WARNING: The following contains spoilers for "The Gospel of Josephine," the fifth episode of The 100 Season 6.
One of the most tortured, complex character arcs of The 100's survivors has been Octavia Blake's. Raised in secret by her older brother Bellamy as an illegal, unwanted child before rising to the role of the Red Queen, running a captive community trapped in a bunker through bloody gladiatorial games and institutionalized cannibalism, Octavia has had to confront her brutal legacy throughout Season 6. And while the season's new setting of Sanctum offers Octavia a fresh start, it also continues to present new dangers, one of which that has already left its mark on her.
Octavia and Diyoza continue to hunt the mysterious Son of Gabriel who had kidnapped a Prime child on Sanctum, resulting in the child's accidental death. As the two new arrivals from Earth close in on their target, they find themselves caught in a strange, quicksand-like substance that begins to pull each of them into the ground. Like quicksand, the two quickly discover that the more they struggle, the deeper and faster they are drawn into the substance.
Calm and collected as usual, Diyoza stoically stands still, slowing her progression into the quicksand while Octavia, despite knowing the risks, continues to struggle and is rapidly sinking. It's then that Diyoza realizes Octavia has been harboring a deep death wish. She goes as far as to pull her gun on her captive companion, proving her point as Octavia remains completely unfazed. The former Red Queen's unresolved guilt over her actions and failed leadership role had been apparent ever since she first emerged from cryosleep, attempting to goad others to beat her to death before it was decided that she should continue to live with the weight of her actions. Abandoned by Bellamy due to her unrepentant thirst for bloody violence, Octavia's guilt has only grown, despite the chance for redemption offered by Sanctum.
Now up to her neck in the substance, Octavia learns that something known as a temporal flare is approaching, as her former target tosses Diyoza a rope and the two leave behind Octavia to take cover as the green light overtakes the landscape. Submerging herself to avoid the light, the temporal flare completely fossilizes the trees and ground while hardening the quicksand instantly; everything visibly aged by another natural hazard on Sanctum. Quickly returning to the scene, Diyoza breaks through the hardened surface layer of quicksand to pull Octavia out and save her life.
However, by the episode's end, we learn Octavia has not walked away completely unscathed. While concealing herself under the quicksand to avoid the mysterious anomaly, Octavia's hand was left exposed, resulting in it similarly being aged by decades and withering away in an instant. Worse yet, the strange, new condition appears to be spreading throughout Octavia's arm like some sort of potentially lethal infection.
For the first half of The 100's sixth season, Octavia Blake has privately longed for her own death, either in battle or some other honorable means. In heated pursuit of a Child of Gabriel she was nearly afforded the opportunity by the moon's quicksand only to instinctively save herself from a coming temporal flare. And while Octavia may be saved from immediate death by both natural hazards, she may get her desired demise in a slower, more painful method if her condition continues unresolved.
The 100 airs Tuesdays at 9 pm ET/PT on The CW. The series stars Eliza Taylor, Paige Turco, Marie Avgeropoulos, Bob Morley, Henry Ian Cusick, Lindsey Morgan, Richard Harmon and Tasya Teles.