Family
"Everyone keeps talking about me getting back to normal. And I appreciate it, but... this is normal now."
Written by Miles Luna & Kerry Shawcross
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Directed by Kerry Shawcross, Gray G. Haddock & Miles Luna
Qrow: Did you know Yang lost her arm?
Raven: That's not-
Qrow: Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist.
Raven: That's not-
Qrow: Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist.
Yang gets some encouragement from some familiar faces. Qrow continues to follow Ruby and the rest of her team, and also meets with another familiar character.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Absurd Phobia: Professor Port, an established Badass Teacher who refers to Grimm as prey, is afraid of mice.
- Bandit Clan: It's revealed that Qrow and Raven were raised in a tribe of killers and thieves, and that Raven now leads them. The tribe was responsible for what happened at Shion.
- Big Sister Instinct: Yang overhears her father discussing Ruby with Port and Oobleck; Ruby's out in the dangerous world alone with only three other trainee students with her, and no one's heard anything from her for a while. They have no idea if she's safe or not, and a visibly upset Taiyang is reluctantly forced to tell Port and Oobleck that there's no way he can go after Ruby to find out because Yang is so in need of support back home. It snaps Yang out of the funk she's been in since she lost her arm, giving her a single-minded drive to recover so that she can go after Ruby herself.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: When Qrow starts shooting barbs at Raven about not caring for Yang, she fires back that she did save her. She sees this as sufficient contrary evidence despite having Qrow pass along a message that basically it was a one-off that wouldn't be happening again. He even says that that's "[her] rule", meaning that she does this as often for any other situation, making Yang's problem with Neo at that time even less special.
- Family of Choice: Raven considers the bandit tribe that raised her and Qrow to be their family and feels that Qrow has abandoned and betrayed them. Qrow considers Taiyang, Yang and Ruby to be their family, feels that Raven has abandoned and betrayed them, and views the tribe as murderers and thieves. The definition of 'family' is a bitter rift between the twins.
- Fish out of Water: Qrow and Raven were implied to be this when they first attended Beacon, as they came from a bandit tribe and Qrow had never seen a school uniform prior to initiation.
- Good Parents: Taiyang demonstrates it again by fully supporting Yang and telling her that he'll be ready whenever she's ready to get back into action. They're also close enough to insult each other and laugh it off.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: When Oobleck and Port visit Taiyang and Yang, they discuss the struggle to rebuild Beacon, prompting Port to comment that "Mistral wasn't built in a day." note When the conversation suddenly turns to Yang's lost arm, an uncomfortable Oobleck asks "Are we finally discussing the Goliath in the room?" note
- I Need a Freaking Drink: While he spent their entire conversation nursing a shot of alcohol, Qrow asks the Barmaid to make it a double when Raven leaves through her portal.
- Innocently Insensitive: Subverted. Taiyang's comment about Yang losing some brain cells along with her arm seems like unintentionally rubbing salt in the wound (a reaction shared by the shocked Port and Oobleck)... but Yang just laughs it off.
- I Warned You: Raven at one point told Qrow that Beacon would fall and Ozpin would fail. Given the current state of affairs, she's more angry than smug at being vindicated.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: At one point, Dr. Oobleck tells Yang that a lot of people want to see her get back on her feet. This reflects the feeling in the fandom, so Yang's response is a message to both Oobleck and the fandom: having one arm is her normal now.
- The Load: Played With in that Tai certainly doesn't think of Yang this way, but the implication that he needs to stay with her instead of going after Ruby makes Yang finally start to come out of her funk.
- Meaningful Name: Tai brings up the meaning of Yang's name directly when trying to encourage her.Tai: You're Yang. Xiao. Long. My sunny little dragon.
- Meaningful Echo: "And which we are you refering to?" First, it's Qrow to Raven, implying she only means their tribe. Then, it's Raven to Qrow, implying he means only his people, rather than everyone. It shows their differing priorities, and how insular Raven is by comparison.
- Mood Whiplash: The first half of the episode contains most of the humour with Port, Oobleck, Tai and Yang. All of whom encourage Yang in their own ways to get back on her feet. The second half of the episode shows a far more gloomy air, which contains a horribly bitter conversation between Qrow and Raven, in turn revealing their past as being part of a bandit tribe.
- Nightmare Sequence: Yang dreams about her confrontation with Adam.
- Overt Rendezvous: Qrow meets Raven at an inn, albeit on a floor with no one else around.
- Teachers Out of School: Doctor Oobleck and Professor Port visit Taiyang, reminisce about their early years at Beacon, and encourage Yang to get back into action.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Qrow's reaction to Raven appearing in the inn.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Qrow has no real reaction beyond disgust at Raven's portal, while the barmaid that accidentally walks up on them screams in terror.
- White Sheep: The bandit tribe that destroyed Shion turns out to be the tribe Qrow and Raven is from. While Raven wants Qrow to return to the tribe, he wants nothing to do with thieves and murderers and would prefer it if Raven left the tribe instead.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Qrow was apparently tricked into wearing a skirt - he was told it was a kilt - on his first day at Beacon, because he'd never seen a uniform before. Evidently he just rolled with it, because he's Qrow, and the girls all said he had nice legs.
- You Know the One: Qrow and Raven play the pronoun game so that we don't know what the "it" they're referring to is. All we know is that Raven refers to it as "the relic" and wants to know if Salem has it.
"Let's get started."
