'The 100' Season 7 Episode 14 Review: With two episodes left, Madi plays hero amid another senseless death
Spoiler Alert for 'The 100' Season 7 Episode 14 - 'A Sort of Homecoming'
Well it was difficult coming back here after what transpired in the previous episode of 'The 100', in the final moments of which we saw Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), aka the head, shoot Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley) aka the heart, in the heart. Clarke did so to save her daughter Madi (Lola Flannery) because Bellamy was set to take Madi's book of drawings of Flame memories to Bill Cadogan (John Pyper-Ferguson).
Bellamy was gone for most of the season and it is frustrating that his arc went the way it did in a way that made no sense. Bad writing is when a character suddenly becomes different and the writer's explanations don't suffice. If it did, we might have understood, but that's not where we are now.
But this is where we are. There are three episodes left in the seventh and final season of The CW post-apocalyptic show and we certainly cannot give up now. Let's take a look at this week's episode and what it means for the final two episodes of 'The 100'.
It was all for nothing
When Clarke steps into the anomaly, she is overcome with emotion. She is crying but when she notices where they are, she hears that they are in the Second Dawn bunker, back on Earth. Just as they get there, Cadogan takes some nano tracking program chip and disappears. Where did Cadogan go? We will soon find out.
One of the things viewers (including us) were most upset about was that it seemed that Bellamy's death was in vain. Clarke shot at Bellamy, did not manage to kill all the Disciple soldiers, and did not manage to get Madi's book before she went into the anomaly. Unfortunately, this week's episode only confirmed that Bellamy's death was, in fact, for nothing.
Sheidheda (JR Bourne) is alive and well enough and is in Bardo strapped to an M-Cap machine. Cadogan is right next to him and lo and behold, he has Madi's book. Though Cadogan thinks it is Sheidheda's, the latter corrects him and tells him it is Madi's. Sheidheda also offers to get Madi for Cadogan if Sheidheda is given reign of Sanctum and the moon is left alone.
Guilt is for losers
As soon as Cadogan disappeared, Gaia (Tati Gabrielle) who has been absent for most of the season tells Clarke and Indra (Adina Porter) that this is where she has been. Clarke then asks for Echo (Tasya Teles) and Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos). The new group then goes to the surface and then follows a bittersweet reunion for most of them while Clarke watches on.
When Echo asks Clarke where Bellamy is she tells them that he is dead. John Murphy (Richard Harmon) is understandably surprised because Bellamy was fine when they left. Clarke then says she had to kill him because he had Madi's book and that she tried "everything." Octavia walks towards Clarke and hugs her, saying she understands, while Echo says that they lost Bellamy a long time ago, that it was Cadogan's "meaning" that killed him. Then ensues a threeway hug between Clarke, Octavia, and Echo.
Meanwhile everyone except for Octavia (for obvious, Bloodreina reasons) goes back into the Second Dawn Bunker. When Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan) says they can find the anomaly stone on earth, Clarke breaks the Disciple helmet that will help them find it.
Of all of them, Murphy is the most upset when Clarke declares that "everyone who is from here, is here". He believes that the people on Sanctum are in danger and they ought to be brought to Earth as well, so he asks Raven and Emori (Luisa D'Oliveira) to fix the helmet, unbeknownst to Clarke. Of course, "hero Murphy" creeps Raven out, but Emori finds it hot -- and so do we. This might be something we have mentioned before, but to have Murphy come to where he is -- we could not be prouder.
In another corner of the bunker, Gabriel Santiago (Chuku Modu) finds a rusty piano in the recreation room and sets about to fix it. Meanwhile, Niylah (Jessica Harmon, who directs this week's episode) has found an old stash of alcohol and asks Jordan if he wants to partake -- she also helpfully tells him that it was his father's recipe. Echo walks away saying she is tired, while Jordan gives the alcohol to Hope Diyoza (Shelby Flannery), perhaps showing off his father's recipe a little.
Some moments of peace
In the midst of all this, we also get some moments of softness. The first comes when Eric Jackson (Sachin Sahel) and Nathan Miller (Jarod Joseph) have a long-awaited reunion. When Miller speaks about Bellamy, Jackson is there to comfort him and tell him that maybe it is Earth and not Sanctum that is their second chance.
Then there are the moments between Jordan and Hope, who are both members of the next generation as far as the characters of 'The 100' are concerned. While Gabriel plays the piano, they dance. Hope suddenly gets upset and runs away. It's Murphy who finds her, but Jordan gets there and tells Murphy that he's got this. Jordan understands that what Hope is feeling is survivor's guilt and explains that he felt it himself when he woke up from cryosleep and his parents were gone. Moments like these are too few and far between on 'The 100' and it is through them that the soul of the show truly comes out.
Later, a very drunk Niylah encounters Echo in one of the rooms and Echo comes clean that her real name is Ash. She feels sad that she did not get to tell Bellamy her real name because she did not want him to judge her for who she was, rather, she hoped he treated her for who she became. Niylah tells Echo that Bellamy did, else he would not have been with her for so long. We also learn that Niylah is part Azgeda and was named for Queen Nia (Brenda Strong), another nice callback to previous seasons.
It all goes to hell
Clarke seems to have accepted that she is, in fact, a bad guy. Madi is mad at Clarke for destroying the helmet and also for killing Bellamy. She is upset that Clarke decided for Madi again but Clarke says that this is what she does. Madi reminds Clarke that she was building her own life on Sanctum, making friends, and tells Clarke that the latter ruined not just her life, but also Clarke's. When Madi runs away from the room, she goes to the rec room where Gabriel tells Madi he will teach her how to play the piano.
Meanwhile, Octavia is doing her own Grounder ritual for Bellamy's funeral when Indra joins her. Octavia remains outside the Second Dawn bunker because it would seem she still has not come to terms with what happened in there (aka the Bloodreina, cannibalism storyline from Season 5) but Indra feels that she is equally guilty. Indra then tells Octavia that they will face their demons together and they go into the bunker.
Just in time, too, because the anomaly suddenly opens -- but nothing walks out. But Indra knows better as she, Octavia, and Gaia arm themselves. It is Sheidheda who has been sent to Earth to look for Madi. Sheidheda is playing the long game, however, and quietly follows Octavia when she goes looking for Clarke and continues to do so as Clarke joins in on the search for Madi.
When Clarke and Octavia reach the tech room where Murphy, Emori, and Raven are trying to fix the helmet -- with Jordan and Hope in tow -- Sheidheda locks them in after Hope tells them that Madi is in the rec room. He then goes to the rec room and stabs Gabriel. Sheidheda knows Madi is the key to transcendence, but that is not what Sheidheda wants. All he wants is to rule Sanctum, so he is willing to kill Madi to thwart Cadogan's plans. Gabriel is not dead, however, and he attacks Sheidheda, giving Madi enough time to run. Sheidheda repeatedly stabs Gabriel and runs after Madi, only to encounter Octavia, Indra, and Gaia.
This time, a four-way fight ensues and this time, Indra definitely wants to kill Sheidheda -- honestly, if she had done so in the last episode, so much trouble (and lives, including Bellamy's) would be avoided. But just before Indra can kill him, Sheidheda stabs himself in the gut and disappears back to Bardo.
It is now that Clarke realizes that they cannot stay on the planet. She wants to find the anomaly stone to get back to Sanctum -- it is important to note here that it is not because she wants to save them, but because she wants an army to protect Madi.
Madi, however, has other plans. She does not want Clarke to start a war over her and says that no one else will be killed to protect her. As Madi stabs herself in the gut to be taken to Bardo, another anomaly opens. This time, it leaves a bomb behind. Miller thinks quickly and puts the bomb in one of the bunker rooms before it goes off. Unfortunately, the bunker is hundreds of years old at this point and this causes the bunker to collapse, as we see it doing so on Emori and Murphy.
Final thoughts
We will be honest. At one point, we did wonder whether everyone would die. The episode ending certainly seemed to make it so. We do see from next week's promo, however, that some of them got out alive and presumably did find the anomaly stone -- including, unfortunately, a crying Murphy, making us fear the worst for Emori.
What has happened to Clarke? The positions that both she and Murphy took in this episode are almost interchangeable than the ones they would have taken from the earlier seasons of 'The 100'. Murphy is the new Clarke or has she become so tired of making sacrifices for the human race that she decided to be a bit selfish now? It has all come to naught, however, given that Madi willingly gave herself up to Cadogan.
Bellamy's death in the previous episode was sudden and the more we see, the more senseless it seems. That's the tragedy of it all. Bellamy turned to Cadogan to find meaning for all the violence, only to have his life end in such a meaningless way. Is that guilt ever going to weigh on Clarke? That Bellamy really did die for nothing?
Bellamy's death may have been meaningless, but his life wasn't as we saw how he was remembered by Octavia, Echo, and Murphy. Murphy quips that he learned to manipulate Raven by watching Bellamy doing so for six years. Just the mention of his name is enough to upset Murphy as Emori says that she misses him too.
Speaking of deaths, we lost another character this week and while Gabriel was only a part of the show for two seasons, he quickly became a part of the core group and a fan favorite. At least, Gabriel got a much better death than Bellamy did -- surrounded by his friends as Octavia recited the farewell message from the Ark.
So, with just two episodes left, it is all indicating that Cadogan is going to get his last war. But who is going to be the person to represent humanity as Jordan interpreted? When we first started the season, we all thought it would be Clarke, but should it be her anymore? The most likely candidate at this point seems to be Murphy. Unfortunately, we have a bad feeling when it comes to Madi's chances of survival -- a visual of a crying Clarke from the promo does not help.
Clarke keeps saying that she does not want to lose any more people, but it seems to be the only thing that is happening. Let's hope that the protagonist of the show can catch a break soon enough. It's easy to lose faith in Clarke, but she always comes through somehow. So even though it may be unwarranted at this point, we hope Clarke does what is right in the end.
'The 100' airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 8/7c.