Octavia Blake is one of my favorite characters from The 100, so it pains me to say it, but The CW series missed out on the perfect ending for her — and it happened two years before the finale. The 100 season 7 is a divisive conclusion to the show, with viewers criticizing many of its choices. From Bellamy’s death at the hands of Clarke to Clarke’s bleak fate, there are too many disappointing send-offs. And while there are several moments from The 100 that made viewers quit over the years, the final outing features too many dubious choices in short succession.
Octavia is one of the characters who gets a happy ending, though her response to her brother’s death feels out of character. Even so, she helps save humanity again for a second time at the end of The 100, and she gets to transcend — at least, until she and several other characters choose to remain with Clarke instead. I should be glad that Octavia is redeemed and surrounded by loved ones at the end of the series finale. However, The 100 season 5 delivers a far better redemption and ending for her character, though it’s sadder than the one she got.
Octavia Blake Is One Of The 100’s Best Characters, But Her Story Should Have Ended Earlier
Season 5 Was The Peak Of Her Character Arc
Octavia is one of The 100‘s best characters, and she gets better with every season. She showcases an immense amount of growth after arriving on the Ground, going from a sheltered and angry girl who feels like she has no home to a warrior who saves humanity. A lot happens in between, and Octavia is characterized with a great deal of nuance. She’s one of the characters most in touch with her humanity, but she also has darkness inside her. It’s just as compelling to see her fight for peace as it is to see her give into anger and vengeance.
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And Octavia’s arc takes the most interesting turn in The 100 season 5, which picks up six years after the second apocalypse forces humanity into a bunker — one Octavia is given command over. She’s forced to be ruthless in order to keep her people alive, and she loses herself along the way. At some point, power becomes her primary motivator. She becomes one of season 5’s villains, and it leads her to the harsh revelation that she “broke” Wonkru during the second-to-last episode.
Octavia sacrificing herself at the end of the fifth season would have been the ideal send-off for her.
Octavia does get to redeem herself before The 100 season 5 is through, as she nearly gives her life to save the people she betrayed. However, by sheer luck, Octavia survives her sacrifice play — but this isn’t necessarily to the show’s benefit. Octavia sacrificing herself at the end of the fifth season would have been the ideal send-off for her, especially given how repetitive and underwhelming her story is in seasons 6 and 7.
Why The 100 Season 5 Was The Perfect Ending For Octavia
It Fit The CW Show’s Tone & Accomplished Everything It Needed To
The 100 season 5 is a perfect ending point for Octavia’s story, even if it’s not the most uplifting way for her character to go. After everything Octavia does in season 5, it feels fitting for her to sacrifice herself to save her loved ones and the remains of Wonkru. And it’s very much in line with The 100‘s tone, as the show makes it clear from the beginning that no one is safe. If anything, having Octavia survive — particularly after Clarke lives through season 4’s finale — feels like a stretch.
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Additionally, Octavia’s final moments in The 100 season 5, episode 12 accomplish everything her ending needs to. She redeems herself after all the harm she’s done, and she makes things right with Indra and Gaia. She also goes out fighting for what she believes in — and for the family she’s found, despite initially feeling like she has no place in the world. Her “my brother, my responsibility” also allows her to put herself in Bellamy’s shoes and understand her brother. Although the two of them could have a better goodbye, their final interaction drives home that they still love one another.
Like much of what happens in the subsequent outings, Octavia’s arc is merely fine.
This is all done again in The 100 seasons 6 and 7, but it simply isn’t as strong. Like much of what happens in the subsequent outings, Octavia’s arc is merely fine. By contrast, season 5 would have given her a far more powerful final bow.
Octavia’s Story In The 100 Seasons 6 & 7 Didn’t Live Up To Her Earlier Journey
Her Story Feels Repetitive & Unfocused
Continuing Octavia’s story beyond The 100 season 5 doesn’t add much to her journey, as her narrative in seasons 6 and 7 leaves a lot to be desired. While keeping her character around allows the series to give her a more thorough redemption arc, it all amounts to the same thing. She spends much of the final seasons on the outskirts of Sanctum and the main group of characters, building her bond with Diyoza and Hope instead. And while her relationships with both characters are interesting, they aren’t enough to warrant passing up a much stronger conclusion.
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Octavia also saves the world and chooses peace again in season 7, but this feels like a repetition of her storyline in The 100 seasons 3 and 4. And the show doesn’t leave things off well between her and Bellamy, as they’re at odds when Clarke kills him — and Octavia barely bats an eye over it. This hurts her overall narrative, which would really have been better off ending two seasons earlier. Of course, that’s true of the series overall, which could just as easily have said farewell with season 5.
The 100 Season 5 Was A Good Ending Point For Most Of The Main Characters
“Damocles – Part Two” Was The Ideal Place To Wrap The Series
Perhaps it’s not surprising that The 100 season 5 feels like the right ending for Octavia, as its finale also reads like a solid conclusion for the series as a whole. Octavia isn’t the only character whose narrative feels unfocused and underwhelming in the two outings that follow season 5. Clarke and Bellamy’s endings in season 7 are severely disappointing, but concluding the show with them listening to Monty’s recording and finding a new planet to inhabit is more emotional. And his advice to “be the good guys” perfectly encapsulates the themes of The 100.
Season 5’s finale is exactly where The 100 should have wrapped things up.
It’s the best send-off viewers could ask for, and it leaves Madi’s story off on a high note — one far less depressing and problematic than her season 7 fate — and turns Monty and Harper into heroes. Season 5’s finale is exactly where The 100 should have wrapped things up. But if it needed to continue, it didn’t need to drag Octavia into it. Her story felt finished at the end of “Damocles – Part One.”
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
