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Another week, another episode of The 100 that was actually pretty damn amazing. Season six is off to a really strong start and I’m thrilled about it. Let’s keep it up, team. This is, after all, usually around the time that the episodes start going stagnant until the big finale, but if you can keep hitting it out of the park like you have been for the last five episodes then season six might just start to give the superior season of the series (season two) a run for its money.
In fact, I enjoyed ‘The Gospel of Josephine’ so much that this weeks review doesn’t even have an “Things I Didn’t Like” section. There was only one thing I was mildly ‘meh’ about, but even that doesn’t really qualify as a dislike. Continue below for the ever present Things I Loved, The ‘Meh’ Thing(s), Honorable Mentions, and Theories.
[This review contains spoilers for “The Gospel of Josephine” episode of The 100.]
The 100 Review: “The Gospel of Josephine”
Season 6, Episode 5 | Airdate: May 28, 2019
Directed by: Ian Samoil | Written by: Georgia Lee
Things I Loved
JoseClarke: As if there was every any doubt that she would be first on this list-yes, again. As stated last week, kudos to Eliza Taylor. The way she portrays Josephine and the way she portrays Clarke are vastly different and it’s such a delight to watch. Josephine is so much of what Clarke isn’t. She’s confident, she’s fearless, maybe a little reckless. And she’s carefree. She taunts and toys with people. It’s just fun.
What I find most interesting about Josephine is that she holds no regard for the consequences of her actions. She kills Kaylee because Kaylee killed her after she had killed one of Kaylee’s loved ones. These people are all just out here killing each other repeatedly and why? Because death means nothing to them anymore. Sure, they die, they go ‘on ice’ for awhile, and then they come back, good as new, in a brand new body. Their actions have no true consequences. Immortality can make you cold as it clearly has with Josephine. The version currently residing in Clarke is obviously quite different than the one that originally died 200 years ago. She’s lost the innocence that the original Josephine had. It makes for an interesting story.
Josephine thinks she will have no problem fooling Clarke’s friends in to believing that she’s kosher. After all, how hard can playing Clarke be? And while Jordan may have spilled Clarke’s history to Delilah who then turned around and told Russell and Simone, there’s a difference between stories and the actual relationships that those stories have forged. Watching Josephine trying to navigate everything was humorous. There were a lot of little subtle moments that made it clear that we were no longer seeing Clarke but Josephine and which ultimately made the episode so enjoyable.
For instance, Josie thinking Murphy was cute? Very tongue in cheek and very not Clarke. I will admit to actually laughing out loud at that moment. Her reactions to Madi, to Gaia, the blank look that came across her face every single time someone tried to speak Trig to her? Or that Clarke is obviously uncomfortable with herself looks wise, or at the very least doesn’t dwell on them that much and Josephine thinks she looks like a snack (which, true)? Hilarious.
Of course, Bellamy Bradbury Blake would be the first one to realize that Clarke isn’t Clarke, but someone else. His first thought probably wasn’t Josephine but he knew that something was off. Bellamy speaking Trig to Clarke was his way of having a suspicion, testing it, and being proven right. Kudos to Bob Morley for his acting throughout the episode showcasing obvious confusion, to suspicion, to unadulterated horror, and finally fear as he collapsed on the ground, paralyzed after confronting Josie and having her stab in him the neck with a syringe filled with paralytic.
Jordan: The sweetest of beans. Jordan clearly got his moral compass from his parents. That’s not all he got however since he broke in to the not at all (read: super) creepy skeleton room, then the laboratory, and then ‘hacked’ in to their system to watch the video of Josephine the second being born. More than that, Shannon Kook got to once again shine this episode as the emotionally distraught Jordan, having lost Delilah to Priya and failing to come to terms with that. When he confronted B.A and Priya about what had happened, Jordan lost his cool, just a little.
“How can you be okay? She was your child.”
When I say ouch.
ALSO!
“Heart over head was my favorite Bellamy.”
Same. I stan an intellectual.
Diyoza and Octavia: Okay, more Diyoza than Octavia but I digress. Their scenes were a character study and I can appreciate that. They chased Xavier (aka Lincoln 2.0) through the woods and right in to a quicksand-esque trap. They were stuck and the harder you struggle, the quicker you die. When we returned to the duo after this reveal, Diyoza had barely sunk at all while Octavia was at risk of going under because she just couldn’t help herself. It’s interesting because it shows one of two things.
1) Octavia is doing everything in her power to die without actually Gone Girling
Or
2) She just can’t help herself from doing something that will harm herself, even if she knows better and wants to live.
Diyoza sees a piece of herself in Octavia, even offers to put her out of her misery. But the thing is, Diyoza knows the struggle that Octavia is going through within herself and she wants to help. Can she, is the question.
Anyway, after Diyoza runs for cover from the temporal flair with Xavier and Octavia stays behind and submerged herself in the nice muddy bubble bath. Diyoza is able to save her after the fact but weirdly, O now has an old looking hand. Is it the bubble stuff or the flare? And if it’s the bubble stuff, how is that going to affect baby Hope?
The Meh Things
Abby: Woman. Yes, I know that you want Kane back. I know that you think he deserves to live more than all of you because he was good, he was honorable, blah blah blah. I get it. On a level, I even feel you. And sure, you even took a modicum of responsibility for Bloodreina for standing be her side and allowing her to slaughter and eat people-I mean, it was your idea, but whatever-so I can even give you a slight pass there. But, your daughter is literally-in the case of this false narrative-dead. You can see that she’s acting weird; you even called her out on it asking her if she felt okay since she was writing with the wrong hand. Which, by the way, is a weird follow-up question after that sort of observation.
But you’re just going to ignore it in favor of a man who isn’t going anywhere for the time being since he’s literally frozen and in cryo and at least safe for now? I’m going to need you to take off your Kane hat and put on your mom hat because right now, you’re highly failing. You can’t even fall back on the excuse that you didn’t notice because I know you did because you gave her a weird look as she was leaving. DO. BETTER.
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