Review: RWBY Vol.8 “Divide”

Overview (Possible Spoilers Below)

We start off this new volume by seeing a girl scrubbing a wooden floor, which is possibly a step in the right direction to potentially address one of the biggest complaints & grievances I’ve had regarding the show for years as it could be the start of explaining Cinder Fall’s Origin story. It may be small, but I’m sure we’ll eventually find out more in later episodes. When it cuts to the present, things take a more interesting direction as it’s becoming a big RWBY Supervillain reunion of sorts with Cinder reuniting with Salem, and given that she stole the Relic of Knowledge from Oscar with Neo’s help it not only grants Cinder a second chance to be part of Salem’s circle once more but also Adds Neo into the mix. But is ultimately put on a proverbial leash even after redeeming herself in the eyes of her twisted overlord. It’s a great scene that also includes some updated character designs for the villains including Emerald & Mercury whom we haven’t seen in a while. Emerald is happy to see Cinder but is simply snubbed by the Diva which once again reminds us that she doesn’t give a crap about her or any of her henchmen for that matter… As team RWBY along with Jaune and the others are now on the “Most Wanted” list due to Ironwood declaring martial law, the Girls themselves, well most notably Yang begins to debate whether or not Ruby’s decisions were the best and this is we’re beginning to see a slight divide between the characters. One side lead by Ruby want to shoot that Amity Tower off to space to restore communication and spread the word of Salem which at this point, many think it’s impossible since it requires infiltrating Atlas that is now a heavily guarded fortress run by Ironwood who isn’t mentally sound…

While the latter half lead by Yang wants to help the people of Mantle knowing that once Salem gets what she wants, she’ll wreck the town anyway and move on to repeat the process. Ren supports Yang and wants to help Mantle instead of heading back to Atlas which Nora isn’t thrilled about either. It also doesn’t take long for the team to eventually find Oscar at a mining camp after he was “presumed lost”. But as they head back to the Happy Huntresses hideout, Oscar doesn’t tell the team that Ozpin is back. He and the immortal spirit need to discuss things privately. But Jaune manages to smooth things over by suggesting that they can do both the Amity thing and helping the people of Mantle, thus leading to the team dividing themselves into two. Team A (Ruby, Weiss, Nora, Blake, and Penny) will go back to Atlas and activate the Amity Tower, while Team B (Jaune, Yang, Ren, and Oscar) stay in Mantle to help with the evacuation. Jaune claims that the team still remains united in spite of the split but I imagine that as the volume progresses there will be more of a potential division. Even Penny despite having Maiden Powers thinks just turning herself in is the right thing to do, but of course Ruby knows it’s Bullshit. We do see Oscar eventually coming back to the team with a possible plan he psychically consulted with Ozpin about in his head, and later we also get a scene with Ruby sort-of confronting Ironwood who for trying to convince Penny to come back which leads to a brief argument between Ruby and Ironwood knowing that Penny would be mistreated if she did return to that self-righteous douche-monkey. 

But I think the largest highlight of this episode is Ironwood going full-dictator at this point. Last season highlighted how his paranoia and mistrust drove him into Madness, But where do I even begin with what he does next? Despite recently apprehending Qrow & Robyn due to them not being a threat to him, and visiting Weiss’s sister Winter who is heavily injured in the aftermath and losing the Maiden powers to their prized Android protector Penny, during their battle with Cinder (which is something Winter has purposely withheld from him). If choosing to leave Mantle to die wasn’t enough, The most shocking thing Ironwood does next when the council members confront his bullshit, really cemented his irreversible descent into tyranny. It’s worth noting that Ironwood’s actions don’t go unnoticed, especially with Winter and Harriet which could potentially cause them both to question if they’re fighting for the right side. And during the course of future episodes, it remains to be seen if these Militant Atlas-holes even wanna continue following him. But the most intense cliffhanger is what Salem demands next since she doesn’t know how to access the Jinn within the Relic of Knowlege, she knows somebody who does…

Our Take

As Barbara Dunkleman (the voice of Yang) stated in a past interview in regards to this new season: “Just because you like someone or respect someone is close to you doesn’t necessarily mean you have to agree with everything they do or say which I think will be a big part of this season”. And consequently, we’re slowly starting to see that within Team RWBY, Ironwood’s Ace-Ops, and even members within Salem’s inner-circle themselves. I also like how the conflict of this episode came down to short term vs long term goals because I think it shows an interesting evolution of both Ruby and Yang as both sisters and individuals.

For Yang, it’s a culmination of her growth from Vol.4 on, not just listening blindly to others anymore and actually thinking for herself, and yes, now, that includes her sister Ruby who was often never the type to believe in the idea of “necessary sacrifice” which is such a theme of this show, in general, asking ethical questions such as how far is too far, is the outcome worth the loss, etc. Ruby was one who would’ve done whatever it took to save everyone she could. So I find it interesting that she’s shifted towards this slightly gray area where she’s made an active decision that launching this thing into space and warning the world is more important than saving mantle. While Yang’s focus on the present has equal validation here because, in reality, they’re BOTH have valid points. The town of Mantle needs help and so does the rest of their world. To me, this is no different than when the X-Men split into two separate teams calling themselves “Gold” and “Blue” to cover more ground which was an actual thing that happened in the comics, and I think it makes perfect sense that they’d have to do the same in this particular scenario.

And finally the new intro… where do I even begin? So many beautiful visuals and symbolism sprinkled throughout. Not to mention the clips that are presented with hints of mistrust, betrayal, and potential danger afoot. This episode may have set up the main conflicts but I honestly have no idea where it’s going from here and I look forward to finding out!