The 100: Sic Semper Tyrannis
July 12, 2018 1:34 PM - Season 5, Episode 9 - Subscribe

The growing fractures in Wonkru threaten to explode once and for all. Meanwhile, in Shadow Valley, Murphy starts a fire, unleashing catastrophic results.

Recap:

At the Wonkru camp in ruined Polis:
- Bellamy poisoned Octavia last episode and now she's in a coma.
- Indra proclaimed herself as the successor. But Miller is still loyal to Octavia's cause and defies her, saying that while he will follow Indra, they should follow Octavia's wish and march on Shadow Valley
- Bellamy and Indra realizes perhaps making Madi a commander with her nightblood might get Wonkru to follow her and agree to settle for peace.
- Clarke refuses to let Madi be a commander, but she's chained up as Bellamy tells her this and can't do anything.
- Indra convinces Gaia to do the ceremony to be Heda, they go through with it.
- Octavia wakes up from her coma, but is kept on lockdown by Indra. Nylah frees Clarke when she realizes Clarke also wants to stop the ceremony. Clarke was about to kill Octavia to protect Madi, but Octavia makes a deal that if they both stop the ceremony and Madi doesn't become commander, Clarke and Madi can leave with no harm.
- They arrive to the ceremony but Madi already has the chip implanted. Octavia lets Clarke take her away but arrests Indra, Bellamy, and Gaia. When the guard led Clarke and Madi to the rover, he says he has orders to kill them, but Madi uses her new knowledge from the chip to remind the guard that he was once loyal to Lexa, the Heda from season 2. But Clarke kills him, saying it had to be done, and they leave. Octavia has the three arrested in the pit, but says they can reserve judgement after the war. They will march for shadow Valley. Episode ends here.

At Shadow Valley:
- After McCreary shows up with Murphy and Emori last episode, Diyoza confers with Abby and they agree to only treat Eligius people on Diyoza's team, and then they'll start with McCreary's group, because Diyoza doesn't trust them. When McCreary shows up asking about the cure, they tell him they don't have one yet.
- Murphy, Emori, Raven, and Echo comes up with a plan to turn the two factions against each other so they can escape; Emori can disable the shock collars. They also convince Shaw the pilot to either come with them, or Echo will kill him.
- Kane is off doing land surveying stuff.
- Per the plan, Murphy reveals to McCreary that Abby has a cure. McCreary gathers his people for a mutiny. Echo tells Diyoza that McCreary knows about the cure. Diyoza gathers her people to defend the clinic.
- As they're about to clash, Murphy drives the nail home by throwing a rock from behind McCreary's group to hit one of Diyoza's people in the head. They start shooting and then fighting starts. McCreary's group is too many and overwhelms Diyoza's, despite them having guns.
- As the core group is escaping, Kane meets up with them and asks them to help him get Abby and Diyoza to safety. He tells them that Wonkru was about to negotiate for peace, and that they need Diyoza to survive for that. Murphy stays behind to help him because "it's Abby."
- Diyoza runs inside the clinic to get Abby away. McCreary and his people follow and they manage to take Abby during the fighting. Kane and Murphy arrive to save Diyoza and they run.
- McCreary's group won the fight and now they'll hunt down the rest that got away.
posted by numaner (4 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
I liked the mirroring between the two sides here, each dealing with internal strife. And that it would seem those rooting for peace are in the minority, with only Bellamy, Indra, and Clarke (for a little while) trying to stop the war, and Diyoza's smaller but ruling ("we have all the guns") faction holding back McCreary's group.

It would seem the show is hammering down the point that there are no good people here. I find it hard to cheer for anyone except Indra and maybe (!) Diyoza. They're both certainly flawed but they have so far been true to themselves and recognized their own failures (Gaia is also kind of like this, but she doesn't stand out), and both are capable leaders. Also, beating up a few men while pregnant is certainly deserving of some sort of praise. My worry is that neither of them will survive this season. I don't see Indra and Octavia reconciling at this point, and because Octavia has plot armor, I worry for Indra. Diyoza might not be the big bad, but you know the mid-level bosses never survive. But there's hope that she's the anti-villain who will help the core team later. I mean, that baby probably also give her some plot armor, at least until the birth.

Certainly you can cheer for Monty and Harper, but because they're choosing to not get involved it's hard to care for them at this point. Sure they're still interesting, but they weren't even in this episode, because no one wants to watch the bystanders doing nothing.

I'm pretty conflicted about Clarke at this point, but I can see that after all those years Madi is her everything, and she only wants her to survive, even if she betrays Bellamy. But that's the thing, you can sympathize with each of the main group in their actions, but you don't have to like it.

I do appreciate that so far this season it feels like working for peace is the main objective, while the war-faring people are being made out as the bad guys. In previous seasons it felt like fighting and battle were unavoidable and you were rooting for the main group to win. But here I can tell that Diyoza doesn't want this war any more than Bellamy and the core group. And Kane is advising her the same.

I do need them to address Abby's addiction again soon, because it bugs me that someone like her is addicted, and she needs to go through Raven's electroshock therapy asap.
posted by numaner at 1:39 PM on July 12, 2018


I've been done with Octavia ever sine she fell off that cliff, however many seasons ago. Clarke is annoying - all she cares about is Maddie, but she won't listen to Maddie. a lot of the main characters are being written pretty one-note. i was glad so many of the miners killed one another, actually. the way most of the characters are written this season, i'm kinda rooting for human extinction. but then, i thought i would never wanna see another minute of Bellamy, after the massacre. but his character was redeemed and is interesting once again.

you'd think i didn't like the show, but i do! i just am bored with the excessive negativity and nastiness. i, for one, would rather be watching Monty and Harper.

i've always been more of a fan of sci-fi stories about exploring, adapting, and science than those of war, conflict and conquest. having a remarkable combo of all factors, based on complex and interesting characters, has kept me watching the show. hope this trend towards war and one-note actions diversifies quickly.

and they better not kill off Indra.
posted by lapolla at 2:32 AM on July 13, 2018


oh and, we need moar Raven!
posted by lapolla at 2:35 AM on July 13, 2018


I take your auto-correct keeps changing Madi to Maddie? ^_^

I think there'll be more about adapting and exploring once things settle down, but again, this is a show that's based around conflict, and it knows its audience. While some viewers like us want drastic changes in our shows, as an evolution of character and plot, many viewers out there love the status quo. There's a reason why the acronym crime shows and Law & Order do so well. People want to be spoonfed comfort, not challenging ideas, for the entertainment.
posted by numaner at 9:56 AM on July 13, 2018


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