Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-26512661-20200118161649/@comment-4010415-20200120202830

SomeoneYouUsedToKnow wrote: 1) Its even worse though, for 2 reasons:

First, Ruby literally copy-pasted Ozpin's lies (and of course, no one yells and punches her for it). And Yang, despite condemning Ozpin so much for keeping secrets, proceeds to do just that. If there was any doubt she was an hypocrite before, there's none left now.

Second, Ironwood literally let RWBY go unpunished after stealing an Atlesian airship, a serious crime, just by Ruby being honest. From the get go he was presented as a man who appreciates and rewards honesty. Which only makes it harder to support RWBY lying and hiding things from him, regardless of reasons.

He was paranoid, sure, but reasonable. But now thanks to our heroines, we are left with exactly the paranoid dictator Ruby didn't want to trust. Technically, Ruby didn't lie when she said that Ozpin told them the lamp's questions were all used up because he really did tell them that. However, she lied by omission in not telling Ironwood about how Ozpin had actually been lying and that they used the lamp. She also outright lied about not knowing why Ozpin disappeared.

Yang, I'm iffy on. She was put in an awkward spot where, if she spoke up against Ruby's lies in front of Ironwood, it could have put Ruby in trouble, and she wants to protect Ruby. Yang was also the main one who showed discomfort with keeping secrets in the beginning of "Ace Operatives", while Weiss agreed with Ruby, and it was hard to get a read on Blake. It was also Yang's idea to start telling Robyn the truth instead of attacking her. Unfortunately, that idea of leaking classified info to Robyn only added fuel to the fire of Ironwood losing trust in Team RWBY.

Side note about Ironwood not being mad about the stolen airship - he actually laughed when Ruby admitted to stealing it, if you look closely. He thought it was amusing. Hell, maybe he thought of his own "do what it takes" attitude, recognizing that they only stole the airship so they could meet up with him with the Relic. If they had told him the truth from the beginning and tried to explain everything, he very well might have taken it a lot better than they assumed he would. He was so genuinely happy that they were all there, they might have been able to support him through his "Salem can't be killed, what the hell do we do" crisis.