Distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
Episodes: 16
Duration: 40 min (per episode)
The 100: Season 3 (DVD) – Series Review
The ending of season 2 of The 100 was rather brutal, as the Grounders broke off the alliance with the ‘Sky People’, leaving everyone to fend for themselves inside the mountain complex. This means it was only a handful of people against those who wanted to harvest the 100’s blood to gain immunity against the radiation of the outside world. Miles and miles away there were Jaha and Murphy who were looking for the equivalent of the promised land, only to find death and despair. Nonetheless Jaha reached his destination but did not find what he expected, while Murphy was trapped in a bunker-like home, slowly growing mad.
After Clarke (Eliza Taylor) infiltrated the Mountain Men’s military complex to save the rest of the 100, she was forced to make a hard decision, namely watch to see her people die or open all the vents of the military base and let all of the Mountain Men, young and old, innocent and guilty, die. As there was no ear for her pleas of surrendering, she opened the vents and as a result, the threat was gone, as well as many innocent lives of those who were living inside the mountain. Even though she allowed the rest of the Sky People to go home, she did not tag along, as she felt she no longer had a place there. Now, she has become somewhat of an urban myth for the Grounders and is known as Wanheda, a merciless hunter and legendary warrior. Nonetheless, she is being hunted, eventually captured and taken to the Grounder capitol, where she is almost sure she will lose her life. Surprisingly, Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), ruthless leader of all the Grounder clans and Clarke’s ex-lover, shows compassion and actually wants to include the Sky People as one of her factions, making sure they would go unharmed.
Now that everyone, except for Clarke, is back at Arkadia, which is the new name for the settlement for those who lived on the space stations, things have gone to a fairly relaxing state, albeit with a kill order on Lincoln’s (Ricky Whittle) head and Jasper (Devon Bostick) in an extremely depressed state due to the loss of his ‘girlfriend’ in the Mountain Men’s camp. When the inhabitants of the camp, or at least a group, find out that there’s a bounty on Clarke’s head, they head out to see if they can find her, and hopefully bring her back safely. Sadly, they are held up by a group of Ice Nation Grounders, who are known to be quite vicious and don’t really care about repercussions of striking against the Sky People. Out of the blue, the group gets saved by inhabitants of Farm Station, who apparently survived the initial crash of the space stations, and have been fighting the Ice Nation all along. Even with the bloodshed aside, everyone is happy to see their friends from Farm Station, and Monty (Christopher Larkin) even gets to see his mother again. Nonetheless, even though Pike (Michael Beach) has been doing a great job in defending his people against the ruthless Grounders, it seems he can settle on a state of peace, as he looks at all the different factions as murderers, who will stab them in the back.
Last but not least there is Thelonious Jaha (Isaiah Washington), who has found the City of Light, which actually happens to be a place inside his very own mind, or the minds of everyone if they allow it. It seems that he stumbled upon A.L.I.E., which is the AI, that was designed to help the world but actually ended up destroying the world, as it saw nearly wiping out the human race as the solution to this planet’s problem. Nonetheless, it has changed its ways and still wants to have humans around, albeit completely under her control, in a fairly docile state. When Murphy (Richard Harmon) is finally released from the bunker he was in and meets up with Jaha, he is also offered the same deal at least if he is willing to swallow a certain ‘pill’, which will show him the City of Light. Murphy refuses, as he already feels like something is wrong.
The flow of this season isn’t all that different from the previous ones, as there’s one central point the plot focuses on, with smaller items happening all around it. This season feels a bit like a reverse version of The Matrix, where people rather escape reality, to join a nonexistent paradise, in order to live happy lives, albeit in a state where they aren’t completely themselves, or in control for that matter. Everything still has a very nice buildup, making sure there’s a constant tension in the air, which results in suspense and interesting story evolution, to a certain extent. We reckon many of you will agree that the ending of this season will feel a bit farfetched, or is simply an indication of wanting the series to go on longer than it should have. Nonetheless, the story is still good, the action is decent and character evolution and plot twists are properly embedded, which will never leave you bored.
Even though there are a few new faces in this season, the overall cast members remain the same and still don’t fall short in delivering qualitative acting performances. Eliza Taylor might have received a role that is a fair amount gloomier than the previous seasons, and still she comes through, showing that she has the role down perfectly. The ‘new’ faces include Michael Beach, who sets down a convincing act as Pike, a man who can’t forget about his initial encounters with the grounders, and Luisa D’Oliviera, who plays a happy-go-lucky thief, who will do everything to survive.
On the DVD release of the third season of The 100 you will find a small set of special features, which are fun, but don’t add that much new content. You’ll see how the creators came up with the Grounders’ capitol, how certain fight scenes came to fruition and the motivation behind this season’s finale. Other than that there’s a typical Comic-Con panel session, and a blooper reel, which sheds another light on the cast members, who are only seen playing very serious roles otherwise.
Conclusion
The 100: Season 3 will certainly still please the fans of the series a lot, but the conclusion might be a bit disappointing as this series starts to feel like another franchise the creators want to prolong and milk dry. Nonetheless, those feelings aside, prepare yourself for a fairly surprising plot with enough drama and action to drive you to the edge of your seat. Still very much worth the watch.
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