In episode 6, “Nakara,” Indra does what we’ve been assuming she would, Clarke and crew are not having fun on the Ice Planet, and we finally learn Diyoza’s fate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkyXpeEfPFI
We’ve got three storylines vying for attention, with the first being Diyoza’s.
Is it ironic that Diyoza, an alleged war criminal, has her time lapse of events scored by Interpol? Definitely fitting, I’d say. Either way, we get to see our navy seal in action, and she does not disappoint.
Unlike Octavia, who hasn’t had the kind of endurance training designed for one of the most elite military branches, Diyoza knows how to bide her time and make calculated moves. She pays close attention to her surroundings, which allows her to escape capture a lot longer than Octavia does.
However, she also almost kills Hope in her desperation to avoid being recaptured. Luckily, Hope’s helmet saves her life and we get to see a mother and daughter long-awaited reunion. Octavia gets in on the hug, and Diyoza gets filled in on what happened to Bellamy – that he’s “dead,” at least as far as Octavia, Hope, and Gabriel know.
It’s a bummer, but then Octavia sees Levitt – he got demoted to a janitorial position – and he advises her to go through the oxygen garden and escape to the surface. Gabriel thinks that plan is crazy, especially when some random dude tells them the surface is uninhabitable, but he’s outvoted since Octavia trusts Levitt. It looks like he’ll go along quietly, until Echo kills the random dude, and he betrays the group in favor of a more conservative approach (it doesn’t help that Echo’s been killing everyone she comes across and he’s certainly not a fan).
Back on Sanctum, Indra is not having a good day. A cache of Wonkru’s weapons have been stolen, and Russell is getting more blatant in his defiance of their unspoken stalemate. He learns about the weapons, and when Nelson (Lee Majdoub) – leader of the Children of Gabriel – comes a calling intent on killing him for the good of Sanctum, he takes charge of the situation managing to recruit Nelson to his cause.
Indra suspects the prison miners stole the guns, but, since Wonkru broke up, she doesn’t exactly have the means to take them back. She tries to talk to Nikki, which goes about as expected, and settles on the reluctant choice to rope Madi back into her commander position.
Jackson (Sachin Sahel) (Abby’s protégé), Murphy, and Emori are all in agreement that dragging Madi back in as commander is a terrible idea. Indra doesn’t see any other choice, but they all do: Indra should be commander! I mean, why this hasn’t occurred to anyone else at this point is beyond me, even Clarke should have thought of this when they realized Madi was out. Guess Clarke is just so used to taking on burdens…or maybe she secretly likes the power – wouldn’t that be a cool twist? The answer is yes, but I doubt that’s likely.
So, Indra finally steps up. She battles the leader of Sangedakru, Knight (Xavier de Guzman), after announcing she will be taking charge of shit from here on out. No, she doesn’t carry the Flame, there are no more commanders, but Wonkru isn’t breaking up and she is their leader. With Knight defeated, she lays the task of getting the guns back from Nikki’s people as his responsibility then leaves. Bam!
Over on Ice Planet (called Nakara), Clarke and the others need to get back to Sanctum. Raven’s got the deus ex machina helmet so she’s super self-assured that, as long as they follow the computer read-out, they’ll reach the stone in no time. Here, follow me into this innocuous looking cave!
Later, we’ll discover this is actually a living creature that is gradually digesting them…so…ew. Raven has a crisis of conscience when she realizes how much danger they are in, and when her trail to the stone leads to a dead end. She really doesn’t want anymore bodies on her hands, but Clarke is with her and gives her a patented Clarke pep talk about having hope and not feeling bad for killing people to save other people. Weirdly, it works, though that could be due to the fact that everyone in this storyline makes it out alive.
So there’s some stuff to unpack here:
Dr. Eric Jackson has been a series player since the start; he’s one of the many folks I couldn’t get to in my initial series overview (it’s a huge ensemble cast). Jackson is now Sanctum’s default doctor since Abigail died, and he’s also one of the queer characters still living (along with his partner Nathan Miller, who is off with Clarke). I like Jackson as a character; this series has often tested his ability to balance between his duties as a doctor – do no harm – and his human response to the wrongs he and his people have suffered – get revenge! He offers a great perspective of someone that isn’t in a position of supreme power and responsibility, like Clarke or Octavia, but he exists among the side characters, making sure the wheels keep turning even if he isn’t on-screen. Granted, his position does require immense responsibility, but, in the wake of Abby’s death, he hasn’t been featured nearly as much. This could be because one: he isn’t Clarke’s mother and two: Abby only just died at the end of last season. It would have been interesting to see if, given more seasons, his appearances on-screen would have increased.
There’s Clarke’s speech to Raven, which comes off as simplistic. Raven even counters with how the people they killed had people they loved too. I’m giving Clarke the benefit of the doubt here and speculating that she’s a little like Sheidheda in this moment. She knows in order to push ahead and succeed Raven must be on their side, and she must be able to table her guilt enough to get the job done so Clarke tells her what she needs to hear. Whether she really believes her own words are up for debate, though, I fail to believe a character as complex as Clarke would simply wipe away all her guilt and apprehension with a few words.
Finally, we have Nelson’s willingness to jump into bed with Russell. This is after Russell reveals he isn’t really Russell; he’s Sheidheda. I can understand this alliance sheerly for the fact that Indra has been giving Nelson the brush off ever since this whole shit with Russell went down. It’s not really surprising Sheid is able to take advantage of that frustration and twist it to fit his own agenda – that’s how dictators work! They promise you power, a solution to all your woes, and of course, revenge against your enemies.
Should be interesting to see what happens next on the 100!
An excellent post, congratulations !!