The Calm

"'Never a dull day on Earth.'"~Rayleigh Griffin

Summary
With a low food supply at camp, the remaining delinquents form small hunting parties to search for food. Rayleigh finds a plant that could even the playing field against the Grounders' poisoned weapons. Clarke, Finn, and Monty go missing and another delinquent is injured.

Plot
Two days have passed since the virus hit the camp. Rayleigh is cleaning the dropship with the help of Harper and Fox. Bellamy enters and tells Harper to relieve Monroe on the south wall of the camp, which she does and leaves. Rayleigh continues to clean and asks Bellamy if there's been any news on the Grounder front, to which he replies no. Rayleigh states that maybe the bomb scared them off, but doesn't really believe it. Bellamy tells Rayleigh that Jasper thinks he might be able to make some more gunpowder and Raven can make some landmines. There is still no word from the Ark since the Unity Day blast and they wonder if everyone ran out of air. Rayleigh states that no one's coming down to save them and they're on their own. Bellamy tells her she can't give up, to which Rayleigh replies she was just stating facts.

They hear delinquents calling out, "fire," and rush outside to see the smokehouse on fire. Murphy starts to fight Del because Del put too much wood on the fire and Bellamy breaks it up, telling them to save it for the Grounders. Octavia asks him what they're going to do because it was all of their food that just burned up. After the fire is out, as they're sifting through the fire, Rayleigh asks what happened and Bellamy explains that Del built the fire up too much because Octavia told him it was a bad idea. Rayleigh informs him that her and Clarke inventoried the food in the dropship and states they only have enough rations to last maybe two weeks at most. Rayleigh tells Bellamy they need to go hunting because they can't defend themselves if they're starving to death. She suggests small groups and they should be back by nightfall. Bellamy agrees and compliments her that she's acting like a leader and states that the "Princess Commander" nickname suits her.

Later, Bellamy tells the delinquents to go out in groups with one Gunner in each group and to use the bullets for the Grounders but the spears for their food. A delinquent named Myles asks Clarke if she would like to go hunting with him and she agrees, Finn tags along with them. Rayleigh loads up her pack with arrows and a couple of plastic boxes when Nathan Miller walks up to her and asks who she's hunting with. Rayleigh says she's going with Bellamy and invites Nate to join them. The two wait by the gate until Bellamy joins them. All three then leave to go hunting.

Miller asks Bellamy about his conversation with Raven, to which Bellamy tells him and Rayleigh that Raven is going to make walkie-talkies while the rest are out hunting. Rayleigh comments that Raven has a brilliant mind and if anyone can make walkies out of scrap, it's her. The trio comes to a clearing and Miller spots a deer. Using the scope of Bellamy's rifle, Rayleigh checks out the deer and it's revealed to have another head growing. She comments on how freaky that is before moving to another location to shoot the deer. She hits it in the back and Miller finishes it off. A plant catches her eye and Rayleigh compares it to one on the list of medical plants Monty made up for her, and identifies it as one with medically useful petals and stems, but a poisonous root. An idea clicks in her head and she picks as many as she can, filling one of the boxes she brought along when Bellamy and Miller find her. Rayleigh tells them about the poison roots and says she can grind it into a paste and coat her arrows with it.

The three return to camp and Rayleigh heads into the drop ship and begins sorting the new plants she found, putting the roots aside to coat her arrows with. She works on grinding the roots as Raven enters the ship and begins working on the walkies. Monty walks in later on and notes that Raven has finished a few walkie-talkies. Raven apologizes to Monty for before with the Ark radio. Monty tells her that all of the hunters are back except for Clarke, Finn, and Myles and that they're going to go look for them. Rayleigh catches that last bit and realizes her sister could be in danger. She grabs a pack of non-poisoned arrows and rushes to Bellamy's tent.

Rayleigh enters Bellamy's tent to find him partially dressed. She tells him that Clarke's hunting party hasn't returned and she's going after her sister. Bellamy rejects this, reminding Rayleigh how dangerous it it after dark beyond the wall. Rayleigh reminds Bellamy that both of her parents are dead and Clarke is all she has left for family. Bellamy apologizes and pulls her into his chest, telling her he'll join in the search party. Rayleigh thanks him and kisses him. Bellamy hesitates and pulls back, claiming everything to be fine. He shrugs on his Guard jacket and grabs his rifle, going with Rayleigh to the gate.

Rayleigh, Raven and Octavia are searching in the woods for Clarke, Finn, and Myles. They are communicating with Bellamy and Monty through the newly built walkie-talkies. Rayleigh tells Raven to stop torturing herself about Finn. Monty asks over the walkie if anyone else is hearing the signal he heard on the Exodus ship's black box. Bellamy asks him if he sees anything before Monty says, "oh my God" and they hear a loud screech on their walkies. The girls then hear someone in the bushes and creep closer, finding a badly injured Myles who tells them the Grounders took Clarke and Finn. Bellamy arrives and tells them they need to get back to camp. Bellamy radios Monty that they're heading home but there's no reply from Monty. Rayleigh is staring off into the forest, seemingly in a daze. Bellamy snaps her out of it and says if they don't get back to camp soon, Myles will die. Rayleigh looks at Myles and agrees to go back to camp, promising herself that she'll find Clarke once Myles is saved.

Main

 * Claire Holt as Rayleigh Griffin
 * Eliza Taylor as Clarke Griffin
 * Thomas McDonell as Finn Collins
 * Marie Avgeropoulos as Octavia Blake
 * Bob Morley as Bellamy Blake
 * Christopher Larkin as Monty Green
 * Devon Bostick as Jasper Jordan
 * Lindsey Morgan as Raven Reyes
 * Richard Harmon as John Murphy

Guest Starring

 * Chelsey Reist as Harper McIntyre
 * Genevieve Buechner as Fox
 * Jarod Joseph as Nathan Miller
 * Katie Stuart as Zoe Monroe (mentioned)
 * Brendan Meyer as Myles

Quotes
~Rayleigh's solution to the food shortage ~Rayleigh comes up with a way to be on an even playing field with the Grounders. ~Raven, Octavia, and Rayleigh about the fates of Finn and Clarke.
 * Rayleigh: "Then we've got no other choice. We have to hunt. Anyone we can spare goes out."
 * Bellamy: "With the whole Grounder army out there?"
 * Rayleigh: "Bellamy, we won't be able to defend ourselves if we're starving to death. We'll put together small hunting parties, and to be safe we tell them to be back by sundown."
 * Bellamy: "Now you're thinking like a leader. I think that nickname suits you after all, Princess Commander."
 * Miller: "What are those for?"
 * Rayleigh: "Never hurts to stock up on medical herbs and plants. These little beauties are something special, the flowers and stems are medically useful. The roots however, are a type of poison."
 * Bellamy: "What would you do with the poison?"
 * Rayleigh: "Ground it into a paste and coat my arrows in it. Give the Grounders a taste of their own medicine."
 * Raven: "This morning, all I could think about was how much easier this would all be if Finn was just...gone."
 * Octavia: "You didn't wish this into being, Raven."
 * Rayleigh: "Stop torturing yourself. Focus more on finding them. They're alive. They have to be."

Body Count

 * Tris (Anya's second) dies of her injuries from the bridge bomb. (off screen)
 * Caliban is killed by Clarke (off screen)

Notes and Trivia

 * The title is a possible reference to "The Calm before the the Storm". The storm being the Grounders attack on the camp, which happens in the next two episodes.
 * Finn and Clarke are captured by Anya and Clarke is forced to treat Anya's second. Anya told Clarke that if Tris dies, Finn dies. (off screen)
 * Raven and Bellamy sleep together (off screen)
 * Bellamy visibly shows regret for sleeping with Raven when Rayleigh kisses him.
 * Rayleigh coats some of her arrows in poison.
 * At the end of the episode, Rayleigh chooses to go back to camp and save Myles instead of continuing the search for Clarke. This is the first time Rayleigh chooses to help her people over her selfish desire (in this case, finding Clarke), foreshadowing her eventual assertion as the Princess Commander.