With this show kept in Steven’s perspective, all the
development from other characters is present whenever he’s around to witness
or hear about it.This gives the show a unique feel with
everything seen through the eyes of a child.It’s a clever personification of how the audience experiences and grows to understand the world
of any series.
An strong example of this perspective at play is in cartoons
where Steven hears about his dad, Greg’s, past back when he first met Rose
Quartz which gives him, and the audience, a clearer perception of how he came
to be, as well as a nice perception on certain life values.The first one, “Story for Steven”, recounted
Greg first meeting Rose and deciding to drop everything to be with her.This time, the flashback is on how they officially became an item when
Steven and Connie accidentally fuse into Stevonnie in front of Greg, who offers
a perspective on fusion as a human who understands it.
The whole thing begins with an establishment
of how close Greg and Rose have become via a performance of the song, “What Can
I Do for You?” which is made more impactful with Rose’s lines that allude to
her fascination with Earth’s human life.During this song, Pearl attempts to one-up Greg's performance by convincing Rose to fuse with her, resulting in them becoming Rainbow
Quartz.Greg’s astounding reaction from
this fusion is perfectly captured by a dramatic guitar solo in the song’s
second half.Then while Rose is away,
Pearl rubs it in Greg’s face that he, like all humans will never amount to the
greatness of Gems because humans can’t fuse.
Harsh, yet expected, as her words are, they do their
part to make Greg’s newfound ambition to fuse with Rose and officially solidify
his relationship with her perfectly clear.The only problem is that Gems only fuse with Gems, yet Greg is willing
to try to be the first human to experience fusion.However, no matter how hard he studies the
fusion moves from the song's tape recording or follows the advice
on how it works through his own personal dance, it turns out to be true that as a human, Greg can’t fuse
with Rose.It’s certainly an unfortunate
outcome, especially since it justifies Pearl’s uptight attitude from earlier,
but it’s admirable for the story to go in a more believable direction.
Speaking of believable, what ultimately
brings Greg and Rose together rings very true to how most couples come to be.As Rose laughs without showing any respect to Greg's disappointment (feelings that make too much sense given the most recent events of this show regarding her), he slowly reveals his concerns about their relationship
building up to a basic confession of his love for Rose.Even if they don’t fuse, their love wins through his honesty,
and the couple is made official much to Pearl’s dismay and the other Crystal
Gems’ wonder.
Through Greg’s
own strengths, he finds love his way, resulting in another work from this show
that’s as inspirational as it is nicely constructed, making the setup of Steven needing to be
around for us to see it work. 9.5/10
The Ranking
Sworn to
the Sword
Keeping it
Together
Full
Disclosure
We Need to
Talk
Reformed
Joy Ride
Say Uncle
Rising
Tides, Crashing Skies
Love
Letters
The next Steven Universe review finally gives us an answer on what became of Malachite and a believable reason why the Crystal Gems don't attempt to track her down afterwards.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another Hey ArnoldSeason 3 review covering "Career Day" and "Hey Harold".
Most fan groups for Hey
Arnold and old Nickelodeon shows in general often post memes saying how
most kids of the 90s wanted a room like Arnold’s, and I really can’t blame
them.The big space, well-organized
shelves, perfect sky view, and that flip-down couch make for the most creative
yet believable bedroom ever put to media.You can easily be impressed by its features and picture yourself
actually having a room like that.Such a
nice room could naturally make anyone feel envious in the audience and in the
world of this show, and that’s the subject of this cartoon.
Although Arnold’s name is in the title, the
story is way more about Sid. The class is assigned a history project and,
in one of his extremely few major roles, Lorenzo is picked as Sid’s partner.Some of the work on the project is done at Lorenzo’s big lavish mansion
which includes his big room that Sid is easily impressed by, most likely
because this is a rich kid’s place.However, the project requires some of the work to be done in Sid’s room,
thus making Sid feel intimidated.Just
from the sights of his small, messy, and not very special room, Sid’s feelings
are understandable since it’s not only uncool, but also not very pleasing, so
nothing’s stopping him deciding to borrow Arnold’s room for the day from
investing the audience, at first anyway.
It is a
believable scenario for Sid to want Lorenzo to think he’s cool from what he
has, and this is shown right down to the lengths he goes through to convince
Lorenzo that this is his room and not someone else’s like changing pictures of
Arnold with pictures of him and putting a sign saying “Sid’s Room” on the door.However, it’s through these lengths that
bring out the worst of Sid’s character.He’s known to be very obsessive on even the littlest of things and it
typically gets so overbearing that he stops being entertaining.That’s what happens here, especially when you
consider that there’s no possible way he can keep up with the act.Even the first session in Arnold’s room has a
lot of suspicion that Sid’s “room” belongs to someone else.It builds from there with Sid claiming
Arnold’s Grandpa as his own, calling out Arnold for supposedly leaving behind
his top secret journal, and even wrecking Arnold’s personalized alarm clock,
indicating clear signs that the lie can’t be kept forever, and the ensuing
awkwardness doesn’t help.As a result,
whenever Sid pushes Arnold to get out of the room or pesters Grandpa by
claiming to be his grandson, it makes the viewing experience a hindrance as you
just wait for the plan to backfire.Heck, even Arnold is confident that Sid can’t keep up the charade.
Unsurprisingly, Sid can’t, when Lorenzo
suggests an impromptu visit to his room, Arnold and his friends are already
there, Sid tries the usual excuse, but is unable to lie any longer.Naturally, Lorenzo is miffed about being lied
to for fair reason, but the fact that Sid getting caught was so easy to see
coming makes it frustrating because it could’ve been avoided if Sid realized he
couldn’t keep it up forever.Thankfully,
no one holds a grudge for Sid’s actions when he shows genuine regret and all’s
well, so for all his faults, the ending shows that Sid really isn’t a bad guy
on the whole.
The cartoon is still held
back by being driven by awkwardness from pathetic attempts to cover an obvious
lie, but the underlying relatability and how it explores the great appeal of
Arnold’s room make it enjoyable enough. 8/10
Helga vs.
Big Patty
Writing bully characters is a lot harder than one may
think.It’s easy to write them with any mean
trait imaginable, but that would make the character very unpleasant and unnatural.I find it hard to believe that anyone would
be a brute for the sake of it.For bully
characters to work, it’s best to provide reasons for malice, maybe because they
don’t know any better, or because of certain turmoil that lead them to act up.You can’t justify their actions but you can
understand them. Despite what they do, they’re still human beings trying to get
through life.It’s too bad that acouplethingsI reviewed, even of cartoons of thisshow, feature bully characters who
are thugs for no reason yet this show is good at writing bully characters with
Helga.We continuously see what fuels
her mean behavior and what she’s really like.This cartoon proves that these standards can apply to other bully
characters, with the bully in question being more threatening than she is.
Big Patty is a larger than average 6th
grader who showed up before in a few short scenes of beating up Helga after
ending up as the target of pranks meant for someone else.Since those moments were meant to depict a
backfiring, they didn’t show what Big Patty was really like, so it’s nice that
this cartoon does justice for her.Helga
makes jokes about Big Patty to her friends, which honestly seems foolish of her
since making fun of someone bigger and stronger than you will certainly make
them mad.Sure enough, that’s what
happens when Big Patty threatens to beat her up.One admirable thing is that Big Patty doesn’t
go around being mean, especially since she tries to civilly offer Arnold the
last of a dessert earlier.She acts when
provoked which anyone, no matter how good they are would do (though maybe not
always to the beating-up extent).
Out of
this, we get a more vulnerable side of Helga, which is especially big
considering how much authority she usually has over all the other kids.Now, someone more threatening is out to get
her and she’s scared, right down to resorting to her parents for advice who, as
you’d probably expect, do not offer anything meaningful or helpful
whatsoever.
Helga’s problem does bring a
sincere moment for her and Arnold’s relationship.This season is where we see a lot of Arnold
showing concern for Helga’s well-being more often then before despite her being rude around him
which is a huge step in making them feel like a good pairing.Here, when he shows concern over Helga facing
Big Patty, he advises her to apologize to her so to get off the hook and maybe
even be friends.However, while Big
Patty accepts Helga’s apology, she still plans on beating her up because of her
reputation which is a believable reason for people to act like bullies.Even better is that Arnold sees Big Patty at
fault for opting to beat Helga despite everything.He even drops a hint that he knows Helga for
who she really is, which becomes more apparent as the show goes on.
For this cartoon, it’s a point strong enough
to get through to Big Patty as she instead pretends to beat up Helga
unbeknownst to everyone and have Helga only act like she’s hurt.It seals the deal on this show’s talents of
writing bully characters.Big Patty’s
approach to the situation and Arnold’s views on the real Helga show that even
if they act like it, at the end of the day, bullies are decent human beings
too.
As a result, this is a
thought-provoking cartoon built on strong characterizations. 9.5/10
The Ranking
Helga Blabs
it All
Harold the
Butcher
Crabby
Author
Mr. Hyunh
Goes Country
Helga Vs.
Big Patty
Curly Snaps
The
Aptitude Test
Pre-Teen
Scream
Olga Gets
Engaged
Oskar Gets
a Job
Rich Kid
Dangerous
Lumber
Arnold’s
Room
Helga and
the Nanny
Stinky Goes
Hollywood
Arnold
Betrays Iggy
The next Hey Arnold review sends Arnold's class out for career day and Arnold's time with the Jolly Olly Man isn't as fun as it sounds. In addition, Harold further shows how deep he really is when he gets to know Big Patty. The next post on MC Toon Reviews will cover the ninth episode of Steven UniverseSeason 2, "We Need to Talk."
This cartoon shows how well this series specializes in
playing with one’s emotions.It pulls
you in with something nice and wholesome and gradually leads to something
heavier.
Everything starts out simple
with Steven and the Crystal Gems conversing while doing chores.Even with the calm tone at the moment,
thoughts are still on how necessary it is to find Peridot, with everyone
assuming that her main goal is reactivate the Gem Kindergarten.We even learn how its injectors work such as
exactly how they plant Gems in the ground and how their growth depletes the
Earth of its resources.With all the
talk about Peridot, the Crystal Gems track her down in the
Kindergarten, and the tone intensifies from there.
Even though this isn’t the first time we've seen theKindergarten, it still has a moody, grey feel to what goes on,
signaling something dark that could happen.Steven happens upon Peridot by chance who appears calculating about
“fusion experiments” giving the impression that she WAS trying to reactivate
the Kindergarten and potentially hurt the Earth.Following an energetic chase
through the Kindergarten, the Crystal Gems split up after her with Steven going
with Garnet to also see if they can figure out Peridot’s real intention since
the injectors aren’t on.Through it all,
the nice familial bond between Steven and Garnet is very prominent with Steven,
as any curious child would, asks Garnet question after question on what it’s
like to be a fusion, and Garnet answers them as she advances with her
investigation.
Then, when they start
investigating closely, there’s always a feeling that something ominous is
watching them.The strange occurrence
makes itself known when disembodied hands appear and attack them, bringing the
whole cartoon to its darkest point.It’s
especially dark with Garnet’s reaction.The hands are actually forced fusions of the shards of shattered Crystal Gems
.Eventually, a big
forced fusion composed of a large number of shards shows up to attack and fully
unsettles Garnet, and its screams add to the horror and tension.You may think it’s strange for
Garnet to be unable to do anything because of this, but given that she’s a
fusion of two Gems who love each other, this is an understandable and logical
layer to prevent her from continuing to fight.In fact, what she sees brings her to the brink of falling apart as if
the scene wasn’t frightening enough already.However, through a heartwarming turn of events, it’s Steven’s pleas for
Garnet to keep going that allows her to prevent unfusing, and beat back the
forced fusions.
All ends well with
everyone leaving safely despite still not knowing what Peridot is up to and that the
shattered Crystal Gems had met such a horrible fate which even Garnet
understandably still isn’t over.It is
nice though that talking with Steven helps ease the shock of the discovery,
which even includes a nice allusion to keeping a pair of socks together regarding
what it feels like for Garnet to be a fusion all the time.So, despite the horrific things that came
from Homeworld’s ideas of fusion, it’s great to know that we’re left to believe
that Garnet will always remember what fusion really means.
That there is a good embodiment of the power
of this cartoon.It gradually goes from
light-hearted to disturbing, but inspires the audience to hold onto what’s good
regardless, making this one of this show’s most influential works. 10/10
The Ranking
Sworn to
the Sword
Keeping it
Together
Full Disclosure
Reformed
Joy Ride
Say Uncle
Rising
Tides, Crashing Skies
Love
Letters
The next Steven Universe review will be on the second Greg and Rose Quartz flashback highlighting their attempt at fusion.
The next review for MC Toon Reviews will be on Hey ArnoldSeason 3 Episode 8 featuring "Arnold's Room" and "Helga vs. Big Patty."
You know, it's interesting to note that I've been posting reviews on this blog for a whole year now. It's really immersed me in a field I've been interested in for a long time, and I'm impressed with how far I've come since I've started. I've organized the reviews of different shows better than ever, and I've even gathered a lot of followers through a Facebook page and Twitter account. So, to mark this occasion, I'm going to break from the currently scheduled review sets and look into something very special considering what day this one-year anniversary happens to fall on. In other words, it's time for another MC Toon Reviews Shorty.
This shorty is the very first one to focus on an individual
Peanuts special.You might be wondering
why I’m looking at an individual special and not making a full set of reviews
on a certain decade like I did with the 60s and 70s specials.As a reviewer, I need to have easy access to
all the specials of a decade so I can record my thoughts on them, especially
those I never grew up with. They can be on DVD, websites like YouTube and
Dailymotion, and even VHS.Even if I
didn’t have good access to one, I would be unable to do a true cover of the
decade.Regarding the specials of the
following decade, the 1980s, that’s the case.
I grew up with a few specials from the decade and any special I didn’t
grow up with can easily be seen on Dailymotion as of this year.However, there is at least one special from the 1980s I never owned or grew up with and can’t find on any safe and
trustworthy video website.Not to
mention, it never got a DVD release.I
could buy the VHS through online retail, but it’s too expensive and it's not worth putting in a lot of money for one home media format I and many
others have long moved on from.However,
since I reviewed all the specials from the previous two decades, I’m basically
committed to reviewing Peanuts now, so I have to find a way around this. All the other Peanuts specials I can get access to viewing will be reviewed as
an MC Toon Reviews Shorty no matter what decade they’re from.
On this day, Memorial Day, as we honor the Americans who gave
their lives for a noble cause during the two World Wars, this Peanuts special
will be on:
What Have We Learned, Charlie
Brown?
(May 30, 1983)
At the tail-end of my look at the 1970s Peanuts specials, I
mentioned how the specials started becoming more hit-or-miss from the second
half of that decade onward.Some stories
wouldn’t be as interesting, certain tropes of the franchise would go too far,
there would be less appealing music (which is still fine), and the unique
childlike tone of Peanuts would start becoming unrecognizable, mainly due to
the odd decision of having adults be seen and heard.We’d still get strong specials during this
era, and this special is one of them for how it does tap into the
distinguishable tone of the franchise (despite the presence of adults) while also combining it with heavy subject matter not often seen in
family material.
The special is a companion to the 1980 feature film Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come
Back) which was about Charlie Brown and his friends going to France as
exchange students.The film is both
ambitious and a bit misguided (mostly as a Peanuts film), but that’s another
topic.While it simply ended with
Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock driving
off into the distance without a mention of how they got home, this special sets
out to answer the question while highlighting the sights they saw along the
way.
Told in flashback and picking up
almost exactly where the film left off, it starts off feeling like a simple
travelogue mostly fueled by antics of their car breaking down, starting the
replacement car through a repeated animation of Charlie Brown getting shocked
by the spark plug, and constantly losing their way.It’s a classic case of things continuously
going wrong while on a road trip that very few people can see coming which we
can all relate to.There’s also minimal
dialog in these moments which makes the travel hassles easier to stand out than
they would if there was constant talking.Huge spaces between character lines simply give a better sense of
atmosphere of the moment, and happening during more light-hearted moments of
the trip home foreshadows for how the atmosphere is utilized in the heavier
moments.
Since it’s not always certain of what one may run into while
travelling, especially to kids, the childlike tone of Peanuts is on great
display when the gang discovers the background of the beach they spend the
night at.It’s a beach of major American
significance, Omaha Beach in which allied soldiers, including American ones,
fought to liberate Western Europe from Nazi rule on D-Day during World War 2.Normally, characters just being at the battle
sight wouldn’t sell how huge the place is.However, through atmosphere-crafting, there’s plenty of silence to take
in the emotional weight of the battles fought and the lives lost at Omaha
Beach, especially through the visual composition of actual footage and
photographs of the battles superimposed onto the beach’s backdrop.The dark shots of mine fields, fighter jets
dropping bombs, and destructive shots and explosions from tanks and battleships
give a somber mood fitting for a setting of war right down to a sad music piece
to mark the devastation of the fact that lives were lost.The addition of shots of Linus, a
philosophical child, looking around the beach as the footage plays adds to the
emotional weight with the mere fact that someone so young and innocent is
standing among the sight of all too real tragedies, perfectly representing the
heartbreaking effects of war.
It’s a
very deep and respectful tribute to the historic sight and the lives lost
there, and it continues with most of the special consisting of the group simply
walking through the sites and their cemeteries holding those who were killed in
battle.There’s no quirks from the
featured characters, just silent and tactful moments of the kids observing
their surroundings of the beautiful and historic landmarks and the men who gave
up their lives in the name of freedom.It doesn’t just apply to Omaha Beach. Other times when details of the
battles are brought up feature a lot of silence and respect from the characters
further enhancing the emotional effects of the War.
In addition to learning about World War 2,
the group later explores the battle site of Ypres, where the allies
fought during World War 1.Speaking of
Ypres, the moments of everyone exploring its poppies of Flanders Fields and
battle trenches are also among the special’s most effective where they take in
the hard effects of war following the mention of a legend that the poppies
are said to be white flowers turned red with a cross in the center, representing
even more casualties of war.The
emotional toll is completely sold with Linus, who’s famous for delivering milestone passages, recites the renowned war poem, “In Flanders Fields” accompanied
by visuals of the poem’s lines, selling its message of all the importance of
carrying out the legacy of those who died for our freedom.This moment marking the end of the flashback
sells this special’s great strength of paying respect for the sacrifices of the
defenders of freedom throughout the World Wars, and all other wars actually,
through silence and restraining, and effective deliveries from the mouths of
children.
If there is one weak point to this special, it would have to
be with the handling of the light-hearted moments.For so much emphasis on heavy war-related
history and how well the special pays tribute to it, comedic antics of the
group advancing in their return trip feel really out of place.It’s fine at the start since we’re just
easing into the heavy stuff, but from the moment the gang recognizes they’re at
Omaha Beach, there really is no room for comedic stuff.Right after a heavy historic anecdote, we
instantly cut to an inappropriate light-hearted scene of either of Snoopy
messing around or a repetitive instant of Charlie Brown getting shocked by the
car’s spark while everyone glosses over his pain.
These moments are fine on their own, but in a
special focusing on honoring the lives lost during some of the biggest battles
in American history, these are not good fits whatsoever.We even end the special with this flaw when,
in the present, after Charlie Brown finishes recounting his return trip to
Sally, instead of them discussing something meaningful like what exactly was
learned from the experiences, Sally just points out that her big brother is
gluing in his photos upside down.That’s
not even mentioning the fact that we still don’t see how Charlie Brown and his
friends got home, technically meaning that the special failed at what it was meant to do as a
continuation to Bon Voyage.Maybe if
there were better transitions from the serious to the light-hearted this
wouldn’t be an issue, but to me, the tonal difference sticks out far too
much.While the jarring shift in tone is
noticeable, nothing about the strengths are really destroyed, so the respectful
stuff is still powerful.
From my experience, not a lot of people take Memorial Day
very seriously, mostly seeing it as a day off from school or work to hang out
at home and celebrate the coming of summer.For that, it’s great that there are works out there like this special to
show what it’s all about and go above and beyond with attributing to the
thousands of devoted Americans who gave everything, including their lives, to
secure freedom for all.Standing out with
great atmosphere crafting and genuinely innocent deliveries of the tragic
information from child characters, it’s an impactful Peanuts special utilizing
the franchise’s strengths for an effective cause.
Highly Recommended
That’s it for this ‘Toon Reviews Shorty, and my heart goes
out to all the people we’ve lost in all the big wars throughout history.They will be forever remembered in securing
our freedom.
We’ll return to our
currently scheduled reviews next time, and after posting reviews here for a year, I look forward to continue to do so hopefully for years to come.As always:
The fact
that the last episode abruptly ended with the Paladins found by Zarkon’s
fleet suggests that this episode is going to be an all-out galactic brawl.We do start with a huge battle, but it
doesn’t last long.The Paladins take in
the facts that Zarkon is simply too powerful for them to take on alone at this
point, especially after what happened at his base.
The episode’s focus is using wormholes to get
enough distance from their enemies for some time.As a result, the episode isn’t all about battles, so it doesn’t always
live up to the cliffhanger, but we do still get many admirable qualities.With wormholes being needed, there’s some
interesting facts to their creation as demonstrated in a cute limited animation
style common for infomercials.Wormholes
are made in a part of the ship called a teludav where a laser is fired off of
crystal discs.While this would be seen
as random, it’s actually a big deal because a lot of the crystals are broken and
wormholes can’t be made, at least not ones that can reach far
distances.
You’d expect our heroes to
put all their attention into the teludav problem, but the reveal of the issue
is instead followed by a sequence of antics around the ship.They’re enjoyable for sure, but some like
Lance and Keith going to a pool and Pidge learning to speak Altean from a
tutorial that has the safety turned off aren’t substantial.Fortunately, I can’t say that’s the case for
all the antics, but these ones really stick out.Then we’re abruptly thrown back into battling
Zarkon who tracks them down again.It’s
a really intense battle with frantic attempts to hold him back while Coran
rushes to perform a light wormhole jump, made difficult by his case of the
slipperies, an Altean virus where the body excretes a slippery liquid,
primarily used for funny scenes.
Following that fight, when thoughts turn to how Zarkon keeps finding the
team, there’s some drama when Allura believes her mere existence gives them
away.It’s hard to believe since there’s
no clear evidence, but sympathy is still apparent that Allura, someone devoted
to the Paladins believes something this drastic.Whether this is true or not isn’t explained
though. Zarkon finds them much quicker resulting in the episode’s biggest
battle in a cosmic storm.The magnitude
is helped by the storm making things difficult for both sides and Zarkon’s
undying desire to get his original lion, the black lion.What gets the Paladins out of harms’ way is
an interesting move that gives relevance to some of the earlier antics.The broken crystals in the teludav are
replaced by hard cookies Hunk inadvertently made earlier, and the fluids from
Coran’s slipperies allow the Paladins to get the wormhole they need via a
dangerous scene where they have to hold in some of the replacement crystals as
the laser fires.The episode ends
shortly after the wormhole jump is made, though we’re still without a clear
reason why the Paladins keep getting found.Though Zarkon’s clear desire to get the black lion does make the
conflict and him as a character a bit more interesting.
This leaves us with a greatly enjoyable
episode where much of its new reveals and character moments all come together
in the end. 9/10
The Ranking
Shiro’s Escape
Greening the Cube
Eye of the Storm
Across the Universe
The Depths
The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review covers a visit to a new planet while Keith and Allura believe they're putting the team in danger.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a special review to commemorate Memorial Day and, by coincidence, the 1-year anniversary of this blog.
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.
