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The 100 Discussion: 'What You Take With You' delivers a major character death
This week's episode of The 100 marked a turning point for the series.
While one character confronted their dark past and another fought for their life, the show said goodbye to one of its pillars. Marcus Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) has been a leader on The 100 for six seasons, a man who often reminded us of the value of our own humanity even when war and the apocalypse made that easy to forget. The show says goodbye to his character in "What You Take With You" in a way that feels earned and, yeah, pretty emotional.
We're Alyssa Fikse and Jessica Toomer. Join us as we pour one out for the OG Space Daddy.
Anomaly Aftermath
Alyssa: So, Octavia emerges from the anomaly with a healed hand and clean hair, and apparently is the first to ever make it out alive. First of all, where is Diyoza? She is just gone now? Or was she somehow taken by the Children of Gabriel? Unclear, and Octavia is unbothered. The state of her soul is at risk now, so she has bigger fish to fry. Gabriel gave her an extra concentrated dose of the red sun toxin which took her on a really unpleasant trip but did force her to do some serious emotional work. I guess this is how The 100 does therapy: forcing you to fight the physical embodiment of your worst self.
Jessica: Who hasn’t had a bad batch of shrooms and found themselves in a fighting pit with their evil twin, am I right? Octavia has been through so much, and she’s always been such a physical character, it makes sense that she’d literally have to brawl with Blodreina to begin her redemption path which is what she really wants. More than forgiveness or acceptance, she wants to feel she earned her right to both, which says so much about our genocidal baby. I don’t know where Diyoza’s gone to — maybe she’s lounging on a beach somewhere, still pregnant, getting some much-needed R&R — but I do know if the anomaly can transform Octavia’s rat nest into this shiny, glorious mane, someone needs to bottle that sh*t up. I’d pay money for that.
Alyssa: Someone call Ulta and make a line of hair products inspired by The 100, please and thank you. But even more important than her luscious locks was her road to healing. I was a little shocked to see it in the form of Pike — god, I forgot how much I hated that guy — but ultimately it makes sense. He killed Lincoln, which is the death that she could never really recover from, and sent her off down this dark path. While Octavia made plenty of choices on her own that led to cannibalism and throwing people in the fighting pits, everything that went down with Pike was certainly that first spark. I thought this whole sequence was so interesting because while pretty much everyone on The 100 has done terrible things, they haven’t always had the time to reckon with what that does to a person. The second they have a moment to reflect, there is some new huge crisis to handle. She may have had to take mind-altering toxins to get it, but Octavia really was blessed by having this time to really grasp what she’s done and how she can move forward from it.
Jessica: How ironic would it be if Octavia emerges from this whole mess as the most well-adjusted survivor of trauma out of the whole group? I don’t know if she deserves forgiveness from everyone on this show, but she deserves the chance to earn it, and more importantly, to forgive herself, so I’m happy to see her arguing with Pike and taking down Blodreina to do that. Still, I’m curious, what the hell was in that green box? I assume that’s the anomaly’s true message? What Gabriel so desperately wanted to know? Since Octavia chose to focus on her own self-care — respect, Queen — I wonder if Diyoza will be the one to translate this message from the beyond? Because I refuse to accept that Charmaine Diyoza is gone.
Alyssa: There is no way an icon like Diyoza would just be gone in a flash of green light. I share your refusal to accept that nonsense. The green box feels like a metaphor for Octavia’s redemption — she has to actively take it, not just passively accept that she’ll never be good enough to be loved or accepted again — but you’re right, there’s probably a more literal answer as well. The 100 isn’t a particularly subtle show, so I welcome the Glowing Boxes Of Good And Evil with open arms. As long as it means that Octavia gets another shot at being great, I don’t care what kind of glowing entities get involved. Now that Octavia is gung-ho on doing good and shedding Blodreina completely, I can’t wait to see what happens when she inevitably meets up with Bellamy and Clarke again.
Enemy Territory
Jessica: Speaking of, our Bellarke prayers were finally answered this episode. It’s been too long since we were treated to some quality Head and Heart time and I missed the dynamic between these two. Even with Josephine calling the shots, the chemistry and history between this pair are palpable. Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley do some of their best work when they act opposite each other and it doesn’t hurt that the writers teased us with dialogue that confirms Bellamy cares more about Clarke than anyone else on this damn planet and that Clarke is still alive in her mind and totally over Josephine’s sh*t. The lingering looks between these two alone were enough to make me swoon and I got some serious “Day Trip” vibes from this episode. Still, I wanted Josie to push Bellamy to just admit his more romantic feelings for Clarke because, well, I like to inflict pain on myself.
Alyssa: Honestly, at this point, there isn’t much more that they can do to broadcast THIS IS TRUE LOVE without actually saying it. Bellamy is once again risking it all for Clarke, another stranger who barely knows them (although Josephine does have a leg up in this regard) is calling them out on their oh-so-platonic feelings, and these two are working as the perfect team to save each other and their people. I don’t care what anyone says: that’s soulmate sh*t right there. Just. Let. Them. Kiss. You’re 100% correct that Taylor and Morley are always at their best when they’re playing off of each other (remember how they’re MARRIED?!), and this episode was no different. I do have to say that whenever they inevitably get Josephine out of Clarke’s head, I will miss the preening bad girl act. It’s been so fun to see Eliza play that so differently than Clarke. I’ve loved it.
Jessica: Dump the homicidal psychopath but keep the motorbike skills and good taste in music girl! I too hope some of Josie’s rubbed off on Clarke — we’ve already witnessed how she stole her ability to ride and speak Chinese — because Clarke deserves to care a little less about what people think of her and her leadership skills. She’s doing the best she can guys, give the woman a break. I am curious to see how they’re going to resolve this whole body-snatching dilemma though. Does Gabriel just have an EMP ready? Will he simply chuck her into the anomaly and hope for the best? It feels like the sand is running low in the hourglass if you know what I mean, so whatever the solution to this problem is, they need to find it soon. And boy, do I hope Octavia’s part of that solution. How great would it be for these two powerful women on their individual redemption paths to team up, take down Sanctum, and lead a new way of life on this planet, together? Maybe I’ve just been too caught up in the feminist empowerment of watching the US Women’s Soccer team dominate the World Cup, fight for equality, and rock pastel hair colors all at the same time, but I want a little girl power to be infused into this storyline.
Alyssa: In the name of Megan Rapinoe, let it be so. I have no idea how Gabriel will handle Josephine, but something tells me that he will be sacrificing himself to take her out. But seriously, if he gets a shot at redemption like that, I hope that our favorite ladies get the same courtesy. Clarke and Octavia haven’t always been comfortable allies, but they are both so fierce and dedicated to their people that I can’t help but believe that they would do great things together if they finally found themselves on the same side. As obsessed as I am with one Clarke/Blake dynamic (she left him the keys! *sob*), I really am desperate to see Clarke and Octavia build a partnership to reckon with.
The End of Marcus Kane
Jessica: While our women were getting their sh*t together on the ground, Kane was struggling to accept his resurrection up in space and Abby fawning all over his new, buff bod wasn’t helping. A set of washboard abs and a couple more inches (height-wise) seems enough for her to forget she just murdered an innocent man, but Marcus misses his scars, his brand, and his Jesus beard. I get it. What blows my mind about this whole thing is the idea that Abby would seriously believe Kane would just go along with this nonsense. The last conversation the two had was about atoning for their mistakes and doing better in this new life. A lot’s happened for her since then, but not for Kane and snatching someone’s body was definitely not on his to-do list after 100 years in cryosleep.
Alyssa: I think at this point, Abby is so blinded by the fear of losing Kane that she is willing to do anything and accept anything — not like getting a hot young babe is such a trial but I digress — in order to have him back. She’s done so much to keep him alive that accepting that it was never going to work seems like an impossibility. I think she hoped that he would be so thrilled to get more time with her that he would be able to overlook all the murder and body snatching mechanics of their reunion. However, there was no way that he could and that, whether or not Abby wants to admit it, is a huge part of why she loves him so much. While he may have been a first-rate a**hole in the beginning, Kane has matured into a leader and a good man, so to have him keep on living this weird half-life in someone else’s body just wouldn’t do.
Jessica: Kane deserves better and since Abby royally screwed the pooch on this one, it’s up to — who else? — Indra, to save the day. My soul rejoiced to see our badass warrior back in action and to feel the bond between these two again. Indra needed just a two-minute recap after being woken up from cryo to get on board with Kane’s plan. That’s friendship. I love too how the writers allowed Indra to dissent, to present a different point of view of Sanctum and their Godly rituals by relating it back to the Grounders because it set up another important plot point I think many may have missed. Indra’s insistence that what Sanctum is doing isn’t much different than say, a conclave, or how the Ark handled things forces Kane to explain that the Primes aren’t just brainwashing these people into giving up their bodies, they’re lying to them. It seems the nulls think they’ll be one with the Primes when their body is taken over, which is a big difference in my book and might give our group a solution to another problem. Getting rid of the Primes might not be hard, but destroying an entire civilization of innocents is a different beast. Maybe, if they learn they’ve been lied to all these years, sparking a rebellion won’t be too difficult?
Alyssa: I think you’re correct there. Having the promise of communing with godhood snatched away is as good of a reason as any to rise up against your oppressor. I love that Indra was there with Kane while he worked through his final bit of heroism because that friendship has been so important to both of them for a while now. These two were proof that even if it was a difficult path, peace between the grounders and everyone from the Ark wasn’t completely impossible. I think that will be an important thing to remember no matter what happens with the residents of Sanctum. There was no better person to send Kane out the airlock with the nightblood serum than Indra because god knows Abby never would have been able to do it. I am glad that the show gave Henry Ian Cusick a proper send-off, too. It would have felt wrong if the last we saw of him was as a corpse on a table. But no, we got to say goodbye to him in all his Space Daddy glory. RIP, Kane. You were a real one.
Jessica: The realest. And I loved that he passed the torch onto Raven in a way. I’ve been hoping for some clarity for her character arc this season and it’s finally starting to make sense. She’s still a bit too self-righteous for my tastes but it certainly feels like she’s being prepped to replace Kane as the show’s moral compass. I’m not mad at that. As long as she’s also given the power to affect change like Kane was, not just regulated to harping in the background about what’s “right” this pivot works for me. I’ll miss Kane but you’re right, he got the send-off he deserved one that stayed true to his character and offered those he left behind some hope. I just worry what this final death will do to Abby, and what it means for the rest of the group hoping for peace with Sanctum.
What’s Next
Alyssa: I hope the loss of Kane means that Raven is given a chance to do more. All she has done this season is snipe at others about how wrong they are without offering any solutions or action, and that is just not the Raven that we know and love. As per usual, Raven Reyes deserves better. And I am so ready for Octavia and Clarke to have it out. They’re so close to realizing that they’re better as allies than antagonists, and I think it will be the raddest thing the show has ever done when they finally get there. And, because I am Bellarke trash first and a human being second, I hope that these two finally stop beating around the bush. They know it. Josephine knows it. Gabriel doesn’t know them yet but deep down he probably knows it too.
Jessica: It’s what the anomaly is really trying to tell Gabriel: Bellarke is endgame. No, I think the team-up between Octavia and Clarke will change things for the better on this planet, but first, Clarke has to get Josie out of her head and the promos for next week have me worried on that front. I know the show won’t kill Clarke Griffin, but I also don’t want the show to hurt our precious mama bear in any way and I feel like a lot of hurt is in store for WanHeda before she can finally kick Josephine to the curb. I’m also curious to know what’s happening back at Sanctum. Last we saw, Murphy was bleeding out and Maddie was being held, prisoner. Call me a pessimist, but I can’t imagine things are going well for the rest of the group. The amount of anxiety and dread this show gives me every week is what pays my therapist’s bills, y’all.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the authors', and do not necessarily reflect those of SYFY WIRE, SYFY, or NBC Universal.
