Viewer Log: Voltron ep 23

Okay, so the Mega-Teladuv is finished, their allies are gathered together, and now all the Voltron Paladins need to do is take their stuff into space and prepare the trap. Allura gives a little speech about how their fight has nearly reached the end, and that, once the Gulra are defeated, she hopes that they can rebuild the Voltron Alliance from 10,000 years-ago. The team prepares the Mega-Teladuv and takes off with the Blade of Marmora members in tow. They’re so hopeful, if only they knew what comes next.

Their plan already has the major glitch that Commander Thace has been discovered, and is currently being tortured by Haggar and her Druids.  They’re using their magic to electrocute him, he’s in just about constant pain. Thankfully, Thace has remained tight lipped, somehow. Either spies go through some intensive training, or Thace has a Will of Luxite. Oo, I love the sound of that.

Going to hazard a guess and say Thace has had better days
at work.

Their plan is rather simple. They’ll position the Mega-Teladuv in deep space and then hide it within Slav’s supersized pocket dimension. Then, Shiro will fly the Black Lion around, and allow Zarkon to detect him. They either know or hope that Zarkon’s obsession with Black Lion will keep his attention focused on them. Then, once Zarkon’s warship is in position, Thace would activate the virus to disable the ship, and then the team would suck the warship through the Mega-Teladuv. Too bad about Thace’s capture.

Haggar goes to her master and tells Zarkon about the captured Thace. Unfortunately, her boss is too obsessed with searching for Black Lion to notice her concerns. It’s at that moment that Zarkon senses Shiro and Black Lion. Now, let’s quickly analyze this situation. The thing that Zarkon want’s most is the Black Lion. For the first time in a long while, Zarkon has sensed Black Lion. The Black Lion is now flying alone in deep space, vulnerable to attack. So, the thing Zarkon wants is exactly where he wants it. This feel like one of Wile E. Coyote’s “free birdseed” traps to anyone else? My three-year-old niece would call “trap” on this one, but thankfully, Zarkon is too enthralled to notice the obvious. Zarkon orders the chase, and Shiro leads them around.

On the Castle of Lions, Commander Kolivan of the Blade of Marmora is getting cold feet. His lieutenant has noted that they haven’t heard from Thace in days, which is a clear sign he’s been compromised. Well, a clearer sign then Zarkon’s ship not being disabled once it flew into position. He and Allura argue over tactics. He wants to pull back, and re-strategize. He claims it’s this level of caution that has allowed the BoM to survive for 10,000 years. Allura, obviously furious by this attuited, argues the opposite. That it’s this very unwillingness to take risks that has allowed Zarkon to reign virtually unopposed for so long. To stop the fighting, Keith offers to infiltrate the warship himself. His Gulra blood will allow him to access Gulra tech, so he can get to the control hub and disable the ship. Side note, do the Gulra seriously not have security measures to stop non-personnel from accessing stuff? The answer is yes, they seriously do not. And now I wonder how these idiots have run an intergalactic empire for ten centuries. Back on task, it’s not a great plan, but better than no plan at all. Everyone agrees, and Keith goes to get prepped.

It's been a heck of a ride, Thace.

Pidge helps outfit Keith with the equipment he’ll need to infiltrate the ship. Allura comes in a moment later, and asks for a private word with Keith. Once Pidge flies the coop, you knew a bird pun was coming, Allura apologizes. She explains the obvious, that she hates the Gulra for destroying her world and rendering her species functionally extinct. FYI a functionally extinct species is one that still has living members, but there is little to no chance for them to make a viable population. I’m getting off task. So yeah, Allura explains her anger, and then her confusion. It goes like this, Allura hates Gulra, Keith is Gulra, Keith is Paladin, Allura loves her Paladins. This logical paradox kept the princess feeling pretty confused for the last few days/weeks. It’s only after his latest bit of gallantry that Allura is reminded that Keith is a good man, regardless of his ancestry. She wishes him good luck, and hopes for a speedy return.

Back in space, the bulk of the Gulra fleet has arrived. While the sheer size of the enemy’s forces is staggering, Black Lion is flying circles around them. Black’s Jaw Blade chops alien warships and fighters into ribbons. And, once Keith is launched, Shiro’s able to easily cut a path for Keith’s entry. Once inside, he makes for the engine’s hub.

In the torture chamber, Thace is still hanging on. He has a body like stone, and a mind… like meatloaf. I’m probably dating myself with that particular South Park reference. The Druids are clearly frustrated by all this, and try to break him with a show of force. They fling his BoM dagger at Thace, which just barely misses his arm, and promise to break him soon. Once alone, Thace seizes the opportunity. He is able to morph is BoM dagger into its sword form, cutting his bonds and allowing him to escape. How convenient.

In space, Shiro is kind of hitting his limit. Even with one of the top five most powerful machines in his hands, taking on an entire armada of ships is kind of a tall order. Thankfully, since they now have Zarkon’s nearly undivided attention, the others don’t need to hide anymore. Lance, Hunk and Pidge fly in and start giving him covering fire. Haggar continues to warn her master that the obvious trap is an obvious trap, but Zarkon is so totally obsessed with getting Black Lion that I imagine he’s just hearing “Blah blah blah” when she speaks.

In the bowls of the ship, Keith has reached the command hub. He tries to log in using Thace’s ID information, but Haggar must have been in charge of purging traitor’s access codes. Why? Because it actually got done. Keith hears someone coming closer, and ducks behind some machinery. Thace hobbles in a moment later, and tries to log in as well. 0.5 seconds later two Druids and their escort come in. They must have known about the Luxite blade’s powers, as they claim that this was part of their plan. Makes sense, give the captive a means of escape then follow them to find out where they go. Thankfully, Keith and Thace are able to disable the drones with their Luxite blades, and ax off the two Druids. At least, I think that’s what happened. They vanished in a puff of smoke, involuntarily, and don’t reappear, so I take that as dead.  After they introduce themselves, they start trying to figure out a plan. Thace decides to go with his plan B. They’re going to turn the Hub into a giant bomb. Yeah, that should disable the ship nicely.

And it all comes down to this, a giant Lion Robot
vs. a Reaper-looking warship.

Things rapidly start spinning out of control. Hiding something as big as the Mega-Teladuv overtaxes Slav’s generator, forcing him to power it down. Zarkon plans to personally join the battle, as well. Keith smashes a few columns, barricading him and Thace in. It’s at that moment that Thace reveals he’s going to stay behind to make sure the bomb goes off. He insists that Keith use a special emergency exit from the chamber, so he can join the other Paladins. Keith objects, but Thace makes the excellent point that, of the two, he’s the expendable one. Keith bids farewell to Thace, and escapes.

Realizing that their time was running short, but having faith in Keith, Allura orders that they start charging up the Mega-Teladuv. Thace has just enough time to finish prepping the bomb when the guards smash in. He sets it off, and dies with a smile. Keith just barely escapes the blast, and is picked up by Red Lion a few seconds later, such a loyal cat.

Now that the warship’s internal defenses are down, the team is able to completely disable the vessel, and force it through the Mega-Teladuv. The Voltron Lions, and the Castle of Lions quickly follow suit. On the other side, the Paladins form Voltron, and prepare for battle. And then it stops. These darn teases!

This might sound weird, but I’m going to miss Thace. Sure, he was a minor character, just introduced at the end of last season and axed off by the end of this one, but I’ve grown attached to the Gulra Spy. He was a fella that was willing to sacrifice everything for the greater good, which he did with gusto. If there’s a Gulra Valhalla, he earned himself a place. It’s also good to see Keith and Allura have had a chance to talk. I hate when characters I like are fighting, particularly over something as stupid as this. What? You shouldn’t hate someone because of who their ancestors are. That’s just silly. I will note that in the original source material, Voltron: Defender of the Universe or Beast King GoLion depending on where you saw it, Keith and Allura do get romantically entangled. Perhaps the two “making up” is the start of that? Lance is going to be crushed. Just saying. This is the penultimate episode of season two, and by goodness does it feel like it. Tension runs high, the sacrifices are noble and bitter sweet, and now they have Zarkon right where they need him. Wonder how this wounded beast is going to bite back? In a word, hard. He’s going to bite back hard.