Viewer Log: The Punisher ep 2

What happens when two ghosts start chasing each other?

Memory is kind of fascinating, isn’t it? All it takes is the right stimuli and suddenly you’re reliving a moment from your past. All it can take is the right noise, or smell. I’d say, most of the time it’s good, remembering fun nights out, parties, or just spending time with someone you’re crazy about (even if she didn’t know it). But, unfortunately, you can relive bad times too, particularly vivid break ups, personal and public tragedies and the like. And, worst of all, there are those memories that start out as happy, but can be warped due to time, and circumstance. Frank Castle knows that better then most. Let’s get to it.

We open to a flashback. Be prepared for a lot of these, me thinks. In it, a happier Frank Castle is taking a ferry to Ellis Island with his two kids. He’s trying to entertain them with some freestyle rhyming, I think. His daughter is into it, but his son is clearly not. As they approach the island, his kids ask about why he fights. Well, his daughter asks if he fights for a reason, and his son makes some… inappropriate remarks about Middle Eastern people. Frank angrily scolds his son, but seems to immediately regret it. We then move over to present day Frank, remembering all of that. Feels pretty meta, if you ask me.

He's pretty much the exact polar opposite of Wayne Knight.

After his trip down memory lane, Frank hits up a diner for breakfast. He seems intent on enjoying his breakfast, and reading an article on his latest… evening excursion via an article written by Daredevil’s Karen Page. He’s most of the way through his bacon and eggs when the diner gets a call. Frank, and everyone within ear shot, is clearly weirded out when the waitress who answered the phone says it’s for him. Frank answers, and is greeted by a man called Micro. The two chat for a minute, Micro mentions a video he sent Castle, while Castle tries to keep him on the line while scouring the rooftops for a sign of his ‘fan.’ He spots a tell tail glint on a building just as he hangs up. Frank slips outside, walks calmly for a bit, before making a break for the room. He gets to the rooftop he thinks Micro was hanging out on, but only finds an empty space. And a flashlight and mirror, which created the glint he saw. To his frustration, the man called Micro had been hanging out on the diner’s roof. He also left Frank with a burner phone that Micro could reach him on. Well played, sir.

That night, after another wife-centered nightmare, Frank takes out Micro’s disk and plays it on his laptop. The video in question is of a middle eastern man being tortured, and later executed, by several armed soldiers. Said guy is Ahmad Zubair, an Afghan policeman that had worked with Agent Madani. Frank angrily slams his laptop shut. He goes to see Curt later on, and asks his friend if he’d accidently spilled that Frank Castle was still alive. Curt flat out denies it, much to Castles’ relief. Well, sort of relief. He’s pretty high strung about being stalked, shocking I know.

With Madani and Stein in Homeland, Agent Madani reveals that she’d also seen the tape about Zubair’s execution. Unfortunately, her copy of the disk was stolen before she could show it. She’s still certain that Schoonover and Castle are involved somehow, and wants to look into that via an old squadmate of theirs. Unfortunately, Stein points out that their boss, Wolf, would never go for her interviewing the guy on a case he doesn’t want them on. But, Madani isn’t one to be deterred. She convinces her boss to let her take a training course, it’s about extracting hostages from hostile situations, as put on by a private company called Anvil. One of Anvil’s top brass is a fella named Billy Russo, the old squadmate she wants to interview. How convenient.

Castle looks into his next contact, Karen Page. He get’s a private word with her at her place, and gets her to help him look into this Micro character. At her office, she’s able to scrounge up an article her paper was given about Micro. Apparently, he’s a guy named David Lieberman, and he’d gotten in trouble for leaking secret, i.e. illegal, intel about some government agencies. Interestingly, Homeland Security reported him dead. How odd.

Madani gets to meet Russo after her live simulation. She tries to covertly get some intel on Frank, but her boss seemed to have predicted this, and Wolf steps in to forcibly cool her jets. Thankfully, Russo suggests that they meet up for a drink after work, where they can talk freely.

Frank, meanwhile, looks into Micro’s family. He stages an accident with Mrs. Lieberman, she hit him with her car, to get a look at the house. Micro, who’d been watching via hidden cameras, starts freaking out. When Frank refuses to answer his calls, he grabs a gun and heads out. Frank and Mrs. L bond over their lost loved ones, and Frank even helps her fix a busted garage door. He leaves just before Micro works up the nerve to attack him. That night, Frank shaves and makes himself look presentable. He grabs a black bag of gear and slips out.

Think Frank misses the days when he didn't a fifty/fifty shot of
ending the day with a gun pointed at his face. 

Agent Wolf gets home, and seems to be prepping to have a nice evening in when he’s attacked by Frank. Wolf is surprisingly spry for an old guy, and the two tussle for several minutes. Frank is able to knock him out thought. He binds Wolf’s hands and starts interrogating him. Wolf play’s dumb, which gets him a bullet in the leg. Frank asks about Micro and Schoonover, wanting answers. Wolf is able to get his hands free, he headbutts Frank, grabs the gun and points it at him. Oh, how the tables have turned. Wolf, now in a position of power, starts monologuing. He reveals that he as indeed involved with Schoonover, and in the murder of the Castle family. They did it because they thought Frank sent the tape to Micro in the first place. Wolf gloats, and pulls the trigger. Turns out, Frank had only loaded a single bullet. The two fight again, but Frank ends it quickly, snapping Wolf’s spine.

Madani and Russo have a drink together. She asks about Castle, and about Schoonover. Russo claims that he considered Frank a good friend, and that while he knew Frank killed lots of folks, he also knows that Frank wasn’t dirty. He goes so far as to say that if Madani even spoke to him once, she’d get that vibe. Things are interrupted when Madani is called into work… to her boss’s place. Uh-ho.

Not sure if that's Frank's interrogation face,
or his murdering face.

The next day, Frank gets a call from Micro. He reveals that he’d shaved and faked a limp to screw with Micro’s tracking equipment. The two almost start arguing, but Frank asserts dominance over their situation. He forces Micro to drive around town, to several locations to prove he’s willing to deal. What Micro doesn’t know is that Curt is watching him from the roof tops with a high-powered sniper rifle, to track him. The final destination is David “Micro” Lieberman’s grave. Curt is the one to meet him, telling Micro to leave Frank out off things. Frank leaves dejected. He returns to his hobo version of the Batcave, gets his computers running, and a bottle of scotch ready. Frank springs out of Micro’s trunk, walks over, and decks him. What a way to end the story.

Another good episode. It’s interesting to see the ‘meeting’ phase between the Punisher and Micro. In the few instances where they’ve worked together outside of the comics, they’ve already been established partners, so seeing them before they know each other is interesting. Micro is typically Frank’s tech support. I’m curious to see where the story goes. Are their more guys in Schoonover’s secret cabal? Who’s in on it? Who killed Zubair and why? Both are important questions that need answering. I especially liked the tactical thinking Frank showed when interrogating Wolf. One GSW to show the prisoner Frank is serious, keep him from learning that there was only one bullet, and let the idiot gloat when he thinks he’s got the upper hand. Brilliant moves. Frank is a talented man, and I think he’s going to turn his sights and talents on Wolf’s friends. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16708653
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: The Punisher ep 1

What is the Punisher to do, when he's finally gotten vengeance?

Sorry this one took a while. Usual excuses; work is insane, and I NEED to take some free time to defeat Digital Monsters to blow off some steam. What? I have a thing for JRPGs, and Digimon Cyber Sleuth 2 hits all the addiction buttons in my brain. Hope you understand. You do? Great!

So, when we last left Frank Castle at the end of the second season of Daredevil, he’d learned that his former C.O. Ray Schoonover was part of a drug running scheme. Schoonover had Frank’s family killed in an attempted hit to cover up his drug empire. Frank killed Schoonover, stole a bulletproof vest with the Skull Logo on it, and helped save Daredevil’s life before leaving town. Where did he go to? To find every single person connected to Schoonover’s cartel, and, to use an old classic, make them sleep with the fishes. How’s that journey going? Let’s get to it.

Yeah, I'm sure this is the last we'll see of the icon Skull logo.
Sarcasm overload.

We open on a very quick, very sad scene. It’s a flipping back and forth between Frank showing his daughter how to play guitar, to him playing it all alone. Kind of a major downer, isn’t it? Well, not as much as Frank’s more recent activities. In short order, he ran down some bikers in Alabama, shot a Mexican Cartel leader in Juarez, Mexico from a building in El Paso, USA, and then strangled a man to death in a bathroom stall at O’Hare. Bathroom guy was the last member of Schoonover’s little group. His mission complete, Frank takes his Punisher vest and burns it.

Well that was a short series, wasn’t it? Ha, I’m kidding… there’s way more to it.

Six months later, Frank Castle is living in New York again, under the alias Peter Castiglioni. Castiglioni works as a construction worker, and he spends most of his waking time smashing walls. He get’s heckled by his coworker, who think he’s a Lennie ‘Of Mice and Men’ kind of simpleton. Frank barely pays them any mind, he just smashes walls, from sun up to sun down. Day in, and Day out. It’s how he keeps the memories at bay, me thinks. The only thing of note that happens for a long time is that a new work joins his company, a young man named Donny Chavez that tries to be nice to Frank. Over lunch, Donny and Frank bond over a sandwich. Donny notices some of Frank’s wounds, and upon learning he’s eating with a former Marine, gives Frank his general backstory. Basically, Mr. Chavez was a marine that survived five tours in the middle east, but was killed in a robbery state side. Donny’s story causes Frank to flash back, slightly. He breaks out of his funk, and tells Donny essentially, “Thanks for the food, but stay away from me.”

You know, considering how Frank used to take care of his
violent impulses, smashing walls is much healthier.

That evening, Frank listens from a hallway to some sort of Veteran support group. The group is run by a fellow named Curtis. Curtis was a former Marine as well, and is one of the handful of people that knows Frank Castle is still very much alive. Curt is trying his damnedest to help his friend find peace, but Frank isn’t really listening anymore.

The next day, we’re introduced to two Homeland Security agents, Sam Stein and recently transferred Dinah Madani. Madani attempts to look into the death of a partner, but her boss tells her to back off. With that investigation cut off, Madani decides to look into something else, namely the death of Ray Schoonover and his former squad mate Frank “Punisher” Castle. Oh dear.

At the same time, Frank is continuing his deconstruction as his coworkers go out to the bar. Donny goes along with the rather dickish crew, hoping to be accepted by them. While the group are drinking, the lead asshole, Lance, is looking to make some quick cash. He owes money to bad people, and needs a lot of money, fast. His buddy, Paulie agrees to look into it. Donny gets stuck with the +$300 bill, but deals with it because he wants to be liked. Damn you peer pressure!

The hilarious thing is, this idiot thinks he can intimidate
Frank "I've killed literally scores of people" Castle.

Frank meanwhile, is having nightmares about his wife. Not healthy for him. The next day, Paulie gets back to Lance about a job. They’re planning on hitting a poker game run by the Gnnuci. Not sure if that’s the name of the actual mob family, or a racial slur. Frank overhears this, but the two see him. Lance gets into Frank’s face, to intimidate him. If Frank was even 1% closer to functionally normal, he’d have cackled with mirth about this guy’s clumsy tactic. The tension is broken, thankfully, by a coworker getting injured in an accident. This lets Frank off the hook, and leaves Lance’s crew down a guy. Unfortunately, they pick Donny to fill the space. Donny is a little apprehensive, but does agree to go along with them. Damn. You. Peer. Pressure.

The crew hits the poker game. Two of the guys keep guns drawn while Donny goes around grabbing the money. The, I’m assuming, head guy (Subtitles say his name is Tony) makes several barely veiled threats about how they’ll all die really horrible deaths because of this. Said threats make the already rattled Donny MORE rattled and he ends up tripping. Spilling the money on the floor. Along with his wallet. Which had his real ID right up front. Shhhhhhhhooooooooooooottttttttttt. Tony makes a very obvious threat about how stupid “Donald” was. They crew grab the money and make a run for it.

Meanwhile, Frank had a quite night at home, but is jerked awake by one of his nightmares about his wife. He goes to the construction site to work off some anger. He’s got his hammer in hand, ready to beat a wall, when the car with the crew rolls up. After some arguing, the other three guys agree that they need to make Donny disappear. Lance tells them to fire up the cement mixer, they’re going to drown Donny in the concrete foundation. Donny makes a run for it, but they nab him and toss him into the pillar/mold thing. Then Frank shows up. Now, normally, this is where a fight scene would take place. But, I cannot in good conscience call what happens next a “fight.” Why? Because even in fiction, a fight needs to have a chance that things won’t go well for the hero. Frank absolutely slaughters these guys. He uses a hammer on one, cripples Lance, and then shoots Paulie as he attempts to drive away. He ‘interrogates’ Lance, and learns the name the of the restaurant that they hit and why. Then, Lance joins his buddy’s in the concrete pit. To be fair, Frank never once said that he’d let Lance go if he got what he wanted. Frank drops Donny a rope, anchoring it in place with a note attached saying “Leave Town.”

This is the face of a man about to do something horrible, but
is okay with that.

At the restaurant, Tony and his boys are prepping to get Donny. The lights go out, and everyone in the room save Tony suddenly gets several new openings in their chests. Frank finishes him off last. As he strolls out of the site of his latest… anger management episode, a mysterious man watches him from the camera feed. He smiles and simply states, “Welcome back, Frank,” before the credits roll.

I think I could sum up this first episode, hell, this entire show probably, with a song. What song? Hurt, as sung by the late, great Johnny Cash. That’s the sense I get from Frank throughout the episode. He’s in pain, a constant, gnawing pain that’s eating at his soul. He’s alone, even in a crowded room. All that he has is the pain. That’s something that the Punisher films touched on, but the show completely captures. Even his friend, Curt, can’t help him feel anything more then pain, or numbness. Or at least that’s the sense I got. Heck, he got his revenge, he killed everyone even loosely connected to his family’s murder, and it seems to have just left him empty. Forever, almost literally, beating his head against the wall to feel something. John Bernthal does an amazing job portraying someone damaged, but not broken. The pain feels real, at least to me. You get the feeling that, regardless of how the show turns out, of the evil he thwarts or the lives he saves, all that Frank can hope for is the numbness. There’s no peace, no hope. Just a sense that he’ll keep doing his best to punish the wicked until he can’t anymore. Once he gets the ball rolling again, that is. There’s an immense feeling of satisfaction I felt when Frank “Punishes” Lance and the crew. I only touched upon it lightly, here, but these guys were absolute bum holes to Frank. Constantly belittling him, calling him names, destroying his lunch, and in general trying to torment him. The funny thing is, you get the sense that Lance is doing it, assuming that one day Frank will take a swing, and then that’s when he’ll put that re-(offensive term for the mentally handicap deleted) his place. This is something I think every one should learn. It doesn’t matter how tough you are. It doesn’t matter how superior you feel. Fear not the bully, barking angrily and swaggering, beware the quite man, the man that walks like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Why? Because when the bully snaps, it’s only to massage his ego. To make himself feel big. When the quite man snaps, he’s going to kill something. So be respectful. In short, yeah, The Punisher lives up to expectations. I can’t wait for more. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16665186
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Voltron ep 31

The road to hell is paved with the best intentions.

Who’s ready for a flashback? Doesn’t matter, you’re getting one anyway. It’s not just any flashback, though. No, this time, we’re going way back. Ten thousand+ years back, to the origins of Voltron, and of the dark Emperor Zarkon. The basic set up is, that while Haggar uses her magics to peak into Zarkon’s mind in an attempt to revive him, Allura is enlightening the Paladins as to what she knew of Voltron’s history. Her hope is that knowing about Voltron’s origins might help them puzzle out what Lotor’s plan might be. The end result, for the viewer anyway, is an abridged history of the Legendary Defender, and its first Black Paladin.

The old school team.

Turns out, the Paladin’s of Voltron began as a group of friends. Zarkon was the young but respected king of the Gulra. Allura’s father, Alfor, was the equally young and equally respected king of the Alteans. And the two had three other friends named Gyrgan, Trigel, and Blaytez. Whom were all leaders of their respective peoples. Except Blaytez, whom I believe was some kind of space pirate king. Huh. And yeah, they seem to have oddly similar personality traits as Hunk, Pidge, and Lance respectively. The group was having a feast together when a massive Comet struck the planet. I erroneous believed in an earlier post that said Comet had hit Altea, Allura’s homeworld. Turns out, I was wrong, it hit the Gulra homeworld of Dybazal. My bad.

Zarkon and Alfor, along with their legions of subjects, are able to quickly set up a perimeter around the impact site. The Comet is giving off a weird bit of extra dimensional energy that baffles Alfor and the Gulra scientists. So, Alfor sends for a specialist from back on Altea. Enter Honerva, the best Alchemist of Altea, and her weird alien cat Kova. She’s extremely excited to be working on the project, and learning more about the Comet and its energies.

Zarkon, an alien monster wrecked a hug portion of your planet
You shouldn't have to be persuaded to shut the portal it used.

We skip forward a few years. In that time, Allura is born, Honerva’s made progress in her research, and even found time to marry a certain Gulra monarch. Huh, funny how we’ve never seen an Empress Honerva hanging around Zarkon, isn’t it? Anyway, Honerva had learned through meticulous study that the Comet puts out a massive amount of energy that could be used to power, well, anything. Which is good. And she discovered some sort of extra dimensional organism that tried to slip into their universe via the wormhole that the Comet seems to generate. This is less good, shifting to full on bad when a power surge hits, and thousands of the buggers spill out into their world. They’re able to get the Comet free, imprison the creatures in a sort of force field for a while, and, somehow, Alfor is able to use the metal to forge the five giant, color coordinated Lions that we all know and love. The two kings grab their other three friends, and pilot the beasts in a bid to send the invaders home. This proves difficult, as the thousands of smaller creatures act as one massive entity that swats at them like they were flies. While the five individuals put up a good fight, the monster is too strong, over powering them. Thankfully, they form Voltron for the first time, and use the Leo Saber to smash it to a pile of goo.

Now Alfor, being a smart guy, wants to seal the breach left over from the monster’s invasion. Honerva, on the other hand, wants the portal left open for research. Zarkon, being a doting husband, agrees with Honerva, and tells Alfor to back off and follow Zarkon’s commands. Seems weird that he assumed that would work, given his friend is also a King. But whatever. They all continue to work together, although Alfor and Zarkon are much more distant with each other thereafter.

Skip forward a few more years, and things haven’t improved. Zarkon’s planet, Dybazal, is pretty much rotting from the damage the still open wormhole is causing to the surface. Honerva isn’t doing much better, visibly aging far beyond her actual years. Creepily, her cat is still alive and looking like a haggard skeletal beast. I have no idea how long alien cat’s live, but from the way Alfor acts, this fur ball should have been dead at least a decade ago. Alfor rightly deduces that Honerva has been experimenting with the Quintessence that the portal has created to keep her cat alive. Alfor basically says ‘screw this’ to the whole situation and leaves. Zarkon tries to order him to stay, but Alfor is so beyond done.

Wow, Honerva could use some sun. If she get's any grayer she'll
start looking like Hagga-Ohhh...

To make things worse for Zarkon, his wife is dying. I guess exposure to all that raw energy has slowly poisoned her. It’s not stated out loud, but I reason that Quintessence works a little like radiation and a little like a drug. It’s pure life energy, so it has the ability to heal wounds and extend lives, but like any drug you need more and more of it just get back to functioning normally. Honerva, having spent over a decade being exposed, can’t get the same effect as she used to, and thus is slowly dying. She begs Zarkon to take her to the Rift, to the purest Quintessence to save her.

Zarkon calls out to Alfor again. He tells his friend that he wants to use Voltron to seal the Rift once and for all. Alfor agrees, rather too quickly in this humble blogger’s opinion. The team assembles, forms Voltron, and summons the Leo Saber. So, the plan is to use the sword to cut a bigger hole into the Rift, absorb as much energy as them can, and then use Voltron to force the hole shut. I would have several problems with this idea, but unfortunately, none of the other original Paladins have my thought process. They rip the Rift open further, and fly in. Once inside, Zarkon executes his actual plan. He exit’s his cockpit, cradling Honerva in his arms, and the two of them are exposed to the pure energy of the Rift. It doesn’t go well, as the two are seemingly killed by the energies, and their presence summons a horde of the aliens from before. Despite the Black Paladin being absent, the other Paladins can work Voltron well enough to recover their friends’ bodies, escape the beasts and then the rift. Once at a safe distance, and hopefully after a planet wide evacuation, they bomb the heck out of Dybazal to seal the Rift for good.

Alfor planned a funeral for Zarkon and Honerva, but things didn’t quite play out that way. The Quintessence that he was exposed to had a somewhat delayed effect on Zarkon, or so it seems. Zarkon rose from the dead, and has become the being we know today. His eyes glow, his voice is deeper, and he wants Voltron back. He gets control of some transmitting equipment and sends a message to the Gulra. He claimed his friend had betrayed him, and destroyed Dybazal as an act of war. He is able to rally his people into the full-scale war with the Alteans and the universe as a whole. Alfor, fearing the monster that seemed to be wearing his friend’s skin, scattered the Lions of Voltron. Zarkon killed Alfor in a rage, and destroyed Altea as a part of his further vengeance.

Back in the present, the group realize Lotor’s plan. He’s going to try to open a new Rift and harvest as much of that pure Quintessence as he can.

And Haggar? Well, turns out scanning Zarkon’s mind cleared out the cobwebs in her own mind. She had apparently forgotten most, if not all, of her past as the scientist Honerva. Considering the 10,000 years she’s been Haggar, I think we can forgive her forgetfulness. But, now armed with her old memories, she uses her powers to call out to Zarkon again, and asks her beloved to do the impossible again and return to her. Something very wicked this way comes.

Well... crap. The Emperor is back.

So, yeah, I think I can talk about this now. Haggar was once Honerva, Zarkon’s wife. This puts into perspective why he trusted her so implicitly, and never even once questioned her loyalty, even when another king might be at least slightly distrustful of his witch. It doesn’t make sense if she’s always been a creepy witch. I don’t know about you, but I’m always distrustful of creepy old witches, ever since I read Macbeth. It DOES make sense when you know that Haggar is the last bit of his wife. She might not have remembered anything, but he did. You might think I’m making a lot of assumptions here. But then, the whole “I’ll sacrifice my friendship and my own life on the OFF chance I can save your life,” makes it seem pretty likely that Zarkon would still have feelings for who she was. Just saying. Flip side, this raises SO many questions about Lotor. Haggar is clearly Lotor’s mother, as I just can’t see Zarkon moving on and Lotor’s clearly half Altean, but that doesn’t explain WHEN he was conceived. He doesn’t seem to have the glowing, pupil-less eyes of his parents, that I attribute to Quintessence exposure. So, odds are he wasn’t born ten thousand years ago. Then when did it happen? Twenty years ago? Fifty? I don’t know how quickly Gulra age. Seems odd. And does Lotor know that his father’s favorite witch is also his mama? If so, he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it. Which seems out of character for him. I think back to when he presented the general’s arm to Haggar. No “Mommy I don’t need a babysitter,” or “Oh you’re going to be a concerned parent now?” seems odd from the prince of snark. Sure, she might not remember, but I doubt anything in Lotor’s past could make him forget who bore him. Some might say, “what if no one told him?” to which I say, “you think that not one servant noticed a pregnant Haggar right about when Lotor became a thing?” Sure, I don’t know Altean anatomy, but, if they’re as like human females as they appear, it would be INSANELY hard to hide the baby bump. Just sayin.

Okay, so this once again didn’t sound like a season finale. It felt like a mid-season finale. But, considering that they released season 4 in the same calendar year, I think I can be more forgiving this time. Learning about the history of Voltron is kind of important, and as mentioned above, learning about Zarkon’s past made a lot of his actions make a more sense retroactively. It wasn’t about power, as the Gulra empire can make weapons on par with Voltron, it’s about the Quintessence. Voltron’s unique composition allows it to manipulate the fabric of reality in such a way that it can harvest that purest Quintessence. That Quintessence that Honerva was obsessed with. So yeah, now I kind of get why he wants Black Lion back so bad that he nearly destroyed himself. So yeah, another good episode. Next time, who’s ready for some Punishment?

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16352005
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: Voltron ep 30

Villains try stabbing each other in the back, Paladins stuck in the middle.

So, if you’ll remember, not too long ago Lotor and his team stole a Comet from the Paladins. Said Comet is made of the same material as the Voltron Lions. So, yeah, the baddies have their hands on the very substance that made the Legendary defender. Something to keep in mind as we move forward. Let’s get to it.

The whole band is back together. God, I've missed seeing all
of them in one shot.

We open to the Paladins attacking a Gulra Outpost. They demolish the Outpost, shutting down the facilities power, and routing the last of their enemies. This is a big deal, as this is the last Gulra base in this particular quadrant of space. The Paladins return to base. There, Shiro is being debriefed by Keith. They try to figure out what exactly happened to Shiro, post battle with Zarkon. They’ve only got speculation, but the going theory was that the Black Lion might have tried to use its own power to transport Shiro from danger. But, Zarkon used his atrophied connection to Black to mess with the teleportation. It’s not clear that’s what happened, but it’s the best theory they’ve got right now. Keith leaves Shiro a minute later, to give him time to recover.

Shiro cleans himself up, and then meets with the others. Pidge, using that marvelous brain and hacking skills of hers, had been able to decrypt some Gulra data, and found the general area of the universe that Lotor’s been popping in and out of. Then, Lance and Hunk have a few ideas that help them figure out a way to detect the Comet. Basically, they’re going to supercharge the detector that Hunk had originally designed ALL the way back in episode one that lead the fledgling team to the Blue Lion. He and Pidge get to work on it.

Lance and Keith have a quick private chat. Lance makes it clear that, should Shiro take his place back in Black Lion, he’ll bow out and let Keith reclaim Red. The two have another moment, that Lance can’t deny later, as he’s clearly conscious now and not suffering from a head injury. Hunk and Pidge, with just a little help from Allura’s Mice, get their tracker up and running. They’re able to quickly track down the Comet, and the team start trailing the signal. Interestingly, when they get the ship into visual range, they learn that it isn’t Lotor’s usual warship. This ship, that doesn’t seem to have any distinguishing marks, starts bombing a Gulra outpost. How odd? Keith and Shiro have a moment of tension over who’s in charge, but it passes quickly. Apparently, the reluctant leader has grown used to his spot. Keith offers Black back to Shiro, who gladly tries to take up the Lion again. Unfortunately, he can’t get Black to react to. Apparently, accepting Keith as its new master has severed or at least greatly weakened Shiro’s connection to it. Considering Zarkon kept his bond after ten thousand years and a new Paladin stepping up, I’m calling shenanigans! Shiro elects to stay behind in an advisory position on the Castle. You know, what Allura used to do.

As it turns out, the base is the one operated by Thrak, the attempted mutineer from the first episode of the season. He’s pretty furious at being attacked, but while the outpost is a frozen heck-hole, it’s his frozen heck-hole. Imagine the unbridled rage he must have felt when Lotor’s Generals revealed themselves. Lotor’s team over powers Thrak’s troops, and disable the security around the ship. Meanwhile, the Paladins are frantically searching the ship for the missing Comet. But, they’re interrupted when the roof of the facility opens up. What could be so interesting? Well, as it turns out, the Gulra seemed to have recovered at least a fraction of the Mega-Teladuv that the team used during their assault on Zarkon’s warship. Well crap. And, they do find the Comet, or more precisely, what’s left of it. Turns out, Lotor had enough time to have the ore of the Comet processed and transformed into a fighter ship of his own. Double crap.

I can't be the only one who see's this thing turning into a giant
pair of robot legs, can I?

Allura realizes that Haggar might be planning on using the Mega-Teladuv piece for her own plots. And, considering she’s Altean, Haggar can probably accomplish said plots. Shiro and Keith buttheads over tactics via the radio. Shiro thinks it’s better to stick together, while Keith thinks dividing and conquering would work better. Their bickering doesn’t get them anywhere, though, as they’re attacked by Lotor’s Generals. Keith and Acxa cross blades, for the first time confirming that she was the Gulra that Keith saved in the Weblum back in season 2. They break apart, and make for their respective team ships. The Paladins take off, just as Team Lotor steal the Mega-Teladuv piece.

Coran and Shiro move the Castle of Lions to intercept, but Lotor sends out Acxa and the new Attack Ship to counter them. The Attack Ship is much like Voltron, much stronger and faster then it’s size should allow. It probably would have blown the Castle away, but Voltron flies in at the nick of time. And, while Voltron has a better time of it than the Castle, Acxa is able to fly circles around them.  

There are few things in this world quite like earning praise
from ones mentor.

So, here’s the situation. The Paladins can’t take their eyes off Acxa, because she’ll blow them to pieces. And at the same time, they can’t focus entirely on her, as the cargo ship with the Mega-Teladuv piece is getting away. Sort of a rock and hard place situation. But then, Keith has a plan. The team forms the Heavy Cannon and take aim. Shiro shouts that they need to do something about the cargo ship. Acxa targets them and fires. At the last second, Voltron flies out of the way. Acxa’s blast obliterates the cargo ship, and the Mega-Teladuv piece.

The Paladins fall back and they escape. Afterwards, Shiro and Keith have a conversation about leadership. Shiro scolds Keith, a little, but does compliment him on using his head. Rather then getting tunnel vision with their mission, Keith kept his eyes open and figured out a win to a no-win situation. He’s not the leader Shiro was, but that doesn’t mean he’s inept at it.

Meanwhile, Thrak is being tortured for his failings. Lotor must be feeling pretty smug at this point, just saying.

I think the stakes have sufficiently raised with this episode. The distrust between Lotor and Haggar is pretty clear at this point, with both sides making moves against each other. Though, I wonder why Lotor wanted the piece. Haggar has access to Altean power, so she could potentially power something on the scale of the Mega-Teladuv. Lotor, on the other hand, hasn’t shown any potential for magic thus far. So, I wonder if he just wanted the piece so that Haggar wouldn’t have it. While personality wise this kind of fits, but then, he’s usually more strategic then “ha, this’ll really piss her off.” Or so I’ve gotten. I like the way that they did Shiro and Keith’s growing pains in regards to their changed roles. Keith has grown to be a competent leader, and thus tries to direct whenever he can, where Shiro hasn’t lost his own leadership impulses. Their arguments are legitimate disagreements, not petty bickering. I’m actually shocked by the number of shows that don’t do this kind of thing very well. Next time, the season finale. 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/16227199
Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero