TV Review: THE 100: Season 3, Episode 15: Perverse Instantiation: Part One [The CW]

The CW’s The 100, Perverse Instantiation: Part One TV Show Review. The 100: Season 3, Episode 15: ‘Perverse Instantiation: Part One,’ felt like the ultimate showdown, between the Meathead resistance, and Alie’s (Erica Cerra) Chip-for-Brains new order; but it was just the dress rehearsal.  

After a bitter failure – and even more bitter taste of how democracy works – Clarke (Eliza Taylor) stumbled into being rescued by Roan (Zach McGowan). She also stumbled into being robbed by him; but it does pay to have Bellamy (Bob Morley) as your lapdog, at times. Sure, I had to convince myself that Roan was driven more by pragmatism, than script, but it didn’t take too much convincing for him to sign on to Clarke’s latest desperation play (despite Bellamy).

Maybe the switching from Ice Nation threat, to radical politics, to A.I. zombie takeover, has left me nostalgic, but it was good to see the adventures of Roan & Clarke back on the screen (even if it did mean more bondage play – something of a series go-to measure, at this point). Ballarkies can call it whatever they want – Clarke & Bellamy just fell into the same old dynamic as before.  

So about that little nugget, on Alie having eyes in Arkadia: it did make some sense; but only if you allow for Alie having put more thought into her Trojan Horsing around than usual. The reveal, however, was a little ham-fisted. No, I didn’t buy into Jasper (Devon Bostick) getting past a repeat loss as readily as Monty (Christopher Larkin) did, and more Monty points for calling out Jasper on his Harper (Chelsey Reist) comment; but from there, it was another spring loaded monster-within-moment. Not much on its own – just Monty & Raven (Lindsey Morgan) being bottled into their Genius Bar; but it did serve to up the stakes for the Roan & Clarke Roadshow.

At least Alie cleaned up for their arrival – you’d think something more advanced than a Roomba would do a better job of keeping things neat (especially with all those scrubbing bubble brains at its disposal); but the point was to make real life irrelevant, relative to the afterlife – same as any religious promise of paradise.

Too far from finale for cleaning up, though, so things still got messy. Alie’s Arkadia eyes sent the Roadshow into the wrong end of the pool; but it was another act of emo that really sank prospects. Way to make the most of a surprise sacrifice play, Clarke.

The emo play that actually should’ve been didn’t; since Raven was smart enough to reassure Monty about Harper, but Alie wasn’t smart enough to exploit that angle (the script ultimately saving her the trouble). A fact underscored by Alie resorting to just that angle, where Clarke was concerned.

That was the plan, anyway; but there is such a thing as Murphy’s (Richard Harmon) Law.

No, that wasn’t a really bad pun in my pocket – I was just happy to see him.

There could hardly have been better circumstances, for a reunion with his fellow Exiles, and for Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) to get on the same page as Indra (Adina Porter), regarding Pike (Michael Beach); so it seemed like there was no danger of emo moments to the roll-out, at that point.

Despite his assurance to return to form, after the fact, it was nice to see Murphy decide that winning, at any cost, was better than just surviving, for a change. Octavia adding Lincoln to Indra’s cut count, however, suggested that any Pike redemption may not come without cost – a point made very clear to Pike, when left in the rear with the pair.

Leave it to that same pair to provide an emo moment anyway, allowing a familiar Alie drone to do some damage. So much for an emo free roll-out.

To her credit, though, Clarke was willing to sacrifice as much as some of her colleagues have been forced to; but that’s been one area where Alie always had the advantage. With one stroke, she was able to salvage what would have otherwise been a fairly satisfying victory for the Meatheads.

As dress rehearsals go, this one left a pretty tall order for the actual finale to fill. Sure, there are a number of cliches the showrunners could resort to, and there is a chance Roan may not be there for it; but I’m submitting a formal cease-and-desist on that noise – just for the record. It was a good setup. A bad (or hackneyed) follow-through, however, could ruin not just this episode, but the whole season.

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