The 100 - Bodyguard of Lies - Review: "Love is... weakness?"

The 100 aired its final episode before the two-part season finale on Wednesday, and once again it delivered an excellent episode. It also included a scene that is sure to go down as a unique moment in the history books of the CW. I am of course talking about the kiss between Clarke and Lexa, which has received some mixed reactions. Let's go right down to that moment.

The kiss happened while Lexa and Clarke were waiting for Bellamy to shut down the acid fog. Earlier, Lexa ordered a hit on Octavia because she knew Lexa and Clarke knew about the TonDC bombing. Clarke saved Octavia and went nuts on Lexa, after which Lexa tells Clarke she is too close to Octavia. Clarke subsequently calls Lexa a liar, because she is hiding her true feelings. Lexa tells her she didn't let everybody die at TonDC, she didn't let Clarke die. Clarke says Lexa should trust her and walks out on her. Later, Lexa tells Clarke she does trust her and Clarke thinks life should be about more than just surviving. She believes they deserve better than that, and Lexa agrees. She then kisses Clarke for about 15 seconds and proceeds to do so again. However, Clarke stops her and says she's not ready to be with anyone. Not yet.

I am going to take a somewhat neutral position in regards to the kiss. Once again, the writers delivered a pretty shocking moment. Since the kiss was spoiled over the weekend, most of the fans (including myself) were prepared for the moment, but nobody had an idea what context it would be in. In the weekend, I took a wait-and-see approach. After having seen the episode, I can say that I am fine with the kiss. I am in no way a shipper for anyone, but this does open up a whole lot of possibilities. There are now endless ships that could sail, from 'Ravarke' and 'Octarke' to 'Indrarke', all while Bellarke is still not out of the question. I applaud the writers for going there and giving the CW its very-first LGBT lead character. Yes, Clarke is bi-sexual but they are not labeling her like that.

There are understandably some complaints regarding the kiss. While I'm not trying to justify anything or convince everyone to accept the kiss, I will address some of the criticisms below.
1. There was no build-up to the kiss
Clarke and Lexa have been working together a lot since episode 9. Not only have they made an entire plan for war, they have also fought off a mutant gorilla and all that. I am not saying the kiss was bound to happen, but it made sense that it did.
2. It's too soon after Finn's death
Finn's death has been two weeks ago at most and now Clarke is with Lexa. Well, Clarke herself addressed that issue, telling Lexa it is too soon to be anyone yet. Yes, Clare is still grieving even though you don't see it.

3. It destroys Clarke's entire characterization
Lexa had Clarke kill her sometime lover Finn, forced Clarke to go darker than she ever was and manipulated her into allowing the TonDC bombing. Now the two of them are kissing!? In Lexa's defense, it was Clarke's choice to kill Finn. Yes, Clarke was left with no option but to kill him to spare the awful pain he would be in, but Lexa was also pressured to have Finn killed. If she would have shown mercy, their people would not be merciful to her. Had the Grounders killed her, there would be a new Commander and Finn would still be ordered to justice. Also, Clarke basically told Lexa she is done being dark before the kiss, essentially letting her guard down and showing her vulnerability.
4. Lexa is a hypocrite
Lexa has always said "Love is weakness" and now she shows her love for Clarke? I must agree, Lexa is a hypocrite. However, Clarke also knew this and saw right through it. It was because Clarke confronted Lexa earlier that Lexa let her guard down and kissed Clarke.
5. They don't have time for this
In fact, Lexa and Clarke had all the time in the world. They had no idea when Bellamy would succeed in shutting down the acid fog and the only thing they could really do is wait. Also, Jason Rothenberg has repeatedly used the pyramid of Maslow when discussing the show. Since Lexa and Clarke for this short time had the bottom layer, which is physiological needs (they have food, water, shelter and clothing) and the second layer, which is safety and security (they were outside of the fog zone and they had an entire Grounder army so I'd say they were pretty safe), it was only logical that they moved on to the next layer: love and belonging. That includes friendship, family, sexual intimacy and a sense of connection. When they finished their kiss and heard the signal from Bellamy, they immediately went back to the other two layers. So they had briefly the time to focus on their own love before returning to the mission to ensure their people's safety.
6. This is a "Screw you!" to all the Bellarke fans
Nobody ever said Clexa is endgame. In fact, there is a pretty big chance Lexa will die by season's end since Alycia Debnam-Carey joined another series as a regular. And Clarke is not a lesbian, so Bellarke is still a possibility. The writers are not against it or anything, they just want to evolve the story in a natural way. Be patient. And if you really feel insulted as a Bellarke fan, let me just quote Jaha's words in this episode and alter them a bit: "This kiss is just another test of our faith."

Speaking of the former Chancellor, he and his companions are still in the desert looking for the City of Light. The opening was pretty hilarious with that guy making jokes about Grounders and Reapers and Arkers. He was blown up shortly thereafter, and the only woman on the squad also did not survive. Things got really interesting with this storyline and I'm curious to see where it leads. It's now clear that the City of Light does exist, but whatever it is remains to be seen. Apparently they have pretty advanced technology considering they had a drone. The desert scenes made for some outstanding visual scenes like the one on the left (thanks to Nirat Anop for the picture). Also, Jaha might be the most crazy man focussed on his destiny since John Locke on Lost.

Another big part of this episode was Bellamy and his mission inside Mount Weather. He had some trouble with the security card of Lovejoy and as such, his cover was blown. He still managed to get to the acid fog tanks and deactivate them. However, Cage knew all along and planned to extract Bellamy. The acid fog was also re-activated. Since Bellamy couldn't get in touch with Raven, he chose to blow up the tanks. That almost killed him, but he managed to escape the fire in time. Bellamy was pretty badass in the mountain, and I must say that I've missed that a bit in season 2. With the acid fog now finally down, the Grounder army can get in. Bellamy's next job will be to arrange the inside army, probably with the help of Echo. It will be interesting to see it all come to a head in the two-part season finale.

Elsewhere, Raven needed Wick's help to guide Bellamy through shutting down the acid fog. When Bellamy deactivated the fog, they were so happy that they almost kissed. Later, they really kissed and made out. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Their hook-up was so random that it almost looked like The 100 had to meet a quota from the CW of one sex scene per season. Of course it was meant to show how vulnerable Raven still is despite not really showing these emotions. She is still not over Finn and she still has that paralyzed leg, and it was nice that a reference to both was made. I do feel like Raven repeats the same mistake she made last year when she slept with Bellamy (also in the episode before the two-part finale). She realizes this herself though, so perhaps we won't see her sleeping with someone in next year's pre-finale episode.

Octavia showed in this episode that she is not dumb: she knows Clarke and Lexa knew about the missile. This bothers her and she confronts Clarke, making it clear that Clarke should not have done this. Unaware to Octavia, Clare later saves her life when Lexa orders Octavia to be killed. In the end, it is revealed that Indra also knows that the leaders knew, but unlike Octavia she fully supported Lexa's decision, saying her ruthlessness is a good thing. I have really grown to love Indra, and this was once again a very nice moment for her. Seriously, can they just promote Adina Porter to regular already? Also, Octavia's war cry was awesome!

Lastly, there were a lot of regulars absent in this episode. Kane, Abby, Lincoln, Jasper and Monty were not seen throughout the 42 minutes. It didn't bother me that much and I expected some of them to be absent. It seems every character that is not Clarke, Octavia or Bellamy has missed out about 3-4 episodes this season. However, I feel that Lincoln has been pretty underused this season so it would have been nice to see him. Let's hope he will play a more significant role in the season finale.

That's it for this episode. For me, this will be the last review of The 100 this season as the two-part season finale will be covered by Pablo and Jimmy. Be sure to check out their reviews after the episodes. Of course, we'll be back with reviews in season 3. Also, beginning today The 100 has a show specific account on Twitter. Read more information about that here.

What did you think of "Bodyguard of Lies"? How do you feel about the kiss between Lexa and Clarke? What are your thoughts on the Raven-Wick hook-up? How badass was Bellamy throughout this episode? And lastly, what do you think the City of Light is? I would love to hear your opinions and theories in the comments below.

The 100 ends its season with a two-part finale starting this Wednesday at 9/8c. Check out the promo of the episode here and the promotional episode photos here.

About the Author - Daniel van der Veer

Daniel van der Veer is a Dutch university student studying Psychology. On SpoilerTV he is a reviewer of NCIS, The 100, Stalker, Madam Secretary and the upcoming shows Battle Creek and Odyssey. He also enjoys LOST, Arrow, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Nikita, The Blacklist, Scorpion and How To Get Away With Murder.

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