Having watched the entirety of The 100, all of season 7, and having read some of JR’s most recent interviews, I have come to the conclusion that JR is a spiteful vindictive show runner with visions of grandeur, but is unable to handle fan pressure.
Obviously this is speculation based off of BTS rumors, but I think the interviews given, the poor quality of the final season, and the two leads’ lack of promoting the show really say a lot and give those rumors weight.
I have a theory that Bellarke was very much intended to be the endgame. JR claimed it was used as bait and that they were never going to follow through with it. I think he’s a liar. Since CW contacted him to to produce it based off of what Kass Morgan was writing, he would have known from the onset that Bellarke was the main pairing, and—one can assume—that the show would be given creative freedom as long as certain elements were the same as the books. Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship was the foundation. We’ve been told that their relationship was the center of The 100. We’ve seen scripted proof that it was in the writing. Somewhere along the line, JR changed his mind. And I don’t think it’s as early on as he wants us to believe.
I think the fans got to him. Social media has made some nasty rabid fans. And that small group was the loudest. We’ve seen them harass him, the other writers, the actors, and each other. Twitter fandom is a beast and JR couldn’t handle the pressure.
I think JR changed his mind sometime around or after season 6. I think he was very excited about the story that he was creating with Bellarke, but then the fans predictions were right and he didn’t want to be viewed as predictable. And then Beliza’s marriage news stole his thunder and he resented them for it. The fans took Beliza’s love as proof of Bellarke, which I take issue with personally, but that’s neither here nor there. I think, because of that anger and not wanting to be seen as predictable, JR made a rash decision to tell the fans that they were interpreting things wrong. And then Bob came out and validated the fans after season 6 and that really hurt JR’s pride. I think that, as childish as it is, JR felt betrayed by his two leads. He wanted to punish Beliza and their fans. And when Bob asked for time off, JR came up with the perfect plot.
From his pre-finale interview, JR blames his decision to kill Bellamy on Bob’s limited availability. I call foul. I haven’t watched Agents of Shield recently, but they were apparently able to work around a lead’s availability quite satisfactory. JR didn’t want to give Bellamy a satisfying ending. He didn’t want to give Bellarke a satisfying conclusion, because a satisfying ending would have meant Clarke and Bellamy ending the show together—dead or alive, they would have done it together.
When JR stopped writing for Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship, the show stopped making sense. Personally all this weird transcendence stuff feels like lazy writing, and I have a hard time believing it was the original intended ending. But it could have worked if Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship had still been the center of the show. It would have been much more hopeful. (More personal speculation, but I sort of think the Levitt Octavia romance was meant to be Bellarke’s. It would have been so easy to see Clarke showing unfeeling brainwashed Bellamy how to feel and love again).
When JR decided Clarke would kill Bellamy after a day of him not being on her side, he threw Clarke’s characterization and growth out the window. Suddenly it was hard to sympathize with her. I felt like she deserved to die herself. I didn’t understand why anyone else would forgive her. I didn’t understand why any of them would choose Clarke over transcendence. As touching of a sentiment that is, I don’t understand the character motivation.
On top of killing the heart of the show, JR then spit in Bellare fans faces by bringing Lexa back to show that she was Clarke’s greatest love. Seasons 4-6 did not reflect this. These seasons built up the romantic tension between Clarke and Bellamy. Reading JR’s pre-finale interview, it’s clear that he feels his greatest mistake was killing off Lexa. Perhaps it was, before season 7 rewrites.
He decided that he didn’t want to be remembered for his greatest mistake, he wanted to be remembered for subverting stereotypes. So he began a convoluted transcendence storyline so that he could bring Lexa back and reverse the damage he did in season 3. But he just made newer and bigger mistakes. He baited Clexa fans. He killed characters without rhyme or reason. He dropped character growth. He erased the lessons learned from season 3. He blamed his actors. He blamed the fans.
And others can say that I interpreted the story wrong, but I would argue that I interpreted it the way I was supposed to and then was punished for it. JR so much as said this. He said that he put the idea out there and didn’t intend to follow through. He punished his fans for what he put in their heads.
He did this to fans of Bellarke and to fans of Clexa. Neither side got what they wanted or what the story told us to expected.
I have never seen someone hate their own fans so much.
