The 100 has always been a fight-or-flight show. If you’re not running for your life, you’re fighting. You’re fighting internal threats like how to best lead your people, external threats like Grounder warriors and Mount Weather mad scientists, or moral quandaries within yourself. And while The 100 has frequently been compared to Game of Thrones, it was tonight’s episode, “Ye Who Enter Here,” that really drove those comparisons home. Dare we say The 100 has finally surpassed Game of Thrones? Yeah, we so dare.—because tonight, things started to get really political. (But not like, Trump political. No one’s got time for that.)
We started off the hour in Polis with the realization that it’s been a full week since Clarke was first brought to Lexa by Roan. So far, Clarke has refused to see her ex-ally/friend/crush, but Lexa finally forced her to a face-to-face meet, where Lexa revealed she’s hosting a summit with the Skaikru that night where Clarke will be returned to her people. But Lexa also wanted Clarke’s help in convincing her people to become the 13th clan in Lexa’s coalition. If they agreed, they would be safe from any other Grounder attacks, because they’d essentially be Grounders themselves. It’s a smart move for both sides, but it requires Clarke to bow before Lexa to show her loyalty … which she refused to do that out of pride.
At Lexa’s coalition meeting before the summit, the Ice Nation delegate decided to be a jerk who caused problems just to piss everyone off. First, he refused to bow before Lexa. Then, he tried to back Lexa into a corner and make her kill Wanheda (when everyone knew she wouldn’t). Then he outright lied about the Ice Nation army marching on Polis. So Lexa got fed up and took care of the issue …by kicking him off the top floor of her skyscraper headquarters. It’s like the moon door! (Pro tip: don’t ever piss off Heda. It will not end well for you.)
The Arkadia/Skaikru delegation made their way to Polis for the summit, leaving their guns and radios in the trucks at the border as a sign of good faith and peace to honor their impending treaty. But Kane is pissed at Abby for moving the Farm Station survivors into Mount Weather—not for medical help, but to build their lives. He knows the Grounders won’t understand that the people living inside the mountain are not their enemies, since they only see Mount Weather as death.
Meanwhile, Bellamy was pissed he didn’t go with to the summit delegation in Polis, but his girlfriend is happy he’s safe with her while his leg heals. Both of the Blake siblings were shocked to find that 36 Farm Station people have moved in to Mount Weather and made themselves at home. Octavia and Bellamy both know the ramifications of that when it comes to the Grounders. They go outside to cool off, and end up sharing a sweet sibling moment, where Octavia finally confessed to Bellamy that she’s still trying to leave Arkadia with Lincoln at the first chance they get. Naturally, he wished she would stay with him, but Bellamy ultimately understands her want to leave.
The Blakes were interrupted by two Arkers bringing an Ice Nation captive into Mount Weather—Echo, Bellamny’s captive neighbor from the Mount Weather harvest chambers. She was trying to warn his people that an assassin is waiting at the summit to kill all the Arkadia members in attendance. (Snap!) So Bellamy and Pike immediately launch a rescue attempt on Polis, with Raven left behind on Mount Weather to get the missile system up and running just in case they aren’t successful to bomb the capital. This has bad idea written all over it.
At Polis, Prince Roan was pissed that Lexa didn’t honor their deal to lift his banishment after he brought Clarke to her, so he tried to strike up a new one with Wanheda. He could tell Clarke wants her own revenge on Lexa, and he wants Lexa dead. Finally, their interests line up! He revealed that he hid a knife in Clarke’s room and paid off enough guards to help her escape if she killed Lexa. Then, the Ice Nation queen would take over the coalition and be a helpful and strong ally for Clarke. The  most shocking part? She considered it seriously.
And she almost went through with it, but chickened out at the last second as she held the blade to Lexa’s throat. There’s clearly still some very strong feelings between these two—enough for Clarke to make another sacrifice: to bow down before Lexa at the summit, so Ice Nation would see that she had Wanheda’s power. The Ice Nation threat would be eliminated, and Clarke would stay as the Skaikru delegate in Polis, meaning she wouldn’t have to go home to Arkadia. That was the part that convinced Clarke to do it, since she still couldn’t face her people after what she did to save them from Mount Weather.
On their way to the summit, the Arkadia delegates were amazed to see the culture alive and thriving in Polis, and Abby was so impressed with Kane’s positive political influence on the people that she tried to transfer the Chancellor title (and pin) over to him. He had a better idea though: a proper, democratic vote by the people. Kane, what a good guy!
Before the summit, we also got our first glimpse at Nightbloods—the young children training to be Grounder Commanders. They’re skilled fighters and even better strategists. We’ll learn more about them in next week’s episode, but basically, something in their blood makes them all in the running to be the next Heda. Now it’s clear why Grounders always have such young leaders: they’ve been training for it their entire lives.
When Bellamy, Octavia, and Pike arrived at the Polis borders on their rescue mission with Echo, they find the two Arkadia scouts who were supposed to be guarding the trucks and weapons with their throats slit, proving Echo was telling the truth. The rescue team took their weapons past the border, violating Polis law, and set out to save their people, killing two Grounders inside the Commander’s headquarters. (Guess we’re past the point of no return then, huh?)
At the summit—just as Kane received the branding mark of the coalition, initiating the Skaikru as the 13th clan—Bellamy, Pike, Octavia and Echo barged in with Grounder hostages. But just as they realized Echo set them up, the assassin descends upon Mount Weather, murdering Bellamy’s girlfriend. Turns out: it was all a trap to set off Mount Weather’s self-destruct sequence! Only Raven and Sinclair made it out of Mount Weather alive while chasing down the assassin. Raven radioed to Bellamy letting him know what happened, and the whole summit heard. Lexa immediately called it an act of war, and arrested the Ice Nation delegate as well as Prince Roan, and called for a war council. It’s a Grounder civil war!
In the chaos that followed, Indra told Octavia she would resume her training to be her second (yay!), while Lexa broke the news to Bellamy that Clarke would be staying in Polis as the Skaikru’s ambassador. Abby understood what her daughter needed to do, but Bellamy took it as a personal betrayal. The hurt on his face? Brutal. Bellarke fans, this season is not for you. Back in her room that night, Clarke had the tables turned on her when Lexa visited and proved her loyalty …by bowing to Clarke. She literally swore fealty to her! Whoa.
Another shocker? That cockroach Emerson, the security detail Mountain Man that escaped Clarke last season, was the one who gave the Ice Nation queen the codes for the self-destruct sequence in Mount Weather. As Echo made her way to where Queen Nia was waiting with him and her army, we discovered that war with Lexa was exactly what she wanted. Now the question is: is Lexa playing right into her hands?
How incredibly epic was tonight’s episode of The 100? I can tell you right now, you haven’t seen anything yet. Next week’s episode is where the ish really hits the fan. And then the fan explodes. And the ceiling holding the fan caves in. And the whole damn building that housed the room that used to hold up that fan collapses and the rubble destroys a whole city block. Geek out about it with me @SydneyBucksbaum!
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Images: The CW
The 100 airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
