Hi Sis, this is my new girlfriend, the girl who tried to kill you…twice.

After a two week break we are back into the world of The 100. Just in time for another two week break . . . awesome. The episode starts off with Clarke (Eliza Taylor) bandaging up Octavia’s (Marie Avgeropoulos) wound, a reminder of the time when a parasitic sand worm burrowed into her arm, so, you know, a flesh wound. Meanwhile, Madi (Lola Flanery) looks on, shy and more than a little fangirl-ish as she’s confronted with her favorite character from Clarke’s stories.

When Octavia asks how Madi survived Praimfaya, Clarke is quick to explain how she used her own bone marrow to make Madi a nightblood too. Once Octavia is out of earshot Clarke explains that letting Wonkru know that Madi is the last true nightblood is all kinds of dangerous, any dissenters within the ranks may try to overthrow Blodreina and install Madi as the new Commander. And after what happened to Lexa, Aiden and Ontari, we’re going to go out on a limb and say the job of Commander is pretty much cursed.

Above ground Bellamy (Bob Morley) is trying to convince his sister that despite being a murderer and a spy and all around terrible person in the past, Echo (Tasya Teles) has changed. Octavia is not buying it, maybe because of that time Echo tried to kill her, or that other time Echo tried to kill her. This tense sibling showdown is interrupted by the sudden airborne delivery of food and a recorded message from Eligius, anyone willing to cross Blodreina and jump over to the Eligius camp will be rewarded with hugs and puppies and all the food they can eat. (We may be paraphrasing here.)

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Octavia is no slouch though. She immediately decrees that a patrol be set up around Polis, ready to execute any possible deserters. Bellamy, however, isn’t willing to give up, and after a few tries, he and Echo convince Octavia to send the former Azgeda spy to infiltrate the deserters and report back. (Character development, we guess?) With whiplash speed, Echo immediately goes back on this agreement, deciding that she’s not super down with handing Octavia a kill list full of innocent people. Instead, they decide to send her into the belly of the beast, ready to mess up Eligius’ plans from the inside.

Mama bear Clarke, still worried Madi’s secret might come out, decides they need to try and make a break for it. Yes, it might mean her death but at least Madi will be safe. Madi, though, is Clarke’s daughter through and through, and she goes straight to Octavia in an effort to save her adoptive mother. She explains the whole nightblood situation and pledges herself to Wonkru.

We’ve got a bad feeling about this, and we aren’t the only one; our therapy group…we mean Panelkru, is ready to tear into this episode like sandworms into Octavia’s arm. (Okay, we grossed ourselves out with that one.)

Lola and Milena (@LMReactions) – Full time mathematic students, part time reactors

Mariana (@hopebeiiarke) – Law student and The 100 aficionado

Selina (@selinawilken) – Media journalist covering The 100 for Hypable.com

Jaclyn and Marcella (@cityofthefeels) – Youtubers on the channel DrowningInFandomFeels, English majors, and hardcore fangirls

Aline (@_the101) – Bachelor of Performing Arts, photographer, and fangirl

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1. This episode really showcased how our characters have grown, for better or worse. Which character’s growth are you most excited about?

Lola and Milena (@LMReactions): There are a lot of interesting character changes this season, but the one person we’re loving the most and whose development we connect to has to be Clarke. While everyone else has their own group of people they belong to, Clarke only has Madi as her priority and unlike the previous season where she took care of everyone, she now cares the most about protecting that one child, which has now become even harder and to see how she deals with the situation she’s in is gonna be one of our favorite things this season.

Mariana (@hopebeiiarke): Clarke, Octavia and Murphy. Clarke because she’s wonderful, after everything she’s been through, she’s still this sweet and caring person. I’m excited to see what Clarke will do to protect Madi, and since I love Madi too, I will fully support any decision she makes in order to protect little Madi! Octavia because she is such a complex character, I thought I would hate her this season but here I am loving her even more! I’m sure she must have done terrible things in the bunker (I think we will learn more when they tell us about ‘The Dark Year’) but she did it to survive. Murphy is surprising me in a really good way this season, he seems more centered and making smart decisions. So these three characters growth are my favorites!

Selina (@selinawilken): In this episode specifically, probably Octavia. Her Blodreina transformation is fascinating to me, but I really liked her in this episode because she was so much MORE than Blodreina. She is trying to reconcile her love for her brother and her hatred of Echo with her desperate quest to keep Wonkru united, and she is impressively tactical about it, willing to make concessions and compromises (when it suits her agenda). I also loved the twist of Gaia being an ally to Clarke, because at least right now, they’re united in their goal to keep Madi safe.

Jaclyn and Marcella (@cityofthefeels): Despite Octavia’s spiral down an extremely dark path, we think that she such a fascinating character to watch and her evolution from the girl under the floor to Blodreina has been tremendous. Apart from that, we’re really excited to see more of Clarke’s dynamic with Madi as a mother figure and protector moving forward since we got a really strong sense of it in this episode. This episode really emphasized the idea of family and highlights the differences in that for each character after the 6-year time jump.

Aline (@_the101): Definitely Emori. This character had a very beautiful development. I’m so proud of what she’s become. The grounder that brought Spacekru to Earth. It’s clear to me that she spent the last 6 years working really hard. And now that she’s not with Murphy, we can see more of her personality outside of that relationship. I’m excited for more Emori!

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2. What do you think of Madi’s decision to join Wonkru? Do you agree with her reasoning or do you think it’ll come back to bite her and Clarke in the butt?

Lola and Milena: As people who want to protect this child, we hate what she did, but as people who love Clarke and her relationship with Madi and enjoy seeing Madi as her own separate character we love that she did that to protect Clarke and continue saving each other as they did for the past six years. As all decisions in The 100 that too will have repercussions that will play a big part this season.

Mariana: Madi is so amazing I love her so much, I would adopt her too I completely relate to Clarke. So, joining Wonkru was a smart decision, in my opinion. It was risky, because she didn’t know if Octavia would see her as a threat but Madi knew that they couldn’t defect to Eligius. Madi saw them torturing Clarke when she drove Bellamy to rescue her, so in her mind, they would do that again if they went back. Madi trusted Octavia, the girl who she admired so much, and I believe that Octavia will protect Madi from now on. I think the problem is going to be Gaia or Niylah, the ones that know about Madi’s nightblood. This is a storyline I’m really excited to see!

Selina: Madi has already proven twice over that she won’t hesitate to throw herself into harm’s way to save Clarke. Not in a million years was she going to go along with a plan that would almost certainly get Clarke killed. Yes, Madi trusting Octavia is naive, but it’s totally in line with her idealistic, trusting nature. While Clarke is ‘the mom’ in their dynamic, I think she needs to realise that Madi’s moral compass doesn’t align with hers at all, and that she is going to continue making brave, noble decisions of her own accord regardless of what Clarke thinks is best for them.

Jaclyn and Marcella: Throughout the season we have been getting hints of Madi’s admiration towards Octavia and in this episode, we got to see that starstruck gaze in the first scene only to come full circle when Madi ultimately joins WonKru. That scene when Octavia is initiating her into WonKru was so eerie to watch. Especially when she wiped the blood, a mix of black and red, on Madi’s admiring face. It is the joining of these two bloods that have been a strong focus of the entire show so far. It is truly the end of the nightblood’s reign and this is what appears to be, the sealing of that fate. It was very creepy to watch those fingerprints appear on Madi’s cheek, but it really highlights the contrast between the innocence of Madi and the brutality of Octavia. The way that Octavia caresses her face, in a somewhat motherly gesture, yet imprints that blood is a little jarring to see. This could perhaps foreshadow that Madi joining Wonkru is the end of this innocence and the beginning of the ruthlessness that seems to be a part of Wonkru.

Aline: Madi wanted to be a hero and save Clarke again. She knew that if they went to Eden, Diyoza could kill Clarke. But getting into Wonkru may have to be even more dangerous to them. Now Madi will train for war and Clarke can’t do anything about it. I don’t know how far Clarke will come to protect Madi and I’m excited for that!

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3. With how cold and calculating Octavia has become do you think there is any way of ‘saving’ her? Do you want her to be ‘saved’?

Lola and Milena: Octavia is one of our favorite characters of the show so of course we want her to be ‘saved’. Right now Blodreina is taking most of the spotlight. From the previous episodes we saw glimpses of Octavia that make us hopeful that she hasn’t become just a cold-hearted leader.

Mariana: Yes, after this episode I do. In some moments you can see Octavia being Octavia and not Blodreina. When they thought Eligius were attacking them, the first thing she did was: Bellamy, get in the bunker! She had all people of Wonkru to protect, but she told her brother to protect himself. That warmed my heart a little bit. And you can see that she doesn’t want to let him go as a spy with Echo, to a suicide mission. She said it was because Diyoza wouldn’t believe him cause he’s her brother, but I know she was concerned about him too. So I believe Octavia can be saved, I hope she will be.

Selina: While I absolutely don’t want Octavia to die, I struggle to see how she could possibly come back from Blodreina (or if The 100 is even a show that would go down the ‘redemption’ route like that). I think Octavia is absolutely still capable of emotion and compassion, and I imagine that we’ll eventually see her reach a breaking point where she either does something truly unforgivable or pulls herself back from the brink… but what happens after that? I don’t know.

Jaclyn and Marcella: Even after everything, we do believe that there is a way of saving Octavia, in a sense. Obviously, she is pretty far gone and getting her completely back to who she was would be impossible. However, in this episode we saw little glimpses of her old self. These moments showcase how incredible Marie’s portrayal of Octavia this season is. In the scene when Madi first enters the room, Octavia’s façade comes down for a split second. It’s so quick, but to us, it seemed as though she was shaken out of that role as Blodreina for a moment. We think that the best chance of a redemption for her might be through Madi, since it is clear she sees a bit of her old sense within her.

Aline: She certainly doesn’t think she needs to be saved. She accepts who she is and she is proud of herself. And I feel so proud of her too. Wonkru is really impressive. I’m getting ready for Octavia to become a big villain at some point. She’s already a little bit. But I also expect an arc of redemption. Octavia was one of the hundred, now she is Blodreina. But fans of the 100 deserve this arc of redemption.

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4. The fracture between Bellamy and Octavia keeps growing with every passing episode, how do you think that disconnect will play into the rest of the season?

Lola and Milena: This is the hardest question so far because we truly have no idea in what direction their relationship will continue to go, but we’re nearly at rock bottom so we can only go up from here. They both have their own families now but we hope that by the end of the season they will both find a way to reconcile with the people they’ve become and form a better, healthier relationship than they had.

Mariana: So like I said in the previous question, there were little moments of the old Blakes in this episode (mostly by Octavia’s part). I think the Blakes will have a lot of fights this season, but in the end, family speaks louder. That’s what I hope. I can’t accept Bellamy protecting Spacekru more than his own sister. This is not the Bellamy we know.

Selina: I think this episode proved that Bellamy and Octavia view the world in fundamentally different ways, and while they are both ready to make concessions for the people they love, Octavia’s ruthlessness will eventually force him to take a stand against her. I expect it’ll involve Madi and Clarke, once Octavia begins to see Madi as a real threat.

Jaclyn and Marcella: We think that disconnect is only going to get bigger between the two of them, but we hope by the end of the season they come to a better understanding of one another. Bellamy struggles to understand where Octavia is coming from with killing her own people because he had different experiences in the 6 years, away from that animalistic need to survive and fight. Similarly, Octavia doesn’t understand Bellamy’s motives for forgiving Echo, and within good reason. The two of them clashed hard in this episode, but deep down we believe she still cares about Bellamy, despite how awful she can be to him. The fear in her eyes when she told him to get in the bunker when the parachutes dropped shows that she loves him. She gave Echo a chance instead of just pushing her into the pit or killing her on the spot. She did that for her brother, not Echo. Octavia has the mindset of “love is weakness”, which is why she feels she can’t openly express these feelings in front of Wonkru.

Aline: I hope not. I love the Blakes. I hate this storyline of them fighting over Echo. It took him 3 years to forgive Echo, but Bellamy doesn’t understand why Octavia doesn’t forgive her. Echo tried to kill Octavia. Twice. It’s understandable to me that Octavia sees her as an enemy. I hope this never breaks the Blakes for good because I’m not ready for this. I think they will stay disconnected for a while but I believe before the big war they will connect to fight together.

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5. How important do you think McCreary, as a hostage, will be in the forthcoming war? Do you want to see him turn on Diyoza and help Spacekru or do you like him too much as a bad guy?

Lola and Milena: I think he will be very useful considering that the Eligius people have all the advantages. I don’t think he will cross over to help our guys since even Diyoza is more willing to create peace with us than he is. Also it’s very interesting to have a character that is pure evil.

Mariana: We saw that McCreary and Diyoza had a thing in the past. We don’t know the details but we can see that they had sort of a relationship. Maybe we’ll see Diyoza afraid of losing him and trying everything to get him back, or she’ll be cold and focus on the greater good. The fact is: having McCreary as a hostage was the best idea ever. Memori an iconic duo. I don’t think McCreary will help Spacekru, we saw how much he hates everyone. I think he’s 100% on Eligius side.

Selina: Oh man, McCreary is a snake in the garden if I ever saw one. He is EVIL all the way, and I bet he can manipulate the hell out of Murphy even as a hostage. And while he might eventually turn on Diyoza, he would only ever do it for his own gain.

Jaclyn and Marcella: We love that McCreary is now a hostage. It’s going to be interesting for Diyoza’s reaction to this since their relationship is antagonistic towards each other. We can’t really see her risking too much to get him back, honestly. As far as him helping Spacekru, we think that he will do what is best for himself in his current situation. The great thing about the Eligius prisoners is that they don’t have strong loyalties towards each other, making them unpredictable.

Aline: I think this is a great opportunity for the game change and it can be an advantage for our guys to win Eden. I believe that McCreary’s absence stirs the things of the Eligius people. It has been said that they support more McCreary than Diyoza. They’re waiting for McCreary to take the power of Diyoza. So I guess this can mess things up a bit for Diyoza’s leadership. But I also think he will continue to be a bad guy.

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6. Out of all our heroes currently in the enemy camp (Echo, Raven, Abby and Kane) which do you believe will be the most instrumental in taking Eligius down?

Lola and Milena: I think the crucial part will be Raven and Echo. Combining Raven’s inhuman brain and Echo’s strategic skills they both can do much damage to the Eligius people, considering they’re on the inside now.

Mariana: For now Kane is playing an important role there. He seems to have earned Diyoza’s friendship (as weird as this may be), he’s trying to prove himself useful. I’m sure Raven will be extremely important too, because she is the smartest, she will come up with a plan to beat Eligius. Abby will be important too, because they’re depending on her to find a cure to that disease. She can use that to bargain in favor of Clarke and maybe Wonkru. Echo? I don’t know her. Kidding! She may be useful and give that device to Raven.

Selina: Hard to say! Right now, I’m not sure Kane and Abby even WANT to take them down, as Diyoza definitely seems like the lesser of two evils compared to Blodreina. Based on the episode description for next week, it seems like Raven and Echo will clash over their (separate) plans to sabotage Eligius… and if they could find a way to work together, I think Eligius would be screwed.

Jaclyn and Marcella: Out of all of them we think that Raven is the most powerful because of the technology aspect. Of course, the others will play vital roles. Echo as spy, Abby as doctor, and Kane as peacemaker. However, Raven is extremely smart with the technology, which is the Eligius prisoners biggest weapon. We think Raven being about to get the upper hand in that sense will be the most instrumental in taking them down.

Aline: Raven. That’s the girl! Our savior. Abby and Kane are not exactly trying to taking Eligius down. Echo will be the backup that Raven needs to become the most instrumental in taking Eligius down. If there is a girl who is capable of anything, it would be Raven Reyes.

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7. Another two week break means another light-hearted question: what is your favorite Madi moment of the season so far?

Lola and Milena: Scratch what we said about question 4, this is the hardest one, but it has to be a tie between her telling Murphy ‘I thought you’d be funnier’ and her face when she’s looking at Octavia in 5×06. She’s really a ray of sunshine in a show that is incredibly dark.

Mariana: I read ”Madi” and my heart gets happy. I can’t choose!! When she saved Spacekru and recognized Bellamy and said ”Clarke knew you would come” was so iconic, fantastic, show-stopping, never-done-before. And in this episode when she told Octavia the truth to protect Clarke I just melted and was just so satisfied. Also when she said ”I thought you’d be funnier” to Murphy, one of the greatest moments in the show. So these three moments are my favorites.

Selina: SO MANY! Madi is absolutely one of the season’s standout characters and she has such great chemistry with everyone she interacts with. I might have to go with her saving SpaceKru and just casually greeting them like they’re old friends before running off with Bellamy, though her “I thought you’d be funnier” snark to Murphy is a close second.

Jaclyn and Marcella: Besides the heart stopping moment of her telling Bellamy Clarke is alive, we love the scenes with Murphy and Madi. It was fun and light and we really hope to see more of that this season!

Aline: It’s so hard to decide my favorite Madi moment. Definitely one of them was when Madi driving the rover with Spacekru. Madi and Murphy were hilarious. “Octavia is my favorite” line was so funny and it was so cute to see Madi basically fangirl over Octavia. I also loved Clarke and Madi reunion (5×05) and when Madi meets Bellamy and Spacekru. “Bellamy? Clarke knew you would come.” One of my favorite lines of the season, no doubt.

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Fangirling leads to questionable decision…good to know that never changes.

One of the things we love best about The 100 is its portrayal of female characters. The fifth season alone started off with two stellar episodes, each of which were driven by two of the show’s female cast. If this were any other show we might have been worried that the rest of the season would just coast on the success of its first two outings. Jason Rothenberg and co. could have easily said, “We’ve done enough for feminism, let’s leave the real heavy lifting to the men.”

But The 100 is not like other shows. It has always relied on the strength of its women. Yes, Bellamy, Murphy, Kane and Jaha (RIP) are an integral part of the show’s dynamic but, more often than not, it’s the women who save the day. This episode, while not the strongest of the season, showcases that perfectly.

Yes, Bellamy pleads Echo’s case to Octavia but in the end it’s the two not quite allies that come to an understanding. Clarke (who has never had a better season) is driven by her need to protect her adopted daughter. And Madi, in turn channels the erstwhile Wanheda to keep Clarke from sacrificing herself unnecessarily. And that’s not to mention Niylah, Gaia, Diyoza and Emori, without whom the whole episode would’ve fallen apart. This episode, and indeed, the whole season could be defined by one sentence: “Sit back boys, the girls have got this.”

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We get it. The idea that Bellamy would somehow take up a vow of chastity during Spacekru’s exile on the Ring is ludicrous, especially considering the fact that he believed Clarke was dead. But while he may have had 6 years to see the good in Echo and forgive all her faults, the fans have had 6 episodes, most of them filled with way too much action and emotion to spare any for this new (to us) relationship.

That’s why the sudden focus on Bellamy/Echo in this episode felt a little hollow. The only proof we have that Echo has changed is Bellamy’s word and as much as we love Bellamy, we know that he hasn’t had the best track record with trusting people (cough, Pike, cough). Don’t get us wrong, we love Tasya Teles. She has been fantastic as Echo. And if this relationship had been given the space to grow organically, and if the viewers had been able to see Echo grow and mature or feel genuine regret, we might have been able to get behind this. But as it stands now, Becho just seems shoehorned into the plot, a tool to divide the Blake siblings and a stumbling block on the way to the eventual Bellarke endgame.

All that to say: we are firmly team Octavia on this one, minus all the murder and cannibalism and everything.

The only good thing we can say about the upcoming two week break is that it’s the last one of the season. Starting with episode seven, it’s a clear view to the season finale, something we’re both anticipating and dreading. Next week’s episode promises to be taut and terrifying, dealing with the introduction of yet another of our heroes into the Eligius camp and the immediate fall out of Madi’s decision to join Wonkru. (Side note: If anything happens to Madi we’ll call a riot. Anyone in?) Not to mention 5×08, which according to a little bird (aka Bob Morley during his convention tour) will be an episode to delight all us long suffering Bellarke shippers.

All we have to do is make it through the next two weeks.

THE 100 returns TUESDAY, JUNE 19th at 8/7c on THE CW.