Board Thread:Episode Discussion/@comment-4141313-20181229081856/@comment-14909251-20190106220535

So, Emerald is definitely going to join the good guys at some point down the line. The only remaining issue is when she is going to change sides. One thing that argues for this being a later occurrence is that Emerald would be able to tell them exactly where Salem's lair is located. A way to get around that is for her to change sides and be killed shortly thereafter. Possible workarounds are a partial defection, where Cinder permanently breaks off from Salem and Emerald joins her. It is also possible they could do a workaround where stopping Salem is a matter of secondary importance due to more pressing plot developments.

With respect to "more pressing plot developments" I feel people are really overlooking some of the foreshadowing here. No way do I think Tyrian and Watts are going to Atlas to kill Ironwood. They have been strongly telegraphing that Ironwood's actions are very much a part of Salem's grander plans. Plus you have all the stuff about dividing the Kingdoms, Caroline's ranting about Atlas "prevailing" against other Kingdoms, and Atlas being implicated in the events at Beacon. Still think another great war between the Kingdoms is an important part of the plan. Could be the team's travels to Atlas are forcing her to accelerate that part of the plan or, as Tyrian said, change the plans by pushing that part ahead of schedule.

From the screenshot and title for next episode, I get the impression the whole plan to steal an Atlesian ship will actually take up that episode. As such, I'm not terribly inclined to believe they will be immediately successful. Would be a real push to have them attempting to get in an Atlesian airship that soon as I don't see them stretching things out in Argus for three more episodes. People prattle on about the timeline, but a way to extend the timeline and allow other characters a chance to show up (Cinder and Neo specifically) is by having the whole crew get arrested. Then when Argus comes under attack, they are let go to fight.