William Miller as McCreary. Photo courtesy of TellTaleTV.
**This article contains spoilers for “Sic Semone Tyrannis” and events that happened in prior episodes.**
“Blodreina was the leader then. We need a true commander now.”
Man this show is moving a mile a minute.
McCreary is back, and his return sparks trouble in the valley. It’s strange how the show has gotten us to care about Diyoza, despite her position against our cast members. I mean in battle I was actively worried about her and her child. Now even if Diyoza is still particularly a bad guy in all of this, we all know there are always worse evils. In this case, his name is McCreary. It’s no surprise that the tension between the two clans within the valley exploded given the cure was hidden from McCreary and his people. Those tensions were always at play the whole season, but always subtle and downplayed—something you always noticed but never focused on. I think it was a fantastic choice to shine the spotlight directly on them, and then light the match (or throw a stone) to push the narrative further.
Throwing that stone was probably John Murphy’s best moment so far this season. Such a simple action—one that perfectly fits his character—causes so much action. As Emori said, “He’s being John Murphy.” Sparking that Civil War was the groups plan to escape, along with Emori de-collaring all of them. While the rest all had their parts to play (I mean even the pilot got to live!), the focus of the plot in these moments was certainly on John. This was made even clearer when he made yet another self sacrificing decision to help Kane save Abbey. I really hope this isn’t all building up to a big sacrificial death for him—cause that would be real sad.
Adina Porter as Indra. Photo courtesy of TellTaleTV.
After being a side focus in so many episodes this season, Indra finally got the focus she deserved this time around. In Octavia’s absence, Indra tried to rally WonKru with herself, and tried to lead them down a pass of peace. It was nice to see her finally break away from Octavia—especially in the scene where Octavia wakes up. That’s getting ahead of ourselves though, because before that Indra made another major move. She went to see her daughter Gaia, and tried to convince her to give Maddie the flame. We don’t get many scenes between the two of them, and it was a nice change of pace. It was also especially interesting watching Gaia struggle with her faith and breaking her loyalty to Octavia—and also keeping Maddie’s safety from and center.
Bellamy continued to make tragic and harsh decisions this week. Shortly after poisoning his own sister, Bellamy betrayed his closed friend in order to try and tear Octavia off her thrown. What I love about these hard choices that Bellamy has made, is that they make perfect sense. They are built on a strong character foundation, and even if you may it agree with him, his actions aren’t out of character. Unlike in season three, when he made drastic choices that made zero sense. Choices that were made only because the plot demanded it. Here, his betray against Clarke felt more natural, and was another fantastic twist in this roller coaster of a season.
Paige Turco as Abby (left) and Ivana Milicevic as Diyoza (right). Photo courtesy of TellTaleTV.
Maddie means everything to Clarke, and easy to see why she was furious. I mean Clarke may never forgive Bellamy for what he has done. His actions didn’t stop Clarke from trying to save Maddie from the flame. This led to an uneasy alliance between her and Octavia in an effort to stop the Ascension. They were however too late, as the flame bonded to Maddie before they could stop it. But the Ascension was stopped, and Octavia remained in power as Clarke fled with Maddie. Now the darkest part of all of this, is not only did Octavia arrest Bellamy and Indra to be thrown into the fighting pits, but she gave the order to kill Maddie and Clarke despite their deal.
This season has truly been an intense ride, and it shows no signs of slowing down. The show is really delivering some of it’s best quality right now, and I couldn’t be happier. With all the twists and turns, it’s hard to see what may happen next. But with Octavia still in power, and the flame far away with Maddie, it’s not looking so good for Bellamy or Indra.
Bonus Notes:
- I know there will bet an episode focusing on the Dark Ages, but I feel like we should have seen earlier.
- Raven bluntly telling the pilot he’ll die if he doesn’t come with them was a nice touch.
- That last shot of Octavia sitting on her throne as a tear slips down her face was extremely powerful. As crazy as she may seem, there is clearly unseen conflict mounting in her head.
- Maddie’s embrace of the flame was rather chilling.
