RWBY V5 C8

## Plot

Ruby, Yang, and Weiss are all up early, having not been able to fall back asleep. Luckily, Weiss made coffee. Ruby wishes that Blake could be here with them. This comment hits a nerve with Yang though, who dismissively says that she made her choice, since she could've been here if she had just stuck around. She goes as far as to say that she doesn't want Blake here. Ouch. Look's like someone still has some abandonment issues to get over. And her left arm starts shaking again. She goes back inside the house. Meanwhile, Blake is hanging out on the balcony in Menagerie at night when Sun calls for her. She says that she'll be right there. She finds a note from Ilia addressed to her, and it's possible that they've been trading notes like this for awhile now. The note says that Ilia wants to defect, and tells Blake to find a quiet place and she'll find her, and to come alone. She hides the note from Sun, who says that they have to try and recruit from the nocturnal section tonight. Blake says that she'll meet him there after she takes care of something. After she leaves, you might be able to barely hear the trees rustling slightly, indicating that she's being watched, like in volume 4. Back in Mistral, someone enters Yang's room, which she presumably shares with Weiss. Speaking of presumptions, Yang thinks that Ruby came to talk to her, but it's actually Weiss. Yang says that she doesn't know what it's like to be left. She has a huge family, recitals to perform at, and dinners to attend. Raven left Yang, Summer left and died, Taiyang was always off teaching at Signal, and Ruby couldn't even talk yet. Yang was left all alone to pick up the pieces. Weiss reveals that on her 10th birthday, her father finally admitted to her mother that he had only married her for her family name. Looking back, she thinks that both she and her mom already knew, but it was different to have him actually say it. He missed the big dinner that night. She got mad, and he finally snapped and told her the truth. Mrs. Schnee was pushed over the edge. First it was separate lunches and dinners, separate balconies at her recitals, and a few glasses of wine. Then it was no lunches, dinners, or recitals, and a bottle of wine. Basically, her mom is a broken alcoholic, her dad is an abusive jackass, her brother is a pile of shit, and Winter is always traveling around the world on missions, much like Qrow. Yang apologizes, saying she shouldn't have assumed. Weiss may not know loneliness like Yang does, but that's because she has her own version, and Blake probably does too. Yang thinks that she didn't have to be alone though, because they were all there for her. She chose to leave them. Weiss says that she probably did it because of her past and present colliding after she had built up walls to protect them. It was her worst fear coming true. Yang says that no one blamed her for anything though. Well, Blake did blame herself. Yang asks how she can be there for Blake if she doesn't let her, and that she needed her to be there for herself too. She starts crying. Weiss says that the only thing they can do now is be there for her when she's ready and comes back. Weiss has the utmost confidence that she'll come back to them. She also says that her three teammates are her family, far more so than her father and brother. She would do anything for them, and has a feeling that Blake feels the same way. She'll be there for Blake, and she's there for Yang too. Ruby comes in and asks if everything is okay. Yang says that it is. Back in Menagerie, Blake enters an alley and calls out for Ilia. She reveals herself, and shows that she's unarmed. She tells Blake that she's sorry for what's about to happen, and makes a fist, which is the signal for the ambush to begin. Yuma literally drops in. Specifically, he lands a brutal kick on Blake's spine, helped by velocity and gravity. It knocks the wind out of Blake, who drops her weapon. Two other Faunus show up. A female spider Faunus named Trifa ties Blake up with her webbing. Yuma gives Ilia her weapon back. What follows is an emotional and heart wrenching conversation between Ilia and Blake. Cherami Leigh and Arryn Zech absolutely nail it. Ilia claims that there's no such thing as innocent or the right thing to do, only what's best for them. For humans, there's only those that still hate the Faunus, and the bystanders who just watch and let it happen. She claims that fear stamps out hate. No, fear *justifies and encourages* hate. She admits that she doesn't like hurting people, but it's gotten them results. Blake seems to hit a nerve when she tells Ilia to look at where it got her. She says that they all have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Blake thinks that she's going to kill her. However, Ilia reveals that they're going to kill her parents, and she's going to be sent to Mistral. To Adam. Blake is horrified to hear this and is absolutely terrified, for herself and her family. She begs Ilia not to do this, saying that this isn't her. Ilia says that it is, and if she hadn't spent so much time falling for Adam, then she might've noticed. Ilia saw the way she looked at him. She always wanted Blake to look at her like that, and was jealous. The small spots that look like freckles on her turn pink. Then her eyes turn dark pink. Aw! I don't know whether to be touched or terrified. She and Yuma leave to attack the Belladonna manor. Trifa and the other male Faunus are instructed to take Blake to the docks. However, it's revealed that Blake had a plan. She knew that she was being watched, so she and Sun were acting during the earlier balcony scene to throw the White Fang off. She didn't just blindly trust Ilia. Sun was following her. Looks like someone got way better at stealth and sneak attacks after last time. Also, yay, Blake trusted Sun enough to let him follow her and rescue her if things went south! But that means that he's not at the house to protect Blake's parents, which is where I thought he'd be. But at least it means that he heard their plans. He lands on the male Faunus, knocking him out, and disarms Trifa of her knife. Then Blake punches her and knocks her out, which is awesome, and she retrieves Gambol Shroud. They head to the manor. Sun calls the police while Blake tries to call her mom. However, Kali can't pick up at the moment, because the attack on the house has already begun. A guard is protecting her in Ghira's study, but he's injured and shot in the arm. Kali grabs his gun and fights instead. Ghira is in another area of the house, easily thrashing White Fang mooks barehanded. He orders someone to go find his wife. However, the guard he's fighting alongside is shot and presumably killed… by one of the Albain brothers, who are both wielding strange looking daggers that glow. Ghira unveils his long claws, tears off his coat, and gives an unearthly roar. So, he's a wolf Faunus right? Or maybe a black panther? Because I am getting some major werewolf–Beast–Bagheera–Black Panther vibes from this. Also, that is awesome! But it's also where the episode ends.

## Review

Once again, Rooster Teeth hits it out of the park. And leaves us on a cliffhanger. The facial expressions are especially intriguing for me during this episode, especially what appears to be a look of sadness, regret, pain, reluctance, or some combination on Ilia's face after Blake's comment. And I am very glad that we finally have a named character being revealed to be LGBT+, specifically a lesbian. For some reason, I always got that kind of vibe from Ilia. However, some people are upset because Ilia is evil, therefore she's a psycho lesbian. This trope basically means that, if there are no normal lesbians to balance things out, it could be perceived that all lesbians are crazy. In other words, be straight or be insane. Or at least be bisexual, to give some love to the men. But then there's the depraved bisexual trope to worry about. Basically, they're mad that the only named LGBT+ character so far is evil. But guess what? Ilia is not 100% evil. She's conflicted. Does she lean towards evil? Yeah, it's looking that way so far. But guess what? Straight people can be evil. LGBT+ people can be evil. Straight people can be good. LGBT+ people can be good. Straight people can be anti heroes or anti villains. So can LGBT+ people. In the world, or at least in a fantasy world like RWBY, I think that a person's sexuality has little to nothing to do with the moral choices they make. Anyone can be a total asshole. And anyone can be a knight in shining armor. If anything, I'd like to see more asexual or non-binary people represented in the media. So few people even know what those things mean. Basically, asexual means someone who is not attracted to anyone sexually, at all. They don't want to get married, they don't want to have kids. Non-binary people are people who identify as either being both male and female, or none. It's basically a catch all for those who don't identify as one binary sex or the other. Just because someone doesn't want to get married or have kids doesn't mean that they're asexual. Also, sexual orientation and gender identity are different things. Okay, I've talked about this way longer than I planned to, so I'll see you all later!