The 100 ended Season 3 on a high note - perhaps the show’s best season finale so far.

The 100: "Perverse Instantiation - Part Two" Photos 11 IMAGES

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This was a really emotional episode, starting with that opening scene between Clarke and a newly de-chipped Abby. Just excellent acting from Eliza Taylor and Paige Turco here, that captured the pain on Abby’s part and the forgiveness on Clarke’s in the wake of all the horrible things Abby did under Alie’s control.There were a lot of great character moments throughout. After a decidedly rocky road getting here, Bellamy had a really strong moment with Pike, as he told him he was wrong to let himself see things in black and white when it came to Grounders and that he has to live with what he’s done. It was an important moment for Bellamy, even as it felt right that Pike would still insist “It wasn’t the wrong side” and defend his choices as just.And of course, there were those final moments as everyone was freed from the City of Light. All in pain, yes, but with those who loved them giving them comfort – from Abby with Kane to Monty with Jasper.That’s an interesting thing about The 100 season finale. There was some moments of... hopefulness!? Oh, it was all within the context of plenty of pain and misery and the potential death of everyone (more on that in a bit), but still, hearing Clarke tell Alie, “You don’t ease pain. You overcome it, and we will” was such a terrific moment, indicating Clarke’s personal inner strength but also an idea worth cheering, on the heels of her proclaiming, “We’ll figure something out. We always do.”Similarly, Monty telling Jasper, “We will be happy again. I promise,” was notable. Especially since it was not followed by Jasper walking out of the room and killing himself, as I thought he might. Or even followed by him hearing his friends laugh and simply looking miserable again. He actually smiled! It would have been a really bad, frustrating idea to have Jasper come out of this basically right back where he started this season but again, there was some light at the end of the tunnel here in a way The 100 often doesn’t offer.In the midst of this, there were visceral thrills and lots of really cool moments, including Abby and Murphy literally pumping Ontario’s heart in their hands to keep her alive (so wonderfully insane) and Raven being awesome, per usual, sending Clarke that raven symbol to let he know to trust the door inside the City of Light.I don’t quite know what to make of Alie’s claim about the Earth being close to unlivable thanks to the remaining nuclear power plants melting down. If true, it just seems too big an issue for this group to believably solve with the resources they have – how would they even travel the world in time to stop it? But given that this reveal wasn’t saved for the very last moment, I have a feeling the truth isn’t quite what Alie claimed, but perhaps some variation on it.As for those very last moments, The 100 had established a precedent of ending their season finales with a big “WTF?” moment in the very last scene (though the one in Season 1 was more effective than Season 2) that had me assuming one would happen here, so it felt a bit surprising and, frankly, lacking when it didn’t. Octavia killing Pike was a big moment for Octavia, of course, but not nearly on the “everything has changed” level as the prior finales’ last few seconds. But as I think about it, I appreciate this season not trying to mimic that feeling every single time and instead going for a dark moment for Octavia, to be sure, but in the midst of everyone else having those tearful, heartfelt reunions.Pike was still a bastard for the things he’d done, but the last few episodes had made him a much more interesting character than the one-note guy he’d started as. I like how he was killed at a point where it felt much messier and more complicated for Octavia to do what she did, at least in the way she did, without warning – and on the heels of Pike saving her life (after she’d already sliced up his leg and left him to die!), no less. Challenge him to a fight at least, O!Though I must say… Did Pike have a healing factor or something? Because that dude seemed really messed up in the last episode and I assumed he’d die here thanks to those wounds, but nope, he was pretty much fine until Octavia started cutting on him.Meanwhile, we got Lexa’s return. Something I wish had been kept a secret (Jason Rothenberg inviting fans to watch them film those scenes in Vancouver certainly didn’t help on that count), because it would have been a great surprise. But even knowing she was coming back… what an entrance!In some ways, this was making up for the really crappy way Lexa died this season. Because here, Lexa got a do over of sorts. She got to kick a bunch of ass, save Clarke and then go out fighting a giant army, helping protect Clarke and take down Alie – on the heels of Clarke finally saying “I love you,” no less! It was pretty much just the sort of big ending the character should have gotten in the first place.This was all really satisfying to see and again, a much better exit, if this is truly it. Though given the murky nature of Lexa’s re-appearance (which happened because she was still partially in the Flame, I guess? But so are the other former Commanders then, right? So were they around and we didn’t see them?), I do wonder if we could see her again somehow one day. Clarke took the Flame out of her head at the end, but it still exists. And I wonder if maybe the City of Light does too, even without Alie? Who knows and for now, it’s probably safe to assume Lexa is gone, but you never know. In the meantime, it just felt good to see Lexa one more time in full warrior Commander mode.Other things of note in this episode:-Really cool visual of the black and red crisscrossing as Ontari and Clarke had their blood transfusion.-It felt like a subtle acknowledgement of the similarities when Alie told Clarke,“In the City of Light, you don’t have to bare the burden of decisions like this one,” but after Season 2 and Season 3 both doing it, it’s probably time to stop ending seasons with Clarke pulling a lever.-The score here was gorgeous and stirring. Excellent work by Tree Adams.-Erica Cerra’s rather incredible performance as both Alie and Becca in the same scene needs to be noted. It didn’t even sound like the same person playing both roles.