Raven has been through more pain and suffering than any other character on The 100. After giving it her all to escape ALIE and the City of Light, she lost her battle and ALIE took over her entire being. In an attempt to rescue his friend, Jasper took Raven and left Arkadia with Clarke in tow.
On The 100 Season 3 Episode 11, “Nevermore,” the Adventure Squad gets back together to try and save their friend. BuddyTV spoke with Lindsey Morgan about Raven’s journey, ALIE’s control, the flame and whether there’s any hope for Raven at the end of this all.
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In last week’s episode you played two entirely new versions of Raven. Which did you find more rewarding as an actor to portray: Raven’s fight against ALIE, the mental torture scene or ALIE embodying Raven?
I think my favorite part was ALIE embodying Raven because it was such a quick turn as far as going from the complete overridden with torture and memories and everything you’re trying to escape as a person flooding back to you and hitting you as hard as it can, to a complete switch where your mind goes blank because someone else is literally controlling it.
I’ve never experienced that as an actor or as a person, so that was very– I loved that I could bring my imagination completely to this aspect. What is this like? What if? What if this happened? What would you do? How would you be? It was very rewarding and very fascinating.
That said, the other stuff Raven played as far as the mental battles in the beginning when she was doing pull-ups and then the mental torture of reliving everything again and getting hit harder and harder, that stuff sucks. That stuff’s never easy and it’s exhausting. I know I felt crazy on set. I drove our director a little nuts. … That was my mental place of being so on tilt, just nuts. That stuff’s hard, but I love playing that. It’s interesting to see because it’s honest as far as her journey that she goes through, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone going through it. [Laughs]
Jasper has attempted to save Raven from the City of Light, but distance doesn’t appear to be a hindrance to ALIE. Does ALIE continue to have such a strong hold over Raven even though they are separated by distance now?
Yeah. ALIE is in Raven’s brain. Raven could go to China or back to outer space and ALIE would still have a hold on her. The chip is literally– when you swallow it, it doesn’t go through your digestive system. It latches onto your brain stem basically and also that’s why they take it out of the back of her neck. That’s why it has full cognitive control. Even though Jasper is trying to get her away from ALIE physically, it really doesn’t matter. The only thing that he has to go off that will save her is to take her somewhere ALIE doesn’t know and can’t find basically.
That’s why he has her blindfolded and they are trying to take her to a remote location. If ALIE recognizes the location, because everything Raven sees and hears, ALIE sees and hears and can find her. If they take her somewhere deep in the woods where no one knows where they are, she’s safe at least for the time being until ALIE finds a way to get back to her.
Jasper is doing the best that he can with as little information that he has to work with. Jasper has no idea the hold that ALIE has on Raven. He just knows this is very, very, very bad and my friend needs to get out of her fast. He’s learning to what extent that ALIE is in control and how bad this whole chipping thing can be.
Will Raven have any control at all or will ALIE have complete control over Raven’s being?
At the peak of the pain was flooding back to ALIE, Raven says, “I submit.” And ALIE asks her if she means it. Raven says, “I submit fully.” Of course, Abby’s in the room and can’t see ALIE and doesn’t know what she’s talking about. When Raven says that, she’s giving ALIE complete and utter cognitive control– her body and mind, ALIE’s in control of now.
When we pick back up, it’s no longer Raven. It’s ALIE working the controls through Raven’s body. It’s the vessel of Raven, the filter of Raven and the strength of Raven and intellect of Raven is the tools that ALIE gets to work with, but ALIE’s the one pulling the strings.
Does Raven feel the pain of what’s happening? Is she aware of what ALIE’s doing?
It’s ALIE through the filter of Raven. It’s not even just ALIE working as Raven. Because Raven fully submitted everything to her, so Raven as zero– Raven is gone as far as having any awareness. When she see Jasper and Bellamy, she doesn’t see her friends. She sees enemies, because that’s ALIE in her mind and these are enemies who are trying to take you away from me. She sees them as the worst enemies possible that she must defeat.
The interesting thing is that it’s not through Raven’s body, it’s Raven’s filter. She’s working with Raven’s strength. You see how much working through Raven’s emotional core, so there’s a lot of rage happening and there’s a really intense struggle because Raven doesn’t see any light, she doesn’t feel any pain, she doesn’t feel any exhaustion.
She doesn’t feel any of that. Raven’s very active, fit and strong, so it’s having the best of Raven without being bogged down with any human conditions or restrictions. It’s superhuman Raven at all times. Her strength is always at 100. Her intellect is at a 100 because of ALIE. That’s a really interesting thing.
In the “Nevermore” preview, we see that ALIE-1 finds out that ALIE-2, the flame, is there with Raven. What does that mean?
It means the stakes just got even higher. Of course, ALIE wants Raven back and wants complete control over her favorite toy, but now everything she’s been searching for this entire time is there too. So now, ALIE’s going to go full force with everything she can. She’s gathering more minds and the more minds she gathers the more power she has.
Since taking Arkadia, she’s even more powerful than before. You’re seeing ALIE stronger than ever, fighting to basically win and take control over the 100 and everyone. If she has ALIE 2.0, if she has the flame, then she’s unstoppable. If ALIE gets the flame, we’re all done for. And the 100 will all be chipped and be wiped out essentially. We’d be robots to do ALIE’s bidding basically.
Is there any hope for Raven?
I always get this question. Everyone’s always, “Is there any hope? Come on.” She goes through so much. We want hope for sure. I want to tell you, yes, but this is The 100. I will say there is a little bit of hope, but it is in The 100 way. I feel like after this entire ordeal, Raven, in a weird way, becomes reincarnated. And that’s all I can really say. Something happens because of what she goes through and you see the ramifications of what’s happened to her. Hope isn’t the exact word I’d use. It’s not completely bleak.
Are there any limitations on what her friends will do to save her?
It’s the first time you see all of us together in one room since the beginning of the season. And everyone is coming in with what they’ve been through in their own personal experience and journey. They are all coming from opposing ends of what’s happening and what to do and how to fix the situation.
They are completely divided in so many ways. Pike and Lincoln situation. Trikru or Skaikru. Polis and everything that happened there. Everything is divided, but everyone is setting aside their differences for one sole purpose to help their friend. To save their friend. That’s the essence of the 100. Anything to save our friends. That’s interesting.
But as far as limitations, that’s a tough question because everyone is coming from their own personal journey and their own personal experience. I’d say they are all trying to put aside that for this greater cause to save Raven, but that’s never easy.
The 100 airs Thursdays at 9pm ET on the CW.
(Image courtesy of the CW.)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Contributing Editor and Writer for Collider, BuddyTV, TV Fanatic, CliqueClack, and other publications. TV criticism, reviews, interviews with actors and producers, and other related content. Founder of TV Diehard.
