Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20181229081856/@comment-5426254-20181230015353

I think the villains are the highlights of the entire episode, bar none.

We see Merc punch of all things (probably deciding to adapt his training regimen), and the fact that he had a Semblance, but his daddy stole it from him. Which raises the question, how is it even possible to have a Semblance that steals manifestations of other people's souls?

Though it does make Merc more impressive, because all this time, he's been using nothing but skill, strategy, and weapons the entire time. I can't wait to see him go all out, and I do hope this isn't the limit of how fucked up his backstory really is. I also want to see what his Semblance looks like, and how he fights with it.

If Emerald believes Mercury, it would make for good character development as well. Emerald has been consistent and solid as a character, and I can't wait to see what happens next. Though I do want to know what would happen to Mercury in the future.

Tyrian, ever the fundamentalist. He may be saying that there's no way out for either of them, but it is surprisingly helpful. After all, both of them have doubts because they feel that they have no other choice or that the whole gig wasn't what they had signed for. They're not being true to themselves. But Tyrian dispenses this advice to them nonetheless. He worships Salem like a god and thoroughly enjoys his work, unlike Mercury, who feels that violence is the only thing he has left and feels like he has nowhere else to go.

Of course, assuming he fights Ironwood, I do wonder if his venom can melt Ironwood's parts off. It did the same thing with the stones during the last fight, so...

Oscar looks atrocious with his new outfit. He tries to look like he's in the 1800s, but the color palette, the fanny pack, and the vest on the inside look messy and sloppy.

Also, it just makes everything kind of redundant, so that either Saffron can dispense some advice that translates into RWBY using non-violent ways of confronting Salem, or so Jaune can have his Pyrrha moment with the identical redhead, which is also kind of redundant. It's as if Oscar leaving only leads to these two scenarios on purpose, which were boring and takes up time, given how not much new info is given out compared to the villains.