Review: RWBY “Uncovered”

Secrets, secrets.

Overview:

We find out more about the relic, and about Ozpin.

Our Take:

This is a climactic point that I’m glad they’re addressing extremely early on in the season, because this has been a long time coming. I kind of almost wished they addressed it last season, but ending on the fight between the two maidens was a good choice as well.

As well all know, Ozpin has been concealing truths forever, even from Oscar, his own host. Before, everyone seemed relatively okay with it, but as we know from the prior season, the team’s tolerance for Ozpin’s misinformation has grown thinner and thinner. Yang especially, who has been influenced by Raven’s similar distrust, is extremely intolerant of Ozpin constantly dancing around the truth. The harsh truth that the Grimm are actually attracted to the Relic becomes the breaking point: if Ozpin can’t tell them information that will prevent them from navigating safely, then that becomes a problem. They may be heroes, but they want to survive. The true breaking point, however, is that Ozpin lied about the relic. We realize that the relic of knowledge houses a spirit called Djinn, who answers three questions every hundred years. Unlike what Ozpin claims though, that all questions have been used up, two actually remain.

Ozpin finally reveals the reason for his mistrust, and frankly, it’s not entirely unfounded. He’s been betrayed many times before and believes that the stakes are too high for him to tell the full truth. Of course, this means that deep down, he doesn’t actually trust any of them.

Ruby asks Djinn to reveal all that Ozpin is hiding, and she transports the team to a vision of times from long ago featuring not the maidens but most interestingly- Salem. Here Salem looks normal, unlike her Grimm-like self in the current time period, and while we have yet to see her properly, she almost looks pretty harmless. The Grimm began with Salem, so not only is she Ozpin’s enemy but someone he knew deep in the past. This is truly interesting…

This is a great way to start the season. We’ve been wanting to know what’s Ozpin’s deal is for such a long time and we’re finally, finally getting it. While this episode is mostly setup for what’s to come next time, it shows why Ozpin is so cryptic, and why in the end, no justifications are enough for his machinations.