color palette meme ↦ marvel edition: steve rogers “I can do this all day.” 

2x09 “Remember Me”

To set the scene: Clarke is reeling from Finn’s death. The trauma of mercy-killing the boy she loved to keep the peace is setting in, and it’s almost too much to bear. She’s haunted. She can’t seem to cleanse the blood from her hands. She needs this coalition to work, or else Finn died in vain.

Enter Bellamy (a.k.a. “The One Clarke Can’t Lose, Too,” as established in a prior scene). He studies her as she sets out her bedroll. Next to him is Abby (a.k.a. the Mother-in-Law). The two seem to be the only people who express concern over Clarke’s rattled mental state. Bellamy approaches Clarke.

She’s sitting awfully far away, and he’s not having it. You can already see her starting to distance herself from her people. A precursor to the “I bear it so they don’t have to” “it’s all for my people” mentality.

“It’s safer on our side.” In other words, come closer. I want you safe. Come home. He’s unabashed in his protectiveness. It’s the beginning of his role as the “good little knight by his queen’s side.” If nobody’s going to step up and protect their Princess, he sure as hell is up to the job. Even Abby, Clarke’s own mother, isn’t too concerned about where she chooses to sleep. But Bellamy is.

Bellamy knows she’s right, but he also senses that she’s pulling away. Isolation is settling beneath her skin. Her body is turned away from her “side.” She is the bridge between two groups of people, but, in order to be the bridge, she must distance herself from her own people and shoulder the burdens of leadership alone. Dissociating allows her to become a commodity in this struggle for peace while deemphasizing who she is as a person with intrinsic value and human feelings and traumatic experiences. Her worth to her people is now measured by her utility. She’s shedding off her Princess title (a nickname originally given to her by Finn, mind you) as the position of queen is thrust upon her. Aloof, detached, unyielding, unfeeling. The divide between Clarke and her people grows by the second. It’s palpable.

And Bellamy? Brave, brilliant, caring, perceptive, and selfless Bellamy? He sets his bedroll next to hers. They’re side by side. Together. Comfort and camaraderie. She can’t lose him too, and he’s going to make sure that he’s with her every step of the way. He won’t let her do this alone. He won’t allow the crushing weight of responsibility to fall unilaterally on her shoulders. That means a lot, coming from a guy who arguably knows the most about how burdensome responsibility can be.

Don’t even get me started on the romantic shots of the established couples (though Kabby comes later) after this exchange between Bellamy and Clarke. They’re filmed in pairs: Bellamy and Clarke, Abby and Kane, then Lincoln and Octavia. How thick could you get?

It makes the later scene with Clarke telling Bellamy that endangering his life to play the spy is “work the risk” even more heartbreaking. I am 100% convinced that that moment is what opened the door for all of the future Bellarke miscommunication, confusion, and emotional constipation. Blame it on the “love is weakness” bullshit. It’s almost laughable that we’re still seeing the consequences of Clarke pushing Bellamy away that first time all the way up to the current episode. In 6x07, Clarke is somehow convinced that Bellamy doesn’t care half as much for her as she does for him.