This is so beautifully said.Â
I need to add something about seasons 5 and 6 Clarke, too:
Season 5 Clarke did have Madi as someone else she loved fiercely as a parent can love a child, but she also loved Bellamy, with the same adoration (we even saw their reunion from her POV as a dreamlike scene where he came to save her, emerging out of the darkness, bathed in light), now made even more explicitly romantic (including shots of her looking heartbroken when seeing him kiss his girlfriend). She thought she couldnât have him that way, so she sucked it up and tried not to reveal her feelings - such as the fact she called him every day for 6 years without answer and talked to him, to keep herself sane. She was so vulnerable and would run away whenever the topic came up even close to being discussed. (Later in 6x01 we saw her vulnerable and embarrassed again when he told her he knew about the radio calls.)Â
Now, season 5 Clarke is controversial, because she did lose her trust and faith in Bellamy at one point, culminating in the slap and leaving him in Polis at the mercy of his sister, which was clearly driven not just by her love for Madi, but in large by hurt and a sense of betrayal (though she also, objectively, didnât really have a way to save him at that moment, without doing anything that would further endanger her daughter). I see this being brought up by some to justify the 7x13 turn as âwell, there was a precedentâ.
Which doesnât make sense, for multiple reasons:
The season 5 Clarke had just come off from 6 years of isolation where she only shared her life with Madi, she clearly had a hard time fully reconnecting to the others from her life and. when faced with the (mistaken) idea that Bellamy did not care that much about her anymore and would put her daughter in danger for his new priorities - she wasnât able to think about this straight and fully process it; and when she left Bellamy in Polis, it was a part of what was portrayed as her lowest moment. She went numb, considered herself ânot a heroâ, and was ready to betray all her other friends, believing she had already caused Bellamyâs death by her actions to save Madi. But everything changed when she learned he was alive, and it was her love for him that helped get her back to herself. She realized she couldnât and shouldnât make the mistake of betraying someone she loves and leaving them to die. She realized love was not a weakness, remembered that âLife should be more than just survivalâ, came back to herself, and did her best to save Bellamy and all her friends and everyone she could. In the season 5 finale, Clarke was once again ready to risk everything to not let Bellamy die - contrary to the season 1 finale, where she left Finn and Bellamy outside the dropship because she had to, this time she was standing outside the dropship door and waiting to the last second, as the missiles are about to hit the Earth, for Bellamy to come inside, while he was waiting for Murphy, Emori and Monty - and it ended with everyone being saved, and the beautiful and hopeful last scene of season 5, with Clarke and Bellamy in an embrace, looking into the future, after hearing Montyâs message to âdo betterâ. âbe good guysâ and âI hope your lives there are as happy as mine has beenâ. (Which could have served as the series finale, as there was a possibility of the show getting cancelled.)
And then, Clarkeâs whole season 6 arc was driven by her guilt and regret of betraying her friends - but most of all, of betraying Bellamy. She wrote that leaving him in Polis was her biggest regret. In the amazing episode in her mindspace, which saw Clarke go through her biggest regrets, we saw her confront herself through a hallucination of Octavia, blaming herself for leaving him - even though Bellamy was still alive and doing well, that moment of betrayal was, for her, as big or a bigger regret than all the killings sheâs had to do. Before that, she told him âYouâre my family too. I lost sight of thatâ and promised it would never happen again. She gave up on herself momentarily when she thought he had given up on her, and it was his voice that literally brought her back from the dead, giving her the strength to fight. He was the one in his arms she sought comfort from after the death of her mother (later we saw in 7x01 that she couldnât look for comfort from anyone else) and the one she looked to to tell her that they did do better and that it was all worth it.
And in season 7, they had Clarke say âIâm not losing anyone elseâ and hop without a second thought into the Anomaly to look for her friends - specifically, Bellamy, Octavia and Echo. (Who was supposed to love so much? Echo? Octavia is important to her, but are we think they were more important than Bellamy?)
Only to follow it with - this? Bellamy has only been back with them for 2 days. They know he spent a few months in all sorts of hardships on Etherea, saw visions, was indoctrinated, certainly had some sort of a life-changing experience. Even Raven, who tends to be quick to judge, has realized that something happened to him. And she didnât really do anything that terrible, except tell a secret that would have eventually come out anyway (and Clarke would have died to save the others if it hadnât). Yes, he let her be put in MCap and kept talking about his loyalty to Cadogan, but he was clearly torn. The Clarke we knew would have tried to get through to him. She wouldnât just give up on him so easily. She always knew how to get to him with her words. And if she had to, sheâd shoot the others in the room and maybe shoot the notebook or his hand.Â
This was not in-character writing, this didnât make any sense. It was not the Clarke we know. This was a âlast minute adjustmentâ driven by a showrunnerâs spite and ego. Both characters were ruined and disrespected, the central relationship of the show, most of the showâs run, and its themes, flushed down the toilet. And for what?
Donât accept this. Donât start hating Clarke Griffin or negating and doubting everything we had seen on the show, her love for Bellamy, her compassion, their unique connection. It is still there, on screen, in all the episodes and seasons of the show, in spite of this ridiculous, senseless OOC . 10 second scene that was added at the last minute because a showrunnerâs pettiness is bigger than his desire to tell a coherent story and be faithful to his own work and not irreparably damage the showâs legacy.
prguitarman
origamiaround
