Greening
the Cube
There have
been many moments where Pidge’s tech-savviness played a big role in helping the
Paladins, and a few times in the beginning of this episode show a believable
reason for how Pidge’s talents and interests have been as productive as they
were. She’s really passionate about tech
work and jumps at the chance to do it, which further portrays Pidge as one of
the most relatable characters in the cast.
As someone with my own passions, like reviewing, I also find myself being quick to
utilize them when certain situations call for them, and they drive
me to do such a good job.
The
episode proves Pidge’s great appeal when the plot stems from her love
for technology. She picks up a distress
call from soft spores picked up in an asteroid field. The call is from a planet called Olkarion home
of the Olkari, well-known galactic tech wizards. Rather than its technical
city, they’re instead calling from the forest, the least technical place one can
think of. When the Paladins go to the
planet, the Olkari are shown as a surprising alien race. They live in the forest because the Galra
Empire took over their city and imprisoned their king, Lubos. However, even in an environmental outdoor
setting, they can still create wondrous inventions, from simple tree-based
machines to complex woodland robot suits.
This makes the Olkari some of the more appealing alien races through how
inspirational they are through adapting to work their strengths and talents in
a whole new environment. This is
especially shown when Pidge is the only Paladin to activate the Olkari
technology, which is surprising given her apparent disdain towards nature. It’s explained that even if Pidge thinks more
technical, her passion makes her connected with all existing matter of the
universe which have deeper ties than some may think.
Regarding the
distress call, the Paladins proceed to break into the Galra prison to rescue
King Lubos. However, it turns out that
Lubos is a complete coward who went along with the Galra’s plans to enslave his
subjects and construct a weapon to destroy Olkarion just so he can continue
living a calm royal life. This could be
seen as a believable response to an evil empire you know is too powerful to
stop, but Lubos being threatened by the Galra Empire enough to have his people
enslaved make him really shallow without any depth to his actions, so it’s hard
to sympathize with him when he’s later confronted for his treachery.
Since their attempted escape got them
exposed, the Paladins have a Voltron battle with a Galra version of the
Olkari’s biggest invention, a cube that repeats what others say. The big cube repeats all of Voltron’s attacks,
and to a larger extent whenever it doubles after being sliced. It’s one of the most creative battles of the
series, and it builds when Pidge’s established connection with all matter
connects her with her green lion better than before. She unlocks a new power in the lion of
growing trees within the cube, and that destroys it before it can relearn
it.
The episode closes with a
philosophical message on how technology and nature are connected relating to how
everything in nature is connected, even good and evil sides. It’s especially meaningful coming from an
exclusively technical character like Pidge who’s already relatable and now more
developed. This leaves the episode as a
great one built on creative premises and moments that make you contemplate
life…not to mention a huge cliffhanger with the Paladins found by Zarkon. 9.5/10
The Ranking
- Shiro’s Escape
- Greening the Cube
- Across the Universe
- The Depths
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode which picks up where the abrupt Zarkon encounter left off.
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