A Cat Most Curious
"Huntresses, was it? Peculiar things."
Written by Miles Luna
Directed by Dustin Matthews
Directed by Dustin Matthews
"If I were you, I'd be more worried about... who was that scary sorceress you mentioned? Uh... Saleem... Salem...? How many more Relics does she need to end the world again? How are you even supposed to stop her now that Atlas is gone?"
— The Curious Cat
The girls catch up with the mysterious Curious Cat and face some harsh truths about themselves.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Accidental Misnaming: The Curious Cat, trying to recall the name of the series' Big Bad, momentarily refers to her as "Saleem" before landing on the correct "Salem".
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- According to the Cat, Team RWBY's biggest problem is Salem; all Ruby can do is stare in shock once the cat asks the team how many more Relics she needs to destroy Remnant. Seconds later, the Cat asks how they plan to stop her since Atlas is destroyed, which stops Ruby dead in her tracks.
- The Herbalist's insistence on Team RWBY defining themselves as Huntresses has a similar effect on Ruby, who, confronted by her past self and overwhelmed by events on Remnant, can't answer who she wants to be and is left helpless; this is unlike her teammates, who confidently refute their past selves.
- Call-Back: To "Search And Destroy", with each of the girls being challenged once again on what being a Huntress means to them. This time, Weiss, Blake, and Yang are able to give meaningful answers and reassert their choices, while Ruby is the one left floundering.
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: Ruby's past self calls her out for putting herself in a position where she has to be the solution to everyone's problem, the one everyone relies on and who saves Remnant. The hallucination states it's unfair to be in this position, starkly contrasting Ruby's originally fairy tale vision of Huntresses to the reality of being one. While Ozpin warned Oscar about Ruby's problem back in Volume 5, this is the first time anyone's confronted her about it.
- Constantly Curious: The Curious Cat lives up to their reputation, and Team RWBY have to keep their attention on the goal by answering their questions about Remnant. By the time they get to the Gardens' Acre, the girls are exhausted and trading off who has to answer.
- Cynical Mentor: The Herbalist is a bit sarcastic and dour, but seems to be legitimately trying to help Team RWBY. They're just too confused and frustrated at being unable to give him definitive answers to his questions as they in turn are confused about what information he actually needs to obtain to help them.
- Dissonant Serenity: Or dissonant cheerfulness. Ruby's past self enthusiastically says Ruby will just have to keep fighting, forever and ever, against an invincible enemy that killed Summer. It's as disturbing as it sounds.
- Glowing Flora: The Gardens Acre is a mystical realm of perpetual darkness that is lit by the giant, biolumiscent fungi and flowers. The team's initially struck by its beauty when entering for the first time, but quickly becomes freaked out by the Herbalist who lives there.
- Heroic Fatigue: Ruby's past self makes it clear she's becoming drained by her desire to be someone who makes Remnant a better world; this has put Ruby in the position of being constantly relied on by others so that she feels she must keep fighting forever against Salem, who killed Summer despite how good a Huntress her mother was. All Ruby can do is slump down on her knees in shock, unable to answer why she wants to be a Huntress.
- Improperly Paranoid: After their past encounters with other Ever After residents, Team RWBY are instantly on guard and suspicious of the Herbalist and his intentions and become increasingly unsettled by their behaviour. For their part, the Herbalist becomes increasingly frustrated by Team RWBY's behaviour and inability to cooperate with what he regards as very simple requests.
- It's What I Do: In the Ever After, the Herbalist makes medicines and concoctions to help people on their journeys. Frustrated with Team RWBY's uncertainty about their roles as "Huntresses", he uses a Mushroom Samba to help them discover it, but the Cat implies it's taking him away from the role he's supposed to be playing.
- Just in Time: The Curious Cat leaps through the illusion of the younger Ruby seconds after it asks Ruby what she wants to be. Though the Cat doesn't reveal what the consequence would have been had Ruby answered the question, they are disturbed enough to call out the Herbalist for failing to perform his duties.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Upon being told about Remnant, the Cat begins asking all the questions the fandom has been asking the creators for years, ranging from the unfortunate implications of Ozpin and Oscar sharing a body, to what happened to Ciel and how difficult it must be to keep track of so many characters in the Cast Herd of the first three volumes or the Ensemble Cast of the fifth volume onwards.
- "Leave Your Quest" Test: The Herbalist's drug-fuelled visions of their past selves give Team RWBY easy ways out to their problems. Yang is offered to return to a time when she had both arms, Blake is offered to abandon the complexity of life as a Faunus, and Weiss is offered to shed her burden as a Schnee, but they reject their temptations. Meanwhile, Ruby struggles to accept her past self's offer to shed the burden of being Ruby Rose seconds before the Cat interferes.
- Mushroom Samba: The Herbalist's concoction causes the girls to be confronted by their past selves so they can investigate who they are as a person.
- "No More Holding Back" Speech: During the girls' Mushroom Samba, they are all confronted with their younger Vale Arc selves who offer to give them easy ways out of their traumas. However, Weiss, Blake and Yang in turn all reaffirm who they are, why they're comfortable with that, and how it will help them on their journeys towards who they'll become in the future. It's subverted with Ruby, where the confrontation with her past self confirms she's holding herself back more than she ever did.
- Yang is offered to have her real arm back and "made whole", but she states her triumphs and her failures are what have shaped her into the woman she is, and going back instead of forward will do her no good.
- Blake is given the choice to become human or cat, with her past self saying it's pointless to suffer trying to be a bridge between humans and Faunus. Blake says her family, friends and culture are what make her who she is, and won't give it up.
- Weiss is offered to just give up the family name and be a nobody, and to not be tied down by the baggage that comes with it. Weiss instead says she'll define her name for herself rather than have it be defined for her.
- Ruby's past self confronts her belief in becoming a fairy tale hero, and the words she told Blake back in Volume 1 that, if life isn't like a fairy tale, they exist to make it better. Ruby's past self latches onto Ruby's hero complex, where she feels like she has to be the person to make it better for everyone, even if she's fighting forever against an invincible foe that even Summer couldn't handle. With Ruby unable to declare her desire to be a Huntress, the Cat ends the session.
- Patchwork World: As the heroines approach the Garden's Acre, Yang notes how the Ever After is put together like a bunch of mixed-up puzzle pieces.
- Twisted-Knee Collapse: While Team RWBY is brought into the Herbalist's dream state, Ruby can only slump down on her knees in shock when she encounters her younger self.
- Visual Pun: The Cat says "I sense a 'but' approaching", while his own detached rear half walks towards him.
- What Does This Button Do?: Ruby tries distracting the Curious Cat with a scroll, but they grab it from her to investigate it. Although they ask what the buttons do, they don't wait for an answer and instead begin to pressing them. This activates the camera, which takes selfies of the Cat, fascinating them in the process.
- You Have Failed Me: The Cat calls out the Herbalist's failure in performing his duty and offers to help by giving him a piece of their heart. Seconds later, the Herbalist comments on how peculiar Huntresses are as the ground swallows him up. Though the Cat and Little are unfazed, Team RWBY are horrified.
"What am I supposed to do?"
— Ruby Rose
