The series is set 97 years after a nuclear conflict laid waste to our civilization as we know it. To get away from the nuclear fallout, humanity, or what was left of it, got there asses off the planet and into a satellite, or space station orbiting Earth.
But as time wore on, hard decisions had to be made about how they would even survive up there, since resources were finite and running low. What do you do in space? The obvious answer is to 'space' people, or eject them into space off the satellite, reducing the use of resources.
As ugly as it seemed, rather than killing off 100 people, (the latest plan to help resources last) they hit upon the idea of sending 100 juvenile delinquents, kids already in detention, to the planet surface. This solved the problem of not outright killing anyone and possibly, even giving these 100, "the 100," a chance to survive on the planet surface and if lucky enough, thrive once again.
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The first season was filled with watching two stories unfold.
The space station watched and monitored the kids, while these adults were having their own social structure issues. While on the planet, the 100 kids instantly broke off into the usual social hierarchy we see in the animal kingdom. There were kids you liked and kids you wanted to see just outright die, because they were a-holes.
But it turned out they were not alone. Something or someone survived the fallout and evolved into tribes of wanderers or hunters. The plant and wildlife changed as well, and not to anyone's liking.
Our 100 encountered these angry, warring tribes and had to settle issues between themselves and the locals with really, really, big spears.
But even as the kids were dealing with issues among themselves, the adults ended up blowing up their own space station, thus, culminating one heck of a season finale. And on the surface, the kids got to watch the fireworks in orbit.
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The second season showed us that of the adults that survived, we suddenly had two huge social issues.
Do the humans on the surface follow the order and structure that the kids developed? They got it working and started developing relationships with the locals. Or do the adults take control back, instilling the same command and control they had when on the space station.
These were the issues that bounced back and forth throughout the second season, and once again, made for a compelling and fun story to follow, all the while, they had found a conclave of humanity living underground, having never come to the surface after the holocaust.
But of course, a few troubled adults and kids broke off, in search of a legendary city where everyone is living a perfect and harmonious life. And to end this season, well, they found it.
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Season three tackled a few issues of trust and survival.
On one hand, while the humans and locals seemed to be working together, the locals cut tail and ended up tricking the humans, just to get what they needed. Then the humans struck back and did so in a very nasty, underhanded way. Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
First, the kids have been subjugated to the rule of the adults, but the adults are having power issues, and they decide to hold a populace vote on who should be in charge. The bad thing is that they call into office a man whose approach to challenges is to smite first, capture the rest, and then deal with the fallout. Remember our history, when the cavalry would wipe out entire Indian tribes? Yea, that kind of control.
So his reign of power is an ugly one for sure, and he rules with an iron hand.
All the while more trust is lost between the locals and this chunk of humanity, all the while, the man who found this legendary city, was truly, just brainwashed and then he shows up at our fallen (out of the sky) ones camp, pitching salvation and freedom from all pain. Unfortunately, this freedom from pain involves taking a digital chip, or wafer looking thing, which pretty much takes over the host and forces them to do what it, this new enemy, a hot looking AI in a tight red dress, into doing what it thinks is right.
And as the season progresses, we find that this new brainwashing threat, is a threat to everyone on the ground and though it's a tough call, what's left of all of humanity bonds together and faces off against this seemingly unstoppable enemy.
Most of season three felt like a pretty fun and another compelling ride to follow, right up to the last episode when it devolved into your standard ending, sort of, where everyone who is good. Or is at least not evil, prevails, while we are left with a tiny bit of a cliff-hanger of an ending.
I'm not sure they could have avoided this particular pitfall, except to maybe have ended the primary story line an episode or two earlier, using the last few episodes to set up the next season to some degree. But that's just me and I am not the expert in these matters.
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There are good looking characters for both young and old alike to enjoy and everyone pretty much pulls their weight wonderfully.
The primary cast includes
Bob Morley (Neighbours), whom I've come to really enjoy,
Devon Bostick (Aim High, Being Erica, Diary of a Wimpy Kid films),
Christopher Larkin (The Big Bad Swim),
Isaiah Washington, (Gray's Anatomy, Romeo Must Die), and does a wonderful job in this role,
Henry Ian Cusick (Lost, Hitman),
Eliza Taylor (Neighbours, The November Man),
Paige Turco (Person of Interest, Damages),
Marie Avgeropoulos (Tracers, Cult),
But we can't leave out actors like Richard Harmon (Continuum, Bates Motel, The Killing), who I think will parlay those half-open, evil eyes into some kind of wonderful acting career. Or the ever-present Ricky Whittle (Mistresses, Hollyoaks), who plays one super cool, badass. Or Adina Porter (Underground, The Newsroom, True Blood). This woman can play an addict or a powerful tribe leader to a very effective fashion. Love watching her.
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Anyhoo, The 100 has turned into a surprise hit for me and I enjoy watching it. We have characters that started off being nasty, but evolve into good guys, while we have good guys getting angry. As a quickie spoiler example of the good story telling, someone close to one character is killing this characters friend with a strangle hold, and despite NOT WANTING TOO, he has to shoot her in the head. It's pretty gripping shit!
Oh, look, just in case you were interested, a link to the show on Amazon... what are the odds?
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