REVIEW: ‘RWBY: Ice Queendom,’ Episode 9 – “My Dream, Your Dream”

With Ruby seeming to succumb to the Nightmare’s influence, things were getting dark for the team. But there may yet be some hope to wake Weiss from her slumber. With the team separated, it’ll take a lot of determination if they are to salvage a win out of their current situation in RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9. RWBY: Ice Queendom is an action/fantasy anime produced by Shaft.

This week’s episode opens with Ruby having a heart-to-heart talk in her dream with the real Weiss, rather than the negative Weiss the team has been struggling against. I enjoyed this opening as it delivers a lot of heart, and the exchange feels like it is the sort of moment that is riddled with clues that will come to reveal themselves in the coming episodes.

From this intriguing opening, RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9 steadily picks up steam as it brings its scattered cast back up to speed with the evolving situation. This episode’s energy managed to hold onto my attention far better than previous entries. It balances conversation with action nicely and even takes a moment to deliver a fairly haunting musical number that manages to create a nice contrast in the tone of the episode without feeling like it is slowing down the episode’s pace. Admittedly, the moment was the last thing I expected. But perhaps that is part of what helps it work so well.

With all the narrative elements about to collide again, it feels like the story is finally going to deliver some forward momentum for this leg of its journey. While I hope this is the case, I can’t help but worry there will be one more stall out before the series truly heads into its endgame.

The only spot where RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9 struggles is in a couple of failures on the part of its cast to connect some fairly apparent dots. While a lot is going on, and some missed clues are understandable, there is one major element to the situation that is so obvious there is no way the characters shouldn’t have picked up on it yet.

While much of the scenery is what we have seen before, RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9 manages to deliver some new visual elements to its story that land wonderfully. Some surreal moments provide a much-needed break-up in the story’s familiarity, and the aforementioned musical number receives much of its power from the visuals accompanying the moment.

When all is said and done, RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9 does a good job of righting what had been a floundering narrative over the last handful of episodes. As long as future installments can continue to build off of the moment this episode sets in motion, this series could deliver a final stretch as strong as its opening chapters.

RWBY: Ice Queendom Episode 9 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.