The 100 “A Lie Guarded” Photo Recap – Monkeyin’ Around (4.4)

I feel like I need to start this recap with a confession. I’m sure I’m in the minority here, and I know saying this will reveal me as a total wimp, but… if I were impaled and then fell off a cliff into some rocky rapids, I think I would at the very least take the rest of the day off. Or, you know… die. Not our Octavia! Boy howdy, that girl is one tough cookie! I yelled at my screen, “DID THEY JUST…??” and I know in my toes that all of you did to. But nope! Somebody send Bellamy a quick text to let him know he can stop embarrassing himself with truly gut-wrenching, heart-breaking displays of anguish. Boy oh boy, are they going to laaaaaaaugh.

Now, let’s get the most glaring revelation out of the way, shall we? You guys… I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but… is Riley a bit of a dick? I KNOW, I know, how can I say that about everyone’s favourite character, but… he is, though, right? NO ONE was more shocked than me to see this very uncharacteristic outburst from our one-true-hero, but it simply cannot be ignored.

Speaking of things that we all wish we could we could ignore, (did you honestly think I wasn’t going to do this?), say it with me now… JAHA. This will (probably) be my last rant about his stupid face. I’ve been noodling on my complete and total disregard of this character, and I’ve come up with something (well, a million things, but here’s the biggest). Like I said in my review a couple of weeks ago – this show says something important. It always has. The show forgave Kane because even though he murdered 300 people (including an adorable freckled father #NeverForget), he was doing it with the intention of saving everyone else. And he has made selfless choices ever since. The show forgave Bellamy for being a d-bag over the course of seasons, and he’s still facing the consequences of his season 3 murder club. The show never, ever forgave Finn. While the show was saying that people are so gray, and should be given a second chance – it was also saying that no matter the intentions, people suffer consequences for their actions.

Everyone except Jaha.

Dude had zero repercussions for his actions (including, let us never forget, unceremoniously giving a snack to a giant sea monster in the form of a teen). He hasn’t earned this redemption arc. He hasn’t earned being a total good sport after waking up in the midst of being “floated”. He hasn’t earned Clarke saying “maybe Jaha isn’t a grade A douche” or whatever she said. He hasn’t even earned proper facial hair. And he’s not even sorry.

ANYWAY – the best remedy for working yourself into a lather about a stupid character is, you guessed it – photo recapping! The episode began with an adorable prank on an ex public official, but more importantly;

It’s RILEY!! Riley is back. THANK ZEUS, ammiright, guys? Clarke was torn from her obviously pivotal conversation with our beloved Riley in order to break up the party.

The two of them discussed the episode’s exposition, but I was too happy to see them interacting to pay attention. When was the last time this happened??? The hug at Mount Weather? I LOVE it when different factions of the original 100 hang out. Shake it up, I say! More Clarke and Monty, Bellamy and Harper, The Beautiful Creepster and Tim Bartlett.

Then the rain came!

What with this and his shower the other week, Jasper is undoubtedly the best smelling of the Adventure Squad. Anyway, he didn’t die, which based on some of the comments on past reviews, some of you were disappointed about. I personally have always been okay with Jasper’s meltdown. People are going to react to this terrifying hellscape of an existence differently, and I’m glad the show is portraying that.

In Polis, Kane was having a conversation with his one true love over a VERY FAR REACHING radio.

‘Member when they did it? *dreamy sigh*. After they expositioned a bit, Kane’s eyes beheld everyone’s favourite murderer enthusiast, and he called her into the principal’s office.

He kicked her off the team and sent her home with a note for her parents to sign, and then HE was sent to the principal’s office!!

Meanwhile, Adventure B-Squad made it to ALIE’s old digs, and look who was with them!

Luna was understandably skeptical about our heroes’ motives. Considering she just watched everyone she knows and loves melt to death from the inside out, I can see how she would be less inclined to help out.

Then Emori lead them to a magic death line that no one should ever cross under any circumstances.

Oh Beautiful Creepster, you brave little rascal! They all tramped across the line after him, and everything was totally fine and no one was shot and / or killed. End episode!

This is The 100, OF COURSE a red-shirt died in the first ten minutes of the episode. And then our glorious radiant-eyed Niko transformed himself into a human shield to hug Luna. Then she was all, “eff this maybe?” and skedaddled.

Back at Polis Kane was catching flak for not divulging all the details of how he and his peeps were going to save the world.

Awwwwww shit! Roan was VERY butt-hurt that Skikru withheld a shit-ton of info, and honestly, FAIR ENOUGH. I don’t understand why they didn’t tell him the plan. It’s a good plan. Did they think he’d be too dumb to get it? Anyway, he was like, “see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya”, killed the red-shirt, then threw our handsome heroes in a dungeon or something. Haha, these two! Always getting thrown in dungeons!

Back at Ark Camp Jasper and Monty were getting into shenanigans when they stumbled upon something interesting.

Whooooooboy. Not only did Jasper and Monty find the list of the 100 intended survivors, but they also discovered that neither of them are on it. I get that Clarke is planning for the survival of the human race, but… NOT WITHOUT MONTY, CLARKE. *sniff* *wipes tear* Not without Monty. Anyway, they were peeved. Especially when Clarke zapped Jasper before he could tell anyone, and locked him up. Just call it a Tuesday!

Octavia went to have a rant-sesh to Indra about how totally unreasonable the principal was being, but she found this guy instead.

Now that the alliance is over, Ice T and the gang are attacking Skikru AND Trikru, and they’re on their way to take over Ark Camp. What a day!

Back at Ark Camp Monty tried to convince Clarke to tell everyone the truth, to which she replied, “or we could… not?” so Monty the Magnificent took matters into his own microphone.

Whoopsie! Now everyone knows Clarke’s dirty little secret! Jaha swooped in and saved the day (UGH) with a lottery proposal, and everyone skittered back to work. Yes, this was a good idea. No, I don’t hate his stupid face any less.

Shit was hitting the proverbial fan at ALIE Island, where Jackson was shot and the drones were pinning everyone else down. Raven came up with a plan to save them (naturally), but she needed Luna’s help to do it.

Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! High fives all around on this one, ladies. Luna’s “people are jerks” speech was great, and so was Raven’s “no they aren’t!” rebuttal. Anyway, Luna ran and got the drone like the kick ass warrior ninja she is, and Raven hacked it.

Luna always looks 100% bored, and I LOVE IT.

While these awesome ladies were working together, two other awesome ladies were NOT.

Echo and 2 nameless Ice Cubes chased Octavia until she had nowhere to run. Then Octavia promptly destroyed the red-shirts. Then she was stabbed through the abdomen. Then she fell off a cliff. All in a day’s work!

Clarke and Jasper made up, and Jasper said, “when Jaha is looking reasonable, it’s time to reassess.” and I wanted to high-five him. Then the Adventure B Squad found the lab they were looking for.

It was very shiny and full of science. More importantly, though, that music choice was sure something, wasn’t it? There was some serious synth action happening. Did our Squad accidentally walk into TRON? Did they stumble into the Upside Down? Are they about to hunt down some androids and wonder if they dream of electric sheep?

If you haven’t seen Explorers, you should. Anyway, there are still at least 2 red-shirts with them, so something is definitely going to try to kill them next week.

Roan and Echo went to collect Bellamy and Kane for a road trip, and dropped some bad news.

Then Bellamy broke down and it was very upsetting and I don’t want to photo recap it, OKAY?

BUT LOOK!

WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!!! You have to wake up pretty early in the morning, and stab her through the stomach AT LEAST twice, and throw her off a HIGHER cliff to kill Octavia Blake! This situation is 100% absurd, and I love it.

What did you guys think of the fourth installment to this bonkers fourth season? Once again The 100 has presented us with a situation that is 100% ashen (I looked up a different way to say grey). Everyone was right! Even Jaha, which, *eye roll*. Yes, Clarke’s list was the best thing for the future of the human race, but Monty and Jasper weren’t wrong in their desire to give the people an educated choice. LOVE THIS SHOW.

Even though it was full of strife and conflict, it’s nice to see Clarke interacting with the OG Squad. She was mostly disconnected from her people last season, and it’s easy to forget the relationship she has with them. It’s easy to forget WHO she’s fighting so hard (at all times, always) to save.

SOME STUFF

• “Hey Jaha, looks like you got floated” was pretty funny. I’ll give them that.

 

• We’re going to get to know Riley’s deal, right? We HAVE TO, right??

 

• Emori would rather be stuck in a 2-person bunker with Murphy for 5 or more years than face what’s in the forest. Awwwwwwww? Now THAT is love! I can’t even have a roommate, or a guest visit for a few days, or any human interaction… anyway…

 

• WHERE IN THE SWEET HELL IS INDRA?

 

• Abby’s plan to ‘draw the drone’s fire’ was just terrible. Hahahhaa, oh Abby.

 

• For the sake of everyone’s sanity, I shall end my rants and start referring to Jaha as “New Jaha”, or “Newj”… “NJ”? I’ll figure it out. Because this is a completely different man from seasons 2 and 3, and not in the “he’s grown and changed so much” sort of way. More in the “split personality and / or new writing team” sort of way. I’M SORRY, OKAY.

 

• What do you guys think iPadicus is up to?

 

• How upset are you over Riley’s behaviour? Have you grown to expect more from him? Are you disappointed in his backslide?

 

• Go watch Explorers. Seriously.

 

See you next week for more muddy moral quandaries and horrific teen violence!

 

[Originally Posted February 2017 on tv.com]