The 100‘s Season 3 came to a great, action-packed, and to put it mildly, dramatic close last night. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we’re not fine. Highlights and all the feels below.
You Can Take the Girl Out of Mount Weather…
Clarke brings Abby back to non-chipped life with the EMP and they both tearfully apologize for being awful to each other. Then Clarke volunteers as tribute to put the flame in her own head, claiming she won’t die if she’s connected to a Nightblood (see: Emerson‘s death). Everyone looks towards the now brain dead Ontari, who is/was the last Nightbood other than Luna, who doesn’t count because she’s pissed off and living on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean. So Clarke sits on the throne, Abby hooks her up the nightblood IV bag, and blood is circulated through her body, just like at Mount Weather. Remember the Mountain Men? Doesn’t matter, they’re all dead now (see: Emerson’s death).
Grounders are Excellent Climbers
Meanwhile, the chipped Grounders — plus Kane — are climbing up the outside of the commander’s tower in Polis. In addition to turning everyone into pain-resistant sociopathic robots, the chip also apparently bestows superhuman wall-crawling ability, because the chipped get up those 50+ floors FAST.
At Arkadia, chipped Jasper is beating up Harper and telling Raven she has a 2% chance of finding the A.L.I.E‘s kill switch again. But Raven is a mechanic and hacker extraordinaire and pretty good at math herself, so she ignores him. Monty sneaks out and shoots Jasper in the leg, and Raven kind of laughs because she too was shot ages ago and quips, “Good thing there’s no pain in the City of Light.”
The City of Light is a Literal City
Murphy serves as flamekeeper and puts the flame into Clarke, and she suddenly realizes that she must go to the City of Light and find the kill switch. She says she doesn’t know how she knows but she knows the flame will protect her, you know? Bellamy hands her a chip and down the rabbit hole we go.
Clarke wakes up inside the City of Light, which looks strangely similar to downtown Vancouver and is full of people and Grounders without dirt on their faces and dressed in regular pre-apocalyptic clothes, mainly trenchcoats. Jasper jauntily walks down the street with a smile and an ice cream cone but can’t see Clarke; the protection from the flame has made her invisible. Clarke sees the sacred symbol (aka the infinity sign) around the city and follows it. But soon she starts bleeding — her body is rejecting the flame because Ontari is dying and there’s not enough nightblood flowing through Clarke’s body. A.L.I.E. knows Clarke is there and sends out all of her other chipped minions to attack her. Clarke collapses on the stairs as a mob starts beating her and in comes….
LEXA
Let’s just pause here to wipe away our happy tears from seeing the Clexa reunion everyone has been waiting for. Lexa jumps into the melee like a boss, smirking and swords aswinging and handily takes out the mob before turning to Clarke to say, “I told you my spirit would choose wisely.” Pause here again for more tears. Side note: Lexa is too good for your dress code, City of Light, and chooses to don her full war-ready Heda outfit and face paint.
Back in Polis, Ontari is crashing, and Clarke slips out of consciousness in the City of Light from the lack of nighbtlood. Abby cuts Ontari’s body open, sticks her hand in her chest, and manually pumps Ontari’s heart. She then has Murphy take over, and he looks like he’s about to vomit. But it works, Clarke is revived, Clexa shares a kiss, and then they have to keep moving because that pesky horde of angry chipped people is still chasing them.
That’s So Raven
Clare and Lexa follow a girl on a pink bike wearing a jacket with the infinity symbol until they run into a chain link fence, a firewall created by A.L.I.E. In comes Jasper preaching about how A.L.I.E. is saving everyone from themselves, and then in comes Jaha (ugh) with the mob behind him. Just when all hope seems lost, a vault door appears on the wall with a raven symbol on it, courtesy of Raven and her superb code hacking skills.
Lexa Part Two
Lexa tells Clarke to go into the vault while she fights off the attackers, and the two have a tearful goodbye with Lexa saying “I’ll always be with you” before charging head first into the mob. Pause one more time for tears. Technically there is no death in the City of Light, so we don’t see or believe that Lexa dies. Again. So many tears.
Becca vs. A.L.I.E.
Through the door, Clarke ends up in the space station where Becca is waiting for her — she’s the one who has been leaving bread crumbs via infinity signs all over town for Clarke. She tells Clarke that although A.L.I.E. 2.0 has merged with Clarke’s mind, Clarke is still in control and that will allow her to operate the kill switch, which is literally another lever. It’s like no one wants us to forget Mount Weather.
A.L.I.E. appears and tells Clarke if she pulls the kill switch, she’ll be killing everyone; Becca says A.L.I.E. is just trying to stall so she can merge with the flame and delete the kill switch. Then A.L.I.E. drops the ultimate truth bomb: The remaining nuclear plants are melting, global radiation levels are rising, and in less than six months, 96% of the earth’s surface will be uninhabitable, even for those born in space. That still means 4% of the earth is inhabitable, and maybe Luna and her Waterworld will be everyone’s new best friend next season.
Becca and A.L.I.E. then talk about “perverse instantiation,” the title of the episode and a fancy way of saying the ends justify the means. Becca says, hold up, how you reach the goal is important too, which is something A.L.I.E. 1.0 doesn’t understand. A.L.I.E. insists the only way to save everyone is to have them join the City of Light. And Clarke not that convincly replies with, “We’ll figure something out. We always do,” pulls the lever, and A.L.I.E. and Becca disappear.
Free Hugs for Everyone
The chipped climbers have broken into the throne room and are quickly overpowering Bellamy and co. Kane is choking Bellamy; another grounder is choking Octavia; Jackson is charging towards Abby, who is guarding Clarke; and Emori is charging towards Murphy, who is still squeezing Ontari’s heart like a stress ball. But once the kill switch is flipped, everyone comes to — Abby runs to Kane who is horrified at what he’s done, Emori runs into Murphy’s arms, Octavia gives a head nod to Bellamy (counts as a hug), and Jaha writhes in pain on the floor (definitely counts as a hug from the show to the viewers).
At Arkadia, sad Jasper is back, but Monty is there to comfort him and promise they’ll be happy one day. Jasper apologizes for stabbing Monty, he in return apologizes for shooting Jasper, and the bromance is rekindled. Hugs all around.
Octavia’s Mic Drop
Octavia and Pike look at each other after the dust has settled, and for approximately two seconds it seems like bygones are bygones. Moment over…Octavia stabs Pike with a sword and walks out of the room without even looking back. Pike. Is. Dead. #sorrynotsorry
Commander of Death Once Again
Clarke removes the flame and thanks Murphy, the true unsung hero of this season. Bellamy tells her she doesn’t look like someone who just saved the world and Clarke says they didn’t, “not yet.” She has basically sentenced humanity to a death sentence, and they have six months to save the world.
As Murphy says, “Just another day on the ground, right?”
Our fight is not over. See you in Season 4.