hawthornewhisperer:

easnadh1:

hawthornewhisperer:

You know, I actually didn’t have much of a problem with it, mostly because I didn’t get the sense that anything was *resolved* between Bellamy and Clarke, just put on the back burner until they have some time to deal with it.  He wasn’t expecting to see her out of Polis and she wasn’t expecting to see him at the cave, so their shock buffered the initial hostility and then they had a much bigger problem (ALIE/saving Raven) to solve.  It’s very in character for them to set aside their personal issues to focus on the immediate problem and recalls the middle of season one for me, when they were allies but not really friends.  They’re friends now but they have a lot boiling under the surface, and while I think it’s highly significant that they both patched each other up during the episode I also think it’s significant that they didn’t really talk about anything.  They snarked at each other like they would in season one (You think?/You’ll recover) but they didn’t touch on the big things that they need to discuss.  

I think this implies that Bellamy and Clarke are both kind of scared that the fight in 3x05 broke something between them, and right now they’re both so fragile (Bellamy from realizing what huge fucking mistakes he’s made; Clarke from losing L.exa) that they’re avoiding acknowledging what happened when they fought.  Because if they bring that fight up, there’s always the possibility that the other person will confirm that yes, that fight changed everything and we’re no longer perfectly in sync co-leaders.  Right now, neither of them can emotionally handle a world where the other one doesn’t have their back, so they’re slipping into old habits so they can see their people through this current crisis and they’ll return to their problems when they have a chance.  They’re both champion compartmentalizers (Clarke is better than Bellamy, but he too is excellent and “not dealing with emotions because something bigger is happening”) but what happened in 3x05 is too big to not be addressed eventually.  I doubt we’ll see much of Bellamy’s hostility from that episode return, mostly because I think he’s through being angry with her and has moved on to being angry with himself, and that is going to bring out Clarke’s protective side because she hates seeing Bellamy beat himself up.  So I doubt we’ll see much anger from her either, and their next conversation will be much less angry and much more healing.  

As for Bellamy being willing to obey Clarke’s orders, I do think it’s important to note that she checked in with him a lot, looking for a sign of approval before continuing, which probably helped him a little.  And on a narrative level, him being willing to go along with Clarke’s decisions (which I do think was a pragmatic decision on his part and nothing more because Clarke knows more about the AI than he does) underlined ALIE!Raven’s accusations later in the episode.

But basically, I think 3x11 was a huge love letter from Clarke and Bellamy to their people, because they are both so broken and wounded, both separately and in terms of their relationship, but they both put that all aside (as best they could) to save Raven.  They both broke a little (Clarke screaming that they’d fry ALIE; Bellamy hitting things outside Niylah’s) and they both stepped in to support the other person at their weakest moments.  That requires a lot of emotional strength considering where they are right now, and I liked that dynamic a lot.

I also noticed that Bellamy’s eyes were very guarded whenever Clarke was looking at him directly. You could tell he had a bit of a wall up. It was only when Clarke was bandaging his hand and couldn’t see his expression that he allowed his true feelings to show (mega heart eyes, but also sadness). (Gifs here.)

For her part, Clarke was hyperaware of his reactions to her throughout most of the episode. She was tiptoeing around him a bit, right up the point where she checked the bandages on his hand, when she seemed more open. I think Raven’s taunting of Bellamy about his loyalty to Clarke, followed by Bellamy’s reaction, helped Clarke get a better idea of whether or not Bellamy was still angry with her. 

Of course, they still have a lot to talk about, and the air between them definitely needs some serious clearing. But I agree that that will happen in a healing way, rather than as an argument.

These are also excellent points: they’re both very guarded around each other still, because they’re not sure where they stand.  They can work together, but the old “I know exactly what you’re thinking and feeling” rapport they used to have feels off, because they’re just not sure they know each other as well as they used to.  They do, of course, because Bellamy knew exactly what Clarke was doing when she distracted ALIE!Raven with Lexa’s chip, but they don’t recognize that yet.