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Season 4
Code of
Honor
Now this season starts with an interesting direction
involving a group introduced in Season 2, but was rarely explored in Season
3. As many fans may remember, the Blade of Marmora is a team of ex-Galra supporters now helping the Paladins in their
mission to save the universe. A lot of
time is devoted to their dangerous missions to infiltrate Galra bases to better
understand their plans and strategies.
Even bigger than this is one of the Paladins who joins them on their
missions, the newly appointed leader, Keith.
For all his recklessness and attitude even amongst the Blade, his
efforts are very useful in retrieving what the team is after. The biggest one of all is information on a
new form of quintessence. Considering that
the team believes that their new target Prince Lotor is after more quintessence,
this information seems highly beneficial.
At the same time, Keith is still the newly appointed leader of the
Paladins and needs to be there for his team.
As a result, much of the episode features him constantly being late for
missions and everyone admonishing him for his lack of support. Keith is even led into near violent spats
with Shiro, the Paladin who’s arguably bonded with him the most. If I can be honest, I don’t really see this
as a well-balanced conflict. It’s true
that both sides have good reasons for their feelings, but Keith is still
holding back on his responsibilities.
The Blade of Marmora is indeed a reliable ally to the Paladins, but
Voltron is the main force for peace. If
it can’t run, then peace simply cannot be achieved. Granted, most of the things Voltron is called
to do in this episode is to perform stunts for planets liberated from the Galra
which isn’t all that exciting or meaningful.
However, the execution of one of the stunt shows features noticeable
consequences of Keith not being present.
The four Voltron lions are present to astound with great moves, but
things get awkward and disappointing to the audience with Voltron unable to
form without five lions.
Despite all the
trouble Keith’s absence is causing and a passionate plea from Allura of how
Voltron can’t survive without him, he still doesn’t take his
responsibility. It soon gets really bad
when he goes off on another Blade of Marmora mission, and rebel forces carrying
medical supplies gets attacked by the Galra.
The worst part about this is that when the Paladins come in to help,
there are too many Galra forces for them to beat back alone. So many heroes’ lives are at stake because of
Keith not being there. It’s only a
stroke of luck that another try with the black lion has Shiro regain
control.
This way, Voltron can form and
save everyone, although Keith’s negligence is definitely not forgotten. We don’t even see his mission, so it can’t be
told if what he was doing was big enough to justify his actions. While he does get scorn for this, the
conclusion is actually quite heartwarming.
Keith admits that he was unable to be the leader and leaves to be among
the Blade while offering hope that things will be fine now that Shiro’s regained
control of the black lion. Everyone
understands and supports his decision and there’s a nice hug and tear-filled
farewell. It’s still cheapening that all
Keith’s progress of becoming a better leader is abandoned after being set up to
get used to this new change. That said,
the events of the episode building up to the touching transition scene make it
work. It would have been better if there
were more episodes leading to it, but what we have still leaves a good impact.
B+
Season 3 Rankings
1. The Legend Begins
2. Hole in the Sky
3. Red Paladin
4. Changing of the Guard
5. Tailing the Comet
6. The Journey
7. The Hunted
Season 4 Rankings
1. Code of Honor
The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review is on one of the best stories of the series covering Pidge's heartwarming search and reunion with her brother Matt.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews are the Loud House cartoons "The Mad Scientist" and "Missed Connection."
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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