The 100 – Perverse Instantiation – Part One

By starrymag | May 13, 2016

By: Allison Schonter

 

“The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” That quote has never held more truth than in episode Perverse Instantiation – Part One. The newest installment of “The 100” proved that the characters can’t seem to ever catch a break.

 

The episode begins with our motley group by the rover on their way back to Arkadia. Their initial plan to utilize Luna (Nadia Hilker), the last remaining Nightblood, as a force against A.L.I.E. (Erica Cerra) has failed and they are seemingly out of options. While the others want to regroup and figure something out, Clarke (Eliza Taylor) wants to continue searching for more Nightbloods, something that the others don’t agree with. So, off Clarke goes on her own into the woods, needing space. But she runs into a familiar face, Roan (Zach McGowan), who kills a chipped man who has been following her. He, too, has been following her; searching for the Flame so that Ontari (Rhiannon Fish) can truly ascend. Before he has the chance to leave, Bellamy (Bob Morley) shows up and knocks him out.

 

Clarke has a new mission now and that is convincing Roan to join forces with them. They want the same thing: they want Ontari to receive the Flame. He wants an Ice Nation Commander and she knows that the only way to stop A.L.I.E. is by a Nightblood receiving the Flame. So, they join forces and come up with a plan. They will go to Polis while Raven (Lindsey Morgan), Monty (Christopher Larkin), Jasper (Devon Bostick) and Harper (Chelsey Reist) stay back in Arkadia.

 

Arkadia

Things in Arkadia don’t go too smoothly. Raven is trying to repair the motherboard so that she can read A.L.I.E.’s code and find the kill switch again. Monty and Jasper go looking for what Raven needs, but there is a special guest in the form of A.L.I.E. – Jasper has been chipped. He pries into Monty, learning stuff and everything that he discovers A.L.I.E. also knows, meaning that she knows that Clarke and the others are heading for Arkadia. As Monty finds what he needs, Jasper stabs him in an attempt to prevent Monty from reaching Raven.

 

When Raven realizes what is happening, she tries to call for Bellamy over the radio, but it’s not transmitting. She has no way of warning the others that A.L.I.E. knows they are coming and will be prepared for them. The only thing that Raven can do is continue working on the motherboard, Jasper standing outside of the door trying to talk to Monty. He took the chip because of what happened on Luna’s oilrig. They destroyed something so peaceful and he realized that there is only death on the ground.

 

Just as Raven gets the motherboard up and running (meaning that she has the chance to find the kill switch and deactivate A.L.I.E.) they face a new problem – Harper enters the Ark and Jasper knocks her out. He has her gun and he gives Monty an ultimatum: destroy the machine and Harper lives or don’t destroy it and he’ll hurt Harper.

 

 

Polis

            Meanwhile in Polis, Roan walks a bound and gagged Clarke (this girl has been gagged so many times this season…) through the bloody streets of the capital. But this Polis is looking much different than the Polis of previous episodes. There are hardly any chipped people in the streets. It looks abandoned. As Roan demands to speak to Ontari, Jaha (Isaiah Washington) steps out. He asks for the Flame, but Roan won’t give it to him. Jaha knows that their friends are hiding in the tunnels and reinforcements have been sent to subdue them. Before either of them can escape, Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) shoots Roan and Clarke is taken captive.

 

Things only get worse when Clarke is brought to the throne room. Abby (Paige Turco) is there and she wants to know the passphrase for the Flame, but Clarke refuses to give it up as doing so would mean losing any chance of destroying the City of Light. So, more forceful and cruel tactics are used to get Clarke to give up the valuable information. She is first strapped to a post and tortured for a brief period of time by chipped-Abby, but Abby realizes that this won’t work. Clarke’s weakness isn’t pain, it is her loved ones. This leads to Abby stepping on a stool with a noose around her neck. Even as Abby steps off of the stool, Clarke refuses to give the passphrase.

 

Elsewhere in Polis, Murphy (Richard Harmon), Indra (Adina Porter) and Pike (Michael Beach) come to the rescue of Bellamy, Octavia, Miller (Jarod Joseph)  and Bryan (Jonathan Whitesell). Though Octavia is reluctant to work with Pike, Indra tells her that the only way that they get out of this is with each other. They need to get to the throne room and save Clarke and this involves getting to the elevator.

 

Things work out fine at first. They make it to the elevator, take down the men running the lift and Murphy and Bellamy get in and start to be lifted to the top of the tower. But, as stated before, the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Kane shows up and shoots, but Indra is quick to act and knocks him out. A bomb is utilized to prevent any more minions from stopping them for the time being. When the elevator reaches the top, Pike sets a bomb on the wheel so that the elevator will no longer be usable. As the bomb is about to detonate, Kane wakes up and Indra runs to save him (Are they dead?).

 

During all of this, Bellamy and Murphy are fighting off people within the elevator. Bellamy even kills a man in order to save Murphy. They pretend to be dead as the elevator stops and throw gas bombs as A.L.I.E.’s minions enter. A.L.I.E. knows that they are coming and Jaha is ordered to kill Ontari. They cannot have the Nightblood. Bellamy is able to stop Jaha though before Ontari is killed and Murphy saves Abby. Their only problem now is that Ontari is brain dead and won’t be able to give them the kill code. They are now trapped in Polis.

 

Final Thoughts…

           

Perverse Instantiation – Part One was very hopeless. Any shining glimmer of salvation that may have been left quickly burnt out in this episode. Everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong and now it seems as if they are out of ways to destroy A.L.I.E.

 

Putting the messed up tidbits aside, because we just won’t touch on those right now, there were some pretty good highlights. For example, Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) wanting to kill Pike because Pike killed Lincoln (Ricky Whittle). She tells Indra that Lincoln was her home, but Indra tells her that this is her home. Indra is accepting Octavia, something that Octavia rarely ever gets to experience.

 

Another highlight was Bellamy and Clarke. They’ve had their differences this season and at times I’ve wondered how they could ever come to be mutual with one another. But the two mean a great deal to one another and at the end of the day, they’ve been through so much together and this is another thing that they are going unite for. They set their differences aside and accept the support that they offer each other. They need each other, just as they need everyone else if they want to keep surviving.

 

 

Don’t forget to tune in to The CW Network next Thursday at 9 pm EST for Perverse Instantiation – Part Two.