The 100: Human Trials
November 20, 2014 9:06 AM - Season 2, Episode 5 - Subscribe

While Kane leads a mission to make peace with the Grounders, Jasper agrees to participate in a risky experiment, and Finn's search for Clarke takes a violent turn.
posted by vibratory manner of working (6 comments total)
 
Kane: He planted the tree! Promise to his mother is now fulfilled. I found that rather sweet, and I'm glad we got it. As for the rest, well. He knew there was a very good chance of that outcome. I'm unclear on why exactly he pursued this course of action in the face of that. Guilt over having Abby whipped?

Mount Weather, shiny happy land: Still creepy. The doctor calls this the "first human trial", so I guess the grounders don't count as human to them? The radiation leak was clearly deliberate, but it's interesting that the president didn't sign off on it. His son is an interesting new character.

Mount Weather, torture dungeon: poor lincoln.

Camp Jaha: Abby deserved every shitty thing said to her, and she clearly isn't ready to come to terms with who Clarke is now (and the rest of the 100, but especially Clarke). I loved all the reunions, especially Octavia's awkwardness while Clarke hugged Bellamy, and Raven quietly downplaying her leg issues. The slap was way over the line, and a big betrayal of the relationship between Abby and Raven that they built up last season. I'm not sure the show realizes that.

Finn and Murphy: "I found you" D:

Really the whole thing was awful, but that was the line that indicates that Finn is actually a little cracked now. Murphy as best he can to de-escalate the whole time. I think the spiral face grounder recognized that, which is probably good. How that shakes out with Finn now, I don't know. I think the importance of the massacre will depend on this village's position in local grounder politics, and we don't have a very good sense of that.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 9:22 AM on November 20, 2014


That spiral-faced grounder guy is the healer Octavia held at knifepoint in an earlier ep who also is friends with Lincoln, I thought? His name is Nyko.

*checks IMDB* Yep.

He clearly knew what the guns could do and Anya never came back with Clarke, so recognizing some of the same kids attacking his village made him go into "defend my people" mode and explains why he was so determined to avoid physical combat, despite them clearly outnumbering their attackers.

Also, I can't help but think of the medical chief for the Mountain Men as "Dr. Mrs. The Robot," thanks to her terrible monotone lying scene with Monty and Jasper. I thought she was rather stiff and clinical before, but maybe it's just Rekha Sharma's acting. After all, she was a pretty convincing Cylon on BSG.

I can't cry enough tears for my bb Lincoln! ;_; There are some definite eugenics overtones to whatever experimentation's going on in Mount Weather, and President Dante reminds me very much of Jason Robards' character in A Boy and His Dog. I'm shocked that they're portraying him as a sweet figurehead type being controlled by his son and the doctor; I figured for sure he'd be the mastermind behind all this evil.

And please don't turn Lincoln into a Reaper! You guys already killed off Dichen Lachman's excellent Anya character and redeemed Murphy (ew!) for what appears to be no good reason. Let Octavia have her boyfriend back, I say -- this show IS on the CW, and what's the point without some fanfic-y romance between the Grounders and the Sky People?

Having not read the first book, I think all the "kill/slap/shoot people with very little provocation" stuff is easily reconciled by the Ark's laws carried over from space. Break the law = get thrown out the airlock. So, this group of people's used to losing their friends and family over petty crimes, all the kids who landed with the 100 have committed similar infractions, and the Grounders are used to being hunted and eaten by the Reapers, who seem to have been dehumanized as a sort of guard/human blood bank retrieval system for Mount Weather.

I'm glad to know now why there don't appear to be any female Reapers, and think their physical mutations are possibly a byproduct of cannibalism (i.e., similar to Kuru suffered by the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea). Unfortunately, the diseases caused by cannibalism are usually fatal within two years of expressing symptoms, which definitely explains why the Reapers haven't overtaken/outnumbered the normal Grounders living around Mount Weather.

That is NOT what I want for Lincoln and I doubt Octavia's into cannibalism for the sake of their relationship. This show is so tense, I can't wait for the next episode!
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 12:37 PM on November 20, 2014 [2 favorites]


Agree with you, unicorn, that Anya was an excellent character. What a fucked up way to die, after so many crazy battles, all it took was a little bullet to kill a beast like Anya.

I also liked that women were playing such integral parts as strong leaders for the Grounders and the 100. Interesting that the society that was able to preserve the most of their culture also preserved patriarchy, compared to the other "tribes" that had to reorganize life much more. I also feel that we just don't know enough about the Reapers to know how their society is structured and what part women play in it.

Now the dynamics are shifting, with Kane, Jaha and President Dante & son getting more screen time. Abby is just not that interesting, I think.

The radiation leak was a manipulative ploy...Jasper fell for Maya, lost his ability for critical thinking and the Mountain Men totally exploited that. I hope Monty will steer him on the right path. And with Maya's help, they could uncover the truth before Clarke & Co return to save them.
posted by travelwithcats at 6:42 PM on November 24, 2014


Yowza for Fin! He was such a sweet character and just snapped so far.

I'm only fine with the Lincoln torture scenes because - hey shirtless! (Ahem, happily married, but he's darn pretty.) I also agree that I just want to see him safe though. I liked him as a badass grounder and he could help the two groups come together.

I too like the evil president's son character. Although does that mean using the grounders isn't enough? How often do they get that much radiation sickness? Also, there's only 47 kids in there so how long will they last hooked up to blood machines? Just from a supply and demand sense it seems weird that they'd want to "use" them when there's really not many of them.
posted by Crystalinne at 10:52 PM on November 26, 2014


Well, the 47 won't be "used" in the same way the Grounders are (exsanguinated). For the 47 it will look a lot like Jasper's case, they will be used as human dialysis machines.
posted by travelwithcats at 7:19 PM on November 27, 2014


Oy. Just tons of oy. Finn's a total homicidal trigger happy moron, poor Jasper's being milked, Lincoln got Reavered, ugh.

That said, I'd probably volunteer for human trials to make people able to go outside too. Eek on me.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:07 PM on February 6, 2016


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