Warning: the following recap contains spoilers from Wednesday’s episode of The 100, “Heavy Lies the Crown.” It is a recap, after all! You’ve been warned…
One of the best parts of The 100 is when The CW series expands its dynamic, post-apocalyptic world via the Grounder clans. Because the ensemble cast is so large and the story so extensive, this only happens in small bits and pieces when it’s applicable to the high stakes, fast-paced central storyline of the past three seasons. So it was extremely unique that season four episode 2, “Heavy Lies the Crown,” opened with no recognizable characters or places at all. Instead, the hour opened with a completely never-before-seen Grounder family out on some random farm, far away from Polis or Arkadia, dealing with both ALIE’s mind control and the bloody devastation she left in her wake only nine days earlier when Clarke destroyed the City of Light. The only Grounder from that family who survived was the son Ilian, and as he awoke from his mind control to find his family murdered, he blamed Skaikru for everything he lost.
And as we learned over the course of this season thus far: a lot of people blame Skaikru for ALIE and everything that’s happened since.
Over the past nine days, Ilian made his way to Polis where he joined up with other angry Grounders, ready to stage a coup against Roan after he allied with Skaikru. But thanks to Octavia spying and using her newfound assassin skills, that coup never happened and Roan kept his throne. He didn’t seem too happy about Octavia going off script and killing whomever stood in her way, though. Something tells me that we’re heading for Roan/Octavia showdown (or passionate romance. Or both—and let’s be real knowing this show it’s probably both).
Meanwhile, in Arkadia, the Adventure Squad realized they couldn’t stop the impending radiation wave. To which we say: duh, guys. The harder question was how to survive it. Their only hope was to find a safe haven to ride out the storm in, and Monty’s brilliant idea was to recycle an old one already prepped for high levels of radiation—the Ark! If they seal it up and fix all the damage from the crash landing, it could save them from another radiation apocalypse. But in order to live inside it and have usable water, they needed a hydrogenerator from the Farm Station …the piece of the Ark that crashed in Ice Nation territory. Bellamy led a rescue mission to Farm Station but they were immediately captured by Ice Nation warriors who had moved into the space station and started using it as a slave prison, including some missing Skaikru members. Now that was a truly heartbreaking twist.
The dilemma became whether the rescue mission should save the irreplaceable machine they needed to survive the apocalypse, or the people they found upon their arrival. That would involve using the hydrogenerator to blow up Farm Station—not exactly an easy call to make. Enter: Bellamy and the tough choices. Choosing their captive people over the greater good certainly proved one thing: He’s clearly still trying to make up for his past sins. Understandable, but did risking the future of everyone for 25 prisoners make sense? Was it worth it, if those 25 are still doomed to die along with everyone else now that they don’t have a viable way to survive the apocalypse inside the Ark? Clarke and Raven don’t think so, but Bellamy doesn’t regret his choice. That’s a first!
Clarke, meanwhile, won’t be satisfied until she comes up with a plan that saves everyone, not just Skaikru. She wants to save all the Grounders too, and they won’t all fit in the Ark, so she’s not putting all her eggs in that basked for now. Raven convinced her the only way to come up with a viable solution to save everyone was to tell everyone the truth about the incoming apocalypse to crowd source the issue. Jasper then proved that by showing Clarke her way of thinking was a lot like the adults on the Ark sending 100 kids down to Earth before coming clean about the Ark failing, so she gave a rousing speech to Arkadia, inspiring them all to have hope and work hard to make the Ark ready for the apocalypse … but she didn’t tell them about only 100 of them getting to live inside it when the end came. “We save who we can save today,” Bellamy told her. It’s basically The 100‘s version of one step at a time.
Other notable moments:
– Kane and Abby are done wasting time, y’all! (Also: Aw!) FINALLY. Three seasons of flirting was enough! They’re officially in the adult sleepover phase of their relationship, and Abby even retired her old wedding band from her first, late husband as a sign of her commitment to her new relationship. But Kane sweetly told her she didn’t need to do that for him, and she didn’t: she did it for herself. She’s also planning on leaving Polis (and Kane, though only temporarily) to return to Clarke. Time for some mother/daughter bonding! I could not be more excited (although I’m sad Kane and Abby have to separate).
– Newly-cheerful Jasper is almost creeping me out. But is such a nice change of pace to see him not trying to kill himself every other episode.
– Monty got revenge on the Ice Nation warrior who killed his father, but not by killing the man himself. He freed the slaves and let the slaves do the killing for him. That was a pretty mature, evolved choice. His hands remain clean but revenge was still served. Nice one, Monty!
– Octavia has become so skilled at being an assassin that she can now quickly and efficiently kill without leaving any trace of foul play. Dayum. Do not get on Octavia’s bad side.
– Without the hydrogenerator, the Ark will only sustain life for 100 people. Deja vu, anyone? The decision on who gets to live and die rests on Clarke’s shoulders, and I do not envy her one bit.
What did you think of this week’s The 100? Tweet me @SydneyBucksbaum!
Images: The CW
The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
