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.
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| 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.
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