The Subtle Greatness of The 100’s Bellamy Blake

Hello, Friends.

Why yes, I am here to literally just talk to you about The 100’s Bellamy Blake and why he, and actor Bob Morley’s outstanding portrayal and understanding of said character, are absolutely spectacular.

Gather ’round, kids. This is gonna be a long one.

As fans, I’m sure we can all appreciate those amazing moments when an actor portrays a character you adore, and they actually get them — you know what I mean?

There is a difference between when an actor plays a character and when an actor understands a character. There’s a moment in an actor’s portrayal where, perhaps, they ad lib a line that felt right in the moment for their character (“My sister, my responsibility”).

Or, perhaps, they show subtextual nuances in their performance. The ones you might not even notice until you re-watch earlier episodes after getting to know who that character really is and you think to yourself, “holy shit, he was setting this up since the beginning of the first season.” That is unreal to see, and it’s always so exciting to see it from the actors who portray my favorite characters.

Sometimes, a character just couldn’t possibly be played by anyone else.

Let me give this little gush fest some context, here.

Fans, writers, artists, actors — we all fall in love with stories, right? We fall in love with characters, we connect with experiences and emotions — we want to understand and explore these feelings and situations and the affect they have on people. Television presents us with a safe environment to explore extreme situations and emotions.

We’re totally intrigued by the human experience and condition and, every now and then, you find a character out of a sea of them and you say to yourselves: “that one,” because something about that specific character strikes a chord with you.

Maybe you see yourself in them. Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience to theirs and you feel connected to them that way. You feel protective of them, defensive when someone insults them because suddenly, it’s personal.

Regardless of the reason, you see this character, you latch on to them, and you adopt them as your own and, suddenly, you’re invested in them beyond a casual viewing experience. Suddenly, you really care about their backstory. Suddenly, you’re thinking about all the moments you don’t see on screen.

In Bellamy’s case, for example, I find myself thinking about what his childhood was like, what effect that had on him, and what his life would have looked like had Octavia never been arrested.

I wonder what the plan was when Octavia got too big to hide under the floor, when Bellamy wanted to strike out on his own and get married, and have a child of his own. Was any of that even in the cards for Bellamy, or had he already resigned himself to the fact that he could never really have a life of his own?

I think about how his Mother treated him, about the fact that Bellamy spent his whole life keeping a secret that he knew could get him and everyone he loved killed.

I think about the fact that Bellamy Blake probably hasn’t been able to relax in over fifteen years.

I think about the fact that Bellamy Blake can’t seem to make eye contact with people who compliment him, and how he always seems surprised when people who aren’t Octavia hug him or show him affection or gratitude.

I think about how Bellamy Blake must have isolated himself on the Ark because letting anyone get too close to him might bring them too close to discovering Octavia and I think we can all agree that that’s a risk Bellamy would never take.

I think about the fact that Bellamy Blake fears death, and yet, for some reason, he is one of the people most willing to put his life on the line for just about anyone else — and I think about what that says about his own self-worth. Then I think about what made him that way and it brings me right back to thinking about his upbringing, during which his entire life revolved around protecting someone else despite the risks to his own safety.

I think about the fact that he and his Mother both agreed that keeping Octavia safe was worth that risk — worth risking Bellamy’s life (because there’s no way Aurora or Bellamy could have known that Bellamy wouldn’t be killed if Octavia were ever discovered. He helped harbor her, after all. He helped keep her a secret).

I think about the fact that Bellamy was a child when he had to learn to put someone else’s well-being before his own. Bellamy Blake was less than ten years old when he was handed an infant and told that she was his responsibility — a statement that clearly stuck with him for the rest of his life if Bellamy’s tendency to utter “my sister, my responsibility” to himself whenever he’s about to risk or sacrifice a bit of himself for her is anything to go by.

Once again, allow me to reiterate how lucky this show is to have Bob Morley, considering he ad-libbed that line.

I think about the psychological, lasting effect something like that must have on a child — to more or less grow up knowing that your Mother was willing to compromise your safety for your sister’s, then to hate yourself for resenting that fact because you love your sibling more than anything and you’d never do anything to hurt them but, at the same time, you’re suffering and it doesn’t really seem to matter, it’s not as important.

What I appreciate about Morley’s portrayal is that it seems fairly clear that he, too, thinks about the things that we will never see on screen and the effect they would have on Bellamy — obviously, I cannot comment as to what extent he thinks about them, since I’m not Bob Morley and do not have insight in to his mind (although, I mean…it’s literally his job to think about it so I assume he does it quite a bit…).

Every so often, he says incredibly poignant things about this character that I feel so drawn to. In turn, I become more interested in hearing what he has to say about him because, through him and his understanding of the character, I learn things about Bellamy that the show will never tell me.

Here is an actor that I trust with a character I care about because, even if his insight might be different from what I, personally, had imagined, the explanations and statements he gives are not pulled out of the blue, nor do they leave me confused because they make no developmental or contextual sense (hi, yes, development and consistency is a thing — a very important thing. Please value and respect the thing), which means that I, as a fan, am engaged by what he’s revealing and what he’s saying.

In turn, it adds to the story and the experience, rather than completely throwing me off. Morley’s interpretations build depth for the character, which just makes Bellamy even more fascinating to fans.

When you really care about a character, it’s fantastic to have them played by an actor who also gives a shit about them and is just as interested in them as you are.

And I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Bob Morley gives a shit about Bellamy Blake.

Now, if you’re still with me, we’re gonna take a little journey through Bellamy’s top 5 greatest moments, and I hope you appreciate the fact that I had to re-watch so much of this show for this article. Because it was a damn hardship, alright?

(It wasn’t.)

Here we go:

5. “Whatever the Hell we want.” — Bellamy inspires the masses.

So, what better place to start than right from the beginning of The 100? Right from the point when everyone loved to hate Bellamy. Was he a supreme tool? In a lot of ways, yes. However, you have to watch every episode bearing in mind that, in this show, no one is actually really, truly a “bad guy” (okay, maybe not no one, but it is rare). They’re all victims of circumstance and you have to look at their actions bearing that in mind.

Now, you may ask yourself, “What the hell — why is this counted as a great moment?”

Well, friends, let me tell you.

If you watch closely, you can see Bellamy’s inner turmoil over his own behavior in the first few episodes of the season. When he’s talking to Wells by the bonfire, after Wells leaves, you can literally see Bellamy questioning himself — perhaps even regretting taking the road he finds himself on.

One of the things that made Bad Boy Blake awesome was the fact that Bellamy fans could catch these tiny, subtle moments where Bellamy’s true nature shone through (when he didn’t shoot Wells, for example. Or when he pulled Clarke out of the pit, rather than let her fall. He considered both, but he couldn’t do it). These are great freakin’ moments that are massively underrated because people like to write off Bellamy’s darker points in the first season.

I, on the other hand, want to embrace them because though they may not have necessarily been actions that can be deemed “good”, they were great.

Whether you liked him or not, you have to admit: Bad Boy Bellamy was impressive, and he was inspiring. He was one hell of a mastermind who managed to manipulate nearly 100 delinquent teenagers to follow his whims after, what, a single day on the ground?

He molded that group, played each and every one of them like chess pieces to ensure that things panned out the way he wanted so that the Ark would never follow them to the ground, so that he could survive.

Have you ever tried getting teenagers to do what you want them to?

Yeah. Impressive.

4. “Slay your demons, Kid.” — Bellamy looks out for Charlotte.

Ah, Charlotte. Bellamy and Charlotte. Pretty sure this may have been the turning point when it came to fans’ opinions of Bellamy.

This is when we saw a softer side of the Bad Boy — and thank God for that, because I think we can all agree that true monsters are those people who do harm to children (and animals, because how dare you); those nasty, horrible people who take advantage of naivety and innocence and a child’s inability to defend him or herself.

For Bellamy to treat a child like garbage would have been inexcusable, really.

But he didn’t. In fact, Charlotte was the first person (besides Octavia) that Bellamy was truly kind to. Like, really kind. When she followed Bellamy and his boys on their hunt, he could have easily brushed her off and sent her back to camp — but he didn’t.

He joked around with her, he stood up for her – he comforted her when she was having bad dreams. More than that, he talked her through it and taught her how to protect herself from her inner demons (granted, it backfired — but the thought behind it was very sweet).

The best thing about that monologue? The way it tied in with Octavia when she was escaping from Lincoln’s cave. “Screw you, I’m not afraid,” was like a Blake family mantra, and he shared that with Charlotte to get her through her nightmares.

The entire relationship between those two was just touching as hell, alright?

 

3. “You don’t wanna hurt Jasper, you wanna hurt me.” — Bellamy takes Jasper Jordan’s place as John Murphy’s hostage.

Can I tell you what breaks my heart about this one?

His own sister didn’t have enough faith left in him to believe that Bellamy would try to save her friend. Granted, his actions prior to this moment had been morally questionable, but what I like about Bellamy’s developmental journey into heroism is that he did it quietly and without much recognition. Bellamy didn’t save Jasper because Octavia demanded it of him, or because everyone was watching him.

He did it despite the fact that no one expected him to, despite the fact that even his sister believed he would just leave Jasper to his execution, and he didn’t make a show of doing it so that he could prove them wrong, or prove himself to them and redeem himself in their eyes.

He just did it. It didn’t matter than no one believed in him — he did what he felt needed to be done and he saved Jasper’s life by taking his place.

That’s heroism, folks.

2. “The grounders have been getting their asses kicked by Mount Weather for years. What we need is an inside man.” — Bellamy infiltrates Mount Weather.

Do I really need to explain why this is awesome?

Okay, I don’t mind if I do.

Bellamy is a certified badass, people. Now, I won’t say that he didn’t have help while he was inside Mount Weather, because I have no interest in discrediting characters for their contributions (shout out to Maya Vie and Raven Reyes for being crucial members of Team “Take Down Mount Weather”), but I will say this: do we really think anyone else would have lasted as long as Bellamy did?

Would have persevered after being tortured, bled, and dehumanized? Would have kept going after strangling a man with his bare hands and coming face to face with that man’s child?

Do you really think anyone else could have snuck around and fought guard after guard, despite exhaustion, and lived to talk about it (or, let’s be honest, not talk about it, because Bellamy doesn’t actually talk to anyone about what he deals with)?

Which ties right in to our number one Bellamy Blake moment:

1. “Together.” — Bellamy shares Clarke’s burden.

No matter how you wanna swing this – from a shipping perspective, from a co-leadership perspective, from a friendship perspective, or, hell, even from that terrible “Leader and Soldier” perspective that I’ve grown to hate, this is an outstanding moment.

When you think about it, actually, it’s even more touching if you honestly think Bellamy is below Clarke in any way, shape, or form because, if that is the case, then this decision technically is not his burden to bear. He could’ve stood by and let his “Leader” pull that lever and kept his hands clean of it.

But he didn’t. He wouldn’t. You know why?

Because Clarke is his friend, his co-leader, his confidant, and those are his people and he will do anything for her and for them. They are his responsibility, too, and he would never shuck that responsibility on to someone else. He fought to have a voice with these people, and now that they all trust him, he will keep fighting for them — to be someone worthy of their trust and loyalty.

And Bellamy is unwaveringly loyal to his friends, to the people he loves.

So, let’s just take a moment to think about how horrific the entire Mount Weather experience has to have been for him. Bellamy is a passionate and emotional character, he does what he has to for his people and he can justify his actions that way because it’s worth it, but, despite that justification, there is not a doubt in my mind that Bellamy feels remorse and crippling guilt over what he’s done, just like Clarke.

But Bellamy is still pushing through it because that’s kind of what Bellamy does — what he was taught to do — and the one person he might have felt comfortable talking to about all of this, his best friend, has now left him (#ComeHomeClarke).

…Sigh.

This show (and hiatus) is basically ruining my life.

Those are just five of my favorite Bellamy Blake moments, but I know there are so many more great ones that I didn’t have the time or space to mention. So, tell me: what are some of your favorites?

Leave me a comment below, and let’s get people talking about Bellamy-freaking-Blake!

The 100 returns to The CW in 2016.