Whew chile! Amazing episode! Let’s jump in!
Trust M-Cap for all your mind-probing needs. The episode opened with Diyoza and Octavia arriving on Bardo. Diyoza was escorted away immediately and nothing is known about what happened to her. Octavia managed to get away from her captors and go on a running tour of the facility. She made it to the underground forest but she ran into a force field. When she woke up, she was hooked up to M-Cap, a machine that will extract everything the Disciples need to know. They usually use it for psych evaluations like the ones they administer to prisoners upon their return from Penance. Levitt, the Level 10 operator, was trying to be gentle but the leader, Anders, wanted answers immediately. The neural link is established when he asked Octavia who’s hand would reach for hers if she was in a vast desert. Bellamy is the answer and I think this is where Anders got the idea to go get him. He was going to be leverage if Octavia didn’t give him what he needed. Later on, Levitt focused on Murphy and asked if he was possibly her lover. I laughed and Octavia grimaced at the thought.
The Faithful have lost it. It’s not enough that Russell got a stay of execution. He has to roam free too! These dunderheads decided that the best way to get Russell freed is to burn one of them alive every hour. Really? Even Russheda sees the idiocy of this plan! If they’re all dead, Russell wouldn’t be a martyr for anyone. There would be no reason to keep him alive. Murphy thought it was a great idea from where he was sitting. The followers would take themselves and Russell out of the equation. Indra wasn’t going to allow that or allow Russell to talk to his people again. Emori was still recovering from radiation poisoning so Murphy had to go talk the Faithful down. When Murphy got to the tavern, he saw that they were about to sacrifice a child. They thought it was an ace move because surely Indra would rather let Russell go than let a child die. It’s one thing for the adults to offer themselves up for this dumb plan but forcing a kid is depraved. Poor kid was so scared! Murphy may not like being the hero but he wasn’t about to let them burn a child. He does care! He was headed outside with the children when Daniel’s lover, Zev, stopped him. “Daniel” didn’t recognize him which made him suspicious. Trey realized that he was an imposter when he affirmed the wrong third Pillar. For that, they decided Murphy must burn.
Levitt the Octavia Stan. Octavia let Levitt in once he agreed to keep Hope out of his report. I think it was half self-interest, half-compassion that drove him to agree to that. Three days later, he’s completely enamored with her. It’s cute! He even starts using Skaikru phrases. He admires her strength and her willingness to do what it takes to protect the people she loves. She and others see a killer, he sees a pure heart. He’s an outlier among his people. The Disciples value the collective over the individual so I don’t think other M-Cap operators would have seen the beauty in fighting for someone you love. Also, Levitt took a delicate approach to getting information out of Octavia. He wanted to do his job without hurting her so much. Captain Meredith’s comment last episode makes me think that anyone else would have been willing to kill her to get the information. Anyway, Hope showed up just as Octavia was going to give up more information about Clarke. Levitt made good on his promise to help. He created a neural code for Hope and put it on Octavia’s back. The native Bardoans used the system to pull back people who got stuck but it only worked 80% of the time. The Disciples aren’t down with those odds so they stopped using it. Anyway, Octavia punched Levitt to make it look like he was forced to help. When she said “May we meet again”, he smiled and said it back. I think he’s grown to really care about her. He tried to get Hope to go too because there wasn’t time to save her mom but she had to try anyway.
Delivered by the Stone. To keep from being discovered, Hope, Echo, and Gabriel had to attend a mandatory lesson on the Book of Allness. As Anders spoke, Gabriel realized that there was a stone on Earth. The Shepherd used it to transport them to Bardo. In my mind, it’s all but a forgone conclusion that The Shepherd is Cadogan. I think that Cadogan started Second Dawn precisely because he found the stone. The Level 12s were in the bunker so there might have been a secret Level 13 that was delivered to Bardo. We also learned that the native Bardoans were wiped out by Gen 9. I would have thought Gen 9 was a generation of Disciples but according to Anders, the Bardoans were gone when they got there. I think there’s some revisionist history in there but ok. The Disciples are facing the same extinction event so I guess the “last war” is against whatever Gen 9 is. Anders also said that the key had returned to them. They started saying Clarke was the key when they learned about what she did in the City of Light. Based on that, I think it’s the Flame, not Clarke herself, that’s the key. If that’s the case, Gaia was a good get for them. However, the Flame is destroyed so they might just be SOL.
Kneel or Die is not a Russell-ism. It borders on hilarious that the Faithful still don’t realize that something is off with Russell. Just as they were getting ready to burn Murphy alive, Russheda came in with Indra and Emori. He slapped Trey and grabbed Zev by the throat. Would a being of divine love slap and choke his followers? Indra started getting suspicious after seeing that. Russheda reamed out the Faithful and then told them to “kneel or die”. Alarm bells went off in Indra’s head. That’s something Sheidheda would say! To confirm her hunch, she told Russheda that he had a spider on his shoulder in Trigedasleng. He looked at his shoulder, giving himself away. In the exterior of the lab, Russheda asked Indra if her parents kneeled when he conquered Trikru. Indra then pulled off an ace move. She had Jackson remove the mind drive so that he can never be resurrected again. She withheld anesthesia and let Nelson hold him down. It was a good compromise for the Children of Gabriel. “Russell” won’t die right away but he’ll never be resurrected again. Death to Primes is closer than ever.
Return to Bardo. Obviously, Hope was caught before she could save Diyoza. Anders tasked her with placing a locator tag into Octavia to get her back. At the same time, he was sending Captain Meredith and his crew to get Clarke and kill Hope after she tagged Octavia. Hope knows zero about Clarke so she’s useless. Gabriel put Hope’s code into the Sanctum stone which sent her to Sanctum and links up with the scene from last season where she stabbed Octavia. She was returned to Bardo, stitched up, and put back in M-Cap. Levitt told her that Anders was taking him off the project likely because he was getting too close. He told her to focus on “I am not afraid” to beat the machine and avoid a brain hemorrhage. In the present, Hope, Echo, and Gabriel find Octavia robotically repeating “I am not afraid” to prevent the new operator from getting access to her mind. Echo asked the operator to show her where Bellamy was. In Octavia’s memory, Anders requested that she come to the stone room to talk Bellamy down. Bellamy had knocked out his captors and taken the conductor hostage. Octavia offered to give up everything on Clarke if Anders sent Bellamy back to Sanctum. Anders appeared to accept the deal and opened the bridge. The soldier set off the explosive on their belt presumably killing themselves, the other solider, Bellamy, and the conductor. Someone was killed (or at least hurt) because Octavia had blood splatter on her face. Echo was devastated, to say the least. Understandably so because Bellamy was everything to her. Ration went out the window as the grief consumed her. She punched the M-Cap operator multiple times and then stabbed him with the sharp component of the M-Cap. Good luck finding Diyoza now. Echo’s going to be on the warpath now and could also be a liability. Hope is not too happy about losing the chance to find her mother and Gabriel might be low-key exasperated. She’ll be taking loads of unnecessary risks now!
No, he didn’t! For a moment there, I thought Rothenberg might have really killed off Bellamy. I was so shocked! However, the more I think about it, the more I believe Bellamy is still alive. For one thing, killing him off at this point in the season (if at all) would result in a fan backlash so bad that the writers would have to retreat to proverbial bunkers! Also, Octavia did tell him to get down before the blast so he could have sidestepped into the Anomaly. But where did he go? I think Sanctum can be eliminated. Anders would be dumb to actually send Bellamy back to Sanctum so he could mobilize the troops. However, Captain Meredith and his team were there so they probably would have had him at Gabriel’s camp. Skyring is out too because then Echo would have seen him. Plus, Anders wouldn’t dare interrupt Orlando’s penance. The offline planet is probably Earth and I don’t believe he’s on Nakara (where Clarke and co are). I think Bellamy was sent to the mountainous planet we haven’t seen yet. I also think time on that planet is slower than Bardo so Bellamy will lose his memory. That will be an interesting plot twist!
Feable attempt at the math. Diyoza and Octavia were captured and arrived on Bardo 45 days ago. Hope was 10 years old then. Octavia started cooperating with Levitt 34 days ago. Hope showed up to rescue Octavia 3 days after that which would be 31 days ago. She was 20 years old at that point so it looks like 31 days on Bardo is 10 years on Skrying. Back in season 6, Octavia was gone for 10 seconds on Sanctum which would be equivalent to 20 years on Skrying. However, the time differential doesn’t seem to square up in a linear fashion. Bellamy was captured the same day Echo, Gabriel, and Hope went to Skrying. His “death” was 7 days ago. Going by that, 7 days on Bardo equals 5 years on Skyring. If it was more linear, Bellamy’s supposed death would have been 14 or 15 days ago. I have no idea. I’m a microbiologist, not a quantum physicist!
Other things. Drew Lindo referred to Sheidheda as Russheda in the Inside the Episode video. I guess Russheda is the official portmanteau then. I love the cheeky moment between Murphy and Emori about the dress. They have to play siblings so they have to take their couple moments when they can! People are already getting on board with Levtavia! Obriel is so last year! I’m not all in but I’m not vehemently against it either. I just hope Levitt doesn’t turn out to be another Ryker. When I saw the trailer, I thought the skeletons might have belonged to the Faithful but they were actually the knocked-over host skeletons in the exterior of the lab. The trailer for this episode was an effective fake-out because Sanctum was maybe 20% of the episode.
This season is stellar! I can’t wait for more on Bardo and the Disciples. Until next time!
Omg you are a microbiologist!? That is so cool! Might as well be a quantum physicist because they both sound crazy impressive 😂
Anyway, you might be right about Bellamy on the unknown planet and losing his memory. It would make sense. I did think Anders was going to send him back to Sanctum, because A) he wouldn’t remember, and B) even if he did he has no idea how to work the Stone. (I’m still hoping for Earth hah). Also good call about Anders getting the idea for Bellamy from O’s memories- I hadn;t even thought of that, but you’re definitely right. I just thought of them grabbing Bellamy as a happy accident for them, but yep, I think you nailed it!
You also bring up a REALLY good point about Hope and Gabe’s frustrations with Echo. I hadn’t thought of much beyond Echo’s pain and the repercussions she’d face, but crap, Hope is not going to have an easy time finding her mom! Do you kind of feel like Diyoza isn’t going to make it? Or is somehow going to sacrifice herself to save Hope and O?
OH and I was thinking about Cadogan, and maybe they never even bothered with the bunker! We really don’t have any evidence that they rode out the apocalypse there, frankly. So maybe the level 12s just used the Stone. BUT I bet Cadogan came back and forth, because he kills Becca sometime after 2054, but Anders said they came BEFORE Apocalypse 1. So I have a feeling that is how they know about the Chip and such.
I am SO excited for Nakara!!
I haven’t gotten to do anything impressive or cool with it lately but thank you!
Oh, that’s right! Bellamy wouldn’t remember anything if he was sent back to Sanctum either! Captain Meredith may have still been alive at that point so he could have held Bellamy hostage upon arrival. Or if the stone was shutdown when he stepped back in, he might be stuck. I think Diyoza not surviving is a possibility and I could see it being because she sacrificed herself for Hope and Octavia. The shot of Hope trying to get into a room with Clarke and Octavia could be her trying to get to her mother.
That’s a good point about the bunker! It did look a little too pristine when they opened it up in season 4. I could definitely see Cadogan going back and forth during the time leading up to Apocalypse 1. He might have shut down the stone on Earth right before it happened.