Dead End
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross & Connor Pickens
Directed by Kerry Shawcross & Connor Pickens
"You're just like the rest of these Argus ingrates! This city wouldn't even be here if it weren't for our Atlesian ancestors, and what do we get in return? The entire world is ready to put a knife to our throats!"
— Special Operative Caroline Cordovin
As Team RWBY learns just how difficult it will be to get to Atlas, and Team JNR learns the truth about Ozpin, the stress catches up with all of them.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Absence of Evidence: When Maria's father tried to find out where the family's silver-eyed powers came from, he was able to find out a small amount of information, but he was very concerned by how difficult it was to learn anything and how rare such a powerful and potentially successful trait seemed to be. His only conclusion was that something or someone must have tried to kill off people with silver eyes and suppress all knowledge of the power. As a result, he taught Maria to be as discreet as possible about her abilities. Ruby assumes the person trying to eliminate Silver-Eyed Warriors is Salem.
- The Alcoholic: When the Atlesian border post denies them entry to Atlas, Qrow decides he needs a drink. When Ruby tries convincing him to stay and help them plan what to do next, he silently disregards her and leaves. Later on, when she tries to contact him, she can't get a response on his scroll, and she has no idea where he is.
- Call-Back: Maria and Ruby discuss the nature of the Silver Eyes and their limited knowledge of them. Maria tells Ruby that, by making sense of Jinn's vision as they have observed it in "The Lost Fable", she realised that the power of the Silver Eyes actually originates from the God of Light. In the vision, he sports glowing silver eyes in dragon form and creates from them a flash of light that annihilates all the Grimm that are surrounding him; this is exactly how the power of the silver eyes works for both Maria and Ruby.
- Cliffhanger: When Team JNPR learns that Ozpin has gone and is told the story of why, Jaune snaps. He puts his fist into a wall then angrily asks Oscar if Ozpin can be trusted because, for all they know, Oscar could have known what Ozpin was up to all along or he could actually be Ozpin masquerading as Oscar. He slams Oscar into a wall while ranting, and all Oscar can do is raise his hands in surrender and behave as non-threateningly as possible. When Jaune storms off, Oscar stares miserably at the front door. At the end of the episode, Weiss, Blake and Yang locate Ruby and Team JNPR to inform them that they've just realised that Oscar has disappeared.
- Curse Cut Short: When Team RWBY visit the military base to seek entry into Atlas, Cordovin and Maria know each other. They immediately insult each other and then Maria starts to suggest that Cordovin "still has that stick up—". Ruby intervenes and tries introducing herself in a more friendly manner.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Maria is stuck on the extended screening list for the rest of her life because of a long-standing beef with the Atlesian commander of the local border security - for once sneaking cashews onto a flight.
- The Dividual: Cordovin's two subordinates, the gate guards, do everything together. They have the same appearance, the same body shape, the same height. They sometimes speak in unison or finish each other's sentences.
- "Down Here!" Shot: The camera shows an upwards shot of the two Atlesian gate guards standing proudly to attention as their commander's boots can be heard approaching from the distance. There's silence, and then the camera suddenly pans downwards with a cranking sound to focus on the commander's diminutive height.
- Dope Slap: When Ruby eagerly asks Maria to teach her how to kill Grimm with laser beams from her eyeballs, Maria taps her on the head and orders her to stop thinking of her power in such a manner.
- Exposition Cut: After Nora suggests that Ozpin would have other ideas about how to get to Atlas, Team RWBY look at each other uneasily. Ren notices and asks them what's wrong. The scene then cuts to the sight of Jaune slamming his fist into a wall in pure rage, which acts as the sign that Team RWBY has just filled in Team JNPR on everything that Jinn and Ozpin said before Ozpin disappeared.
- Fantastic Racism: Caroline Cordovin has a low opinion of Faunus, implying that Blake is of "questionable character" while looking at her. Weiss isn't impressed.
- Flag Drop: Cordovin has an Atlas flag flying behind her for a few moments when she demonstrates her patriotic fervor towards the kingdom.
- Hitler Cam: When Cordovin is introduced, the camera is at a very low angle to make her tower over everyone else, even Maria.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After the Argus Base officials deny them entry to Atlas, Qrow slinks off declaring his intent to find a bar.
- Internal Reveal: Team JNR find out the truth about Salem and Ozpin that Jinn told Team RWBY, Qrow, and Maria, and are just as displeased.
- Large Ham: The two guards at Nubuck Base are... eccentric, to say the least. They clearly get some of it from their superior Cordovin, who loves to shout every single word as loudly and with as much emphasis as possible, especially when talking about how superior Atlas is compared to the rest of the kingdoms.
- Miniature Senior Citizen: Cordovin seems to be roughly Maria's age, and is about the same height to boot.
- Morality Adjustment: Weiss has always been a hero and wanted to bring honour back to her family name. However, she begins the show discriminating against Faunus, and believes them all to be White Fang recruits just waiting to happen. When Cordovin calls Blake a less trustworthy friend and it's clear to everyone that she has a low opinion on Faunus such as Blake. Despite her past, Weiss angrily demands to know what Cordovin is insinuating, showing just how far she's come from those early days.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After Ruby calls him out for manhandling Oscar, Jaune is visibly horrified as he realizes that Oscar is afraid of him and that he roughed up an innocent boy. His reaction when he finds out that Oscar left the group shows that he's feeling guilty about his treatment towards Oscar.
- The Napoleon: Cordovin is only about as tall as Maria, though what she lacks in height she makes up for with patriotic fervor for Atlas and distrust for anyone outside of that kingdom.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Although Caroline Cordovin's a military officer, she's the commander of the Atlesian portion of Argus and refuses to cooperate with the heroes for their mission.
- Properly Paranoid: Maria's father correctly guessed from the lack of Silver Eyed Warriors in the world despite their bloodlines being so obviously powerful, that someone was/is actively seeking them out and eliminating them. Maria tried to be careful and hide her powers, but Tock still found out and nearly killed her.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Maria insinuates Cordovin was assigned to Argus not because it's an important position, but because she's so irritating and fanatical that the Atlesian military wanted her as far away from their HQ as possible.
- Reprise Medley: While Maria is discussing the Silver Eyes with Ruby, the soundtrack consists of a soft melodic version of "Red like Roses" that flows over in "This will be the day".
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Maria and Cordovin hate each other and insult each other the moment they meet at the border. It stems from a past incident where Cordovin permanently added Maria to an extended screening list due to the latter bringing cashews, a banned substance, with her.
- Spotting the Thread: Towards the end of their discussion about Silver Eyes, Maria notes that the eye powers work only around the Grimm, which confuses Ruby, who partially unleashed her silver eyes against Cinder during the Haven battle despite the absence of Grimm. Maria simply tells her that there was probably something Ruby didn't see back then. At the time, there were two things Ruby could not see: the first is the parasite Grimm that originally merged with Cinder's body to steal the Fall Maiden's powers from Amber and which is only visible as a tattoo on her back; the second is the Grimm arm that Cinder now has but which was initially hidden underneath a long sleeve until her fight with Vernal and Raven in the Vault of the Spring Maiden.
- Super-Reflexes: Maria's Semblance, which she describes as letting her react to attacks almost before they happen. She demonstrates it by catching a fruit that had fallen from the tree behind her without ever looking away from Ruby. The name she gives it is "Preflexes".
- Taught by Experience: According to Maria, the Silver Eyes won't react unless there are Grimm present, so any practical training for Ruby will be a "trial by fire". The only thing she can do is train a state of mind into which she can descend to call forth the silver eyes power whenever it's needed.
- Tranquil Fury: Ren doesn't outwardly show anger upon learning about Jinn's revelations like Jaune and Nora, but it's clear that he's just as affected as his teammates when he asks Team RWBY to let them have some time to themselves in a cold, clipped tone of voice.
Jaune: What's going on?
Blake: It's Oscar. He's missing.
Blake: It's Oscar. He's missing.
