Ok so I am doing a 2 for 1 here because frankly, Ep 7 was WAY too short, however considering what came after, I think I can see why they cut it off.
In any event, we are back with the forest adventure where we left most of our MCs. Black and Yang confidently stroll up to the temple, not so subtly suggesting that for them the whole exercise was more of a picnic for these two than anything else. The "relics" turn out to be chess pieces but more on that later.
Juane is revealed by Glynda to be like Ruby, although I am not sure how he got in as yet, Glynda does not seem confident that he is ready to be at Beacon at all. In this part, Juane and Pyrrha are more comic relief than anything.
I do have to give a good line credit though: "I made the torch, could you humor me for just 5 more feet?" That made me giggle a lot and at least shows that Juane is not immune to the possibility of being completely wrong about a choice he made.
Still that leaves Ruby and Weiss, show above, still debating where the temple even is. Ruby is true to form out of combat being timid and flustered, while Weiss reveals a goal of perfection that lines right up with her personality thus far. While short, it is an effective step for the characters getting firmer in our minds.
Now the episode explodes into a bit of action as Juane and Pyrrha find a glowing "relic" that is actually a giant scorpion, another monster of Grim of course. And in perfect timing, Pyrrha tells Juane to not let go just as he goes flying.
I have to admit I chuckled when the screaming Juane is identified by Yang as a "girl in trouble" line. However we are suddenly surprised to see not Juane falling out of the air, but Ruby.
Yea...they lost me there. I was against summing up this episode until the next one came out because frankly, I had no idea what was even going on at the end there. In short this is more of a prologue to Episode 8.
FINALLY! Sorry, I had to get that out. Seriously though, at long last we had an episode that was over single digits in minutes and it was awesome.
So as stated above, Ep 7 was confusing and really short even for RWBY, but if this was why, it was worth it! As has been done before with confusing endings, we back up a bit in time.
Ruby and Weiss are apparently a wee bit desperate to get to the temple as they hopped the giant bird of death (whose name I have yet to find) to get airborne. Weiss has quite an understandable reaction and Ruby suggest jumping, and then does it before getting a response from Weiss.
Cut to Ruby falling out of the sky at Yang and Blake from the last episode. Of course let's not forget Jaune, the human shot put at this point, slamming into Ruby perfectly and sending both of them flying into the trees.
Blake and Yang have perfect shocked looks and we get a bit of the standard, "this just happened" lines. Still good stuff when it is exactly what you would expect in real life to be the reaction.
Of course that entrance is outdone by the arrival of an Ursa (see bear version of Grim) ridden by Nora who is having a grand time until the Ursa 'breaks.' Ren is huffing behind her into the clearing having a similar reaction as Weiss was to Ruby, only his is a bit more exasperated and familiar.
Nora of course hears nothing of his complaints as she swipes a rook, and goes into a hilarious song and dance that gets interrupted by a now irate Ren. Yang and Blake already claimed their knight piece as well.
The fun does not end of course, Pyrrha comes running out of the trees with the Deathstalker on her heels (scorpion with glowing stinger). Blake is just being the deadpanned commentator while Yang is about done with surprises. Ruby timidly points out one last arrival, from the sky!
Weiss, still hanging on to the bird, finally let's go and falls. Chagrinned, the group watches almost calmly as Jaune tries to finally impress Weiss, only to become her landing pillow! Good antics all around but a tad more silly as it all piles up at the end there.
Still, we get a better idea of Ren and Nora as we have been getting to know all the MCs in this run up. Now however is some nice contrast.
Ruby once again shows an almost eager excitement and over confidence to hop into battle. Compared to her social interactions, this is another person entirely. RWBY finally shows though that while the characters have been training, there is a reason for Beacon to make them even stronger, and why Dust was so prominently mentioned in episode 1.
Despite what we know she can do with Crescent Rose, the Deathstalker does not seem overly frustrated by her attacks at all. It just seems to annoy it more, further the bird wants a word with young Ruby about being treated like a cab!
Feathers pin her cape and all seems to get very serious suddenly as Ruby is about to get killed, when Weiss literally freezes everything. While berating her for going it alone, Weiss admits they need to work as a team and compromise to fight these monsters and get back to the cliff to finish this event.
Ruby, both properly chastised and no doubt very humbled by her lack of ability to go it alone anymore, accepts this and picks up her own knight after putting for the plan to get their pieces and go back.
After the rough time of it, none of the others argue, although Yang seems a bit distracted by how gun ho Ruby is right now.
Monsters though, do not much care about "letting go and bygones be bygones." The Deathstalker pursues them to the cliff face and then the bird of doom swoops down in front of them all.
Essentially the group decides to distract the bird and flee from the Deathstalker, and of course, the monster of Grim show why humans have to have an academy to train people to fight them.
It almost seems like they are toying with their food, the Deathstalker seems to coordinate with the bird and as a bridge is smashed separating the group, it seems all is going to end very badly indeed.
Surprisingly, it is Jaune who, admittedly without thinking, gets Nora and he back to Ren and Pyrrha against the Deathstalker. Nora gleefully launches both of them with her hammer/grenade launcher weapon across the gap. (Jaune had some more flying miles put on but Nora using the bridge like a lever!)
Blake, Yang, Ruby, and Weiss go all out on the grumpy bird, but it does not seem overly bothered until Blake and Yang get up close. Still, they do not seem to be hurting it much despite that.
Jaune sees an opening and gets Pyrrha to finally slay the Deathstalker with its own stinger, only to yet again go flying...someone get that boy some wings! Even though they won, aside from Pyrrha, the whole group is exhausted and injured from just 1 monster.
Ruby has another crazy plan, only this time she has the other 3 to back her up. Once again we see the effectiveness of Dust against the Grim as Weiss gets not only the monster set up, but launches Ruby as well with Crescent Rose completely deployed.
Monty does a good job of showing that these weapons are not just wielded by crazy strong characters, rather the mechanics and magic of them makes them be so devastating in the hands of those trained to use them. Crescent Rose fires again and again, combined with a track of Dust to finally defeat the bird ala Highlander style.
Jaune and the others are in awe, Yang of course just seems to roll with it, while Blake and Weiss just accept the end of the day at last.
Now the end section had a nice twist to it. I mean we all knew one of the teams because of the opening and all that, but it gives us another reason for the name of the show.
The whole event's results are how the team of 4 is selected, the pairs were first look, then the 2 pieces were matched in the pairs, arbitrary and impartial. What I doubt anyone saw coming was the significance of the letters.
Team JNPR is Jaune, Nora, Pyrrha, and Ren, with Jaune as their leader. Definitely interesting but thought nothing of it, I needed more caffeine at the time. Team RWBY of course was last and Ruby was named leader!
If it had ended there, would have been dandy, no complaints, but Monty and crew are good lads and reminded us there are more than just monsters to fight.
Roman gets a return cameo with a map of Vale that is both humorous, and entirely believable for this series. How will he come to play in the lives of the girls at Beacon, only the future can tell. Until next time!
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