‘The 100’ 101: 7×04 — Jumping into theories, new planets and cheesy one-liners

The 100 season seven, episode four, kick-started the storyline we need in order to find Bellamy Blake. 

This introduction ignited the spark in Clarke to find her friends, connected storylines together and gave us all the theories and allowed space to develop the ones we already had. 

All of this was done in the context of cheesy one-liners and poor CGI when “Hesperides” aired on The CW Wednesday, June 10.

This really was the episode of learning more about the Disciples, getting time jumps, and becoming attached to characters on Sky Ring just for them to die right away. It was entertaining, confusing and made me do “the cringe” (all my fellow Crazy Ex-Girlfriend fans, where you at?!)

I don’t think there’s an episode of The 100 with more one-liners than this one (besides 1×08 “Day Trip” of course — a classic). Miller, Gabriel, the new Disciple dude, Raven and even Jordan joined the ranks of some of the most memorable quotes of 7×04 but I’ll get into that more later in this review.

Here is my star rating for the episode.

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

Are the Disciples interesting or just cringy?

Note: I’m speaking about this first to get it out of the way. I would feel strange if I didn’t start with this, because my first impression of the episode was that the tone felt off compared to the rest of the series.

I was very excited about Clarke learning about the disappearance of Bellamy, Octavia, Diyoza, Gabriel and Echo (she doesn’t know about Hope yet) going into episode four. We went through three entire episodes of Clarke dealing with Sanctum’s chaos when the big plot of the season — the Anomaly, the mysterious Bardo and Bellamy’s disappearance — wasn’t known to her. For weeks I’ve been waiting for her to start the journey to find Bellamy, and this episode was the catalyst she needed to do so.

That’s why I was pumped she was finally meeting the Disciples, the people responsible for all the storylines outside of Sanctum thus far this season. But after meeting them alongside Clarke, I was disappointed.

I had these expectations they would feel similar to President Wallace and Cage Wallace from Mt. Weather in season two. They would act serious, try to get Clarke on their side by manipulating her and would just overall intimidate and set fear within me. Instead, I found the Disciples to be cringy.

They weren’t aloof and mysterious, because they made me laugh. Their suits have an invisibility function called “Ghost Mode” (Seriously, who came up with that name? A 5-year-old?). So whenever they enter or leave a scene with “Ghost Mode,” a sci-fi sound effect plays in the background. It was like something out of a children’s sci-fi show with high dramatics. 

Jordan: What have you found out?

Clarke: Invisibility.

Jordan: No way.

Then, there were their cheesy one-liners. I don’t know if it was the lines specifically or how they were delivered, but the Disciples just didn’t sound threatening to me, especially after their cheesy entrance. I’m at a point where I can’t take them seriously, because they feel like villains from a childish, cliche sci-fi story.

The Disciple Clarke met: We are the Disciples of a Greater Truth, and we need your help, Clarke. Our leader believes that you are the key to winning the last war mankind will ever wage…. You should know time moves much faster where your friends are. Every second counts.

In the episodes leading up to this, I was excited to meet these new villains. It’s clear they will have a large role to play in Bellamy’s storyline this season. The idea of being able to control entry points to planets across the universe, manipulate time (in a sense) and go unnoticed for so long intrigued me. But as soon as we met them they revealed a lot to Clarke and showed all the different “powers” they possess. In order to be an effective, threatening villain, there needs to be a level of subtlety there. 

I need to be on the edge of my seat, wondering what they can do, and I didn’t feel that after 7×04. It was like a bad Disney villain who reveals all their secrets to the hero right away. 

It also wasn’t just the Disciples with the one-liners, though.

There was Raven.

“Whoever these people are, they can travel anywhere in the universe. Huh, guess I’m out of a job,” Raven said.

Also, can we please talk about when Raven first put on one of the Disciples’ helmets. They’re thought-controlled and that whole scene felt like a weird clip from a video game.

Then there was Gabriel. I’m not hating on him. He genuinely makes me laugh in the best way possible — truly a highlight of the entire season. Also, all the praise to his new tank top this episode. Big fan.

“You’re dead,” Echo told Gabriel when they were training.

“I’m not dead,” Gabriel argued. “I’m invisible. You’re dead.”

Then there was Miller.

“Who wants to go for a ride?” Raven asked.

“What the hell?” Miller replied. “This planet sucks anyway.”

And finally, for the strangest and most memorable quote from the episode, Jordan had something to say when SanctumKru was going through the Anomaly.

“Ladies and gentlemen, Clarke Griffin has left the planet.”

I have no words.

Just kidding. Of course I do. That goofy line could’ve been effective in a different context if they weren’t all serious and stressed out about leaving the planet to find their kidnapped friends.

There are a lot of shows that thrive on bad CGI and cheesy one-liners. Doctor Who is a prime example of that. It’s loved with a passionate, loyal fanbase and first aired in 1963. It’s still going strong because it knows what it is. With shows like that the poor sci-fi, and funny quotes, are built into the show episode after episode, season after season. 

While we could make a callback to the neon purple butterflies and two-headed deer from season one, this colorful sci-fi and lighthearted dialogue from 7×04 just doesn’t fit with the aesthetic of The 100. 

I know we’ve entered “Book Two” of the show, but season seven feels like a different series entirely. I don’t know what I’m watching anymore, and that’s disappointing. I hardly recognize my favorite show of all time in the midst of its final season.

Plots and theories galore

While I have been giving this episode flack for some of the strange lines, I need to give it a bit more credit too. 

“Hesperides” connected the dots and started to merge the various storylines of the season. It was the first puzzle piece that started showing the larger picture, and there are plenty of theories bouncing around because of it.

M-Cap (also known as Memory Capture) was first brought up textually in 7×04. This is something fans have been predicting since the first episode of the season when Bellamy was taken. Theories of “Void!Bellamy” has been explored online with expectations Bellamy will lose his memory and try to kill Clarke. 

Now, after learning this is a very real thing happening to prisoners at Bardo, I think it’s safe to assume that’s what Bellamy’s been enduring. My guess is that the next episode, 7×05 “Welcome to Bardo,” will explore M-Cap with flashbacks of Octavia, Diyoza and Bellamy fighting it. 

I’m already getting season two Mt. Weather flashbacks of when grounders were tortured and made into reapers to kill their own.

There was also a moment when one of the Disciples was telling Clarke how his intel on her was correct. She’s smart, brave and willing to risk her life for her friends.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON THREE OF WESTWORLD

I’m scared M-Cap is similar to what happened to Dolores in season three of Westworld. They had her hooked up to a machine and were able to see her memories. They thought she was the key, just as they told Clarke she was the key in 7×04 of The 100. But while they looked through her memories, they were extracted from her.

The only way they could see her thoughts in her mind was by erasing them from her, and I think that’s happening to Bellamy in Bardo. I think that’s how they know so much about Clarke.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON THREE OF WESTWORLD ARE DONE

We already know M-Cap is used to erase memories because Hope told us so in this episode. We also found out that it’s not torture unless you fight it.

Let the predictions continue.

We also got to learn more about Bardo’s leader: the Shepherd. 

Orlando — the Bardo prisoner on Sky Ring who hung out with Gabriel, Echo and Hope for the five years they were there — supported and believed in the values of the Shepherd even after he was sent to prison for not resting on Bardo’s Day of Rest.

Orlando: “He (The Shepherd) saved us from the fire that consumed the earth.”

Note: Do we think the Shepherd is Codagan and that he somehow managed to find the Anomaly on Earth and saved a bunch of people from the original apocalypse caused by Ali? Do we also think that’s how the spin-off, prequel episode (7×07 “Anaconda”) is going to fit in with this current storyline? ALL THE THEORIES!

I’m very intrigued to learn more about the Shepherd, especially since he was able to talk so many people into believing in him, and I loved Gabriel’s response to Orlando.

Gabriel: I know a thing or two about worshipping false gods. Look, we all come from Earth, ok? A ship brought us across the stars to escape a world on fire, largely thanks to people bastardizing the words of their gods. Would the Shepherd that saved you condone torturing my friends, who did nothing to you? Would he condone sending a man as devoted to him as you to prison? No. No, men condone those things. Weak men follow their orders.

This season is really about fighting back on traditional values and learning to think for yourself. We can’t just do things because we’re told to do them. In order to be better people we have to question things we’ve been told are right. But why are those things right? Because a person told us they were? Just because something’s engraved in society doesn’t mean we should continue to go along with it.

Being better starts with us, and it starts with asking ourselves why we do the things we do. That’s something we can all work on, not just the characters.

The drinking game returns

I have continued adding to the drinking game I crafted in my season seven, episode two, review.

Make sure you’re of legal drinking age in your area, and for the next episode, grab your favorite drink (or drink some sparkling grape juice if you’re not legally allowed to or just don’t drink alcohol in general).

Take a drink every time:

• Bellamy Blake is mentioned when he isn’t physically in the scene
• Hope calls the anomaly the bridge instead, or corrects people on it
• Someone makes a dig at Echo’s past
• We hop to a new planet
• Gabriel gets excited about the Anomaly bridge (I got’chu Hope)
• There’s a time jump
• We see Gabriel’s cardigan
• A character from the past shows up (I’m looking at you Becca Pramheda/Franco. I see you, and apparently so does Gabriel)

Newly added after watching 7×04

• We get a flashbacks’ montage
• There’s a time jump
• There’s new hairstyles because of that time jump
• A past character is mentioned (I’m looking at you Monty *tear sniffles)
• Clarke makes a statement about an “only choice” 
• The Anomaly gets a new name (in 7×02 it was “the Bridge” and now in 7×04 Raven is calling it a wormhole)

Finish your drink when:

• Raven makes a mistake (like a big mistake, such as sacrificing four people for the lives of her own or just happening to forget they’ll need an Anomaly stone to get off a new planet. Like dudes, she knew there was a 25 percent chance of them landing on Bardo and she just risked it like “whatevs hehe.” WHAT?? What if Nakara isn’t survivable?!)
• Echo erases years’ worth of “character development” the writers and showrunner insisted we would get by going back to her spying ways. (Bonus points if Showrunner Jason Rothenberg tweets the day of the show bragging on Echo’s character and calls out fans who believe otherwise)

The 100 premieres every Wednesday on The CW at 8/7c.