The 100 Season 6 Episode 3 Review: The Children of Gabriel

This The 100 review contains spoilers.

The 100 Season 6 Episode 3

“Children of Gabriel” is so packed with mythology, politics and new dynamics for the Earthlings to sort out that it makes everything else feel like mere preamble. At several points, people from Sanctum or Children of Gabriel say lines where we don’t understand at least 50% of the words in the sentence because this world is so new and fully developed. It’s a fun feeling of discovery to have this far into a show, and one that rarely comes this genuinely.

We learned a lot more about the people of Sanctum in this episode, first and foremost being that they have a clear inherited class distinction based around blood purity – you’re either in a line of primes and will one day be named, or you’re not. Unclear what happens to extra siblings or if there’s a cap on kids, but this totally strikes me as a “one child policy” or “heir and a spare” kind of place. We know that they’re at least allowed to have one of each gender and the children were referred to as “the hope” (or maybe that was just the future primes?) in the opening scene, but that’s about it on kids.

We also know these people are soft AF. Their lives are so good that they have a golden retriever! Their guards turned around from a fight that our people saw as winnable – or at least, non-optional. But let’s be honest, O basically handled that solo, so what was that guards’ excuse?

They have decent science and seem good at farming, manufacturing, making palaces, etc. It’s amazing to think that they were making their palace and crudites in the same time period that Grounder culture evolved. That said, we don’t yet know enough about what they faced during that time, but you can at least bet no one was deploying acid fog against them.

It’s good to see that being a Natblida continues to be part of the show’s mythology, albeit in a transformed way. So far, The 100’s ability to believably carry forward symbolism from earth (like Becca’s infinity symbol) has been a strong suit. That said, I share Murphy’s disdain for a Princess Clarke scenario. It does make their 180 on her people staying make more sense, and provides some inherent danger and need for secret keeping in the form of Madi, but if Clarke ends up in some sort of weird position of power within the world of Sanctum, I hope it’s a source of friction rather than just status and power.

When it comes to power within the Sky People, this episode only just scratched the surface of the tensions. The 100 is avoiding the reality that there were still folks loyal to Blodreina by keeping them in cryo and sending her on punishment walkabout. Raven visibly bristled at the idea of Clarke speaking for them, something Clarke did on instinct (though it’s not like anyone else stepped up) and Bellamy backed her. But what happens when Madi shows up? Among this group it won’t be a problem, but get a few Grounders involved, and if Clarke and Madi disagree, they’re going to follow Madi. That’s rich territory, so I hope the writers pull at those threads – it’s harder to be a united front with a strange new group when you’re a mess internally, and these folks are very much indeed a mess.

Speaking of Sky People, what is their collective name now? WonKru seems defunct and they also include Eligius crew, but only Diyoza is represented here so…Earthlings? Earthers? And why aren’t they using Trig to communicate in private among people they distrust? This seems like an obvious use for it, in addition to a good way to preserve the culture.

It turns out Diyoza is actually a good influence on Madi. For one, she wants her to experience life as a child, something she and Clarke can actually agree on. But when they’re attacked, Diyoza helps keep her calm, teaches her a good skill, and helps get them out of the situation. It’s no wonder Madi was upset when the Sanctimonious ones took Diyoza away. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time until she’s back again, but given that they see her and the Children of Gabriel as terrorists, it really seems like a terrible strategy to kick Diyoza out there with them.

Bellamy left Octavia out beyond the shield as well, and I’m looking forward to Diyoza and O teaming up and working through some shit together. Honestly, I bet O will find out she’s more bloodthirsty than the supposed terrorists. I’m sure she could use some time to process things, and she’ll be fine on her own, but Bellamy is still a jerk. She has forgiven him so many times for so many things, not least of which was his fascist escapades, letting Pike execute Lincoln, and murdering 300 allies in their sleep, which in 2019 is a war crime even against an enemy combatant.

So, the titular Children of Gabriel. They seem to be descendants of the patriarch of one of the four “prime” families that first came to colonize Alpha, the guy who went berserk during the first red moon and killed a bunch of people. Russell calls him “the demon Gabriel” so it’s a decent guess he didn’t exactly see the error of his ways. But he must have procreated with someone, right? So who else was out there, indigenous folks? Defectors? Either way, these group seems like the Alpha equivalent of Grounders while Sanctum is most analogous to the Mountain Men (if we must – must we?) though it’s so far unclear just how that relationship has gone over time. I’m hoping future episodes will make it clear whether Sanctum say, took all the arable land and drinkable water, for example.

Who is the old man the Children of Gabriel seek to please? There’s an odd vibe almost as though folks are sort of pretending they are from back when the primes were around, or like maybe some people might really be. When Russell referenced his daughter discovering a paralytic from a beetle a long time ago, I half expected him to say his daughter was Josephine or some other delusional nonsense. Can I get a Primes family tree or lineage chart or something? There’s just something about how weird they are with the naming, the “hosts” and time that makes me think the old man might somehow actually be Gabriel.

Now that we’ve finally met the people of Sanctum (the Sanctimonious? They need a proper noun, please and thank you) I’m looking forward to meeting the Children of Gabriel properly. Even though this episode was named after them, it wasn’t really about them, but rather about how the people of Sanctum define them. Similarly, the episode “Sanctum” was more about how our Sky Teens perceived the empty place known as Sanctum, rather than a true introduction to the place. I’m sure Octavia being with the Children of Gabriel will help with this (do they even call themselves that? In my experience, separatist groups rarely go by the same name internally and externally…).

Other notes

“Choose your most disposable people. You don’t strike me as disposable.” “None of us are.” Damn right.

In her dreams, Madi sees Sheidheda, the dark commander again, a one-eyed commander who frightens her. Uh oh.

I love Murphy – “You need to work on your game kid, I owe your pops at least that much.”

Clarke wore a brightly colored dress and everybody lost their damn minds.

“Don’t worry Murphy, hell’s big enough for both of us.” Murphy finding alcohol might not be such a good thing…

I don’t know what “death is life” means but I think there’s more to Murphy’s snake bite and this creepy planet (I know, moon) than Russell let on

“Back in your murder gear already” – I think I’m going to like sardonic Murphy

Jordan doesn’t know to not be friendly, poor kid. He’s actually too emotionally pure for the rest of them.

Sweet moment between Bellamy and Murphy apologizing for the eclipse fight.

 “The forest is my weapon.” – So how long until O and Xavier are sparring and making out?

Read more about Season 6 of The 100 here.