Saturday, June 1, 2019

The Voltron Show! (Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 4 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 31

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The Voltron Show!


It’s surprising how much light-hearted material we get this season.  I mean this show has always had strong comedy, but a strong focus on the Paladins’ mission was still prominent.  For this light-hearted episode, there’s a seriousness to their cause, but focus on things that aren’t that major hold it back. 
At the start of Season 3, a plan was established to enlist planets liberated from the Galra Empire to join the Paladins’ coalition.  In this fourth season, the start of that involved impressing the masses with air shows of the lions impressing everyone with great tricks.  It’s from here when Coran decides to fix what isn’t broken and add in floor shows to add to the coalition.  The results involve very awkward performances from the Paladins needing to act out a scene on hastily written scripts and everyone except Lance doing it poorly.  Even I don’t know whether to laugh at the sight of five major heroes forced into doing this, or to just cringe. 
For all the frivolity of putting on a show, the cause for the show is still of huge consideration and Coran tries to make it better.  His way of doing it however is very obviously out of line and sure to come with bad after effects.  He meets a shady vendor in the audience of one of the performances for an earwig-like pill that goes into his ear and gives him great showmanship ideas.  In fact, Coran goes from royal advisor to eccentric director because of that pill, and he puts the Paladins through all sorts of marketing stunts to get them to come for the show.  Sometimes they perform at a big place to attract masses of aliens like the space mall.  Other times they use huge planets populated by cute-looking worm-like aliens to add extravagant amenities to the show such as performing on ice.  These shows balance awkwardness and thought towards the cause very well coming off as very enjoyable spectacles in their own right.  The poor acting of much of the Paladins also pays off because their satisfied with how these shows help their coalition. 
Then comes the ever predictable side effects coming from buying something from a shady merchant.  Coran gives more focus to the show itself than what it’s aiming for.  First he makes them cringe-worthy again by making the Paladins reflect one trait of theirs like Pidge’s smarts with fake science and Hunk’s humor with fart noises for instance.  Then he goes mad with power feeling that they should take the show on the road and forget all about needing to fight Zarkon.  If the latter point wasn’t brought up so much, this would be a more successful comedic episode.  Its emphasis though does make what we see worth turning against the fun shows pushing the episode. 
Also because of the dumb decision to get the pill in the first place, Coran is led to the ultimate bad move by leading an actual monster into a performance.  As for the creature controlling him, it’s taken care of rather easily when one of those worm-like aliens reaches into his ear and takes it out.  This leads to a conclusion when Coran lets the Paladins know the monster is real, and they find a creative way to take it out.  There’s also a solid payoff to all this as everyone including Coran gives better praise to the coalition being stronger because of these shows and Coran realizing his mistakes. 
In the end, if you’re in the right mood for a good stage show, this is a decent consideration.  It may not be that strong of an episode, but there’s enough fun to have with it.
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.      Reunion

2.      Black Site

3.      Code of Honor

4.      The Voltron Show!
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Voltron coalition is finally put into action.
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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