The 100 is a series that thrives off of a moral dilemma with no good choices. It is a show about survival, and the desire to find a home after theirs is no longer eligible for use. Leadership is a tricky position, and when Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake land on the ground, they learn just how hard it can be.
As they live on the ground, time hardens them, and Praimfaya's destruction causes the world they've come to know to be gone in the blink of an eye. Six years later, everyone reunites for an opposing view of season one. While Skaikru had initially imposed on the Grounders' home, they now know what it feels like from the Grounder perspective when the Eligius ship lands in Eden.
Season 1: Wonder
Stepping foot on the ground for the first time has the delinquents roaming around in awe of their surroundings. Octavia has a moment where she is amazed by glowing butterflies. A two-headed deer also catches the shock and awe of how the environment reacted to the radiation. There is so much to explore in the forest, and although everyone is terrified of Grounders, something is interesting in their culture and government.
Season five replaces wonder with despair as Earth is once again explored post-Praimfaya. The Garden of Eden is all that is left regarding survivable landscapes. "Eden," does a remarkable job showing Clarke desperate to find anything she can survive on.
Season 5: Switches Perspective
Season one saw Clarke, Bellamy, and their friends land on the ground and quickly find that there are other people near that land. Peace was a brief suggestion in the overwhelming fear and determination to keep the area they fell upon. In the aftermath, over three-hundred Grounders died in the war that everyone lost.
However, season five places the original delinquents on the side of the Grounders when the Eligius ship lands. Such an act allows Bellamy to have a firm grasp of what he and his friends had made the Grounders feel back when they had first fallen.
Season 1: Focus on the Delinquents
A fan-favorite part of The 100's first season is that while on Earth, the focus is entirely on the delinquents figuring out how to survive on the ground. Away from the council on the Ark, they can thrive in an environment that does not push down their ideas. The bonds the delinquents made during their first few weeks on the ground alone were significant and emphasized in season two when they met up with the adults from the Ark.
Afterward, the series chose to focus on a few select delinquents while others faded into the background and were forgotten or assumed dead. Season five places a high relevance on Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia, but Raven, Murphy, Monty, Harper, and Miller for most of the season do not have as significant an impact as they had initially.
Season 5: Introduction to Earth
While season one uses wonder to become immersed in the new Earth, season five uses tragedy. Polis, TonDC, Arkadia, and everywhere Clarke had been accustomed to is gone or destroyed. As Clarke visits the places she had once considered home, it is with a devastating realization that Praimfaya had taken everything and everyone Clarke loves with it. A sacrifice that should have killed her failed, and Clarke, later along with Madi, must face the next six years alone.
"Eden" spends most of its time following Clarke as she explores the landscape of the planet. Rather than excitement, Clarke is driven, desperate, and losing hope quickly. That is until she finds the valley, the one place the death wave left untouched.
Season 1: Uncertainty
Season one is filled with moments of questioning if they can survive on the ground and how they will deal with the Grounders. No one has any precise answers about anything, and everyone is just doing the best they can. Season five removes the essence of uncertainty from the show.
There is no time to worry about anything as the fight for the valley escalates into an all-out war. The uncertainty seen in the first season gives a feeling of relatability to the show as viewers could think about if they would do the same as the delinquents or make different choices.
Season 5: Battles
The delinquents battled against the Grounders at the end of the first season. While the grounders used human-made weapons, the delinquents had technology on their side, using guns and bombs to kill the Grounders.
Although immersing to watch, it is only a hint of the battles and fights that would appear throughout the rest of the series. Season five amplifies the fighting in the bunker under Octavia's rule. After six years, nearly everyone has become accustomed to the Grounders' ways of fighting, allowing one-on-one battles to be much more intricate and choreographed.
Season 1: Cliffhangers
"Damocles Part 2" ends the world as everyone knows it when the bomb destroys the only survivable place on Earth. While the finale does have a hopeful sendoff, showing how Monty and Harper had lived the peaceful lives they wanted, "We Are Grounders Part 2" is a finale that has viewers needing more.
With Clarke and Monty trapped in Mount Weather, Raven, Murphy, and the delinquents at the Dropship, and the locations of Bellamy, Octavia, and Finn all unknown, the cliffhanger engages audiences to return for season two to learn what happened to their favorite characters.
Season 5: Hope for the Future
There is not much hope that things will be alright as the finale ends with most of the main characters separated. However, season five ends on a much more positive note. Leaving a video behind, Monty reveals that he and Harper had spent the original ten years living a peaceful life with their son, Jordan.
Unfortunately, when Earth did not regenerate the way they envisioned, Monty got to work to find a new place for the rest of them to live. Listening to Monty's advice to do better, Clarke and Bellamy look at their new home, unsure of what awaits them.
Season 1: Leadership
When Eligius lands on the ground, Diyoza faces off against Octavia in a fight for the valley. Diyoza is straightforward and in no mood for negotiation unless she benefits from it. Octavia is not a leader, she is a warrior, and that mentality follows through when she is looked at to lead everyone to the valley.
Each of their determination for the valley ends with its destruction. When the Dropship first lands in season one, Bellamy and Clarke are at odds as well. However, once they decide to team up and run their camp together, war is only fought against the Grounders because they've both agreed they need to stand firm.
Season 5: Conflicts
Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia have always had different outlooks on life. When the series begins, everyone has their different perspectives, but season five highlights them thoroughly. Six years apart have changed everyone, but it reflects the most in the different views of Clarke, Bellamy, and Octavia.
Clarke's time alone with Madi in the valley has made her choices based on that the valley is her home. Bellamy's time on the ring, away from war and hardship, has given him time to have a different outlook leading him to desire peace with Diyoza. Octavia's issues during the Dark Year and within the bunker have hardened her, which brought out her warrior instincts and made her determined that everything that happened in the bunker could not be for nothing.