The 100 Review: A Sort of Homecoming (Season 7 Episode 14)

As we get into the home stretch of the final season, The 100 Season 7 Episode 14, “A Sort of Homecoming,” takes us to a place we never thought we’d see again: earth! 

More specifically, The Second Dawn bunker turned Blodreina’s fighting pit, but surprise, earth has come back after about two hundred years after the Damocles missile. 

It’s hard to remember that two hundred years have elapsed since these characters last set food on this planet and the mood feels entirely different then Octavia’s, “We’re back bitches!” from the pilot. The delinquents are now adults, and they have to live with what they’ve done. 

“A Sort of Homecoming” opens up immediately after The 100 Season 7 Episode 13, “Blood Giant,” and Bellamy’s death at Clarke’s hand. 

At that moment, Clarke hates herself for what she did and rightfully so. Part of the problem I have with Bellamy’s death on “Blood Giant,” is that this death doesn’t have an impact because of the way they treated his supposed death on The 100 Season 7 Episode 5 “Welcome to Bardo.” 

They played into the character’s emotions when everything coming from the cast was that Bellamy would be back. We expected him to return. The radical change in him was the part we didn’t expect and the sudden and total devotion to Cadogen was jarring. 

But the fact, that we watched these characters mourn, and had seen them go through the stages of grief, made his death only to get him back different, made his death less impactful. 

So it’s not entirely surprising that while Clarke is sobbing in front of Octavia and Echo, they’re willing to forgive her because that was not the man that they knew and loved. 

“A Sort of Homecoming” should be a joyous and bittersweet episode. Earth is back, but so many people have been lost, and that sobering realization is what gives this episode weight. 

Now, this isn’t to excuse the fact that Bellamy’s death is brushed aside in the first five minutes — that is not okay for a title character to ever be cast under the rug like that. Even Finn got his own haunting episode after Clarke killed him. 

However, the horrible things that happened in the bunker during the jump after the death wave really need final closure. Seeing Niylah, Indra, Gaia, and Octavia all contend with the things that happened there feels very deserved, and much more appropriate than The 100 Season 7 Episode 1, “From the Ashes.” 

Those little moments between different subsets of characters who finally air secrets about themselves are quintessential to what this final season should have been. It should have been about spending time with these characters who we have come to love, imperfections and all, instead of pushing us towards a final battle and introducing time dilation. 

But, since we still have to deal with Cadogen and the people on Bardo, we can’t spend too much time drinking away memories. Cadogen has Madi’s journal and he wants her back. Fortunately, Clarke and company are in a tinder box with a one-way path to send in the troops and a bomb. 

Sheidheda levels up, siding with Cadogen and the disciples to get Madi out of the bunker. The scenes featuring the cast against an invisible fighter are incredibly performed, and J.R. Bourne’s expressions inside the suit are menacing.

While the fight scenes were a nice addition to the emotional weight of the return to earth, the real draw is Lola Flanery as Madi.

Madi’s had enough with people deciding for her and being told what to do, and rightfully so. She was just starting to form bonds on Sanctum before this unfolded. While she may not have been on screen, Madi has definitely grown leaps and bounds, and she is ready for the fight to be over. 

It’s heartbreaking to see her stab herself to get to Bardo, but it’s also hard to argue with her. 

At this point in the series, it’s time for Clarke to realize that there are other adults here. While she may be a mama bear to Madi, she’s not a de facto leader. There are other people here, who have dealt with their actions. They can help shoulder the burden, and until Clarke realizes that it feels like history is doomed to repeat itself. 

While “A Sort of Homecoming” is better than most from the season, it still has its drawbacks, and I am hoping that as we get into the final two episodes we don’t lose the character-driven plot we have gained here in favor of Cadogen’s last war.

Stray Thoughts: 

• Jordan and Hope feel like a sickeningly fitting pairing. They were both children who never saw Earth, who have now lost both their parents. It’s a cute idea, but not one we’re going to see come to fruition. 
• Gabriel’s death is sad, but also not entirely unexpected. If we really want to talk about homecoming, he’s the character that has been around the longest and it feels fitting that he would perish on the land that is his home. While Gabriel may have spent hundreds of years away from Earth, he valued life and he wanted to die in spite of what he created.
• The last five seconds of this episode had me worried. You can’t take Emori from John Murphy! Not two episodes away from the finale! What is this a Joss Whedon show? 

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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