The 100: We Finally Know What Drove Octavia So Crazy

Ever since we met the new (and not necessarily improved) Octavia (Marie Avgeropoulos) whenThe 100Season 5 premiered, we've wondered what the heck happened down in that bunker to turn her and her people into such savages. Now we know, and it's like 10,000 times worse then we ever expected.

As Octavia's army marched on Eden, we got a series of flashbacks to The Dark Year in the bunker we've been hearing so much about. As it turns out, when a fungus spread to the small amount of crops they'd been able to sustain, Wonkru was forced to make an impossible decision about how they'd feed themselves while the crops recovered. In the end, Octavia ruled that Wonkru had to turn to cannibalism to feed themselves for a whole year. Thanks to the fighting pits, they had a regular influx of, um, fresh meat to work with.

When many of her people, Kane (Henry Ian Cusick) included, took a stand and decided not to eat the meat, Octavia had to take drastic action. She implemented the "enemy of Wonkru" rule on anyone who refused the meat, morbidly creating even more meat to work with. It was gross and terrible -- and all Abby's (Paige Turco) idea. If you didn't understand why her addiction got so bad in the bunker, at least you've got a pretty good idea now. Imagine being the one to make the judgement that people needed to keep "the meat on their bones" in order to feed the others later.

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The chilling scene where Octavia executed people who refused to engage in cannibalism was revealing in a lot of ways. Not only did it further explain how exactly she broke these people's spirits enough for them to follow her into the desert on a suicide mission, it also explained the borderline psychosis we've seen from Octavia this season. Choosing to eat the bodies of your fallen friends is a grotesque, impossible choice, but as a leader, choosing to murder those who can't stomach it is on a whole other level. Octavia's obsession with getting her people to the valley is the only thing allowing her to rationalize those choices, let alone live with them. Who knew growing up under the floor of a totalitarian regime would be the easy period of her life?

Meanwhile, Clarke (Eliza Taylor) put Abby through a rapid detox so she could cure McCreary (William Miller) and his people, even though Madi (Lola Flannery) showed serious doubts about whether they were on the right side of this war. When you really think about it, that's a pretty fair argument to make seeing as all of Clarke's family and friends are on the other side of battle lines that are slowly but surely being drawn around Eden. C'mon Clarke, didn't you just tell Bellamy to use his head and his heart last season? Take your own advice!

The 100 airs Tuesdays at 8/7c on The CW.

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