The 100 review: “The Children of Gabriel” raises a lot of questions about the New World

This week’s episode of The 100 finally throws viewers into the politics of Sanctum—and opens a whole host of new storylines and questions.

The sixth season of The 100 revolves around the survivors from Earth landing on the New World, but up until this week’s episode, viewers haven’t gotten a ton of details about the new planet Monty and Harper discovered. Yes, we’ve seen the effects of eclipse-induced psychosis, but not the people and politics of Sanctum.

“The Children of Gabriel” finally gives fans insight into who’s residing on Sanctum, and the group that welcomes Clarke and her friends is already giving off some worrisome vibes. The episode picks up where the last one left off, with Clarke speaking to the children of Sanctum. Of course, the adults living there appear immediately after, and they’re far more suspicious of the newcomers than their kids are.

The 100 – JR Bourne as Russel VII. Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

One of the adults we meet this episode is Russell Lightbourne, Sanctum’s leader and presumably the main villain for this season of the show. We first saw Russell in the season 6 trailer, but “The Children of Gabriel” gives fans a closer look at his character and his wife, Simone, who currently seems like the more hostile party. To Russell’s credit, he does save Murphy before locking the other members of Skaikru up—even though Murphy is already dead when Russell finds them.

Still, having a snake suck out the venom causing Murphy’s black-veined appearance helps, and he eventually returns to life. But given Murphy’s question to the others—”I died, didn’t I?”—and his fixation on Hell throughout the rest of the episode, it appears something more is going on here. And Russell’s statement that “Death is not the end” raises a lot of questions about mortality on the New World.

“The Children of Gabriel” also introduces viewers to the politics of Sanctum, which are bizarre to say the least. Skaikru is confined to a tavern until they’re deemed trustworthy, and Russell and Simone come in to explain the concept of “primes.”

The 100 – Eliza Taylor as Clarke and JR Bourne as Russel VII. Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

The primes are Sanctum’s equivalent of royalty, and the two of them are clearly a part of the royal line. The line seems to be determined by blood, as we later discover that Russell has Nightblood, just like Clarke and Madi.

After getting some insight into the primes, fans also meet the Children of Gabriel for whom the episode is named. They emerge from the woods and hit Madi, Diyoza, and Gaia with paralysis darts. The group doesn’t seem interested in the settlers from Earth, though, only in revenge against the primes—as becomes clear when they begin chanting “death to primes.” It’s obvious that there’s some long-term conflict going on between Russell’s people and the Children of Gabriel, and we soon find out why that could be.

Clarke meets with Russell and Simone to discuss whether or not her people can remain on Sanctum, and she quickly discovers that Jordan has told them far more than he should have. Not only do they reference her experiences at Mount Weather, but they question whether she and her friends can ever become anything more than killers.

The 100 – Eliza Taylor as Clarke. Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

“Violence is a contagion,” Russell tells her. He then decides that Clarke and the others should fly back to space after her friends retrieve the transport ship with Madi, Diyoza, and Gaia on it. “Because, as you rightly assumed,” he elaborates, “you won’t survive outside the shield.”

The shield he’s referring to is the radiation shield that killed Shaw during “Sanctum,” and it could be the reason the Children of Gabriel are so hellbent on destroying the primes. The group is currently surviving beyond that shield, and it looks like they’ve had to become hard and ruthless in doing so—not unlike Clarke and her people.

Given how strict the primes seem to be when it comes to the people they reign over, it seems likely that they’re the ones who forced the group outside of the shield. While it’s not yet confirmed who they are, the Children of Gabriel certainly act as though they’ve been banished from the sanctuary.

The 100 – Ashleigh Lathrop as Delilah and Shannon Kook as Jordan Green. Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

We also meet Delilah during this week’s episode, and she’s already shaping up to be a love interest for Jordan… meaning we’ll probably be seeing more of the both of them going forward. Delilah lets it slip that she’s going to partake in a “naming ceremony” during her conversations with Jordan, and she’s kidnapped by the Children of Gabriel later in the episode.

Clarke manages to stop them, winning her people a place in Sanctum—but not without revealing her Nightblood first. Thankfully, Russell and the others don’t know about Madi’s connection to the Nightbloods just yet.

And Clarke and Madi could very well become targets because of their blood. The Children of Gabriel seem to be after those with black blood, or “hosts” as they call them multiple times during the episode. It’s unclear whether hosts are similar to primes or something else entirely, but that’s more of the lore viewers are going to have to learn about the New World. With Delilah’s statement to Jordan and kidnapping, we’ll assume she’s probably one of the hosts.

The 100 – Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia. Photo: Diyah Pera/The CW

The Children of Gabriel also capture Octavia toward the end of the episode, after Bellamy leaves her on her own outside the shield. The Blakes clearly won’t be working out their differences anytime soon, but it’ll be interesting to find out what Octavia makes of the group that lives outside the barriers of Sanctum.

They tell her that they have no quarrel with her when she first approaches them, signaling that they might not be as violent as we’re told. And even after she goes to attack them, they gas her with something that’s not deadly… but it sure looks like it hurts.

Diyoza also might be joining Octavia and the Children of Gabriel before long. When Madi accidentally name drops the former Eligius leader in front of Russell and Simone, they immediately react—telling the group that Diyoza’s face appears next to Hitler’s and bin Laden’s in their history books.

That’s a pretty serious comparison to make, and it raises some questions about Diyoza’s own history. It looks like we’ll be getting a backstory at some point this season. And, since they escorted her outside the shield, it also looks like Diyoza might wind up teaming up with Sanctum’s enemies. It probably wasn’t wise to let her wander off on her own.

Overall, “The Children of Gabriel” did a lot to shape season 6 of The 100 going forward. It opened up several new storylines and introduced fans to new characters, and it raised plenty of questions that we’ll have to keep watching to answer.

While the first two episodes of this season focused on the resentments of the past, this episode propels the characters and the viewers into the show’s future—and it looks like that future is going to be pretty wild.

The 100 premieres on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.