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The 100 The Other Side Recap-Review

by Evelyn Ulrich
The 100 The Other Side

The Other Side was filled with emotional turmoils and flutters as our heroes continue to grasp between life and death.  With each new episode, along with the old, The 100 never fails to teach us just how precious life is, and what may become if we let thing fall.  Here is my recap-review of The 100 The Other Side.  *The following piece will contain spoilers from the episode.  Reader and viewer discretion is advised.*

 

The 100 The Other Side Recap-Review

“Say “I Love You” As It May Be the Last”

#411 Aired May 10th, 2017

Evelyn Ulrich

 

Tonight’s outstanding and emotion bursting episode had me in absolute awe.  It was Henry Ian Cusick’s directorial debut of the series and he has done a fantastic job.  The transition of actor to director is exposed quite strongly and wonderfully, and delivered triumph.  The Other Side is an arc of mental strength and just how precious it can be.  It also banded around love, which is one of the two strongest emotions.  I think the two reverberated brilliantly, even though there were some devastating scenes.    There was also the very stark contrast of wanting to live because you have hope, a purpose, and wanting to die, because you no longer have that hope.   All I can say is that it’s all too real, all too familiar, and just very heartbreaking and ecstatic at the same time.

Clarke and Bellamy are at strong opposites This is because of the choice Clarke made, and Octavia is still on the outside.  Bellamy is naturally upset, but he is going to death’s end to get to her.   Clarke tries to stop him by locking, and chaining him up.  With the strong will to save his baby sister, he tries to pull off the chains that shackle him.  He gets out and opens the door to bring Octavia in and hugs her.   Bellamy did have a bit of a struggle and a pure plan to get to his sister.  With Abby’s help as she wants Kane to come in as well, Murphy is knocked unconscious, and Bellamy runs.  Earlier, Bellamy was begging and pleading for help from Murphy.  Clarke stops Bellamy before he opens the door, and points a gun at him.  She misses the shot.  Um, what, why?  Okay, I knew that she wouldn’t kill him, but the action alone is gripping, maddening, and terrifying.  He tells her that the only way to stop him is to make it a kill shot.  Then Bellamy talks her down, and she realizes that she could not kill him.  She simply couldn’t.  Clarke lets Bellamy go to find Octavia, and all is well.  So, the Blakes are reunited and are great terms again.  Yay!  As a bonus, Bellamy says this to Octavia,

“I love you so much.”  My heart is in pieces!  Also, Octavia who was the meek and scared little girl from under the floor to being the boss of things, keeping her promise of all the clans having shelter in the bunker as they all are “Ogeda.”  But she banishes Echo, and this was just to honor the king.  I hope that she survives Praimfaya, as Echo is a deeply layered and complex character.  Later, Octavia established that Skaikru must select 100 people to live in the bunker, just like the other clans.  And due to her and Bellamy’s resurfaced bonding, he has an absolute bed.  Finally, the man gets some appreciation.

In Arkadia, the radiation levels are dangerously close to the red.  People are getting sick, including Harper.  She is violently ill, and accepts the circumstance that she will die.  Jasper is the only one who is jubilant, but it is an alarming manner of jubilant.  He is a very broken and very lost young man at this point, and it was stressing to watch.  My heart just went to Jasper.

Riley is the first to go, but it is not radiation poisoning.  It was from a Jobi tea overdose.  Monty tries to revive him, but Jasper intervenes and tells him that is for the best.  Then, the whole group makes a pact to all OD on the tea so they would not feel the burn.  Since when did this become a People’s Temple homage?  Amongst the agreed, is Harper.  Now, we all know that she loves Monty, and does not want anything to happen to him.  So, she lies to him to save his life by saying that she does not love him.  Harper also says that she is worth saving as the guilt from before is still inside her.  Discouraged and obviously pained, Monty walks away and continues his plan to save everyone in Arkadia.

That poor Jasper Jordan.  Monty discovers him by a window, gazing out.  The moon is bright red, a result of radiation ash in the atmosphere.  Jasper appears to be happy, but he is also eerily calm.  Monty, now in full exasperation, coaxes him to come along.  That they are going to Polis.  However, Jasper is not fazed, nor does he no longer have the heart to go on.

Here is what makes this scene very bittersweet, but powerful.  To be completely honest, having a suicide of a young adult on the show seemed rather dangerous as many viewers are vulnerable and are suffering from mental illnesses themselves.   They might also feel like suicide is the way out, because nothing will get better for them.  However, I thought the scene was done extraordinarily well and choreographed truthfully for the setting.  Monty was there, so Jasper was not alone.  He was holding Jasper, whom he loved like a brother, in his last moments.  That sort of gesture is only created by lovers or family, not for two friends.  However, on The 100 love, is love, is love.  It does not matter whether it’s platonic or romantic, or the love for life.  It does not halt on just the common.

“For all of its faults, earth is really beautiful.”

But, you must keep in mind that in an illusory, post-dystopian world, that help for Jasper, or even Finn may not have been possible.  It would take highly specialized psychiatrists who would treat PTSD in soldiers.  It would also take psychiatric drugs, therapy, and the continuation of life support.  In addition, tragedy and fighting for surviving another day is in every corner on The 100.  So, even if help was offered, having to repeat the process of loves taken away, and the health of your mind, it may not have gotten better, or it may have.  The truth is, we are not Jasper, or the characters on the show, and we did not walk a mile in their boots.   We can relate and familiarize with them on several various levels, but we are not them.

In the real world, and not the media one, there is help and guidance for mental illnesses and disabilities.  There is someone who will look out for you, ignoring their own life to help you.  There are our animals (in my case), that will help heal and make things feel right.  There is hope and love, and underlying support.  There are reasons to keep on going, to keep on living, even though we feel like crap.  It is just a moment that we’d feel despaired, but that is just it.  A moment.  If we take it away, then that is it.

With Jasper finding his own happiness, Monty decides to go to Polis, but what he finds in the bar is saddening.  Everyone is gone, all except one.  Harper.  She tells Monty that she loves him, truly, madly, deeply. She wants to live, as she has the best man to share it with.

On the happier side of things, Raven decides that she does want to live.  During a hallucinating seizure, Raven gets a visit from a guardian angel, to save her from the Bast-like Becca.  Bast is the Egyptian devil goddess of war and destroy.  What better angel then Sinclair?  When I seen him in the sneak peek (though it kind of ruined the element of sheer surprise), I was beyond ecstatic.  Seeing Sinclair again, even in spirit made the episode that more special.  I liked Sinclair from the very beginning, and grieved when he died.  Death is not an uncommon concept on The 100, but he was one character that should not have fallen into that category.  Yet, his death did make sense later as Raven was being promoted to Chief.  Just the way he died should not have happened.  I can never get too comfortable with death.  It makes us feel that even though we have a good life, all of a sudden, we are gone, and nothing might not happen.

Continuing, like the classic angel and devil on her shoulder, Raven is going to recharge her brain.  To rid of the malicious ALIE code that is killing her.  She is going to immerse herself in near freezing water, stopping her heart just enough so her brain slows.  She will reset it when the countdown ends on the monitor’s timer, destroying the code.  As she builds the contraption, Sinclair aides her along, while Becca offers negative feedback.  It is always refreshing to see such positive outcomes on the series.  Raven’s ingenuity works in her favor, and she radios that she is alive.  Secondly, she is free.

Some highlights:

  • The fight between saving humanity and wanting to live is very prominent.
  • I certainly hope that this is not the end for Echo. As bad of a bitch she is, she is too grand of a character to let go of.
  • Jaha, for all of his say-and-say on survival isn’t making things better.
  • Kane lives, Abby is happy.
  • The determination of saving loved ones has no end.
  • Clarke and Bellamy obviously has some issues to go through, if they want to save their people.

That covers my review for The Other Side.


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