RWBY V8 C2

## Plot

The episode starts with Qrow and Robyn in hard light dust cells… right next to Jacques and Watts, for some reason. Robyn blames Jacques for everything that's happened. He thinks he's a victim, which gave me volume 1 Weiss flashbacks. I wonder if that was intentional or just a coincidence? He was tricked by Watts. His hands may not be clean, but at least he's not a murderer, referring to Qrow, who briefly looks up from silently staring at Clover's bloody pin. Robyn tells Jacques that he didn't kill anyone, and she won't be lectured by a snake with a mustache who helped Watts tear them all apart. He says that they're all stuck in it together now. Jacques is confident that he'll be out in no time thanks to his legal team, assuming that Whitley has already contacted them. Robyn tells him to shut up. Three soldiers come in and open Watts's cell. He snarks that they've already caught him. That comment gets him knocked unconscious and dragged away. That is a clear violation of… so many things, but then again, it's Watts. If anyone deserves it, it's him. Robyn hates not being able to do anything. Qrow finally speaks up, and says they can kill the man who put them here. It cuts to a picture of Ironwood. A reporter is down in Mantle commenting on his decision to halt evacuations, and the large Grimm horde nearby. Also, I'm kind of disturbed that this news program or whatever it's supposed to be is called *The Atlas Eye*. Right, because I wasn't paranoid enough about the possible spying behavior in the previous volume. Joanna interrupts him and tells everyone that the general has abandoned them. The citizens have to gather any food and supplies they need, and then make their way to the crater. They can hold the line if they all come together. Yang destroys two Atlesian knights in Pietro's pharmacy. It turns out that some of the new tools are hover bikes, which Yang is excited about. They go door to door and gather a crowd of citizens. Two Sabyrs approach them. Jaune throws a type of grenade that generates a hard light shield, which stops them in their tracks, and Ren kills them. Jaune considers the grenade much cooler than a hover bike. Oscar wonders if the Grimm have already pushed this far in. Yang says they must be from the previous night. She asks Ren if he can mask everyone with Jaune's help. He says they can give it a shot, but it's a lengthy trip through Mantle. Jaune tries to keep morale up by telling everyone that they'll have a Grimm free trip all the way to the crater. An elderly woman asks if they really have to "shack up with those animals down in the slums." She'd feel a lot safer up in Atlas. Yang admonishes her and tells her that the people up top have decided they're not worth the trouble. The Faunus, on the other hand, have been willing to lend all the help they can, regardless of whether or not the people of Mantle deserve it. Yang is up front, Ren and Jaune are in the middle, and Oscar is in the back, which allows him to talk to Ozpin out loud and in private. It shouldn't be this hard getting people to just cooperate. And yet, it's something Ozpin is becoming increasingly concerned about. Oscar tells him that he doesn't need his additional commentary right now. They all have every right to be upset. Ozpin apologizes for leaving, but Oscar says that he's upset he came back. He started to feel like the person he always wanted to be. He felt like he was actually part of the team. Ozpin tells him that he was never truly gone. Oscar is gaining control of his remaining magic, and recollecting his longest held memories, which means that their two souls are still on the inevitable path to becoming one. Oscar says he doesn't want that, and Ozpin tells him that he doesn't either. Suddenly, the Aura masking of everyone starts to flicker. Jaune asks Ren if he's okay, and he says it's just a lot to focus on. Jaune tries to encourage him, but Ren snaps that he doesn't need a pep talk, he needs to focus, which clearly upsets his teammate. Ozpin says they need to find a way to work together. Not just the two of them, but everyone. Meanwhile, Ruby's new team is with May. Nora thanks her for her help. Once Robyn learned about Amity, she wouldn't stop talking about it. May is sure that if she were here, she'd want them to do everything they could to get it up and running. Besides, their friends are taking her place in helping evacuate Mantle with Joanna and Fiona. Nora looks upset when she mentions it though. Weiss tells everyone that Snowshoe Shipping is a subsidiary of the SDC, so the robots working there report to the company, not Ironwood. The pneumatic tubes allow for Dust refined in the crater to be shipped straight up to Atlas. They just have to find the one for the military base. Penny finds the one for Atlas Academy. She tells Ruby that she doesn't like it when friends fight. Ruby thinks she's referring to her and Yang disagreeing about how best to save Mantle. However, Penny meant Winter and Ironwood. Penny, I love you, but you're naive. Not everything is about friendship. This is not *My Little Pony* or *Barbie* or *Bratz* or *Polly Pocket* or *My Littlest Pet Shop*. While I *would* classify Winter as a friend at best, work colleague at worst; the general is, or rather was, your superior/commanding officer/boss. Penny mentions what he told them when he called her in the previous episode. Ruby tells her that it was a lie, and he only said it to hurt her. She was the Protector of Mantle. But now, she's much more than that. And she wishes she wasn't. Sounds like she and Oscar are going through similar situations now. I'd actually love to see a conversation between them, or even just Ozpin teaching Penny about her new magic powers. Ruby tells her that she's still her, and by becoming the Winter Maiden, she did protect Mantle. Penny thanks Ruby, who hugs her. Aw! Even Nora and Weiss seem to find it cute. They found the tube for the military base. May says that with Penny as their secret weapon and her invisibility Semblance, they couldn't be in better hands. Weiss tries to demonstrate what they should do, but Nora's button pressing enthusiasm causes her to be sent up immediately. Joanna enters a tent in the slums. Fiona is there, doing her best to coordinate the evacuation effort. Joanna tells her that she's doing great, and Robyn would be proud. She uses her Semblance, which is officially called Deep Pockets, to store a map. They go outside and see more people enter. They're the group that was with Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar. Fiona is amazed that they already cleared Sector 7. She wasn't sure how they'd be doing without all of their teammates. That comment causes Ren to just walk away immediately without a word, which Jaune sees. Yang seems insulted, and says they're doing just fine. Oscar asks Fiona where they're putting everyone. They're placing everyone in houses or other shelters, and people in the community are trying to convert old mine shafts into livable conditions. They've got a lot of people to keep warm. Looting the SDC refineries is their best source of Dust. Fortunately, arresting people in Mantle isn't on anyone's priority list during the apocalypse. Just knowing that the Grimm are circling out there doesn't feel great. Joanna wonders what they're waiting for. The elderly Faunus man from the first episode tells them that another fight has broken out. It turns out that he's Fiona's uncle. Oscar waves to him. Aw! Also, he's voiced by Gus Sorola. Joanna leaves to handle it. Fiona gets a call from a guy named Crimson. His group spotted a decent amount of Grimm moving in from the east, and they can't take them down with civilians around. Yang and the others volunteer. They ground a Teryx by using some sort of weird looking bomb with wind Dust to collapse a bridge on it. Jaune kills it by decapitating it. Yang tells Fiona that they're done, and she says they're getting reports of Grimm coming in from the west now. The Huntsmen there could really use some backup. No rest for the weary, literally. Oscar says it's all the negativity. Salem's forces aren't moving in, but it's enough to start attracting the stragglers. Ren says they're not finished and points out three Sabyrs. However, they suddenly stop and run away in fear. None of them have ever seen Grimm act like that before. Oscar wonders what they were running from. Suddenly, the Grimm from the end of the last episode attacks him. I love the cinematography of this scene. Because the characters are taken by surprise, the shots are framed to not completely show the Grimm right away. Its attack and Oscar's panicked response also looks like a realistic depiction of someone getting mauled, but with no blood, because Aura. To the characters, even Ren, it just came out of nowhere. Then again, I think Ren has only ever sensed people before, not Grimm, probably because they don't have Aura. To the more attentive audience members, this unique Creature of Grimm was actually seen three times before, watching the heroes throughout the episode. The first time was right after they found the hover bikes at the five minute mark, then during Oscar's talk with Ozpin at 7:37, and again just before on the bridge at 13:23, although that one goes by really quickly, and before it was always seen from far away or in the shadows. According to the credits, this Grimm is called the Hound. And no, we didn't get its name from concept art. You'll see why it gets its own credit very soon. It depletes Oscar's Aura and knocks him out. Its default form looks like a giant aggressive black dog with no eyes. However, it can change its form depending on the situation, and it sounds extremely painful. Think back to Tyrian dislocating his own thumb to get out of his cuffs and then snapping it back into place, but on a larger scale and with a Grimm. It makes itself bipedal with more upper body mass to pick up Oscar with one hand. When Yang tries to attack it, it uses Oscar as a human shield and throws her into a wall. Ouch. Ren's bullets are useless on it, and when he tries to use his upgrade for StormFlower to kick it, it makes its free arm extend and swat him aside, like the Nuckelavee from volume 4. Before Jaune can attack it, Yang tells him that it's using Oscar as a shield. Grimm aren't supposed to be that smart. Ren yells at it to give Oscar back… and it shifts its throat around to say no. It can talk. That's terrifying. Holy shit. A Grimm that is intelligent and can strategize. This shocks the others even more, and they watch in horror as it sprouts the same red wings we see Salem with in the new opening. It picks up Oscar with its mouth and flies away. After getting over their shock, the others give chase on their hover bikes. When Fiona asks them what's going on, Yang says that she wouldn't believe them if they told her, ending the episode on a cliffhanger. Also, the Hound is voiced by Jason Liebrecht. I also love how it's animated when it's transforming or after it's recently transformed. It looks like it's in a semi-liquid, fully adaptable state. Major props to whoever animated that.