Hesperides opens with Hope moments after her mother, Dioyza, and Aunty O (Octavia) are taken by the Disciples. A montage of Hope’s life after this event flashes before us and we see her threaten a new prisoner who approaches her cabin. Initially she fends him off and stays near the outer ring of the garden, but then he eats from a plant that makes him ill. He falls over in pain and Hope nurses him back to health and they grow close. He becomes her new parental figure and soon he starts to teach her a new set of skills: knife throwing. They make a plan to use his absolution day to rescue her mother and Aunty O by stealing their suits and using the anomaly to get to Bardo, but it doesn’t go that smoothly. Hope hesitates and he dies. This is the man in that skeleton graveyard that Hope, Echo, and Gabriel came across in episode 2.
Clarke, Gaia, Miller, and Nylah surround a disciple lying atop a table with their mask completely covering their identity. Jordan comes in with one of the people from the compound who’s claiming he saw another one just outside the perimeter and he’s asking for Clarke by name. But first things first, figuring out the helmet. Clarke goes to talk to Raven who’s still taking the nuclear reactor situation to heart. She’s drowning in grief and figuring out how this mask works becomes her focus. When she initially starts to work on it with the aid of Jordan, it opens quickly, however the face she sees is impossible. It’s Hatch. The man who died saving them all from the overheating nuclear reactor. Raven figures out how the helmet works by using her head. Literally. She realises to use the helmet you have to be wearing it so that’s what she does. We see an interface filled with symbols and space coordinates.
Clarke heads over to meet with this mysterious man at the fence. He tells her that they believe her to be the key to winning the last war mankind will ever wage. He wants her help and asks her to meet at Gabriel’s cabin where the anomaly stone is located.
Back on Skyring, Echo is having a difficult time adjusting to her 5-year mission to save Bellamy. The man they met at the graveyard approaches them while she’s in the garden, initially hesitant he speaks to Echo and she tells him that he can plant the seeds he brought for Hope over in the garden bed, but when she leaves, he is spooked by Gabriel coming back from the woods. Although he runs off, Echo has a new lease on the mission and she plans to use Hope to lure him out once again. She leverages his feelings for Hope to their advantage and the plan works. He comes to Hope when he hears her screaming for help in the lake. They bring him in and share a meal. He offers to bury Dev for Hope, to honour him properly. They think he’s coming around, but at the end of the meal, he chooses to leave. They learn his name as well. It’s Orlando.
Echo, Gabriel, and Hope continue to practice building up their speed and efficiency so they can take on the Disciples and save their friends. Orlando interrupts in the middle of Echo arguing with Gabriel. Patience is not her strong suit and this episode definitely showcases that. She confronts Orlando, frustrated and angry about this slow plan, she ends up having her ass kicked and the three of them have to sleep outside with Orlando winning the cabin. He starts to train them so that they’ll be ready in time for his Absolution Day. They plan to use Orlando as a hostage to trap and steal the suits from the Disciples who come for him. They realise it’s a trap, but it’s too late. They incapacitate most of them but Hope kills one to save Echo. When they remove the mask and reveal a young girl, there’s a noticeable reaction from Orlando. Seeing this, Echo goes to the others, killing each one, drastically changing their plan. Gabriel calls her out on it when she turns the knife on Orlando. They’ve grown close to Orlando and Gabriel tries to insist that he’s their friend, but she won’t listen. She thinks his loyalty for his people will outshine his friendship with them and ultimately make him turn against them and she won’t let that happen, not when she’s so close to saving Bellamy. Gabriel doesn’t agree. She gives Orlando her knife and she tells Gabriel that they have to do this. They leave Orlando there where he will be stranded amongst his dead friends.
The meeting with the Disciples tells Clarke that her friends are on a planet meant for penance. He informs her that they’ve killed five of his people already and sent another one to commit suicide (Orlando). She pulls a gun on him. He tells her that in time she’ll serve the shepherd but before he can elaborate Jordan interrupts and provides a worthy distraction for them to take the Disciples down. And he did it with the help of Raven sporting one of those fancy suits hiding in plain sight. Raven dives further into the technology behind the mask to see about this planet. She discovers four possibilities and chooses one at random. Gaia volunteers to stay behind to deal with the retaliation from the Disciples and to protect Madi. They leave and then seconds after Gaia is struck off the ladder by an invisible force. She wakes up some time later and sees them fully visible messing around with the anomaly stone.
Raven and the others emerge on the other side of the anomaly and where they are welcomed by an icy, dark tundra completely void of any people. Believing this to be the wrong planet they soon come to the realisation that without an anomaly stone on this planet they’re stranded.
And that’s it! Stay tuned for next week’s episode!
