The 100 6×13 Review: “The Blood of Sanctum”

Season 6 of The 100 ends with an underwhelming and ultimately unsatisfying finale. Thankfully the show has been renewed for a seventh and final season, because “The Blood of Sanctum” left us with a doozy of a cliffhanger. Even though I found this to be one of the weaker season finales, I’m not sure if I will be able to take the waiting until next year.

I’m not sure what it is about this show and separating the protagonists, but “The Blood of Sanctum” has most of our crew in space on the ship and an intrepid band on the ground, both groups fighting for their lives. Those on the ship are captives of the Primes, while those on the ground are at the mercy of the true believers. As always on The 100, survival is the name of the game.

I must say, considering that this entire season was all about Sanctum and the Primes, in the end, they are dispatched in a very anticlimactic manner. Clarke blasts them all out of the airlock except for Russell, who makes a deal with Sheidheda who gets overruled by Madi when Clarke puts her own life in danger. The biggest issue is with the town who has been brainwashed to accept the Primes as divine because it’s very difficult to reason with fanatics. But even that is hardly an issue, as Bellamy, Echo, Octavia, Gabriel, and Murphy are able to handily dispatch the believers and stop the purification. There was a distinct lack of tension; I’m astounded that more people didn’t die, and that we didn’t lose any main characters. (Abby doesn’t count, she was already dead.)

I do appreciate the parallels between the citizens of Sanctum and the remains of Wonkru; in order to save Madi, they had to destroy the Flame, which is the basis of the Grounders’ entire religion, and they did it without a second thought. The residents of Sanctum, on the other hand, weren’t able to face the truth about their religion. Perhaps it’s because of everything that Wonkru has been through that they were able to roll with the punches. Sanctum has been peaceful and relatively safe (if cultish and elitist); people unaccustomed to upheaval don’t react well to change.

The big mystery of “The Blood of Sanctum” is the anomaly. It turns out that Octavia has some super special tattoo on her back that happens to match the markings on the anomaly stone we just discovered existed. When Gabriel takes her to the stone and she touches it, the anomaly expands, and Diyoza’s daughter Hope appears and stabs Octavia, who then turns to dust in Bellamy’s arms. This ending just seems to come out of nowhere. At least Sanctum and Eligius had roots in Becca’s technology, but the anomaly and the random piece of alien tech are out of left field.

There are a lot of things left in the air other than what the heck is going on with the anomaly and whether or not Octavia is really dead.

• How brainwashed is Jordan? “Sanctum isn’t perfect, but they had peace before we came here.” He was one of the people causing issues because the girl he liked was killed. They ambushed and killed Clarke. The Primes raised people to believe they were gods so that they could live forever. You’re damn right they weren’t perfect. They were a long way from perfect.
• Also, it looks like Jordan has a mind drive. Priya’s, I’d imagine. With his allegiance in question, I wonder if they’re setting him up to be an antagonist next season.
• It worries me that Emori was left to watch over Jordan – who we now know has been brainwashed – and then we didn’t see her again. I don’t think I saw Murphy, either, during the reunion scene.
• What happened to Sheidheda? Is he in the ship? Are we going to have some 2001: A Space Odyssey going on in season 7?
• Where is the dog?

On the whole, I enjoyed the first half of “The Blood of Sanctum”, but then they seemed to run out of time in the second half. They tried to do too much in a single episode and rushed through everything. This is a season that could have used more episodes; the episodes leading up to the finale did an excellent job of establishing the Primes and the cult of Sanctum as this big, unsolvable thing, and then it was resolved so quickly it was almost laughable. I really enjoyed this season, but this finale did not do this season justice. With only one season left, will they be able to tie up all of the loose ends and give the characters a satisfying conclusion?

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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