The 100 Review: “His Sister’s Keeper” aka Predator vs. The Expendables

Well, that was exciting. I never liked the Predator type of movies, but there’s something about a good old fashioned human hunt in the woods of Vancouver that make me all happy (thanks The X-Files and Supernatural for starting all that).

The 100 kicked it up a notch this week, heightening the tension in both the current ground action and the flashback.   We learn what life was like with Bellamy having to protect his sister and his mother’s secret for 17 years on the Ark. This family ain’t the Cleavers, that’s for sure.

Poor Bellamy. Not only is he in a ”damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation on the ground, but it seems he’s been in that predicament most of his life. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy seeing the whole backstory of Bellamy and Octavia, the only two siblings on The Ark, but I did. It’s quite a compelling story and both are in such a world of hurt right now they find themselves on opposite ends. It’s pretty sad given all they’ve been through. After, all, it was Bellamy that named his sister Octavia! 

It just seems that these days anything Bellamy does turns to crap. It was his fault Octavia was discovered. He figured he’d let her slip out to attend a masquerade ball.  Considering he was a guard cadet he could keep a watchful eye and get her out if the situation got sticky. The trouble was the situation did get sticky and he couldn’t. It was like he was setup by his commander. Do you think they knew about Octavia and waited for the right moment to use it to their advantage? After his mother was floated and Octavia was slated to be sent to the ground with the 100, the commander approached Bellamy with a can’t refuse deal. Shoot the Chancellor, and he gets to live on the ground with his sister. Gee, considering since he was all alone, how could he refuse that? Of course I’m still trying to figure out how Bellamy wasn’t floated along with his mother for keeping Octavia a secret rather than demoted to janitor, but I’ll write that off.

Given his role of keeping his sister safe since he was a young boy (having to care for a newborn infant after your mother passes out from childbirth is one effective way to be introduced to that mission in life), finding a missing Octavia was the only goal. He put others lives at risk so they could save her, so any causality fell on him. Considering they saw the mass funeral from the sky of bodies burning up in the atmosphere, Bellamy was already smarting over the 300 lives he cost indirectly by destroying the radio last week, not to mention he was already smarting over Charlotte. Well, three more people were added to his guilt list, all because he marched them right into grounders territory. These guys don’t play games. They will spear anyone in sight.

Luckily for Octavia, she got captured by the good grounder, the one that chose to heal her and keep her safe. This is probably the same guy that got Jasper after he was speared. The guy doesn’t exactly speak any kind of language though, so he can’t say things like “I won’t hurt you” or “I’m doing this for your own good.” That definitely leads to a misunderstanding when he’s knocked out by Octavia in the cave. The others arrive just after this happens, but instead of taking her away and getting the flock out of dodge, Bellamy decides he should kill the guy. Octavia pleads no, the others think it’s a bad idea, but Bellamy hasn’t learned to listen to others yet (he needs to start pronto).  All his act does is allow the grounder who’s about to be killed jump up and stab Finn. Jasper knocks the dude out and they run (it’s my understanding this special grounder isn’t dead and will be around in other episodes, but tell me if you heard differently).

So, does Bellamy earn his sister’s gratitude as they rush back to camp carrying a critically wounded Finn (now with 100 percent more bad haircut)? Nope. They exchange nasty words in which she blames him for everything, including her getting caught and he curses the day she was born because it ruined his life. Okay, that’s going to make a few things awkward around the campfire. Oh, that’s right, everyone else is worried out of their freaking minds because Finn might be dead soon. If there was ever a good time to get that radio going Raven…

Speaking of Raven, she quickly figured out Clarke and Finn did it, but Clarke made it all better by saying she hardly knows him. She realizes it was comfort sex. For now. Let’s hope that’s the end of that triangle. However, if Finn dies, I wouldn’t mind seeing Clarke and Raven together. They make a great couple! They have a lot more spark than Finn and either of them.  

All in all, I do get Octavia’s frustration. Her brother just seems to be doing everything to ruin her life these days. It’s probably also rough for a girl that grew up her entire life hiding in the floor of her family’s quarters to take the “see it from the other side” type perspective. The girl just wants to live and doesn’t want to be smothered by big brother anymore. As for Bellamy, he has to start thinking about more than his sister now. He’s responsible for the care of 92 others (count confirmed by Jason Rothenburg on Twitter). Will he accept that burden now that his sister thinks he’s crap? From what we’ve learned of him so far, he does want to do the right thing. Hopefully this will be what he needs to step up and make right what he’s done wrong.

Speaking of wrong, do you think Commander Shumway was the one behind the hit on the Chancellor, or if he was acting for someone else? Aside from Kane, who would want him dead? Right, I know, everyone, but who would want him dead knowing Kane would be in charge (I still think Kane didn’t do it). Or is this a case of it really doesn’t matter, because they all act like children on the Ark anyway?

Coming next week, “Saving Finn” aka “The Kids at Camp Get to Phone Home.” Can’t wait to see where that one goes.