2 replies to this topic

[Alextendo]

This topic will contain spoiler, be warned!

Red vs Blue season 10......where to even begin?

First off, i've been following the serie since few years now and it was great...so far. I have the DVD boxset of the ''Blood Gulch Chronicles'' (season 1 to 5) and the DVD of season 6 to 9. I have download every episode of season 10 from the Rooster Teeth website and now, i'm gonna make a review out of it. I know it's late since this season is over since many month ago...but whatever. Now, with my crappy english, this is what i have to said to this season 10 (hooray!).

The first thing that i would want to said is: WHAT WENT WRONG? I mean, do you remember when this show was about the Red and the Blue? Well, now, it's about a bunch of generic super soldier in a backstory to explain stuff that no one have ever asked for. Since season 6, the story have evolve (alot), but it's not really for the best. This show have clearly lost his focus. I wouldn't go into details to explain who is who, because if you read this topic, i guess that you are already aware of these character.

So, following the event in season 9, Church is now eject from the Epsilon unit, because someone need his help to accomplish a mission: Kill the Director. Now, let me present you ''Agent Carolina'', the mari-su that will take the spotlight for the rest of the season. She's always angry and act like a motherfucking bloodthirsty killer.....AND IT'S GETTING FREAKING ANNOYING! So far, she is far, FAR from being an fun character. Carolina is like Agent South, execpt....not as shitty. This season is full of flashback, to explain some event here or there that would lead to the Red vd Blue story. These ''super soldier'', know as the ''Freelancer'', are sent in some operation for.....something. The story fail to explain why they are fighting. Heck, they don't really explain who they fighting with! If that wasn't bad enough, none of these event explain why, or how that would lead to the ''red vs blue'' project. This directly kill the main reason the make a ''prequal'' story. The goal of a prequal story is to explain thing that would lead to the current event, but there's none of that here. So what do we have instead? The answer is: Fighting scene in CGI....oh boy.

I remember the first time when i saw the Tex fight scene in season 8, that was badass. But now, after awhile, they all look the same. Same move, same attack or crazy jump and/or punch, etc. All these action scene give me a feeling of déja-vu. At least if they can be good, it's wouln't be THAT bad. But it's not! The Freelancer seem over-power and nearly invincible. Why should i care? I know that they all gonna be fine, so that give me no reason to worry about them, killing any tension or excitement. Overall, it's style over substance, nothing more, nothing less.

But beside those uninteresting backstory, what about the red and the blue? Well, they are the same, execpt...Carolina steal the show. Also, do you remember Donut? You know, the guy in Red team who was killed in the end of season 7? Well, he's back! Why? The answer is obviously: for fan-service. Look, i don't hate Donut. He's not my favorite character (my favorite is Griff and Sarge), but i was sad that he died. But know he's back with a lame-ass excuse to explain that he was in fact alive because: Doc save him. This is just ridiculous! When Doc arrive in season 8 to look for Donut, Simmon had already confirmed his dead. Simmon is maybe not a Medic, but he's not stupid too. Then you may ask, what did Donut did in this season then? Nothing. Donut did absolutly NOTHING in season 10....THEN WHY BRING HIM BACK IF HE'S HERE FOR NO REASON? I would prefer him to stay dead instead of bringing him back for nothing execpt for fan-service. The return of Doc was useless as well. Because beside a lame speech, he did nothing to make the story progress as well.

In the end, we are left with more question than answer. Why there's all these Tex robot and where they all came from? Why Carolina want to kill the Director now, why not earlier? Why explain a backstory when you have nothing interesting to told? Why the writting is so terrible? What they were thinking? All these question that we will probably never found the answer.

Changing a funny serie into a serious story is one thing, make it work is an another....In the end, it's a mess. The story try too hard to be dark and edgie, but fall flat at every turn. The writting is not as good as it used to be and the story fail to give us interest to any of these ''Freelancer''. The fighting scene all look the same and the transition to the CGI scene with the game engine is very not all that good.

Overall, i can't give this season more than a 4.5 out of 10. He does have it's moment, but it's not enough to save it from the overall mess. Red vs Blue should have end at season 5....but it didn't.

[Captain Sorzo]

Honestly, Season 10 is quite possibly my second favorite, after Reconstruction. They're the only two seasons that managed to really nail that balance between comedy and drama. The serious aspects of the series have been executed surprisingly well, given that such a tonal shift from what used to be complete comedy (and a great one at that; make no mistake, I love the Blood Gulch Chronicles) would be the downfall of most series. Even though they're not all that developed, I care about even minor characters like York and North, and it's saddening knowing how they wind up.

Wash is easily the best character to come out of the series since it took a more serious direction. He has a solid arc that leaves him sympathetic and yet not a clear-cut good guy until he joins the Blues, while his personality is a nice combination of straight man and deadpan snark.

Carolina's not a Mary Sue. Her whole character arc revolved around coming to terms with the fact that she wasn't the best, that she needed to learn to let go of her obsessions and accept aid from others.

As I recall, the Freelancers were fighting Insurrectionists, a group of humans that, in the actual Halo canon, were at war with the UNSC before the Covenant showed up. They're the people that the Spartan II program was actually developed to counter.

As for the CG work, I love it. That said, I'm trying to get into the world of 3D art myself, so I'm probably more biased in favor of such things, especially when they're done by such a small team. That sequence near the end of the season of the ship crashing was absolutely stunning. It looked like something one would see in a AAA game.

My only complaint about the season is the continued use of terrible rap music. Aside from some of the joke songs like "Your Best Friend", there's not a single decent lyrical song in the series other than the classic Blood Gulch Blues, which made a very welcome (and awesome) reprise. The instrumental work, on the other hand, is usually shockingly great. From Ice Fight to Carolina's theme, there are plenty of excellent pieces that I enjoy listening to on their own. A shift to only instrumental pieces in the future (aside from Blood Gulch Blues, of course) would be more than welcome.

[Alextendo]

Season 7, 9 and 10 is the worst season in the series. But because this topic is mainly about season 10, i will talk more about this one in particular.

I find that funny that you like North and York, because i find that they are the one who got the least effort put into them. They both act the same and both seem to share the same personnality, like if Rooster Teeth was too lazy to find something to make them both unique to each other.

For Wash, i kinda like him, but since he join the blue team....he's not the same. He didn't change for the worse, but he's kind of useless since.

For Carolina, yes, she's a mary-su. The season 10 is all about her, and her, and her, and her obsession about ''finding the Director''. What's baffle me is her obsession about ''being the best''. If i could said something to her, it would be: GET OVER IT! The question of who's the best was mainly for a position in the ranking, back in the day of the Freelancer project. But now, in the current event in the serie, there's no need to worrie about it. But no, she's just jealous and she just CAN'T get over this! Near the end of the season, she face many robot of Tex....but wait, Tex wasn't stuck in the Epsilon unit when this thing shut down? After all these event, Carolina finally find the Director....and don't kill him. WOW....lame! She let him here....then the director commit suicide.

What? You're telling me that now, Red vs Blue is trying to connect his serie with Halo now? THAT'S BULLSHIT! Beside using the game engine, Red vs Blue didn't need the game storyline to be good. It was great for what it was. What happen now? Did the serie is in a identity crysis or something? There's no need to add Halo story here and now.

Also, i hate the used of CGI in this serie. Because it's not use for good purpose here, but rather for eye candy. Like i said, it's style over substance. After the moment when you see the character in CGI flying all over the screen like if the gravity stop to exist, then you see them with the game engine, and they look rather weak without their ability to jump moon or do some fly-kick or other exagerate stuff. It created a lack of balanced.

I'm not against the change for a darker story. I would rather see this serie stay to his funny style, but if they want to change, fine. As long as they make it good, why not? But this is the main problem, they didn't. It is poorly done. In fact, it's just like the Star Wars prequel. Yes, i did just that: Compare Red vs Blue with the Star Wars Prequel.....it's THAT low.