ALIE:
Coming back to the 100 after a long hiatus, a couple disclaimers should anyone happen upon this: 1) I only have one source on how tumblr feels about this show, and I haven’t gone digging. Feel free to enlighten me, but know that these are un-colored takes. 2) I love morally gray, anti-heroes, and villains. I always root for the the bad guys (albeit not all) as they are underdog for me. I stopped watching initially when ALIE became the primary antagonist (~3x8), and I think her character was a large part of why this happened. Her island of light from the get go took me out of the dirty, dystopian world I had come to love. The trope of villainous omnipresence mixed with technology was presented in Bones (Pellant) and in Person of Interest (Samaritan), and these are great examples of how it can be done wrong and right respectively. I assume that the 100′s viewer demographic IS younger, but would venture that even people that grew up with technology still see “hacking” and “chips” with broad Sci-Fi strokes. I believe the trope works better when you don’t apply a face to the Machine. ALIE/Pellant make the viewer feel somewhat inferior as they become omnipotent tech (OT) with a human face for the AI? Whereas Samaritan always has the faces of fallible humans carrying out the whims. Giving it that body, that presence disconnects the viewer...”Why care, the OT is going to win, and only plot armor can stop it??” ALSO, as someone that sympathizes with the bad guy, I find it very difficult to have any empathy for this character trope. Thanos (to most) and the Governor (TWD, to less) at least have their fans. This OT Trope provides so little, as I don’t often find myself thinking, “Man, I sure wish I was an AI that enslaved humanity.” That being said, I am enjoying that I picked the show back up, and a throwaway line from the Rig base made me research that people actually use Lamprey Traps?