God Complex

God Complex is the eighth episode of the fourth season of The 100. It is the fifty-third episode of the series overall.

''After a disappointing discovery, Clarke and Abby question how far they're willing to go. Meanwhile, Jaha finds a lead to the mysterious Second Dawn.''

Plot
The episode unfolds with the lab, where they begin testing the innocent man Emori marked as "Baylis". It starts off well, he'd survive the amount of radiation in the black rain, however, when they increase the radiation levels, they do not succeed, as Abby’s radiation test subject dies a violent, ominous death, coughing up black blood and deteriorating when the radiation levels in the chamber hit the point that'll soon reach the entire planet. The test is deemed a failure.

Meanwhile, at Arkadia, Jaha gathers everyone for the funeral of the unfortunate eighteen that died during the black rain. Bellamy is conflicted on staying in the camp or following Jasper into the woods. Eventually, Jasper finally manages to convince him to join in their little day trip into the woods, Bellamy mostly going to keep an eye on him. However, the most significant story line in Arkadia unfolds when Jaha overhears Niylah repeating the phrase "From the ashes, we will rise," when she's saying her prayers to the 18 innocent lives lost in the black rain. He recalls that phrase from Second Dawn that has made its way into Grounder mythology. Second Dawn and Becca’s scientific breakthroughs are linked. Jaha convinces Kane to take him to Indra so they can speak to her daughter Gaia, the current flame-keeper.

Not long after, Emori’s lie about the test subject’s identity surfaces, resulting in her and Murphy getting locked up. Emori's fear for being the test subject resurfaces as she knows she is the next test subject. She knows that she's the outsider among them, thus making her expendable, so to save herself, she had to put forth an alternative, but her means of doing so leads to the exact situation that she feared. Having betrayed everyone and tricked them into murdering an innocent man, Emori positions herself as the next in line to be tested in the radiation chamber. The others are quick to choose her as the next test subject, which hints that they always found her expendable. Now they have justification to serve as their right to put her in the radiation chamber.

Jasper and Bellamy are in the woods wondering around, until dark. After having enough of Jasper's attitude concerning the end of the world, he decides to stop and talk some sense into him. Jasper explains why he feels that he must embrace the end of the world, and tells him to open his eyes cause "The clock is ticking, and it has been since we landed on this terrible...beautiful planet." When they arrive back at Arkadia, Jasper joins the rest of the others in the party, Bellamy soon tagging along with a girl and drinking hallucinogenic tea with the rest of the others.

Back at the lab, Luna is not wlling to cooperate with their methods of saving the world. When Luna refuses to give more of her bone marrow, they’re faced with an even larger ethical dilemma. Now they have to violate not just one person’s consent to conduct the experiment, but two. Roan is forced to fight Luna and render her unconscious.

In Polis, Jaha, Monty and Kane arrive to find Indra already there waiting for them. Kane walks towards her and receives a punch from her. She explains that her hostility towards him and the sky people is because they made an alliance with her enemy, Azgeda, saving them but not her people. Kane later explains that he came to speak to her daughter Gaia. She takes them to her.

Gaia explains that the Second Dawn symbol is the holy symbol of their order. It adorns the crypt of the first commander, Becca. The crypt is in the temple. But there is one complication, it's controlled by Azgeda, as are the tunnels. Kane tells Indra that they have the royal seal and that there'll be no need for a fight.

They are soon stopped by Azgeda. Kane tells them that they seek safe passage to the temple and show them the royal seal. They allow them to pass. However, this does not convince Indra. The first chance she gets, she picks up Monty's gun and shoots down all of them. Kane is furious, but Indra explains that if there is a bunker inside the temple, Azgeda will never see the inside. She continues ahead, as Jaha urges Kane forward telling him that the war isn't theirs to fight. They enter the temple. Gaia tells them that it's beneath the altar. Jaha digs around and finds the entrance, however, there is one problem. The key won't open the entrance.

In the lab, they are preparing Emori for the radiation chamber. Abby doesn't manage to inject her, so Clarke takes over. After contemplating, she injects herself instead. Her mother is not happy with this. After two hours has passed, she's getting ready to enter the chamber. Abby doesn't want to let her go in. She explains that she "saw it" just like Raven saw the rocket. Abby then moves over to smash the radiation chamber until it's unuseable.

After a while, back in Polis, they are about to give up, when Monty has a thought. He ponders for a moment and asks them that what if the phrase "From the ashes, we shall rise" is not a motto, but an instruction? Upon realizing this, Jaha puts the key in the flame, and it burns into a smaller key with the number twelve etched on it. Jaha tries to place it in the keyholder and turns it. It opens up and they enter the bunker that is now the only option left to save everyone from radiation in less than ten days.

Starring

 * Eliza Taylor as Clarke Griffin
 * Paige Turco as Abigail Griffin
 * Bob Morley as Bellamy Blake
 * Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia Blake (credit only)
 * Devon Bostick as Jasper Jordan
 * Christopher Larkin as Monty Green


 * Lindsey Morgan as Raven Reyes
 * Richard Harmon as John Murphy
 * Zach McGowan as Roan
 * Isaiah Washington as Thelonious Jaha
 * Henry Ian Cusick as Marcus Kane

Guest Starring

 * Adina Porter as Indra
 * Sachin Sahel as Eric Jackson
 * Jarod Joseph as Nathan Miller
 * Chelsey Reist as Harper McIntyre
 * Tati Gabrielle as Gaia
 * Luisa D'Oliveira as Emori


 * Jessica Harmon as Niylah
 * Nadia Hilker as Luna
 * Ben Sullivan as Riley
 * Bradley Stryker as Rock Line Thief (credited as "Baylis")
 * Alyson Bath as Bree
 * Jason Day as Azgeda warrior

Quotes

 * Jaha: "I know it took courage to be outside with us today, to stand together now in the face of grave danger and grave tragedy. On the Ark, rain like this was only a dream. Now it's a nightmare because we know it could turn at any second and kill us, just like it did to 18 of our brothers and sisters, who we honor today among them, Erin, Samuel, and Louis. May we meet again."


 * Jasper: "Too many funerals, too little time."


 * Bellamy: "Jasper, it's not safe out there."
 * Jasper: "What else is new?"


 * Niylah: "Kriken sonraun en branon. Kom graun, oso na groun op. Kom folau, oso na gyon op." (Old life and new. From the Earth, we will grow. From the ashes, we will rise.)


 * Jaha (to Kane): "I think there's a reason 'from the ashes we will rise' became a Grounder prayer just like I think there was a reason that a corporate logo became their sacred symbol."


 * Harper (to Monty): "Well, looks like someone's moving up in the world. It's just too bad in 10 days, there won't be a world to move up in."


 * Monty: "I have to go."
 * Harper: "So go. I'll be here if you get back. When. I mean when."


 * Murphy: "How's the weather, Reyes? Forecast still calling for death?"


 * Luna: "Hunting for someone else to kill. What's the matter with you people?"


 * Jasper: "Open your eyes! The clock is ticking, and it has been since we landed on this terrible...beautiful planet."
 * Bellamy: "What the hell does that mean?"
 * Jasper: "It means we are living on borrowed time, all of us."


 * Jasper (to Bellamy): "What is the point in beating yourself up over all of the the crappy things you've done? You did them! And and don't say you had reasons, because at the end of the day, at the end of the world, nobody gives a damn about your reasons, because they are your reasons. No matter how much you punish yourself, it's not gonna change anything. It's not gonna bring anyone back. The way I see it is we can spend our last days wallowing in our reasons or we can do – we can do whatever the hell we want! Really mean it this time."


 * Raven: "Abby, there has to be something that doesn't make us murderers."
 * Abby: "Jackson and I have examined every possibility. And the only thing that we know for sure is that if we do nothing, we die."


 * Luna: "I won't allow my blood to kill any more innocent people."


 * Luna: "Is there no line you won't cross in order to survive?"
 * Roan: "Survival requires sacrifice."


 * Raven: "So you're gonna strap her down and take her bone marrow? Welcome to Mount Weather."


 * Indra: "What I know is that Azgeda marched on Arkadia, and yet you made another alliance with them, a deal to save their people, not mine."
 * Kane: "I know how it looks, but, believe me, we're still trying to find a way to save everyone."
 * Indra: "Then you are a fool."
 * Kane: "You're fighting for a city that won't exist in 10 days. What's more foolish than that?"


 * Indra (to Kane): "The only hope we ever have: to die a warrior's death."


 * Indra (to Kane): "The closer we get to Praimfaya, the less alliances seem to mean."


 * Abby (to Raven): "First, we survive. Then we find our humanity again."


 * Roan: "We're doing the right thing."
 * Clarke: "You sure about that?"
 * Roan: "Certainty's a luxury leaders can't afford."
 * Clarke: "I'm no king."
 * Roan: "Maybe not, but you were born for this."


 * Gaia: [reads inscription]
 * Monty: "What does that mean?:
 * Indra: "It means 'salvation lies within.'"


 * Kane (to Indra): "I fear that jus drein, jus daun will be the end of us all."


 * Jasper: "Everyone's gonna die, Bellamy. We can go out like them or like us. The ending's the same, but who says the journey has to suck?"


 * Murphy: "Who the hell do you think you are, huh?"
 * Clarke: "I'm trying to save us."
 * Murphy: "Save us? Ah, right. Wanheda, savior of us all! But maybe you're forgetting the last time you saved us, I was saving you!"
 * Clarke: "I'm not forgetting."
 * Murphy: "You haven't forgotten? Then, please, you don't need to do this. Don't do it. Please, please, you don't need to do this."


 * Murphy (to Clarke): "I'm begging you, please. I love her. Don't do this."


 * Clarke: "I'll finish it. I bear it so they don't have to."


 * Gaia: "Maybe we are not worthy. Maybe we are meant to burn in Praimfaya."
 * Jaha: "No. We're not meant to burn. We were meant to rise from the ashes."

Notes and Trivia

 * A god complex is an emotional characteristic associated with an inflated sense of ego. Someone who suffers from a god complex believes that he or she has the ability to overcome any problem or task, despite the high impossibility and probability for failure.
 * Second time Octavia did not appear, first was Term and Conditions, which make Clarke and Bellamy the only main characters appear almost every episodes in series.

Body Count

 * An unknown Rock Line man who Emori claimed was "Baylis" – radiation exposure from experiment conducted by Abigail Griffin and Eric Jackson
 * Several Azgeda warriors – gunned down by Indra
 * Unknown number of Azgeda and Trikru warriors – fighting outside temple