What’s Worth Watching: The 100 Goes Out With a Bloody Bang

The 100, “Blood Must Have Blood, Part Two,” Wednesday, March 11, 9/8c, The CW

When a show as uncompromising as The CW’s dark fantasy The 100 announces “Blood Must Have Blood” as the title of its two-part season finale, they’re not kidding. This is TV’s closest equivalent to dystopian Young Adult page-turners like the Hunger Games saga. The series presents Earth as a living hell of never-ending peril for the young exiles of an ailing space station (the now-defunct Ark) who are in constant war with the fearsome factions of nuclear-holocaust survivors they’ve encountered since their crash landing.

In the second season, their greatest nemesis has been found within the walls of Mount Weather, an elaborate military bunker that cloaks its citizens from the effects of outside radiation. In a scenario worthy of Robin Cook on an acid trip, the Weather-ites have imprisoned many of the 100 (and their Grounder allies) in cages, painfully draining their bone marrow (often fatally) to develop a cure that would allow the Mt. Weather population to finally enjoy the great outdoors. A revolt led by Bellamy (Bob Morley) on the inside and Clarke (Eliza Taylor) from the outside reaches its climax in this eventful season ender, which once again forces its heroes to make impossible, dreadful choices to ensure their survival. In a separate subplot, the zealot leader Jaha (Isaiah Washington) and his snarky companion Murphy (Richard Harmon) continue their quest toward the mysterious City of Light. What awaits them is likely to trigger even more dire tidings for next year. Bring it on.