”Is that who you are now?”
By Eric Goldman
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Well, he did it. And man, it felt pretty sickening, huh?
Seeing Bellamy, Pike and the others return at the start of this episode, knowing they’d just massacred 300 people (well, 299…) had quite an impact, even though it’s still hard to reconcile how Bellamy could have gone through with this.
I interviewed The 100’s showrunner, Jason Rothenberg, for IGN’s Channel Surfing this week and we discussed the Bellamy storyline and the reaction it’s gotten. Rothenberg made some interesting points about how Bellamy sees the situation, including noting that his main direct interaction with the Grounders has been them attacking and killing his people – and that he wasn’t there for any of the alliance with Lexa and her people in Season 2, but knows they ended up betraying them and leaving.
All of which makes sense intellectually, but I still feel the show didn’t properly sell it on screen or emotionally. We still needed to feel Bellamy be that angry/scared that he would agree to participate in this massacre, and the explosion at Mount Weather (which, by The 100 standards, was small potatoes on the death/loss count) and losing non-entity Gina wasn’t enough to do it, dramatically.
Now that being said, Bellamy had some strong material in this episode, even as it required work by the audience to go with him having gotten to this place in the first place. His big scene with Clarke was terrific – though hardly a happy reunion. Bellamy turned out to have quite a bit of resentment inside him as he declared things like, “You left me. You left everyone. You are not in charge here. And that’s a good thing because people die when you’re in charge.” Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor were excellent in this scene and even with my misgivings about the Bellamy storyline, Morley is certainly giving his all with it.
Bob Morley as Bellamy and Michael Beach as Pike on The 100
Michael Beach as Pike and Bob Morley as Bellamy on The 100
Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia and Bob Morley as Bellamy on The 100
Michael Beach as Pike and Bob Morley as Bellamy on The 100
Isaiah Washington as Jaha and Michael Beach as Pike on The 100
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Isaiah Washington as Jaha on The 100
Erica Cerra as Alie on The 100
Isaiah Washington as Jaha, Erica Cerra as Alie, and Michael Beach as Pike on The 100
Michael Beach as Pike on The 100
Eliza Taylor as Clarke and Paige Turco as Abby on The 100
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Paige Turco as Abby and Eliza Taylor as Clarke on The 100
Henry Ian Cusick as Kane on The 100
Eliza Taylor as Clarke and Paige Turco as Abby on The 100
Henry Ian Cusick as Kane and Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia on The 100
Seeing Bellamy so sure he was doing the right thing to protect his people and that he and his leader Pike were justified in their atrocities, I suddenly realized… Bellamy has become Anakin Skywalker, standing on Mustafar telling Obi-Wan he’s brought “Peace, freedom, justice and security to my new Empire!” Which I guess makes Pike the Emperor, which sounds about right. Though he’s not enjoying himself nearly as much as Palpatine did.
Yeah, Pike… That guy sucks. His backstory may be one of tragedy, but he’s so single-minded, so not looking at the big picture, that he has made himself into perhaps the most hateable villain this show has seen so far. Michael Beach is an excellent actor, but it’s hard not to join the “Kill Pike!” contingent.
Going back Bellamy, he’s so lost and so compromised now, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to earn redemption for him, if that’s the path he returns to down the line. I don’t know how Clarke, Octavia, Kane and the others can work alongside him again after what he’s done. Yes, of course, this is a show where many of the characters have participated in some sort of atrocity by now, but there’s something so visceral and so, “Yes, Bellamy, there was another way” about this situation that it’s particularly unsettling.
It was definitely good to have other characters, including the aforementioned Clarke, Octavia and Kane, say what many of us are thinking to Bellamy. What seems so foolhardy (beyond its ghastliness) about Pike’s approach is how hopelessly outnumbered they are by Grounders, even with guns, which made it good to hear Kane tell Bellamy, “You just started a war that will kill us all.”
Wow, I’ve spent a lot of time on Bellamy! And the thing was, this was another really busy episode that actually furthered several plotlines in engaging ways.
Jaha returning to Arkadia when he did (loved his “I didn’t see that coming” reaction to the change form Camp Jaha) was a nice curveball to throw into the middle of all the tension going on with Pike and the Grounders. And it was fun seeing Alie actually seem a little concerned in her commentary (“You’ve lost him”) as Jaha shared his new beliefs with Pike, who ultimately let Jaha do his preacher thing…
…which brought him into contact with Raven, in an enjoyable character crossover that we haven’t seen before. I must confess to being a bit confused on this whole chip thing. It’s a computer chip deal, but you don’t implant it in someone, they just ingest it? That thing is pretty big and jagged looking and looks uncomfortable as hell to swallow! (Yes, I just gave everyone a joke opening. You’re welcome!).
Raven’s plight continued to be vividly portrayed by Lindsey Morgan, as she had an excellent, heart-breaking scene where she explained how horrible it feels to not be able to do things she used to take for granted… all of which set up her decision at the end to take the chip, and that very cool, suitably dramatic moment where Alie appeared before her in the rain, telling her it was time to “get back to work.”
Meanwhile it was very fun seeing Murphy and Emori in full Bonnie and Clyde mode, as the two were now lovers and criminals in arms. Very interesting how that one Grounder recognized the symbol on Alie’s chip… Just how far has Alie’s reach been already?
Lexa choosing to go along with Clarke’s suggestion to not retaliate against Arkadia at all is huge, but seems potentially disastrous and foolhardy for Lexa. She just got her people back on her side and proved her power again, but now she’s going against all their traditions by letting an outright atrocity slide. Finn was demanded as retribution for what he did, so you’d think the Grounders would at least demand Pike, the one everyone knows orchestrated and led the massacre, to make things right here – though, granted, that would be very difficult to accomplish right now. In Season 2, we were told Lexa was progressive and more peace-minded than other Grounders, but I’m guessing this move could set up an actual coup. Indra suggesting maybe the Grounders use guns too may be an ominous sign of things to come…
Lastly, what a relief it was to see Miller was only acting like a horrible person to Lincoln, and actually sneaking him medicine for his fellow interned Grounder.
Bellamy, Bellamy, Bellamy. This is a really tricky, daring storyline that unfortunately feels very rushed and not earned. It’s still hard to accept that Bellamy has sided with Pike and done the things he’s done alongside him, with his move to save Indra not nearly enough to make up for helping kill hundreds of people who were there to help them. That being said, there was a lot of really strong material in “Hakeldama”, as Bellamy found himself now the enemy of, well, everyone who isn’t Pike and his a-hole brigade (Screw you, Farm Station!) and had some suitably intense confrontations as a result.
Bellamy handcuffing and attempting to lock up Clarke and Clarke — with Octavia’s help! — breaking free and shock lashing Bellamy pretty much told you all you had to about how things have changed for these former allies. While Jasper and Monty sat this one out – damn, wonder what Monty is gonna think of his mom and the rest of Farm Station’s current actions? – almost everyone else was given a notable part of the story, including the returning Jaha and his new best buddy, Alie… who now have begun bringing Raven into their fold. Lexa’s decision meanwhile seems foolhardy and naïve, but perhaps that’s the point, because this is certainly not a forgiving world.
