Hello there. I would like to begin by warning you that there is absolutely no way anything I, or anyone else, could say to do this episode justice. It was easily the best episode of the series, and one of the best episodes of its genre in quite some time. It had finale-level drama, and we’re only three episodes into the season. If I didn’t have so many FEELINGS about it, this recap would just be a series of gifs, emojis, and exclamation points. But, of course, there are feelings abound, so I’m going to dive right in.
Previously on The 100, an Arkadian team found more skaikru from Farm Station, Abby wanted to repurpose Mt. Weather and Clarke got kidnapped by Prince Roan of Ice Nation at Lexa’s command because she wanted to keep her safe from the Ice Queen and everyone else who wants WanHeda’s head.
We hit the ground running with Lexa going to visit Clarke in her room. (Where technically she’s kind of a prisoner but she has like a forest’s worth of furs on her bed so I don’t know if I’d exactly call it a cell.) Clarke tells Lexa she doesn’t want to see her, but Lexa has obeyed that wish for a week now, and she has important things they have to discuss. (I kind of imagine that at least the first time, it was like that scene in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast is trying to get Belle to join him for dinner.)
They’re planning a summit, and they need Clarke for it to work. When Clarke isn’t exactly jumping up and down at the prospect, Lexa is confused and reminds Clarke that she went through the trouble of bribing the prince of a rival nation to kidnap her to save her. Clarke says she didn’t need saving from Niylah’s bed; she needed saving at Mt. Weather.
Clarke is just looking at Lexa like she has practiced saying a million things to her when they finally came face to face again but suddenly can’t remember a single one of them. Lexa knows Clarke is haunted by what happened at Mt. Weather, knows that her too-exposed heart must still be pretty raw at the breaks, and accepts that it’s easier to hate Lexa than it is to hate herself. But Clarke assures her she can do both. (I’ll leave you to make your own jokes about that potential double entendre.)
Lexa is sure that Clarke would have made the same choice as her if the Mountain Men had presented her the chance to save her people, but Clarke says she wouldn’t have betrayed her friends. (Do you think anyone has ever called Lexa a friend?) She accuses Lexa of having no honor, but Lexa isn’t hearing it. It’s time to let it go; the past is in the past. She tells Clarke that she wants more than a peace treaty, she wants a union.
Lexa wants to make the skaikru the 13th clan of the Coalition. Lexa says it’s a win-win for Clarke’s people, but Clarke tries to say she’s a rogue now, not part of any kru. But Lexa says she can’t run away from who she is. Meaning skaikru, a leader, a hero. Clarke doesn’t believe Lexa cares about her or the skaikru, she thinks that what happened at Mt. Weather made Lexa look weak, and that’s why Ice Nation has come out of hibernation. Lexa wants Clarke to bow to her, but Clarke literally tells Lexa to go float herself.
The words mean nothing to Lexa, but she’s smart enough to pick up the meaning.
Lexa heads back to the throne room, where there’s an Ice Nationer there to speak to the Commander. Lexa’s advisor, Titus, tries to make Ice Cube bow before Lexa, but he is too proud for that; in fact, he says the Commander should bow before HIM. But Titus tells him their number one rule: The Commander bows before no one. Remember that, it’ll be important later.
