I Remember...
Assignment #2 for my Honors Creative Writing in Non-Fiction and Memoir course.
"Sincerely yours, the former director of Project Freelancer, Doctor Leonard Church."
Glued to my computer, those final, fateful words ringing in my ears and the lingering notes of "First Wave" by Trocadero still beating in my heart, I could feel the chills running down my spine, the hair on my arms standing on end.
It was the end of season six of my favorite show, Red vs Blue. Season six, known better as Reconstruction, had quickly become my favorite at the first introduction of one of the main protagonists (and a new addition to the cast) Agent Washington, in the prequel mini series beforehand, Recovery One.
But this moment, the Epilogue of Epsiode Nineteen, was the most shocking revelation of them all, and the moment that Red vs Blue (RvB) became something more than a TV show for me. I had first been introduced to RvB by my online friends, barely a few months earlier, though they had been pushing me to watch it since I had joined the forum The Domain over a year before.
I refused to get sucked into what I called "another T/D fad" but one fateful summer day in 2009, I decided to give in and watch the very first episode. And despite thinking that Grif wore yellow armor and Simmons wore red then (much to Jenny's chagrin and correction afterward) I was hooked. I had fallen in love with the characters, especially a cobalt blue Private known as Leonard L. Church.
Now, I know all of you are probably sitting here scratching your heads thinking, "Huh? Red vs Blue? armor? Simmons? Church?" So, in the simplest terms (though I can never fully give words to explain the hilarity that is RvB) I shall clarify.
Red vs Blue is a machinima series filmed in the multi-player level of the video game Halo. Later on, the Rooster Teeth team who makes RvB would move into Halo 2 and Halo 3 (next season, Halo Reach) the first two and a half seasons are filmed in Halo 1. It, in essence, is about two military inept teams of soldiers- one Red, one Blue-fighting between each other on the most useless planet--Blood Gulch, a box canyon in the middle of nowhere.
The first five seasons, The Blood Gulch Chronicles, records the hilarious and seemingly impossible situations the Reds and Blues find themselves in. The Red Team is composed of a Sergeant known only as Sarge, and three Privates: Grif, Simmons and Donut. The Blue Team, on the other hand, is composed of three Privates: Caboose, Tucker, and finally, Church. It is Church who later becomes the main protagonist of RvB, and it is Church that became a defining character for me while I watched the series. Church's quotes, filled with a mix of arrogance, dirty words, and the occasional stumbled upon wisdom, became sayings I treasured, saved up to use in everyday life. After all, who doesn't relish the chance to say gems like "There's a fine line between not listening and not caring. I like to think I walk that line every day of my life" or "Nope, no matter how bad they seem, they can't be any better, and they can't be any worse, because that's the way things fucking are, and you better get used to it, Nancy. Quit yer bitching" or even: You know, Caboose, I use to not care. I just went along with orders and hoped that everything would work out for me. But after all that has happened, you know what I learned? It's not about hating the guy on the other side because someone told you to. I mean, you should hate someone because they're an asshole, or pervert, or snob, or they're lazy, or arrogant, or an idiot, or a know-it-all. Those are reasons to dislike somebody. You don't hate a person because someone told you to. You have to learn to despise them on a personal level. Not because they're Red, or Blue, but because you know them, and you see them every single day, and you can't stand them because they are a complete and total fucking douchebag." "
By the time I got to Reconstruction and it's follow up Recreation, I had hit a bad period in my life, fraught with bi-polar disorder, depression, and an emotionally abusive boyfriend. So when my emotions were spent up and I was overwhelmed, my solution was to crawl into bed with my Reconstruction DVD and forget the world for a little while. And later, when my nights were filled with anxiety, the voice over correspondence between the Director of Project Freelancer and The Chairman of the Oversight Sub-Committee soothed me into a much needed. restful slumber.
Even now, when my troubles are still flaring up from time to time, I know nothing cures my bad days than a dose of my favorite show, Red vs Blue. I've always said, "RvB solves everything" and to this day, I mean every single word.