Three weeks off from a TV series that you aren't really enjoying isn't necessarily the worst thing in the world, but the downsides are when it does eventually return, everything seems a bit messy, and The 100's returning episode certainly felt that way last night. Nikki Goldwaser wrote "A Little Sacrifice", which was directed by Sherwin Shilati.
I was somewhat relieved that the last episode to air didn't really progress the storyline much. Clarke was notably absent, and a relatively stagnant episode meant that no real momentum was lost during the break. But last night's hour tried too hard to resurrect that momentum from nowhere, and I found proceedings pretty confusing to follow at times.
Thankfully there's two clear subplots at play, with one happening on Bardo, and the other on Sanctum. Lets begin with the latter first.
The last episode a few weeks ago left us with a bloodbath after Sheidheda ran riot among the Sanctumites he was left in a room with, and killing them all. Part of what made this subplot tricky to follow was that Sheidheda was suddenly here, then suddenly there, with no real flow between venues and what he was doing. With Indra, Emori and Murphy a step or two behind Sheidheds after he escaped, Madi, seemingly oblivious to what the hell had been going on all this time - which I thought was ridiculous - was the next target. I could understand why Madi was so terrified she couldn't move when Sheidheda marched on in - after all he haunted her throughout the last season. JR Bourne's acting was again the best of the bunch, though Lola Flanery's inexperience was exposed a lot. Her attempt to portray terror really didn't come across well.
Fast forward a little, and Murphy and Emori eventually found Madi shaken but unharmed. Next thing we knew, Sheidheda was broadcasting over the PA from the palace revealing that Indra had been dishonest about the fate of the Commanders. Focusing on their own preservation for the time being, Murphy and Emori decided to lead some survivors to the nuclear plant where they would be safe for a while, meanwhile Indra set about fighting Sheidheda for leadership of Wonkru. Indra was, predictably, soundly beaten, though I was surprised to see Madi's interjections tolerated by the crowd. I doubt that would have been allowed to slide back on Earth. Nevertheless, Madi took one of Sheidheda's eyes, but she'll need to take a lot more than that to end him once and for all. I'd say it's highly likely that Madi will eventually do just that, given how much of an arch-nemesis he is to her. Director Sherwin Shilati was quite creative in how he approached several key aspects of this episode, and this fight scene was one such example.
Bardo was a much messier affair in many ways. We immediately picked things up with Clarke and her group at the moment they found out that Octavia, Diyoza and Hope had apparently switched sides, and were now Cadogan's Disciples. Clarke wasted no time changing tack, and immediately separated Cadogan from the rest of his people. A committee meeting between Clarke, Gabriel, Niylah, Jordan, Raven and Miller led us to understand that Cadogan believes the Flame is in Clarke's head because that's what was seen in Octavia's memories through the memory capture that Octavia was subjected to. This then led to what I predicted, which was that Octavia, Echo and Diyoza were just playing the game and weren't sided with Cadogan.
Unfortunately for Hope, she wasn't in the know about this, and believed all along that Echo was indeed sending her to Skyring, so it came as a surprise when Echo turned the tables and killed a guard, thus revealing her real play.
What? You never really think I believe this garbage?I will say I did find the reuniting scene, and Hope's introduction to everyone quite warming. This was one of the highlights of the hour for me.
Meanwhile, Clarke, Raven and Miller had left Jordan and Niylah behind with Gabriel and Cadogan while they searched for the others. But it didn't take long for Cadogan to quite simply charm his way out of there, and leave for a spot of lunch with Gabriel. I was staggered to see this, but then again I shouldn't be surprised given the series' two most useless and redundant characters were involved. Thankfully, in Cadogan's absence, Jordan came up with an idea that would change the game completely if he's right: that there's been an error in translation that would mean the last war isn't a war at all, only a test to determine the future of the human race. This is pretty airy fairy stuff however, and gets a mark down from me. Hopefully as the concept gets fleshed out a bit more in future episodes, it becomes more relevant and relatable.
Somewhere else in the building however, Echo was hatching an even more destructive plan by using a bioweapon to wipe out everyone on the planet in revenge for supposedly killing Bellamy. Hope offered little resistance before giving the game away, and with a kidnapped Levitt also providing guidance, everyone arrived to talk Echo down mere cliche milliseconds before she released the bioweapon. Cue the waterworks - this time in the form of tears - and a well timed bunch of words from Raven, and the crisis seemed to be over, only for things to change yet again when Anders and some Disciples showed up. After earlier getting a talking to from her mother concerning wiping out innocent people for a good cause, Hope rebelled by slicing Anders' throat and trying to release the bioweapon too, only for Diyoza to miraculously capture the droplet and immediately begin to crystallize.
Be better than me.Diyoza's death came as quite a shock. Her last words (above) were somewhat in line with what we've seen in terms of the series trying to move away from bloodshed, which was pleasing to see. But I'm pretty gutted that my favorite non-original character is gone just like that. The final six episodes of The 100 won't be the same without her.
Thankfully, it looks as if Bellamy will sub in in her place and at long last make his presence felt on this final season. It looks like he's been stuck on Nakara which is an interesting development, but we'll have to wait until next week to see for sure.
Overall, this was an episode which was I rated as about average. Yet again I'll say that I'm absolutely sick of the Sheidheda saga on Sanctum, and it still looks like things will get even worse before they get better. Madi likely being the one to officially end it all will be a welcome development that took too long to come when it eventually gets here. On Bardo, the good news is we finally have more of an idea of what the hell is supposedly going on in terms of this last war and Cadogan's yearning for Clarke. I'm pretty disappointed to see Diyoza gone just like that though. The incompetence of Jordan and Niylah was the cherry on top of just about all the stupid and dumb stuff we've seen various characters do in this show, and didn't help at all with trying to rebuild some sort of momentum after the three weeks off.
Thanks as always for reading. Just six more episodes remain in this series. Do make sure you share your thoughts and theories in the comments below, and I'll see you right back here next week.
