The 100 Season 4 Episode 3

“The Four Horsemen” gave us great character development for Indra and Octavia, showed Raven struggle with her new role as a decision maker, and moves up the timeline for the disaster, to add a sense of urgency that has been hard to feel so far this season. We also got a nice revelation at the end that simultaneously deepened Grounder culture and gave us hope for our characters’ future. 

First, Indra and Octavia. This storyline was full of powerful moments between powerful women, and I soaked up every moment of it. We see Indra’s growing concern over Octavia’s eagerness to kill, not just because the intended victim was Indra’s daughter. There’s also a fantastic moment of Octavia being bested by a religious devotee who has an identical combat style, which is an excellent way to reveal what would otherwise be an awkward shoe-horning in of a character we clearly should have met before.

Seeing Indra with her daughter was our first look into her backstory in a long time, and a nice reminder of her religious faith, which has gone by the wayside in favor of action and Skaikru-heavy plots. While I’m sad to see both Lincoln and Ricky Whittle go, more Indra takes away some of the sting. Indra’s daughter rightly pointed out that Indra had found the daughter she was always looking for in Octavia, but I hope we haven’t seen the last of Indra’s daughter, or of Indra-centric storylines.  I’m also hoping for Octavia’s sake that her bond with Indra, which she’s willing to go to war for, is also strong enough to pull her back from the brink of her bloodlust. Over in Arkadia, as Raven becomes more securely part of the center of the show, we see her take on tough decision making for the first time. She even acknowledges this to Clarke, saying, “choosing who gets to live or die is your specialty.” The line is meant to cut deep and it does, but it’s also a tacit acknowledgment that up until now, Raven has been one of the many Skaikru who has slept easier at night because Clarke has taken these horrible decisions solely on herself, sheltering them from any moral fallout. In fact, the gravity of doing that so many times is exactly why Clarke spent the time after Mount Weather and into the first few episodes of Season 3 on walkabout. Now, though, Clarke has realized she can’t do it alone. Enter Raven, using her technical knowledge to fix the ship, and her leadership skills to govern supplies. 

The award for most improved, though, has to go to Murphy, who went from planning to steal to…stealing for a really good cause? And also for himself? But in all seriousness, Murphy’s backstory with his father being floated for stealing medicine to save him played really well into his overall development as a character. Who ever thought we would be rooting for Murphy over Raven? Still, he tries to play it off casually, urging them to, “go, be doctors!” Abby, on the other hand, minced no words when she tells Raven, “the radiation isn’t killing that child, you are.”

In this episode, Abby returned to the role she often played in season one, which Clarke mirrored in earth: questioning the group’s collective humanity, and pushing for ways to stretch the supplies a bit more to save just one more life. 

It seems this disaster will be making earth small, forcing everyone we’ve met throughout this world back together again. Nyko and Luna are defintely welcome, given the challenges they pose to both the Grounder and SkaiKru ethos, and that was even before the reveal that nightbloods might be the salvation. After the Grounder religion has seemingly been lost with the destruction of ALIE and (most of) the remaining tech, it’s good to see a new aspect of Grounder heritage to explore, in addition to Indra’s daughter’s religious calling.

Speaking of salvation, while the Jaha plot was largely a waste of time, it definitely felt like we needed to see some form of exhaustive search for other answers, and I guess this satisfies that requirement. It also gave us a look at a cult that is some kind of cross between Scientology and Heaven’s Gate (look it up, kids). 

Clarke’s inclination to delay making tough choices is natural, but in the end she has to make the list, which will most certainly be found. The Nightblood revelation could bring some help, but it would be a stunning reversal for it to save everyone, without any tough choices. Here’s hoping that all these pieces will start to erupt with our quickened pace.

Octavia’s name is SkaiRippa – somewhere, Stefan Salavtore is either flattered or annoyed.

“People fell in line behind the flame, now they’ll fall in line behind the sword” You mean Octavia’s sword, right?

“There is no Second Dawn burn in hell Cadogan” –bunker grafiti

“I’m a better thief than I am a hunter.” Murphy knows himself so well!

“If you can’t trust Indra, you cant trust me.”

“What’s wrong? You created a killer.” “I’m so proud.” “One kill, to prevent thousands? That’s good politics” “You still have hope?” “We still breathing?” “If you’re on that list, I’m on that list. Even if I have to write it myself.” Whether you ‘ship them or not, Clarke and Bellamy writing each other’s names on the list was a nice moment to recognize what they’ve done for their people and each other, just as their hesitation acknowledges the times they’ve fallen short.