Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-26512661-20200125162058/@comment-14909251-20200203042802

Don't get some of the criticism for this episode. I actually felt it was solid. What is real interesting is how the AceOps lost to RWBY mostly due to their own reluctance about following their given orders and Clover lost due to his strict adherence to orders. For the other AceOps, sans Harriet, they didn't have their hearts in it and RWBY were all in on the fight. Strength of their conviction was the main factor with Harriet only being taken down after all the wavering members had been defeated. It is why Marrow couldn't give them an easy win by using his Semblance right at the start.

For Clover it was interesting as this sort of reveals his main flaw. He was a little too perfect, which is why I thought he might end up a traitor, but it was the fact he was such a perfect soldier that became his undoing. Rather than be reasonable and temporarily cease hostilities with Qrow to take down Tyrian, he instead tried to fight them both. Were the tables turned and Qrow was told to apprehend Clover, he would have halted temporarily to stop Tyrian, but to Clover they were both just people he had orders to detain and he couldn't entertain an alliance with either.

Something I think gets a bit ignored in this is that Tyrian actually tried to get Qrow to join up with him before they "teamed up" yet when Qrow rejected that, turned away from Clover, and charged on Tyrian, Clover pulled him back. The fact is, Clover just couldn't not follow orders and it got him killed. Robyn started it, but she was also provoked by Tyrian. Main reason it played out the way it did is because everyone else stubbornly wanted to do what they thought was right and couldn't reconcile their differences, while Tyrian did the most rational thing by playing them against each other. Qrow did stay rational longest, but Clover forced his hand.

Lastly, people really need to lay off Penny and her "I have personal feelings" line. The whole point of the line is that it is awkward, because Penny is awkward on account of being a robot. It was meant to be a somewhat humorously bad remark.