Author's note:
Thanks to Brian.H.H for some incredible analysis and suggestions.
And yes I'll probably do the Red vs Blue death battle. It was just good enough to warrant a reaction. I got annoyed every time they showed a scene from season 15+ but eh whatever. The new VA for Caboose is just not Caboose. Shannon is already a fantastic VA, he could have done it. He voiced Iowa and would have done a great Caboose.
Cover Art: Cruz7808
S10E7- Oversight
"I think it's taken in, and if it's not. Play the episode!" Nora shouted. "We're back on track with season ten!"
"Hopefully there are no more breaks." Weiss added.
" Oversight" appeared on the screen with the theme.
"Oversight.. like the chairman's thing?" Nora asked.
"Maybe, or they overlooked something in the search for the Director." Blake shrugged.
"Sigma made a massive oversight last episode." Ren added. "His metastability analysis wasn't complete."
"He probably couldn't have become metastable even if he did get the A.I. he needed." Jaune added.
"I actually have a thought about that." Blake sat up, "I don't think Sigma wanted to steal those A.I. to become Metastable. I think he wanted to become a full A.I. and then become Metastable."
"What?" Ruby asked.
"Remember what the counselor said, it's harder for a fragment to become metastable than it is for a full A.I. he might have needed to become a full A.I. first." Blake explained.
"That would make more sense." Ren nodded.
"In the end that doesn't change much." Yang commented, "Just his method of becoming metastable."
Weiss hummedc, "He thinks he has to become a full A.I. but Delta achieved metastability as a fragment."
"He could be so ambitious that he wants to try it as a fragment, if he became a full A.I. wouldn't he change because of the other fragments' emotions? I don't think he'd want that" Ruby asked.
"I think he does... but." Blake's eyes widened. "I just remembered something important. Sigma is creativity, Washington said it in season six."
"Creativity? That doesn't make sense." Weiss frowned. "Why would the Alpha need to segment off their creativity?"
"And it doesn't really match Sigma." Ruby added.
"Well maybe his plans are.. creative?" Yang suggested.
"Remember this is the director's creativity we're talking about." Blake noted. "The Alpha is based off of him."
"In that context it makes more sense." Weiss nodded.
"I mean for all we know he could be both creativity and ambition." Ruby threw her arms up in a shrug.
"It's frustrating, if there was ever a time to explain everything it would have been last episode." Weiss sighed.
Ruby giggled, "When they were in a literal classroom."
"I don't want to be the Director's student." Nora huffed indignantly.
Fade in to the beach of Zanzibar. Washington sees Carolina kneeling down by the water and walks towards her.
" U.N.S.C WIND POWER FACILITY, PRESENT DAY."
Washington: "The facility is clear."
Carolina: "Find anything?"
Washington: "Nothing we didn't already know."
Carolina: "Figured as much. This place was a dead end."
"Didn't they stop here because the reds wanted to take a break?" Nora frowned.
Jaune shrugged, "I think so, but they stayed to investigate."
"It feels like they're grasping at any lead they can find." Weiss commented.
"The Director hid himself well." Blake added.
Washington: "Sorry, boss."
Carolina: "The structure we're going to next, you're positive our target was there?"
Washington: "I know what I saw, that's why it's on our list."
Carolina: "But I know what I saw, and it doesn't make any sense."
Washington: "All the more reason to investigate."
Carolina: "Alright then. Let's go. Let's go find C.T."
"C.T." Nora gasped. "They're gonna find me!"
"Or the insurrectionist leader." Jaune countered. "The C.T. from season seven was either him or Connie with a voice changer."
"It's him, he stole her armor." Blake stated, completely sure of herself. "He could have killed her too."
"They really seemed to love each other." Ruby pouted. "I don't think he'd kill her."
"How did he get her armor?" Blake asked. "Either way, something happened. And from what we saw in season seven, he's not the best."
"Yeah he's not, but still." Ruby frowned. "C.T. is a mystery, first it's just some guy trying to get an artifact. We still don't know why he wanted it. Then C.T. turns out to be a girl! And she's in love with the guy who who sounds like the original C.T."
"They're the same person!" Nora waved her hands in a flourish.
"We've seen them both in the same room at the same time." Jaune pointed out.
"Oh yeah, and that's the rule." Nora relented, "They're not the same person."
Camera pans towards the sky before fading into a new location
" LONGSHORE SHIPYARDS (FOB), MANY YEARS AGO..." appeared on the screen.
The camera follows a seagull as it lands on a submerged Wyoming.
"Is that a body?" Pyrrha gasped.
"I think they're alive, if they were dead they wouldn't be standing." Ruby pointed out.
The seagull is sniped.
Ruby flinched, "birdie no!"
"That was needlessly graphic." Weiss grinaced with Ruby
Malcolm Hargrove: "(voice over) To the Director of Project Freelancer, Dr. Leonard Church."
"Oh hey it's the chairman." Jaune noted.
Weiss chuckled, "I liked him in season six, he was just as frustrated as I was with the Director's responses."
"Yeah he sounded like he cared about his job." Ruby nodded. "But he did kind of free the Meta and Wash to send after the Epsilon unit."
"Freeing the Meta definitely wasn't the best decision." Jaune chuckled nervously.
"He's in charge of the UNSC too right? Or at least he can order troops or something." Nora asked.
"Something like that." Jaune shrugged.
"Either way he's definitely after the reds and blues, they stole a hornet, then they stole Church." Nora giggled. "I bet he's mad."
As the voice-over plays, the insurrectionists cheer and praise the sniper.
Insurrectionist sniper: "Nailed it! That's what we call a bird's eye.."
Yang scowled at the pun.
"Why did they have to kill the birdie." Ruby whined.
"Target practice?" Blake guessed.
"I shoot rocks or Grimm." Ruby huffed. "That's much better than a poor little bird."
"Seagulls are vermin." Blake grumbled, Ruby gasped in horror.
"They must be hard to deal with in Menagerie." Pyrrha nodded. "We only have to deal with them in Argus for a short time."
"They just want food." Ruby pouted.
"You've never had a seagull steal your food." Blake laughed, recalling her father angrily swatting away seagulls.
Wyoming surfaces and, along with Florida, are seen spying on the Insurrectionists at the shipyard
"Is that Wyoming?" Nora asked.
"Has to be, but who's the other one?" Jaune pointed.
"A new freelancer." Blake grinned, "I wonder what this one is like."
"He looks like a recovery agent." Jaune added.
Malcolm Hargrove: "Dear Director, allow me to introduce myself. I am a representative of the newly formed U.N.S.C. Oversight Sub-Committee."
"This is their first correspondence." Weiss noted.
"He doesn't know how horrible a pen pal the director is yet." Ruby giggled.
Malcolm Hargrove: "Our organization is charged with the protection of high-level assets of the military, one of which, recently went missing."
"He doesn't mean the thing they stole last season does he?" Jaune asked.
"If he does then he is likely connected with the insurrectionists." Weiss grimaced.
"But he's with the UNSC which is like the government's military." Nora gasped, "It's a double cross! He's playing both sides."
"But the heist happened a while ago, Maine took time to heal." Pyrrha added.
"I don't think he's connected to the insurrection." Weiss admitted. "Besides it is Charon industries behind them."
Malcolm Hargrove: "These assets are entrusted to our programs as a privilege, not as a right."
"Is the insurrection another program like Project Freelancer?" Nora asked.
"I thought they were a military group separate from the UNSC."
Jaune frowned. "We don't really know a lot about them."
"I doubt they're a part of the UNSC, if they were then the Project would be outright attacking the UNSC." Weiss explained.
Malcolm Hargrove: "As such, they will be safeguarded with the utmost care."
The sleeveless insurrectionist is seen.
"That's one of the soldiers from the highway chase." Yang pointed. "Sleeveless guy."
"He's the one who injured Maine." Pyrrha added.
Malcolm Hargrove: "In these dark times, mankind has the opportunity not only to prove his humanity, but to earn it."
Girlie is seen sharpening her knife and one of the twin crazies is shown spray painting their machine gun.
"That's a great line, it sounds like something professor Ozpin would say." Ruby commented.
Weiss nodded, "The chairman has the morals that the Director lacks."
Blake chuckled at Weiss's words, "..Look at the soldiers." She said after a moment's pause.
Nora pointed, "I love the heart on that person's armor."
"She's one of the soldiers from the freeway." Yang commented, "I think that sniper guy was too"
"He was!" Jaune realized, "He shot the bullet that Maine took for Carolina."
A Falcon flies by
Wyoming: "Well, third craft this afternoon. Let's see who else is arriving."
Cut to Girlie and Sleeveless, girlie takes off her helmet revealing her scowling face and blonde hair.
"She doesn't look happy." Jaune stated the obvious.
Malcolm Hargrove: "(voice over) I look forward to a long, and mutually beneficial, relationship for our two departments."
"Mutually beneficial." Weiss repeated with a snort.
"The director was a bad interviewee and the chairman basically put out an arrest warrant on him." Jaune laughed.
"Mutually.. unhelpful." Yang said after some thought.
Malcolm Hargrove: "Yours truly, Malcolm Hargrove, Assistant to the Oversight Sub-Committee Chairperson."
C.T. and the Insurrectionist Leader disembark from the Falcon.
"Sounds like he's doing the old chairman's job." Yang commented. "
Weiss scoffed, "A common situation, I believe General Ironwood did the same for his predecessor."
"The chairman is starting to sound like the Director's main enemy or something." Nora commented. "The Chairman vs the Director! It sounds like two businessmen about to fight!"
Ruby laughed, "Yeah it does."
Weiss shrugged with a small grin, "Hm I wonder what the project will do about C.T."
"Capture her?" Ruby suggested hopefully.
"Maybe." Blake winced, "But probably not."
"I don't want my character to die." Nora huffed. "I like C.T. She was nice to the triplets."
Demo Man: "It's her."
Girlie: "I can't believe he trusts that bitch after what she did to us."
"What did C.T. do to them?" Ruby asked.
"Nothing that I can remember." Ren frowned.
"Maybe it has something to do with the Sarcophagus mission? She was a part of team B." Blake recalled.
Cut to a sniper view from Wyoming.
Wyoming: "There she is. (as Wyoming looks through the scope of his rifle, C.T. gazes out in his direction) Come in, Command. Tell the Director she's here."
Cut to the Leader and C.T.
Insurrectionist Leader: "What is it?"
C.T.: "It's nothing... come on."
"She can't see him can she?" Ruby asked. L
"I doubt she saw him, but I don't know." Blake hummed, "Do you think she would defend the other freelancers?"
"I don't know, maybe? If she saw him then she definitely will." Ruby explained.
"I wonder if she feels guilty for betraying them." Yang leaned back. "Even though it kind of was the right thing to do."
"She might, she's compassionate." Blake nodded.
"She betrayed her friends, I don't doubt she feels at least a little guilty." Pyrrha added.
The two continue walking, but not before the Leader glances back out toward the ocean. Fade to the Mother of Invention flying through space before cutting to the Director and Counselor inside
Counselor: "Congratulations, Director. Another successful test."
"No.. he's not talking about C.T. is he?" Ruby asked.
"He knew she would betray him? What kind of test is that?" Yang scowled.
"To see what the other soldiers would do if they were betrayed?" Jaune guessed.
"That doesn't relate to A.I. I don't understand." Ruby gripped her head.
"A lot of what the Director does doesn't make sense." Pyrrha sighed.
Blake frowned. "I can't think of a reason, unless his tests aren't only related to the A.I."
"What do you mean?" Pyrrha asked.
"He could also study the effects of different situations on soldiers. And he could be testing his agents, seeing what they will do to a traitor." Blake suggested.
"What point would that serve?" Weiss asked. Blake shrugged.
"To see who has the best.. reaction?" Jaune suggested. "I don't
know, maybe the counselor meant something else."
"I doubt it." Blake sighed, "Whatever his reasons.. they're horrible."
"Yeah." Ruby nodded fervently.
Director: "A new fragment was harvested this morning, Counselor. Find it a match."
"Harvested?" Pyrrha growled, "No compassion, no remorse, no morals."
"He's torturing himself, but at the same time another person." Ruby whimpered slightly.
Counselor: "This morning? That is ahead of schedule."
Director: "Our time grows short, find it a match."
"Delta mentioned this." Ren hummed, "The director felt time was running out so he accelerated experiments."
"Why would time be running out, what was he racing against?" Blake asked no one in particular.
Carolina walks in.
Carolina: "Director, Wyoming reported in."
Director: "And?"
"Oh, they weren't talking about C.T." Blake relaxed.
"You all got worked up over nothing." Nora giggled.
Carolina: "You won't like what he found, sir."
Director: "Agent Carolina, information never displeases me. It's ignorance that I find unforgivable. Report."
Ren grimaced, "I hate to say that I agree with him."
"Me too." Blake scowled. "Ignorance is the cause of too many problems."
Carolina: "It's like you said... C.T. is with them."
Director: "You know what to do. I do not need to remind you how valuable our technology is, Carolina."
"So the Chairman was talking about C.T.'s armor." Jaune nodded.
"So what I'm seeing here is that they just want her armor." Ruby said, looking around for confirmation.
"I don't think they'll just let her go." Jaune pointed out. "The Director wouldn't at least."
Carolina: "She doesn't have an A.I., sir. And she wasn't exactly the best agent."
Pyrrha winced, "She's trying to convince the director that C.T. doesn't have to die."
"In her own mean way." Ruby added.
Director: "C.T. will be an acceptable loss. But her armor must not fall into the wrong hands."
"That should be a clear red flag, he cares more about the armor than the agent." Blake sighed.
"Carolina isn't in the state of mind to see it." Pyrrha shook her head.
Carolina: "I understand. Will we be the only forces sent out on this mission, sir?"
"AKA she wants to know if Tex will be sent." Yang chuckled.
"She probably will be." Blake nodded.
Director: "(Leaning forward on the table) Leave personnel decisions to me, agent. Just do your job! It's time to cut the head off the enemy once and for all!"
"I never noticed it before but yeah you guys are right, he gets really defensive whenever Tex is brought up." Ruby commented.
Carolina: "Yes, sir."
Carolina glances up at Tex's name on the leaderboard before leaving.
Pyrrha sighed, "I want to know why she cares so much, why any of them care."
"They want to please him, remember what Washington said." Blake grimaced, "The director gave them everything, I think they depend on him and their role as freelancers."
"You don't think they have anywhere else to go?" Jaune asked.
"No." Blake shook her head.
Jaune nodded, "Kind of like the reds and blues in a way.. except they want to be where they are."
Cut to Tucker, Caboose, and Church outside the Wind Power Facility
" U.N.S.C. WIND POWER FACILITY, PRESENT DAY" appeared on the screen.
Tucker: "So, how do you even know this Carolina chick?"
Church: "Oh, Tex used to tell me stories."
"Tex talked about Carolina." Pyrrha hummed, "That's how he knew about her in the Blood Gulch Chronicles."
"I wonder what she said." Yang added.
"Knowing Tex... well actually I don't know." Pyrrha frowned, "Sometimes Tex can be mean and full of herself-"
"For good reason." Yang held up a finger.
Pyrrha chuckled, "But she can also be nice and caring."
Yang became serious "I don't think Tex would have a lot of positive things to say about anything project related. She only seemed 'happy-ish' with the reds and blues. She liked them, they were her idiots and jerks remember?"
Pyrrha nodded, "Yeah I do, there have to be some positives though."
"If there are, she probably didn't experience them." Yang shrugged, "She never talks to the other freelancers."
Tucker: "You mean tell Alpha stories?"
Church: "Oh yeah... I guess. You know, whatever! It's hard for me to know who's memory I'm in."
Caboose: "Oh yeah, same thing happens to me with things I'm in. Like my helmet. That's why I wrote my name on the inside of it. I used my tongue. That was hard to do. Now I can't pronounce my *GRAGGH*"
"Can't pronounce what?" Weiss asked as the others chuckled.
"I don't know, I can't pronounce it either." Ruby giggled.
"Now we know how Caboose remembers his name." Blake grinned.
Tucker: "So... how many... people are you?"
"Three!" Ruby answered.
Church: "I don't know, a bunch I guess."
Tucker: "Are they all assholes?"
"Only one really is." Ruby answered again.
"I'd argue all three are." Weiss chimed in.
"Yeah sometimes." Ruby giggled.
Church: "(sarcastically) Yeah, a dozen different fragments, we all have the same shitty circle of friends. Lucky us."
"Like right there." Ruby added.
"Caboose and Tucker have been great friends to Church." Pyrrha argued.
"Caboose killed him a few times." Weiss pointed out.
Pyrrha laughed, "I know."
Cut to the Mother of Invention mess hall, where Theta is showing North holographic fireworks
"Awww!" Yang and Weiss cooed.
North Dakota: "That's really great, Theta!"
Theta: "Thank you! I worked super hard on it!"
"Theta is so precious!" Weiss touched her elbows to her chest and her fists to her cheeks.
"He's so proud!" Yang added.
South Dakota walks by and sees the two of them.
South Dakota: "Ugh!"
Yang and Weiss became murderous.
"How dare she!"
"What a bitch."
South then leaves. York and Delta sit down at the table
" MOTHER OF INVENTION MESS HALL, MANY YEARS AGO..." appeared on the screen.
"This is the mess hall, looks less roomy than I thought it would." Nora looked around the room. "A food fight in there would be close quarters.. I like it."
"Ohh I wonder if they ever had a food fight!" Ruby gasped.
"That would be interesting, though they can't really substitute food for guns." Ren pointed out.
"I'm sure they could improvise." Pyrrha laughed, "We did."
York: "Hey Theta! You mind if I talk to North for a second?"
Theta: "Uhh... okay."
York: "Need you to shut down while we chat, okay? Delta too. You know, it's the rules."
Delta shuts down
"Wait what? The A.I. can't be active whenever the freelancers talk?" Ruby groaned. "How many rules does he have about that." "A lot." Blake mumbled.
"He's obviously trying to prevent something." Weiss added.
Theta: "North?"
"Aww." Yang and Weiss sagged.
North Dakota: "It'll be okay. I won't talk too long."
Theta: "Alright. (shuts down)"
"He trusts North completely, you can hear it in his voice." Yang commented.
"I know." Weiss nodded.
North Dakota: "What's up?"
York: "I need to ask you about something."
North Dakota: "Uh, okay. Shoot."
York: "I need to ask you about the Alpha."
North Dakota: "Where did you hear that word?"
"And I bet this is what he's trying to prevent." Weiss gasped. "Talking about the Alpha."
"Wash talked about this, the A.I. were obsessed with the Alpha." Blake recalled, "They would steer conversations toward the topic of the alpha." She paraphrased.
"Those conversations, if the A.I. can't talk to each other and can't be active whenever freelancers talk then conversations about the Alpha will be effectively shut down." Weiss nodded.
"Except, you can't really shut down a conversation in someone's head." Jaune finished the line of thought.
"And the rules get broken, the Director can't prevent it." Blake added. "And the A.I. started taking drastic steps as Wash put it."
"I can't imagine Delta or Theta doing anything, but Sigma, Gamma, and Omega would definitely take those drastic steps." Weiss commented.
"Yeah, like killing your friends and stealing their A.I. drastic." Nora nodded.
York: "Same place you heard it... (points to head) Up here."
The camera shifts to reveal Washington sitting next to North. He is drinking from a cup with a bendy straw.
Washington: "(slightly muffled, holding a beverage) What's an Alpha?"
Blake laughed, "I didn't see him before."
"Is that a crazy straw? That's awesome!." Ruby voiced her approval.
York: "Wash... are you eating inside your helmet?"
Washington: "(slightly muffled) Maybe. Delta said they got the helmet waste disposal out of beta. That it would make my eating more efficient."
Blake began to scowl, "He's eating inside his helmet? At this point we're being taunted. They will never show his face."
York: "Haha, and you believed that? Maybe he is getting more personable."
"Delta played a prank?" Ren raised an eyebrow.
"And suddenly I like Delta a lot more than I used to." Nora grinned.
Ren chuckled, "It's not something I expected."
North Dakota: "It's not an Alpha, Wash, it's the Alpha. Theta thinks about him a lot. More than thinks, really. He's- he's obsessed."
York: "Delta too. You know how all the units call each other brother? They call this one 'father'. No... that's not right."
North Dakota: "Creator."
"I wonder why it's not father." Blake hummed.
"Me too, but creator makes more sense." Jaune shrugged.
York: "Yeah."
Washington: "(slightly muffled, holding a banana) I thought the Director would be their creator."
York: "Haven't you been paying any attention in class? A.I.s aren't created; they're copies of someone."
North Dakota: "But our A.I.s are just fragments."
York: "Which begs the question... where's the original?"
"Being tortured." Ruby scowled.
Washington: "(slightly muffled) So this Alpha thing is what, creates the fragments?"
"I'm glad Wash is there, he's funny when they're talking about dark stuff." Nora smiled.
"Wash the comic relief of the freelancers." Blake chuckled.
York: "Jesus, will you swallow for god's sake?"
Washington: "(swallows, now holding an apple) It creates them?"
"Did he swallow the whole banana?" Nora asked.
"He eats fast, which is why we won't see his face." Blake scowled again.
North Dakota: "Yeah, Theta isn't clear. It creates them... or something."
York: "Yeah, it's the 'or something' part that has me worried." The episode fades to black.
"When they find out, there'll be hell to pay." Yang crossed her arms.
"Especially with North, I bet he'll be defensive of Theta." Weiss added.
"Theta." Yang's eyes widened, "I can't believe he ended up with the Meta."
Weiss sagged, "It must have been terrifying."
Many of you have talked about Blake's reaction to C.T.'s death and how it's important and relates to Adam... I'm having a hard time seeing how C.T. relates to Blake. At most I can say they both left the groups they used to be a part of but they left two completely different groups for two completely different reasons.
Also the insurrectionist leader doesn't relate to Adam at all. Nor does the relationship between him and C.T. relate to Blake's and Adam's.
Now many of you have made that point and said that it's important. I feel like I'm missing something. So explain to me again how their stories relate and what you think Blake's reaction should be. I'd love suggestions and an explanation. I'll take what you say into account but I can't see how they relate.
V8 SPOILERS:
Nora hitting the button and launching Weiss was probably one of the funniest moments in the show.
The Grimm that fucking TALKED oh my god. Obviously Salem created that one, unless it's an ancient Grimm or something. But the way it brutally broke Oscar's aura was amazing. First time in a long time a Grimm has ever seemed truly threatening. I love that the Grimm resembles the old Beowolf design. And again, it just beat on Oscar, brutally. That's the kind of stuff I like, that was a truly threatening Grimm. Intelligent and brutal.