Warning: Spoilers below.
The 100’s Season 3 finale was, for the most part, anticlimactic compared to previous finales. Season 1 left us with the reveal of Mount Weather, an underground society that was the main antagonist of Season 2, and the last episode of Season 2 gave us A.L.I.E., the computer-generated hologram who initiated the nuclear apocalypse and was determined to upload all humans to her digital City of Light throughout Season 3. What did Season 3 leave us with? The thought of an irradiated, uninhabitable Earth that will wipe everyone out in … er, six months? Really? Then we had the last scene where Octavia quite unsurprisingly killed Pike, the man who murdered her partner, Lincoln, before she stormed out of shot. You call that a cliff-hanger?
Other than the mild ending, the majority of the episode, “Perverse Instantiation (Part 2),” was very good, with the return of Lexa and an overall triumph for the good guys. With Ontari, the last Nightblood in Polis, dead, Clarke takes it upon herself to use a blood transfusion to go into A.L.I.E.’s City of Light and basically kill her. She succeeds and everyone brainwashed by A.L.I.E. comes to their senses. None of our beloved characters die in the episode; it seems even Jaha survives. (Honestly, that man can live through anything.) Also, it appears that the whole team is back together again, aside from Octavia maybe.
However, there are criticisms to the finale like, Why is Clarke always the one to volunteer for these things? What type of character is up for transfusing fit-inducing black blood into their bodies and implanting a chip into their neck just to, ya know, save the world when any one of the other (grown-up) characters could have done it? It’s always Clarke stepping up to leadership, despite having no authority over anyone and being only 18 years old. The only reason I could think of for Clarke going to the City of Light was to reunite with Lexa, and to have that “I love you” scene that we never got to see before. Speaking of Lexa, why was it only her in the City of Light and not all of the Commanders? We learned in Season 3 that A.L.I.E. 2.0, or the spirit of the Commander according to the Grounders, holds the minds of all of the past Commanders. So, when Lexa shows up and explains that she is to protect Clarke, kind of like virus protection on a computer, why didn’t all the Commanders turn up as well? I mean, Clarke and Lexa could have used the help. We see Becca, the original Commander and creator of A.L.I.E., when Clarke reaches the kill switch. If the very first Commander is still on the A.L.I.E. 2.0 system, then the others must be there too.
Then there’s the question of what Becca’s plan was in the first place. In Episode 7 of this season, a flashback reveals that Becca implanted A.L.I.E. 2.0 in herself in order to save the world and kill A.L.I.E. 1.0. She then proceeds to … do nothing. She began leading the survivors of the apocalypse and, after her death, her spirit was passed down to another leader who had the compatible black blood. So, what exactly was Becca waiting for? Her own death? But then, if your mind is always linked to a computer chip, I guess you never really die. Maybe Becca didn’t know where A.L.I.E. was to terminate her so she decided to continue passing the chip down from Commander to Commander until A.L.I.E. showed up? Then what was A.L.I.E. doing in the meantime? Waiting for the dust to settle after her apocalypse?
Anyway, the whole situation with A.L.I.E. is in the past now as she has been virtually deleted. A.L.I.E. and the start of the apocalypse will probably take a backseat in Season 4 of The 100. However, with the fact that A.L.I.E. 2.0 has carried out its purpose and there are no more Nightbloods willing to implant the chip into their heads, what’s going to happen to the Grounder clans now that they don’t have a leader to unite them? Will the Grounders revert to chaos and division? Maybe they will vote for their next leader; I’m sure Clarke will be up for anything involving giving orders. Then again, their entire faith and society revolved around their Commander and the flame (A.L.I.E. 2.0), so how will they be able to give all that up and still remain united? Then there’s Arkadia — will it be re-populated with sky people or will Clarke and the team travel elsewhere, maybe looking for an underground base to shield themselves from the second-wave of radiation?
Finally, on to the individual characters. Clarke will most probably continue to boss people around in Season 4, Bellamy will continue to dote on her every word, and it seems that Jasper and Monty have finally found peace with Monty in a relationship with Harper. (Really?? I still don’t see them working out at all.) I’m almost certain that Kane and Abby will want to reunite their people, but that’s going to be more difficult with Clarke’s reveal about the Earth’s six-month radiation notice. Will Clarke even tell them? She only managed to confide in Bellamy at the end of Season 3; will she have the guts to announce to the rest of the survivors that they only have half a year left to live?
We then have some of the more three-dimensional characters. Where the hell does Jaha go now? He’s done everything; I don’t think we can squeeze anything more out of his character. Raven — she appears to be over the moon at the moment after helping to destroy A.L.I.E., but with a busted leg and no longer a mission in hand, will Raven cope better or worse than how she was before A.L.I.E. took over her mind and took all her pain away? Next we have Indra — is this grounder even alive and, if so, where will her loyalties lie? Maybe she’ll be strong enough to lead the Grounders as their new Commander? (I think her and Kane would make an incredible joint-leader.) Then again, Indra’s strong bond with Octavia may mean that she will be on her side in Season 4. Ah, Octavia; sweet, innocent child to vengeful, killing machine in just three seasons. The last scene of Season 3 does foreshadow Octavia branching out on her own and leaving her brother and the others. Does Octavia turn dark? Watch this space.
Finally, we have one of my favourite characters; good old Murphy who literally kept a bare, black heart pumping in this episode. He’s up for anything, fairly brave and equally sarcastic. Although I never thought they were that close before, Murphy seems to be head over heels in love with Emori, an outcast Grounder due to her deformed hand. Now that A.L.I.E. isn’t around to get in the way, maybe the two of them can be happy together and Murphy can finally be accepted by Clarke and the others. I also can’t wait to see more of couple Miller and Bryan in Season 4.
So, that’s everything. What did you think of the Season 3 finale? As good as the others? Or, like me, did you think it was very undramatic? Also, what are your predictions for Season 4?