Written by Avani Goswami
The 100 Season 7 Episode 5, titled “Welcome to Bardo,” finally gave us some more answers and brought in interesting new elements making this episode one of the season’s best thus far.
It starts off with a badass fight scene featuring Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos, Numb) and the Disciples, which was already enough to capture my attention. The episode definitely put the spotlight on Octavia again, which was good to see because the Bardo technology used on her is incredibly interesting. She meets Levitt (Jason Diaz, The Good Witch), the Disciples’ scientist in charge of extracting memories from Octavia to learn about the “key” to ending the war, a.k.a. Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor, The November Man). I think tying this whole story back to Clarke is odd but unsurprising. I just hope we learn more about that soon.
Octavia got some great lines this episode, and it was cool to see her memories with some call backs to old characters like Lincoln. Another great part of the episode was seeing Bellamy (Bob Morley, Neighbours) again. That had to be the highlight of the episode since I’ve been waiting for this for weeks, and because his relationship with Octavia has always been an important part of the show. It hurt to see them part again, especially because we once again have no idea about Bellamy’s whereabouts, but I can’t wait to see what happens for the both of them. In terms of what that entails, I know there’s no way that Bellamy is dead, and I see the writers developing Levitt’s relationship with Octavia more. He was another breath of fresh air for the episode. Sometimes when the new characters are introduced, it can be hard to connect with them, but he was very much the voice of the audience when he looked over Octavia’s memories.
Some things stood out as a little confusing. For example, we learn about time dilation on the other planets, and how the Disciples wear helmets to avoid this issue, which was hard to fully grasp. It was also not told in chronological order, mostly to explain what Octavia’s been up to versus what Hope (Shelby Flannery, As They Fade) and the others back on Sky Ring have been planning. Still, this helped fill in the gaps and gave us a compelling look at what Bardo is really about. Hope, Gabriel (Chuku Modu, The Good Doctor), and Echo (Tasya Teles, Supernatural) also had a mini adventure in which they tried to find Diyoza (Ivan Milicevic, Strike Back) and even Bellamy, who Echo thinks is dead. The three of them also witness a weird cult gathering with the Disciples as they watch their leader, Anders (Neal McDonough, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), give them a motivating speech. He’s the one determined to get to Clarke.
The rest of the episode was all about Sanctum and the devotees who want Russell Prime (JR Bourne, Teen Wolf) to be freed. They start sacrificing themselves until he is, which actually led to a lot of good Murphy banter and even a cute moment between him and Emori (Luisa d’Oliveria, Channel Zero). The best part, in my opinion, was when we saw Indra (Adina Porter, American Horror Story) discovering that Russell is actually Sheidheda (Dakota Daulby, Van Helsing), something she figured out by hearing his demands and tricking him into speaking Trigedasleng. It’s exciting to see more of Indra, and even learn a bit about her past, since she’s been here since season one and has gotten little exploration into her character.
I think this episode was thrilling and made me really excited to see what the future holds. I can see them trying to use the same technology they used on Octavia on Clarke, and I hope for more Bellamy in the future. And, as always, the Easter egg references to the past seasons are graciously welcomed.
The 100 Season 7 Episode 5 is now streaming for free on The CW App.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymEx5CriLm4
