'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.

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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.

'Toon Reviews 11: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 1 Episode 6: Taking Flight

Taking Flight

 

 

 

 

 

 

This episode starts up a new part of the main story where the Voltron Paladins and their associates use their castle as a ship to help anyone in the galaxy who’s in need and eventually defeat the Galra Empire.  However, even with this new layer to the plot set up, doesn’t mean that everything we see leaves an impact on the ultimate goal.  At this time, the team is especially set on rescuing the people of the Balmera Hunk and Coran had visited in the last episode with Hunk especially thinking hard about saving Shay and her people.  However, during their mission, the team gets sidetracked by a pair of rebels on the run from Galra, Rolo and Nyma.  At first, they seem perfectly sympathetic on account of trying to escape a tyrannical empire like Galra, and Rolo even gives them vital information about Galra, should they be defeated, leaving the team perfectly fine with try and help them repair their ship.  At the same time, Hunk has the right idea of being wary of what the rebels say which makes for an interesting character moment coming from a large, light-hearted character like him.  However, most just write Hunk’s concerns off as wanting to save his “girlfriend” Shay, particularly from Lance.  Speaking of Lance, his cocky lady’s man ways really go too far here when he’s instantly smitten with Nyma.  It starts off as standard goggling over beautiful appearances, but things really get out of hand when he allows Nyma a ride in his Voltron lion.  While what Nyma says to him can be interpreted as easily impressed by what Lance shows her, it can also be seen as an obvious act, something Lance is idiotically not considering around someone he doesn’t even know.  Plus, going so far as to show her the workings of a component of the galaxy’s most powerful defense weapon is beyond too dangerous to let his guard down, especially since the castle was JUST attacked.  Sure enough, during their flight in the lion, which admittedly has its nice moments, Nyma ambushes Lance and she and Rolo capture his blue lion to turn it over to Galra for money.  Despite being fueled by idiocy, the following scene of the team rescuing Lance’s lion from Rolo and Nyma is a very exciting one that takes us through an asteroid field complete with awesome moments of Keith taking out their ship with his lion, and all for someone he has a rivalry with.  One thing to appreciate is that despite their actions, Rolo and Nyma still show their sympathetic sides for lamenting how they turned out because of living under Galra for so long and hope that the Paladins will defeat their emperor.  This story is overall fine for what it is despite frustrating moments, but it feels like a distraction placed in the middle of something big which we didn’t really need.  Apart from information about how the team can eventually defeat Galra and in-between scenes of Witch Haggar and her druids working on something called to Komar Experiment, foreshadowing Voltron’s impending ultimate threat, the whole episode really lacks in importance.  At least by itself, it’s a good watch with prominent moments. 8/10

The Ranking

1.      The Rise of Voltron

2.      The Fall of the Castle of Lions

3.      Return of the Gladiator

4.      Tears of the Balmera

5.      Some Assembly Required

6.      Taking Flight

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where after this detour, we finally "Return to the Balmera."

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