The 100 6x12 Thoughts
Aug. 1st, 2019 11:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
iariaAdjustment Protocol
... I need a hug. This was a good episode but also I'm a little upset right now. This hurt.
+ Abby D: This death hurt. I really loved where Abby got to emotionally before her death this episode and I wanted to see where she would go from this. This has not been Abby best season and I'm mad about that. This episode showed her at her best which makes the fact that this wasn't the Abby we saw more of in her final season all the more upsetting. She was so great in this episode! She tells Raven that she doesn't want to 'focus on what she lost instead of what she has' and she's clearly ready to move forward, she repairs her relationships, she has it together - and then she dies. ): This season has been so much about redemption and how you can always do better as long as you're alive, and I thought that was going to apply to Abby too. She finally hit rock bottom with the whole Kane situation but the redemption she's been searching for for the past two seasons was supposed to follow. And not in one episode immediately followed by her death!
I'm mad that Clarke/Abby who's relationship has been so important since the pilot spent these last two seasons mostly separated, and in show were apart for six years. This season should have been them coming together and being there for each other after the enforced separation of season 5. The beginning of this season did have some of that, they had some nice scenes and then the show apparently needed Abby not to know about the Josephine situation so they separated them, made Abby so obsessed with the Kane situation that she wouldn't even realise her daughter was replaced and now I'm even more mad about how that whole thing played out. It definitely feels even more like character assassination in service of the plot.
+ The reveal scene of Simone!Abby and Clarke's reaction was one of the most heartbreaking moments on this show. Clarke's face... *sob* That realisation, you could see her heart breaking and then her struggling with her grief knowing that she had to keep it together, and she manages it. Somehow.
+ Abby’s last sight being Raven and Jackson, her last thought of Clarke, Jake and Kane. Those last flashes of Clarke as a baby and child and adult... ): There were tears. It was a really well done death scene. I'm not happy about it.
+ Jackson and Raven fighting so hard for Abby, their fear and grief at her death and her worry for them... D: Ouch.
+ God damn, Clarke Griffin, I love you. She was amazing. She did so good and in the most heartbreaking situation. I loved her surety that she could figure out a way to force Ryker to help her lower the shield. Her quick decision in taking Ryker's chip upon finding his body in order to force Priya to do it instead was classic Clarke. I loved her threatening the chip with the hammer. I liked her saving Gaia.
+ I loved that shot when Clarke hears Abby's voice and the camera, in close up of her face, spins to follow her as she turns to face her 'mother'.
+ I loved Abby's reaction to Clarke's death and reveal she was alive. Abby immediately zeroing in on Clarke in the chair, the way she clearly knows it's Clarke and is transfixed and then only breaks into tears when she looks into Clarke's face and doesn't see Clarke looking back, the grief and the rage at Russell. I loved Raven going to Abby's side and them holding hands as Abby breaks down.
This episode gave me a microcosm of the Abby/Raven reaction to Clarke's 'death' that we should have gotten and I am glad about that but I still wanted more. Abby's reaction was wonderful and heartbreaking and exactly what I was expecting and that made me happy but wanted more from Raven. I realise why the show focused so much on Abby's reactions but still Raven was mostly just there. They could have added reacting/talking about Clarke's death to that Abby/Raven/Jackson scene instead of it entirely being about Madi and Abby/Jackson making-up. In fact they should have.
I loved how Clarke walked into the room and without a change in expression walked right to Abby and pulled her into her arms. I loved the hug and both their joyful tears (for once) and Abby cupping Clarke's face. Their exchange of "I love yous" was great and I loved Abby's "Now go save us all. Again." She has always had such faith in her daughter and I'm glad that the last thing she said to her was once again reaffirming the belief in her. The Red Sun induced Abby hallucination said that Clarke was a danger to her friends but at least Clarke will always have this as her last memory of her mother.
+ "You are my family, Raven." - Abby. Ugh, right in the feels. This whole Abby/Raven exchange hurt in the best way. I wanted this reconciliation so badly! And then it hurt me in the worst way as it happens now only moments before Abby's death. ): I loved Abby apologising again, I loved her acknowledging that she does regret her choices and her determination to choose better going forward, and her promise to never hurt Raven like that again. I loved seeing Raven thaw towards Abby and offer her own apology for how unfair some of her judgment was and acknowledge that Abby is only human. The hug was wonderful. It was a wonderful little scene.
+ The Abby/Jackson exchange was really nice. I liked her calling him Eric and apologising for the war criminal line, and her reassuring him. The face touch and him holding her hand to his face was a lovely moment. That said her 'war criminal' line hadn't been entirely wrong.
+ I'm liked Abby reaching out to Murphy, without anger and with understanding, and I'm really sad that they didn't get an extended goodbye like the others.
+ I loved Abby making herself a nightblood and having them take her bone marrow in order to save/protect Madi. Abby protecting Madi was something I really wanted so that was nice. I loved her reassuring Clarke that she "wouldn't let them take Madi". I liked that little moment in the reliquary when she gently held unconscious Madi's hand.
+ Clarke's reactions to Madi were great. Her heartbreak at hearing Madi's crazy rage and pain at the beginning, her expressions when she looked at unconscious Madi in the lab and the gentle face stroke before she left, her "no" when she saw Madi being led away, her expression at seeing awake Madi in the reception hall. I love how much Clarke's love for Madi permeated all her scenes. But I also really liked that she didn't let her concern for Madi take precedence over the safety of everyone - she pushed the Sheidheda problem back, she didn't go after Madi when she was being led away even though she clearly desperately wanted to, she never once broke in the face of Madi's pain (at least not that Russell saw). I also liked her and Gaia's shared concern for Madi throughout the episode.
+ I really liked Gabriel quickly interceding at the Simone!Abby reveal and saving Clarke from her emotional reaction by giving her an outlet for her tears and obvious upset. It was well done on his part.
+ I am very much going to enjoy Russell and Simone's reactions when they learn Clarke is in fact Clarke and Josephine is dead forever. They had better linger on that reveal because I WANT IT. I also want Clarke to rub it in his face and then be the one to kill him. But not Simone because Clarke killing 'Abby' would be too painful.
+ "You killed her. All she did was help and you killed her!" I loved Murphy's anger and hurt over Abby's murder and that it was the last straw for him and Emori to turn their backs and choose their people/potential death. I wish we'd seen his initial reaction to Abby's death but I get why we didn't. I bet it hurt all the more when he thought back to his last words to her "this is good for you too" and him telling Russell to use someone else for Simone.
As far as them continuing to go along with Russell and the immortality plan at first, eh. They were still in a hard place. They could have rejected the offer of the drives but there was nothing they could have done to actually help anyone else and Murphy clearly still thought he could protect everyone and get immortality too. Plus how Russell would react to their rejection could very easily have gone badly for them. I was a little taken aback by the almost pleasure in their first post-drive scene but I loved them declaring that they were staying behind to 'save our people'.
+ The Clarke/Murphy(/Emori) scene was a nice understated moment. I liked Clarke purposefully calling him 'Murphy' so they'd know the truth. I actually don't think they needed to add Murphy saying "jo called me John" because we all know that, they all know that and it was unnecessary. They should have let it sit silently acknowledged. Still I loved his reaction to her being alive. I loved Clarke telling him "I'm proud of you" but there better be something more dealing with the whole 'he tried to help kill her' situation next season.
+ If we don't get some good Raven/Clarke in the next episode I'm going to be spitting mad. I was disappointed with what we got from Raven re: Clarke.
+ I loved that Clarke/Echo hug so much! The Clarke/Miller hug was great too and the Clarke/Gaia hand-grasp. Clarke/Echo especially is what I wanted this season and while we didn't get the build I wanted I will take this hug in all its glory. I even buy it because there is so much relief in it (Bellamy succeeded, Clarke not alone in the fight) and there's that little moment of hesitation, and with Miller they have known each other a long time (the way he says 'Clarke'!) It made me very happy. That said, the show missed a beat here by not throwing a couple scenes into an early episode between Clarke/Echo and Clarke/Miller (even Clarke/Gaia). It would have been easy to do and would have made sense. Miller is on his own internal struggle to deal with his past choices, a struggle Echo shares and Clarke shares with both. Neither were mad at her and showing a moment of bonding between them would have made this reunion have so much more weight.
+ "Told you she’d do it." – Bellamy. Adorable! Holy crap when was the last time we had an adorable moment between these two? 4x13? It was so cute. The smiles that turned into a full on grin, the playful shove. That made me happy. I also liked Octavia being the reasonable one at the beginning and reassuring Bellamy that he did the right thing, that everyone would be okay. I like that she took his hand to comfort him and he didn't pull away.
Also I liked that Octavia's last line was "Have some faith." and then Bellamy's response to that is thus the above line about how "she would do it" ie, Bellamy has faith in Clarke specifically. (And it pays off because she gets it done.)
+ "I don’t take orders from you anymore." - Miller to Octavia. I liked this little exchange and I want this explored more next season. But not just in Miller hating on Octavia and blaming her for everything. It feels like the narrative is shifting to everything Blodreina did was evil and wrong but the situation was not that simple. Yes, she did horrible things and he supported her but she also did necessary things that kept them all alive and he was also a part of that. I want that acknowledged going forward too.
+ I liked how Miller rejecting Octavia is immediately followed by Clarke giving Miller orders and asking him to trust her and him acquiescing to her.
+ Clarke looked amazing in her black Josephine outfit. Her stalking confidently all around the place was hot. Loved Murphy, Emori and Simone!Abby's make-overs too.
+ "We’re not here to fight, we’re here to liberate." – Bellamy. I'm glad that Bellamy’s ‘kill everyone’ attitude in the last episode was only a temporary reaction to his guilt and fear over leaving everyone in Sanctum and being unable to help them. I can make sense of it as an initial emotional reaction but if it had continued into these final episodes it wouldn’t have worked for me.
+ The Echo/Bellamy hug was interesting in how much it was actually focused on Clarke/Bellamy reuniting. Echo is the one Bellamy hugged but Clarke was the one he was looking at. It reminded me of the Bellamy/Octavia reunion hug at Mount Weather.
+ There's some interesting potential in the fact that Clarke, Murphy and Emori all now have Mind Drives and have been backed-up. They could theoretically (along with Kane floating in space) be resurrected. I got this immediate vision in my head of the three of them waking to in new bodies to discover it's centuries later. I don't think that's likely or that any of them will be killed but at the same time Madi not knowing the truth about Clarke makes me nervous about what she could do.
+ I liked that Russell didn’t fall for the ploy because he knew Gabriel and knew how he worked, and that Gabriel presence in Sanctum meant it had to be a false warning.
+ Russell leaving Gabriel alive makes no sense.
+ I understand why Russell chose to kill Abby but considering she's the person who knows how to make nighblood (multiple ways) that doesn't seem like the best idea.
+ I was surprised that Russell didn't have more of a reaction to Madi's craziness and the threat to 'kill the child'. You'd think he'd have picked up on her possibly having her own version of a mind drive and being curious about it.
+ There's still an episode to go but at this point with Abby's death and the whole bone marrow nightblood extraction how Kane's death played out has retroactively been pretty firmly ruined. I had my issues with it at the time but if it had actually had some lasting effect I could have looked back and found it acceptable. Instead basically everything he died for became pointless. I wish they had let him live till this episode.
+ Delilah's parents getting to kill their daughter's murderer was satisfying if very sad on one level but I don't understand how that scene played out. Shouldn't those people surrounding Priya have tried to protect her? If they were all unbelievers then where were the infuriated believers who should have immediately rushed in to kill Delilah's parents and everyone else standing around? I'm also confused about why Priya didn't run/escape as soon as Russell came out, or threw the toxin. She had to know what the adjustment protocol meant and she had Ryker's chip and time. That could have been shot better perhaps.
+ Where the hell is Jordan?? I was 100% sure we would see him and then nothing. Literally no mention. It's frankly bizarre and it make no narrative sense for him to miss Priya's admittance that Delilah was dead and then her own death. His entire plot this season has been about her and then he's just not there at the end? No mention of him at all? WTF?
+ I'm disappointed that the show never did anything more with Jade. She was always there in the background, she kept failing but somehow always surviving, and I kept expecting her to matter more. Instead she was killed to become a Prime and in the end just died. And we still know nothing about her!
... I need a hug. This was a good episode but also I'm a little upset right now. This hurt.
+ Abby D: This death hurt. I really loved where Abby got to emotionally before her death this episode and I wanted to see where she would go from this. This has not been Abby best season and I'm mad about that. This episode showed her at her best which makes the fact that this wasn't the Abby we saw more of in her final season all the more upsetting. She was so great in this episode! She tells Raven that she doesn't want to 'focus on what she lost instead of what she has' and she's clearly ready to move forward, she repairs her relationships, she has it together - and then she dies. ): This season has been so much about redemption and how you can always do better as long as you're alive, and I thought that was going to apply to Abby too. She finally hit rock bottom with the whole Kane situation but the redemption she's been searching for for the past two seasons was supposed to follow. And not in one episode immediately followed by her death!
I'm mad that Clarke/Abby who's relationship has been so important since the pilot spent these last two seasons mostly separated, and in show were apart for six years. This season should have been them coming together and being there for each other after the enforced separation of season 5. The beginning of this season did have some of that, they had some nice scenes and then the show apparently needed Abby not to know about the Josephine situation so they separated them, made Abby so obsessed with the Kane situation that she wouldn't even realise her daughter was replaced and now I'm even more mad about how that whole thing played out. It definitely feels even more like character assassination in service of the plot.
+ The reveal scene of Simone!Abby and Clarke's reaction was one of the most heartbreaking moments on this show. Clarke's face... *sob* That realisation, you could see her heart breaking and then her struggling with her grief knowing that she had to keep it together, and she manages it. Somehow.
+ Abby’s last sight being Raven and Jackson, her last thought of Clarke, Jake and Kane. Those last flashes of Clarke as a baby and child and adult... ): There were tears. It was a really well done death scene. I'm not happy about it.
+ Jackson and Raven fighting so hard for Abby, their fear and grief at her death and her worry for them... D: Ouch.
+ God damn, Clarke Griffin, I love you. She was amazing. She did so good and in the most heartbreaking situation. I loved her surety that she could figure out a way to force Ryker to help her lower the shield. Her quick decision in taking Ryker's chip upon finding his body in order to force Priya to do it instead was classic Clarke. I loved her threatening the chip with the hammer. I liked her saving Gaia.
+ I loved that shot when Clarke hears Abby's voice and the camera, in close up of her face, spins to follow her as she turns to face her 'mother'.
+ I loved Abby's reaction to Clarke's death and reveal she was alive. Abby immediately zeroing in on Clarke in the chair, the way she clearly knows it's Clarke and is transfixed and then only breaks into tears when she looks into Clarke's face and doesn't see Clarke looking back, the grief and the rage at Russell. I loved Raven going to Abby's side and them holding hands as Abby breaks down.
This episode gave me a microcosm of the Abby/Raven reaction to Clarke's 'death' that we should have gotten and I am glad about that but I still wanted more. Abby's reaction was wonderful and heartbreaking and exactly what I was expecting and that made me happy but wanted more from Raven. I realise why the show focused so much on Abby's reactions but still Raven was mostly just there. They could have added reacting/talking about Clarke's death to that Abby/Raven/Jackson scene instead of it entirely being about Madi and Abby/Jackson making-up. In fact they should have.
I loved how Clarke walked into the room and without a change in expression walked right to Abby and pulled her into her arms. I loved the hug and both their joyful tears (for once) and Abby cupping Clarke's face. Their exchange of "I love yous" was great and I loved Abby's "Now go save us all. Again." She has always had such faith in her daughter and I'm glad that the last thing she said to her was once again reaffirming the belief in her. The Red Sun induced Abby hallucination said that Clarke was a danger to her friends but at least Clarke will always have this as her last memory of her mother.
+ "You are my family, Raven." - Abby. Ugh, right in the feels. This whole Abby/Raven exchange hurt in the best way. I wanted this reconciliation so badly! And then it hurt me in the worst way as it happens now only moments before Abby's death. ): I loved Abby apologising again, I loved her acknowledging that she does regret her choices and her determination to choose better going forward, and her promise to never hurt Raven like that again. I loved seeing Raven thaw towards Abby and offer her own apology for how unfair some of her judgment was and acknowledge that Abby is only human. The hug was wonderful. It was a wonderful little scene.
+ The Abby/Jackson exchange was really nice. I liked her calling him Eric and apologising for the war criminal line, and her reassuring him. The face touch and him holding her hand to his face was a lovely moment. That said her 'war criminal' line hadn't been entirely wrong.
+ I'm liked Abby reaching out to Murphy, without anger and with understanding, and I'm really sad that they didn't get an extended goodbye like the others.
+ I loved Abby making herself a nightblood and having them take her bone marrow in order to save/protect Madi. Abby protecting Madi was something I really wanted so that was nice. I loved her reassuring Clarke that she "wouldn't let them take Madi". I liked that little moment in the reliquary when she gently held unconscious Madi's hand.
+ Clarke's reactions to Madi were great. Her heartbreak at hearing Madi's crazy rage and pain at the beginning, her expressions when she looked at unconscious Madi in the lab and the gentle face stroke before she left, her "no" when she saw Madi being led away, her expression at seeing awake Madi in the reception hall. I love how much Clarke's love for Madi permeated all her scenes. But I also really liked that she didn't let her concern for Madi take precedence over the safety of everyone - she pushed the Sheidheda problem back, she didn't go after Madi when she was being led away even though she clearly desperately wanted to, she never once broke in the face of Madi's pain (at least not that Russell saw). I also liked her and Gaia's shared concern for Madi throughout the episode.
+ I really liked Gabriel quickly interceding at the Simone!Abby reveal and saving Clarke from her emotional reaction by giving her an outlet for her tears and obvious upset. It was well done on his part.
+ I am very much going to enjoy Russell and Simone's reactions when they learn Clarke is in fact Clarke and Josephine is dead forever. They had better linger on that reveal because I WANT IT. I also want Clarke to rub it in his face and then be the one to kill him. But not Simone because Clarke killing 'Abby' would be too painful.
+ "You killed her. All she did was help and you killed her!" I loved Murphy's anger and hurt over Abby's murder and that it was the last straw for him and Emori to turn their backs and choose their people/potential death. I wish we'd seen his initial reaction to Abby's death but I get why we didn't. I bet it hurt all the more when he thought back to his last words to her "this is good for you too" and him telling Russell to use someone else for Simone.
As far as them continuing to go along with Russell and the immortality plan at first, eh. They were still in a hard place. They could have rejected the offer of the drives but there was nothing they could have done to actually help anyone else and Murphy clearly still thought he could protect everyone and get immortality too. Plus how Russell would react to their rejection could very easily have gone badly for them. I was a little taken aback by the almost pleasure in their first post-drive scene but I loved them declaring that they were staying behind to 'save our people'.
+ The Clarke/Murphy(/Emori) scene was a nice understated moment. I liked Clarke purposefully calling him 'Murphy' so they'd know the truth. I actually don't think they needed to add Murphy saying "jo called me John" because we all know that, they all know that and it was unnecessary. They should have let it sit silently acknowledged. Still I loved his reaction to her being alive. I loved Clarke telling him "I'm proud of you" but there better be something more dealing with the whole 'he tried to help kill her' situation next season.
+ If we don't get some good Raven/Clarke in the next episode I'm going to be spitting mad. I was disappointed with what we got from Raven re: Clarke.
+ I loved that Clarke/Echo hug so much! The Clarke/Miller hug was great too and the Clarke/Gaia hand-grasp. Clarke/Echo especially is what I wanted this season and while we didn't get the build I wanted I will take this hug in all its glory. I even buy it because there is so much relief in it (Bellamy succeeded, Clarke not alone in the fight) and there's that little moment of hesitation, and with Miller they have known each other a long time (the way he says 'Clarke'!) It made me very happy. That said, the show missed a beat here by not throwing a couple scenes into an early episode between Clarke/Echo and Clarke/Miller (even Clarke/Gaia). It would have been easy to do and would have made sense. Miller is on his own internal struggle to deal with his past choices, a struggle Echo shares and Clarke shares with both. Neither were mad at her and showing a moment of bonding between them would have made this reunion have so much more weight.
+ "Told you she’d do it." – Bellamy. Adorable! Holy crap when was the last time we had an adorable moment between these two? 4x13? It was so cute. The smiles that turned into a full on grin, the playful shove. That made me happy. I also liked Octavia being the reasonable one at the beginning and reassuring Bellamy that he did the right thing, that everyone would be okay. I like that she took his hand to comfort him and he didn't pull away.
Also I liked that Octavia's last line was "Have some faith." and then Bellamy's response to that is thus the above line about how "she would do it" ie, Bellamy has faith in Clarke specifically. (And it pays off because she gets it done.)
+ "I don’t take orders from you anymore." - Miller to Octavia. I liked this little exchange and I want this explored more next season. But not just in Miller hating on Octavia and blaming her for everything. It feels like the narrative is shifting to everything Blodreina did was evil and wrong but the situation was not that simple. Yes, she did horrible things and he supported her but she also did necessary things that kept them all alive and he was also a part of that. I want that acknowledged going forward too.
+ I liked how Miller rejecting Octavia is immediately followed by Clarke giving Miller orders and asking him to trust her and him acquiescing to her.
+ Clarke looked amazing in her black Josephine outfit. Her stalking confidently all around the place was hot. Loved Murphy, Emori and Simone!Abby's make-overs too.
+ "We’re not here to fight, we’re here to liberate." – Bellamy. I'm glad that Bellamy’s ‘kill everyone’ attitude in the last episode was only a temporary reaction to his guilt and fear over leaving everyone in Sanctum and being unable to help them. I can make sense of it as an initial emotional reaction but if it had continued into these final episodes it wouldn’t have worked for me.
+ The Echo/Bellamy hug was interesting in how much it was actually focused on Clarke/Bellamy reuniting. Echo is the one Bellamy hugged but Clarke was the one he was looking at. It reminded me of the Bellamy/Octavia reunion hug at Mount Weather.
+ There's some interesting potential in the fact that Clarke, Murphy and Emori all now have Mind Drives and have been backed-up. They could theoretically (along with Kane floating in space) be resurrected. I got this immediate vision in my head of the three of them waking to in new bodies to discover it's centuries later. I don't think that's likely or that any of them will be killed but at the same time Madi not knowing the truth about Clarke makes me nervous about what she could do.
+ I liked that Russell didn’t fall for the ploy because he knew Gabriel and knew how he worked, and that Gabriel presence in Sanctum meant it had to be a false warning.
+ Russell leaving Gabriel alive makes no sense.
+ I understand why Russell chose to kill Abby but considering she's the person who knows how to make nighblood (multiple ways) that doesn't seem like the best idea.
+ I was surprised that Russell didn't have more of a reaction to Madi's craziness and the threat to 'kill the child'. You'd think he'd have picked up on her possibly having her own version of a mind drive and being curious about it.
+ There's still an episode to go but at this point with Abby's death and the whole bone marrow nightblood extraction how Kane's death played out has retroactively been pretty firmly ruined. I had my issues with it at the time but if it had actually had some lasting effect I could have looked back and found it acceptable. Instead basically everything he died for became pointless. I wish they had let him live till this episode.
+ Delilah's parents getting to kill their daughter's murderer was satisfying if very sad on one level but I don't understand how that scene played out. Shouldn't those people surrounding Priya have tried to protect her? If they were all unbelievers then where were the infuriated believers who should have immediately rushed in to kill Delilah's parents and everyone else standing around? I'm also confused about why Priya didn't run/escape as soon as Russell came out, or threw the toxin. She had to know what the adjustment protocol meant and she had Ryker's chip and time. That could have been shot better perhaps.
+ Where the hell is Jordan?? I was 100% sure we would see him and then nothing. Literally no mention. It's frankly bizarre and it make no narrative sense for him to miss Priya's admittance that Delilah was dead and then her own death. His entire plot this season has been about her and then he's just not there at the end? No mention of him at all? WTF?
+ I'm disappointed that the show never did anything more with Jade. She was always there in the background, she kept failing but somehow always surviving, and I kept expecting her to matter more. Instead she was killed to become a Prime and in the end just died. And we still know nothing about her!
