The 100: What is Season 6 building to?

The upcoming episode of The 100 will see the return of Clarke as she takes on Josephine. What does it mean for the rest of the season if she actually wins?

Spoilers ahead for The 100  Season 6, up to and including, Episode 6, “Memento Mori.”

Season 6 so far has been a bit of a wild ride and to say that The 100 has leaned into some hard sci-fi would be a bit of an understatement. We’ve had trees that eat people, solar flares that drive people mad, temporal anomalies and time-amber, but one of the most interesting developments has been the furthering of the Flame technology that has been running through the series since Season three.

A little refresher for those that don’t remember. Before the first bombs were dropped, a scientist called Becca Pramheda developed an AI technology that can be implanted into people’s brains. This chip, or The Flame as it would later be referred to, was used by The Commanders by the grounders to hold the consciousness of previous Commanders when it is uploaded to the next.

Season 6 has built upon this idea as it has been discovered that the settlers of the moon Sanctum were given less sophisticated versions of The Flame (or Mind Drives, as they call them) and select members of them have achieved immortality in this way, implanting their minds into new Nightblood hosts after they die.

That’s unfortunate for Clarke, being a Nightblood herself, and has been “killed,” her body now essentially being possessed by a psychotic woman, Josephine Lightbourne. At least, that’s the story being told to all of the characters. At the end of “Memento Mori,” it’s revealed that Clarke’s consciousness is still tucked away in some part of her mind as we see her in her old prison cell on the Ark, walls adorned with drawings of people and memories important to her.

What this sets up for Episode 7, “Nevermind,” is a struggle between Josephine and Clarke for supremacy of her body.

Now, as immensely satisfying as it would doubtlessly be to watch Clarke beat that multilingual sociopathic to the ground, there’s a question of whether or not that’s something that can actually be done halfway through the season. Will “Nevermind” simply be an exercise in futility, only to let Josephine get another win in her belt?

Well, that depends on what we’re actually building to here with the sixth season. Is this an arc of Josephine as the Big Bad and what does it mean if she loses this early on? Of course, we expect her to at some point and for Clarke to return but this soon?

Let’s suppose for a moment that Clarke wins. What happens then? Clarke’s consciousness returns to the surface and the Mind Drive gets taken out of her head? As much as we all love Clarke and want her to come back, that would also mean boxing off Josephine who, while being a despicable person, is also a fascinating character and an excellent foil.

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If Josephine isn’t the villain of this piece, who is? Is it her parents, Russell and Simone? The Children of Gabriel, who hate the Primes and seem to be on the right side of history here?

A major contender may come from an unlikely place. On “Memento Mori,” we see Madi, the little Heda that could, interacting directly with her Flame and it going terribly wrong. By all appearances, it seems that Sheidheda, the Dark Commander, has risen to prominence as the main voice for her.

More troubling is, after discovering that Clarke is “dead,” asks Sheidheda on how to “kill them all.” What we can assume from that is Madi wants to get revenge for what they’ve done to her surrogate mother and take out, at the very least, all of the Primes, if not the rest of the inhabitants.

It’s a concerning development for her and certainly not one that Clarke would want for her. If “Nevermind” goes well for Clarke and she is able to come back, she could have to contend with Madi becoming what would essentially be Dark Willow from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

While that’s probably not where the season is ultimately going, it’s not hard to imagine that, at some point before the season wraps up, we see someone having to talk Madi down from the pit of darkness she’s about to walk into.

What do you think? Will Clarke be able to overcome Josephine and gain back control of her body? Let us know in the comments below.

The 100 airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on The CW.