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The 100 Season 6 Finale Recap & Review: Sanctum & Clarke’s Heartache Will Haunt Me

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The 100 Season 6 closed out with an amazing story that left so many unanswered questions, I’m counting down the days to April 2020 when the show will likely return. Eliza Taylor deserves an Emmy, and we all deserve a drink after enduring the nightmare that was Sanctum. This is a recap and review of The 100 Season 6 Episode 13, the finale. So of course, there will be spoilers below.

#The100 Season 6 finale taught me one thing: Eliza Taylor (@MisElizaJane) deserves an Emmy. Click To Tweet

Clarke’s Grief Brought Tears to My Eyes

First, we got an intriguing little peek at what the show’s future might’ve been like if it hadn’t been canceled. We’re still getting one last season, but I’m not sure we’ll be visiting Planet Beta or Planet Gamma, like Russell the Prime was talking about. But that was just a brief mention before returning to the main story, which is complicated enough.

Let me tell you, I could feel Clarke’s pain over Abby’s death. When Russell’s wife (because I can’t remember her name) pretended to be Abby, surviving just like Clarke did. And that glimmer of hope that Clarke felt… Ugh. It was so painful when she had to space her own mother (even if her mom’s mind was already gone.)

Eliza Taylor deserves an Emmy.

Bellamy and Octavia are finding peace now and were ready to fight side-by-side to save their people. Finally, they’re on the same side again.

Madi’s Fight with the Dark Commander Reminded Me of Clarke’s Battle with Josephine

Meanwhile, Madi was taken over by the Dark Commander (aka Sheidheda). She was going to make a deal with Russell to kill everyone in retaliation for Clarke killing Russell’s family. (Which, when it comes to the Primes, is never really death anyway. Technically they could’ve just retrieved their bodies, right?) But when Clarke threatened to kill herself, Madi was able to break free just long enough to stop Clarke. That gave them the chance they needed to get Madi back and restrain Russell. While Madi fought with Sheidheda in a scene highly reminiscent of Clarke’s fight with Josephine, Raven worked through the code until she was able to transfer Sheidheda out of the Flame drive and onto the ship’s computer.

Madi is going to be OK.

And that’s great, because when Clarke was breaking down when she thought Madi was going to die too, I didn’t see how Clarke could survive both deaths. (And once again, Eliza Taylor deserves an Emmy.)

Madi's battle with the Dark Commander was a lot like Clarke's battle with Josephine. #The100 Click To Tweet

I think we should take a moment to really think about how Madi’s fight with Sheidheda was SO similar to Clarke’s fight with Josephine. It only makes sense since Becca designed both drives. But it’s interesting to think of how any “mind” saved on the mind-drive is there in a way similar to how Commanders are on the Flame drive. The only difference is that Becca had advanced the technology enough to allow the Commanders’ minds to live in symbiosis with the host’s mind, rather than forcing one to take over the other. But in Sheidheda’s case, he wanted to go back to those old Primes-wipe-out-everything technology days. It’s why Commanders are usually older, I think. Sheidheda can take over otherwise – the mind isn’t strong enough. Similarly, Becca’s Gen 1 tech also didn’t work on younger minds.

Mind drives – whether Gen 1 or Flame Generation – just aren’t compatible with children’s minds.

Oh, and did you catch that brief callout to Lexa? Sheidheda said something about how Lexa was telling him how strong Clarke was, but it wasn’t true because “love is weakness.” I love how the writers don’t just forget about old plots, but weave them back in every now and then.

https://twitter.com/BellarkeBuzz/status/1158921692011364352

Later in the episode, Clarke stole the show again when she cried to Bellamy, wondering if their decision to be better was even worth it considering all they had lost. Someone please give Eliza Taylor an Emmy.

So What Happened to the Dark Commander?

The Dark Commander managed to upload his code somewhere, rather than staying in the little firewall compartment that Raven had him in on the ship. We aren’t told where, but there are a couple of prevailing theories. One idea is that he’s now in the ship somewhere and maybe will upload into Russell’s drive or into someone’s mind through the cryosleep chambers. Another theory is that he uploaded himself into the anomaly cloud somehow and is the “he” that Hope and Octavia were referencing…

Speaking of which… That ending scene was fabulous. Hope emerged from the anomaly and told Octavia: “I couldn’t get out of it. He has my mother. I’m so sorry Octavia.” Apparently Hope was under orders to stab and kill Octavia, or to stab Octavia and somehow send her back to the anomaly. Whatever it was, Octavia said: “Be brave. Tell him it’s done.” It would be crazy if it was the Dark Commander who had Diyoza captured in the anomaly all this time. But part of me hopes it’s someone else.

Oh….. Could it be Jordan gone evil? He seemed kind of brainwashed at the end there, when he was given a mind drive. (And whose mind drive was it?) He talked about how better off Sanctum was before they showed up. He has a sensitive heart like his dad, but I think that red blood messed with his mind somehow. I’m going to end this review with the tantalizing idea that Jordan might be the guy in the anomaly. I realize that’s not likely, but WOW what a twist would that be.

It’s going to be a long wait until next April. And then we’ll say goodbye to The 100. But maybe not forever. Check out this tweet:

The decision to end with Season 7 was Jason’s & he has “other things in the works” (possible spinoff/prequel?) from The100

I hope that J. Rothenberg has a spinoff of some sort planned and that’s his next project in the works for The CW.

Want to stay updated on all things post-apocalyptic? Join our email list here. And if you’d like to relive earlier seasons of The 100, you can watch Season 6 and earlier seasons on Amazon here

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    Stephanie Dwilson started Post Apocalyptic Media with her husband Derek. She's a licensed attorney and has a master's in science and technology journalism. You can reach her at [email protected].

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