The end of the fourth season of CW's The 100 is rapidly approaching, but the season's antepenultimate episode, which aired last night, was a really solid hour. Last week's one-off conclave-centered episode was made to look inferior on multiple occasions. Henry Ian Cusick's directing was on point, with the script for "The Other Side" written by Julie Benson & Shawna Benson.
The hour's primary storyline centered around the conflicting opinions of those holed up inside the bunker. In the final moments of last week's episode, Jaha and Clarke had made the call to lock the bunker door, sealing their people inside, before the result of the conclave was known. Bellamy had been effectively abducted and brought inside the bunker, so the storyline in this episode naturally played out his vehement disagreements with what had happened, especially given his sister was fighting in - and had in fact won - the conclave.
The first 20 minutes of the episode were about average overall, but the intensity and tension ramped up considerably as time went on, resulting in a fantastic conclusion to events. Bellamy's only sympathizer was Abby, and through wounding himself on the chains that bound him, Abby was called to perform some running repairs. Murphy - who Clarke had assigned to guard Bellamy - was more than helpful to Abby and Bellamy thanks to his ineptitude, and Jaha's level of resistance was also low as Abby drugged him in his office.
You can't expect me to stay down here not knowing what happened to my sister?
All that needed to happen now was to open the door and let those outside, inside, but it wasn't quite as easy as that. Clarke was the last line of resistance, and had Bellamy at gunpoint. Predictably, she couldn't bring herself to pull the trigger, so Bellamy opened the door unharmed, much to the relief of Octavia, who he promptly embraced.
The showdown between Clarke and Bellamy was surprisingly well done, and well acted, too. But the best character development came courtesy of Bellamy and Octavia. Through the conclave, it was Bellamy who made his faith in his sister known loud and clear, and in this episode Octavia's faith in her brother never faltered before he finally opened the door. Great stuff.
Carrying a B-plot all on her own was Raven, who had been left alone at Becca's lab. Once I had realized that she was indeed completely alone - with every other real human having returned to the bunker - I had to wonder why they left a seizure-prone Raven to fend for herself - and most likely die by herself. I think that's a bit of a plot hole, but that's all I'll mention about it.
I don't choose pain. I choose life.
Returning in hallucination form was former engineer Sinclair, who served as devil's advocate against what Becca was trying to convince Raven to do. Instead of blasting off into space as Becca had intended, Sinclair convinced Raven to give saving herself one last shot by bringing her core temperature down low enough to stop all electrical impulses in her brain, thus killing Becca's lethal code. Unsurprisingly, it worked, though things were a bit tense as Raven struggled to get her heart beating normally again. She may just live to see a fifth season.
The final location featured was Arkadia, otherwise known as Looney Bin or Jonestown. The set and special effects were excellent here, and they helped aid a couple of really powerful scenes. As we saw a couple of weeks ago, Monty opted to stay with those who refused to go to the bunker and wanted to die via radiation poisoning instead, hoping he could convince his best friend, Jasper, and new girlfriend, Harper, to accompany him back to the safety of the bunker.
The guy's courage is unquestionably strong. He even made some radiation suits, and didn't stop trying to convince those other than Harper and Jasper to come with him to safety. This was despite everyone getting high on - and even overdosing on - various substances. Jasper eventually succumbed to a combination of those substances and radiation, opting to spend his final minutes in front of a large window, gazing out at the blood red sun.
For all its faults, Earth is really beautiful.
Though I had already come to terms with the fact that Jasper would likely die at some point this season, even though I was prepared, his demise was still emotional to watch. As he took his final breaths, I got the sense he regretted his decision to die, and he felt more and more alone as death approached. Asking Monty to tell him he loved him was gut-wrenching, and Monty held back on saying that until it was too late. As far as Jasper was aware, he died unloved, and that was tough to swallow.
You're not enough to make me wanna live, and I am not worth dying for.
Harper was still committed to the cause late in the piece, and she all but broke Monty's heart by telling him bluntly that she didn't love him, and he was not enough to make her want to live, nor was she worth dying for. Fortunately, her perspective changed as others inside Jonestown dropped dead around her. Monty was absolutely elated to see her suited up by the rover, and even more overjoyed when Harper told him he loved him. This was an immensely relieving and satisfying scene to watch.
The episode left things on a pretty decent cliffhanger, which looks set to lay the groundwork for next week's penultimate episode, and the following week's season finale. With Octavia winning the conclave, and reunited with Bellamy in the bunker, her winning conditions stand, meaning each clan is allotted just 100 spots inside the bunker. Apparently the other clans had already chosen their 100 survivors, and now it's up to Skaikru to do the same. For her breach of the conclave's rules, Octavia banished Echo, which I was really pleased to see, but Jaha isn't in agreement with what is going down, and looks set to leave the bunker peacefully or be thrown out. We learned today that Isiah Washington isn't returning as a series regular next season, so that will change things somewhat, but with around 400 Skaikru currently in the bunker, it's up to them to figure out who needs to be culled.
On a side note, it's pretty cool to see the creative team bringing things full circle here. That infamous number, 100, is back in all its glory. As Abby observed, things are now just like they were on the Ark. I'm interested to see whether Clarke's attempt earlier in the season to pick 100 survivors to occupy Arkadia is brought up again, because the emotions expressed in the season's third episode when the list was made public will surely be present once more.
Lastly, Niylah made another small cameo in this hour, with her and Clarke sharing a brief moment together amidst all the chaos and drama going on around them. I can't figure this out at all, but it can only mean Niylah has a role in the season finale, or next season. Could Clarke hide her somewhere in the bunker if she doesn't make the cut, and become the equivalent of what Octavia was to Bellamy? I certainly wouldn't mind seeing that happen, even if it is a recycled plot piece.
In summary, this episode of The 100 continued to get better and better as it progressed. Henry Ian Cusick's directing was strong, as were the acting performances by many cast members. Jasper's death was powerfully and poignantly portrayed, but that sadness was nicely contrasted with Raven's victory over the remnants of Becca's code. The growth between Bellamy and Octavia was really satisfying, and the uncertainty over who will make the cut among Skaikru should be pretty good value going forward. Getting the math wrong will be very costly.
As always, thanks a lot for reading. Make sure you head down to the comments below to share your thoughts and theories on what happened and what looks set to go down in the season's final two installments. It's always interesting reading what you have to say. You can find out all you need to know about next week's penultimate episode here.
