The 100 – WISE Score & Parent Review | Screenwise

The 100

Name: Screenwise
Author: Screenwise

show2014

32%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Teen delinquents get sent to post-apocalyptic Earth as expendable test subjects—then things get really dark.

93%

7.9

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The 100

show

2014

32%

WISE Score

Avg. Tomatometer

Teen delinquents get sent to post-apocalyptic Earth as expendable test subjects—then things get really dark.

93%

7.9

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93%

7.9

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Screenwise Verdict

Look, The 100 is not going to score high on a wholesome scale, and that's fine—it's not trying to. This is dark, violent, morally complex sci-fi that takes its premise seriously.

The good: It's genuinely engaging television with interesting world-building and ethical dilemmas. For older teens who can handle mature content, it offers meaty discussions about leadership, survival, and what we owe each other when civilization collapses.

The bad: It's REALLY dark. Like, relentlessly dark. Torture, genocide, constant death, minimal hope. The show sometimes confuses 'edgy' with 'meaningful,' and the trauma porn can get exhausting.

Bottom line: This is for mature 16+ viewers who specifically want dark sci-fi drama. If your teen loved The Hunger Games books but thought the movies were too soft, this might be their jam. But if they're sensitive to violence or you want something the family can watch together, run far away. This earned every bit of its mature rating.

Age Fit

This is squarely for older teens (16+) and adults who can handle intense violence, dark themes, and moral complexity. Despite featuring teen protagonists, this is not a teen show in the Disney sense—it's a mature drama that happens to star young people. Fans of dark sci-fi like The Walking Dead or Battlestar Galactica will find their audience here.

WISE Breakdown

Wholesome

The 100 is a dark, violent post-apocalyptic drama where teens are sent to potentially die on a radioactive planet. The show features graphic violence, moral ambiguity, torture scenes, and a 'survival at any cost' mentality. Characters regularly betray, kill, and manipulate each other. While it explores themes of leadership and survival, the tone is bleak and emotionally heavy, with minimal modeling of kindness or cooperation—most relationships are transactional or violent.

Imaginative

The post-apocalyptic premise is compelling: Earth abandoned for 100 years, teens discovering what remains, encountering grounders and other survivors. The world-building expands across seasons with interesting sci-fi concepts about radiation, survival technology, and tribal societies. However, the show leans heavily into teen drama tropes and repetitive conflict cycles rather than truly exploring its creative potential. Still, the premise invites curiosity about survival, society-rebuilding, and what humanity becomes after collapse.

Safe

This is firmly mature content. The 100 features graphic violence including torture, mass death events, genocide, executions, and war crimes. There's sexual content including teen sex scenes, nudity, and sexual assault references. Characters die suddenly and brutally throughout. Themes include child soldiers, PTSD, suicide, substance abuse, and moral nihilism. The show earned its mature rating repeatedly—this is absolutely not something a young child should stumble upon. Even for teens, it requires significant emotional maturity.

Enriching

The 100 does raise legitimate ethical questions: trolley problems, leadership under impossible circumstances, tribalism vs. unity, the cost of survival. It explores moral complexity and consequences in ways that could spark meaningful discussions for mature teens. However, the show often chooses shock value over depth, and its 'everyone is terrible' approach can feel nihilistic rather than thought-provoking. The entertainment value is high for its target audience (teens/young adults who like dark drama), but the constant trauma and violence can be exhausting rather than enriching.

Parent Info

✓

Why It Might Be Great

Genuinely compelling survival premise with interesting world-building about what happens to humanity after nuclear apocalypse
Raises complex ethical questions about leadership, sacrifice, and the cost of survival that older teens can grapple with
Strong character development across seasons as teens transform from delinquents to hardened survivors
High production value and engaging storytelling that keeps viewers hooked (7.9 TMDB rating shows audience engagement)

⚠

What to Watch For

Graphic violence including torture, mass casualties, and war crimes—this is NOT a show for younger teens
Sexual content including teen sex scenes and assault references
Extremely dark tone with minimal comic relief; characters constantly face impossible moral choices and trauma
Can be emotionally exhausting with its 'everyone suffers constantly' approach to storytelling
The 'repressive regime' and survival-at-any-cost mentality means very few positive role models

Conversation Starters

"If you were in Clarke's position, how would you make decisions when every choice leads to someone dying?"
"The show explores whether humans can rebuild society better the second time—do you think we'd make the same mistakes?"
"How do you think living in constant survival mode changes people's morality? Is it justified?"
"What would you want to preserve from our current world if you were rebuilding civilization from scratch?"

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