Review: RWBY Vol.8 “Fault”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

After the recently ominous shit that’s happened, Watts gets thrown back in his prison cell further indicating that he most likely won’t be behind the wheel if the hacking of Penny does become a thing. And despite recovering one of Penny’s Swords during the “Ace Ops battle with Team-A“, it raises more questions about the nature of what Watts has exactly done with Penny’s sword and how it will manifest. We do get some great character moments as Robyn admonishes the Ace-Ops. Most notably, Harriet for finding excuses to fight people rather than having any sort of individual thought on the matter. But it’s easy to assume that Harriet just wants to blame Qrow without even caring about what really went down regarding Clover’s death in Vol.7, but the consistency of Harriet’s stubbornness is outright stupid. Three episodes ago, she just saw Ironwood shoot someone in cold blood, and is still blindly loyal to that paranoid madman? Thankfully Marrow is the only one with a semblance of humanity to stop Harriet’s petty squabble before it gets any worse. I’m also hoping Marrow gives Robin a chance to explain what’s going on. If anyone’s going to give them a fair shake or some shred of leniency, it’s him.



For once things are in a proper rotation where we don’t have one episode devoted to a particular Team as we see what’s become of both Team A and B in the aftermath of their respective missions. Yang’s B-Team is in pursuit of a mysterious new Grimm known as “The Hound” who’s captured Oscar which results in some unexpected complications that arise and leave the three of them stranded in the snowy outskirts of Mantle that results in Ren verbally giving everyone the third degree and it’s some brutally honest talk. You often don’t see Ren acting this way and it’s been culminating to this since Vol.7, and I hope we actually find out what the hell his hangups actually are. While after their escape from the Atlas base, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and an injured but unconscious Nora find a new place to lay low and it’s the last place anyone would expect… The Schnee manor and there’s a possible chance for Weiss to make amends with part of her shitty brother, but then again, with Whitley still being a dick, It also doesn’t help that even when he later attempts to make himself useful, Weiss straight-up gives him the cold shoulder but you know what? I don’t blame Weiss. Since Volume 4 he’s tormented her with gleeful sadism in the past and cemented his own position as their father’s favorite. Despite the current situation, they’re all in, Weiss isn’t obligated to be kind or forgiving right now.



In a separate subplot that finally picks up from the episode “Refuge“, as Salem’s highly advanced Grimm known as “The Hound” returns with Oscar, and despite recognizing that there are two separate people inhabiting Oscar’s body, Salem seems more interested in talking to Ozpin which goes about as well as you’d expect with both her and Hazel also being involved with the Torture. Cinder later asks permission to seek out the Winter Maiden but it’s clear that Salem doesn’t give a fuck and straight-up dismisses her just for asking any sort of questions. Especially the fact that this highly advanced Grimm is new information to her. So what does she do? Cinder decides to secretly investigate the Amity tower on her own with Emerald and possibly Neo to accompany her, but who knows what direction this will take. The episode ends on another intense cliffhanger as The place Yang’s B-Team is staying for refuge while Yang tries to fix one of their Hoover-cycles begins to encounter trouble beneath the ground…



Our Take

That was quite a straightforward episode. I really liked the interactions this time around as We finally got some actual Ruby and Blake dialogue, plus all the arguments between Yang, Jaune, and Ren I thought were really well done and excelled in drama even if what Ren arguably said was uncalled for. Ren and Yang’s argument was also a big highlight of the episode because neither one was actually wrong in anything they said. To some extent, Ren is right that at the end of the day, they’re all just teenagers who stumbled into a situation that’s way over their heads. However, Yang is also right that they couldn’t just sit by or run away like her shitty mom, Raven often does. 

There were no juvenile immature hysterics. There are some hurt feelings, but the proceedings were handled pretty maturely while confronting the reality of how screwed up Ren’s mental state has progressively gotten. This is juxtaposed to the reckless decision Nora made that left her seriously injured in the previous episode. As for the Weiss/Whitley situation, you could make the argument that they’re just kids, but Whitley is all Weiss has left outside of Winter being under Ironwood’s thumb, a rightfully imprisoned shitty father, and a self-confined and indifferent alcoholic mother. So knowing that Weiss and her friends are known Atlas fugitives, it remains to be seen if Whitley has the potential to just as easily throw their asses to the wolves by ratting them out to Ironwood, so who knows…

My two other takeaways are 1) We’re seeing Ozpin’s two priorities now coming into a conflict as he wants to protect Oscar, especially from the past mistakes he made from the many times he’s been reincarnated, yet he also wants to keep the Relics out of Salem’s hands. But now he’s put into an ethical dilemma where he knows he can’t do one without losing the other.

2) This highly advanced Grimm creature known as “The Hound” has some disturbing implications behind it, yet it’s also fascinating. It has such a connection to Salem and there is so much we don’t know about its capabilities and limitations or whatever bond it has with Salem because I’m pretty sure that’s not a bond like we have seen Salem have with any other Grimm. Based on observation, it’s easy to put the pieces together that the Grimm Arm Cinder currently bears since Vol.4 could have a connection to the Hound’s possible creation. The RWBY Fandom has also made “The Hound” the subject of plausible fan-theories, but I’m going to reserve my judgment until something is actually confirmed.

Overall, a passable yet symbolic episode that leaves me wanting more…