Let’s talk about that finale!
Super duper spoilers under the cut. You have been warned.
I had to watch the finale on my phone during break from work and didn’t want to go back to work after but had to because that’s the way life is. But, that did leave me time to think about it.
Hot take: I liked it. It was good. From a writer’s viewpoint, it was good. There were ups and downs and cliffhangers and character development and it was good. I am sad about the loss but there’s a significance to that and each of the characters are left with something to go through.
Let’s talk about our girl Penny first. While it is sad and frustrating that she just got her humanity and then she died, there’s meaning behind it. She was willing to give it up to save everybody, to save her friends. She always had that humanity. And that talk she had with Winter was great too. While Winter felt like the machine herself and Penny was always the human, Penny reassured her that it wasn’t the case and Winter was just lost. Now she’s found and has a higher purpose to protect. Penny knew what she was doing and she was smiling until the end.
Now there’s Jaune. Poor Jaune fell along with the rest of team RWBY and if my theory is correct, he’s alone. And now he has to live with the fact that he helped Penny go on her own terms. And while it was on her own terms, you heard that scream he let out and saw the tears that fell. It being her choice doesn’t change the fact that he basically killed her. And now he has to deal with that. He was helpless with Pyrrha and now he was helpless with Penny. And lets not forget that he saw Yang, Ruby, and Blake fall too. The characters that fell might be able to piece together that the others that did are okay but that doesn’t change the fear that they might not be. Anyway, Jaune now has to live and come to terms that technically he has Penny’s blood on his hands.
Winter becoming the Maiden was neither a surprise or something I saw coming too. But now the circumstances have changed. She didn’t have everybody backing her up before, she was their enemy for lack of a better term. But now she opened her eyes and has everybody on her side. Not only that, it was unexpected for her. And she probably definitely didn’t expect Penny to willingly pass the powers onto her. She has people to defend and a family to look after. That and she also thinks that Jaune and the team, including her precious little sister, are gone. She has a new sense of duty and it’s not one to blindly follow orders.
And now, the team is separated again if my theory is right. They fell separately so they landed wherever they are separately. Yang was the first to fall. She has no idea what happened, let alone if everybody is okay. She fell protecting Ruby with Blake trying to save her. She doesn’t know if they’re okay. Ruby and Blake fell together so they are probably together now too. They don’t know what happened to Penny and they’re probably freaking out to find out if Yang is okay too along with Weiss. Poor Ruby has no idea that Penny is gone. GONE gone now. That might light a new flame inside of her. This will also give Ruby and Blake more time to bond. I have a feeling that Blake will develop a protective older sister mode since Yang fell to protect Ruby. The least she can do now is protect Ruby in Yang’s stead, especially since Ruby is unarmed now. Weiss also doesn’t know what happened to the rest of her teammates or if Winter is okay and Jaune is there somewhere too. And Neo is on the loose. Neo is blind for revenge and she’ll probably put it together that everybody else is okay and basically try to hunt them down, especially Ruby. And now that Cinder practically betrayed her, she’s on the list too.
Ren, Oscar, Nora, and Emerald have no idea what happened. They saw Winter come through as the new Maiden and nothing else. And as Atlas fell, it looked like Qrow was shouting for Ruby. He’s in the dark too. He has no idea where his nieces are or if they are okay. Everybody is in the dark about what happened to everybody else and I’m kinda there for it.
Also, I saw something people saying that it’s “homophobic” that we didn’t see Yang in the finale but we had no idea that falling didn’t mean not straight up DYING until the after credits scene or at least until Ruby and Blake fell cuz we can’t have our main character and half of the team die, can we? Not seeing Yang was a good choice to keep us on our toes on what falling meant and on the edge of our seat last week for the finale. Really guys?
That being said, I can’t wait for the Bees to reunite again. My heart will explode.
