Saturday, May 26, 2018

'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 4: Greening the Cube


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
  1. Shiro’s Escape
  2. Greening the Cube
  3. Across the Universe
  4. 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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