I’ve always liked Emori. She’s a great example of a good female anti-hero, especially one that eventually gets real character development – something that the show has tried and failed to do with some other characters. It’s also nice to have such a character not be a stereotypical “badass chick with a sword who’s strong because she can fight the best”, but a manipulative, roguish thief (though there have been popular female characters like that in various shows from Star Trek: TNG to Firefly, it’s not so overused, especially recently, as the latter trope is, and Emori has more depth than those characters did). She’s also one of the show’s two major characters with disabilities, but hers was congenital rather than something that happened to her as an adult, as with Raven.  

I love the fact that the show didn’t go with the standard “bad man gets redeemed through the love of a good woman” arc for Murphy, but instead, had him change through love for a not-so-good woman. At first, it seemed it would go the former way, when Emori introduced herself as a damsel in distress and a sweet girl with a sad past, before putting a knife under Murphy’s throat and robbing the party, though she did help them reach their destination by whispering to him that they should go north. Which fits into this show’s tendency to create romance from negative interactions, but in comparison with some others, this one is not so bad.

It makes sense that this is who Murphy would fall for – someone who is a ruthless survivor and an outcast, more than he is. Or rather: Murphy, who likes to think of himself as the ultimate survivor, had a tragic childhood – like many on the Ark – but had an opportunity to be a part of a community with the Delinquents in season 1, and blew that chance – twice - due to his own negativity, tendency to antagonize people, and obsession with holding grudges and revenge. But Emori was an outcast since birth, due to her disability, which made her, in the harsh Grounder culture, a ‘freak’ that needs to be eradicated from the bloodline, as we learned earlier in the season. She’s known no protection or belonging, other to the criminal duo of herself and her brother. This is a difference that will matter in season 5: when she finally was given a chance to be accepted and valued as a part of a group, Emori was glad to accept it and learn, and she didn’t have the same insecurities that Murphy has, which made her more integrated into the group than he is able to be, because his issues are internal.

Murphy is at this point the character who gets the best lines (“Touch me and I’ll end you…In a non-violent way” - “Faith? No. I just got nothing better to do”), but he still has a long way to go until he gets actual redemption, because he’s still trying to justify his actions. (“I killed two people and tried to kill two more… I had my reasons, but nobody cared.” – Yeah, dude, everyone has reasons for what they do. Doesn’t mean they’re good.)

One of the things that struck me about season 2, and particularly in this episode, is the amazing cinematography with different color schemes: the desert scenes with Jaha, Murphy and the rest are full of a bright, blinding yellow, as opposed to the muted blue of the Quarantine and the vents in Mount Weather, while the other scenes have normal color balance and brighter colors.

In Mount Weather, the Mountain Men have started to drill and kill the kids. Cage and Emerson were apparently among the first to get treatments and be able to can walk outside, as did some other soldiers, like Whitman, the guy who performed the bombing of Tondc by navigating the missile and then picking up the survivors with a sniper in the following episode. It makes sense that guys who usually go outside on missions would be the first to get bone marrow treatments, while Cage took be the first or one of the first, and also forced one on his father. Dr. Tsing, unfortunately to herself, didn’t give herself one yet, probably thinking she had time, which had consequences in this same episode.

Bellamy meanwhile continues his mission by deciding to ask help from Dante, and manages to get it, though he wisely didn’t trust Dante enough to tell him who was helping him. He’s managed to get Jasper a gun, which allows Jasper to fight back, shoot a guard and save Monty again from being taken. Jasper has become sort of a leader of the Delinquents in their rebellion, thanks to his courage and determination to protect his friends, especially his best friend. Then other Delinquents start fighting with whatever they can to defend Jasper from being taken, before Bellamy irradiates Level 5, killing the present guards and Tsing. Tsing almost saves herself, by getting into another room, but Jasper stops her  from closing the door and lets her die of burns in front of him. It’s interesting that Jasper, when he shot the guard, looked like he was surprised by himself, even though he’s shot people before (Grounders on the bridge in S1) and that he was technically the one who killed about 300 Grounders with the ring of fire in the season 1 finale, but he hadn’t participated in close range fighting like that before or killed someone he could see. But just a few moments later, he was clearly enjoying his revenge over Tsing, sarcastically repeating her line “I want you to know you’re incredibly special to us”. Which I can’t hold against him, Tsing was terrible and I doubt there was anyone who didn’t enjoy her death.

But the most important parts of the episode are about Clarke. She and Raven are both on the edge, just as in the previous episode, and arguing a lot, waiting for another one of Bellamy’s regular calls. Any time he’s late with calling, they cannot be sure if he is still alive. The Clarke/Bellamy talk starts with a rare funny moment where the two of them sound like a married couple bickering (“You’re late!” – “Are you through?”), but things get serious very quick, as they learn from listening in to the Mountain Men channel both that the Delinquents are being drilled, and that the Mountain Men are about to bomb Tondc, where leaders of all the Grounder clans and Arkers are about to meet.

Clarke lies to Bellamy that Octavia is not in Tondc, in order not to distract him, but Raven later lets it slip in another talk with him that she is - something that will come during their confrontation in 3x05, when Bellamy will accuse her, among other things, of letting a bomb drop on his sister.

Now, the question is, what exactly was going through Clarke’s subconscious when she left to get to Tondc as soon as possible, and then went immediately to talk to Lexa. She certainly thought she should warn everyone and argued it to Lexa, and was shocked when Lexa, apparently cold as ice, started convincing her that they should leave and save themselves without telling anyone. But Lexa managed to convince her quickly by arguing that alerting people would blow Bellamy’s cover in Mount Weather, and ruin the entire mission and lose them the war – and telling her that she must have known that herself deep inside, or else she would have warned people immediately. Clarke seemed struck by the realization that she really must have felt that way – which may be why she later didn’t try to defend herself when Abby called her out on her actions (“You crossed the line”) and took responsibility, when Abby asked her to tell her it was all Lexa’s decision.

While trying to convince the insecure and confused Clarke, Lexa used the phrase “It’s our only choice”, which will pop up a few more times during the show. She also praised Clarke’s “strength”, telling her “You showed real strength today, don’t let emotions stop you now”. But I don’t think that’s really what happened, at all. The decision to let the bomb drop on all these people was a cold, rational one for Lexa, the kind she thought good leaders should make and that would help her win the war (and maybe also help her politically, by killing some other Grounder leaders), but for Clarke, it was all about protecting Bellamy and the Delinquents trapped in Mount Weather. Clarke started off with a strong belief in the value of human lives in general, she cares about everyone, and she tries to save everyone – but it’s hard not to prioritize the lives of people you care about over the lives of stranger. It’s a common, human thing to do– it’s hard to be perfectly impartially ethical, if your loved ones are at risk. And Clarke has been acting extremely worried, impulsive and driven by emotion – it was really obvious. I find it hard to believe that Lexa, who is very perceptive, didn’t notice that, so that line sounded like manipulation. It was as if she was validating Clarke’s choice by telling her it’s a sign she’s strong and a good leader, rather than panicking and struggling to protect her loved ones. And Clarke later makes the same choice when she is about to try to kill Whitman, but then gets distracted by seeing Abby, and gets focused on saving her mother instead, losing her the chance to stop the missile. (But in all the chaos, she forgot about Octavia… oops. Which both Octavia and Bellamy will hold against her. It’s not that Clarke doesn’t care about Octavia, but the fact is that she is not as important to her as Abby or Bellamy are.)

But either way, whether Lexa was manipulative or just imparting her views, and whether Clarke was already subconsciously feeling she would have to make that choice, this is where it became clear that, while Clarke may be able to have good influence in Lexa, Lexa’s influence and her advice certainly doesn’t bring out the best in Clarke. I think that their dynamic was very interesting, and very well-written in season 2, because Lexa was a “Shadow” character for Clarke - at the same time that Clarke found herself in the position of de facto sole leader of her people, and had to make tougher and more ruthless decisions, she met Lexa, the embodiment of darker traits of her character, upped to 11: as a young ruler who came to power as a child, she is both enormously privileged and has had a huge burden of responsibility, which made her isolated and emotionally repressed, and she believes in unquestioned, tyrannical rule, ruthlessness and treating people as expendable, if needed for the “big picture” (because this is what Grounder culture values and what Lexa has been taught to be like). Clarke is not quite like that, but she could be like that, and starts becoming more like it.

The difference is that Clarke is constantly questioning herself and always feels guilty over everything bad she does, while Lexa seems to have convinced herself that her actions are right and necessary and what a good leader should be, so she is not showing any remorse or doubt.

And this is why I knew after this episode that Lexa is never going to be one of my favorite characters. I kind of have a thing against leaders who let bombs drop on their own people when they could have saved them, and think it’s a great opportunity to use casualties for propaganda purposes, asking for revenge -something that Lexa actually argues in her conversation with Clarke. (It also has some unpleasant real world associations for me, which puts me off even more.) But I can forgive characters a lot when they show genuine remorse, so I still love Clarke, who didn’t make her decision in cold blood, and who is obviously deeply tormented and ashamed of what she has done.

The only part of this episode I’m not that keen on – which is why it doesn’t get a perfect 10 – is the resolution of Lincoln’s drug addiction storyline, because it’s a bit too easy and unrealistic. One moment, Lincoln, having relapsed, is again serving the Mountain Man like a Reaper and knocking out a Grounder to bring him to Mount Weather to get more of the “red” drug. The next, it’s enough for Octavia to punch him and basically tell him to man up (“Grounders don’t give up, we fight” – again with the whole “I am a Grounder” thing, which makes no sense) for him to be cured of his addiction? I don’t think that’s how it works.

Background info: Apparently, Mount Weather didn’t have to use missiles that often, because the last time they did it was before Lexa’s birth – over 20 years ago. It’s safe to say that they didn’t feel threatened by any armies the Grounders could have formed during that time.

Timeline: This episode starts 6 hours after the end of 2x11, and 2 days since 2x10 (that is long it’s been since Jaha left the camp, taking 12 people and 12 guns)

Body count: More people died in this episode than in any other one in season 2. (Unless we count off-screen deaths of Arkers from various stations that either died in the crash of the Ark, or were killed, including the deaths of people from the farm station killed by the Ice Nation – but we don’t even learn about the latter until season 3.)

3 Delinquents, killed and drilled for their bone marrow by Dr. Tsing, Cage and other Mountain Men. None of them were characters we knew by name, so the emotional effect was small. 48 Delinquents still survive (45 in Mount Weather + Clarke, Octavia and Murphy);

15 Mountain Men (though Cage said 11) –Tsing and 14 guards – from radiation poisoning on level 5, after Bellamy irradiated it (unless the guard Jasper shot was already dead before Level 5 was irradiated), but Jasper also caused Tsing’s death by not letting her close the door. This means they are 365 Mountain Men still alive.