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The 100's Ultimate Betrayal: Marie Avgeropoulos Sounds Off on the Devastating End to the Conclave

Who else is not OK?!

By Lauren Piester May 04, 2017 2:00 AMTags
Watch: "The 100" Cast Plays "Most Likely: Apocalypse Edition"

Well, s--t. 

The 100 just held its final conclave, which was supposed to determine which clan got control of the bunker that doubled as humanity's last hope of survival. The idea was that one member of each clan would battle, and the last one standing would claim the bunker for their clan, and it almost worked out best for everybody (or at least for about 1200 of everybody). 

It was Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) who ended up winning after a devastating fight throughout Polis that forced her to mercy kill her friend Ilian (Chai Hansen), witness the death of Roan (Zach McGowan), and finally kill Luna (Nadia Hilker), who was fighting to keep humanity from surviving at all after how she was treated by Skaikru. She then declared that the clans would share the bunker as best they could.

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The only problem was that the rest of Skaikru, led by Clarke (Eliza Taylor), had decided to ignore the rules of the sacred conclave and had already taken the bunker for themselves, locking even Octavia and Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) outside. 

Needless to say, Octavia was pissed.

"She was victorious for nothing, went through all of that for nothing," Avgeropoulos tells E! News. "And again, they didn't believe in her, and ended up taking the bunker and leaving her on the other side." 

And to make it worse, Bellamy (Bob Morley)—after all that support and strategy advice he had given her in preparation for the fight, and all that fighting he did himself to save her from Echo's cheating—had been gassed and trapped inside against his will. 

"Octavia doesn't realize Bellamy was gassed at that point—only the audience does. So once again, it just leaves her incredibly heartbroken and betrayed by her own people and her family," Avgeropoulos says. 

If you're sitting there going "This is some serious bulls--t," you are not alone. It was, in fact, some serious bulls--t, and we talked to Avgeropoulos all about it. 

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E! News: So that was a major betrayal. What's Octavia thinking right now after learning what Skaikru did?

Avgeropoulos: Yeah it was an incredibly huge betrayal because, you know, it was very important that everyone played by the rules. And of course we know there was more than one group other than Skaikru that didn't play by the rules. Ilian's death was because of Echo certainly not playing by the rules. She was trying to peg everybody off with her bow and arrow to ensure that Ice Nation got the bunker. So that death was incredibly sad for Octavia because it wasn't a death filled with honor. She had to mercy kill him because of the fact that Echo was cheating, so that was incredibly heart-wrenching for her to do, but it really shows how Octavia did sort of take on a lot of his people's philosophies that mirrored Lincoln's, until the very end of his last moments and his last breath.

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Lincoln [Ricky Whittle] was brought up a lot in this episode. His name clearly still motivates Octavia…

She was fighting in Lincoln's honor—that's why she painted the war paint on her forehead, to mirror Lincoln's tattoo. And Lincoln and Ilian shared a lot of the same peaceful philosophies and mindsets, so when Indra hands Octavia Gaia's sword—Indra's always been Octavia's mentor, she's taken on a lot of those Trikru philosophies because Skaikru has never believed in her, and that's where she's really found her place. But at the end when she is victorious and the champion of the conclave, she reminds herself of what Indra said: it's who you fight for that is up to you, and that's why she decides to share the bunker with all the clans, which is what Lincoln always tried to do, was have everyone blend together as one kru.

But you know, of course that was all for nothing because they stole the bunker, and that betrayal was so brutal at the end of the episode. And that's just one more challenge for them to overcome because praimfaya's coming in a couple of hours, and you know, probably the death of everyone.

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I both love and hate that Clarke is now the bad guy. What does this mean for what comes next?

It just really goes to show you that Clarke and Octavia are on completely different planes, and it was really disappointing for Octavia to know that the leader of Skaikru didn't have Octavia's back, didn't want to play by the rules, and it's just incredibly depressing and heart-wrenching for Octavia. It definitely doesn't help her depression.

Octavia is the rightful leader because she was the champion of the conclave, and now she doesn't have that opportunity if that bunker door is shut. It will be interesting to see when Clarke and Octavia face off, if that ever happens, because [Clarke is] locked inside.

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Octavia's whole strategy in this fight was to use her "girl under the floor" skills. Did you love how that came full circle for her?

Yeah, it's really cool because it also reminds the fans just how far Octavia has come. This episode really culminates the entire circle and incredible transformation Octavia has made over the years. And she's headed into another phase as well before this season's over, but it's really great to be reminded that she was that girl under the floor, and to use that strategy, because yes, you only need to kill the last one in the conclave. She doesn't need to kill every single 7'7 giant that has been fighting for longer than she's been alive, so it's really nice that the writers included that in Bellamy's encouraging.

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Like you said, Octavia's the leader now. Is she going to step into that role for the people left outside of the bunker?

Octavia's faced with a leadership position that she's never been in and she does not know how to do, so that's her next challenge after they figure out the bunker situation, because that door is locked and there's people on the other side, and they need to figure out a way to get that open, because otherwise nobody's going to survive.

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Well, I seriously loved this episode, even if it was completely devastating.

Thank you! I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears in that episode. My toenail is still black and growing out from when Octavia whips that table off the wall. That landed right on my foot, so I couldn't walk for a few weeks after that episode. I was super sore. But it was totally worth it.

The 100 airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on the CW.