The 100 Review: Ashes to Ashes (Season 6 Episode 11)

The 100 Season 6 Episode 11, “Ashes to Ashes,” marks a first for Director Bob Morley and a last for writer Charmaine DeGraté as Morley tackles the position behind the camera and Degrate writes her final episode for the series.

This episode works as a bridge to move many of The 100‘s key players into position as we move into the final episodes of Season 6 in an elaborate chess game that echoes the literal game being played inside Madi’s Mindspace.

Sheidheda: Chess isn’t a game, [it’s] a lesson in strategy and you’re not paying attention. 

WE ALL FALL DOWN

Inside the walls of Sanctum Sheidheda continues to be the absolute worst and I need to see him deleted from the flame as soon as humanly possible. Unfortunately, that must be a storyline for a different day. On “Ashes to Ashes” the Dark Commander only continues to demand control over Madi, urging her to go insane and take out every person who stands in her way on her quest to avenge Clarke.

It’s supremely disappointing that The 100 has Abby and Jackson perform this procedure on Madi when Russell is right there. Abby protested against using Madi on the previous episode, but it appears that each of our heroes acquiesces anyway. Narratively, it’s clear that the primary purpose of this choice is to force Clarke to see her daughter in this position by the end of the episode, where she’s then completely unable to react in order to keep her cover. 

I am trying to reserve judgment until the end of the season regarding moments like this to see if they pay off in the grand finale, however, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stomach the sacrifice of characterization for the sake of the plot. 

Russell: We can no longer afford our moral equivocations, but this is how we get our family back.

Russell’s line here has echos of Kane’s “this is how we save our people” at the end of Season 4, but where Kane showed genuine remorse for having to sacrifice some of his people to save the others, Russell has abandoned all pretenses of morality. He will do whatever it takes to get his family back, including murdering innocent people. He’s been doing it for 200 years, the only difference now is that he’s being honest about it. 

“Ashes to Ashes” rehashes many of the moral conflicts that we’ve seen before on The 100 only now, our people are on the other side of the quandary. We’re watching Jackson suck the bone marrow from our own people like the Mountain Men, while Ryker tests a new nightblood solution on Echo in order to save his family from being burned alive. Sound familiar?

The 100 has the opportunity to prove that their characters have actually learned from their pasts as we head into the final two episodes of Season 6. Will they be able to break the cycle of violence they seem to find themselves in year after year?

Gaia: Mistakes are forgivable, not learning from them isn’t.

Gaia and Murphy make quite the pair as their personalities contrast in almost every way, while they are also bound together by their shared dedication to Blodreina during Season 5. Miller goes back to his thief roots in order to steal the two of them a means of escape. This is a lighter moment in an otherwise dark episode, in an increasingly dark season. It’s refreshing to see Miller leaning back into who he was before the bunker. 

Ryker continues to have, as John Mulaney would say, the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair. He submits to Russell’s orders to turn Echo into a nightblood and abandons any intentions of carrying out a peaceful revolution. Ryker is perhaps one of the most infuriating villains The 100 has ever had as he claims to want to do better, but doesn’t do a single thing to actually be better. 

As Echo stalls to stay alive and buy time for her friends to save her we get a glimpse into her horrific childhood under Queen Nia. It’s been made pretty clear that Echo was used and abused as a child in Azgeda and that she was shaped into the person we met three years ago by the queen herself. The flashback shows us a pivotal moment in Echo’s past where it’s revealed that she was actually once named Ash and Nia essentially forced her to kill her friend in order to survive. 

It’s heartbreaking to watch and everyone involved does a magnificent job, but the scene isn’t all that revelatory. It does align with Echo’s shame surrounding her past and it tracks that she would’ve been afraid to tell anyone this story. She finally has a family that actually cares for her for the first time in over twenty years. She’s still fighting to survive herself, but she’s also fighting to make sure that they survive too. 

Echo doesn’t hesitate when the opportunity arises to take out Ryker. As a Prime, he could still come back, but he’s also had over 200 years to make the decision to be one of the good guys, at some point we have to draw the line on second chances. 

NOT MY RESPONSIBILITY 

Out at Gabriel’s camp Bellamy and Clarke share a tender moment before immediately returning to their old conflicting ways. Since the very beginning of The 100 Bellamy and Clarke have often offered opposing views on how to handle the situation ahead of them, and even after all these years, they do so again here.  

Bellamy: I’m so sorry Clarke, I knew you were a target, I didn’t protect you.

Clarke: Bellamy, you saved me.

Bellamy appears to have reverted all the way back to his pre-season 5 persona as he boldly declares that he doesn’t care about the innocent people inside Sanctum; he only cares about saving his people. As much as I admire his passion for the people that he loves, I have to say I deeply miss the Bellamy that convinced Madi to save the Eligius prisoners on the Season 5 finale. 

I understand Bellamy’s desperation to save their people inside the dome as they’re mostly his family and he feels responsible for leaving them there. However, it seems like a disservice to his character development to now have him consider the loss of innocent lives irrelevant. He even goes so far as to justify his actions by comparing them to Octavia’s as Blodreina. 

Sure Clarke’s plan puts her back in danger, but it’s Clarke. When has she ever not been willing to put her own life on the line for the sake of humanity? 

Octavia: Bellamy he doesn’t want to kill his own people. 

Bellamy: Why not? You did. I don’t need a lecture on moral relativity from the Queen of Cannibals. 

This moniker joins “the cannibal doctor and the man she loves” as another one of my new favorite insults turned titles from this season of The 100. Octavia’s done terrible things, but she’s finally owning those sins and trying to atone for them rather than justify them away. 

On their walkabout to retrieve the toxin Gabriel needs for the bomb, Octavia and Bellamy have a long overdue heart to heart. Octavia believes that she survived The Anomaly in order to come back for Bellamy. 

Octavia: What do you say when I’m sorry isn’t good enough? 

The Blakes finally reach a point of understanding that I think they may actually be able to grow from. Their relationship is so important to both of them when it’s in turmoil they both suffer. When they’re at their best, both Bellamy and Octavia can inspire each other to be better people. Octavia owns all of her actions, for better or worse, and Bellamy is finally able to break away from the idea that he is responsible for what she does. 

Octavia needed to say everything she said and Bellamy needed to hear it. Hopefully, this is a true turning point for the Blakes. I want to see them grow together and individually, while also continuing to care for each other in healthy ways. 

Clarke commits to her dedication to do better and live up to Monty’s ideals, by doing what she does best: coming up with another solution. She crafts an idea that would prevent a massacre but still give them the opportunity to save their people. She then gets the perfect opportunity to put that plan into motion when Murphy comes to bring Josephine back in order to save Emori.

Clarke takes Josephine to school when it comes to successfully pretending to be the other, easily convincing Murphy, Jade, Madi, and especially Russell himself. It’ll be interesting to see how long Clarke has to keep playing both sides in order to save her people and if she’ll be able to keep pulling it off well enough to keep Russell from hurting anyone else. 

It’s excruciating to watch Clarke have to pretend to be Josephine when she discovers they’ve been using Madi to create Nightblood, but Eliza Taylor does an incredible job which only serves to increase the devastation of this moment. We can see the conflict inside Clarke, but we know that she must continue to pretend if she wants to save the people that she loves. 

THOUGHT DEBRIS

• Morley did a fantastic job of highlighting emotion and inner conflict on this episode, both behind and in front of the camera! Bravo! 
• Do you really think Diyoza is dead? I sure don’t! If she is, I’m going to be pretty mad about it. How do you think The Anomaly will tie into the big story as we approach the season finale? Let me know your theories in the comments! 
• Gabriel may not be building a bomb anymore, but he does mention that Simone is the one who initially weaponized the toxin. What’s to stop the Primes from using it against the Children of Gabriel?
• We learn that Gabriel has been posing as Xavier for 10 years and that Xavier had a sister. It’s impressive that he kept up the ruse that long. 
• Jordan is recovering thank goodness. Do you think we’ll see him again on the final two episodes?
• Can we stop threatening Murphy’s loved ones and forcing him to do our dirty work in order to stay alive? Let the cockroach rest. 
• The next episode features Madi still in danger, bombs going off around our people, and Abby getting drugged by Russell. Mom, can you come pick me up? I’m scared. 

 

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

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

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