Let's Talk About RWBY Volume 8 Episode 1
RWBY is back! The first episode of volume 8 has aired for Rooster Teeth FIRST members. Not to spoil anything but most of the time I was like, “WHAT!?” The episode will be made available for free this Saturday, November 14. If you haven’t watched it yet, this is your spoiler warning! Also, the new credit sequence is pretty awesome.
Oh boy. There’s a lot to unpack in this episode. First, we have Cinder and Neo arriving at Monstro to Salem’s presence and gift her the Relic of Knowledge. Cinder is trying to get back on Salem’s good side, and during the conversation, Neo is treated as an asset rather than an agent, and she does not seem fond of this. Emerald and Mercury also arrive in new threads, and Emerald is very excited to have Cinder back. Cinder’s new mission though seems to be to bring Oscar to Salem to unlock the power of the RoK. That can’t be good. I wonder what Salem’s question is for Jinn.
Well, the good guys find Oscar, who ended up in some slums, and they go back to a Happy Huntress hideout. They start arguing about what their approach should be. Ruby and Norah still want to set up Amity Tower and get the word out while Yang and Ren are more concerned about the people of Mantle. Jaune is able to convince them to divide up into two teams to accomplish both goals. Penny goes with Ruby and Ironwood calls wanting her to return. Ruby answers saying that he needs to not be a stubborn jerk. He disagrees.
Speaking of Ironwood, let’s talk about what he’s doing. At the end of volume 7, Ironwood declared Martial Law. Now, two of the council members, Camilla and Sleet, are not happy about it and go to confront him. Ironwood is talking to Winter when they arrive, and he exits her hospital room and then does something I thought was unspeakable. He straight up murders Sleet. This is how far Ironwood has fallen. We also see Harriet and Winter share some looks that point to neither of them approving of this. They both seem conflicted and confused and for good reason. They’ve been very loyal and dedicated to Ironwood, but I think they’re both starting to see how crazy he’s gone. I don’t think that they’ll be turning sides soon, but we might see some changes by the end of the season. The question is, what will become of Ironwood? Will he die this season? Will he end up aligning himself with Salem? He’s gone pretty crazy, and I don’t think any of these situations can or should be ruled out.
One final thing I wanted to talk about is the opening credits sequence. First, it’s really awesome. However, while watching, you’ll notice that Arthur Watts is present in it. Watts is supposed to be dead. Did they spoil his return or is it more of a haunting memory or metaphor or something that it’s referencing?