Viewer Log: Voltron ep 24

When we left our heroes, they had finally gotten Zarkon up against a wall. The evil Emperor’s warship is dead in space, no weapons, no communications, no robotic drones, and the entirety of the Gulra fleet is somewhere on the other side of the universe. And since the Gulra don't have access to a Teladuv or similar super-faster then light means of travel, the fleet won't be meeting up with their Emperor any time soon. So, this will be a quick clean up mission, right? Ah ha haha haha ha. Of course, not. Let’s get to it.

Yep, that's a bad guy entrance.
Purple lighting, evil music, and all!

The Paladins have 20 minutes to completely cripple the warship, by destroying the ship’s bridge, engines, main weapons, and shield generator. If they can do that, then they’ll have taken out the biggest threat to peace in the known universe. If they can’t, the Warship, and all of Zarkon’s drone army, will come back online. I probably don’t have to say this, but it is much, much harder to destroy an active warship then a disabled one. So they need to work fast. They form the supersized Leo Saber, and get to work on the engines.

Within the ship, Zarkon is kind of flipping out. He orders his minions get the ship up and running as quickly as possible. I’m guessing that Haggar and her Druids are biting their tongues to avoid shouting ‘I told you so!’ Haggar, instead, suggests that they use the Komar on Voltron. Remember that thing, Haggar and four Druids float in a circle, and use their magic powers to suck planets dry of quintessence, the life-energy of this universe.  It was kind of important in season 1 when they were draining planets, but for whatever reason they haven't talked about it for a while. I don’t think I used the name before, but it’s called the Komar.. Not sure if that’s the ritual, or the giant crystals the Druids use for the energy sucking. Apparently, she and the Druids can use the Komar to drain Voltron of power. Zarkon isn’t interested, probably due to the risk it might posse to Voltron, and orders her stay out of it. He plans to fight Voltron personally. Unlike the last season finale, however, he wants to go toe to toe with the big Lion-Bot and decides to unveil a new toy. An engineer argues against it, as Zarkon’s ‘Armor’ hasn’t been tested yet. He doesn’t care, smacks the engineer, and tells them to finish prepping it. This alien-emperor has an almost pathological need to avoid advice, doesn't he? While Zarkon prepares to fight, Haggar, who has noticed that her boss’s decision making skills have been poor of late, prepares to drain Zarkon.

If Sci-Fi has taught me anything, it's stay
away from black balls of energy.

The Paladins are able to destroy the Warship’s engines while the villains prep. They go for Bridge, where Haggar is waiting. She and the Druids activate the Komar. It forms a giant black vortex and hits Voltron. The giant fighting robot is completely drained of quintessence, and the Paladins are knocked unconscious as well. In the Castle, Kolivan, the leader of the Blade of Marmora, explains what happened to the assembled group. Allura and Coran understandably freak out with the prospect that their team/friends might have just had the life sucked out of them. Thankfully, Allura is able to make contact with the Paladins a moment later. While physically exhausted and their Lions without power, the team is alright. That is until they see Zarkon’s Armor. The Armor is a colossal version of Zarkon. They’re really driving the Lucifer/Fallen Angel motif with him. What? His custom built Robeast has giant bat-like wings. The first three things that jump to mind when I see wings like that are Bats, Dragons and Demons. Just saying. When Zarkon activates it, he releases a psychic wave that cause Shiro physical pain. Wow, this bad situation is only made worse by the Lions still being down. Allura, realizing how dire the situation is, orders Coran to divert all available power to the Castle’s main laser. She encourages the Paladins to use their bond with their Lions to revive them, as she hits Zarkon with a full power blast. It knocks the despot back, but the defenses of his Armor his impressive, he’s able to take the full power blast and refract it back at the Castle. The Castle-ship is critically damaged. After witnessing the possible deaths of all their allies, Shiro gives an impassioned speech, the team is able to reawake Voltron, and they charge. Zarkon also charges, announcing that he will now “Take back what is mine!”

The team fights an elaborate duel with Zarkon, using all their weapons on the mad Emperor. Unfortunately, Zarkon’s Armor is able to take each hit and keep swinging. Even more unfortunately, Haggar and her Druids have recovered and reactivated the Komar. So now the team has to fight Zarkon while simultaneously dogging the black-energy sucking tendrils. Not a great situation.

Unstoppable force, meet immovable object.

In the Castle, Allura, Coran and co reawaken. The Castle has taken some serious damage, but Coran is hopeful he can get things running again. Being forced to watch Voltron fight two major opponents on two fronts, Allura decides to do something about it. Allura orders Coran and Slav do what they can to repair the ship, and that Kolivan and his lieutenant Antok come with her. While Voltron fights Zarkon, Allura plans to fight Haggar. You go, Princess. The Paladins barely keep Zarkon at bay while Allura and co make their raid. They quickly disable the Komar, and go about taking out each Druid, to make sure they can’t reenergize it later. I’d argue disabling/killing one Druid was probably enough, given that four lesser Druids and Haggar are necessary to activate it, but I suppose this is a better safe than sorry situation.

Zarkon is able to get the upper hand, and uses his extendable chain-blade to break Voltron into its individual lions. Shiro is also knocked out. The other four Paladins are forced to fight Zarkon to keep him at bay. Shiro, for goodness sake, stay conscious during a fight! Allura and her raiding party are able to take out three of the five assembled Druids, and only suffer the loss of Antok. They treat it like a major loss, but seriously, I think he’s in like two scenes. Antok was the one that noticed Keith’s BoM, and then just really stood behind Kolivan, looking intimidating. Can’t really feel emotional weight with this one. Now, if they killed off Coran… no, no, no, not going to put that out into the universe. Nobody touch Coran.

In your eyes. The light, the heat. In your eyes. I am complete.
Probably not what Peter Gabriel meant when he wrote that...

In space, Shiro awakens, sees his friends battling, and that Black has revealed his Bayard port. This helps Shiro rally. He charges, remembering every moment he spent with Black Lion, fully connecting with Lion. It allows him to fully extend Black Lion’s wings, and somehow snatch his Bayard from Zarkon when they collide. The team forms Voltron, and prepares for their last assault.

Allura fights Haggar personally. Allura shows off some impressive staff skills as she trades blows with Haggar. Despite the witch’s speed and magic purple lightning, Allura’s able to get several good hits in. She’s able to knock the witch aside, revealing her full head for the first time. Allura’s shocked to see that Haggar is in fact Altean. The pointy ears, and purple marks on her cheeks are kind of a dead giveaway. Though she’s not as shocked as Haggar is when, somehow, the Princess is able to suck up the magic energy that Haggar fires at her. It’s not expressly stated, but since previous episodes have implied that Allura has mystic powers even surpassing her legendary father, I guess that potential is what let her absorb and purify the evil energies that Haggar commands. Or something. Either way, she channels these new powers to destroy the Komar. Haggar flees. Teleportation is such a useful power.

Haggar, you're about to get rocked by a Princess.

Power returns to both ships, the Paladins are down to the wire. The slam into Zarkon, sticking him with the Leo Saber, but the evil Emperor isn’t out yet. He grabs Voltron’s head and starts electrocuting them. At that moment, Black’s Bayard port starts flashing. Shiro slams his Bayard in, supercharging the Leo Saber. Zarkon’s Armor is blow to smithereens, but Voltron is caught in the blast and forcibly separated. The team recovers in a few seconds, except for Shiro. Makes sense since 90% of the explosion was focused on him. The others grab Shiro, make for the ship, and they all warp away. Hooray!

For those who don’t want the cliffhanger portion spoiled, I’m going to gray out the next paragraph. Just highlight it if you want to know what happens in the last minute. Once inside the Castle, the team runs to the Black Lion. They all climb aboard to find… nothing. The cockpit is empty, with absolutely no sign of Shiro. Where has their steadfast leader gone? With the bad guys, Zarkon is revealed to be alive. Kind of. He suffered major injuries in the explosion, is apparently in a coma, and hooked up to life support. So, really, just alive in the most technical of senses. Since he can’t 1. Sit up, or 2. Take nourishment, being alive isn’t all that great. At least, I wouldn’t want to be in that state. Haggar leaves her Emperor to his treatment, and Haggar orders that someone summon Price Lotor. Had to reveal that last one, since I’ll be discussing it in the conclusion.

Yeah, that's the face of someone down, but far from out.

Well, that was a heck of a ride. The tension is high from the beginning to the end, the music is perfect, and the visuals stunning. I’m not usually a fan of mixing more traditional animation with CGI, but the Dreamswork’s team did a great job with it. My complaint of the last season finale was that it felt like any other episode in terms of the ending. It just kind of stopped, with few if any resolutions. This time, it actually feels like a proper resolution. The team takes on the ultimate big bad, fights hard and is finally able to stop him. Zarkon really pulled out all the stops with this one. His Armor is an intimidating final boss for the team to take on. The combination of the demonic/fallen angel motif with Zarkon’s apparent preferred weapon, his extendable chain-blade, makes for a great fight. Though, personally, I do find myself wondering why he needs Voltron back when his Armor is so impressive. Just saying. And, this is a minor victory considering the losses they’ve incurred, and with the audience learning that while the Gulra are down they are most certainly not out. I shouldn’t sell them too short. Taking the Black Bayard and defeating Zarkon in battle is important. Losing their 10,000-year-old, apparently invincible Emperor will be a major blow to the moral of the majority of the Gulra empire. I imagine Varkon is sobbing at the Space Mall. But, Haggar is still active, which is a major plus for the baddies, and whomever this Lotor is, he’ll most likely serve as a figure head if nothing else. But, if he’s anything like his, I’m assuming, father, I imagine Lotor will be a challenge all on his own. FYI, I’m only confident enough to ‘assume’ that Lotor is Zarkon’s son. Sure, if he’s the Prince then it implies he’s Zarkon’s son. But, given Zarkon’s 10,000 year-long reign, I somehow doubt that Zarkon’s direct children could still be alive. Unless Lotor has also gotten vague Immortality from Quintessence-injections, too. I suppose that could work, but ol Zarky didn't strike me as the type to share such gifts, even with his own children. I know it sounds nuts, but I think Zarkon might be very selfish. Oh, it's been a while since Sarcasm hurt like that.

They also revealed some interesting new plot threads, like the bit I mentioned in the greyed-out paragraph, and the reveal of Haggar’s race. That second point certainly puts Prorock’s comments last season into context. He didn’t just hate Haggar for being a witch, and being Zarkon’s preferred advisor, but for not even being a Gulra. I imagine it’d be as hard for Prorock as a Gulra to trust an Altean as it was for Allure to trust Keith after his Gulra heritage was revealed. It does make me wonder a little more about the crazy old gal’s past, and what lead her to ally with the people that wiped out her species. Plot points for season three.  Finally, I will say, while it doesn’t completely make up for the missed opportunity of episode 22, watching Allura personally take on Haggar was pretty awesome. Sure, Zarkon is the primary threat, but Haggar is easily the second biggest threat in the universe. And Allura is more-or-less taking her one with a bo-staff. That’s about as awesome a character moment that someone can get. So, with all of that in mind, it’s very safe to say the fight is far from over. In summation, my goodness gracious I love this series and hope that season 3 comes out as fast as season 2. Fingers and toes crossed. High fives, thumbs up, and A+’s all around. Now that we’ve finished up Voltron season 2, we’ll cover the end of an Era. Next time, Logan. Cue Johnny Cash music.