The 100 Season 6 Episode 6 Review: Memento Mori
Yana Grebenyuk
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Nothing will ever be the same is only as true as the number of times you say it.
And yet it feels like nothing is the way it was, not when the characters are mourning at a time when they have to believe in the unexpected.
During The 100 Season 6 Episode 6. Murphy helps Josephine to various results. Abby is convinced to make nightblood, once again not knowing about Clarke, in the name of Kane.
Meanwhile, Bellamy is a bomb just waiting to explode in the name of his fallen soulmate. But he ends up pulling back, having to reveal to the others and Madi that they are now without Clarke Griffin.
Then there is Octavia, whose hand turns out to be the key to the Anomaly that Xavier is connected to.
But there is nothing that beats Josephine going to sleep for the first time, and Clarke waking up in her mind but an original pilot moment.
"Memento Mori," written by Alyssa Clark in her The 100 writing debut, was sharp storytelling that seamlessly managed to tackle more plot points than usual with eventful results.
There was so much going on, but much of it felt like it was working towards something big, and it was written in a way where you didn't think too much was being explored.
It was a way to introduce plenty of open-ended questions, many of which won't be answered for a while.
And yet, so much of it was necessary when you consider the bigger picture, and it played out so well on screen.
Characters like Clarke, Madi, Murphy, and Octavia have never had more fascinating and intense stories left to be told.
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John Murphy: Secret Sanctum Double Agent
There were moments when it wasn't even obvious what side Murphy was working on, that is how good his debut as a double agent was.
He did get what he was after though, and it was weirdly nice to know that he thought about Emori too. She might not be happy about it, but he has her in mind even when he is spiraling about himself.
The thing is, now what?
The others all know that Abby is on her way to help with the nightblood stuff and are aware that Clarke is gone. Bellamy is pushing for them not to let their anger to take over, a throwback to doing better and being better.
While it makes sense to want to see Sanctum destroyed for what they did, it isn't practical for when Clarke comes back, and it is all ruined.
But what will happen once the sadness clears and they need to survive.
The dust there was left unsettled, and it is a big question to consider because they can't stay there as if nothing happened. Bellamy's plan seems to be more rooted in not destroying another planet, not making friends with people who murdered his partner.
There will probably be something in between Madi wanting to kill them all and Murphy choosing to side with their perception of life for his own gain.
Which is a good reminder about the possibility that no one knows what Murphy has been up to, that reward from Josephine was a sly transfer that even Bellamy didn't catch?
Because he wasn't meant to.
Murphy and Emori are the only ones who have to know his exact plan for himself, and what happens when they all find out that he wants to be immortal without them involved in all that?
We won't question how Murphy's mind will be uploaded to the USB and put in his newly nightblood body, for now, it will be a science made it happen situation.
There is just no chance that Abby is going to come down, and everyone will be involved in making that nightblood. They will fill her in on what happened and will want to think about the next steps of building their own place to survive.
Honestly the forest might even sound good to them, but for now, it isn't adding up all the way.
Josephine playing a smaller role this time made her motivations in all this harder to crack as well, she got what she wanted but they now all have their secret revealed as well which was never the plan.
Revenge might not be the first thing on everyone's mind, but peace won't be either.
The mystery about the groups next steps works well because of the time spent on their emotions. Them grieving for Clarke and not just moving on to the next step was important, it was hard knowing what we do, but it was necessary.
Clarke needs to be the reason behind anything they do know, her life and her death is their driving force.
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Octavia's Secret Skill
The power is now in Octavia (and Xavier), and only some of it makes sense.
It might take me a second to not laugh at the whole "letting the hand draw a message from the Anomaly" part of the reveal. It is a unique take, and it is also very funny.
The theory about the Anomaly speeding up time is a little too good to pass up, but it has to happen so that the audience can adjust to this.
Having Xavier connected to all this was an expected move, he has to know where the old man is, and he has enough experience to explain it to all of us.
But with that way that Sanctum is making progress in its storylines, it would be great to see the same thing happen in that forest.
Diyoza and Octavia have been stuck in the same pattern for a while, looking for an Anomaly and getting caught in other obstacles along the way.
Buying time, that is an interesting choice of words. I prefer time in a bottle.
Xavier
The mystery is harder to invest in the longer we spend away from it instead of feeling like we are getting closer. Octavia's hand situation is the key though, and Xavier has to know more than he is letting on.
It is important to note that he isn't a nightblood because of the way that he healed himself. That means what he told Diyoza about null children and their fixture in Sanctum might be based off his own time there.
The Children of Gabriel go in and out, so their origins are of scarce information to us, and yet Xavier knows enough for it to show it would come from experience.
The mythology of Sanctum and the forest has never been more interesting, even if it may not always add up right away.
As for Xavier, a big portion of his time with Diyoza felt like he was dropping hints and even playing around with the theory that he could know Gabriel.
It still wouldn't make sense for him to be this mysterious character since Gabriel is referred to as the old man and he is in that Anomaly part of the forest. There is also the whole blood thing, but Xavier knows more than he is sharing so why can't it be a big twist that comes just as they get to that Anomaly?
The other people in their cult of Gabriel talked about this person as if they never met him; they only knew what was transferred over to them.
It could have come from a messenger or someone who has enough knowledge of the character to share his vision.
Xavier can fit that description, spending enough time in the Anomaly to learn enough and to come out of it the other side with a plan for those that don't agree with Sanctum.
And if Diyoza is only six months pregnant, is there where we assume that light might hit her and force her child to come out faster and aged up? Or should we just shelve that theory and not consider it?
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Madi's Evil Kermit Meme Experience
The best thing that came out of the Dark Commander making himself known to Madi was the evil Kermit references that I will now make.
Because at first having this villain appear to her felt like a way to stir her story to take up some time, this wasn't a character that could contribute to the current status of the plot.
But he managed to cause a rift in her relationship with the only person who is now looking out for her, a choice Gaia couldn't ignore because of the nature of their bond.
Murphy: We get everything we want. We get to live.
Bellamy: Not Clarke.
This Dark Commander couldn't have come at a better time, preparing her to consider the evil side when she was about to find out that she lost her mother. Now she might not be focused on killing Gaia, which is what he wanted, but something makes me think training her for destruction will serve this commander well.
Considering how this could play out though, Madi could be setting herself up for real danger.
This Commander doesn't have her safety on his mind, and neither will the Sanctum residents who know she has the blood they want.
Madi might not be of age to host anyone, but that doesn't make her safe.
At first, this Commander came out of left field, and it took Madi in a completely other direction.
There is a case to be made here though that he isolated Madi and left her more vulnerable than ever before.
Gaia and Madi's relationship was always about one telling the other how to do things. What Gaia didn't consider is when her actions would be questioned, and how that could be the string to unravel her Commander.
There is a power imbalance, which the Dark Commander must have known was there and easy to access, which becomes the biggest wound to play into.
It was creepy the way that with one warning, Gaia's actions were not as easy to reason. Madi was one off moment away from cutting Gaia off, and now she could be the perfect example of revenge and rage.
For all the people that wanted to see Bellamy play into that and destroy Sanctum to the ground over Clarke, Madi could be taking on that role and risking her own life in the process.
Too much heart can lead to destruction just as quickly as too much head.
Madi is a ticking time bomb now and it is officially time to worry.
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The Extra Plots (and Characters) Dilemma
The 100 Season 6 Episode 5 mixed it up a little by removing characters like Raven, Emori, and Echo out of the story. At the time it wasn't clear why, but considering how the episode came together it was for the best to not have too much going on.
This time around though it is the exact opposite, there was a need to have a lot going on, and in a way, it worked to have characters back around even if there were too many stories.
But with the way that Raven, Emori, and Echo got brought back, the question of their ability to fit back in is coming up.
Starting with Raven, who else found themselves asking what the point of her story was?
Raven has had it rough, and that could be an early explanation for why she isn't as involved with the other storylines, but now it is just getting strange.
During The 100 Season 6 Episode 4, Ryker appeared and that was Raven's connection to Sanctum. Their quick friendship or just newfound need to spend all their screentime together felt like a lot, but we went with it.
But then they go off screen for an episode, come back and suddenly Raven's need to lecture him about his way of life is meant to pull her story together for now.
Ryker might not be her love interest for this season, but just as two characters who share most of their scenes now, they are proving the very issue that Bellamy and Echo have.
If a relationship, of any kind, is explored when the audience can't see it to invest in it, then it won't land the way it should.
Investing in Raven's need to tell Ryker that his choices are wrong just don't have that same effect that the show could be going for. Without seeing them truly bond or talk, all this does is prove that Raven wasn't given a storyline worthy of involving her regularly on our screens.
If it appears as if Raven's only purpose is to judge others and their choices.
That isn't to say that her issue with Clarke isn't valid, it is, and it makes sense why Raven is upset. But when the audience sees Clarke suffering emotionally by what she has done, the natural next step is for the fans to want to side with Clarke because she is sorry for what she did.
The same for Ryker, his way of life is wrong, and the audience can see that, but it is difficult to buy the way that Raven digs into him for it. He is a stranger who the viewers barely know anything about, and Raven feels wasted when all she does is lecture at those around her.
Then you have Emori, a character who has even less offered her way, spending this whole episode just filtering in and out.
She was there to interrupt or to steer Raven away, but what was her purpose?
That was the question that needs to be asked more and more with these characters because it is like the show itself doesn't always know. There is no plan for specific people, which shows more and more when they are added back into the narrative.
Josephine did slip Murphy two Sanctum USB drives, a detail that confirms that Murphy is looking out for her and realistically they will need to talk about everything that happened without her knowing.
But even that isn't enough, that is Murphy's story and not Emori's in any way.
Murphy is struggling with his mortality, where he has to look inside of himself all on his own. Emori didn't have that experience so she doesn't have those same questions.
She is a strong enough addition to the main group that it is a crime that she isn't taken advantage of more because when she gets small appearances, it brings down the episode because of all that lost potential.
Then there is Echo.
As mentioned before, she was given a fool's errand to distract her from Sanctum and where Bellamy would be. Removing the one person who will not rest until she sees Bellamy gets her out of the way and allows Bellamy to get involved with Murphy and Josephine.
The issue that came up though was that she pieced together that Josephine wasn't Clarke.
That can make sense; she was only told about the Prime stuff recently by Jordan so it is very free in her mind and she is a spy, so she picked up on how off Clarke was.
There were details like Jade and the Bellamy information that didn't line up, so it is easier for her mind to go there.
But again, what was the point?
Echo returns to Sanctum, and she should inform the others, instead, she comes in and asks Bellamy what is going on. As if she didn't piece it all together and as if she shouldn't be the one saying it, so it is clear that there was a reason for that.
Maybe this was a way to have Echo show how smart she is, except she didn't even use that information.
If we cut out all the Echo scenes in those woods and she just left and then came back at the end of the episode to hear Bellamy explain what happened, absolutely nothing would change in the context of the episode.
Making this storyline happen for Echo didn't accomplish much unless there will be more with Jade or with that forest. Echo now knows more about what nature out there does, which again is something that she could have learned off-screen and no one would need more clarification on.
Echo was just another example of the episode using an abundance of characters, and yet some of their stories didn't achieve anything for the story or their development.
Abby should also be mentioned in all this, with her addiction to Kane ruining her as a character.
It is fair for her to worry about him, but her inability to focus on anything else makes her look almost not as intelligent as we all know her to be.
Abby is the last person to find out about Clarke; in fact, she still hasn't, even though she was one of the first to read Josephine's words about the Prime process and interacted with her the most.
Josephine playing Abby is entertaining, and yet it makes me want to laugh from discomfort because how can she not know that this isn't her daughter?
Murphy helped Josephine, but she still trips up, and the details are all adding up. Not to mention that Josephine is talking to Abby about the exact process that she was part of when she took Clarke from her body.
Josephine: Any progress on the Kane problem?
Abby: The Kane problem? Is that what you think this is?
They aren't even beating around the bush, but Abby's focus can only be on one person apparently, and that is now Kane.
Even Echo came to the conclusion on her own, which diminishes the way that Abby is functioning right now even more.
Not to be that person but Abby is Clarke's mother, she should have been one of the first people to notice instead of being focused on Kane to a point where she can't catch anything else.
Kane is a character worth remembering, but he is now taking over any room for Abby to grow or even have common sense.
Frankly, we are at a point where it is hard to root for Abby at all or even to understand how she gets explored. But at least Abby can have the best person in the world uploaded to a USB drive where he can live forever for her, right?
Again the question comes back, where does all of this fit in terms of these characters and their long term development?
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I'm Waking Up To Ash and Dust
That is the moment where we all pretend that we were shocked.
Moment over.
The reveal that Clarke is very much alive because she's an amazing, strong, and unique human who would be the exception to the rule did come with some surprises.
It is safe to say that many of us thought Clarke's mind would keep her confined to Mount Weather, but it looks like instead. we are going all the way back.
Having Clarke walk through her past, and possible mistakes, will not be an easy way out situation.
She will be reflecting, and it will be brutal, and yet at least she won't be doing it alone. It is a twist we may have seen coming, but it doesn't make it any less creative of an idea.
It would be easy to have the group save Clarke because they randomly decide she is in there, with the audience having no clue what she is going through.
Exploring the world outside of Clarke's mind and Clarke trying to make sense of how she will escape though is the perfect way to turn that story on its head.
This way, it allows the characters to reflect on Clarke and to work together to get her back. But at the same time, the audience doesn't lose time with the lead and gets to see her work her way through it too.
The potential is endless because the show has never tackled anything like this before. There is room for growth, and there are no expectations because there aren't any rules to go by.
Looking ahead, The 100 Season 6 Episode 7 will have Clarke confronting her past in an episode title that reminds the audience of when Season 3 of the show tackled that same idea.
Nevermind could be a way to remark on what Clarke could change, which is what she was considering before Josephine was implanted in her, and what she wouldn't walk back on.
Right now Clarke might not be able to break free, but what if this was a mind maze that if completed could set her free?
Maybe as Clarke walks through her life so far and the choices she made, literally season to season, she will gain the ability to control more and more of her brain.
It depends on how much Josephine knows about all this, maybe the fact that she has to be asleep for this to happen plays a role in her not knowing what will happen.
So Clarke combined with her not choosing to give her mind up and this path being written for her where she works through her past, this all could be the key that will unlock her brain for her fully again.
Clarke is coming back to us and the future has never looked brighter.
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The Bellarke Corner
Before we talk about anything else, this is just a reminder for anyone who may have missed it that Bob Morley and Eliza Taylor revealed that they got married this past weekend.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's focus on Bellamy's less-than-perfect couple of days.
He was now at a place where he was in mourning for his soulmate, and we were here for it.
The way that Bellamy always looked like he recently cried, his anger and his sadness, and that epic moment where he cried to himself after telling Madi, it was all perfection.
It could be argued that this was a way to make up for no glimpse at the time spent between Season 4 and Season 5, in which Bellamy was going through the motions of losing Clarke.
Now he has to face that again, and his pain is our pleasure.
We don't need them to help us build a compound. We kill them all, and we take theirs.
Bellamy
Bob Morley killed it when it came to Bellamy's turmoil, it was an honor to see how much he was suffering from all this.
Bellamy getting into a rage felt fitting, and yet so did him backing down just before he did something that he couldn't take back. It isn't about him not wanting to kill for what they did to Clarke, instead, it felt like Josephine used who she looked like to appeal to Bellamy.
He didn't harm Josephine, instead he set off to hurt Russell, and at first, it felt like a strange choice with no explanation.
But then circling back, Josephine took a step back in that standoff with Bellamy. Murphy was pushing him, and Russell was used as a host for the rage that Bellamy had about Clarke.
Then you consider how Josephine spoke to him, talking about violence and about killing, which makes me wonder how much of that came from the face he saw.
Maybe playing Bellamy took another step at that point, with Josephine playing on Bellamy's rage by reminding him of Clarke and their conversations of doing better.
Josephine was coached enough by Murphy to work around not making herself the enemy that Bellamy attacked. It could all be in the clues, in the way that Bellamy backed off when Josephine spoke to him and in the way that she was able to focus his attention off her.
It could be upsetting that Bellamy didn't destroy everything in his path, but it also could start a conversation on how he didn't even come close to hurting Josephine who was still in Clarke's body to him.
She might be a different person, but he spent how many years looking at her and seeing Clarke?
Josephine was meant to toy with Bellamy through her use of Murphy, and yet why does it also feel like she toyed with him using who she reminded him of?
Bellamy loves Clarke with his whole heart, and we are all sitting next to him crying about losing her.
Bellamy sat there with his whole heart open, just dealing with the fact that he lost Clarke and letting that spill over into all of his thoughts and actions.
Platonic soulmates can be so extra sometimes.
Stray Thoughts
- Giving Gaia a bigger role serves as the perfect example of using an interesting character to make stories worth our investment. As someone who isn't a fan of the flame or the Commanders as much as I could be, coming at it from this angle worked so much better for me.
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That scene between Bellamy and Madi does mean more when it is done in silence and off camera. But think of the potential between those two dealing with this news together.
What I am really asking for here is more Bellamy and Madi scenes now that they think one of the most important people in both their lives is gone. They need each other and Bellamy becoming more of a surrogate family figure for Madi is the most natural next step for both characters.
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The 100 doesn't kill a character off unless it is brutal and on screen (except for the occasional Bryan and Wick) so Jade has to still be alive, right?
She may be working for Josephine but she is there and we are curious.
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Speaking of characters with screentime, I am here to say that I missed Jordan Green. Since Madi is going through this loss and Bellamy might be busy crying outside over Clarke, is this where I pitch my idea for Madi and Jordan to spend time together?
There is sibling level potential there, and they are both angry enough at what is going on to be the first to take action against it.
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The placement of those drawings in Clarke's room have no meaning, I know. But Roan is hanging out pretty happily above her bead, and that is worth noting.
Also whose job will it be to go back and highlight all the drawings of all the people in her room? I want to see all of it right away.
- Please consider this an apology for some of the panic caused by the flame related theories when it came to Clarke. Not an apology for all of it though, because there is still plenty of time left. Constant vigilance is now the name of the game.
- RIP Kaylee and your whole family. You may have only been a selection of numbers on a screen, but we will still miss you. Kind of.
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While Josephine is still around, it might be a good reminder about consent. The character might not be here for it, but the audience should be. Anything done to Clarke's body without her approval -- romantic and physical included -- is not consensual as Clarke wasn't able to sign off on it.
- All the kudos to Bob Morley and Richard Harmon for the way that they managed to play off one another in that scene. The self-serving reasoning behind Murphy's plan and the heartbroken rage behind Bellamy's choices made that a wonderful exchange to experience.
- April Morris from Truth Bee Told wrote a thread about the Gaia and Madi dynamic that is worth reading and considering as the season continues.
- Bellamy destroyed that room in his rage. We love and support this angst filled guy who just misses his soulmate so freaking much.
What did you think of that episode? How shook are you by that ending twist? What do you think is next for Clarke?
On a scale of Bellamy crying by himself outside to Bellamy threatening to take Sanctum from everyone, how much are you missing Clarke?
Where do you think the others will go from here now that (most) of them are up to speed? How will they find out that Clarke is still alive?
How worried are you for Madi now that she is hanging out with the Dark Commander? Do you agree with her choices? Are you on Madi or Gaia's side in all of this?
Which characters do you think the show can spare when it comes to not giving out too many storylines? And are there any characters that you think deserve more of an arc than they are getting?
Let us know what you think below!
The 100 airs on Tuesdays, at 9/8c on The CW.
Stick around TV Fanatic for more features, slideshows, episode previews, and reviews of the upcoming season, and watch The 100 online to catch up on the adventure!
Yana Grebenyuk was a staff writer for TV Fanatic. She retired in April 2021.
