The 100

markpud

markpud

Former Ascifi.com mod
Joined
Dec 28, 2000
Messages
4,894
Location
Manchester, UK
Anyone been watching this? It surpassed my expectations for what appears to be a "teen" show at first.

Spoilers for the end of season 2:

This show doesn't pull its punches. The mountain-folk are defeated - wiped out in fact. Jaha has found something intriguing for next season, but the "city of light" is just a house seemingly untouched my the apocalypse and featuring advanced AI. The bunker that Murphy found seems to reveal the origin of the apocalypse too... plenty of setup for next year (if the show returns?)
 
I've watched both seasons.

I had originally expected a YA-type program more typical of CW programming. I have found the show to be surprisingly complex, taking directions I did not anticipate, sacrificing core characters along the way and sustaining my interest throughout.

The acting from well-developed characters is believable. The cast has its share of interpersonal issues, but they do not become the focus of the action.

Case in point: the Clarke-Raven-Finn love triangle which never took the plot driver's seat and ends with Clark killing Finn to save him from being tortured to death by the Grounders.

Definitely not a standard formula program in which the good guys always win and everyone lives happily ever after. They certainly have laid the groundwork for continuation. I believe a third season may have already been green-lighted. (IMDb has a page reserved for episode 3.1 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346790/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3)

Did you notice who's playing the part of ALIE, the “City of Light” AI gone bad?

Erica Serra, barely recognizable without her Eureka sheriff 's deputy uniform. The first two seasons have also included several Battlestar Galactica alumni, including Kate Vernon (briefly), Rekha Sharma and Alessandro Juliani.
 
I'm only 11 episodes into series 2, so obviously don't know quite how that'll end.

I rather like it. I almost gave it up halfway through the first season, but I do like the way it's developed, becoming grimmer and darker.
 
Yes, I was originally reluctant to watch it because of its cast of attractive, youthful people. I too am pleasantly surprised at the twists and turns. The characters are enjoyable, and I like how there are consequences of doing ruthless acts.

One thing I am not sure of, how good is their science? The word "radiation" gets tossed around without much specifics, and there are some (not to give away spoilers) medical procedures that are very important to the entire plot thread of Season 2 but I don't know how much of that is based in actual biology.
 
thaddeus6th said:
I'm only 11 episodes into series 2, so obviously don't know quite how that'll end.

I rather like it. I almost gave it up halfway through the first season, but I do like the way it's developed, becoming grimmer and darker.
Click to expand...


As grim as Game of Thrones.
 
I have to admit to enjoying this show. It has had a couple of bits that were just a tad odd, scientifically, but not so much so that I couldn't look past it and go with the story. I was not sure how good it would be, being an SF show airing on Fox8 here in oz, usually the fox8 shows are a bit... Yeah... none of their SF efforts have held my interest before.
 
Like Thaddeus, I am still watching series 2, but really enjoying it. Unusually, it manages to surprise and impress me with the plot twists and character interactions. At the back of my mind a few doubts about the science niggle away, but I refuse to look at them too closely lest it spoils what has turned out to be a very good series.

I really hope there is a series 3.
 
Denise Tanaka said:
The word "radiation" gets tossed around without much specifics
Click to expand...
I agree the science isn't the strongest... 100 years is only 3 or 4 generations so nowhere near enough time to build up natural immunity, surely?! And the rapid effects of "radiation" on the mountain men seems ludicrous also..
 
Kerrybuchanan said:
I think there was some mention of the sky people having been genetically modified to survive the radiation, but even that is a bit suspect!
Click to expand...

There was an explanation of sorts. They were up in the station for 93 years , high radiation exposure caused them to develop a resistance to radiation. The Grounders who stayed on the surface developed resistance but not as well as the people in the station. The people at Mount weather living underground didn't develop this resistance.

There are problems with this whole concept. It's very improbable, all of it. The whole world got engulfed in a massive nuclear conflagration , so there would be no grounders and no survivors at mount weather. The resulting nuclear winter would finished off what ever was left of the The Earths biosphere Land , air and water that wasn't destroyed in the initial bombardment. It would have been devastated to the point to the point were no human life of any kind would be present and very likely alot of other species would have been wiped out. And in any event it would likely take longer then 93 years for ecosystem to recover in any meaningful way . As for the people in the station exposure to that kind of space living radiation would have killed them all off sooner then 93 years.
 
Kerrybuchanan said:
I think there was some mention of the sky people having been genetically modified to survive the radiation, but even that is a bit suspect!
Click to expand...

The radiation element in the series has also bothered me. Radiation is a physical thing, not a disease for which one can develop an immunity.

Exposure to intense ionized radiation literally damages human flesh, like being shot by millions of atomic bullets in the form of free electrons. In sufficient quantity they will kill or at least damage DNA to the point of causing cancer.

Unless the “Sky People” mutated armor or internal force fields around their cells during those 93 years in the Ark, they would have no greater resistance to surface radiation than the people who spent those years sheltered in Mount Weather. The same would be true for the Grounders.

Yet, the transfusions and bone marrow transplants were central to the conflict in the first two seasons. I'm always willing to overlook scientific inaccuracies in the name of good storytelling. After all, The 100 is not a documentary.
 
REBerg said:
After all, The 100 is not a documentary.
Click to expand...
That explains a lot :)

Was it explicitly stated that it was a nuclear war that caused the fall of civilisation? I can't recall exactly what it was now.. I guess if there was widespread death and destruction, and some low-level radiation then this could make *some* sense.. the few survivors out in the open that had naturally high tolerance to radiation were able to survive and breed. The mountain-men locked them selves away underground as the Arkers managed to do in space. But neither was a long-term solution..

Perhaps we'll find out more from the mysterious AI that Jaha discovered?
 
markpud said:
That explains a lot :)

Was it explicitly stated that it was a nuclear war that caused the fall of civilisation? I can't recall exactly what it was now.. I guess if there was widespread death and destruction, and some low-level radiation then this could make *some* sense.. the few survivors out in the open that had naturally high tolerance to radiation were able to survive and breed. The mountain-men locked them selves away underground as the Arkers managed to do in space. But neither was a long-term solution..

Perhaps we'll find out more from the mysterious AI that Jaha discovered?
Click to expand...

Im thinking that the AI had something to do with the Nuclear war.
 
BAYLOR said:
Im thinking that the AI had something to do with the Nuclear war.
Click to expand...
The AI did seem a bit digitally tickled to have a nuclear warhead placed at her disposal. Thelonious must have a few skills beyond leadership to be able to crash-land a missile without finishing in a mushroom cloud.
 
REBerg said:
The AI did seem a bit digitally tickled to have a nuclear warhead placed at her disposal. Thelonious must have a few skills beyond leadership to be able to crash-land a missile without finishing in a mushroom cloud.
Click to expand...
Agreed on both counts!!
 
Good to hear.
 
3.01 Wanheda: Part One
Great start to the new season.
Clark, in the wake of her annihilation of the entire Mountain population at the end of last season, has gone seriously native. I barely recognized her as a red-headed "Wanheda" in this opening season three episode.

Living among the grounders seems like a bad choice for making peace with herself, considering that she has made the top of the planet's "most wanted list." I was amazed to see Captain Charles Vane among those searching for her. I had just finished watching his performance in the season opener of Black Sails. Zach McGowan must have been a very busy guy between seasons of both shows.
 
Has anyone read the books? If so, how do they compare?

I've watched up to first half of season 2 and really enjoyed it. Same as above - I thought it was quite 'adult' for a teen drama and loved how darker it was getting.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top