RWBY V7 C12

## Plot

First of all, the number one thing I hated about this episode? The FNDM's general response to it, calling it the worst episode ever, calling the characters and the writers idiots, thinking it's queer baiting and bury your gays, etc. So I'm just going to ignore them and focus on my own opinion. People in real life do and say stupid things all the time because their emotions are running high! So why is it so hard to accept the same thing happening in a fantasy show? And why does it have to be only one person's fault? Why can't two or more people share the blame, in part because they've both been emotionally compromised and have different ideals? And why can't we the FNDM feel as conflicted as the characters? Why do we have to take sides about who's in the right? What if they both are? Maybe there's a way to combine their ideas? Put Atlas back on the ground and use the staff to raise Amity and call for help. Or create an indestructible force field around Atlas *and* Mantle. Anyways, picking up where the previous episode left off, Robyn is furious that Ironwood is declaring martial law and abandoning Mantle. Clover thinks he has a good reason for doing it, and then he gets an alert calling for the arrest of team RWBY, team JNPR, and Qrow. He tells Qrow and approaches him. Qrow puts a hand on his weapon when Robyn also gets the alert. Robyn thinks Ironwood is trying to stop anyone who might get in the way of his plan, and says he underestimated her. She takes out her crossbow and aims it at Clover. He doesn't want to arrest her too, but he will if he has to, and he takes out his weapon. Qrow tells them both to knock it off and wait until they get to Atlas and talk to Ironwood personally to settle this. However, Robyn refuses to listen, and fires a bolt, which Clover deflects, and Qrow and Clover fight each other. He wishes it didn't have to come to this, and Qrow tells him that it doesn't have to. Robyn says they can hug it out once they've taken Clover down. She deflects his hook, which breaks the metal pole that Tyrian is cuffed to, allowing him to escape. They're so busy fighting that they don't notice him incapacitate or kill the pilots and take control of the plane. Only Clover is able to make it out before it crashes. Meanwhile, Winter also gets the arrest alert. Penny asks her if it really doesn't bother her that the general is leaving all the people down in Mantle to die. She tells Penny that her personal feelings don't matter. They're here to retrieve the power of the Winter Maiden so they can access the relic. Penny tells her that her feelings should matter. She tells Penny that the general is making hard choices so they don't have to. For the good of everyone, not just a few. Penny says she doesn't see what's good about any of this, and Winter agrees with her. Still, they both head for Fria. Harriet locks down Ironwood's office. Everyone but Marrow and Ruby take out their weapons. He doesn't want to fight, and only takes out his weapon after Ruby does. Harriet tells them that they're the best Huntsmen in Atlas, and Ruby says they were… and then they trained them, and uses her Semblance to break down the door, and Harriet follows her with her Semblance. Yang fights Elm while Blake fights Vine. He grabs her and tosses her to Elm. He tells Yang that if they come peacefully, they won't hurt them, but Elm disagrees because the girls "betrayed them". Blake tells her that they're betraying the people they've sworn to protect. Yang tells her that it's not worth it, and the Ace Ops are just following orders now. Elm gets even angrier and charges at Yang after she throws Blake into a wall. Meanwhile, Weiss fights Marrow in Ironwood's office, and makes excellent use of her glyphs and Dust. Marrow brings up Weiss's history as a Schnee and how she always gets what she wants, but she summons her knight and tells him that this is her home, and she's not giving it up without a fight. Beyond the obvious parallels of who is fighting who, there's also the fact that in earlier volumes, Yang would be acting more like Elm is during this fight, but now she's using that to her advantage. She's continuing to fight smarter, not harder. Also, Marrow is based on the dog from the Aesop tale *The Dog and Its Reflection*. And what do Weiss's songs often mention? Mirrors. Not to mention that, on the surface level, especially in the earlier volumes, she's seemingly a rich, privileged Schnee who was racist towards Faunus, but her childhood was actually full of abuse and neglect instead of love, and the dog in the tale thought its reflection was another dog with something better, so he dropped what he had to attack the "other" dog. Basically, be content with what you have, the human desire for more is foolish, etc. Qrow walks out of the downed airship and checks Robyn's pulse. She's alive, and Clover tells him to surrender so they can get back to Atlas and get her some help. Qrow folds Harbinger into its scythe form and calls Clover manipulative. He insists that he really did enjoy working with him, even with his endless cynicism. Qrow points out that he's usually proven right. Clover calls him a friend and says they don't have to fight, but he says he doesn't know his friends, because that's how it always goes. As they fight, Tyrian wakes up inside the airship, dislocates his thumb to free himself, and then snaps it back into place. When Qrow realizes that he's free, he stops fighting Clover and attacks him, but then Clover stops his attack and fights him. Tyrian gets in between them, and an epic but short 1v1v1 ensues. He and Qrow bring up that they have a score to settle, and Tyrian offers him a chance to finish it after they take down Clover. Qrow charges at him again, but once again, Clover stops him and fights him, until Tyrian kicks him away again. He and Qrow look at each other and both charge towards Clover. Ruby and Harriet wind up back in Ironwood's office with Weiss and Marrow. Harriet yells at Marrow for going easy on Weiss, and he points out that he's trying to arrest her, not kill her, and that Harriet is being excessive. She yells that it's not excessive if it's necessary, and chases after Ruby again, who used their arguing as a distraction to escape. Elm tells Vine that they can't be soft, and he asks her if she's telling him that, or herself. He throws large stones at Yang, but she throws one of them up into the air after plastering it with sticky bombs, and Blake kicks the stone towards Vine, who swats it away. He grabs Blake for at least the third time and brings her in close, but it turns out to be one of her shadow clones… who took the sticky bombs off the stone and kept them, and then they blow up in his face, sending him into the air. Yang uses his own gravity cuffs to restrain him and flips him so hard into the floor that it shatters, and it also depletes his Aura, as well as knocking him out. Marrow finally uses his Semblance on Weiss… who can still independently move her summon while she's frozen. Marrow freezes it, but that allows Weiss to move again. She fireballs him, which depletes his Aura and knocks him out. Harriet gets Ruby on the ground and tries to cuff her, but Ruby uses her Semblance to go around her and bind her arms behind her back instead. Yang continues breaking up the floor, which makes Elm's Semblance useless. Before Elm can use her rocket launcher on Yang, she activates her own Semblance and obliterates the floor so hard that it sends Elm flying, and she and Blake both attack her to finally deplete her Aura and knock her out. Harriet charges at Ruby, but her Aura is depleted and she's knocked out when she runs into an ice wall Weiss makes. There's been another great new song throughout this fight called *War*, with *four* different singers. One of them is Elm's VA, and another, Adrienne Cowan, sang a duet with Casey for volume 6's end credits song. There's a great revolving shot of all the girls talking about what to do while carrying the unconscious Ace Ops. It's so awesome and hilarious that I honestly had to watch it twice, because my brain didn't process what any of them were saying the first time. Blake and Yang will look for Jaune, Nora, Ren, and Oscar while Ruby and Weiss try to get to the Winter Maiden. Ruby points out that their scrolls don't work when someone comes in. Luckily, it's just Maria and Pietro, who came to get them after learning about the order for their arrest from their still working scrolls, and they agree to help. Nora calls out for Oscar, and it turns out that he's in a nearby hallway. When Nora goes up to hug him though, she hears him shout no, but from another hallway. He runs up and punches Neo so hard that her illusion fails, and it knocks the relic off her hip, allowing him to retrieve it. He tells the others that this crazy girl attacked him, but she looked like someone else. Nora says her name is Neopolitan, and while she and the others have never met her personally, they haven't exactly heard good things from team RWBY. Winter is going to get Fria's powers through the Aura transfer machine, and hopes that it'll be painless for her. Based on Pyrrha's experience, it sounds like it'll be more painful for you. Penny brings up what she said earlier about her personal feelings not mattering. She says they won't change her actions and what she's committed to. The power of the Winter maiden and the relics *must* be kept from their enemies, even if it means that Fria dies, but they must still acknowledge their personal feelings and wrestle with them. It ensures them that they're on the right path. It's what makes them human. Penny says she thinks she understands… and then Cinder attacks. Penny recognizes her as the one who was responsible for what happened to Beacon… and to her. Cinder tells her to step aside or she'll make sure there's nothing left to salvage this time. Penny takes out her swords and refuses to back down. Clover disarms Qrow and ties up Tyrian. Instead of getting his sword back, Qrow punches Clover and depletes his Aura. And remember, when your Aura is gone, you can't use your Semblance anymore. Qrow asks Clover why he couldn't just do the right thing, instead of the thing he was told. He says that sometimes the right decision is the hardest one to make. He trusts the general with his life, and he wanted to trust Qrow too. While they've been distracted though, Tyrian picked up Qrow's sword and stabs Clover from behind with it. Holy shit, that's a lot of blood. Qrow, in the loudest and most enraged tone we've ever heard from him, declares that he'll kill Tyrian. He mocks him and says he's the one who killed Clover. He drops Qrow's weapon and runs away when another airship comes by. Qrow considers going after him, but stays with Clover instead. He tells him that someone had to take the fall, and Qrow says that he'll make sure that Ironwood takes the fall. They see the sun rise, and Clover wishes him good luck… and dies. Qrow starts crying and lets out what I consider to be the single most heart wrenching scream ever recorded as the episode ends. The sheer amount of anguish heard in that one scream of a man whose entire life has basically been a living hell, and has just had his one ray of hope suddenly taken away from him… Okay, so the Ace Ops traitor theory didn't pan out because none of them switched sides or really betrayed anyone, unless you count Qrow and team RWBY, but they were always loyal to Ironwood first and foremost. Then again, Blake did say that they were betraying the people they were sworn to protect, so maybe that counts too? Also, holy shit, Jason Liebrecht. His performance throughout the episode was amazing and filled with so much raw emotion, but the end as his rage and grief reaches an all time high is easily the best performance *anyone* has ever given for Qrow. Chris Wehkamp also gave a great final performance as Clover.