Lets Talk About RWBY Volume 8 Episode 2

The second episode of RWBY’s eighth volume is out now for Rooster Teeth FIRST subscribers and it is quite good. We’re still in the build-up stage of the season, so don’t expect too much action, but the stakes are being set. If you haven’t watched the episode yet, this is your warning that spoilers abound.

Let’s start with talking about Ruby’s group who I will affectionately refer to as Team A (Yang’s group will be Team B). They are with May, one of the Happy Huntresses, and they end up at a building owned by the Schnee Dust Company which made it a little safer than pretty much anywhere else. Remember, they’re trying to sneak into Atlas and Ironwood and the military are not exactly fond of them right now. They’re going to use these vacuum delivery tubes to sneak up to Atlas and Nora accidentally launches Weiss. It’s a great moment of levity in my opinion. There’s also a moment where Penny is really upset. We have to remember that Penny is really like a child in a lot of ways. She doesn’t want to fight Ironwood and Winter, but doesn’t want them hurting the others. She’s very torn and Ruby does comfort her.

Now we’ll talk about the prisoners. Qrow, Robyn, and Jacques are all in prison together and this is when we find out that Arthur Watts is indeed alive and not dead like we were led to believe in Volume 7. I guess my theory that his appearance in the credits was more metaphorical was wrong. Well, Robyn is yelling at Jacques who doesn’t really want to accept the blame at all for any of the problems going on, Qrow is still mourning the loss of Clover, and guards actually take Watts away. None of this bodes well for anyone in my opinion. However, Qrow has had enough and says that it’s time to kill Ironwood. My thought is that while he and Robyn fight with Ace Ops and Winter that they’ll agree that Ironwood has gone too far. Of course, my track record on theories isn’t the best.

Finally, Team B. They’re helping the Happy Huntresses rescue people in Mantle despite some racism and bigotry towards Faunus. An older woman gets put in her place which is a great moment, but what I want to highlight here are the woman with the snow shovel (I just loved her for some reason) and Jaune. Jaune has really come a long way since we first met him in Volume 1. His character has come so far and it’s really awesome to see him really take on the role of a leader in these groups. Jaune is definitely one of my favorite characters now and he’s just so competent now, it’s a little scary. I am saddened though at the obvious pains being felt between Ren and Nora. It feel like a little kick every time that’s brought up.

After helping evacuate people, they go to help clear some Grimm and some freaky stuff happens. After they clear some out, one shows up and grabs Oscar. It then appears to have more intelligence than most Grimm and it also is constantly changing its body. This is freaky for everyone involved. It’s freaky for Team B because this is clearly a smart Grimm and they’re not sure what to do about it and it’s scary for the audience as we watch this thing go through some gnarly transformations. This is clearly the Grimm that Salem sent to hunt Oscar, but it’s scary how different it is. One theory I’ve heard is that this Grimm is actually Cinder, but I really don’t think that’s the case.

One final point I want to talk about is Ozpin. Oscar and Oz have a very brief conversation about how they’re still merging, and Oz also apologizes for leaving.