Mark Watches ‘The 100’: S03E12 – Demons

In the twelfth episode of the third season of The 100, a decision Clarke made comes back to haunt her, while Murphy realizes what his world has changed into. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The 100. 

Trigger Warning: For torture

THIS IS SO INTENSE. WHY.

Polis

I fell for it, I admit. I was entirely convinced that Emori was seeking out Murphy in a genuine sense, and I read her wonderment inside the Flamekeeper’s room as something entirely different than what actually happened. See, I had this idea that as a Grounder, even Emori knew what a sacred place that room was, and her wide-eyed joy was symbolic of that. How many Grounders ever get to see the home of their faith? And then I started imagining that Emori would help him understand why this matters so much to her. And then Ontari would catch them and kill Emori, and this all seemed so obvious and then NOPE.

Fucking Jaha, oh my god. Despite that I theorized in the video below that all the Arkadia folks had moved to Polis to convert more people to Alie’s plan, I STILL DIDN’T CONSIDER THAT EMORI WAS A PLANT AND THAT JAHA WAS READY TO CHIP ONTARI. But it’s the next step in the plan, and I should have seen it coming, and GAH. Here’s the thing: I still don’t know why Alie needs all of these people. If she wanted ALIE 2.0 in order to prevent herself from being stopped, then that means she has another goal in mind. Why??? What is it???

Demons

In many ways, the writers turn The 100 into a horror film in this episode. Indeed, from the opening scene with Miller, Harper, and Bryan, the tropes normally found in monster movies or slasher flicks are on full display. Why is that? To me, it was a signal that in this universe, Emerson is a monster. Here’s a man who arguably killed countless more people that Clarke could ever dream of. He was complicit in a system that involved the kidnapping, torture, and murder of an entire group of people in order to keep his “people” safe. When those same people, with Clarke’s help, retaliated, he views himself as a wronged victim, so much so that he turns the Ice Nation loose, murders more people, and then does… well, the awful thing he does here.

This episode is intense and frightening and a demonstration of Emerson’s depravity, and I hate that Sinclair is a victim in it. Look, at least Monty has gotten to do something over these seasons; in comparison, Sinclair has been virtually invisible. No storylines, no development, and no details about who he is. So he dies right after his first episode where he’s given a big emotional moment concerning… someone else. He’s in “Nevermore” to express fear that he may wipe Raven’s mind.

Here? He dies so that everyone realizes how messed up Emerson was, which absolutely no one needed. His death is a stain on an episode that bravely features Clarke dealing with further ramifications of her decisions. “Demons” makes her face the fact that she showed mercy to Emerson in order to prove a point to the Grounders, which ended up being pointless anyway. So she takes it upon herself to do what is needed to protect her friends at great risk to herself. That’s a good story! And I like that this aspect of her character is addressed openly. Plus, it was gnarly seeing how the ALIE 2.0 chip actually kills a person. THAT WAS NICE TO KNOW.

I just desperately wish that Sinclair had not been so hopelessly disposable. Alessandro Juliani is a fine actor who can do incredible work, and I feel like the show wasted him. Just like they wasted Ricky Whittle, or Donna Yamamoto, or Dichen Lachman, or Eli Goree, and I think you can see a pattern developing here.

Hmmm.

That being said, I love that Raven and Monty are going to work on disabling Alie while Bellamy, Clarke, Octavia, and Jasper seek out Luna. Those are both storylines I’m super excited to see. I’ll long for the core group to be together once again, but this was a damn good run for them.

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

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About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
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