{"id":5698,"date":"2016-07-11T08:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T15:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5698"},"modified":"2016-06-21T10:49:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-21T17:49:35","slug":"mark-watches-the-100-s03e15-perverse-instantiation-part-i","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/07\/mark-watches-the-100-s03e15-perverse-instantiation-part-i\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘The 100’: S03E15 – Perverse Instantiation, Part I"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth and penultimate episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>, well, everything is a mess now, isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t it? If you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re intrigued, then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0The 100<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Trigger Warning: For mention of suicide.<\/b><\/p>\n

Holy shit, this episode is relentless.<\/p>\n

Arkadia<\/b><\/p>\n

Goddamn it, I get Jasper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reasoning. I do! It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heartbreaking, but thinking back on \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Red Sky at Morning,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I can see how his choice was foreshadowed. He saw another life there on Luna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rig. Shay reminded him of Maya in a roundabout way, though not necessarily at the time. The peace he experienced, even for a brief moment, was so infectious that he decided to chase it more permanently by taking one of Alie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chips.<\/p>\n

I get the sense that the writers wanted us to go into the finale feeling hopeless, and this is one of the methods they used for that. Perhaps the payoff will be immense, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m also wondering how the show will ever move beyond this. On the one hand, many of these characters are very explicit about the fact that the people chipped by Alie can be saved once the killswitch is hit. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t imagine that Monty will necessarily hold it over Jasper for stabbing him. But in Jasper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case, he\u00c2\u00a0knew<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0what the chip did. He knew the threat that they all faced, and he knew how important it was to stop Alie. And yet? He still took a chip. He still betrayed his friends for a selfish reason. One I understand, I should note, but not one I think absolves him of the ramifications of what he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done.<\/p>\n

But if we really wanna talk about hopelessness, let me turn my attention to Polis.<\/p>\n

The Flame<\/b><\/p>\n

I do love impossible quests. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so rewarding and satisfying to watch a group of underdogs fight against ridiculous odds to accomplish something. The addition of Roan to this plan made the story a million times more interesting. I HAD NOT EVEN CONSIDERED THAT HE HAD THE SAME GOAL AS CLARKE. Gods, could you imagine\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0story for season four? Ontari as the Commander, trying to decide whether to reward Clarke for her help or still take out her people. So there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s promise and potential here, which is why it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so tragic and upsetting when everything falls apart. (GODDAMN IT, JASPER.) This was such a good plan that hinged on secrecy, so Jasper\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s betrayal sends them all into a trap instead of a rescue mission or a heist.\u00c2\u00a0And y<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all know how much I love heists<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Amidst the thrill and the terror, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s still a\u00c2\u00a0lot<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0of great character development and emotional power, and I appreciate that the writers found a balance between them. Clarke\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s need to save everyone is openly discussed, especially as it relates to the way she can actually put others at risk. (In this example, going village-to-village might get those people destroyed\/chipped by Alie faster.) When Octavia discovers that Pike is an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ally,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I NEARLY EXPLODED. There is a 0% chance that the writers will ignore that in the next episode because\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 seriously, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think Octavia can wait much longer and delay the inevitable. These two are going to confront each other because IT IS DESTINY. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s even a neat little exchange between Murphy and Bellamy about why they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re trying to stop Alie, which\u00c2\u00a0sort of<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0sheds light on why Murphy hesitated in the last episode. (It still doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like enough.)<\/p>\n

And then there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Alie. I think the first real clue to her endgame comes from Jasper, who claims that he knows why Alie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission is important: the world is not survivable. It seems like such a strange statement to make because Alie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own actions have\u00c2\u00a0made<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0the world less survivable. How many people has she killed? Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s put aside her original act of nuking the world. Since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been activated, she has relieved the pain of countless people by cutting off the part of the brain that sends pain messages. She has excised memories. And she has, through Jaha and many of the people she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s controlled, caused untold misery. Suffering. Death. Destruction. She wants people to feel at peace in the City of Light, and yet she increasingly has listened to Jaha\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s claims that she should do anything to get what she wants.<\/p>\n

Why? Why is her behavior at odds with her stated mission? I suspect she has something else in store. What if she plans to destroy the entire world, but keep everyone in the City of Light? What if\u00c2\u00a0that<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is her solution to human suffering??? No physical bodies, just souls and minds uploading to her server, living in perpetual bliss in a digital matrix? THAT\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S TOTALLY IT, ISN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T IT?<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m probably wrong. The thing is, there\u00c2\u00a0has<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to be something there. The things Alie has done are absolutely heinous. Here, she compels Abby to\u00c2\u00a0hang herself<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0in front of her own daughter in order to get the Flame\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s password. Like\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 jesus christ, this season is so unbearably disturbing at times, and I feel like the audience\u00c2\u00a0needs<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to know why Alie has been so willing to cause so much pain. Is it because she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so certain everyone will eventually take the chips and they can forget how Alie made them suffer?<\/p>\n

Perhaps. Even Ontari was sacrificed for this plan, leaving Alie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s opponents with literally nothing to access the Citadel and stop her. Is Kane dead? Indra? (If Indra is dead, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be furious.) What of Miller and Bryan and Harper? Can Raven actually help destroy Alie, or will it be left to Clarke in the end?<\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m scared.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Perverse Instantiation, Part I\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":"