This blog has officially been in existence for one year, since we published our intro post on August 28, 2015. It’s been a fun year for Adversion. Every week we get together at a local cafe and work on our posts and argue about Gilmore Girls. And we’ve published some things we’re really proud of, from fanwanky TV recaps to “short” posts on whatever we’re reading that week (that often turn into essay-length screeds).
Here are the top ten most popular posts we’ve published in our first year:
“Perverse instantiation,” in Nick Bostrom’s A.I. superintelligence theory, is a “malignant failure,” or a failure that involves human extinction. This specific type of malignant failure involves an A.I. interpreting an unfortunately-worded instruction in the most destructive way possible, like a real-life vengeance demon.
The obvious parallel is A.L.I.E.’s decision to make the world a better place by nuking the human population, but it can potentially refer to any and all of A.L.I.E.’s throwing-the-baby-out-with-the-bathwater decisions. Bostrom gives the skin-crawling example of an A.I. interpreting the directive to “make everyone smile” as “freeze their facial muscles into permanent smiles like even creepier Jokers.” That’s A.L.I.E. 1.0’s world domination plan, and the theme of the third season of The 100, in a nutshell.
(P.S. I’m sorry I’m so far behind, I will do my best to fill in the gaps. But here’s what you need to know from the last few episodes: Bellamy’s plotline was somewhat redeemed by the show’s meta-commentary that he’s sort of always been an asshole; Monty and Harper are a random, but adorable pairing; Raven is a bad-ass, and Lindsay Morgan is the best actor on this show; Pike got infinitely more likable once he was placed in an underdog position, but I still hate him; and Ontari is pointless and literally the worst, now and always.)
All right, let’s get on with the recap: Continue reading →
Another day, another controversial death on The 100. Regardless of your opinions on the two major character deaths that have occurred in the last three episodes, there’s no denying that The 100 has inspired a ton of constructive discourse (as well as some counterproductive ad hominem attacks) about social issues, the responsibility of media creators to their fans, and the role of violence on television. Even when it makes mistakes, The 100 is thoughtful enough to stimulate important conversations, which I would say is commendable in itself.
All right. Let’s do this. Continue reading →
Previously on The 100: Pike was elected chancellor, Bellamy helped him massacre a peacekeeping army of Grounders in their sleep, and a barricade and kill order was placed on Arkadia. Also, the entire fandom imploded, but “Terms and Conditions” took a break from that regularly scheduled programming to focus on fixing the Bellamy debacle. Continue reading →
The 100 has shown us a ten-year-old girl committing cold-blooded murder, the romantic lead gunning down an entire village of innocents, and the protagonist wiping out an entire race of human beings, but this was still arguably the most controversial episode yet. It was also one of its best: “Thirteen” was a stunningly crafted hour of television, one that elegantly weaved all of the disparate plotlines of the season together and organically changed the entire mythology of the show without feeling like a retcon. It also happened to be a heartbreaking, elegiac origin story/farewell episode in the vein of season two’s “Spacewalker” (but for a much more popular and beloved character), and while a few elements of the execution may have been problematic, “Thirteen” will go down as one of the boldest moves in The 100‘s history.
All right, let’s get on with the recap. This is going to be a tough one. Continue reading →
Previously on The 100: Ice Nation blew up Mount Weather, killing Gina and most of the Farm Station Arkers who didn’t have names. We finally met the Ice Queen, and she looked like Elsa from hell. Kane and Abby decided to give their people more power of representation by holding an election, and then decided to join the Grounders as the 13th clan without so much as checking with their people, because that makes sense. Continue reading →
It’s the third episode of the season, and already the status quo has been upended in more ways than one. In an action-packed yet thoughtful episode, Clarke tries to kill Lexa, which somehow leads to the Sky People becoming Grounders, we finally meet the Ice Queen, and everyone sort of gets blown up, as tends to happen on this show.
And then they had to ruin it all by egregiously fridging a certain one-dimensional female character, but believe me, we’ll get to that. Continue reading →
Previously on The 100: Bellamy began narrating, and I guess we’re sticking with that. Jaha became an unhinged evangelical, Clarke broke Bellamy’s (and Bellarke shippers’) heart(s) by leaving Camp Jaha, Jasper did his best pre-massacre season two Finn impression, and the Ice Nation queen wants to steal Clarke’s powers by killing her. Also, Clarke hooked up with a pretty Grounder and was kidnapped by an equally pretty bounty hunter, but only so much can fit into one montage. Continue reading →
When it began, The 100 had all the ingredients for an aggressively mediocre CW show. Ludicrously attractive actors, down to the lowly extras? Check! Contrived post-apocalyptic scenario in which all of the main characters are necessarily (and conveniently) under 18 years old? Check! Dead-eyed, mind-numbingly generic male lead whom all the coolest women on the show love for no reason? Check! (For a time at least, RIP Finn and everything.)
Sidebar: How much was Finn the Nate? He was totally the Nate. Continue reading →
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