This episode could easily have been called, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. It's basically about sides who hate each other, or distrust each other potentially coming together in the hopes of stopping ALIE. Unfortunately, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.
After talking Indra down, the merry band of resisters must decide what to do next. Both Pike and Murphy believe that the best strategy is to retreat and regroup; however, Indra wants to kill Jaha, believing that this will rescue her people. Murphy knows more than he says and simply tells Indra that this won't work. ALLIE enters the holding area to attempt to get more people to take the chip and she notices that Pike is more injured than when he was imprisoned. ALLIE quickly realises that someone has gotten loose and orders the prisoners checked. Indra quickly gets the upper hand and kills the guards. Indra then presses Murphy to find out what he knows and he finally admits that for everyone to go free, Jaha's backpack must be destroyed. Indra sends her people to lead away the chipped while she, Murphy and Pike make an attempt to get to the backpack. Because of Murphy's decision not to run, Pike tells him, "your father would be proud of you." Really Pike? I can't believe Murphy didn't give him some hella snark for that.
For the first time we get to see the City of Light and it looks like a pre dystopian city. One of the escapees has been captured and quickly reports the plan to go after the back pack. ALIE isn't worried however because she has the perfect person for the job - Emori. I was quite fascinated by the fact that though Emori follows orders, at least a part of personality still exists. This becomes evident when Jaha points out that she can fix her deformed fingers in the City of Light, but Emori responds that everything about her is perfect.
When they get inside the sanctuary where the back pack is being kept, Murphy, Indra and Pike find that chipped residents of Polis are already inside. This presents little problem for Pike and he simply starts killing. Were it not for Murphy staying Pike's hand, Emori would have died right there. Becca's space pod is there along with the backpack but they ignore it in favour of destroying the backpack. Before Murphy can act, Emori calls out that the backpack contains a nuclear fuel cell which would destroy the entire city. It seems that it's time for brains over brawn.
Back at Arkadia, Raven is biting at the bit to use the code she learned from Becca's book and go after ALLIE. Monty is adamant that since they only have one chance at this that they need to wait until Clarke returns. Harper joins them and tells Monty that perhaps he should take a break. They head to the airlock, where Monty learns that Harper's idea of a break is sex. Monty pauses long enough to ensure that Harper isn't chipped and then it's giddy up time.
On the oil rig, Luna is still adamant that she will not become the next Heda. Clarke tries to appeal to Luna, saying that Lexa was working on changing things and stopping the philosophy of blood must have blood. Luna however remains steadfast.
While Clarke is appealing to Luna, Jasper meets Sky, a young woman who has never been off the rig. She wants to know all about Jasper and the two being to bond. Obviously, this does not bode well for Sky.
Monty and Harper are just getting to the post coital cuddling when Raven barges in. It seems that she was waiting for them to be finished. Monty joins Raven back at the computer where she explains that she's found something called the citadel - a firewall in the code. Once again Raven wants to go in because she is convinced that ALIE is hiding something but Monty cautions her to wait.
Back on the rig, having failed to get Luna's consent, Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia argue about attaching the chip to her anyway. Octavia points out that if they take that approach, they wouldn't be any better than ALIE but with few options left, they decide to go for it. Luna is training some kids when Clarke approaches her. Clarke argues that the chip is Luna's birthright but Luna is more concerned that too many lives would be lost to save a few people. A frustrated Clarke says the incantation and accosts Luna only to be quickly rebuffed cause Luna is all kinds of bad ass.
It seems that Luna left not because she was a coward but because she was the best fighter. Luna had killed her brother in the first round and was set to face Lexa next but because she was sick of killing, she left.
Fed up with Skaikru's antics, Luna decides it's time for them to go. She leads them towards a shipping container just as her men are returning from land. What Luna doesn't know is that ALIE is with them. One of the men steals the flame and locks Clarke, Bellamy and Octavia in the shipping container. Jasper quickly realises what is going on and tells Sky to run but unfortunately, she's not fast enough and gets shot with an arrow in the back.
It's torture time on the rig which once again causes me to wonder why the hell they just don't force the chip down people's throats? The 100 needs to explain why taking the chip has to be voluntary because it really makes zero sense to me at this point. The festivities begin with waterboarding but Luna will not be broken. Japser calls out to Luna that she cannot take the chip. ALIE decides that Jasper is bolstering people resistance and has one of her chipped warriors punch him in the stomach. Desperate to stop the torture, Derek volunteers to take the chip if they leave Luna alone. This buys Luna a few minutes respite but it's not long before Derek is holding her head under water.
In Arkadia, Monty has passed out so Raven decides to go after ALIE herself. ALIE instantly becomes aware of the interference but realises that if she shuts down Arkadia before the migration is complete and the backpack gets destroyed, she'll be gone forever. Jaha and ALIE decide that Monty must be behind this and send in Hannah to deal with this. Poor Monty. Monty is startled when he hears his mother's voice and asks to speak to her. Raven informs him that he has to type but reminds him that this isn't really Hannah. Hannah talks about wanting to see her son again and tells Monty that she loves him. Monty asks for the code and Raven enters it but warns that this means that Hannah will be gone forever. Monty hesitates but hits enter, thus deleting his mother and killing her for a second time. Unfortunately, it's all for nought because ALIE kicks Raven out of her system just as she finds the kill switch. Monty becomes enraged because not only did he have to delete his mother, Raven failed to take down ALIE. A crying Raven apologises but Monty is having none of it.
At the Sanctuary, ALIE instructs Emori that she has to keep everyone distracted for sixty seconds so that she can finish her migration. Pike has finished separating the non nuclear parts and Murphy prepares to smash them. Emori pleads, claiming that the minds of everyone in the City of Light will die, if Murphy destroys the non nuclear parts. Emori then pours it on thick and adds that it means that she will die. That's enough for Murphy to decide that he cannot destroy the parts. Pike takes the task on himself but it's too late, ALIE has already migrated. Realising that Emori is still under ALIE's control, Murphy throws a blanket over her face so that she won't see them sneak out. It turns out that Becca's pod should not have been ignored because ALIE used that to send herself to the remains of the Arc, thus making her untouchable.
On the rig, Clarke, Octavia and Bellamy don't realise just how bad things have become. Shay crawls to the shipping container and opens the door. An almost dead Shay, tells them where to find Luna. In order to get Luna to take the key, ALIE has her Grounders threaten a little girl Luna is fond of. To stop the violence, Luna agrees to take the key but bites Derrick's hand instead and promptly kills everyone in the room. By the time Clarke, Octavia and Bellamy make it to Luna, they find her crying over the loss of Derrick.
Later, Luna heads a ceremony for the dead. Clarke believes that after the violence, Luna will accept the chip, having seen first hand how dangerous ALIE is but Luna will not be swayed from her pacifist beliefs. Luna goes on about the ends justifying the means and questions how this is different from blood must have blood. It's a good question actually but not being a complete pacifist myself, I find it hard to reconcile. Before Clarke can form another argument, her friends start to pass out. Yep, Luna spiked their drinks. When everyone wakes up, they are back on land and Clarke is holding the chip in her hand. Yep, things are SNAFU again.
I cannot believe that The 100 had the audacity to have Monty kill his own mother twice. Hannah vacillated between being the Dragon Lady and the Tiger Mom. Having Monty kill her, despite the pain he felt was a complete and utter repudiation of her.
Of all the characters to appear on The 100, Hannah's has been the most obviously racist. Her second death simply doubled down on this.
I really loved Emori's attitude towards her disfigurement. It's not often that someone so openly embraces that which makes them physically different with socially, they are told repeatedly to be ashamed of it. This is one thing The 100 absolutely got right this time.
With two episodes left to go for season three, I want to see them finally kill off Jaha, and get rid of ALLIE. I feel as though the ALLIE storyline has been dragged on for far too long. When are Skaikru going to get down to the vital business of living? I don't want Pike to ride the redemption train and if for some reason Clakre ends up as Heda, I will in fact spit my dummy out. It's time for The 100 to evolve a little bit and grow it's characters. In one final wish, can we please, please do away with the manpain?
