The 100 Recap: Pilot
When The 100 came out, it was around the time that The CW packed a shitty taste in our collective mouth with the romantically foul Star-Crossed. You could imagine my reticence to dive into their newest series, The 100, which is completely different in plot and tone but still features a cast comprised mostly of angst-ridden (and beautiful) teenagers.
Imagine my surprise when I found myself completely invested in The 100 story; although not a single minute went by, I didn’t groan at some inane piece of dialogue or bit of action. But still, considering this is a CW show, I’ll go on record as calling this The 100 premiere an unmitigated success.
Did I really say that? Sheesh. Before you go forward, know there are a few spoilers here, but nothing too specific. There are a few reveals during The 100 episode that are genuinely interesting and surprising, and I don’t want to ruin them for anyone.
Let’s delve into the backstory. It has been 97 years since the Earth experienced a nuclear apocalypse, and all of the survivors currently live in space on a ship called the Ark, which is run by Chancellor Jaha (Isaiah Washington).
In The 100, there are strict rules aboard this ship: anyone over 18 convicted of a crime faces the death penalty, and no parents are allowed to have more than one child due to population control. We’re not going to get into the fact that there are only being English-speaking people on board this ship, for hopefully obvious reasons.
For a mission to test how livable the Earth is after all these years, a ship of 100 juvenile delinquents (and then some) are sent down to the surface. And you can bet there is drama among all these criminal youngens.
Our main The 100 character is Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), daughter of Ark doctor Abby (Paige Turco) and a father who was murdered for information he discovered. (One of the things I like is the use of the word “floated” instead of “killed.”) Then there’s the Chancellor’s son Wells (Eli Goree), who doesn’t get along with Clarke.
Also, in The 100, we have Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley), a kid who wasn’t even supposed to be on the ship but snuck on to protect his sister Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos), a “second child” who was hidden from the orbiting society.
Bellamy did something terrible back on the Ark and doesn’t particularly feel it’s his responsibility to let those monitoring the 100 know they’re all okay. He’s happy to make it look like everyone is dying so that no follow-up missions are sent down.
The ship crash-lands miles away from their intended location of Mount Weather, where a supply-stocked military base is hidden. Here is where one of the early wishy-washy The 100 plot elements come in.
For The 100, one must assume that whatever supplies are being held in that base are still going to be good enough for people to use, but that’s fine. What’s dumb is that only five of the group make the trek to the mountain, while the rest just want to hang around and party outside of the confines of a spaceship.
While Clarke and her crew go to the mountain, they come across a couple of deadly creatures that probably weren’t around before humans left. These scenes are genuinely tense, despite being cloaked in cornball nonsense.
You’re trying to survive, yet you need to dip in a small river? I guess I can’t really relate to anyone who hasn’t ever experienced life on Earth, so I’ll try and give some of those The 100 moments the benefit of the doubt.
It isn’t quite clear exactly how any of the rebelling assholes will live if they aren’t trying to find food and water, but I’m perfectly content with this series racking up an extremely high body count.
One of the things I like is that with such a huge The 100 cast, there’s no problem with people dropping like flies. We do see a couple of deaths by the end, particularly one that poses a mystery as to what else is lurking around this mountain.
And things aren’t exactly peachy on the Ark either, as a possible tragedy leaves control of the ship to Councillor Kane, played by Lost‘s Henry Ian Cusick. I kept waiting for him to refer to someone as “Brotha” or to call out for Penny at any given moment. Sigh. Anyway, just because the Ark is full of capable adults doesn’t mean they will act like it.
When all is said and done, we’re left with a plot that could go in a million different ways, with characters that aren’t overly predictable. Though it’s easy to make fun of these kids for being kids, the situation they’re in will doubtlessly turn them into completely different people as the series continues, which could be quite refreshing.
However, if they encounter Jaden Smith, I’ll be the first person running for the hills.
