Years ago I saw the pilot episode of CW’s ‘The 100’. I didn’t think much of it, despite being intrigued by its sci-fi premise; Humanity lives in space now because of radiation stuff on Earth. After hundreds of years, they send down 100 nonessential citizens to the ground to see if its survivable. For no particularly logical reason these 100 citizens are all teenagers. And turns out they’re not the only ones living on the ground! Oops! Shenanigans and murder ensue!
It was generic. It was corny. ‘The 100’ was everything I thought it would be and less. So I passed it by. Since then I’ve seen the popularity of the show increase and been once more intrigued by the assortment of gifs to come out of it.
I finally gave it another chance. It’s now well into it’s fifth season so there must be something worth watching in there. I gritted my teeth and dived in.
Underneath the fill-in-the-blank characters and their ridiculous melodrama, there was actually an engaging and exciting story that took me to the edge of my seat. It merged genres with space antics and a dystopian, medieval-fantasy-esque setting. I was hooked.
I am hooked.
But is it actually good? Uh…
‘The 100’ is a very plot-driven show. It’s pacing is lightning fast and there’s a plot twist every other second. It makes for very binge-worthy television. Sometimes it tries to be too clever, the threads fall apart and I have no idea what is going on. But other times it comes together so seamlessly that I am in awe of how much I enjoy this show, and how often I can’t predict where the plot is going.
‘The 100’ has a good handful of distinct characters. The costumes are neato, the acting is solid, and they all have unique traits they bring to the group. Unfortunately, due to the plot-driven nature of the story, they often suffer from making weird decisions for the purpose of moving the plot forward. This leaves them feeling flat and not quite like real people. Just plot devices.
Still, I have my favourites (Octavia) and my least favourites (Clarke). There are always some conflicts brewing between characters and I do enjoy the tension it provides even when if makes no sense (Bellamy in season three).
There’s way too much melodrama. Some of the themes are shoved down your throat. And there’s an unhealthy abundance of slow motion.
But it never strives to be realistic – it sets its own limits, which is, the entire main cast being invincible until the plot calls for a dramatic death scene. To the shows credit, when characters die it bares quite an impact (though it’s hard to believe they died from that when they survived everything else).
Ultimately, ‘The 100’ is a fun blend of dystopian, sci-fi, and fantasy tropes. It won’t change your life or anything, but if you want something to get hooked on and lose sleep over, I recommend it.
My final rating for ‘The 100′ is a tasty ol’ cheeseburger out of 10.
Well, I’m going to go continue watching it now.
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