Review: RWBY Vol.4 “Taking Control”

Why-control, why-control
You walk, walk, walk, walk, walk my winners
Out of control, out of control

Overview

I think at that moment Salem ‘disowned’ Tyrian and now Cinder is scared shit-less because at this point she KNOWS she didn’t kill Ozpin and forebodingly predicts what Salem will do if she discovers this. Maybe Cinder will see that having a thirst for power will only make things worse for herself, but still, I doubt Salem would be stupid enough to have someone that powerful nearby if she didn’t have some fighting power of her own.

The scene with Sun & Blake was an excellent wake-up call for her, and it’s nice to see Blake finally stop acting like an abusive anti-social cunt. I at least see this as the first step to start accepting help from others and feels ready to “take back” the White Fang from its paramilitary extremist “Faunus lives matter” mentality.

Yang has come a long way since the end of Vol 3. She’s no longer the same Yang towards the season finale yet, She seems more emotionally centered. and it’s clear the experience has definitely altered her physically and mentally, but she has now grown & adapted. Plus, she’s learned more about her mother, which is something she’s openly desired. Now the million-dollar question on everyone’s mind still remains. will she go see her mother or prioritize seeking out her sister, Ruby?

I’m so happy Weiss is finally leaving to meet with Winter, while part of me hope’s they’ll both be okay, I’m also quite worried for Klein since Jacques & Whitley seems like unrepentant fuck-wit’s.

But on the subject of Weiss, the scene with Ironwood & Jacques raises some red flags. What Ironwood is doing is only gonna make things worse. He knows the existence of Salem, he knows she has the fall Maiden in the form of Cinder and thinks they killed Ozpin, so how the fuck does he think he can prevent this?! He literally has a perfect example of what happens when he tried to put his military forces against the Evil council! They got wrecked beyond measure, and they would have been absolutely obliterated were it not for Ruby shutting down the robots, and freezing the dragon with her “Silver Eyes” abilities.

You’d think Ironwood would understand that leaving the rest of the world to Salem will be the ultimate dick-move for everyone else. Not to mention declaring martial law will most likely turn everyone against him. In theory, this could possibly get Ironwood assassinated by Jaques which in turn will have Jacques take his place as both a possible dictator & ruler to all of Atlas. I’m really curious about Winter’s thoughts on the specifics and effectiveness of Ironwood’s plan.

Lastly, it’s easy to assume things will only be getting worse for team RNJR, until they meet up with the rest of team RWBY. I predict it will end with a role-reversal of the season 3 finale, where Weiss, Blake, and Yang are all combat-ready while Ruby, Jaune, Nora and Ren are on the verge of becoming annoyingly sad-spewing Emo-Tards. Maybe not Ruby though, she’s usually never the type who lets anything bring her down, But Qrow dying could potentially change that.

As much as I want all them to reunite in the last episode, it sounds ridiculously immediate. We could potentially see Jaune’s semblance next episode. Or another death leading to Ruby using her silver eyes again which I hope is not the case, since it felt like a Deus Ex Machina bullshit button for the writers’ last volume which I felt was inserted for the sake of a pyrrhic victory.

Overall, another stellar & suspenseful episode. It gives most of the key characters equal screen time with a lot of things that even I wanted to happen. Yang setting out, Blake getting fired up, Weiss escaping. Now we just need Ruby (and the others) to get out safely and bring them all back together.

I’m looking forward to the vol. 4 finales next week with the rest of the RWBY fans. Hopefully, we get longer episodes, though, as a lot of storylines need to be resolved. Don’t troll us too much RT crew.