The 100 Review: The Four Horsemen (Season 4 Episode 3)

The 100 Season 4 Episode 3 has the audience holding their breath, on the edge of their seats, and biting their nails all at once. “The Four Horsemen” continues The 100’s Season 4 trend of home run episodes.

What makes this episode work so well is the way that it takes the relationships we are used to seeing and mixes them up by adding a third, unexpected element. We are accustomed to the dynamics between Octavia and Indra, Clarke and Bellamy, and Abby and Raven, but seeing each of these relationships affected by a third person makes each connection new and exciting.

It deepens the audience’s perception of the world and understanding of characters we know have interacted before, but we haven’t gotten to see them share more than a few moments together before.

OCTAVIA / INDRA + GAIA

In “The Four Horsemen” we learn that the new flame keeper is actually Indra’s estranged daughter.  If it wasn’t already clear that Octavia would do anything for Indra, it is now.

Upon learning that Gaia is her child, Octavia instantly stops fighting her and even offers the girl a hand up. Octavia goes above and beyond to ensure Gaia’s safety as well as to maintain the security of Roan’s position on the throne.

Octavia’s quick thinking to let the looters destroy Gaia’s replica of the flame keeps them all safe, allows Gaia to keep the real flame, and gives her an excuse to give Roan when she comes back empty handed. It also earns her Gaia’s respect. Octavia’s assassin skills aren’t her only strengths, Season 4 is showing that she’s got a brilliant mind for apocalyptic politics.

Roan: They’re calling her Skairippa, death from above.

Indra: I’m so proud.

Roan: You should be. One kill to prevent thousands? It’s good politics.

The relationship between Indra and her daughter is obviously strained after years of separation and disagreement. It’s a classic case of familial contention: Gaia is not the woman Indra expected her to grow into, and she’s upset that her mother won’t accept her chosen path.

Indra: My daughter was not meant to wander the Earth looking for nightbloods. My daughter was meant to lead armies, my daughter was meant to lead our people.

I’m certain we haven’t seen the last of these two, especially since Gaia has the flame now. The question is will she and Indra be able to set aside their differences and heal before it’s too late?

CLARKE / BELLAMY + JAHA

During Season 3 we saw Bellamy and Clarke’s relationship fall entirely to pieces and then slowly begin to heal. In Season 4 they’ve been more like the Clarke and Bellamy we grew to love in Season 1.

They are sharing the burdens of leadership and working together to find a solution that will save their people.

Jaha understands them both in unique ways. He’s been where they are, he understands the motivations and the consequences of making impossible decisions for your people, decisions that don’t always turn out for the best.

Bellamy is still struggling with the choices he made in Season 3, and trying to atone by saving as many people as possible. Meanwhile, Clarke is still bearing the burden of having to decide who lives and who dies.  

Jaha: You keep her centered.

Bellamy: You’ve got that backwards.

Jaha confirms what the audience already knows: Bellamy and Clarke are better people when they have each other.  Jaha sees that partnership, he sees the good leaders inside both of them, and he seems to be atoning for his own sins by attempting to help them with theirs.

ABBY / RAVEN + MURPHY

Much like Jaha understands the burdens weighing upon Clarke and Bellamy, Abby understands the position Raven is in with rationing. Abby knows what it’s like to have a limited supply because she grew up on the Ark, she’s had to make the hard calls that Raven is facing now.

But at her core Abby is a doctor and that means if there’s anything she can do to help people, she has to try.

Abby: If we can save one life, would you call that a waste?

In the Season 3 finale, we got to see Murphy working with Abby to keep Clarke alive while she’s in the City of Light. I suppose there are just somethings you can’t share without ending up liking each other, and pumping a heart with your bare hands is one of them.

 

In a beautiful callback to the reason his father was floated, Murphy steals the medicine Abby needs and stays with her in medical to see if it works.

When Raven comes back, he clashes with her as he always has but it allows Raven to see the heartbreaking loss of the child Abby had been trying to save. Murphy works as a catalyst to fix the rift between Abby and Raven and their different approaches to this situation.

Jackson: Who knew he had it in him?

Abby: I did.

The necessity of making these impossible decisions has clearly been wearing on Raven, but in “The Four Horsemen” she begins to understand that it cannot be all black and white. There needs to be a balance between making the smart decision and making the right decision and no one understands that struggle more than Abby.

We’ll definitely be seeing more of these three together and I can’t wait to see what kind of ideas they come up with, because while each of them approach problems differently Abby, Murphy, and Raven all compliment each other in a very interesting way that may be necessary when it comes to saving the world.

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• Roan has hired Octavia to be his own personal assassin and honestly Octavia is a genius. Echo might have to look out, Roan seems to have found a new right hand gal.
• Ilian and a group of looters are destroying technology to prevent another mind control outbreak. Is this the best idea, is it possible destroying all of that will backfire?
• LUNA’S NIGHTBLOOD DNA MIGHT BE THE ANSWER. I am so ready for the science squad to investigate the properties of Luna’s blood and how she was able to survive the radiation that took out the rest of her people.
• Murphy and Emori are consummate Slytherins and I love them for it. They’re so much smarter than anyone gives them credit for.
  • Bonus points if you caught the Harry Potter reference before this one.
• Ex-Engineer Jaha is the best version of Jaha and I actually really like him, okay? Don’t judge me.
• WHERE DID HE GET WIFI THOUGH?
• Although the bunker turned out to be a dead end (literally) I still want more from this plot. I want that bunker and it’s history to lead to SOMETHING because it’s far too fascinating for a one-off story.
• This last bullet point is in memory of Marcus Kane, he’s not dead I just really missed him during this episode.

What did you think of this episode of The 100? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The 100 airs Wednesday at 9/8c on The CW.

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