Red Vs Blue (Project Freelancer)

Project Freelancer is, at least for me, the absolute highest point of Red Vs Blue. It manages to combine everything that I love about the show, while packing in the best season of the webseries by an absolute long shot. For all intents and purposes, it's pretty much perfect.

Project Freelancer is divided up into two major storylines. The first storyline takes place in present day soon after the events of Season 8, as the Reds and Blues try to locate The Director of Project Freelancer. The second storyline takes place in the past as we learn about how Project Freelancer became what it is. While this might make it seem like these two seasons are disjointed, the show manages to quickly swap between the two storylines while allowing for parallels to appear between them. For example, a character introduced in the flashbacks may appear in the present day, seriously changing the plot. The present day storylines are pretty much what you'd expect from Red Vs Blue. Season 9 shows Church's time in the Epsilon version of Blood Gulch, which does a great job of capturing the comedic vibe of the first five seasons before slowly taking a turn towards horror as things start crumbling apart and characters end up doing things they're not supposed to. Season 10 takes place in the real world, as the Reds, Blues, and one of the freelancers Carolina, travel around past locations in search for the director. I absolutely love this storyline, it allows for some fun levity and callbacks while maintaining a melancholic feel, and the rapid location-switching brings back that adventurous feel I loved so much about Season 6.

And it helps that these Freelancer flashbacks actually manage to surpass pretty much everything Red Vs Blue has ever done. Sure, it's a bit lighter on comedy and heavier on the angst and drama, but it does an amazing job of tying together the show's lore, answering questions, and punching you in the gut. This is how you pull off a prequel, it never feels forced or pandering, and the fact that you know how it all ends just makes it more tragic. Season 10 in particular feels like a better Revenge Of The Sith than the actual Star Wars movie. And even better, these flashbacks are pretty much entirely helmed by Monty Oum. These flashbacks are entirely done with animation and are jam-packed with the kind of brilliantly choreographed action you can expect from the guy. The warehouse fight with Tex in Season 8 might still be my favorite, but wow, these seasons definitely have some close seconds. And while they are the Reds and Blues, these two seasons make you really care for the Freelancers. They all have great and likable personalities along with well-defined relationships with each other that make their inevitable downfall all the more devastating.

What I love about Project Freelancer is how it manages to include a little bit of everything. The Epsilon storyline has the Blood Gulch humor, while Season 10's storyline feels like an adventurous love letter to the Recollection Trilogy. And the flashbacks blend the amazing drama and twists from Season 6 with the amazing action and visual gags from Season 8.

My favorite episodes in Season 9 include:

• "The Twins": The first action scene of the Project Freelancer arc has some insanely tight choreography and beautiful animation that genuinely blew my mind after my first time watching it.
• "Introductions": While not as good as the first Tex beat-em-up fight scene, Tex manages to turn her first appearance in the Freelancer flashbacks into an absolute spectacle.
• "The Sarcophagus": Of course giving Red Vs Blue a heist storyline would be pretty much perfect. The action in this episode is relentless and the character dynamic is a ton of fun. Also, Sharkface.
• "Hell's Angel": While the heist shenanigans are all well and good, this episode has one of the show's funniest moments as Sarge outlines his plan to drill to the planet's core.
• "Spiral": My second favorite episode of the whole show is basically one long, chaotic car chase that's easily Monty Oum's most ambitious set piece. That minute-long one shot is just mind-blowing every time I watch it.
• "Hate To Say Goodbye": An emotional end to the season that shows Church finally letting go of Tex, along with a shocking cliffhanger that reveals Carolina is actually alive!

My favorite episodes in Season 10 include, among many others:

• "CT": The second half of this episode is absolutely phenomenal, from the brutal and intricate fight with the titular character to that devastating ending.
• "Out Of Mind": This subdued episode manages to give Carolina a ton of character development as she achieves closure with York and starts to warm up to the team.
• "Remember Me How I Was": The phenomenal final stretch of episodes for Season 10 starts here, packing in a flurry of twists and reveals in the course of a few minutes.
• "Change Of Plans": Oh, this episode is just heart-breaking. Church calling out the Reds and Blues feels like it should be cathartic and satisfying given all they've put him through, but it's just plain harsh and leaves you feeling awful after watching it.
• "Party Crasher": This entire episode chronicles the massive war between the Freelancers and is stuffed with amazing action and devastating moments. For the most part, this is where the Freelancer flashbacks end, with a bombastic yet emotional bang.
• "True Colors": This episode feels like the Avengers Endgame moment of Red Vs Blue. The whole main cast unites to take on this army of Texes in a crazy action scene that's packed with running gags and the sheer joy of seeing the Reds and Blues finally fighting.
• "Don't Say It": I like that the final battle was in the penultimate episode as it allows for a very emotional and cathartic season finale. The confrontation with The Director is powerful, along with the final scene where Church and Carolina decide to leave. It could've been a great series finale, but once again, I'm glad it wasn't.

Overall, Project Freelancer is pretty much perfect to me, and it's my favorite arc by a long shot. These two seasons perfectly blend comedy, drama, action, and adventure while managing to include one of the most affecting and devastating prequel storylines that I've ever seen. For me, this is the peak of Red Vs Blue.

5/5 Stars