Writer Kim Shumway was spot on when she said this episode of The 100 is the weirdest ever created. Following last week's rather disappointing outing, last night's episode once again focused on a very specific aspect of the storyline, and did it extremely well. But at what cost to the season's other storylines? "Nevermind" was directed by Michael Blundell.
It was fantastic that this hour picked up right where last week's hour left off. We were thrust head-on into the battle between Josephine and Clarke's minds. A corridor separated the minds of Josephine and Clarke, and the opening dialog between the two established the battle lines, but not before Clarke got some precious time with her father, Jake, with Chris Browning being one of several key guest stars taking the place of the usual series regular cast.
Clarke's memories are presented beautifully in an array of drawings all over the walls and floor. The set design team did a superb job throughout this episode, with many key sets from seasons past brought back to life. ALIE appeared next in Clarke's memories, explaining why Clarke was somehow still alive inside Josephine's mind. The neural mesh protecting Clarke's existence could, however, be destroyed should Josephine interpret the memory of how Raven was un-chipped in the third season, so Clarke set about hiding that memory, while Josephine set about a cat and mouse game to find it.
Also coming and going and adding their two cents were Octavia and Maya. Octavia's presence was rather curious given she's the only character Clarke is recalling that is still alive today. Both of these characters stood to force Clarke to question the decisions she's made, and the people that have fallen in her wake. This has been a recurring theme all season - the early episodes in particular - so while this did feel a bit repetitive in principle, the unique vehicle used to portray it made it much more bearable.
You've killed more people than you've saved.By now, Clarke had an edge over Josephine, so she brought her father, Russell, into the space to help finish Clarke off. Russell's appearance was much briefer than it probably should have been, with his overall impact basically nil. Countering Russell, Monty entered the game to stand alongside Clarke in what really was a fantastic moment. The clever use of his character brought his fifth season finale story full-circle in many ways, and spurred Clarke on to not just give up like Josephine wanted given Russell had an agreement with Bellamy on a deal in exchange for Nightblood technology. Finally, after playing games in Clarke's mind for the entire episode up to that point, Clarke and Monty entered Josephine's Christmas-decorated door and found themselves in a massive room that reflected Josephine's centuries of life and the associated vast collection of memories. After sampling just a couple, Clarke was more determined than ever to make a stand, and she and Monty did so by invading Josephine's darkest memories.
You call this doing better?The end of the episode was imminent, but the execution of this critical phase in the story was rather poor. Given Josephine's body was now awake, Monty and Clarke had essentially free reign in her mind and were looking for a way to physically control Clarke's body. This translated to both Monty and Clarke flashing a set of lights adorning some windows in one of Josephine's memories, which somehow translated to Clarke's body tapping its finger to the tune of "Alive" in Morse code, which Bellamy happened to see and interpret. I think the creative team was a bit stuck for ideas on how to interfere with Josephine's conscious actions, and I can't say I blame them. In my opinion a better metaphoric interpretation was needed here. Josephine's memories were meticulously stored in books, so I'd envisage a room in which a typewriter is typing away, and a screen is on the wall displaying Josephine's real time vision. By interfering with the typewriter, then Monty and Clarke can type the word "Alive" which can translate into Morse code through the actions on Clarke's body.
Either way, the good news is that Bellamy read and understood the message Clarke was sending from deep within Josephine's mind. The challenge for Bellamy now is how to communicate back to Clarke in a way that Josephine won't be aware is happening, with the ultimate goal of removing Josephine and reinstating Clarke before the body deteriorates as a result of having two minds fighting inside it.
However as fascinating and well executed as this episode was, on a broader level much of its content was meaningless in the grand scheme of things. We know that Clarke is alive, and we know it's only a matter of time until she rids Josephine from her body's mind. The recurring theme of Clarke reflecting on the collateral damage she's caused still feels unresolved in its own weird way. Clarke still hasn't convinced herself - or been convinced by the friends, foes and family she met in her memories - that she's done the right thing on the multiple occasions she's been faced with a challenge, especially considering she didn't have the benefit of hindsight when she made those decisions.
If we don't do something this body dies.Her father convinced Clarke that her memory was still persistent. ALIE confirmed it. Octavia and Maya tried to convince Clarke that she'd be better off giving in. However Monty managed to win Clarke over with a reality check that the world and her people are better off if she makes a comeback. In the end, Josephine didn't have an impact on Clarke's sense of self. She had the experience of having done this many times before, she had home field advantage, set the rules and didn't stick to them, but still couldn't win the war.
I questioned in my opening paragraph whether this deep dive episode came at the cost of other storylines. I think the impact is undeniable. For some storylines, despite there being no time jump in the fictional world, there definitely is in the world that we viewers live on. Come next week's episode, it will feel as if we've had another two week break for some of the storylines, which was definitely a factor in my enjoyment and understanding of last week's episode. The creative team have their work cut out for them in making sure they build the momentum back up and keep those storylines competitive alongside the elephant in the writers room: how they get Clarke back.
In all, this was a really good episode of The 100, despite its contribution to the big picture being on the lower end, and lacking a better connection between Clarke's mind and body. It was great to see a decent selection of former characters brought back. The set design and Michael Blundell's directing were excellent. The small touches including Diyoza's front page newspaper cover resembling O.J. Simpson, and Josephine seemingly idolizing Becca among others were well done. There was also plenty of reward for long-time fans of the series too, with memory flashbacks involving Lexa, and Finn, among others. Though Clarke's sense of self remains unchanged, one wonders when the constant questioning of her past decisions will be resolved so she can move forward.
Thanks as always for reading. I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode so make your thoughts and theories known in the comments below. See you right back here next week.
