So one of the problems with analyzing this in real-time instead of binge-time is that sometimes the viewers have to have patience. Bellamy explains himself more in this episode, to both Kane and Clarke. He tells Kane not to lecture him on the difference between Trikru and Azgeda because the former killed many of his friends before Kane got to the ground. He says “they” and Lincoln is pissed. The Bellamy-Clarke conversation is especially raw. You can see that he felt hurt and abandoned by Clarke leaving. His reasoning isn’t wrong, and it’s some of the things I wish he had said before. He mentions Lexa’s betrayal, and how Lexa’s betrayal forced their hand with the Mt. Weather genocide (my word, not his). He says that they were people who trusted him. That reminded me how it wasn’t Clarke on the inside of Mt. Weather, which made this decision a little more abstract for Clarke. She knew there were innocents, but she didn’t fight side by side with them, or have one of them save her life, like Bellamy did. Bellamy put a lot of trust in them to hide his people, and he betrayed their trust. The Mt. Weather thing messed up Clarke, it messed up Jasper (who spent even more time with the people than Bellamy), and we’re seeing that it messed up Bellamy too. I love that this show can have the characters previous decisions weigh over them so much. It was a really great scene.

That said, I do wish the storyline had been given more time to breathe. I wouldn’t have even minded Bellamy saying more of that stuff before his convo with Clarke; I don’t think it would’ve taken away from this scene. I mean, Pike is a candidate the night before, then chancellor in the next scene. I wish we could’ve seen more debate. We know that the election is close from when Kane congratulated Pike, but it would’ve been better to see people’s viewpoints more fleshed out. Perhaps there are scenes that didn’t make it, or maybe there’s just so much more shit to get to into the overall storyline that will make me forget about it all.

When Bellamy says that this is the person he’s been all along, I was like, “NOOO ZUKO!!!11!”

Bellamy also welcomes a full-on assault by the 12 clans, instead of fearing it, as everyone did in season 2. We’ve seen the power of assault weapons, though, and the technological advantage is very, very real. It gives the viewer more doubts about who would prevail. Perhaps Pike has given Bellamy more confidence too. Kane still thinks the war is coming and it will lead to them getting wiped out.

Pike creates an internment camp and the choice of language is very intentional. It’s supposed to remind us of the Japanese internment camps. Who knew it’d feel even more relevant with a renewed hatred towards Muslims and a certain candidate refusing to initially even condemn the Japanese internment camps. Pike is supposed to embody these harsher impulses when we are in these kill-or-be-killed situations. That’s not to say that his morality has no shades of gray, but he justifies his decisions by pointing out all the future lives he’ll save. It’s not just Pike, though, who has these impulses. It shows how democracy isn’t a buffer against it. The people weren’t tricked. The people knew what this was, and they voted for it. I wonder, though, if Pike will become more authoritarian towards his own people. So far, he hasn’t, and we know he doesn’t want internal strife. Kane respects the democratic process, but I don’t think Octavia is enamored, saying that maybe they should do things differently.

In other news… JAHA IS BACK! Be still my heart. I was so overcome with emotion I had to text multiple people. I have to say that Jaha is suprisingly straightforward. He told Abby that Otan was in the City of Light. He tells Pike basically everything too. The only thing he doesn’t tell about everyone right away is ALIE, which I suppose is a big deal.

I loved the the scene with Pike and Jaha. First off, it’s good to see two black characters as main characters conversing with each other, instead of seeing black characters as peripheral characters, side pieces in a white story, as I’ve seen in so many other shows. Second, it reminded me so much of Gaius and Six in Battlestar Galactica. The double-conversation was pretty fun. The music also reminded me of Battlestar, whenever it showed us Alie. So far, Pike doesn’t see Jaha as a threat. Pike explicitly mentions Jaha’s time in the wilderness, which only solidifies the Jaha-Moses parallel. Now, Jaha is more of a prophet.

I always expected the broken ones, Jasper and Raven, to be the first ones to enter the City of Light. I thought it would be Jasper first, but instead it was Raven. Her initial skepticism is definitely well within character. And her motivation to try it was well-done too. Abby taking her off duty makes her feel more and more useless as a person. She’s hit rock bottom. She’s angry and depressed. Jaha’s right that she has nothing left to lose. Or is he… I suppose next episode we’ll see what else you give up when you enter the City of Light. Yes, there’s no pain, but what else does it do? We’re going to delve deeper into the theme of what makes one human. Are pain and anger and grief essential (as they are to Murphy)? Alie initially tells Jaha that the digital and biological are equivalent, but maybe they’re not. Abby is the one who benched Raven, so she’ll have to give the all-clear to let Raven work again, which means she’ll do more doctor-stuff to examine what the infinity wafers do. (My friend said that the pill reminded him of communion, so from now on, I will refer to them as infinity wafers. Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that it reminds him of communion. It kinda is like they partake of Alie’s body and become one with her.) Even with anything crazy Abby finds, I’m pretty sure seeing Raven walk is the miracle that will convince more people to join Jaha. By the way, we’re getting some cool varied representation of disabled people between Raven in this show and Furiosa in Mad Max. When Raven finally saw Alie, I was so excited.

There’s a lot of speculation going on about Nightbloods based on Lexa’s tattoo. I didn’t bring it up before because I hadn’t seen it until recently. Look it up, but she’s got broken infinity sign. People suspect that the infinity wafers have nanobots, and the nightblood makes them immune. The commanders are opposed to Alie. I’m not sure I buy it yet, but there is definitely a link.

We last see Murphy getting taken by Trikru (I think. They seem to have tattoos, and they say it’s the commander’s woods and Trikru lives in the woods.) people to be punished for stealing. Emori is still free. One guy finds his infinity wafer and says “The sacred symbol.” So why do they know about this symbol? What do they know about the City of Light? Hmmmmmm…. Murphy tells his captor to float himself, which I find as hilarious as when Clarke told Lexa to float herself. You realize that this means nothing to the grounders, right?

One more big moment is Indra suggesting that they use guns to Lexa. In the first or second episode, Indra refuses a gun when Kane offers one, so this is new for her. Warfare will get a lot more gruesome.

We see how much Lexa has changed when she says, “Blood must not have blood.” That’s kind of a big deal. Clarke has more influence on her, and it’s something Lexa definitely didn’t consider when it was Finn’s blood that had to pay for grounder blood. Indra warns her that Polis and Titus won’t like this, and even though Lexa goes all tough, we know that her hold on being Commander isn’t ironclad, even despite killing the Ice Queen. I’m not sure how Lexa can keep this position once Pike “clears” the Trikru village in his way. And speaking of the Ice Queen, I doubt we’ve seen the last of Roan and Emerson.

There’s still a lot of plot left, and less and less I feel that I can possibly predict. Let’s see where the rollercoaster goes tonight.