The 100 season 5 episode 3 review: Sleeping Giants

This week, The 100 dives right into the action and emotion driving season 5. The unexpected reveals, partings and reunions in “Sleeping Giants” previews a fast-paced plot with plenty of twists and turns.

If you’ve been religiously keeping up with The 100, you know that Clarke Griffin is not one to be outmaneuvered. She’s known for always having an ace up her sleeve, and she almost always comes out of a conflict with the upper hand. That’s part of what makes this week’s episode so hard to watch.

During “Sleeping Giants,” the tables turn for Clarke — and not in her favor. She and Madi attempt to snipe the remaining inmates from the Eligius Corporation, but they soon discover that their opponents’ technology outmatches theirs. Wounded and weak, Clarke tells Madi to run for it.

Once Clarke is captured by the inmates, we know she’s in serious trouble. Not only do they outnumber her, but they’re as ruthless as the grounders when it comes to protecting their own. And they aren’t too pleased that Clarke killed four of their people.

As they interrogate her, watchers get a feel for the relationships between the new antagonists. McCreary is bloodthirsty and quick to resort to torture, while Shaw is wary of resorting to violence straight off the bat. Their leader, Diyoza, serves as a solid middle ground to the two. She’ll be the one Clarke will need to convince if there’s any hope of making peace.

Unexpected partings and returns

Given how long it takes for most series to resolve storylines, most fans were not expecting Bellamy and the others to return to the ground so soon. After all, something as large as traveling from space to Earth couldn’t possibly happen in just a few episodes, right?

In that regard, “Sleeping Giants” is a refreshing and surprising addition to the season. Events unfold quickly, and before we know it, Emori is piloting her friends straight back to Earth. It almost feels too easy that they arrive and find Madi all in a matter of 10 minutes of screen time.

Unfortunately, the crew does leave Raven behind in order to gain some leverage over the Eligius Corporation. After discovering the sleeping army of convicts on their main ship, they figure it’s better to approach the group on Earth with an ultimatum: Make a deal with us, or we’ll kill the rest of your people. From space, Raven can do it with the press of a button.

Even more shocking than the speed with which they return home is Raven’s lie to Bellamy. She promises she’ll stay in space only until they’ve dealt with Eligius. Afterward, she’ll follow them down in the main ship’s escape pod. It’s the only plan Bellamy will accept.

When Murphy decides to remain with Raven, she admits that she wasn’t entirely honest with the others. There is no escape pod, and she only told Bellamy that so they’d leave her behind. It was the best shot she could give them on Earth.

The moment is an amusing one, especially given Murphy’s reaction. The pair is now stuck on the mining ship until someone from the ground can rescue them. With all the hostility building down there, we aren’t expecting their descent to happen quite as quickly.

The reunion we’ve been waiting for

The showrunners on The 100 have a knack for toying with viewers’ emotions. Every time they tear our beloved characters from one another, it takes nearly half a season to see them reunited. This is another tradition that “Sleeping Giants” does away with.

Right after landing their ship, Bellamy and the others are surrounded by Eligius soldiers. Diyoza gives the order to kill four of them as payment for the lives that Clarke took, but Madi steps in to save the day.

It’s a heart-wrenching moment when Madi turns to Bellamy and says, “Clarke knew you would come.” You can feel the impact of those words on him, just as you can see his astonishment that Clarke is alive. When Madi informs the group that she’s in trouble, Bellamy doesn’t hesitate. He follows her without a second thought.

The final moments of “Sleeping Giants” likely make up one of the greatest scenes The 100 has given us yet. No one was expecting Bellamy and Clarke to reunite so fast, but her reaction as he steps out of the rover to save her makes us glad we didn’t have to wait.

We’ll have to wait for next week’s episode to see what sort of deal Bellamy makes with Eligius. But given the pacing of these episodes, new complications may get in the way by then.

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