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Season 1 Episode 5
Twilight's Last Gleaming
Clarke and Finn are still in the bunker discussing the night before when they had sex and Clarke tells Finn she needed him and wanted it to be him. Finn jokes he just wanted to have his first earth sex and Clarke was around and "passably cute." They start kissing again.
Up in space on the Ark, Abby is in Lockup when Jaha comes to visit her and tells her that they're reaching critical oxygen shortage levels within the Ark. The Council has granted Abby work-release because so many of the Sky People are suffering from pulmonary toxicity. Jaha tells Abby that the Council approved Kane's Population Reduction Plan and they start the culling of three hundred and twenty people in twelve hours. Abby asks about Raven Reyes and Jaha tells her that she will probably die like all of the others.
In Raven's drop ship, she is preparing to begin her descent through the atmosphere and is checking and setting her gauges. She pulls the retro-fire lever and powers the thrusters to send her to earth.
Clarke and Finn sit outside the bunker and Clarke tells Finn they should share the supplies with the other Delinquents, but Finn tells her they should keep it a secret so they have some place to hide if they need to. They kiss again just as Clarke sees Raven's dropship falling to earth. Finn tells her it is a shooting star and she should make a wish. As the drop ship continues to fall, Clarke realizes it's not a shooting star.
Twilight's Last Gleaming 014 (Bellamy, Roma and Octavia)The delinquents observe Raven's drop ship in the sky.
Back at the camp, Bellamy is sleeping in his tent with Roma and Bree when he is awakened as Octavia calls for him to come outside. She points out the falling drop ship and the delinquents wonder if the Ark is sending help.
Clarke and Finn get ready to leave the bunker to find out what might have been sent down from the Ark. Clarke is hopeful that there is a radio.
Jones and Bellamy are discussing where the pod might have landed when Octavia enters the tent and tells Bellamy that everyone is ready to get moving. Bellamy tells her they are going to wait until morning. Octavia asks Bellamy what happens if the Grounders get to it first but Bellamy insists on waiting until sunrise.
On the Ark, Abby is in Medical doing a vision check on nine-year-old Reese Lemkin. She has lost all vision in her left eye due to chronic oxygen deprivation. Reese's father, Tor Lemkin tries to put her hair back from her face with a barrette but she jokingly brushes him off before going outside to wait. Abby explains to Tor that the decline in her vision has been accelerating the last few days and Tor wants to know if they'll fix the air problem soon because his daughter should not have to deal with going blind and he leaves. Jackson comes up and asks Abby if she is all right and Abby asks Jackson to listen to the radio because that is the only way they will be able to help everyone on the Ark.
On Earth, Raven's pod has landed and the automatic signal from the Ark is playing on a loop across the radio as Raven sits, unconscious from a head injury.
Clarke and Finn arrive back at the camp and Fox approaches them, saying that Bellamy told everyone to wait until sunrise. Clarke goes to look for Bellamy in his tent and finds Roma, who tells her Bellamy already left a while ago. Clarke realizes Bellamy went after the radio in the drop ship and takes off after him with Finn following. Clarke blames herself for getting distracted by Finn.
Bellamy is heading toward Raven's drop ship when Octavia catches up to him and confronts him about going after the pod. He shoves her and tells her to go home. She calls him a "selfish dick" and he tells her he did it all to protect her. Bellamy finally admits to Octavia that he was offered the deal to get on the drop ship with her if he shot Jaha, so he did. Bellamy tells her Jaha deserved it for floating their mother and locking Octavia up. Octavia tells him she didn't ask for him to do any of that and takes off.
Kane explains to Jaha the Population Reduction Plan. They will cut off the oxygen in Section 17 and make it appear to be an accident during the residents' sleep period. Jaha approves of the plan with one alteration: Jaha will be in Section 17 with the residents. Kane asks him to not do it, but Jaha tells him the Ark needs Kane because he isn't weakened by sentiment.
Bellamy arrives at Raven's pod and sees her moving about but still unconscious. He takes out his knife and cuts the wires to the radio and yanks it out. He then takes it down to a river and tosses it in.
Raven awakens in the pod and removes her space helmet, discovering she has a head injury just as Clarke opens the pod door and sees Raven. Raven then steps onto the ground for the first time, twirling in amazement and asking if it's raining. Clarke nods with a smile on her face and welcomes Raven to earth. Finn arrives and calls out to her. Raven runs up to him and they reunite and kiss passionately, much to Clarke's surprise. Finn asks Raven how she got to earth and she tells him how she rebuilt the pod. Raven starts to feel light-headed and Clarke comes over to assist with her head injury. Finn introduces Clarke to Raven and Raven tells Clarke how it was all Abby's doing. She then tells them about the planned culling and how they need to alert the Ark that the delinquents are alive. They discover the missing radio and Clarke tells Finn and Raven they need to find Bellamy.
Up on the Ark, Jaha is contemplating Wells' old chessboard when Abby storms in and asks him if it is true that he is going to die in Section 17 and leave the Chancellorship in the hands of Kane. Abby tells him that it is happening too fast and they have other options and possibilities left to try first. She tells Jaha he is a coward and is running away before leaving him. She goes to her quarters and removes a memory stick with Jake Griffin's message to the people of the Ark about the oxygen shortage that he was floated the year before for trying to distribute.
Octavia is headed through the woods back to camp when a noise startles her. She begins to hurry and loses her footing as she tries to climb down a hill. She tumbles down it instead, hitting her head on a rock and knocking herself out.
Clarke catches up to Bellamy in the woods and orders him to tell her where the radio is. She tells him about the culling and how they are getting ready to kill 300 people for oxygen. Finn and Raven arrive and Raven tells him that they have been looking everywhere on the Ark for him. Bellamy tells her to shut up as Clarke asks why. Raven tells them how Bellamy shot Jaha and Clarke realizes that is the reason why he took the wristbands. Raven demands to know where her radio is and Bellamy tells her he should have killed her when he had the chance. Raven challenges him to do it and he shoves her up against a tree as she pulls a knife on him and asks again where her radio is. Bellamy lets her go and tells them Jaha deserved to die. Raven tells Bellamy he was a lousy shot and that Jaha is not dead. Clarke tells Bellamy this means he is not a murderer; he was just protecting his sister. Now it is time to protect 300 people and give them back the radio. Bellamy tells her it is too late.
On the Ark, an Ark-wide message is being broadcast. It is Jake Griffin telling the people about the oxygen shortage. Commander Shumway alerts Kane and Kane goes after Abby. Jaha watches the message as Jake Griffin tells the people that they need to come together and face the crisis. After his message, Abby comes on and tells the Ark that her husband was killed trying to deliver that message and now, in twelve hours, 320 people will be sacrificed. Kane arrives where Abby is at and the guards are able to pry the door open.
Down on earth, Bellamy has several delinquents searching for the missing radio in the river. Finn tells Clarke he should have told her about Raven. Clarke tells him she gets it: she was around and "passably cute." Just then, Jones finds the radio. Raven tells them it will take at least a half day to dry it out to see what is broken. Clarke yells at Bellamy for what he did and that 300 people will die because of him. Raven interrupts and tells them they don't actually have to talk to the Ark; they just have to let them know they are alive.
Jaha yells at Abby that she has made an impossible situation worse. Kane warns them there are 400 people gathered outside. A man tells Jaha that the crowd outside has sent an emissary to speak with Abby. Tor Lemkin enters and tells Abby he saw the video and he wants to "volunteer" for Section 17 because his daughter is going blind and he can help prevent that from happening. More Sky People follow each one volunteering for a spot in Section 17 to give their loved ones extra air. Jaha admits to Abby that Jake was right: it would bring out the best in them.
Back at the pod, Raven is organizing the delinquents on stripping her pod for spare parts to create rocket launchers. Clarke asks if they will be able to see the rockets from the Ark and Raven tells her that Abby will be watching for them.
Up on the Ark, Kane brings Jaha the final list of volunteers and tells him they had to reject almost 100 people. Jaha gets ready to go to Section 17 and Kane again tells him he does not have to do it. Jaha tells Kane that it was Jake who inspired the people of the Ark and Jaha had his friend executed. Kane tells him their survival depends on a leader who can inspire his people to self-sacrifice and that leader is Jaha, not Kane. Meanwhile, Tor is saying goodbye to his daughter, Reese, lying to her about working a double-shift. He tries again to pull her hair out of her face with a barrette and she tells him to stop. They hug goodbye and he watches her walk away with tears in his eyes. As the volunteers file into Section 17, Kane tells Abby he reminded Jaha that changing to a new Chancellor would be destabilizing. He also tells her he left two men monitoring the radio in case Raven calls through. Abby thanks him as they watch the volunteers enter Section 17. Jaha thanks Tor for his sacrifice and Tor tells him not to because he is doing it for his daughter.
Back at the camp, the delinquents are setting up the launchers for the flares.
Tor and 319 other Sky People all file into Section 17 and take their seats. Tor holds onto his daughter's barrette as Sinclair reports to Jaha that all hatches and vents have been sealed in Section 17 and asks for the order. Jaha instead walks over to Sinclair's station and presses the button himself, terminating the airflow into Section 17.
The delinquents begin lighting off the rockets and watch as they go soaring into the evening sky.
The people in Section 17 begin to fall asleep as the air supply is cut off. Tor plays with Reese's barrette as Jaha gives a eulogy for them. Tor eventually falls asleep, dropping the barrette. Later, Abby and Jackson enter Section 17 where the 320 bodies are piled where they fell asleep. They start to remove the corpses and Abby picks up Reese's barrette from where Tor had dropped it.
Bellamy asks Clarke if she thinks the Ark will be able to see the rockets. She tells him she doesn't know and wonders if they can wish on the flares as a shooting star. Bellamy tells her he wouldn't know what to wish for.
In the woods, Octavia awakens after falling down the hill and hitting her head. The flares flash across the sky as she looks up into the face of a Grounder.
In space, Jaha visits Abby in Lockup and passes her a flask as he tells her they make the best choices that they can and hope for forgiveness. She asks if they even deserve to be forgiven. Suddenly, Abby and Jaha see the rocket flares from the delinquents through the window.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: Twice.
- Jaha realizes Jake's death was entirely this.
Jaha: Jake Griffin inspired them, and I executed him. I executed my friend.- The culling turns out to be this, as learned when Abby and Jaha see the flares.
- Chekhov's Gun: We finally hear the recording Jake made in full, revealing the oxygen crisis. Turns out Abby kept a copy, and performs an Engineered Public Confession.
- Easily Forgiven: Abby is released, baring a hearing from the council, so that she can help treat the people suffering from oxygen deprivation.
- Dirty Coward: Abby accuses Jaha of being this, as he plans to commit suicide during the culling. He claims that it would be hypocritical not to ask the people to do something he would not do himself. She immediately shoots this down and says it's just a cowardly way of shirking his responsibilities, and leaving the Ark to be lead by the ruthless Kane.
- Downer Ending: Hoo boy, is it. 320 people needlessly commit suicide so the Ark can have a chance at survival, all needlessly. Jaha and Abby learn this just afterwards. Oh, and Octavia is captured by a Grounder.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Jaha and Abby share a drink after the culling.
- Due to the Dead: Abby, Jackson and her medical team make sure to close the eyes of the 320 people who die in the culling, before removing their bodies.
- Dying Truce: Inverted. Abby and Kane make a truce during the culling. She realizes that he actually doesn't want to do this, and isn't The Starscream that she feared. He makes it clear that he really hopes her plan with Raven works, and he has set men to monitor and call him if she manages to radio. She honestly thanks him for this.
- Heroic Suicide: Several.
- Jaha attempts to do this in Section 17 when the plan is to actively murder the residents there. Kane talks him out of it.
- Tor Lemkin and 319 others voluntarily commit suicide by suffocation so that the other people on the Ark have a chance to live. Needless to say, they all Face Death with Dignity.
- Internal Reveal: Several.
- Abby uses Jake's prerecorded message to reveal the oxygen crisis to the entire Ark population.
- The Ark finally learns for a fact that Earth is survivable.
- Bellamy finally reveals to Octavia that he (thinks) he assassinated Jaha. Raven later reveals the same to Clarke and Finn.
- Raven reveals to Bellamy that Jaha is alive.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Bellamy once again. They can't reasonably search for Raven's pod in the pitch black dark, in unfamiliar territory, with possibly hostile Grounders in the woods. Then subverted when it turns out he just wanted to get to the pod first.
- Make It Look Like an Accident: Kane's plan for the culling is to seal off a Section 17 of the Ark with 320 random people inside, and drain the oxygen from inside while the residents are in their sleeping period and drugged, making it look like an equipment malfunction. It turns out not to be necessary after Abby reveals Jake's video, and all the necessary people volunteer to be culled.
- Modesty Bedsheet: The episode opens with Clarke and Finn both sharing one, as part of their post-coital pillow talk.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Two major ones:
- Jaha, when he realizes Jake was right all along and he killed his friend for nothing.
- Jaha, when he and Abby see the flares and see that Earth is survivable, and they just killed 320 people for nothing. It clearly dawns on him before it hits Abby.
- Oh, Crap!: Several:
- Abby, when Jaha informs her that Jake's projections of the shrinking oxygen supply were off by a wopping three months. Then compounded when he further reveals that the council approved Kane's plan to reduce the population.
- Finn, after Raven starts making out with him in front of Clarke.
- Kane, when he learns of Abby's broadcast.
- Population Control: The episode deals with the revelation to the 100 that Kane's plan to reduce the population is about to begin, and they spend the episode desperately searching for a way to warn the Ark that it isn't necessary, after Bellamy destroys Raven's radio. Unfortunately the signal flairs are too late, and 320 people on the Ark are voluntarily suffocated.
- Skewed Priorities: Played for laughs when the first thing one of the delinquents thinks when they see Raven's pod descend is to hope she brought shampoo. They apparently don't know how easy soap is to make from the ash.
- Spanner in the Works: Bellamy spends half the episode actively trying to keep the ground and Ark from contacting each other.
- The Starscream: Subverted. All season, Kane has been painted as this. Turns out he's not, and successfully talks Kane out of suicide.
- The Radio Dies First: Or more accurately, the radio is killed first. Bellamy seeks out Raven's pod and destroys the radio before checking on her, fearing that he will be executed if the rest of the population descend. The rest of the episode involves the characters on Earth desperately trying to find an alternative.
- The Reveal:
- Someone (unnamed) put Bellamy up to assassinating Jaha, with the promise of sneaking him aboard the Drop Ship if he did.
- Rousseau Was Right: Or in this case, Jake Griffin. His idea that revealing the oxygen crisis to the entire Ark population would bring them together to solve the problem, while the council believed it would cause panic and anarchy. Abby ends up playing his message to the entire population, warning them of the plan to cull them. Instead of panic, almost 420 people volunteer, nearly 100 more than were necessary.Jaha: Jake was right. It would bring out the best in us.
- Take a Third Option: Raven comes up with the plan to signal the Ark with flares.
- Tap on the Head: Octavia falls accidentally falls down a hill and hits her head on a rock. She out for several hours though.
- Tragic Keepsake: Tor Lemkin is seen clutching a pink hair clip that belongs to his daughter Reese, which he drops upon death. Abby later finds it.
- A Threesome Is Hot: Bellamy is introduced waking up naked next to two beautiful women.
- Wish Upon a Shooting Star: Played. Finn and Clarke watch Raven's pod crash, and at first mistake it for a shooting star and briefly debate the merits of making a wish. They realize the mistake before making a wish though. Later Clarke and Bellamy make a wish on the flairs Raven sends up.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Twice:
- The revelation that Jaha is alive and that Bellamy isn't a murderer let's Clarke break through to him by invoking this. It get him to lead them to the broken radio.
- Kane makes a similar speech to Jaha to talk him out of suicide, saying the people need a leader who can inspire them.
