The 100: Ashes to Ashes (6.11) Things of Note

First, I have to give it up to Bob Morley for rocking his directorial debut and his acting! It could not have been easy directing an episode where your character has a big role. All of his choices (lighting, angles, etc) were good ones. I hope they allow him to direct a few episodes next season. Anyway, the episode, on the whole, was a good tee-up to the final 2. Let’s jump in!

Gabriel tells the truth. After 10 years, Gabriel reveals himself to his followers in Xavier’s body. They were none too happy that he was in another host and then made them believe he had abandoned them. Xavier’s sister, Layla, was among them. Gabriel was afraid to tell them what had happened but it appears that if he had told them the truth about Eduardo from the beginning (and also not killed him), they might have been understanding. Maybe not Layla though. It looks like she and Xavier were not on good terms when Eduardo body-snatched him. Now, she won’t get the chance to mend things. It’s interesting that this was happening as Bellamy and Octavia had just reunited. They are supremely fractured but if one of them dies before they get to a good place, I think the other would regret it. Anyway, Gabriel’s followers also seemed not to trust him because “Josephine” was there alive. I think they know that Gabriel loved her and since he had abandoned them previously, they may have thought that he rejoined with her.

The embryos were a steady source of hosts. Mission Team Alpha landed with 1000 embryos genetically engineered with nightblood. They were meant for repopulation but the Primes had been using at least some of them for hosts. There may have been some freeborn nightbloods as well. If all the people from the embryos were nightbloods, how did they get red-blooded people and by extension, nulls? Maybe there were people other than Russell and Gabriel who survived the Red Sun and had children. It would help if the origin story of Sanctum was fleshed out a bit more. Anyway, Gabriel destroyed the embryos forcing the Primes to rely solely on freeborn hosts which are few and far between. Josephine started oblation as a result. As Bellamy said, he just made things worse. He didn’t realize it at the time because he had no idea what Josephine was becoming. Also, it’s interesting that Gabriel specifically said that Simone, not Russell, was going to execute him for destroying all the embryos. As the leader, Russell would be the one to do it. Therefore, he must have been dormant if Simone was handling that.

Test subject. Echo was brought to Russell for questioning. Ryker kept the fact that Delilah’s parents know the truth a secret. He was also “posturing” to Russell and the guards when he tersely emphasized the seriousness of Simone’s death to Echo. Dude was really playing both sides here. It was really wearing on him because it looked as if he aged 5 years in a day or two. Russell was feeling “merciful” until Echo pointed out that Simone’s death wasn’t murder since she’ll be back. The murder would be of the host. Then Russell gets the bright idea to turn Echo into Simone. She never took the chip so there’s no neural mesh to save her. (Edit: She did take the chip off-screen). Priya wasn’t present for this “sentencing”. Too busy with Jordan I presume. There were also no active Prime doctors left so Russell had Ryker do the test. All of the Primes are trained to do the mindwipe and drive insertion but Ryker had never done it. So, he hasn’t actually killed anyone but he benefited from it 8 times, more than any other Prime it seems. Raven had a point there. Russell told him to drop the moral equivocation and do it on an unwilling host. For the family. Complete with the head grab. Russell is a cult leader and the Godfather rolled into one. Side note: I only noticed this after reviewing clips but Ryker rolled his eyes and sighed when Russell wasn’t looking after telling him to test the bone marrow formula on Echo. Funny! They may be his family but he really doesn’t like them.

Good ole Murphy. As Echo was being dragged away, Murphy told her the cavalry is coming and to stay alive in Trigedeslang. He probably learned from Emori and Echo on the ring. Anyway, Russell makes Murphy an offer he couldn’t refuse: Bring back Josephine and he and Emori can have immortality. To his credit, Murphy did ask what would happen if he refused (Emori dies). He was not about to let the love of his life die so he agreed. Russell knew how to work him! He also admired Murphy’s tendency to do things as long as it benefits him. I think Russell has this quality too. He let Earthkru stay because Clarke had the blood and he saw an opportunity to bring back Josephine.

Miller Time! So, Miller is one of the 100, has been around since season 1 and yet he is nowhere near as developed as someone like Gaia or even Jordan. He had a nice little moment with Gaia when he asked her about disobeying the Commander. She did it to “transcend” to which Miller replied by asking if she thought about that when following Blodreina. It’s clear that Miller is still haunted by that and Gaia assures him that his mistakes are forgivable as long as he learns from them. Miller was also the MVP for this episode. He took the opportunity to transcend by pickpocketing a Sanctum guard’s knife. He uses the wire inside the knife to pick the roof lock which allows them to escape. Good work, Miller! I really wish they would expand his role in the show. He could be an amazing character.

Plot twist. Echo is not really Echo! Her real name is Ash and the real Echo was her best friend. Queen Nia ordered Echo to shoot a spy with her bow and arrow. When she failed to do so, she ordered her to kill Ash. The real Echo was reluctant but picked up the blade anyway. She had Ash pinned but her hesitation gave Ash an opening to kill her instead. From that day on, she became Echo. She’s been a survivor her whole life and she’s had to harden herself to get through. It’s one of those core traumas that she’s held close to her chest and buried. The real Echo was the one person in the world she cared about. Having to kill her best friend to survive really sealed the walls around Echo’s heart. She couldn’t have friends and be an Azgeda spy. She was open with Bellamy on the ring but not enough to tell him this. None of Earthkru knows. The fact that she was able to reopen that wound and use it to her advantage is incredible. I imagine she’ll be working through this in season 7…if she lives, of course.

And then there were two. I predicted that there would be a death in this episode but I was expecting it to be one of Earthkru. RIP Ryker IX. He was conflicted to the end. I think he’s been that way for at least 70 years. He didn’t really want to turn Echo/Ash into Simone but felt he had no choice. The Primes are still his family despite the problems he seems to have with the Lightbournes. They’ve spent over 200 years together while he’s only known Earthkru for a few days. Also, he didn’t believe that he and his mother would truly be safe from the rebelling Sanctum common folks and the Children of Gabriel. The slogan is “Death to Primes” not “Death to Lightbournes”. He likely thought that after he helped them overthrow Russell and ended the resurrections, he and his mother would be killed anyway. Damned if he mindwipes Echo, damned if he doesn’t. So he decided to but he needed the guards to hold her down. Enter Gaia and Miller! As soon as they freed her, Echo stabbed Ryker in the stomach like she did the real Echo. He was a liability and couldn’t be trusted anymore. Ryker is the ultimate example of the “middle of the road” person getting run over. I do wonder, though, if he would have stuck with Earthkru if he was dealing with Raven. He had bonded with her a bit over the bikes and even though their interactions turned negative after she found out the truth, I think she could have swayed him to Earthkru’s side more easily than Echo. Now, only Russell and Priya are active. There is a “special” Naming Day in next week’s episode. All five dormant Primes, including Ryker, might be coming back. If my wild theory of Jordan becoming Ryker X turns out to be true, I will lose it! Either way, I could see Priya considering it.

Blake therapy session. Bellamy and Octavia took a trip to the speckled cave to pick up some mushrooms for a Red Sun toxin bomb. It’s easy to see that Bellamy is still hurt by having to leave Octavia out in the woods even though she now understands why he did it. He wasn’t interested in hearing what she had to say at first but he eventually let her talk and he was near tears. When they parted, Bellamy said that his sister had died a long time ago. Octavia wasn’t looking for forgiveness when she was telling him about her revelation. She knows she has to earn it. She just wanted to hear him say that she is his sister. Hearing him say that means that there’s hope that she can get her brother back. He did say it but with the qualifier that she is not his responsibility anymore. That may seem harsh but I think it marks a turning point. The fact that Bellamy was willing to acknowledge Octavia as his sister again is progress. It tells me that he’ll eventually get to a place where he can forgive her. The qualifier could mean that she needs to take responsibility for herself. Still, it looked like it tore him up to say that. Their relationship will likely never be the way it was but I think they can get to a good place.

Doing better. Clarke began to realize that going into Sanctum and detonating a Red Sun toxin bomb was Mt Weather all over again. They’d end the Primes but they would end up killing the common folk, some of whom may have been on their side, as well. So, she and Gabriel came up with a plan that would theoretically result in less chaos and carnage. The toxin would be at a concentration high enough to trigger the early warning system but not so high that it would affect the people. I think this is Clarke’s do-over for Mt Weather which was one of her biggest regrets. Her mindset back then was to save her people at all costs. There may have been a way to do it without killing everyone, including people that were trying to help them. I believe Jasper was thinking of this among other things when he said: “We are the problem”. Time in the mind space seems to have given Clarke some perspective and now she’s able to see a way to get their people and stop the Primes while sparing innocent lives. That is doing better. Octavia gets it. I think even Diyoza would understand the tactical merit of this plan. Bellamy doesn’t quite get it but he trusts Clarke and lets the plan proceed.

Near flawless impersonation. In sharp contrast to Josephine’s Clarke impersonation, Clarke’s Josephine impersonation is nearly perfect. While Josephine had to rely on Murphy’s knowledge of Clarke, Clarke has been in Josephine’s mind. She got to know her intimately. I also think that some remnants of Josephine’s mind are still present in Clarke’s. A merger of sorts. Clarke can pull aspects of Josephine from her mind and use them like she would use her knowledge and skills. She nearly got tripped up, though, when she saw Madi strapped down and getting the bone marrow drained out of her. I’m sure it took a lot for her not to kill Russell right then and there! Also, Murphy is unaware that Josephine is gone. It might have ruined the plan if they told him.

Other things. I wish the Madi/Sheidheda storyline would end already! I guess it gives Madi “something to do” but it feels extraneous to me in some ways. I would have preferred a more fleshed out backstory for the Primes, Sanctum, and Gabriel. I think Simone was almost as nuts as Josephine was! She weaponized the Red Sun toxin and left people outside of the shelter to weed out non-believers. I guess that’s the adjustment protocol. The synopsis for 6.12 says Gabriel meets an old friend. Who could it be? A long-awaited confrontation with Russell? Priya? Does Josephine come back somehow? Is Eduardo still alive? While looking for screenshots, I noticed that when Ryker opened the door for the “guards”, “Fal” was painted on one of the walls already. The revolution has begun!

That’s my take. Until next week.