The 100 3×7 Review: Thirteen

You know what? I’m kind of angry with how things turned out in “Thirteen”. Am I the only one? Please tell me I’m not the only one.

Warning: Spoilers for The 100 3×7 episode “Thirteen” follow. I mean it. I really really mean it. Do not read any further if you haven’t seen this episode.

I actually had to sleep on it after watching “Thirteen” because I knew that I wasn’t ready to put my feelings into words. They definitely weren’t good ones and at that point maybe not even very coherent ones. So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning to reviews talking about how well the show handled Lexa’s death.

Um…excuse me?

Listen, I did like some things about this episode, including how much more they added to what we know about the show’s mythology. I also liked the politics surrounding Lexa’s decision to blockade Arkadia. And while everything going on with Titus was maddening, it was also interesting, because with the writers using his character the way they did, we got to see more than just the basic “Grounders vs. Skaikru” stuff that’s been more than a little bit old for a while now. Even what should have been a great story line between Octavia and Indra was overshadowed by the fact that I have been on that “enough is enough” edge with the Grounders vs. Skaikru debacle for…well, most of this season.

But on a positive note, meanwhile Murphy was being Murphy. I have such a love-hate relationship with this character, and while it mostly leans to the latter, sometimes he really is pretty bad ass, and his scenes in”Thirteen” were some of those times. I mean, he was practically being beaten senseless, but he still somehow managed to escape his bonds and actually be stupid-brave enough to go after Titus. And even when Murphy knew that he couldn’t escape, he tried to take the time to explain to Titus that Polis was Polaris, that Murphy’s story – Skaikru’s story – is part of the Grounder’s story, and vice versa. Unfortunately Titus took this as a slight to his religion and bashed Murphy over the head. Woops. (I feel like there’s just a lot of “whoops” happening whenever Murphy is around.)

To be honest, I would say that I was more interested in what was happening to Murphy than just about anything else in “Thirteen”. His scenes were simply the best-paced and the most interesting.

Unfortunately, the flashbacks to the thirteenth station really threw things off for me. While they were definitely informative (and kind of necessary at this point), I’m not sure this is the episode they fit best in. This season’s pacing hasn’t been great, and I think that if we’d known more about Becca and what was happening on that station, “Thirteen” would have felt less contrived and less rushed.

Which brings us to The Big Thing: Lexa is dead. Well, supposedly. There are already rumors flying that she’s not “All Dead“, but I’m not searching them out so for right now I have to believe that this is It. Of course, I suppose I should have seen it coming, what with Fear the Walking Dead being renewed and Alycia Debnam-Carey having a pretty major role in that…but I still wouldn’t have expected it to happen so soon.

And if Lexa is All Dead, wow, that was a sucky way for The 100 to kill her off. First, I call bullshit on it happening literally *right* after she and Clarke finally got together. And on top of that, she was shot by Titus as he was trying to kill Clarke? Are you kidding me? (I mean, clearly they’re not, but just…wow.) And while I think I understand what the writers are doing regarding Lexa speaking encouraging words to Titus, I was still surprised that happened the way it did. He may not have come to kill her, but he was going to kill Clarke…yet he still gets to guide the next leader? And the fact that Clarke didn’t break her “blood must not have blood” rule immediately was…supposed to signify character growth? Or was she just in shock, and will she get rid of Titus as soon as she snaps out of it?

I mean, Clarke being in shock would be pretty darn realistic. She and Lexa finally consummated their relationship (because if you don’t believe that’s what’s building up, well, I think maybe we aren’t watching the same show) and then immediately after Clarke is attacked and Lexa gets caught in the crossfire trying to save her. And on top of that, it’s revealed that Lexa has black blood…and then once she’s dead, Titus removes what I suppose I’ll call the “Becca chip” from the back of Lexa’s neck. Obviously we wouldn’t have had any clue what was going on with that chip if we hadn’t seen the flashbacks, but I think having all of that revealed in “Thirteen” was overload.

All of this led to a pretty emotionally compromising episode, though as I think I’ve already made clear, not one that was well put together. And now we’re back to a whole new round of Grounders vs. Skaikru, which is something I’m not sure I can get behind. Yet again.

What did you think of “Thirteen”? Do you wish we’d known more about Becca and the thirteenth station prior to this episode? Let us know in the comments!

Author: Tara Lynne

Tara Lynne is an author, fandom and geek culture expert, and public speaker. She founded Ice & Fire Con, the first ever Game of Thrones convention in the US, and now runs its parent company Saga Event Planning.

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