The Depths
This episode
shows where Lance and Hunk ended up after the wormhole incident. Their adventure doesn’t really
have a big role to play in the main story which would mean that you wouldn’t
miss much if you were to skip it, but with how much detail that’s packed into
the adventure, it makes sense why this outcome would get its own episode. There’s so much world building that a few
short scenes of Lance and Hunk mixed in with others from the rest of the team
wouldn’t fit that well.
With these details comes
an interesting world to add to the show’s imaginative galaxy. The planet Lance and Hunk end up on is an
underwater world where the surface is frozen over, but the area below is
completely habitable with mermaids. As a
matter of fact, the place is constantly described as being “safe and warm”. The ruler, Queen Luxia, loves the environment
they live in, from the Baku garden that provides the warmth to the food and
entertainment. In Luxia’s scenes,
there’s something unsettling about how she praises her kingdom and all its
little things. She even makes it clear
that these are the only things she wants Lance and Hunk to think about, and
both Paladins give in and decide to stay forever. From there, there’s a huge sense of mystery
of what Queen Luxia’s intentions are, and when Lance is ambushed by three
rebels to the queen, they don't seem to be good intentions.
Through some entertaining banter from the
three of them and explaining their information through simple sketches, it’s
revealed that Luxia somehow brainwashes creatures into the Baku kingdom, and
they never come out, suggesting potential dangers they can’t figure out. They also add to the creativity by helping
Lance avoid any more brainwashing such as something as humorous as putting a jellyfish
on his head. On this note, it’s a really
interesting to see someone cocky and girl-crazy like Lance be the one to figure
out the truth of a strange situation and have to save the more reasonable and
considerate Hunk.
As for the truth about
Luxia, the story does a good job at convincing the idea that she’s dangerous. Everything
we saw of her suggests she’s brainwashing innocent creatures. One scene
separate from the heroes even shows her sentencing one of her subjects, Florona, to swim
in the Baku garden for failing to keep Hunk and Lance safe, and Florona meets her
demise there. When Lance captures Luxia,
there’s a clever twist. She was never
the one brainwashing, and she herself was the first to be brainwashed by the
Baku, the worm-like creature of the kingdom’s garden, by eating its food that
led her to worship it, and all the other mermaids later did the same.
So there’s an exciting scene of Lance and
Hunk battling the Baku, the true threat, and after it’s defeated, their main
problem for the episode is resolved when Luxia, now revealed to be good all
along helps them contact their the rest of the team. That leaves this episode as an enjoyable watch
with a creative setup, fun character moments, and surprising twists.
However, it’s still a persistent problem that so much
time is devoted to this place and characters that don’t play a role anywhere
else apart from this one episode. There is a newly revealed freeze ray on
Lance’s blue lion, but that’s just one thing.
At least it can be considered a strong, enjoyable cartoon by itself. 8/10
The Ranking
- Across the Universe
- The Depths
The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review is on an episode that offers more flashbacks of Shiro and is the first sign that not all Galra members are heartless dictators.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a look at Steven Universe Season 2 Episode 4, "Love Letters".
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