The 100 – Hakeldama

By starrymag | February 19, 2016

By: Allison Schonter

 

Toss the tissue box that you may have been using after last week’s episode. A box of tissues is not sufficient enough for “The 100’s” latest installment, “Hakeldama.” I think that after that, we may all just have to wallow in our own grief for an entire week because “Hakeldama” was yet another brilliant episode of “The 100,” offering plenty of pain and heartache to last us awhile. And fair warning, don’t read any further if you don’t want to know spoilers.

 

 

 

Pike

 

Pike (Michael Beach). Where does one even begin? Well, for starters, he indeed did go through with his plan to massacre all 300 Grounders that were camped outside of Arkadia, with the exception of Indra (Adina Porter). She was only kept alive due to Bellamy’s (Bob Morley) begging and conclusion that she can send a message to Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey). The land belongs to the Sky People now. The Grounders can either stay and die, or they can leave. Nice, Pike, real nice. (This would be a good spot to stop and remind ourselves that Pike has only ever known Grounders to be the enemy. He has only ever seen Grounders killing his people. Pike does not, like other members of the Sky People, have any good experiences with Grounders).

 

But things don’t get any better as the episode goes on. He rallies the people behind him. They support him and his decision to kill the innocent Grounders and they are willing to fight to keep the land that the Grounders are allowing them to live on. Furthermore, he removes Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) from his position, forces the sick Grounders that had been brought to Arkadia for treatment into an internment of sorts and even pints a gun at a critically ill Grounder’s head. To top it all off he throws Lincoln (Ricky Whittle) into internment with the other Grounders.

 

 

Bellamy and Clarke

 

Bellamy is traveling down a dark and dangerous road. And whereas I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, my patience is wearing thin. He is struggling with the loss of Gina (Leah Gibson) (manpain…so much manpain going on this season) and Pike is taking advantage of that. In fact, in a short scene in the very beginning of the episode there is a moment where Bellamy appears to show remorse for the massacre, telling Pike that they’ve gone too far. But his remorse doesn’t last long and soon enough he is traveling down the dark and dangerous road again.

 

Bellamy backs the decisions that Pike makes. He agrees with the Grounders being placed in internment and he agrees with Lincoln being placed in internment. Even his own sister, Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos), can’t get through to him. Bellamy warns Octavia against siding with the Grounders and keeping up the act of being a Grounder, to which she replies, “This is who I am.” Out of everyone that could possibly reach Bellamy at this point in the game, it would have to be Clarke. Surely Clarke (Eliza Taylor) will be able to reach him. And that’s exactly what Clarke and Octavia are hoping for. And the Bellarke reunion happens.

 

In a dimly lit room with only the two of them behind closed doors the Bellarke reunion happens, but it is nothing that anyone could have been expecting and it certainly isn’t romantic by any means. The tension between the two is palpable and the events that have taken place since Mount Weather haven’t been forgotten. In fact, Bellamy seems to be struggling with the deaths caused at his hands at Mount Weather, but unlike Clarke, he didn’t run away from everybody – a point that he brings up. And when Clarke mentions that he can stop a war from happening, he accuses her of being one of them, of being a Grounder. She has been by living their ways of life for months and she is now at Lexa’s side, fighting for Lexa’s people, fighting for peace between Skaikru and Grounders.

 

The tension between the two only continues to rise as the scene progresses, but there is a break, a moment where it seems as if Clarke has reached Bellamy, where Bellamy has reached Clarke and a sort of truce has been met, a place of understanding. And Bellamy approaches Clarke with the same gentleness that he has had with her since season one, the gentleness and love that he had for her during the entirety of season two, the gentleness that allowed him to let her leave during the end of season two after Mount Weather. But it’s only a façade that he wears to lower Clarke’s defenses, only a means for him to get close so that he can handcuff her. Thankfully, Octavia is looking out for Clarke and is able to get them to safety and out of Arkadia.

 

The relationship between Clarke and Bellamy is a rough one. Both characters are dealing with their own demons and they are dealing with them in their own ways. Whereas Clarke wandered off in the forest by herself for months, unable to face the people that she had saved as they only served as a reminder of what she had done, Bellamy is choosing to fight back against those that have brought him pain, even if that means killing innocent people and destroying his relationships along the way.

 

 

Kane and Abby

 

Round of applause for Kane and Abby (Paige Turco) for possibly being the only two sane people living within the gates of Arkadia. They both see the dangers that Pike and the brewing war presents and they are well aware that their numbers don’t compare to the vast number of Grounders that could be marching on their camp. So what do they do? They help Clarke and Octavia; they act as a means for communication between Arkadia and Lexa.   They are the inside men that can provide the crucial information that Clarke needs. Kane and Abby are the real MVPs of “Hakeldama.”

 

 

Blood Must Not Have Blood

           

“What happened here was an act of war. Your army was here to help us and my people slaughtered them. You have every right to respond; every right to wipe us out. Or, you can change the way you do things.”

           

“Why must she change? Blood must have blood.”

           

“Really? Because from where I stand, the only way that ends is with everyone dead. So what kind of leader do you want to be? The kind who kills every chance she gets because that’s your way, or the kind who shows the world a better way?”

           

“You consider letting a massacre go unavenged a better way?”

           

“If it ends the cycle of violence, yes. If it brings about peace, yes. Someone has to take the first step. Let it be you.”

 

At the beginning of the episode, Lexa is ready to go to war. She walks through the battlefield before her, the land covered in the blood of her people, the people that she had sent to protect Arkadia. She feels for each one of them, their deaths become her deaths, her responsibility. She sends her Riders to gather the armies of the 12 clans so that they can act in retaliation and revenge of the massacre that Skaikru has committed. “Blood must have blood;” a fundamental concept and belief within Grounder culture, something that we have seen time and time again. When a life is lost to the hands of another, that life must be avenged by taking the life of the murderer. And when Clarke returns with the news that Bellamy won’t help them, that Pike is prepared for war, Lexa stands strong with her decision, but Clarke pleads for her to change her mind.

 

The thing about Lexa is that she’s a visionary. She isn’t a Commander who enjoys death. She doesn’t enjoy suffering. She doesn’t enjoy bringing pain to others. She created a coalition to stop the constant fighting between the 12 clans. She forced Ice Nation to be a part of that coalition even after Queen Nia had had Costia tortured and killed. She did these things because she was doing it for the betterment of her people. That’s the thing with Lexa, her people come first, even before herself. Lexa makes the difficult decisions so that her people won’t have to; she makes the controversial decisions when she knows that they will benefit her people. And that is why Lexa agrees to Clarke’s suggestion of not going to war. By choosing not to retaliate against Skaikru, Lexa is not only setting a precedent for her people, but she is setting a precedent for any Commander that will proceed her: violence doesn’t have to be answered with violence, blood must not have blood.

 

While Lexa is making a bold move with her decision not to go to war, could it possibly be too bold of a move? Her intentions are clear, she is doing it for the good of her people; she is doing it so that the fighting can stop. But what does this mean for her? In season two when Lexa called for Finn’s death, Lincoln expressed that if the Commander didn’t demand blood for blood, it would be seen as a sign of weakness and the Grounders would kill her; a Commander cannot be weak, after all. 300 innocent Grounders have just been massacred at the hands of the Sky People, and Lexa isn’t calling for blood, instead she is calling for them to do nothing – to attempt to regain some sense of peace with the murderers. Will her people view this as a weakness, or will they stand behind her decision and recognize it as a new way of life, a way of life where violence is a thing of the past and they instead strive for peace?

 

 

Murphy and Emori

 

“Hakeldama” saw the return of our beloved Murphy (Richard Harmon) and his companion Emori (Luisa D’Oliveira). No, literally, she’s his companion now – as in romantic. This ship has officially sailed. Emurphy? Memori? The ship name can be decided upon later, but now I should probably get on to talking about what’s been going on with them.

 

To make it short, Murphy has been playing dead. Like, he’s literally been lying in the middle of the road covered in blood and playing dead. Kids these days, always doing the darndest things. But there is a reason to this madness. Murphy pretends to be dead as Emori hides in the forest and when their victim approaches the “dead” Murphy, Emori jumps out from the trees with her knife. They take the person’s things and go on their merry way.

 

It turns out that Murphy and Emori have been living in the forest, sleeping in caves or wherever else they can find shelter, and during their time together, their relationship has moved from a platonic friendship to something verging on romance. We are even graced with a kiss. Surviving from day to day isn’t quite enough for Emori, though, and she wants to find her brother. Murphy is reluctant, and it appears that they may go their separate ways.

 

Cut to Murphy smearing the blood from a dead animal on his face as the sound of people coming can be heard and Emori surprising him by staying. So they do what they usually do and Murphy plays dead as Emori hides. But things don’t go as planned and these men aren’t fooled by Murphy’s trick. They recognize him and the stakes grow even higher when the chip that Jaha had given him falls out of his pocket. The Grounders recognize the infinity symbol, as they call it, the “sacred symbol,” and Murphy’s life is spared. So what will happen to him next? Will Emori be able to save him? What is the importance of the infinity symbol?

 

 

Jaha Preaches the City of Light

 

Just as “Hakeldama” saw the return of Murphy and Emori, it also saw the return of Jaha (Isaiah Washington). Is that cheers or boos that I am hearing? The former chancellor has finally reached the gates of Arkadia with Otan (Mike Byskov) and A.L.I.E. (Erica Cerra) at his side, although, nobody else can see A.L.I.E. Fear of Grounders runs high, though, and Otan is shot dead – something that one would assume would faze Jaha, but he instead insists that Otan is in a better place and that “death is not the end.”

 

Jaha meets with Pike, the new chancellor, and tells him of the City of Light in a strange scene where A.L.I.E. is lurking in view and speaking, but once again, only Jaha can see and hear her. A.L.I.E. expresses her concern that Pike is not convinced, but by the end of the scene, Pike is willing to let Jaha say and do what he wants so long as he doesn’t interfere with Pike’s own goals of defeating the Grounders. With Pike’s permission, Jaha begins to preach his word of the City of Light, trying to convert the Sky People into believers and have them join him in the City of Light. His words seem to be garnering some support, that is until Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan) shows up and calls his City of Light ridiculous. This only gains A.L.I.E.’s attention, who states that in order to gain the trust and belief of the others, they have to get Raven to join them first.

 

 

Raven

 

I’m going to start this off by saying that Lindsey Morgan does an amazing job portraying Raven Reyes. I will follow this statement by saying that #ProtectRavenReyes better be trending on Twitter and all other forms of social media. I mean, seriously, can the girl ever just catch a break? Would anyone like to join me in putting her in a bubble and keeping any harm from coming to her?

 

Raven’s story has been a tragic one and it didn’t look too uplifting at the beginning of “Hakeldama.” The pain caused by the gunshot wound that she received during season two and the proceeding damage caused by it hasn’t been getting any better, and fearing that she is pushing herself too far, Abby doesn’t clear Raven’s medical exam, causing Raven to be taken off of her job. In fact, it’s as if every little thing that Raven used to be capable of doing is slowly being stripped from her, and in turn, it is stripping every bit of the spunky and feisty personality that used to be one of her defining qualities.

 

Jaha sees this vulnerability in her and offers her a solution. The City of Light. Raven isn’t having any of his nonsense, though, and calls him out on it. Her pain: physical, mental, and emotional, has caused her to believe that something as good as what Jaha is promising can’t possibly exist. But something changes for her by the end of the episode. Broken by her circumstances, Raven decides to have a little faith and take a chance; what does she have to lose? So, she swallows the small chip that Jaha has given her and as she’s walking away the pain in her leg dissipates. And as her head rises, she is able to see A.L.I.E.

 

 

Thoughts…

 

“Hakeldama” is definitely the starting point for the plot going forward. The events that unfolded during the episode will have lasting effects for the rest of the season. Jaha is now preaching the City of Light to the citizens of Arkadia and he has possibly gained his first follower in Raven. What impact will Raven’s conversion have on the other members of Skaikru? Will they follow in her footsteps? Is the City of Light even really a good thing? And what connection do the Grounders have to the City of Light? They know the infinity symbol as a sacred symbol, but why? With Lexa pronouncing that blood must not have blood, how will her people react to that, and will she be able to prevent war and bring peace with Skaikru? Will Bellamy and Octavia be able to mend their broken relationship? The siblings are on opposite sides right now, and Bellamy may have crossed a line that he can’t uncross in the eyes of Octavia.

 

 

Don’t forget to tune in to The CW Network next Thursday, February 25 at 9 pm EST for “Bitter Harvest.”