Remember when Battlestar Galactica was the show that reflected on real world political conflicts? It was the perfect allegory for, how Prairie would put it: a sick society, cuddled in fear after the 9/11 attacks, and involved in a muddled war in Iraq. Battlestar took on subjects as torture, suicide bombers, always showing the ethical struggles involved on both sides. It was the perfect show for the Bush era.
What will be the defining show of the Obama years? I will argue for Mad Men and Breaking Bad. Mad Men gave us an extremely intelligent Ad man. Somebody who could sell everything, had the masses swooning, who had to resort to some pretty inventive schemes to push his ideas through and in the end, showed us, his true nature, or somebody always searching and finally spreading a new enlightened era or somebody who would always be able to packaged cynically that hope and reap the benefits.
Breaking Bad could serve as a prediction, the story of a man, who made people believe by sheer myth that he was the king. And while his rise to power was started by necessity, it was fueled by pettiness, envy, vengefulness and rightgenousnees ( PS. I still love you Walter White!)
(during the Bush era The Wire season 4, sure was a good prediction, and I won't explain this, if you don't understand, pls go and watch season four of The Wire)
But what will be the show, that will the best reflect on our current reality?
It's only a bit funny how shows like Scandal, Veep, and even Black Mirror pale in comparison with reality.
Homeland will deal with "the incoming administration and the transition period between administrations and deal with issue of trust and distrust between state and the new presidential leader. ” We'll see.
You could argue for The Walking Dead, and Games of Thrones. The Walking Dead sometimes hits the nail on the head; when Shelly complained about the lack of a pasta machine while the Wolves and Saviours are nearing in on Alexandria. This was around the time, after the Paris attacks, when people lamented their rights to go out, go to restaurants, or sit on a terrace drinking coffee.
And there are some people that make comparisons between Negan and Trump...
But as much as I like The Walking Dead, there is a show that is often overlooked. Not because it isn't popular, but because it's underestimated due to his sheer pace and perceived superficiality.
The 100 is Battlestar Galactica's grandchild, maybe not fully grown yet, but these days I am putting my faith in youth. They are the ones that seem to have the most sense now, don't you agree?
First of all The 100 doesnt 't pale in comparison with real life.
' Why I am watching this?' My guy always say during an episode 'It's awful.'
He isn't referring to the quality, but to the torture it inflicts on his characters and his fans. Never have there been a show where so many characters die. No, not even Games of Thrones. There must be a site somewhere keeping count and it the amount of life lost is staggering. Jason Rothenberg is accused all the time of being a sadist. People are still not over Lexa, or Lincoln, or fill in the blanks, and it keeps going. It is a miracle that the Grounders haven't been wiped out already, they usually go en masse. And you better stay away from protagonist Clarke, played by Eliza Taylor. In three season so far, she has around 900 lives on her conscience, and as Eliza said at Comic Con: She has the kiss of death.
So The 100 is dark. And as Marie Avgeroupoulos who plays Octavia warned us at Comic Con: 'It is possible, to go even darker. We may surprise you.'
Season four will reflect on climate change and environmental destruction, and in that respect I want fiction to shake us, but not to pale in comparison to reality. 'If you can't stop the end of the world, how can you find hope?' said Rothenberg at ComicCon to introduce this next season.
Meanwhile they gave aways some tidbits that will make that hope something that will not come unchallenged.
On the return of Luna, the Grounder Pacifist; Rothenberg said: 'They are on a rig, they are the canaries in the coal mine. We will see Luna very soon. " Oh oh.
And Eliza Taylor had this ominous slip: "Clarke will be fighting till her dying day to save everyone.'Oh Oh!
The 100 shows us how evil works.
This is something The 100 does better than the Walking Dead. It showed how evil people do not celebrate how evil they are. No, they think they are the good guys. Absolutely convinced that they are in the right. This is a time when every body sandbagges themselves in, spouting their world views without listening. We saw in season three of The 100 that populism spreads easily, rooted in fear, fear of defeat. Pike was one of the most despicable characters on TV, but he was never a simple evil man. And he didn't have to torture his followers to do what he wanted, he simply tapped into their pain, following the logic of it. Getting them on his side was effortless.
The other villain was A.L.I.E, the AI, the mind control queen, whose endgame was total destruction. She also fed on peoples inability to sit with pain. Offering escapism that felt so good, but brought to the death of emotion and memories.
The 100 believes that that pain is useful, pain is good, pain is what makes us strong. "Take your broken heart and make it into art. " Art of war in this world, but hey I'll take it.
The 100 gives us the strongest, and complex female characters on TV right now.
Again at Comic Con Eliza Taylor said: 'I cannot tell you how many years I had to play the dumb, blond, silly side character . These last three years I get to play somebody who is smart and strong, responsible and worthy. It is really cool that we get to play warriors, really smart doctors, and mechanics."
Lindsey Morgan who plays Raven added:'Hollywood want to put you in a box, and that is labelled 'Maid' or 'girlfriend' or 'slut', and that is demeaning. Women always have been strong, have always been complex.'
While Maggie in The Walking Dead is on the verge of plotting her revenge on Negan, Octavia didn't hesitate one moment when the opportunity arose to put her sword through Pike after killing her lover Lincoln. Marie predicts more badassery to come from the fierce half Grounder Warrior: "Octavia will do what she does best, and that is killing people. She is very good at it. "
There is still no new commander. Scouts will be searching for a new one. But what we need to see, is the flame being put in the fiercest of them all: Okteivia kom Trikru. Let's hope that will be the takeaway from these coming years, girls will come out on top. And somehow an ecological disaster will play out on our screens but not outside our front door.
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