The 100 Review: The Queen’s Gambit (Season 7 Episode 7)

We’re not on Nakara anymore, but we sadly don’t have any more answers on The 100 Season 7 Episode 7, “The Queen’s Gambit.”

Broken down, this episode essentially amounts to pairs of people being locked in separate rooms to work through their issues with a few characters making moves outside of these setups.

The character-driven moments have been some of the strongest this season and that’s what makes “The Queen’s Gambit” worth watching.

The strongest scene comes in the form of Diyoza and Hope, who get to work through one of my favorite sci-fi tropes: “My daughter was five when I last saw her and now she’s an adult.” I’ve seen this trope so many times before and sometimes the writing barely scratches the surface.

Keeping Hope and Diyoza locked up together gives them the chance to work through some of that trauma. 

While it’s rewarding, we also haven’t seen much of these characters for the past two seasons. Diyoza spent half of Season 6 on Penance, and Hope was more of a thought than a person until The 100 Season Season 6 Episode 13, the season’s finale. It’s touching to connect with these characters, but it’s also not who we should be connecting with after seven seasons. 

Echo and Octavia’s moments in their prison are also compelling, but a little flat. 

It’s fitting that Echo’s going through her grief alone. She’s been a pretty independent character since we met her, and in recent seasons Bellamy has really been her touchstone. His death also means the loss of another home.

Taysa Teles does a great job conveying that hollow feeling of grief on this episode, and it’s heartbreaking seeing her go back to solder-mode. The thing is, we only get a taste of this shift, and while it should be a destabilizing and transformative experience, it doesn’t have that effect overall. 

I think a part of that is because, despite seeing Octavia’s memory, it’s hard to believe that Bellamy is dead. (Afterall, Bob Morely’s name still appears in the opening credits, and his death was never confirmed like many others.)

Since we found out that Bellamy allegedly died on The 100 Season 7 Episode 5, “Welcome to Bardo,” we haven’t really had the space to grieve his loss in part because of what I am now calling “the problem of the too many planets.” The fact that all the characters are spread out means that the story now has to eat plot and give each character news as they’re reunited.

And if you beat that drum enough, it’s going to lose its resonance. 

Even seeing Clarke get that news didn’t feel like it should have. While the sounds designers attempt to convey some distress, the moment is shattered by The Second Dawn humans calling her The Key. 

Because this is the perfect time to remind the audience that there’s a final war to be had and that Clarke is apparently the key. I’m starting to think we should dub this season “the season of repetition” since the phrases keep coming up but no one is explaining what that means.

Naturally, as the plot gets a little more redundant, we need to introduce a new character. It’s a good time for the Shepherd to come out of stasis and give the audience the same cryptic notes that everyone has been saying for the last seven episodes. 

Let’s leave Bardo alone for a moment because things are actually starting to become a powder keg in Sanctum. 

Emori and John are the stars of this storyline this week, and that’s how it should be. While the myth of Kayleigh and Daniel prime has a limited shelf-life these two are the characters that deserve a happy ending the most. 

They have suffered a lot and it’s about time they were given a bit of levity. 

Watching Emori revel in her new role is great, and the fact that she’s finding purpose and healing herself is inspiring. The fact that it all goes to heck in a handbasket is less so, but it’s still fun to watch.

Following the motif of “two people locked in a space,” we have Russell and John who are engaged in an elaborate game of chess. While the tension is strong in those scenes and the payoff is definitely there, it could have been more effective if there weren’t two similar storylines happening on Bardo. 

Stray Thoughts:

• I am sure Madi’s drawings are going to come into play by the end of the season, but in the meantime, can we all just take a cue from Jackson and let the girl play soccer. 
• I get that Gabriel is obsessed with the anomaly stones, but I really want someone to punch him in the gut for what blowing the plan to leave. 
• Clarke isn’t leaving Bardo is she? 
• Still no idea where Gaia is? No one is concerned? Really?

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

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The 100 airs Wednesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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