The 100: 207 “Long Into An Abyss” Review
Reviewed by Owen Bush.
Another week, another dark series of events for The 100 as this episode, titled Long Into An Abyss, was everything I could have hoped for leading to the dramatic looking mid-season finale next week. Well paced, ferociously grim and fundamentally crucial for the rest of the season, Long Into An Abyss was one of the best episodes this season.Sparking with a unique look at the horrors of Mount Weather, the episode began with a young woman being left for dead as we took a closer look at the horrific experiments occurring in the mountain facility. Dr. Singh and Cage trapped the woman, containing her to see what the results were from this atrociously immoral test. Honestly, I compare the goings-on of Mount Weather to today’s society – possibly raising the question whether The 100 is signifying how human trials (the title of episode five) are wrong and humans shouldn’t be “acting God” as Dr. Singh and Cage are doing. I really enjoy the subtle themes of The 100; for a sci-fi adventure show, it does tackle some major themes in the subtlest ways.I’ve always been a Jaha lover, but this episode may have raised some queries about him as he continually battled against the current Chancellor, Abby (who is also a favourite, eek!). After Jaha’s explosive entrance last episode, I expected Jaha and Abby to find peace and friendship with each other, but the fierce pair had less school squabbling and more solid rivalry as they tried to find solutions to the problems around them.
Last week’s wobbly episode did have some ‘hide under your pillow’ moments as Octavia and Bellamy screamed (as well as the audience) when Lincoln was revealed to have become a Reaper. Continuing from that, Long Into The Abyss was centred on curing Lincoln and what that could mean for those at Camp Jaha, Mount Weather and The Grounders. Ricky Whittle (Lincoln) gave an extremely realistic performance in the episode – definitely taking reign over Lincoln’s new characteristics to make the episode feel believable, which was key in making this episode strong and powerful without looking cheesy.
After gaining some intelligence, Jasper finally took action with his team to mess with Mount Weather – as they took the show down a Bond-esque route, with the heist mission surely having similarities to Grand Theft Auto V. Their plan being to become the criminals they once were; a pleasant comparison to their original lives in Season 1. It’s an utter shame the callback didn’t mean more due to the lack of story of any of the characters in this scene, but it did hold a nice representation of how much their lives have changed.
Every single one of the 47 would be dead if Dr. Singh, Cage, Dante and all those of Mount Weather decided to harvest their bone marrow to save themselves – how lovely. It seemed that was the dirty route they would take, and we’re sure life isn’t going to get any better for The 47 locked in Mount Weather. Clarke was really lucky to get out, wasn’t she?
As tension ran high with Lincoln, Octavia encountered Nyko, a friend of Lincoln’s. Presuming he could help, she welcomed him only for Clarke to later realize he was trying to peacefully kill Lincoln. It’s strange to think after all this time knowing Camp Jaha was there, that Nyko and the other Grounders are so reluctant for them to help. I understand this may be their cultures and concepts but surely Nyko would understand that The 100 and Camp Jaha might know more about medicine than him and surely be able to save Lincoln? Finn continued to be punished for his actions as Nyko nearly sent him to his deathbed, only to be stopped by Clarke – but how long away is Finn’s end?
Clarke continued to be our favourite hero as she decided negotiating with the Grounders was the only way for them to stay at Camp Jaha without being brutally murdered. As she discovered from trying to save Lincoln that if she did succeed, she could continue to cure Grounders who are being turned into Reapers in Mount Weather, ultimately suggesting they could collaborate to take down the sinister stream of death occurring at Mount Weather. Because of this, things once again heated up between Jaha and Abby – a pair who originally tackled problems together, but now resort to who has the most power, with Jaha insisting the guards lock Abby, Clarke and Finn away, whilst Abby pressured them to listen to her current authority and locking Jaha away.
For me, it didn’t seem obviously predictable who was going to be picked, but I was rooting for Abby, just because her determination to do the right thing has always been key, similar to Clarke’s strength in doing the more morally acceptable option. Following this, Clarke offered the Commander the treaty, and after several rather irritating lines by Indra, she finally understood what Clarke was asking and pressured to be shown.
Cage turned desperate to his father, begging and pleading for The 47 to be used to help save the people in Mount Weather, but Dante thankfully did not budge. However, did we really think this would stop Dr. Singh and Cage’s furiously evil plans? The development of Dante was unexpected and surprisingly subtle – it seems we all calculated him rather wrongly, as he never stopped Clarke leaving because he was some incredibly evil leader, but because he really did want to look after The 48, the evil apparently was cored within Dr. Singh and Cage, which subsequently is very clever writing.
As the episode mounted to the moment we’ve all been waiting for, Abby tried desperately to help Lincoln and as all seemed hopeless, I was scared things really were going to turn back to massacres. Luckily, after a few rather sincere strikes to the heart, Lincoln’s breaths filled the room – phew! Things really boiled down to the button, making everything brimming with strength and energy.
Surely there was nothing that could spoil such a distinct, heartbreaking scene? After Jasper’s Kingsman team continued throttling through their plan, opening doors and documents to discover their people are still alive, they regrouped, only to find one of their team, the largely unnoticeable Harper, to be missing… – oh boy. In my all time most gruesome scene of The 100 so far (and I doubt it’ll be beaten), Harper was put under extreme pain as Dr. Singh plowed into her skin, going directly against her leader, Dante. The scene, of course, would have been much more frigtening if Harper had been in more than a few glimpses during the season, but the scene still worked to make the audience quiver with terror (including me!).
But that wasn’t the only cliffhanger we were left to drown in. After Lincoln’s recovery was regarded as “impressive”, the Commander decided peace was necessary, but only if Finn was handed to them. Wait, was I meant to be upset at that?
Verdict : 9/10
Long Into An Abyss was filled with heavy themes, sinister goings-on and a sense of major development to the plot. One of the best-structured and well-paced episodes we’ve seen – the acting superbly portrayed and the writing subtly stunning. The 100 continues to surprise me with its feverishly intriguing moments.