RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 1 Review
The very first scene is definitely Cinder's backstory foreshadowing, the hole scrubbing the floor thing fits in line with the whole Cinderella story so I wonder how they will switch it up. This gives us a chance to understand the origins of Cinder's evils and hopefully make her less generic. I do actually think that because she is quite literally on her knees scrubbing not so happily ever after that she was originally powerless to some form of slave master and that her lust for power is a pretty generic motivation. She may have gone from one serving one master or masters who enjoyed keeping her powerless to another master who has chosen her as a vessel for her power but paradoxically she is still the same person which I think the transition from Cinder scrubbing the floor to scratching the chair is trying to illustrate. We don't get to see her Cinder's expression when she is scrubbing the floor no hope in her eyes no defiance just servitude and no clarity on the master. Is she at such a low point she scrubs floors like that when no one is watching? She has to be in a place where Salem could influence her and why did Salem choose her of all people? Maybe as Salem was once a captive before being rescued by Ozmar she saw some part of herself in Cinder.
Restarting The tension
The tension that immediately followed the young Cinder's floor scrubbing made me sure of something, Season/Volume 7 should have been longer. I felt like they had to make the opening tense enough to get us right back to where we were at the end of last season, they almost had to overcompensate for the tension that had dissipated by the gap between seasons, I mean Salem was straight up reminding us who the F she is so we the viewer is reminded how f'd we left off.
The only joke of the episode Blake's "We're never going to sleep again, I just know it" didn't lighten the episode or relieve tension and I think that was the point. The joke basically said hey we are not going to get as depressing as a couple of fo volumes/seasons ago all that personal progress the group made in perseverance through adversity has not gone away but will still to f'd to laugh about it.
OZ
Oscar was expecting to get absolutely walloped by Nora and I feel like he is the trojan horse as far as character development. His decision not to tell the group about Ozpin's return or the truth of how he got down in the slumps was very Ozpin. The quote he gave" We can work separately and still be united sounded wise beyond his years, the type of thing Ozpin would say Ironwood noted Oscar saying things that sounded like Ozpin last season. I think Oscar's more subtle words and actions are him becoming more and more like Ozpin until he is Ozpin, this is how it happens this is how the previous Ozmar's and Ozpins became Ozpins. It's not that Oscar lied it's that he neglected to tell the truth.
Who's Side Is Time On
Yang stepping on a watch was and then seeing the suitcase was symbolic of the times. The watch owner was in such a hurry they didn't have time to take their watch, the irony, and the pictures of the young people the type of people who should have the most time. The whole scene really tried to sell to the whole imminent danger thing the rest of their lives may not be that long. Yang's attitude is basically to save the people we can save now. Rwby's attitude is what about after, you can't say either is entirely wrong considering who they are up against. Ren and Nora, Yang and Ruby are characters that have been together the longest so for them to split symbolizes the change of times in my opinion and I think it's an underlying theme.
Ironwood
This episode did a fantastic job of creating tension and then transitioning, and I think general Ironwoods was the most unexpected at least to me. Before he even gets off the phone you can feel how powerless he feels "If she makes it through our defenses everything follows will be on your hands" are the words of a man who feels powerless at present. Blaming someone else for your fear of the future is the sign of a man who is not taking responsibility for the present actions, he thinks everything he is doing is not evil it is out of necessity.
Ironwood looking at his mechanical hand gave me Darth Vader vibes. The way he looks at his hand the part of him that is not human before making inhumane decisions is very ironic he is trying to save humanity by discarding his own.
I don't think there could be more foreshadowing of Winter abandoning Ironwood than his "Thank you winter I don't know what I would do without you" line.
Ironwood straight up killing in cold blood has Winter and Harriet questioning how disposable everyone is to him. The dynamic between ironwood killing and Clover's death really shows Ironwood's duality at least that's how I saw it. On one hand, it can be seen as he does not care about life for him to kill so easily when the others are mourning clover. On the other hand, Ironwood may be thinking that the best way to prevent more people from ending up like Clover is to do what he did. Other than Winter Clover was probably his most trusted person, that's gotta take a toll when you can't trust anyone it's easy to feel like you know best, after all, you have to.
Salem's target is clearly Ozpin which means she does not know a question has been asked by Ruby otherwise any of the group could do, the real mystery is is what her question for the lamp is?
