The 100: Remember Me
January 22, 2015 5:59 PM - Season 2, Episode 9 - Subscribe

The alliance faces its first challenge.
posted by mordax (11 comments total)
 
I don't have time for a full recap, but I wanted to remind anybody who was interested that this show was back from its winter hiatus.

Some thoughts:
* I'm very tired of the 'seeing and talking to literal hallucinations of dead people' trope on TV shows. I hope that doesn't continue here.

* Still loving both Clarke and The Commander. Clarke taking a big swig from Kane's bottle of liquor to prove it wasn't poisoned was great. I also appreciated Kane's acknowledgement that due to the current political situation, Clarke was more or less in charge for now.

* It was nice to see Kane speaking up for Jaha. It was also nice for Abby not to bite - she really ought not to.

* The Mount Weather subplot was weak. I find it hard to believe they wouldn't round up the rest of Monty's friends: while the gang is careful about bugs, it's not exactly secret who he was hanging out with. I'd expect Son of President Evil to round up the whole bunch on a flimsy pretext. I can only assume he didn't because he plans to make a move on all of them soon. (I also find the notion of them having the exact right number of cages without President Evil knowing a little dubious. Like they said, it's a sealed compound.)
posted by mordax at 6:10 PM on January 22, 2015


I liked a lot of the smaller moments in the episode: Clarke's growing connection with Lexa, Octavia and Lincoln growing more tender and nurturing, Monty's failed getaway (during his infiltration of the security area, I was getting annoyed that he was able to enter the security centre without any clearance, so I was glad that paperwork was his downfall). And I liked that the weight of Clarke's responsibilities are finally starting to crack her.

However, I felt that the episode fell short in terms of being an ensemble show. Clarke is continuing her trend of being the only one who's able to come up with solutions, to the detriment of the other characters. Bellamy, Raven, Abby, and Marcus all just hung back and waited for Clarke to take the lead. Marcus, head of security up on the Ark, would have had the intuition to solve the poisoning. The old Bellamy wouldn't have waited for permission from Clarke before heading off to infiltrate Mt. Weather. And while this is a sign of the respect that Clarke has earned, particularly from Bellamy, it's also making the secondary characters turn passive.
posted by Banknote of the year at 11:03 AM on January 24, 2015


However, I felt that the episode fell short in terms of being an ensemble show. Clarke is continuing her trend of being the only one who's able to come up with solutions, to the detriment of the other characters.

That's a good point. On that note, I was hoping to see more interactions between Lexa and Kane, since they were able to reach an agreement before, and it would create a more interesting dynamic than Lexa and Clarke hashing everything out without additional input.
posted by mordax at 3:19 PM on January 24, 2015


This was very much one of those episodes that happen between things happening, so to speak. We got the alliance, we want to see Mt. Weather go down and the 47 saved, but...the writers are waiting to set the pieces up into position (see Bellamy running off now to infiltrate).

Clarke has always been one of the front and center characters, and for the most part, this episode didn't really offer the non-Mt. Weather folks much of a chance to act in the game that has been established. It's one revolving around leadership and as Kane pointed out, as pointed out above, Clarke's the one in charge for the moment.

I liked the comparison that Abby made between the Grounders and the Arc, essentially, both dealt out death rather quickly (the sentence at least), and it signaled in the cause for it, that both societies have had reasons tied to their survival to develop such a severe punishment to keep their societies in line.

I did feel as if the writers acknowledged the lack of showcasing the other characters by throwing snippets to various parties, be it Lincoln being identified as a traitor and desiring to face his inner nightmares, the short conversation concerning Jaha, or the ongoing glimpse into the Grounder political dynamics. Was it perfect? I dunno.

In Mt. Weather, there were flashbacks to Shawkshank Redemption and a heist-type movie and I actually kind of enjoyed it. Jasper and Monty are quickly becoming a favorite pair of mine to watch on the show. When Monty popped up in the cage at the end, I thought, "Well, he's a main character, he'll make it out okay...." And then I thought about the episode before it and well, dang, I hope he makes it out okay.

I concur with seeing the dead of others is kind of growing a bit stale. I'm glad Clarke got over it in one episode.

Other random thoughts....look Homeland Security IS the bad guy, I'd like for the guy with the sledge hammer to be given a personality other than antagonistic toward Maya (that her name?). Bellammy running off with his little sister's boyfriend, good drama to come? Is it just me or does Octavia come across like the 9th grader dating a college dude (and ergo, creepy?)
posted by Atreides at 6:57 AM on January 26, 2015


Is it just me or does Octavia come across like the 9th grader dating a college dude (and ergo, creepy?)

I see the vibe you're seeing, but it doesn't quite rise to the level of creepy for me. Octavia certainly has less life experience than Lincoln, and less emotional maturity. And the start of the relationship was, basically, Octavia acting out in response to a lifetime of being controlled by Bellamy, which definitely has parallels to "screw you, Dad, I'll date a college boy if I want to!" But Octavia has a strong sense of self and plenty of agency in the relationship, so she doesn't seem like she's being subsumed or manipulated by Lincoln. And as Octavia discovers the gifts she brings to the relationship, she's moving it far past its fuck buddy origins.

And a nitpick: Is anyone else having trouble suspending disbelief that they're in the remains of Washington D.C., when they're so clearly in coastal British Columbia? Last season, every time they talked about the ocean being to the east, I'd get distracted and think "no, west, the Pacific Ocean is to the west." My own headcannon is that someone set up a replica Washington D.C. in Washington State's Olympic Peninsula (like, a larger-scale version of the replica Stonehenge in Maryhill) and that's where the drop ship landed.
posted by Banknote of the year at 12:27 PM on January 26, 2015


I keep waiting for an explanation for how a nuclear war managed to create such large mountains. I really wish they would stick to a story line that matches locale to shooting location so i don't have to suspend my disbelief quite so much.
posted by Seamus at 12:53 PM on January 26, 2015


Yah, as someone with years of Stargate behind them, X-Files, etc....I've generally managed to kill that part of me that wants to scream outrage. Entire seasons of Bones roll along that require one to ignore Southern Cal being set as Virginia.

Don't forget, New York City is in a desert or something. (Which could have been created by the mountains!)

To be fair, Mt. Weather could possibly be based on the insane nuclear war facility built at Wintergreen which is in the mountains and not that far from D.C.

Back to Olivia, my problem isn't so much her place in the relationship, it just seems like the age difference is too great. She came across almost as a bratty 14 year old in the beginning and now she's involved in a sexual relationship with a guy who looks like he's in his early 20s. According to the wiki for The 100, she's apparently 17....so yeah, ignore me.
posted by Atreides at 2:30 PM on January 26, 2015


Yah, as someone with years of Stargate behind them, X-Files, etc....I've generally managed to kill that part of me that wants to scream outrage.

I think what's bugging me about The 100 is that they haven't shown a good reason, thematically or plot-wise, for the show to be set in D.C. Like, why would you make that creative choice if you know you're filming in Vancouver? (Although maybe they're going for something about rebuilding a new civilization from the ashes of the old civilization's seat of power.)
posted by Banknote of the year at 4:11 PM on January 26, 2015


Mount Weather is an actual place, and a reasonable target for the Ark to pick for their landing, so the DC area setting can be justified through that. The actual 'mount' appears much less dramatic than the version in the 100 though, as everyone has noted.
posted by vibratory manner of working at 1:33 PM on January 27, 2015 [1 favorite]


I thought it sounded familiar, but lazy me never bothered to investigate any sooner. Thanks for the tip!
posted by Atreides at 2:25 PM on January 27, 2015


Yeah, I had no idea Mt Weather was a real place, either. Thanks.
posted by Banknote of the year at 9:59 PM on January 27, 2015


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