Part of the reason Lexa was killed is that the actress who plays Lexa,Alycia Debnam-Carey,had to leave to start filming Season 2 ofFear the Walking Dead,where she's a regular. AndThe 100 is a violent show – many characters have been killed in the show's dystopian war.
But fans are decrying the show for the way Lexa was killed:by a stray bullet meant for the woman she loved,Clarke,right after they consummated their relationship. Part of the"Bury Your Gays"trope is that lesbians are often killed after joyous events – declarations of love,and even marriage.
The shooter didn't target Clarke because of her sexual orientation,but wanted her relationship with Lexa to end because it distracted Lexa from her leadership duties in the war. Still,"The message there was pretty clear,"Meyer said."She was killed because of who she loves."
Some fans also felt especially betrayed since the writers actively sought to build an LGBT audience around Clexa,as the relationship was dubbed,and then pulled the rug out from under them.
"There was a lot of queer-baiting,something they established over a 10-month period,"said Meyer. Some fans"assumed it was going to be a same place where they wouldn't see something like this,that they have seen so many times before."
CW has not commented on the controversy,but a number of the show writers have,on Twitter and Tumblr. Javier Grillo-Marxuach,the writer of the episode in question,has been particularly apologetic.
Creator and showrunner Jason Rothenberg,who was also unavailable for comment,apologised multiple times,each time falling flat with fans. In a letter posted two weeks ago,titled"The Life and Death of Lexa,"he wrote:
"For many fans ofThe 100,the relationship between Clarke and Lexa was a positive step of inclusion. I take enormous pride in that,as I do in the fact that our show is heading into its fourth season with a bisexual lead and a very diverse cast. The honesty,integrity and vulnerability Eliza Taylor and Alycia Debnam-Carey brought to their characters served as an inspiration for many of our fans. Their relationship held greater importance than even I realised. And that very important representation was taken away by one stray bullet."
"The thinking behind having the ultimate tragedy follow the ultimate joy was to heighten the drama and underscore the universal fragility of life. But the end result became something else entirely - the perpetuation of the disturbing'Bury Your Gays'trope. Our aggressive promotion of the episode,and of this relationship,only fuelled a feeling of betrayal."
"I am very sorry for not recognising this as fully as I should have. Knowing everything I know now,Lexa's death would have played out differently."
Debnam-Carey told theDaily Beast that she was proud her character's storyline had inspired activism."Just to think that it had such an impact on people. It's kind of an honour,"the actress said."It became a positive thing,which is really the most important thing about it all."
On Thursday's episode,the show fuelled more controversy by killing off one of its black characters,Lincoln. Like Debnam-Carey,the actor,Ricky Whittle,was expected to leave the show for another role. But the character's brutal,execution-style death has caused some fans to write the show off altogether.
LGBT Fans Deserve Better has already asked supporters to brainstorm another activist trending topic to circulate during this week's episode.
"Minorities aren't disposable characters. We don't accept marginalised storylines. We're not a focus group that you can pander to to use for ratings and then throw away the storylines,"Meyer said,noting that LGBT characters,characters of colour and disabled characters are often"given secondary or tertiary storylines that can be thrown away".
"We're getting to a point where we can't accept that anymore."