'The 100' Review: "Wanheda: Part 2"
Meaghan McDonough ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
While “Wanheda: Part 1” informed fans of what their beloved characters did in the three months since the Mount Weather massacre and introduced a lot of new, potentially interesting conflicts, it left viewers with a lot of questions. This week’s episode, “Wanheda: Part 2”, very much builds on the what was set up in last weeks’ episode. Whether or not that works to it’s advantage, you’ll have to read on to find out!
“Wanheda: Part 2” opens where we left off last week with Bellamy (Bob Morley), Kane (Henry Ian Cusick), Monty (Christopher Larkin), and Indra (Adina Porter) trapped inside the jeep at the edge of Ice Nation territory. Just as Kane, Monty, and Indra agree to make a run for it with Bellamy covering them, Grounders appear and take Bellamy hostage. The mysteriously masked captors drag the four characters out of the jeep but in the shuffle, one of the captors apparently recognizes Monty. Monty responds to the woman’s nervous voice with an equally surprised, “Mom?” just before the opening credits roll.
Meanwhile, Jaha (Isaiah Washington), Murphy (Richard Harmon), and Emori (Luisa D’Oliveira) are off to run errands for Alie. Emori and Murphy have just as much chemistry as last we left them, but they’re too busy dealing with Jaha and Alie’s demands to really have any time together. In addition, at least two more characters are introduced, neither of whom are given names or purposes: they both seem to be followers of Alie, mere pawns in her game, and are supposed to help Emori, Murphy, and Jaha obtain what Alie is looking for. Once they have it—a strange, metallic pod that contains technology Alie apparently needs—Emori decides that it’s in her best interest to steal it back. Though Murphy tries to convince her not to, she goes ahead with it, nearly getting herself killed in the process. After killing the man in a horribly CGI-rendered stabbing, the pair of them run off with the backpack-like pod. Harmon plays Murphy much softer here than we’ve ever seen him before; somewhat weak and helpless in many places, flirtatious and yet cautious. It’s an interesting writing choice for sure, though one that is certainly questionable considering the Murphy we’ve seen since the beginning.
Roan (Zach McGowan), the mysterious bounty hunter and a new character for this season, still holds Clarke (Eliza Taylor) captive and is trying to transport her to some supposed client of his. Time and time again Clarke tries to escape his hold—and she puts up a mighty good fight—but he simply overpowers her. Roan even manages to kill a whole group of hunters from Ice Nation just to keep them from her.
It is just following one of these attempted escapes that the show cuts back to Bellamy, who spots Clarke through the scope of his gun. This is the first time Bellamy has seen Clarke since she left him and the camp behind three months prior. His reaction is immediate: he screams her name and starts running towards her, despite the approaching Grounder war drums. While Pike stops him, Bellamy is clearly distressed even as the group finds from the approaching threat. Bellamy eventually steals away and poses as a Grounder. Tracking Roan and sneaking in to where Clarke is being held, he eventually finds her. Clarke and Bellamy’s reunion is enough is almost enough to save an otherwise disorienting and slow episode. While Roan shows up and separates the pair again, their scene together is a wonderful reminder of the depth of their feelings for one another.
Overall, the episode was kind of a mess. Strange cinematic choices and weak CGI reminds viewers of the budget that The 100 lacks while weird storylines slow the plot down. Even though there are a number of fairly interesting reveals—Monty’s mother being alive, more stuff about The City of Light, Roan having been in Lexa’s employ—there are a lot of storylines that feel like they’re just trying to use all their characters, and not using them well. Hopefully this is just an issue of this being a Part 2 to the premiere, but so far, this isn’t following the standard set by Season 2. Then again, it took the first three episodes of Season 1 for the show to really pick up, so The 100 obviously still has time. Performances by Bob Morley, Eliza Taylor, and Christopher Larkin carried the day this time, and made the whole ordeal worth it. Next week, however, we need to get some of our questions answered, instead of just having more questions piled on.