1.5 Twilight’s Last Gleaming We’re not even half way through the season yet, and the body count is ticking up at an alarming pace. Wells and Charlotte were pretty significant deaths down on the ground but, even without including any of the main cast members in Section 17, the departures in Twilight’s Last Gleaming felt heavier by far. Upon hearing about the fate of the Ark and the plan to discard people to give the rest a chance, parents, husbands and wives all came forward to volunteer for the floating. It was in this moment that the audience realised The 100 might actually go there, and in this moment that my expectations for the rest of the season shot through the roof. The only issue is that the show currently feels like its split in half, with the hook-ups and melodrama down on the ground and the real, meaty post-apocalyptic stuff solely on the Ark. It’s understandable that the reaction of children and teenagers to such dire circumstances would be entirely different to that of adult officials with power over the outcome but, as this episode proved once and for all, there’s a significant divide in terms of stakes, atmosphere and tone. Maybe that difference wouldn’t have been so stark if the action down on the ground hadn’t been so wrapped up in that love triangle nonsense. That makes them dangerous in the short term, and also theoretically capable of taking down the Grounders, but something about government-sanctioned assisted suicide feels far bigger than anything the show has yet attempted. Abby’s leaked video didn’t cause the riots Kane and the Chancellor were predicting – quite the opposite – but the knowledge that so many people selflessly sacrificed their lives for nothing, which will be revealed when they realise what those flares actually mean, most certainly won’t incite more loyalty and sacrifice from the mass population. Abby and the Chancellor, who have so far been painted as heroes against Kane’s villain, are just as accountable as anyone for this turn of events, and they’re going to have their fair share of guilt to deal with. Will they interpret the sight of those flares the way the hundred want them to? And, now that Clarke knows what Bellamy had to do to come down with his sister, does that mean their uneasy alliance is back on? Bellamy seemed completely happy here to let the Ark know they’re alive, despite his resistance to including them up until this point. Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Murphy’s Law, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
