Mark Watches ‘The 100’: S03E10 – Fallen

In the tenth episode of the third season of The 100, everything in the world just happened. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The 100.

Trigger Warning: For self-harm, sexual assault/rape, suicide, consent, nonconsensual drugging and medical procedures.

GOOD GOD WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED ON THIS SHOW.

Murphy / Ontari

I think it’s interesting to see Murphy – a character who refuses to die and is flung from one disaster to another – find a way to adapt to being Ontari’s fake Flamekeeper. It’s compelling because the audience gets to see Ontari’s vulnerability. Prior to this, she was ruthless and terrifying. She’s still ruthless, but there’s a whole lot of doubt and fear that felt new to me. Murphy, on the other hand, has just given up on feeling afraid. I get the sense that he’s seen so much at this point that he’s numb. He does what he can for survival because that’s what he knows.

Which is why the decision to portray his forced sex scene as something sexy is just atrocious. The man is chained up; he tells Ontari he has someone else and gives her a pretty hard no; she then hangs all of her power over him to remind him that she’s in control. Even that shitty line about what he does to “stay alive” is explicit about the fact that he isn’t having sex because he wants to but because he has to. And yet, the music swells like we’re about to get a super hot sex scene, and it feels completely off in terms of tone.

What the hell, The 100. As a dude who is also a rape victim (one of my rapists was a woman), please do not, not, not joke around about this.

Ending the Blockade

Look, let me first say that both Bob Morley and Marie Avgeropoulos are incredible in that opening sequence, and I read that fight as a necessary first step after the end of the last episode. I suspected Octavia would be pissed, but I was hit a lot harder by the beating she gave her brother than I expected. It really felt real that Lincoln was dead, and I felt so sad for her. Which is why it’s weird that the show largely focuses on Bellamy from that point on. Octavia is still angry, she’s still an important member of the team (AND SHE GETS TO KILL THAT ONE GUARD WHO I HATE SO SO SO MUCH), but it’s clear that the writers want us to see that they’re coming up with some sort of redemption arc for Bellamy.

I kind of have two versions of Bellamy in my mind. One is attached to Bob Morley, since he’s a great actor, and this is the Bellamy I’ve loved and adored for being a complicated, delightful character. And then there’s what the show has written him into for season three. I don’t know how you write redemption for a character who most likely killed sleeping Grounders and supported The 100’s version of a dictator. Is this a beginning? I suppose. It’s necessary that Octavia express her anger at her brother. It’s necessary that Bellamy create the trap that gets Pike captured and handed over to the Grounders to end the blockade. (WHEW, WHAT A CATHARTIC SCENE, MAY PIKE’S END COME SOON AND BE SWIFT.) But what else can Bellamy do?

What about Hannah??? Monty’s own mother turned him in!!! What possible fucking motivation could she have for this??? I thought she said she didn’t want to lose her son and her husband, yet she turns Monty over to a man who LITERALLY JUST EXECUTED SOMEONE HE DID NOT LIKE. How is that going to work? And hell, now that Kane’s heading off to Ontari, the other survivors are going to go home to a nightmare. Bellamy, Miller, Bryan, Sinclair, Harper, Monty, and Octavia have NO IDEA ABOUT ALIE. Good lord.

Alie

I wish Jaha had more depth as a character. Like Pike, he’s written with a one-dimensional story. He has a goal, there’s no nuance in him trying to achieve it, and there doesn’t seem to be any of the moral complexity that The 100 is known for. He is an antagonist who exists solely for that purpose, which is a shame because he’s got such a rich past to build from. Is there something more to his story that we’re not seeing?

I actually do enjoy the ALIE storyline, more than I thought I would, and this episode represents the creepiest jump forward we’ve seen so far. I’m making a prediction that Alie herself is this season’s Big Bad, not the war with the Grounders or Pike, and I think “Fallen” is the first major shift in that direction. Alie’s capabilities are finally revealed when it’s revealed just how far she can go to coerce others into accepting her. Now, I appreciate how utterly brilliant  Lindsey Morgan is as an actress, and watching her play Raven as Alie was otherworldly. It was incredible! At the same time, I thought it was a bit much to show us so much pain, so much gore, and those slit wrists. I understood that Alie needed to compel Abby to join them all, and even that moment itself felt like something the show normally does. The 100 is full of complicated decisions, and having Abby choose between her own free will and Raven’s life was powerful.

But damn, this show really brutalizes all its non-white characters. From Lincoln’s gory death to Bellamy’s beatdown to the excessively detailed torture that Raven went through… it was a lot. A Lot. And I know that The 100 doesn’t shy away from portraying violence or uncomfortable things, so all I have is a gut reaction here. It felt like Too Much, if that makes sense.

Yet I also am SUPER EXCITED after that ending. It’s been a while since something was so thrilling that I was just screeching at my television, but Jasper’s escape was so goddamn scary, and then throwing Clarke in the mix made it even more frightening, and then Abby stating that Arkadia had “fallen” was like the cherry on top of this whole nightmare. Jesus, Clarke just found out that Lincoln died, and now she has to contend with an AI that’s infected all her friends and family???

This show is too much.

The video for “Fallen” can be downloaded here for $0.99.

Mark Links Stuff

– I am now on Patreon! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.
– I will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates / Appearances page.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.
- Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook! I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!