The 100 5×06, “Exit Wounds,” sees the main characters negotiating where they stand with each other while playing dangerous games to protect their own interests.

This week’s episode of The 100 asks the audience and the characters the same questions: do you accept that people have changed if you didn’t see them change? Should a person be judged by their actions or their intentions? Do you forgive because you want to, or because you have to? Do you have to?

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Through the eyes of Bellamy and Octavia, we explore the two opposing viewpoints that tend to dominate the discourse when we talk about forgiveness, judgement, and the necessity of letting go.

Related: The 100 5×05 “Shifting Sands” review: Love and other drugs

“Exit Wounds” explores the tension between the pre- and post-time jump versions of the characters, and ultimately proves that, as much as everyone missed each other while they were separated, nobody is quite able to reconcile the people they used to know with the strangers that now stand before them.

Admittedly, “Shifting Sands” was a hard act to follow, and this episode offers fewer genuine moments of connection between the main characters (with obvious exceptions) than I would have liked. “Exit Wounds” is a very exposition-heavy episode, which works hard to set up the second half of the season.

But there is a lot to like about it, with characters like Madi, Diyoza, Gaia and Emori emerging as the standout characters of their respective storylines. And the episode serves to realign the pieces on the board in really interesting ways that has made me even more intrigued about what is to come.

Alliances are forming, dissent is spreading, and the seeds have been sown for unexpected new dynamics (Murphy and McCreary! Echo and Kane! Clarke and Gaia!) that I can’t wait to see develop.

But above all, “Exit Wounds” presents a thematic exploration of how, and why, we forgive.

Family feud

“We all have things to answer for. Things that shouldn’t be forgiven but are. Because we did them for our people. Our family. Echo is no different. She was an Azgeda spy, but now she is with me, your brother, who is trying very hard to understand who you are compared to who you were six years ago. All I’m asking is for you to do the same.”

The central conflict this week is between Bellamy and Octavia, with Bellamy and Echo’s relationship being the catalyst for them to express their very different worldviews and leadership strategies.

Echo is really the perfect character to build this conflict around, because she has arguably done the most ‘unforgivable’ things to both characters in the past, and she has been more or less unrepentant about it because she, like they, was acting in service of a people to whom she was loyal.

Six years later, Bellamy has seen her grow and change into a different person, and has come to care for her on a human level, while Octavia retains the memory of Echo as she used to be, and judges her accordingly.

Bellamy is obviously right that Echo has changed, as she indeeds proves in this episode. But is Bellamy right in demanding that Octavia takes his word for it, and accepts the ‘new’ version of Echo without context or proof? Not necessarily. Especially because Bellamy himself is simultaneously struggling to understand and accept the new version of Octavia, whom he has not seen grown and change over the past six years.

Octavia can’t just be expected to forgive and forget because an arbitrary amount of time has passed. Echo and Octavia were enemies when they last saw each other; Echo killed people they both cared about — she ‘killed’ Octavia (and if Octavia grabbing her stomach while she and Bellamy are fighting is anything to go by, she still feels that injury) — and Octavia hasn’t spent the past six years getting to know Echo and coming to understand her like Bellamy has.

On the other hand, is Bellamy not correct when he says that every single one of them have done terrible things for their people, and the only difference is which people they did it for? Is he not expressing a more idealistic worldview — that forgiveness is not something that is doled out based on what people deserve or have earned, but because it is necessary to forgive and move on in order to achieve peace and unity — which we should aspire to agree with?

In lieu of forgiving her, should Octavia not at least be able to accept that Echo has changed, especially since she is expecting Bellamy to accept that she has changed? Don’t they have enough present-day problems to worry about without having to hold on to old grudges?

Both of their perspectives are obviously valid. That’s the point. Humanity at large has arbitrarily and subjectively doled out absolution or condemnation ad libitum, and if we were truly able to offer objective judgements of who does and does not ‘deserve’ forgiveness, there would be no such thing as grudges, or conflicts, or wars.

There is no right answer here, just as there is no right answer when we are discussing Echo’s character in fandom. Either you think she deserves forgiveness, based on the information you have, or you don’t. The narrative can only present both sides, it can’t tell you which one to pick. That is what makes watching this show so interesting.

Who you are versus who you have to be to survive

Ultimately, Bellamy and Octavia are actually arguing the same point: why should Echo be judged differently from anyone else? But they approach that point from completely opposite angles.

When Bellamy defends Echo to Octavia, he speaks from the perspective of someone who knows her, as a person. Who understands her point of view and who acknowledges that her actions were justifiable from her perspective.

As I said in my premiere review, six years of peace has allowed Bellamy to reach a place where he has forgiven himself for everything that happened to the ground, and in doing so, he extended that same forgiveness to Echo.

And although Bellamy has changed in many ways, I don’t actually think this one of the ways. In season 1, Bellamy was the first person to articulate the show’s “there are no good guys” philosophy when he told Clarke that “who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things.”

While Bellamy has certainly struggled with forgiveness in the past (“forgiveness is hard for us”), and was only just beginning to let go of the ‘us’ vs ‘them’ mindset when we last saw him, he has always believed that there is a distinct difference between who you are and what you do. (Which incidentally falls in line with Clarke’s “The things we’ve done to survive, they don’t define us.”)

So even though I understand the frustration some fans are feeling that we didn’t get to see him grow into this person, Bellamy asking Octavia to forgive Echo for what she’s done because of the person he now knows her to be feels like a natural extension of that worldview.

Conversely, Octavia judges Echo not based on who she is, but what she has done. When Bellamy says “you don’t even know her,” Octavia fires back with, “I know what she’s done.” Because to Octavia, Echo’s actions are what define her. Gina. Ilian. The cliff fight. That’s who Echo is.

And this is directly in line with Octavia’s worldview, which she has indeed built an entire society around: Wonkru does not care about why you commit a crime; the act itself is what makes you an enemy. No exceptions. And your ‘trial’ is not a trial by words, but by combat: only the action of fighting in the conclave can condemn or absolve you.

Forgiveness is not only hard for her now, it is impossible. Forgiving Echo would weaken her rule. For Wonkru to work, actions must have immediate, extreme consequences, and any lenience threatens the foundation of their society.

So with Bellamy only defending Echo based on who she is, and Octavia only judging her for what she has done, of course they can find no middle ground. And all of this is obviously not just about Echo. Action versus intention is a philosophical debate that has been raging since the beginning of time.

Having Bellamy and Octavia establish themselves on either side of the debate is a way to showcase the vast ideological chasm between the Blakes that, at this point, seems impossible to bridge.

But for all that, Octavia does compromise. When Bellamy threatens to leave, she breaks, because despite her harsh ultimatum last week, Octavia can’t suppress the love she still has for her brother. It pains her to admit defeat — she has literal tears in her eyes — but she does it.

It is no accident, however, that Echo can prove her worth to Octavia by utility. Not by fighting in the arena, but by using her very special set of skills to solve another of Octavia’s pressing problems. It is a compromise, but not one that compromises Octavia’s values.

At the end of the episode, Octavia and Bellamy’s ideological dispute is no closer to being resolved. “You murdered your own people” versus “I executed traitors.” Who they were versus what they did. Intention versus action.

The Bellamy/Octavia conflict is only just beginning.

I spy with my little eye (in the sky)

Having spent a lot of time talking about what Echo represents in the Bellamy/Octavia storyline, let’s actually talk about Echo herself. Because this was a big episode for her, which did a lot of work showing, rather than telling, how much she has indeed changed.

As a newly minted series regular, obviously we knew Tasya Teles was going to get more to do this year, and I’m pleasantly surprised by the way her story is unfolding.

I’ve said before that Bellamy and Echo getting together in space, and their relationship raising the stakes for the Bellamy/Octavia conflict, makes total narrative sense to me.

But I’m personally far more interested in seeing Echo getting to utilize her skills as a spy for Wonkru, and having to reconcile her past, present and future selves: who she used to be, who she became on the ring, and who she needs to be to survive prove her worth to Octavia.

There were two standout Echo moments this week that I really liked: when she told Bellamy that she wouldn’t let him die for her (a heartbreaking speech it felt like she’d been practicing for years), and when she decided not to give Octavia the names of the dissenters.

In many ways, Echo is the same person she always was, she is just part of a different people now, but there are clearly new lines she won’t cross, even to give herself a strategic advantage. And there are people she won’t sacrifice.

Luckily, the combined brain powers of Monty and Echo means that she doesn’t have to. They find a way to disable ‘the eye’ that broadcasts their every move to Eligius, and in order to sneak the flash drive into Eden, Echo has to fake-defect.

It is Octavia who devises the honor guard of bullets, realizing that not only will this scare off future defectors, but it will make Echo look less suspicious.

Never one to miss an opportunity, Echo hides the flash drive in the dying woman’s wound, a move so bold, so cold (she is Ice Nation after all), and just incredibly smart. I loved it.

The official synopsis for the next episode indicates that she’ll clash with Raven as she attempts to carry out her mission, and since Echo is going for the ‘eye in the sky,’ it’s likely that her efforts will directly compromise the plan Raven already has in motion, and get Shaw caught in the crossfire.

I’m all for Raven saving Shaw, but I’m also kind of hoping they end up having to fight over whose plan is the smartest, because both of these women are incredibly cunning and intelligent in very different ways, and — although we didn’t see much of it — them having grown close on the ring also means that they understand each other, and might be able to point out flaws in each other’s plans.

You guys, I cannot emphasize enough how blessed we are to have a narrative full of smart women fighting to out-smart each other. More of this, always.

Sparks are still flying between Murphy and Emori, ha ha

“Exit Wounds” gave us some more context for why Murphy and Emori broke up in space, in what was possibly the best and most heartbreaking scene of the episode. Luisa d’Oliveira and Richard Harmon are absolutely killing it this season.

Emori and Murphy are so angry at each other, so in love and so heartbroken because they each feel that the other has abandoned them. If only they had actually been able to vocalize these emotions on the ring, right? But it isn’t in either of their characters to do so.

I love that they gave them time to have this conversation. For all The 100’s space travel and cannibal cults and radiation worms of varying shapes and sizes, these human moments are so very important to ground the story and remind us what is at stake: not the big battles, but the characters’ reasons for fighting these battles.

I’m obviously happy to see them back together, but it’s only episode 6, so I’m not pulling my chickens home to roost just yet (…I’m not totally sure that’s the right expression, but you know what I mean).

Sure, they’ve taken McCreary hostage, which for all intents and purposes is a good thing. But with all the talk of viruses spreading dissent, I imagine that McCreary the hostage might just be able to poison them (or Murphy, specifically) with his words, potentially screwing things up exponentially not just for Memori but for everyone on our* side of this war.

(*I am actually secretly Team Diyoza shhh don’t tell anyone.)

Emori of course continues to be a standout character this season. Giving her room to stretch her wings, even though she has now circled back to Murphy, was such an excellent move on the writers’ part. The Emori we’re seeing on screen right now is someone who has grown into the best possible version of herself, and it is just a pure joy to watch.

Sometimes there are no good choices

One of the absolute highlights of this episode for me was Gaia’s role, and the ‘twist’ of who the actual biggest enemy to Madi ends up being.

Gaia was far and away the best new character in season 4, and I was thrilled to see Tati Gabrielle have a bigger role this year, but after “Red Queen,” I was a bit worried The 100 was setting her up to out-villain Octavia.

And don’t get me wrong, Gaia absolutely is capable of turning this entire narrative in her favor any time she chooses (as indeed she’s already done). But right now, Gaia is the best ally that Clarke could possibly hope for. Believing Madi to be the ‘Chosen One,’ Gaia will go as far to protect her from Octavia as Clarke will.

When she tells Clarke that she isn’t going to force the Flame into Madi’s head, I believe her. (Gently coercing Madi into taking the Flame of her own free will, of course, is another matter.)

I have no idea where Gaia’s story is going, or how Indra’s allegiance to Octavia (but wariness of Blodreina) will fit into it, but I’m really thrilled about this development. The more Gaia the better!

It is in fact Niylah who proves herself the snake in this garden. And really, once she pulled a Finn Collins and gave Clarke a small animal figure representing their relationship, we should have known.

With all our speculating about Niylah being eaten and/or estranged, it was a complete (and welcome) surprise to see her alive and well, and totally, creepily Team Octavia. “How do you explain the sun to someone who’s never seen it?” HAHAHA Clarke, run.

I’m so curious to find out what kind of relationship they have (Octavia is also still reading Ovid, and annotating it! Please tell me there is a book club), and whether Niylah, like Indra, is one of the few people that still have the ability to bring out Octavia’s human side… or if she is more of a sycophantic devotee like Cooper. I’m guessing the latter.

Octavia herself is playing many games this episode. Yet I have to say that she is a lot more clear-headed and reasonable than I expected after “Shifting Sands”!

Octavia has always been more instinct-driven than strategy-driven, but she has never been stupid, and I really appreciate that, even as Blodreina, Octavia is leading with her head as well as her sword.

Clearly, despite her damning threat to Bellamy last week, Octavia is willing to endure a lot of ‘dissent’ from him and Clarke. And not only does she listen to their input, but when Kanyoza’s picnic baskets of peace fall from the sky, she is terrified for Bellamy’s safety. Somewhere beneath all that darkness, Octavia is definitely still in there.

…Even as she continues to play mind games and bend her own rules in order to manipulate events in her favor. Hey, Blodreina’s gotta blodrein.

And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb

Madi, continuing to prove that she very much an active agent in this narrative, goes against Clarke’s plans to flee and tells Octavia the truth — or rather, she tells fairy tale warrior queen Octavia the truth. She doesn’t realize it is Blodreina wearing her skin.

And I have to stand up for Madi here, because while Octavia is clearly shady AF, the only alternative here was to go with Eligius, a scenario that would almost certainly get Clarke killed. Madi might just have unwittingly made a deal with the devil, but she did it to save Clarke. I would have done the same thing.

Whatever Octavia felt about Madi (and Clarke) before she found out the truth, Madi being a trueborn Nightblood obviously changes everything. Following the thread above of Octavia judging people only based on their actions, I wonder what her eventual response will be to Madi — who of course poses a threat to Wonkru not because of what she has done, but because of who she is.

The question now is WHAT Octavia plans to do with Madi, now that she is Wonkru. Did she already poison her with that knife? Will she ‘accidentally’ set the bottled sand worm free while Madi is nearby? Will she order Cooper to take her out? Will she instruct Ethan to kill her in training? Will she try to get Clarke out of the way in order to groom Madi, like Nia groomed Ontari, in order to control her when she becomes Commander? Will she actually……………. protect her?

Whatever Octavia’s plan is, poor Clarke is stuck in the middle of powerful people playing dangerous power games with her child, all claiming to have Madi’s best interests at heart. (Have you ever seen the movie Gifted with Chris Evans? It’s kind of like that, except it’s obviously nothing like that.)

And Clarke continues to be at a severe strategic disadvantage because of how emotionally compromised she is.

We might imagine another version of this season in which there was no Madi (nooooooo!), and Clarke would have emerged from her six-year sabbatical ready to rock and roll, instantly positioning herself as a leader against Octavia and Diyoza.

But Madi has changed everything for her, and on a story level, it is incredibly fascinating to watch the ripple effects that Clarke’s shifting priorities and newfound reticence have on the narrative as a whole. “Sometimes there are no good choices” is a long way from “[I’m doing] what I have to, like always.”

But on a personal viewer level, I hope Clarke eventually gets her groove — and her friends — back.

Reunited and it feels so…?

My absolute favorite thing about The 100 is how much it feels like these characters genuinely care about each other. Through all the wild sci-fi plot twisty madness, the bonds between these people are what keep them going, and what keeps me emotionally invested in turn.

So far, I’ve really appreciated how the time jump has re-centered some of these core relationships, showing not only how much these characters mean to each other, but how much of a divide has formed between them since they separated. I love the idea of a season about found families, and how those families are compromised by everyone’s old (and new) relationships.

But after five episodes of beautiful little character moments and breathtaking reunions, “Exit Wounds” was a real rude awakening, effectively hammering home the fact that, after six years of separation, most of these people seemingly don’t have much of a connection to each other at all.

In this episode, we suddenly have a lot of characters back in the same space that not only don’t seem to have any kind of emotional connection anymore, but act like they never did.

Obviously the point is to show that SpaceKru, Wonkru and ClarkeKru are distinctly separate units now. The fact that they are technically reunited, but still spend all their time with their ‘own’ groups, tells us exactly how deeply cemented the new dynamics have become, and that’s part of the plot of the season.

But it is still super weird that we have Clarke, Bellamy, Octavia, Monty, Harper and Echo (and Cooper and some random viking) all in the same room for the first time in six years, and the conversation is 100% expository, no discernible emotion of any kind on any of their faces. Sit down and have a meal together, guys. Eat some people, talk about old times. Acknowledge each other.

Of course, in Clarke’s defense, she has very valid reasons for avoiding personal interactions with anyone, including those she might once have called her friends. She is completely consumed with protecting Madi’s identity from Octavia, and in Clarke’s paranoid mind, there are enemies everywhere (and she’s not wrong!).

In fact, the only one she seems to trust is Bellamy. But Bellamy has his own family back now, too, and his entire attention is currently focused on protecting Echo from Octavia.

There is such a painful contrast between “Shifting Sands”, in which Clarke and Bellamy got to be their ‘old’ selves again in isolation from their new families, and “Exit Wounds,” in which they have near-identical, but completely separate storylines as they each fight against Octavia in an effort to protect someone they have come to care about in the other’s absence. When Bellamy plans to leave, it is with SpaceKru; when Clarke plans to leave, it is with Madi.

At the end of the episode, their mutual “you don’t understand”s underscore this new distance between them, which is sure to be addressed textually once the Octavia/Madi storyline heats up.

But the distance between Clarke and Bellamy evidently also extends to the rest of SpaceKru, who appear to be even more of a homogenous unit than Wonkru, which is already straining dangerously at the seams.

There is no getting around the fact that it is hugely anticlimactic to have Clarke, Harper and Monty standing around the same place without acknowledging each other at all (even just to articulate the awkwardness between them). But it certainly serves as a way to illustrate Clarke’s continued emotional isolation from her friends.

It isn’t just Madi who has to reckon with the fact that the comforting stories they’ve told themselves about these people don’t align with reality. In this episode, Clarke has come to fully realize just how long a time six years really was, and that the reunions she dreamed of were as much of a fairy tale as the stories she told Madi about Octavia.

These people are not her family. They are each other’s family, and Madi is hers. Even though they are right there, she isn’t reaching out to them for help, and they’re not offering. Everyone has their own, very separate problems.

So Clarke does what she always does when she is backed into a corner: she isolates herself emotionally and shoulders her burden alone. I know this, because this is also what she did in season 4, and season 3, and season 2. Clarke’s isolation arc is understandable under the new circumstances, but it still feels a little too close to status quo for comfort right now, and I really hope this is the year they break the pattern.

Obviously, the family dynamics within the three groups need to continually be highlighted to show how much those six years meant for everyone. And I did absolutely adore the scenes we got between SpaceKru in particular (“You’re the only one who likes my algae” was my favorite line of the episode).

But I hope the apathy between everyone who ostensibly just spent six years missing each other is just a one-episode thing, because having these people orbit the same space without ever acknowledging each other (or at the very least vocalize the distance between them) made parts of this episode feel kind of hollow.

And on that note, let’s pour one out for Harper, who has been neither acknowledged nor spoken to since landing on the ground. It has gotten so weird that I am GENUINELY beginning to wonder if she actually died in space and is now a ghost. I mean, has anyone except Monty even looked at her since they were on Eligius? Are you sure? (Let people have eye contact 2k19!)

The 100 has always been remarkably good at creating rich, interesting characters whose lives all interweave with each other. And now I care about how Monty feels about Octavia, and how Harper feels about Miller, damn it. So I just have to reiterate my hope that we get more small moments of genuine human connection between all of these characters moving forward. Those are the moments that make the A-story matter.

For your consideration

Yup, I saw it.

Diyoza and Kane working together is such a good. I love how Diyoza started out feeling like Kane had absolutely no value whatsoever, but quickly realized that they are very mentally compatible, and that not only does he want to help her stop Octavia, but he might even be able to help her make a new world. It’s obviously too good to be true, so let’s just enjoy it while it lasts.

“You think they’re dividing our forces? But he is dividing ours.” Man, the mindgames played between Diyoza, Kane, McCreary and Abby are THRILLING.

Diyoza continues to prove that she is a good leader, not only because she makes smart decisions but because she listens to the advice of smart people. Even though she didn’t follow his advice at the time, she clearly heard Shaw when he pointed out that killing off a large chunk of the human race was a stupid thing to do, and now she is intent on not using force to win this war.

When Diyoza told Kane that “fostering dissent is like a seduction,” Kane’s eyebrows furrowed and SO. DID. MINE.

When McCreary leaves the poker game, the camera lingers on his cards. What was he holding? The ominous “Dead man’s hand” — a pair of eights and aces that got their name because they were reportedly held by gunman Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot in the back. The last card in his hand is a king of diamonds.

I’m just gonna say it, McCreary has the sexiest voice I’ve ever heard. He is for sure gonna seduce Murphy to the dark side with words alone. Or song. I hope he sings.

Considering how few sex scenes The 100 has had, having one and a half in the same episode felt like a lot. But good for them!

So when Karina said something about starting a family in Eden, diiiiiiid anyone else think maybe she might be pregnant? If she survives her bullet wound, I’m calling it now. The repopulation’s gotta start somewhere!

I laughed out loud at Kane’s double-take when he sees Echo. What the hell must be going through his mind?

Monty’s mounting frustration about being back in the war is definitely intriguing to me and I’m very excited to see more of that storyline.

Seriously, why is Miller being such a dick to Clarke?

Clarke has a drawing of Indra pinned on the wall of her tent and like, random, but I get it.

Clarke telling Madi to find Abby if anything happened to her did so many things to my emotions.

Bellamy and Octavia’s fight, aside from obviously being about all the thematic stuff I talked about above, was just a REALLY COOL SCENE.

This new holistic Bellamy is one of the few characters that genuinely seems to embody hope for a better tomorrow, and while he has always been on track to get there, the time jump allowed the writers to speed up his development a bit. I know there are a lot of mixed opinions about his character this season but I still just really love him.

“Bellamy, Octavia wasn’t joking when she said defectors would be shot.” “Admittedly not a perfect plan.” / “Clarke, she’ll kill you!” “I know it sucks.” lol Bellamy and Clarke just dgaf, do they?

“Living with what we’ve done to survive is worse than death.” For people who don’t want to talk about the Dark Year, Wonkru sure talks a lot about the Dark Year.

‘The 100’ returns Tuesday, June 19 with 5×07 ‘Acceptable Losses’

“FRIENDSHIP — Clarke and Bellamy make a startling discovery about Wonkru’s battle plans as Echo risks her friendship with Raven to complete her mission.”

What did you think about ‘The 100’ 5×06 ‘Exit Wounds’?