Episode 5x09: "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

Hello and welcome back to Meta Station! Our nightmare of biweekly hiatuses has come to an end and now we’re on a runaway train speeding downhill towards the finale, and BOY OH BOY are we excited. How are you guys holding up? Is everyone breathing? Eating? Getting enough sleep? Are we all stressed as fuck about how Abby’s only remaining friend is a serial killer, what the fuck went down during the Dark Year that turned Miller into a Blodreina zealot, how long it’s gonna be before Madi blows up at Clarke for her new “shoot first, ask questions later” parenting style, and whether there’s any chance in hell all three of those characters will somehow magically make it out of the fighting pit alive? Yeah, us too. In the meantime, though, Miranda Kwok hits it out of the park with a stunning hour of television where ALLLLLLLLL the shit that’s been simmering for the past eight episodes (or the past six years) (or the past five seasons) finally starts to explode all over the place, and the show continues to keep character and relationship at the heart of the plot. COME SCREAM WITH US ABOUT THIS EPIC SHIT --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0:00 – “Thus Always to Tyrants” Is Perhaps the Most Apt Title of the Season 0:05 – Yo, For Real, What Went Down During the Dark Year That Turned Miller and Niylah Into Creepy True Believers 0:16 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part I: Clarke, Bellamy, Madi, the Flame, and a Perfectly-Realized Example of the Show’s “Both Sides Are Right, Both Sides Are Wrong” Dynamic 0:26 – Both Clarke and Bellamy Have Plans That Only Work If You Handwave Away Like Half a Dozen Major Problems 0:41 – Claire Gets Emotional About Lexa and Luna’s Moms, and the Psychological Trauma the Commander Cult Forces Onto Children 0:53 – Bellamy’s Delusion That Removing Leadership From Octavia’s Shoulders Will Bring Octavia Back 0:56 – If You’re Wondering Why the Plot Crescendos In Season 5 Land So Much Better Than They Did In Season 4, It’s Because Literally Every Single One Is Rooted in Relationships 1:05 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part II: That Awkward Sense of Clarke and Bellamy Being in Stasis This Season Was 100% Deliberate 1:14 – That Madi/Gaia/Bellamy Scene: Let’s Unpack the Consent and Choice and Power and Coercion Issues Going On Here 1:19 – The Flame Has Lots of Story Possibilities as a Piece of Becca’s Technology (and a Way for Madi to Help Build a New Society) 1:32 – CONGRATULATIONS TO EMMY NOMINEE ADINA PORTER FOR ABSOLUTELY SLAYING THIS EPISODE 1:40 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part III: Indra and Gaia Can No Longer Put Off Reckoning with the Monster They Created 1:48 – The Myth of Wonkru’s Unity Turns Out to Be a Beautiful Narrative Bait-and-Switch 1:52 – A Brief Digression to Just Yell About How Great This Season Is 1:57 – In Which the Show Takes a Second Run at the “I’m Gonna Chain You in a Boiler Room While I Endanger One of Your Family Members” Plot From 411, and This Time Sticks the Landing 2:00 – SPILL THE BEANS, MIRANDA, WHICH ONE OF YOU LIFTED THE ROCK-THROWING SCENE FROM CLAIRE’S BOOK 2:06 –Murphy Finally Finds a Crisis That Can Only Be Solved by Murphying, and Then Stays Behind to Save Abby From the Consequences of Said Murphying 0:16 – Echo Has the Biggest Spy Crush on Diyoza, Like GIRL SAME 2:20 – Chickens Coming Home to Roost, Part IV – HOLY MOTHERFORKING SHIRTBALLS, THAT MCCREARY/DIYOZA FIGHT SCENE 2:29 – Erin Does Not Like Abby’s Hair But Claire LOOOOOVES Her Outfit 2:32 – Shallow Valley Is Fighting a Civil War Over Who Gets Custody of Abby Griffin and Claire Is Back On Board With Her Storyline Again