Clarke scrambles to save Abby, who reveals a ghastly secret from the bunker. The converging armies prepare for a climactic battle for the Shallow Valley.
Tropes present in this episode:
- Beautiful Dreamer: Non-romantic variation. Clarke and Abby share a moment, mother to mother, when Abby comes out of withdrawals to find Clarke watching Madi as she sleeps. She tells Clarke she used to love watching her sleep, and Clarke smiles, saying she "knows the feeling."
- Big Damn Kiss: Raven and Shaw.
- Brother–Sister Team: Subverted. Octavia claims that "This is how it was always meant to be. You and me. Fighting side by side." Bellamy reminds her he's not fighting for her but for his family in the valley.
- Brutal Honesty: Several:
- Bellamy pulled no punches with Octavia, to the point where Indra had to interrupt one of his "this is how it is" speeches. Perhaps the best moment came when, after explaining Octavia's plan to fight a war in the valley and destroy what is probably the only livable place on earth, he ends with, "That is monumentally stupid."
- In flashbacks, Abby refuses to sugar coat the fact that Wonkru will starve to death without a viable source of protein, and with no way out of the bunker, the only option are the dead from the fighting pits. She even begs Kane to tell her she is wrong and give her a solution, but he can't.
- BFG: Murphy spends most of the episode trying to get his hands on a gun. When they kill the Eligius scouting team, Emori finds one of their advanced super weapons and offers it to him. He eagerly accepts.
- Call-Back: Abby reminding Cooper about why they floated the dead on the Ark in episode 2 of the season turns out to have been foreshadowing what Wonkru is forced to do with the dead they physically CAN'T get rid of.
- The Corrupter: Abby takes on this role for Octavia in the flashbacks, in order to get her to force compliance and make Wonkru eat.
- Death of Personality: Octavia being forced to murder members of Wonkru to convince them to eat is what caused Octavia to die and Blodreina to become the dominant drive in her personality.
- Framing Device: Abby's drug-induced memories reveal what happened during Wonkru's Dark Year.
- Going Cold Turkey: Abby finally makes the decision to willingly do this, instead of forcibly going through withdrawal.
- Instant Expert: Averted, refreshingly. The mook McCreary put in charge of spying on Wonkru couldn't tell the array was down until Clarke's presence alerted him. He admits even then it took him ten minutes to find the rewind button.
- Internal Reveal: Several:
- Clarke finally learns of the sickness among the prisoners, and of Abby's addiction.
- Both Diyoza and McCreary separately learn that the Eye is down.
- Ironic Echo: Twice:
- When Kane tries to get involved with plotting against Wonkru, Echo says, "Trust has to be earned," while looking directly at Diyoza, who nods.
- Madi argues that Octavia taking all responsibility for Wonkru becoming cannibals was "bearing it so they didn't have to." This is exactly the words used by President Wallace to justify himself being responsible for all of Mount Weather's atrocities, and in turn what Clarke said to justify abandoning Arkadia to live in exile after the genocide of Mount Weather. It's jarring because Clarke NEVER told Madi that story.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Abby, Kane, and Octavia all have a collective nonverbal example after Octavia executes three people who refused to eat. Abby stares in shock, while Octavia and Kane both openly weep as he takes the first bite.
- No Party Like a Donner Party: This episode confirms that Wonrku had to resort to cannibalism to survive in the bunker when a fungus wiped out their protein source for a year.
- Not Using the "Z" Word: A non-supernatural example. Everyone in Wonkru steadfastly refuses to call what they do cannibalism, or to outright say they are eating the corpses of the dead. Instead they dance around the word. Octavia uses it only once, as a Wham Line.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Abby viciously verbally digging into Clarke greatly disturbs Madi and Clarke. It's part of the detox as she becomes increasingly desperate for her opiates.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Bellamy wasn't just learning to fight during the six years on the Ring. Echo got him to be fluent in Trig.
- The Plague: The Second Dawn Bunker is a closed environment that is moist and underground. A fungus infecting the hydroponics farm is entirely within the realm of possibility.
- The Reveal:
- We finally get the origin of Blodreina, and what made Wonkru change from a group of survivors to fanatical cult members.
- Sadistic Choice: Reflecting on his options, Kane muses, "How do you choose between a monster and the devil?" It's unclear who (McCreary or Octavia) is who until the end of the episode when Kane gives Octavia's battle plans to McCreary saying that he can't let "the devil" in.
- And again when Wonkru had to resort to eating their dead during the Dark Year.
- And again when Octavia presents the choice between eating human flesh and eating a bullet, when several members of Wonkru (including Kane) choose not to become cannibals.
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Squick: We are treated to a loving shot of Octavia taking a huge bite of a cube of human flesh, complete with smacking mouth noises. - The Strategist: Echo fills that role this episode as she scouts for the valley's weakest entrance and draws up battle plans to aid Wonkru so that Bellamy, Monty, and Harper arrive safely.
- Zero-Approval Gambit: The only way Octavia has to ensure Wonkru survives the Dark Year - by taking away the choice on whether or not to eat human flesh, her people will survive, blaming and fearing her instead of themselves for what had to be done to survive.
