The 100 3×06 Review: “Bitter Harvest”

I never would have suspected, back when I first started watching The 100, that I would be rooting for Kane and Abby. What a difference two seasons makes.

“Bitter Harvest” leads our favorites down increasingly frustrating paths. I’d like to trust the writers of The 100 to not completely ruin everything, but right now I am just so angry that I can’t see a viable solution to whatever the hell it is they’re trying.

I’m not sure where to start for the most coherent analysis, but I guess I’ll start with the saddest bit of the episode first: RIP Monroe. We hardly knew you, because you were sadly underutilized and weren’t given the chance to be interesting or important. Also, because it seems as though your death was only to give Bellamy even more man-pain, since his reaction was the one that was focused on the most. (1/2 points for at least acknowledging that Octavia would also be affected by Monroe’s death.) It’s always sad to lose an original member of the 100. Goodbye, Katie Stuart. You deserved better.

What is even more disgusting, though, is how Hannah used Monroe’s death to emotionally manipulate Bellamy. “Your sister did this,” she said, despite the fact that it was Pike’s idea to go to the village in the first place, and they rolled up fully armed in the middle of the night, intending to forcefully remove people from their homes. As Monty said, they’re Grounders. They were only trying to fight back. Octavia was simply trying to save lives and holding her responsible for Monroe’s death is indicative of the type of people Pike and his gang are. They are a gang, and they’re the worst kind of gang – the kind with power. There is no difference between Pike and his people and any other imperialist government.

Honestly, what the hell, Bellamy? Have you lost all sense of decency and empathy? I’ve called this “new” Bellamy season 1 Bellamy, which isn’t an entirely accurate description. Through the pure grace of Bob Morley’s face, we can see Bellamy wrestling with the decisions that he is making. The problem is that he is still making them, despite not being convinced, despite having reservations. He is still following Pike down the explicitly wrong path, and it was loyalty to him, more than anything else, that probably cost Monroe her life.

Now, for this ridiculous “City of Light” plotline… It clearly had sinister overtones before it was revealed that whatever Jaha is giving to people makes them forget things (like his own son? Although, props for the Wells mention). I mean, it was revealed at the end of last season that Alie is the program that essentially ended the world. In “Bitter Harvest”, we learned that she and Jaha came to Arkadia not to bring peace or enlightenment to people, but to search for a code that was embedded in the Ark’s programming. And oh, look at that, it must be in the mysterious “thirteenth station” that has never been mentioned up to this point – the mysterious thirteenth station that seems to be the main building that makes up the Grounder capitol of Polis. What do you know?

I was appreciative of Raven being skeptical for about the ten seconds she was actually skeptical, before she just dove into the Ark code like it was no big deal. I will always approve of Lindsey Morgan getting more screentime, but why does she have to be involved in this dull plot?

Kane and Abby, it seems, are the only sane people left on this entire show. (We’ll throw in Miller and Octavia as well. And probably Lincoln, not that we would know, since he’s currently imprisoned – excuse me, interred – along with Nyko and all of the other Grounders in Arkadia.) Color me surprised that I would consider them the characters with whom I identify the most – especially Kane. What we have in this episode is the obvious makings of a Resistance. Right now it seems to only contain four people – and Octavia is incapacitated, held captive by Grounders – but I’m hopeful that as more people recognize Pike for what he is, those numbers will grow. (Please, please bring Monty over from the Dark Side. He already seems to question their methods.)

Meanwhile, in Polis, Clarke’s arc continues to leave a bad taste in my mouth. Props to Clarke for recognizing her hypocrisy by realizing that she couldn’t exactly hold Lexa to non-violence and still demand Emerson’s death; however, I don’t know if banishing Emerson was the right decision. It sounded cool, her parting shot of, “I hope you live forever”, knowing that he wants to die, but he’s a loose end, which means he’ll pop up sometime later and throw a wrench in the works again.

Mostly, my issues with this Clarke/Lexa storyline is that Lexa really, really should not be taking advice from Clarke. Clarke is an outsider. She literally dropped from the sky, what, less than a year ago? She has come into a culture about which she knows very little and is imposing her own beliefs onto them. Yes, her beliefs are noble; she wants peace, and it’s difficult to find fault with someone who just wants the bloodshed to end. But she doesn’t understand the Grounders or their way of life, and she knows absolutely nothing about Pike as a leader, or as an enemy. She saw what he did to an army of Grounders with a handful of people; does she honestly believe peace is possible? Every season we have the same problem: Clarke wants peace, makes plans for peace, plans go badly, lots of people die. At this point, you have to wonder if she’s just incapable of learning from her own mistakes. Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. That should be the motto of this show.

Other Things:

• We got our first sighting of Miller and boyfriend Brian together, and as Brian was leaving, possibly to his death, they… hugged. Weak, The 100. Weak.
• Et tu, Jackson? Maybe the motto of this show should be Trust no one. Wait…
• Further mentions of King Roan could possibly indicate his return at a later date. Please?
• Still don’t really care about Jasper or his grief, but he became even more interested in Jaha’s…whatever…when he realized it had made Jaha forget about Wells.

What did you guys think about “Bitter Harvest”? Do you agree with Clarke’s decision to banish Emerson instead of kill him? What do you think is going on with the whole City of Light deal? Let us know in the comments!

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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