Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Episode 4 Review

Check out my episodes 1-3 list of impressions if you'd like some more overall thoughts. 

As I said in my episodes 1-3 post, my expectations for this show were very low, and perhaps that's helped me enjoy what little of it there is to enjoy. I found this episode kind of... boring... compared to episode 2, for example, and I feel that there are way too many characters and they're losing focus. But hey, at least we got dwarves this episode! 

The Good: 

• The Dwarves are the best part of this show so I'm glad we got to see them this episode. I love Disa and the scene with her singing was very cool. 
• That scene with the petals at the end of the season was amazing. Very well done. I didn't quite enjoy how it was used in the plot, but the scene itself was great. 
• I don't quite know how I feel about the kid with the sword hilt - Theo - but he had some good moments in this episode and the scene where the old man confronts him about the sword is awesome. 
• No Harfoots. 
• Finally getting Galadriel out of Numenor, because I was growing tired of that whole nonsense plotline. 
• I enjoyed seeing Galadriel in jail, to be honest with you. This is the consequence her irrationally aggressive behaviour deserved. Also, it was enjoyable seeing the queen question her and ask on what authority she was making her demands. 
• They're definitely doing a good job with the Sauron mystery. 

The Bad: 

• I still really hate the intro with the weird dancing sand grains. 
• Galadriel's childishness continues to be ridiculous. 
• Much as Theo's escape scene was... cool... I couldn't quite enjoy it because why on earth did he escape at night? Ridiculous. 
• I really dislike Isildur's sister - and to be honest also Isildur himself, but at least with him I know why they're focusing on him. I really don't need her and her random boyfriend who dresses like he's in ancient Rome for some reason. I want more Elendil, not his stupid children. 
• Since episode 1 I've felt that they're trying to recreate some of the best moments of LoTR without really understanding what made those moments great. I was afraid they were going to try to do a Boromir on Arondir, but relieved that he made it out alive. 
• The slo-mo scene in the woods was terrible. They just don't know how to use slo-mo and they need to stop trying. 
• I feel as though they're being way too vague about certain things. I haven't seen enough of Celebrimbor's plans to know what they are or care about them. I haven't seen enough of what the dwarves are hiding to really care (pretty sure the Mithril was just to get Elrond off their backs, they have something else much bigger - like maybe one of the Silmarils?) - anyway they should make it clearer what's going on if they want us to care. 

Overall, I'm still watching but the show is kind of slow and has many flaws. 

Rings of Power Episodes 1-3 Review: A List of My First Impressions

I had a feeling that Rings of Power wouldn't be that great. I didn't think it could ever live up to the Lord of the Rings movies, especially after seeing some of the issues with the Hobbit movies. So when the Rings of Power show started being hyped I tried to ignore it all and not put my hopes up. In fact, my expectations were quite low. Maybe that helped me glean what little enjoyment I could when I finally watched it. Overall, the show isn't too bad, but of course, as I expected, it can't live up to the Lord of the Rings. 

I mean, they're trying to make a story based on random notes and appendices. Of course it can't be as good as JRR Tolkien's well-written stories. Also whereas Peter Jackson was clearly a huge fan who took time to do everything right and had whole teams and workshops dedicated to getting the best effects possible this show has a huge budget but I don't necessarily think it has anyone with that level of dedication to presenting the best possible work. Anyway, despite these issues the show is watchable and at times enjoyable, but it and the controversy around it made me want to come back to this blog and comment on it a bit. 

I'll organize my scattered thoughts into a list of impressions: 

Be warned, I'm not even trying here and there will be SPOILERS AHEAD...

Visuals & Stylistic Choices: 

• I'm finding the Intro visuals extremely disturbing. I don't know what it is about those little crumbs or grains of sand or whatever moving of their own accord into random shapes... I think they could have done literally anything else and it would have been better. 
• Overall, they somehow missed the mark on the Elves. Something about the short hairstyles (actually even Gil-Galad's long hair isn't working for me to be honest) or maybe the excessive CGI or something... the whole thing just isn't giving me those same vibes of "this is amazing" that I used to get from watching the scenes with the elves in LoTR. It's not a huge issue and Elrond's acting grew on me in episode 2, but it's a missed opportunity. 
• What is up with the Irish Borrower-Hobbits' hairstyles? Why? (I mean after seeing the migration scene I think the idea is camouflage but... NO.) 
• I keep seeing people call the show visually stunning, but... I'm not seeing it. To me the CGI is too obvious and none of the visuals have wowed me. Numenor is nice, but... nothing too special. 
• Numenor's buildings - what little glimpses I had - have taken a lot of inspiration from Middle Eastern architecture including Mediterranean and North African designs and colour styles. There was a brief shot of a street at one point with striking blue walls and then some of the decorations... definitely an interesting choice. I really need to re-read some of the source materials, but I could have sworn than in LoTR it mentions some islanders coming to help at the end and their descriptions gave me a very Lebanon-ish vibe so I was interested to see that architecture and it's making me want to re-read the books. 
• That horse riding scene was so bad. They had such a big budget for this show how do they not know how to convincingly show us someone riding a horse and having fun? It can't be that difficult. 
• The Orcs are... strange. It's like they're trying to make them similar to the Orcs in LoTR, but not getting close enough and they just feel like people in badly-made costumes at times. 
• Someone watched Peter Jackson's LoTR movies and made a list of the awesome moments and is trying to recreate them without knowing why people loved them... that is the only possible explanation for the ice roll scene, which just seems like a pathetic copy of the cave troll scene... 

Characters and Acting & Some Thoughts About Racism: 

• Why does Galadriel not open her mouth when she's speaking? It's very annoying. And they keep focusing excessively on her face, like some producer is obsessed here and it's extremely annoying and is making me hate the character.
• I absolutely LOVED the scenes with Durin and Elrond and Durin's family. Excellent.
• Arondir is awesome, but I really could have done without the whole love story between him and that random human woman as his introduction... we do not need love stories and we certainly don't need yet another love story beetween and Elf and a non-elf. Please. 
• Why are all the Irish Borrower-Hobbits Black except the main character and her best friend? This was the perfect opportunity to have a group who is actually supposed to be "browner of skin" in canon to have positive representation and have a Black MC who is awesome, but no, of course they couldn't let such a character who was clearly meant to be beloved be Black. Everyone is so busy trying to defend the show against the racism of the people who freaked out just because there are Black people at all, but once we get over this we're going to have to talk about how the show is still, actually, perpetuating a lot of this racism. 
• While we're on the subject of racism, why have the Queen of Numenor be Black only to make her against the Elves? I really hope this changes or something, because again, it's just lazy and racist to only include Black people so they can do the unpleasant tasks you don't want to have the White characters do. 
• Speaking of which... why did it have to be Arondir who volunteered to cut down the tree? I mean clearly for the elves this is a BIG DEAL and I don't appreciate that they had the only Black Elf we've seen on the show be the one to do it. 
• Galadriel still needs to open her mouth when she speaks. And to stop being such an idiot. 
• I was very excited to see Elendil to be honest with you. He's just great overall and has been doing an excellent job of acting. 

Characters who could be Sauron (or other interesting people): 

• I missed the creepy kid with the magic sword in episode 3. I don't know why no one's said it on any of the discussions I've seen, but the kid was definitely possessed by Sauron after he gave the sword his blood. The way he calmly said "Coming Mother" or whatever at the end of episode 2. He's Sauron guys. 
• Halbrand is interesting, I'll give him that. I think their biggest success with this show so far is making people speculate on who is going to turn out to be Sauron and it's definitely a good way to create interest and get people to discuss things. I'm seeing a lot of people say Halbrand will be Sauron, but an even more interesting theory is that he might turn into a Nazgul or even more interestingly, I saw a take on reddit that he might be the Ghost King (The Way is Shut. It was made by those who are dead. And the Dead Keep It)
• I'm pretty sure the meteor dude is Gandalf, but I've seen some interesting theories about him as well. I really don't want him to end up being Sauron, that's for sure, but they're definitely trying to keep that open as a possibility. 

I think that's enough for now. I'm looking forward to seeing Episode 4 if only to see what they do with some of these characters and see who's going to end up being Sauron. Also, I've mentioned some concerns about racism here, but if they make Arondir turn evil or something I will be extremely mad. He's got to be my favourite character so far. 

The Letter for the King Review: How to Use "Representation" to be Racist

The Letter for the King is a TV series I recently found on Netflix. I thoroughly enjoyed the first few episodes because it had that epic fantasy feel you don't find much in TV shows - not unless they're accompanied by tons of blood and gore. So I was pleasantly surprised to see this show that was catering to a younger audience and free of all the grimness but still had that whole epic/medieval fantasy feel. 

Most refreshing and exciting about this show was that we had a Black boy as the main character - as the hero. And in the first few episodes his backstory and his personal struggles are portrayed very well. I was able to ignore the occasional thinness of the plot and the tropes and stuff because I would get to see this kid learn how to use his magical powers and become the hero of prophecy. These are well used tropes for a good reason, they work well - and to see them applied with a Black main character would be awesome. 

And then the end of episode 5 happened and wow! 

SPOILERS AHEAD 

YOU WON'T WANT TO WATCH THIS ANYMORE AFTER THIS SPOILER

So it turns out that the main character had no magic to begin with. It was the white girl all along. And then, in the final confrontation she defeats the evil sorcerer, the guy who has literally absorbed the powers of multiple powerful magic users, by GLOWING. She literally did nothing but stand there and glow. But, guys, it's ok, because the Black boy got to hold her hand while she was glowing. 

Wow. 

Within two seconds the show went from giving a positive portrayal of a Black HERO to throwing out all this development and turning him into a completely useless character so the White girl can be the hero. Oh, and let's not forget that the badass Asian girl character (who was literally the most competent of the young knights-to-be) turned out to be a complete traitor to the very end. 

Let this be a lesson to anyone trying to make any show or book or movie. If you're considering "adding diversity" to your media just don't bother please. If you're just adding it in without realizing why it's important to have these characters then you're probably going to end up being racist instead. Because that's what that was. It would be much better if you didn't try to include any representation and just had all White characters. 

It almost felt as if the original show's writers had been having some kind of tug of war with some producer who just couldn't stand all the representation and couldn't handle having awesome diverse characters. The tug of war kept going with the Asian girl's character, so she kept switching from an ally to a traitor. Finally, the original writers were fired and the racist producer took control and was like "PLOT TWIST!" 

*sigh*

The 100 Season 7 Review

 Check out my reviews of previous seasons: Season 1 Review. -- Season 2 Review -- Season 3 Review -- Season 4 Review -- Season 5 Review -- Season 6 Review. 

By the end of Season 6 I was already getting tired of the show and had little hope that it could be salvaged. I didn't realize it would get so much worse. That's not to say there weren't some strong episodes, I particularly liked the second episode of the season, but overall this season went quickly downhill to the point where I just wanted the show to be over. With so many characters, old and new, and so many different planets and locations the show lost its focus and at one point it just became the "Clarke jumping around from planet to planet" show. I kept watching because I knew it was the last season and just wanted to see it through to the end - and also because of Murphy and Emori - but by the end of the season I literally didn't care about any of the plotlines or characters anymore. If you're considering watching the show I would recommend watching seasons 1-4 or even 1-5 and then just stopping. Seasons 6 and 7 just aren't worth it. 

There will be SPOILERS beyond this point. 

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. 

One of the things that struck me the most watching the final episode is that the writers were extremely confused about the messages they were trying to convey. And they were trying to discuss some pretty heavy themes as they had been from season 1. The problem is that when your theme focuses on war and "ending the cycle of violence" but you have no concept of why wars even start it becomes cartoonish and silly. Wars happen because people are fighting over things. Because people want something someone else has or want more power or want to fight to hold on to their own things. The show even teased these ideas in the earlier seasons when Skaikru was in conflict with the Grounders over the actual ground and territories. It made sense. But this season there was no sense of connection that any of the characters might have to anything they were fighting over. They weren't even really fighting over anything in particular. Clarke was just literally going around shooting people randomly, so many of the characters were hopping from planet to planet, and the "final war" was started as a distraction. 

Especially with the reveal in the last couple of episodes that Earth was habitable again it just made no sense for all these different groups of people to completely ignore Earth and continue fighting over Sanctum. At least a few of the characters, particularly the grounders, should have attempted to just return to Earth and live there. Even if it was Sheidheda trying to retake Earth or if they had a conflict/war over Earth because it was the most habitable with no moon-induced-insanity or anything. That, at least, would have given the "last war" meaning. 

Also, I find it absolutely ridiculous that they ended the show focusing on Clarke basically saying that her genocides were justified and that she would do them again. Wow. Really? So we want to "break the cycle of violence" but your main character is given a platform to basically say that her committing genocide is OK because she wanted to protect her friends/Madi? So war is bad when other people do it, but for the main (White) protagonist committing genocide is justified? 

I just... and then, let's not mention the fact that she killed her best friend (Bellamy) over a notebook that she then didn't bother trying to grab from a meter away, so this excuse of doing it for her friends is complete and utter nonsense. Honestly, that's all I'm going to say about that character death. The actor for Bellamy made a good choice in just quitting before they somehow managed to butcher his character like they had to all the others. 

Some of my favourites like Raven were so sidelined that they almost became background characters and others like Indra just kept doing so many stupid things that they didn't even resemble their old selves anymore. Even Octavia who kind of remained one of the main characters seemed useless aside from a couple of moments. 

There was one stand-out episode: Episode 2: The Garden, which was wonderful because it took time to focus on only three characters and develop their relationships and show us what they went through in the anomaly. After this episode I had hope for the season, but this hope was quickly dispelled as the season continued to spin its wheels and get nowhere. 

Another really well-done scene was Emori's death scene. It was creepy and so well acted. And they brought her back so I didn't have to be really angry about her dying. Which brings me back to the point that Murphy and Emori were the best characters throughout. 

Finally, I want to mention the "Backdoor Pilot" episode Anaconda. It was... overall, as its own thing it wasn't necessarily bad. But I really hated what it did to the Grounders and their culture. The language, Trigadeslang, which I had previously assumed to have developed naturally to keep secrets from Mount Weather suddenly became just a kid's made up language and that made it really dumb. I actually really hated it. 

It's hard to find more things to talk about in relation to this season. I'm not even angry I just don't care and haven't for a while. At the end of the day I'll remember this as a show that had a great concept, some really good moments and ideas and questions, but failed to deliver on all fronts. Seasons 1-4 were good and they at least knew what they wanted from it and followed through on their decisions and on the character moments. Beyond that the show became aimless and I think the writers lost track of what they wanted it to be. 

The 100 Season 6 Review

Check out my reviews of previous seasons: Season 1 Review. -- Season 2 Review -- Season 3 Review -- Season 4 Review -- Season 5 Review.

The end of season 5 was the end of an era on this show in many ways. It was obvious going in that season 6 would have to be very different. I don't think I really liked the way they went about that, though, and by the time I finished the finale - while it really wasn't too bad compared to all the ridiculous things they've done on this show in the past - I couldn't help wishing that after the end of season 4 the show had either just ended or been done differently. Season 5 was OK, as I said in my review, Season 6 was also OK, again with some interesting things, but I just find myself caring less and less as it goes on. I think that's all I want to say without spoilers so let's jump into the details...


SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

Ok, so new planet, new cultures and things for them to learn about and new people for them to attempt to assimilate with and seek shelter with. The characters we came to love and hate for 5 seasons were pretty vulnerable and in need of acceptance as they had a spaceship and little else - even the algae wouldn't be enough for more than a few of them. So the show had a new beginning and it was almost like a reset - bringing them back essentially to where they were at the start of season 1. And in the dialogue they made a big deal of it being a chance for them to do better now with this second chance they've been given. In my opinion, even though they kept saying they wanted to do better and certain characters were constantly attempting to change overall nothing much about the show changed and they failed to really change in meaningful ways, both as characters and as a show. I also really think the show wasted its potential to show a rich new culture on this planet because what we saw seemed very fake somehow and very shallow. It made me miss the Grounders and the squandered potential there.

I don't want this to become too long so I'm going to try to narrow my thoughts down to two lists: things I liked and things I didn't.

Things I didn't like: 

- Sanctum's aesthetic and their lack of exploration of it beyond what seemed to be ten square meters. When they reached that bright, happy-looking "palace" area in sanctum they just got stuck there and most of the action took place there. It didn't feel like there was much more to the entire civilization that had developed on the planet.

- The mind-drives concept. I had a few problems with this. First of all, it kept the world and culture and conflict on this planet very simple instead of allowing it to grow and develop and evolve like the grounder culture had done over the years. So we end up with a situation that isn't very nuances or very interesting and a culture that's not that rich. Really, it was just a playground for these people who had first explored the planet and wasn't allowed to grow because they wouldn't just die already. It never got out of their hands and never grew organically. The second main issue I had with the mind drives is that they felt like a rehashing of the ALIE/flame storyline and brought it back into the forefront instead of just letting it die already. And, just like the society on the planet itself, it didn't allow the grounders to grow beyond the flame stuff and for their society to naturally develop now that they've assimilated all these others, left the ground, and become space-faring people. It kind of crippled the show, in my opinion. Also, it made things like Abby sleeping with that young dude and the creep that almost turned Echo into his dead wife possible which... gross. Just gross.

- All the screentime they gave to Abby Griffin. I mean, come on, I know I'm not the only one who is done with this character and has been since season 1 and with all the potentially interesting characters and places to explore why are we still focusing on Abby? I could go on about how enraging she is this season for hours, but I just want to say that the moment I hated the most was when she found out Clarke was alive and went and slapped Murphy for betraying them or whatever. I mean, where do you get off pretending you're better when LITERALLY TEN SECONDS BEFORE you were helping these people do the same thing to others. Just suddenly when it's her daughter it's suddenly unacceptable - which fine, from a character stand-point, by why did no one put her in her place? Why is our Raven being relegated to a minor side-character that's just there to comfort/forgive/save her all season? I just... ugh... ok, I'll stop now before it really does become a rant, but hey, at least she's finally dead! Best outcome of the season.

- Wasting Jordan's character. He seemed really interesting for a couple of minutes and then they just kind of forgot about him only to have him be kind of maybe brainwashed at the end of the season. Total disaster.

- The anomaly and all the stupid questions it left. Again, this was a total waste of screentime and just very uninteresting and I really don't want them to waste time on it next season. Also, it promises time travel and if there's one way to destroy the plausibility of this show even more than they've done already then this has got to be it.

- Breaking up spacekru and their relegation to minor characters. Bellamy is the least interesting character from spacekru at this point and they wasted all the screentime on him. Emori, Raven, Echo, and Murphy would all disappear for long stretches or kind of fade into the background and I hated it. And it wasn't just spacekru. Indra. Gaia. Kane. Niylah. Miller. Jackson. All interesting characters that really should have had a lot more to say and do. And let's not mention how quickly they killed of Shaw.

OK, I could go on, but these are the main things.



Things I kind of liked: 

- Octavia's "redemption". I mean, don't get me wrong. The way they did it was ridiculous, but I'm here for Octavia being a good guy again and just moving past the Bloodreina disaster.

- Abby's death. Finally.

- Jo!Clarke. I hate Clarke, but I'm not going to lie. That whole thing with her in Clarke's body was excellent acting and just great. Maybe it's because I hate Clarke that I enjoyed it so much?

- Echo's tiny backstory and general awesomeness. Also, she's a nightblood now so if we're going to have this commander/flame/mind drive nonsense continue or if the grounders are going to need a nightblood leader still then it can potentially be her and I am here for it.

- The Gaia and Miller imprisonment/escape. They actually used characters that were well established in a great way! Who knew the show could do something that good.



Yeah, that's it. That's literally all I enjoyed about this season.


Going into season 7 the only hope I have is that they somehow use the anomaly to fix Earth and go back there. I mean, the show COULD actually just follow through and take some time to develop the culture on sanctum in interesting ways, but I doubt they have it in them at this point. I think they're just going to end up having it focus either on Sheidheda being the big bad somehow or on some other alien/evil prime inside the anomaly. Or they'll go to some other planet and destroy that one too. Whatever.

The 100 Season 5 Review

Check out my reviews of previous seasons: Season 1 Review. -- Season 2 Review -- Season 3 Review -- Season 4 Review.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Season 5 of The 100 started off on a great footing. I absolutely loved the first two episodes and the way they each focused on one location/group of characters and showed us what happened in the aftermath of "Praimfaya 2.0" and how the characters dealt with it. Even though I hate Clarke with a passion I actually enjoyed her episode!

By the end of the second episode, however, I had some worries and they only increased as the season went along. I didn't mind the introduction of the prisoners much, because it made sense in world and was a good way to change things up and introduce new conflicts. What I did mind was the show trying to make us feel as if Diyoza was somehow the good guy increasingly throughout the season and the destruction of the great character development they had done through 4 seasons with Octavia. I tried really hard not to hate who Octavia had become, or even to hate her, but find it a justifiable change, but the problem is that they didn't do enough work to show us what happened in those six years to make her the way she was.

And slowly throughout the season, as they continued to focus on characters nobody cares about like Abby Griffin and Diyoza and ignore characters I wanted to see more of I became pretty disengaged with the show. I've seen other fans commenting about how this season felt slow and not much happened - I don't think that's really the problem - I just think that they failed to show us why characters like Octavia, Miller, Niylah and so on had become who they were. They suddenly portrayed Octavia up as a cruel dictator right after having her be the most reasonable/fair one at the end of Season 4 and they didn't show HOW that change had occurred. I would have really been behind another flashback episode or two showing more problems in the bunker and how Octavia dealt with them and maybe that forcing her to become as ruthless as she was, but at the same actually showing us why characters like Miller and Niylah keep saying she saved them all. In a way this is the same thing they did with Bellamy in season 3. A sudden change in character that could have worked it they had bothered investing time in it, but just really failed with the way it was handled.

I think the other main issue is that by the end of the season the only characters I cared about (Spacekru) were so sidelined or helpless that the outcome of the conflict meant pretty much nothing to me. All I wanted was for Murphy, Emori, Echo, Monty, Harper, and Bellamy I guess, to be OK. In fact, I would have loved to have seen these guys just set up their own little village somewhere with Monty providing food using his Algae/farming skills and just ignore the stupid conflict between Octavia and Diyoza.

Another thing about that conflict that really bugged me is all the previously smart characters suddenly deciding it was a smart idea  for ALL OF WONKRU to SURRENDER to these prisoners who had literally betrayed them the second they got their doctor/got what they needed. Come on, now, Indra? Bellamy? Kane? Do you seriously think that would have been a good idea? Do you honestly think that your life would have proceeded just fine with Diyoza playing dictator instead of Octavia? Please.

Finally, the constant betrayals with Kane and Clarke just made the show completely random and pointless. Clarke's always been the antagonist in my view (at least since the last part of season 2 where she decided to kill all of the mountain men and their children) but the constant back and forth she did this season, betraying absolutely everybody without a care for who was getting hurt except Madi made it really hard to care about anything. Because every time anybody from any side or group or opinion made any progress there was Clarke ready to destroy that progress!

There were things to like about this season though. I liked Shaw as a character because all his actions were based on his desire to do the right thing and not be oppressive. He seemed to genuinely care for human life and his explanation of why he was with the prisoners in the first place and how he had helped them escape was great. His interaction with Raven and their growing fondness for each other were also great because I liked both characters and really wanted Raven to be happy.

I also particularly enjoyed Monty's entire story line this season, even though it was very little. What little we got really worked and I'm really glad that he and Harper got a happy ending without having to watch these morons do more and more stupid stuff. A great way for these two characters to go without destroying their character or anything. And in the end Monty got to use his skills to literally give all that's left of humanity a second chance which is awesome.

Overall it was an OK season. This show really works best if you binge watch it, I think, because you can kind of gloss over the pointlessness and just work through the things that make very little sense and just enjoy the spectacle and enjoy raging at the stupid decisions that Clarke and co make. The ending also provided an interesting reset for the show to again give them fresh new ideas and conflicts (and new worlds for Clarke to destroy, I guess! LOL)

The 100 Season 4 Review

Check out my reviews of previous seasons: Season 1 Review. -- Season 2 Review -- Season 3 Review.

Season 4 of the 100 picks up with the game-changing revelation that ALIE made to Clarke at the end of season 3 - the revelation that there will be another nuclear apocalypse that they have no hope of surviving. The season focused on the various characters attempting to find a solution, a way to survive, and they were hampered at pretty much every turn by the various politics and backstabbing and everybody wanting to save just their own clan. It kind of made sense, but it was also a little enraging to have all these potential solutions get destroyed by the idiocy of certain characters. The season did, I think, bring the characterizations a step up from the last season. While there were still ridiculous things being done the show at least allowed Bellamy to move past the disaster that season 3 was for him and grow into a character we can like again.

Also, while characters like Clarke and Abby continued to do stupid/enraging things that made them pretty much the bad guys this wasn't necessarily so bad, because it wasn't new. What I especially liked this season was that they were being called out on it - more people were commenting on it and putting them in their place with their "for the greater good" speeches. And let's be honest, by this point I've accepted that a large part of the fun of this show is to rage about it - rage at the characters and at the writers for the things they put them through and make them do.

To be honest, I wasn't feeling this season at all in the beginning. The turning point for me was near the end of episode 9. Episode 10 was phenomenal and the rest of the season was great as well. I don't think I can say any more without spoilers so here goes...


SPOILERS BEYOND THIS POINT

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED

SPOILERS

A few spoilery thoughts about this season:

- I absolutely loved - and would consider this the turning point of the season where it became good - the scene where Clarke is about to make herself Commander and then Roan just shuts the whole thing down, tells her they don't need a saviour, especially one who doesn't even respect their beliefs and customs at all, and reveals the fact that her nightblood was artificially created through science. Of course Abby was the one who backed him up thereby doing one more Abby-ruins-the-day act, but this time, I was behind it. I LOVE that they had the show kind of call itself out on the whole saviour Clarke being the saviour thing. It was beautiful. Up until that point the show was very predictable and I had no doubt that Clarke would become the Commander, but this just took it in a whole new, and much better direction. And in the end the clans decided to have a conclave and battle it out for who gets to keep the bunker - solving the problem in their own way.

- Clarke's betrayal was ridiculous, but it put her so much more obviously and firmly in the bad guy role and I honestly - while I was enraged by the action for quite a while afterwards - I'm now ok with it, because I think the show and alot of fans can stop trying to pretend she's the good guy now and the show can start focusing on characters I care much more about.

- Jasper was finally killed off. I mean, he got a spear in his chest in episode like, 1, and still survived, but he was an interesting enough character until season 3. In both seasons 3 and 4 he just became extremely annoying and if they had allowed him to survive past this point it would have been too much. They killed him off in a logical way for where his character was and he got to say goodbye to Monty, so it worked well.

- I was not expecting them to kill off Illian, Roan and Luna and so quickly after each other. Didn't think the writers of this show had the courage to do that with characters that had become so important/prominent. It worked. It really worked.

- Raven's role is becoming more prominent and I love the little group that formed with Raven and those who went to save her finding a different way to ride out the storm.

- Also, of course Clarke had to do something big at the end - and survive, I'm pretty sure the showriters don't have enough courage to get rid of her once and for all - but I'm very glad she got separated from the others and they can have their own little dynamic without her. This also allowed her nightblood thing to become important again.


Overall, this was a good season and I'm excited about how the ending has changed up the dynamics for the next season.