Our Contrarian Retrospective continues onward into the third season of RWBY, the final season directly overseen by the series creator, Monty Oum, prior to his tragic and unexpected passing. And it’s a genre staple for any anime show that involves fighting to have a tournament arc, so that’s where we head to as this season kicks off!
Let’s keep our retrospective going!
Episode One – Round One
Ruby reminisces about her journey thus far while visiting her mother’s grave. The Vytal Festival Tournament officially begins, with Team RWBY acing their initial match while defeating a rival school’s team. Weiss is financially cut off from her family wealth. Cinder and her team are also competing in the tournament in their faux-student guises. Team JNPR is up next for a bout.
So this is a bit of a weird one. Ruby doing a clever in-universe recap at her mother’s grave? A neat scene, and very touching. Ruby and her friends goofing around at the food stalls? Tons of really funny jokes. Getting a bit more insight into Cinder and her crew? Also appreciated. But the actually fight that Team RWBY participates in? It’s one of the weakest episode one fights in the entire series, and it’s a low spot for an otherwise quite solid season premiere.
Rating: 9
Episode Two – New Challengers…
Though they get off to a rough start, Team JNPR defeats their own opponent and moves onto the next round. Sun and Neptune’s team, Team SSSN, also win their own bout after they also face their own challenges and coordination issues. During this, Ruby’s uncle, Qrow, watches the matches on a television with disinterest. However, when an Atlas aircraft arrives, he finally makes his move.
Alas, my comments about the previous episodes fights extend to the fighting in this episode. Sadly, since this episode is basically only fighting, it drags it down even more. Both of the episodes two big brawls have their high moments, for sure, but it doesn’t completely hide our stilted and empty they still feel. At the very least, both fights have funny moments, and the music for the second fight is unironically maybe the best composed piece of music in all of RWBY. The asides with Qrow at the bar are cool too.
Rating: 7
Episode Three – It’s Brawl in the Family
Weiss’ older sister, the stern and no-nonsense Winter, arrives via her aircraft. Before she can go further than being introduced to Ruby, Qrow intervenes. He complains about Ironwood’s policies and military overreach, and Winter defends her commanding officer. Qrow and Winter engage in a fierce battle that tears up the courtyard, before eventually being stopped by Ozpin and Glynda. Qrow then tells Ozpin and the other adults that they need to find the next Fall Maiden soon. At the same time, Cinder fully hacks into Ironwood’s terminal, giving her control over the tournament match-ups.
This season finally picks up in a big way with an episode that just fires on all cylinders. Winter’s introduction is immaculate, Qrow is immediately entertaining and charming from his first minute in the spotlight, and his battle with Winter immediately propels this season back into (no pun intended) fighting form with regards to excellent action scenes. And not to sound like too much of a broken record, but there’s a lot of funny moments in this episode too, and the soundtrack during the fight is an awesome clash between Qrow and Winter’s distinct leitmotifs.
Rating: 9.5
Episode Four – Lessons Learned
Emerald and Mercury handedly defeat their opponents, the usually-unbeatable seniors of Beacon, Team CFVY. Winter gives Weiss encouragement and beratement in equal measure, telling her sister to lean more into the unique powers of their family bloodline (specifically, summoning). The two part ways on good terms. Ruby and Yang bond with Qrow over video games for a while, and he tells a brief story about his own years at Beacon.
Almost any action scene that has Mercury in it is going to be a delight, and this episode’s opening brawl continues to prove that sentiment true. I also like how kinda creepy it gets with Emerald taking down Coco in the forest. Weiss has a lot of great bonding moments with Winter, establishing a nuanced and loving dynamic between the two sisters, and seeing Qrow switch between silly stories and gaming with his nieces, to sobering up with a some genuine words of encouragement is a great encapsulation of his own character.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Five – Never Miss a Beat
Penny continues to perform excellently in the tournament, her identity as a robot still a secret from others. Yang and Weiss are matched up against an eclectic duo with an almost unbeatable strategy. Weiss sacrifices herself to give Yang an opening, and Yang uses her anger-fueled powers to cinch the match. Cinder discovers that Penny is a robot, and the school teachers pull Pyrrha aside to confide a great secret in her.
The biggest downside of this episode is that the first few minutes are spent on Penny, who sadly feels a little bit like an afterthought in this season (aside from a dramatic incident in a few episodes). Yang and Weiss’ battle against a duo from Atlas is an entertaining spectacle of flashy action and jazzy music, and does not fail to impress. I think I still get goosebumps each time Yang’s theme kicks in during those final moments. It’s a fun episode, though under-the-surface is a hint of mild padding.
Rating: 8
Episode Six – Fall
Pyrrha is told about the Maidens, four magically-gifted young women that correlate to the seasons (Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring), and that when one Maiden dies her power passes to whoever is last in her thoughts, which could be her attacker. The Fall Maiden is at risk of dying, and her power would go to Cinder. Ozpin wants Pyrrha to receive the powers…and the burden…instead. Meanwhile, Yang fights Mercury in the tournament, and Emerald uses her hallucination powers to goad Yang into attacking Mercury, breaking his leg.
So there’s an unshakeable feeling that the big exposition lore dump in the first half of this episode (about the Maidens, and magic powers, and all of that) was not planned from the conception of RWBY, considering it does feel a bit shoe-horned in. Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable and intriguing scene that fleshes out the world quite a bit, and adds some stakes to the story. Yang and Mercury’s battle is fantastic, and the episode’s biggest highlight is definitely the shocking leg-breaking cliffhanger, especially with Yang having seen one scene play out, while everyone else saw something else.
Rating: 9
Episode Seven – Beginning of the End
Via flashbacks, we see Cinder recruiting Emerald and Mercury to join her team, showing the situations she rescued them from and why they are so loyal to her. We also see the moment Cinder attacked and almost killed the Fall Maiden, and how she siphoned some of the Maiden’s powers. In the present, Mercury is escorted out of the arena by Cinder and Neo (dressed as EMTs), and he reveals a cybernetic leg (so he was never really injured). The public is furious at Yang’s attack, losing trust in the school, and the negative emotions begin to stir up the Grimm.
Even just a few morsels of backstory for Cinder and her crew was a long time coming at this point, and this episode doesn’t disappoint on that front. Within a fairly trim and fast-paced runtime, this episode gives just enough about Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald to understand how each of these characters thinks and what their goals are. The battle against the Fall Maiden is cool too, even if it’s choreography doesn’t ‘wow‘ as much as some other fights in this season. Also, despite the Fall Maiden being voiced by Laura Bailey, she only gets about three lines, which is a shame.
Rating: 9
Episode Eight – Destiny
Yang is disqualified from the tournament due to the officials not believing her, but Ruby and Weiss do. Blake takes longer to come around, admitting to being fooled by a two-faced individual in the past. Ultimately, she sides with Yang. Jaune and Pyrrha had an intense conversation that leaves Pyrrha frustrated and confused. Ruby learns that Team CFVY seemingly experienced hallucinations during their earlier battle, implicating Emerald as the culprit. Before Ruby can confront Emerald, she’s stopped by Mercury. Penny and Pyrrha are locked-in as the next round’s combatants.
I always enjoy any moments with Yang and Blake, so their brief bit of drama with regards to Blake’s trust issues is a highlight in this episode. I also really love Ruby putting her infrequent-but-impactful moments of clever insight to work by figuring out that Emerald is responsible for the hallucinations. Her confrontation with Mercury at the end of the episode is good too. At the same time, this episode does feel a bit like a necessary evil when it comes to setting up the big climax, and in exchange being a bit simple and predictable.
Rating: 8
Episode Nine – PvP
Mercury stalls Ruby, preventing her from getting to Emerald. Due to Emerald’s hallucination powers, Pyrrha over-commits to a powerful attack, and accidentally destroys Penny, ripping her to pieces. Penny’s death is a massive shock, as is the fact that she was a robot. Horror mixes with distrust throughout the audience. Cinder hijacks the broadcast to recite a manifesto decrying the leaders of the world and encouraging anarchy. A horde of Grimm begin attacking, and the White Fang show up to raze the school too. Neo frees Torchwick from prison, and the two commandeer an Atlas warship.
This is the episode that changed RWBY forever (and even came with a content warning when it initially aired). Having a major character die is nothing new in a show like this, though I still applaud the decision. I have even more praise for just how willing the writers were to show the bad guys winning and the good guys in a hopeless position. RWBY flirts with hopelessness to a degree that toes the line of cynicism in some later seasons, but I think they nailed the tone here. The Grimm, the White Fang, Torchwick and Neo…it’s a lot, and its tees up the big final three episodes wonderfully.
Rating: 9.5
Episode Ten – Battle of Beacon
Ruby rallies her fellow students, pushing down her own grief over Penny’s death. Torchwick implants a virus that turns Atlas’ robotic soldiers against the students and citizens of Vale, causing mass chaos. Ironwood seemingly goes down with his ship while trying to help. Ruby goes after Torchwick and Neo alone, determined to stop them. A dragon-like Grimm bursts from the ground to cause more havoc. Blake is cornered by Adam, the high-ranking White Fang leader and her abusive ex-boyfriend. Ozpin takes Pyrrha and Jaune to the Fall Maiden, but this is exactly what Cinder wants.
Coming between the climactic moment where everything went wrong in the previous episode, and the bombastic finale to follow, it was inevitable that this episode wouldn’t be quite as good. But it doesn’t actively do anything wrong, it just doesn’t do as much right as the episodes that surround it. It’s still a fun time, and I especially like Ruby’s desperate flight up to the airship to take on Torchwick and Neo, and Blake being confronted by Adam. And I adore the uber-creepy remix of Cinder’s leitmotif for this episode’s cliffhanger.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Eleven – Heroes and Monsters
Ruby struggles greatly to take down Torchwick and Neo, though a moment of quick-thinking pulls Neo out of the fight. Torchwick is then killed by his own arrogance, eaten by a Grimm his own negative emotions lured in. With the warship taken down, the Atlas robots shut off, though not before Weiss finally unlocks her summoning ability and saves a group of students by taking down a big mech. Ironwood is revealed to be part-cyborg and he survived his own ship crash. Adam stabs Blake and cuts off Yang’s arm, but both girls manage to barely escape him. Cinder kills the Fall Maiden before Pyrrha can complete the procedure, absorbing all of the powers into herself.
Definitely the best episode of the season, and just filled to the brim with unforgettable moments. The only reason it doesn’t get a perfect score is because I find the extended fight scene with Velvet to be a little out-of-place (like, she’s cool, and her powers are even cooler, but it just kinda happens). Ironwood proving himself a hero, and Weiss finding her summoning talents, are both great character beats. Yang’s defeat and literal disarming by Adam is jaw-dropping. Ruby’s big showdown with Torchwick (RIP) and Neo presents the best fight in the entire season. And then Cinder basically winning in the final minute of the episode is haunting.
Rating: 9.5
Episode Twelve – End of the Beginning
Ozpin holds Cinder off briefly before he is killed by her. Pyrrha, knowing the a true huntress takes any risk to save others, kisses Jaune before sending him off to safety and confronting Cinder by herself. She puts up an incredible fight, but she is ultimately killed before Ruby can arrive to help. A mysterious shining glow from Ruby’s eyes defeats all of the Grimm and chases off Cinder. In the aftermath, Yang falls into a depression, Weiss is taken back home by her father, Blake runs off, and Ruby forms a makeshift team with Jaune, Ren, and Nora to try and set things right. The queen of the Grimm, Salem, is revealed.
It is with some sadness that I have to admit that the finale doesn’t stick the landing as much as I would’ve hoped. Don’t get me wrong, the quick opening fight of Cinder and Ozpin is great, and the much-longer battle between Cinder and Pyrrha is even better. Pyrrha’s death is extremely saddening, and Ruby’s power exploding in response is just as cathartic (I love Cinder’s frustrated scream of confusion). But then the episode follows this with over ten minutes of slow-paced exposition and more lore dumping. Is it necessary? Probably, maybe, I guess. But it kills the flow and pace of the episode, and makes it all crawl by.
The final few minutes with the narrator’s monologue, which then slowly reveals the narrator to be Salem? Great scene. The big middle chunk? Not so much.
Rating: 8
SEASON CONCLUSION
This season was the season back when I first became a fan of the show, with each episode actively airing week-by-week and being eagerly devoured by me. I loved this season back then. However, it’s probably the season where my opinion has soured the most as time has gone on. Obviously, I still like the season, but I can’t say that I love it.
My biggest reason comes down to the tournament…and how it was completely and utterly pointless. The tournament never finishes. No one wins. It was just fighting for the sake of fighting for a few episodes, and then Cinder launched her attack and the entire second half of the season focused on that instead. The tournament was just fancy set dressing to, effectively, kill time. And I have a hard time overlooking that, especially during rewatches of this season.
So many other parts of this season are fantastic, though!
Rating: 8
But hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 