Review: RWBY Vol.7 “As Above, So Below”

 

As the power within Mantle & Atlas shuts down unleashing a dangerously unexpected snow-storm after the events of “Cordially Invited”, General Ironwood is in a proverbial stranglehold from the people within the council who just want to grill him for his past well-intentioned yet poorly-handled actions since he went overboard with Mantle’s security. Just as Robyn is about to use her Semblance powers to squeeze information out of him, Weiss finally arrests her father using the captured & recorded footage of him speaking to the presumed dead Dr. Watts who openly admits to not only rigging the election but having access to Jacque’s security codes to the Atlas Mainframe but Watts openly confessing his motivations for doing all this as a way to stick-it to Ironwood. Jacque’s reaction alone is possibly one of the most cathartic scenes in Vol.7 as his crimes have indirectly caused the deaths of many during the gruesome aftermath of Robyn’s election party. Jacques being the petty asshole/coward that he is, tries to talk himself out of his crimes but unfortunately for the rich a-hole, no one buys it.

Even if Jacques didn’t know about Tyrian’s murder-spree and Watts stealing the security codes to shut down the heating generators (to which Jacques no longer has access to), he’s still an accomplice who gave the keys to the most dangerous motherfuckers on Remnant. As Jacques is later brought to justice and taken away, his shitty-son Whitley storms off to somewhere in the manor (I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of him). Predictably, the blackout has driven the people of Mantle to cause a riot and break into stores to find any objects that can burn for warmth and wouldn’t you know it? the fear, desperation, and the anger towards Atlas authority bring in a huge horde of Grimm into the city which causes all of Ironwoods forces in combination with Team RWBY, JNR, Qrow, and the Ace Ops to leave the Schnee manor to protect the city once they get word of it. While Watts himself has full access to the heating grid and has blocked everyone, at least Watts doesn’t know about Ironwood’s Amity project which thankfully remains untouched.

It’s here when things take a more interesting direction as Oscar finally convinces Ironwood to tell the council and even Robyn about the truth of Salem’s existence and the Amity Satalite Project now that everything he secretly planned has now gone out the window. And let’s just say, telling the truth has given him better results than he imagined. Later on, Ruby and Oscar decide to tell Ironwood the truth about Salem’s immortality but unexpectedly Ironwood finds out from Oscar instead. Strangely enough, Ironwood takes the truth… surprisingly well. Make no mistake he’s shocked but is likely saving the breakdown for later because saving Mantle is a top priority as he knows this situation isn’t the time to lose his cool. Aside from a cool action sequence of how each character jumps out of a plane to safety while it’s under attack mid-flight by a winged Grimm monster, the episode ends when some familiar faces who have ties to Salem outside of Tyrian & Watts somewhat make their presence known and it’s individuals we didn’t hear from or seen since Vol 6.

Our Take

The promotional material of this episode from RoosterTeeth’s website description appropriately asks: “Will you tell the truth? Or will someone tell it for you? The answer can make all the difference in the world.“ In Jacques’ case, someone told the truth for him, and that ended quite poorly due to all the death & chaos it indirectly caused, juxtaposed to Ironwood telling the truth himself about Salem’s existence to the other council members. While the consequences of that are unclear, their reactions to this news seem more calm & rational about the situation than Ironwood had realized which is a good thing. But outside of that, there’s one more secret that has now been privately told to Ironwood. Ozpin’s unpleasant history with Salem and the reveal that Salem is technically immortal. The problem with the reveal itself is that Ruby decided to keep it secret, and Oscar is the one who told Ironwood. Since she agreed it was time to tell Ironwood the truth and even wanted to tell him herself, this may not end up being bad. It still seems like a reason to be concerned though. Ruby didn’t tell the truth, Oscar told it for her so I don’t know how Ruby will react when she finds out that Oscar didn’t respect her wishes to deal with the situation herself unless there was a legit reason behind Oscar doing it anyway.

I will never understand Whitley’s reaction to his Father being rightfully arrested for his crimes or why nobody has bothered comfort the poor bastard. The kid was horribly misguided and entitled. Weiss had a shitty situation too, and so did Winter, and they worked to better themselves. While Whitley only found joy in his sisters’ misery because his father did, and not even his mother of his sisters bother to show any sort of comfort or guidance to him afterward? I hope they delve into this later on. Aside from the cliffhanger ending, my main takeaway from today’s episode is probably a relief. I mean, it was a fantastic episode in so many ways but finally, we know that this volume isn’t going to be just focused on political intrigue. There will be twists and surprises in the coming episodes and this is further emphasized with the return of two certain individuals making a comeback from Vol.6 to potentially raise some hell!