With all the major information about Voltron and the Paladins
assigned to pilot it revealed in the premiere, we now start easing into more
routine styles for our heroes. At the same time, constant reminders of the
Galra Empire promising to keep coming back to attack, backed by newly revealed
information of how they’ve been conquering countless planets in the universe,
almost being set on the Paladins’ home planet, Earth, remain a serious issue
for the heroes to consider. In the case
of this issue, they’re put through constant vigorous training exercises to form
Voltron so to be prepared during all future attacks from Zarkon and his
armies. The problem behind all their
attempts is that while they have decent individual competence in the heat of
battle, the Paladins don’t know how to work well as a team, which is revealed
to be the necessary step to forming Voltron. From this reveal, as well as the constant
mentions of how the characters have issues working as a team in the previous
episode, it’s clear that teamwork is going to set itself as major theme for the
series. One thing to appreciate about
the lack of teamwork is how it’s presented.
At first, you’d think that it’s all because the characters can’t get
along with each other leading to pointless incessant bickering. Apart from Lance and Keith, their problems
are mostly due to a lack of understanding on exactly how to do it. Plus, some characters have deeper reasons for
their lack of cooperation like Shiro still being traumatized by his time as a
prisoner of the Galra Empire, and Pidge still wanting to find his family, and
apparently his “girlfriend” as depicted by constant looks at a picture. The training exercises themselves have an
enjoyment factor to them with how they’re constructed like drones attacking the
Paladins and each one falling down a hole when they're not protected,
someone going through a maze where the only one watching him can see the
walls that can give him a shock, and the use of equipment that visualizes the
process of the Paladins clearing their mind.
Through it all though, we also see a new side to Princess Allura. She has a major sense of urgency to get the
team to focus more, making it so that the training courses match the intensity
of what future encounters with Zarkon will bring. As admirable as her desire to get the
Paladins ready is, she can get overbearing with expecting so much from them
this early on which don’t always come off as enjoyable. Sure, her bossy attitude may lead the Paladins
to finally work together when they stage a food fight against her, but that
kind of brings unfortunate implications on promoting nasty behavior to solve
your problems. The team forming Voltron
afterwards is still a great payoff though, making me expect all Voltron
formations will be awesome visual spectacles.
I have to wonder though if this is truly the last of the Paladins’
teamwork issues. Getting over them in
one episode shouldn’t be that easy, but with a growing enemy threat shown
through frequent scenes of Zarkon and his witch wife Haggar sending a
mysterious creature to their location, we’ll soon see how good their teamwork
really is. Overall, despite some
overbearing character moments, this is a solid follow-up to the premiere with
new information on the workings of Voltron and the entertainment mined from
learning how to form it. 9/10
The Ranking
1. The Rise of Voltron
2. Some Assembly Required
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where see exactly what was sent to fight the Paladins in "Return of the Gladiator."
If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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