V05C01 Welcome to Haven
michaelb958
(Verified Michael)
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V05C01 Welcome to Haven
It begins with slightly ominous background music. Fortunately that doesn't last. Here are Team RNJR and Qrow walking through what looks like a foot tunnel in what is narrated to be Mistral, reminiscing about how long it took them to walk there, how many ruins they saw, how many things tried to kill them, etc. Ruby objects that only one of them almost died. The subtitles are out of sync again.
Anyway, here's Mistral, a city built on and around mountains. Being on ground level (or what passes for it up here) does not detract at all from the spectacular views. What does is just how far the subtitles undersell Ruby's reaction. Seriously, that deserved at least an exclamation mark.
Remember when Ruby got to Beacon and gawked at the weapons? So do the writers. Keep that adorableness, Ruby.
Qrow exposits that the lower layers of Mistral are worse off and worse places to be. Nora points out that they're going to be going upwards to Haven Academy.
Speaking of going upwards, a cargo plane above a huge lake, where Weiss asks "Are we there yet?" but worded with a little more class. Surprisingly, they almost are! It's been a long flight to avoid risking interception on standard air routes.
Weiss worries that she's being a burden, but the pilot reckons she's paying enough not to be. Before anything further can be unpacked from this, the radio unexpectedly springs to life and dispenses an emergency call from a small passenger flight being overwhelmed by Grimm. To Weiss' disappointment, they're not going to help: after all, if a professional Hunter on a somewhat-equipped passenger craft couldn't deal with it, what hope does a trainee on a non-combat cargo craft have? At least, that's how the pilot rationalises his unwillingness to go out of his way to help.
Team RNJR enter Haven Academy. Qrow, following close behind, seems to be looking for something; it's unclear whether he found it and didn't want to, or didn't and wanted to.
Walking through what appears to be a dorm hallway, Ruby's shouts of "Hello?!" fail to attract any attention. Nora, being Nora, suggests shouting louder; fortunately for everybody's ears, this isn't tried. Ren argues that school isn't in session so few would be here anyway, but Qrow doesn't think that's the full explanation, and leads them to the headmaster's office with weapons ready.
Professor Leonardo Lionheart is pretty startled when Qrow kicks his door open. So is Qrow, who wasn't expecting him to be there. Apparently they made an appointment to be met out the front and this dude missed it.
Matters rerail a bit as everyone stows their weapons and, for Team RNJR, makes proper introductions. Lionheart notes that most of the staff are on leave during the break. Qrow wants to know who's keeping the relic safe, yes Leo the kids know about the relics. Lionheart is aghast that he (Qrow) told them. Overall, the situation has not matched Nora's expectations at all.
Welcome back to Menagerie. Ghira and Sun have finally found something to agree on. Unfortunately for Kali, their agreement leaves them both angry at its cause, whatever it is. Somehow Blake is now the optimistic one.
An armed guard is now posted out the back of the Belladonna house. As is usual for guards in fiction, they're a bit useless, having never noticed Ilia in hiding nearby before Blake sent them (the guard) away temporarily to chat with Ilia.
Turns out the Albains remain slimeballs: confronted by the data from Ilia's Scroll, they've now shamelessly thrown Ilia under the bus (alongside Adam) to save their own skins, fooling nobody in the house but creating an air of plausible deniability. Blake contends that that won't help them tomorrow when Ghira shouts everything from the rooftops. Ilia is pessimistic, urging Blake to flee instead. (Of course, where to?) Blake refuses. Ilia leaves.
One might have half-expected Ilia to do something silly like attack Blake on the spot. That would be extremely silly given that Ilia now has a little time and information to direct something more deniable.
In Lionheart's office, he accuses Qrow of recklessness; I'm not 100% sure what about, but probably telling Team RNJR about the relics. Qrow fires back that Lionheart has left the relic basically open and didn't check in with Ozpin for ages. Lionheart says there wasn't anything to check in about before the Fall, and after the Fall it's all been chaos - lots of Grimm drawn in by reactions to the last known state of Vale (casually drops next episode's title), a general depopulation of Hunters all over Mistral, and now Ironwood doing Ironwood things so they can't even get help from Atlas. Also they've lost track of the Spring Maiden, whose importance Qrow didn't mention to Team RNJR yet.
"I quit teaching for a reason," says Qrow, taking a drink to introduce ambiguity as to the exact reason. Anyway, each relic is stored in a vault that can only be accessed by one of the four Maidens. More than a decade ago, Spring was overwhelmed by her responsibilities and fled civilisation, never to be heard from again.
On the one hand, Qrow has a lead! On the other hand... turns out Raven and her Edgevassals got to her. On the extra hand, Qrow knows exactly where the Edgevassals have set up shop.
Lionheart reckons a retrieval force can head out "in a few weeks". This is way too long a delay for Qrow. I sympathise, but it's been more than 120 months, how likely is one more to make the difference? Lionheart has to break it to him that the Mistral council isn't going to prioritise such a mission for their limited supply of Hunters, especially if they can't be told the real reason. Qrow counters by suggesting the six of them go and do it. Lionheart says they're not collectively strong enough to be certain of success, and any failure means the Edgevassals scatter and they'll have blown it. Qrow acquiesces.
Ruby attempts to get something else done in the meantime by bringing up Cinder and her Shadows, who reportedly hailed from Haven. Lionheart says their files were entirely "lies and forgeries". This makes Jaune angry; spin a roulette wheel to see how much of it is hypocritical.
The team leaves, Ren inexplicably not shown. Ruby, being Ruby, farewells Lionheart that it was nice to meet him. Keep that adorableness, Ruby. After they leave, Watts calls Lionheart to complain about his (Lionheart's) improv, raising the question of how much of Mistral's chaos and disorder (and Lionheart's reluctance) is organic, as opposed to fomented by Salem's circle.
Qrow orders Team RNJR back to their lodgings and heads to a bar, where we see the V4 post-credits scene again.
At a service station in probably the middle of nowhere, Yang shakes off being accused of being below drinking age and clarifies that she's after water. (How do service stations in the middle of nowhere even work if there's Grimm and/or bandits everywhere?) She's less enthused about the fellow customer trying to flirt with her and not taking no for an answer. Dude, you're getting creepy, stop. Don't be creepy challenge (impossible). Uh oh, he's going for the hair. Yep, now he's punched out. Out of the building entirely, in fact.
The attendant is sufficiently grateful to have this guy taken down a peg (and a tooth) that he gives Yang the water for free. Yang is not in the best place to appreciate it - her remaining bio-arm is trembling. Is this residual anger, or did the 'fight' trigger her a bit, or...?
Yang recovers, sculls the water while the attendant wonders why she's out here, and says she's "looking for someone", which could have been phrased better to avoid the impression that the creep was merely going about it the wrong way.
Yang gets on her bike. Look at that, the creep isn't done, he overheard "looking for someone" and took it the wrong way. Cut away before we find out Yang's reaction...
In Team RNJR's suite, slightly concerning music heralds a knock on the door. Jaune moves with utmost caution to open it while Nora and Ren prepare to spring into action.
Please welcome Oscar to the main cast. Team NJR are confused by who he is and why he's here. Confusion immediately turns to suspicion when he asks for Ruby. Just in time, Qrow arrives, very drunk, to give Oscar an icebreaker. Enough commotion is caused to draw out Ruby, who was trying to read comics in peace.
"You... ...have silver eyes," says Oscar, or possibly Ozpin, who has experience introducing himself to Ruby that way. Ruby, getting no help from the rest of the team, has to ask:
There is much incomprehension from the rest of the room, because Qrow didn't mention that yet either. "I did it!" crows Qrow, before rolling off the couch and faceplanting to provide our Comedic™ endnote.
Still more than two minutes left in the episode, but titles anyway! With subtitles, even!
- A crow - or raven, I'm not great at telling the difference, but probably a crow from context - flaps its way laboriously into Mistral.
- Ruby stands alone in a forest clearing, then Weiss lurks in the cargo plane's cargo bay, then Blake looks out over the jungle of Menagerie, then Yang guards her parked motorbike. All of them transition away by becoming a bit static-y and then breaking up into a cloud of petals in the style of Ruby's Semblance, but in their respective colours.
- Yang is followed by the intra-titles title card.
- All four of them in sequence pick up their weapons, except Yang who gets a shot riding her bike.
- Team RNJR lurk in the suite. Now here's Qrow to bring the mood down. Now here's Oscar to bring it up a bit again.
- Zoom in on one of the gears inscribed on what is now Oscar's weapon. This gets us to Lionheart's desk, with the man himself sitting behind it. In case the dynamic wasn't clear before, Watts' face appears in demonic profile behind him as arrowheads (the sharp kind) point at him (Lionheart).
- Now here's Adam and Hazel. I don't like the implication.
- Now here's Blake and Sun, looking a bit forlorn in some Menagerian coastal space.
- In what sure looks like a stereotypical bandit camp, Cinder and a presumed bandit stare each other down. A raven swoops dramatically between them. Now it's Raven and Yang pointedly not paying each other any more mind than necessary to ensure they don't end up literally back-to-back.
- In case you forgot that the Albains were slimy, here they are meeting Ilia at some kind of shrine to the Albains. Ugh, but also, (??!).
- Obligatory title sequence duels! Weiss v Trailer Armour (doesn't quite begin), Nora v Hazel, Ren tags in v Hazel, Blake v Ilia, Yang v Mercury, Ruby v unclear.
- Assorted action shots of Team RWBY, then they all line up together to face and fight Salem, before all blowing apart in petal clouds to end the titles. No title card? Creator credit instead.
Oh I see, the first-episode credits are now provided separately rather than worked into the titles.
Next time: Sting operations.
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