Fans of The 100 are in for a treat tonight, because "Die All, Die Merrily" might be one of the best episodes the show has ever done.
With just a couple of days remaining before the radiation comes to kill everyone and the promise of one bunker that will protect about 1200 people, the clans are refusing to share the bunker, and are on the verge of war. At the very end of last week's episode, Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) arrived to fight for her people. We'll allow her to explain what happens next.
"Praimfaya is coming," she tells E! News over the phone. "Instead of having a war that will lose thousands and hundreds of lives to see which clan gets the bunker, they decide on having one final conclave, so one member from each clan fights on the streets of Polis, almost in a Hunger Games fashion."
It is, in fact, very Hunger Games-ian, but somehow even more brutal, and the existence of humanity depends on who comes out alive. It all results in one hell of an episode.
"It kicks ass," Avgeropoulos tells us of the hour. "When I watched it, I thought it felt like a movie. It didn't feel like television."
While "Die All, Die Merrily" is primarily made up of the epic conclave (for which Avgeropoulos says she had extensive training and did all of her own stunts), it's not all action.
"There's also a lot of dramatic scenes in the episode, and a lot of moments between characters that the audience really wants to see—like Blake moments, and moments with Clarke [Eliza Taylor], Indra [Adina Porter], Gaia [Tati Gabrielle]," she says. "It just moves at an incredible pace and fans are going to love it."
The very fact that Octavia has shown up for Skaikru is significant, since she's found much more of a home with Indra and the Trikru clan as she's learned to become the warrior she was never allowed to be on the Ark. Over this season in particular, a lot has changed for her.
"I think she's just gone down such a dark path this season with her depression and her lack of morality," Avgeropoulos says. "You know, when she's over at Ilian's farm on Trishanakru land, and she massacres all those people—although she did give them a warning, they didn't listen—she has this realization that this is who she is, and I think that was rock bottom for her. And she realized when she went back to Polis that she could use these skills to fight for her people, and it gave her purpose once again."
That purpose takes her to the conclave, where she has to accept the fact that she might not make it out alive.
"I think she's just been depressed, and she didn't care if she lives or dies, and she's going to go down the only way she knows, and that's fighting," she says. "She's been fighting for her life since she was under the floor, and fighting for people to believe that she deserves a place in society, and in Skaikru. So once again, she's trying to prove something to others, her worth."
For Octavia, the most important member of Skaikru is her brother Bellamy (Bob Morley), who she's been kind of estranged from throughout the past couple of seasons. They get their big reunion in this episode, though it's not really a happy one, since he's there to advise her on the battle she's about to face.
"It's got a lot of ups and downs in this episode between Octavia and Bellamy," Avgeropoulos tells us.
It's clear that Bellamy has her back, but this is a fight to the death with the fate of humanity on the line, so there's definitely still room for heartbreak.
And of course, any Hunger Games comparison means plenty of death, and that's very true for this episode. Avgeropolous promises "lots" of deaths, and they're not all just going to be random unknown clan members. This episode will hurt, but the best ones often do.
The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on the CW.