The 100: 214 “Bodyguard of Lies” Review
Reviewed by Owen Bush.
I’ve used the word ‘explosive’ continuously within my ‘The 100’ reviews, but this episode stepped off the mark with a serious of nail-biting sequences and graced us with many moments filled with explosions within the plot and within the characters, as The 100 braces itself for the sure-to-be-epic two-part finale. The series delved deeper and deeper, grabbing hold of all the plots and pushing them into that penultimate strength, this episode achieved so much, as ‘Bodyguard of Lies’ – the episode title – was blooming with romance, beauty, intensity and the special morals that make The 100 one of the best, and underrated, programmes on air.
As just explained, the episode kicked off with a bang, as Jaha, Murphy (and all the little side-characters we don’t care about) were put through their strengths again, facing yet another difficulty with a set of mines. Although some of these scenes felt just a little slow compared to the action mounting within Clarke and Bellamy’s plot, I really enjoyed the key morals within this new story, which is sure to be a base for the largely anticipated Season 3. In many ways, this new plot has almost taken on concepts that link widely with religious and faith based themes. Like when Mount Weather was introduced, this new direction takes a far different approach than any other ideas happening in The 100 at the moment, and with this, comes the fresh, new experience for the audience, it’s almost like you can never get bored with the show, because as the themes build in one direction, a new direction stifles you completely.
Ultimately, this new direction may seem a little tedious now, but that’s with all due respect to the new path the writers are taking, and I have absolute faith that they will lead it into a adventurous, brutal and exciting adventure, throttling forward with some nasty, gritty sequences, but also some supplementary moral aspects, whatever or wherever The City of Light is, I’m sure it’ll be frantically awesome – especially with that drone…cool drone.
Bellamy has definitely seen a larger role in the second half of the season, and his epic entrances to episodes always frighten me for the danger he’s undeniably putting himself in, as a character who has grown so much, he keeps developing into a soldier, a hero and probably most importantly, a martyr. Although slightly unrealistic with the lack of shooting during action sequences, that’s only a minor, and that of the acting and core intensity made up for those inconsistencies, for it was possibly Bellamy’s scenes that held the episode together with strength and fight, as well as biting into the nearing-conclusion of this dignified and fascinating plot – that is sure to go out with a bang.
Bellamy may be an action hero, but without the brains of Raven – who has seen a rather weak plot recently – he would be no-where, dead or…worse. Raven’s personality is very real and true to those who are very intelligent, she can be a little stubborn and arrogant, but that makes for a more realistic character, and as the audience, we may see a lot of Raven in ourselves. This, led to probably the core theme of the episode – love, romance, and that of not choosing love because of the noise around you, as suggested with both Raven and Wick, and Clarke and Lexa.
Both relationships saw sight of growth during the episode, but both became largely faulted by the loudness of the war around them, and also the recent loss of Finn. It was a strong, but subtle connection between the two couples, this oxymoron almost guided the differences between both, but also how similar the effect of war upon a couple can be. However, may I say, both couples were extremely realistic (far more than Finn and Clarke), and the steam was definitely notched up, as both couples saw bittersweet, but raunchy moments that reminded the audience of love of anyone and everyone (no matter their sexual orientation), and how it can sometimes be pushed aside from war – as well as the fact that sometimes it needs to be.
Fireworks seemed to explode within Octavia this episode, as we saw a more dark, ruthless side to her once annoying attributes that we saw in Season One, it’s interesting to watch the modifications of her character, and the rumblings between her, Clarke and Lexa only solidify those changes. She’s become mysterious, and less whiny, I do see strength in her, but I’m afraid her power will only offend her good – Anakin Skywalker rings a bell. On the other hand, Lexa’s decision to kill her may be outrageous, but will it haunt Clarke in the future? I definitely hope not, but we know what those writers are like.
As the episode began to reach it’s conclusive stage, I was scared things were going all too right for Bellamy, and that seemed true. In a shocking revelation, that I definitely did not see coming, it seemed things weren’t as perfect, and I was so glad the writers took this twist, as else, it would have seemed like Mount Weather was a power to be stomped with by one flick of Bellamy’s right toe. With Bellamy on his last legs, as he literally crawls through whilst a fire bomb tickles his legs (like I said, a little unrealistic, but for the depth, I’ll leave it out..), all stakes were high, and it seemed the Sky People/Grounder allegiance had taken the upper hand, but with two make-or-break episodes yet to see the horizon (like Jaha and his boat), anything could happen – and with The 100 pulling out killer episodes like this, I’m sure it will.
Verdict: 9.5/10
‘Bodyguard of Lies’ filled us with truths on how piercing war can be for love, how things are not always as they seem and most importantly, how The 100 continues to surround us with legendary stories and plots as well as slithering in new, fresh ideas, with the conclusion now imminent, all sides are bracing themselves for bitter war, but only one will see the light of day, because blood must have blood (which is in fact, next week’s title!)