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07 - Volume 2 Episode 1, “Best Day Ever” | Table of Contents | Volume 2, First Arc (Part II)
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Heads-up guys, this is a hell of a post. I had to cave and split it into two parts, because combined, it was 21 pages long. No kidding. I thought that was a bit extreme. Rooster Teeth has removed all RWBY content from YouTube, so the episode titles will no longer contain links--but you can usually find anything from RWBY on other sites. I used to use kickassanime, albeit it's lost some of the episodes by now.

Mkay, so, RWBY Volume Two. We started off bumpy, but overall strong, with an incredibly epic food fight overshadowing some unfortunate implications and shoddy edge. Let’s see if the second episode improves on that.

V2E2, “Welcome to Beacon”

We open up on a zooming view of Beacon, still divided into a modeled anterior and art deco posterior. The sky is no longer the bright cloudy blue of Volume One, but rather cloudy, and another one of those somewhat intimidating military airships is crossing the screen. Two more fly by as we zoom in on what is revealed as Ozpin’s office, located in the highest tower of the campus. He and Glynda are looking out over what we just saw through Ozpin’s window, which is designed to look like a clock, but neither of them seems happy.

Glynda, barely seeming to hold back anger, comments that “Ironwood certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels.” Ozpin comments that he’s busy, since he both runs an academy and runs a military...but yeah, he isn’t fond of all the airships, either. A beep comes up from Ozpin’s desk, and we see his office, which is very clockwork punk, when he grants permission for someone to come in:

General Ironwood himself strolls in, bidding less formality when Ozpin refers to him by title and seeming quite glad to see him and Glynda, the latter of whom is not very receptive to his slightly flirtatious greeting and leaves. Ozpin asks what’s brought Ironwood all the way down from Atlas, as headmasters don’t typically make the journey with their students.

...Why not? That wouldn’t make any sense. As the person in charge of a participating academy (of which there are four), you’d think it would be abhorrently rude not to show up.

Er, anyway, Ozpin pours Ironwood some coffee-or-tea, there is a suspicious amount of focus on Ironwood’s gloved right hand that he accepts it with, and then he takes out a flask and drops some sort of additive in there, and he answers that he just loves Vale this time of year. And since Vale is hosting, he figured it was a good opportunity to catch up. Ozpin is all ready to have some down time with a friend, but he’s still a bit concerned about the military airships flying around.

Ironwood answers that concern is kind of what he’s here about. ‘Oz’ tries to deflect, but they both know why he brought all those troops. Ozpin sighs, and answers that they’re in a time of peace right now, and waving around some gigantic military might only gives the wrong signals. Ironwood starts to mention something about what Qrow (as in, Ruby’s uncle) said, but Ozpin interrupts him, saying “If what Qrow said is true, then we will handle it...tactfully.” Ironwood continues to look rather troubled as Ozpin says that the Vytal Festival is not the time for this, and responds that he’s just being cautious. Oz responds that he’s also being cautious, hence his reliance on training up Huntsmen and Huntresses. Ironwood responds that that’s what he’s doing, too.

I: “But ask yourself this...do you honestly believe your children can win a war?”

Oz: “...I hope they never have to.”

*claps* Ironwood leaves, meaning this scene has come to an end. We’re not going to have a traffic jam wall of text here, but I do need to say some things.

First, you may find it easy to read an anti-military theme into this, or a pro-military one if you squint right. Don’t. While you or I may have our various opinions on the military (particularly the American military), not only is now not the time or place to get into them, but I honestly don’t believe that’s what’s at play here. I really don’t. We have just been introduced to a subplot attached to our greater plot, and I am going to end up shredding it on multiple occasions.

First, take note of the dynamic here. Ozpin and Ironwood both lead schools to train Huntsmen; Ozpin thinks this is sufficient. Ironwood, who also leads a national military, does not. Second, note the word choice in Ironwood’s final question. While his question might sound derisive, the use of the word ‘children’ is not. Ironwood is not meant to be mocking Ozpin with that word choice, we are supposed to take it as indicative of Ozpin’s actual relationship with his students. We are supposed to infer that, between his previous interactions with Ruby and Ironwood’s tone here, that Ozpin actually cares for his students as a father would.

You’ll note that my usage of the ‘Dumbledore’ nickname for him has kind of dropped off. But if that puts you in mind of the other silver-haired headmaster, don’t worry, you’re on the right track.

The scene ends and we transition to the Beacon library, where RWBY are playing some kind of tabletop game. Weiss looks confused, Yang looks confident, Blake looks very done with this, and Ruby looks like she’s got a good card to play. With a series of incredible dramatics, we find out that the game they’re playing is based off of Remnant and the various nations’ and continents’ dynamics as well as the presence of the Grimm. A decent way to give us worldbuilding, I say. We find out that Atlas is part of Mantle, which is presumably a continent, and Mistral and Vacuo are the two other kingdoms along with Atlas and Vale.

While RWBY are doing this, JNPR are at the next table over, studying. Well, Ren and Pyrrha are studying. Nora is sleeping, and Jaune is reading a comic. Nice to see you’re still doing the same thing I lambasted you for last Volume—aka, since the beginning of school a couple months ago.

Jaune: 7

Pyrrha, naturally, is the one to remove it and replace it with a book. Over at the board game, Weiss is still pretty lost, so Yang gives her a helping hand, explaining the rules of the game at mach speed (including dropping details about how Vacuo is a desert nation, seemingly hazardous and dangerous, and may be home to raiders). Weiss has just enough time to let Yang’s help shooting her to a near-win to get all Azula-esque with her declarations of conquering and victory before Yang turns that on her head, wiping out all her forces so that she can join Ruby in sobbing at their hubris.

It comes to Blake’s turn, but she has not been paying a lick of attention, seemingly lost in thought. Jaune strolls over and asks if he can play, but Weiss and Ruby rebuff him as they’ve already got four players. Oh, and Weiss (who just got introduced to this game) doubts his ability to play.

J: Bring it on, ice queen! I’ll have you know, that I’ve been told I’m a natural-born leader!

W: By who, your mother?

J: A-and Pyrrha! (P: Hello again!) Come on, let me play your hand for a turn!

W: I’m not trusting you with the good citizens of Vacuo!

J: Why not? You’ve trusted me with way more important stuff before! I mean, you told us all that Blake is secretly a f--

P: [zooming over and clapping his hand over his mouth] Fun-loving person! Who we all admire and respect!

Blake gives the mother of all annoyed faces at all this.

For the record, with two people now having told Blake’s secret and Jaune having been nanoseconds away from announcing Blake as a faunus to a populated library, Rooster Teeth had to step in after this episode aired and announce that Blake gave permission for the others to tell Team JNPR, because by now people didn’t know whose head to bite off. I will have words on this later, but for now, check out who shows up:

He greets the team and formally introduces them to Neptune. Neptune asks if libraries aren’t for, ya know, reading, prompting Sun to playfully chide him for being a nerd. Weiss pipes up, with a tad more interest than usual, asking where Neptune is from. The latter answers that he’s from Haven (the academy at Mistral), and then...strolls over, and lays it on thick.

N: ...And, I don’t believe I’ve caught your name, snow angel.

W: Um, I’m Weiss. (J: [in the background] Are you kidding me?)

Meanwhile, Sun peers over the table and mentions not having thought Blake to be the ‘board game-playing type’, and she’s very clearly ready to peace out, declaring that she’s done playing and then leaving. Sun is not the only one to notice that Blake is evidently not in the best of moods lately.

As we transition to night time and see her huddled on her bed, we hear why: she’s playing back the events of the Volume One finale, “Black and White” in her head, and it seems to be causing her some dismay. Then we transition to a new scene (it’s a flashback), where we hear Ozpin’s voice. In this scene, he sits down across from Blake and confronts her over the crimefighting that was just done that evening. Or, rather, using that to bounce to something he wanted to approach her about.

Oz: As you know, in order to enroll in my academy, students must first pass a rigorous entrance exam. Most applicants spend years of preparation training at one of the many combat schools around the world. You are one of the few who did not.

You’ll see now that my derision and confusion at Jaune faking some transcripts and getting into the school is justified—transcripts do not equal fooling an instructor sent to evaluate you. You’ll now also realize why I gave the numbers as “ninety-eight percent”--Jaune may not have gone to combat school, but neither did Blake. Of course, we know why she would pass the exam.

(This is also where a lot of people got the idea that Ozpin knew Jaune faked his way in and allowed it for some...nebulous reason. Those people are unfortunately wrong by any on-screen detail, since Ozpin never even hints that he had reason to suspect Jaune was a cheat and this scene passes without any comment or future plot points tying it to him.)

Blake responds that she was raised outside the kingdom—if you can’t fight, you die.

Oz: Well, you have most certainly survived, Blake. I admire your drive. And I am proud to run a school that accepts individuals from all walks of life. Rich...poor...human… [sipping his coffee] ...faunus.

Blake narrows her eyes at him, and he asks why she wears that bow—why she hides who she is. Blake coldly reminds him that just because he’s ready to accept the faunus does not mean the rest of the human populace is. True, he says, but progress is coming along, isn’t it?

B: With all due respect, you need to start taking some larger strides. Until then, I’d rather avoid any unnecessary attention. I want people to see me for who I am, not what I am.

Oz: And what are you?

Blake is confused, and Ozpin asks how she knew the White Fang should be at the shipyard tonight. Blake insists she didn’t, and that she just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I find this to be a misplaced misdirection, since there’s not really any need to do so—Blake openly doubted the White Fang would be there, and was simply working off of Sun’s intel to try and intercept a robbery. In response, Ozpin launches into a rather wobbly spiel that he starts with a dry remark that suggest she isn’t being truthful, and ends with “Blake...are you sure there is nothing else you would like to tell me?” to which Blake responds that she’s sure, and he leaves. At this point, I’m going to have to start keeping my Harry Potter books closer than usual because that was so shamelessly ripped out of Chamber of Secrets that it hurt.

But the scene’s over, and I can discuss this now. So: raise your hands if that scene just made you incredibly uncomfortable. ✋

Now, this is a two-faced talk from Ozpin, despite Rooster Teeth not at all realizing it, so I’m going to go over the first face—the “why hide who you are?” face. Evidently, they thought this would be the sort of talk a wise fatherly mentor figure gives an erring teenager. What they got was a hellaciously insensitive and arrogant display.

Even though the faunus are blatant stand-ins for people of color, we’re going to diverge from that for a second because in real-life, people of color can’t just wear a cheap accessory and then blend in with white Americans. Rather, I’m going to try and make you understand this by substituting my own minority experience—sexuality.

Imagine if my principal (or headmaster, for y’all Europeans) had sat me down at a desk in private and asked me why I hide who I am, seemingly either unaware or uncaring about the massive difference that visibility would make for someone like me. For those of you who don’t know, I live in the heart of the rural south, the Bible Belt, and I live with very bigoted people—but even if I didn’t, I still probably wouldn’t come out, because despite the fact that, say, my coworkers at the restaurant might not have judged me, that doesn’t magically make it safe. My sexuality would paint a target on my back even in areas where it’s supposedly safe, and once it’s out there, it’s out. I would handle that about as well as Blake did in this scene—what, you think that because blacks aren’t segregated, or gays can get married, that it’s all over with now? You think that I should put aside my comfort and, being truthful, my safety to make some shallow statement about being who you really are in a world that is still extremely hostile to me?

What was Ozpin trying to pull here? Blake gains nothing by discarding her disguise and makes herself incredibly vulnerable, and there’s no real way to pretend she’d help anyone by outing herself. Being public about it wouldn’t magically make her an icon who lifts up all the disadvantaged faunus around Vale.

RSVP: 20

The second thing that Rooster Teeth did with this scene was a lot more sinister. All of the prodding about the White Fang is meant to seem like Ozpin would, you know, be able to help if she fessed up about her ties and possibly gave them information she would have as an ex-member. What they got was Ozpin subtly threatening Blake with the knowledge that he knows she’s ex-White Fang and thus a criminal, and letting that hang over her head. And while I still adamantly maintain that Rooster Teeth at this point are completely oblivious to how badly they’re fucking up Ozpin’s supposed good nature, I think this shot they included at the tail end of the scene makes this point quite nicely.

Yeah, I really trust this oh-so-benevolent guy.

RSVP: 21

The next scene returns us to the present with Blake sitting on her bed, when RWY walk in—Ruby and Blake are discussing the game that Yang apparently lost, but whether it was Sun, Neptune, or Jaune that beat her is not disclosed. Weiss, however, throws out a finger and stops Blake from sneaking away. She calls Blake out on being very closed off lately, her mood having noticeably kept her from enjoying company with her friends. She says that Blake made a promise to her, to all of them, to let them know if something was wrong.

*sigh* Right, I’m not supposed to think that’s rich coming from the racist who wanted to turn her in to the police. She’s Not Racist Anymore, guys. *fluttering fingers* All ya gotta do is forget it happened.

Speaking of, after looking like she might swallow her words, Blake admits that she doesn’t know how everyone is so calm given what’s happened. After all, Torchwick is working with the White Fang! Something big is going on, but no one seems to feel the need to do anything about it. When Yang tries to pipe up about how the Huntsmen and police surely have it covered, Blake snaps that she doesn’t think so (and, given their track record, she’s probably right). Weiss replies that while they may have the occasional try at stopping a robbery or blowing up a nightclub (still mad about that), they’re still students and their power is limited. They’re not ready.

Blake yells (or, whatever is close to yelling for her), claiming they may never be ready! Their enemies are out there, plotting, scheming, and being evil, and they’re going to make their move and aren’t going to wait for the kid gloves to come off!

Mmn. Okay, stop.

First of all, only one of you has an enemy, two if we still count Ruby as being Torchwick’s rather impersonal enemy. Second, Torchwick made only a single minor hint as to a bigger plan and it never came with any implications that it went beyond the kingpin dreams of some common crook with a lot of goons and airships. Blake is talking about this as if Torchwick whispered in her ear that he has designs on all of Vale’s destruction and will soon become the dominant power to seize their governments, women, and precious metals. In other words, the authors are whispering in her ear the true scale of the plot that has otherwise been passed by so that they can justify her freaking out. She is acting as though the only arc to carry into this volume wasn’t introduced in last volume’s very last episode.

Oh, wait, Ruby announces exactly that.

R: [in a high-speed, excited voice] Okay. All in favor of becoming the youngest Huntresses to single-handedly bring down a corrupt organization conspiring against the kingdom of Vale, say ‘aye’!

How do you know that?! How do you know anyone is conspiring against Vale itself?!? Nothing you’ve seen or heard could have led you to that conclusion!!! Even assuming Torchwick had the entirety of the White Fang at his beck and call, do you really expect them to topple a whole nation just because? You shouldn’t know any of this!

The other team members are down, however. None of us know exactly what they’re expecting to take down, and trust me, by the time this little mini-arc is over, neither will they.

Before they can cook up a plan, Ruby remembers she left the board game in the library, and rushes outside to go get it, smacking straight into:

I’m not sure if Emerald and Mercury are supposed to be posing as adult twenty-something upper classmen, or if Cinder is trying to pose as an eighteen-nineteen-ish sophomore to match them, but they’re definitely posing. They say they’re Haven exchange students looking for their dorm, and Ruby points them in the right direction, completely missing the eeeeeevil radiating out of the soundtrack, coloring their expressions, and dripping out of their voices, making me want to smack the brain-dead dolt.

The episode closes out on Cinder’s face as Ruby calls out “Welcome to Beacon” behind her.

*facepalm*

The credits roll over...fanart. Yes, as of this volume, Rooster Teeth began using fans’ submitted art to close out the show on.

That was our sixth page on the document, so I guess we’ll go ahead and try for twelve.

V2E3, “A Minor Hiccup”

We open up on Weiss in class, head resting on hand, waiting for the 4:00 bell to ring. While Port blah blahs in the background, Jaune slides over, asking if she wants to go out to eat with him after class...or, when she doesn’t respond, if she’d like to go to a “Spruce Willis” movie he has tickets to. Would she maybe like to study together, perhaps?

The bell rings before he gets an answer, and when he asks if he heard her, she responds “No, no, no, yes” to each of his previous three offers and his question. So, very clearly, she’s not interested. Jaune face faults on the desk, and RWBY pass by, Yang patting him on the back with “one day”.

We all got that? Keep that in mind. It’s not a Jaune point yet, but it will be.

We cut to RWBY donning new outfits, in preparation for their investigation! Ta-da!

Yang, the ‘Hunter’, Blake, the ‘Intruder’, Weiss, the ‘Snowpea’, and Ruby, the ‘Slayer’! Yes, these snazzy new outfits get their own names! Everyone was all over these outfits when they came out, including me. Yang, Blake, and Weiss look devastatingly cool and professional in these—especially Weiss, that pea coat is sharper than my Exacto and crisper than my Pringles. Ruby’s is the only real weak spot, for me—rather than stepping up her outfit with white, she mixes her red and black with grey—which is not to her advantage since it’s an extremely difficult color to work with, lacking the power of black and white, or the personality of the hues...Wait, what was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, they’re discussing the plan: Ruby and Weiss will head to the CCT (continental communications tower) to check the Schnee records for any other dust robberies or inconsistencies, with Weiss’ status securing their role. Blake is going to infiltrate a White Fang recruitment meeting to see if she can pick up what their plans are. Yang is going...back to Junior’s club! She doesn’t name drop him, but she does mention a “friend” on the “shady side” of Vale who knows “everything” and this will become funny next episode.

Their rehearsal is interrupted by Sun, who has checked in…in a tree, outside their window, hanging upside down. When asked how he got up there, he says he does it all the time, clarifying that he meant climbing trees, not sitting outside their dorm. Sun, you see, wants to know if they’re gonna get back at Torchwick for the trouble he’s caused. Blake subtly tries to let him know it’s a RWBY thing, and Ruby tepidly mentions she’d rather avoid involving friends (implicitly, as it will be dangerous). Sun does not catch onto this, and says it’s always better to get friends involved. That’s why he brought Neptune!

Okay, putting to one side how, while we’re still doing better than Jaune, we’re kind of slipping up on Sun’s charming goofball angle, there’s also a question I’d like to ask. Sun and Neptune have been making an appearance in each episode so far, but we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of the other two members of his team, Sage and Scarlet. Where are they? Does Sun just not care for the other half of his team? Does he remember they exist? Are we supposed to remember they exist? He hasn’t introduced them to his new Vale friends, hasn’t gushed to them about how cool Blake is, and hasn’t invited them along on crashing the Plot Party. Their absence has started to become a little noticeable with how much attention Sun and Neptune are retaining.

We cut to Ruby re-explaining the plan, since it seems they have a little extra help now. Sun, of course, is being sent with Blake, while Neptune is being sent with Yang since she doesn’t have a partner—this, to the tune of Ruby obliviously pushing a very wooden Neptune over to Yang while Weiss looks on with a sour expression. Weiss oh-so-subtly tries to suggest Neptune join her and Ruby join Yang, which Neptune is silently but visibly receptive to,

and damn, but this boi is tall, only for Ruby to laugh this off. Cue the next scene!

We zoom in on the CCT, which is fully modeled and which is making Ruby gush about how cool it is. Weiss drops some history on her—it was Atlas who developed the four CCT towers as a gift to the world after the ‘Great War’—to which Ruby pokes fun at her. Weiss also mentions that they don’t actually have to be here and could have made a call from the Beacon library, but Ruby wanted to see the tower. Ruby tries to get a picture, but drops her Scroll, and who should pick it up for her?

Penny realizes she just bumped into Ruby, who is stunned and would like to know where the hell she’s been, as she hasn’t seen her since the fight at the docks. Penny is not exactly enthused, and tries to pretend she’s got the wrong person, and then tries to leave—but Ruby catches up quickly, abandoning Weiss to complete the mission while she figures out what’s up.

Penny continues to be despondent up until a point, as Ruby pleads to know what happened to Penny the night she vanished, considering the whole big bad plot she thinks is in the works. It takes the word ‘friend’ for Penny to consider moving this conversation somewhere else, as it isn’t safe to talk there (smart girl, realizing Ozpin has invisible cameras everywhere).

While this is happening, Weiss is strolling into the CCT. After getting into an elevator and verifying her identity, Weiss visibly practices her smile in the reflection on the wall, seeming to struggle to get it right. After stepping out, a hologram of an office worker directs Weiss to Terminal 3 for her requested call to Schnee World Headquarters in Atlas. Passing by happy students calling home, she settles down, and gets on video call with a Schnee operator. She’s offered the chance to get in contact with her father, or her sister Winter, confirming she’s not an only child. This offer is passed up. Weiss connects her phone, loading in the files she’s requesting to see, and waves off what she needs these rather sensitive documents for as a ‘school project’. The operator asks one more time if she’d like to be patched over to her father, which Weiss declines before the call is hung up with her being bid a good day. Ah, family drama.

Penny and Ruby are somewhere else in Vale, strolling a sidewalk. Penny says she wishes she could help, but she doesn’t know anything about those guys she fought at the docks. Her disappearance is explained as having happened at the behest of her very protective father, who asked her not to venture too far in an unfamiliar kingdom. Ruby apparently relates to that whole ‘protective dad’ bit. It wasn’t her father that asked her not to talk to other people around here—but then who was it? Right then, Ruby and Penny come across a sort of demonstration happening on the street.

Two pods are up on a pedestal of sorts with grey droids standing immobile in front of them, and in the center, a holographic display of Ironwood. Holo-wood is talking about phasing out the AK-130s, the grey droids, and pushing forth the sleeker, smarter, and less scary new models, the Atlesian Knight 200s. They are slated to go into full production this year, but Holo-wood reminds everyone that, as Atlas strives to keep men off the dangers of the battlefield, these droids won’t be alone. For when a human touch is necessary (some restrictions apply), they have now developed the Paladin!

Penny is noticeably uncomfortable, but Ruby is in a mechanical geek mood and is watching with rapt attention. Developed in coordination with Schnee Dust Company, the Paladin looks like this:

This is just a prototype, and a hologram is being used as they only have a few right now, but these manned battlesuits go into production within the year, as well.

Penny says they really need to go, as one of the Atlas soldiers attending the demonstration has spotted Penny, and looks ready to apprehend her. She blitzes it!

Cue chase scene. Ruby chases Penny, the soldiers chase them both, and one of the soldiers nearly gets hit by a car. Ruby whips out her scythe and slashes an alleyway shelf (er...why are those there?), sending the boxes on it tumbling into the soldiers’ path. Losing track of Penny, she opts to wall-run, and then speed Semblance her way along several more alleys with Penny in her arms to lose their pursuers. But Penny is heavier than Ruby expected, and she stumbles, rolling onto a street. A truck is coming! Ruby is in danger! So Penny steps in front of her and stops the truck with her bare hands! Ruby is just stunned at this!

*pinching the bridge of his nose.* Yeah. While it’s been made obvious to you and me, the fact that Penny is a robot was supposed to be unknown to Ruby and the others. Rooster Teeth have chosen to expose this fact not with giant lasers, but by having Penny perform incredible feats...that anyone in this show can do.

Guys, Weiss can stand on air. Ruby can move fast enough to create slipstreams. Yang is really, really strong. Glynda and Cinder speak for their abilities themselves. There is nothing so impressive about having Penny do this:

That would expose her as a robot. Nonetheless, that’s where we’re going with this. Penny opts to leave the scene, and Ruby again follows her, asking for an explanation. Penny is almost panicking, insisting that everything’s fine and she doesn’t want to talk about it, while hiccuping after each of those sentences. Ruby insists on knowing, and Penny asks if she’s really her friend before confiding in her:

P: Ruby...I’m not a real girl.

Ruby manages an ‘oh’, before the credits roll.

As I said, I decided to split this into two parts. The next part is only one episode, but is the same length as both of these combined. So, look forward to that. I’ll grab some Aleve.

Counts:

Jaune: 7
It Was Right There: 2
Fauxminism: 5
Hypocrisy: 1
Ice Cream Queens: 0
Reliable Leaders: 4
- Prowling Wolf Fallacy: 0
Threatening Enemies: 1
Love to Be a Part of It Someday: 1
Your Fight Scene Sucks: 5+2
- Evisceration Evasion: 2
Ill Logic: 9
Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Veil: 3
- Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge: 0
- Band-Aid Brigade: 0
RSVP: 21
Road to Nowhere: 1
Y.A.S. Queen: 3