Shorts Review: Red vs. Blue Season 13, Episode 16 ‘Armonia, Part Two’

Spoilers Below:

No time for set-ups, like just pick this thing up right where we left off.

As the Reds and Blues made their escape via pelican, Doyle realized that the bad guys needed a reason to stay in the city, otherwise they would simply chase after the ship and not be present for the explosion. In a brave and selfless act, Doyle took off in a vehicle to act as bait. He then realized he was also the most likely to successfully reach the reactor in order to detonate it, and headed in that direction – against the protests of his comrades. He reassured them he could eventually reach the pelican before detonation.

Meanwhile, Carolina was in the midst of her battle with Sharkface when Wash radioed her their plan. She decided to head to the extraction point to meet up with them, and hopped on some speedy public transport with her adversary in pursuit. She outsmarted and managed to wound him, saying that the fight is now over. Sharkface then took off his helmet and replied, “As long as I’m alive, you’re all as good as dead.” Shrugging, Wash and Kimball opened fire and eliminated him.

Some soldiers then caught up to Doyle, and although he killed them, they damaged the reactor. Surrounded, he decided his only option was to detonate the rector while still present – again, against the protests of his comrades.

As the Reds and Blues narrowly made their escape from Chorus, Doyle’s bomb detonated, almost certainly killing him, the enemy soldiers, and Locus and Felix.

The fate of our friends was left uncertain.

In Case You Missed It:

1) Exactly what you want to hear before taking flight: “Just so you know, I get very motion sick!”

2) Kimball: “WHAT THE HELL DOES HE THINK HE’S DOING?!” / Wash: “Calm down. I’ll get him on a secure line and handle this. Doyle, WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

3) The warnings on the reactor said: “DANGEROUS,” “DO NOT TOUCH,” and “SERIOUSLY. DON’T.”

4) How do you “allegedly” hit too many trees? Just ask Grif.

Wow.

Seriously, wow.

As far as I know, this episode wasn’t the season finale (it still seems a bit early) but it easily could act as one. Especially with the cliffhanger. Needless to say, going from two set-up episodes to this one was totally worth it.

Here’s what worked:

First, there was tons of action. It started out with both armies scrambling to defeat their enemies and escape in one piece, with a whole lot of strategizing. I must give credit to the writers and producers here, because they thought of some great scenarios. The fight between Carolina and Sharkface seemed brief, relatively speaking, but it was plenty eventful. They went from battling on the ground, to a fight on a high-speed train. This wasn’t just to add excitement, but also acted as a creative solution to rendering Sharkface’s flamethrower useless – which is a smart move for Carolina and her survival, as well as for the show, because it leveled the playing field. Her quick thinking eventually defeated her foe, and her friends added the final blow (or bullets.)

There were also a whole lot of emotions being thrown around. I can’t say I’m shocked that Doyle ended up sacrificing himself to save his fellow soldiers, given that everyone – and eventually Doyle himself – were constantly belittling him for his lack of usefulness. It was so well set up that it was hard not to see it coming. Still, it was well executed, and did – in fact – tug on the ol’ heartstrings a bit. Hearing Kimball, one of Doyle’s biggest critics, pleading for him not to make the ultimate sacrifice had to hit you right in the feels. Especially when he told her, “Chorus still needs you, Ms. Kimball. So, when you die, you had better be damn sure that those you leave behind can carry on without you. I know I am. This is General Donald Doyle, signing off.”

There were also a couple good throwback references in this episode – one intra-episode, and one inter-episode. The first was when Carolina asked Church/Epsilon is he could give her a little power. When he replied that he couldn’t provide much, she said she only needed one big jump. This came at the end when she was riding on top of the pelican and gave it a final, desperate boost to escape the exploding planet. Well done again, writers.

Also, Doyle’s last words to the enemy soldiers were a reference to “The Thin Fed Line” (three weeks ago) when he quoted Shakespeare, saying, “Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it.” The problem was, this is actually a quote by Mark Twain. However, with his last few breaths, Doyle straightened this all out, declaring, “I’d like to quote the great William Shakespeare. But to tell you the truth, I don’t actually think he said it.”

Probably the only thing about this episode that old school fans could criticized was the fact that it could have used a bit more humor. As the ICYMI section shows, there was still some, but it wasn’t a hilarious installment, just a funny one. Still, it didn’t need to be, so that’s absolutely, 100% fine with me.

So fuck it, let’s call it like it is: This baby was perfection.