The 100 - Thirteen - Review: "Goodbye"

For a moment there, I forgot this was The 100. The show had me believe that Clarke could just simply walk away and have a shot of seeing Lexa again, maybe even be happy together. How naïve of me, as if I haven’t learned anything on the past 3 seasons. And yet, that wasn’t even the biggest jaw drop. No, the biggest surprise came with the moment in which it is revealed that Lexa had in her neck the same AI Becca had when she landed on Earth, connecting the past with the present.

I am beyond happy to have such an amazing episode of The 100 after a streak of good, but quite not great, episodes. Everything on Arkadia has been hit or miss: the City of Lights plot has triggered some interest on me lately, but the whole Pike situation has been poorly handled, so having a rest from Arkadia was for the best, especially having an episode in which everything comes together.

We get to see the moment where the world was destroyed. ALIE has caused destruction, and her inventor, Becca, tries to find a way to fix it. But man, what a cold hearted bitch: after creating the AI and deciding to go to Earth to save mankind, she just outright allows for the other 12 stations to shoot the 13th one killing everyone on board. If she was going to escape she could have given them a fighting chance.

Everything on the flashback was interesting: from the creation of the new AI to Becca's landing on Earth, everything is quite compelling. Having a look back at when it all began was very engaging, even though it wasn’t for long and we really didn’t have much time to connect with the characters, but this background was important to tie in with everything that is going right now, and The 100 did it nice and short.

Back at Polis, things have been complicated. The 12 clans want revenge towards the sky crew and tensions is rising to its highest levels. Lexa does everything she can to avoid war as she promised Clarke, but she has to appease her people as well, so she orders a blockade while also giving a kill order.

Clarke manages to remain level headed for most of the episode, but in truth it is just hard for the character to see what she has to do now. Will she do better by her people by staying on Polis or going with Octavia to meet them? Octavia essentially warns her not to trust Lexa after everything she has done, and I was foreseeing an scenario in which she could betray Clarke again.

But that wasn’t the case. This episode was a goodbye to her character and it wanted to leave in good terms: everything related to Clarke and Lexa is pretty much warm and sweet. Their kissing scene is actually moving and their sex scene is tender. That 8th commander will probably have significance later on (maybe season 4?), but the episode was much more concerned with allowing both characters have a good time before parting ways.

One of the things I’m grateful for with this episode is its patient: it didn’t rush to reveals or twists, but rather built up to them while delivering spot on character dynamics, especially when it came to Clarke and Lexa. It was also an amazing episode for Eliza Taylor and Alycia Debnam-Carey who owned the episode with grace.

It was also a good night for Marie Avgeropoulos and Adina Porter: Octavia’s reunion with her teacher ignited a fire in Indra that is always good to see. I’m glad Indra wasn’t out of comission for long, and it’s great to see her interact with Octavia, though I’m a bit skeptical of her words about fighting her own people. I don’t think she’s ready to do that even when she claim she is.

And of course, how can we leave Murphy out? He has been one of the rising stars of the season, with amazing dialogue and intriguing storylines. Who would have thought that he’d be reunited with Clarke so early this season? He’s also the character who starts to see what the hell is going on and allows our characters to catch up.

After being brutalized for a while by Titus, Clarke finds him and Titus finds the perfect opportunity to dispose of Clarke. But she is not going away without a fight, which as we know ended on the collateral damage that is Lexa. Cue to all the insanity in the final minutes that I commented early on.

I didn’t expect Alycia to stay the whole season on the show since she also has shooting commitments on Fear The Walking Dead, but I honestly thought the show would save her for later on… apparently I was wrong, as Clarke desperately tries to save her, but ultimately fails as Lexa accepts her fate and dies, letting Titus remove the AI from her neck. I can’t help but wonder what that thing does.

This was a very surprising, moving and well paced episode of The 100. It’s not my favorite of the whole show, but I think it’s pretty much a highlight of the season, which reminds us that everything that happens on the show is important, and that we can never assume that someone is safe here, which is something I came to forget as the season only yielded the death of unknown people to us (or people we have known for little time).

I think this is exactly what I needed: an episode that reminded me how surprising and well constructed the show can be. I have been slightly disappointed by this season, loving it, but wishing it was better. Well, this is the better I was hoping for, and I can only hope the most poorly constructed storylines will align with the good will of this one. It was a neat goodbye to a beloved character and it leaves me excited to see what happens next.

Next week we are back to Arkedia and it seems like things will be getting out of control. Hopefully the writing team will finally address the elephant in the room and do some explaining on what has been going on with Bellamy. That is very much needed right now.

Grade: A-

About the Author - Pablo

I'm currently studying Psychology while also writing fantasy books (one already published in my home country, Chile, you can check it out on the facebook icon). I watch many different types of shows, including my favorites Revenge, Game of Thrones, Once Upon a Time and about 23 more. Currently writing reviews for Once Upon a Time, The 100 and Supergirl

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