The 100

Last time I was on Twitter and one of the many TV critics I follow,  tweeted about a show called "The 100".  I'd never seen it, though I saw that is was streaming on Hulu.  I'd been looking for something to watch on a cool and rainy, Halloween night and so I decided to check it out.  And oh boy am I ever glad that I did.

This series is based on a YA series, about a group of 100 juvenile delinquents that are sent down to Earth from a space station where what remains of humanity (or so they think) has been living for 97 years since the planet went up in nuclear war.  I know what you're thinking another dystopian setting with teenagers, we've seen this before.  Sure, but this has everything.  Politics, science, class warfare, action, intrigue and suspense, and generational differences.  Also, imagining being born on ship above the Earth and never breathing real air and then getting on terra firma.  That is crazy.

There isn't a lot of exposition, just the facts, there was a nuclear apocalypse, 12 space stations decided to unite and salvage what was left of humanity.  The Ark, as they call it, has been up and running for 97 years and now it is dying and they need to find a new way to survive. The prisoners, all teens, are sent first to see if the earth is habitable.  And that's it.  That is the premise of the show and it is intriguing.  Sure there is some Lord of the Flies elements going on and a little Hunger Games similarity.  Our heroine Clarke finds her own President Snow to contend with. And of course she has a love interest but that is sort of beside the point, she's just trying to keep her people alive.  The conflicts are realistic, not easily solved and the stakes are super high.

I've been missing a good, sci-fi (esque) show, what with Lost and Fringe off the air.  Yes, I watch The Walking Dead, but zombies are nothing compared to people that have somehow managed to survive on the planet after a nuclear war.   Also, the cast boasts some veterans from some of my favorite shows, Henry Ian Cusack of Lost (brotha!), Dichen Lachman of Dollhouse, and two actors from the most recent iteration of Battlestar Galactica.   And like most good shows these days the cast is diverse and the Chancellor of the space crew is played by Isaiah Washington.