'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 11: Stayin' Alive

Stayin’ Alive

A big strength for this episode is the genuine emotional satisfaction in the status of the Galra defeat plan through the moments of team members looking back on their progress.  In fact, the start of the episode demonstrates this with Allura confiding to Coran about the prospect of defeating Zarkon which includes discussing how strong they are from their alliances.  It’s a calm moment showing the heart of the adventure that’s pleasing to see in a show with lots of big action scenes and space adventures. 

Also helping is that we see this idea through many alien races helping with the battle strategy such as the Olkari and the Balmerans.  Speaking of the Balmerans, it’s nice that unlike some alien creatures who show up in one episode and never again, the Balmerans come back after over a season and provide a big help for the greater good.  There’s even another scene to fit the calm tone where Allura, who healed the Balmera, is trusted enough to take its most enormous crystal.  It really brings to mind the heart of what the Paladins are fighting for and has an endearing use of many characters we’ve met together for a noble cause. 

However, the nice tone of the episode is compromised for the majority of the episode when the Robeast who attacked the Balmera last time appears for a fight, now powered by crystals.  This means that the focus is on a huge monster brawl fitting the overall tone of the series.  Allura proves to be very reliable in her own way and capable of more than simply giving orders to the Paladins as she fights the Robeast for a while.  However, despite holding a good fight, she still needs the Paladins, so they come in to help.  The fight itself is as thrilling as one would like an action scene to be with added challenges of the enhanced power of the Robeast and that they start out the fight with only a few Voltron lions, so it’s not so easy to defeat it the way they did before.  However, a few of the advancements the lions got this season play a role in the final takedown like the blue lion’s ice powers and the green lion’s vegetation, so the fight stands out more for reminding how much the Paladins’ lions have changed for the better. 

While this fight is great, it connects to a major concern of the episode.  The whole Robeast fight doesn’t have a point and just seems to pad things out while the teludav is being built.  The Robeast comes at the right moment, the Paladins fight it for a while with their new powers, and we move onto the attack plan once it’s defeated.  It feels like a standalone battle you can skip and not miss out on much despite how fun it is. 

However after this when the rest of the team meets Coran at Olkarion where the big teludav is completed, the nice, wholesome tone from the beginning returns resulting in another heartwarming moment of the Paladins looking back on the good times they had and what they could do after defeating Zarkon.  They kind of exaggerate when they say there won’t be a need for Voltron after that ignoring that there could be other evil threats out there, but that’s just me.  It’s still a sweet ending that’s nice to see from a show like this just before the following episode’s more substantial battle. 

While this episode is mostly a detour, its moments are impactful enough to watch and enjoy on your way to the season’s final two episodes. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Shiro’s Escape
2. Greening the Cube
3. The Blade of Marmora
4. Escape from Beta Traz
5. The Ark of Taujeer
6. Eye of the Storm
7. Stayin’ Alive
8. The Belly of the Weblum
9. Across the Universe
10. The Depths
11. Space Mall

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review puts the takedown of Zarkon into action while somewhat turning the best laid plans upside-down.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Steven Universe episode that resolves an arc, "Friend Ship."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

'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.

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.