RWBY Volume 6 Episode 10 - Stealing from the Elderly: Review

Back at the Atlas Military base, phase one of the heist is on and involves Weiss. Cordovin tells Weiss how relieved she is that Weiss has come to her senses and decided to return home to Atlas. They are accompanied by those two Atlas soldiers, Saphron, and Adrian. Cordovin tells  Weiss that it was devastating to hear that Weiss was attending Beacon Academy, but is thrilled that she is coming home. Once again, Cordovin’s disdain towards the other kingdoms and nationalist pride for Atlas are shone through the tone of her voice when she says Beacon Academy. Weiss tells Cordovin that it was time to get her act together and go back to my roots. Cordovin tells Weiss “Oh, I can’t wait to see you follow in your sister’s footsteps.” Weiss smiles unenthusiastically as she says to Cordovin “Absolutely…” 

Cordovin tells Weiss that she sending two of her best guards to personally escort her and to make sure General Ironwood hears that part. She winks at Weiss and then walks away. The first guard offers to assist her with her bag; he hups over to pick up Weiss’ luggage. He remarks how heavy the bag is. Weiss tells him that she’s alright and doesn’t need any assistance. The first guard tells her nonsense, then the second guard offers to assist as well. Weiss tells the guards that she can take care of it by herself. Cordovin overhears the conversation between Weiss and the guards. She stops in her tracks and becomes suspicious. Saphron notices this and whispers to Adrian “Just like we practiced.” Adrians nods at his mother and then lets out a loud wail that is heard throughout the base. He begins to “cry” as he fusses in his mother’s arms. Saphron says “Oh no! Look at that, he's just going to miss you so much! You should hurry on out of here!” The guards fall for the ruse. The first guard remarks “A crying child” and the second guard exclaims “We must console it!” They hup over to Adrian and start to perform silly poses to console him. Cordovin continues walking with an unamused look on her face. While the guards are distracted, Weiss quickly boards the airship with her luggage. Weiss remarks “That was close.” Ruby asks Weiss through her earpiece if everything is okay. Weiss tells Ruby that she and Maria are on board.

Elsewhere, Ruby, Jaune, Nora, Ren, Oscar, and Qrow wait along the cliffside between the forest and the ocean. Ruby says “Alright, we'll all watch our scrolls. The second Weiss is out of range of the comm tower, that'll mean she's out of range of the radar too.” Yang chimes in over the radio and says “And that’s when Blake steps in. We’re almost at the drop off.” In another part of the forest, Yang and Blake are on Bumblebee heading to the comm tower so Balke can disable the radar. Blake has her scroll out receiving instructions from Terra. Terra says to Blake “Okay, remember: one, the radar box is separate  from the rest of the communications equipment. So if you disconnect it properly, it won't take out comms for the rest of the city. Two, this conversation never happened.” Blake replies with some of her dry wit “Don't worry, this isn't the first time I've disabled Atlas security.” Terra stares back at Blake with an unamused look and says “Never. Happened.”













Blake and Yang arrive at the drop off point and proceeds forward. As Blake gets off, Yang asks Blake if she should come with her. Blakes says to her “More intruders means we’re more likely to be seen. Besides, stealth isn’t exactly your, um…” Yang stares back at Blake with her arms crossed. Blake notices this and says “I mean, you’re great! And I’ll hurry back.” Yang smiles at Blake and tells her to go. Blake smiles back at Yang before heading to the comms tower. Over the comms, Blake says “Heading in on foot. Won’t be long.” This exchange between Blake and Yang was very interesting. Yang is now concerned about Blake.This is a complete reversal from earlier episodes in Volume 6 (e.g. episodes 1 and 5) where Blake is concerned about Yang. I thinks Blake and Yang are getting closer to restoring their friendship!!! This exchange was one of my favorite parts of this episode because it had some cute moments between Blake and Yang.

Jaune is excited that everything is going to plan. He looks to Ren and Nora, who stare at him blankly. He clears his throat and says “I mean, uh… roger.” Ren and Nora exchange a brief glance while rolling their eyes at their leader. Oscar notices Ruby looking over with concern to Qrow, who is leaning against a tree with an uneasy look on his face. Oscar says to Ruby that the plan is going to work.

Back on the airship, Weiss is sitting in a passenger seat. She checks her scroll and notices her friends’ signals slowly going out of range. This is Weiss’ cue to make her move. She gets up and heads toward the cockpit. The first guard says “Miss Schnee! For you own safety, we must request--”, the second guard is surprised. Weiss pulls out her Myrtenaster and activates a glyph. The guards are then thrown out of the airship, which is seen flying by as the two guards are tied together by Weiss’ black glyph as a parachute slows their descent. The second guard shouts “This parachute won’t excuse you of your treachery!” The glyph then deactivates, causing one of the guards to hang on to the other guard for their life.






Back aboard the airship, Weiss walks over the the controls with Maria taking the pilot’s seat. Weiss asks Maria if she is sure that she can fly the airship. Maria says “Missy, I was the Grimm Reaper! What part of ‘best Huntress of her generation’ don't you understand?” Weiss replies “Right but your eyes.” Maria chuckles as she notices a small data drive plugged in the controls. She takes the drive and plugs it into her goggles, so that the sensor array data can transmit to her prosthetic eyes. Maria says to Weiss “You were saying?” Weiss replies “That you said your eyes were in desperate need of repair!” Weiss tries to get another word in, but Maria stops her. Weiss concedes and puts on her seatbelt as Maria starts flying the airship.





Back on the ground, Ruby checks her scroll as Weiss’ signal disappears. She says to the others “Alright guys, this is it. She places her fingers on her earpiece and tells Blake that she is up. But there’s no response from Blake. Ruby calls for Blake again as she looks back to her friends in worry. I have a very bad feeling about this; I really do hope Blake isn’t in serious trouble. Somewhere in the forest, Yang is sitting on the ground next to Bumblebee. Ruby asks Yang over comms what is going on. Yang gets up and looks over to the relay tower. She says to Ruby “I don’t know…” Yang checks her scroll and notices that Weiss’ signal is coming back on.






Back at the base, Cordovin monitors her men working the terminals. One of the soldiers hears a beep and notices a blip on the radar. He informs Cordovin of the anomaly. Cordovin says to him “And who would be foolish enough to enter our airspace unannounced?” The soldier replies “Apparently… us, ma’am.” Back aboard the airship, Weiss and Maria receive a radio transmission from the soldier “Manta 5-1, this is Argus Base. We see you circled back. What's your status, over.” Weiss asks Maria “Why can they see us?” Maria says “Somebody dropped the ball. Don't worry, I've worked with Atlas forces before. I know their jargon.” Maria picks up the radio and replies “Argus Base, this is Manta 5-1. Feel free to gaff off. Thought we were going to scrub due to FOD, but we're back up and green across the board, over.” The soldier replies “Manta 5-1, return to base immediately, or you will be treated as hostile, over.”











Weiss says that she thought Maria knew their jargon, but over the radio the soldier says the jargon was, but Atlesian pilots aren't elderly women. Maria says “Huh, well they got me there! Cordovin says over the radio “Calavera! You and those insolent children are up to something, aren't you?! You thought you could undermine my authority? If you don't return my ship this INSTANT, I will make an example out of you. I will show you the true might of Atlas!” A crunching sound is heard and Maria says “You hear that, Cordo?” Cordovin starts to become enraged; back on the airship, Maria munches on cashews with her mouth open and says to Cordovin “That’s the sound of me not caring!” She then laughs manically. Weiss informs Ruby of what is happening, she says “Ruby, we’re in trouble. Cordo’s onto us, and Maria isn’t helping! Why is the radar still up?!” Ruby replies “We don’t know, Blake isn’t responding.” Oscar asks what should they do. Yang tells them to keep the ship in one piece.






Yang revs Bumblebee’s engine and quickly heads over to the radar tower. Nora suggests that they should flyover to help Yang and Blake first. Qrow then says “Damn it! Cordo's gonna scramble her fighters. We've got maybe ninety seconds before they're in the air, and all over Weiss and Maria. This is all my fault…” Jaune asks him if he is talking about his Semblance. Qrow says “Every choice I've ever made has led me here, and I've dragged you along with me. Oz, myself, the others... We're responsible for the mess the world's in now. I shouldn't have come, shouldn't have let any of you come... What was I thinking?!”







Ruby says to Qrow “We're all in this together, and we're all going to do the best we can. That's all anyone can do. And I know it's what you've always aimed for. We would've come whether or not you'd let us, so stop talking like we're your responsibility! We're not! But we could still use Qrow Branwen on our side.” Qrow thinks about Ruby’s words and replies “Hm... How did you grow up so fast?” Ruby tells him that she had good role models. Weiss chimes in over comms “Guys? She’s not sending fighters…” The group looks over at the Argus base. All of a sudden, the mountain at the base retracts and unveiling a titan-sized mech that towers over Argus. I didn’t know that we were getting a RWBY-gen:LOCK crossover! Cordovin starts another nationalist monologue “Clearly the people have forgotten that they live in peace thanks to the awesome might of Atlas!” Weiss asks “Is Cordovin… piloting that?” 

Cordovin then charges up the mech’s arm cannon, which fires an EMP at the ship Weiss and Maria are piloting. The controls go haywire as Maria’s eyes spin. Weiss asks Maria if she is okay. Maria replies “I am, but she’s clearly lost her mind!” Cordovin then says “And that was merely a warning shot! All Atlas personnel standby, and watch how your leader maintains order!” It’s official, Caroline Cordovin is mad as a mad scientist, like Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Ruby and the others look over and see Weiss and Maria fly in, with Cordovin in her mech tailing them. Cordovin says to them “It's time you asked yourselves, children... Do you truly wish to defy me?” Ruby says to Weiss “Hurry back, Weiss. I need you on the ground if we're gonna take this thing down.”









Meanwhile, at the comms tower, Blake’s scroll is seen on the ground. Ruby and Weiss’ lines from earlier asking each other about the radar and Blake not responding are heard through the comms, which cuts in and out. Someone steps on the scroll as they run. Blake is running for cover and ducks behind some equipment. She looks next to her to discover the dead body of an Atlas guard. Blake staggers back in horror towards the railing. She sees a gunshot land near her and forced to take cover again. Who is attacking Blake?

Blake runs over to the railing and jumps off of it to the cable above to use it as a zipwire to get herself down. But, Adam cuts the cable with his Semblance, causing Blake to land on the same platform he is on. Blake and Adam proceed to clash blades, until Blake kicks him back a few feet. Adam says to her “Why did you have to come into my life and ruin everything?!” Blake replies “You stalked me across Anima! I don't want anything to do with your life!” Adam lunges forward and clashes swords with Blake again. Blake backflips onto the railing and then backflips off it and uses her Semblance to reach the platform above. She looks over the railing and aims her pistol down. She turns to look behind her and is hit with the hilt of Adam’s weapon. 

Blake throws her weapon on to a support beam and swings around and clashes with Adam again. Blake grabs Adam’s weapon in an attempt to gain leverage and disarm him. But, Adam throws her across the platform. Blake then backflips onto the railing and jumps up to the top platform, dodging Adam’s Semblance. Just as Blake lands, Adam reappears and grabs her by the throat and pushes her to the edge of the railing. Blake then stomps on his foot with the heel of her boot and both of them fall over the railing. Blake and Adam crash through multiple tree branches, breaking their fall back to terra firma. They slowly stand back up. Blake says to Adam “Let go of the past, Adam. Do it for yourself.” Adam replies “Just forget it all? Is that what you did to me?! You just threw our memories away?!” Blake says “Adam!” Adam says to her “I let you go once already, Blake. I’m never making that mistake again…” The two former partners take defensive stance, and prepare for battle against each other…

GREAT SCOTT! My prediction that Blake and Yang would team up against Adam is about to become reality. My heart was pounding during the fight between Blake and Adam and that ending, which was one hell of a cliffhanger. This episode was one hell of a thrill ride. The heist portion had the feeling of a classic heist film, like The Italian Job. I can’t wait for the next episode to see what happens! This episode is definitely one of my favorites from Volume 6 and the entire series.