Review: Red vs Blue “Nightmare on Planet Evil”

A horror movie trip.

Spoilers Below: 

Tucker starts loudly complaining, to what is revealed to be on camera. He says good riddance to Griff, and that maybe the rest of the team could go as well. Simmons interrupts, having found the relay, and motions Andrews over. Andrews says that the signal has been bouncing it around, but she’s not exactly sure what it is, or how it’s been getting Church’s signal. Tucker identifies it as a Bop-It, and Andrews is dumbfounded. Andrews says she should still be able to retrace the signal, and the rest decide to search the area for clues. Sarge says that there’s something evil out there, but Tucker says to split up and cover more ground.

Sarge ventures out on his own, but is startled by his reflection. As he walks away, his reflection remains in the mirror. Someone is whispering Simmons’ voice, and he starts getting nervous before it’s shown that it’s Caboose. Caboose says he’s scared, and they decide to stick together. Simmons explains that this place was a human settlement before the war, where a giant massacre took place. Caboose is worried about ghosts, but Simmons says there’s no such thing as ghosts. They get into a discussion about the afterlife, which ends with Simmons admitting that he’s terrified of snakes.

Tucker hears some sounds behind him, and something tries to jump on him. Tucker ends up clotheslining them, and the assailant is revealed to be Jax. He contacts Andrews to say what happened, and Andrews reports that she managed to find the next location- a desert planet called Armada-8. She reunites with Tucker and Jax, but stumble upon the horned soldier.

The horned soldier, standing from above, asks for Tucker. Tucker sees the bodies of Sarge, Simmons, and Caboose, and prepares to fight. However, the horned soldier reveals that Sarge merely passed out, Simmons was frightened by a small snake, and Caboose is just playing dead. He asks for Tucker again and says that he’s there to serve. Tucker, thinking that the soldier is there to become his bodyguard, announces who he is, but is merely handed a folder of legal documents. The horned soldier explains that following the temple incident, many people on Chorus are demanding that Tucker pays child support, much to his dismay.

As they prepare to leave, the imposter team starts to move in.

Overview: 

Caboose and Simmons get into a big discussion about life and death, where Caboose shows that he thinks people stay dead because they weren’t loved enough. He thinks that since he cares a lot about Church, and Church keeps coming back, then memory is what keeps people alive. Simmons says that Church is an exception and that most people stay dead, regardless of how many people cared about them. It’s also revealed that Simmons is very upset about Griff’s departure, even if he doesn’t want to admit it.

All in all, the episode mimics a horror movie, where a group splits up and is picked off one by one. The culprit is shown to be Jax, who’s a fan of horror, but there’s something else going on. Sarge’s reflection remained where it was, which could either be the imposter Sarge, or something supernatural. Although we won’t find out until next episode, the suspenseful mood was very well parodied.