'The 100' Season 7 Episode 6 Review: Queen Indra, Diyoza, and chills-inducing Nakara ramp up the excitement
Spoilers for 'The 100' Season 7 Episode 6 - 'Nakara'
Each week, 'The 100' on The CW excels in giving its viewers quality content and the sixth episode of the final season was no different. Titled 'Nakara' and written by Erica Meredith, this week's episode showed us why the eponymous planet is not populated -- at least by people who are alive. That said, the episode also brought back a character we have been waiting for and more or less confirmed a fan theory that has been going around since before the season premiered. Suffice to say, there's more to learn about the consequences of what we learned. We also get a character get her up-front and center story, one we have been waiting for quite some time. Let's unpack the events of 'Nakara' and what it means for future episodes of 'The 100'.
Damn Diyoza!
The sixth episode opens with Charmaine Diyoza (Ivana Milicevic), whom we have not seen since she was kidnapped by the Disciples of Bardo in the second episode. We see that Diyoza was taken to the M-Cap (the memory extracting technology) just like Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos), but unlike Octavia, she used pain to block her memories. This leads the Disciple scientist to "break her" -- not Levitt (Jason Diaz) thankfully -- and so follows a montage that builds up the horror mood of the episode (more on that later). However, knowing Diyoza, she has plotted her escape. As one of the Disciples come to feed her (both hands are chained after Diyoza's previous violent antics), she bites his neck. Even though he frees her, she bites out (we kid you not) his jugular), scoops out his eye with a spoon to use for the retinal scans in the Disciples' compound, and steals his uniform. Diyoza looks fantastic in uniform -- no wonder she was one of the most feared warriors from before the first Praimfaya. When Diyoza runs into the first group of Disciple soldiers, she takes them down easily. Just as she gets ready to do the same to another group, it is revealed that they are, in fact, her daughter, Hope (Shelby Flannery), Octavia, Echo (Tasya Teles), and Gabriel Santiago (Chuku Modu). The five of them set to go to the anomaly stone so they can go back to Sanctum.
When even Diyoza notices Echo's extra-somber mood, she learns that Bellamy is dead (though we are holding out hope that he isn't) and comforts Octavia. As they reach the room where the anomaly stone is kept, Octavia notices Levitt who is now a janitor. Levitt tells them that it is too dangerous to go in there, and instead to go to the surface. We are living for these Levitavia scenes -- and were they flirting? Levitt tells Octavia, "It was worth it. To see another way to live. To feel what you made me feel. Now punch me again and run." Octavia trusts Levitt, but Gabriel has his doubts. Echo calls him out saying that he only wants answers on what the anomaly is -- and it seems that she may be right. Instead of risking his trust in Levitt because according to most Disciples, the surface is unsurvivable, Gabriel instead knocks out the others and surrenders himself, only to be knocked down by the Disciples himself. Et tu, Gabriel?
All Hail Queen Indra
Meanwhile, back on the Sanctum, things are in a very precarious condition. Remember that there are now four different factions boiling together in the community -- WonKru, the Eligius prisoners, the Faithful (those who believe in the Primes' divinity), and the Children of Gabriel (those who want to take the Primes down). Last week, Indra (Adina Porter) had uncovered that Russell Prime (JR Bourne) was, in fact, Sheidheda. She had his mind drive removed so that he would not be able to resurrect. It's clear that Russheda (as we are calling Sheidheda in Russell's body now) has a plan brewing in his head -- and Indra is worried.
Of course, that is made worse when it turns out that all the ammunition (over 50 guns and at least 2000 rounds according to her count) has been stolen. She quickly deduces that it was Nikki (Alaina Huffman) and the other Eligius prisoners who did the deed. Nikki is upset over her husband, Hatch's (Chad Rook) death, courtesy of Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan). While this is happening, the leader of the Children of Gabriel, Nelson (Lee Majdoub) goes to talk to Russell -- he does not know that Sheidheda occupies Russell's body now but the latter is only too happy to tell him. With a little bit of manipulation, it even looks like Russheda may have Nelson's -- and through him, the Children of Gabriel -- fealty, as he likes to put it.
We also see that Madi (Lola Flanery) is continuing to draw images of objects/scenes that she herself hasn't seen. It's clear these images may be coming from whatever the Flame left in her mind. The latest image is that of the anomaly stone. This implies that one of the past commanders knew of the existence of the anomaly stone -- giving more weight to the Second Dawn theory. All Madi wants to do is play soccer with the other kids, but Indra has other plans. Indra knows that WonKru needs to be united if she needs to control what is happening on Sanctum. As she gets Madi ready to speak to WonKru, Eric Jackson (Sachin Sahel), John Murphy (Richard Harmon), and Emori (Luisa D'Oliveira) come walking in as the protective uncles and aunt they are.
Jackson and Murphy want Madi to be safe -- they see that she is frightened and do not want to put her through this. Can we just say how heartwarming and potentially sob-inducing this is? To see Murphy become so protective of Clarke Griffin's (Eliza Taylor) adopted daughter is not something we would have foreseen while watching the first season of 'The 100' (remember Charlotte?). Instead, as Jackson walks Madi away, Murphy and Emori give Indra the pep talk she deserves after Indra tells them about Sheidheda. Murphy tells Indra, "It doesn’t take a genius to figure out who was really running things down there while Octavia was painting her face with blood," while Emori says, "The fact that you don’t want it is why you should do it."
Pumped up, Indra talks to WonKru (with Murphy and Emori watching like proud parents), but of course, there is a challenger. But being the badass warrior that she is, she takes him down -- she is not asking for them to follow her, she is ordering it. Adina Porter kills this scene, especially as she says, "We rose from the ashes of the bunker, and flew across the stars to find a new home." Indra even puts her challenger in charge of retrieving the stolen guns -- punishing him and choosing to trust him at the same time.
A planet of horrors
When Clarke, Raven, Nathan Miller (Jarod Joseph), Niylah (Jessica Harmon), and Jordan Green (Shannon Kook) go through the anomaly stone for the first time, they end up on the wrong planet -- Nakara. Raven sees on her Disciple helmet's screen that the anomaly stone is in a cave, and the five of them trudge to find it. On their way, they come across a body buried in sand, and Clarke is relieved that it is human. Jordan is disappointed that it wasn't an alien, but that will change soon. As they crawl through a small space to get to the stone, a spider-like creature jumps on Raven and starts attacking her -- it's a good thing she's wearing the helmet -- but she manages to fight it off. In the cave, Miller and Niylah also notice a cloth with the symbol of the Second Dawn that they identify easily. What's the Second Dawn symbol (from before the first Praimfaya on Earth) doing on a planet light-years away? They also notice there is acid on the walls. Unfortunately, just as they realize there's a barrier between them and the stone, the wall moves, separating Raven and Clarke from the others. It turns out that "the cave" is actually a living organism. Jordan finally got his alien and we're certain Jackson would be jealous.
We have been waiting for some quality Raven and Clarke scenes since the season premiered and we were not disappointed. Cue the Princess Mechanic shippers. Raven asks Clarke how she remains so strong, as it's clear that Raven is bearing the heavy burden of the deaths of the four Eligius prisoners. She also expresses guilt for not going in herself because of her fear at the time. Clarke comforts her and tells her, "If we have a soul, yours isn’t cracked. You’re a good person, maybe the best I know." After Jackson, Jordan, and Niylah shoot at the alien, the wall moves again and they are reunited and get to the anomaly stone. This time Raven wants to get it right, so she takes her time in picking the planet. However, it's a race against time as more of the spider-like creatures come for them. Raven succeeds and the group goes through the anomaly. So many scenes in this week's episode make it the perfect watch for Halloween -- no other scene in 'The 100' even has been so nail-bitingly and toe-curlingly close.
Final thoughts
When we first met Levitt, he told Octavia that he knows more than Level 12 Disciples. If that's the case -- and he appears really genuine -- it seems that some of the secrets of Bardo's surface are being hidden deliberately. Are the native Bardoans alive after all? Is there more to the planet than the underground, artificial gardens that we see? We finally got an Indra-worthy episode and we could not be happier. Porter shined throughout the episode as a character who has only seen herself as a soldier, never a leader. Indra leading WonKru was a long time coming, perhaps even since Season 2.
We might be biased, but we don't think there is another show like 'The 100' that portrays character growth so well. Case in point: Murphy being protective of Madi and stepping in between her and Indra to do so. Another aspect to note is Clarke and Raven's friendship. When the show started out, they were rival romantic interests for Finn Collins (Thomas McDonell). Then there is Indra becoming a leader, Diyoza comforting Octavia, and so on. It was also quite nice to see Murphy and Indra being so close. With the prequel episode only being a fortnight away, we are getting closer to the answers we have been looking for -- specifically, on who the Disciples and the Shepherd are, why Clarke is the key to the last war, and just how the anomaly stone fits into all this. The answers might come in slowly, but the wait looks to be worth it.
'The 100' airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 8/7c.