Cordially Invited
"Let's talk about exactly what it is you control."
Written by Miles Luna
Directed by Dustin Matthews
Directed by Dustin Matthews
"If Jacques Schnee is up to something, I think we should know what it is."
— Ruby Rose
While Jacques puts the Atlesian Council on a collision course with Ironwood, Watts carries out the next phase of the villains' plans.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Ironwood isn't looking forward to the council meeting at Schnee Manor and takes along all his allies to bolster his position. When they climb out of the car and spot the circling media airship, Ironwood suggests to Winter that they should smile for the cameras. Winter retorts that he'd have to pay her to do so and leaves. Ironwood cracks a smile at that and cheers up slightly.
- The Alcoholic: In the Volume 5 episode "Alone Together", Weiss reveals to Yang that her mother Willow is an alcoholic. Willow's appearance in this episode is initially foreshadowed seconds before her appearance when Weiss encounters a waitress carrying three empty wine glasses near her father's study, far from the party. Upon entering Jacques's room, she finds her mother standing at his desk, with a bottle of vodka in hand and a full tumbler. Although Willow seems functional as she talks to her daughter, Weiss averts her eyes when she starts swigging from the bottle instead of the glass.
- Bait-and-Switch: Team JNR conspires to distract Whitley by throwing food at him, under the guise of Ren knocking a tray of food out of Nora's hands by accident. At first, the camera shows Whitley's face falling in complete shock at the incoming barrage - only for a woman to walk into shot and cop it instead. She then throws her glass of wine straight into Whitley's face, thereby creating a double subversion.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Once Jacques accuses Ironwood of not trusting the council, Winter explodes at Jacques, telling him in no uncertain terms that he can't buy trust like he buys everything else. When Jacques twists her words around, she tries calling him out again only for Ironwood to intervene.
- Children Are Innocent: Earlier in the volume, Weiss mentioned that without heating or a projected Aura, people would die from the cold in a matter of hours. Throughout the volume, the weather in Mantle has been very rainy. When Watts turns off the heating in Mantle, the rain quickly cools into snow. A child looking through the window spots the weather change and becomes very excited at the sight of falling snow, completely oblivious to the life-threatening implications of that weather change.
- Cliffhanger: At the end of the episode, Watts stands on a rooftop overlooking Mantle while sheltering from the falling rain under his umbrella. When Watts deactivates the heating grid right across the city, it quickly cools enough for the rain to turn back into snow. As Watts discards his umbrella in satisfaction, an innocent child watches the falling snow with excitement, unaware of the life-threatening implications of a tundra city losing its ability to heat itself.
- Contrived Clumsiness: To get Whitley away from Weiss so that she can search the house, Team JNR arrange for an overloaded Nora to "accidentally" bump into Ren, thereby "losing control" of all the food she's carrying so that it will fall all over Whitley.
- Covered in Gunge: Team JNR arrange to "accidentally" spill food all over Whitley to force him to leave Weiss alone long enough to snoop around the manor. However, a woman steps in front of Whitley just in time for her to get covered instead of Whitley. Horrified by what's happened to her, she tosses her glass of wine, which lands all over Whitley who is still standing beside her.
- Epic Fail: For a moment, it seems as though the stack of food Nora piled up will fail to ruin Whitley's decorum due to a woman who happens to get in the way. Then the woman anguishedly hurls her wine backwards onto him, weeping about the stains on her dress.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: While heading towards Jacques's office, Weiss encounters a waitress carrying three empty wine glasses, a considerable distance from the party. This heralds a known character making her very first appearance on-screen not fifteen seconds later.
- Freudian Excuse: Ever since his first appearance, Whitley has been antagonistic towards Weiss under a thin veneer of being a supportive sibling catching up with and checking on her sister, but otherwise wants nothing to do with her. When Weiss confronts Whitley in Volume 4 about his false affection for her, Whitley reasons that they must follow Jacques's expectations. When Weiss tells her mother about the situation with Whitley, Willow notes that her daughter's departure left Whitley alone with an abusive father and a negligent mother.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- When Jacques questions the safety of having Penny at the table, Ironwood retorts that the robot is under his command. While it is clearly to assure that Penny won't go on a rampage, Penny is clearly put out by the very strong implications that the general only sees her as a tool.
- When Winter says Penny wouldn't understand how she feels, Penny assumes that it's because she's an android. Winter quickly walks it back and explains that she means Penny can't understand her exact situation.
- Insult Backfire: After Winter explodes at Jacques about earning trust instead of buying it, Jacques quickly twists her words around. He tells Ironwood that remaining tight-lipped about the Amity Project and becoming increasingly secretive about everything when his critics are getting murdered isn't a good look and that Ironwood can't expect trust when he gives none in return.
- Irony: Watts has spent Volume 7 carefully manipulating technology to ensure he and Tyrian can't be captured on any security footage and refusing to allow Tyrian to have a single base of operations because it increases the chances of them getting caught. However, his decision to turn up at the Schnee Manor to talk to Jacques results in him being captured on private security footage that he can't erase because Willow has secretly installed cameras in every room of the house to collect information on all of Jacques's activities.
- Lampshade Hanging: The show's large cast gets a lampshade when Ironwood comes to the door of Schnee Manor accompanied by no less than sixteen other characters, every one of them named and well-established. Whitley's response when he opens the door seals it.Whitley: General, exactly how large do you think our dining room table is?
Ironwood: I happen to know it's enormous. - Oh, Crap!: Nora builds up a massive tower of food on a serving tray for the express purpose of "accidentally" losing her balance and throwing the food over Whitley. When he sees all the food falling his way, he has a moment of complete shock before a woman walks in front of him. As it becomes clear that the wrong person is going to get hit by the food, Ren and Jaune have a brief moment of silent horror. This all changes back however, once the woman anguishedly hurls her wine backwards onto him.
- Properly Paranoid: For her and her children's safety, Willow had long since hidden cameras in every room of the Schnee mansion so that she can record all of Jacques's activities. This has enabled her to capture footage of Jacques and Watts scheming together in Jacques's study. She gives the footage to Weiss because she thinks Jacques is into something he doesn't understand and she wants Weiss to protect Whitley.
- Rage Breaking Point: Throughout the council meeting, Winter's controlled anger is expressed by a constantly tapping finger that gradually speeds up as her anger increases. When Ironwood states the Amity project will help resolve the council's concerns but insists on retaining discretion, Jacques accuses him of not trusting the council. Upon hearing this, Winter quickly snaps at Jacques.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: After Winter explodes on Jacques that trust has to be earned, her father uses this to segue into litany of Ironwood's recent failures, citing that as the reason why the council no longer trusts the general."General, if I may be blunt, you have spent what little trust this Council had left in you. The hacker who turned Atlas drones against us was never captured, whoever's been murdering your critics is still at large. How are we supposed to give you our trust, when you've given us nothing as of late?"
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After his alcoholism spiraled out of control in the previous episodes, Qrow is trying to stay dry. When he's offered wine at the party, Qrow decides to avoid temptation by patrolling the grounds outside. Marrow, upon spotting that the waiter is a Faunus, decides he feels the same way and follows Qrow.
- Snow Means Death: Earlier in the volume, Weiss comments that the cold of Solitas is so extreme that people will die in a matter of hours if they don't have heating or a projected Aura. After Watts deactivates Mantle's heating grid at the end of the episode, the rain cools back down into snow, leaving the city at the mercy of the tundra weather.
