The 100: first season review

The 100 is a new TV series that just finished airing (in the UK). It’s a sci-fi set a century or so after a nuclear war devastated the world, and charts the efforts of the few people left trying to return because their space station is beyond saving.

The first people sent (one hundred) are criminals. Because of the lack of resources all crimes are capital, but juvenile offenders are incarcerated until they reach the age of majority, when they get the special birthday present of a spacewalk without a spacesuit. The 100 are sent to see whether radiation has died down enough for the Earth to be survived.

I’ve got to admit, whilst liking the premise, I was going to give up on this roughly a third of the way in. A fellow from the internet, who had seen the whole series, suggested I reconsider, so I gave it another shot.

I enjoyed the latter half more than the first (bit like Supermodels of SHIELD. The 100 have also outlawed ugly women). There’s a nice diarchy situation going on, with two characters (Clarke and Bellamy) effectively leading the juvenile criminals. Clarke being more conciliatory and Bellamy more authoritarian/militaristic, though both have a certain pragmatism.

Early on, I felt that the episodes were sometimes not very engaging, and that the main storyline was taking a while to unfold. Later episodes did a better job of mingling the central storyline with each individual episode’s plot [I won’t go into detail for fear of spoilers]. Still room to improve, but it was entertaining.

The action on the Ark (the space station, where the parents and other adults still dwell) was usually interesting as a power struggle took hold as resources dwindled to almost nothing, and efforts to reach the ground hit a snag or two.

The finale of the season worked very well, I thought. Can’t go into detail, obviously, but it had been built up nicely and left some questions hanging for the second season.

I still don’t see why enforced American accents were the order of the day, though. The protagonist, Eliza Taylor (as Clarke), has a perfect American accent but what’s wrong with her native Aussie? Did those space fascists ban non-US accents as well as ugly women?

Pace, in the first half, could’ve and should’ve been faster.

On the plus side, there are some genuinely surprising plot twists, perhaps the most notable coming fairly early on.

I hope the second season builds on the first and the show continues to improve. I’ll be watching it.

Thaddeus

The 100 – first episode thoughts

The first episode of The 100, a new sci-fi series, was aired last night on E4 (Mondays, 9pm). If you missed it, as well as a near certain repeat, it's available via Channel 4's on demand service, online.

Beyond the basics of the premise there are no spoilers below.

The basic premise of The 100 is this: nuclear devastation wrecked Earth. Those who could, fled to the small number of working space stations, which were joined together to form the Ark. For 97 years, mankind has survived there.

However, the Ark is failing. The only alternative, if it cannot be mended, is to try and survive on horribly irradiated Earth. The canaries used to find out whether it's possible are 100 juvenile prisoners (due to very scarce resources all crimes are capital, with those below the age of majority being locked up instead). The 100 are sent down with wrist-bands attached to measure their vital signs, so that those on the Ark can decide whether Earth is now safe.

It's a pretty simple and sensible premise. I rather like it (then again, I liked the premise of Outcasts). The action is split between bickering adults on the Ark and bickering teenagers on Earth.

There is a Lord of the Flies feel to the newly released prisoners, many of whom are juvenile delinquents. The Ark was never going to be a happy place given the resources limitations, but it's perhaps going to be just as fraught as the situation on Earth.

Acting, I think it's fair to say, is a little variable. Most of the faces, except the lovely Kelly Hu, are new to me, and if you get weird deja vu with the protagonist, Eliza Taylor, it's because she was in Neighbours a few years ago (I had that for a while when I first saw Jesse Spencer as Dr. Chase in House). It's a slight shame they made her adopt a (very good) American accent rather than her Aussie one. One would've thought that people who aren't American would've survived. (Reminds me a shade of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, which has a strong international focus but still gives every single soldier an American accent).

There are relatively few special effects, and I'm glad the show isn't going over the top with that. What CGI etc there is works well.

Anyway, the first episode was pretty interesting and I'll catch the second next week.

Thaddeus