The 100 Review: Survival of the Fittest (Season 2 Episode 10)
We had a plethora of dynamic duos on last night’s The 100, “Survival of the Fittest.” Octavia & Kane, Bellamy & Lincoln, Clarke & Lexa, and Jaha & Murphy. Not any of the match ups I would have ever predicted, and yet they all made for one hell of an episode.
Clarke and Lexa pretty much had filler written all over them, what with their very random mission to outsmart a hungry, hungry gorilla. As always, though, I got totally sucked in by another tidbit of Grounder culture. It seems they’ve got a bit of a Dahli Llama thing going on, as far as their chosen leader goes.
In a moment of hopelessness, Lexa reveals that if she dies, her spirit will find the next Commander via reincarnation. I would have thought that a warrior oriented culture like theirs would fight it out for leadership and not pay too much attention to things like spirits and mysticism. Curiouser and curiouser…
Jaha and Murphy take the cake for the most compelling character development. We see a lot of give and take between these two, as Jaha finally realizes just how much blood is on his hands, and Murphy comes to accept that having a little hope for the future isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I love how this show doesn’t ever forget its fallen heroes. Wells might have died over a season ago, but he’s still very much present in Jaha’s mind and motives. As he should be.
Speaking of fallen, it wouldn’t be The 100 without a shocking character death.
Farewell Major Byrne … I never really liked you.
Back at Camp Jaha, Octavia impresses Indra when she challenges one of her Grounders to a sparring match. Even though she loses spectacularly, her fighting spirit shines through, and Indra offers to make Octavia her second. Kane, bless his Machiavellian little heart, sees this as an opportunity and asks her to be the Ark’s spy inside the Grounder army.
I have to say, I think Kane might be the only one with his head screwed on straight here. He’s doing everything he can to support the alliance, but he knows all good things must come to an end. Planning for the inevitable betrayal that will come about once Mount Weather is defeated is just good sense, in my opinion.
Last but absolutely not least, Bellamy and Lincoln try to sneak into Mount Weather as Reaper and Captive, but the whole thing goes sideways at the last minute. I get that there’s not AA on earth anymore, but Bellamy had to know that getting an addict within ten feet of his drug of choice was going to end poorly.
While I loved Lincoln’s back story about finding a crashed space ship as a kid, he and Bellamy were definitely the most underutilized characters of the episode. There is a lot of tense history between these two men, and it was pretty disappointing to see them be all hugs and kisses simply because of Octavia. Then again, Lincoln’s betrayal probably put a definitive end to any sort of friendship between them, so maybe I’m jumping the gun here.
Will Bellamy make it out of Mount Weather’s clutches? Who will Octavia side with? Are gorillas really carnivorous? Let us know your opinions in comments below!
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The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9/8c on The CW.
Lindsay MacDonald
Lindsay is an associate editor for Tell-Tale TV. She is a writer, viewer, and internet addict. Her obsession with TV started with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and has been going strong ever since; current favorites include Scandal, The 100, The Walking Dead, and Arrow. She considers a perfect Friday night to be a joint-cuddle-session between an adorable puppy dog and her Netflix queue. Follow @lindsayjoane