The 100 season 7 episode 7 review: “The Queen’s Gambit” packs an emotional punch

Things heat up in Sanctum on this week’s episode of The 100, but “The Queen’s Gambit” still feels like too much of a slow burn considering how little of the series is left.

For a show that’s nearly halfway through its final season, The 100 sure is taking its time when it comes to wrapping up the many storylines it’s introduced — some of them as recently as this season. And although “The Queen’s Gambit” packs an emotional punch and shows things heating up in Sanctum and on Bardo, it still feels like a slow burn when one considers just how close to the end we are. Watching it, one can’t help but wonder: Will we ever get answers?

This week’s episode, which serves as Lindsey Morgan’s directorial debut, opens in Sanctum (where no one has seemed to notice that Gaia is missing, by the way), and shows Emori planning to reunite the Children of Gabriel with their parents, most of whom cast them out because of the Primes. It’s a well-intended effort, but it’s the perfect catalyst for more conflict between the various groups residing on Planet Alpha — and although Emori seems to be enjoying the planning, Murphy and several others can’t help but wonder if the whole thing is a great idea.

We get our answer not long after, as Murphy goes to visit Sheidheda, who taunts him about what’s coming. He persuades Murphy to play a game of chess, offering to tell him everything he knows if the boy wins — but it soon becomes excruciatingly obvious that this is all a play to keep Murphy preoccupied while Nikki destroys any lingering chance for peace that Sanctum had left.

As Emori’s reunion is beginning, Nikki and her companions enter with the stolen artillery Indra was concerned about last week. Things have just done terribly with Nelson and his own parents, and he quickly turns on Emori to join Nikki’s cause.

The whole affair ends with the Eligius IV prisoners poised to make demands and a gun to Emori’s head — signaling trouble for the rest of the other settlers from Earth. Hopefully Indra and Murphy can come up with a plan to get them out of this mess.

Emotions Are High on Bardo

While anger and conflict run rampant in Sanctum, the emotional stakes are amped up on Bardo as well — just in a slightly different manner. Following Gabriel’s misstep — which actually seems to have worked out okay for him — Octavia, Echo, Diyoza, and Hope are prisoners yet again. (Meanwhile, Gabriel has more or less joined the Disciples, eager to do more research when it comes to the Anomaly Stone.)

Being locked up together forces Octavia and Echo to address their tumultous past with one another, and the fact that the person they love most is dead (supposedly). Echo is quick to become angry, but Octavia seems to truly have shed her identity as Blodreina, as she does nothing but comfort the woman she once hated — to the point of insisting that Echo is her family now, too.

It’s a big moment for both characters, and the acting from Marie Avgeropoulos and Tasya Teles really allows this scene to pack an emotional punch.

In another cell, Diyoza and Hope have a similarly loaded conversation, during which Diyoza is forced to address the fact that her daughter knows about her past as a terrorist — or “freedom fighter,” depending on which perspective the characters are looking at it from. It’s clear Diyoza has spent a lot of time feeling guilty about her violent past, and she doesn’t want her daughter to follow in her footsteps — though preaching about not resorting to violence while being held captive by enemies is a little questionable.

Even so, the acting and chemistry is on par throughout the entire scene — and if it doesn’t provide fans with the action and answers they’ve been waiting for, it at least gives them a very compelling reason to continue rooting for these characters.

The Bardo storyline in “The Queen’s Gambit” ends with Echo, Octavia, Diyoza, and Hope agreeing to fight for the Disciples. Their training will start soon, but let’s be honest: Do they even need it? The Disciples had better watch carefully because they’ve just recruited four women who they’d be wise to not cross — and it seems they’re about to give them weapons.

High-Impact Ending

If there’s one thing to be said about The 100‘s seventh season, it’s that the episode endings have certainly tried to make up for the lackluster storylines that encompass the rest of their 40-minute run. And “The Queen’s Gambit” follows that formula, showing us the moment that Clarke and her group arrive on Bardo, guns blazing and ready to rescue their friends.

When Raven asks where Bellamy, Octavia, and Echo are, though, Gabriel delivers the blow fans knew was coming from the second the group stepped out of the Anomaly: That Bellamy is (supposedly) dead.

There’s not much time for the characters to process this information before the credits roll, but as all eyes travel to Clarke, Eliza Taylor’s expression suggests one thing: This may be what breaks Clarke Griffin.

What did you think of this week’s episode of The 100? Share your thoughts in the comments below!