Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-24993958-20170128134330/@comment-10390252-20170128165853

Wow! There's so much to say in the new episode! I barely know what to say first! For my own ease, I'm going to list events in event order:


 * 1) Cinder is finding Salem a hard task-master and, I think that she's finally learning to admit to herself the manner of monsters with which she's working. Tyrian is a manic psychopath who literally worships the ground Salem walks on and is a bit unstable to say the least; Could there be a Heel Face Turn driven by Evil Has Standards in her future? If so, then the game-board could be massively disrupted;
 * Oh, Cinder has definitely lost at least her lower left arm. What did Ruby do to her?
 * 1) Yang is off on her own quest (welcome back Bumblebee!) but, in their usual manner, RT are going to keep us guessing where she's going;
 * 2) On the other hand, Weiss is definitely going to go to Mistral. The bad guys of the area should watch out as the Schnee Sisters are on their case!
 * 3) There is an ambiguous element about Ironwood's behaviour in this episode; he seems power-hungry enough that even Jacques is more than a little afraid of him. Could all those who called him a Black Hat actually have been right all along? At the very least I'm smelling Well-Intentioned Extremist and we all know how easily they go off the rails!
 * 4) Blake has finally realised that there is no running and is going to take on Adam head-on. Will she be able to save Sienna Khan from Adam (and, by extension, Salem)? Does she even want to, given that she wishes to reclaim control of the White Fang for the moderates?
 * 5) Team RNJR against the... whatever that thing is: That's going to be the climactic battle of this volume, I think. I also think that it will be the climactic event of Lie Ren's life... will it also be the end for him?

One thing is certain: All of Team RWBY all are heading in the direction of Mistral now. The fate of Haven Academy will see them reunited and, I suspect, will expose much more about the villains' plots and Salem's ultimate agenda. FWIW, though, I'm thinking that this will be the plot of volume 5. It's the fate of Team RNJR (including, possibly, Ruby learning to consciously access her Silver Eye powers and Jaune's Semblance unlocking, the latter possibly including a spirit vision of Pyrrha) that is going to be the conclusion of this volume.