This episode wasn’t as jammed and frenetic as the last one! Of course, that doesn’t mean nothing of note happened. Let’s get into it!
Hi Indra! After 8 episodes, Indra finally gets in on the action! She was the perfect person to wake up for the situation with Kane. Raven’s two for two when it comes to waking up the right people! Anyway, I appreciated Indra pointing out that they can’t judge Sanctum because Skaikru floated people and the Grounders had kids fight to the death to lead them. I’m sure she would have said the same thing to Gaia! She acknowledged the “miracle” of Kane being alive in a new body but was willing to help him “break the cycle”. Indra is level-headed and they are going to need that to take on Sanctum.
Octavia’s road to redemption. In his quest to learn what happened in the Anomaly, Gabriel injected Octavia with a serum made from the plant toxins to induce a sort of controlled psychosis. Octavia is transported back to fighting pits where she is confronted by Pike. He pushed her to dig deep and realize that she really wants redemption. I believe she wanted that all along but she had to cut through the self-hatred first. Pike was actually the perfect person to bring back for this. While Lincoln’s death broke Octavia, killing Pike was really her first step towards the dark side. It was the first time she equated killing with meting out justice. Pike had done the same thing to Lincoln and he was seeking redemption for it before Octavia killed him. Blodreina was the culmination of her “dark journey”. Overall, the scene was very well done. I appreciated the juxtaposition of Lincoln’s death and the potential death of mind space Pike. In a way, Octavia was able to choose a different path in response to Lincoln’s death. This marks a turning point for Octavia and it would appear that she’s going to get redemption by helping to save everyone from Sanctum.
Clarke returns. Bellamy and Josephine/Clarke got captured by the Children of Gabriel. Once they find out they have Josephine, they move to cut off her head. Josephine cedes control of Clarke’s body to Clarke so she can fight them. Eliza Taylor nailed the switch perfectly. Now that Clarke has control of her body again, there’s no way she’s giving it back so easily! Josephine should have known that but she had to risk it. She doesn’t have Clarke’s fighting skills so she would have died. It’s interesting, though, that Clarke was able to swipe Josephine’s Mandarin fluency and her motorbike skills. I guess it only works one way. I had a theory that their minds would merge at some point. Close enough? Clarke’s not out of the woods yet though. As seen in the promo for 6.10, the barrier between their minds is breaking down. Better find Gabriel and fast! I will miss this Clarke/Josephine dynamic when it ends. It’s been so fun to watch!
RIP Kane. Obviously, Kane wasn’t happy about being in a new body because it was at the expense of someone else (Gavin). He wasn’t going to stand for giving Sanctum host-making capabilities so he hatched a plan with Indra and Raven to get rid of the nightblood. They floated the nightblood and Kane along with it. I watched the episode twice and both times, Kane’s death hit hard. Kane was a real jerk when the show started but as time went on, I came to really like him as a character. He became the diplomatic voice of Skaikru and eventually, somewhat of a moral center for the group. Indra saying the Traveler’s Prayer and then “Your fight is over” right before pulling the lever was a great touch. I really liked the friendship between Indra and Kane. Over time they developed deep respect, admiration, and trust in each other. I’ll miss their dynamic. Also, having Henry Ian Cusick do the final scene gave us the impactful exit we wanted Kane to have. There was a discussion on Twitter about whether Kane had himself floated because someone needed to go with the nightblood or because he really couldn’t live with being in Gavin’s body. Sacrifice vs completion of suicide. On the first watch, I interpreted the scene as Kane sacrificing himself to prevent Sanctum from making hosts. I watched the episode again and it’s actually not clear whether someone needed to be in the airlock when the nightblood was floated. Also, Kane talked a lot about how the scars on his body made him who he was. I guess he felt that being in a new body took away a fundamental part of himself. He’s not really Marcus Kane anymore and maybe he couldn’t live with that along with being alive at the expense of Gavin. I still think his death was a sacrifice but I can see why I see why people were upset/triggered by it. I’m sorry the scene opened wounds for some.
What now, Abby? I really felt for Abby because she really loved Kane and all she wanted was for him to live. Watching him get floated was undoubtedly a knife in her heart. Plus, she had already experienced this once with her husband, Jake. She knew Kane wasn’t going to be happy about what she did but she clung to the hope that they could start over in Sanctum. I’m not sure where Abby goes from here. Saving Kane was her driving force and losing him may be enough to break her irreparably. However, Raven could help her through if she can forgive and put her judgment aside. Also, she may be more determined to “do better” in honor of Kane.
Other things. The commoners of Sanctum have been brainwashed into believing that the hosts “become one with the Primes”. We knew this wasn’t true but Kane confirmed it when he confronted Simone. For once, Raven was an active participant in a storyline. She really got the short end of the stick in terms of story this season. Josephine still loves Gabriel too apparently. She seems to regard love as weakness much like Lexa when she first met Clarke. Interesting! Four episodes left and no more skip weeks. I’m excited to see how this season ends.
That’s it for me. Until next time!
I did see some talk on Twitter about Kane’s death being suicide, and while I agree and feel for people who were triggered, I didn’t really see it as suicide either. I too tried to decipher whether someone needed to be in the airlock for it to float (perhaps there needed to be a certain mass to suck it out?) but in the end, I don’t think it mattered. Kane died, his body died, and this felt so wrong to him. So I don’t think it can even be considered suicide if you were already dead? But it IS a very gray area. I guess for me, it seemed like if Kane was living, they would look like complete hypocrites and would never win the war. Like how can you float the nightblood and say “don’t steal bodies” when they literally just stole a body? So as saddened as I was, I think it had to be done.
I agree about Raven too. Her “storyline” this season, if you can even call it that, has been kind of crap. Glad she’s more involved now, and I hope it stays that way! I am SO worried about how this Jo/Clarke thing is going to shake out. I really don’t think I can take it if it doesn’t end well, and Jason’s warning has me SO scared!