The 100 Season 3 Episode 10 Review: Fallen

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Wow, Clarke sure has great timing, huh?

Seriously. She must've taken the scenic route back from Polis, stopping to smell the irradiated roses and taking moonlit walks with chip-Lexa or something, because she missed just about every single major development that occurred during The 100 Season 3 Episode 10.

I'm being snarky, but Clarke has been detached from the Arkadia and City of Light plots for far too long. It was long past time for her to make her way back to her people.

"Fallen" was not the best or most exciting installment this season, but it certainly wasn't the worst. It did advance a few plot lines and (seemingly) resolve a few others.

Perhaps the most exciting development is that Pike's out. After the drama of the prison riot and the events leading to Lincoln's execution during The 100 Season 3 Episode 9, I was expecting there to be more pomp and circumstance when Pike was finally brought down.

Instead, it was a relatively low-key, fast moment with little ceremony, in which Bellamy finally pulled his head out of his you-know-where and took decisive action against the Chancellor.

After Bellamy's change of heart earlier in the season, sparked by Pike sentencing Kane to death, he made an attempt to throw in with his former friends and assist in their rescue attempt. Naturally, he was rebuffed – who would trust him after what he'd done?

Actually, I'm not exactly sure why they trusted Bryan this time around, but that's a whole separate, confusing issue.

Anyway, no one believed that Bellamy had turned a new leaf (or rather, turned his leaf back around to the way it was originally), so they kept him in chains. Unfortunately, that all but sealed Lincoln's fate and destroyed the bond between the Blake siblings.

You're dead to me.

Octavia [to Bellamy]

I'm not sure how Octavia and Bellamy can come back from this. On a very obvious, surface level, Octavia blames Bellamy for his indirect role in Lincoln's death. The brutal beating she gave him made it obvious. That whole scene was very problematic. It was played off as Bellamy willingly taking this beating as some form of penance, or him "helping his sister out" in some strange way by allowing her to brutalize him in order to work through her emotional pain.

That is so beyond screwed up. Yes, Bellamy was a blind, idiotic jerk for mindlessly following Pike and standing by while atrocities and acts of war were committed, but why is that a free pass for Octavia to savagely beat him? That's not healthy for anyone! I get that a lot of viewers want to see someone "knock some sense" into Bellamy, but this literalization of that idea just felt weird and off somehow.

This show's gone to a very dark place, and Octavia's beat down of her willing brother is one really clear example of that.

Despite the strangeness of that scene, Bellamy's eventual scheme and quick-thinking to take down Pike worked wonders. It was a brilliant plan because of its simplicity. He offered up real information (that the other escaped prisoners were hiding out in a cave nearby), which set Octavia off, thinking Bellamy was betraying them yet again.

Octavia's genuine anger and lashing out, not realizing Bellamy had a plan, was all the proof that Pike needed that Bellamy was being genuine.

Except he wasn't, of course. There was a terrifying half a second where it seemed as though Bellamy had, in fact, turned against his people again, but that was resolved soon enough. Instead of leading Pike to the cave, he led him across the Grounder blockade, triggering an attack and an opportunity for Bellamy to turn Pike over to the Grounders.

It was a little weird that neither Pike nor any of the guards he had with him registered that they were crossing the blockade (don't you think they'd have a better idea of where, precisely, the blockade boundaries were, or maybe a map?) but I don't even care – I'm so glad to have Pike out of a leadership position that I'm more than willing to suspend any amount of disbelief.

Octavia's knee-jerk reaction was to gut Pike as soon as she had the opportunity but Kane was smart to stop her. Satisfying as it would have been to see Octavia be the one to end Pike, he needed to be traded to the Grounders, for at least the possibility of peace.

Right before Bellamy signaled the Grounders and traded Pike, Pike also revealed that Monty's own mother had been the one to reveal Monty's treason. That's so screwed up. Poor Monty. Also, Hannah sucks. She sucked before, now she sucks even more. Her betrayal is especially biting having seen what we realize in retrospect is a false show of concern and love for Monty, trying to warn him to GTFO of Arkadia before it's too late.

Ostensibly, Hannah did this, knowing that Monty would flee and lead them directly to the other escaped prisoner. Manipulative and cold-hearted as heck.

Where one problem (Pike) is seemingly solved, another much larger problem, rises to the forefront.

The City of Light and ALIE's power has been steadily increasing all season long. It became increasingly clear that, despite the political upheaval at Polis and Arkadia, the real problem would be ALIE. She and her mission are a threat to all mankind, not just the Grounders or the Sky People. Everyone.

And now, we have a clearer picture of what that mission is, thanks to ALIE's tete a tete with Jaha: ALIE's warped "Save Mankind" prerogative calls for getting all of the remainder of humanity and putting them in the City of Light, to eliminate their pain. More than anything, this idea reminds me of when Willow breaks bad in Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, gets overwhelmed with all of humanity's collective pain and suffering, and decides to end the world to solve the problem.

The immediate hold-up in ALIE's plan was Raven's resistance.

She's so much stronger than the rest of you.

ALIE [about Raven]

I couldn't help but let out an involuntary "HELL YES" at the above quote. Raven Reyes really is stronger than just about everybody else, especially among those who are left alive by now.

After attempting to force ALIE out via sensory overstimulation (blaring loud music, exercising, reciting the super-appropriate poem "The Raven"), Jaha and ALIE make the joint decision to force Raven to abandon her freewill by returning all of her pain and overwhelming her with it.

Seeing all of Raven's emotional and physical pain rush back while Abby hovered over her, confused and helpless, was awful to watch, but Lindsey Morgan did a terrific job in that scene (and in this installment in general, she was definitely the MVP).

It was notable that despite all of the intense episodes of physical pain she's endured, it was at the memory of Finn's death – purely emotional pain – that she finally broke and submitted fully to ALIE. This was fitting for the character, and for how deeply wounding and formative Finn's death was for her.

ALIE taking over Raven's body was amazingly creepy. Lindsey Morgan shifted from agonizing pain to unnerving emotionless robot-zombie effortlessly. Using Raven to break Abby, in turn, was a ruthless but smart move on ALIE/Jaha's part. Abby's motherly love for Raven has long been apparent. It made sense that only a direct threat against Raven or Clarke would prompt Abby to willingly ingest that damn chip.

For a minute, I held on to hope that Abby had pulled a fast one and tucked the chip under her tongue or something like that. But nope – it seems like she's now fully under ALIE's control, mentioning moving into the second phase of the plan, now that Arkadia has fallen to them. Phase two, I'm guessing, has something to do with taking over the Grounders as well?

Also within the City of Light storyline, Jasper is finally getting something important to do. After spending the earlier portion of the season being self-destructive and temperamental, Jasper was largely absent from most of the action.

His inadvertent triggering of Raven's memories of Finn was the first step pushing him to the forefront of this storyline, but now it seems like he's going to be the hero of it all, knocking Raven out and sneaking her out of Arkadia to prevent them both from falling to ALIE.

His role in this storyline is extra impressive when you remember that he actually can't even see or hear ALIE. In fact, Jasper arguably has little to no idea what's really going on – but he knew enough and was heroic enough to recognize that Raven needed help and to get her the hell out of dodge without even hesitating. Go Jasper!

Circling back to where I started this review, Clarke showed up at literally the moment Jasper was peeling out of Arkadia in that truck. It would have been morbidly hilarious if he'd somehow hit her with the truck, but I'm glad that didn't happen.

What I am glad about: Jasper snapped at Clarke and told her to shut up. That sounds harsh, but Clarke immediately started trying to impose the Polis problems on Jasper while Jasper was very clearly dealing with much more pressing issues. That was very much not the time to be explaining Grounder ascension rituals, Clarke.

You really are the Angel of Death, aren't you?

Jasper [to Clarke]

Meanwhile, back in Polis, Murphy decided to help Ontari out. It's still unclear whether he's pulling a long con and will eventually come through for his people, or if he's actually interested in teaming up with the Fauxmander (get it? It's like Commander, but faux... yep, I'll see myself out...).

Half of me believes that Murphy will take the soonest opportunity to snap her neck, the other half believes that Murphy will use this to get himself a position of comfort and power. That unpredictability is what makes Murphy such a great, complicated character.

On the one hand, Ontari, who is an awesome and interesting figure, got a snippet of backstory to explain why she's so cold and violent.

I deserve this throne. I was raised for it. Snatched from my parents by the Queen of Azgeda. I suffered her cruelty. I won the conclave. The ambassadors don't get to judge me and neither do you!

Ontari

In Ontari's eyes, the throne is her reward for enduring years of pain and emotional abandonment. So if she has to kill kids in their sleep and gouge out the eyes of ambassadors while lying about having the flame to keep the throne, hell, she's going to do it. Can't exactly blame her; this Commandership is literally all she has.

Further evidence of Ontari's screwed-up upbringing: her coercion of sex out of Murphy. That scene was a little weird. The actors played it as though it were lighthearted, but the actual dialogue and situation were extremely suggestive of sexual assault. 

Murphy: There's somebody else. Okay? I'm sorry.
Ontari: Is she a Commander too?
Murphy: Nope.
Ontari: Would she kill you if you ever lied to her? Did anything to break her trust or upset her in even the slightest way?
Murphy: Oh, the things I do to survive.

This is... off. He flat-out told her no, mentioning Emori, and then caved when Ontari basically threatened him with death. Also, he was in chains. Again, super dark for a show on The CW. And tonally confusing, because Richard Harmon and Rhiannon Fish both played this scene like it was sexy foreplay and not, you know, rape.

Other thoughts:

  • It was a small moment, but Bellamy's facial expression as he watched his former allies come into the cave, minus Lincoln, at the very beginning of "Fallen" was absolutely wonderful. Yet again example of Bob Morley's strong, subtle acting. Bellamy looked like he was about to choke on air, and relaxed almost imperceptibly when he spotted Octavia alive.
  • Was it just me or was Octavia fully prepared to let both Monty and Bellamy die during the hostage exchange in order to take Pike out?
  • Speaking of Pike: what's Ontari going to do to him?
  • ALIE causing Raven to cut her wrists was too much. It was incredibly, overly gory and difficult to watch – especially for a character who's been suffering from depression for a while now. That whole scene was a bit tone-deaf.
  • Octavia answering Bellamy's suggestion of familial reconciliation by stabbing one of Pike's guards in the heart seemed to suggest that she's not interested in repairing their relationship.
  • I'm curious: if Ontari was taken by Nia as a child, were she and Roan raised together? Peripherally, even? I didn't get that vibe from them at all.
  • Kane wondered whether Bellamy turned Pike in to make amends to his sister or because it was the right thing. Bellamy's silence indicated the former.

What did you think of "Fallen"? Check it out and watch The 100 online here at TV Fanatic.

Fallen Review

Editor Rating: 3.9 / 5.0
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User Rating:

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0 (111 Votes)

Caralynn Lippo is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.

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The 100 Season 3 Episode 10 Quotes

Ontari: Roan said not to let you out of my sight until he got back.
Murphy: We're on the 50th floor, where am I gonna go?

You're dead to me.

Octavia [to Bellamy]