‘The 100’: It’s (Literally) All in Clarke’s Head in ‘Nevermind’ (RECAP)
Spoiler Alert
[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for The 100 Season 6 episode 7, “Nevermind.”]
If there was ever any doubt—it’s Clarke Griffin’s mind, and Josephine Prime is just living in it.
Although Clarke’s very much still around (thanks to ALIE, oddly enough), her existence might be temporary. As Josephine tells her, the longer they coexist, the less of Clarke will remain. She either dies a slow death, or she dies a quick one at the deadly Prime’s hands. But is there another option?
With some foes and some friends, Clarke sets out to play, and win, some deadly mind games against Josephine Prime.
May We Meet Again
Clarke escapes her Skybox cell and meets her dad. He asks her what she remembers, and she says she remembers dying. She tears up as she remembers she never got to say goodbye to her mom or Madi—but her dad helps her realize she’s still alive. “No, I saw it,” she says. “He killed me.” As it turns out, Russell didn’t kill her: she’s trapped in her own mind.
When she moves past her dad, she finds herself on the Ark… facing ALIE. As it turns out, Clarke owes her life to her former enemy. Because of the remnants of the chip in her mind, Clarke was able to survive the Primes’ chip. But—and this is a big “but”—ALIE says if the Primes knew how Clarke freed Raven from ALIE’s City of Light chip, she could be in serious trouble. ALIE shrinks the memory and tells Clarke to hold on to it.
There’s Only Room for One of Us
Clarke goes back out into the hallway and opens the door she’s never seen before. Out steps Josephine… and she’s ready to fight. “There’s only room for one of us in this body,” she says. Apparently they can’t both share her “mind-space,” which means her brain will die, killing Clarke in the real world.
Josephine enters Clarke’s Skybox cell and realizes her host is hiding a memory. Of course, Clarke’s not willing to give up the memory of saving Raven from ALIE, so the two fight. Clarke goes full Wanheda and slams Josephine’s head in a door. That should do it, right? Wrong. She resurrects almost instantly, revealing that she can’t die in the mindspace, but Clarke can—and now, she has all night to wipe Clarke away by killing her.
I’m in Control
Clarke runs down a hallway and comes face-to-face with Blodreina, who brings out her fear that Bellamy hasn’t forgiven her for leaving him in the arena. She escapes Josephine, but then stumbles on Maya, who tells her she’s killed more people than she’s saved. “You know what I think?” Maya tells her. “You like playing God. You’re not so different than the Primes.” The way Maya words her taunts makes Clarke realize she has control, and she hides that one important memory in the cave where she used the shock collar on Madi.
Maya takes Josephine and Clarke there, seemingly working against Clarke… until she emerges from the rover and puts the shock collar on Josephine. This eventually kills her, but the malevolent Prime resurrects.
Saving Her People
Josephine corners Clarke in a forest that appears to be a combination of all of her worst memories; Lexa’s throne, the tree where she killed Finn, etc. There, she plays her trump card. She hands Clarke, through a book, her memory of Bellamy agreeing not to fight back against Sanctum. As such, she says Clarke should sacrifice herself… after all, if she really cared about her people, wouldn’t she want to secure their safety rather than subjecting them to Sanctum’s wrath if something happens to Josephine?
Shockingly, Clarke agrees. She gives Josephine access to her memory of Raven and the EMP. “It’ll all be over soon,” Josephine reassures her, and Clarke, sobbing, sits on Lexa’s throne.
The Control Room
After, Clarke finds her last projection: Monty. He talks her into fighting back, saying that her friends won’t have much of a life under the control of people who murder to let themselves live eternally. They go into Josephine’s mindspace, and Clarke goes through Josephine’s memories as Monty picks the lock for the room that’ll let Clarke control her body.
In those memories, Clarke sees how Josephine died (well, one of the times). She argues with Kailey about a man named Isaac, and the Oblation, which seems to be the ritualized killing of the people who can’t bare hosts. Then, Clarke watches another memory in which Josephine kills Isaac… and seems to be ready to kill a baby next.
They enter the “control room” and find a secret memory of Josephine’s. Before the bombs, she and a friend sit in a diner and talk, but they’re interrupted by a boy who’s upset by Josephine’s continued rejections. He kills himself at the table, leaving Josephine and her friend—and Monty and Clarke—stunned. An enraged Josephine bursts in and kicks Clarke out. Only a slight setback, it seems, since she and Monty are able to gain control through the diner’s lights.
Alive
In Sanctum, Josephine awakens. “I win,” she says, smiling. But she hasn’t won. While Russell discusses the plan for helping Bellamy’s people build a shelter, Bellamy notices Josephine’s finger tapping morse code on her arm. The discussion ends, and Bellamy pulls Miller aside to ask him if he remembers Pike teaching them morse code (he doesn’t, but that’s beside the point).
Josephine’s dots and dashes translated to “alive,” which, as a joyful and relieved-looking Bellamy puts it, means “Clarke’s alive.”
Other Observations
- What an incredible episode. I’ll always love “Blood Must Have Blood, Part 1/2,” but this is top 5 of the series for me. Everything, from the settings the show chose to re-visit to the detailed outfits Clarke wore and her hairstyles, to the characters that returned (Clarke’s dad! Monty! ALIE! Maya!) was spectacular. If this keeps up for the next six episodes, Season 6 might just be my favorite season.
- Any Walking Dead fans notice some parallels between this and Rick Grimes’ last episode? Both “Nevermind” and “What Comes After” featured snippets of the main character’s journey from start to end, a heroic measure of self-sacrifice was included, and it brought out some of the character’s biggest regrets and triumphs. (Rick’s projections were a little nicer to him, though).
- As with Rick’s last episode, I felt like a character the subject would’ve wanted to “see” was missing. While TWD didn’t bring back Carl, and I truly believe Rick would’ve hallucinated his deceased son, The 100 didn’t bring back Lexa (though considering everything that happened regarding that character, perhaps it’s understandable). Whatever your feelings on the character’s death or who Clarke should be with, there’s no denying that Lexa was important to her. It would’ve elevated an already great episode to see the former Commander emerge from the forest and convince Clarke her fight was not over.
- I was hoping this episode would delve a little deeper into Clarke’s psyche, and it did. I found it refreshing to be shown, and not just told, that Clarke has carried the weight of everything she’s had to do and all those she’s lost. Her “giving up” was utterly heartbreaking, but it humanized her.
The 100, Tuesdays, 9/8c, The CW
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