We are Grounders

Finn gunned down a bunch of innocent people because he was scared and angry. There was no possibility that anything good could have come from his actions or that any motivation could have absolved them. It was murder plain and simple.

Lexa made a pragmatic decision to sacrifice 46 people she did not know for the sake of the hundreds of her own - both the people who were trapped inside and the people who would have died in the ensuing battle. 

Clarke killed a group of people who were complicit in the grotesquely brutal exploitation and murder of thousands of grounders and some of her own people. What’s more, the Mountain Men committed a sacrilege as old as human morality: killing guests, people who were under their protection.

Disclaimer:  I don’t *really* think this is what the writers were going for, but it’s interesting to think about anyway.

Okay, so.  I’ll be honest—early season one Bellamy bothers me, mostly because of his very alpha-male-y attitudes towards Octavia.  (Guys, he HUNG ATOM FROM A TREE for kissing her.  That’s a little bit over the top, Bellamy dear).  It doesn’t quite square with the Bellamy he becomes, the Bellamy who looks to Clarke for permission before torturing Lincoln, the Bellamy that respects Raven’s decision to have revenge-sex, and in general the Bellamy that is 100% into Ladies Making Decisions.

Now, there’s a few obvious explanations for this, most glaringly that Octavia has literally never interacted with anyone not family.  Bellamy doesn’t really have any reason to trust her judgment, because Octavia has never made a decision solely for herself.  (Also, in his defense, she can be kind of an idiot.  In an endearing way, but Clarke had a point when she said “She’s Octavia.  She’s probably chasing butterflies,” because that’s what Octavia does).  There’s also the fact that the one time Octavia did leave their apartment it got their mother floated.  So while it’s definitely overkill (again, Atom+tree= jesus fucking christ, Bellamy) it makes a certain amount of sense that he would throw everything he has into protecting her, especially in a setting as harsh as “surrounded by criminals and people who want to murder them in an environment that has not been proven safe.”

But I was thinking: what if Bellamy’s protectiveness stemmed not from a distrust of Octavia, but a distrust of men?  We have no indication that there was ever a consistent male presence in Bellamy’s life prior to Octavia’s birth, and we have every indication that the men in their lives after Octavia arrived were scum.  It’s implied that Aurora traded sexual favors for advance notice of inspections (and possibly for Bellamy’s position in the guard and just let that sink in for a second and cry for the entire Family Blake).  Once Bellamy became a cadet and then again when he was demoted to a janitor, we see him manipulated by men (mostly Shumway).  Men were responsible for his sister being locked up (Shumway) and his mother dying (Jaha).  A man convinced him to commit murder (and no matter how angry Bellamy was on the Ark he wasn’t broken the way he was when he came to earth convinced he was a murderer) and sent him on a possibly suicidal mission to earth.  So we have lots of canon evidence for Bellamy’s life being irreparably fucked by the actions of men.

Then let’s look at Bellamy’s canon interaction with men/boys on the ground.  He surrounds himself with a bunch of carriers of the XY chromosomes, but he doesn’t seem to *like* them much, aside from Miller and Jasper.  He convinces them to follow him like they are troops and he is the general—he does not befriend them.  He controls them.  Bellamy’s first hints of “okay maybe he’s not a total dickbag” are with Charlotte, whom he treats with compassion (as opposed to Murphy and Wells, who he basically tells to kill each other).  If you see his actions as stemming from a deeply held belief that men can’t be trusted, his actions start to make sense.

And then there’s slutty!Bellamy, who throws a wrench into this meta unless you consider the fact that he sees himself as a monster now.  And if he’s already a monster in one way (killing Jaha) he might as well embrace it fully and become the sort of man he hates, because no one hates Bellamy as much as Bellamy hates Bellamy and no one will ever punish Bellamy as harshly as Bellamy.  (Besides, he does seem genuinely sad when one of his ladies is killed.  He immediately blames himself—she was only here because of me—and that is not the reaction of a callous playboy).

Bellamy doesn’t really open  up anyone until Clarke (I’m a monster, he says, something he won’t admit to just anyone because Bellamy doesn’t really like most people).  He asks Raven if the revenge sex helped (a rare moment of almost-vulnerability) because he desperately doesn’t want to be one of those men who uses women, even though for his first few weeks he was. Hell, he defies Kane in favor of following Abby Griffin’s orders, even though for all intents and purposes they both represent the things he hate the most (authority that is not him and the government that executed his mother and locked up his sister for existing).  Granted, Abby’s orders dovetailed with his own personal wishes, but the fact remains that by and large, Bellamy does not trust men’s judgment (including his own).

A Lexa/Clarke meta

In the aftermath of Rubicon, everyone’s talking about Clarke’s decisions and the attack on the village and how this will affect Clarke from now on. But I don’t want to talk about Clarke. I want to talk about Lexa.

Here’s a couple of interesting things about Commander Lexa:

She is roughly the same age as Clarke

Just like Clarke, she was thrust into a position of leadership at a fairly young age

It’s easy to forget these things about Lexa, because of the way Grounder culture works and because of how Lexa conducts herself. We don’t know exactly how old she is, but she’s young enough that Abby calls her a ‘child’; and from season 2 we learn that she was “called to lead her people” - presumably when the old Commander died and their spirit chose Lexa.

It’s unclear whether or not she knew she would one day be in charge - but even if she did, imagine it for a second. Lexa as a young woman, maybe 16 or 17 years old, training under Anya. Then one day the Commander dies and suddenly she’s plucked out of her training and handed the Commander’s cloak and told she’s now the leader of hundreds of people, adults and warriors included. Yes, she probably started her warrior training at a young age (as we’ve seen is the norm in Grounder culture). And granted, the Grounders seem perfectly chill about following a teenage girl around. But still. This is some heavy stuff.

It seems like people are a little quick to romanticize Bellamy’s feelings for Clarke at the end of 2x09 when in truth they are a lot more complicated.

Here is this person who became his moral compass and absolution. His second chance. The person who taught him what it was to lead and be a leader. He had just gotten to the point at the end of season one where he would do anything for any one of his people. He gave himself up for Jasper and was willing to risk everything on a rescue mission for Clarke and the others. He didn’t know what it was to feel that level of self sacrifice till then, but now he knows.

And then suddenly he was a leader who would do anything for his people but all his people were gone. Cruel twist of fate really.

And then he gets Clarke back, the one person who understands and can help him in his drive to make good on the promise he made to protect his people at all cost. And yeah she’s changed. She’s darker, more troubled. And I think he realizes then that this partner of his made the call to close the dropship door and let him die to save the rest of their people. That’s a fucking hard call to make, and I think he respects her for it. It’s not so different from the call he originally made to not go out on a rescue mission for her and to finish the camp’s defences instead. But he eventually changed his mind and I think he has to wonder, would she do it again? would she make the same call again? would he?

And as things continue to get harder and harder in a way I think he just concentrates all of his energy on keeping her alive. Because he can’t always do much about the rest of their people, but dammed if he can’t protect her.

But it’s important to remember that he never stops trying to save everyone else as well. And that includes Lincoln. He is more than happy to risk his life to save the 47, but the news that she’s more than happy to risk his life to save them too. That hurts. And not because of his feelings or whatever, but because that means she would close the dropship door on him again.

And the fact is he wouldn’t close it on her. He wouldn’t close it on anyone. That’s the lesson she helped teach him, that they don’t get to chose who lives and who dies, that every life on the earth is sacred.

If you haven’t been keeping up, the raging debate in The 100 fandom last year centered on the recent arc of Finn Collins and the treatment of ethnic groups in the show. The first domino to fall was leepacey’s PowerPoint post on the reasons she believed The 100 was racist. Responding was commanderlexa and from there, a cavalcade of opinion posts emerged with greater and greater momentum. For better or worse, I would like to enter my voice into the fray because I haven’t yet seen this particular analysis mentioned, though it has been touched upon by most. I also wanted to wait until the first episode after the midseason aired to see if the characters’ reactions would enlighten any of my points.

John Murphy gets a bit of a raw deal from the other characters on the 100, and this episode is no exception. The beloved trash-lord gets given work detail by Kane after a Grounder starts a fight with him, because this show’s motto is “If Murphy was within a five mile radius of the incident, it’s his fault”. It’s not surprising that he leaped at the opportunity to join Jaha’s little messiah-quest to the City of Lights.

The 100 is a show that lives and breathes the moral grey areas, so it’s hard to give a good reason why anyone should hate Murphy when you consider what everyone else has done at various points in the story. Because the other characters all seem to hate Murphy. As Murphy points out in this episode: “I was pardoned - slate wiped clean. I’m still treated like dirt.”

Why, though? Sure, Murphy murdered a couple of people. But this is the 100. Who hasn’t murdered someone? (Monty, obviously, but he’s an angel.) He gets treated worse than Clarke or Bellamy (both killers) and even worse than Finn (murderer of an unarmed village). Murphy’s treatment points to two recurring themes of Sky People justice:

Crimes against other Sky People are always worse than crimes against outsiders.

Leniency largely depends on how likeable someone is

A Bellarke post

[DECLAIMER: Gif are not mine, credits go to makers!]

I was VERY worried about making this post, I was so not looking for the ship troubles BUT there is nothing like giving me shit, pissing me off to convince me to do exactly what you told me not to.

I got a hate-ish anon about Bellarke a while ago. So you know who to blame for this, my friends.

There are many things to say about Bellarke, people are very passionate about this as it always happens for ships that are standing first and most importantly on the crazy chemistry of the actors (Bob Morely and Eliza Taylor in our case).

So what I will give you is just MY point of view, what I think makes this ship a possibility that would be great for the show.

I have two points to express, not the usual shipper meta but I hope a more detached and neutral approach just to show you that people are not getting crazy for nothing.

THE POINTS:

1-The thopos: It started right away (or why this ship makes sense, even if you don’t like it) 2-The camera choices: it’s not an hallucination (see for youself)

The thopos: IT STARTED RIGHT AWAY.

I don’t know you but for me, I was sold the moment Clarke stopped Bellamy to open the dropship. I loved how she was immediately the girl that thinks she is right and he was the boy that looks like the worst but could just be the best.

Then in the second episode Jason thought it was a good idea to have Clarke walk to Bellamy and say: “I’m here for you”, and really, REALLY, how was I supposed to look at that?

You see, this is something that has nothing to do with the show because honestly this scene meant nothing in a romantic sense. Not on the surface.

Do you know why this scene created immediately a fan base for the couple? Because they are a thopos. If you are a bit familiar to literary critic you know that a thopos (Greek term, by the way literally means ‘place-situation’) is a particular typical situation or theme that is often used and rewritten in its fundamental figures.

Now, keeping this is mind let’s analyze Bellarke: we have a girl born and risen in a wealthy (considered the possibilities) and cultured environment, she is the Princess in every sense.

Then we have a boy who stands on the opposite side of society. Low class, orphan, since he was a child forced to take responsibility for his family to survive. Clarke is the individual that the system created, she is protected by it and wants to preserve it, she believes in it. Bellamy is the result of what the system can spare, he fights to have a place that can grant him a little dignity and survival, he is trying to survive the system, he doesn’t believe in it but knows that the only way to survive it is to obey. Or to be really quite and really smart in disobeying.

Does this remind you of a certain Griffin engineer who was kind of executed for treason after he tried to share the information about the Ark imminent death? No? Must be just me.

This was how they were born and how they thought they would have lived their life. Clarke was gonna be a doctor, proud of her parents’ legacy. Bellamy was gonna be a perfect model in the system, a guard, and make sure to protect with this shield his family.

But then something happened: the system betrayed Clarke and Bellamy underestimated the system…and they both lost their family.

We all know how they arrived on the ground and from here it’s story…

This my friends, he’s such a Classic.

We literally have the thopos of The Princess and The Rebel. You want examples? Sure.

In the legend: Tristan and Isolde (she princess, he knight, we know how it went).

In the folklore –maybe even the story-: Robin Hood and Lady Marian (she the cousin of the King, he an outlaw…after Kevin Kostner and Russel Crowe you cannot tell me you don’t know the story).

In the recent literature: This Broken Stars, sci-fi YA book, cute one really (she is not noble by blood but read it and you’ll see my point).

In the classic literature: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (Rowena and Ivanhoe…he was disowned so my point stands).

Finally, a cult of the pop culture that even Jason Rothemberg has quoted as a perfect comparison: Star Wars (Leia and Han).

I can’t even.

You see what I mean? The details may wary but the thopos, the idea, the core is the same.

She is noble in the sense she represent the status quo, she is at the highest of the society and regardless of where he started out, when the story ensues he is at the bottom of society or even outside of it. They are standing on opposite barricades but somehow get pushed together and IT WORKS. They work perfectly together this is the core of it.

There is an unexpected affinity and people are drown to it. This two different child of the world, raised to believe that the other is incompatible with what they are, with everything they believe in, find out that reality is different. They understand that there are some things that unite all human beings such as pity, mercy, Justice, trust, forgiveness… They understand that different people can coexist and actually they can help each other to make better decision because together they see more because they see differently.

Why did I put all this effort in making this point? Because I want to say this: the Bellarke is a ship, it is not canon as regards the romantic aspect and there is nothing to make us think that we are getting there for sure…but it is not a collective hallucination either!

People are responding to an archetype of storytelling, something that appeals to a sphere of our sensibility: we like those stories that tell us about a couple that finds a connection and despite everything at the end will find happiness in each other.

Bellarke is NOT canon, it is NOT happening in the sense of being in the clear intention of our show runner BUT it is a concrete possibility for the story because we have all the necessary elements for it to work. If the authors want is to happen and the show gets enough seasons (since it is the definition of slowburn for how it’s been built till now.).

Okay? Okay.

Plus I don’t know if you noticed but Jason sure likes to release sneak peek quite peculiar…just saying.

THE CAMERA CHOICES: coincidence? I believe NOT!

Let’s talk about how the director decided to show us things. Let’s talk about takes and acting…let’s talk about what we have all SEEN.

I’m not gonna lose myself in speculation because my purpose here is to show you that the thing objectively makes sense, so I’m just gonna describe some scenes with you.

Episode 1, S1: introduction of the characters.Do you remember the moment we first saw Bellamy? I’m kidding of course you remember

We have the reunion with Octavia and then he tries to open the dropship but Clarke stops him.

Now think about this: we saw Clarke interact with three characters in this first episode, not counting her mother. Three males actually: Wess, Finn and Bellamy in this order. Wess, who to me always had some lingering feelings for Clarke that were not just friendship related so here the first.

Finn was so clearly intended to become her love interest, I knew it from the start.

Then we have Bellamy.

So, if we can say, Wess is safe zone since they are childhood friends, we are left with two other characters that we all know were: main in the cast, very attractive and both immediately had a connection plot wise to the protagonist, Clarke.

Now, I’m no expert but I do read lots of books and watch way too much ANYTHING and I think I’m reasonably right when I say: this is the typical way you introduce, in a plot, the romantic core-group. We have the girl and the choice, that is the two boys.

One, she clicks, he seems nice and funny and they have this sweet moment in which everything is bright and easy. He supports her, follows her…seems perfect right? Then you learn he had a girlfriend that he didn’t mention oops. The other it’s not a Prince Charming: they can of collide, but don’t break, he challenges her, defends his own ideas and shows a strong character that she can find irritating but in the end…she kind of trust him? She still looks for him? She definitely acknowledges his strength.

How many TV shows have this in the pilot three-pattern? Let’s make examples: The Vampire Diaries, Hart of Dixies, Reign, Haven, Outlander, The Musketeers…do you really want me to continue? Because I can.

The details may vary but the core is that: one seems perfect, the other she can’t shake of even if he looks so wrong to her. Then chaos ensues.

Episode 2, S1: the one who saves her

The pit scene, my friends. Now let’s talk about how it was filmed. They are walking and we now know that Bellamy has a secret agenda, that he is not here as Clarke ally because he is worried for poor Jasper and he kind of said he could cut her arm to take away her wristband. Nice, right?

Okay, no romance AT ALL. Like nothing, mate. Then what does Jason do?

There are traps, and of course Clarke falls in the one pit full of spears. But Bellamy catches her. Now the sequence is this, more or less. We get a good take of both Clarke and Bellamy’s face and then we go to the wristband.

The message here is clear plot wise.

Is Bellamy really that cruel and cold? He could have let her go but his instinct was to save her…wristband be damn.

That would have been enough but we have the close up on the faces and the whole pace of the scene. Clarke is aware of the choice Bellamy made: she looks at him wide eyed not just for the adrenaline and their eyes locks. We have a moment in which the whole take of the camera is this: high tension situation and intense exchange of the two who are now clearly the main characters of the show.

It took a long time to Murphy, Finn and Wess to jump in and help Bellamy out, because the director wanted us to fix on the scene.

Now, I’m not gonna be here and tell you “it’s meant to beeee~” I don’t want to convince you, remember? What I want you to say is that if Finn had saved her with this same camera choices we would have all seen some kind of emotional implication.

I’m not saying this is romantic, just that it’s not strange that people saw this, liked the chemistry of the scene and saw potential.

Episode 3, S1: when he heard her sing a lullaby

The Atom scene, my friends. Now, forgive me but I need a moment to weep because I loved him so much * cries *

However! That scene my friends. We had the whole Jasper deal at the beginning of the episode and we closed the circle here: Clarke does what she needs to for Atom and shows Bellamy that she has guts…but that doesn’t mean she has no hope!

Now, it’s all very tragic, Bellamy here is fragile and we see that despite the situation with Octavia he really did care for Atom and now seeing him like this he knows what he should do: end his sufferings. But because he cares it’s hard to kill his friend and he is there, kneeling next to him, holding the knife in his hand.

Then Clarke gets there, he turns and sees her and she immediately understands the situation, she looks at Bellamy and signals him that there is really nothing to do. The face of Bellamy says it all, his jaw thigh and the pain, the regret for losing someone like that.

That’s the moment she takes the knife and cut his carotid and then…sings a lullaby.

The scene was done, the meaning there, we didn’t need want followed for the plot. But the director got it. We have a close up to Bellamy LOOKING AT CLARKE. He could have been watching at Atom, grieving or in the distance to not witness his friend passing…but he looks at her, the girl singing to a dead man, comforting a stranger.

This is an emotional situation my friends, let’s just agree on this. It’s a moment filled with humanity and compassion, that is what I’m saying and it was decided to be between Clarke and Bellamy. Okay? Okay.

Episode 4, S1: that time she said WE

I have made a post eviscerating this episode, all on Bellarke and I won’t repeat myself, the article is title Lost and Found (Her way to Him), check it out if you like! :)

I will consider here just one scene, the ending one: Charlotte is dead and Clarke and Bellamy are back to camp to tell the Hundred about Murphy’s banishment.

They stand next to each other, in front of the fire. We can’t hear every word because what really matters is what we see. After the speech, so, what did we see? Clarke looking at Bellamy, offering him a smile…to comfort him.

They lost the girl and Clarke understood that she meant something to Bellamy so at this point, she offers him kindness because that’s all she can. They are just allies, at this point. Again this is a moment filled with compassion between this two.

Let’s think about another guy she comforts? Finn. Yea, she sleeps with him, I know, but she is in love with him so it’s legit, right?

Yes, people, don’t be shocked. I’m a bellarke fun and yet I am convinced and would defend this convince ion in front of anyone that Clarke loved Finn from this point on till his death and still loves him. I watch the show and I respect the canon!

(I’m actually a very productive girl and have an article about this two Here)

Episode 5, S1: that time she knew him better that he knew himself

Just gonna quote:

‘You always did what you had to do to protect your sister, THAT’S WHO YOU ARE.’

We have this and then… Close up to their faces. Bellamy looks, raw in front of how clearly she saw him and yet not ready to accept the forgiveness or at least the justification she is offering him and Clarke looks, eyes wide open and searching: we clearly see her eyes scanning Bellamy’s whole face, looking for something. Human connection. That’s all I’m saying.

Man, I could keep going till the end of the season (I’m just gonna say…EPISODE 8 SEASON 1)

…but I’m gonna stop because this is page six on Word and yeah, I have one last thing to say.

It’s true that fans can manipulate a scene and find a million different explanations for a fragment of imagine that maybe was not that important for the director, but that is why I chose only major scenes here.

This were focal moments in the plot, in the character development of the whole crew. I’m not giving you meta, this is practically a sum up on scenes that you all saw if you watched the show (and if you noticed I didn’t pick those scenes you usually think when talking about Bellarke, like the shooying stars, to give an example).

Now listen to this: every single scene put in the episodes was chosen among a lot of other options.

Every single expression of the actors was chosen by them and by the writers who prepared the scripts. ù

They don’t just go on set, film the scene and put in the final montage the first try. They do and redo the scene until the director is satisfied. The montage means that every single peace is carefully taken into consideration, the order of every take…there is a project behind all of it, it’s a difficult project and it’s all intended!

Yes, sometime you can give more than one interpretation but you cannot change the sequence of the events, you can’t change the words that where spoken or the looks that were exchanged.

This whole thing with Bellamy and Clarke, you DON’T HAVE TO READ IT AS A BUILDING UP FOR A ROMANTIC OUTCOME, but…YOU CAN READ IT LIKE THIS!

That’s the point. I got an Anon saying to me this: I don’t understand you bellarke, you are just looking for something to ship and making shit up.

Well, I’m not okay with that. First this was rude so, please go ask someone to teach you manners or never talk to me again, thank you very much.

Second, if you really don’t understand, here you go something to help you to. If you paid attention maybe things are now a bit clearer. Of course, this requires to people to actually WANT to understand.

I will say it one last time:

I don’t want to convince anybody. You can still not ship or even don’t like Bellarke, but honestly, don’t come here and tell me that it makes no sense. To you it may not be obvious but this is a tv show, we are only halfway through S2 and anything could happen, people are hoping for possible storylines and they have the right to do so, they are supporting the show we all love so be respecful at the very least. 

Maybe it will never be canon on the show, but the Bellarke fandom is not a collective hallucination, it’s just a ship.

Thank you for reading this I hope you enjoyed it and if you don’t agree and want to discuss it with me please send me an ask and we’ll talk, with respect for our repsective opinions and as persons.

bye!

I’ve read some great meta from both youreallysoldit (x) and commanderlexa (x) about Bellamy’s role in the group, and the question of equal leaders vs the queen/knight dynamic. Really good reading, both of them. I’d like to say first off that agree with this idea:

Bellamy being a lieutenant/knight/support to Clarke in group decisions does not make him personally subservient to her or diminish their mutual respect.

I’d also go on to say that at this point Bellamy is not suited to be co-leader of Camp Jaha (or even the 48), and moreover, he doesn’t even seem to want the job.

So now the question: Why? Why shouldn’t he still be the rebel king? Why can’t they rule together?

Because, to put it frankly, this is not a divine monarchy from feudal times. No one is beholden to Clarke. The Ark was a military republic (and lbr, probably corrupt). As of last Wednesday, Camp Jaha is a military autocracy.

Previously, I made a gif set of the parallels between Clarke usurping her mother’s power and Cage doing so with his father in the same episode. While I had a couple of possible theories on why that was the case, I think I’ve come to a conclusion now that their scenes have once again been paralleled in episode 2x12. Besides showing how Clarke and Cage both crossed the line, it also showed how both parents did all they could and opposed their children hard in order for them not to make the, as they would consider it, morally wrong choices that they had to make in the past. They hold tight to whatever power because in letting that power go, they also let the responsibility for any wrong decision to go to their children. I’m not saying this is right or smart, I’m just saying that it as it is.

OKAY HOLD THE FUCK UP EVERYONE.

I keep seeing this stupid argument all over the place and I am so fucking done with it. This is literally NOT what happened.

Two things that are wrong with this statement. First of all, this was not Abby’s decision to make, at least not all on her own. Yes, she probably pushed for it and I’ll get to that in a moment, but even then, it was either Jaha or the entire council making the final decision on what to do.

Secondly (and more importantly in my opinion) ABBY DIDN’T SEND THEM DOWN THERE TO DIE. That just goes against canon in every way.

Let’s just go back to the pilot. When we meet Clarke, she’s imprisoned and has one month until she turns 18. We get a vague mention about the possibility of her getting reviewed then, which could (in theory) be a possibility for her to get to live. But the thing is that with all the information we have, it’s naive to think that that’s even an option at that point.

Not only does she know about the system failure, which is why freeing her would be a huge risk for them, but their situation is also so bad already that they desperately need a solution, even if that solution means killing their own people. So why would they ever agree to actually let her live? That’s right, they wouldn’t. And Clarke and Abby both know it.

Remember that scene at the very beginning of the Pilot when the guards come into Clarke’s cell and she panics? Remember her line

”They’re killing us all, aren’t they? Reducing population to make more time for the rest of you.”

That was an actual possibility. That’s how bad it was.

And even though it was never explicitly stated on the show, it is my personal headcanon that it was Abby who proposed sending them to Earth, because really, that’s the best chance at survival they would have had at that point. They were talking about population reduction plans and let’s not kid ourselves here. The first to die would have been the juvenile delinquents. Like Jaha said in the Pilot, they are expendable to them. So yeah, Abby probably proposed the plan of sending them to Earth, but not as expendable “lab rats” (like the others seemed to think of them half the time), but because it was literally the ONLY way for them to at least have a chance to live at ALL. The sky people might have survived if they hadn’t done it, but the teenagers sure as hell wouldn’t have.

Also, just in case everyone somehow forgot: Abby fought like hell for those kids. She truly believed that they were alive. And sure, it probably also came from a place of desperation and denial about her daughter most probably dying down there. But she knew that - however crappy the chances - Earth was still their best bet and they needed to believe that they could survive down there.

So no, Abby did NOT FUCKING SEND THEM DOWN TO EARTH TO DIE. She pushed for the council to send them down because this was the last possibility for the 100 to LIVE, which is also an ACTUAL QUOTE FROM THE SHOW in case you all don’t remember the first season.

"We sent them down to die." "No, we sent them down to live.”

As for her sitting on a high horse. I don’t think you actually understand her character / the scene if that’s what you take away from last night’s episode. That wasn’t Abby “sitting on a high horse” and “judging” Clarke. It was Abby being completely shaken by the realization that her daughter just let all those people die.

She doesn’t know that Clarke actually tried to find a way out, hell she doesn’t even know the whole situation, cause NOONE FUCKING TOLD HER ANYTHING. All she knows is that Clarke knew.

I just cant see the kids being ok with the same people showing up and telling them what to do (plus blaming everything on them). I think theyd still stay loyal to Clarke and Bellamy (sort of speaking) and look up to them instead of the grown ups. I also found it interesting when early in S1 Bellamy called Clarke one of the ’privileged ones’ and none of the delinquents disagreed, imo that shows how theres also some resentment there

because Im assuming that besides Wells and Clarke (who were the ’privileged’ ones), rest of the 100 and their families were not and Im also assuming had a harder life because of that on the Ark. So now to have Kane and Abby (and maybe Jaha) who are all the ’privileged ones’ showing up and giving orders, I just dont see that going over well. But Id love to hear your thoughts about that :)

hello anon, you have literally described to me my own wildest dream for season two. ARK VS. THE 100. like i don’t understand why they’d set things up the way they did, with these harsh class divisions and the dystopian nature of the ark government if they weren’t planning on a rebellion plotline at some point, but then again, maybe i’m giving them too much credit since they also set up a motherfucking love triangle and then effusively congratulated themselves for…not…writing….love triangles…????////???////?? (YO YOU DON’T GET TO GIVE YOURSELF CREDIT FOR RISING ABOVE TIRED ROMANCE TROPES WHEN YOU’RE THE ONE WHO INTRODUCED THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. ROTHENBERG. god what a dick ahem anyway)

anyway i think: yes, probably wells and clarke were among the few in the 100 who grew up with any amount of privilege (raven and finn are debatable, as far as how they grew up and how much freedom they had, i think you could make a case for either way?? i’m not sure). i also think it’s safe to assume that most of the delinquents went to jail for truly moronic reasons (aside from finn, who did do something super fucked up that endangered others and yes, deserved to be in jail—and bellamy, who shot someone and yes, deserved to be in jail as well, even if he wasn’t technically a delinquent). you can kind of fill in the blanks there, with the sorts of crimes these kids were probably convicted of—stealing food, probably. mouthing off to the wrong person. little rebellions that every teenager goes through at some point, only on the ark, instead of getting grounded, you get locked up for years and then possibly executed. yay, justice!!! that makes so much sense!!!!

so yeah, there’s no way that i can picture them laying down for the ark council—the government that did this to them. i mean when you lay it all out like that, it’s just ridiculous—not only did they lock these kids up and kill (some of) their parents, they also slingshotted them down to earth as guinea pigs, expecting them to roll over and follow orders and oh!! what you’re doing is important!! it means life or death for all of us!!! but don’t forget your place, because we don’t actually care about you, it’s just what you can do for us. it’s just—so fucking evil, and if this show really expects me to sympathize with the characters on the council, like kane and jaha and abby and etc, it’s got another fucking thing coming because that is some seriously cruel, inhuman shit that they’ve done to these kids. the system itself is cruel and inhuman, i mean—yeah, you get that they don’t have a choice when they’re trying to survive, but if the 100 doesn’t get a pass for the shit they do to stay alive, then neither should the adults, okay.

and you just have to think that there must have been a better way to do things than just indiscriminately killing and abusing and locking people up for the slightest reason (i mean, the ark is pretty much that one episode of charmed where the sisters turn the world into utopia, but because there are no demons or evil anymore, you get thrown in jail for cursing and executed in the middle of the street for jaywalking), not to mention the abuses that the class system wrought on everyone. and jake griffin is the example that kind of illustrates that—he was fucking right, and they killed him for nothing and nobody even seemed to notice that when they played his tape, that if they’d let him go ahead with his plan, it would’ve worked out fine??? that lack of clarity, both textual and metatextual, in regards to holding the ark council accountable, bugs me to no end, man, you have no idea

Because in what possible universe would anyone let that happen?

Let Eliza keep her accent so the Griffins come from the Australian station. Make Raven either of Brazilian or Venezuelan lineage, yelling in Spanish/Portuguese when she’s upset so Finn is only fluent in insults. Hell, have the Blake siblings switching to Tagalog in the middle of a sentence without any of them noticing it, because Aurora taught them the language as well as English when they were kids. Have everyone thinking Monty is either Chinese or Japanese when, nope, he’s Korean and his family moved to the US/Canada/whathaveyou before the Cataclysm.

i think there’s room for all sorts of abuse on the ark, tbh. it’s implied in bellamy and octavia’s backstory episode that aurora exchanges sex for tip offs about surprise inspections so you know, there’s probably all kinds of stuff that people do to each other. humans can be pretty awful, especially when living under strict authority

not to imply that what aurora was doing is awful, or that being a sex worker is awful, or anything like that—aurora and her life on the ark, including what she might have done to keep octavia safe, is a whole separate discussion. just that if she was able to find a way around the rules, then it’s probably a pretty common thing that happens

i do think rape is definitely still a crime. like, they’d prob float you for something like that. and considering the circumstances, and how trigger-happy they were about executing people, it’s possible that a lot of the bullshit that currently exists about trying rapists disappeared. like, when you’re running out of air and it’s in everyone’s best interest if you float this guy, you’re not going to be asking what the victim was wearing, you know

It was your heart on the line- I really fucked it up this time

Finn Collins has been a subject of a lot of ill feelings on my part, and I hold to those, because I do not think that he is a good person. However, I also do not think he is a bad person, either.

Flawed and misguided, Finn is a textbook example of a character with a chronic hero complex. Every wrong that he can sniff out becomes his to solve, because, in his mind, there is no thought to said wrong, only that it is not good. This poses a lot of problems for him, because, as I said, it’s not the fact that there is a problem, but that he feels compelled to save the day with little to no regard to the details and the scope of the problem.

Take the meeting with the Grounders: war was the issue and peace is an answer to that, but Finn did not pause to think about anything other than that broad spectrum label. There was no considering the enemy or even the people around him, only that he, Finn, could solve it, and at that time he was in the middle of a problem that actually concerned him (Raven and Clarke) but could not solve it without losing his hero status.

While I do feel something for him, because in his mind he is only trying to help… Finn deserves the rejection. If not only for the fact that- like Clarke said- broke hearts in the process of feeling like a savior (because while his feelings might be genuine, his motives lead me to think otherwise). 

Both Raven and Clarke left Finn torn, and I think that if Raven hadn’t of ended things with him, he would have been content to keep things the way they were, because that would always a leave a princess to be saved. Yet, this would have never worked- it clearly has not- because he didn’t hurt two damsels in distress, but rather two fully capable females that understand that a pretty boy with golden words isn’t all that matters in life.

And shame on Finn for thinking that in the middle of enemy territory he could lay that on Clarke and expect her to fall into his arms, so thankful that he is alive- which she is, but that’s because she’s a good person and is the responsible one. 

Despite the fact that Clarke is in the right for laying down the law and telling him that he broke her heart, I think that she is also starting to realize what you said. Finn is not the type of person you get in a relationship with, because it’s not about you, but the wrongs you need fixed in your life and how he can facilitate that repair and come out of it the shining hero and be deserving of you falling from 370km above the earth just to be with you.

thank you!!! why does everything rothenberg say make me want to slam my head into something

i don’t think it is a hierarchy, particularly not by the end of the season??? because once the grounders starting coming from them i think they were pretty much doing whatever they needed to do to get through the battle, so it was less of a “who do we listen to” and more of a “okay clarke’s saying this and that makes sense, by the way i’m fucking terrified can somebody give me a hug”

like—it seems clear to me that they follow bellamy because he’s bellamy, they trust him and i think he knows that, i think that weighs on him quite a bit. but i don’t think they follow clarke just because she’s clarke, not yet anyway—i think when they listen to her it’s because she’s got a point, not necessarily because she’s their leader. and that will probably change in season two, being that she’ll be in mt weather with them and (presumably) will be instrumental in getting them out