A different journey to the same destination is a surprise all its own.
Bardo and Sanctum found times stuck with the same antagonists driving the story, but redefined what it meant to be going in the same direction again.
From Sheidheda stirring up trouble to Echo creating chaos with a ticking clock, only one of them could come out on top.
But in the process, there were lives lost, and now the future for those in Sanctum is unknown.
During The 100 Season 7 Episode 10, Clarke arrived in Bardo with the others just to have another issue. Echo's need for revenge forces the others to stop her before it is too late, but Diyoza and Anders die in the process.
Meanwhile, Gabriel and Cadogan have a fun millennial lunch date, and Jordan cracks the real Bardo code with the help of the Green legacy.
Then in Sanctum, Sheidheda conveniently gets exactly what he wants, and the audience gets to experience an outfit change that no one wanted.
"A Little Sacrifice," written by Nikki Goldwaser, is an exaggerated attempt to deflect from the once ago slow progression in the narrative. It uses humor to focus on the selfish behavior driving the split storylines and the ambiguous last arc of The 100.
With the writing and directing as almost an action movie, the episode follows the beats that have most of the characters in the same positions that they were before.
The only difference is the loss that deserved more focus and the hope that maybe someday soon, the audience will see Bellamy Blake again.
The Bellamy Corner (Sponsered By Clarke Griffin)
It is finally the perfect time to get to talk about what Bellamy Blake would have wanted, especially when we might be so close to seeing him again.
Without Bellamy around, though, it has been on Clarke to comfort those around her. Clarke selflessly continued to take on that role of the heart, not truly allowing herself to feel everything, but instead being there for her people.
Clarke was there for Raven, and in a beautiful moment, she was there for Octavia as well.
Octavia and Clarke almost exist as a memory of something good that gets to resurface, because their common thread was always Bellamy.
The two didn't always know how to exist outside of that, so it was perfect the way they came together because of their love for him.
It was also indescribably gratifying to see Octavia get to show emotion about her brother's loss. She didn't have the time, whether because others demanded that attention more or because the narrative didn't want her to grieve.
But then in that room, with her original family, Octavia got to put her feelings first finally.
And that only got better with Miller, someone who Bellamy trusted with his loved ones, coming together to mourn with Octavia as well.
It was also a wonderful nod to their history, with Miller struggling to get away from what happened in the bunker and the two of them starting a new journey when they were both in better places.
That is what Bellamy Blake would want.
But then the bigger picture kicks in, with the other characters looking to comfort one another in private corners, because they seemingly can't mourn when Echo is on screen. Her pain is meant to override everyone around her since no one understands her loss on the same scale.
Get the flock out of here.
Miller
Not even Octavia, apparently.
Did Echo even once ask Octavia how she was doing with all of this? Did she tell Octavia that she was sorry for her loss? It doesn't seem like it.
If we are talking about what Bellamy Blake would have wanted, it isn't this.
In startling contrast, this episode reinforces that Echo's proclaimed love for Bellamy is selfish drives her entire life, and it doesn't allow her to see how anyone else could be affected by it.
It could be her love for Bellamy that makes her so blind, or it could just be Echo's natural inability to empathize with her supposed family.
Because all season it has been Echo and her feelings at the center of this significant Bellamy loss. But as much as the narrative thinks that only Echo is allowed to mourn him, so does she.
Echo selfishly makes plans outside of what Diyoza and Octavia assumed was their original plan.
She isn't pretending to fit in to survive; she is just playing along until she can put her plan in place. From there, she is driven by her need for vengeance, not caring about those around her until it is too late.
Everyone has to push aside any grief they might have; Octavia can't mourn her brother, Clarke can't mourn her undefined soulmate and partner, Raven can't mourn her close friend, Miller can't mourn the person he looked up to since their time on the ground.
All of that has to come to a standstill to calm down Echo's selfish actions. Her turmoil is one of the many constants this season, and it is an obstacle to any growth.
Clarke, Octavia, Raven, Diyoza, and Hope all rush to stop Echo before it is too late. It puts their lives at risk, and for what?
Is this where we still pretend that they are Echo's people when in her mind, there is nothing more important right now besides vengeance?
Should the audience continue to feel bad for Echo when she has yet another breakdown that probably won't bring her any closer to moving on? She broke down during The 100 Season 7 Episode 5, which put everyone at risk, but especially them finding Diyoza.
She had another breakdown during The 100 Season 7 Episode 7, an episode literally dedicated to Echo's pain over Octavia's, and that again resulted in her only moving on to this new Echo. Except for the new Echo was just the original Echo.
Now we're back for another edition of Echo breaking down, and that builds up to a catastrophic chain of events that ends with another loss.
Are we still supposed to pretend that all of this is what Bellamy would have wanted?
Bellamy Blake was in a place where he wanted to set the world around him on fire. If Echo knows him so well, then she should remember that losing Clarke broke him.
She didn't see that part because if Echo saw his reaction, she realized how much someone who wasn't her or his sister meant to Bellamy.
Regardless of that little baiting fact, Bellamy went through all the same stages of grief. But like the level headed person that we know him to be, Bellamy stopped to think about what Clarke would have wanted.
And right after that, he stopped looking for revenge. By not selfishly thinking he was the only one going through this pain, Bellamy was able to try to do what he thought would best preserve Clarke's memory.
Meanwhile, Echo tries to use the memory Bellamy to support her one-sided need for revenge. Just like she didn't think to check on Octavia, Echo also didn't find the time to wonder if Bellamy would have wanted all of this.
Because at the end of the day, this entire focus on vengeance over getting out of Bardo keeps putting everyone else in more danger.
It is also a question once again of where the narrative thinks it needs to go. When the story moves a little farther, suddenly, there is more time wasted, and nothing changing like it could have by now.
Maybe this is all meant to waste time until we have Bellamy back, or maybe there is no reason for this. Regardless, the wait for Bellamy is brutal and emotionally exhausting.
His memory right now is meant to motivate someone else's destructive streak, and he deserves better. He deserves better than to be poked at by the dialogue; little digs about people caring for him too much or only focusing on the darker points of his past.
Mentioning him putting the flame in Madi or how he was there during Pike's planned massacre isn't remembering the male lead. It points at his past for absolutely no reason, because it does nothing for the actual season.
The Bellamy we remember is the one that deserves to drive the story again. His selfless love for those around him is what drove him when he was kidnapped, and it was what was driving him when Anders sent him to some random planet.
Give Bellamy Blake back to The 100 and keep the digs about him in the past. It has now been ten episodes, and without Bellamy, the gaps in the show continue to be glaring.
The Action Movie Heroes
Clarke, Raven, and Miller only got to Bardo, and already they needed to save the world again.
This episode managed to position the heroes of the story quite well, allowing their reunion with Octavia and Diyoza only to make them stronger. The amount of time spent on this group of people in Bardo wasn't enough considering how little all of them already exist in the narrative.
But the seven of them made it work because that brief amount of time was still so familiar.
The 100 creates this illusion that friendships don't need to be focused on if they exist already, as if connections don't need to keep getting built up, so it was all about the natural chemistry that exists between everyone.
It was still more hollow when the time was ticking with every scarce scene they got, but the space they took up together almost made up for it.
Having Clarke doing something outside of holding a gun to Cadogan's head was also refreshing if still a bit dry. It is mind-blowing that with each new episode, it feels like the show needs to be reminded that Clarke is the lead.
It is disheartening that these conversations need to keep happening during the last season when Clarke should be essential to everything. Losing both her and Bellamy this season makes it feel like a very different show that everyone is watching.
But Clarke got to be herself with Octavia, which was another welcome surprise.
It was hard to judge where Octavia was when the audience wasn't allowed to know her motives.
Knowing that she cared about Levitt was a comforting twist because even though their relationship is far from conventional, at least there are some moments of Bardo's version of romance.
But their honeymoon phase could also be in danger, considering Octavia left him behind. It is an interesting shakeup for Levitt since he seems to have chosen Octavia as one of his people. He goes above and beyond to keep her safe, but that means she is also his weakness.
On the other hand, Octavia isn't allowing Levitt to be there yet for her. She knew he would be okay when he was found, so she left him behind to be with her people.
Let's find out what the three most dangerous women on this or any planet are up to.
Clarke
It could threaten their relationship going forward, or Levitt could forgive her without us even seeing it happen. The stakes haven't been as high as they used to be on The 100, so it is more likely that this will never be mentioned again.
The Action Movie Villain
I think I've seen this film before. And I didn't like the ending.
Bardo faced a similar dilemma when Clarke and the others got there, only to end up having to stop Echo before it is too late.
While this was another obvious tactic to waste some time without changing too much about where everyone was in Bardo, at least most of them left that Stone Room.
But it was all about getting to Echo before it was too late, and the results were heartbreaking.
Why do the female characters only really get the spotlight when they are a detriment to the others?
Octavia, during her Blodreina phase, drove The 100 Season 5; she was the villain, and she got the most screentime for that exact reason. The darker Octavia got, the more the show invested in her journey.
But then she tried to find redemption, and by the time she got to Bardo, it was like Octavia didn't even have her voice anymore.
Don't waste this, little one. Don't become like me.
Diyoza
Raven's prime screentime, at least this season, lingered in her morally ambiguous decisions in Sanctum. It isn't shocking that Raven isn't used often; this is a constant problem that is never addressed.
But then this time around, she got the spotlight when she sent Hatch and his team to die in that reactor room, and beyond that, it is like the show thinks she has nothing to offer.
When the content was about Raven's choices that ended in death, suddenly, there was time to explore that. Once she found some peace and tried to move on, so did the attention that the show was giving her.
Then there is Clarke, a character who made questionable choices during the end of Season 5. The show wasn't spending the right amount of time on any side, but Clarke's choices were painted as wrong, and those around her no longer trusted her.
But the narrative kept going back to Clarke during that point in her life. As she was shown to be unreliable, suddenly, the screentime lingered more than before.
So this pattern has continued with Echo; she is creating obstacles for the others, and the show has never followed her more for it.
This is a constant that now walks hand in hand with female characters calling one another their sister when there isn't actual content to support that statement.
Raven has Clarke as her sister after they spent more time ad odds than friends. Octavia now has Echo as her sister because it is easier to have them on the same side than to discuss how Octavia still viewed Echo as the villain in her memories.
Raven called Echo her sister, even though they weren't afforded more than a brief back and forth on the ground when Echo put Shaw at risk repeatedly.
There is also the relationship between Echo and Hope, they have bonded on another level but yet they keep hurting each other. Hope didn't know that Echo was still on their side when she said all those hurtful things. And Echo's actions keep hurting Hope, even if she doesn't do it on purpose.
So it is almost like that scene, in the end, was Echo possibly passing on her role to Hope. Because Echo might finally be allowed to move on beyond creating chaos from losing Bellamy, and that will become Hope stopping at nothing to punish those that took everything from her.
This isn't Hope's fault, yet her mind has been messed with so much since she was young, that there is no way she will take Diyoza's advice from this.
Diyoza deserved more time before she was killed off, her legacy means too much to the audience after all this time. But it was also about the message she was trying to leave Hope with before she left her.
Hope grew up fast because she needed to save her family. Along the way, she was exposed to everything Diyoza didn't want her to know about, and she ended making many of the same choices that her mother regretted in her past.
Then once she finally killed someone, which she was raised to do by Dev, she couldn't stop seeing that as the answer to her problems. Diyoza watches as Hope agrees with Echo's choices, even if they all mean killing someone in the process.
It is the one thing she didn't want her daughter to end up following, which becomes her one wish for Hope as she risks everything for her. Echo may have stopped from killing everyone in Bardo, yet Hope's hatred for Anders becomes her taking the baton from Echo when it comes to revenge.
It is heartbreaking that Diyoza's last thought is that Hope might make the same mistakes that she does in the name of justice. But who else is worried that her warning won't save Hope from the same faith?
Hope was fighting to get revenge for all those years she didn't have her mother with her. Now Bardo has taken Diyoza away forever, and in a way, it was Hope's actions that ended it all there too.
This can be the beginning of Hope losing it because she tried her hardest, and it still ended this way.
It is chilling because it felt like Diyoza knew their last talks could be the last words she shares with Hope. So having Hope watch Diyoza die in front of her is just as heartbreaking as it is worrisome.
If Hope isn't careful, she will end up chasing vengeance in the same way that Echo was. And it wrecks the person more than it does any good in the memory of those they lost.
The hole in Hope's heart is about to grow, and none of us are ready for that.
The Comedic and Convenient Element
Let's talk about comedy.
Gabriel and Cadogan on their avocado toast and kombucha date were the stars of the show. The natural humor that they had on-screen made it more entertaining to stick around for the actual information.
Gabriel Santiago is one of the best parts of The 100 Season 7, and Cadogan somehow became a fascinating weirdo. He is meant to be some version of a villain, but he isn't an aggressive presence like Anders was.
RIP Anders.
Instead, it isn't about what Cadogan is threatening; it is about how unpredictable his choices can be. Anders made it clear that he was calling the shots, while Cadogan is more relaxed about his place on Bardo.
It allows others to learn information that might have taken a while for someone else to share there.
Cadogan is not focused on his behavior in this world because he thinks this is just a stepping stone to something else. We will pretend that this isn't going in the direction of everyone being uploaded into some system as the final form of transcending.
But Cadogan's easy-going approach to all of this means that he isn't as concerned about what happens in Bardo. He also isn't an actual threat in Bardo yet for the others, because Clarke is controlling him instead.
It might be only a matter of time before Cadogan actually uses his unlimited power to see if Clarke has the flame and the information. Or he will continue to exist as this stranger who doesn't see "us vs. them" and keeps playing along.
It is somewhat strange to go from the Cadogan we saw during The 100 Season 7 Episode 8 to this version of Cadogan. He isn't as much of an antagonist to everyone around him, although his biggest threats might not have appeared yet.
Then, Gabriel, who makes everything better and whose knowledge might be part of the puzzle that gets them out of here. Not likely since this last war or test will happen no matter what, but we can dream.
We get to enjoy Gabriel joining the group huddle and finally being a part of the team. Now they need to make sure never to forget him on another planet again.
Let's talk about convenience.
The 100 thrives on that convenient factor where everything makes sense because the show needs it to do that.
This time around, Jordan got a bulk of that put on his shoulders, solving mysteries that randomly fit the narrative again. He was truly his father's son, and we couldn't be prouder.
Niylah: Where is Cadogan? Or the gun you took?
Gabriel: Yeah, the look on Anders' face made it clear that neither were coming back with me.
It took Jordan less than two seconds to figure out that Octavia, Diyoza, and Echo weren't actually on the same side as Anders.
Meanwhile, The 100 Season 7 Episode 9 wasted all of its time not giving the three of them a clear voice and leaving the audience confused by their intentions. It wasn't hard to figure out what would happen, but it was useless that the entire episode was meant to make it a mystery when it didn't matter.
Then Jordan needed to glance at the symbols to know that it didn't have to mean that there was a war. These people spent years and years planning for something that all of a sudden wasn't even the right message anymore.
It is lovely getting to see Jordan exist in this space. Still, it is unfortunate that he is only speaking solutions that suddenly exist to move the story one centimeter forward again.
There is also the fact that Cadogan had his entire adventure with Judgement Day on Earth, but then he gets to Bardo and discovers that there is this text connecting the past here with the past he had?
All of it is so hard to figure out, and then suddenly it isn't. If this stagnant storyline wasn't so exhausting, it might be more hilarious that all of these plot points solve themselves in the blink of an eye.
But for now, the next plot point becomes finding a way to reconstruct a flame, possibly through a mind drive. Then comes finding the "right person" to take this test and represent the entire human race.
Now the war and the test changed a few times in between, but the assumption is that someone needs a version of Becca's flame in their mind so they can hear the quiet symbols on the stone.
Then they plug them in and go check out Judgement Day, which means quite a few people will tag along for that once they find out.
Jordan: Ridiculous. We evolve to a higher level through our lowest behavior. The answer to this violence isn't just more violence.
Cadogan: The end of violence. The last war.
Niylah: Every war seems like the last one until the next.
We need to worry about transcending somewhere in there because we need yet another world to introduce instead of the one that exists right now.
But at least Gabriel and Jordan are in charge of making all this happen; they are the best way to distract us from possible impending doom.
The Action Movie Star Wannabe
Sheidheda wishes he could have been the main story here, and he tries his hardest to get there.
First, though, something is unnerving about having a grown man tell a young girl he wants to see her bleed. It doesn't help that he then follows that up with forcing her to kneel for him.
The dynamic is already unsettling, and while that scene was shot beautifully, it didn't help the situation.
It also doesn't help that the kneeling doesn't make any sense. It is a way for his followers to offer him control of the situation, but they could get up later?
Having a group of people kneel to Sheidheda doesn't guarantee their loyalty or that they are genuine. All of this is Sheidheda forcing himself to be seen as superior, even though those around him are no longer blind sheep looking to follow a leader.
He is losing his grip by forcing his resurrection, and it got boring as soon as he though changing his appearance was the way to go.
In his Russell attire, JR Bourne was one of the best aspects still left in Sanctum, and now even that has become a joke.
It didn't help that the Sheidheda and Indra fight, which screamed Roan and Lexa for a moment, didn't have the weight it thought it did. Once again, there were no real stakes; it wasn't like either of them would die.
The only thing that could have happened was Indra kneeling to him, which had to be the next beat to continue to stretch the Sanctum story.
Yet even Indra kneeling didn't have the power that it could have because it became a distraction. Sheidheda almost killed Indra, so Madi stabbed him to stop that. But then Sheidheda threatened Madi, and Indra still ended up exactly where she was before.
She may be an imposter, but she still has followers.
Sheidheda
What was the point of Madi's surprise attack if they didn't win? They were still forced to give up in front of Sheidheda, except now his outfit also includes an eye patch.
The way the fight scene was shot was another example of Sherwin Shilati bringing a different approach to the world we have already seen. It was framed like a movie, and that almost served as the perfect distraction against the backdrop of more narrative disappointment.
Now we are left with Sheidheda holding the control over Sanctum that everyone knew he would get eventually, even if it is flimsy. And while Murphy and Emori have the upper hand in this situation, it is Sanctum at its most apparent.
The only thing that saved Sanctum's never-ending slow pacing is the humor that came with it. It isn't clear whether The 100 is in on the jokes of this episode or if they believe some of these choices enough that it comes off as a joke to the audience.
Either way, Sheidheda has never been more of the obvious loser.
By the end of the fight, he even looked tired of all of this, so it was hard to pretend he gained the upper hand for long.
Also, has Adina Porter gotten all her awards yet?
Because she continues to bring her everything to each scene, and it is one of the real highlights of this storyline.
Stray Thoughts
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For any The 100 fans looking for some nostalgia as the series concludes, TV Fanatic has a surprise interview series for you! "Looking Back On The 100" centers on monumental cast members and characters from the show that left their mark.
We spoke with Eli Goree about his time on the show, as well as Michael Beach about the journey he had, and we even took a walk down memory lane with Christopher Larkin and Aaron Ginsburg. We even checked in with Zach McGowan about that surprise return to the show.
We also spoke with Leah Gibson about #GinaWasReal and Nadia Hilker about creating the character of Luna.
Chai Hansen also looked back at the show with us when it came to his time on it as Ilian. And Charmaine DeGraté expanded on her writing journey with the show, as well as what it was like to write for Bellamy and Octavia Blake.Keep checking TV Fanatic for more upcoming interviews with surprise cast members from seasons past!
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I miss Bellamy Blake.
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Anders is very unhappy with the rest of the group because they dare to have feelings. I'm not saying that Anders and the group are metaphors for another real-life scenario, but I just said it.
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Anders also said in front of Clarke that he thought they were all monsters because they killed three more people. Clarke and everyone else hear Anders repeat that Bardo doesn't condone death.
Yet no one thought to push back that if Bardo isn't okay with murder, how did they kill Bellamy?
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Another potential donut hole is the way that Callie is discussed between Niylah and Cadogan.
Niylah mentions that when Callie died, even her enemies cried. It isn't apparent how Cadogan views existing in the flame, but that could have revealed that his daughter isn't alive.
Then there was the way that Cadogan said that the AI knows the code to the Anomaly Stone. He didn't mention his daughter or even reference the flame as anything but technology when initially he believed Clarke that his daughter existed there. -
Penance has become the worst threat ever. No one who gets sentenced to it ever actually serves any time, so it is an empty way to threaten or raise Bardo's stakes.
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Give me Gabriel and Jordan becoming best friends, or else that is the only thing you will hear me talk about until the series ends.
The two could have so much fun solving clues together, saving the world, and just being good people in the same space.
This is the new friendship that needs to happen for all of us. -
The boy who was crying next to Madi over all the bloody bodies deserves a shoutout. The acting there was top notch.
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Speaking of Madi, her having panic attacks is a much-needed representation of mental health. This world forgets what they put everyone through, and how people should be struggling with their mental health after all of it.
Madi isn't given nearly as much screentime as she should.
So when out of nowhere this season we learn that she has these attacks, it feels almost out of place and like the show isn't spending enough time on it.
If that is everything that defines Madi this season and we only see her every few episodes, how can the audience fully invest in her?
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Murphy and Emori continue to have one of the few examples of stability, which is a nice constant to return to. Murphy also continues to care about all these kids while on this road to being a hero.
Either this doesn't mean anything, or the foreshadowing could be huge — your choice. -
Where is Nelson?
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Why did Madi give Picasso dirty water to drink? Is all the water in Sanctum that dirty? Maybe that is why everyone is so angry.
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The dialogue wasn't always easy to get on board within this episode. Most of it has been included in this review, but there is something about how exaggerated the lines were. Clarke calling Echo, Octavia, and Diyoza the most dangerous women on this or any planet? Okay. Sure.
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Everyone saw that Madi parallel to Lexa, right? When she jumped on the chair to save Indra, the shot only outlined something read at her feet, and that was meant to mirror Lexa's ribbon on her outfit.
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Having Eliza Taylor back on what is hopefully a regular basis again highlighted the acting energy that was missing. In just that first scene in the stone room, she elevates the content, even if she isn't leading it all yet again.
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The way that Sheidheda is just a representation of toxic patriarchy, though.
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Sheidheda also could barely see through that thick piece of cloth on his face, but somehow he knew the second Madi wasn't there?
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I am again thankful for all the laughs this episode gave to me.
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Diyoza was a powerful presence on The 100, she made me feel empowered, and it was a joy to spend this much time with her. It never felt like we got enough time with her, so her sacrifice feels like even more of a loss. But the memory she left behind is unmeasurable. We were lucky to have her for as long as we did.
It is also not surprising that she went out on such an epic note.
What did you think of the episode? How much will you miss Diyoza? How much will you not miss Anders? How bad do you feel for Hope from 1 to 5?
What did you enjoy finding out about Bardo today? What are you confused about? What do you want to learn more about as we move forward in Bardo?
How shocked were you by how funny the episode was? What were your favorite funny moments? Did you like Sheidheda's next look? Would you vow to follow him now? How much did you miss Picasso and Madi's adventures?
Who else didn't see Sheidheda's battle scar surprise? Pun intended.
How did you feel about Octavia and Levitt's quick moment? Can they overcome this relationship obstacle? And where does everyone from Bardo go from here?
Also, who else felt like Diyoza deserved a better exit? But are you still upset we lost her?
Did anyone else feel like Echo's villain mission was unnecessary? And did anyone else feel like Gabriel made everything better with his new Sanctum friends?
Let us know what you think below!
Stick around for more interviews, features, slideshows, and reviews of the upcoming season, and watch The 100 online right here on TV Fanatic.
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