Beginning of the End
Talk to the hand. Except don't, as Amber will come to realise.
Written by Miles Luna, Monty Oum & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
"We could've gone to anyone for help. But we chose you, Adam Taurus. Our plan will be beneficial for both of us. Or one of us. So, which will it be?"
— Cinder Fall
A flashback episode detailing how Cinder recruited Emerald and Mercury to attack the Fall Maiden, and how she brought the White Fang into a human plot.
Meanwhile, the present deals with the immediate aftermath of the tournament fight between Yang and Mercury.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Bad Boss: Cinder. Everyone that she recruits, she does so with An Offer You Can't Refuse, and when Emerald protests about Mercury joining them, Cinder is heard hitting her and warning her not to mistake her place.
- Cryptic Conversation: The flashbacks of this episodes are punctuated with Cinder's voice speaking to someone. We have little context for these words and the screen is purposefully black.
- Elemental Powers: Amber displays a number of potent abilities, including fire, ice, wind, and thunder. Her weapon uses fire and wind Dust but after her Aura breaks, she openly uses her Maiden powers to use all these elemental abilities anyway.
- Ethereal Choir: Appears during Amber's fight with Cinder and her associates, as Amber unleashes her season maiden powers on the group.
- Friend to All Children: Implied to be true of Amber, as she stops and offers an apple to an (apparent) crying child.
- Glamour Failure: Emerald's illusion to distract Amber was about flawless, but when she shifted a foot, the dust it kicked up wasn't hidden, alerting the Maiden.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Done by Cinder thrice:
- She recruits Emerald this way, hinting that she could get the police's attention in an instant after her latest robbery. She later wins Emerald's genuine loyalty.
- Again when she finds an injured Mercury after having killed his father and burned down their home, though the threat is more subtle.
- This turns out to be how Cinder was able to get the White Fang to work with her. After ambushing Amber and stealing part of her power, Cinder and her associates return to the White Fang camp, cut down a bunch of their troops, and present their offer to Adam and his lieutenant again, with Cinder conjuring a circle of fire beneath their feet.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Mercury taking on his father, a famous assassin. We are just shown the aftermath, but a house is destroyed and on fire in the background, Mercury is heavily injured, and his father is dead. Apparently it was impressive enough that Cinder recruits Mercury right there, having seen the fight from the tree line.
- One Degree of Separation: Blake was still part of the White Fang when Cinder's group was working things out with Adam, having just missed the trio leaving after one meeting. This was also on the night before the fateful train robbery seen in the "Black" trailer.
- Origins Episode: For Emerald and Mercury, and how Adam came to "join" Cinder's cause. However, Cinder herself is still much of an enigma.
- Patricide: Cinder and Emerald initially go to Mercury's house looking for his father Marcus Black, a notorious assassin. When they arrive, Marcus is dead by Mercury's hand, their house is on fire, and Mercury is seriously injured.
- The Reveal: Quite a few.
- Emerald is confirmed to be able to create illusions by causing people to experience hallucinations. Though doing it to two people at the same time gives her headaches.
- Mercury is revealed to have prosthetic legs. He is also revealed to be the son of a renowned assassin, whom he himself killed after suffering abuse.
- Cinder seems to be working on behalf of/with Someone Else.
- It's now made clear why Mercury recognized Qrow in It's Brawl In The Family: he was the Huntsman that saved Amber after Cinder, Emerald and Mercury ambushed and critically wounded her.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: Adam refuses to ally the White Fang with a human cause, even if his group would benefit. He's forced to reconsider when Cinder makes An Offer You Can't Refuse.
- Spot the Thread: One misstep from Emerald stirs up some dust, tipping Amber off that something's not right.
- Villain Episode: This episode delves into how Cinder recruited Emerald and Mercury, as well as how she came into league with the White Fang.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit:
- It's now confirmed that Mercury was onboard with the scheme to frame Yang for breaking his legs, and wasn't even hurt because his legs are prosthetic.
- Emerald uses an illusion of an injured child to get Amber to drop her guard so that she, Cinder and Mercury can ambush her.
Cinder: You get to lay low until the end. We wouldn't want people to see you on your feet and have this all be for naught, now would we?
Mercury: Can do.
Mercury: Can do.
