Blackout
This is the
second part of the Paladins’ battle to end Zarkon’s reign which this season has
been building up to, and it delivers on many fronts.
It starts out with a confident tone that the
Paladins can it off considering how they got Zarkon’s base through the teludav
in the previous episode. Working in
their favor is Zarkon’s continued obsession of getting his original black
lion. At this point, it’s become so bad,
he’s compromising common sense by flying straight into Voltron’s fray and using
armor that hasn’t been tested. Despite
Zarkon’s behavior being a huge detractor, the episode knows not to make the
battle too easy for our heroes.
The
battle offers Haggar a huge chance to work her magic by powering the base
since. She also creates a black hole
that gives Voltron some very nasty blasts and drains the lions of their quintessence or energy. The first
of these blasts leaves a devastating effect when the lions float helplessly and
the Paladins are unconscious. However,
as a previous episode established, the lions unleash advanced powers when their
Paladins connect with them enough, and it’s a very pleasing sequence when it happens here. It's not just the Paladins who get up to great moments here. Usually, the
supervisors, Allura and Coran, stay in the castle ship offering moral support
behind their particle barrier. In a
battle this big, they let it down and initiate their own attack on Zarkon’s
base as assistance. It’s impressively
brave to see them pull off a huge attack even if it gets them struck with a
blast from Haggar that costs the castle power.
Their support doesn’t stop there when Allura makes a bold move to face
Haggar head-on with Blade of Marmora members Kolivan and Antok coming for
support. What follows is an intense
combat scene with an actual death, a big reveal that Haggar is a being of
Allura’s home planet when her mysterious cloak is let down, and Allura
unlocking a new power to protect her from Haggar’s attacks, most likely due to
being Altean just like her. As for the
Paladins, they continue to put up a good fight once they better connect with their
lions. Shiro especially advances when he discovers his lions’ bayard, plugs it
in, and unlocks its special powers that come in handy as Zarkon gets closer to
controlling the lion. It’s a great stage
of development for Shiro unlocking these powers, and stand out even more when
they bring the final attack that obliterates Zarkon’s armor and leaves Zarkon
himself hospitalized.
Like the last season though, there are lasting negative impacts from this last blow when the
Paladins find that Shiro has disappeared, and a new Galra ruler, Prince Lotor,
is called in while Zarkon is out of commission.
These are heavy aftereffects sure to shake up the dynamic, and give an
enticing reason to keep watching this show.
With memorable action set pieces, shining moments for character after
character, and moments with lots of promise for the future, this final battle
ends Season 2 with style. 10/10
The Ranking
- Blackout
- Shiro’s Escape
- Best Laid Plans
- Greening the Cube
- The Blade of Marmora
- Escape from Beta Traz
- The Ark of Taujeer
- Eye of the Storm
- Stayin’ Alive
- The Belly of the Weblum
- Across the Universe
- The Depths
- Space Mall
Final Thoughts
After
leaving such a strong first impression with its first season, Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2
greatly capitalizes on that season’s strengths resulting in not just a strong
continuation of the story, but a well put together space odyssey that builds up
to something great. In fact, it’s so
great it helps the show to move past its previous detracting points.
Through
starting off exactly where the first season left off, the show starts to get an
idea of where it wants to go. Each
episode offers a major step in the Paladins’ plan to save the galaxy, and when
you put them all together, everything falls into a cohesive strategy with a
definitive concluding point. We start
with the Paladins regrouping after being separated, then they learn about good Galra members out there, then they try to find out why Zarkon keeps tracking them as they form a new plan, then they form alliances with the rebel Galra groups who help them construct everything, and finally execute the plan which
comes with its own consequences. It’s an
instance where nearly every episode matters in the grand scheme building up to
a substantial final battle.
Out of the
storytelling is big expansion the show’s universe with many creative planets
our heroes end up in like the technology-based tree planet, Olkarion, the
decaying planet prompting immediate escape, Taujeer, and the secret base of the Blade of Marmora located between two black holes. The steps to putting the Galra defeat plan
together have many creative adventures to them too that take the Paladins to
wild locations with insane and intense jobs to do involving escapades at a mall
while getting important lenses, getting eaten by a giant worm, and going
through with a jailbreak with a confusing idea of who to rescue. It can occasionally get bogged down with a
lot of time devoted to complicated explanations on how inventions like the
teludav or creatures like the weblum worm work, but they usually turn out fine
when we also get some light-hearted reiterations of the explanations.
What really
makes the storytelling stand out are strong themes that are prominent
throughout several of the episodes. A
big one is about the importance of letting go of any prejudicial attitude as
the Paladins find that some members of the Galra are rebelling against Zarkon’s
rule. They start out meeting one
individual good Galra creature, Ulaz, builds up with them forming an alliance
with an entire anti-Zarkon resistance, and culminates with a Galra traitor
helping them at Zarkon’s base. Some of them
even go as far as to give their lives for the Paladins, making for some of the
season’s more impactful moments.
The final
battle is an extremely satisfying payoff to all the work going into the plan
with a lot of twists and surprises through showing how advanced the Paladins
have become through controlling their lions with exciting blows against Zarkon,
reveals of certain characters, and especially the aftermath. Shiro disappearing and the call for Prince
Lotor both leave a lot to look forward to in following seasons, and coming off
of what may be the show’s most exciting battle leaves them with a lot to live
up to. The storytelling still isn’t
perfect though, mostly through spending time on planets that don’t offer
anything significant for future episodes like the trash nebula, the mermaid planet, and especially the space mall, mostly the shops not carrying the item
of importance. Even with that, there’s
still plenty of plot development that adds to the appeal of the main story
which thoroughly delivers in the end.
The
characters we follow also impress with how more interesting they’ve become, at
least most of them. Some of them are
still lacking in development like Hunk being predominantly nervous and thinking
of food while Lance is still mostly a smart-talking fool, though the latter
does have at least one genuinely nice moment on finding out what his purpose is. Practically everyone else gets new
developments that tie into the arcs started for them in the previous
season. Pidge, while not looking for her
family nearly as much as last season, has one of the most beautiful moments of
character development in the season when she expands her horizons beyond technical stuff. Shiro goes through a
lot of development through trying to make it as the Paladins’ leader through
advocating his continuously returning memories for bigger causes, striving to
establish a stronger control with the black lion so not to be overpowered by
Zarkon, and even gives thought to who should take over for him. You can easily tell how much Shiro has to put
up with, so when he disappears in the end, you really feel for him and his
teammates.
As for his
chosen successor, Keith is the standout characters for the season with a
compelling arc of his own. He has his
own anxieties that only get more complicated when, in the first episode, Shiro requests
him to lead the Paladins if something should happen to him. A lot of time is devoted to Keith studying a
blade with a Galra symbol on it, and protecting it from anyone who tries to take it, even the Galra resistance group everyone’s trying to get on their
side. His hesitations on becoming leader
start to make sense when it’s revealed that he’s of Galra blood. The impressive thing about Keith is that even
with this reveal, he still acts the way he usually does while also having a
much better control of his emotions when adventuring with the others. He’s even fairly well accepted despite being
half Galra by the rest of the team, though he does get a good amount of disgust
from Allura. Speaking of Allura, she has
a relatable arc regarding prejudices against Galra, seeming stubbornly hesitant
of believing there are good ones out there since they didn’t do anything to
stop Zarkon for thousands of years. It’s
understandable behavior towards any victim of an evil race, though her behavior
can go out of proportion, especially involving Keith. This is why it’s emotionally satisfying when
Keith going off to sabotage the Galra base opens her to accept him as a Paladin
and family member. As you can tell, a
good number of our heroes are given a lot of defining moments and arcs that
make them far more fleshed-out and relatable enough to follow.
Even the
villains feel more fleshed out, which is great considering how one-note all
Galra members were in Season 1. In
addition to there being good Galra, this season adds some relatable members to
much of the Galra like many of them fearing their leader when interrogated, or
getting overly excited and confident over successfully carrying out a
mission. Even the leaders are a bit more
interesting with Zarkon having a relatable flaw of obsessing over something, in
this case his old black lion, to the point of losing focus on the main mission,
and Haggar being revealed to be Altean like Allura, leaving something
interesting to explore in the future.
The Galra are still not the most interesting villains, but I do give
credit for being more multilayered than they first let on. If anything, the Blade of Marmora is stiffer
than they are at this point, though I would take the Blade over a grating
neurotic like Slav, but that’s beside the point. What matters is that while there’s still a
ways to go with character development, it’s apparent enough that Season 2 has
brought a lot of progress to that.
There’s no
doubt that Voltron: Legendary Defender
is more interesting as a series than ever with its second season with a
well-flowing story, new heights reached by many of the characters, and an
overall creative and epic scope. If you
like the first season, you’ll easily latch onto the second one and, like me, be
excited to see what the show does next.
Until the look at the next season of this show, Vrepit Sa.
Highly Recommended
That's all there is to Season 2 of Voltron: Legendary Defender. I hope you enjoyed these reviews and stick around for my eventual look at the third season.
In the meantime, there's going to be a review set of a show new to this blog to fill in the third slot. From the wild mind of Joe Murray, be on the lookout for reviews on the first season of the Nicktoon classic, Rocko's Modern Life.
Also, don't forget about the reviews of Steven Universe Season 2 and Hey Arnold Season 3 currently in progress.
I'll see you all next time with more great reviews to share. Until then:
Stay Animated Folks!
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