I know people are surely tired of my reviews, spending week after week saying how great The 100 is. But, you can always count on me to be honest about with my thoughts. The 100 is a great show because it has mastered the art of social and political conflict, and awesome, pulse-pounding action. “Heavy Lies the Crown”, while obviously carrying political overtones, was not without its action, either, which made for an entertaining episode.
This week on The 100: Roan is challenged to combat by someone from another clan. Roan is not healthy yet, so Abby and Kane try to stop the combat from happening. Bellamy & Monty lead a team to recover an important item from another piece of the Ark, but when their own people are being held captive there, they have to change their strategy. Clarke struggles with leading the people into impending peril. Jasper has a new lease on life.
Even though our political climate right now is tense at best, the political story of Clarke’s leadership was really effective. It’s easy for shows like this to push forward into their new stories and forget their roots, but The 100 instead brought things full circle. They need to go back and live on the Ark, and Clarke is struggling with ethical leadership dilemmas that she once criticized Jaha for making. If nothing else, this story serves as a reminder that it’s much easier to criticize those in charge than take charge yourself. I guess you could say that’s a running theme of the show. Jaha and Kane were both kind of jerks earlier in the show, but we’ve learned that they’re not bad guys. Pike’s term as chancellor also pushes the “easier said than done” mentality. The fact that the politics and leadership have come full circle is a really important story. Remember: It’s much easier to write an internet comment than to do something productive and effective.
Bellamy really continues this theme to a lesser degree. He had to decide if they could live with themselves for saving a piece of machinery instead of the lives of human beings. He does what he believes (and the people that he saved believe it too) is right, and he is still met with criticism when he returns to Clarke and Raven. Eliza Taylor, Lindsey Morgan and Bob Morley all did a fantastic job within this conflict.
But the real acting award for this week goes to Devon Bostick’s Jasper. Jasper has changed so much over these few seasons, and exploring the “live like we’re dying” mantra is new but extremely fun territory for Bostick. We’ve seen Jasper do lovable dork, warrior, lovelorn grief, but this may be my favorite Jasper yet.
Also, while we’re talking character growth and development: Octavia the assassin is my new favorite.
So while all the chips are still falling into place, The 100’s 4th season is shaping up to be an exciting, politically charged season and I can’t wait to see where its going next.
What did you guys think? Did you enjoy this episode? Let us know in the comments!
The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on the CW
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