Viewer Log: Voltron ep 11

We’ve hit the grand finale. The end of the first season of Voltron. It’s been a quick but awesome ride. And, I’m happy to say that they are getting a second season. In fact, according to a few articles I’ve seen, they’re going to try and release it before the end of the year. Awesome. I hope that my little blurbs have gotten a few more folks to check out this awesome show.

So, the Voltron Paladins are stuck in a kind of a catch 22. If the Paladins try to keep fighting the good fight, build up their own force and then attack the Gulra on more even footing, that would leave Zarkon with plenty of time to either break Allura or kill her. Which, its implied, would destroy the Lions. Not good. They’re tied to her life force, or something. But on the other hand… rushing into the heart of an enemy strong hold with what equates to one warship and five fighters is s-t-u-p-i-d. If they’re not turned into space dust by the overwhelming force of Zarkon’s fleet, then they’re still risking Zarkon getting his claw like hands on the Legendary Defender. Also not good.

The Paladins return to the Castle, and Coran is rather upset that they are sans princess. After calming Coran, Shiro says something that should get Coran to freak out again. They’re going to storm the Gurla space castle to get Allura back. How are they going to do it? They’re going to take a note from the Deadpool Handbook. Do you know what is the one note in the Deadpool Handbook?

Improvisation! That’s my jam.

The most complex villain? Nope.
A pretty scary villain? I'd say yes.

Thanks Wade. Yeah… it’s a bad plan. But, it’s the only one they’ve got so we’re going with it. They use info gathered from all their various Gulra sources to pinpoint the Gulra’s main fleet and Zarkon’s warship. Oh, and this is a one-way trip. Why? Because Allura is the one behind their Castle-Ships ability to travel via wormhole. They had just enough power for one jump. How convenient. The Team jumps, hides the Castle-Ship in the vapors of a nearby Gas Giant, and plan to rush in and grab Allura.

On Zarkon’s capital ship, Allura meets the Head Druid Haggar and is then brought Zarkon. Rather than passively listen to Zarkon’s evil plan, she rushes Zarkon and tries to take him out. You go girl. Unfortunately, Haggar is very spry for an old gal and blasts her. It’s at this moment that the Gulra detect the Voltron Lions, and rather than be scared or concerned, Zarkon is pleased. A confident SOB, isn’t he? The team forms Voltron, flies in fully intent on a smash and grab rescue. Unfortunately, Zarkon seems to have predicted this and activates a “Solar Barrier.” It’s basically a giant forcefield that keeps them from escaping. The team tries to keep the momentum up, summons their giant Leo-Saber, and slices up a Warship. They then pull out their Shoulder Cannon and blow a few more ships into space dust. They fly towards Zarkon’s ship, and then things get weird. We get a creepy flash of Zarkon’s scarred face, and then Voltron starts seizing up, and then breaks apart into the individual lions.

Zarkon is shown with four Gulra Druids, the alien-wizards seem to funneling quintessence directly into their master. Zarkon specifically draws the Black Lion in while the other Lions fight the rest of the Gulra. Coran flies in and starts blasting, in the hopes of drawing some fire from the Paladins. Shiro can’t seem to get Black Lion to follow his commands. Zarkon makes a comment about Shiro’s connection to Black Lion is weak. Anyone else feel like this is like Alex Rodrigues commenting on a rookie baseball player’s swing. Dopers don’t get to comment, jerk! Shiro is ejected from Black, and Zarkon claims victory. Thankfully, Keith flies in, breaks the tractor beam that Zarkon is using to pull Black Lion in. Deciding he’s had enough of all this, Zarkon throws off his giant robes and pulls out his weapon of choice. The Black Bayard. Yeah, the show has hinted at this a few times, but this is the point where they’ve all but said that Zarkon was the original, or at least a previous, Black Paladin. Explains his confidence at capturing Voltron, and his confidence that he can take control of the giant mech, doesn’t it? Side note, if Allura was aware that Zarkon was a former Voltron Paladin, I think she probably should have let them know. Knowledge is power and all that.

Most of the time, my money would be on the giant robo-cat.
But, for once, my money's on the space tyrant.

Keith tries to take him on, but the years of quintessence absorbing has made Zarkon supremely powerful. And unlike the other Paladins, Zarkon’s Bayard doesn’t have one weapon mode, but several. A mace, sword, and a blaster are a few of the forms. Why do the bad guys always get the coolest weapons? While this is going on, Shiro is attacked by Haggar. Her magic’s are too much for Shiro. He’s whipped around, blasted, and gets his butt handed to him. She seems particularly sore at Shiro, shouting “I made you strong, and this is how you repay me? You could have been our greatest weapon,” as she blasts him. She then attacks him with holograms of himself. Psychological attacks, how dirty.

Meanwhile, Hunk gets aboard the ship, frees Allura, and the two run to save Shiro. The three are able to force the old witch back and get back into space. Keith and Red Lion are getting spanked by Zarkon. He is able to force the villain back with a magically summoned back cannon on Red. But Zarkon keeps coming. He’s like an evil purple energizer bunny. Also, doesn’t risking destroying Voltron’s right arm kind of ruin Zarkon’s potential plans for universal conquest? Zarkon nearly finishes off Keith, but Shiro and Black knock him back at the last second. Not so smug about your “connection” to Black Lion when you’re not getting a power boost, are Zarkon? The team flies back to the Castle, and they try to jump via wormhole. Unfortunately, the Solar Shield keeps them stuck. That is, until a Gulra soldier deactivates the barriers. Turn coat? Interesting. The team tries to jump, but at the last second, Haggar blast the wormhole with her magic. The wormhole destabilizes, the Lions are thrown from the Castle, and that’s it.

Can you see why I was concerned about this getting a second season? It just stops. No conclusion, we don’t even see the Lion’s and Castle landing on some distant planetoid(‘s). Even someone like me would have trouble thinking up a “personal” ending for a show with a finale like that. I’m sure other series have done this before, but this is a technique that Beast Wars did to great effect. If you watch the sort of sequel to the G1 Transformers you’ll notice that of the three finales, the bad guys apparently win two of them. So, if the show hadn’t been renewed for a second and later a third season, it would have ended with the bad guys being victorious. Keep the fans hooked, am I right?

As a season finale, this actually isn’t great. Why? Because it doesn’t really end. And that bugs me. But, it does work as a regular episode. Heck, when season two comes out, (I’m so excited!) I’m sure the sudden ending won’t seem so odd. We see some good reveals, like Zarkon’s status as a previous Black Paladin, and Haggar’s implied plans involving Shiro. From the way the baddy talks, Shiro was important to whatever the witch had planned. Keith gets some pretty good moments in this one. Of the six main characters, I felt that Keith got the least amount of development. Which is kind of interesting, given that he takes Shiro’s place as leader in the original series. I know, a remake doesn’t, nor shouldn’t, follow the original point for point but it’s an interesting change. Watching him fight Zarkon, despite being laughably outclassed by the evil emperor. I’m hoping that this is the first chapter of a reasonable length series. Fingers crossed, y’all. Next time, my review of Suicide Squad.

http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/voltron/images/8/85/Screen_Shot_2016-07-04_at_1.14.19_PM.png/revision/latest?cb=20160704171700
http://darkspellmaster.tumblr.com/post/147310301765/could-keiths-knifedagger-be-the-key-to-finding