The 100 Review: “Murphy’s Law” (Season 1, Episode 4)

The 100 continues to narrow down its expansive list of characters in “Murphy’s Law.” At first, the simple act of teenage rebellion orchestrated by Bellamy (Bob Morley) raised alarms for those monitoring the teens, but now the situation on Earth has become slightly more jarring for everyone involved. Besides having to deal with the lingering side effects of the nuclear disaster that once forced humans off the planet (e.g. the Hunger Games-esque acid fog), the 100, minus a few, are now on the defense against the aptly nicknamed Grounders – a group of people who apparently survived the toxic atmosphere and remained on the ground for all this time.

Clarke (Eliza Taylor) previously found some evidence of their altered appearance in the form of a misshapen skull, but other than Jasper’s (Devon Bostick) unfortunate (and unconscious) run-in with the locals, they are still almost entirely a mystery. The recent discarding of wristbands aside, the Ark has larger concerns when it comes to their exiled youths now that death has become a tangible obstacle.

With the exception of some startling looking animals and glow-in-the-dark flora, this version of Earth still resembles what you would have expected if the environment had been left essentially untouched for all these years in a very I Am Legend type of way. Despite the interruption in the status quo brought on by the arrival of the ship, the Grounders have maintained their distance and let nature work its magic on the unwelcomed intruders – already resulting in the deaths of several of the newly arrived teens.

The series was barely three episodes in when Wells (Eli Goree), son the Ark’s chancellor and former best friend of Clarke, met an untimely end at the hands of a mentally unstable pre-teen. The first victim on Earth that wasn’t a victim of Earth. Charlotte (Izabela Vidovic) misconstrued the advice she was given by both Clarke and Bellamy and when she saw her opportunity to “slay her demons,” she took it. Viewers may have been flabbergasted when she later took her own life instead of facing the retribution of the angry mob, but shows on The CW are almost always good for bringing back characters later on in the story arc.

Charlotte may be gone for now, but that doesn’t mean she won’t return later on in the clutches of the Grounders. Perhaps they could make use of her maniacal mood swings. If this truly was the end for this young murderer, I’d have to side with the sentiment “good riddance.” The last thing this cast of loose-tempered miscreants needs at this point is someone willing to take matters of life and death into their own hands.

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