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‘The 100’ Recap ‘Thirteen’

This might be the most
incohesive review I’ve ever written on
The 100, depending on the
amount of times I’m forced to stop
and sob
into my meticulously crafted ‘I Love Polis’ hoodie, so bear with me.
I challenge
you fellow
spectators and writers to go on this journey with me, as I navigate
this
whirlwind of emotions coursing
through my veins post mortem. Now, as many
of you might already be aware,
“Thirteen” was not easily
digestible for fans of
Lexa. Myself included. It has taken me a good day and
a half to even muster up
the
energy to sit here with my laptop and write about an episode that

simultaneously gave me hope and complete
and total heartbreak. “Thirteen” was
written by Javier “Javi’ Grillo-
Marxuach, and could quite honestly be
described
as the most interesting, intricate, infuriating, maddening,
revelation-inducing
hours of
television to date. In my book, that is. Can you see I’m stalling? OK.
Must
get to the point.

Heda is
dead.

It’s excruciating to write
(and read, I’m sure) but it’s our
new reality. Lexa is dead. The most
complex,
compelling, and intriguing character on the series finally met her
demise. After
another public
(failed) attempt at her head and ranking as the Commander of the
coalition,
Lexa was shot by her own
confidant, Titus. What a way to go out, huh?
Not so much. I’m getting ahead
of myself… let’s backtrack a
bit.

Octavia
is brought to Polis by Semet, one
of the
members of the clan that Bellamy and his pals attacked for their land
in “Bitter
Harvest.” There,
he brings the sky girl to Ascension Day, now, I’m not part of
this whole
political (or spiritual) scene but
I’m pretty sure bringing a
prisoner of war to a holy day is probably frowned
upon. But Lexa allowed him to

voice his concerns anyway and deliberated over whether or not to seek

retribution for yet another attack
on her people. Clarke stood beside the
Commander, concerned for not only
Octavia, who was bound and gagged,
but for the
outcome of such a public display of insubordination. Ultimately,
Heda remained
unwavered and
vowed once again that Blood Must Not Have Blood. Instead, she
issued a
blockade that would keep the members
of Arkadia within their own
boundaries, as to not start a war or antagonize
those who were clearly out for

their heads. It seems the war has already begun though, and as the episode

progressed I feared even more
for the safety of both Clarke and Lexa and those
few innocent people in
Arkadia unaware of Pike’s
misguidance.

After the
blockade was put into place, Octavia pleaded
with Clarke to come back to her

people. All while Lexa extended an invitation to Clarke to stay in Polis, a

gesture that melted my heart
and quite frankly was exactly what I hoped would
happen. In this moment we
see Clarke entertaining the idea,
that maybe it’s
better for her to stay in Polis to keep things on track. Oh
how I wish it were
this
simple. Lexa announcing to Titus that she asked Clarke to stay as her guest

(behind enemy lines), instead of
sending her back to Arkadia was probably the
only bad decision Lexa has made
thus far.

Clarke and Lexa
(have tissues
handy, I’m all out)

I
don’t even know where to
start. This episode had some of the best, well-
developed moments between the
two during their time together
since being
introduced back in season 2. But with the good moments, came the
bad. Clarke
wanted to stay
in Polis. She desperately wanted to explore her swelling feelings
for Lexa
and it pained her to have to say
goodbye and fulfill her duties to her
people, but I think in a sense she
thought that when all was said and
done, when
they finally made peace among their people that Lexa would still
be there
waiting for Clarke
and they would get their chance to be together. That’s the
most gut-
wrenching part of this whole episode,
that they thought they had more
time. Well, so did we. I won’t get too into
pacing issues for “Thirteen,” but
I
will say that I think they could have spaced these events out more. The
fact
that mere seconds after
Clarke and Lexa admitted their feelings to each other
and finally made love,
that they would present us with
Lexa’s death was jarring
to me. Talk about having your cake, and eating it
too, and then finding out it’s

been poisoned and hey you’re just shit out of luck, aren’t you? I understand

there’s a business behind
the entertainment that we watch, that Alycia Debnam-
Carey was only
accessible to the show for a certain
amount of episodes because
of her status on another series (I’m looking at
you Fear the Walking

Dead) and that’s just what we are left with considering the
circumstances.
But I would have loved
one more episode, that’s all the show really needed to
separate love and
death. But again, this is The
100
and it’s not a show
about love. It’s a show about tragedy and going
into the series thinking there

are any happy endings is naive on the viewer’s part. Hey, maybe we’ll be

surprised at the end, but until
then I’m attempting to stay objective– to
understand that this world that
these fictional characters live in
is dangerous,
and riddled with injustice. Considering what they had to work
with– how the
story was
meant to unfold with tying Alie, Polis and the City of Light together,
I get
it. But it doesn’t make the
rushed feeling go away.

Pacing issues aside, Javi
wrote two of the most beautifully
heartbreaking scenes of the entire series.
Yes, I haven’t seen the rest of
the
season, but I’m just coining this statement now because I think it’ll
hold even
after everything else
unravels. Their goodbye and “maybe someday” turned into a
love scene drowned
in light (and hope) and God
damn, it hit me right in the
feels. Both Alycia Debnam-Carey and Eliza
Taylor acted the hell out of them, and

brought so much emotion to the table that I sat there in awe over such a
tender
moment of realization
between these two characters. From Lexa’s tears, to her
almost silent
questioning of ‘are you sure you’re
ready?’ really floored me. In
a way, it was the perfect goodbye between the
two. Not everyone will feel the

same way but I did appreciate the fact that they got to fulfill their
desires
before Lexa was killed. If
we didn’t get to see that between them, I think it
would have been even more
tragic than originally depicted.
So, I take solace in
knowing that their love was solidified, if even for a
short while. The moments
after
sleeping together were surprisingly human as well. We had gotten a glimpse

of this side of them when Clarke
was drawing Lexa, but to see them in such a
vulnerable state after finally
admitting their love for each
other, was both odd
and refreshing. Pillow talk ensued and mention of the
eighth novitiate at the

Conclave followed by Lexa’s immediate “let’s change the subject” reaction
leads
me to believe that
perhaps Costia was a Night Blood as well. Which, would have
been even more
reason why Ice Nation wouldn’t
want to see that much power in the
hands of the two lovers, and took the
extreme measures to send a message
to
Lexa. No one uses good old empty death threats any more. It’s all about
the head
chopping.

Even
on Lexa’s death bed, or Clarke’s for that matter (sorry,
I’m deflecting my
pain with shitty puns) she still
puts Clarke first… making
Titus swear that he would not ever try to harm
Clarke again. Those moments were

earned and felt all too real. Did that prove that love was her weakness?

Perhaps. Or maybe it proves that
the Alie 2.0 code is doing its job. That both
AI and humans can coexist and
it doesn’t have to be death, and
anger all the
time. I think that proves that Lexa was evolving and was
taking the necessary
strides to
truly making a better world.

Keep in mind fellow fans that her
entire
storyline was built on the fact
that she was taught that love was
weakness and that her death would result
in the Conclave. To look past the
fact
that we have been bombarded with foreshadowing since we first met Lexa
is a
mistake on the
audience’s part. We can’t ignore that. By knowing Clarke she let
love in.
She learned so much from her, and
those teachings will be instilled
into the next Commander once they’re
chosen. Lexa didn’t have a lazy death,

because it wasn’t meant for her. It was an attempt to assassinate Clarke,
and
she walked into it. If she
hadn’t just shared such tender moments with Clarke
would she have not come
to her room afterwards and would
she still be alive?
Maybe. But creating what if’s doesn’t change the facts.
it doesn’t erase the
reality
that her death had to happen in order to drive the story forward… sure,
it
sucks. But it was a
necessity.

Titus

Credit: The

CW

He means well, but
man, did he screw up big time. After
beating Murphy senseless for
information on the sacred symbol chip found
in his
possession, he continues to undermine Lexa’s decision to not quench
the
grounders thirst for
blood. He’s like that kid on the playground who runs around
telling people
that someone else is talking shit
about them just to stir up
trouble. He brings up her questionable feelings
for Clarke and urges her to

spare her life, and stop putting the work that they’ve done and both their
lives
in danger. We seem to
come to the conclusion that Lexa learned her whole “love
is weakness” mantra
from dad-like Titus, which was
definitely more insightful
than my ‘don’t put a wet spoon in the sugar bowl’
lessons I’ve learned from

family members back in my day. He also brings up Costia, which is easily

recognized as a not-so-subtle
jab at Lexa and her possible untamed feelings
getting in the way of the job.
We see an angered Heda snap back
at him,
reiterating that Azgeda cut off her head, put it in her bed and she
still
allowed them into her
coalition. A sign of a true leader. Alycia Debnam-Carey
was on fire in this
episode. I’m so gutted by the
fact that we will never see
her in this role again (unless she pops up in
the City of Light down the line)

but even then badass Heda we know and love is no more. The traumatizing
feeling
of losing one Commander
and then having to open our minds (and hearts) to a new
one can’t be
fathomed right now.

No matter how
much I try to hate Titus,
for
recklessly wielding a weapon he had no idea how to use, and shooting Lexa

just moments after her and Clarke
consummated their relationship, I understand
where his hysteria came from.
He believed that Clarke would be
her undoing, but
in the process he failed to see his part in it all. Mass
hysteria only causes
more
destruction, as we saw as Lexa lay on the bed, black blood pouring from her

stomach. The irony in it all was
that Titus condemned Lexa’s love for Clarke,
not because she was a woman, or
because she was the leader of a
rivaling group,
but because love made her weak and her actions were
motivated by something other
than
grounder ways… turns out Titus’ love for Lexa in turn weakened the entire

grounder legacy. His love for her
drove him to take extreme measures against
Clarke and Lexa was the one who
paid the price. In the moments
following the
shooting, where Titus must now fulfill his job as Fleimkepa,
you can see that he
FINALLY
understands what love will drive people to do. He gets her love for
Clarke,
why she wanted to keep her safe,
and create a better more peaceful
world, and he acknowledges it– because he
feels that bond and love for
Lexa.
His love drove him to assassinate Clarke because of her influence over
the
Commander and that is a
real tragedy in itself.

Titus’ story doesn’t
end here… he’ll be an integral part moving
forward in helping us to navigate
through grounder politics and
seeing how a
Commander is chosen. Will it be Ontari? Aden? Someone else? I
don’t know. But,
whomever is
chosen… Lexa will live on in them because the Alie 2.0 code dictates
so.
Once he removed the AI from the back
of Lexa’s neck it all made sense.
Commanders from the past are all uploaded
into this chip and they almost
rule
together… learning from the mistakes of those before them. That is the
grounders
belief system. You
have to admit that although it doesn’t justify Lexa’s death,
it does ease
the pain a little knowing that she
was part of something so huge, a
world and process we’re about to learn a
whole lot more about as the season
goes
on. Her reign as Commander could quite possibly be the turning point
for
humanity and that’s legacy
worth celebrating over.

Alie’s Origin
Story

The-
100-307-1

Arkadia took a backseat to
Polis and Alie’s
origin story, and rightfully so,
because I have no idea how
they even crammed all the information that they
did into this episode let alone

adding Pike and his misguided minions. We finally get to know Becca more,
the
person who designed Alie in
the first place, a woman we met in the opening scene
of Season 3 after she
was introduced to her AI in the
form of herself on a video
in the bunker. We see her working on Alie 2.0 in
the space station known as

Polaris. You know, the one that didn’t quite make it to Unity Day. We see
her
injecting black goo into
her body, aka Alie code, and tinkering with a device
similar to the City of
Light chips we see Jaha passing
out in Arkadia. Except
this one is kind of on steroids and can be
deactivated with some intelligible

words. I’m assuming this was the start of the grounder language that we’ve
come
to know.

During these
flashbacks, we see people working with Becca from the
ground in a mass panic
because Alie 1.0 “got out” and
is wreaking havoc on the
main grid of, you know, the entire world and has
been unresponsive to her kill

pill. She goes straight for the launch codes and unleashes nuclear
Armageddon on
Earth. Watching all of
the missiles launch, and watching from the space station
those on the ground
about to meet their untimely
demise was traumatizing to say
the least. Especially when those on Polaris
were talking to their wife and kid

and then boom, nothing. Radio silence. Everyone wiped out because something

Becca created was void of
basic human tendencies. Alie 2.0 was supposed to get
rid of that, to make it
so that AI and humans could
coexist together. To feel
human emotions. But she wasn’t quick enough with
her research and modification

and the world met its end.

A turning
point during the shows
flashbacks was when Becca hijacked
the Polaris dropship
and ejected herself (and Alie 2.0) from the space
station to go back to Earth
and
save humanity. She sacrificed her people (who were blown out of the sky and

never linked up with the other 12
stations) all to try and right her wrongs. A
noble cause? Or just plain
reckless… I’m still unsure. As she
opens up her pod
to a descemet Polis (and yes, there are people who survived
the blasts) we see
the name
Commander on her spacesuit and we’re under the impression that she was
the
grounders first Commander. A
closeup of Becca’s neck, which has a fresh
wound and stitches, where she
implanted the AI into her brain
stem, is now
embedded in our brains and I’m just like ‘wow, everything is
really coming

together.’

FINAL THOUGHTS

Octavia and Indra were probably the

refreshing part of the
episode. If you can call taking down your Master because
she’s throwing
herself the ultimate pity party
something that’s refreshing. I’m
still unsure why Indra was at Ascension Day
lurking in the audience, but
perhaps
we will find out more after Indra learns of Heda’s death. How will
she react?
Will she take down
Titus for his actions… I hope so.

I’m still having
issues with the
compartmentalized storylines. I
understand that there was a
whole lot to squeeze into this episode and
therefore things back in Arkadia,

where Jaha is some sort of wafer-pushing messiah, had to be pushed aside…
but,
seeing previews for next
week just makes my skin crawl because I know that Polis
will be void and we
will have to wait several weeks
to address Lexa’s death, and
what that truly means for the people in the
coalition.

Which brings me to

my next concern… with Lexa dead, will the coalition shatter?

Will
anyone
truly understand what
Clarke is going through since no one knew about her love
for the Commander?
I hope that Murphy becomes
someone Clarke can seek solace in
and they’re this dorky dynamic duo trying
to overthrow Pike and get the
world
back in order. I mean, Clarke did call him a friend. A moment in the
madness
that gave me
hope.

It still pains me to watch/talk about this episode.
But, I am
not sorry Clexa happened. They
were important. Alycia Debnam-Carey’s
character was important. And I won’t
disregard all the amazing along
the way
just because of a lousy ending.

p.s. Fear the Walking
Dead

better use the shit
out of Alycia Debnam-Carey, because if they don’t– I’m
going to have to
send Alie 1.0 to annihilate their
asses. Even the zombies will
be afraid of the bitch in the red dress. Hehe.
But seriously, she’s too talented

to be wasted, so please do right by her.

How about next week’s
preview?
Is Clarke going to return
and save the day? Will Octavia finally beat the crap
out of her brother?
Lord, I hope so!

I’m gonna go
watch some Clarke and
Lexa fan vids and cry over a beautifully crafted
#ClarkePizza, so, see you next

week. May we meet again. And with vodka.

2 thoughts on “‘The 100’ Recap ‘Thirteen’

  1. I have read a lot of recaps in the past 2
    days. I really like the

    context in this one. Great writing. Great speculation. Like the theories
    and
    clarifications in the
    recap. Thank you.

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