“The Chosen,” our penultimate episode of the season, felt full of twists and turns that were mostly nullified by the end of the hour, slowing down the momentum from the last few episodes. On the positive side, the visuals of what’s left of the outside world were lovely, with all the white snow and red blood and suits, and our characters are left with plenty of chaos for the finale, and a very uncertain future for season 5.
Octavia chafes at her own power
Murphy referred to Octavia as Queen of the Grounders and he wasn’t far off. Under Indra’s watchful eye, Octavia tries to get comfortable with the authority she now seems to wield as the champion of the conclave and uniter of the clans.
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It seems like Octavia’s bloodlust has passed, because she looked like enforcing her rule of law was the last thing she wanted to do. It was interesting that part of her framing of her responsibility to enforce her edict with violence is that for better or for worse, the Arkadians are her people. I loved seeing her step in to save Nyla and get in Jaha’s face about how poorly she was treated and how BS it is for him to only want her when it’s convenient, but it makes sense that being torn between feeling outside of Skaikru and being one of them continues to be an issue for her.
Civil unrest in Arkadia
Jaha continues to find new and different ways to be an extremist, and somehow wield an awful lot of soft power for a guy who keeps screwing everyone over. At a certain point, his charisma and good luck will run out – I’m thinking five years in a bunker full of people who want to kill each other might test that. I’m glad to see Kane’s leadership prevail over Jaha, but at some point Jaha is going to need to see ramifications for his actions. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing him interact with the little boy in his care while he’s conscious. Something about a boy without a father and a man without a son really pulls at the heartstrings.
Kane was much more present in this episode after Henry Ian Cusick spent most of the last one behind the scenes directing. The moment between Kane and Octavia after the Arkadians had been gassed was brief but fraught. I’m looking forward to watching them learn how to make their new power dynamic work with Octavia leading the united clans. Kane still has a mentor element for both Blake siblings, and I hope that continues, as well as Kane’s strong friendship with Indra.
I’m sure next week we’ll have plenty of fallout, but I’m personally looking forward to seeing how Abby reacts when she wakes up and realizes what happened. While Kane honored Miller Senior’s wishes and culled him to keep his son alive, he blatantly ignored Abby’s desire to give up her spot. He at least seemed sorry about it, but I have a feeling that decision will reverberate in their relationship for a while.
Through a rather convoluted series of events, most of our favorite Sky Teens, plus Echo and Emori, wind up back on the island with Raven. I’m happy to see both Echo and Emori have found their way to safety, as I think they shake up this group that is otherwise largely core characters who have been together since the beginning of the series. And I guess Harper is there too.
I’m glad to see that Chekov’s spaceship won’t be going to waste, but I’m curious how the show will handle the alleged five-year timetable for the earth to be inhabitable again. That said, these are the same people who thought the original 100 would die on an uninhabitable earth, so who knows how good their math is anyway.
I’m disappointed the Blake siblings have been separated, perhaps for the long haul, immediately after they made up, but if anyone has plot armor it’s those two.
Is anyone else concerned that the Arkadians are saving spots for Clarke, Bellamy, and others who are now going up into space? I sure hope someone thought to give them a ring. I was glad to see grounders holding guns come back into play, and I imagine that will add to the stress of life in the bunker. Finally, did anyone else see someone lurking outside the bunker when Bellamy, Clarke, Emori and Murphy left? That seems like trouble to me.
Everyone appears to have finally settled into their fate for the apocalypse, but there’s no way we’re getting off that easy. Next week is time for do or (more likely) die, with the finale called what else? “Praimfiya.”
