REVIEW: ‘RWBY: Ice Queendom,’ Episode 7 – “Dreams Come Rued”

RWBY: Ice Queendom is an action/fantasy anime produced by Shaft. With their last attempt to save Weiss now underway, it’s do-or-die time for Ruby, Blake, Yang, and Juane. This time though, they are trying something new in their efforts to save their beleaguered friend. Will this new approach prove more successful than their previous attempts in RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7?

This week’s entry into the series’ ongoing struggle to save one of its primary protagonists has now slowed to a glacial crawl. Coming out of last week’s episode, I hoped this arc might be resolved in time for something else to happen this season. I’m now convinced that waking Weiss from her Nightmare-fueled dream will be the only thing that happens this season. And that has me moderately dreading the coming episodes, as I fear we will bare witness to more long, overly drawn-out sequences like in RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7.

Nearly the entirety of this week’s opening half of the episode is occupied with the newly returned team, plus Juane, riding the train into the heart of the city. While there is a brief battle against White Fang for the train, far too much of this stretch is just them riding on the train while Weiss agonizes over what to do. It’s boring, drawn out, and feels like it is kept going as long as it is simply to fill space. It was not the start I was hoping for from this episode.

The back half of this story brings some interesting tidbits to its narrative as Juane takes the lead in the ongoing search. As established in the last episode, he can move around freely without the Nightmare noticing him. His search does lead to some entertaining moments and important plot points. His search also leads to some new chaos being unleashed within the dream. While this delivers some excitement and entertainment to RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7‘s proceedings, unless something more ultimately comes of it, I can’t help but feel like it was all just a bit of a waste of time.

Even the big cliffhanger ending that this episode ends on doesn’t deliver the hype it should due to how the show has played out overall. I want to believe that a big showdown is just around the corner, but I can’t help but feel like some new twist or unforeseen setback will have the story stall out yet again.

The visuals throughout this episode are the only things that continue to hold up well. While the monotony of seeing the fortress city of Weiss’s dream holds back some of the visuals’ flair, the art does all it can to deliver some new elements with as much pop as possible. This helps the story’s better moments deliver as much freshness to the lagging tale as possible.

When all is said and done, RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7 continues to trudge through its long-labored story arc. It saddens me that a show with as much promise as this one had coming out of its opening chapters could have fallen so far.

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 7 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.