Today we're watching 2x01: "The 48"
+ The title alone! In a show called "The 100," coming back to season two with an episode called "The 48" immediately reminds us of the massacre at the end of the first season, and of just how many of the kids sent to the ground have already been lost. And this was still early on, when there wasn't a new group of hundreds of people either dying or coming very close to dying every other episode. I do remember how effective that number reduction was when I first watched this episode, though, and I think that reminder pairs nicely with Clarke's desperation when she wakes up in the white room.
+ The first scene is an intense way to start the season - and this rewatch! Maya in her hazmat suit + Clarke immediately losing her shit and injuring herself + taking Maya hostage... all ending with that shockingly peaceful, community breakfast scene. If there was one thing the early seasons were especially good at, it was raising the stakes and changing the status quo in a surprising way. This scene is a great example of that.
+ This season in particular is one that I think Clarke's single-minded intensity towards a specific goal works really well for her character. She immediately distrusts everyone at Mt Weather and wants only to get out of the shelter and back to her people. And since she ends up being absolutely right, her determination and drive to protect people is at its most noble and justified.
+ TRIGEDASLENG TRIGEDASLENG TRIGEDASLENG!! This is the first time we ever hear it and it comes straight from Octavia's mouth and I love that. In later seasons, she's one of the people who speaks it the most and keeps it alive, long after it probably should have died out, so it's very fitting that she's the first person to speak it on screen.
+ Raven and Murphy on the dropship floor, (nearly) dying together. The beginning of a beautiful friendship and they don't even know it yet. Raven literally would've killed him if she wasn't out of bullets. He shot her like, only a few hours before this. But they talk and they come to a sort of uneasy truce. She saves his life at the end, by telling the adults that she "got shot" instead of saying "Murphy shot me." Another thing this show was very, very good at was putting adversaries in the same situation and that letting them find the beginning of a positive relationship there. This wasn't the first time and won't be the last, but it is one of the best.
+ Monroe and that other kid trying to psych themselves up to go save Bellamy and Finn by going "we're warriors. we're warriors!!!"- that kind of made me tear up! They were just kiiiiids!
+ Lincoln carrying Octavia on his shoulders and supporting her tiny head with one huge hand while she's sick from the poison. Lincoln making Octavia repeat that same Trigedasleng phrase over and over again so her pronunciation sounds natural and his people might accept her without him. Lincoln going back to his village and risking a very painful death for treason to get Octavia the antidote. And that doesn't even touch what Octavia is going to do for him in next week's episode. Linctavia really was THAT ship.
+ The late episode pop/rock/indie/alternative/vaguely mid-2010s song montage! Another CW classic. Especially common on The 100 in the first three seasons. I had a playlist of all of them during the peak of my obsession of this show. I genuinely love how on the nose they are, it cracks me up. Clarke settling into Mt Weather (to the extent that her paranoid ass can,) interposed with Skaikru making their way to the Ark to settle there, all while the lyrics "we are coming home" play in the background. So specific. Gotta love it.
+ Monty and his magic tricks! Jasper and Monty play-fighting over chocolate cake! Jasper meeting Maya for the first time! Jasper and Monty well-fed and wearing clean clothes!! I really miss Monty and Jasper. They brought so much heart to this show. And as much hardship as they're going to face later on in this season, it's so nice to see scenes of them relatively happy and carefree in this episode.
- Lincoln says "our warriors speak English," implying non-warrior Grounders don't. They gave up on that one really really quick, didn't they?? I don't think we ever met a grounder that didn't actually speak English.
- The Mountain Men probably would've discovered nightbloods and it should've been a thing, but of course nightblood wasn't a thing at all in the written story at this point, because it clearly wasn't thought of until the writing for s3 began. Just a fun little plothole, classic CW writing.
- "I saw a man. No, it was a - it was a monster!" and then it cuts to an actual deformed human who *doesn't* look anything like the Reapers we'll meet later in the season. I might be wrong - someone please correct me if I am, this has bothered me for years - but I don't think this ever gets addressed. I guess it could just be an especially irradiated Reaper but we never see anyone else deformed to that level. Most people who get radiation poisoning in this show die quickly. I hate this scene.
- "I know she's intense but Clarke's the only reason we survived." One, it's just not true, and totally dismisses everything Raven, Bellamy, Finn, Octavia, Jasper, Monty, and even the nameless kids in the background doing basic (and hard) labor did. Two, Clarke is gonna use that mentality to continue a series-long downward spiral into that "intensity," making some truly awful decisions, many of which will not be for the good of her people, despite what she says. Despite what so many of them say, unfortunately.
- "When you pulled that lever, you saved lives. Don't throw that away by pulling this one." THE GODDAMN LEVERS. IT BEGINS.
- Occasionally this show could be subtle. The heavy-handed comparison between Clarke and Dante Wallace was not one of those occasions.
~ I fully forgot how brutal this show is??? The Grounder just executing that kid that couldn't keep up?? Woof. And they don't really hold back on the violence/gore, at least for a YA/teen show on The CW.
~ The Mtn Men put together a whole welcome packet and orientation for these kids with surprising efficiency. But I don't think anything like this has happened before?? Like they've never had unexpected new arrivals that they didn't just immediately turn into Reapers or blood bags??? How did they know to do that in such an organized way??? The mysteries of Mt Weather continue to baffle me.
Overall, I think this is a good episode. It clearly sets up the stakes and positions of everyone for the season. It gives us our first hints at some later plot points in season two, like with mentions of The Commander and Finn's first darkly uttered "The Grounders took them." It's a great season premiere, and a good place for us to begin - it reminded me a lot of what I liked about this show.
I'm not gonna lie, I had a hard time stopping! Season two has always been one of my favorites, and it's so tempting to just binge the rest of it, like I always have. But I'm also excited to stretch it out a little, and slowly reintroduce this beautiful, corny, well-written, horribly written, funny, sad, charming, heart-breaking, annoying, confusingly enjoyable show back into my life. It was one of my absolute favorites once. It'll be nice to keep rediscovering why!
Next week we have 2x02, "Inclement Weather" - see you then!
Tagging some mutuals: @laufire @bombshellsandbluebells @lucerants @murphystartedthefire (and anyone else who's doing this rewatch! please let me know if you want to be tagged in these posts going forward!)
