Thread by @CJ_Black0

#CJs2Cents: #RWBYSpoilers
#RWBY8 #RWBY
So episode 7 of volume 8 has just been released and I must say...I don't know how I feel about this episode. I wouldn't call it good, yet at the same time I wouldn't call it bad either...this is a mixed bag. So I guess I'll just go in order.

So Salem's invasion is finally underway and her grimm army are swarming and overpowering the Atlas army. While I do like the panic and destruction the grimm are causing and seeing them apparently slowly overtake the army, the writers have made the Atlas military seem so poor.

Then there's the citizens of Atlas just chilling and walking around like it's a normal day, until the flying grimm get into the city...I'm sorry but what?! Even if you want to say they're confident in their military, you'd think they wouldn't be so carefree & out in the open! 😵

And speaking of the grimm and the Atlas citizens, I hate how we AGAIN cut away from grimm carnage! For fuck's sake guys, this is beginning of the show's darkest hour and you're not restricted by YouTube anymore...you can actually show us people getting killed by the grimm now!

And before I carry on, can I just stress how this is the first time in the entire show we see civilians of Atlas in their natural habitat? How are we supposed to care about this city getting invaded if we never made any form of positive connection with this city or its people?

So let's move onto the Aces & Winter with team YRJ. So the kids were arrested, as expected and Yang continues to be the most annoying piece of trash in the party. Seriously, "still following orders", Lil Ms. Attitude really needs to get her ass humbled already, gods she vexes me.

And remember what I said about not caring about things due to not setting up a positive connection? Well James' plan to take out the whale is with a bomb to the inside and the kids are reasonably against this because Oscar's in there. And my thought was, "ok, bye bye meat suit".

Seriously, the writers failed to make Oscar a person/character, so as much as they want us to care about this kid, anyone who sees beyond the surface-like myself-actually don't give 2 shits about what happens to this kid. If anything, the worst is we'd have to find Oz again.

I gotta say, Jaune's actually shaping to be one of the better characters in the group, as the Atlas arc has shown him greatly maturing as a person and as a leader. He sees that they and the Aces are at different ends regarding the bomb, and manages to work out a good overall deal

Also, before I wrap up the boys with the Aces with Ren's "semblance"(?), I feel the need to bring this line up. Uhm guys, I think Mari may be canon in the show universe. 😂

Who's Mari? A sweet and loving friend of mine who created an Ace Ops OC of the same name.

@AceOpMari

Now wrapping up with the Aces, we have Ren somehow gain the ability to read other people's emotions...somehow. If this is indeed his semblance, then I wonder how we jumped from masking emotions/presence from grimm to reading emotions. And how do semblances evolve exactly? 🤨

Meanwhile inside the whale, Ozcar is still getting the shit beaten out of them as they still try to cause subterfuge amongst Salem's followers. Hazel says Salem wants to create a new world, while Ozcar says she just wants to finally die...wonder which one's going to be the truth.

Tyrian says that Salem wants to destroy everything, but we don't know if that's what he believes or he's the only one crazy enough to see the truth. Either way, with Oscar giving Hazel the password & Em and Merc getting all of this, we've got 3 possible traitors easily set up.

And finally we have the hijinks going down at the Schnee manor, and let me just say, "thank you for finally confirming May is indeed transgender within the actual show". I was so worried the writers were never going to address it within the actual show, but I'm happy I was wrong.

And gods did Ruby's group irritate me this episode. Atlas is under siege and these 3 are sitting around in safety, calmly contemplating what to do over tea(?)! You buffoons, people are out there dying on the battlefield-partially because of you-and you show such lack of emotion.

Hell, I actually really liked May's stand on the whole thing. This isn't a situation where everyone can win and they need to help those that they can. And you know how I said Yang vexes me? Well add Blake to the list, trying to villify May for asking which side are they on.

I know it doesn't seem like much but May has a point. The kids essentially screwed over Atlas for Mantle, and now they're screwing over Mantle for Atlas...god of darkness these kids are some of the most ineffective & contriving protagonists I've seen in fiction.

And then there's my precious boy Whitely showing that he's a good boy who just needs a good home. He went and got Klein-who's apparently a doctor too-for Nora. Please don't have this boy to die. Though I don't like that HE made the 1st move at bettering him & Weiss' relationship.

Though I must ask how the hell did Klein get there so quickly with Atlas now being a warzone? And then we have Penny crashing-conveniently-at Schnee manor. I thought she crashed in the tundra, had already fell & why was she conscious when we last saw her essentially rebooting?

But yeah, those were my overall thoughts on ep 7. I'm sure more stuff will come up regarding it, but this is all I got for now. This episode was very mixed for me, and now we head into the 2 month hiatus. Well, what did you all think of my points and this episode, yourselves?