S5E1 "Eden"
The episode begins about two months after Primfaya. Clarke is all alone, and everything is desolate. It creates a different tone for the show, one that is very depressing, lonely, and hopeless. The show spends almost fifteen minutes like this, which doesn't work out that well because this tone isn't captivating enough to make a whole third of the episode interesting.
Clarke finally gets some hope when she discovers a crow, and tries to find out where it came from. When she thinks that she has lost it, she breaks down, and almost kills herself. The moment where Clarke puts the gun to her head feels forced, like the show is trying to use it to show how hopeless the situation is, but doesn't do enough to make it feel real. However, Clarke's hope returns when she sees the crow again, and it leads her to a green valley.
Clarke arrives in the valley, and there she finds a young child, who seems to have problem fending for herself. Clarke gets caught in a trap this child set, and she steals Clarke's things. The show doesn't seem to know how to handle the start of this relationship between Clarke and the young girl at the start, but once the show jumps ahead to not long before we left the characters last season, they have a fun, enjoyable dynamic.
On the Ark, the group is keeping their eye on Earth, at least as much as they can. It also turns out that Murphy has decided to remove himself from the group, in a fight scene between him and Bellamy that is absolutely ridiculous. Things finally get interesting when they spot the ship that we saw land at the end of the previous season finale.
The ship lands, and as the people on it come out, we learn a little about them. There seem to be some parallels to the pilot here, as this is a group of prisoners, and they soon realize that they are not alone. That's not all that we learn. It also turns out they have been asleep for a long time, as they do not know what has happened to Earth.
In the final moments of the episode, we get some Ark scenes where the characters give us hints to thinks that have happened since they have been in space. There is so little energy in these scenes however, that it is hard to stay engaged. The ending of the episode shows the bunker, where two people are fighting in a stadium-like place, as Octavia sits and watches.
This season of The 100 is off to a weak start. The premiere generally lacked in excitement, only really providing in the scenes showing the people from the ship that has landed. Hopefully we delve more into that and the bunker next week. For now, I don't have very high hopes for season five.
Score: 4/10
What did you think of "Eden"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!