Photo: Bettina Strauss/The CW
Seven years after a group of one hundred teenagers set down on Earth, THE 100 has come to an end. Most of the original group is gone now, having fallen prey to the terrible world that the teens found themselves on when they first touched down, or even on other planets after they left a destroyed Earth to travel across the galaxy for a new home.
The series finale of THE 100 opened with Raven, Jackson, Murphy and Emori arriving at the hospital theater in Sanctum, desperate to save Emori’s life. They managed to revive her, but Murphy volunteered to donate blood to keep her alive. Murphy instructed Raven to return to Earth to help their friends and then head off to find Madi and stop Cadogan. On Bardo, Clarke, Octavia and Levitt were running off to stop Cadogan themselves. They were merciless as they shot down various disciples, but Cadogan had already transported himself into another dimension where he finally saw his daughter again, Callie. He soon learned that the person he saw wasn’t actually Callie, it was a higher being taking the form of his daughter. The being called herself The Judge and said this was the test. Becca, the last human to stand before this superior race, refused the test, but Cadogan was ready.
If Cadogan answered The Judge’s questions satisfactorily, his consciousness and those of his entire species would become one with the race of higher beings. But if he failed, they would be turned to crystal and destroyed. Unfortunately for Cadogan, Clarke also entered this dimension and shot and killed him.
Back in the bunker, Indra, Hope and Jordan were trying to figure out their next steps. Hope kissed Jordan just as the Bridge opened again, with Raven returning to help, along with a few other people from Sanctum, including Nikki and her friends. Indra got Raven up to speed on where everyone else was, while Hope said their next plan should be to get a team into Bardo to help Madi, Clarke and Octavia. And apparently Jordan had just the plan.
He arrived in Bardo, with a device strapped to his back that rendered the disciples’ invisibility tech useless. While others from Sanctum arrived through the bridge, they faced off against the disciples’ army.
Back on Sanctum, Miller was reunited with Jackson and they pulled out the rebar buried in Emori’s stomach in an attempt to save her. But she flatlined and died, leaving Murphy devastated. He wanted her mind drive to be removed, and when Jackson and Miller were hesitant, he did it himself.
On Bardo, Raven and Echo found Levitt and Octavia and learned that Clarke had gone after Cadogan. In the testing space, The Judge changed her appearance to Lexa for Clarke. She told Clarke that they couldn’t stop the test that had been set in motion and the human species would be judged through Clarke. Clarke explained that killing Cadogan was justice, although The Judge seemed to think it was simply revenge. The Judge admitted that Clarke had suffered, but she inflicted suffering on others. Clarke shot back that The Judge was the problem – killing off species because they don’t live up to its ideals. “If you are humanity, I’m afraid that humanity is not worthy of taking the next step,” The Judge told Clarke before disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.
And then, the impossible happened. We saw Emori awaken in the palace bed, seemingly alive. But instead of being in Sanctum, she opened the drapes to see an endless dessert and was shocked to see Murphy with her. Except this was just the Mind Space and Emori knew she had died. “Not acceptable,” Murphy told her. “You put my mind drive in your head,” Emori said, realizing that this would cause Murphy to die. She demanded that he wake up and save himself, but he said this was what he wanted. Cue some music, as Murphy asked Emori to dance with him. As we pulled out of the Mind Space we saw Miller and Jackson dancing to the same song on Sanctum.
Back on Bardo, Raven greeted Clarke as she returned from the other dimension. “I failed,” Clarke told her friend. “It should have been you, not me.” Raven was upset to learn that things were over, but Clarke wanted to be with Madi. Raven seemed surprised when she was drawn back to the portal, which now glowed red. Reaching out to touch it, she was transported to the other dimension and found herself back on the ark. This time The Judge appeared as Abby and told Raven that the test was over because Clarke failed. But Raven defended Clarke and all of them, saying they made mistakes while trying to survive. She begged The Judge to let them live and try to do better. The Judge pointed out that humanity was poised on the brink of self-extermination as we saw Sanctum’s people and the disciples face off against each other on the battlefield. Hidden in the woods was Sheidheda, ready to help start a war.
But Raven couldn’t stop things as she was just an observer. Octavia, Levitt and Hope stormed the battlefield to stop the fighting. Levitt told everyone that they wouldn’t transcend through violence because they were being tested, but Sheidheda shot him down, causing war to break out. Olivia and Echo jumped into the middle of the bullet storm, trying to save him as Raven looked on despondently. “Despite the beauty that humans are capable of, they can’t break free of the cycle of violence,” The Judge told Raven as Clarke finally made it back to the lab and Madi’s body.
Clarke apologized to Madi for failing her and everyone else as Levitt and Echo lay bleeding off to the side of the battle. Sheidheda tried to take control of Wonkru, telling them to keep fighting even as Octavia and Indra tried to get them to stop. At least, until Indra literally incinerated him with a giant weapon. Octavia told the disciples and Wonkru to stop fighting, telling them that if they kept killing each other there won’t be anyone left to save. Indra dropped her blade, prompting the others to do the same as Wonkru stood before the armed disciples. Octavia begged the disciples to stop the fighting. “I’ve been to war, and let me tell you – the only way to win is not to fight.”
With that done, Octavia headed back to the woods to see Levitt and Echo bleeding out. Back on the battlefield, the disciples’ commander ordered his troops to stop fighting. “For all mankind,” he said, dropping his gun as the others followed suit. Raven told The Judge that they could change, they just needed more time.
In the woods, Jordan, Hope and Octavia were shocked to see Levitt and Echo transcend, while they soon did the same. Octavia walked out onto the battlefield as the others transcended, and so did those on Sanctum, with Murphy and Emori doing the same in the Mind Space. In the lab, Clarke realized that Raven had saved them and Clarke told Madi to let go. “I’ll be okay,” she told her.
Music played as Clarke walked through the battlefield and saw the remains of those who transcended. She used the Bridge to head back to Sanctum, but couldn’t find anyone there. Only the dog, Picasso, remained and the two traveled back to the bunker on Earth as Clarke wondered where she would live. They headed back out in the woods and Clarke made a plan to find water and shelter. But Picasso ran off, leading Clarke to the shore of a beautiful lake. “Please come back,” she shouted for the dog. “I don’t want to be alone!”
But she wasn’t. The Judge took the form of Lexa again and had come to explain things to Clarke. Clarke said she understood that she had to bear this so the others didn’t have to. According to The Judge, she could never join them because her actions had to have a cost. As she was the only test subject to ever commit murder during a test, she had to pay the price and would never transcend. The Judge told Clarke that Madi had joined them and would be at peace. But The Judge said transcendence was a choice and people could choose to come back.
And there, on the shore, were Clarke’s friends, including Echo, Emori, Hope, Jordan, Octavia, Murphy, Miller, Jackson, Raven and Indra. Madi had chosen to remain behind, but they had all chosen to return to Clarke to live out their lives together.