The Next Step
Team RNJR, ready to hit the road for Mistral.
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Blacksmith: You kids sure you won't stick around? You've been real good to this town.
Ruby: Sorry, but we've got another mission.
Nora: Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what.
Ruby: Sorry, but we've got another mission.
Nora: Make it to Haven Academy, no matter what.
Salem and her subordinates are introduced, along with the eerie landscape in which she lives - a landscape that spawns new Grimm from pools of black ooze.
Meanwhile, Ruby, Nora, Jaune and Ren are travelling through Anima by foot, fighting monsters and debating their team name as they go.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Achilles' Heel: Salem warns Cinder that obtaining the Maiden power has left her with a crippling weakness towards Ruby's silver-eye power.
- Combination Attack: Ruby maximises her super-speed Semblance and Nora uses her fully-charged, super-powered lightning strength in a combination charge-and-hit attack to shatter the Geist's previously impenetrable defences.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: In the Volume 1 episode(s) "The First Step", the students are thrust into the woods, where they will form teams for their new life at Beacon. In this episode, Ruby and JNR walk through the woods, debating their new team name as the story establishes their new life after Beacon.
- Go for the Eye: The Geist proves to be very hard to stop or even injure until Ren uses his gun-blade as a boomerang and strikes the eye. A clear injury occurs and the Geist recoils in response, knocked off balance. Jaune is able to use that revelation to formulate a strategy that allows the team to focus on smashing through the Geist's defences to reach the eye.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Cinder's evil plans to obtain full Maiden power and bring down Beacon Tower results in her losing her left eye and being horribly scarred on that side of her face. She wears a large eye patch that functions as a partial mask to hide as much of the injury as she can, and uses her hair style to cover that side of her face, hiding as much of both the scar and the mask as she can. Nothing about her injury is treated as attractive. It's regarded as a debilitating injury that she still requires treatment to recover from.
- Ironic Echo: Ruby uses "Big mistake!" as a badass one-liner before firing a flaming projectile at the Geist's tree arm, prompting a reaction of excitement from Jaune. However, Jaune says the same line in pure Oh, Crap! mode when he sees that Ruby's contribution has just given the Geist a flaming tree arm.
- I Want Them Alive!: Cinder desperately wants Ruby hunted down after the injuries she received because of Ruby's power. Salem is willing to acknowledge Cinder's desire by forcing Tyrian to prioritize the hunt for Ruby over the hunt for the Spring Maiden, but she makes it absolutely clear to Tyrian that she wants Ruby alive. She does not explain why.
- Meaningless Villain Victory: Cinder wanted to be strong, feared and powerful and thought that's what she was achieving by destroying Beacon and obtaining the power of the Fall Maiden. However, her actions triggered an explosion of unexpected power from Ruby that has left her with debilitating scars, including the loss of her voice and left eye. She is mocked as a failure by Salem's fellow subordinates and has been forced to remain in protected isolation by Salem's side while she heals because her Maiden power has given her a serious weakness against Ruby's power. She is angry and frustrated that instead of being strong, feared and powerful, she is now weak, mocked and in need of protection.
- Oh, Crap!: Jaune freaks out when the Geist takes up a tree as it's new arm, sets it on fire and begins swinging at him.
- Time Skip: The scenes with Team RNJR travelling through Anima by foot reveal that they've been on the road for a while. Several months have passed since the end of Volume 3 and the beginning of Volume 4. There are some subtle signs of the passage of time, such as Nora and Ruby both having slightly longer hair than they used to have.
- Tragic Keepsake: Jaune gets a new outfit during the episode and it all has gold details. He all but states the gold came from Pyrrha's circlet, and is also now wearing a bright red sash around his waist, similar to the way Pyrrha did.
"Pardon the interruption, Miss Schnee, but your father wishes to speak to you."
