Time to keep our journey through RWBY continuing as we head into Volume Two. For a little fun fact about this season, it was the most recent release when I became a fan of RWBY (so yes, I’ve been a fan since close to the beginning). After finishing this season way back when, I started counting down the days until the release of the third!
Let’s get things started!
Episode One – Best Day Ever
Cinder’s pawns, Emerald and Mercury, kill a Faunus who tried to leave the White Fang, and talk with Torchwick about their plans. Sun introduces his blue-haired friend, Neptune, to Beacon Academy. Team RWBY engages in a massively destructive and over-the-top cafeteria food fight with Team JNPR. Ozpin remarks that the school’s children won’t be children forever.
I’ll be upfront in saying that my favorite parts of this episode are the beginning and the ending. The cold open with Emerald and Mercury is a fantastic introduction to both of these characters that starts intriguing and even a bit silly, before taking a very tense turn. It demonstrates their personalities greatly. The villain meetup at the end of the episode is great too, with Torchwick in full sass mode. The middle part with the cafeteria brawl? It’s one of the show’s most talked about scenes, and yet I’ve actually never liked it all that much. I think it’s actually too over-the-top for me.
Rating: 7.5
Episode Two – Welcome to Beacon
The leader of Atlas, James Ironwood, arrives at Beacon Academy with an army designed to protect the school during the upcoming Vytal Festival Tournament. Blake expresses agitation at Torchwick still being at-large, and she insists on sneaking out of Beacon on a secret mission into the city to try to find out more of the villain’s plans. Sun and Neptune tag along. Meanwhile, using fake IDs, Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury arrive at Beacon posing as transfer students from Haven Academy.
It doesn’t have much to do with the episode aside from serving as a vehicle for more worldbuilding, but I love seeing the girls play a Risk-like board game in the library. It’s a ton of fun. Weiss getting to demonstrate how much more she’s opened up to the others is great to see too. And then Blake really anchors the stakes and plot by focusing our heroines’ efforts on hunting down Torchwick. The stinger at the end that shows Cinder and her crew are posing as students is quite intimidating.
Rating: 8
Episode Three – A Minor Hiccup
Ruby and Weiss go to investigate the shipping logs from Weiss’ family company, the Schnee Dust Company. Blake and Sun, being Faunus, easily infiltrate an underground White Fang meeting. Yang and Neptune search for clues at an old nightclub Yang knows Torchwick and his associates have visited. Ruby gets distracted after running into Penny, and the two end up watching an Atlas military demonstration before being chased by a few guards. Penny is revealed to be a robot.
When you have a cool secret mission and split it up into two parts, the part that is mostly setup is inevitably going to be the less interesting one. Ruby and Penny’s interactions here are charming but feel a bit incongruous with the rest of the mission. Yang and Neptune’s journey to the nightclub unironically ends up being pointless (even if I like briefly seeing the Malachite sisters again). The Weiss stuff is awesome, though, giving us more teases into her extremely complicated relationships with her family members.
Rating: 8
Episode Four – Painting the Town…
Penny explains more about herself, how she is a robot but still has her own Aura (something that seemingly only humans possess). Blake and Sun are startled to encounter Torchwick at the White Fang rally, confirming the underground crime ring runs deep. Torchwick recognizes the duo, forcing them to flee while he gives chase in a massive mech stolen from an Atlas cargo train. The rest of Team RWBY reconvenes and defeats Torchwick and his mech with the power of their teamwork. Torchwick escapes thanks to his ice-cream-colored partner, Neo.
Obvious Penny-is-a-robot reveal aside, this episode rocks. The White Fang rally is a super tense scene, especially once Torchwick recognizes Blake and Sun. Admittedly, the big mech fight is a little over-the-top (particularly the highway chase part), but at a certain point what is happening is so cool (rather than the cheesy lunchroom fight, no food pun intended) that I just have to overlook logic in favor of epicness. Once the battle shifts to our four heroines versus Torchwick, it’s fantastic, and choreographed wonderfully. A lot of funny jokes in this episode too!
Rating: 9.5
Episode Five – Extracurricular
Pyrrha dominates the practice fight against Cardin and his team, prompting Mercury to want to try his hand at fighting Beacon’s top student. The battle is a ruse, however, designed solely so that Mercury can figure out Pyrrha’s strengths and weaknesses. After class, Pyrrha struggles to make it clear to Jaune that she has a crush on him, and a big festival ball is coming up soon.
This is a bit of a weird episode. The second half is mostly just people talking about the upcoming dance, and nothing particularly noteworthy happening. And yet, the first half contains two of the best fights in the entire show, back-to-back, with mind-blowingly-good choreography in spite of how non-plot-relevant both fights are. Seeing Pyrrha clean house with Cardin and his crew is super cathartic after all the trouble those bullies caused in the first season. And then seeing Pyrrha tangle with Mercury is as exciting as it is nail-biting (since we the viewers know how scary he is, but the other characters think he is just a normal student).
Rating: 8.5
Episode Six – Burning the Candle
Blake’s health rapidly deteriorates as she spends all of her team researching and planning ways to fight against Torchwick. Intervening, Yang tricks Blake into following her to a secluded class room, and then engages in a lengthy conversation with her about the importance of slowing down and knowing your limits. She tells a story about how her own recklessness almost cost her life as a kid. Blake finally accepts Yang’s advice, and Yang offers her a dance at the ball.
I think that, for many people, this episode is what made them sit up a little higher in their seats when it came to the writing quality of RWBY. Not that the previous story beats were poorly written, it’s just that the conversation between Yang and Blake (which is most of this episode) is just that good. Yang’s backstory, Blake’s desperation, and then a tender hug and a promise to slow down and take a break…it’s fantastic stuff. Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how much I completely and utterly adore Blake showcasing her cat-like traits. Yang distracting her with a laser pointer is super funny, and I love the animator’s attention to detail in how she even chases it like a cat would.
Rating: 9.5
Episode Seven – Dance Dance Infiltration
At the dance, Pyrrha reveals to Jaune that, because people always place her own a pedestal, she constantly is isolated and lonely. Jaune realizes she was trying to ask him out earlier, and he owns up to his mistakes by wearing a dress (because of an off-hand comment he made earlier) and inspiring a class-wide dance. Amidst the camaraderie, Cinder heads to the SDC tower, defeats the guards, and plants a virus in the control room. She’s followed by Ruby, though after a short battle Cinder is able to escape.
The school dance arc of this season is it’s weakest part, by far, but I don’t think it’s terrible either. And regardless of your opinion of it, it all ends pretty well here in this episode. Jaune finally not being an oblivious dummy and making up with Pyrrha with an epic dance number is as entertaining as it is silly. Cinder effortlessly toying with a bunch of security guards is a ton of fun, and her standoff with Ruby, while brief, is pretty cool. The entire episode being themed around Cinder’s namesake (Cinderella) and her escaping back to the ball by the stroke of midnight is just kind of a fun flourish atop it all.
Rating: 8
Episode Eight – Field Trip
Ruby, with knowledge of where Torchwick is most likely hiding out, wants to go but is forbidden by the rules of Beacon. Ozpin, however, bends the rules by framing their mission as a training exercise and partnering Team RWBY with the eccentric history professor, Oobleck. While this is going on, Ruby and Yang’s childhood pet, Zwei, arrives, and secretly stows away in Ruby’s backpack.
Don’t look at this episode’s rating and think that this episode is noticeably worse than the previous ones. I mean, it is, but that’s more to do with this episode serving as a transitionary setup episode for the final arc of the season. As such, there’s really just not a whole lot that happens here. I mean, Ruby and Yang’s dog, Zwei, shows up. Except, to be honest, I never liked his inclusion here that much. He leads to funny jokes (especially Blake’s cat-like freakout when he shows up), but he brings a dash of silliness that I feel pushes things a tad too far.
Rating: 7
Episode Nine – Search and Destroy
Team RWBY and Oobleck arrive at Mountain Glenn, an attempt at creating a new district of the city that failed when a Grimm assault rendered it in ruins. Oobleck puts Ruby and the other girls to the test battling Grimm while he scours the ruins of Mountain Glenn for clues. All the while, Oobleck subtly inquires about each girl’s motivation and goals, revealing the gaps in their logic and forcing them to see where they still have room to grow.
This is a bit of a quieter episode (well, except for multiple clashes with the Grimm), and is again an episode laying the foundation for future things to come. Even still, I find myself quite enjoying it. Two moments stand out in particular. One is Ruby and Oobleck’s discussion about Grimm, which lends a little more depth to these creatures than just being purely evil monsters. More than that scene, though, is Oobleck testing the members of Team RWBY, seeing what their convictions are and why they chose to be huntresses. It’s an engaging character moment that we really haven’t confronted for our heroines yet…and a far distant scene in Volume Nine is a unique parallel to this moment.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Ten – Mountain Glenn
That night, Ruby takes Zwei out on a short walk, and she ends up stumbling upon a few White Fang soldiers. When she goes to investigate further, she falls through a crack in the ground and is attacked and apprehended by the White Fang goons. The criminals bring her to Torchwick, who is not pleased to see ‘Little Red’ when she keeps interrupting his plans. Outside, the rest of Team RWBY and Oobleck realize Ruby has been kidnapped, and they mount a rescue plan.
After a mostly uneventful visit to Mountain Glenn so far, Ruby ends up taking a tumble and uncovering the White Fang base. It feels perhaps a smidge contrived since it’s brought about by Zwei running off rather than our protagonists doing actual sleuthing, but it’s still fine. After all, Torchwick enters the scene again, and any time we get to see him is a good time in my books! And even aside from Torchwick, I do really love how quickly the rest of Team RWBY and Oobleck figure out what has happened to Ruby as they hatch a plan to rescue her. The “underground crime network” line is one of the funniest in the whole season.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Eleven – No Brakes
Torchwick is revealed to be driving a train through underground tunnels with the intent of luring a massive horde of Grimm to Vale. The girls and Oobleck attempt to stop this plan. Blake takes advantage of Torchwick underestimating her and defeats him. However, Weiss is just barely beaten in battle by an extremely competent White Fang lieutenant, and Yang is soundly defeated by the seemingly untouchable Neo. Yang is saved from death by a mysterious masked figure. The train crashes at Vale despite the efforts of the girls.
This is just a stunning episode from start-to-finish, and the highlight of the entire season. It’s insane how many amazing moments are packed into this episode and it still has a relatively short runtime compared to other animated shows. Weiss fighting the White Fang Lieutenant is super fun, and Blake’s encounter with Torchwick has both a cool fight scene and a great moment of dialogue between the two afterwards. There’s a palpable sense of dread when our heroines realize Torchwick’s plan is to lure Grimm back to the city through the tunnels.
And, though it needs no introduction (considering I wrote a whole in-depth analysis article a few years back), the clash between Yang and Neo is my second favorite bout in the entire show, and one of the best fight scenes ever animated.
Rating: 10
Episode Twelve – Breach
The girls fight a losing battle against an army of Grimm, but they thankfully aren’t alone for long. Team JNPR arrives to help, as do Sun and Neptune, the robotic armies of Atlas, and the talented senior-year class of Beacon Academy, Team CFVY. Even Cinder, Emerald, and Mercury pretend to help out to maintain their cover. The Grimm are routed and Torchwick is arrested, though he asserts to Ironwood that he alone is the criminal mastermind, protecting Cinder and the others. Ironwood is appointed as the head of security, bringing in even more of his army for peacekeeping. Cinder is revealed to be working with major White Fang leader (and Blake’s old friend/lover), Adam.
Unfortunately, while I think this finale is ultimately pretty solid, it can’t reach the heights of the previous episode. The biggest thing that drags this episode down is that, despite Torchwick’s plan to lure Grimm working, no one seems to take it very seriously and it’s all resolved without much fuss. Once Team CFVY shows up, it’s treated more like a children’s game than an actual battle against monsters. It’s a bit hard to take seriously. Of course, yes, the plan was supposed to be beaten as a part of Cinder’s grander scheme, but it still doesn’t wholly sit right with me.
The fighting is still a good visual spectacle, of course, and the music is good. And thankfully everything around the fighting is great. I love the drama between Ironwood’s plans for security and Ozpin’s, I love the confrontation between Ironwood and Torchwick at the prison, and the appearance of Adam serves as a good tease for the next season.
Rating: 8
SEASON CONCLUSION
I have always had a very big soft spot for this season. I think it’s because it’s leagues better than the first season and was also the only other season available when I became a fan of RWBY, so I ended up re-watching this season like a million times to relive the funny jokes, hype moments, and cool fights.
I still think it holds up really well, to this day. It isn’t my favorite season in the show anymore (in-so-much as it was possible for me to even have a favorite season with only two choices back in the day), but it does rank quite highly even against the seven seasons that came out after. The middle part with the school dance is a little weak, but the intro arc and the final arc are both really stellar. It’s a season that you can’t exactly go wrong with if you decide to pop it on and give it a watch to just have a fun time!
Rating: 9
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 