Romancing Clarke

This is not a shipping recommendation. That's not because I don't have a preference. I do: I wish Clarke would fall in love with Lexa. I think Lexa is already in love with Clarke. But I don't think it's going to happen. I think Lexa will die to save Clarke, and that somewhere along season 3 Clarke will end up with Bellamy. So far, I think Bellamy certainly has feelings for Clarke, tho I'm not sure he's fully aware of the romantic strength of these feelings. And I think Clarke is definitely not even thinking of being in love with Bellamy, tho she does have a strong attachment to him, and that she's even farther from even trying to analyze what sort of attachment it is and what it means. I don't believe Clarke ever really loved Finn, despite her last words to him before his death.

What I want to investigate, while trying my hardest not to let my shipping preferences influence me, are these three relationships- or four, if we count Wells.  Four love interests, four attempts, doomed or not, covert or overt, short or long, at romancing Clarke.

It's easiest and natural to start chronologically. Both attempts are failures, tho of varying degrees and for for different reasons. And both can be viewed in their entirety, since both Wells and Finn are dead, and their romancing of Clarke has a definite end. Then, we'll move on to the two who are- at this time, are works in progress, so to speak, and tho one started somewhere in mid season 1 (Bellamy) and one started somewhere in mid season 2 (Lexa), they are at this time concurrent, tho I expect one (Lexa) to end in failure by the season 2 finale, and the other (Bellamy), to continue low key until at least the season 2 finale, and probably to become pronounced only around mid season 3.

The Boy Who Was The Best Friend Without A Chance in the World

Wells is the simplest character and has the simplest relation to Clarke. He's simple because he conforms entirely to a common Type: He's the Best Friend Who's In Love and who simply doesn't stand a chance. This is obvious from episode 1. Wells will do anything- sacrifice anything- to protect Clarke, but it doesn't really matter what he does or sacrifices, Clarke never gives the slightest indication of ever having seen Wells as a romantic interest. The whole thing is downplayed, since Clarke's seeming blindness to Well's feelings is part of the same common Type. In any case, it is immediately obvious that this romancing attempt is a non-starter. Wells's real function until he dies is entirely different- for one thing, he's the only, or the most natural choice to bring to dramatic light Clarke's mother's (Abby) betrayal of Clarke's father, and of Clarke herself. Wells has other functions- related to his own father (Jaha), and he also functions, Lord of Flies fashion, to bring out, in front of Clarke, the worst of Murphy, and Bellamy, thus giving Clarke one more push to take responsibility for the group- tho at this early point it is at best a contested co-leadership, and it's exactly this digression that leads us to Finn.

The Boy Who - (May God Forgive this Gay Girl the Expression) Wasn't Man Enough to Hold On

Finn gets Clarke's attention even before the 100 reach earth. It's not a good start for Finn. He behaves like a schoolboy and gets another boy who imitates him seriously injured or dead. But Finn, the irresponsible "bad boy", is a surface mask, and once Finn sets his sight on Clarke the Princess, he's quick to shed the mask and provides Clarke with White Knight "Muscle"- at this point a much needed counterweight to Bellamy, since Clarke is a long way from the girl who would later  physically take down Anya. And this is Finn's "in". It certainly helps that his own views in most of the early survival episodes are much closer to Clarke's, and that Clarke is obviously physically attracted to him. They form an unspoken but evident alliance, and, under the extraordinary circumstances (who knows how long they'll survive), and perhaps because of Clarke's lack of experience (on the Ark she had been in isolation for who knows how long), they sort of skip courtship, and any awkward questions about one's another romantic past (I doubt Clarke has one) or present (like the fact that Finn is spoken for), and so of course Clarke finds out the truth only when it is too late, and Raven is on the ground, at which point she breaks things off with Finn, tho Finn himself seems able to do the right thing, or even to pretend to feel the right in front of Raven. The most direct thing Clarke says to Finn is: "You broke my heart". But despite this statement I doubt whether that is true- at least not in the ordinary way we use this kind of language. What could Clarke mean: it was an extremely short "relationship". Surely Clarke had not managed to fall in love and give her superior, complicated heart all in a day? I would say that what Clarke really means- tho I'm not sure she knows what she means- is: You broke my Trust. We have only to remember Abby's betrayal of Clarke's father and of Clarke, her allowing Clarke to be locked in to be executed at 18, to be sent to her probable death to the ground, and her lying about it- her allowing Wells to take the blame for it all, to see why Clarke feels so betrayed by Finn. It's Raven who reacts as someone who had his heart broken. And it is Raven who is shown to go thru all the normal "cheated on girlfriend" emotions and reactions: jealousy and anger and the wish to hurt back and forget thru a drunken one night stand, and finally, real heartbreak and refusal to forgive. Post break up Clarke behaves very differently. She looses her trust in Finn (and in the process perhaps looses her first chance at an alliance with the grounders, and Anya), and gravitates slowly but inevitably towards an uneasy alliance- tho not a romantic relation- with Bellamy, becoming the Power Couple- the Alphas of the Pack.

The next time Clarke makes a direct romantic statement to Finn is also the last time it happens, but again, the timing makes the statement suspect. We all say I love you and mean different things when speaking to different people- lovers, friends, family, God, even country or sports team. I would argue that Clarke says the one thing Finn wants to hear more than anything. The one thing which could validate if not his actions, at least his death. And Clarke can say it since there would be no follow thru except Finn's death by her own hands. In a sense Clarke has to say it, and has to believe that in some sense it is true, to find the strength to kill Finn. In a way it's the only think that can validate what she knows she has to do. And so she says it, for the first and last time: "I love you", but it is not really a romantic statement. Finn, by not being strong enough, has failed too.

The Girl Who Believed Love Was Weakness (But Died For Love?)

Lexa and Clarke are a work in progress. Their story- as least as season 2 is concerned- has been written and filmed, but we have not see it yet. 4 episodes in their story are still missing, assuming Lexa is still alive when the second episode of the season 2 finale opens. I say assuming because, unfortunately, rumours of her death have become more plausible since Alicia Denham Carey joined the cast of a new show. And although I continue to hope that Lexa will survive the season 2 finale, I fear she already seems doomed. The solution of course is to investigate or analyse their story up to this moment,  while hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

Lexa's and Clarke's chemistry and dynamic is instantly established the first time they meet: 

Lexa: You are the one who burned 300 of my warriors.

Clarke: You are the one who sent them to kill us.

The half bantering but deadly serious tone is that of respect, of a meeting of equals who may come to share equal purpose. But Clarke is at a power disadvantage on two counts. First, there are many more  Grounders than the Sky People. And Second, (and of this Lexa is perhaps unaware) Clarke is not the Sky People Commander, or even Chancellor. For both reasons, Clarke needs Lexa to believe in her, to have faith in her, to trust her. And for some reason- we cannot yet tell what it is, Lexa, despite her own upbringing and suspicion, despite the evident opposite expectations of her own inner circle, decides to trust just enough, to have just enough faith, to allow Clarke to demonstrate these were not misplaced. 

The next defining moment in their relationship has Clarke killing Finn, and Lexa sharing her own story with Clarke, including the death of her girlfriend under torture, as well as her post-girlfriend's death worldview: If you want to protect those you love, for a leader, Love is Weakness. Clarke, on impulse, resists at first, and continues to hallucinate Finn. But at the end of the episode embraces the principle, and Finn's shade disappears without a word, sad but acquiescent. And Clarke brushes past Abby and her childish gift of ashes and joins Lexa- two superior, lonely leaders, to determine their first Allied move.

The next important moment is the one most naturally interpreted as a romantic Moment- at least on Lexa's part. Earlier she had saved Clarke's life, and then Clarke had saved her life (tho Lexa responded by questioning Clarke's strength of purpose as Leader). But now, Clarke is asleep by the fire, watched by Lexa. And this seems to me an unambiguous act of love. Who do we spend time watching asleep? Only this we love get from us this kind of attention. Parents watch their children asleep. Lovers watch their beloved. But more specifically, before Lexa, only two others have spent their time contemplating Clarke asleep. Finn & Bellamy. And when Clarke wakes up, after being told by Lexa that she's safe now- again, something parents tell their children and lovers their beloved, Lexa apologies for questioning Clarke earlier, and then there's that Moment- a long stare from Lexa, one in which quite a few of us imagined, or recognised, longing and desire, and Clarke seems to recognise it too for she hastily turns away and says: we have to go.

Now we must wait for whatever comes next. The obstacles are many. First, both Lexa and Clarke are focused on the battle for Mount Weather. Both have the weight of the world on their shoulders, the responsibility of saving their people. Apart from that, tho Lexa is openly gay, Clarke until now has been openly straight. On top of that, they are the leaders of distinct groups with perhaps distinct or even opposing future interests. The only thing going for them is that they are equals (a lot of this has of course to do with Lexa's support)- in a way Clarke and, for example, Bellamy, no longer are. Bellamy is- at least now- a kind of half Gustus half Indra to Clarke, a thing he himself acknowledges to Lincoln and Octavia, after the Poisoned Feast, and even to Raven and to Clarke herself when he accepts her wish/order to go, after all, and infiltrate Mount Weather. More than anything, there's Lexa's sincere belief that Love is Weakness. But I'll allow myself one prediction: I predict that, whatever happens in between now and the season 2 finale- whether Lexa expresses her feelings for Clarke, in word, or in gesture (a single brush of one strand of Clarke's hair would do the trick), Lexa, if she is to die, will die saving Clarke, die in the strength of an act of Love.

The Boy Who Was Endgame From the Start

Bellamy and Clarke have still a long way to go. Neither have expressed any overt romantic interest, except for the night Bellamy watched Clarke's hair glistening in the firelight as she lay asleep. By the end of season 1 they were a Power Couple, but a lot has changed since then. They've spend most of the this season apart, and Clarke has ascended to the position of Leader- Bellamy certainly sees her in that light. and Love does not usually flourish between people of unequal power and responsibility. But against all that we know this: If Clarke is to have a romantic relationship with a boy, than there's no one except Bellamy who even begins to qualify.

if the part about Bellamy seems short, please note that Bellamy and Clarke's relationship progress is discussed throughout the post. This happened because it is the longest relationship Clarke has on the show, and happens in parallel to her relationships with Wells, Finn, and Lexa.

And one last observation: Against all Shipping Principles, I myself would not be unhappy with the realism of seeing Clarke end up alone- as have so many real leaders- alone even if they are married, or have lovers, alone, and with the weight of the new world only they envision clearly, on their lonely but indispensable shoulders.

There's Something About Clarke

There's something about Clarke.

Something which raises her above all other TV heroes since Admiral Adama. Just as there's something about The 100 which raises it above all other TV shows since Battlestar Galactica. 

Because if we confined Clarke to comparisons only with other Heroines, there would be no one to compare her to. (President Roslin would have been the right kind of heroine to compare with Clarke had she not had so many more similarities to Jaha- specifically the morally ambigious facility with which both repeatedly lie, and even engage in morally reprehensible acts towards some of the best of those they lead, while making calls which soon prove to be wrong even on the practical level, finally offering the same abstract justifications and half hearted apologies). Clarke, on the other hand, is an Admiral Adama in the making.

We're speaking of a very special kind of heroine/hero. Maybe we can call it, for now, the Big Picture Hero. For example, if we're talking about The 100, we can say that no matter how far Octavia or Bellamy have traveled since the first episode of the first season- and they have both, without question, traveled far, they will never be Clarke- the Big Picture Hero/Heroine. 

Perhaps it has to do with genes. Perhaps with upbringing- but in dramatic terms, it comes down to motivation. Octavia's journey is first and foremost motivated by Romantic Love. It is her growing love for Lincoln that makes her grow herself. Bellamy's journey is motivated first and foremost by his growing recognition of Clarke as the One who can enable him get his self respect back, because she's the one he, despite himself, comes to respect.

In Octavia's case, there's a secondary Motivation- the need to find a place where she belongs- and since she's in love with Lincoln, Grounder culture becomes that place. In Bellamy's case, the secondary Motivation is a growing romantic love for Clarke. Octavia will do anything, endure anything, for Lincoln. Bellamy would do anything, endure anything, for Clarke. Octavia becomes a heroine, Bellamy a hero, but their Validation comes from Another. And they're both willing to drop the Big Picture- Society, when their loved one is in danger.

(The same could be said- will be said, in a future post, of the heroes and heroines of Battlestar Galactica- Athena and Helo, Caprica Six, Apollo and Starbuck)

Clarke, on the other hand, is different from the start- her instinct, and motivation, from the moment the 100 hit earth, is the survival- as a civilized society- of the 100 as a group. She may hate the adult world of the Arc which had executed her father, and locked her up, but her recognition that the importance of hand bracelets o the group's survival easily trumps their mostly symbolic significance as trackers, or reminders of continual subservience to that adult world, defines her right way as the one character on the show who naturally, and despite personal issues, sees the Big Picture- what is best for the group as a civilised whole. and her immediate willingness to fight over it with anyone, including Bellamy, marks her as the Big Picture heroine. Clarke's motivation is pure in the sense that she does not seek validation in Another- her Validation is equal to her motivation-  the survival of the group- of society.

That's not to say Clarke does not make mistakes, does not get distracted, especially by romantic love. She comes very near to losing everything she's been working for in her understandable, but ultimately misguided attempts to save Finn from death- from punishment for the massacre he perpetrated on Indra's village. She postpones giving him up for so long, despite her clear understanding of the fatal consequences both to the adults at Camp Jaha, and to her own people at Mount Weather- she tries any way she can, without any hope for success, and only narrowly misses getting killed herself, as well as killing the all important new and fragile alliance of the with the Sky and Ground peoples, and only Finn giving himself up at the last moment- saves the group from disaster. Only then, finally, does Clarke wake up to her great responsibility- but even her killing Finn herself, to prevent at least his being tortured, understandable though it is, can be questioned. Had Lexa not been willing to trancend her own tradition, and strong enough to make other "accept" this "half-justice",  Clarke's mercy killing would have broken the alliance, without actually saving Finn.

Here, however, comes into action, Clarke's almost unerring instinct for making the right call. The instinct so lacking in Jaha, and Roslin. Clarke intuits Lexa's reaction, and takes a risk- perhaps the last one- and puts romantic love before the survival of society. The whole episode is an aberration- Clarke had never been distracted from her true self before- and perhaps will never- or at the very least not for a long time- let herself be distracted again.

There's a lot more to say about Clarke- her compassion, her innate, instinctual wisdom- her courage, her amazing journey of becoming the Leader of the Sky People, but for now I'd like to finish with a quick mention (to be explained in detail in next week's post) of the only- but crucial- thing the 100 lacks in comparison to Battlestar Galactica. If I had to describe it in 3 words I'd say: The Opera House.

What I mean is very hard to define, or explain: both shows are complex and multi layered. Both show post apocaliptical Moral, Religious, Political & Military lives, of individuals, of a group. But Battlestar Galactica, somehow- God or the devil only know how, managed to reach some mythical and metaphysical place- through the conversational illusions or visions of Blathar and Caprica Six, through the idea and visions of the Opera House, through the Final Five & Hera, through Helo and Athena's Love Trials on Caprica, through the way an Eight becomes a Sharon who chooses to become Sharon Agathon who then chooses to become the colonial officer Athena. through juxtuposing the Cylon piano melody that leads to earth and the final battle for Hera and Bob Dylan's All along the Watchtower- a strange, inexplicable thing, And this is where the 100 must go, finding its own way to the same mythical and metaphysical place- if, that is,  it is to fulfil its true destiny.

Battlestar Galactica took 4 seasons to get there. The 100 has advanced so much in character and show development from season 1 to season 2, and has been renewed for at least a season 3. So there's time, and everything is in place, for it to go there too- the place where none but Battlestar Galactica has managed to go.

So there is Something about Clarke. And she, too, has time to become the Heroine who surpassed even the Hero Adama.