Television is messy. Sometimes, it’s intentionally chaotic, designed to make you throw a popcorn bowl at the screen. Other times, it’s accidental. But when we talk about The 100 sex scene—specifically the one in Season 3, Episode 7, titled "Thirteen"—we aren't just talking about two people finally getting together after months of "will-they-won't-they" tension. We are talking about a moment that basically reset the rules for how showrunners interact with their fans.
It was 2016. The CW was the king of teen drama.
Clarke Griffin and Lexa, the Commander of the Grounders, had this electric, complicated, and frankly exhausting dynamic. Fans called them "Clexa." When they finally shared an intimate moment, it felt like a massive win for LGBTQ+ representation on a major network. It was tender. It was earned. It was also, unfortunately, the precursor to one of the biggest fan revolts in the history of social media because of what happened immediately afterward.
The Build-Up: Why This Scene Felt Different
Most TV hooks-ups are predictable. You see the lingering glances, the "accidental" hand touches, and the dramatic music swells. But The 100 was a show about child soldiers trying to survive a nuclear apocalypse. Romance was usually a death sentence or a luxury nobody had time for.
Clarke was the pragmatic leader of the "Sky People." Lexa was the stoic, almost robotic leader of the 12 Clans. They were enemies first. Then allies. Then, after a betrayal at Mount Weather, they were back to being complicated messes.
What made The 100 sex scene work so well was the silence.
There wasn't a ton of dialogue. It was about Lexa showing vulnerability, something her character’s "Heda" persona rarely allowed. She literally stripped away the war paint and the armor. For a few minutes, the show stopped being about survival and started being about two people finding a shred of peace in a world that was constantly trying to kill them. Honestly, the chemistry between Eliza Taylor and Alycia Debnam-Carey was so palpable that the scene felt more authentic than 90% of the stuff on network TV at the time.
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The "Bury Your Tropes" Controversy
You can't talk about this scene without talking about the "Bury Your Tropes" or "Bury Your Gays" phenomenon.
If you weren't on Twitter (now X) or Tumblr in 2016, it’s hard to describe the absolute meltdown that occurred. Minutes after the intimacy ended, Lexa was killed by a stray bullet. A stray bullet. Not in a glorious battle. Not defending her people. She died because of a freak accident involving her advisor, Titus.
This sparked a global movement.
Fans felt baited. They felt like the sex scene was used as "fan service" to keep them watching, only to have the queer character killed off the moment she found happiness. This wasn't just about a TV show anymore. It became a sociological study on how media treats marginalized characters. The Trevor Project actually saw a massive spike in donations from The 100 fans who were processing the grief of losing a character that meant the world to them.
Scriptwriter Kim Shumway and Showrunner Jason Rothenberg faced intense scrutiny. It led to the creation of the "Lexa Pledge," where other TV writers promised to stop killing off LGBTQ+ characters just for shock value or "cheap" emotional stakes.
Technical Execution and Directing Choices
Let’s look at the actual filming of the scene. Director Dean White and the writers didn't want it to feel exploitative.
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- Lighting: The room was bathed in warm, flickering candlelight, contrasting the cold, blue hues of the rest of the Polis tower.
- Pacing: It was slow. Intentionally slow. It focused on faces and hands rather than just "action."
- The Score: Tree Adams, the composer, used a softer, stripped-back version of the main themes to emphasize the intimacy.
It felt human. That’s the best way to put it. In a show where people were being vaporized by AI or tortured in bunkers, this was the most "human" the characters had been in seasons.
Why the Fans Won't Let It Go
People still post about this scene every single day. Go to any fan convention, and you’ll see Lexa cosplayers. Why? Because for a lot of viewers, it was the first time they saw a "Power Couple" where both people were women, and both were leaders.
They weren't sidekicks. They weren't "the best friend." They were the protagonists.
There’s a nuance here that often gets missed. Some critics argued that the show was "dark" and everyone dies, so Lexa’s death was just par for the course. But fans countered that the timing—immediately following the consummation of their relationship—followed a specific, harmful pattern in media history. It’s a debate that changed how writers’ rooms function today. You see the ripple effects in shows like The Last of Us or Euphoria, where there is a much more conscious effort to handle these storylines with grace.
The Legacy of "Thirteen"
The episode "Thirteen" is one of the highest-rated and lowest-rated episodes simultaneously, depending on which site you look at. It’s a polarizing piece of art.
It’s worth noting that Alycia Debnam-Carey had to leave the show because she was a lead on Fear the Walking Dead. The writers had their hands tied to some extent. They had to write her out. But the way they chose to do it, right after the most anticipated sex scene in the series, is what created the firestorm.
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If you watch it now, detached from the 2016 social media frenzy, the scene remains a high-water mark for the series' emotional depth. It’s a quiet, beautiful moment in a very loud show.
What You Should Take Away From This
If you're a writer, a creator, or just a fan of prestige TV, there are a few real-world lessons to pull from the The 100 sex scene controversy.
First, audience trust is a currency. Once you spend it, it’s incredibly hard to get back. The show’s viewership numbers took a hit after this episode, and while it survived for seven seasons, the relationship with the core fanbase was never quite the same.
Second, representation isn't just about putting people on screen; it’s about the narrative arc you give them. Happiness shouldn't be a death sentence.
Finally, if you’re looking to rewatch, pay attention to the dialogue right before the scene starts. Lexa says, "Life is about more than just surviving." It’s the mission statement of the entire series, and for one brief moment in that bedroom, they actually lived up to it.
Actionable Insights for Media Consumers
- Support "The Lexa Pledge": Look for shows and creators who have publicly committed to avoiding the "Bury Your Gays" trope.
- Check Out Fan-Led Charities: Groups like ClexaCon emerged from this specific moment, creating spaces for LGBTQ+ fans to celebrate representation without the fear of sudden character exits.
- Analyze the Context: When watching a "big" TV moment, ask if the payoff serves the character's growth or if it's being used as a plot device to move toward a shock ending.