The 100 Season 5 Episode 3 Review: Sleeping Giants
Yana Grebenyuk
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"This is only just the beginning" should be the main motto of The 100 Season 5 Episode 3.
Just when you think it couldn't get any better, it went above and beyond. The way that the radio became its own character this time around and the intense way that risks were taken for a remarkable, game-changing episode.
The suspense factor this time around was one of the best choices that could have been made, allowing us to know exactly what the group was fighting to save while they didn't know what was waiting for them down below.
In general, though, Sleeping Giants stood out as possibly the best episode of this season already with the way that it told so many successful stories in the time span of under an hour.
It was electric, explosive, and unexpected without coming off as covering too little. Things finally had to come together again, and the fact that it was down in perfect pacing is exactly why this season of The 100 is off to such a refreshing start.
After you experience it in full, taking a step back, it is mind blowing how much the episode covered, especially since it almost felt like an entire movie.
There is just something about the way that the two stories come together, and create a third one in the process that makes it feel game changing and so refreshing at the same time.
Clarke tries her best to protect Madi when Charmaine, McCreary, and Zeke capture her. While all this is happening, the space group finds themselves stumbling upon the prisoners in their cryo-sleep and use that discovery as leverage.
Related: The 100: Bellamy and Clarke's Destruction of the Friend Zone
The Bellamy and Clarke Reunion That Transcended Time and Space
She must be pretty important to you. She is. She must be pretty important to you. She is. She must be pretty important to you. She is.
I would like to start out by saying that this entire episode somehow became one big popular meme. Case in point:
Bellamy Blake: My new calm and rational self just doesn't think that we should automatically try to kill these people. Maybe not killing people and not having leverage is the way to go, you know?
Madi: Clarke is in trouble.
Bellamy Blake: I will kill everyone if you don't let her go.
Charmaine: 283 lives, for one. She must be pretty important to you.
Bellamy: She is.
I saw this reunion a few weeks ago and watching it again still leaves me breathless.
The fast pacing did something necessary this time around; there wasn't time to waste so the episode kept hitting all the high points that made your heart rate picking up with each new scene instead of having filler for the sake of filler.
Now I know you all want to talk about the good stuff, and those two words that will break the internet but can we first mention Bellamy and Madi?
Bellamy has no clue who Madi is yet her saving them already makes him focus on her as an ally instead of a threat. Then she mentions that Clarke is still alive and had such faith in him and I know I had trouble keeping it together.
Even in moments like this, it is all in the detail. The way that Bellamy and Madi manage to find each other and put their trust in one another.
From there it becomes Bellamy going to save Clarke but first making sure Madi was going to be in a safe place while he did so.
There is no way to know how much Madi was even to tell them while they drove in their legendary family Rover to find Clarke, but there are enough signs for us to know that Bellamy picked up on how vital it was to keep Madi safe. He would have just to connect the dots because she is a child, and he already wants to adopt her, but it is more than that.
Bellamy registers that there is something about this girl that knows Clarke and knows him that means she has to okay too.
Now the true highlight of all this, the edge of the cliff that keeps on giving.
The details I kept focusing on what had to be one of the most well structured, written, and beautifully shot in terms of the cinematography.
Details like the way that that Rover lights first make it hard for Clarke to see, but that outline of Bellamy screams that her partner is back. The sheer relief that she shows when she understands that he is back, he is here, and he is going to save her like she knew he would is heartbreaking.
Clarke has had Madi with her this whole time but with that came this constant reminder that she had to make sure she was safe. That pressure was always on Clarke's shoulders and now even though she is in one of the worst situations possible, she can relax.
With Bellamy there she knows that everything will be okay because they can figure it out, she isn't alone anymore trying to make sure Madi doesn't worry too much or isn't in too much risk.
Now they can both make sure she is okay, and there is something stunning about the way that Eliza Taylor delivered that through only facial expressions.
Of course, that was only the beginning, with Bellamy signaling that Madi should retreat and once again you can almost feel Clarke's sense of relief again because Bellamy is here and he gets it.
Bellamy. Clarke knew you would come.
Madi
She didn't need to tell him, he knows what Madi means to here somehow already, and his priority just like hers is to get Madi out of harm's way.
It is this whole burst of energy because even after six years these two know each other so completely, they don't have long-winded conversations, they don't even need words to clue the other one in.
And this is all before the freaking dialogue that screwed with me for weeks after I first heard it.
There are many ways that this could have went and endless choices of words that Bellamy could have said, I know because I saw you all pitch them for the past few days.
There is some serious weight in those words; there is no mistaking now just how much Clarke means to Bellamy even after six long years of mourning her and remembering her memory.
Now I could get into just how much this reunion scene meant not only for the episode but for the couple, but I will take a step back.
Why would I stop examining every single detail of the scene that we have been waiting so long?
As a not so secret surprise, I have a feature solely focusing on the Bellamy and Clarke reunion from Sleeping Giants in the works to be published on TV Fanatic.
So keep your eyes open because it will be all Bellarke all the time and it is coming your way very soon!
Related: The 100 Renewed For Season 6 at The CW!
The Prisoners and The Clarke
Now before Clarke had the best night ever knowing that all her space baes were back in town, she had a bit of a rough day.
It is strange to be happy with what we saw Clarke involved in considering she had a The 100 Season 1 Lincoln-like experience when Charmaine and Zeke found her.
But from that came more interaction between these two characters who are both strong in their want to protect their own right now.
Clarke pretending she doesn't speak English and Charmaine not being fooled for a second feels familiar, but it doesn't come off as taking something just because.
There is an order with which these parallels are introduced, and Clarke is now in the position where she is isolated from her people so Charmaine is the only person she can try to get to understand why Madi shouldn't be hunted.
Well, believe it or not this is the best conversation I've had in years.
Zeke
This begins the Clarke and Charmaine story about which I am starting to become even more curious. Still not sure what to think of Charmaine but the way that she and Clarke have managed to capture my attention with their battle for control is worth the double take.
Nothing can always run smoothly though, which is how Clarke ends up being tortured by all around creep McCreary.
We are all about finding redeemable qualities for just about every character on this show but can we all as a group take a vote on not being here for McCreary.
This is a great example of an actual villain, he isn't someone who makes bad choices for the sake of survival or his people, this dude simply sucks and that needed to be said sooner rather than later.
A new character off the ship that doesn't suck though is Zeke Shaw, a guy after my own heart now.
He isn't exactly helping Clarke escape, but he has shown glimpses of not confronting the issue at hand as harshly as Charmaine or even McCreary.
Zeke is clearly more trustworthy, and he isn't looking for a fight. He felt comfortable hanging out with Clarke and sharing details about himself, almost like nothing was wrong.
And if you pay close attention, Zeke can't handle the violence that was inflicted on Clarke. He is the one pointing out that they dropped down to someone else's land thinking it was theirs without asking and then taking the person who lived there hostage.
Zeke is our ally because as much as he may be on the "other side," he is level headed and his approach isn't specifically for his people. This character is quickly showing that he can be trusted, for now at least.
Related: The 100: Mental Health and The Necessity of Moving On
The Space Adventure Squad (and the heroic Raven/Murphy duo)
While The 100 Season 5 Episode 1 and The 100 Season 5 Episode 2 focused heavily on the ground and the bunker respectfully, this episode became a bigger look into how the space seven are interacting with each other.
The noticeable Bellamy and Raven back and forth was only the beginning, with it then becoming about Bellamy believing in Emori as she has to get them to the ground without her mentor Raven.
I mentioned before that now more than ever it felt like this was Bellamy's episode, one that he shared with all of the other people up in space with him and even Clarke and Madi on the ground.
It was about Bellamy asking Murphy what he thinks they should do. It was about Bellamy refusing to leave Raven to die, so she has to lie to him because she knows that he means it. It was about Bellamy being a soothing presence for a nervous Emori who wanted to prove that she had something to offer.
It was about Bellamy trying to avoid having them all commit more murder because they have gone so long without it and he doesn't want that to again torture them all.
As much as all the characters have become family to one another on their own, the hints of Bellamy being there and communicating with all of them is almost too much to bear.
Not to mention the fact that he then goes back down and makes another friend and finds his partner again.
Now back to the plot, our favorite space pals have met another version of space pals, ones who aren't as friendly.
The sequence where Bellamy, Raven, and Echo had to kill one of them was brutal and painful, everything they managed to distance themselves from and now they aren't even back on Earth yet are already dealing with this again. But as much as it sucks, it is necessary.
The sequence that stayed with me the most though was the radio, Bellamy and the others tracking the way that Charmaine is trying to find Clarke. None of them have any idea who this is about, but they feel it, and they know they need to get down there.
While it would have been great for them just to connect the dots, somehow this was even better. The suspense built up more and more, allowing them to be at their most vulnerable when they found out exactly who they were worried about and what had them this desperate to make it down there.
They didn't know, yet in a way, they knew that this person was their person.
The same goes for Clarke, listening for traces of Madi, and then it becoming about someone else coming down. It could be someone she doesn't know, but it could also be the people for whom she was waiting six years.
Her hope couldn't have returned at a better time, and they are here to save her just like she saved them. It is pure and soft because it doesn't need words for us to translate the emotion that is spilling out at every turn.
Teaching you would take days and knowing you, you'd still screw it up.
Raven
And speaking of emotion, I am like Bellamy Blake if I first believed Raven when she said there was an escape pod. Maybe just like him, I couldn't face the idea of there not being one and Raven not coming down with them.
As always, everyone survives because of what Raven continues to do for them, and it astounds me that six years later she is just as selfless and determined to keep her family thriving before herself.
But before the feelings threaten to take over, Murphy is here to remind us that his luck might not be looking up.
Who would have thought that his one good deed a year would bite him in the ass?
Raven and Murphy are a popular friendship, and I have to admit that them being stuck up there will provide us more entertainment and not sadness.
That is exactly what we need right now, whenever we check in with space we have to believe everything will be okay. Somehow Murphy being there with Raven provides that hope not only to her but to us as well.
And you all know I couldn't end a review without mentioning the new Riley of the group, the mug.
Let us all not question how or where Bellamy managed to hide that fragile new character, we should focus on the fact that Bellamy Blake has officially been crowned the best dad in all the universe.
It sounds like his dad status is now indeed canon.
Stray Thoughts
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Who else picked up on that small moment when Madi saved the space five and Echo raised her sword in fear that she was a threat?
I'm not saying there is anything there, but I am also going to put this scene in my back pocket for now because it has the potential to explore Echo's return back to the ground while still including the issues that these three groups might run into after six years apart.
- Some couples get more focus than others, which isn't exactly a sign of anything but yet it isn't indicative of something. I don't want to say that it is weird that we get even small seconds of attention for some couples and not for others so if one of you could say it, that would save me a lot of time.
- McCreary is still the freaking worst. Kudos to the actor that brings him to life, but I will always hate him, and that is the tea for today.
- Who caught that little Blake family mention? We always knew Bellamy Blake was the biggest nerd ever to grace both space and earth, but now we have the receipts!
- That Harper and Emori scene gave us some excellent insight into a friendship that I hope to see more of because they have all come such a long way. Being able just to talk as if they have known each other all along, there is something incredibly sweet about it.
What did you think of that Bellarke reunion? And did you manage to guess Bellamy's words before he said them? What do you think is next for Murphy and Raven up there in space? Do you think Bellamy adopted Madi on the way over when they were in the Rover? What does this all mean for the people in the bunker?
Let us know what you think below!
And don't forget that you can watch The 100 online, right here on TV Fanatic!
Yana Grebenyuk was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in April 2021.
