Warning: spoilers ahead for the third episode of The 100 Season 7, called "False Gods."
The final season of The 100 is moving full steam ahead. While the fate of Bellamy Blake is still uncertain and some major characters are MIA, "False Gods" delivered some big developments on the Raven front, and I'm afraid her fate might be sealed in a bad way. Raven's actions in the episode resulted in some gruesome deaths, and she took them pretty hard. Here's why, with the end of the series nigh.
In "False Gods," the reactor powering Sanctum began melting down, and the only solution was to send some welders into gamma radiation to make repairs. After Wonkru refused to cooperate when they found out that Madi was no longer the Commander, Raven had to turn to the former criminals of the Eligius crew to do the dirty work.
The Eligius crewmembers were pretty bitter about being forced to live in tents while the others actually had roofs over their heads, and Raven had to promise that the danger was limited to get some volunteers. In Raven's defense, she was confident at the time that the worst that could come of the limited exposure was vomiting for a few days. That all changed, though.
The situation escalated, and the Eligius welders wound up exposed to deadly amounts of radiation. Despite the protests of both Emori and Murphy -- and it's always a bad sign when Murphy is making a protest on moral grounds -- Raven hid from the welders the fact that they were going to die if she didn't let them out. In fact, she actively lied about why they were starting to feel sick. The situation escalated even further when somebody else needed to go in to stop the meltdown.
Since Raven couldn't go in herself and Emori was indisposed after being exposed a little too long, she trapped Murphy inside. She knew that the "cockroach," as she not-so-affectionately called Murphy, would find a way to save everybody because it would also save him.
Raven's efforts did ultimately stop a reactor meltdown that would have killed everybody, but she was so overwhelmed by guilt at the end that she didn't even try to protect herself when one of the Eligius crew attacked her in a rage after learning about the deaths. I for one am fine with one Raven did, as much as it wasn't ideal.
Everybody would have died if the reactor wasn't fixed, and -- to quote somebody else who perished in a reactor in another sci-fi series -- the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. Raven objectively understands that she did what needs to be done, but the fact that she just took the brutal beating and her clear overwhelming guilt leads me to think that The 100 just set the stage for Raven's death.
After what happened, I would be very unsurprised if Raven sacrificed herself rather than risk the lives of others, if Raven is so traumatized by her actions that she freezes in deadly directions, or if Raven just goes too far in trying to avoid deaths. At the very least, I hope that Raven isn't called upon to do any more killing.
If Season 7 of The 100 wasn't also the final season, I wouldn't suspect that Raven's turning point in "False Gods" would lead to anything other than more suffering and baggage for a character who has really had enough of both throughout this series.
Raven has been an essential character thanks to her skills, and it's hard to imagine the series without her. With the series ending, however, Raven is kill-able in a way she has never been before. Every plot twist this season has the potential to impact how these characters finish their arcs, and I for one am not expecting everybody to live happily-ever-after. Or live at all, really, despite my suspicions that the Blake siblings might get the happy ending.
See what's next for Raven with new episodes of The 100's final season on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW, and be sure to check out our 2020 summer premiere schedule for more viewing options.
