Viewer Log: Voltron ep 22

Let’s review, Keith and Hunk got the Scaultrite to focus the Mega-Teladuv, Shiro, Pidge and Lance got the bizarre scientist Slav to build the cloak for it, and Coran is building the Mega-Teladuv itself. So now we’ve reach the final item on this intergalactic scavenger hunt. And that’s for Allura to get the crystal to power the Mega-Teladuv. To get the Crystal, Allura travels alone to the colossal space whale/living planet, the Balmera. Upon reaching the creature, she’s greeted by the Balmerans. She pretty much has to ask for the biggest crystals that the Balmerans have ever heard of. Their Leader has an idea where they can find one, thankfully.

With the Gulra, time has just about run out for Commander Thace. The Druids found his special chip, which allowed him to secretly encode messages and send them to the Blade of Marmora HQ. Haggar, being a sly old fox, tells her Druids to put the chip back. Why? To see who comes back for it. Uh-ho.

Guess who's back.

The Balmeran’s take Allura deep into the Balmera. Shay, one of the Balmerans they befriended last time, explains that, since ousting the Gulra, the Balmera has begun opening long sealed passages. One of these passages revealed an enormous crystal, just perfect for the Mega-Teladuv. Allura and the assembled Balmerans use their special energizing ritual to pry the crystal loose. There’s a major quake as the crystal comes lose, making Shay uncomfortable, but the crystal still pops free. The group transports the Crystal to the surface. Once the Crystal is loaded, the source of the earlier quake is revealed. What caused it? Death-Gaze waking up. Over the, I’m assuming, in universe months he’s spent encased in a giant Balmeran Crystal, Death-Gaze’s Gulra energy infected the crystal around it, corrupting it into the usual Gulra Purple. Death-Gaze traded in his head for a pair of giant crystal wings, and his additional eyes for a super charged blaster. The new and improved Crystal Death-Gaze is looking for payback. Not good. Allura fires several shots, but it’s crystal wings block the blast. It’s improved central laser nearly wipes out the Castle of Lions shields in one shot.

Allura sends a distress call to the Voltron Paladins. They rush across the galaxy via the wormholes Allura summons. While the group is battle ready, they have the major issue that only two of the five Paladins are currently piloting their respective Lion. Hunk is forced to hold the Robeast off while Lance flies Shiro and Pidge back to the Castle. Once they’ve gotten Green and Black in the air, they and Lance will take up the distraction for Keith to get Red. A pretty terrible plan, but still better than no plan at all.

Meanwhile, Thace makes the biggest mistake of his life and goes back for the chip. I’d have sent an incompetent subordinate as a decoy, or something. Just saying. The second he grabs the chip, the Druids march in and captures him. Not good.

And stay dead!

The Paladins have difficulty battling Crystal Death-Gaze, as the upgraded Robeast’s new Wings and enhanced laser make him several times more powerful. Unlike last time, Crystal Death-Gaze is too fast and unrelenting for the Paladins to get the distance necessary to do their big transformation sequence. But, they are able to figure out a work around to Crystal Death-Gaze’s speed. Using their superior numbers, they’re able to divide Crystal Death-Gaze’s attention enough for Pidge to hit him with her and Green Lion’s plant cannon. Once he’s sufficiently tangled in vines, the team forms Voltron, and use the Leo Saber to destroy Crystal Death-Gaze, for reals this time. Unless Robeast’s can somehow regenerate from bits of scrap metal.

The team reconvenes, and prepare to rendezvous with Coran on Olcarion. Allura congratulates everyone for a job well done, except Keith. Why? Because it is now very, very clear that Allura is indeed… not okay with Keith now that it’s known he’s partially Gulra. Boo racism. Specism? To be safe, I’ll just say boo to all discriminatory -isms. On Olcarion, we get to see two different scenes. Coran and Allura discuss the major dangers in the mission, as Allura is the only one who can use the Mega-Teladuv, and the super wormhole generator might just burn the princess out. She’s confident though, in her ability to keep the portal running long enough to get Zarkon. That’s the important part. And, with the Paladins, we get the “how far we’ve come” moment. They realize that, should the mission be successful, they’ll defeat Zarkon and stop the threat of the Gulra. An optimistic, if bitter sweet ending. Too bad it won’t be that easy.

Oh... this does not bode well...

Haggar has Thace literally chained to a wall, and is prepping to torture him to get the information that she needs. She’s got two druids, some gnarly looking torture devices, and a whole lot of time to kill. Evil space witch, vs. the willpower/pain tolerance of an Alien soldier/spy, which will prove stronger?

It kind of a shame that, while Keith and Hunk, and Shiro, Pidge, and Lance got their own episode entirely devoted to their personal adventure, Allura got only about ten minutes to herself in this one. It’s a shame because the best word to describe this princess is awesome. She’s strong, confident, and not above getting her hands dirty. Heck, she’s the one character in this season that wore her battle gear in nearly, if not every, scene she’s in. She’s awesome, and would have done fine in an episode all to herself. Just saying. I wasn’t expecting Death-Gaze to make a comeback or that he’d get Crystal upgrades. The Robeast is causing even more damage this time around, as his new super laser is able to blows up a nearby moon/asteroid. Which is good. Have to up the ante with each Robeast, even if this is an upgraded older model. I will say, that removing its head was an odd choice. On the one hand, fighting a headless monster that is ever stronger than before is intense. But, I can’t help wondering how the heck this evil semi-robot can operate without it. Like is the crystal in his chest acting as a head, or at this point are all organic components to the Robeast gone and his internal machinery taking over for it? I know, fiction and overanalyzing a cartoon, but I am pretty much compelled to overanalyze things. The ending scenes with Coran and Allura, and the Paladins are a little cliché but still well done. They’re so close to the end, and need to risk a lot, but they have real chance to beat the baddies. Fingers crossed for our valiant heroes, especially with Thace already being captured. It’s a pretty severe complication, there.