In the premiere episode of the season, we followed Clarke’s life in the years after Praimfaya, including her attempts to get back to the bunker, only to find it covered by rubble, with no possible way to get in. This week, we now go underground to witness the same period, from the perspective of those living in the bunker.
The episode begins with the leadership arguing about the potential food shortage when they hear noises from above.
Abigail is sure it is Clarke and she rushes to the hatch with Kane. They cannot open the hatch and realize that it must be covered with enough debris that they are now trapped, possibly forever. The noises eventually stop, and Clarke is gone. Now, being trapped, they really have a food shortage problem looming.
Plans come, and plans go
Now knowing that they are trapped, Octavia and company discuss the food situation and as Kane points out, they have five years to solve the being trapped problem, so best to keep that issue quiet. Food rationing is the plan for the moment and the bunker dwellers are none too happy about it, but they are following along for now.
Octavia is a warrior as she says, and is having a hard time dealing with all the problems that are developing between clans.
As the winner of the fight to the death in the last season, Octavia won the right for Skaikru to be the clan to claim ownership of the bunker, but she declared all people part of one clan and that all would share the bunker. This, of course, meant that many from each clan, including Skaikru, would be left out of the bunker to die. Many bunker dwellers from Skaikru see Octavia as a traitor to her people, and they hatch a plan of their own.
They lock themselves in the bunker level containing the food supply, thus saving themselves and eventually starving all the rest of the bunker dwellers, including Abigail, Kane, and Jaha.
Once all learn of what is happening, anarchy breaks out and Jaha is wounded by grounders, but not before he comes up with an idea to open the sealed doors to the food level, which involves shorting out the electrical systems.
Octavia and Jaha make it to the electrical panels that need to be short-circuited, and Jaha opens the doors after gaining assurances from Octavia that only those guilty of treason will be punished. In the first major death of the season, Jaha eventually succumbs to his injuries, but not before making Octavia promise to watch over the child he has been caring for. With the doors now open to the traitors, Octavia enters the room, and all wait for her leadership to emerge.
Octavia takes complete control
Octavia, knowing that they will have food shortages in the coming years, decides that those guilty of treason will have to fight each other to the death to see who may be spared. We see the years pass as the gladiator style fights in a makeshift bunker arena continue, taking the lives of who knows how many.
In the episode’ closing scene, we see a new batch of fighters entering the arena preparing to fight to the death for the right to survive. One of the apparent fighters is Kane, and he looks up to a stoic Octavia who looks on without emotion. Life is clearly not good in the bunker.