Review: RWBY “Dead End”

Failure after failure.

Overview:

The group realizes that their trip won’t be that easy.

Our Take:

Atlas’ military idealization and the truth about what the silver eyes actually constitute of and where that comes from is all pretty interesting, but that’s not what struck me most about this episode. The segment that intrigued me the most is how it ended, and the argument that created that problem.

The episode leaves with the group realizing that Oscar has left them and honestly- of course, he has. Anyone would, really. The difference between what happened before and what is happening now centers around who receives the blame. Up until now, the party isn’t fond of Ozpin and how he lied to them, but the ire that Ruby, Blake, Yang, Weiss, and Qrow felt were all directed at Ozpin and Ozpin only. Oscar was the avatar, the messenger, but he wasn’t the one responsible for their problems, and the group above all understood that. Even though they complained about Ozpin, they never took it out on Oscar. They all realized that Oscar wasn’t responsible for what is making them so frustrated. However, Jaune changes that in an instant in blaming Oscar for all of Ozpin’s problems.

Jaune decides to go one step further and claim that Oscar could have been lying to them the entire time. He picks a fight with Oscar, just because Oscar is an avatar for the person who is actually causing him ire. The blame is no longer just on Ozpin- it’s on Oscar now too. For someone who is far less powerful compared to everyone else, who isn’t a fighter without Ozpin’s knowledge, being in a position of being threatened is dangerous. It’s deadly because allies that don’t actually trust him could let him fully get into trouble or harm. So he does what anyone in that position would do- he disengages. He leaves.

I don’t entirely blame Jaune- they’ve been all delivered a crippling blow, and being as battle-centric as they are, they don’t see any possible outcomes for their mission but failure. He’s angry and frustrated, and he needs someone to blame, but Ozpin isn’t there. Oscar is there, and Oscar isn’t someone that Jaune knows deeply, and so it’s easy to distrust him. He doesn’t know who to trust, and who could give him the answers isn’t there. He lashes out. Here’s the thing- he’s not wrong for feeling that. Doubt in a crisis is pretty normal. If anything, what Jaune’s issue revolves around the fact that he let himself slip enough to say it out loud. This is an action that had dire consequences.