‘The 100’ Review: “The Flock”

Another Wednesday, another episode, another block of annoyance and fury to add on to the bonfire as I fume to myself, “Where the fuck is Bellamy?” To add insult to injury Clarke wasn’t even in this episode and yes, I’m freaking annoyed at that too.

I cannot believe that we are now more than halfway through the season and the male lead has been in one episode that pertains to the current story-line. We’re not going to count that literal twenty two seconds in the premiere which was obviously reused footage from the season six finale and a body double or the flashback in episode seven which was for what point, exactly?

And people can gripe and bitch at me all they want about how this isn’t the Bellamy and Clarke show and that I’m biased and frankly, I don’t care. I just don’t. Bellamy and Clarke are the leads of the show, the literal canon head and heart that keeps the show going and beating. Clarke has been shoved to the side of her own damn story, used to propel other characters stories forward while not having one of her own while Bellamy has just ceased to exist on the canvas at all. Oh, don’t get me wrong, they’ll name drop him every once in awhile just to rub salt in the wound and add to my complete and total disbelief that this is something that is actually happening right now but what good does that do?

To say that I am furious is an understatement. I’ve been furious. I’ve been annoyed. I have been giving this season the benefit of the doubt over and over again telling myself that it was going to lead somewhere but without the leads and main characters why should I even care? Character over plot is the way it is supposed to be done and while the plot can be somewhat vaguely interesting at times, I can’t even focus on it because I’m too busy waiting for the characters I’ve known and loved for seven seasons to come back.

Maybe this wouldn’t be quite as irksome if we weren’t about to head into a two week hiatus and the only thing I got to see of Clarke and Bellamy was Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley’s names flashing by in the title sequence. And before you come at me with “Oh, but Bob asked for time off!” miss me with it. Until Bob himself comes out and says, “Yeah, I asked to be out of three months of filming of the last season because of reasons.” then I’m not buying he wanted this much time off. That’s three more weeks without even the possibility of knowing how this is going to turn out and not knowing when we’re going to get them back. I want them back, I miss them, and I’m not going to pretend that I don’t for the sake of “professionalism.” If you’re looking for something less biased there are several lovely reviewers that I’m sure are much better than I am at keeping their real feelings out of it.

But I’m not about keeping my feelings out of it. I feel what I feel and I’m going to shout it in to the void that is the internet because I can. I highly debated even reviewing this episode given the complete and utter frustration that has been building over the last nine weeks but I made a commitment. I made a commitment to TVSource, to my editor, to the people who bother to read my work, and to myself to see this all the way through. So, if you’ve made it through this long intro, let’s discuss ‘The Flock’, shall we? This is not going to be as thorough (or long) as my other reviews because one) time crunch and two) I only watched it once instead of three times like I usually do.

[This review contains spoilers for the ‘The Flock’ episode of The 100.] 

The 100 Review: ‘The Flock’
Season 7, Episode 9 | Airdate: July 15th, 2020
Directed by: Amyn Kaderali| Written by: Alyssa Clark

The Meh Things (It’s All Meh)

Sanctum: I’ve said it once, twice, and a million other times but the cast is the only thing that saves the Sanctum story. Adina Porter continues to shine as Indra returns from looking for the others and realizing that Sanctum has gone to crap in her absence. She’s snarky and sarcastic and it’s wonderful.

When Nikki Bang Bang makes it known that she has Emori held captive Murphy is determined to trade her life for his and he’s going to make Russheda help him. Indra agrees to give RussHeda twenty minutes of garden time as well as a partner to play chess with (a task that both she and Murphy refuse to do) in exchange for him going into where Nikki, Nelson, and the Children of Gabriel have taken the others hostage and acting as a distraction.

Nikki demands to see Raven who she doesn’t realize isn’t even on Sanctum even more and sets a time limit for when Raven can show up before she starts killing people. Murphy and Russell make it in and seeing that Raven isn’t with them she decides to have them out themselves as not being the Primes starting with Murphy. He fesses up, followed by Emori, and RussHeda decided that it looked like fun and outed himself too much to the others confusion. Despite that confusion, the time for Raven to show up had come and gone and Nikki grabbed Emori. Before she could kill her Murphy took the credit for killing Nikki’s husband and not Raven so really she wanted to kill him. Nikki was didn’t believe him but was still flustered enough to lower her guard a bit.

Once Indra and some of Wonkru peeps came in and disarmed the Children of Gabriel and Nikki Bang Bang and put them in some cells, she made the executive decision to leave RussHeda with the Believers/Faithful and let them deal with him. She instructed the guards at the door to not let anyone in despite what the might hear. Murphy hesitated even though Emori was gung-ho to let RussHeda meet his maker. Murphy, however, quickly realized that the disturbing things they were hearing wasn’t one man being slaughtered but instead several. He slipped up and told the guards that Russell was Sheidheda and he was killing everyone in the room. They threw open the door and RussHeda is revealed surrounded by dead (or near dead) bodies, absolutely drenched in blood, holding a large candelabra.

Chilling.

As Indra feared and Russheda knew would happen, the Wonkru members who were guarding the door took a knee in reverence to their returned Heda.

Disgusting. No big deal that he’s a mass murderer and a disgusting excuse for a human, I guess.

Bardo: Over on Bardo we’re taken back three months in to the past to see why Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza have apparently taken the tea. Long story short, I’m not 100% certain they all have or if they’re better at masking their feelings and motivations than poor Hope and they’re working some long game plan. It was hard to get a read on the situation.

It starts with Anders taking them all up to the surface so that they could see what they were getting themselves into. Octavia clarifies that the last war is to fight whatever people forced the Bardoian Giants (who are ten feet tall, by the way) to the surface and caused their genocide which Anders confirms.

Next, we have the four women in a training room where they show off their fighting skills to Anders and Levitt. Levitt comments that they need to make them loyal to the cause, to teach them what it’s all about and Anders agrees that they need to break their bonds, to make them loyal to Bardo instead of each other.

Hope is the definitely the one who is the least predictable and hates Anders and the Disciples and basically everything Bardo is all about. She resents everything they’ve done to her and her family. Echo, Diyoza, and Octavia all try to to talk her into calming her tits and learning to bury her thoughts and feelings down or she’ll get them all killed. She snarks at Echo that she’s (Echo) just happy to have someone give her orders to follow again.

Lulz.

In an attempt to indoctrinate their way of thinking to the ladies, Anders hooked Diyoza up to a simulation where we finally learn that the baby from the trailer was in fact fake Baby Hope as there’s a “threat” that Diyoza can’t protect her from and Anders and the Disciples come in and assist. In the simulation he explains that Baby Hope is for everyone to raise, not just Diyoza. She fights it and is terrified but once out of the simulation, Anders tells her to get with the program or he’ll send them one by one back to Penance to die alone.

What a dick.

While in the classroom filled with babies that has now become infamous we see the brainwashing that the children go though. We also see a lot of drawings of the anomaly stones, including the one we all originally thought was the poster. We also hear about Etherea being where a tall and scary mountain is and how the Shepherd was so brave or whatever. Yeah, yeah. If Bellamy isn’t in that biohazard medical waste closet that they zoomed in on at some point in this episode then that’s where he is. Or he really did die in 7×05 and I’ve been kidding myself which is seeming more and more likely with every single episode that passes and he doesn’t show up.

Anyway.

Echo is all, “These kids have it better than I ever did and I believe in what they’re teaching them and Hope is fed up with her to be honest. Next, they have a shooting contest where they’re blindfolded and Echo asks Anders if the weapons are lethal. When he confirms they’re not she takes out the other three women and hits the target.

Anders is delighted. The other three women (and Levitt) are not. Levitt helps Octavia up and makes sure she’s okay under Anders suspicious eye. Later he goes to her room to make sure again that she’s alright and he warns her that it’s important that she and the others pass the final test and to not get emotional and feel feelings. She mocks him a bit and the two have the sex.

Who saw that coming?

Everyone. Everyone saw that coming.

And not to be that person because I actually think they’re cute but the Bellamy/Levitt parallels are there and I see them and it’s weird. It’s just weird. Why make him a janitor to force me to that parallel in the first place if he’s never going to be one again outside of that plot service scene? Why?

So, the one jaw drop moment of the episode comes when Hope tries talking Echo into burning down the oxygen farm (sounds familiar) even though it would kill everyone inside Bardo and Echo kills her. It’s shocking for about ten seconds before we realize that it was just another simulation, the final test, and she passed. As did Octavia and Diyoza. Poor Hope, not only is everyone murdering her in their simulations but she also fails hers because she just can’t seem to let go of that bitterness in her heart. Worth noting that Hope being the problematic one in all of the simulations except her own makes sense she was definitely the one to make her unease and displeasure known the most.

Anders lines them all up and praises everyone who passed (and it’s okay that Hope didn’t even though she still needs to be taught a lesson) and since Echo is the star pupil, allows her to decide what Hope’s punishment should be. Echo decides that Hope needs her spirit broken to destroy her bonds and thinks five years on Penance alone will do it. After Hope is dragged off screaming by the guards Diyoza and Octavia shoot Echo some indecipherable looks. It’s really difficult to tell if the four of them have a plan or if the other three have a plan and Hope’s behavior was fucking it up or if Diyoza and Octavia have a plan and Echo is just off on her own plan. I truly can’t tell. And given my current level of complete and total disenchantment, I can’t even begin to muster the energy to speculate.

Honorable Mentions

Baby Making: I get the premise, it’s just very odd to look at. That’s really all I have to say about it. It’s mildly frightening.

DNRs:

DO NOT REVEAL – “The Flock”

• Sheidheda’s betrayal and subsequent massacre
• Octavia and Levitt romance
• Anything about the final Disciple test, including who passes or fails

That’s it for the next two weeks. Let’s hope this time away will give me the time to meditate and pray that the next seven episodes find a way to make me not want to rip my fake blonde hair out by the roots. By the time the finale ends airing, I want it to not have wasted my time for the last four years and been a complete and utter dumpster fire like the rest of 2020. I don’t feel like that’s a lot to ask. Just make it make sense and show me the people I care about. That’s literally all I need.

A special thank you to TVSource newbie (kinda) DeeDee for covering last weeks episode, Anaconda. Should it get picked up she will be covering it for us. If you haven’t had a chance to read it (which, if you like snark, you should), you can check it out here.

The 100 returns August 5th at 8/7c on The CW