Welcome everyone, to the halfway point for RWBY: Ice Queendom! I’d say we have a lot to talk about, but if I’m being honest we really don’t. This was a pretty straight forward, and dare I say weak, episode for the show. Why is that? Well lets dive in and talk about it.
First up, Queendom looked pretty damn janky this episode. The closeups in the 2nd half were fine, Huke’s designs hold up when they aren’t moving. And a lot of the editing was snappy and creative as well. I loved hearing only one side of Yang’s conversation but cutting to the phone and back, making it clear a conversation was happening beyond just standing still. But the fights? The fights were bad. I’m talking full floaty CGI, bad composite, stiff movement bad. It’s funny that I’m critiquing a RWBY show for having CGI, I get that. However say what you will about the original RWBY , Rooster Teeth’s CGI has come a long way and looks way better than this. Combine that with it swapping between 2D and 3D and it stands out all the more. It’s disappointing to be honest. Where are my Nagata cuts?!
Getting into the episode proper, not much really happened. The 1st half was primarily fighting, and not even very good fighting like I mentioned above. It was just one big confrontation. I would say the only big thing that happened was confirmation that Weiss was locking them up because she cares about them. Now obviously this is a pretty toxic thing to do. But when you step back and look at it from her perspective, it makes a twisted sort of sense. Weiss’s father, Jacques, has been effectively locking her up for years now. So this is just her mimicking her upbringing, attributing her father’s actions to love rather than malice. It’s how she believes she is supposed to care for things “precious” to her. Though an alternative reading is just that she’s afraid of losing them to the Nightmare and is trying to protect them. That works to.
One thing I will give this half credit for though, that I didn’t mention in the above section, are backgrounds. There were a lot of nice backgrounds and set pieces this episode. Stuff like the Schnee Mansion courtyard, or the imagery of the empty dress being the true Weiss as she struggles between two roles. And for those who haven’t seen the OG RWBY, you also get to see what I was saying about Pyrrha before. This dress is the same outfit, the same top and jewel, just shaded blue instead of red. Further proof that she sees herself in Pyrrha. For what was an otherwise pretty straight forward episode, I like how much thought seems to have been put into Weiss’s mental state. It’s a pleasant surprise.
Meanwhile the 2nd half of the episode didn’t do much more. It was mostly prep and the rest of the team coming to terms with their feelings towards Weiss. With each individual member getting a sort of pep-talk from a different portion of the supporting cast. In that at least, it was nice. As a fan of the OG RWBY, a lot of these relationships didn’t have much time to get explored. They didn’t get much 1 on 1 time. Blake and Sun was the most straight forward, and while Ruby talking with JNPR was nice, the real meat of this half for me was Yang and Penny. These two never had much of a relationship outside Queendom. They never got this kind of time together. So for me, one of Queendom’s big strengths is its ability to explore these lesser talked about relationships.
As for the story itself? Like I said, it’s just prep for round 3. This is their last try, if they fail this time then Weiss is dead. So their plan? Let’s bring Jaune! To some this might be annoying, I know a lot of people don’t like Jaune. Personally though I just want JNPR, anyone on JNPR, to get to do something. I was really hoping for Pyrrha, after last episode I thought she would get a larger role. But I’ll settle for Jaune if it means the dream versions get to be a bit more relevant. And judging by his apparent “immunity”, basically making him a secret spy, he’s going to be pretty important. I wonder why Queendom even introduced the doors if they disappear when they leave and require Jaune to set them up again, but whatever. I’ll take it.
So yeah, all in all this episode was pretty whatever. The story basically took a reset as we prep for our last shot into Weiss’s mind and the sub-par combat definitely took a lot of wind out of the series sails. Hopefully we can get some hype back in the 2nd half since we have 6 full episodes, but I’m not holding my breath. All I wanted out of Queendom, what with my low expectations, were some well animated cuts. But ever since the opening 3 episodes I haven’t gotten that. Instead I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the character work and… lets say “whelmed” by the story itself. If it can give me some fun action and not shit the narrative bed, Queendom can end up as a solid “Decent time”.
