[Episode Discussion] 1.09 Unity Day

[tassosss]

How this works: for those that want to do a rewatch of the show, we have a weekly discussion post where you can put reactions, links to old reaction posts, questions, thoughts, squee, joy, headshaking and anything else that strikes you. I'll have a prompting question or two to get things going if you don't know what to say but want to join in.

BEWARE! This is a spoiler zone! Unless someone requests a spoiler-free post for each episode, assume spoilers for all aired episodes through the end of season 2.

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Let's celebrate Unity Day! We meet more characters and the new lines of alliance shake out within the delinquents. First impressions? Thoughts on the peace negotiations?

Comments

[tassosss]

I haven't rewatched recently, but I remember the first time I saw this episode two thing jumped out at me. The first was Lincoln's identification of Clarke as the leader. I remember really liking that aspect of the previous ep, where she's the one who ultimately makes the call on whether to torture him or not. But seeing it so explicit her was a great moment.

I also remember being a bit thrown by the grounders speaking English. I mean, it makes perfect sense, and why wouldn't be American English, but all we'd had up until then was silence.

[marina]

I haven't rewatched recently, but the thing I remember most about this episode was how amused I was that it was basically The 100's version of BSG's "Colonial Day" episode, down to like, every detail. Even some of the exposition shots were the same. Like if until then I felt the show was lifting from BSG in a more... discrete way? This was like a giant flag to BSG fans - here's your new scifi show, all aboard!

[tassosss]

I can't remember BSG well enough (I watched but wasn't fannish about it), but well, steal from the best. :)

[tassosss]

My longer comments after rewatching, x-posted at my journal


A lot happens before the title page in this episode that set up everything. The Unity Day broadcast gives a little history of the Ark, that Finn helpfully points out was based on retconned history. Monty and Jasper distribute more moonshine. Octavia sneaks out to see Lincoln.

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Finn's pacifist position does there need to be violence in the first place? There's something completely idealistic about Finn in this episode, and I'd even claim that he's become more hopeful than he was in the early episodes, like when Jasper was wounded, he was pretty sure Jasper was going to die while Clarke was the one holding out hope. That's not to say he was cynical before, and the two situations may not be equitable, but I guess I feel like this is where he really digs in to that part of himself. And it's a good thing, really, because if you're going to dig in about something dig in about making peace with the people trying to kill you.

At the same time, I wonder how his outlook would have changed if he'd been conscious for Lincoln's torture, part of that decision making? If it were Raven on the table, or Octavia, or Bellamy, how might the circumstances be different? If Clarke were as willing to fight to save them (which for Octavia and Raven I could see, but at that stage, Bellamy's a bit of a tossup,) would Finn have been on Octavia's side against torture? Probably. Would he have been listened to? I don't know. Say Clarke wouldn't listen, that they torture Lincoln, and he saw Lincoln's unwillingness to help - how would that have changed things? The others all saw someone willing to let Finn die. That was a very real possibility for them. Maybe Finn would still see Lincoln as a man refusing to be forced to help his enemies, still sympathize with them.

The lesson of Unity Day is come together to be better. It took the 13th station blowing up to make the other 12 stations join together. I know Finn is being idealistic here, but is it realistic to expect people, any people, to come together without first having disaster strike? I think I might be too cynical, but I don't think so.

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Kane and his mom - I've mentioned this before but I totally want a story about Kane growing up and his relationship to his mother and faith. Kane right here is the kid who is embarrassed by his mother forever and ever. He doesn't want to admit that he remembers any of the religious teachings he learned at her side. I know Kane is a bit of a stick in the mud now, but what must his teenage and young adult years been like that he rejected his mom so completely? When she goes, and he recites the prayer - oh, my heart!

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Diana Sydney makes her move. All hell breaks loose on the Ark. Now, Sydney is finally interesting.

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Clarke and Bellamy are now firmly friends and it's so much fun to watch them. Seriously I could take them being BFF forever. I love watching the Hundred have a party.

Worldbuilding note - where the hell did they get apples? Grounders cultivating fruit trees in the woods?

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Octavia sneaks off to be with Lincoln, who has been teaching her to fight. She's carrying two knives. Lincoln drawing in the caves. I think when I figured out the timeline for season 1, I put Unity Day happening about 3 days after Octavia helps Lincoln escape. So they haven't had long together, but they've clearly met at least once before if not twice - probably at night?

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Finn says, "the Ark is about survival at any cost. They kill anyone who steps out of line." Which is true of what we've seen. Survival of the group comes first. But what about the grounders? Survival is pretty damn important to them too, especially considering that they have the Mountain Men on them. They enforce their peace with horrible consequences of a tortured death. The two groups are both pretty set on ensuring their own survival at any cost.

I love that here it is acknowledged who the power is in camp - Clarke.

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One thing I like about the adults on the Ark is that Kane, Abby, and Jaha are being smart about Diana - suspecting her, keeping tabs. But. They're not very subtle about it.

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The whole exchange between Finn and Clarke, and then Clarke and Bellamy. Who to trust, who not to trust, is fascinating. Finn wants peace so bad he's willing to risk everything for it and put Clarke's life on the line. Clarke doesn't trust the grounders, not the one she tortured, who rejected her efforts to clean his hand - she knows how damaged their relationship with the grounders is. So when she agrees she's already got her back up plan in place. Because it is worth a shot, as she acknowledges to Bellamy. But not worth going in unarmed. And Clarke trusts Bellamy to do that. I love how this episode culminates the shift in the power structure of the group.

The scene where Jasper comes in to enlist Raven for his drunkball team is probably one of my favorite with him of the whole show. He wants her on his team, he wants her to have fun for her sake, and when she explains what she's doing checking the gunpowder - and getting hurt in the process - he take a minute to tease her and help out.

I also love that all it takes for Bellamy to get the good bullets is to say that Finn is being an idiot.

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Anya is gorgeous and looks so badass. I remember being so excited when I saw her get off her horse to meet Clarke. (Also, Clarke's reaction to horses was pretty great.) For the grounders the war started with the sky people with the flares/missiles, which definitely makes me think that the reapers were the ones who speared Jasper. Anya lays it all out and despite a first attempt at explaining, Clarke does the smart thing and takes her lumps, acknowledging that they screwed up. It takes Anya a little bit by surprise.

She's right not to deal when Clarke doesn't have authority over the Ark people coming down. I love her cool response "They wouldn't be the first to try." Because we know with season 2 that the Mountain Men, a group with all the technology, have been trying and failing to wipe out the grounders, and haven't succeeded yet.

Jasper is such a fuckup. Would the grounders have fired first? Were they planning to? The one with the bow and arrow hadn't fully drawn his bow so I'm inclined to say no and blame Jasper. Poor kid. Part of me can't blame him for being completely out of his depth, but really, Bellamy shouldn't have brought him.

Is it wrong of me to love the fight at the end, where we get to see where the six most important players of the group all stand with each other? Clarke and Bellamy not trusting the grounders, and by extension Finn. Octavia angry at everyone because it means losing Lincoln. Finn angry that Clarke doesn't trust him. Raven angry that Finn doesn't trust her. And Jasper hurt because Octavia isn't swooning over him.

Then we get the final boom of the dropship in the distance, leaving so much momentum for the next episode.