I'm marathoning the Rooster Teeth machinima Red vs. Blue and recording how I feel about it. Do the first five seasons hold up to my nostalgic expectations? Do the latest five seasons maintain the quality of the show that I remember so fondly? Join me. Love it or hate it, let's watch Red vs. Blue.
Previous Entries:
Red vs. Blue: A Retrospective [Part One]
Red vs. Blue: A Retrospective [Part Two]
Ah, Season Three; the time-travel season, or at least, the first instance of time-travel. (If I recall, we’ll get back into time-travel in Season 5). Anyways, my fear that Season Three wouldn’t be able to strive due to the complicated circumstances the gang found themselves in at the end of Season Two were completely unfounded. Everybody was split up, and you know what? That led to some really great moments. Sarge and Caboose’s episode in Battle Creek is a timelessly funny reenactment of nearly every game I’ve ever played on Xbox Live. Church and Griff’s prison banter is also worth a chuckle or two.
The real highlight of Season Three though, is the three-episode Time Travel Arc, where Church is faced with the opportunity to go back in time and fix all of things that went wrong during Seasons One and Two. A bit of personal bias comes into play here: I love time travel stories where people trying to change the past are the ones responsible for creating the trouble in the first place. Does Red vs. Blue take a little bit too much time to show how Church is behind every little thing that took place in the last Two Seasons? Maybe, but at some point the redundancy is what makes it funny. Watching the arc is worth it just to hear Church’s “Oh no! I’m the team-killing fucktard!” The arc also ends with this Season’s most clever joke, which was totally underappreciated by the me of six years ago. When the Blue Team argues about whether or not Church tells the short version, or the long version of his time travel adventures, Tucker exclaims “I want to hear the long version, but could you tell me in three parts?” Priceless.
The Season ends with a brief glimpse at an alien, and the only thing I remember about him is that he only goes “Blarg” and “Honk”. I absolutely loved that as a kid, but I’m a little worried I’m going to find that to be embarrassing during Season Four. You know what though? Every time I’ve worried that Red vs. Blue wasn’t going to stay as funny as I remembered it, I was wrong. Season One held up to my nostalgic expectations, Season Two was funnier than I remembered, and Season Three juggled a more complex plot and the transition from Halo to Halo 2 perfectly well. So you know what? I’m just going to forget any reservations or worries I might have about moving forwards. Every step of the way I’ve enjoyed this rewatch of Red vs. Blue, and I’m looking forward to more.
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