Let's Talk About RWBY Volume 8 Episode 11 - "Risk"

The eleventh episode of RWBY’s eighth season aired this last weekend for Rooster Teeth First members. It’s quite a doozy of an episode, but if you haven’t watched it yet, this is your warning that we’re going to get into spoilers. The episode will be available for free to everyone this Saturday, March 13.

Tensions rise in Schnee Manor as our reunited heroes find themselves backed into corner.

Let’s start with Ironwood. He’s just threatened our heroes that he will blow up Mantle if Penny is not delivered to the Vault within the hour. The Ace Ops are sure he’s just bluffing, but then Ironwood tells them to get ready to drop the payload. This is the final straw for Marrow. He finally calls out the rest of the Ace Ops and Ironwood saying that he’s now just doing Salem’s job for him. The rest of the Ace Ops don’t seem to really care, especially Harriet. It’s going to be so good when she gets put in her place again. Well, Ironwood pulls his gun and is about to murder Marrow when Winter saves his life. She tackles him and says she’s taking him to a cell. See, Winter doesn’t seem to be down with Ironwood’s plans as of late. She’s been going along for a while, but I think this whole Mantle thing is making her break.

Next, we’ll go over to Qrow and Robyn. They’ve escaped their cells and they reclaim their weapons. They’re trying to figure out what their next move is though. Qrow wants to go and just murder Ironwood for being a complete tool. Robyn is being a little more levelheaded though, and argues they should go and stop the bomb from being deployed. They’re by an elevator that opens up and the two seem shocked. I’ve heard some people say they think it’s Winter and Marrow, but they seem surprised and less on guard when the elevator opens. I feel like if it were Qrow and Marrow, they’d be a lot more on guard and ready to engage in a fight. That being said, I’m really not sure what it could be. Maybe it’s empty? What do you think is in the elevator?

Now we’re going to talk about Team JNR. Jaune is trying to boost Nora’s Aura to help her scars to heal, but it’s not working. Ren then decides to take the time to apologize to both of them for being stupid and shutting them out when things started going down hill. Jaune quickly leaves as he realizes there’s more that Ren and Nora need to talk more. The couple talks it out and everything’s good. Ren even says he loves her which is adorable. However, Nora then explains that she needs some time so that she can learn who she is. We saw this come up a few episodes earlier where Nora talked about not really knowing who she is because she’s always been with Ren. He’s very supportive of this and then some stuff happens, but we’ll get back to that later.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY, Oscar, and Emerald are talking, and Ruby is frustrated since it feels like they’ve gotten no where. She runs out and she and Yang are talking. Ruby’s very hurt because she realized after seeing the beast that Salem must have done something similar to Summer. This is heartbreaking, but Yang does her best to help get Ruby’s spirits back even a little.

The final thing to talk about is Penny. She starts making a ruckus as the virus from Watts starts kicking in. Ren, Blake, and Weiss keep her from flying away and then even Emerald helps rope her in. Nora comes out and tells Penny that the virus is only a part of her and so she can beat it. This gives Ruby the idea to have Jaune boost Penny’s aura and that seems to help. The virus subsides for now, but they know it’s not permanent. Now, I’m shocked no one has thought about getting her to Pietro to fix it. Anyway, Emerald makes a joke about how pissed she’ll be if they all give up just as she switched sides. Ruby then has a thought that Penny needs to go to the Vault so she calls Ironwood saying that they’ll bring her. Also, they say the word “risk” quite a bit which happens to be the name of the episode. Not a big thing, but I wanted to note it.

What did you think of “Risk”?