The 100 Season 5 Episode 1: "It's like we were never here."
The opening of season 5 episode 1 could be the opening of the first season of a new show. Thanks to the nuclear meltdown at the end of season 4 the earth has, again, been rendered uninhabitable due to radiation.
Uninhabitable, unless you're a Nightblood.
Clarke risked her life to ensure her friends had a chance to launch themselves into space and save their own lives. She thought she was dead, but it turned out that the treatment she received to be turned into a Nightblood in season 4 worked and she is capable of withstanding the radiation.
What she might not be capable of withstanding is the desolation. Miles of charred forests and sand dunes seem to be all that's left of a once lush and green planet. Clarke tries to maintain her sanity by setting goals for herself. She struggles to make it to Polis, to the bunker where her mother and the others took refuge to wait out the five-year period that the Earth's surface wouldn't be survivable for typical people.
And she talks into a radio, hoping her friends in space can hear her.
The entire landscape of the series isn't all that's changed. Clarke's whole focus has also shifted radically. The convict-girl who had been sent to the Earth as part of a group of 100 teenage convicts who had risen as a leader in the first season finds herself alone. She no longer has anyone she's responsible for. She doesn't have to make decisions for a group. She doesn't have to kill other to save her own people.
She doesn't have to question where her loyalties lie.
The desolate landscape matches Clarke's emotional state. Even when she reaches Polis she's faced with disappointment. The city has been destroyed and the great tower where she once stayed with her love, Lexa, is in ruins. Her efforts to dig to the bunker are futile; as she removes debris more wreckage shifts and falls.
So much of what Clarke has done her entire life has been based on her sense of duty that she's lost without others to care for. She's almost ready to quit when she stumbles upon an oasis.
Eden.
A patch of land in a valley that is almost untouched by the destruction. A place where trees still grow and birds chirp.
A place where Clarke discovers she isn't alone.
Raven, Bellamy, Monty, Harper , Emori, Echo and Murphy are trying to figure out how to get back to Earth from space when they catch sight of another craft they haven't seen before. While conflicts within the group (Emori and Murphy have broken up and Murphy has withdrawn from the group) threaten to keep them from working together effectively they have to figure out how to contact the other ship, which could present them with their only chance to reach the ground.
On Earth, Clarke already has some idea of who was in the other ship. A shuttle has landed and it's a prison aircraft. This results in a call-back back to season 1 and Octavia Blake's life as the forbidden younger sister of Bellamy who had to live most of her life under the floor. Clarke must now send Madi under the floor to keep her hidden but when she's discovered by prisoners - one of whom has no issues with killing a child - it sets the stage for the inevitable conflict for season 5.
Meanwhile, below the surface of the earth, Octavia presides over a bloody death match between warriors.
If you haven't been watching The 100 during its first four seasons it doesn't matter; you can jump straight in with season 5 and orient yourself pretty quickly and there is so much good stuff going on here that you should check out The 100 if you haven't already. (Seasons 1-4 are streaming in Netflix.) The entire series has been one that I credit with swinging for the fences. It is a show that's willing to take risks. Even one short scene in this episode nodded to those who had died in earlier seasons. Clarke chokes up when she finds Jasper's letter for Monty, knowing Jasper is gone. She sees Maya's name and thinks of just one of the many people she had to kill in order for her own people to survive.
Clarke is shadowed by ghosts and she is also tempted by hope. Hope that her friends will return from the sky. Hope that her mother and the others in the bunker will emerge.
Now that Clarke and Madi are facing a large group of armed prisoners she needs her friends and family more than ever. Judging from the small glimpse of Octavia's warriors in combat one suspects that she will rise to be the leader of a new world order, but that presents its own possible issues. Will Clarke accept another warrior race ruling the planet? And what happens when Octavia's brother, Bellany, reaches the surface with his new girlfriend? Echo did try to kill Octavia and was banished.
Something tells me that Octavia won't be as forgiving as Bellamy thinks.
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Uninhabitable, unless you're a Nightblood.
Clarke risked her life to ensure her friends had a chance to launch themselves into space and save their own lives. She thought she was dead, but it turned out that the treatment she received to be turned into a Nightblood in season 4 worked and she is capable of withstanding the radiation.
What she might not be capable of withstanding is the desolation. Miles of charred forests and sand dunes seem to be all that's left of a once lush and green planet. Clarke tries to maintain her sanity by setting goals for herself. She struggles to make it to Polis, to the bunker where her mother and the others took refuge to wait out the five-year period that the Earth's surface wouldn't be survivable for typical people.
And she talks into a radio, hoping her friends in space can hear her.
"Please don't feel bad about leaving me here. You did what you had to do. I'm proud of you." - Clarke
The entire landscape of the series isn't all that's changed. Clarke's whole focus has also shifted radically. The convict-girl who had been sent to the Earth as part of a group of 100 teenage convicts who had risen as a leader in the first season finds herself alone. She no longer has anyone she's responsible for. She doesn't have to make decisions for a group. She doesn't have to kill other to save her own people.
She doesn't have to question where her loyalties lie.
"You think you can kill me? Have at it." - Clarke
The desolate landscape matches Clarke's emotional state. Even when she reaches Polis she's faced with disappointment. The city has been destroyed and the great tower where she once stayed with her love, Lexa, is in ruins. Her efforts to dig to the bunker are futile; as she removes debris more wreckage shifts and falls.
"I used to think that life was about more than surviving. I'm not sure anymore." - Clarke
So much of what Clarke has done her entire life has been based on her sense of duty that she's lost without others to care for. She's almost ready to quit when she stumbles upon an oasis.
Eden.
A patch of land in a valley that is almost untouched by the destruction. A place where trees still grow and birds chirp.
A place where Clarke discovers she isn't alone.
"Last two people on earth and one of them happens to be the child from hell." - ClarkeWhat else can you say after a kid lures you to a trap and your leg is ripped apart by the metal? Clarke does find a way to build a bridge with the child, Madi, and we fast forward six years and get a glimpse of what life has been like for the others who survived.
Raven, Bellamy, Monty, Harper , Emori, Echo and Murphy are trying to figure out how to get back to Earth from space when they catch sight of another craft they haven't seen before. While conflicts within the group (Emori and Murphy have broken up and Murphy has withdrawn from the group) threaten to keep them from working together effectively they have to figure out how to contact the other ship, which could present them with their only chance to reach the ground.
On Earth, Clarke already has some idea of who was in the other ship. A shuttle has landed and it's a prison aircraft. This results in a call-back back to season 1 and Octavia Blake's life as the forbidden younger sister of Bellamy who had to live most of her life under the floor. Clarke must now send Madi under the floor to keep her hidden but when she's discovered by prisoners - one of whom has no issues with killing a child - it sets the stage for the inevitable conflict for season 5.
Meanwhile, below the surface of the earth, Octavia presides over a bloody death match between warriors.
If you haven't been watching The 100 during its first four seasons it doesn't matter; you can jump straight in with season 5 and orient yourself pretty quickly and there is so much good stuff going on here that you should check out The 100 if you haven't already. (Seasons 1-4 are streaming in Netflix.) The entire series has been one that I credit with swinging for the fences. It is a show that's willing to take risks. Even one short scene in this episode nodded to those who had died in earlier seasons. Clarke chokes up when she finds Jasper's letter for Monty, knowing Jasper is gone. She sees Maya's name and thinks of just one of the many people she had to kill in order for her own people to survive.
"I've lost track of how many bodies we've burned since reaching the ground." - Clarke
Clarke is shadowed by ghosts and she is also tempted by hope. Hope that her friends will return from the sky. Hope that her mother and the others in the bunker will emerge.
Now that Clarke and Madi are facing a large group of armed prisoners she needs her friends and family more than ever. Judging from the small glimpse of Octavia's warriors in combat one suspects that she will rise to be the leader of a new world order, but that presents its own possible issues. Will Clarke accept another warrior race ruling the planet? And what happens when Octavia's brother, Bellany, reaches the surface with his new girlfriend? Echo did try to kill Octavia and was banished.
Something tells me that Octavia won't be as forgiving as Bellamy thinks.
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