Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27794543-20180502011240/@comment-5575784-20180503065304

Alright, here we go:

TL;DR Different tone from most episodes, and I liked it a lot. Looking forward to more stories from the bunker.

This episode was extremely interesting, because it seemed to be treated differently from other episodes. This whole episodes was Octavia's descent into madness and chaos, building up the character that she has to be.

"Who we are, and who we have to be to survive are two very different things"

When you read between the lines, Octavia's always been the rebel. No matter what she has always gone agains the "norm" of the show. So seeing her in a leadership position most definietely had me skeptical, for lack of a better word. Comparing Octavia to Clarke or Bellamy she's never really had to make a true "hard decision" as everything has kind of been there to service herself and to find out who she truly is. This isn't anything wrong with the story, nor is anything wrong with the character as she has adapted the most to new conditions, but was it really that hard?

Looking back character-wise, she was a nobody. She had no outgoing personality shaped by society. The only people who mold her were her brother and her mother, so the ground was an easy change for her. She didn't have to get used to doing things differently, this was the first time that she got a societal stance on everything. Her becoming a Grounder in S2, it made perfect sense. She's not really skaikru, she's Octavia.

In S5 we now see the world-shaped Octavia, what she is truly molded to be. A warrior. Strong in the face of those who oppose her. Personally, my philosophy is that if you want to see how a person truly thinks, let them take charge. See what actually goes on through their head. The result could be catastrophic or it could be groundbreaking. So, yeah, let's throw Octavia into a leadership position and see how it turns out.

"My blood is red and it always will be".

Right of the bat in this episode you see what makes Octavia stand out. Not that she's not a nightblood, but that she has virtually no code. The above line is something she's saying in response to tradition. A "conservative" mindset that is shared amongst the grounders. This line is the spine of this entire episode. People need to change their mindset about what they need to do now. But people are afraid of change. Everyone is. It's actually what I said about Echo in my last analysis, so I'm going to assume that this is going to be the overarching them for the first four episodes of the season.

Now if ANYONE ELSE were to be a leader in this situation, everyone, except for their clan, would be screwed. That's why Octavia needed to be in this leadership postion, it's the only way that this is going to work. She's malleable, she can adapt to change as we've seen in the past 4 seasons.

The meat of this episode is just shaping Octavia, Indra and Gaia into what they are going to be for the rest of the season. That's what flashbacks are for. How did we get from point A to point B. Did it do a good job? Yes, it did a fantastic job. The goal was accomplished with style, but it didn't feel like the 100 style.

This episode had a very dark undertone to it. And while most episodes have this said dark undertone, this was the darkest. (Sidenote: I forget what the section was that anarchy was ensuing but I think it's D, so I'm going to call it D). You see section D and how it's a complete madhouse. It's basically the equivalent to the Holocaust and killing anybody that isn't Grounder. It was f****ing dark! This whole episode was tied into history in someway, with the book of Ancient Rome, the Holocaust analogy and "if you aren't my friend you are my enemy" which is a very dated thought process.

Let's go onto my absolute favorite part of all of the episodes (well maybe second favorite because of the conclave). Octavia's bloodbath. I could not contain myself during this scene. My roommate literally told me to shut up, but I just couldn't (in fact he's asleep right now and I'm keeping him up so I'm gonna try and wrap this up). She sliced through everyone one right after the other, proving that she was the victor of the conclave for a reason. Each kill made her body much more stained in blood, which to me symbolizes that her greatest armor is what people think she is. Skairipa, death from above. Fear is a great motivator to give the hell up.

Finally, welcome to the gladiator ring. The moment she threw her sword in I was ready. Blood all over the plac, as we were prepping for bloodbath after bloodbath. Though we didn't see much, we see this nice clean ring around the center, being painted red with the blood of the guilty, those who disobey the Blood Red Queen seeing justice and victory by their own hands. Just like rats in an experiment.

Not sure what Kane is doing in there, but I can't talk about that much. Probably something to do with Abby or he was being stupid. I like Kane, don't kill him off.

Also Jaha died, which I was somewhat happy and sad about. I don't like Jaha as a character, but the way that this episode handled his character was the best I've ever seen his character. A father first. A family man, and skaikru is his family. He died doing what he wanted to do, protect his family. And in the next life he'll see his family again, embracing them in his arms. It was a very well written and acted part of the episode, but I'm just droning on at this point.

Until Next Time,

Master of Angels out