RWBY V8 C10

## Plot

Before the episode starts, there's a content warning for photosensitive and epileptic viewers, due to bright flashing lights towards the very beginning of the episode. Ironwood is informed by two incredibly fearful, nervous, and most likely sleep deprived officers that Watts was broken out of prison by Cinder Fall. Robyn and Qrow also escaped capture, but they're monitoring all of the exits, so they must be somewhere in the compound. They still have Jacques Schnee in custody, but Ironwood yells that he doesn't care about that, and tells them to leave and not return until they have Qrow in custody. Before he can ask about the status of the bomb, the whale blows up. However, as we see from Winter and the Ace Ops' perspective, it wasn't them. The massive blast is seen all throughout Atlas. It's enough to kill Monstra, which starts slowly disintegrating. Neo leaves with the relic. Marrow thinks that Jaune, Ren, and Yang were still inside and are dead, and he's clearly devastated. Ironwood thinks that the Ace Ops killed the whale and tells them that they did a good job, but they have a new problem now. He orders them to return to the academy. Marrow points out that it wasn't them. Winter says they can tell him in person and has them load the bomb back up. Cinder and Watts are on the roof of a building, and no one has responded to Cinder's call. Salem will come back, but in the meantime, they need a plan. Cinder says that the plan hasn't changed, and tells him to bring Penny to their location so she can rip the maiden power out of her. Watts explains that it doesn't work like that. He implanted a virus in Penny. She's on a set path now, or at least she should be. As much as he hates to admit it, there seems to be some part of her capable of resisting. It's only a matter of time though before she opens the vault and destroys herself. Cinder gets angry, and asks him how she's supposed to take Penny's power if she's dead. I get that Penny being a robot might complicate things, but Cinder, you know how to steal the maiden powers with your Grimm arm and how the transfer is *supposed* to work. If the power doesn't go to you, it will just go to another young woman, and then you'll have to find them to take the power. It would be harder, for sure, but not impossible. Anyway, Watts points out that he works for Salem, not Cinder, and she doesn't care how she gets the staff. Cinder threatens to throw him off the building. Watts says she can't just threaten him like everyone else, and that Salem ordered her to bring him back, but she says that Salem isn't here right now. First, she's going to watch him plummet to an unremarkable death, then she'll wait for Penny at the vault, rip her to pieces, and take what's hers. Surprisingly, Watts *laughs* at her. He points out that's just what she does, and it's never worked out for her. When she tried to take Fria's power, she thought she could take on Winter and Penny by herself, but she couldn't, and Penny became the Winter Maiden. And before that, she made a deal with Raven Branwen to get all her enemies in one place so she could have a shot at revenge, which also didn't work out for her. He warned her that it was a bad idea, but she didn't listen. And those are just the two instances that he mentioned. Sure, she succeeded at the Fall of Beacon, but she lost her left eye and arm, and she's failed ever since, like when she went to Amity, which Watts probably doesn't even know about. She pushed ahead and lost it when all she had to do was her job. She thinks she's entitled to everything just because she's suffered, but suffering isn't enough. You can't just be strong, you have to be smart. You can't just be deserving, you have to be worthy. But all Cinder has ever been is a migraine. Christopher Sabat's voice performance during this rant is amazing. Cinder gets angry, but doesn't kill him. She sets him back down on the building, walks over to a corner, sits down, and cries. Ugh, the facial animation! Stop making me feel slightly bad for a mass murderer please. It's revealed that Jaune, Yang, Ren, Oscar, and Emerald survived the blast. It turns out that Jaune's Aura didn't break in the previous episode, as we briefly see him use his to boost Oscar's. Blake calls Yang. Jaune tells her that they're all okay. She tells Ruby and Weiss, and we briefly hear them talk in the background as we see Oscar and Ren look at Emerald, who is further away, and clearly devastated by Hazel's death. They're not sure what to do with her now. Weiss sends them a map to reach the Schnee manor through a subway tunnel. We see that Yang has confiscated Emerald's guns and is holding her at gunpoint. Oscar wants them to work with her, since they're all enemies of Salem. Yang and Emerald aren't exactly thrilled at the idea. She doesn't like them, and no one there likes her. She doesn't want to help them. They'll never have to see her again if they part ways, but Jaune says she's not going anywhere after everything she's done. Ren tells him that they can't let all of their actions stem from fear. If she can help them, he thinks they should consider it. Yang points out that she's partly responsible for the Fall of Beacon, and everyone and everything they lost there, like her arm. She lied to and tricked them, and she's dangerous. Ren sees that there are purple petals surrounding her. They likely symbolize guilt or regret. Yang isn't going to just forgive her. Oscar tells her that she doesn't have to, and she has every reason to feel the way she does. He suggests that she give her a second chance. I'm definitely getting Elena of Avalor season 3, Tangled season 3, Ninjago season 15, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous season 5, and *She-Ra and the Princesses of Power* season 5 vibes from this. Even I, an out of universe viewer, couldn't get myself to fully understand the actions and motivations behind certain characters and forgive them for what I considered to be massive blunders. I'm actually talking about Naomi Turner from *Elena* and Cass from *Tangled*, not Esteban. I… wasn't the biggest fan of Naomi's arc during the second half of season 3. Still, at least she actually got one, unlike poor Gabe. And don't even get me started on Harumi, because then I will go ballistic. Anyway, Oscar says they've already gotten quite a bit of help today from someone they don't exactly trust right now. When I first saw this episode, I thought he was talking about Hazel, but Ren guesses that Ozpin is back, which shocks Yang and Jaune. It's possible that he was able to figure it out with his evolved Semblance, but nothing is confirmed. Oscar says he knows how they feel about him, but he saved his life. When they were tortured, he took it, so Oscar wouldn't have to. That's not exactly what happened, at least at first, but whatever. Also, wow, they actually said torture. Granted, this *isn't* a children's show, and obviously actually showing the torture and aftermath of it is even more shocking and brutal than just saying the word, but still. It's revealed that Ozpin's cane stores kinetic energy over time, and most of the power in it was used to kill Monstra. They have to be careful with how they use the rest. Ozpin trusted Oscar's judgment, and it saved them. He wants to reciprocate that trust. There's a lot to sort out, but Ozpin really wants to help. He thanks Oscar. They suddenly hear a baby cry, and find Atlas citizens hiding up ahead at a subway stop. Emerald looks at two small kids and seems to regret that she helped cause this. Oscar tells her that however this fight ends, they could use someone like her on their side. Back in Ironwood's office, Winter tells him that the destruction of the monster wasn't a result of their bomb. She brought it back with them. It could be useful. Penny still hasn't come to the vault, so Watts was either incompetent, or he betrayed them. Or both. It could always be both. Either way, they'll never know, because Cinder Fall broke him out, and Robyn and Qrow also escaped, which makes Harriet mad. Salem will come back, and when she does, she'll throw everything she has at them until there's nothing left. Ironwood *needs* the Winter Maiden. He orders Winter to bring Jaune, Yang, and Ren here, and when she asks what for, he reveals that he intends to either *kill them*, like he thinks he should have done with Qrow, or at the very least threaten their lives to make Penny do what he wants, or as he puts it, "make [her] listen to reason." Winter is horrified, and then absolutely terrified when Harriet reveals that she let the kids go onto the whale, and they never came back, meaning they either escaped in the chaos of the battle, or they're already dead. Ironwood destroys his table in anger, and receives an alert about non-military ships in the air. He sees that they're SDC freighters heading for Mantle, and believes Weiss is behind it, which surprises Winter. He realizes that the kids are still trying to save Mantle, and that's what it's always been about. He gets a new idea to force Penny to cooperate. Jason Rose, you are brilliant and terrifying here, but I've never wanted your character to die a horrible death more than right now, and that includes when I erroneously thought that your character was a mole/traitor like Lionheart turned out to be. Cinder gets a series of texts from Neo, who reveals that she stole the relic, and she'll give it and the password to her so Salem won't kill her when she finds out… but only if she gives her Ruby. We hear two lines of a new song as we see most of the kids reunite. *Night and day I've waited* *for the moment when I'd see your face and feel you near* *All alone in crowded rooms I'm incomplete, my life is paused when you're not here* Ruby hugs Yang with tears of joy in her eyes, and Yang tells her little sister that she missed her too. Ruby holds hands with Jaune as Yang moves on to hug Weiss. She cups Blake's face in her hand, the two of them blush… and they put their heads together, when I guarantee you that literally everyone watching this for the first time thought that the two of them were *finally* going to kiss. And yes, CRWBY or Rooster Teeth or whoever have once again been accused of queer baiting and ship baiting because of this. It had been two out of universe years since Blake and Yang were more or less confirmed to be in love or whatever at the end of volume 6, and the only two times we had ever seen a kiss on the lips in this show had been between heterosexual couples in volumes 3 and 7… both of which were immediately followed by a horrifying aftermath. Spoilers, but it would be *yet another* two out of universe years before it was Blake and Yang's turn to experience that, including the horrifying aftermath part. Ren wonders where Nora is, and Weiss goes up to him to tell him what happened. Before Ruby can hug Oscar, she sees Emerald. Before they can fight, Oscar says that she's okay, but before he can explain, Ruby's Scroll rings. It's May, who tells her that the SDC ships have arrived, but they're not alone. She yells for everyone to hide in the mines as the call is cut off. An alarm blares, which signals an emergency broadcast from Ironwood, who shows footage of military airships shooting down the SDC ships, before showing that he went out and bought the full pure evil villain lighting package. The lighting contrasting with the darkness that seems to make his blue eyes *glow* is just… whoa. I should've said so far sooner, but the people responsible for lighting killed it during this episode as well. Ironwood, you are *a fucking idiot and a soulless monster*. You don't even know for certain where Penny is or that she's with her friends right now. You also don't know that she's currently unconscious, so she can't do what you want ASAP because she doesn't even know! If she gives him the staff, he'll leave Mantle alone to fend for itself. If she doesn't, he'll use the bomb to destroy Mantle, and with nothing left to protect, she and the others would have no reason *not* to cooperate with him. You mean besides the fact that they'd never willingly work with someone like you unless they had literally no other option? Also, both of his "solutions" would result in Mantle dying. It's a heads I win, tails you lose situation, when he should be using the precious little time he has that Salem is gone to find and stop Watts and Cinder, and get as many people to safety as possible. Also, giving this message to everyone means that they all know, including Watts and Cinder, who will no doubt try to use it to their advantage, and possibly the escaped Robyn and Qrow, which just gives them an even bigger incentive to kill you ASAP. He literally could've just called one of the kids. Granted, they probably wouldn't answer, but still, the message is intended for them and Penny, so it's at least worth trying, right? Maybe he could've used Robyn or Qrow's Scroll to impersonate them, or have Winter call Weiss? Instead, it's a message to everyone, which will just increase negativity and attract even more Grimm. It's also one of the worst public statements from an official ever, at least in terms of fiction. He'll destroy Mantle if anyone tries anything other than what he's ordered, and gives Penny one hour to respond, as a conscious Nora looks at her.