Review: Red vs Blue “Head Cannon”

It’s like Disney’s Inside Out, but with 3 Angers.

We return once again to Blood Gulch and the Halo 2 engine this time to cover another story happening simultaneously with the events of the first five seasons. Like the Funhaus episodes, which intersect briefly with the beginning of the arc, this covers unseen moments from the end, namely the 100^th and final episode. Also fortunately similar is that this story focuses on characters we already know and care about, like the prequel episodes from the beginning of this season.

SPOILERS FOR SEASON 5 AND THIS EPISODE AHEAD!

It’s been nearly a decade since said 100^th episode came out, so some brief recap: Throughout the Blood Gulch Chronicles, the Reds and Blues had been placated by Omega AKA O’Malley, Tex’s AI from the Freelancer training. Being basically data, he jumped from her, to Caboose, to the neutral pacifist Doc through their radios and stayed in Doc for the majority of that time until his real plan…which is very crazy, convoluted, and not very relevant to this story, could be enacted on. Part of this required retaking Tex’s body since she was the strongest (and really only) soldier amongst the group. Losing hope from being in a catch 22 in said convoluted plan, Tex opened her radio to let Omega take control of her in hopes of saving everyone else. Church, still trying to save Tex, turned on his own radio and told everyone else to do the same in order to throw Omega off the scent and buy time. What followed was Omega jumping into one Red and Blue after the other as Church and Tex (who also had the ability to jump minds because they were also AIs but didn’t know it…just go with it) gave chase across multiple minds. What we didn’t see is what went on IN those minds. And so, here we are: Episode 99.5.

First stop is Simmons, who we actually spend like half the story in. It’s about what you’d expect from Simmons: Academic like setting, stone bust of himself (at least I presume since he wears the same armor as everyone else), Grif is his manservant, and Sarge is openly admitting he’s his dad. Naturally, Omega wants to get the hell out of this concentration of patheticness, which leads him back to Caboose. We’d actually seen inside his mind a couple of times before, where Caboose interprets everyone in really out there ways, not the least being Church as his loyal best friend. Upon entering, Omega is on the war path…until Tex follows him in, trying to cut a deal like she did in the original version of this…which is then itself interrupted when Church kills him, forcing him to land in Donut’s brain (which would probably turn out to be a Halo-themed Chip n’ Dales if we had stayed long enough). After that is Sarge, whose mind is constantly in a state of conflict OR just finds peace in imagining conflict, and then Grif, who was too tired and lazy to come up with anything beyond his room and an annoying Simmons. Then a brief return to Doc, and finally Church, who we know by now is actually the Alpha AI where Omega originated from. Like Church, he also notes that this mind feels familiar, even meeting the Alpha within and winning over control of it (more of a shrug-off than a win, but still). Yes, things finally seem to have fallen into place for good ol Malley…which of course leads to another conk to the head.

This was a welcome return to a familiar time and place, expanding on characters we’ve known for years (even if it’s just slightly), while also incorporating Blood Gulch-era humor with the key revelations the audience has learned from events that follow this, giving them a very different perspective than what they might have had when initially viewing the 100^th episode. We also finally get to see more material with Omega, as well as Tex, who has been startlingly absent throughout this anthology. Even more surprisingly, this episode was written by Barbara Dunkelman, (who most notably voices Yang on RWBY), and I can’t remember a single notable pun! This was a blast to watch, and I hope Barbara is able to get more writing opportunities in future Rooster Teeth projects. Maybe taking on some of the burden on RWBY? Maybe? …Please?