The 100 “The Queen’s Gambit” Photo-Recap; Yaaaaaaaas Queen!

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA WHAT. Season 7 is a bonkers, twisty sci-fi ride that I don’t want to get off of. There’s so much going on all at once! It’s like a plot-filled funhouse of sensory overload, and I am DIGGING IT. Gabe has gone full Disciple! Dreamboat Kid Captain has teamed up with Bonnie (of Bonnie and Clyde fame)! Sheid is still obsessed with chess! Madi played soccer! The Adventure Squad is caught up to current events! Cadogan takes cryogenic naps!! Anders is still distractingly handsome!

As much as this episode was a tense sci-fi romp, it mostly focused on our beloved characters and their emotional states, which, yes please thank you very much! Echo, Hope, Diyoza, Octavia, Murphy, Emori, Madi… even Dreamboat Nelson! They’re all on a zany emotional journey, and it was nice to see them sit in some uncomfortable stillness for a quick sec. 

Raise your hands in relieved camaraderie – how many of you were SO WORRIED for Emori this episode? Don’t get me wrong, I’m still worried, but I thought, NOT EMORI YOU MONSTERS, about seventeen times this episode. I thought showing us how much the Beautiful Creepster has changed since falling full-bananas in love with her was a sign that we’d have to say goodbye. I realize she’s still in mortal peril, but I am currently thankful we haven’t lost our fierce Ninja Turtle queen. 

Gabe was taken from his cell to the anomalroom where Silver Fox propositioned him with some indentured servitude; dish about Clarke and work with them on the anomaldoor, and in return get allllllll the answerrrrrrs. This, of course, is Gabe’s main deal, so he was 100% on board. Oh, and they let him say goodbye to Orlando’s for-sure-real corpse, and it was very sad because it was for sure Orlando’s dead body, which we know FOR SURE, even though we never saw his face. *wink*

Emori was planning a soiree (cocktails, nothing too fancy) in order to reunite the Kids of Gabe with their parents, who had turned them into cute lil’ tree-snacks for a murderous forest. He got a little worried that she was liking being a Prime a bit too much (as Sheid hinted later), but honestly, I didn’t see it. Girl just loves tasteful festivities, and WHO CAN BLAME HER.  

This. scene. Was. MAGIC. I loved it (and the following sesh with Emori) so much. Every single one of the characters on this show (and maybe every single person outside of it?) needs a session or twelve with Dr. Jackson. 

He was basically like, “remember that time a grown ass man forced you to take on the responsibility of thousands of lives when you were a mere child… was that, like, fun, or…?” and Madi was all, “not like laser-tag levels of fun, but it had its moments, like saving the life of my surrogate-mom-sister, and um, the clothes were cool, I guess.” And then she went to play soccer, and he gave her a smile that said, “go get ‘em kid,” and my heart EXPLODED.  

Then he turned his powers on Emori and reminded us that she was also left for dead as a baby by her parents, who thought that being half ninja-turtle was somehow a bad thing. Turns out she’s very into the fete because of that past trauma, and THE 100 STOP MAKING ME FEEL SO DEEPLY (never stop). 

All pretenses were dropped when Sheid was like, “quit playing,” and the Beautiful Creepster was all, “I don’t know what you- okay fine, whatever.” Sheid baited him with information about something bad happening that Murphy could stop (like the beautifully creepy hero he is), but first he had to beat him at chess, because this is season 7.

I felt the Earth tremble, you guys. Truly. This flashback was a look into the beginnings of Becho, and it was nice, even if it was too little too late. For three seasons we’ve been told that these two are romantic, without having the benefit of actually seeing it. We didn’t witness it develop, and then for two seasons they were either separated, or too busy dealing with end-of-the-world stuff to project romance. Now, almost three seasons after insisting they love each other, we were finally given a glimpse of why. 

I absolutely adore these two separately, and even as teammates and friends. Echo is a fierce, complicated, big-hearted warrior, and Tasya Teles’s delivery of her stoic sass sets my heart aflame. And Bellamy is… well, he’s Bellamy. I love him dearly. 

As a couple? I’m sorry, you guys, I tried, but I just don’t care. Something The 100 has proven time and time again is that you can fiercely love someone without being romantic. You can protect, fight for, and ultimately avenge a friend. Those intense feelings do exist on this show (I submit as exhibit A; Monty and Jasper). I would have bought Echo’s unbearable grief if that were the case. He was her family, along with the rest of the Spaceventure Squad; maybe the first real family she’s had. My heart would have broken for her loss based on that. And I can’t lie, a part of me wishes it were so. 

Regardless of why she was grieving, Echo’s pain was all-consuming, and the only other person who could understand that was Octavia. You guys, this scene was positively beautiful. Grief unites us all, doesn’t it? Suddenly, stabbing someone off a cliff doesn’t seem like such a big deal when you’ve both lost someone you deeply loved. Well done, all. 

How is it possible that we’ve only known these characters for a relatively short time, and yet we love them so unconditionally?? Hope and Diyoza got reacquainted after fifteen years apart, and it went about as well as you’d expect after revealing that A) Hope adopted herself a hunky new dad, and B) she has known for a while that her mom is a super-cool terrorist.

Hope has been very blood thirsty after getting her first taste of murder a few episodes ago, which concerned Diyoza a smidge; NOT because her daughter loves murder, but because it WASN’T A GOOD PLAN, hahahahahhahahhahahaha I love them so much. I mean, yes, she was peeved that her daughter loves murder, but she gets it. Anyway, their argument about how to proceed obviously turned into a sparring session, which then obviously turned into a heartbreakingly beautiful cuddle-cry where Hope admitted she just missed her mom. ( )

Gabe’s dreamboat Kid was on the fence about siding with the criminals because it seemed like they were more into revenge and material gain than justice, but then Bonnie was all, “we’re too cool to even try to prove how cool we are, ya know?” And he was like, “okay, okay, my mind is open.”

Emori popped by to give Nelson a hand-calligraphied invite to her casual do, telling him he could meet his parents, but he was like, “a party with PARENTS??? What will we do, study for the SATs???” Then he gulped his drink and stomped off in a sexy huff. But our girl snagged his drink-dna like the wily vixen she is! 

Sheid and the Beautiful Creepster had a charming deep-dive into their psyches over their never-ending game of chess, and it was honestly quite fun! Murphy isn’t some scared little duck, unwilling to throw Shade at Sheid (love me for me). They passive aggressively word-sparred, and it came out that Murphy loves and is loved (burn?) and Sheid is totally butt-hurt about his reputation. Then he was like, “very lonely, wanna be buds?” and Murphy was like, “I’ll think on it.” Awwwwwwww!

Echo gave herself the ol’ Azgeda facial in order to show that she was ready for war, then told the Bardonites (by yelling at the door, haha) that she wants some Kool-Aid. And bingo-bango, they were free! 

Ha! Echo speaking for everybody was kind of rude (and before you’re like, “why aren’t you as mad at HER as you were at GABE???”, this is different, they could have said no). They all likely saw the logic in it – at least while training they would have opportunity for escape, whereas it was pretty hopeless in a cell. Anyway, they’re #TeamBardo now (or at least acting like it), and I’m pumped to see how that turns out. [I did notice that no one asked about Gabe, which is likely because they figured he was already recruited and fine, but still. FIVE YEARS.]

I don’t know what dudes do during dude dates, but I assume it’s just endless Borat quotes. As it turned out, Sheid was just effing with Murphy during the game to keep him there so that Emori’s bash wouldn’t make it into the society page, which is just SO RUDE! Especially since it turned out Emori could have really used his emotional support. 

Emori’s gala didn’t quite go as planned (does anything on this show?). First Nelson’s dad turned out to be a bit of a D, so Nelson kinda-sorta murdered him by accident (?), THEN Bonnie came in with allllllllll the guns (just so many guns) and declared herself queen of the castle or something, THEN Nelson was like, “yeah eff it, I’m in.” [Nelson’s vulnerability while meeting his parents was heartbreaking, high-fives to you, Lee Majdoub!]

Nelson was like, “my feelings are hurt, and it’s your fault!” so he was going to shoot her in the head (!!!!!), but Bonnie stepped in because they still needed her as a beautiful, engaging, resilient bargaining chip (PLEASE DON’T, PLEASE DON’T, PLEASE DON’T!) 

Meanwhile, due to timey wimey-ness, it was three months before the Adventure Squad plooped through the anomaly from Hoth, and their welcome was less than ideal, considering Gabriel had to tell them some bummer news.

The emotion Clarke (and Raven and Miller!) portrayed in the seconds they had to react was heartbreaking, even though we all know what’s up. [Would Niylah be sad about Bellamy’s death? Remember that one time he murdered her father, along with 300 of his pals?]

It’s Bill Cadogan!!! He lives as a freezie and only periodically gets thawed out to make decisions and maybe bless a baby or something. Anders (a total fanboy) woke him up to introduce him to Clarke, because she’s the “key”. DOES THIS MEAN WE WILL FINALLY FIND OUT WHAT IN THE SWEET HECK THAT MEANS???? *crosses fingers* 

And that was that! What did you guys think of The Queen’s Gambit? Back in season 2 when we met our Ninja Turtle goddess, did you ever think the title of an episode would allude to her? I love it, I love it, I love it, please don’t kill her! 

SOME STUFF

• You probably already know this episode was directed by Raven herself, Lindsey Morgan. I will not be the first to say that her debut directorial jaunt was a raging success, but I’m gonna do it anyway! The transitions specifically knocked my socks off – the ring turning into Echo’s iris, the party into a chess board… all very well done. 

• “Besides, you’ve worshiped me for years.” PLEASE DON’T KILL EMORI SERIOUSLY PLEASE I AM BEGGING YOU. 

• Jackson doctor-turned-therapist made me SO happy. For real – I think every single human in the known universe should go to therapy, and the fact that the The 100 is showing the positive effects it can have is SIMPLY MAGNIFICENT! Thank you to everyone who created, and brought those scenes to life. 

• Turns out Sheid knows stuff because ShortBangs McFaithful is sending him messages in cookies. HOW DARE YOU defile the message of hope that cookies became in season 6! How VERY dare you! 

• Season 7 would be a lot more charming if every chess scene was replaced with checkers. 

• Although I’m totally on board with Echo’s grief, I do wish we could focus a little more on Octavia’s.

• Hope considers Dev her father! (broken heart emoji times a million)

• “That’s dishes young lady.” Hahahahaha Moms never stop momming. 

• What do we think Levitt is up to? Drawing what he and Octavia’s babies would look like? Yeahhhhhh, probably. 

• Is it just me, or does Please Call Me Bill seem super chill? He’s going to turn out to be a good guy, isn’t he? They ALL are, aren’t they? Is The 100 going to end HAPPY????

• So there was another 3 month jump at the end there, right? So the Anomalsquad have been roadies in the Bardo Band for a while now? Who do we think has gone all-in, lapping up that kool-aid? Gabe? Yeah, it’s Gabe for sure. Did you see how pumped he was to see Clarke? I don’t think it was to reminisce about those five minutes they spent together last season. 

• The longer she stays missing, the more I’m convinced that Gaia is with Bellamy, and that perhaps he was the invisi-jerk who napped her. [Though the kick to the face would need some serious explaining]

• How annoyed is Codogan every time someone wakes him up, and how badly does he have to pee? 

• Thank you to the hopeful participants of this week’s JOKES FROM THE PAAAAAAAST, but I have the unhappy duty of informing you that NO ONE GOT IT!!! 

Last week’s alien spider attack:

Jasper finding Well’s murdered fingers:

OKAY THANKS FOR COMING ILY ALL VERY MUCH FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS AND STAY SAFE OUT THERE!