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Reunion
Of all the Paladins, I’ve often considered Pidge to be one of
the best. Her immense knowledge on
complex calculations and technology may not be easily understood to most, but
there’s a youthful endearment to everything she does. Not only is she a joy to watch on regular
circumstances, she also has one of the biggest motivations for taking on this
mission to save the universe.
It’s been
a recurring plot point since the series began that she’s been trying to find
her brother and father who were reported lost in space during a long
mission. The best lead she got was
security footage of a rebel helping her brother, Matt, escape from prison back
in Season 2. After picking up a report
that a merchant is selling material the rebel’s helmet was made of, she’s
seizing opportunity and going out there to get the material and track
Matt.
All throughout, we’re shown the
emotional impact of Pidge’s journey by seeing just how important Matt was to
her. Flashbacks demonstrate their
incredibly close bond with making them feel better after being teased or
sharing interesting facts about the space program Matt was invited to
join. It’s among the purest forms of
sibling love that must be seen to be believed.
Because of the underlying heart to her relationship with heart, the
challenges Pidge faces leave that much stronger of an impact.
Getting the material that helmet was made of
leads to an all-out fight with the merchant she just barely escapes. Even when she gets it and finds that it
belongs to an alien called Te-Osh, she gets involved in an even bigger battle
with the planet she’s on being under Galra attack. Heck, she ends up getting a tracker to Matt
just as she watches Te-Osh succumb to battle wounds and pass away. That’s only a little scene, but it really
sells the dangerous weight of the mission she’s choosing to take alone.
Factoring that along with how much Matt has
meant to her from those flashbacks, an even heavier scene comes in as Pidge
follows the reading on the tracker.
According to it, Matt is among the rebels buried in a cemetery. The sequence of Pidge running through there
to see if Matt really is there is one of the most heartbreaking. From the scene’s staging, cuts to short good
memories of Matt, and Pidge’s desperation, you can easily feel how much she
hopes there’s a mistake. Then she finds
a grave with Matt’s name on it, and her breaking down over it brings great
emotional pain over what seems to have come from what she put so much effort
into.
It’s only by chance that factoids
about coding from one of the flashbacks gets Pidge to realize something up
about the numbers on the tombstone. She
deduces them as coordinates to where Matt is now, and sure enough, although she
first finds him as a masked figure, the siblings are reunited at last. Adding in a short scene where they take down
a Galra guard and are impressed with where they’ve ended up, it’s the most
heartwarming reunion to expect from them.
To add even more heart to this moment, we get one last flashback of Pidge
watching Matt leave for his mission. The
last line of Pidge telling Matt to not stay in space too long or she’ll come up
to get him is so much more meaningful since that’s just what she does here. It’s one of many ways this episode stands as
a grand emotional work.
With dangerous
missions and potential heartbreak along the way, the payoff of two siblings
finally finding each other again is too touching to pass up.
A+
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. Reunion
2. Code of Honor
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Matt gets further introduced to Pidge's life as a Paladin, and we see Lotor go against even his own crew.
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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