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Man, alive. This was an excellent episode, guys. Super choice to come back off of a hiatus from so whoever made that decision? Kudos to you. This is probably the first review where there is nothing I was ‘meh’ about or that I didn’t like. I literally loved everything. Season six is really trying to knock season two out of first place for my favorite season of The 100.
Once again so much happened this episode, and again arguably too much, but I am happy to announce that I officially think that we aren’t going to hit that mid-season, “Why is literally nothing happening, the plot has stalled, these characters are doing absolutely nothing but making decisions that bring them right back to where we were five episodes ago” that I’ve been so fearful of. Granted, there are still four episodes left where it could go that way but I’m feeling optimistic. Let’s dive in to ‘What You Take With You.’
[This review contains spoilers for the “What You Take With You” episode of The 100.]
The 100 Review: “What You Take With You”
Season 6, Episode 9 | Airdate: July 9, 2019
Directed by: Marshall Virtue | Written by: Nikki Goldwaser
Things I Loved
Octavia, Gabriel, and the Anomaly: Did you ever think Octavia would ever actually make it on to this list without Diyoza there to assist her? Lord knows I didn’t. As it turns out all she needed to do was go in to her own mind and face some of her own demons to make it so that I didn’t want to smack her with a piece of salami for being the worst. Ah, self-reflection. It’s a beautiful thing.
We start the episode off with Gabriel drilling Octavia on what she remembered from going in to the anomaly which was big fat zero. Now she claims that she was only gone for a few seconds per Gabriel’s own words but he seems to be convinced that she was gone for much longer in anomaly time. The prevalent fandom theory is that the anomaly is linked to time travel and this does seem to cement that fact, doesn’t it? As Gabriel pointed out, not only was Octavia clean and healed, her hair was even a bit longer. (Also, the fact that he pointed this out was somewhat hilarious to me. You are an extremely observant man, Gabriel.) He said she was running towards him as if something was chasing her so my question is, assuming that the time-travel theory is valid, was she coming back from the future or from the past?
He has been waiting 150 years to know what the anomaly does and he will be damned if he doesn’t get some answers. So, he takes out his floorboard chemistry set and mixes some of the red sun toxins up to make it ingestible in to Octavia’s veins which is only a little weird. We learn that he himself has done it before to get answers as to if the hosts minds are still intact after a mind wipe to which the answer is no. (RIP Delilah, I was really hoping you’d somehow make it back but that seems to have officially gone out the window.) What it does is unlock sections of your mind and once Octavia got over her hesitance and actually allowed Gabriel to inject her with the weird stuff, open it did.
Speaking of my main badass Diyoza, am I crazy or did it sound like her voice calling Octavia’s name from the green box? It did to me but this is also very possibly wishful thinking because I am not willing to let that woman go without a fight. Regardless, I guess I’ll never know because instead of picking up the green box that was calling to her, she went with the violent, shaking, screaming, red box. She just can’t help herself and her self-destructive tendencies, can she? Everything about that box screamed “DO NOT TOUCH AT RISK OF DEATH.” and yet she opened it anyway. In the end it was probably exactly what Octavia-and the audience-needed.
Upon opening the box Octavia is swarmed by red butterflies-nice call back to season one and the glowing forest, by the way-and then unceremoniously dumped in to the fighting pit that she herself as Bloodreina put in the bunker. We’re treated to a series of flashbacks of Octavia’s most violent actions as the here and now version of her takes in the screaming crowd. When she tried to escape we see that she is chained to the floor and unable to escape and she collapses under the weight of what she’s done.
To drive that point home we get the return of Pike. If you don’t remember Pike-let’s be real, if you’re reading this, you remember Pike-he’s the one who went a little paranoid and crazy and was all gung-ho about killing the Grounders in season three and even killed Lincoln. Now, what I’m happy this show did was make a point of showing that losing Lincoln isn’t what ultimately made Octavia lose her damn mind and go in to her downward spiral. Did it play a part? Yes. Probably even the biggest part. However, killing Pike in cold-blood was the real trigger to the destruction of Octavia and the rise of Bloodreina and it was good to see that not only acknowledged but actually addressed.
On the Ark, Pike was a teacher which is why he tells Octavia that class is in session to help her admit to what she really wants: redemption. Sure, she wants answers about the anomaly, sure she wants forgiveness, and not be hated by her loved ones, but she also wants to actually make up for what she’s done. The funniest line of the entire exchange was without a doubt:
“What do you want?”
“I want you gone!”
“You tried that. It didn’t take.”
Pike’s a straight comedian in Octavia’s head. But this isn’t the end of their discussion. She’s admitted to wanting redemption but the second question is even harder: “What are you willing to do to get it?”
This line alone tells me we are in for something incredibly anxiety inducing in the next few episodes.
Before she can answer the manifestation of all of her bad choices has come before them: Bloodreina is back, bitches. At least in Octavia’s head. Bloodreina tells Octavia to kill Pike like she knows she needs to do and the two manifestations in her head have a snark off and then the real pain begins when Bloodreina and Pike start direct quoting Lincoln’s death scene. That wasn’t enough, oh no, we were also treated to the actual flashbacks of it happening because this show just wants to make us cry. Ultimately, Octavia has decided she is not Bloodreina, not anymore, and even if she’s only doing it in her head, she’s going to make a different choice. As Bloodreina goes to strike down Pike, Octavia stops her with a sword, and the two battle it out, concluding at Octavia killing that part of herself. The symbolism was loud, guys.
When Octavia wakes up from her peyote like dream she tells Gabriel that she knows what she has to do even though she remembers nothing about the anomaly. I’m glad she does because as an audience member, I’m certainly lost. However, for the first time this season, I’m interested in where her storyline is going to go especially now that she and Gabriel know that Clarke is hosting Josephine and coming right for them
. As an aside, let me tell you how happy and relieved I am that Gabriel and Octavia are not love interests. He’s so in love with Josephine and Octavia is now officially on her own path towards something and they seem more like buddies in arms than anything even slightly romantic. Once again, a sigh of relief is heaved.
Kane’s Sacrifice: Phew. From the moment Kane was resurrected in his new body the man was not here for it. Studying himself in the mirror, looking at his unmarked skin, he was at a loss. Visons bite, the crucifixion scars, the mark of the coalition? All gone. Abby tries to make him understand that she did what she needed to do to keep him alive, arguing that all of those marks weren’t what made him who he was but that the moral man he proved himself to be was still alive and she needed him.
“They were a part of me.”
“Everything that made me who I am.”
It seemed like she was getting through to him for a moment but upon sharing a brief kiss, he pulls back and tells her that she tastes different-(weird, but okay), feels different, and that everything was wrong. She tells him that he’ll get used to it and as they stare down act Sanctum, she sighs, “When we get down to the ground we can finally have a peaceful life.”
Well, apparently even her best efforts weren’t enough to convince him after he met Simone. Once he set eyes on Ciara, his host Gavin’s wife, and realized that she was under the impression that her husband was still in there somewhere, he was the biggest of dones. He attempted to call out Simone on her lying before Abby interceded and then stalked off when he couldn’t get the words out. Raven had asked Abby if it was worth it and then finished it with, “Well, it wasn’t worth it to him.”
Raven and nu!Kane wake up Indra and tell her that they need her help and they have a lot to discuss. Man! Indra being back. INDRA! Yessssssssss. I was so happy. While I didn’t exactly like that she was like, “Yeah, okay, I can see their point.” I did appreciate that she called out both the Ark and the Coalition for being trash in their own rights for the things they did to survive. So, mood.
Kane’s wish is to sacrifice himself for the greater good of humanity. If you think this is out of character for him, you’re wrong. He just did it in season five when he was willing to sacrifice himself in the pit, refusing to fight anyone. Raven, Indra, and Kane device a plan to float the nightblood serum so that Simone and Russell can’t make anymore hosts out of people who are being lied to, Kane choosing to be floated with it so that even more innocent people won’t be murdered in the name of false God’s. From the moment the story started going this way, it was clear that Kane sacrificing himself was the way this was going to go: he couldn’t bear living in the body of a man who had been murdered so that he could live.
He locks himself in the air chamber with the nightblood serum ready to do what he feels he has to. Abby rushes in with Raven who allowed her to leave the bridge of the ship so that she could say good-bye. She begs him to reconsider, that she needs him, that she loves him. He tells her that he loves her too but eventually they would both regret the decision that she made, even if he would have made the same one id the roles were reversed. In another nice callback to season one he reminds her that she’s strong and once upon a time she had pledged that she would ensure that they all deserved to stay alive and that killing innocent people so that they could wasn’t it.
In a particularly feels inducing moment, Indra and Raven recite the Arkadian Travelers Prayer:
In peace, may you leave the shore.
In love, may you find the next.
Safe passage on your travels until our final journey to the ground.
May we meet again.
After, Indra taps in to her own faith and wishes her friend goodbye in Trig, telling him that his fight is over before she pushes the button, opening the airlock, and floating Kane. What’s particularly brutal about this for Abby is that she lost husband Jake the same exact way, also due to her own actions. Another interesting parallel to keep in mind is that Kane did exactly what Jake did. Jake was willing to the tell the entire Ark about oxygen running out knowing the risks of getting floated but doing it for the greater good, just like Kane ultimately did.
Now, I did not see Kane’s decision as suicide. I saw it as self-sacrafice just like Jake, just like Clarke when she decided to stay behind so her friends could get away in season four, just like Bellamy did by going in to Mount Weather in season two, just like David Miller not putting his name in the lottery so that Nathan could have double the chances of survival. Suicide to me was Jasper, Charlotte, David (the one who shot himself in the head in front of Josephine at the diner): people who willingly took their own lives due to mental illness and depression. That being said, I know that there are those that disagree with me and if you are in any way triggered by this episode, I encourage you to reach out to someone you trust or to call the Suicide Prevention Hotline: 1-800-273-8255
Bellaphine, Bellarke, and Clarke’s Return: Bruh. Bruuuuuhhhhhhhh. There is so much to unpack here that it’s not even funny. The first thing I want to say is that never in my life have I ever witnessed a show be so mother-forking LOUD about a ship while also saying nothing at all at the exact same time. If it wasn’t so frustratingly absurd it would actually be impressive. Confused about what I mean? Let me explain.
When we first connect with Bellamy and Josephine, he’s dragging her through the woods while she berates him for being stupid and sacrificing everything for Clarke. After all, is she really worth everything he’s doing (resounding yes) but before he gets a chance to respond to that particular jab she has a seizure, robbing the audience of his answer. Once again, kudos to Eliza Taylor for being an absolute powerhouse as Josephine comes to and vulnerably tells Bellamy he has to take her back to Sanctum so that she doesn’t die. Bellamy tells her in no uncertain terms that that’s not going to happen because if he does, they’re going to kill Clarke and that’s not happening on his watch. She tells him that the Children of Gabriel won’t help him, they’ll kill her, and everything he’s done will be for nothing as soon as they find out who she is. Thinking quickly, Bellamy cut his finger and smears his red-blood on JoseClarke’s forehead disguising her night-bloodness. Yes, I realize that’s not actually a word.
Despite this, Josephine tells him that he must care about Clarke more than everyone else since he’s so willing to sacrifice them for her and once again, before he’s able to respond in any significant way, the Children of Gabriel make their appearance. The two are kidnapped and brought some rando caves where Bellamy informs them that he needs to speak with Gabriel asap and Josephine has a snark attack and basically craps all over them and their beliefs.
As an aside, you know Josephine has led a very different life than Bellamy, Clarke, and the rest of the Earthlings because she didn’t recognize the smell of a dead body. Either way, both Bellamy and Josephine are chained to a wall in the cave and informed that if Gabriel doesn’t respond to the radio call then they will meet the same fate as the decaying man in the corner. A confused Bellamy tells Josephine that radio’s don’t work on this moon and she sighs out a, “They work in one place.” and informs him that if they’re radioing him, it means Gabriel is actually alive, despite her insisting previously that he had to be dead. Despite himself, Bellamy asks what the deal is with her and Gabriel to which she goads him, asking him if they’re going to be friends now. She tells him that she has loved Gabriel for 236 years and he’s been trying to kill her for the last 70 of them. What’s so funny here is that the camera pans to Bellamy who nods as if he’s saying, “Word. I’d try to kill you for 70 years too.”
AND THEN IT GETS INTERESTING!
Josephine notices Bellamy staring at her tapping finger to which she realizes is Clarke communicating via morse code. Clarke is mocking Josephine telling her “Boo-Hoo” about her sob story with Gabriel and Bellamy realizes that Clarke can hear them. It’s almost like he has her back! He demands that Josephine let him talk to her and she refuses since that means she’d have to give up control of her body.
“But she can hear me?”
“Yes, she can hear you!”
Here’s where it gets intense. Because Bellamy’s whole demeanor changes when he realizes that he’s looking at Clarke and not Josephine. He can even communicate with her in a way. His eyes soften, his shoulders relax, and he just stares at her intently as if trying to communicate something he can’t yet say. Josephine basically tells him to miss her with those heart eyes and say what he wants to say. After another intense beat he simply says:
“I won’t let you die.”
But there is so much being left unsaid that it’s actually palpable and so heavy in the air that the audience can practically taste it. Josephine seems to realize the depth of feelings that Bellamy has for Clarke because the little smirk she had playing on her mouth completely fades away and she just stares at him intently until Bellamy comes back to himself and turns away from her realizing that he’s not just communicating with Clarke but making himself vulnerable and exposing himself to the one who’s wearing her face. Honestly. As is she didn’t already know.
Josephine herself turns away from the intensity of the moment and has an air of vulnerability around her. This could be a few different things. Maybe it’s realizing the depth of Bellamy’s love for Clarke, maybe it’s her feeling something inside her head from Clarke in response to Bellamy’s oath to her, or maybe, just maybe it’s her realizing that Bellamy loves Clarke in a way that Gabriel doesn’t love her since he’s willing to kill her while Bellamy is going to such extreme lengths to make sure that Clarke lives. She could also be having her first moment of self-doubt that she’ll make it out of this alive since Bellamy basically just vowed to get Clarke back with such emotion that she truly believes he’ll do whatever it takes to make that happen.
When we come back to pair, they’re sitting on the ground as Josephine watches Bellamy fiddling with the chains that bound him. When he basically asks her, “Is there something on my face?” she tells him that her father was an idiot for risking hundreds of years of work building Sanctum when he threw it all down the drain for love. The camera pans to Bellamy as she says this and he once again looks away not willing to let her get a reaction at her subtle (read: not all that subtle) call out. What’s interesting here is that Simone and Josephine have already established that Russell is the heart while Simone is the head, much like Bellamy and Clarke. When she tells him that Russell should have taken one look at Bellamy and known that bringing her back via Clarke was a bad idea she’s saying that he should have recognized himself in Bellamy and that just like he was willing to do anything to get Josephine back, Bellamy would do anything to get Clarke back. Beautiful, subtle, and yet, still saying what needs to be said without actually saying it, so annoying.
Josephine then taunts Bellamy with a recap of “Bellarke’s Greatest Hits” and sighs that their relationship is so weird and frankly, exhausting. Welcome to being a Bellarke shipper, Josephine. You must be new here.
The Children of Gabriel come back because the guards of Sanctum are on their way and they need to move. When they reach for Josephine she fights back, getting knocked over and busting her lip, revealing that she’s not only a nightblood but after further investigation, a host. The haul her up as Bellamy frantically informs them that she’s Josephine and that they can use her as leverage against Russell. They ignore him, insisting that this isn’t a negotiation, and they go to kill her. In a moment of self-preservation, Josephine releases control of her shared body back to Clarke so that she can get them the hell out of dodge.
THAT’S RIGHT, OUR GIRL IS BACK!
God, are you guys annoyed with me praising Eliza yet because here I go again. The transition between Josephine and Clarke was so quick but so obvious in just a matter of seconds, I just have to applaud her. Clarke kicked some major ass and freed herself from the clutches of the Children of Gabriel and immediately went to release Bellamy from his shackles. His relief and obvious joy at Clarke being back in control of her own body was such a sweet thing to witness. Gotta give my kudos to Bob Morley here as well because the man can say so much with just his face and eyes that it’s a little overwhelming. There’s a charged second where it seems like one of them is about to say something significant when they hear more of the COG coming and Bellamy grabs Clarke’s wrists, insisting that she runs and leaves him behind. She initially refuses not wanting to leave him again but he makes her go. But these soulmates are a smart pair and she leaves the guards keys in his hand as the distracted guards completely ignore him and chase after who they think is Josephine. The final shot of Bellamy, with the keys dangling from his hand as he stares after Clarke running away, his expression screams, “That’s my girl.” and you can tell me different but I’ll fight you on it.
Clarke leads the COG to the Sanctum guards who shoot them down. On Jade’s orders the remaining guard go to track down the rest of the Children of Gabriel and when she tries to get “Josephine” to follow her, Clarke whacks her in the back of the head with a rock. RIP Jade? I don’t know. She could just be knocked out. Could go either way, honestly.
Next we learn that the wall between Clarke’s consciousness and Josephine’s is practically all the way gone as evidence by Clarke literally seeing Josephine. Josephine tries to get Clarke to let her have control again to which Clarke refuses, radioing Gabriel and telling him that Josephine is in her head and they’re coming to him. When Josephine again tries to manipulate Clarke in to giving her back the pilot seat saying that Clarke doesn’t know how to drive a motorcycle, she proves her wrong, revving the bike. Josephine is annoyed that Clarke stole that from her mind and demands to know what else Clarke has stolen from her. The lack of self-awareness is made even more delicious when Clarke mocks her in Mandarin saying, “Sucks, doesn’t it?”
tl;dr? Clarke is BACK! And if I’m supposed to be reading the relationship between Bellamy and Clarke as purely platonic then get new writers, new directors, a new music guy, and tell the newlyweds to knock it off with their longing looks because it’s not coming across the screen as a bff type of relationship but instead of one of a love so deep that it defies reason. Basically, stop toeing the line in an attempt to subvert expectations and let the relationship that is already there take the final organic step so that the story actually makes sense. The story obviously wants to go that way so let it. Don’t pull a JK Rowling.
Theories
As mentioned before, there’s nothing I didn’t like about this episode. It was a solid 4.5/5 (would have been a whole five if they would have gone just a little deeper in to Bellamy and Clarke via Josephine but I loved what we did get) so let’s dive right on in to theories. I don’t have many but here’s what I do have.
- Anomaly = time travel
- After some hemming and hawing, Gabriel will extract Josephine from Clarke
- Clarke will continue to suffer some sort of brain damage because I don’t think your brain just bounces back from those types of seizures and admitted deterioration just because the weird thing making it melt-down has gone bye bye.
- Learning that Gabriel is in possession of Josephine’s mind-drive (or that he’s wiped it all together) Russell will go to war against Gabriel and our darling Earthlings.
That’s all for now! What did you think of this episode? Shocked? Disappointed? Delighted? Tell us in the comments below or on twitter @TVSource.
Watch The 100 Tuesday’s at 9/8c on The CW.
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