{"id":5691,"date":"2016-07-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5691"},"modified":"2016-06-20T10:52:14","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T17:52:14","slug":"mark-watches-the-100-s03e10-fallen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/07\/mark-watches-the-100-s03e10-fallen\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The 100’: S03E10 – Fallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the tenth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>, everything in the world just happened. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For self-harm, sexual assault\/rape, suicide, consent, nonconsensual drugging and medical procedures.<\/b><\/p>\n

GOOD GOD WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED ON THIS SHOW.<\/p>\n

Murphy \/ Ontari<\/b><\/p>\n

I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s interesting to see Murphy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a character who refuses to die and is flung from one disaster to another \u00e2\u20ac\u201c find a way to adapt to being Ontari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fake Flamekeeper. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s compelling because the audience gets to see Ontari\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vulnerability. Prior to this, she was ruthless and terrifying. She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still ruthless, but there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s seen so much at this point that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s numb. He does what he can for survival because that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he\u00c2\u00a0knows<\/i>.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in control. Even that shitty line about what he does to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153stay alive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is explicit about the fact that he isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t having sex because he wants to but because he\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to. And yet, the music swells like we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re about to get a super hot sex scene, and it feels\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>completely off in terms of tone.<\/p>\n

What the hell, The 100<\/i>. 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.<\/p>\n

Ending the Blockade<\/b><\/p>\n

Look, let me first say that both Bob Morley and Marie Avgeropoulos are\u00c2\u00a0incredible<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in 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\u00c2\u00a0sad<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0for her. Which is why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird that the show largely focuses on Bellamy from that point on. Octavia is still angry, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still an important member of the team (AND SHE GETS TO KILL THAT ONE GUARD WHO I HATE SO SO SO MUCH), but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s clear that the writers want us to see that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re coming up with some sort of redemption arc for Bellamy.<\/p>\n

I kind of have two versions of Bellamy in my mind. One is attached to Bob Morley, since he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a great actor, and this is the Bellamy I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve loved and adored for being a complicated, delightful character. And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what the show has written him into for season three. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how you write redemption for a character who most likely killed sleeping Grounders and supported\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s version of a dictator. Is this a beginning? I suppose. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s necessary that Octavia express her anger at her brother. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S END COME SOON AND BE SWIFT.) But what\u00c2\u00a0else<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0can Bellamy do?<\/p>\n

What about Hannah??? Monty\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own mother turned him in!!! What possible fucking motivation could she have for this??? I thought she said she didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t want to lose her son\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0her 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 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.<\/p>\n

Alie<\/b><\/p>\n

I wish Jaha had more depth as a character. Like Pike, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s written with a one-dimensional story. He has a goal, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s no nuance in him trying to achieve it, and there doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem to be any of the moral complexity that\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is known for. He is an antagonist who exists solely for that purpose, which is a shame because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s got such a rich past to build from. Is there something more to his story that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not seeing?<\/p>\n

I actually do enjoy the ALIE storyline, more than I thought I would, and this episode represents the creepiest jump forward we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen so far. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m making a prediction that Alie herself is this season\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Big Bad, not the war with the Grounders or Pike, and I think \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fallen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is the first major shift in that direction. Alie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s capabilities are finally revealed when it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s revealed just how far she can go to coerce others into accepting her. Now, I appreciate how utterly brilliant \u00c2\u00a0Lindsey Morgan is as an actress, and watching her play Raven\u00c2\u00a0as<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Alie 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\u00c2\u00a0felt<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like something the show normally does.\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is full of complicated decisions, and having Abby choose between her own free will and Raven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life was powerful.<\/p>\n

But damn, this show\u00c2\u00a0really<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0brutalizes all its non-white characters. From Lincoln\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gory death to Bellamy\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s beatdown to the excessively detailed torture that Raven went through\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 it was a lot. A Lot. And I know that\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t 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.<\/p>\n

Yet I also am SUPER EXCITED after that ending. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a while since something was so thrilling that I was just screeching at my television, but Jasper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s escape was so goddamn scary, and then throwing Clarke in the mix made it even more frightening, and then Abby stating that Arkadia had \u00e2\u20ac\u0153fallen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d 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\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infected all her friends and family???<\/p>\n

This show is too much.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Fallen\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! 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.<\/b>
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0 Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"