was resolved where? About the characters? So, question. WHEN HAS IT EVER BEEN IN A SEASON FINALE ON THIS SHOW? That’s the narrative of the show. That’s how it’s always been on this show. Season 1? The characters don’t even have time to realize what they did that they’re taken by some weird people hidden in a fog and Clarke wakes up alone in a white room! And when do we explore Clarke’s and Jasper’s and Monty’s trauma? In the first episodes of s2. Season 2? Clarke literally runs away from her feelings and her guilt. When do we explore these? At the beginning of s3, and going as far as mid-season 3 for Bellamy and or Bellamy/Clarke. Season 3? Clarke isn’t even “canonically” (without ADR) ALLOWED to express her romantic feelings for Lxa to her. She express them “canonically” (without ADR) several episodes later to her mom, once she def lost Lxa. And while Bellarke ended in a good place, Bellamy trusting Clarke at the end of s3 isn’t adressed until 4x01 either! Raven learns that Clarke survived (BECAUSE OF HER) only on ep4x01 as well! Season 4? Oh well that one had some resolution, because Clarke was so sure she was gonna die that she was kinda making a “goodbye pep talk” to Bellamy. But also since the writers knew they were planning a huge time jump, they needed to tie up some loose ends. Season 5? Well, do we need to talk about that one? Nothing was resolved between Bellamy and Octavia, barely between Bellamy and Clarke- they had opened this huge door when making Bellamy learn about the radio calls. And when was it boiled down to “actual conversations” (tho not enough)? 6x01 and 6x04 for Bellarke, and as late as 6x11 to 6x13 for Bellamy/Octavia. The PROBLEM of the show is that the characters don’t talk enough. But that has been a problem ever since the beginning of the show. It’s plot-driven, rather than character-driven. Thing is, we didn’t like the plot on this episode, so the fact that it lacks good, profound, important characters interactions shows even more. “Bellamy doesn’t have a storyline of his own”??? Why? Because he’s worried about his sister? Huh? We don’t know what Bellamy’s storyline will be on s7. We don’t know if he’s gonna be “motivated” by the idea of finding Octavia or if he’ll find her dead body ten feet from where we left him. Also yes, he said Octavia is not his responsability anymore, she’s still his sister, and he’ll care for her forever. Hence why she felt the right to treat him like shit, and the idea of her and her actions being his responsability, was what allowed Octavia to blame EVERYTHING on Bellamy all the time. Their relationship has taken a new turn, but that doesn’t turn off Bellamy’s feelings for his BABY SISTER. Heck, my sister isn’t my responsability huh, but if she died and then evaporated in my arms I’d be running around screaming her name too! Also it didn’t bother me that much that Clarke wasn’t in this final scene. I think Clarke deserves a break, I can easily imagine her being by Madi’s side, watching her sleep or something, or even taking a nap with her. I’m actually “glad” this storyline seems Bellamy focused. Maybe it’ll revolve around him finding Octavia, it’ll still allow the story to shed light on his feelings and emotions and what he thinks/what he feels or what the people around him (*cough* Clarke) are willing to do to help him and support him. People said that they’d love to see the roles be reversed and see how far Clarke would be willing to go for Bellamy and maybe we’ll see that next season, y’know?? Anyway, I saw this episode as boring and underwhelming and yes, it wasn’t a finale like BOOM FINALE. But it was NOT an anomaly, “less” than what we were used to in terms of how they treated the story over the characters. The finales were ALWAYS plot-driven, always rushed and fast and “ccRAZYYY” with ten things happening at once. Now the things that happened on this episode were mostly Flame driven and Shei-whatever driven, and that was zzzzzzzzzzz. Also everyone KNEW the Anomaly would be the cliffhanger, so that didn’t help (I mean, come on, Jroth was still like “I think people will be surprised” while hellooo, we’ve been speculating Kaia = Hope = the cliffhanger ever since we learnt about Kaia’s casting... and that tied in perfectly with Diyoza going into the anomaly). It was the most underwhelming finale to date, and yes it’s kinda... sad that that happens while it’s the last finale leading to a hiatus. Maybe that’s why people are more angry? But tbh, I don’t think they wrote this episode KNOWING that s7 would be the last. I think it came after, while building s7 in the writers’ room. I think we need to prepare ourselves to have a final season with a lot of threads being abandoned and they’ll probably be more about the characters than the plot, because again, it’s always plot over characters on this show. Because they don’t learn. The reactions are still surprising to me because really, this episode was not different, structure wise, from the other finales we got on other seasons.

[yiangchen]

I enjoyed almost everything about 5x10 but Clarke (which I’ll get into in a moment) and I’m not sure why I’ve seen hate for the ep as a whole??

Bellamy broke my heart, but in a good way because in 5a, I just couldn’t feel him, and now I can! I was also just so proud of him for standing up against Octagon for himself!!! And he called her a joke, which was hilarious. I actually really enjoyed that scene. And Bob’s acting was, as always, just so good.

Then there was Madi fighting like hell to take back her agency and calling out Clarke. She literally replaced Clarke as the number one Bellamy Blake stan, and it was amazing!!

Gaia and Indra are both alive and slaying! Like, Gaia would have killed Octagon if Bellamy hadn’t been there to stop her. What an icon! And Indra called out Octagon for doing things for herself instead of for her people and was irritated that Octagon had even come to see her lmao. Also, I was living for all the Indra x Bellamy interactions.

The writers did try and make us sympathize with Octagon (especially with the part where she tries to kill herself), but ultimately, I was satisfied with what they did with her character. In her convo with Bellamy, the narrative framed her as wrong, and even though that story was meant to make you sympathize with her, it was pretty clear to me that this was just manipulation. Directly after telling the story, she guilt trips Bellamy for poisoning her even though she brought that on herself by not surrendering and then trying to execute Clarke.

Also, it was very clear that Octagon had a choice — to do things Monty’s way so that nobody dies, which many of her people were all for — but then took the choice away herself. She literally set fire to the other choice, forcing them all to march to war because she cares more about maintaining her power than the safety of her people. And this is acknowledged by the narrative when Indra says, “She took away the choice.”

(There was one line that really bothered me where Octagon said that Indra accepted her when her people wouldn’t. That is just false. Bellamy, Raven and the 100 were her people, and she turned her back on all of them so that she could force her way into grounder society. But it was in character for Octagon, considering that her story is the story of girl who pushes people away and is then somehow acts like she’s not wanted, so I can’t really be angry about it.) 

Monty called Octagon a dictator and it was fucking great! Then he came and saved the day!! Like, he literally charged right into a death arena with Harper to pitch a plan for peace to a cult leader and her followers!! Amazing.

Harper and Bellamy hugged and it made my heart so happy!

There was just so much good content in this ep. Like I said, pretty much my only complaint was the writing for Clarke’s character, which I’ll get into now.

Clarke risked everyones’ lives but Madi’s in 5x09, and the writers really want me to believe that in 5x10, she’s now prioritizing the memories of her dead lover over her living breathing daughter that she just sacrificed everyone for. Oh...okay. Makes perfect sense.

Quick question: when is Jroth gonna give Clarkey G her brain back?? Because this is not Clarke Griffin. It’s not. It was already ridiculous that she had considered everyone an acceptable loss except for Madi, but if they really were gonna go with that, they had to fucking commit to it. Not have Clarke do a complete 180 because of Lxa’s memories.

Well, actually, it’s not even 180, because according to 5x10, the reason that Clarke acted the way she did in 5x09 was all because of Lxa. She didn’t want Madi to take the chip because of Lxa and now she doesn’t want Madi to take the chip out because of Lxa. It’s all about Lxa.

A girl that she loved yes, but she that knew six years ago for only a few months!! No wonder Clarke has seemed entirely OOC in both 5x09 and 5x10. Because they’ve literally reduced her motivations to Lxa. 

Literally the only IC thing about Clarke recently is that she actually does have a plan to stop the war. It’s not a very good one, and Bellamy’s plan with Madi would have risked far fewer lives — including Madi herself — but it’s a plan. So, I’ll give her that.  

Good news is that at least we have Madi calling her out for leaving Bellamy to die after he leveraged 300 lives to save her. It really seems likely that the Blarke reconciliation will be centered around Clarke saying she’s sorry and not the other way around.

Bellamy is Bellamy, so he will say sorry too, but I think the focus will be on Clarke getting his forgiveness. Also, this would explain why everyone at cons/ in interviews was saying Bellamy will be the one to center Clarke and help her use her heart along with her head.

[the-morleys]

I appreciate your response about Echo so much? It's starting to feel like those of us who actually state what happened in S3-4 are being shamed as hating "gray morality" or "complex characters", when no. Until now, we weren't given reasons to like her. We were shown her attempts at helping start wars (NOT simply defending her people) and grasping for more and more power. That is not the same as what Bellamy/Clarke have done anymore than her leading Bell right to Lxa was "protecting" him.

Yes exactly. The problem is the narrative also keeps trying to morally equate everything by using the catchphrase “protecting their people” when you cannot morally equate every action. Another example is the parallels the narrative is trying to draw between Clarke and her response to the Eligius with the Grounders and their response to the 100. The 100 were unarmed, outnumbered, and didn’t provoke them yet the grounders decided to attack them and kill them multiple times. On the other hand, Clarke knows that Eden is the only survivable place left, the Eligius obviously have weapons that she is no match for, she is heavily outnumbered, and she was provoked when they took Madi. Clarke killing the Eligius was out of defense for herself and Madi, but the grounders’ actions were to maintain power when their power wasn’t even being threatened.

I appreciate that the show is trying to show us different perspectives, but this concept of “grey morality” doesn’t work when you make it so black and white with the phrase “doing it for their people.” Like somebody who does it for their people, no matter what the action, is correct and cannot be culpable for their actions. Yet, you have examples like Lincoln, Luna, and to a degree Roan who were also born into their clans and raised a specific way, yet they questioned their orders, went against them if they were uncomfortable, and took responsibility for their choices. Maya knew that protecting the delinquents meant that her people could potentially die, yet she fought to do what was right. Bellamy and Clarke and Raven killed as a last resort and in defense of their people and felt remorse and guilt for seasons. We were never shown any of this with E*cho. She didn’t question any of her orders and deliberately killed people and abused people in order to get more power for her clan. Outside of the emotional and physical abuse, how does it make sense that this type of character with little to no moral integrity is somebody that Bellamy Blake would fall in love with? 

Maybe if we were shown a proper redemption arc, remorse, or guilt I can try to understand E*cho as a character. The writing really sold her short as a character and most of the time her actions make little sense. In 4x12, she wants to live enough that she gets a space suit and Emori could have potentially died if Clarke didn’t remove hers. However, in 4x13, she is carrying a “sacrifice ritual” and wants to die when she could have been helping everybody get to space. When she is in the rover and compliments Clarke, I couldn’t take what she said seriously because she literally spent all of season 4 trying to get Roan to kill her and has only had a couple of interactions with her. The more proper response from her would be to feel guilty in that moment. That line would have made more sense coming from somebody like Harper who has known Clarke from the beginning. Instead of trying to integrate her into Space Crew through organic relationships with other characters (like Emori’s arc which was done so well), they have yet again made her story revolve around a man and have sacrificed Bellamy’s characterization again to propagate an antagonist (which hasn’t obviously work). In episode 6, Bellamy’s story line is going to be revolve around two people (Oct*via & E*cho) who have both physically and emotional abused him multiple times on the show. He honestly deserves better than this.  

[head-and-heart]

The 100 Ask Game

Thanks for the tag @istilldothiseveryday ! This looks fun :)

1. What would you get arrested for on the Ark? 

Protests? Can you get arrested for that on the Ark?

I dunno. I have a very strong personality I’d probably get into to some kind of trouble politically on the Ark 2. Would you take off your wristband when you landed on the ground? 

Nah. I’m very much alike with Clarke in the way I think and as much as I may like to stick my middle finger up at the council if I was sent down on the dropship, I think I would see the value in having the Ark (aka. a functioning society) follow us down to the ground. I would be scared out of my mind of the Grounders - back up would be nice. 3. What would the necklace Finn would make for you look like? (Clarke: deer/Raven: a raven duh..) 

Probably a mangled mess of metal cause I’d shut down that shit SO hard

4. If you could resurrect any MINOR character who would it be? 

Maya. I understand that her surviving doesn’t really make any sense and they needed her to die for jasper’s arc or whatever BUT TBH SHE HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL??? Like, I stanned her team-up with Bellamy so hard; I’d literally sell my soul to satan for her to be incorporated into the delinquent’s group. Can you imagine her suiting up and going on hunting missions with Harper? Attending Lincoln and Bell’s sparring lessons? Sharing her music with Gina at the bar????? Helping out Abby and Jackson in medical???? Having heart to hearts with Clarke about her mom (and Clarke’s dad), who both died rebelling against the system??? Cracking jokes with Monty?? imagine if she went up to space with the squad, and what their relationship could have been like then! She could be their medic on board. 

People always simplify Maya to her relationship with Jasper (and yes they were cute) but SHE COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH MORE. She was smart and courageous and selfless - she had fire and wit and strength and i m i s s her. 

She’ll never see Earth, never breathe real air, never float on the water, never meet Riley 

We’ll never get to see her grow up and it makes me sad

5. Create a squad of 5 characters to go on missions with. Who are they? 

Raven and Monty because they’re GENIUSES obviously.

Lincoln and Bellamy so I don’t fucking DIE lmao - I know they got my back (my poor boys - both too selfless for their own good)

Clarke cause the Angry Cat game is strong and she’s got a real knack for not dying even when she should, probably, be 110% dead 6. Minty or Briller? 

Briller. Tragically, Bryan only started to interest me in 4x02 when they gave him more dimension by visiting farm station. 

Also ... how can you say no to chickens?  7. What would your name be in Trigedasleng? (example: Octavia=Okteivia…just make it up!)

Uhhh. Keit? Kayt? 

What a lame name 8. Thoughts on Finn? Some people hate him, and others love him, so I’m curious

i don’t know him

9. Be honest. How willing would you have been to take the chip without knowing all the horrible things it does? 

I doubt I would take it. Unknown drug with unknown effects? Sounds pretty sketch. I don’t see myself going for that - I’m a generally skeptical person. 10. What character do you relate to most & What character do you like the least not including the obvious ones like Pike, etc… 

Definitely relate the most to my INTJ queen Clarke Griffin! 

And Octavia is probably my least favourite character. I can see why some people like her and the merit in her character arc I guess but tbh she just IRRITATES me to no end - she has certain characteristics that really grate at me. Obviously, some characters are horrible people (like Dr. Tsing ew) but Octavia just infuriates me because of some of her characteristics.

She’s not for me. 11. Describe your delinquent outfit. (Would you wear something like Murphy’s jacket with the spikey red shoulder patch or have a trademark like Jasper’s goggles? Be creative, yet practical) 

Something practical cause I’m boring. 

Cargo pants. Ark-issued t-shirt. And a nice warm jacket. The jackets the characters wear on this show are pathetic - they barely look like they keep the wind out. And only Bellamy zips his up. smh vancouver is colder than it looks - all that humidity

As for a trademark thing? 

I’d be the only arker with an “I <3 BELLAMY BLAKE” t shirt probably

12. Favorite type of mutant animal?

Bellamy’s three-headed doggo he hasn’t found yet

anyway i still have hope

13. What would your job be on the Ark? 

I think I’d follow in Raven/Monty’s paths a bit and go into something mathematical like engineering but knowing myself I’d probably end up moving into politics later on. I have too many strong opinions to put up with the Ark system lol 14. Would you have willingly pumped Ontari’s heart if Abby asked?

Oh HELL no. I’d probably throw up all over it. I’m sorry Clarke. It’s not like that’s ACTUALLY how blood transfusions work anyway *intense side-eye at The 100 “science”* 15. If Lxa wasn’t Heda, but she’s still alive right? then who would make the best commander? 

None of them. Bellamy x Clarke leadership duo. I don’t care about the Grounder commander system - it’s all kinda bs anyway. 

None of the individual leaders on this show have done a good job. They’ve always functioned best as a team (which is why I want the Bellarke leader couple back) 16. If you were a grounder, then where would you live and who would be your mentor? 

I mean I know she went all cray cray and they all died but probably Luna’s rig. I don’t want shit to do with the other clans, who are always warring with each other. And I think Nyko would be a pretty good mentor. I’d like to learn medicine.  17. How would you act if you ate the hallucinogenic nuts like Jasper and Monty? 

Let’s be real, I’d probably start crying about how Bellamy and Clarke are in love and wHy cAn’T tHeY jUSt bAnG aLrEAdY ... and Finn would be real mad about it if he was in charge of picking my ass off the floor like in “Day Trip” 

ha! I think it would be worth it 18. How would you have dealt with Charlotte’s crime? A more John Murphy approach or Bellamy Blake? 

I mean ... I definitely wouldn’t lead a manhunt to kill a thirteen year old girl so I can say with a lot of confidence that I would NOT follow the Murphy route. Not so sure I’d just pardon her though. I think the delinquents needed some kind of prison system. Charlotte did murder a kid. Even though she was a child, there probably should have been some kind of consequence for that (though not killing her would be ideal) 19. Who should be the Chancellor, if anyone? 

Bellamy Blake and Clarke Griffin co-leading motherfucking power couple

I will accept no less in canon. just let me fucking have this

20. Mount Weather had a lot of modern commodities. (example: Maya’s Ipod)What is the one thing you would snatch while there? 

Oh, the iPod for sure. I literally don’t know if I could live without music. I’m listening to it ALL the time - I’m listening to it right now. RAIGN is playing *cries in Bellarke* 21. Do you think you’d have caught the virus spread through camp or would you have been immune like O.ctavia? 

I’m a weak ass bitch so probably 

and on the basis that I don’t like any of the people who ARE immune then maybe I don’t wanna be - what’s the point of surviving in a world where you’ve only got Finn Collins and O.ctavia Blake for company?  22. What would your grounder tattoos look like? Hairstyle? War paint? 

I want whatever makeup L.exa’s got from Polisephora. You think she’d share some of that eyeliner? 23. Favorite quote? 

“Shouldn’t there be more to life than just surviving?” - Clarke Griffin (2x14)

24. Can you forgive Murphy for his actions? How about Bellamy?

Yeah. I feel like we’re kind of past this point in the plot. They’ve both showed development and change and I think we’re definitely at a place in the story where both of them are intended as sympathetic characters to the audience. 25. If one of the characters was in the Hunger Games, who would have the best shot at winning? NOOOOO ALREADY SO MUCH DEATH NOOOO 

I’m going to answer this as if all of our characters were thrown into the ring and I have to predict which one would win. 

I wanna say Octavia because I think she’s independent and - er - determined enough to take out someone she knows if it came down to being the two of them to grant her own freedom and survival. Whereas, someone like Clarke or Bellamy or Kane would probably just nightlock it cause they’re self-sacrificial af. 

But then I also think maybe Murphy ‘cause cockroaches never die (thank you Raven). 26. Least favorite ship? Favorite ship? NOT INCLUDING CL OR BC 

Least favourite ship that people actually like? (aka. not something like Clarke and Jaha)

Probably B.echo (as a romantic relationship, not necessarily sexual). Hate to be basic and predictable but I think I would actually die if it were endgame.

FAVOURITE SHIP THAT ISN’T BELLARKE

how dare

If you asked me this a few months ago I would have told ya Niytavia but now that we’ve gotten more teasers about Octavia’s character in Season 5 I’m not sure if I want her anywhere near her (I like Niylah when she’s hot, but not cooked, ya feel?)

So maybe Jasper and Raven. Idk. I liked their friendship. Still bitter about Season 4.

I don’t really ship anything besides Bellarke that much. They’re an anomaly for me. 27. A song that should be included in the next season, like when Radioactive was? If there had to be another guest star like Shawn Mendes on the show, who would you want to make a cameo? 

Tbh RAIGN goes hard af so anything by her would be pretty lit. 

I mostly only associate songs I listen to with Bellarke when I’m applying them to the show so I’ve got like 100+ songs that I would love to use for them but its hard to think of a context where they would fit in with the tone of the show

And I want Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir to cameo. They don’t need to say anything - they just need to stare soulfully into each other’s eyes in the background. 

... or makeout

Whatever. 28. What would you do if you were stuck in the bunker with Murphy for all that time? 

Steal the wine. Have karaoke battles. Drunkenly cry because RaVEn iS sO sTrONg and sO gOoD (and he would cry with me - he WOULD). 

Gossip about Bellamy’s butt.

The possibilities are endless, really. 

29. Opinion on Emori? Roan? 

I don’t really have a strong opinion on Emori. I feel like our knowledge of her is still so limited. She’s still barely interacted with anyone besides Murphy. But I’m guessing that may change in Season 5. I’d like to see her interact more with Bellamy, since they both have siblings (and Emori was the disgraced child too, just like O). Not many people can relate in that sense.

I really liked Roan but TO BE HONEST I found him more intriguing in Season 3 than in Season 4. He was literally up there in like my top four or five characters in Season 3 - I was so excited to learn more about him! In Season 4 he didn’t have much of a character arc, he was just kind of there to look moody and badass.

But honestly Roan is one of those characters that I don’t think was necessarily intended to be funny (as opposed to characters like Jasper and Wick) but his interactions with Clarke, Bellamy, and Echo offered up the occasional piece of comedy gold. He went too soon. Forever mourning the bromance that he and Bellamy could have had.

30. Would you want to be an extra that is killed off in a brutal way? 

I wanna be Satisfied Girl.

Or Riley. Everyone loves that guy

so ... no? maybe? does it come with the job? 31. A character you’d like to learn more about and get flashbacks of?

CADOGAN. @metastation has ruined me; now I just want more!

Also any of the Eligius crew tbh 32. A character you’d bang? 

Omg like all of them.

Bellamy and Raven are up there tho. 

And highkey Bree could get it. She looks like she knows what she’s doing.

Echo’s hot but i dunno chains and choking aren’t really my thing

Anywayyyyy I’m way too late to the party so I won’t tag anyone but like if you feel like doing this GO AHEAD ! And you can tag me in your post if you want too

[alicentflorent]

your post abt people saying clarke doesn't care about anyone: i've noticed that this discourse is a weird mix between r*llamies - who think clarke is the devil and manipulates everyone for her own gain - and clxas - who wishful thinks clarke only ever cared about lxa/the grounders and she's burdened with the skyrats now that lxa isn't here to elevate her to grounder power couple status. oh & they project their hate for bellamy hilariously onto clarke, who continues to be his biggest fan in canon

you’re absolutely right. I can understand why people may hate Clarke because of the racism in her story but sometimes they try turning her into something she’s not.  Although Clarke’s characterisation has been shaky over the past two seasons so that hasn’t helped. I wish people could separate these characters from ships/ship wars. 

Clarke loved Lexa but she never cared for the grounders that much has been clear since season one. Even when her and Lexa were together she still cared more about saving her own people than the grounders who died.  

Clarke has fucked up a lot but she really does love her people and her friends. She would do anything for them. She would die for them. 

She is very manipulative but not for her own personal gain but for her people’s best interests.

I just wish people wouldn’t hate her or change who she is over ships because Clarke Griffin is so interesting and complex even when she was at her worst and the bisexual lead I always wanted growing up.

[kinetic-elaboration]

April 7: Scattered Bits of a Long Thought Train

Just spent an extremely long time thinking about Clarke’s leadership arc instead of eating dinner and now my body hates me.

Some highlights of the thought train:

Bellamy’s leadership role going to back to S1 is more inwardly focused: organizing and galvanizing his own community. Clarke’s leadership role is more outwardly focused: diplomacy and big-picture planning.

On a related note, the delinquents are more likely to view Bellamy as their leader and the Grounders are more likely to view Clarke as the Sky People’s leader.

Clarke’s S2 arc was largely about losing herself in an exaggerated version of her leadership style, exacerbated immensely by Lxa’s influence. This coincided with an increase in her own sense of self-importance and culminated in her (imo selfish and wrong) decision to leave camp in 2x16.

Part of her journey in S4 is finding balance in her leadership style again, and in seeing the people she’s leading as individuals. She’s still a big-picture person (the list story line, ‘we will save everyone,’ the Ice Nation alliance). But she’s more focused on individual human realities than previously (imo, still not sure how to phrase this.)

Injecting herself with Luna’s bone marrow thing in 4x08 was a big breakthrough in this regard: an explicit rejection of the Lxa leadership doctrine, of which Roan helpfully reminded the audience earlier in the same ep. For Lxa, it is integral that the leader survive, because the leader is special--born to lead and thus irreplaceable. (Yes I know there were times when L would have sacrificed herself, like in the zoo or in the fight with Roan, and that she believes in a version of reincarnation that means she never really dies anyway, but mostly I mean that I don’t think there’s a chance in a million years L would have experimented on herself over anyone else in that room lol and I stand by this. Also: TonDC.) Clarke sees herself at the end of 4x08 as just another human, no more exempt from being a subject of experimentation than “Baylis” or Emori.

But she loses some points for using Dante’s “I bear it so they don’t have to line,” as I ranted to myself extensively when I should have been eating like a responsible human would have been.

[alwaysaprille]

people are saying that bellamy was feeling guilty about lxa's death when he overheard clarke telling abby that she loved her... Idk if I laugh or feel bad about them trying so hard to deny what that scene was actually about

I genuinely don’t understand people who think Bellamy was in any way responsible for L/xa’s death. L/xa’s people very clearly wanted her removed from her position when the Season opened, which we might recognize as before Pike and the others committed the massacre (the fight to the death for instance, we know for sure happened before the massacre). 

You could even go so far as to say that Clarke was more responsible for L/xa’s death than Bellamy, as L/xa died as a direct result of her people viewing her as weak because she adopted Clarke’s “Blood Must not Have Blood” stance. 

[sometimesrosy]

hi rosie! I know it's been months since the 100 ended and I've seen lots of people talk about how they failed bellamy and clarke but I was wondering what you thought of raven and her storyline in s7. do you think it was good for her character and her story arc?

Ahh. Raven’s arc.

Yeah, so the problem with Raven’s arc is JR hasn’t known what to do with her since season 5. Season 4 was the last season with a good character arc for her, and even that one had a major character glitch as he tried to take her from the pragmatist who would blow up a bridge or dam or tell Clarke to kill Lxa while surrounded by her armies, to a person who said “it’s not your blood that matters, it’s your heart.”  Which was one of the worst lines in this whole show. It’s not even funny like “we’re back bitches!” It’s just corny and soppy and dumb. Her character shift on science island always felt false to me. It should have been Bellamy who held Clarke in check with morality, since that had been HIS character arc. I thought it was a misstep then, and now knowing the entire narrative arc, I think it was where they started to go wrong with Raven. Until then she was my third favorite character after Clarke and Bellamy.

I ALWAYS had a problem with this, but I was giving them the benefit of the doubt that they could pull it out. Season 5 was the least bad for her, with her sacrifice for spacekru on the ship, but honestly I didn’t think they went far enough with that. I feel like they should have explored her feelings of guilt more at not being able to get her friends home, or leaving Clarke behind alone.  And there was great potential in the scene where she and Clarke took McCreary down using her own body as the weapon (especially for a character whose body was always in pain and whose body had failed her... idk that’s quite some symbolism there,) but instead they chose to retreat and turn her back into the judgmental shrew that told Bellamy he shouldn’t have saved the slaves, and told Clarke she was the one who said whether everyone lived or died.

So like. She never addressed with Clarke what happened with Finn at his death. The blame she put on Clarke, when SHE wanted to instigate a war that would have had them all exterminated, including Finn. For some reason, the genius couldn’t connect those dots that her plan would have caused all of her people to massacred? I mean, it’s normal for her to have that failure in such a time of high emotion, but six years later, she still thinks Clarke was wrong to do what she did? No. Plot hole. Forgetting all the times that she enabled Clarke’s plans, or eagerly set about torturing and killing (remember SHE’S the one who electrified Lincoln without a BIT of the remorse that Clarke and Bellamy had,) is a failure of character.

Also, she never addressed the FACT that she wanted to trade Murphy to the grounders for Finn’s life and have him tortured to death in place of her boyfriend who was a literal mass murderer, AND she blamed Murphy for Finn’s actions when Murphy was the one trying to stop him the whole time. And THIS is a plot hole for a character arc and narrative line that was about Raven having learning about forgiveness and morality and leadership and sacrifice and hard decisions, and making judgments on Murphy, who frankly has been one of the most moral characters of the show since season 2. His morality might not be the SAME as everyone else’s, but it was the most firm.  So, this narrative arc again did not go FAR enough. 

In season 5, I figured that they would make up for the s5 scanty Raven storyline with a stronger s6 one.. That didn’t happen. I thought maybe it was because her love interest left, so she took on his judgmental role, but it didn’t work well. I also thought that part of the problem was that it would make her into too big of a character and they needed to keep the focus on the main characters, Clarke and Bellamy. But from s5-7 MURPHY got a large role, too, that brought a thorough narrative arc and finished out his character journey. So he got the focus that they never managed for Raven. I hear tell that Richard helped Murphy’s story in season 7, so that might be why. But idk. It shows that they were capable of finishing a character story with attention and detail, but they just failed with Raven. 

So season 7 had Raven confronting her own leadership and putting her in Clarke’s place to face the judgment she put on Clarke. And...oh she was sad and felt guilt and had to face the repercussions of that. But... it didn’t go far enough. She was reunited with Clarke and was no longer angry at her, and they were a team again. But this wasn’t HER story arc. Her story arc just kind of went *sad trombone.*

I know she was the one who went into the anomaly and met with the sparkle aliens, but that just seemed so forced and fake. Yes, they built up the morality narrative, but... like. It should have been Clarke. Instead they turned her into the crazy vengeance lady, like Daenerys, even though her entire narrative was about her dealing with her pain and she kind of never killed anyone in vengeance? I mean she spent 6 years ALONE and she only wanted to kill herself? IDK. It doesn’t make sense that THIS was the end. She sent madi into battle too save Bellamy and that did make her crazy lady. She had her after death reckoning and we saw no crazy lady. 

Sorry, that went off into failure of Clarke’s story.

How did that affect Raven? I think that from about season 3, Raven was used as a substitute to fill in gaps where they lost characters, or moved characters around. Where they changed their narrative ideas, and they needed a narrative tool to do something, they would stick Raven in... because she was a strong character who was involved with all the other main characters (except maybe Octavia.) She became like a swiss army knife who would take the place of characters that were needed but didn’t fit. And that meant that HER character was not really consistent in the later half of the series.  And it feels WRONG. Someone’s judgy? Make it Raven. Someone’s empathetic? Make it Raven. Someone’s mean? Make it Raven. Someone’s righteous? Make it Raven. Someone’s a sister? Make it Raven. Someone’s a daughter? Make it Raven. Some main character needs a supporting character to prop them up? Make it Raven. They just moved her around to fit the other character’s stories. Even her big morality arc was to support Abby, Clarke, or Murphy. :/ THAT’S why it didn’t work when they made her the Clarke proxy in the transcendence narrative. Because she hadn’t actually worked through HER story, but through Abby’s Clarke’s and Murphy’s. Bleh.

And she also basically disappeared in a lot of season 7, too. Same as Octavia. Who had her story with Sky Ring and skyringkru, but then disappeared until she gave the inspiring peace speech with the goddamn petty, dumbass stupid grounders, whose main flaw FROM SEASON 1, is that they are too stupid to have survived this long. All they want to do is fight. And blame everyone else for what they did. And the eligius prisoners, and the brainless cult sheep. Honestly. 

And what do we have? The most unnuanced, flat character in the show. Sheidheda. Like there isn’t even any symbolism or archetypal energy in there. He’s just there to make them fight for NO FUCKING REASON. 

These are the characters who had decent story arcs that were resolved.

Murphy and Emori Diyoza Gabriel And Indra a bit. Better than most. 

Fucking DEV had a better character ending than Clarke, Bellamy, Raven, and Octavia. 

Actually, Mackson was satisfying, although skimpy. But then the characters didn’t have a really deep narrative line, so their ending was in keeping with their story. But it fit with their long term stated goals, what they wanted out of life. Just to be together in peace with maybe some chickens, by the shore, right? That was THEIR goal. The ending was theirs.

That was never what any of the other characters wanted. Or not ONLY. Do the right thing. Live a good life. Create a better society. Save humanity. Be good people. Live morally. 

nope. But it worked for Murphy’s ending too. He didn’t want to die alone. He died, with Emori. Then he came back and got to life his half life with his friends. 

I just can’t get over how they tossed the main story of being the good guys and saving humanity. I suppose there was always the question of whether they’d get a happy ending emotionally, but I never thought they’d destroy humanity, erase Bellamy and say Clarke was never the hero. 

I guess I needed to address the endings of the other characters to see how they all fit in with Raven’s. Because none of the characters stood on their own, so we have to see how they were woven together and compare and contrast.

Raven was my biggest disappointment as a character in this show from season 5 on. I kept waiting for her character arc to come together or get the attention Murphy got. She had the weight to be major character, but her story just wasn’t told. She became a supporting character and really lacked meaningful development. 

[sometimesrosy]

You know what,I joined the Tumblr last week and,your posts have made me positive about the final season.I get it when you say understanding the story and how it has been abt bellarke.But to sound a tad bit reserved,if this has been any other show it would be much more easier to go into the final episodes as there is a possibility Jason by some hook or crook can make CL end up together which doesn't make sense story wise but this way he can or feel that he stood with a community.What's your view?

I think people are afraid that JR is going to pull a D&D, but I don’t think JR is LIKE D&D. D&D took a story from GRRM and made it full of flash and dazzle like hollywood. They never put the story or the characters in front. It was SPECTACLE for them. They are flimflam men. And when the story ended and they were left on their own to finish it, you can see what happened. It crumbled because they didn’t know how to tell a story, how to develop characters, WHY to develop characters, how to tie up the narrative threads, what the purpose of fantasy tropes were, etc, and so they finished with what they know: flash and dazzle. Shock. Plot twists without the plot. “foreshadowing” like *ooh she’s wearing red she’s a bad guy now.* 

Fandom doesn’t like JR. It’s a pretty widespread thing. He fed the CLs while dismissing BCs in season 2 and 3 and then killed L off. They felt betrayed and baited, because they thought he was “on their side.” And then the Bellarkers thought he was on their side and put in B/E so they Bellarkers turned on him, even though he refused to tell them what would happen or even admit Bellarke was romantic. Actually no. Bellarkers think JR HATES them. The CL feeding made it a war between CL and BC where CLs were the favored children. Maybe if he hadn’t fed the CLs so much in 2 and 3, Bellarkers wouldn’t have had so little faith in him in regards to Bellarke. Because he did treat Bellarkers like the bastard step child while THE STORY continued on its way, almost independently of what he was telling fandom.

THE POINT I’m trying to make is that JR might be a bastard. He might be an egotist. But part of that is him putting his story first. He doesn’t bend. When fans want something, he’s like, ‘oh sorry too bad my story not yours and i won’t give it to you until and unless it’s time.’ which makes people mad because they want THEIR story when THEY want it. So there’s this constant tension between fans and jr. GIVE US OUR STORY!!! fandom yells. “no,” says JR. Because it’s not their story it’s his. And he’s gonna do it how he likes. Not how fandom likes.

Sometimes he’ll give fandom little bits, if it doesn’t interfere with his story. There’s lots of room within the story for adjustment, or there used to be. The closer it gets to the end the less wiggle room there is. 

But he’s not like D&D. They have different egotism. D&D didn’t respect audience, genre or story. They thought they could do whatever they wanted because they were the geniuses, plus they were getting tired of the story and wanted to make more money and fame on other projects. So they basically murdered the story so they could be done. 

JR respects and understands the genre AND the story. I don’t know if he even really understands fandom, although he learned his lesson about feeding fans in s3. And he learned NOT to do it. This is HIS story. And he’s going to stay true to the story, despite fandom’s demands. Ego, yes. But I at least think this is the kind of ego needed to tell a good story, especially in a public way like this, where other people are also involved. I think he cares more about the story than he does about the community. I think it’s his legacy, no matter what shippers think. 

And he keeps saying that no one who is dead is coming back to life. Lxa is dead. That doesn’t sound like he’s giving anyone hope does it? And there’s no storyline about Lxa anymore. Can she be mentioned? Yes, because Lxa affected the current storyline and characters. But not only did she die, her world ALSO died. There’s no more Polis, there’s no more coalition, there’s no more flame. Her part of the story has moved on to wonkru, to Madi, to Octavia. She’s got no PLACE. If he had wanted to bring L back, he could have started to plant seeds in s6 when we started learning more about the flame. But he didn’t. He killed the flame. 

The only connection L still has with the narrative is with Clarke and her trauma and her past love. Which never died and never had to die. She moved on. She talked to Bellamy 2199 days without response, not L. She said she loved Madi more than she ever loved L. She got the closure with flameLxa apologizing and telling her that betraying her was the biggest regret of her life, love is not a weakness and told Clarke not to betray her love like she did. THAT closes the relationship story. It’s over. Clarke can carry her memories with her now without all that trauma. People ARE allowed to recover. 

Is there a POSSIBILITY that Clarke will end up with L in some fantasy inside the anomaly? If JR reverses her character development and relationship development with her soulmate Bellarke. If no one cares that would mean that Clarke’s life would cease connecting with reality and become a delusion or at best a tragic tale of someone in love with someone who is a memory/projection/fantasy/AI/ghost. There are stories where that could happen. But for this one it would be taking a HUGE swerve away from who the story has been about (clarke, bellamy, octavia, madi, raven, murphy, echo, emori, jordan, hope, gabriel, diyoza,) to make it about a character even her ex lover doesn’t think that much about. (2199 days she called bellamy not L.) Heck, I still think about my ex who I haven’t seen in years, but that doesn’t mean I’d get back with him if he came back.

The possibility of the story making it so L can come back and be Clarke’s endgame without development, foreshadowing, narrative or magic is so low as to not worry me. Is it impossible? No. But if he wanted to be nice to the CL community he could have done it with making Clarke’s consciousness alive in the flame, since it was indeed connected to her. As the only person who had a flame and took it out, we didn’t know what would happen. He COULD have made Clarke and Lxa have an endgame in the flame. For eternity and I specced last season that he would. But that was jossed in 6.02 i think when Gaia told Madi that a consciousness could only be in one place at a time so a living Clarke could not BE in the flame. But that’s his sci fi worldbuilding. It could easily have kept a copy of her mind, given flameCL endgame and fanserviced them that way without ruining his story. But he didn’t. Why ruin his story for people who hate him? Remember his ego. It’s HIS story, not theirs. HIS legacy.

[sometimesrosy]

What things in 7x02 do you think were the most significant in terms of the direction the show is taking toward its end? And how do you think it may lead back to Bellarke, as well, since they’re the center of the story?

Hmm. I’m not totally sure because this is the beginning of the end, see, so I’m starting to collect details and information and references and symbolism... bread crumbs. Sometimes I’m still running on a FEELING of it being connected without being able to pin point how it is? So I’m going to have to put things together as I go.

But like, first of all, this episode was about Octavia and growth from “monster” to hero again. One of the things that was vital to her was that she learned to understand her brother and his relationship to her, and while it wasn’t as blatant, also clarke’s relationship with Madi. It was also an affirmation that she believes her family is Bellamy, Clarke and Madi... which was not really there in season 5 and 6. But if you’ll notice that after she came back from the anomaly, Clarke WAS suddenly her people again and she was NOT going to let anything happen to her. This is where she learned that. This is what led to her hearing Clarke was in trouble on that radio and then taking off to save her. ALSO what led to her faith in Clarke at the gate. And what led to her refusing to sacrifice the sancumites or the COG because she wanted to be better and do better, what led to Bellamy embracing her again as his sister.

And no matter WHAT you think of Octavia as a character, whether you think she’s irredeemable or god’s gift to “I love her and she’s never done anything wrong ever,” Octavia Blake is a SUPREMELY important character in this show.

If this story is an allegory about humanity’s self destruction and rebirth, then Octavia’s role in it is... humanity itself. Clarke is the Head, Bellamy is the Heart, and Octavia is the SOUL. Father, son, holy spirit is Octavia as the “son.” How Octavia suffers, falls, and is redeemed is how it goes with humanity. They are the trinity (in whatever myth you choose I think it fits) and Octavia is the child symbol in that trinity. So, what happens with Octavia finding redemption goes back to Bellarke as mother and father or head and heart.

ALSO we have a replay of Aurora, Octavia and Bellamy with Diyoza, Bellamy and Hope. And it’s quite possible that Bellamy can’t find true love with Clarke until he makes up with Octavia. AND Clarke and Bellamy have ALWAYS used Octavia as a bridge between them. Instead of talking about their feelings for each other they always talk about Octavia. If Octavia is separated or evil or antagonistic, their bridge to each other is gone. 

Another consideration is the set up of the backstory and narrative this season, which is WAY complicated with multiple planets, new technology, old influences and timey wimey stuff. SHOWING us how the time stuff is working with new mysteries, prisons, families, a kid growing up before our eyes who was actually conceived before the first praimfaya I think, minddrive readers so we could see Becca, a focus on Bellamy in a kind of mythology for Octavia, Diyoza, Hope, Echo etc, I mean, it’s not TECHNICALLY about Bellarke, but it’s setting up a story that will be getting there.

That’s the part I can’t know yet. I don’t know what is being laid out yet. Some people have mentioned the CB letters carved into the cave. I said it didn’t matter, but it might very well have been an easter egg. That won’t make sense until we know the whole story. We’ll get a bit more when we see how Clarke responds to this all. 

Oh also, Echo brought up the Together thing. That’s a bellarke phrase. And it’s being used for a part of their family that is NOT together. Because TOGETHER is important to the story. Bellarke are the SYMBOL of the togetherness that they need for all their people. Also the Trust Bellamy... “I trust you,” was a big thing for Clarke and Bellamy. There were a couple of other places where the Bellarke dialogue was repeated in this episode, and I don’t want to necessarily say that is ABOUT Bellarke, but I think we SHOULD be paying attention to Bellarke as the central relationship AND the metaphor IN the story for the unity and understanding and coming together that is needed for ALL the characters and humanity itself. 

So like these stories about the secondary characters are leading back to Bellarke because they are now telling the same stories Bellarke struggled with but for the other characters. Bellamy’s near raising of Octavia and Octavia near raises Hope. Echo’s isolation/solitary confinement for 5-6 years like Clarke’s isolation. And actually we’re getting in coming up to. Raven and Murphy having to make life or death decisions and keeping the communities from infighting. 

CRIMINY!

Octavia resented Bellamy for being parental. Now she’s parental. Echo took Clarke’s place on the ring while Clarke was isolated, now ECHO is isolates. Raven accused Clarke of deciding who lives and dies while forcing her to decide who lives or dies, now SHE’s causing people to die with her decisions. Murphy killed their own people and brought plague and blew a hole in their dropship and wanted to be the new king and NOW he’s in charge of keeping random peoples together and is playing GOD-King.

I mean. 

LOL.

If you only watch when Clarke and Bellamy and Bellarke (but no b/e) is there you will miss all that. You lose out on the comparisons. You won’t be able to see the similarities or links because you’ll be missing the data points.

You know that saying “once is chance, twice is a coincidence, three times a pattern?”

You’ll never get that pattern if you don’t watch the parts that you think are irrelevant. You’ll miss #3 and maybe #2. The details will continue to be irrelevant and you won’t get the reinforcing or breadcrumbs or narrative links that make the story deeper. All you’ll get is a love story with a lot of irrelevant nonsense around it that makes it frustrating for you. And then you’ll say that the story is too slow, or subplots are macguffins, or important episodes are filler, or it doesn’t make sense, or it’s bad writing, or a character is being minimized or vilified, or the writers didn’t give you enough information to understand so it’s their fault you were off in lala land with some other plot and endgame. (season 3 is a BIG example of this. Lxa was NEVER the hero. Bellamy was NEVER the villain. And Clarke was NEVER the love interest. That WIDESPREAD interpretation in both bc and cl fandoms was a misinterpretation because people didn’t follow the narrative and only watched what they liked. It’s backwards. L was villain/love interest. Bellamy was hero/love interest, and Clarke was hero/villain. HA!)

I mean you can continue to only watch for Bellarke, you might still get the love story you want, (better bet than s3 CLs since they shipped the non endgame pair,) but everything around it is treated as an obstacle or an offense, rather than part of the structure of a much better love story.

[lightcomingthroughthedarkness]

Im curious why you think Becho isn’t endgame? Everything has pointed to them painting Echo’s obsession with Bellamy as some great love story. Jason’s been shoving it and her down our throats for years at this point. And I just don’t see there being time for them to break up. I’m thinking Bellamy is gone by 7x15 at the latest and I really don’t know if he’ll make it that far. I don’t see them having time to break up and if one of them dies when they’re still together, that’s endgame sadly.

Mimi, why don't I think Becho is endgame when he is confessing his love for her in Etherea? is it just cuz you think that one or both them are going to die?

Listen, I have no idea if Bellamy dies in the end or not. I have already said a thousand times, I do not believe Bellarke will be endgame the way fandom imagines it or wants it but I need every single one of you reading this to listen to me when I tell you that BECHO IS NOT ENDGAME!

Echo's entire storyline is about identity, about finding her own voice, her own place, her own self. It is literally what opened season 7 with Roan appearing to Echo in 7x01. This entire season Echo has done nothing but been obsessive and literally crazy and that is not what love should be! Why has Echo been so obsessed?? Because her spy/king complex. Echo was and became whatever was needed of her to save her king, Bellamy. Her obsession, her loyalty to her king and her devotion to him lead to her spending 5 years OBSESSED with saving him. When she lost him, she lost HERSELF. The ONLY thing left for Echo was REVENGE. But what made Echo stop last episode was RAVEN reminding Echo that she has people, a family that love her and care about her. She always had more people but in her grief and obsession to save Bellamy, she literally forgot and neglected her spacekru family. Clarke and Octavia are her people but they could not get through to her. Spacekru are the group of people Echo gave her loyalty to during those 5 years. Loyalty Bellamy ASKED her to give them. I said this weeks ago, the reason Echo hasn't been as close to Gabriel and Hope is because she never lost spacekru, the way she lost Azgeda in season 4. In season 4, Echo had to find an entire new group of people. In season 7, she just had to endure 5 years on skyring while never losing those she left behind. Raven had to be the one to remind Echo and get her off the ledge. All this time all Echo has shown is how her loyalty is her weakness. JUST LIKE BELLAMY TOLD HER. But her loyalty can be a strength too, depending on HOW SHE USES IT.

In order for Echo to break free from her complex and gain a sense of self, she needs to break free from her king, who also happens to be her boyfriend. The script from last episode showed us Echo telling Clarke that Clarke doesn't know who Echo is (after Clarke says "this isn't who you are) because Echo herself doesn't know who she is. They deleted the scene but yet again, it shows us that Echo needs to find her own identity. She is someone outside of Bellamy and her king. Echo cannot find her identity while staying in her spy/king complex.

BECHO IS NOT ENDGAME.

Now why does Bellamy say that he loves Echo? Because he does. This was ALWAYS going to happen. They were always going to have one or both of them say it. They did it with Raven/Finn. They did it with Finn/Clarke. They did it with Clarke/Lxa. They were always going to do it with Bellamy/Echo too. Context. Why does Bellamy say he loves Echo? Because she is family? Because he means romantically? Both? Is he saying "Echo and Octavia" because that means "my family"? Is he adding "and Clarke" because she is in another box? Is she more? Is his love for her different than the love he has for Echo and Octavia? Why does he pause before saying Clarke's name? Is he saying "Echo, Octavia and Clarke"? How is he delivering that line? Context.