In the seventh season of The 100, we were given the backdoor pilot of how the story began. Anaconda was rich in cultural Grounder references and introduced us to new and amazing characters. Read the review for Anaconda and share your thoughts about it after.
The 100 Anaconda Recap-Review
Back To The Past
Episode 708 Aired July 8th, 2020
Written by Jason Rothenberg; Directed by Ed Friaman
The much-anticipated backdoor pilot, Anaconda has finally cascaded tonight. Taking a journey to the past, Bill Cadogan, now awaken, shares the story of how his daughter, Calliope “Callie” Cadogan created the Grounder world and the events that led up to it. Her story and legacy gave us The 100 world and all those in it, and their lifelines.
Anaconda also reminded us of today’s own traumatic and corrupted world, dying for a place to survive when fascism is the primary ruler. It is not an easy morsel to digest, but if one wants to live, then there will be difficult choices to make.
Or suffer great losses.
Snuggle up in the bunker as we retell the story of Anaconda.
The Book Of Calliope
Reeling in where we last left off in The Queen’s Gambit, Clarke, and the others (Raven, Jordan, Miller, and Niylah) absorbed the news of Bellamy’s death. For Clarke, her world exploded right in front of her but soon finds comfort from Raven. They agree that they will do this for him, for their family.
It is the rightful honor. Bellamy would be proud of his princess.
When Bill Cadogan steps into the room, (clad in total Jesus garb), he is surprised that Clarke (and she greets him with “You killed my best friend. Why should I help you?”) knows about him, and doubly surprised when he finds that Trigdaslang survived. Which could only mean that his daughter, Callie is in the Key? For what it is worth, this gave him a glimmer of joy; he should have paid more attention to her freedom fighter ways and admired her for that instead of the snubbing.
Turning back the doomsday clock, Callie Cadogan is just your typical eighteen-year-old. She has dropped out of the elite MIT, hangs out with her best friend, Lucy, obsesses over Becca Franco, and joined an environmental and equality protest movement, Tree Crew.
She does not see eye to eye with her parents, who think of themselves higher than everyone else. As a result, she rebels and takes her own matters in her own hands. For somebody so young, Callie is intelligent and knows what must be done. She believes in all lives, not the selected few, and she is a tornado to get people to see the light and errors of the cult.
Her father, on the other hand, is a completely different story.
Bill has become addicted to the Messiah lifestyle of Second Dawn. He has “stolen” cultural artifacts, would act on belief-rather than science and tries to be the alpha dog, albeit some member protesting.
Right when the missiles were launched and the world ended, Callie is reluctant of leaving Lucy behind as she is not a Level Twelve and was not part of the Second Dawn Cult. Her life is considered “expendable” and as such, is unimportant.
After witnessing the burning of the city and leaving every possession behind, Callie is crestfallen and is feeling guilty of leaving so many others behind. I believe that she had an epiphany. From this point forward, she will make it her mission to make the change.
Life in the bunker with being members of a crazed cult proves to be challenging. There are people who have committed suicide, along with leaving loved ones behind to die.
One such example of the latter is August’s girlfriend, Trish, of whom was left outside the bunker. The cries of those locked outside are chilling, so August and Callie decide to put on hazmat suits to save them.
Reese, Callie’s brother opposes the decision at first. Reese throughout the flashback, he has been trying to win his father’s approval. His attempts are more than less futile as he feels that the spotlight is centered on Callie. However, he does venture out with Ground kru two years later to seek survivors.
But Reese’s competition will ease until later.
The Doctor Has Arrived
Coming in like a radiation wave, Dr. Becca Franco has landed amid the storm. She is there with a specific purpose: to help the Second Dawn members to live above grounds. Back in 307 (Thirteen) Becca was the chief doctor/scientist on Polaris-the ARK station that was lost and not aligned with Unity Day. That is a disappointment because those scientists were not given an ovation; their legacy has been erased.
Becca brings serum, a special serum that makes one impervious to the deadly radiation. If you got to fight the elements during an apocalyptic storm, you might as be resistant.
The infamous side effect of injecting the serum is, of course, black blood. Only an exceedingly small percentage of Grounders receive the genetic, but in later seasons, the serum could be reproduced scientifically and be injected through a person with red blood. Though rather invasive, it is an interesting take on how far science and humanity will go and probing a moral question of morality.
I feel that the serum also has the side effect of super entuned hearing as Becca has heard the “space ball” (Anomaly Stone) makes a harmonic sound and she is pulled to its significant note. After tapping in the code, a beam of white light emerges. It is gorgeous and captivating, but once Becca is pulled into its power, she sees another side.
A rather dark and twisting side.
Witnessing the evident peril alarms Becca and she tells the Cadogan family what she has witnessed. It is whatever world war number happening on the other side and no one is ready for it. Bill, being in his arrogant, cultish self, totally cuts out the truth. I think that he has been locked for far too long and it meddled with his mind.
Anyways, Cadogan finds the “salvation-like” path through the stone, despite Becca’s warnings. As for her punishment, Becca is thrown into lockup without resources and it is up to Callie to try to get her out. Her efforts are in vain because Bill burns Becca at the stake and leaves a devasted Callie.
But what is it with the witch burnings? Do they symbolize some sort of righteousness?
So, Callie takes off with the case of serum along with the AI and hopes to carry out Becca’s wishes. This leaves a divided bunker-half of the devotees to follow Bill’s path and the other follow Callie’s. It is a struggle for her brother though as the two get into a fight over letting the people find survival and an alternate life.
While most make it out of the bunker with the blood treatment with Callie leading, Reese is forced behind, but with demands from his dad to get back the AI, he will venture out. Meanwhile, Grace does a little fancy parkour and ensures the safety of her daughter and the others so that they can escape. It is a heartbreaking choice, but an important one because she knows just how much this means to her daughter. Callie will never forget the love and support that Grace had given her, albeit their despondency earlier.
An angry Bill locks Grace outside the bunker door, with the fact knowing that she has not had the blood treatment. She will be fine though as she has a hazmat suit and will be reunited with Callie.
Bill walks in the Anomaly because he thinks that he is the Almighty and that peace is on the other side of it.
Meh. If only he listened to Becca.
Callie and those who decided to follow her will have to adjust to a whole new life following the storm. If anything, Grounders are resourceful and strong people, and whatever their ancestors held within, is greatly lit.
Back In Present Time
After storytime, we are back again with Clarke. However, her tone does not flinch, and she is just livid with Cadogan.
And she has every single right to be. They killed her best friend in cold blood. So, yeah. Be damn mad Clarke. If she could not save Bellamy, at least she could save their friends. She is in for a surprise.
Once Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza entered the room, they are donned in Disciple gear and have a look of frozen emotion. Clarke is astounded by this new discovery and she might have a thousand and one questions reeling in her mind.
As do we Clarke, as do we.
Bonus Bullets
- Anaconda was a delightful and informative piece to provide Grounder mythology. Additionally, I love the fact that Callie created the Trig language at just eleven years old and is still being used presently.
- “Best friend” is not the term I would describe Clarke’s attachment and bond with Bellamy, but I will accept it.
- The women are not brainwashed, especially not Echo as we all know that she is doing this to protect her family and have vengeance for Bellamy.
- Lucy, who was “lost” before the meltdown, is still alive theoretically. We did not see a body, so it is very much possible. Who knows? She might even be Azgeda’s origin.
- I love the interaction between Clarke and Raven.
- If this was to be picked up as the prequel, they should because life before The 100 is just as intriguing and I love history, especially downfallen societies and how people worked their way up from them.
- Some people think that 97 years is not a logical time to have an established society. Yet, if we look back a hundred years ago, there were countries and social states that existed but dissolved in less than a hundred years. Additionally, great improvements for both the benefit and demise of mankind have been implemented. We take what we learn from history and create a better path for our descendants.
- I am thinking that with the given ages, of some of the Grounders’ ages, they might have heard stories from their grandparents who lived before Anaconda. The only one though who has that possibility is Indra.
- Callie might be the ancestor of either Luna or Gaia, August might be the great-grandfather of Lexa, and Reese could be related to Azgeda, assuming his hostile aggression.
Did you enjoy the backdoor pilot, Anaconda? Why or why not? What did you think of the Grounders’ history? What did you think of Callie and Becca?
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