Well this episode certainly defined what it means to start lame and end interesting. And I'm talking really lame. Though it does kick off right where we left off last week with Finn and Clarke, which is good to see it getting straight to the point, I do have an issue with it going straight to Finn and Clarke because romance. That's pretty much it. It also starts off pretty slow considering how quickly events are unfolding up above on the Ark. I suppose that was a nice contrast, but, still.
Clarke and Finn were extremely sappy together which really made it difficult to get things going this episode regarding what was going down on Earth. They took a little while elaborating what was going on with the Ark, too, but when that started to go down it really went down.
So after Clarke and Finn have their little love fest and be cute or whatever, they see what they think is a shooting star, only for it to wind up being Raven's spacecraft. The 94 also see it, and Bellamy orders everyone to stay behind and wait until sunrise, as they don't want to start trouble with the Grounders at night and get themselves killed. However, Bellamy goes against his own order and leaves just before Clarke and Finn can arrive, who also walk in on Bellamy's two girlfriends that keep popping in and out of episodes. They know that he too is after the spacecraft and flee to stop him.
Meanwhile, Octavia goes to help Bellamy, and in an attempt to get her to leave, Bellamy reveals that he has to take out whatever is on the spacecraft because he thinks he killed the Chancellor. We find out that his true motive behind was because their mother got floated--and he was hired--and that they probably know it was him. Octavia, distraught, leaves him.
Bellamy gets to the spacecraft before Finn and Clarke, but instead of killing Raven inside, he just takes out the radio and casts it into the river so no communications can be made. When Finn and Clarke do arrive, Raven reawakens, and happily dances around to find that she is on Earth and is feeling water rain down upon her for the first time ever. Then comes the awkward that is actually played off as not awkward. Raven and Finn reunite and kiss and what not, but, Clarke is not all that disturbed. Maybe she did just need one night of company after a rough night. Finn seems perfectly fine to be back with Raven, probably proving that the stint with Clarke was nothing of great importance. Raven does reveal, however, that 300 people are set to be executed that day if they can't communicate with the Ark, which is seemingly impossible without a radio that Clarke suspects Bellamy to have.
The trio chases down Bellamy and there it is revealed that not only does he not have the radio, but he tried and failed to kill the Chancellor. This either puts a real downer or a real relief on Bellamy, it's not really made clear, but what is clear is that 300 people are essentially screwed because of him.
They get a crew together and hunt for the missing radio. Finn tries to reconcile with Clarke, who is still deadset on finding the radio to save the 300 people. I like that about her. She's very driven, very focused. We've only seen her have a dramatic moment, and despite it being a really weak moment, she has more than compensated for it with an empowering role and with the determination to keep everyone safe.
The radio is salvaged though cannot be fixed. Raven manages to come up with a new way to communicate with Earth, though, without using words: using the gas tanks on the ship as flares to send to the Ark to tell them that they are alive and that the execution need not proceed.
Back on the Ark, though, things are not going nearly as swimmingly. Abby, Kane, and Chancellor Jaha come to find out that the oxygen levels are depleting faster than Abby's husband, Jake, could have predicted, and that carbon and methane and levels may begin to start rising. The plan to kill the 300 people is unanimously voted in favor, without Abby's knowing. However, while alone with Kane, Jaha reveals that he will join Section 17--the section set to be sacrificed--in the executions. Their original plan was to make it look like an accident, as would the Chancellor's death, but Kane begins to rethink his decision.
Abby, in an attempt to stop the madness, plays a past recording of Jake discussing how the Ark was doomed over the local network for everyone to see. Abby is readying for incarceration, again, when suddenly, 300 volunteers arrive and say they will sacrifice themselves for the future of the Ark, including a man that Abby made a connection with earlier in the episode. Jaha decides not to go along with the sacrifice as per Kane's request.
This episode, once again, shed some new light and added some new layers on what at first appeared to be our clear antagonists. Bellamy has now seemed to lose his way in leading and may not be as driven or wild as he was before. He's lost his puppy dog in Murphy and now lost his primary cause for being on Earth learning that Jaha lived. Kane, contrastly, may have been the one that tried to kill the Chancellor but this episode saved him. Maybe it was because he did not want to become Chancellor when the entire Ark would be asking him for answers on the "accident" in Section 17. Maybe he actually is a good person now and is rethinking his attempt on Jaha's life. Either way, it's nice to see two characters get a lot more development.
As the people on the Ark prepare themselves for sacrifice, the 95 (it was 94 but now we can count Raven!) desperately scramble to get ready the flares. It's interesting to see the opposite sides of really the same coin. The teens on Earth are excitedly preparing the flares to tell Earth they are alive, meanwhile the adults somberly and quietly preparing for execution.
However, while the teens are happy to see that their message is sent, it is not received on the Ark, as the Chancellor himself presses the execution button and cuts off oxygen in Section 17 long enough for the 300 people there to die. They begin to collect the bodies as the final flares are sent off.
Afterwards, Abby and Jaha notice the flares, though it is far too late to save anyone. Also, Octavia gets captured by a Grounder. Uh-oh.
The second and third acts of the episodes were extremely intense as the 95 rushed to send signals to the Ark, and also because of the severe situation helplessly unfolding on the Ark, with 300 people dying. Considering how many people are on the Ark, that's probably a decent amount of people and there will more than likely be repercussions for what has happened. Sadly, the episode doesn't necessarily stand out to me because of the beginning. It did make up for itself, but, it just started off way too slow.
Hopefully that won't be the case next week, as it seems that everyone is geared up for battle to find Octavia and we may be losing some more numbers. Might we drop below 90 at the midseason point? Only time will tell!
Oh, I also get the title now...it's because the rockets bursting in the air...like in the National Anthem. Clever clever!
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