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| Clarke Griffin on the warpath |
My watching the 100 up to its finale is a case of loving the characters and the world building - up to season 2 at least - but hating where it’s going. It was always shorter than the average season which helped me soldier on.
I am surprised that the series finale ended in a great victory for all of humanity. No human is left in the physical mortal plane, transcended in what can only be described as a sci-fi version of heaven.
These are the three things I did not like about this “win”. This rant has spoilers.
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| Clarke and Madi mortally injured by Cadogan |
1. The Great Test of Humanity Needs a Pass Code
After putting the survivors of Earth to the trouble of cryo-sleep, wander in space for over 125 years in search of an earth-like planet, season 7 introduced a space bridge which – surprise – connects also to Earth. The device is called an Anomaly Stone and it works the same way as a Stargate would with its chevrons.
Final judgment – or final test – is a matter of knowing the code like any destination you would enter into the stone. Instead of a planet the wormhole connects to a dimension wherein the traveler can meet the Judge. If successful the species or race transcends, if not then the species dies – every single one.
Audience with the Judge is all about hitting the right combination because the symbols are all on the stone. No level of technological or spiritual development and collective belief is required.
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| The Anomaly Stone - just press the correct symbols |
An entire people can by sheer chance transcend or die by the choice of others which is basically the last season of the 100.
You see humanity was never united in all of 7 seasons. The series never introduced higher or godlike beings; it didn’t tackle any sentient alien life whatsoever. Naturally humanity never had a plan how to deal with such beings much less think of its universal costs.
Bill Cadogan and his cult the Second Dawn was aware of the Judge but interpreted it only as the last war. And throughout the better part of 200 plus years Second Dawn proceeded to train themselves in the macho emotionless ideals of what they perceive great soldiers to be.
At the same time Second Dawn was actively searching how it can be started. They do this by trying combinations on the stone one by one, hoping to be lucky. In the end, Cadogan obtained the code through violence when he tortured Madi to the point of stroke – she was paralyzed and trapped in her own body.
Had there been qualifications you would think that the first question is why did maim a child to have the chance of facing me?
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| Cadogan and the Judge in the form of his long dead daugther |
Instead the Judge asked about love, why Cadogan was attempting to erase such a gift. Alright, a fair question if you think about eliciting a discussion about a better humanity. But my problem there is that the Judge already has a preconception on what is proper even if let’s assume she was open to be swayed.
She (female because by chance the Judge takes on a familiar female form each human was at ease with) called love a rare gift which implies a negative on those without love. Pointing out Cadogan had lived his life erasing love means awareness of what’s going on in the universe unrestricted by the distance of space.
Further on the Judge calls Clarke’s action in life as atrocities which is a definite judgment of what is right and wrong. If the Judge has that opinion of Clarke we then go back to what should have been the first question, why didn’t she ask Cadogan about his atrocities.
She has an opinion so why not judge immediately. If not then at the very least the Judge should have increased price of admission, the right to be tested. Do not allow any species to meet her by chance or by malice.
Judging a species based on representatives who are clearly self-appointed as Cadogan, Clarke, or Raven are; transcending or killing the entire species and entire race including those who have not made a choice, is not a mark of a higher existence. It is an atrocity in itself.
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| How dare you judge me! |
Clark was right. “How dare you judge me?”
2. Mankind has Devolved
There have been other beings in other science fiction series that have ascended, transcended, or whatever unique name they want to use for branding.
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| The 100 has always had the theme of being forced to making hard decisions that would involved someone's death. |
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| Clarke always gets her man. Cadogan is dead. |
Basically, because of the level of development and understanding of life this species or race has reached, they are no longer bound by physical limitations. It’s like saying humanity has no limit if they’re always open to new levels of understanding – sci-fi version of godhood.
When Stargate SG-1 regular Daniel Jackson was on the point of death, he had guidance from an Ancient, a being who many ages ago had ascended. It must be emphasized that scene pointed out it was always Daniel’s choice to ascend. The rest of the team was never part of the deal like what the 100 did. The Ancient talked to one and only one by choice ascended.
My use of the term heaven, especially comparing with other series, was based on the seaming absence of choice. Humanity, although ending up in a good place, because heaven is such a place, was forced along for the ride. Heaven is the end. And for the 100 humanity has ended so to speak.
Becca Franco, the First Commander, could have been the first among many. It can be argued that she was the first improved human boosted by an AI chip in the Flame. She had heightened senses that made her attuned to the signals the stone was emanating which is why she may have “deserved” to open up the Stone and face the Judge.
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| Second from left, Becca side by side studying the stone with Cadogan, the man who would have her killed. |
If it was just her then it can be argued that the Anomaly Stone had some semblance of selective process in who can see the Judge. But the torture of Madi cancels that.
How far could humanity have reached if it had followed the path of Becca? For at least the first five seasons of the 100 the technology of the Flame was never duplicated. As sign of humanity’s devolution, Becca’s advance tech degraded into myth.
Instead of duplication and understanding of the science and processes, multiply its use and number with the end goal of bringing humanity up, a new commander arises from a trial by combat to the death. What could have been many becomes only one. The Flame gets attached to the Commander and helps his/her rule like Excalibur is to Arthur having a semi-divine stature.
On season 6 a similar technology emerged from the Primes of Sanctum. But these Primes, select families of a colony of humans, have been using the technology only to make themselves gods. The technology similar to the Flame became an instrument of body snatching by these Primes killing the original consciousness of the body. Not surprising the violence continued.
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| Wonkru transcends |
3. The Last of Humanity is Allowed to Die off
The main cast of the 100 or also known as Clarke’s friends, what’s left of them, is the final shot of the series.
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| Final shot of the series. Hugs and kisses all around. |
Clarke had at this time traveled back to Earth because of loneliness having seen Bardo and Sanctum beforehand in the aftermath of the transcendence. Like her friends who returned she was just happy, transcendence or not.
The Judge entity who faced Clarke in the form of Lexa explained that her friends made the choice of coming back in mortal form despite the caveat that there will be no offspring and there will be no going back to transcended state.
First of all, wow! Transcendence is a choice she now says. It’s a choice now if the species is judged worthy of transcendence and not a choice if it had been judged for extermination. What higher level of understanding in the universe brought that?
On the part of having no offspring I can understand. In the strictest loving relationship sense there were only three couples going on in the 100’s main group. Short of all men sleeping around with all the women many combinations over and incest, there’s no way to repopulate the Earth.
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| The 3 remaining potentially childbearing couples had the Judge allowed |
In Stargate, the Ancients are builders of the Gate network like the Judge who created the Anomaly stone. The Ancients which are humans basically have seeded planets with their genes and such throughout their travels across at least two galaxies.
Those seeds so to speak are not equal to their civilization of course but when they ascended life remained and would still go on. Daniel Jackson ascending ages after the Ancients illustrates a natural cycle of life. What was learned once can be learned again.
Letting a handful of humanity die of old age albeit virtually living in a Garden of Eden sounds spiteful to me when compared to Stargate. Humanity is worthy of transcendence but when a few decided to live their lives normally and they’re suppose to just die out?
Is the point of the Judge to render the universe empty, because whether transcendence or death, both subtract from the life in the universe. Couldn’t the Judge just help Clarke and her friends, a worthy species to flourish again on the mortal plane? An exterminator of the unworthy would have made more sense than what the Judge is now.
Why not copy Stargate a little bit beyond a bridge; if there is alien life show it, allow them to mingle and grow. Isn’t that the very point of having a bridge, a anomaly stone between planets?
Looking at other series humanity grew from Vulcan First Contact or the missions of Stargate SG1. Is it copyright infringement if the 100 just ended with alien coming through the bridge wanting to be friends and then cut? I concede though it would have been too open-ended and now allow the series to bow out in peace.
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| The Judge on Earth as Lexa giving Clarke the courtesy of an explanation, but no Madi. |
What Ending Would have Suited Me
It would have made more sense if humanity just died considering what the 7 seasons of the 100 were. I believe the writers have painted themselves into a corner which is why this badly constructed godlike being was created.
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| I wouldn't have minded if this was taken to its natural consequence without godlike interventions. |
For that matter how did nuclear power plants last 100 years after a nuclear war and without human maintenance? Why did other human in space besides the Arc wait for season 5 before appearing or communicating?
Each new retcon was never a reason for humanity to improve, case in point the Earth died in nuclear fire twice which is to say reviving the Earth was a failure.
If each new season had some sense of improvement for humanity like bricks on a house then transcendence would make sense. If new elements were only a reason kill again then by all means show what naturally comes off that.
The Judge is presented as a win because transcendence has no death and pain. But Clarke and Raven were right questioning the Judge and her methods heartless and brutal or at the very least an inconsistent moral compass. Was it really a win for humanity?
I find it telling that Madi wasn’t able to say goodbye to Clarke herself, the Judge just keeps on reporting how Clarke's adopted little girl is. There was none of the courtesy of saying goodbye to a loved one. Is transcendence heaven or a prison?
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| Raven, the 3rd human being to face the Judge, was successful |
What I really was expecting was an open-ended finale. I don’t remember all the finales I’ve seen but whatever happens to the hero of the series – death or some kind of retirement – the world moves on.
Raven was calling for time, a second chance. That's what people do. If someone in your life made a mistake or fell short then give time to make amends. Why didn’t the Judge go for that?
I suspect that the writers knew that they have created characters that are always predisposed to killing each other that they don’t know how to make them stop.
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