Review: Red vs Blue “The Mother of Destruction”

The journalists and the vigilantes come face to face.

Spoilers Below:

Carlos calls Andrews, and reprimands her for spending so long on this story. He says that it’s a waste, and that she already reached the time limit long ago. She argues back, saying that she has found information, enough to reassemble their personnel files for Project Freelancer. Carlos asks why she hasn’t interviewed anyone, and she reports that according to the UNSC database, every former agent is dead or missing, especially since the Reds and Blues began their crime spree. When she asks for more time, Carlos orders her to return back to base and abandon the story. She resolves to ignore him.

Jakz reconvenes with her, but due to artistic differences, Andrews ends up getting annoyed by his antics. She tells him to climb up a tall mountain to get an establishing shot, and preferably be as far away from her as possible. When he climbs up to the top, he spots a spacecraft with the Reds and Blues. He tries to contact Andrews, but she has turned off her radio. He returns to her side, but the Reds and Blues have surrounded them in the meantime.

The Reds and Blues open fire, and both journalists duck for cover. Even though they’re under attack, Andrews asks if Jakz managed to get them on camera. She is dismayed to hear that he didn’t because the lighting was terrible. Andrews attempts to draw their fire as Jakz gets a look at the shooters. She dodges all their shots, but when she’s vulnerable as an open target, they withdraw. Andrews quickly realizes that a storm of thundersnow is approaching fast.

They chase the retreating Reds and Blues through the blizzard, and Andrews asks Sarge for an interview. When Sarge refuses, Andrews realizes that they’re imposters. Before the Sarge-imposter can shoot her, the mysterious horned soldier from the last episode appears, asking for Tucker. A fight breaks out between the two parties, and the journalists sneak away. They reach a dead end, but instead of having to confront the imposter team, they come face to face with the horned soldier.

The soldier explains that the imposters have fled and that it’s safe for them to return to their ship. Andrews asks about his identity, and he replies that he’s nobody of interest, and is only following orders: to find Tucker. When Andrews points out that those were imposters, he is surprised but says he will continue his search.

Andrews and Jakz agree to continue working together, and they set out for Chorus for some final leads. As they get closer, Jakz sees a lot of ships surrounding the planet. Andrews says that the fleet is comprised of all UNSC ships and that they are forming a blockade.

Overview:

This episode sheds more light on Andrews’ investigation. She is denied permission to continue the story, but she continues investigating anyway. For the sake of the story, she is willing to run into gunfire and ask an interview from clearly hostile people. Her absolute determination does have its downsides, such as her ignoring all of Jakz’ warnings when they are surrounded because she is trying to decipher old backlogs. Anything for the sake of a story, indeed.

On a side note, she and Jakz are getting along slightly better. She still finds his need to make artistic and cinematic shots annoying, but they do work together in crisis situations. Jakz does save her life from being shot by the imposters and is willing to continue following her.

It was confirmed that the Reds and Blues that have been attacking UNSC hub spots are imposters, but it’s unclear what their larger goal is. Andrews hypothesizes that it’s a distraction for a large scheme, but at this point, it’s hard to tell. Either way, the recent activity has either been prompted by or has to do with Chrous’ relationship with the UNSC.

The mysterious horned soldier seems to be a third party, who is specifically seeking out Tucker. He is willing to fight and possibly kill the imposters for getting in his way and is likely hostile towards the original teams as well. However, his actions are purely charged by someone’s orders, instead of self-motivated hostility. Whether he is human or a human merged with an AI is debatable, for his voice sounds vaguely mechanical.

More questions than answers, but overall a solid watch.