Okay, so let’s talk about The 100! *crack knuckles*

Finally, I can pour my heart out! I’ve wanted to write this review since Season 4. Sooooo… 2017? That seems like a lifetime ago. Anyway, every time I started to write it, I procrastinated for so long that a new season started. And it didn’t make sense to not include the season that was airing. So, the cycle started all over again. But then, I realized that my blog is cursed. Every TV series I reviewed that was ongoing, shortly after, got cancelled – except 13 Reasons Why, that b*tch took a long time to die. So, I decided that it was better to postpone the review until the series end. And it didn’t take too long for season 7 to be announced as the final season.

My initial plan was to review season by season. Something short, highlighting what I enjoyed the most and what I didn’t like. Any plot wholes or decision that I wanted to go in other directions. Although I don’t want to go through the last few seasons again just for the sake of writing this review. I still remember how I felt about them so, why put myself through it again?

In the beginning

I… don’t know how to feel about The 100 anymore. In 2017, you could ask me, and I would say: “it was the best show of all time. My new favourite show. It will forever be in my heart. And nothing will take away my love for it.” Guess I was wrong. After almost 8 months since the last episode aired, I still have some mixed feelings. I don’t know what to think anymore or where to stand. What I do know are the seasons that I loved, want to go back and relive.

A friend recommended it to me to watch this new series that had just finished season 1. And I watched the whole thing in two days! I was in love! It was finally the show I’ve been waiting for. Even since I watched Terra Nova, I wanted a show set on a virgin Earth. And it was finally here. I was so excited. I couldn’t wait for the next season, and there were so many secrets to discover.

The 2nd season was my favourite. We were learning so much about the past. There was a whole new group of survivors of the nuclear explosions. And the secrets, the problems, everything was piling up to an explosive and emotional season finale. Until this day, if I hear Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door, I just want to cry. It really was an emotional moment with a well-chosen soundtrack to immortalize in my memory. I’m starting to tear up just by thinking about it!

Part of me was kind of disappointed that Mount Weather vanished from existence. With season 1, we were introduced to the Grounders, and most of the problems that existed with them were kind of solved. In season 2, the attention changed to Mount Weather. And in season 3, there was another enemy to worry about. I wish Mount Weather was something more recurrent. That it would last for at least another season, to uncover more secrets, or just to be there.

When I think back about what I enjoyed the most about The 100 was the first 3 seasons. For me, the show could just be that. Grab those plots and extend them, explore them fully. Turn three seasons into five or six and intertwine the plots. I loved finding out there was Grounders. I loved finding out about people living in Mount Weather. I loved finding out there was an AI. That 3rd season brought so much technology and the possibility of going back to space again. Because as much as I loved virgin Earth, I also didn’t want to detach from space. And when the Ark came down, a little part of me cried.

Everything was so great, so awesome, so exciting! I couldn’t wait for the next episode! And then season 4 rolled around and… I don’t remember much. Writing this review was more of an excuse to watch back the series and trying to understand why after the 4th season, my mind started to blackout. I wasn’t as excited as before, and I couldn’t pinpoint why. All I remember is… being bored. I don’t know what happened. Was it the plot? Was it the characters? I don’t know! And at this point was when everyone was getting into the series. The popularity spiked on what I think was one of the weakest seasons.

From season 4 and onwards, it was a continuous spiral down. The show moved further and further away from what it was, in the beginning, the one I fell in love with. It still held a special place in my heart, and I still watched every episode but wasn’t as excited. When the final season came around, there was so much potential to be something I loved again but, they tried to concentrate too many different plots into 16 episodes. I’m guessing those were the plans for maybe another season, and they didn’t want to leave them in a drawer forgotten forever.

To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the Anomaly. It felt more like fantasy than science fiction, and I’m really picky with things like that. Although I appreciated the doors the Anomaly opened, specially Bardo. It was looking at Mount Weather again. I was hopeful it was going to be a great final for the show. It started great, went down a little bit, but then it would pick itself up again. But that last episode… oh… my…

From this point forward, I’m discussing the final season in more detail, so there will be spoilers! You have been warned.

Bellamy

Going back a little, no one enjoyed Bellamy’s death. I mean, “enjoy” might not be the best word to describe it, but sure it wasn’t a development people wanted to see. Although, I found his end the only way out. When Bellamy was traped at Etherea, he thought he was going to die. He was trapped there for who-don’t-know-how-many-weeks, he had no food, and certain death looked like the only possible future. At that moment, he turned to the Shepherd, and he saw – or wanted to see – the Shepherd reaching out and helping him. Showing him the light, hope. So, when Bellamy comes back alive, he created a bond with the Shepherd that nothing in the world would change. In his darkest hours, his faith in the Shepherd was what kept him alive. That’s is one of the strongest bonds a person can have with religion.

When that episode ended, I knew that Bellamy wasn’t going to “go back to normal”. And if he did, then that would be poor writing. I wasn’t expecting him to die or even wanted to, but I could see how that was one end for his story. And for the most part, I think it was a beautiful conclusion. He didn’t want to fight anymore. He wanted peace. And in his last moments alive, he found religion to bring him that piece, to try and be a better person, to emend all the harm he caused in the past.

Despite agreeing with Bellamy’s death, the way he died was stupid. If it should have been Clarke pulling the trigger or not, I don’t know, but killing Bellamy didn’t avoid putting Madi in danger, how Clarke wanted. Bellamy was going to deliver Madi’s book to the Shepherd. But Clarke knew that meant they were going to prison Madi to suck out every last piece of her memory. Although Clarke kills Bellamy to retrieve that book but, she leaves it there, on the floor, in hand for the other Shepard’s sheep, AKA the Disciples, to grab. Then what was the point?

The final episode

After 6 years of my time dedicated to watching a show, I was curious to know how everything was going to end. All of it was going to culminate into those final minutes. And that’s when they made it so much worse. The reason why I still have mixed feeling is because of that final episode. It was bad! A friend I introduced to this series agrees with me that it was bad. It wasn’t comforting, happy, or fair.

No one can make me believe that Murphy would come back to Earth to be with Clarke when Emory was finally saved. He was going to die with her because he couldn’t stand a world where she wasn’t alive. He got a second chance to be with her, and he would leave her to stay back with Clarke? He would never see Emory again. I don’t believe that!

And by the way, what’s the plan for the future? They are all friends. If they don’t procreate, they will die one by one until the last one of them dies alone. And if they do procreate, will they start a new civilization of humans separated from the ones that transcended? And if transcendence is an option, why didn’t they let them have a second chance as Raven asked for?

And why was Clarke the one left behind? Because she started her test by killing Cadogan? If the human race was being judged as a whole, then it should be all or nothing. And if transcending only some people was an option, I can think of a few more that should have been left behind.

For me, that ending doesn’t make any sense. I wanted the show to end on Earth but not like this. I think it would be much better to have the Disciples and Wonkru living together back on Earth or between Bardo and Earth, peacefully and ending in a note of hope. That even though the human race did some pretty bad stuff in the past, it was trying to be better together. They were trying to emend all the death and pain they caused each other.

In the end, I’m the one left in limbo without knowing where I stand by. Do I like this series anymore? Does one final episode ruin everything that was built before? I don’t know. I’m still disappointed. This has left a scar in my heart that will take time to heal. For all I care, The 100 are 3 seasons of amazing storytelling that I will treasure in my heart while trying to erase the rest from my memory.

May we meet again!