Written by Jakob Andreasen
After finally escaping the harsh and brutal conditions of the bunker, Wonkru had to deal with the consequences of Bellamy’s ‘agreement’ with Team Diyoza. Unfortunately, this ‘agreement’ started a war that both Diyoza and Octavia are willing to finish. Last week’s episode ‘Pandora’s Box’ ended with a blast, will Shifting Sands have the same explosive attitude?
Wounds
Trying to piece themselves together after their encounter with ‘Team Diyoza’, Wonkru is in a state of weakness. Some are dead, others are dying, and most are ready to kill. Clarke and Jackson have a little discussion about Abby, and Jackson and Miller exchange a ‘goodbye kiss’. Clarke, being the suss person she is, knows something is up.
Wonkru is leaving Polis.
Shallow Valley. The Promised Land. It’s the prize that everyone wants and Octavia wants it, but she doesn’t know how to get it. Well at least she thinks she does—living underneath the ground for six years calls for a reality check. And being on the surface for those six years, Clarke is more than willing to share her wisdom. Praimfaya turned your everyday Sandstorm into Shattered Glass of Pain and Death Storm. It’s not a pretty picture. But, Clarke let’s slip that there might be a chance to pass through the ‘ocean’ of sand, without having to go through one of these storms—Octavia, being Octavia hears, “It’s safe. We’ll make it.” No practical decision-making skills. Wonkru moves out.
‘Team Diyoza’. True vultures. Watching their prey. Hoping that they die, so that they survive. Charmaine uses a satellite to watch Wonkru move out, and she’s worried. She doesn’t want trained killers anywhere near Shallow Valley and rather having the fight at her doorstep, Charmaine chooses to bring the fight to them.
And that’s only the first six minutes.
Green
Backtracking to the ending of Pandora’s Box, we know that the prisoners, who were previously on the ship, are now down on Earth making camp in Shallow Valley. Surrounded by trees. Complete bliss. Interrupted by Charmaine’s minute long monologue.
Vincent—a creepy, silent, mundane-looking prisoner, and with just one glance of him it’s clear that he’s a psycho and, coincidentally, Abby’s first patient. Finally getting a glimpse into Abby and Kane’s new circumstances, they’re kept prisoner in Clarke’s home. Very emotional for Abby spending only five minutes with Clarke and now, being surrounded by her belongings, her memories, her art. This moment is quickly lost, as the two are interrupted by Charmaine and psycho killer Vincent when Abby is tasked to treat Vincent.
Shifting back to Wonkru.
It’s dinner time. The creators are teasing the viewers here. BELLARKE. Clarke comments on Wonkru’s comradery and togetherness. Bellamy wonders how Clarke was able to remain herself, while being all alone. But Maddie, a Nightblood like Clarke, kept her grounded.
Indra and Octavia have what you could call a ‘mother/daughter’ relationship and here, they have a special moment. Love is weakness. Love is strength. The two don’t agree on the value of love but, the two have not had the same upbringing. Octavia has been broken and beaten coming out of it all incapable of love. Indra, being a mother, knows the strength that love can create.
Alien
Interrupting their ‘moment’, Miller and a grounder run back to camp. There is something inside the grounder. It’s a Xenomorph. No, it’s not, but there are things crawling and squirming beneath his skin. And, if Clarke can’t fix him by morning, Octavia will kill the grounder. Personally.
As the grounder experiences the excruciating pain of being eaten from the inside, Raven is being tortured by ‘Team Diyoza’. In the previous episode, Raven blocked Charmaine from accessing the missiles and now, she’s being used as a personal punching bag. A means for the prisoners to express themselves, but they aren’t getting it through their heads that she doesn’t know anything. Being negative Nancy’s, ‘Team Diyoza’ takes another route: Murphy. An overused plot device threatening to kill a friend to get an answer. Zeke Shaw—‘Team Diyoza’s’ Raven—forces the other prisoners to leave him alone with Raven and Murphy and reveals that it was his idea to block Charmaine from accessing the missiles. TWIST. And for a double twist, Raven uses this knowledge to her advantage forcing Zeke to help her and Murphy ‘escape’.
The Test
Abby and Charmaine are at odds. One has the advantage. Abby has come back with the results of Vincent’s initial test to see what he has, and Abby passes her test with flying colours. 13 of the prisoners have a mysterious disease, not cancer, but to Abby it presents itself like cancer.
Paxton, aka Graveyard, another psycho—one with a fashionable combover—dobs on Zeke to Charmaine. Murphy has escaped and he’s now running through the woods with the electric collar still around his neck. Echo and co. run into Murphy and the group need to make their way to higher ground for a better signal. Charmaine confronts Zeke, but he tells her that he let Murphy go as incentive for Raven to unlock the missiles. As ‘Team Space’ and Murphy make their way to higher ground, Murphy’s collar activates and electrocutes him only because he’s past the barrier for the collar’s signal. This forces him to stay behind. Emori, his old flame, stays as well but more Emori and Murphy was needed.
A Storm is Coming
Wonkru is threatened by an oncoming Sandstorm. But, more importantly, Octavia and Bellamy are threatening each other, calling each other out on their bad decisions: their leadership skills. As they fight, the grounder wakes up and it’s not a pleasant awakening. His stomach explodes, blood everywhere, and those crawling parasites fly all over the place with one making its way into Octavia’s arm. The other parasites experience their own Praimfaya and burn to a crisp.
Two seconds later, Clarke removes the parasite from Octavia’s arm. Being a pragmatic person, she keeps the parasite in a jar. Will she regret this later? Another convenient plot point, Wonkru is warned by Monty of the oncoming missiles aimed at their camp.
BOOM. EXPLOSION. ‘DEATH’.
Cut to an Arctic winter, reminiscent of Happy Feet. Wonkru or Emperor penguins? Having entered the Sandstorm to hide themselves from ‘Team Diyoza’, Wonkru chose possible death over certain death. They’ve created a shell of sorts, protecting Octavia and Clarke (because she’s babysitting Octavia) from the Sandstorm, but those who are a part of the shell are exposed to the dangers of the storm. The whole atmosphere is very intense and overwhelming.
And now, we cut back to ‘Team Diyoza’. Graveyard confronts Abby wanting to be cured of his disease. Graveyard wants to be saved, but Abby wonders, is he worth saving? Kane is brought to Charmaine. Time for a heart to heart over a shot of tequila. She wants to know all she need to know about Octavia and she wants to know the ins and the outs of Octavia’s mind.
The final scene of the episode sees Wonkru recovering from the storm. Indra is severely injured with glass potentially in her lungs, and 11 of Wonkru are dead. In contrast to this, we have another miniature reunion—Clarke and Maddie, Bellamy and Echo, and the reunions to end all reunions, Octavia and Echo.
A real stare down between the two. What a way to end the episode!
Next week, Exit Wounds. “Kane’s attempt to prove himself useful tests Wonkru’s allegiance to Octavia. Madi faces an unexpected threat inside Wonkru, forcing Clarke to make an unlikely ally.
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