Things aren’t going well at Arkadia, as usual. They aren’t able to find and preserve enough food to store on the Ark for when the radiation comes, and they won’t be able to grow their own protein without a hydro generator. Raven takes a verbal shot at Bellamy for choosing to save people over the generator, but he tells her that he’s going to sacrifice himself anyway, so nothing she says is going to hurt him now. Raven turns to Clarke instead, to nag her about making a new list of 100 people, this time the ones who’ll get to be in the Ark on Doomsday. I love Raven, but she gets kind of stubborn, mean and single-minded when she’s in a bad mood. And she’s definitely in a bad mood this season.
The discussion is interrupted when Nyko, Luna and some of her people arrive at Arkadia suffering from Acute Radiation Sickness. They are looking for medical help from Skaikru. Luna has the grace to acknowledge that Skaikru has good reason to turn her away, and to beg them not to. Abby would never turn away anyone in need of medical help, and this group includes children, so they’re brought right in to the med bay. They tell Skaikru that all of Luna’s people are dead except the ones they’ve brought here, and the fish throughout the ocean are dying, as well. After Jackson examines the patients, he determines that the radiation sickness is from eating radioactive fish, rather than airborne radiation.
King Roan seeks out Octavia in secret at Indra’s quarters to tell her that the Flame has been stolen. It only just happened, and it had to be done by a single, very dedicated, very stealthy person: the new Flamekeeper, who is a religious fanatic. He charges Octavia with settling the matter before anyone finds out the Flame is missing. After Octavia leaves to start her search, Roan tells Indra she should be proud of having trained such a skilled killer. The people have started calling Octavia “Skairippa”, which means “death from above”. Indra doesn’t look convinced that this is a good thing.
Murphy and Emori are holed up in a cave near Arkadia. They’d hoped to find food there, but have come up empty. There aren’t even bugs, which Murphy can’t bring himself to be sad about. He dreams out loud about a tasty drink he used to have in Polis, until Emori realizes that it was Ontari who introduced him to the drink. Rather than argue and get hungrier, Murphy decides to go steal supplies from Arkadia. He leaves Emori behind, because she’d raise suspicions, but promises to be back that evening.
Raven and Clarke realize that radiation levels are rising much faster than ALIE predicted. Given the way small species are dying off, they probably only have two months of survivability left, maybe less. Raven feels they can have the Ark ready in time if they work around the clock, but it’s a harsh plan that requires them to be willing to lock 400 people outside to die while 100 chosen ones get to live. They need to make sure all guns are inside the Ark and the seal is tight. In a particularly low blow, Raven tells Clarke that she has to be the one to make the list of 100 potential survivors because choosing who lives and dies is Clarke’s specialty. Raven is really just barely holding it together at this point.
Jaha has forgotten that he’s not in charge, again, and tried to take off in the rover without permission. When he’s caught by Bellamy, Raven, and Clarke, he lets the group know that he’s figured out their draconian plan to fix up the Ark for 100 people, when there are 500 in need. He tells them that he might know of a private fallout shelter that the Arkadians could use. Raven answers a giant plot hole question and tells him/us that they’ve examined all of the Chancellors’ data on bomb shelters, and they’re all compromised. Jaha responds that those were all government facilities. This bunker was built by a private doomsday group, but he couldn’t verify it’s existence from space. Now that they are on the ground, they can physically check out places like this.
Raven is still skeptical. They need the rover to help with the heavy-duty work of repairing the Ark. Clarke reminds her that they won’t need the Ark if the bunker exists, and agrees to make her Grim Reaper list when they get back from this field trip. Bellamy, Clarke and Jaha set off in search of the bunker. Raven grits her teeth and heads off to supervise repairs. Like I said, stubborn and single-minded. Sometimes I wonder if she still misses Finn at times like this, when she sees Clarke and Bellamy leaning on each other.
The 100 and Agents of SHIELD have apparently worked out an exchange program to trade Zach McGowan, who has been on both shows for weeks, and John Piper Ferguson, who recurs on Agents of Shield and now shows up in this episode as Bill Cadogan, leader of the doomsday cult Second Chance. Jaha shows Clarke a video of a speech Cadogan made to his followers two weeks before the bombs fell. Cadogan was extremely wealthy and could afford a huge bomb shelter. Jaha has used the process of elimination to figure out the most likely place for the bunker he built. They are headed for Cadogan’s childhood home.
Abby wants to use antiradiation pills on Luna’s people, but they have a very limited supply of the medication, and it would be an off-label use. Raven refuses to dispense the pills and stands firm. Murphy is hiding in the supply room during the argument, and takes the pills after Abby and Raven have both left the room. He gives them to Abby. Abby tries one pill on the youngest child as a test case to see if the pills will be effective. Jackson reminds Abby that Murphy’s father was floated for stealing medication to save Murphy when he was sick as a child. Murphy hangs around the med bay waiting to see if the medication works. It doesn’t. The child dies anyway. Abby tells Raven that they only wasted one dose when Raven discovers the missing pills and comes to the med bay. Luna is sobbing over the dead girl. Raven is moved, and stays to see how the others fare.
Murphy goes back to the cave to get Emori. He tells her that a bad storm is coming, and they’re going to need the help of his people to survive it. Emori, smart survivor that she is, says that they need to make sure they are useful. Murphy is already working on Abby, because she has a soft spot for him, and he has a girlfriend who’s seen as defective by some. It can’t hurt to have a doctor on their side.
Octavia follows the new Flamekeeper, Gaia, to the Flamekeeper’s temple. They fight, but just as Octavia is about to kill Gaia, Indra stops her. Gaia is her daughter. They are estranged because Indra feels that Gaia has taken her religious devotion too far, instead of becoming the warrior she was meant to be. Gaia feels that Indra is not a true follower of the faith. Their argument is interrupted by Ilian and his gang bursting in, demanding that they be given the tech Gaia is carrying so that they can destroy it. They don’t realize that the tech is the Flame that carries the Commander’s Spirit, and won’t listen to reason. All they care about is its similarity to the City of Light chips. Gaia gives them the Flame, which they crush. After they leave Octavia reveals that it wasn’t the real Flame that Ilian destroyed, it was the Flame totem that Gaia wore as a necklace. Octavia sends Gaia through the Flamekeepers’ secret tunnel with the Flame, then takes the pieces of the crushed totem and a severed head to Roan. She tells him the Flame has been destroyed by the looters. He replies that they will have to protect the coalition using the sword instead of the flame from now on, but that shouldn’t bother her. Roan definitely has a thing for Octavia. I am okay with this.
Jaha, Clarke and Bellamy find the Second Chance bunker. It wasn’t sealed well enough to keep the radiation out, so it’s filled with human remains, but no survivors. It’s of no use to them. They also find a body outside the door with a metal token from the cult, embossed with the cult’s slogan, “From the ashes we will rise.” “Not this guy,” quips Clarke.
Back in Arkadia, Clarke finishes her list of the new 100. She makes Bellamy number 99. He wakes up to find her crying over the list and insists that she put herself down as number 100. She can’t do it, so he does it for her. He comforts her that they’re still alive, so there’s still hope that the list won’t be necessary. It’s a lovely moment of support between the two of them.
All of Luna’s people have died, but she has healed on her own without treatment. Everyone in the med bay comes to the obvious conclusion: what saved her was the nightblood. Maybe it could save all of them, if they can find a way to share it. Hopefully next week Abby, Jackson, Raven and maybe Monty will get down to business and research the hell out of creating a nightblood serum.
With any luck Octavia will have sent Gaia to Arkadia for protection. If they can convince Luna to accept the Flame, at least temporarily, Becca can tell her how to create new nightbloods, and share any other expertise she has in surviving extreme radiation. Becca is just too valuable a resource to waste because Luna’s afraid of being made to lead armies. Once they create new nightbloods, there will be endless choices for Commander. I suppose that possibility could lead to a whole new storyline about Grounder paranoia leading them to try to stop Skaikru from creating new nightbloods, even if Skaikru is promising to make everyone a nightblood to save them from nuclear annihilation.
No sign this week of Riley, the Ice Nation slave the delinquents were so happy to see last week.
A quick mention of Nyla, who ran the Ice Nation trading post that sheltered the delinquents last season, and who was Clarke’s lover. Will she be back?
Luna and Bellamy have amazing chemistry.
Jaha, to Bellamy: Still blaming yourself for killing that army? You’ve made mistakes, it’s true. But your intentions were pure. Every choice you made, you made to save your people. Even shooting me, twice. As long as that’s the truth, you don’t need redemption. [Jaha shows why the Grounders should be hunting him down, rather than the tech. He’s still a dangerous man, incapable of remorse or self-reflection. Compare what Jaha said to what Kane said to Bellamy at the end of episode 1, when he told Bellamy to forgive himself, so that he could keep functioning, but to also keep working to earn that forgiveness. Thankfully, Bellamy tells Jaha that he hopes Jaha goes to hell.]
We’ve already seen two bunkers besides Mt. Weather that survived the last nuclear holocaust. Finn found the small one that he and Clarke used in season 1, and Becca had one that was much bigger, but probably not big enough for hundreds, that Jaha and ALIE trapped Murphy in. It seems like Raven could look for some kind of environmental anomalies that would suggest where more fallout shelters might be, while others could search the data base for signs of private shelters like the Second Chance shelter.
There were 12 levels to the Second Chance cult. Only those who reached the 12th level got to enter the bunker Jaha, Clarke, and Bellamy found in this episode. Was there another bunker for the people who were higher than level 12, the leaders of the cult and their families? There could have been a second, better built bunker on the same property or in another location.
Cadogan ends his Second Chance speech with the slogan “From the ashes we will rise.” That’s also this season’s tagline. Will the Arkadians find a group of surviving Second Chancers as they search for bunkers? Or will Cadogan’s speeches and writings become popular with the Arkadians, leading them to form a Second Chance revival group, undoubtedly with Jaha in the lead? Or some combination of those two scenarios? Will the Second Chancers still be alive in the form of the LMD robots from Agents of SHIELD? Will they start turning the 100 into LMDs as well? Actually, John Piper Ferguson plays an inhuman on AoS, with a bit of alien DNA. Maybe he needs to share that with the regular humans, if Luna doesn’t have enough Nightblood to go around.
Metawitches 
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