Lost
Heroes fall, but their legacies don't.
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross & Connor Pickens
Directed by Kerry Shawcross & Connor Pickens
"If General Ironwood comes to his senses and calls upon aid from Vacuo, all may be lost for us! And so the good doctor and I are being sent to Atlas... to prepare."
— Tyrian Callows
Feeling lost without Cinder's presence, Emerald tries to bond with Mercury. Meanwhile, the search for the missing Oscar leads Team JNR to an unexpected encounter.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Artificial Limbs: The artificial tail to enhance Tyrian's severed tail is confirmed to have been completed. He uses the artificial scorpion stinger to intimidate Mercury when he lets them know that he's leaving on a mission for Salem.
- Badass Normal: It's revealed that Mercury doesn't have a Semblance, since his father stole it when he was a child and he never got it back. He says he had to train even harder than most people because of this.
- Because I'm Good At It: When Emerald wants to know Mercury's reasons for joining Cinder, he tells her "It made sense". He was raised his whole life to be an assassin and, right when he killed his father, Cinder showed up looking for that exact skill set. He claimed "it was just meant to be" and that he feels he's right where he belongs. Tyrian immediately deconstructs it by suggesting that what Mercury is really saying is that he's too afraid of leaving behind the life of pain and violence that he was raised into.
- Be Yourself: Tyrian overhears Emerald and Mercury discussing their situation with Salem now that Cinder is gone. Emerald feels she was only there because Cinder saved her while Mercury tells her that he feels he's where he's supposed to be. Tyrian scorns Mercury's reason, accusing him of just staying in a life of pain and violence because it's all he's known and he's too afraid to walk away from it. He tells them that if they're not doing what they love, they're in the wrong field. When Emerald asks if that means he's telling them to leave, he laughs and informs her that they can't do that. Instead, he becomes sinister and gleeful as he hisses to them he's "begging" them to do whatever makes them feel happy.
- Brutal Honesty: When Emerald tries to find out why Mercury bothered joining Cinder's cause, she talks about how Cinder saved her and cared for her. Mercury bluntly tells her to wake up from her denial and accept that Cinder never cared about her, or either of them, for that matter. Emerald angrily picks a fight with him instead.
- Call-Back: In the Volume 3 episode "Destiny", Pyrrha leans on Jaune's shoulder while talking to him about her concept of destiny as she struggles with the offer Ozpin made her to become the new Fall Maiden. While they talk, two maple leaves settle together on the ground in front of them. When Jaune is sitting alone on a bench after failing to find the missing Oscar, a lone maple leaf lands in front of him before swirling off into a new memorial garden. Startled, he follows the leaf and ends up at the base of the memorial: a statue of Pyrrha in honour of the students who fought at the Battle of Beacon.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Ever since Ozpin's secret was revealed by Jinn, Ruby has become increasingly frustrated with how Qrow, her uncle, has retreated further into alcoholism. After he tries dissuading the students from discussing Jaune's idea for entering Atlas, Ruby finally loses her temper and tells him she'll listen to Jaune as the rest of them haven't given up on finding a solution.
- Disappointed by the Motive: When Emerald forces Mercury to finally reveal why he decided to help Cinder with her mission, his response is "It made sense". She's not thrilled with that response and pushes him further because she can't believe he'd sign up unless there was something in it for him. In the end, he just tells her that he was trained to be an assassin and Cinder wanted an assassin, so he feels he's exactly where he should be.
- Implied Death Threat: When Emerald and Mercury debate whether or not they belong with Salem in the absence of Cinder, Tyrian reveals he's overheard their debate and suggests that if they're not doing what they love, they're in the wrong field. When Emerald asks if he's telling them to leave, he laughs and retorts that they can't. He then tells them he's "begging" them to do whatever makes them happy. He's filled with sinister glee and he points his scorpion stinger right at them as he says it. His message is clear: He'll relish the opportunity to hunt them down if they do decide they want to leave.
- ISO-Standard Urban Groceries: While Team JNPR and Saphron walk the streets looking for the missing Oscar, the camera briefly focusses on various shots of city residents going about their daily lives. A foreground shot of one woman shows her holding a brown paper bag that contains two baguettes, several leeks and a number of apples. None of them are package-wrapped.
- Locked Out of the Loop:
- Emerald and Mercury are unhappy with Salem keeping them in the dark; Cinder always made sure that they were looped in when they were planning the fall of Beacon with her.
- Saphron doesn't understand what made Oscar run away because Team JNPR isn't discussing the truth about Ozpin with her. She assumes they're on a top-secret Huntsman mission, which means she's not sure why they can't turn the mission over to other Huntsmen if the situation has become untenable. In the end, she lets them get on with searching for Oscar while she goes to pick up Adrian from day-care.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Mercury has a cocky, taunting personality towards every situation except where Salem and the environment she lives in are concerned. Although he's occasionally stepped in to support Emerald when she's truly needed it, he's not the kind of person who lashes out or waxes lyrical about his past. However, when confronted by Emerald's stubborn denial that Cinder doesn't care about them, he stops smirking and becomes aggressive, angrily deconstructing her troubled background by revealing for the first time how much worse his own backstory is.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- Emerald and Mercury's scene makes extensive use of lighting and shadows to help show their conflicted morality. One such shot has Emerald (with the background being lit) talking about Cinder lifting her out of the gutter. The camera slowly pans to have Emerald surrounded in darkness as the music becomes a whimsical version of Cinder's theme, showing how Cinder's influence and abuse has warped Emerald's perspective.
- Maple leaves have been associated with Pyrrha ever since the Volume 2 opening credits showed her Aura giving off maple leaf imagery. In Volume 3, when she discusses the concept of destiny with Jaune, he holds her hand and two maple leaves gather on the ground in front of them, touching. When Jaune sits on a bench alone after failing to find the missing Oscar, a gust of wind drops a maple leaf in front of him, which grabs his attention. As the wind blows the leaf into a nearby memorial garden, Jaune follows it and finds himself standing in front of a statue built in memory of Pyrrha. When Team JNPR eventually leaves the statue after resolving to keep fighting as though Pyrrha is still with them, a maple leaf skips in the wind, following them down the path.
- Shrine to the Fallen: A memorial garden has recently opened in Argus, with its central piece being a huge statue of Pyrrha. A crossroads of four paths in front of the statue is designed to look like Pyrrha's shield and the plaque on the statue states it is dedicated to all the students who fought in the Battle of Beacon. Pyrrha was native to the City of Argus and trained at the nearby Sanctum Academy before attending Beacon. She was so beloved by the city that the locals were heartbroken when she chose to attend Beacon instead of Haven.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: Oscar goes missing after Jaune slams him into a wall and accuses him of being untrustworthy because he could know everything Ozpin was planning or even be Ozpin in disguise and they'd never know. Everyone therefore assumes that's why he's run away. It turns out that he went for some thinking time because Jaune only expressed the same fears he's been wrestling with ever since Ozpin's secret was revealed. Instead, he's decided to commit himself to contributing everything he can to the mission regardless of what time he's got left before he fully merges with Ozma. To reflect this new resolve, he returns wearing new clothing. Having discarded his farming clothes, he now wears the combat gear of a Huntsman.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: When Jaune encounters Pyrrha's statue, he doesn't notice the arrival of another person until they speak. When he hears Ren and Nora approaching from the distance, he turns to look at them. Although it's only for a moment, when he turns back, the woman has vanished, leaving behind only the flowers she brought for Pyrrha.
- Training from Hell: Mercury tells Emerald that his father's training was so brutal every day was a beating. His father insisted he work hard to get stronger and, when Mercury finally unlocked his Semblance, his father immediately stole it using his own. He told Mercury that a Semblance is just a crutch and will make him weak. He was forced to become strong without the support of a Semblance, and was never able to get it back.
"Looks like you didn't give her enough credit either."
