The 100 – Season 4 in Review | Declare Shenanigans!

Well, this season review has taken me long enough, hasn’t it? Confession: I’m lazy. But you probably knew that already.

I’ve also been a bit distracted lately. You see, I brought this little monster into my life and it takes a lot of attention to ensure he doesn’t chew on everything and pee on everything else. Say bon jour to Emmitt Jr., my French bulldog puppers.

Oh, he’s so cute right? Don’t fall too deep in love. He eats his own poop.

So apologies for being lazy and distracted and not really motivated to write something I don’t get paid for…I do a lot more complicated, brain-draining writing for a living and this was supposed to be a fun getaway from that, but I’m like at that point in my life where I’m like “should any of my time be directed at stuff I don’t get paid for if it’s not explicitly for just me?”

Oh, you’ll get there too, kids. DO SHIT, GET PAID…that’s an important concept. Unless it’s really a labor of love and you have 10000% control, don’t do shit for free. I’m telling you, it’s not worth the frustration or your precious time. Even if you’re like me and you lay around stuffing Pop Tarts into your mouth while watching TV and drinking Topo Chico, your talent should be rewarded.

Anyhoo…off my soapbox and onto yakkin’ about season 4 of our favorite little post apocalyptic show.

Let’s get into it!

My Impressions

When considering how to frame my season 4 review, I says to myself I says: “I should really use an analogy that everyone understands and cogently expresses my thoughts about the complete season experience.”

Smart idea, Jen!

So let’s ignore that brilliant thought and talk Hearthstone.

I play this online collectible card game called Hearthstone made by a little indie game company called Blizzard. One of the card deck archetypes, Freeze Mage, is kinda a perfect analogy for season 4: play a patient and controlled early and mid-game and when you get to late game, relentlessly and mercilessly burn your opponent’s fucking face off for the win.

Okay, so Freeze Mage is a wee bit more nuanced than that, but any attempt to explain the game mechanics and concepts like board control, tempo, card value, etc. would likely lead to…

…so yeah, let’s keep it high-level.

But the point is, Freeze Mage plays a game that controls the board state, sucks the opponent into the late game, then flings so much damage to the face over a couple turns you’re left to just sit and stare at your “Defeat Screen.”

Jaina, the Mage: “Tee hee, you’re dead.”

To me, season 4 played out very much like a perfect Freeze Mage game. It took a while to ramp up to its conclusion, but OH, WHAT A FUCKIN’ CONCLUSION! To be honest, I think the season may be a better binge watch, as weekly television tends to feel less and less rewarding of patience lately unless it’s a truly special experience, like Game of Thrones. I’m not saying this is a show problem, but rather an issue with watchers, much like myself (so not acquitting myself here) who want gratification at a faster rate, or at least a rate that can compete with all the other media that’s constantly vying for our attention.

But that would also rob us of the roller coaster of this season’s endgame. As we slowly ascended that incline towards the screaming, exciting descent that was the final episodes, I think a number of us questioned some of the twists and turns it took to get there.

Oh fuck, I’m now just adding another analogy on there, aren’t I?

Screw it, it’s my unpaid, horribly written, unprofessional review, so I shall take all the liberties I damn well please.

All in all, I found the season to be enjoyable, with some high points early and mid season, but from “Die All, Die Merrily” on, the season really revved into high gear and had some of my favorite episodes of the series, along with some important character beats that made us angry, made us cheer, and made us “awwww.”

This show is constantly re-affirming the connections between these characters. Yeah, they sometimes drop character work for plot work, but when we do get some good character moments to sink our teeth into, they feel earned and significant. And really, it’s these characters that keep me coming back to this show. Post-apocalyptic mayhem entertainment is a dime a dozen, and what’s going to set you apart is a truly unique concept or some freakin’ great characters to love and hate. The 100 is set apart from most post-apoc stuff in that it has created its own new cultures and language, and while it stretches the believably factor of it all at various times, we get some cool imagery, settings, situations, costuming, etc. I mean, give the show props for not having zombies or vampires or some other trope.

But it’s the characters that make my toes tingle. Or maybe it’s the ‘beetus. I don’t know. I love great characters and I feel I’m myopically in love with this rag-tag band of delinquents and Commanders of Death and scrappy Grounders. Great characters help me overlook some big issues in shows (I don’t forgive Game of Thrones for its carelessly depicted sexual violence, but damn if they haven’t created some of the best female characters on TV). I love these characters.

My Doubt About Praimfaya

I was filled with trepidation going into season 4. I gotta be honest…everyone battling a faceless/formless foe of “radiation” didn’t exactly get my knickers toasty.

But you know what, they pulled a Tim Gunn and made it work. And that’s why they write the show, and I write reviews. I couldn’t conceive of how they would make a nuclear meltdown interesting, but of course, it wasn’t Primfaiya itself that was interesting, per se, but the pressure it put upon the characters. Like, duh. Of course that’s how they made stuff work.

I had wanted a human Big Bad, but season 4 didn’t give us that. It gave us people doing their best to survive and to preserve their way of life. And understandably, that survival urge often put people at odds with one another. And you can’t really say one person or group was right and the other was wrong. Like the show would ever make anything so starkly black and white. Oh no…they want us to see the pros/cons of every choice. And twist ourselves into pretzels trying to figure out what side we come down on.

The one issue I had with the season was the pacing. Early and mid season had a bit of a “marking time” feel to it. Let’s be honest, the season had some lulls here and there in retrospect. Now, is this indicative of my wanting the plot to move faster, to get to more payoffs? I think partly so. There was some drama and set pieces that didn’t make as big of an impact as perhaps they should have because they required a bit of patience. I don’t do well with false starts and abrupt stops…I tend to get frustrated easily with moving laterally instead of moving forward.

Looking back, especially after the fever pitch of drama and repercussions and awesomeness of the last 4 episodes, the early and mid season episodes very carefully set up some of the things that had to take place in the ending episodes. The cult, the list, the Nightblood, Arkadia burning, the rocket…all seemed to be dead ends as they were thwarted as solutions to Praimfaya, but each played its role at the end of the season, rewarding us with a great payoff.

I think if I had binged the season, the compression of time between the first two thirds of the season and the explosive last 4 episodes might have played better with me “get on with it” predilections.

Look I’m going to die sooner rather than later, and I kinda want shit to hurry up before that happens. GIVE ME WHAT I WANT NOW!

I know, I’m an awful human being. Shrug. You may feel differently about the pacing. I might also feel very differently on a rewatch. But this was really my impression inside the watch. Outside of my in-season watch, I now understand I didn’t consider some of these threads were intentionally left to hang until the later parts of the season. There were a number of “oh, that’s why that mattered” moments for me that paid off.

Now let me get into the good, meh, and bad stuff of the season. And really, I liked the season a ton, so my criticisms seem trite in comparison to the stuff that really worked for me.

The Good Stuff

There was a lot to like about this season:

Character growth of the Blakes:
To me, season 4 made up for the dirty that was done to Bellamy in season 3. He came into his own as a someone who could lead from his head and his heart, be the support system his friends and sister needed, and could make the tough decisions. I LOVED how they advanced Bellamy this season. He grew out of his “must save everyone” complex and I feel will be a more pragmatic leader moving forward. But he’s still going to be a hero, but a smarter, more measured one who can ground the people around him.

Octavia overcame her grief to not only win the bunker Conclave – granted, through some smart thinking and timely interventions – but made the fair decision to share the bunker with all tribes. Each Blake sibling grew up this season, and it made me appreciate their individual characters in ways I didn’t expect. This season moved Octavia from the periphery as story-adjacent and put her smack dab in the middle of everything important, and it felt right. It felt earned. And I’m so excited to see Bunker Queen Octavia and Space King Bellamy next season.

Monty is a goddamn fuckin’ MVP:
He’s smart, he’s savvy, he’s got the one liners, and he made me cry my cynical little eyes out. And he’s a sexy beast. A good bit of virile representation of an Asian man on American television which tends to de-sexualize Asian men. Monty felt vital to this season and I loved his interactions with Clarke and Murphy. I hope the later two become the bestest of best friends up in space. You know you want it to. YOU KNOW YOU DO, DON’T LIE, BECAUSE I WILL KNOW AND YOU DON’T WANT TO FACE MY SCORN.

Suicide is treated as a thing that happens:
Look, it’s hard for me to look at Jasper’s suicide as anything other than sort of inevitable, but it was treated properly and given the “respect” it deserved. It wasn’t sugar-coated. They didn’t romanticize it. They didn’t put baby corners on it to protect anyone. The writer’s told Jasper’s story and it MADE SENSE. They also told somewhat of a counter-point story with Harper and it MADE SENSE. We got despair and hope in equal measure and neither felt decidedly right or wrong. No judgments were rained down on us like an after school special, and I respect that. And it gave us a beautiful scene between best friends saying goodbye to one another and it was heartbreaking.

Echo got some serious character development:
I know some people dislike the character, but how she changed throughout the season and became a good foil to Bellamy was fun to watch. I never felt her motivations were confusing, but instead made her very much like Bellamy or Clarke or Octavia in her willingness to do anything for “her people.” But she also showed the ability to grow and accept foreign concepts. Including the most foreign concept: shooting off into space. I cannot wait to see how she’s evolved after 6 years on the Ark and what her relationships look like. Oh, and TRIGGER WARNING, Becho is endgame (someone will take this dead seriously and get butthurt even after reading this very copy that insinuates that perhaps, JUST MAYBE, I’m joshing….but fire off those angry tweets, tricks).

Kabby happened, if you know what I mean (wink wink):
AND I MEAN THE SEX HAPPENED. Yes, it’s rare for middle aged adults to have sex on The CW, so it was like spotting a double rainbow sprouting out of a unicorn’s ass, but it happened and it was glorious and it…was rather short-lived. I mean, we were kinda given one Kabby moment and that was supposed to sate us for the rest of the season. “Here’s your fan service, now back to the youngun’s.” If Jaha finds love in that bunker in those 6 long years and they show that on screen, The CW might just create a wormhole and suck the Milky Way into its middle-aged sex-havin’ vortex. And I wouldn’t mind one little bit.

Everyone and their mother argued with Clarke:
I liked seeing Clarke at odds with just about everyone this season. Roan, Bellamy, Monty, Jasper, Raven, Murphy…it seemed that for every decision she made, there was someone there to crow about it. And I think this is good in a couple ways: it provided a counter-point for Clarke’s mind to chew on (even if it didn’t change her mind), it gave voice and agency to everyone around her, and it will perhaps allow others to see the weight and consequence of making those tough decisions, especially after 6 years have passed and things are a bit different in retrospect. Plus those conflicts gave us this awesome awkward as fuck scene:

So, uhm….you got any gum?

Jaha as Littlefinger…OMG JAHA AS LITTLEFINGER I JUST REALIZED THAT:
Okay, so the analogy isn’t perfect because Jaha isn’t a smarmy, scheming little fuck, but he certainly did get in Clarke’s ear this season in much the same way Littlefinger has gotten into Sansa’s ear in the past. Not that she’s having any of that THIS season. Quick aside, did y’all LIVE for Sansa’s snark with Littlefinger this season? Because she was Sansa Fierce with her one liners. She was not taking any of his “chaos is a ladder and everyone is a friend and everyone is an enemy and you need to consider all paths at all times and time is a flat circle” bullshit and I WAS THERE FOR IT, SANSA STARK! (though I must admit the Sansa/Arya tension was weird and frustrating and a misstep, but they got to the right place in the end, so yay for us!)

Okay, what was I saying? Ah yes…Jaha was GREAT this season. Dammit, I don’t want to like that guy, but I like that guy. He was complicated this year and I was confused by how much I liked him and didn’t trust him at the same time. He represents one style of leadership that might have been good at one point in time, but I think everyone has grown as it, and we see perhaps even Jaha realizes he has to change his way of thinking at the end of the penultimate episode. I loved his mentorship of Clarke, even if it led her astray at times…she needed that growth, and so did Jaha for that matter.

Everything’s coming up Raven
I feel like Raven is the character that kinda gets lost in the shuffle because she’s so good at what she does that we don’t need to stress about her kicking ass. But make no mistake about it, she kicks ass. Even when her brain is melting down because she jacked out of ALIE unsafely. Let this be a lesson kids: don’t just turn off your computer, be sure to shut it down correctly.

Raven’s story was juxtaposed to Jasper’s quite obviously. She’s a survivor and goes through great lengths to live, but even she needed to get there with a little help. Sinclair did for her what Monty could not do for Jasper (through no fault of his own, this isn’t a criticism of his efforts). I loved seeing Sinclair again (they only death that made me ugly cry) and LOVED seeing ALIE…err…Becca back, even if they were both figments of Raven’s imagination. Raven’s death/resurrection scene was great. And her confidence that she could get them to space (after a little Bellamy pep talk) was peak Raven. And I feel like Raven being Peak Competent Smart Kickass Raven gives EVERYONE around her the faith and the confidence that they’re going to pull off some impossible shit. Raven is just the best.

The Meh Stuff

Why they gotta do Roan like that?:
I was excited when Zach McGowan was added as a regular cast member this year, but I felt he didn’t get the attention perhaps his beautiful face deserved. I love Roan. I think he’s a fascinating character and a good friend to Clarke. I wanted to see more out of him. I know he went out a hero and saved Octavia, but in the end, his character potential felt a bit unfulfilled due to getting only one full season of him. I hate to see INTERESTING characters die when I feel I’ve just gotten a taste of what they can bring to a story. Plus, true confession, I wanted Clarke and Roan to just be besties…she eye rolls when he gets all growly about Ice Nation, he calls her out on her “my people” bullshit with a little bit of snark. God, I wanted that.

Luna’s heel turn:
I can SORTA talk my way into why she went “bad,” or rather became a destructive nihilist, but I felt a couple significant character beats to get us there were lost along the way. We needed more time with Luna. How do we go from Luna rocking Raven back and forth as she comes out of a seizure to the woman hell bent on making sure no one survives Primfaiya? I didn’t know her well enough to really understand why she went from trying to be one of the good guys to blindsiding everyone. And then tries to kill our beloved Octavia.

BAH GAWD KING, THAT WOMAN HAS A FAMILY!

One wrestling .gif per review quota met! And I give you Becky Lynch, no less. She’s a Lass Kicker.

The Bad Stuff…And It’s Not Really That Bad

Besides the popcorn fart that was Riley, the only problem I really have with season four might actually be on me…and might not really be an issue because it’s a case of character evolution that I’m just a bit impatient with. I wanted Clarke to evolve faster as a leader than she did throughout the season.

Or maybe I wanted a different type of leader…I’m not quite sure.

After Lexa’s death, the Clarke of old – the one we saw in seasons 1 and 2 – was nary to be found. She kept on taking on more and more responsibility for some REALLY hard decisions, and therefore took on the guilt of those decisions as well. The thing I personally found missing in her character was the heart that made me feel the emotional toll of each decision she made that seasons 1 and 2 Clarke so compelling and empathetic. The Clarke of old didn’t clam up as she made hard choices…she wore the difficulty of them on her sleeve. But after Lexa’s death, her affect became a bit more stoic, more closed-off, her personal strife more internalized.

There have been flashes this season of old school Clarke, but as her decisions grew in scope – looking at the macro plan to save everyone – my connection to her character grew farther apart in tandem. And guess what…this could very well be intentional and I don’t have to be comfortable with it one damn bit. I can say on one hand that I didn’t connect with her as much as I wanted to…and then on the other hand say that perhaps this distance has its own endgame.

And to some extent, we saw Clarke finally contract her decision-making to the micro level – the PERSONAL level – when she sacrificed herself for her friends. This was a much needed moment because it made her relatable again. Clarke doing stuff for her friends is always peak Clarke. She’s not as compelling doing stuff for her “people” (aka Skaikru in general) as she is for the delinquents or Abby.

Here’s another point that someone else has brought up – Selena Wilken of Hypable to be exact: can Clarke have some mother fuckin’ friends? Okay, to be fair, Selena used MUCH SALTIER language than I did because she’s an avowed potty mouth and gosh, I’m embarrassed to even paraphrase a bit of it here. But she’s right: Clarke spends much of her time in isolation to other characters and it makes her hard to relate to. Remember season 2 when Raven stayed up all night to wait for Clarke to wake up or how she hugged Bellamy (many a shipper needs a fainting couch right about now), or even her friendship with Lexa, which was a friendship until it wasn’t and Clarke got dumped on the side of a mountain with nary a handshake.

Clarke grows “colder” to the audience as she’s separated from the other characters we care about. And again, perhaps this is an essential part of her growth. I think I may have wrote about the isolating factor of leadership in a previous review. I can’t remember. I have the memory of a goldfish.

I think season 5 and Madi specifically will alleviate some of that arms-lengthiness of Clarke, but I wouldn’t mind her getting back into active relationships with Raven, Octavia, Monty, Bellamy, and anyone else who will hang around her. I need more friendship and bonding. True friends hanging out, being honest with one another, and doing awkward things only friends will do for one another.

But save for a couple nit picks, most of which I can’t definitively ding the writers for because I don’t trust the inherent bias of my perception, I really loved season 4. It suffered a bit from character bloat (RILEY WHY?!), but it didn’t suffer from plot bloat. It was fairly single-minded in its dedication to dealing with the new apocalypse, and every conflict spun off of that conceit.

Favorite Moments of the Season

There are a few things I’d like to call out as some of my favorite bits of the season.

Clarke takes the Nightblood injection – the “I bear it so they don’t have to” might be a bit too hit-us-over-the-head-with-callbacks, but I liked Clarke being willing to face the consequences of her decisions. This is the Clarke I like.
The Blake reunion – it was a long time coming after the strife between the two during seasons 3 and 4, but the payoff was worth it. I mentioned previously that their individual character development was some of the best stuff of the season and the Blakes are better together than apart.
Grounder Hunger Games – this was one of those episodes you can point to when asked some key Octavia development moments. Not only did she show cunning during the Conclave, but she fulfilled Lincoln’s vision of all people being one instead of divided along arbitrary lines.
Getting the air working on the Ark – I was certain someone was going to die during this tense scene and was so happy no one did. And to top it all off, everyone worked together to get the air working and were concerned about one another’s well-being. Look at that group of people, the conflicts they’ve had in the past, and tell me you could have imagined these folks caring intensely about each other a couple years back.
Murphy and Emori ride or die – this relationship was solidified this season as they fought for one another even when Emori tried pulling a fast one on everyone to save herself. I wonder how years up in space are going to change these two and affect this relationship, but I feel much more invested in these two staying together than Monty and Harper.
Murphy and Raven ride or die – who saw this pairing coming? After all the shit that has gone down between these two, some of the best moments this season was the Cockroach and the Spacewalker reconciling with one another and just being there for each other.
The gassing of Skaikru by Jaha and Kane – the whole sequence was great, but I especially loved the “reveal” when Octavia was going to face the real possibility of having to follow through on her threat to kill Skaikru. The door opening to a unconscious group of Skaikru with Kane and Jaha in the background in gas masks…the slow mo, the music, the look on Octavia’s face…it was all perfect. It was one of the more visually striking scenes of the series to me.
Roan and Bellamy bromance – was too brief, but I loved it. Imagine where it could have gone.
“I loved her, mom” – Clarke vocalizing her feelings for Lexa was important. It will always be important. Acknowledging her feelings in front of her friends and family and Abby being there to support her was important. Goddammit, I still miss Lexa.
The flash forward – I think a lot of us had predicted a time jump, but it was still the bomb. And the surprise of Madi along with the prison ship set up a great cliffhanger heading into season 5.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want

I have a weird relationship with this show. I’ve never been this deep into fandom of something on TV. I watch a ton of TV. I love a ton of TV. But I never felt compelled to write and break down and talk about a show like I am now until The 100.

And it wasn’t really until digging deep into this show, my interpretations of it, and my opinions on the characters, plot, setting, etc. that I had to really deal with my own feelings of not getting some of the pay off I’ve wanted.

And being an adult with a reasonable set of expectations based on experiencing the world for 45 years, I can safely say that you don’t always get what you want. And you don’t always deserve to get what you want. That’s the nature of art. And life. And, well, everything.

I’ve been a bit off-track with where I think Clarke should be versus where the writers have put her, and it’s none of my goddamn business to tell them where I think she should be.

Because The 100 is not my intellectual property. I don’t write for the show. These are not my characters. This is not my art.

Like, duh, right?

There are some decisions that writers make that can be called out and fairly criticized, especially if those decisions deal with harmful tropes, stereotypes, characters, or actions. For instance, Game of Thrones has been rightly called to the carpet on its use of sexual violence against women and how it sometimes frames that violence against a man’s reaction to it. Like, there’s bullshit that you can rightly call out and say “that’s bullshit! what are they thinking!?”

Even if it’s bullshit isn’t even made yet.

****cough cough **** Confederate ****cough cough****

But decisions writers make about how they evolve characters or story lines are their decisions. And I can take issue with it, but if I can understand the “why”s or “how”s, then I can’t hate on the writers for their decisions simply because they did something different than I would choose.

Mind you, I’m talking about generally good writing here. As the quality of the writing decreases, you can certainly take issue with the work itself. So if you trash Iron Fist, you are doing God’s work.

I’m sorry, the IMMORTAL IRON FIST, DEFENDER OF KUN-LUN, AND ENEMY OF THE HAND.

And I’m sure there are people who could trash The 100‘s writing, but I feel you’re on much firmer, defensible ground if you chose to argue its merits.

Before writing these reviews and really putting myself in a place to break down the show critically, I was pretty dismissive of my feelings about TV. I liked it or I didn’t and I honestly didn’t think much past my enjoyment of it into WHY I liked it, if I should like it, or if it could be good without me liking certain decisions. But now, I’m much more in touch with my own thoughts about creativity. I tend to land more on the “protect the artist and the sanctity of the art” side of things (which is why I don’t really like fanfic…besides most of it just not being good).

For instance, I know the Fargo series on FX is good. I just don’t like it much. It doesn’t really push my pleasure buttons, although individual performances tend to blow me away. But even though I don’t really like it doesn’t mean I don’t think it deserves to be lauded for its efforts.

There are also some TV shows that you might convince yourself (probably correctly) that they are SO good that they deserve every single award available and them some. Exhibit A, B, C, X, Y, and Z: The Leftovers. That the show received ONE Emmy nomination is the biggest travesty in the history of travesties…even worse that Crash winning an Oscar. All the “fuck you”s I can muster to the Emmy voters. Keep pressing that Modern Family button though, mindless robots. Oh wait, is Veep the new button we mindlessly press?

(Yeah, I’m bitter. Every once in awhile the Emmys throw us a bone, but for the most part they stay in their safe little lane and ignore some pretty extraordinary stuff.)

I don’t know what my point is here other than fans have gotten a bit entitled of late with what they think their shows should do and I think it’s a bit ridiculous. We sit back and Monday morning QB the shit out of our entertainment and while it’s a bit fun to grouse about what we would do differently, we don’t, as fans, really deserve something to happen. No one owes us anything. That’s why fan service is sometimes great when it FINALLY comes (goodbye Littlefinger), it can really be destructive when it doesn’t work (Olicity).

I hope writers never give into the pressure to give fans what they want simply because they want it…creative decisions need to make sense within the IP. We, as fans, will always be tiptoeing a line of valid criticism versus “I don’t like it because I don’t like it.” And I’m sure there are people out there that will wrap you in their arms and pet your head and tell you that every single thought and emotion you have is valid and important, but I’m here to tell you it’s not. Because I’m mean. And not every thought we have is valid and important, especially if they’re driven purely by emotion and have no rational ground to stand on.

I can pick apart Clarke’s journey during seasons 3 and 4 and tell you why it doesn’t work for me. I can also argue how it does work because I think there’s a very good case to be made for her evolution as it occurred within the context of the show. I could argue from an emotional standpoint, which isn’t very strong, or from a rational standpoint, which is stronger, but from a mix of both, which is maybe not the strongest standpoint, but it is the most engaging for me, at least.

I don’t know what my overall point is here. I guess I’m both thinking more about my relationship to what I consume as entertainment and also more confused as to how I should thoughtfully criticize it without losing the bigger picture of what it intends to be versus how I feel about it.

Who the fuck knows?

All I’m saying is this: be very aware of what is a valid criticism and what is based on very shaky ground. When I was doing graphic design waaaaaaaaay back in the day, “I don’t like green” was NOT a valid design criticism that any designer put a lot of credence in as a reason to amend a design unless it was politically expedient to do so (your BOSS is telling you they don’t like green, so guess what, you have to suck it up and change it). A valid criticism would be something more like: “I don’t think green works in this context because it is a color closely associated with x, y, and z…plus, in our one of our largest overseas markets, the color has a negative context, so I would consider changing it due to these factors.”

God, I just put my professional marketing pants on and it feels icky.

Parting Thoughts

My ship, Slarke (soap + Clarke) is still CANON…but I think I might be keen on a new ship: Highlarke – Clarke and those red highlights. I hope these aren’t dropped in S5 because I like Wanredheda. DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THAR?!
There’s been a ton of casting news since I started writing this review up until now. They’ve recast Madi, FYI and made some choices about who is in that prison ship. I’m intrigued.
I wonder if anyone will bring up Charlotte in comparison to Madi, if just in passing.
Bryan Fuller is in talks with Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen about Hannibal season 4. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT. We now know who is in that prison ship.
ROAN WATCH 2017: Y’all, he’s DEAD dead. And now my watch has ended.
Becho is still endgame.
Cast photos are dribbling out and some of the men have new facial hair and they’re sexy as fuck.
Speaking of hair, the rumors of Octavia getting a Furiosa buzz cut had me really excited, but recent pics of Marie suggest this isn’t happening. PLEASE NO BAD BALD CAPS OR WIGS. Leave the wig game to the professionals, aka the Wig Wizards of The Americans.
Side note: Wonder Woman is the best thing I’ve ever stuffed into my eyeballs. I can’t wait to get my super expensive WW statue with my Blu-ray from Amazon. I have no self control.

FINAL VERDICT!

Season 4 rating: 8.5 out of 10 bunkers bunking (now filled with cannibals cannibaling, probably)

TWEET/RETWEET: If you enjoyed this review, could you do me a favor and share / retweet / like it on twitter? I hate to ask this because I hate asking anyone to do anything for me, but I’d really appreciate it. God, it’s not like I’m asking for a kidney (yet).

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST OF THE 100 MUSIC!: Hey people who like sounds entering your ear holes! I have a Spotify playlist, which is music from and inspired by The 100. You can find it right here and marvel at my musical tastes. I keep it up to date with anything featured on the show or in promos.

SHIT YOU SHOULD BE WATCHING WHEN NOT WATCHING THE 100*:

Better Things: This FX comedy is just special. It’s one of those comedies that does its funny then slaps you straight up in the face some real shit – some of it big, some of it small, some of it touching
One Mississippi: Another comedy rec…you’ll find this one on Amazon Prime. I think season 1 is better than season 2, but some of the best character development in S2 doesn’t involve its main character, which is interesting.
Narcos: I know I’m late to this one on Netflix, but I lost interest in S1 and stopped watching. Got bored, decided to watch S3, liked it and went and picked it back up in S1 and S2. Yeah, my watch order is fucked up, but I really liked it despite it being so male-focused. I’m tired of watching male-focused stuff, but when it’s good, it’s just good, okay?
Insecure: this comedy on HBO written by and starring Issa Rae is great. It originally frustrated me because it was so relationship-focused, but it’s grown way beyond that for me and now I’m investing in Issa and Molly and the rest of them, even when they make some frustrating decisions…because they are human decisions that I would make.
I’ve run out of things to watch and now am relegated to European police procedurals on Netflix.

*will try to recommend new stuff each review

There are some The 100 reviewers/recaps/writers you should absolutely be reading, and I offer them up for your enjoyment; I have no affiliation with any of them, save for being a fan:

Selina Wilken – a mix of passionate fandom and truly professional journalism.
Erin Brown – unfairly beautiful writing. Like seriously, stop being so good.
McKenzie Morrell – recapping her damn face off and great interviews with the cast!
Toni_watches – piss your goddamn pants funny photo recaps.
Jo Garfein – Hosts The Dropship podcast (defunct as of now) and has some great fandom charity auctions

If you’re a fan of the show, join us on Reddit for deep discussions, wacky shenanigans, Trigedasleng lessons, and clan flair! It’s the least toxic place you can find right now for The 100 fandom. Mods got that shit on lockdown.

Disclosure: this is my own indie site. I’m not a professional reviewer, I don’t get paid for this. This is a labor of love/insanity.