Honestly Salem’s antics this episode were a bit too wacky for me. From her literally Naruto Running down the hallway, to her Reed Richards arms on Emerald. I get CRWBY wants to go body horror for her now, but the way it’s executed honestly makes it difficult for me to take her seriously at all anymore.

Though it does make me wonder what would happen if they just chopped her body up and put the pieces into jars like that one Immortal Hulk (great comic btw) moment.

The arms I didn’t mind so much, just because we’ve seen that before from other grimm, but yeah, the Naruto run was… something else entirely lol. That run combined her with shocked “The lamp!” also feels like it messes with the All Powerful Ruler characterization she’s got going on. I mean, Salem isn’t trying to convince others she’s this powerful, she is that powerful, and she’s had over a thousand years to build up a lot of casual confidence. I personally would have had her sigh and close down the whale (she seems to be able to manipulate its body at will), calmly walking in on our group trying desperately to get out. She should treat them as nuisances because, right now, they are (and then yeah, if/when they undermine her it’s that much more satisfying). But Salem knows she’s better than everyone, has the power to back it up, and even if everything does go wrong, she has endless time to inevitably win. Having her panic and rush out like that felt like the reaction of a far lesser villain. 

Literally my thought after the Volume Six lore dump! Not cutting Hulk up (lol), but the general question, “So… can’t they contain her somehow? Or at least try?” I’m not saying that has to be the solution here, just that the group should have considered containment options if the show wanted us to believe they’re really this smart, strategic, heroic group. You have magic and crazy semblances at your fingertips, but no one bothered to run some creative ideas by Oz? “Hey, ever considered tossing Salem into one of your vaults? Trying to separate some of her goo when you damage her? Fiona has a dimension inside her hand, what happens if she tried that on Salem?” They can all fail and/or be established as undoable for any number of reasons, but the point is to try. 

In The Magnus Archives a powerless character faced off against a, not immortal, but very hard to kill being. Solution? I’m going to pour four feet of concrete on top of you! Salem would be slightly less of a problem is our heroes figured out that not every problem has to be solved with a punch to the face. They act like being immortal is the same thing as being unbeatable.