Ranking Every Time Clarke Has Pulled a Lever on ‘The 100’
“Pull the lever, Clarke!” Okay, that’s not quite how the quote goes — but honestly, Yzma’s order to Kronk on The Emperor’s New Groove could’ve worked for Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), too.
Throughout its six seasons, a notable trend has emerged on The 100; in every season finale, Clarke flips a switch, usually ushering in some kind of distinct and jaw-dropping horror. Whether or not that was always intended to be the case is a mystery, but nonetheless, we’re here now, pondering what dire straits will lead her to pull a lever in the series finale.
Until then, here’s our ranking of the five times Clarke has pulled a lever in a season’s last episode so far.
The 100, Wednesdays, 8/7c, The CW
5. Season 5
In the scheme of Clarke’s lever-pulls, this one was pretty benign. It was suspenseful, no doubt about it; she almost ended up having to leave Bellamy, Emori (Luisa D’Oliveira), Monty and Murphy (Richard Harmon) to die a fiery death on Earth. But other than that, everything was fine! No named characters died as a direct result of this one, and it didn’t appear to leave her with lingering guilt.
4. Season 3
This one was freakin’ heartbreaking. Maybe in Season 7 Clarke can pull a lever that’ll give her something good? A lever that’ll allow her some peace and quiet and joy? A lever that dumps candy or chocolates or something?
Anyway, yeah, this was a bummer. Setting aside everyone’s feelings about Season 3 and what happened to Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Clarke having to destroy the City of Light — and Lexa’s projection within it — was super upsetting, and then the actual lever-pull left her with the knowledge that the end of the world was coming very, extremely soon.
3. Season 6
This is arguably the worst lever-pull by basis of how devastating it is to Clarke, although losing Lexa for a second time was awful, too. As if Clarke hadn’t been through enough, in the Season 6 finale, she had to pull a lever to open an airlock — and she ended up floating her mother’s Simone-Prime-inhabited body, sending her to her death in the dark, icy void of space. Sure, Abby (Paige Turco) was erased by then, so it’s not like she actually killed her mom. But still, we’re betting it’ll take Clarke a goodly amount of time to mentally and emotionally recover from that one. I mean, we’re still recovering.
2. Season 1
The first lever-pull was pretty epic, if we’re being honest; so it’s memorable enough to land in second on this list. While there’s no telling whether the writer’s room was already planning to make Clarke + Levers a ‘ship on this show, the Season 1 finale laid the groundwork for that slow burn when she sealed the dropship with Bellamy and Finn (Thomas McDonnell) on the outside. For all she knew, she was leaving them to die along with the Grounders they were fighting.
1. Season 2
Nothing will beat the Mount Weather lever pull. It might be the high point of the whole series. It wasn’t as if we didn’t know The 100 was a dark and gritty show, but irradiating the compound and killing everyone inside was a major turning point for several characters — most notably Bellamy (Bob Morley), Jasper (Devon Bostick), Monty (Christopher Larkin) and, of course, Clarke. It left Bell and Clarke with blood on their hands that they’re still trying to scrub off. Oh, and it also gave fans the now-iconic Bellamy and Clarke quote: “Together.”
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Love her or hate her, Clarke was always the character willing to make the impossible decisions when no one else could. That's a big reason why she's still one of the most debated characters in the fandom. I remember seeing countless discussions on Grounders Source about which lever-pull was the most justified, and everyone seemed to have a different answer. That's what made Clarke such a compelling lead.
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