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otp-armada · 1 year

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The 100 Rewatch 2023 Season 1, Episode 1 “Pilot“

Alrighty, live-blogging The 100. If only 2020!Me could see me now.

First off, let me gather myself.

I’ll preface this by saying I’ve recently gotten obsessed with The Rookie shortly before embarking on this rewatch. I’ve forgotten how thrilling it is to fall head over heels for a new ship. Chenford has made me so deliriously ecstatic and in such good spirits that it triggered a sort of informal revival tour of my favorite ships. When the Bellarke compilation on YouTube came up next in queue, I chickened out just as quickly as the first ad popped up. Knowing how their story ends, I was afraid that Bellarke wouldn’t feel the same. That the ending would taint my memory of them upon revisitation.

All of which is to say, this rewatch should be an interesting experiment.

Alright, best get a wriggle on.

Oh, baby!Clarke. And just like that, I’m transported seven years ago to my dining table, where I first pressed “play” on a little CW show that would consume me.

100 years until the Earth is survivable again, eh? Killed everyone, huh? In roughly a year’s time, she’ll be the one thought to have perished in radiation.

“Reality sucks.” Babe, you don’t know the half of it.

The wristbands feel like an ancient relic.

It really has been such a long time since I watched season 1. I’m lost in time. At this point, it really does feel like your typical CW teen drama, and it’s such a strange thought, considering how long I’ve been holding onto the bulk of the narrative where it departed into its unique footprint.

“The rules have changed.” Because *I* made them change, is what’s left unspoken by Abby.

“Your instincts will tell you to take care of everybody else first...” Yep, two minutes in, and I’m emotional.

Baby!Delinquents!!!!

A good bedside manner, Jaha does not possess. There’s blunt and there’s brash, and he is solidly in the latter. The thing about juvenile delinquents? They’re KIDS. Sure, you’ve got the odd murderer in the ranks, but they are few and far in between a sea of children with offenses probably befitting a slight slap on the wrist, if that.

“Your records wiped clean.” Assuming the lab rats don’t expire from radiation upon arrival. Way to incentivize them. Little wonder Bellamy will so easily corral them into removing the wristbands.

For once, the fluke in the plan works to their advantage. If those kids had landed at Mount Weather as intended...*shudder*

Shut up, Finn.

100 + 1 - 2 = A landing party of 99. Check. 👍

“The air could be toxic.”

There they are. The chance encounter of the loves of my life. And of each other’s life.

I want to say something here about the Blake siblings, but I’m too preoccupied with internally screaming at the sight of my bby boy on my screen again.

Have I mentioned that I’m adrift in time??

Little do these three know how entangled their fates will be. From here on out, they will be the trio comprising the foundation of this entire saga. The trifecta.

“Like being the first person on the ground in 100 years.” “First one to touch the ground loses.” My oh my.

I AM AWASH IN NOSTALGIA

I WILL BE BLASTING RADIOACTIVE AFTER THIS EPISODE AND YES IT WILL BE STUCK IN MY HEAD FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT

Oh, back when it was all so simple...

I’m conflicted. I want the perfect marriage of this simplicity before the wars with S6 Bellarke at the helm. Basically, what season 7 should have been. Don’t we all? *sigh*

Finn is such a chameleon, it’s infuriating. He is whatever fantasy version he thinks will earn him brownie points with the pretty girl. I can’t believe there was a time when I didn’t mind him. He was every bit the textbook teen heartthrob with floofy hair I thought wouldn’t be so bad. Basically, this dude, with a slightly deceptive edge.

By now, Clarke and Wells had ingrained themselves into my heart. Too soon, you say? Perhaps. But it was always the logical, pragmatic, responsible characters I found myself leaning to. Always the ones I felt should be in charge.

You’ve been on the ground for a minute, Murphy, how’d you put together a posse already?

Poor Wells. He’s so sensible here, and he’s ignored because of the tall shadow his father casts. I do wonder the man Wells would have become had he lived. I’m not under any impression that he would be stagnantly stalwart. The axiom of a show continually striving to push its characters to the brink is that no one is incorruptible, even those we approximate most to pure cinnamon rolls. There is no such animal in this narrative.

“Do you think we care who’s in charge? We need to get to Mount Weather not because the Chancellor said so, but because the longer we wait, the hungrier we’ll get and the harder this’ll be. How long do you think we’ll last without those supplies? We’re looking at a 20-mile trek, ok? So if we want to get there before dark, we need to leave now.”

Bellamy knew. I don’t mean it in a “he was in love with her at first sight” kind of way. He correctly assessed her right here and then as one who could seize control as the de facto leader of the camp. And where would it put him and Octavia then, if the princess got her way, if the Ark came down as planned? No, what appears as attitude toward Clarke and Wells is a well thought-out ploy to wrestle the camp in his favor in their absence. And it worked.

Oh, right. I remember. Here’s the faux-hero complex that ingratiated Finn to my good side.

“Rescue me next.” Icky.

“I need to just do something crazy just because I can, and no one, including you, is gonna stop me.” You will not lack opportunity for craziness. One might say you will not miss any chance, including, but not limited to, tyranny.

Oh, no. The evil black lightbulb is going off in Rebel!Bellamy’s head.

“Before you get any ideas, I don’t care.” You really should have stuck to these guns, Clarke.

“The Chancellor’s been shot.” *record scratch*

Jasper and Monty, precious, innocent beans. Before the world scarred them so badly. As close as brothers, who will one day branch off into diametrically oppositional philosophies about humanity and the meaning of life. One to nilihism, one to hope.

“Being born.” Cue the bunker flashbacks. As many mistakes as she will make in her pursuit of agency, Octavia’s initial resentment toward the Ark cannot be blamed. By the laws of the Ark, she was born a criminal by virtue of existing. Lost her mother, displaced from her brother and her home, what little there was, and lost a year of her life, during which she could presume she’d be killed the moment the illusion of civility peeled away when she turned of age.

Weird the mutant monsters swiftly disappeared, but these kids had enough problems on their plate.

Though Abby will catch a lot of flak later on from the fandom, I hardly think anyone wouldn’t cheer her on in the pilot. I know I always have been. She’s on the praiseworthy delineation of “rebel.”

“He’s no one. A janitor.”

Good one, Shumway.

“Her mother kept her hidden for 16 years. Nearly a record.” I’m sorry? Nearly a record? What is the record for “longest hidden kid,” then?

I still take it with a grain of salt that Bellamy and Octavia would be the only siblings in 97 years on this orbiting hunk of metal. Presumably, there would be plenty more in Aurora’s predicament. Poor women from the lower classes with limited, if not scarce access to medical resources. Women who didn’t want to abort their second child. Mixed families. Multiple spouses, what with the death toll of a justice system embroiled in capital punishment. Step-children, half-siblings. It makes you wonder what kind of medieval laws an unforgiving society like the Ark would enact to ensure its rigid population control.

I will say the power struggle between Abby, Jaha, and Kane, with the morality conflicts emerging from the Ark, was what first drew me in to this show. The kids were...the teens from your average CW show on your average stilted CW pilot. The Ark adults were intriguing and provocative. For me, at least.

I have to hand it to Bellamy. Both he and Clarke know how to make compelling arguments for their causes. It’s a shame how Clarke’s station is her albatross (for the time being) when she has everyone’s best interest in mind. For once, Bellamy’s origin from Factory Station is his advantage. He can connect to these errant kids seeking freedom like Clarke cannot. It’s a good metaphor for how subversive the worlds of the Ark and Earth appear to be. Visually, yes, between the muted grays of space versus the bright colors of Earth, but also, the visages of emancipation and carte blanche versus confinement and restraint between the adults and the kids.

And yet, while Bellamy offers the kids the allure of freedom, it’s really a facade as he cleverly maneuvers himself to the top just as the same as the leadership hierarchy he resents. Smart of him, until he runs afoul of a betrayed Murphy.

It’s funny how out-of-touch the adults are with the kids. Never does it occur to them that the kids they imprisoned are voluntarily removing the wristbands to escape the Ark’s reach until another kid clues Abby in.

“So that was the secret they locked you up to keep, why they kept you in solitary, floated your old man?” I know Finn’s laundry list of Clarke’s nightmares is for exposition, but it’s undermined when rattled off by this sleazebag with a poor attempt at compassion offered solely to charm her. In layman’s terms, shut up, Finn.

“My mother disagreed.” And it doesn’t occur to you that your mother may have been directly responsible for your father’s execution? It HAD to be Wells? I guess, had I been Clarke, it’s easier to blame him than to consider the horrifying reality of how Jake’s death came to be.

“We have to warn them.” “That’s what my father said.”

Once again, I am reminded of how little concerted effort Jason can put into a lot of these provisional relationships. Sometimes, the show skillfully communicates a layered storyline with very little footwork. Other times, it’s not so great.

Octavia had no way of knowing how deep the water was, monsters notwithstanding.

Our first foray into Jasper the Hero. It hurts already to think ahead to the hollow young man he’ll become when he can’t save the girl.

For a sea monster of that size, you’d think Octavia’s wounds would be larger. Like, a whole leg bitten off.

“Earth Day 2052″ I just noticed.

“Note to self: next time, save the girl.” Oh, you will, Monty.

Very evocative Lord of the Flies imagery.

“We can take care of ourselves, can’t we?” You are all a scrappy, resilient bunch, but you will soon find survival in this neck of the woods to be an uphill battle.

Love this exchange between Wells and Bellamy. Wells, of course, is right. Though Bellamy’s anger is not without reason. His argument is wrapped up in camp politics, but here we have a glimpse of the Bellamy who always tapped into his pain to persuade others to his side. The Bellamy who speaks from his heart, even when the message may be a little flawed in execution.

What about the kids whose loved ones remain on the Ark? How aren’t they hesitant about abandoning them?

Iconic.

Currently picturing Bob nursing a hangover for his Bellamy voice. Who knew alcohol could produce such beautiful results?

Do I detect a hint of wavering? I think I do. He knows Wells is right. Wise, even. He’s in too deep of this persona he thinks is crucial for his and Octavia’s protection to turn back now.

After years of watching the Bellamy we know and love, Baby!Bellamy is so jarring to revisit.

As is Kane.

“And I choose at every turn and at any cost to make sure that the human race stays alive.” “That’s the difference between us, Kane. I choose to make sure that we deserve to stay alive.” If nothing else the pilot did, it established our roadmap of the series in these three sentences. These two objectives have guided this story at each turn in equal measure. For Jason to claim at the very end that this story was only ever governed by cold and ruthless survival is a lie. Those of us who paid attention know it. It’s documented from the very first episode how these characters endeavor - strive - to aim for higher than the impossible decisions and questionable morality they are cornered into. The right ending of this narrative was to allow to finally achieve their second guiding principle. Let them use the hard-won lessons they’ve learned to build a golden age from out of the post-apocalypse. Let them LIVE.

Oh, what glory that bastard robbed from us.

Also, how the turntables with Kabby from now to their conclusions.

As pragmatic as Clarke is, she’s a dreamer. She’s always had such a wonderful vision of how beautiful the world could be. And I hate how often Jason stole her hope from her.

I forgot what unencumbered delight looked like on Clarke’s face.

Strictly speaking, I can’t say I shipped Finn and Clarke. I was very determined on my first viewing to not get sentimentally entangled with ships, knowing my penchant for walking away from shows when ships sink. (Oh, the irony.) I wanted to like this series. As I said, I was intrigued by the Ark arc. I was in it to see how things go. What I can say is I didn’t mind Finn and Clarke, as chosen apathy goes. Maybe a spark of ambivalence here and there before Raven shows up.

It’s disorienting to remember the Clarke so open to falling in love. Her primary directives are safety and obtaining the imperative amenities the kids need. But on a personal scale, after their immediate crises are solved, this Clarke wants to live.

“Now, you all think I’m a bad guy, but I’m the only one willing to do what it takes to save us.” Season 1 and Season 3 Bellamy will also believe the same, and time will humble both of these men.

“...and if I have to take us to a cosmic Adam and Eve, I will do it.” Serious nomon and nontu imagery whizzing through my brain of the various pairs symbolizing them. Kabby. Marper, paving the path for Book Two: “Everyone dies. Let’s show them how to live.” Bellarke, as nomon/nontu in its final form, representative of all the narrative’s themes. The story has always been, on some level, how their union saves the world.

Even Russell and Simone, as the versions that Bellamy and Clarke could have been if they were without a moral compass.

Nomon/Nontu is a legacy, spanning generations and centuries, intrinsically tied to the fate of humanity and the Earth. Add it to the extensive list of themes forgotten by the outlier nameless season.

I should have realized the first time around how there was more to Bellamy than meets the eye when he didn’t kill Wells. Certainly would have been easier for him in terms of divesting himself of a political rival.

Speaking of, Kane must know how valuable a resource Abby is to the Ark, especially now when their home is dying a slow death. Was civil obedience really more vital to the sustainability of this place than what Abby could provide? It’s a big, fat no. Then again, these are the people who killed the engineer to their life support systems.

Well, at least one of them has sense.

We’re in agreement that the pilot episode is cheesy as hell. Exactly in the wheelhouse of 2010s!Me. It was perfect. Oh, what? Did you think I wasn’t going to let the next episode play, right there on the dining table in 2015? Jasper’s just got speared through the chest!!! They’re not alone!!!

Tagging the brilliant @sometimesrosy for revitalizing this beloved show for me from the depths

#unsurprisingly this got away from me #the 100 rewatch 2023 #the100rewatch #my post

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