Written by Avani Goswami
The thirteenth episode this season, titled ‘Blood Giant,’ has to be one of the most disappointing yet. Which is unfortunate, because there were some bits that I enjoyed, until it all headed for the worst.
In the beginning of ‘Blood Giant,’ Clarke (Eliza Taylor, The November Man), Raven (Lindsey Morgan, General Hospital), and Gabriel (Chuku Modu, Captain Marvel) arrive on Sanctum with Bellamy (Bob Morley, Home and Away) and the Shepherd a.k.a. Bill Cadogan (John Pyper-Ferguson, Suits). Clarke realizes that Sheidheda (JR Bourne, Teen Wolf) has taken over Russell’s body and they all finally address the fact that they have no idea where Gaia (Tati Gabrielle, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina) is. Then, the Shepherd and Russell face each other, presumably ready for a fight. Well, that ends quickly, as the invisible Disciples take down Russell’s soldiers and the Shepherd sticks a sword into Sheidheda’s stomach.
The Shepherd locks Indra (Adina Porter, American Horror Story) up with Sheidheda and says he will let Gabriel save Sheidheda if he can get around Sanctum safely. Clarke, along with Raven and Murphy, agree to lead the Shepherd to the Flame. Bill Cadogan thinks Sanctum is horrible and wants to leave as soon as possible. He makes Clarke go get the key by herself in order to save her friends who are being held hostage by the Shepherd, leaving Raven and Murphy with Bill, Bellamy, and the other Disciples. Here we get one of the best scenes in ‘Blood Giant,’ where Raven and Murphy tease one another about how they let things spiral out of control. This scene has some of the heart this season has been lacking. We also see a quick scene where we find out that Madi (Lola Flanery, Home Again) is safe in the reactor with the other kids and her dog Picasso.
Bellamy dives into a deep conversation with Bill about how they are not like the others, not even Doucette (Jonathan Scarfe, The Equalizer 2) a.k.a. the Conductor who went with Bellamy on his spiritual mountain journey. They, unlike everyone else on Bardo, left behind their friends for their faith and the greater good, even when it was not all they have known for their entire lives.
Meanwhile, we see Gabriel hallucinating Josephine (Sara Thompson, Burden of Truth)! This is very welcome as I’ve missed Josephine and it’s always nice when they bring back a little reference to the past. But Gabriel lets us know what’s going on: the Red Sun toxins are in the air. Yikes. Everyone suddenly realizes what’s going on and scrambles to get away. Bellamy tells the Shepherd they need to leave, but he says he isn’t leaving without the key.
In the nuclear reactor, Nikki (Alaina Huffman, The Perfection) is attempting to hurt someone and making threats, but Emori (Luisa d’Oliveira, Channel Zero) has an idea to save them all. She shuts off the power, Nikki gets knocked out, and the bugs that come with the red sun toxin come streaming into the room outside. This takes out their attackers. Raven sees the power is out and says she has to go fix it. Bellamy follows because he thinks Clarke will go there, to Madi, and that’s exactly what happens. The Disciples bust a hole into the door to get inside in exchange for the Flame, a deal that Clarke brokers for her daughter’s safety. Clarke talks to Madi, who is upset about giving Bill the key, and they discuss hiding her journal, where she sketches the visions she sees.
Raven follows Murphy and Clarke into the reactor with antitoxin for everyone so they can avoid the visions. She goes to turn the power back on, and winds up in the same room where Nikki’s husband died due to Raven’s decision earlier this season. As she’s fixing a leak, Nikki approaches to attack Raven for revenge, and Raven begins crying in her grasp. She admits she’s guilty and a coward and deserved to die instead of Nikki’s husband, but Nikki decides to let her live with what she has done. Poor Raven. As if she hasn’t been through enough throughout this show. But we get a somewhat heartfelt scene where Murphy, Emori, and Clarke comfort her, at least.
Back with Gabriel, we find him beside Jackson (Sachin Sahel, Supergirl) in the lab. They’re trying to get everyone out, and Gabriel gives Jackson the last dose of antitoxin so he can work. Josephine is back, taunting him, coaxing him into putting the Flame into his head and taking the “last test” for the world. We then see Indra is also being affected by the toxins, seeing visions of her mother kneeling to Sheidheda long ago, as she tries to cut through her rope and form an escape plan. Sheidheda tries to team up with her and we get a little throwback to season one: “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Luckily, the Disciples are also impacted by the red sun. When Indra escapes her ties, it’s easy for her to take them out, and Sheidheda helps by warning her of an invisible Disciple behind her, poised to strike. Still, when Jackson comes in with the antitoxin, Indra takes it and leaves Sheidheda to die with the wound in his chest. I think this scene was also interesting because I’m invested in Indra and want to know more about her past, but it seems like this is all we’ll get with only three episodes left.
Eventually they get the Flame to the Shepherd, and Gabriel is explaining how he can repair the code. As he is beginning the process, he suddenly realizes he doesn’t want to do this, and shoots the Flame, destroying it. Everything erupts into chaos, with guns turned on Bill, and Raven tries to enter the code to find their friends on the anomaly stone. Apparently it’s hidden and Bill is the only one who can do it, so Clarke makes him with a gun pointed at him. Doucette dies trying to protect the Shepherd, and the other Disciples stand down not wanting Clarke to hurt Bill.
So, the Shepherd enters the code and they all head into the portal for their friends, with Bill still held at gunpoint. Well, almost all of them. Clarke begins talking to Bellamy, saying she’s lost him because he is a traitor. She turns to leave and then Sheidheda claims he can help Bellamy if he looks into Madi’s journal, sitting on the throne. It contains the visions of the future. Bellamy has the notebook and says that this is how they can do better. Clarke, though, has the gun trained on him and we all know she would do anything to protect Madi. So as Bellamy is about to give the notebook to another Disciple, Clarke shoots him. Yup. She actually shoots him and he falls to the floor, dying. She tries to kill the others, but runs out of bullets so she runs through the portal in tears, without the journal she just shot Bellamy for.
Honestly, this was an extremely disappointing ending for Bellamy. I knew there was a large possibility he would die this season, but his death was rushed and did not pay justice to the character many of us have loved since season one. Not only that, but he got no redemption before he died and was killed by his closest friend, Clarke.
I think this was one of the worst deaths in The 100 for many reasons. It was not an emotional or satisfying end to Bellamy’s journey, and the writing was poor and confusing. Though I was annoyed at him the last few episodes, overall this was an awful conclusion to his journey and makes no sense to me. He was also one of my favorites for quite some time, and I didn’t even feel like crying, nor did I feel any anger towards Clarke, which proves how bland and out of character this is.
Next week, they apparently are back on Earth! I kind of saw that coming, but with Bellamy dead and so many questions left unanswered, I have no idea where this show is going to go next or how they’ll possibly wrap it up in a way that is satisfying for the viewers.
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