The 100: Clarke makes good on her promise to do better in “Ashes to Ashes”

Most seasons of The 100 have ended with Clarke and the others making difficult choices, often ones that result in innocent lives being lost. This week’s episode, however, suggests they’ll at least try to do better.

Clarke’s been forced to make some difficult calls for the sake of her people over the past six seasons of The 100 — to the point where she lost her moral compass, accepting the sentiment that “there are no good guys.” But after destroying Earth and losing Monty at the end of the show’s fifth season, Clarke and the others took a closer look at the things they did to survive. And most of them vowed to do better in the future.

It looks like Clarke is taking her promise to “be the good guys” seriously during this week’s episode of the show, even after the Primes placed Josephine’s mind chip inside her head. Although she and Bellamy were forced to sacrifice the innocent bystanders in Mount Weather to save their people, Clarke seems determined to ensure that rescuing their friends from Sanctum will have a different outcome.

In typical head-and-heart fashion, Bellamy doesn’t seem to care about the people of Sanctum — as long as the people he loves survive the coming struggle between the two groups, he’ll be content with his decisions. Octavia and Clarke, however, convince him that they should do whatever it takes to save as many lives as possible on both sides, even if it’s risky.

And Clarke’s choice to return to Sanctum posing as Josephine certainly qualifies as risky. If Russell discovers that she’s regained control over her body — and that Josephine’s chip has been destroyed — there’s no telling what he’ll do.

Thankfully, Clarke passes her first test almost immediately. Upon seeing Madi having her bone marrow extracted to make hosts — another chilling callback to Mount Weather — she doesn’t react. The motherly instincts inside of her are clearly screaming to do something, but she acts as callous about Madi’s situation as Josephine would and moves on.

And Clarke isn’t the only character attempting to do better during “Ashes to Ashes.” Octavia seems to have fully returned to her old self, and she and Bellamy have a much-needed (and very emotional) conversation about their relationship with one another. There’s still plenty of baggage left afterward, but he at least admits that she’s still his sister, even if she’s “not [his] responsibility anymore.”

Echo also gets some backstory in “Ashes to Ashes,” reflecting on the terrible things she was forced to do as a child. As it turns out, Queen Nia pitted her against her friend as a child, forcing Echo to kill the other girl or be killed herself. Obviously Echo came out on top of that fight, but she was forced to take on her friend’s identity and become a spy for the queen.

Echo tells this to Ryker as he’s considering turning her into a host, hoping that he’ll see what her past actions did to her and decide to do better. Unfortunately, Ryker makes the wrong choice, resulting in his death once Gaia and Miller show up to save Echo.

But even if doing better is a big theme of “Ashes to Ashes,” we still have two episodes left of this season, and plenty can go wrong in two episodes. The 100  has also been renewed for a seventh season, so it seems unlikely that Skaikru will be able to play the good guys forever. What would the show be about if they did?

The 100 airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.