Contents Under Pressure

"'Sometimes people are just born to be leaders. I think we're those people.'"~Bellamy Blake to Rayleigh Griffin

Summary
Clarke and Raven make contact with the Ark just in time. Abby Griffin, Rayleigh and Clarke's mother, guides them through a dangerous procedure  in a desperate move to save one of their own. Meanwhile, Bellamy tries to gain answers from his newly captive Grounder. It's a race against time when the group realizes that they need his help to save a dying friend.

Plot
The camp is battening down the hatches in preparation for a hurricane. Rayleigh is standing at the drop ship entrance, wind and water pelting her face, while Raven tries to get through on the radio to the Ark and Clarke is tending to a severely injured Finn. Suddenly a voice comes over the radio and Clarke and Rayleigh run to the table. Abby's voice comes over the radio next and Rayleigh asks for her help with Finn and tells Jaha that Wells didn't make it. The storm temporarily disrupts the communications.

Octavia returns to the drop ship with Monty's moonshine to help disinfect Finn's injury. Bellamy, Miller, and Drew return, carrying the unconscious Grounder who had saved Octavia's life and stabbed Finn into the drop ship. Bellamy tells them to tie him up on the third floor while they send the rest of the Delinquents to the second floor to give Rayleigh and Clarke room to work on Finn. Abby gets back on the radio and Rayleigh describes Finn's injury to her.

Abby guides Rayleigh through removing the blade from Finn's side. Clarke and Raven hold Finn down as Rayleigh prepares do so. As Rayleigh removes the blade, the storm gets worse and debris hits the drop ship, knocking everyone down, including Finn. Luckily, the blade was removed without doing further damage.

Rayleigh finishes stitching up Finn's wound and Clarke realizes he is feverish. Abby wants to talk with her daughters but Rayleigh leaves to the third level and Clarke stays with Finn and Raven. Bellamy asks how Finn is doing and shows Rayleigh the journal, telling her they're fighting a war. Clarke calls up to Rayleigh that Finn has started seizing so Rayleigh rushes back down to him.

Rayleigh and Clarke are able to stop Finn from seizing and Rayleigh quickly realizes that the blade Finn was stabbed with had been poisoned. She heads back up to the third floor with Octavia following her. Bellamy remembers the vials and they ask the Grounder to tell them which one has the antidote but he doesn't speak. Bellamy tells Rayleigh she doesn't have to be there while he tortures the Grounder to find the antidote, but Rayleigh stays anyway. Octavia begs him to stop, telling him the Grounder saved their lives even though Finn was dying downstairs. Bellamy brutally tortures the Grounder, whipping him with a seat-belt, yet the Grounder still will not speak.

Bellamy escalates the torture of the Grounder by putting a spike through his hand. Raven comes into the room after Finn almost dies again and begins to electrocute the Grounder, causing him to scream in agony. Octavia puts a stop to it by slicing herself with the knife that the Grounder used on Finn, saying that the Grounder wouldn't let her die. The Grounder finally helps Octavia find the correct antidote to save her (and Finn). Clarke gives the antidote to Finn and sends Raven out for water. Abby comes on the radio and Rayleigh tells her she and Clarke know about her mother's involvement with her father's death. Clarke cuts off communication and cries. Rayleigh tries to clean the Grounder's wounds but he sees Octavia enter the room and refuses to let Rayleigh do so. Octavia walks over to help and he allows her to clean up his wounds. Rayleigh tells Octavia that they tortured him to save Finn. Octavia replies that Rayleigh didn't even save Finn; Octavia did. Rayleigh sighs then leaves the drop ship.

Bellamy approaches Rayleigh, taking the spike that had been in the Grounder's hand and tells her, "who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things," and that it is hard being in charge and calls her "Princess Commander". Rayleigh scoffs at the nickname and calls it a joke, saying she wasn't born to be a leader. Rayleigh asks Bellamy why the lives of the remaining delinquents have to rest in their hands, why they have to be the leaders. Bellamy pulls her into an embrace, saying that he believes they were both born to be leaders. Rayleigh admits she was scared Finn wouldn't survive and wondered what would've happened if he died. Bellamy tells her not to worry about what-ifs and tells Rayleigh that if anything happens to him, she'll save him. Rayleigh admits that Bellamy's the one person who can't end up on her operating table, she adds if anything happens to Bellamy, they're all dead. The two share a look and Bellamy kisses Rayleigh, who kisses back, her arms on his shoulders and his around her back. Raleigh pulls away and Bellamy notes it's been only a week since Wells' death and he understands. Bellamy kisses her forehead and goes to repair the damaged wall and Rayleigh retires to her tent she shares with Clarke.

Cast

 * Claire Holt as Rayleigh Griffin
 * Eliza Taylor as Clarke Griffin
 * Paige Turco as Abigail Griffin (voice only)
 * Isaiah Washington as Thelonious Jaha (voice only)
 * Thomas McDonell as Finn Collins
 * Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia Blake
 * Bob Morley as Bellamy Blake
 * Christopher Larkin as Monty Green (mentioned)
 * Devon Bostick as Jasper Jordan (mentioned)
 * Lindsey Morgan as Raven Reyes
 * Katie Stuart as Zoe Monroe
 * Jarod Joseph as Nathan Miller
 * Levi Meaden as Drew
 * Genevieve Buechner as Fox (seen)
 * Chelsey Reist as Harper McIntyre (seen)
 * Ricky Whittle as the Grounder

Quotes
~Rayleigh admits to Abby her and Clarke need her help to save Finn. ~Octavia and Bellamy argue about the reasons behind the Grounder's capture ~Rayleigh prepares to remove the knife from Finn's chest ~Bellamy to Rayleigh about their survival on Earth ~Bellamy and Rayleigh discussing their roles as leaders of the 100
 * Rayleigh: "Mom, Clarke and I need your help. One of our people was stabbed by a grounder."
 * Octavia: "What the hell are you doing?"
 * Bellamy: "It's time to get some answers."
 * Octavia: "Oh, you mean revenge?"
 * Bellamy: "I mean intel."
 * Clarke: "Finn, Ray's gonna get that knife out of you, okay?"
 * Finn: "Good plan. Guess my life's in your hands Princess Commander."
 * Rayleigh: "Finn, you can't move. You got it?"
 * Bellamy: "Who we are and who we need to be to survive are very different things."
 * Bellamy: "If we show weakness, we'll be slaughtered. We can't be afraid to do what has to be done for our people."
 * Rayleigh: "Why us? Why do we have to make those calls? Why do their lives have to rest in our hands?"
 * Bellamy: "Sometimes people are just born to be leaders. I think we're those people."

Body Count
No character deaths occurred in this episode

Notes and Trivia

 * The Grounder speaks for the first time, thanking Octavia for cleaning his wounds (Off screen)
 * Jasper Jordan and Monty Green were mentioned but did not appear in this episode
 * Likewise, Abby Griffin and Chancellor Jaha were heard in this episode but not seen.
 * Rayleigh and Clarke used Monty's moonshine as disinfectant
 * This episode and Earth Skills are the only episodes of season one where no deaths occur.
 * Rayleigh goes against her morals and agrees to let Bellamy torture the Grounder to help save Finn. This is the first time Rayleigh realizes what being a leader entails, and it only marks the beginning to her embracing her future title.

Relationships

 * Bellamy states he trusts his life in Rayleigh's hands should anything happen to him.
 * Rayleigh admits that Bellamy's the one person who can't end up on her operating table. She hugs him and shows genuine concern in her eyes as he explains this.
 * Bellamy and Rayleigh share their first kiss of the series.