'The 100' Season 7 Episode 10 Review: Last war or not, conflicts await both Bardo and Sanctum
Spoilers for 'The 100' Season 7 Episode 10 - 'A Little Sacrifice'
This week, we are returning to 'The 100' after a two-week midseason break and if the first episode back is anything to go by, the second half of the final season of the post-apocalyptic show is set to be much pacier. There are no casualties yet (of major characters, that is) but it does not mean that there won't be any this season. If we know 'The 100' at all, it's that such moments come at the most unexpected times, though, as we move closer to the final episode of the show, it only grows more likely.
The last we saw our heroes, things were starting to get a bit shaken up on both Bardo and Sanctum. A failed Reunification ceremony organized by Emori (Luisa D'Oliveira) got messy as the Eligius Prisoners — led by Nikki (Alaina Huffman) — and the Children of Gabriel — led by Nelson (Lee Majdoub) — took hostages with the WonKru guns they stole. Sheidheda (JR Bourne) was pulling the strings from behind the scenes and not even Indra (Adina Porter) could have stopped what was coming. The only person who seems to be playing it smartly on Sanctum is John Murphy (Richard Harmon), a trend that is continuing with this week's episode.
Meanwhile, Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan), Nathan Miller (Jarod Joseph), Niylah (Jessica Harmon), and Jordan Green (Shannon Kook) made it to Bardo, but they were shocked to learn that their friends, Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos), Echo (Tasya Teles), and Charmaine Diyoza (Ivana Milicevic) were seemingly part of the Disciple army now.
Let's take a look at the events of this week's episodes and what that means for the rest of the season.
The Last War is coming...or is it?
With Clarke seeing that her friends are determined to fight the last war, she negotiates a new deal with Bill Cadogan (John Pyper-Ferguson) so she can talk to them alone because she thinks they may just be pretending. Why is that? Because Clarke had the Flame (or Key as the Disciples call it) for one day, and their friends on Bardo knows that Clarke is no longer the Key. We get a confirmation of that soon enough when Diyoza expresses her anger at Echo continuing the charade when they could have escaped. But Echo has other plans. Meanwhile, we also learn that Gabriel has not gone full Disciple either and that he truly has learned his lesson.
Niylah and Jordan remain behind in the stone room to examine the "code" left behind by the Bardoans that was translated by Cadogan into the message that says the "last war" is coming. However, Jordan studies it closely and realizes the language could be like Korean and figures out that the "last war" could just be a test for humanity. He tells this to Gabriel who does not want Cadogan to know because he doesn't want the latter to represent humanity in a test that would determine the fate of their existence.
We get a tearful reunion between Clarke and Octavia, where neither of them even had to mention Bellamy Blake's (Bob Morley) name to know who they were each grieving for — as Raven and Miller exchange looks again. Meanwhile, Hope Diyoza (Shelby Flannery) runs in to warn them to get to the stone room — after Echo freed her and told her to gather the others — as proud mama Diyoza introduces her to Clarke. Diyoza is a little worried about Hope who is gunning for the Disciples' blood after what they did to her and her family, and if this isn't foreshadowing, we don't know what is. But more on that later.
The others, of course, figure out that Echo is gunning for vengeance as well and since Hope mentioned that Echo took Levitt's (Jason Diaz) help, Octavia rushes to him. He's beaten up, bloody, bound, and gagged and he tells them that Echo plans to use the bioweapons (synthesized from what turned the Bardoans into giant crystals) on the Disciples. Levitt wants to be freed to save the people, but Octavia apologizes and leaves him there. Well, there goes Levitavia presumably. We knew things were bound to get ugly when the two of them got it on in the previous episode.
We see Echo break again as Clarke and the others plead with her not to do what she wants to. It's Raven, however, who gets to her and reminds her that the Bellamy they spent six years with on the Ring would not want this, and just to drive the point home, tells her that she will stay behind if Echo goes ahead with her plan. Just then, they are interrupted by Anders (Neal McDonough) who seems really upset that they just could not rise above themselves.
Diyoza hands him the bioweapon, but Hope slashes his throat and takes it. Just as she is about to put a drop into the ventilator system, Diyoza reaches out, and well, the Disciples were not lying. Diyoza begins to crystallize and tells Hope to be better than her. Because the death came at the very end of the episode, we don't get to really mourn her, but we are certain it will have an impact on the episodes to come. It must be especially hard for Octavia, who (thinks she) lost her brother just days ago.
Indra kneels
Clarke and the others better hurry up because the Sanctum they will be returning to is not the one they left behind. Murphy and Emori tend to the Faithful who were attacked by Sheidheda as Sheidheda gets his Grounder fashion on and we don't know how JR Bourne pulls off the Grounder look just as well as he did the Lightbourne look. Sheidheda's first stop after the massacre is to get Madi Griffin (Lola Flannery) to kneel. The terrified girl does it and she's going to need a lot more therapy from Eric Jackson (Sachin Sahel) once all this is over. Murphy finds Madi later and takes her with him to keep her safe.
Sheidheda's next step is to announce to all of WonKru who he really is. Indra and some remaining WonKru soldiers rush to the palace to find him and to put an end to it, she challenges him to combat, which Sheidheda relishes because it means a return to the "old ways." Indra's a mighty warrior, but Sheidheda is proving to be a fierce companion. Just as he is about to kill Indra, Madi jumps from behind and attacks him — a la Arya Stark killing the Night King in 'Game of Thrones' — but only manages to slash his eye. Sheidheda then turns his attention toward Madi, but Indra tells him she will kneel if he spares Madi. Indra kneels, but Sheidheda being the murderer that he is, tells his soldiers to kill Madi (and the children of the Sanctumiites) anyway, though they seem reluctant to.
As the soldiers try to ambush the Sanctumiites in the skeleton room where the injured were being treated, they come upon an empty room with just the dead left behind. Murphy had rounded everyone up and taken them to the reactor room to keep them safe. Sheidheda will certainly consider this a threat of war and is likely to do everything he can to kill them. Emori's acknowledgment of Murphy turning out to be a good leader is something we echo as well.
Final thoughts
Jordan relating his understanding of the Korean language is perhaps the first time we got an indication that other languages survived on the Ark. He is a genius but mostly, we are glad that he seems to be going back to his old, cheery, enthusiastic self. Miller's line, "Get the flock out of here," could be the best of the episode and we hope to get more such dialogues from Miller — who is finally getting more screentime — till the end of the season.
We still believe Bellamy is alive and we think he might come back in the final moments of next week's episode. It might be a relief for Octavia that her brother is really alive, as it would be for Clarke. We are not certain how Echo would react but seeing her forego her desire for vengeance could mean that she is not as dark as we thought she turned out to be. Either way, a Becho reunion would be difficult nonetheless.
Many viewers might have written off the Sanctum storyline during the first half of the season, but it is proving to be one of the best of the entire show even. It's giving Murphy a moment to shine – one that he truly deserves. We just hope he makes it out alive. 'The 100' airs on on Wednesday nights at 8/7c on The CW.