'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 13: Blackout + Final Thoughts

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

1. Blackout
2. Shiro’s Escape
3. Best Laid Plans
4. Greening the Cube
5. The Blade of Marmora
6. Escape from Beta Traz
7. The Ark of Taujeer
8. Eye of the Storm
9. Stayin’ Alive
10. The Belly of the Weblum
11. Across the Universe
12. The Depths
13. 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!

'Toon Reviews 17: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 2 Episode 12: Best Laid Plans

Best Laid Plans

The first part of the season's final battle is impressive with a consistent focus on the Zarkon defeat plan.  However, the way the team puts everything together not only gets them closer to their goal, but also leaves several impacts from the characters’ moments. 

Keith in particular stands out among the heroes by offering to infiltrate Zarkon’s base, being of Galra blood himself, to input a code to make it susceptible to viruses, which Pidge will provide.  It’s great to see how far Keith has come, playing to his usual traits of willfully sticking to his risky ideas, but having strong reasons to validate them.  There’s also a heartfelt scene between him and Allura before he leaves.  Allura has had a lot of Galra prejudice throughout the season which wasn’t always comfortable, with some disdain towards Keith becoming more prominent recently.  For her to confirm to Keith that she’s become less judgmental through seeing him and the Paladins as family is great, and shows that her views are not all black and white. 

With the antagonists, they continue to improve as well.  The trend of good members of the Galra is as strong as ever. Much of their moments are spent on interrogating the member they found out allowed the Paladins to escape a while back, a commander named Thace.  Even the empire's emperor is shown to have humanity.  Zarkon has had the black lion, the Voltron lion he used to pilot long ago, on his mind, but now, his desire to get it back has become very obsessive. It’s starting to get in the way of the Galra Empire maintaining control of the galaxy right down to falling for Shiro’s trap of using the lion as bait to get his base to the teludav.  The obsession is a relatable flaw to anyone, so the audience can see a part of themselves in the main villain. 

As for Thace, it’s a bit contrived that Haggar’s druids let him go while Zarkon’s absorbing energy to track the black lion.  The druids could’ve kept him cuffed up during that time and what later happens could’ve been avoided.  Even if we don’t have a logical explanation for them letting Thace go, his moment with Keith is thrilling and impactful.  Thace helps Keith by trying to enact the code needed to shut down the anti-virus system, but the druids changed the code.   With that, Thace turns the control room into a bomb and lets Keith escape while he stays behind to fight the druids before the bomb explodes, sacrificing himself in the process.  It’s not as impactful as Ulaz’s sacrifice since we don’t know as much about Thace, but the lengths this Galra soldier goes through for the greater good are still of high value. 

With all these character actions in place, the episode reaches an exciting climax where the whole team rushes to move their big teludav over Zarkon’s base now infected with Pidge’s virus while the Voltron lions reassemble.  It’s a grand sequence that impresses with how well it works after many episodes of buildup, thus making a perfect moment of satisfaction to make worth out of the trouble and sacrifices made prior.  However, when the episode ends with a statement that this is just the beginning and the Paladins forming Voltron, the excitement remains as you’re left with something to look forward to next time. 

With all this said, all the shining character moments and the built-up climax really delivering make this a truly great penultimate episode for Season 2. 9.5/10

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the last episode of this season which sets the next steps of the plan into motion and leads to big game changing results.

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 10: Escape from Beta Traz

Escape from Beta Traz

Like the first two episodes of this season, this and the previous one feature two different adventures fitting the same cause.  In this case, they both progress the Paladins’ Galra attack plan with different Paladins going on their own adventures.  This one is a jailbreak plot where Lance, Pidge, and Shiro break into the Galra prison of Beta Traz to rescue the Blade of Marmora technician, Slav. 

The jailbreak is very engaging with the strengths of the characters involved and a whole mystery element to the operation.  The biggest mystery is that the prison is really big, yet it’s only designed to hold Slav.  Pidge, playing to her technical strengths, even deduces fallacies with the prison description by finding two cells.  This gives Lance and Shiro incentive to go find Slav while Pidge watches over them while downloading a virus onto the security system.  She also finds an opportunity to build upon her personal arc of finding her family who was captured by the Galra Empire long ago, particularly her brother Matt.  This arc got a lot of focus in Season 1, and this being the only episode to give it development in this season, makes said episode stand out more. 

Going back to the jailbreak, another mystery to the operation is exactly who Slav is.  When Lance and Shiro split up, they each find a different creature held prisoner.  One is a tall, lean alien creature who’s always worrying about the future, and the other is a hulking dog-like beast who only says “yup.”  Shiro finds the former alien and has to put up with his constant worrying, complaining, and predictions of negative outcomes.  At times, this potential Slav can be funny, but he gets overbearing quickly and for a technician, his worrying makes him look stupid through actually thinking he can drown in a puddle or thinking his mother’s back will be broken if he steps on a crack.  I think Shiro’s constant frustrations with him will most likely mirror the audience’s feeling for this character. 

Surprisingly, Lance’s moments are more impactful.  While guiding his potential Slav, he laments that compared to the rest of the team, he just hangs around and isn’t useful.  These feelings seem justified since Lance has mostly been known to do very little good and mostly flirt with girls or crack one-liners during serious missions, rarely compensating with any big moments.  This continues here when the guards come looking for the creature, and Lance, without reading the context, jumps in to defend it, blowing everyone’s cover.  It does solve the mystery that Slav is the creature Shiro rescued, and we do get an exciting scramble escape which stands out for giving Lance a shining moment when he gives the shot that saves Slav just in time.  As for the dog-beast creature called a yupper, it belongs to one of the guards who turns out to flesh out the Galra, for in addition to being threating like the rest of them, the guard has a lot of cute and endearing love for his pet yupper.  He’s one of their more human members.  Finally, the jailbreak proves officially satisfying when Pidge uncovers interesting information about what became of her brother, bringing this plot point to new lengths. 

As you can tell, this episode has a lot to love with many strong character moments, solid progression of series plot points, and a great sense of general excitement. 9.5/10

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. The Belly of the Weblum
8. Across the Universe
9. The Depths
10. Space Mall

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where just as the Zarkon defeat plan is about to come together, the Paladins get caught in a random Robeast fight.


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 8: The Blade of Marmora

The Blade of Marmora

This episode begins the next phase of the plan to defeat Zarkon by allying with the Blade of Marmora. 

In addition to consisting of Galra members against Zarkon, more interesting details are revealed about how the organization works.  Their base is located between two active black holes.  The members are also suspicious of newcomers and aren’t easily convinced to join the alliance, even if they’re the universe’s best defender.  These reveals add on to the creativity of their environment and the believability of its members’ mindset.  They’re fighting against their leader, so that gives great cause for caution. 

As for the Paladins, Keith is the standout character for this episode.  When approaching these Galra traitors, he’s completely anxious to get there, and snaps at the rest of the Paladins as they partake in their usual small talk.  Keith is known for attitude issues, but when you consider Keith observing his Galra blade in prior episodes, his outbursts have more weight to them than usual.  Of course he’d be anxious to meet these rebels so to learn more about the artifact to find out the truth about his upbringings, a very relatable desire.  The Blade of Marmora only allow two Paladins to speak with them, and Keith is chosen to go with Shiro. 

However, it’s Keith’s ties to his blade that becomes a drawback when the whole group accuses him of stealing it even though he had it all his life.  So, Keith is thrown into challenges to get the Blade of Marmora on the Paladins’ side, prove he didn’t steal the Galra blade, and possibly learn about his past.  The catch is that every challenge is a grueling fight that gets harsher every time, and everyone shoots down any valid statements of how unfair they are.  It’s remarkable to see how much hardships Keith’s willing to put up with to get what he desires.  It doesn’t paint the Blade of Marmora as very sympathetic though.  They may be understandably wary of outsiders, but Keith’s a main protector of the galaxy regardless.  It doesn’t warrant this magnitude of tortures. 

What they do to Keith gets worse when they mess with his desires, starting small with creating a vision of Shiro to get Keith to hand over the blade, and then tapping into Keith’s bigger desire to learn his background.  At least out of this vision, we do get an interesting look at Keith’s Earth life in which he had a human dad who got the Galra blade from his mom whom we get an interesting suggestion for who she is following Keith ending his suffering.  Knowing that he promised Shiro to lead the team someday, Keith decides that learning where he came from isn’t as important as being there for others and decides to give up his blade before anyone can save him. 

Through this gesture, the blade grows in size because Keith is of Galra blood.  When you put this and the vision together, this concludes that Keith’s mother was from the Galra Empire which is interesting trivia for this character and something intriguing to look into in episodes to come.  Keith’s development does wonders for him not just with the insight on his background, but also how what he learns helps him overcome his attitude faults to become a better leader. 

It helps the whole episode come together as a great step in our heroes’ plan especially when short scenes of Haggar interrogating Zarkon’s crew to find the traitor bring a strong sense of urgency.  Above all, it leaves us with a strong, thought-provoking watch. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Shiro’s Escape
2. Greening the Cube
3. The Blade of Marmora
4. The Ark of Taujeer
5. Eye of the Storm
6. Across the Universe
7. The Depths
8. Space Mall

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the Paladins split up to get the appropriate components for their Zarkon defeat plan and we focus on what Keith and Hunk get up to.

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 7: Space Mall

Space Mall

This episode offers significant progression on the main plot following up on the previous episode’s reveal that Zarkon keeps finding the Paladins because of his strong connection to the black lion.  Its current Paladin, Shiro, sets off to rectify this issue by making his own connection with the black lion stronger so Zarkon can’t overpower it every time Voltron is formed. 

Given the title of this episode, there’s also a lot of focus on the rest of the team going to a space mall for replacement teludav lenses for wormholes.  The mall trip plays out like a comedy with everyone getting up to some wild and crazy antics.  The mall perfectly resembles a common Earth one, meaning the only thing to set it apart from ordinary malls are the alien creatures who work and shop there.  The antics at the mall are very fun and play to each of the characters’ personalities. Hunk is forced to pay off a debt at a food court washing dishes but becomes chef thanks to his culinary interests. Keith gets caught in an auction for his Galra blade.  Lance and Pidge look for money to get a game console.  Coran winds up in an energetic bidding spree for the lenses at a shop resembling an old alien swap meet. 

Some of these antics allow many characters to shine like Hunk becoming a chef bringing something impressive out of his constant thoughts of food, and a deeper look into Keith’s Galra roots through his protection of his blade, suggesting it’s from his family.  All the same, it’s concerning that these subplots take up a lot of the episode. They’re fun sequences, but that’s all they are.  They only exist for humor’s sake and that’s a problem when your show is heavily plot-driven.  There’s more focus on the light-hearted mall scenes than far more important ones like Coran getting the lenses, which doesn’t feel right.  If they existed in short scenes like humorous moments in other episodes, that would be a much better way of integrating them while still focusing on the main story. 

Fortunately, enough time is devoted to the most important plot information we have at this point.  Referring back to Shiro attempting to bond with the black lion, this part is done insightfully.  When he goes to his lion, it flies to Zarkon’s home planet, and grants Shiro visions of when Zarkon piloted it, forming Voltron with other original Paladins including Allura’s father, King Alfor.  Zarkon was even able to unlock powers of the lion that Shiro hasn’t.  The memories are interrupted when Zarkon locates the black lion again, and Shiro ends up fighting the leader of the Galra Empire inside his mind.  It nicely interprets how strong Zarkon’s connection to the black lion is with him constantly popping up around Shiro who can’t strike a blow.  However, as soon as Shiro points out that the true bond to a lion depends on trust, the black lion sides with him which helps him win a fight he could’ve lost.  Then there’s the interesting twist that everything Shiro saw, even leaving, was just a vision set up by the lion, implying that the strengthening of Shiro’s bond was all in his mind, and the growth was all done through his power.  It’s an interesting and creative depiction of overcoming one’s innermost turmoil and a great one to lead into the next phase of our heroes’ mission. 

The episode still loses points for giving too much focus to frivolous stuff no matter how fun it is, but it’s still enjoyable and several moments offer great plot and character progression that must be seen to be believed. 8/10

The Ranking

1. Shiro’s Escape
2. Greening the Cube
3. The Ark of Taujeer
4. Eye of the Storm
5. Across the Universe
6. The Depths
7. Space Mall

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review officially introduces us to the Blade of Marmora while also brings interesting reveals about Keith.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another review of a Steven Universe episode, "Chille Tid."

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 3: Shiro's Escape

Shiro’s Escape

Now, the whole team is finally back together moving in a more plot-connected direction.  In the process, we start so see even more depths to the antagonizing forces.  I said before the Galra Empire consist of boring and interchangeable antagonists, all having monstrous designs and thinking seriously.  However, Prorok sounding scared of Zarkon and Haggar’s interrogations gave a little depth to the Empire, showing that they might not all think as alike.  This trend continues here. 

While recovering from his Galra wound, Shiro relives a memory of how he escaped from prison.  It was one of Zarkon’s own followers named Ulaz who got him out and prompted him to return to Earth and find the blue lion.  So not only did Ulaz personally help Shiro, but he also started our heroes’ entire mission which suggests depths of the Galra’s morality.  From the coordinates picked up from his artificial hand, Shiro urges the team to follow them to track down Ulaz, believing he can help defeat their enemies.  There’s a believable feeling of distrust from the rest of the team.  It can be hard to imagine good from an alien race known for conquering planets, and it makes sense for Allura to mistrust Ulaz the most since the race he’s a part of destroyed her home.  Then again, she DID withhold important information that Shiro’s black lion once belonged to Zarkon, which shows she has no say for judgements, so the decision is made to follow the coordinates. 

They end up in a field of crystal clusters where a strange intruder enters the castle ship.  After an exciting action sequence of the Paladins pursuing him with a lively commentary from Coran, he’s recognized as Ulaz.  From there, the Paladins take the time to learn more about Ulaz which offers more proof that not everyone from the Galra Empire is a heartless conqueror.  In fact, Ulaz is part of a secret group called the Blade of Marmora which resists all rule of Zarkon.  With this information, it helps one to respect the opposing force more especially when Ulaz gives huge support to the Paladins in many ways from showing them a major communication hub for the organization to offering to help Pidge find her family. 

While it seems that Ulaz is a loyal source of healp, Allura is not easily moved given that he’s still Galra, and when a Robeast finds the Paladins, it’s not too far-fetched that Ulaz may have given Zarkon their coordinates.  Even an earlier scene of him and Haggar locking onto them doesn’t rule out the possibility.  In other words, there’s a believable reason to have some doubts in him.  However, in an exciting battle with the Robeast which sucks up everything in sight, even things as big as the castle, when things look hopeless, Ulaz proves that he was loyal after all.  He makes the ultimate move to defeat the Robeast by letting it suck him up, and he destroys it from the inside, sacrificing himself.  Such a drastic move finalizes the idea of the Galra Empire having actual depth, although the wounds of their actions are still felt with Allura still feeling Ulaz was the reason Zarkon found the Paladins. 

As you can see, when all is said and done, there are many impactful aspects along with the believable depth of the antagonist side.  There’s a reveal of a whole resistance to Zarkon, buildup to plot threads of the Paladins trying to find them as soon as they find out how Zarkon keeps finding them, and a genuine emotional aspect from Ulaz’s sacrifice.  It’s an episode that enhances the story in many great ways, allowing the series to truly reach its full potential. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Shiro’s Escape
2. Across the Universe
3. The Depths

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review follows Pidge learning that there's more to life than technical stuff during a mission to the planet Olkarion.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is one of the greatest Steven Universe episodes, "Sworn to the Sword."

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.