100 Reasons not to Blow Up Earth

In the DVD department I'm working my way through The 100 now, a surprisingly very good near-future SF broadcast television series that chronicles life for humanity after a global nuclear war. When life support on the massive space station housing the only survivors of mankind begins to fail, the powers that be drop 100 prisoners (all under the age of 18) on the surface of the planet to see if it's survivable. Nurturing, not a big thing in the future.

The people living in orbit aren't supposed to go back to the surface for another century due to lingering radiation. Unfortunately the space station won't last that long, so they use their juvenile delinquents as gineas pigs, and the 100 land. At which point the kids discover they're not the only survivors, and there are people on the ground. P.S., these "grounders" want to kill them.

The show is pretty typical YA dystopian fodder for the first couple episodes; lots of echoes of Hunger Games and Maze Runner. Then, happily, the show leaves all that standard stuff in the dust and begins branching out and developing its own worldbuilding and cultures and character arcs. The grounder societies are revealed and they're very, very interesing. Relationships entangle. Loyalties shift. Plots thicken.

As systems start failing sooner rather than later up in orbit, the folks from the space station have to come down or die. Not all of them make it, of course, but as the surviving grownups arrive things on the ground get even more complicated. Then we find out who blew up Earth, and why, and that starts another massive storyline.

Despite the fact that the main concept is utterly implausible and almost laughable (scientifically speaking, anyway) I don't really care. The characters are fantastic, beautifully flawed and always absorbing. There are gay characters whose storylines have nothing to do with the fact that they're gay, always a pleasure to see. There are some flashbacks, but not to the point of aggravating me like some series (yes, Lost, your writers' ears should be on fire right now.)

The lead female protagonist, Clarke, falls for a guy and two girls -- not all at the same time, by the way -- which is even more daring for broadcast television. A bisexual lead? Heavens to Betsy. The lead male protagonist, Bellamy, is my personal favorite character. I love his storyline, especially involving his relationship with his younger sister, who basically turns into a grounder. The actors who play Clarke and Bellamy are both Australians, by the way, and yet you'd never guess that from their accents. Both are really, really good at making their characters believable, too.

The plot twists are endless in this series. Just when you think you have a handle on what's going to happen, the show upends itself and does something else. I'm currently on season four and I'm still constantly surprised. Now I have to stop saying I am never surprised by broadcast television.

There is some fairly graphic violent moments, but that's kept to a minimum, which I appreciated. Some of the conflicts are a bit repetitive, but given the limited character pool and the events as they unfold this is forgivable. I think the only miff for me is what happens in most of the turnkey moments; the kid characters always know what to do or at least try to do something, versus the grownups, who mostly stand around and talk and look confused. In real life it's a mix based on personality, not age. Still, the producers are obviously marketing this to the younger generation, so it's probably a smart choice.

I recommend The 100 as a very good choice if you want to watch something intelligent, well-written and totally addictive.