One of the biggest problems with these futuristic, dystopian/utopian type stories is there’s often more dark than there is light. The 100 isn’t afraid to go there, but in “Murphy’s Law” they failed to avoid the head scratching element that usually rears it’s ugly head (or two heads in this case) when taking that kind of direction. The plot needs to make sense.
Don’t get me wrong, I still really enjoyed “Murphy’s Law” and I’m very much on board with this show, but when you get into episode four of a series, plot holes tend to become a little more glaring. I get that things are very unstable among the teens on the ground. Each are stepping out on their own, forging their own identity, dealing with their own issues, etc. So, when someone they don’t like is accused of being a murderer, string him up! There’s a lot of history of that mob mentality on Earth. Everyone gets caught in the moment and clear thinking goes out the window. Plus it couldn’t have happened to a “nicer” guy than John Murphy (yes, that’s sarcasm). But when he’s found to be innocent and acts like a homicidal jerk in return, that’s where the situation gets clunky.
I’ll just ask this now, what was the purpose of Charlotte’s story? To bum us out? To show how senseless life is? She kills Wells, admits it to save Murphy, and ends up dead anyway? So that’s how they deal with the mixed up kid? Her entire existence openly exposes the contrived story telling that was previously thinly veiled. Unless she comes back as one of the mutant people (which could happen in retrospect), the two episodes we spent on her were a total waste.
Well, maybe not a total waste. The one purpose of her story has been to test the leadership skills of Bellamy and Clarke. Both are having their struggles but put them together, one great leader comes out of it. Bellamy’s biggest issue is he still can’t make the hard decision. He chooses to let Murphy hang until dead because that’s what the lynch mob wants. Yeah, because the lynch mob is always right. He soon finds that doesn’t go so well because Murphy, who is as volatile as a powder keg, has chosen not to answer to him and instead kill the little girl. Bellamy, Clarke, and Finn do everything they can to protect her, but they can’t save Charlotte from herself. She chose to run, she chose to die by throwing herself off that cliff. They missed the core problem.
Clarke is missing a lot of the people skills that Bellamy has, and her level headed leadership doesn’t seem to translate in her personal behavior at times. Lashing out at her mother for killing her father by taking off her bracelet (even if for Monte’s sake) and making her think she was dead? Childish, harsh, but come to think of it, Abby had it coming. However, Clarke’s lashing out at Charlotte for killing Wells, aka her best friend that she shunned until right before he died, didn’t do much for a 13 year old’s already fragile psyche. Even Finn knew she was crossing a line. Sure she chose to protect Charlotte anyway, but her speeches to the group about how to behave aren’t exactly winning favor with the group when her own house isn’t in order. Plus teens don’t like being told what to do. At this point organization is what they need, and Bellamy seems to handle delegation just fine. Between the two of them they need to restore order, and perhaps a tough lesson like losing Charlotte and banning Murphy is a great way to start. It’s also going to bite them in the ass, I can feel it.
Finn remains a mystery. He found a private bomb shelter in the ground, and the hatch from Lost instantly came to all our minds. You say the book The 100 was released just last September? The author, Kass Morgan, must definitely be a Lost fan (unless the shelter isn’t in the book. Feel free to chime in book readers). Finn was the one most freaked out about all the bracelets shorting out and showing everyone as terminated. Could it be he wanted Raven to know he was okay? The ending of him and Clarke giving into each other’s passions (aka doing it on the surprisingly in tact 100 year old couch) is a obvious setup for a love triangle between Clarke, him and Raven, who by the way is headed for the Earth as they do it.
That was another disappointment to this episode, the fact that Kane’s snooping and the back stabbing of Nigel, the local underground dealer, led Abby to being arrested and Raven jumping ship in the barely pieced together pod alone. I guess it makes sense, the story is about teens on the surface, so Abby would have seemed out of place. I was hoping Abby could at least add something to the drama on the surface, an adult POV, even if the adults act more insolent on the Ark than the kids on the ground. I swear at this point they should all be floated.
I know we as sci-fi fans become guilty of over nitpicking, but there’s just a couple of things as we progress that don’t add up to me. Why didn’t the adults just keep basic radio communications with the 100? If it was a desperation thing, wouldn’t that have been a lot more reliable than tracking bracelets? Especially when all one kid had to do was tamper with one and it shorts out everybody? (Nice going Monte and Jasper). I do understand that perhaps the series is a slave to the book, but that never bothered The Vampire Diaries. They always change stuff (Kevin Williamson even said in interview I had with him that if the book didn’t make sense, they changed it). Also, why float 300 people? Why not send them to the ground too, give them a fighting chance? No more pods left? Shouldn’t they have just sent people to the earth all this time instead of floating? Nope, doesn’t add up. Thanks, I feel better.
As I said earlier, despite some weird flaws in the story, especially this week, I still am enjoying the character dynamics and overall tone of the series. Jasper and Octavia are pretty cute together, and it’s good to see Jasper up and moving again. I hope in his case they don’t pull a “Danny” like they did in Revolution and rescue him just in time to kill him. The 100 still grabs me and I have yet to see a boring hour. The show just needs to be careful as the story progresses. When those little cracks start to show each week they can’t eventually turn into gaping chasms. Of course all is forgiven if Charlotte the vengeful mutant appears ready to kick ass. That’s something I can get behind.
