In Defense of Bellamy Blake, Part Two

Last week, I covered the first half of The 100's season one, specifically, Bellamy's character development. We're just beginning to see a change, although for the moment, the changes are subtle and less 'HOLY MOLY, DID YOU SEE THAT?' than in Season Two. However, as war is about to break out on all the teenagers and Bellamy's leadership position begins to seem a lot less appealing, his character is going to be tested in an entirely new way, and we'll see if he has what it takes.

 

 

When the scene opens up, we can see Bellamy sitting in the drop ship keeping an eye on the Grounder, and here is another spot where I really appreciate Bob Morley's acting. While he doesn't say anything about it, you can see that torturing someone has done a good job of coming back around to haunt him. He may seem gung-ho about violence, but now he's having to live with what he's done.

I ship it so hard.

 

Raven has rigged up an interstellar Skype so the kids on the ground can talk to the Ark. Clarke goes to tell a guy named Dax that his parents want to talk to him, but when he gets to the screen, the shady guard who gave Bellamy the gun to kill Jaha is on screen. He tells Dax to take out Bellamy, and he’ll have a good life when all of the adults get to Earth. It doesn’t seem to matter that Dax is a literal murderer.

Clarke asks Bellamy to go to a depot with her. When he asks why him, she says, "Because right now, I don't feel like being around anyone I actually like."

 

They head out, with Dax following only semi-sneakily behind, and they find a supply of blankets and guns at the depot. Then they have the moment where Bellamy realizes he's in love with Clarke. (He fell in love with her in episode two, but now he realizes it. Bellarke share a cute moment where Bellamy teaches her to shoot - and suave, confident, womanizing Bellamy gets all flustered. It's adorable.

 

Unfortunately, something fun happens - the nuts that Jasper and Monty gave everyone to eat were hallucinogenic, and it kicks in with Bellamy and Clarke. This is where we get one of the most insightful scenes with Bellamy. We can already guess what's going on inside Clarke's head - she hallucinates her father, who actually turns out to be Dax, and renders her unconscious.

 

Bellamy hallucinates a bleeding Jaha and the three hundred people who suffocated on the ship. Jaha accuses him of their murder, and Bellamy, terrified, says he didn't know it would happen.

 

 

Then we find out how Bellamy really feels about what he's done - because he begs Jaha to kill him.

 

But Hallucination!Jaha tells Bellamy, "You want the peace of death? You're going to have to earn it."

Bellamy realizes he has a gun (which he didn't previously, as it isn't real) but suddenly Jaha becomes Dax. Then Clarke appears, pointing a gun at Dax, and tells him to back off. Dax is determined, so Clarke tries to shoot him - but the gun is wet, and it doesn't fire, and Dax turns on Clarke. Bellamy, still half-tripping but coming back into himself, does possibly the most awesome thing earth has seen in 97 years. Bellamy doesn't have a gun, but he has a bullet - and he stabs Dax in the neck with it and thus saves Clarke's life.

GO BELLAMY.

Bellamy, mentally and physically exhausted, sits down and Clarke joins him. Bellamy looks up and tells Clarke that his mother would hate what he's become. "She raised me to be better," he says. "To be good. I'm a monster. All I do is hurt people." And then, the Bellarke ship picks up wind. Clarke looks at him and says earnestly, "Look...you saved my life today. You're a total ass half the time, but...we need you. I need you."

AND ALL GOD'S PEOPLE SAID AMEN.

They take the guns back to camp and find out Lincoln has escaped (unbeknownst to them, with Octavia's help). Clarke is wary about giving everyone weapons, but she and Bellamy agree they need to give them to the people they think can handle it. Mama Clarke says, "These are weapons, 'kay? Not toys," before they distribute them. Slap a warning sticker on. Good try.

Bellamy comes up behind Octavia and puts a blanket around her shoulders. "I don't expect you to forgive me," he says, "but you'll have to find a way to live with me, because I'm not going anywhere."

On the interstellar Skype, Clarke convinces Bellamy to speak with Jaha. Jaha isn't pleased at seeing Bellamy, but Clarke vouches for his character. "You sent us down here to die...Most of us are still alive. In large part, that is because of him. Because of Bellamy."

And if you didn't ship Bellarke before this episode, you do now.

 

In the next episode, the kids are celebrating Unity Day, which is apparently a big deal on the Ark, and a big deal on the ground - because Clarke and Bellamy actually tease/smile at each other. He tells her she deserves some fun, and for once, she agrees to relax. Ha! Monumental improvement!
Unfortunately, Finn discovers that Octavia and Lincoln (the Grounder) have been gettin' down and dirty, but he uses the situation to suggest a truce.  Lincoln agrees to talk to his leader and see if they can arrange a meeting.

Finn finds Clarke and tells her about the meeting with the Grounders. She’s not a huge fan of the plan, but agrees, and then goes to tell Bellamy—who calls her Princess (I love it when he does that. It went from a jab to a term of endearment) and asks him to be her armed backup. Bellamy conscripts Jasper and Raven to go with him.

Clarke and Finn meet up with Octavia and Lincoln on an old bridge. Lincoln’s leader, Anya (America's Next Top Model/Mad Maxine) shows up a few moments later, on horseback, flanked by two guards. Clarke goes up to meet her, and the two discuss how the 100 have basically been waging war without meaning to (e.g., the flares they sent up as signals to the Arc burnt a village to the ground). The Grounders see the 100 as invaders, and Clarke agrees that it certainly looks that way. She tries to make Princess Grounder see the benefits of peace, but Clarke can’t promise that the adults, when they reach the surface, will hold to any sort of agreement. (As an aside: Bellamy refers to Clarke as 'our princess' to Jasper and Raven during this conversation. Squeeee!)

Suddenly, Jasper spots Grounders in the trees...and shoots. A small battle begins and the kids make it back to camp, but barely, and tension breaks into a full-fledged screaming match between Finn, Clarke, Raven, Bellamy and Jasper. They know that this has been seen as not just an act of war, but the initiation into it.

(Important-for-the-next-segment Note: Meanwhile, due to unimportant (read: non-Bellamy related) stuff happening on the Ark, a ship is forcibly ejected to earth.  Clarke and Bellamy notice the drop ship entering the atmosphere, and Clarke gets excited when she thinks her mom’s on it...but then the ship hits the ground and explodes.)