Aight so a lot of people have been talking about the scene where the group come across the racist drunk man. And that’s good because there’s a lot to say about it. So I want to give my thoughts and hopefully also touch on some angles that I haven’t seen brought up much until now.

The fact that this is Blake’s immediate response to such an overtly aggressive person is extremely telling. Because this is the same Blake Belladonna who tied a racist student up with her ribbon and threatened him with violence before Velvet had to hold her back at Beacon. So it doesn’t seem to scan that she would take a placatory approach with a similar type of asshole here.

But the reason is that context is crucial. Blake knows she isn’t in a safe environment here. Beacon had bullies like Cardin but it wasn’t actively hostile to Faunus overall. Atlas and parts of Mantle on the other hand most certainly are. That’s why she tries to deescalate the situation right away and avoid a confrontation. Because she knows she and the others aren’t in a position from which it would benefit them to fight fire with fire.

This whole exchange makes it blatantly obvious that Blake has been in this exact same position before, probably more than once, and that she’s learned from experience to pick her battles. When standing her ground might actually bring positive change Blake will be the first to fight for what she believes in, but she’s also very aware of when a tit for tat approach can be counterintuitive and achieve the opposite of what you intend.

Throughout the entire conversation it’s painfully obvious how much Blake despises having to apologise and how much she wants to punch the guy square in the face, but she doesn’t. Because it wouldn’t help to change anything on a societal level to throw him into a dumpster, and if anything it would only increase the anti-Faunus sentiment as the racists would see it as proof of their point.

Now that we’ve covered Blake’s actions in this scene, let’s look at how the others handle it.

Ruby and Yang are good allies. Ruby initially becomes confrontational but quickly backs down when Blake asks her not to cause a scene. She follows Blake’s lead and trusts that Blake knows best how to deal with it as the person who the conflict at hand directly affects. Yang doesn’t say or do anything. She waits to see how the situation evolves, and to see how Blake wants to tackle it, and she doesn’t jump in or assume that she knows how to fix it.

On the other hand Weiss has the best of intentions but she messes up. She does what is most satisfying in the moment but all it really accomplishes is getting the group in trouble without actually doing anything to work towards resolving the underlying problem of the racism in Atlesian society. She thinks she knows how to help and in her eagerness to show her support she bulldozes over Blake’s judgement in handling the situation.

The fact that the dude’s drinking buddy seems to have recognised Weiss, combined with the oops I done fucked up look that Weiss has right after sending the racist flying into the dumpster, make me think that this was all very deliberate and intentional, and that this will lead to some great development for both Blake and Weiss as Weiss learns how to undo the lingering ignorance she has surrounding these issues and be there for Blake in the most genuinely helpful way she can be in the future.

Regardless, I’m very much looking forward to seeing where they take this thread of the story from here.