Less than a century after a nuclear apocalypse devastated Earth, Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), the protagonist of the TV series The 100, is haunted by another holocaust. Specifically, the one in which she played a pivotal role, saving her comrades—colonists from the orbital Ark—from becoming organ sources for the residents of the underground bunker Mount Weather. However, her actions triggered the horrific deaths of countless innocent people, women and children. Racked with guilt, she refuses to join her comrades in the newly established colony of Arkadia and wanders the forests, where it transpires a bounty has been placed on her by the Grounders—that is, primitive clans formed from survivors after the collapse of civilisation. Ultimately, it emerges that Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), the ‘Commander’ of the Grounders and Clarke’s former ally, is behind it all, seeking to renew her clans’ alliance with the ‘Sky People’. She has her reasons, given that she herself is the subject of schemes among rival clans. Meanwhile, in Arkadia, a rift develops among the colonists when Charles Pike (Michael Beach), leader of the settlers from Farm Station—who suffered heavy losses at the hands of the Grounders—begins advocating that the colonists, using their technological knowledge and modern weaponry, ruthlessly settle scores with the ‘savages’. However, the real threat comes from former Chancellor Thelonius Jaha (Isaiah Washington), who has become a fanatical follower of A.L.L.I.E. (Erica Cerra), an artificial intelligence that instigated the nuclear war a century ago and now seeks to control the surviving remnants of humanity through virtual reality chips.
Although it may not be immediately apparent, the third season of The 100 is far more ambitious and spectacular compared to the previous two. The spectacle itself is not the focus, as the action is firmly grounded on Earth, eliminating the need for frenetic special effects. However, the effort to craft an ‘exotic’ world for the Grounders and their customs has provided ample work for set and costume designers. The ambition of the third season lies in the vastly expanded scope of the world portrayed—it is no longer about a handful of survivors on orbital stations or their conflict with the few residents of an underground bunker. Instead, viewers, much like the colonists, must grapple with thousands upon thousands of Grounders in clans interconnected through complex, inscrutable, and unstable alliances. Consequently, the season’s plot unfolds through multiple subplots, which the writers manage, not without difficulty, to ultimately weave into a cohesive whole. This means the third season, much like the first, initially tests viewers’ patience, as some subplots contain rather unconvincing ‘shocking’ twists that seem primarily designed to complicate the characters’ lives—and to stretch the season to 16 episodes instead of 13 or 8.
On the other hand, the writing team, led by series creator Jason Rothenberg, faced complications behind the camera that significantly shaped the episode content. Chief among these were the commitments of two actors—Alycia Debnam-Carey and Ricky Whittle (who portrays the Grounder Lincoln)—to other television projects (Fear the Walking Dead and American Gods), necessitating the elimination of their characters. In Lexa’s case, her lesbian relationship with Clarke, coupled with her sudden—but, within the series’ context where even the most popular characters fall like wheat—plausible departure, provoked furious reactions from fans and self-appointed guardians who interpreted it as homophobia. Although Rothenberg faced death threats on Twitter and other social media as a result, there is no doubt this incident significantly boosted publicity. Rothenberg was compelled to find some form of atonement, offering Lexa’s fans a relatively brief but memorable appearance in the thrilling finale—a scene that will remind older viewers of a similar, albeit much shorter, sequence in John Milius’s Conan the Barbarian.
When such ambitious goals are set, it is to be expected that they will not be fully realised, and the third season of The 100 falls far short of perfection. In fact, it could be argued that it is inferior to the second season. The primary reason lies in the less-than-well-written or defined characters. This applies to Pike, portrayed as a one-dimensional antagonist, whose bloody actions are unconvincingly explained by a flashback that appears rather late in the season. The situation is even worse with Bellamy (Bob Morley), who, for rather unconvincing reasons, decides to support Pike in his warlike intentions, despite his character’s experiences in the previous two seasons suggesting this would be far from a prudent decision. Scenes where A.L.L.I.E. controls the colonists via chips come across as an attempt to, albeit indirectly, cater to fans of today’s extremely popular zombie films. Some violent scenes feel less disturbing than excessive, including crucifixions or a city whose streets are literally awash with blood. Despite all this, as well as a mild cliffhanger suggesting further apocalyptic complications for the protagonists in the next season, The 100, thanks to solid acting and a few well-executed action sequences, provides a satisfying level of entertainment for sufficiently patient viewers.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in the original Croatian version was posted here.)
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