It’s 10 days until Praimfaya. Desperation is setting in, causing some to become more ruthless, some to become more calculating, and some to party like it’s 1999.
It’s time to test out Luna’s bone marrow in the radiation chamber. Baylis is placed inside, still sedated, and the radiation is slowly turned up to 11 until it’s higher than the level of the Black Rain. Baylis survives Black Rain level radiation, but when the levels continue to increase, he writhes in pain as the radiation consumes him. He dies a horrible, painful death while the others watch.
The Ark lost 18 people to the Black Rain. They are holding funerals and burials by fire for the dead. Jaha gives the eulogies and lights the funeral pyres. He’s very comfortable being the prophet of the apocalypse after recruiting for ALIE for months. He’s also aware of the power that even appearing to be an authority figure holds.
Jasper decides that now is a good time for a walk in the forest. Bellamy tries to stop him, since Jasper is unprepared for Black Rain, or any other danger he might meet. Jasper simply doesn’t care if or when he dies. Bellamy ends up going with Jasper to keep him alive.
Niylah says a Grounder prayer over the dead: “From the earth we will grow, from the ashes we will rise.” Jaha overhears her and asks about it. It’s a prayer they say to ready their dead for the fire. The Flamekeepers are the only ones who would know it’s origin.
Jaha realizes that it has origins in common with the Second Dawn cult. He tells Kane that the bunker that he found with Clarke and Bellamy was a decoy bunker to keep the real bunker a secret. There are too many coincidences between the Grounder religious beliefs and the Second Dawn stories. Kane agrees to ask Indra where Gaia is and allow a team to go to Polis.
Abby and Jackson examine Baylis to determine if they can make the Luna’s bone marrow work. They decide that there is one additive that they can try leaving out that might allow the night blood to withstand radiation better. Yeah, it didn’t really make sense to me either. They decide to try the test on someone else, without that chemical.
Luna objects to another potentially fatal test. She wonders who will mourn Baylis, since his clan is gone. As they all argue, they realize that Emori lied about Baylis’ identity in order to make sure that she wasn’t the test subject. They are all shocked and angry at Emori. In her place, they were all definitely about to volunteer for the test. The hypocrisy level in this episode will reach amazing heights. I’m surprised they don’t all grow Pinocchio noses.
Jasper takes advantage of their walk in the woods to try to bring Bellamy around to his philosophy of nihilistic anarchy. Nothing matters and nobody cares, so why fight it any more? He has a point, but he’s also been saying this since Maya died at the end of season 2, so I’m not going to give him credit for accepting the end of the world. He’s just being opportunistic. It turns out that he wanted to go into the woods to harvest the hallucinogenic nuts that they accidentally ate in season 1.
The gang in the lab have chained up Emori and Murphy in preparation for using her as the next text subject. This is what Emori knew would happen. She knows she’s at the bottom of the food chain.
Luna refuses to allow them to extract any more of her bone marrow if they’re going to use it to kill innocent people. She tries to leave the lab, but Roan stops her. Luna is injured, but she still fights him. He wins, and they force her to undergo the procedure. As Raven says, welcome to Mount Weather.
Kane, Jaha and Monty reach Polis, where they hope to find Gaia. Black Rain has already killed most of the people there. Indra meets them, but is angry that they’ve been working with Azgeda instead of Triku. Kane convinces her to see reason, so she takes them to Gaia.
Gaia has a tattoo that looks like the Second Dawn seal. The tattoo is the symbol of her order. It adorns Becca’s crypt, which is in a temple controlled by Azgeda. Kane has Roan’s seal, so they should be able to gain access without a fight, despite how much Indra wants one.
As she’s finishing up the bone marrow extraction, Abby tells Raven, “First we survive, then we regain our humanity again.” Raven reminds her that they thought the same thing in Mount Weather. And on the Ark. And on and on. When does it stop? Remind me again why they couldn’t ask for willing volunteers in exchange for some kind of guaranteed reward for the person’s family? First in line to get the treatment, for example? We know Skaikru will step up. I agree that times are desperate, and they can’t follow FDA guidelines. But there’s no need to be this cruel and stupidly out of character, in Jackson, Clarke and Abby’s cases, either.
Roan and Clarke watch Abby from a room overlooking the lab. He tells her that she’s a born leader, and tries to convince her that they’re doing the right thing. I’m pretty sure there was finally a sex scene between the two of them, but my local station cut it. They were definitely looking each other over like it was the end of the world and they had nothing left to lose.
Roan’s seal works, and the Azgeda soldiers are ready to let the Skaikru group pass into the temple, but Indra’s feeling kind of tense. She picks up Monty’s gun and shoots the Azgeda guards before anyone can stop her. Kane is so disappointed in his warrior soulmate. They’re going to have to work on meditating some more. She says that there’s no way in h*ll she’s sharing a bunker with Azgeda.
They make their way to the lowest levels of the temple, and clear the floor. The bunker door is there, with a lock that reads, “Salvation lies within.” Jaha tries to use the seal as a key but it doesn’t work. Indra leaves to move more Trikru guards to the temple while Gaia, Kane, Jaha and Monty try to get into the bunker.
When Bellamy and Jasper return to the Ark, the end of the world party has already started. Niylah suggests turning the jobi nuts into a tea, so tea time it is. Jasper tries to get Bellamy to join the party, but Bellamy isn’t ready to give up trying yet. An attractive blonde approaches him and asks him to dance, but he refuses. She tells him dancing isn’t really what she wanted, and he relents. He might as well have one more good time before the end.
Harper, who was already drunk and depressed before Monty left with Kane and Jaha, is also at Jasper’s party.
When it’s time for Emori to receive Luna’s bone marrow, she begs Murphy to pretend that he’s okay with it so that they won’t pick him for the next test. She wants him to survive. He refuses, and fights for her as she’s taken, threatening everyone and reminding them of what an unethical choice this is. He tells Clarke that if Emori dies, so will Clarke. He also tells Clarke that it’s too bad that she wasn’t a night blood, so that she could be the true WanHeda and command even more death. This clearly gives Clarke an idea.
Abby can’t bring herself to inject Emori with the night blood, so Clarke takes over. But Clarke injects herself instead, saying “I bear it so they don’t have to.” Clarke is ready to go into the radiation chamber, but Abby stops Clarke and destroys the chamber. She remembers seeing Clarke with radiation sickness in her vision, and knows the test won’t work this time, either. Luna tells them not to worry, it’ll all be over soon, and disappears outside.
The Skaikru team hasn’t made any progress with opening up the bunker door. Monty realizes that From the Ashes, We Will Rise might be more than just a motto. It’s an instruction. He throws the seal into the fire, and most of it burns away, leaving the key to the bunker door.
They open up the bunker and go inside. It’s fully intact. Salvation lies within.
Metawitches 
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