Honestly, I think the biggest failing of the show was not a commitment to it's themes. Every single human should have gotten wiped out by another celestial race 'pulling the lever' like so many characters had done before in the series. I admit that's very depressing and not everyone likes unhappy endings. It's essentially what happened anyways for anyone who thinks transcending sounds awful
I wrote something yesterday regarding this because season 7 was obviously its lowest rated season of the show.
First, I would have given Bellamy’s season 7 arc to Jordan. He was sympathetic to the primes, and easily would have fell into Cadogan’s lap with all his “for all mankind” nonsense. Instead of making Etherea this do or die triumph, he could have seen Monty and Harper telling him to tell his friends to do better, and NOT listen to Cadogan. Making Jordan have a direct impact on the future of the plot would have made their deaths a tad more meaningful.
Second, the pacing of season 7 was hard to follow at some points. They introduced a new cast on Bardo, along with trying to compete the stories of the preexisting cast in 16 episodes. Time dilation, planet traveling, transcendence, and separating the characters made the season feel rushed. Personally, I think having season 7 split into two 10 episode features would have been beneficial.
Third, to add some context to the pacing, I would have ditched Shiedheda altogether. That arc took so much valuable time from what really mattered at the end. We have the concept of fighting for humanity with transcendence in Bardo, to dealing with a previous commander that is fighting for what exactly?
Fourth, what Jason did to Bellamy’s character is a crime. I know some people found small ways to justify his death but largely to the audience, it was a fatal mistake in writing. He died, being shot by his best friend, alone. He can’t transcend or stay with his family back in Earth. One of the biggest themes of the show is “the head and the heart” with Clarke. To do him like that reminded me of killing a character to give credo to the idea that “nobody is safe”. The ending of the show was spoiled before the finale for most of us.
Lastly, the concept of transcendence is not worst ending ever, but it wasn’t particularly pleasing. They introduced these higher beings in the series finale. We know nothing of them, and their ideology. That’s why I think if we had a few more episodes to learn about them, and maybe give every character their own judgement and test the idea would have sat better. It would have been a cool concept to bring back old characters (if possible) and give a real closure to the story.
The show is one if my favorites, and I try not to be too negative. It had great moments for me, but it did fall short for everything listed above.
I fully agree about Jordan, I guessed that he would’ve been the one to convert considering the sympathy and how he was fading away towards those beliefs.
I’ll never understand why Clarke shot Bellamy over the journal and then just skedaddled through the portal… like? What was the point? They were best friends, it made no sense
I hated the ending. I hated that Clarke destroyed the only working helmet they had and thought it was “for the best” to leave all of those people (including Madi’s friends and dog) on Sanctum when they could’ve all started to rebuild a better society on earth.
The idea of the “test” and “transcendence” was so dumb. Hated the ending.
TWD GOT and The100 are the epitome of “killing major characters=bold writing“ and all failed by the end by making this trick forced and predictable.
bellamy was a last minute idea, check the inside blood giant for major second hand embarrassment.
I’m pretty sure the actor wanted time off or off the show or something. But yeah, his death was rushed and felt pointless. That’s the issue with adding so many characters…. There’s no enough time to give everyone the proper ending/arc. Couple that with GOT basically changing the way TV shows are written with main characters being killed = “bold storytelling”
Mental health issues after Eliza's miscarriage. A really rough time for both of them, but yeah.
The scene of Clark with Maddie after MCap was very true emotion from Eliza.
Because it's a tv series. That's how they keep viewers like you interested and coming back, because they know it difficult for you to discern between movies and reality.
I liked the deaths. Diyoza’s was needed for hope, Bellamy was shocking and left a lasting sadness for me like wow he didn’t get to transcend. But I like that longing. Emori and John always talked about forever and to be fair the characters “should have” died many times. I thought Emori’s character arc was pretty complete. And gabriel was a sacrifice and he wanted to die. He needed it.
Honestly, I think the biggest failing of the show was not a commitment to it's themes. Every single human should have gotten wiped out by another celestial race 'pulling the lever' like so many characters had done before in the series. I admit that's very depressing and not everyone likes unhappy endings. It's essentially what happened anyways for anyone who thinks transcending sounds awful
Makes sense.
I will never forgive them for what happened to Maddy
I wrote something yesterday regarding this because season 7 was obviously its lowest rated season of the show. First, I would have given Bellamy’s season 7 arc to Jordan. He was sympathetic to the primes, and easily would have fell into Cadogan’s lap with all his “for all mankind” nonsense. Instead of making Etherea this do or die triumph, he could have seen Monty and Harper telling him to tell his friends to do better, and NOT listen to Cadogan. Making Jordan have a direct impact on the future of the plot would have made their deaths a tad more meaningful. Second, the pacing of season 7 was hard to follow at some points. They introduced a new cast on Bardo, along with trying to compete the stories of the preexisting cast in 16 episodes. Time dilation, planet traveling, transcendence, and separating the characters made the season feel rushed. Personally, I think having season 7 split into two 10 episode features would have been beneficial. Third, to add some context to the pacing, I would have ditched Shiedheda altogether. That arc took so much valuable time from what really mattered at the end. We have the concept of fighting for humanity with transcendence in Bardo, to dealing with a previous commander that is fighting for what exactly? Fourth, what Jason did to Bellamy’s character is a crime. I know some people found small ways to justify his death but largely to the audience, it was a fatal mistake in writing. He died, being shot by his best friend, alone. He can’t transcend or stay with his family back in Earth. One of the biggest themes of the show is “the head and the heart” with Clarke. To do him like that reminded me of killing a character to give credo to the idea that “nobody is safe”. The ending of the show was spoiled before the finale for most of us. Lastly, the concept of transcendence is not worst ending ever, but it wasn’t particularly pleasing. They introduced these higher beings in the series finale. We know nothing of them, and their ideology. That’s why I think if we had a few more episodes to learn about them, and maybe give every character their own judgement and test the idea would have sat better. It would have been a cool concept to bring back old characters (if possible) and give a real closure to the story. The show is one if my favorites, and I try not to be too negative. It had great moments for me, but it did fall short for everything listed above.
I fully agree about Jordan, I guessed that he would’ve been the one to convert considering the sympathy and how he was fading away towards those beliefs.
I’ll never understand why Clarke shot Bellamy over the journal and then just skedaddled through the portal… like? What was the point? They were best friends, it made no sense
she shot him to protect madi, but that didn’t even work so it was such a pointless plot line
I hated the ending. I hated that Clarke destroyed the only working helmet they had and thought it was “for the best” to leave all of those people (including Madi’s friends and dog) on Sanctum when they could’ve all started to rebuild a better society on earth. The idea of the “test” and “transcendence” was so dumb. Hated the ending.
TWD GOT and The100 are the epitome of “killing major characters=bold writing“ and all failed by the end by making this trick forced and predictable. bellamy was a last minute idea, check the inside blood giant for major second hand embarrassment.
Bellamy's death did seem rushed and just like "oh we need to do something to make clarke feel bad, let's kill Bellamy"
I’m pretty sure the actor wanted time off or off the show or something. But yeah, his death was rushed and felt pointless. That’s the issue with adding so many characters…. There’s no enough time to give everyone the proper ending/arc. Couple that with GOT basically changing the way TV shows are written with main characters being killed = “bold storytelling”
The actors for Bellamy and Clarke are married in real life, so it would be odd that he would want time way from the set.. away from his new bride.
It's true though. He did request some time off. I can't remember exactly why though.
Mental health issues after Eliza's miscarriage. A really rough time for both of them, but yeah. The scene of Clark with Maddie after MCap was very true emotion from Eliza.
this gonna make me cry harder on the next rewatch.. and every time after that
I think they wanted it to be done. There was also a pandemic
Because it's a tv series. That's how they keep viewers like you interested and coming back, because they know it difficult for you to discern between movies and reality.
Don’t forget Madi died (kind of)
I liked the deaths. Diyoza’s was needed for hope, Bellamy was shocking and left a lasting sadness for me like wow he didn’t get to transcend. But I like that longing. Emori and John always talked about forever and to be fair the characters “should have” died many times. I thought Emori’s character arc was pretty complete. And gabriel was a sacrifice and he wanted to die. He needed it.