'The 100' Season 7 Episode 8: Did Reese join Callie and Trikru? 5 questions we have about the potential prequel
Spoilers for 'The 100' Season 7 Episode 8 'Anaconda'
This week, the much-awaited prequel backdoor pilot for 'The 100' aired on The CW, giving us many answers but also leading to many questions. The phenomenal episode gave us answers on what happened after Becca Franco (Erica Cerra) landed back on Earth after the first Praimfaya and how her encounter with Bill Cadogan (John Pyper-Ferguson) and the Second Dawn members went. We also met Cadogan's children, Callie (Iola Evans) and Reese (Adain Bradley), both on opposing sides in the factions after the first Praimfaya.
Suffice to say, we have plenty of questions after the prequel episode. Not only does it open up so much potential for the second half of the final season of 'The 100', but it also gives us the possibility of this universe continuing, with many more fresh stories still waiting for us. We learned that Callie created Trigedasleng -- the language used by the Grounders -- and took the Flame from Becca, potentially being the first Commander, even though we thought it was Becca earlier. Another Easter egg came in the form of Trikru, which we met as a Grounder clan, but was revealed to be a protest movement from before the first nuclear apocalypse. We also learned why the Second Dawn bunker was empty when we first came across it in the fourth season.
Based on everything we learned in this episode, and assuming that The CW orders the prequel to series, we have a bunch of questions that we need the answers to. 'Anaconda' is clearly only the tip of the iceberg in what showrunner Jason Rothenberg has planned.
What happened to Reese?
We immediately know that Reese is starving for affection and attention from his father who seems to be more impressed by Callie. Sibling rivalry isn't easy, but it must be especially more difficult when you are part of the last remaining members of the human race. Reese's actions are primarily guided by making his father happy, including standing against Callie when she wants to bring in more folks into the bunker, and in his treatment of Becca who refused to give Cadogan the anomaly stone code for what Cadogan believes is "transcendence."
After Becca is burnt at the stake, Callie, her friend August (Leo Howard), and some other members revolt and take Becca's Nightblood serum, breaking away from Second Dawn and going to the surface, while Reese promises his father that he will retrieve the Flame from Callie. These people are potentially the ancestors of the Grounders. We also see Cadogan leading the remaining Second Dawn members into the anomaly, but we don't see Reese anywhere.
It is possible that by the time Cadogan and the others go to Bardo, Reese could have broken away from them as well, given how Cadogan ended up treating both his sister and mother. Reese may see through Cadogan's hero and god complex and may pull through to become Callie's military leader.
What did Becca see in the anomaly?
Becca was given heightened powers thanks to the Flame which helped her hear the sounds from the anomaly, something she described as harmonic music. During her study of the anomaly stone, she realized that seven symbols make no sound at all. When she presses them, the stone glows a luminescent white. When Becca puts her hand in, she says it feels cool. She soon disappears into it. When she reappears, she is shivering and tells Cadogan that a judgment day is coming. She insists that if Cadogan leads people there, he will wipe out what's left of the human race.
Becca is highly secretive about what she saw, choosing not to reveal it to Callie either. However, should Callie take the Flame, she could herself see what Becca saw. We don't know why it frightened Becca so much and what it means but suffice to say, the battle to stop Cadogan from getting that code will be Clarke Griffin's (Eliza Taylor) main mission through the rest of the season.
Why is Bill Cadogan so adamant on 'transcendence'?
One major question we have is why Cadogan remains intent on finding the secret code and achieving "transcendence"? We know he has a hero and god complex. When Callie tells him that Becca could help remake the planet, he seems to want to be the only one who saves the human race, so much so that he seems to be willing to lose his family.
How did the Grounders' culture evolve?
Now that we know that Callie was potentially the first Commander, given her pacifist attitude, we wonder how the Grounders came to be a violent society. By the time Clarke and the others come down to Earth nearly a century after Callie's time, the Grounders select their Commander by making children with Nightblood fight to the death -- this seems oddly against Callie's philosophies. A lot would have obviously changed and the potential prequel series must make the connection between the backdoor pilot and what we learned through the first few seasons of 'The 100'.
Why did the Nightblood bearers dwindle?
We know that the survivors needed Nightblood to survive the surface, which means Callie gave any and every survivor that was not in the bunker Becca's Nightblood serum. Ideally, this would mean that every Grounder would have been born with Nightblood. But again, by the time we meet Clarke and the others, Nightblood is a rare genetic condition and not everyone is born with it -- in fact, it is quite rare. Was it an evolutionary mechanism that led to Nightblood bearers dwindling, or were there other groups of survivors?
'The 100' airs on The CW on Wednesday nights at 8/7c.