Overcoming most of its early growing pains pretty quickly, The 100 was a very strong show by the end of its first season. But Season 2 elevated the series into the upper echelon, as the show become one of the coolest and most daring series on TV these days.

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There were some excellent nuances at work here. Dante Wallace (Raymond J. Barry), presumably the season’s big villain initially, turned out to be pretty truthful when it came to his wish to work with and unite with those from the Ark – and to have great respect for and even a sense of kinship with Clarke. Yet he was also someone who was unapologetically doing horrible things to the Grounders, using their blood to help his people, while transforming many of them into the cannibalistic reapers. The fact that he simply saw the Grounders as “savages” and those from the Ark as people he could relate to made him a fascinating character, as you couldn’t really root for him, yet as the season progressed, he was the voice of reason inside Mount Weather – especially compared to his even more brutal, single-minded “us over anyone” son, Cage (Johnny Whitworth).The 100 moved at lightning pace this season. A couple of times that meant it felt like we were skipping a beat or two, as when Lincoln (Ricky Whittle) very quickly went from prisoner to full fledged Reaper, when it felt like maybe we could have used one extra episode or so to let that change take hold – yet it was still a harrowing storyline to see him go through and battle against.So much happened in the second half of the season, it’s hard to remember Finn (Thomas McDonell) was still on this show in Season 2. I was never a fan of this character, who felt like an odd, out of place fit much of the time; especially as others deepened around him. However, Season 2 did give him a stunning episode, when he simply snapped and shot and killed 18 prisoners in cold blood, as they made a run for it. The season’s biggest misstep was the immediate follow-up to this though, as Finn was basically back to normal immediately and every single one of his friends pretty much completely sided with him when the Grounders came seeking justice. On a show that doesn’t make things easy, it felt odd to have the group so in sync about Finn, with none of them seeing him in a different light after their initial shock.But that storyline got a commendably brutal payoff when Clarke (Eliza Taylor) actually went through with killing Finn herself – a mercy kill, to be sure, saving him from the slow, torturous death the Grounders had planned. But still a hell of a thing to put upon the teenage girl at the center of this series. What’s amazing is that moment would feel like happy times compared to what was coming for Clarke.It was during this period, as Finn’s fate was on the line, that we met Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), who turned out to be a terrific inclusion for The 100. Sometimes a character just pops in every way, and that was Lexa. The young Commander of the Grounders conveyed strength and confidence, tempered with a more progressive -- by Grounder standards -- viewpoint, willing to work with the “Sky People” where others didn’t wish to. Debnam-Carey was a real find in this role, giving a terrific performance playing a very guarded character, who lived by a “love is a weakness” code that she couldn’t quite actually follow. It’s worth mentioning how fantastic the costume and makeup design for Lexa were as well. She looked freaking awesome. How awesome? I’ve seen multiple people in the IGN comments say they deeded to finally give The 100 a try because they were so fascinated by how cool Lexa looked in photos from the show – and then the great stories kept them in for the long haul. So kudos to costume designer Katia Stano and makeup department head Tanya Howard and their teams.Season 1 of The 100 had a couple of overt “CW type” storylines that could sometimes throw the show off, most notably a really gratuitous love triangle for Clarke, Raven (Lindsey Morgan) and Finn that never felt credible or earned. Season 2 pushed back against those type of diversions in a big, rather extreme way. While Octavia’s (Marie Avgeropoulos) love for Lincoln kept her fighting to save him and Jasper (Devon Bostick) and Mount Weather resident Maya (Eve Harlow) formed a sweet, tentative (doomed) romance, there were probably less love stories on The 100 than most serialized TV show these days in general, not just a CW show.Which is why it was extra notable when something began to build between Clarke and Lexa – and it was done so well. Yes, Clarke being revealed, and confirmed by the writers, as bisexual makes her a very notable character in TV history, given she’s the lead in a sci-fi/action, broadcast network program - where a character of this sort just has never been represented in this manner (cable's a different animal - though it's still rare). But if people didn’t buy into or invest in what was happening with Clarke and Lexa, it could easily have damaged the central storyline. Instead, the show did an excellent job of showing these two young women forging an uneasy alliance and then beginning to fight and work alongside each other, as genuine respect built between them – and yeah, some great chemistry from the get go, with Debnam-Carey and Taylor expertly embodying two people who had every reason to be on guard around each other, but sensed something similar bringing them together. Their big kiss was one of the season's best moments because it actually had a lot of meaning for both characters and where they were at that point – as Lexa began to take to heart Clarke’s advice on why sealing yourself up to emotion like she was trying to do was a bad idea.This is The 100 though and happiness is not long for anyone. And so Lexa didn’t die, as many feared, but instead did something that, in some respects, hurt worse – she sold out Clarke and all of the Sky People in a deal with Cage, ultimately staying true to her own beliefs and freeing and saving those who followed her, with nothing else taking priority, including the alliance with the Sky People - or her own hope, that she was now crushing, of finding happiness with Clarke. In this respect, a love story ended up being crucial to the season, and the show was better for it.It all led to a grimly satisfying conclusion, as Clarke, who'd already had to make one horrible "greater good" choice after another (including killing Finn and letting Tondc get hit by that missile) went even further than before, directly causing the death -- with Monty and Bellamy's assistance -- of everyone living inside Mount Weather, children included, to rescue her people. Throughout all of this, Taylor was excellent, showing Clarke's tremendous amount of inner strength and natural leadership skills, as she was forced to make calls that always came with a huge price; and who carried that burden with her, even as she kept fighting.

The 100: Season 2 Finale Review

Sure, not every single thing worked perfectly this year, particularly when it came to balancing the large cast. Monty (Christopher Larkin) never had a plotline of his own, getting some moments, but nothing that really continued week to week beyond his part in the group trying to get out of Mount Weather, even as Jasper got some great material showing his huge transformation, as he took charge and went to some brutal places. Maybe Monty's part in the finale events will put him into the spotlight more next season? Bellamy (Bob Morley) also felt a bit sidelined for awhile in Season 2, though he then got some really exciting, action movie hero type material in the last few episodes - before sharing some poignant material with Clarke in the finale, which again showed how well Taylor and Morley play off one another.I also hope the show can figure out how to better use the “adult” characters in a bigger sense, as Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) and Abby (Paige Turco) had some strong scenes, but often felt a bit underused. Kane bonding with Octavia (and then asking her to spy on the Grounders) was a cool inclusion, but didn’t really get a big payoff, among other "could have been" aspects.Jaha (Isaiah Washington) meanwhile was somewhat amusingly completely out on his own for the vast majority of Season 2, only briefly re-joining the rest of the group. A lot of his storylines were pretty fascinating though, as he gave us a guided tour through new parts of The 100 world, as we met desert Grounders, trekked through land mines and ultimate found a mysterious mansion where an AI (Erica Cerra) intent on building a nuke greeted him. That ending was one that left us with a "Huh..." beat, rather than the same jolt Season 1’s finale did, though I'm quite hopeful it leads to something memorable next season, given The 100 has given us so many reasons to have faith in it at this point.This is already a long review, but I want to bullet point some other highlights from Season 2, just to underline how good this show was week to week. Among the many aspects that stand out are:-The fight between Clarke and Anya (Dichen Lachman). So badass. Skeleton dust as a weapon!-Raven and Wick (Steve Talley) snuck in at the end as another love story we could easily invest in, after we saw the endearing Raven deal with a lot of hardship early on. Morgan and Talley quickly found the easy rapport these characters, who were already friends, had together.-Jasper axing that dude and letting Tsing (Rekha Sharma) get what she deserved.-Octavia’s terrific continuing transformation into a warrior, best exemplified by the emotional scene where she kept getting back up in a fight she couldn’t hope to win. Avgeropoulos has really sold this surprising transformation.-I snarked on how he got out of it unscathed (he was surrounded by a fire ball!), but Bellamy holding off the guards with two guns and then blowing the hell out of the acid fog machines was a great, cheer-worthy moment.-Murphy (Richard Harmon) and Jaha were one hell of a bizarrely inspired pairing.