The tenth episode of RWBY’s eighth volume is called “Ultimatum” and aired over the weekend. We only have 4 episodes left in the season and they are not slowing down any time soon. If you haven’t watched it yet, this is your warning that spoilers abound ahead.
As the fog of war covers the kingdom, Atlas nears its breaking point.
The episode starts with a very bright flash of light as Monstra explodes. This is a huge shock to everyone, especially Morrow, who thinks that Jaune, Ren, and Yang died in the explosion. Ironwood thinks that it was the Ace Ops delivering the bomb, but clearly it wasn’t. Well, everyone knows that this is only a temporary calm. Salem will return soon, and I’m sure she’s going to be pissed. Communication systems do seem to get restored though and the two teams of heroes make contact guiding the team at Monstra back to Schnee Manor.
Let’s take a second to talk about one of my favorite scenes though. I hate Watts. I hate Cinder so much more. She is nothing more than an entitled brat with an abused past. Watts is just a wicked pain in the rear. Well, Cinder thinks that Watts should do what she commands, and he’s not having it. She’s about to kill him by dropping him from a very tall building and he calls her out on how entitled she really is. Not to mention the fact that he works for Salem and not Cinder. She ends up not dropping him and goes off to cry. This is the one time that I like Watts. Christopher Sabat and Jessica Nigri both do a great job with these characters even if I hate them.
Let’s check in with Ironwood, shall we? Ace Ops and Winter report back to him and let him know that they still have the bomb. This has him a little lost for a minute as he is so tunnel visioned on getting Penny back to the Vault. He figures he can use Jaune, Ren, and Yang as leverage to get her and then Harriet reports that Winter let those three go into Monstra and so everyone thinks they’re dead and Ironwood has lost that leverage. If he wasn’t crazy before, he’s full on villain cray cray now. It doesn’t help that Qrow and Robyn have escaped his custody. When he sees the Schnee Dust Company transports headed to Mantle, he blows them out of the sky. That’s when he announces that Penny has one hour to report to him or he will destroy Mantle. That’s right. Ironwood has gone from simply crazy to being just as bad as Salem with the distinction that he won’t admit that he’s bad.
All of the main heroes meet back up and it’s a happy reunion. I was honestly surprised we didn’t get a kiss between Blake and Yang, but it is what it is. Not much to talk about with them other than their worry when Ironwood blows the transports out of the sky and makes his demands. The one semi-big thing is that Emerald is now with them, and while no one trusts her and she doesn’t trust them, Oscar is trying to get them all to work together.
Ironwood is in for some real problems. I think Qrow and Robyn are going to meet up with the Happy Huntresses, and they’ll either work to defend Mantle or they’ll serve as at least a second front for Ironwood to have to combat. Meanwhile, Team RWBY has already beaten the Ace Ops on their own. Now they have Team JNR, Oscar, and Emerald adding their strengths. I also think Winter and Morrow are really questioning Ironwood’s abilities at the moment and would not be surprised to see them turn sides either. Of course, that’s not even taking account all of the villains either.
Speaking of villains, the last thing to talk about is Neo. After Monstra explodes, we see Neo skipping away, swinging the lamp merrily. Then, when Cinder is crying, she gets some texts from Neo saying that if Cinder wants Jinn’s name, then Cinder knows Neo’s price. I’m guessing it’s Ruby’s head or something.
I really enjoyed this episode and cannot wait until the next one. What were your thoughts about RWBY’s latest episode?