RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 8 – Dark Discussion
RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 8 – Dark – aka the midseason premiere AND the 100th episode of our favourite show… Sophie, Clare and Nathaniel steeled themselves for this one and dived in.
RWBY Vol 8 Chapter 8 – Dark Synopsis
We’re not alone…
Well that was quite a ride. I know we were all wanting to see what happened with the fire in the prison cells (per our trailer discussion), and we all got our wish right away. Did you think it would be Cinder (Jessica Nigri)?
S – At first I thought it was Raven (Anna Hullum) due to the bird, cawing after the explosion. I also didn’t think the next bit of eyes struggling to open would be Nora (Samantha Ireland), I was expecting Qrow (Jason Liebrecht) or Robyn (Christina Valenzuela).
N – I agree with Sophie after we looked over the scenes from the cell I have a feeling Raven saw the broadcast and has come to Atlas, the scenes with Cinder seem like she came after the explosion not during the damage and she talks to Watts (Christopher Sabat) more as if she found him than rescued him.
C – I just figured the bird was Qrow. He can change in the blink of an eye, and making yourself a bird, and therefore a much smaller target, when there are chunks of wall flying at you makes sense to me!
S – After debating this with the hubby, potentially the bird could be Qrow not Raven. I’d prefer it to be Raven but the Qrow thing makes sense as he could have been dodging the debris.
Ruby (Lindsay Jones) started losing hope, saying “it’s all just too much” before everyone chipped in to help with a solution to their immediate problems, was anyone expecting Whitley (Howard Wang) to be so helpful or the appearance of Momma Schnee (Caitlin Glass)?
S – Nope to either, I really want to see what Momma Schnee is capable of so I hope she can sober up long enough to help. And Whitley? Really?
C – Nope, definitely not Momma Schnee. Whitley has already shown himself to be useful when he called Klein (J. Michael Tatum) to help Nora, but him coming up with an actually pretty stellar plan was a shock.
N – I love Whitley’s personality change and I think it has surprisingly rubbed off onto his mother.
Ruby and Blake (Arryn Zech) vs The Hound, anyone else have growing concerns for our heroines?
C – That was brutal. These newer Grimm seem infinitely stronger than the older ones we have seen before. Both the Hound and that weird green spewing bug thing took out Ruby and Blake’s auras in one hit. This doesn’t bode well for our heroines at all!
N – We’re definitely starting to see an increased level in strength either because Salem (Jen Taylor) is so close so she’s creating stronger Grimm or we’re starting to see more of a chain of power going on between the different types. Either way Ruby and Blake struggled with the Hound and the bug with it depleting the auras to breaking point in single blows.
S – Seeing Ruby hit the deck, seeing her aura flash after it says “take the girl” I did not like where this was going. I honestly thought the hound was gonna fly away with her. Also what was the Grimm that attacked Blake after Weiss left? I did chuckle when Blake said about it being more disgusting. All the time she was talking to Ruby while fighting that thing off until Ruby woke up and sliced it in half.
C – I really loved that, Blake talking to Ruby and then Ruby’s “I heard you” after she killed it. I know I said that the Grimm are getting stronger, but our heroines are too!
What did you think of Nora’s speech to Penny (Taylor McNee)?
N – I hated seeing Penny’s eyes go red, I knew it was going to happen but I didn’t want it to, you can see her fighting so hard but to have that emotional support from Nora really did help her even if it wasn’t for long. I agree with Sophie though I think this speech wasn’t just for Penny but for herself too.
C – Yet another assault on my emotions from Rooster Teeth. I kinda love the fact that, even in the state she is in, Nora is still everyone’s cheerleader. It was a
S – As soon as Penny’s eyes turned red I was like, oh no this is not good. And poor Klein being knocked around. Nora I love her, her speech was so sweet and how she clearly felt about herself. Penny lost the battle with Watt’s override switch 🙁
Anyone else actually experience a very fast turnaround in their opinion of Whitley in that episode?
C – gods yes. I went from “oh do be quiet” to “wait, is he actually helping?” to “oh god please no, not Whitley” in the space of about ten minutes.
N – yes but honestly I was really happy with it, I think we’ve been waiting for this change for a while now.
S – Everything that Clare said is exactly what I was thinking! Also Momma Schnee stepped up, it didn’t last long but she did! And Whitley running back to the computer to make sure the order sent, I never thought I’d say this but yay Whitley!
Ruby used her silver eyes on the hound! Did anyone else squeal?
S – I did! I wanted her to use them sooner TBH. Although Penny was going to open the vault so I don’t get why the hound attacked her?
N – Yes, It’s amazing to see how strong Ruby is even after getting beaten quite badly. It really shows how she’s perfect for the role of a strong leader.
C – YES! Absolutely. I loved that moment. Her quiet but incredibly powerful “that’s enough” actually gave me chills. So freaking cool!
Biggest WTF moment had to be the reveal of The Hound at the end. Any theories?
C – So that’s what Salem meant when she called it an experiment, a Faunus/Grimm hybrid. Obviously she knew that kind of thing was possible since Cinder has a Grimm arm now, but this is a whole other level. When it first appeared I actually thought it was Adam which made me yell.
S – Holy Moly! She did say it was an experiment, she really meant it. It looked like a dog Faunus? Can I just say, how messed up it must be in Salem’s mind to come up with this one.
N – like Clare mentioned we’ve sort of seen this before with Cinder but that was more of a replacement then a complete fusion like the Hound, I honestly didn’t expect it at all.
As well as the reveal of the hound’s true form what are your theories on the fact the Faunus had silver eyes much like Ruby’s
C – I totally didn’t notice until Nathaniel mentioned it and went back to check. I am going to withhold judgement though, because we have seen characters with grey eyes that look quite similar to Silver and it could just be that.
S – Well Salem has taken responsibility for taking out the silver eyed warriors over the years, including Summer. Which I’m now hoping she isn’t inside another of Salem’s experiments. I didn’t notice until the second time round after Nathaniel had mentioned it. I think the first time round I was too busy sitting there with my mouth open thinking WTF? Nice that it was Momma Schnee and Whitley to take it out though.
N – I also didn’t notice it till I saw the comment section, it’s a good example why we rewatch these episodes for the reviews because sometimes like this week’s episode they can have so much going on it’s quite easy to miss little details that are important to the story. This is the first time we’ve seen a Human/Faunus mixed with a Grimm, I’m wondering if the silver eyes make them somehow compatible for Salem to do what she did to the Hound. If so is Ruby in trouble?
C – Yeah, if this is what’s happened to all the previous Silver Eyed warriors… maybe we are going to see Summer again?
We see Cinder at the end rescuing Watts what was everyone’s impression of her?
N – I’m shocked we say quite a few personality changes in this episode but I have to admit compared to what we saw in the first half of the volume she seemed a lot more confident, I’m not going to start rooting for her like some of us looks at Clare but this was definitely a better side of her.
C – Should have guessed really when we saw fire in the trailer that it would have something to do with her. Actually makes a lot of sense, she wants Penny, and Watts controls Penny, so freeing him in order to get what she wants is a smart move.
S – To quote Nathaniel “I’m not going to start rooting for her like some of us looks at Clare”. It doesn’t surprise me, but I still think it was Raven at the beginning of the episode. I’m still annoyed we don’t know what happened to Qrow and Robyn. I mean I still don’t like her, like Clare said if she gets Watts potentially she gets Penny. I’m glad the girls and Whitley managed to save Penny from the hound, now they need to figure out how to stop her going to the vault.
So that’s it for our discussion of RWBY Volume 8 Chapter 8 – Dark. What did you guys think of the episode? We’d love to hear from you in the comments or via social media.
