The 100/Recap/S5/E07 Acceptable Losses
Season 5, Episode 7: Acceptable Losses
Echo and the surviving defectors are officially welcomed at the valley by Kane and Diyoza. The badly injured defector, Karina, succumbs to her injuries since Abby is unable to do her job right because of her drug addiction. Kane gets furious at Abby for taking the pills and they both get into an heated argument. After that, Kane and Diyoza start interrogating the defectors to make sure to get their real motives. During the interrogation, Echo tries to win Diyoza's trust by telling her that she's a spy.
Later on, Echo meets up with Raven and explains Monty's plan to take control of Diyoza's satellite from the inside the ship using Monty's flash drive. Raven likes the plan and tells Echo that they can trust Shaw to help them gain access to the ship. During Karina's funeral, Raven asks Shaw to help her get a job working at the ship but Shaw declines. Raven confronts Shaw for not standing up to Diyoza but then Shaw tells Raven about how as a kid he watched on TV, Diyoza lead the rescue after the "Battle of San Francisco." He tells Raven that Diyoza is not as bad as she thinks and that he is not as good as she thinks. At that point, he storms out, making it clear that he won't help Raven.
At the bunker, Madi has started her training with Wonkru. Clarke advises her to do bad on purpose so that no one will see her as a leadership threat. Madi follows Clarke's advice during the first training, but it is too obvious to Gaia. Gaia tells Madi that she agrees with Clarke's advice but Madi has to be less obvious. She tells Madi that she wants to protect her too because it's her job as Flamekeeper to protect the next commander. She shows Madi the Flame she's been carrying and Madi is fascinated by it. Gaia says she will be faithful to Octavia but that she must ensure the Flame's succession.
While Monty is looking at the dying hydrofarm at the bunker, Clarke brings him a letter that Jasper had written for him before dying. Before opening the letter, they notice Cooper bringing in a body and locking it up in a biolab. When Cooper walks out, they break in and find that she's breeding the worms that attacked them in "Shifting Sands". They inform Bellamy about it and figure out that Cooper is planning on infecting one of the defectors with the worms so that they can use them as a weapon to attack Diyoza and the prisoners at the valley. But that means their friends at the valley would die too.
Since Octavia wouldn't listen to Bellamy or Clarke, they go to Indra about it. Indra is shocked. She goes to the bio lab and mercy-kills the surviving defector who was being experimented on. Octavia and Cooper meet them in the lab. Octavia admits that it was her idea. Cooper reports to Octavia that the survivor had lasted long enough for them to send a spy to reach the valley and spread the worms. Clarke, Bellamy and Indra confront Octavia about her plan and the fact that it would kill their friends. Octavia refuses to listen to them saying that they have to do whatever it takes to survive. Their friends deaths would be acceptable losses.
Back at the valley, Echo is disappointed that Raven's plan to use Shaw didn't work. So, she suggests a plan to use Shaw's treason so that Raven can get access to the ship. Raven refuses because she would be betraying Shaw, the only person who she could count on. Against Raven's wish, Echo demonstrates her spy skills to Diyoza by ratting out Shaw as a traitor. She tells Diyoza that Raven can prove that it was Shaw who disabled the missiles if she accessed the ship's computer system. Raven grudgingly complies with Echo's plan. After getting to the ship, she shows Echo where to plug in the flash drive while pretending to be running code to prove Shaw did it. Echo plugs in the drive and gives Monty control over the satellite. Later on, Raven watches as a brutally beaten Shaw is brought into the church by the other prisoners. She feels guilty that Echo pushed her to betray Shaw like this.
The ship's system transmits signal to the computers at the bunker. After realizing that Echo and Raven were successful in gaining control over the satellite, Clarke and Bellamy agree to hide the information from Octavia. If Octavia found out, she would go to the next phase of her plan: infecting a defector with the worms to kill everyone at the valley. Clarke and Bellamy agree to go with Monty, Harper, and Madi to rescue their friends at the valley before Octavia attacks the valley. Even though they would be saving their friends, Monty doesn't like the idea of the attack at all. This is escalated after reading Jasper's letter which turns out to be a suicide note. In the letter, Jasper complains about how they keep fighting war after war and never seem to win. So, why keep fighting? Monty would rather have them remain behind and figure out a way to make the algae farm work. But he knows there isn't much hope for that. Clarke and Bellamy encourage him not to give up like Jasper. He has to keep fighting.
When Clarke goes in to get Madi, she finds her sitting with the other children to show her fighting skills to Octavia. After Ethan wins a round, Octavia order Madi to go next. At first, Madi acts weak as she had agreed with Clarke and Gaia. But then, she changes her mind and fights with confidence, easily overpowering her opponent. Clarke is disappointed. Octavia is impressed by Madi's performance. She orders for Madi to be given a real sword, ready to fight. Octavia tells Clarke that she needs to borrow Madi for a strategy session. Realizing that she can't leave with Madi and that she's tired of the endless cycle of wars, Clarke comes up with a new plan. She radio-calls Diyoza to ask for what it would take to share the valley with Wonkru. Diyoza says that all she needs is an unconditional surrender. But Octavia would never agree to that. So, Clarke concludes that there's only one way to avoid the war if she and her friends "take [Octavia] out".
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