Netflix Retrospective: Voltron Legendary Defender Season 5 Episodes 4-6

Kral Zera

Galra ships from across the quadrant are on the move. A group of Blade members prepare to infiltrate, because Keith needs to actually be in this season, despite having basically nothing to do. They use cargo containers to smuggle themselves aboard a larger ship. They’re quickly spotted but it turns out the guard is another Blade spy and helps them escape.

The commander of the ship is concerned that the Kral Zera has taken so long and commands the ship prepped for take-off. Back at team Voltron, we’re still having the same argument we had in the last episode, see the previous retrospective for that, I’m not going over it again. It ends exactly the same way as last time and Shiro storms off.

The summons is made to the Kral Zera, but it means the blade know what’s going on and it’s an opportune time to strike. I can’t be bothered to remember the names of the generals, so don’t even ask me who they are. The Blade’s plan is to plant explosives across the area, taking out all the leaders at once. That’s a smart plan, unfortunately Shiro’s smart plan is going to ruin it.

Haggar arrives with Sendak and a fight ensues. There’s going to be a lot of that, so this summary might be a bit short. Allura discovers that Shiro has gone with the Black Lion. Sendak’s battle prowess has the Galra’s attention until the Black Lion arrives with Lotor. Keith sees the Black Lion and that’s trouble for Keith, as the Blade has already armed the explosives. Keith runs back, intending to disarm them

Haggar brings up Lotor’s lineage but it’s quickly ignored as he and Sendak fight. Lotor is very skilled. Keith has disarmed some of the bombs, but it’s not gonna be enough. Lotor is knocked down just as bombs go off, knocking him away from the explosion. Sendak appears to have not been harmed by it either. These events cause the Galra to turn on each other, so Shiro heads out in the Black Lion. Acxa saves Keith, repaying her debt to him as Haggar decides to retreat, believing the empire to have fallen.

Shiro is being overwhelmed but thankfully the others arrive and they form Voltron. Sendak kills one of the other competitors and steals his fleet, and with no competitors remaining, Lotor lights the Kral Zera, becoming emperor of the Galra Empire, or what’s left of it anyway.

The shifts in the status quo are coming thick and fast and this is an action heavy episode to bring that about.

Rating 8.5/10

Bloodlines

Sam is about to leave for Earth. Hunk gives him some recording messages for the Paladin’s families and Lance is a little emotional, and damn does he have a big family. Its an emotional farewell for Pidge and Matt too, but Sam’s ready to set up a galactic defence on Earth, something that’s gonna be important soon.

Keith is sent on a secret mission for the Blade of Marmora, there’s a base that was operated by one of the deceased generals that was said to be developing a super weapon. 2 Galra factions not lead by Lotor are warring over the base and neither of them should get control of it. Their inside operative is named Krolia and I’ll just spoil this now, she’s Keith’s mother.

The Castle heads right into Galra command, with Lotor greeting them. He believes that Allura is key to them acquiring the quintessence they need to put an end to the in-fighting. Shiro and Coran head off to compare records and leaves the others with a robot escort. And for no reason at all, there’s a subplot about them making a robot have fun.

There’s nothing of note in this subplot, so let’s go to the fun end. Keith arrives on a small ship but with the warring factions, he can’t risk drawing too much attention to himself, he tries to blend in with the debris and but almost becomes it when his ship is hit and he crash lands. He enters the base but is quickly caught out by Krolia.

Lotor takes Allura to Haggar’s lair, hoping she might be able to find secrets that Haggar couldn’t with her Altean alchemy. She finds an old science log, from Honerva, and it alerts Allura to the idea that he’s half Altean, something we’d known for a while. Krolia explains that the former commander of the base was notified to a unknown shipment of quintessence through his territory, so took it and began experimenting. It’s more powerful than your average quintessence and that had unexpected effects.

Allura discovers an object that Lotor manages to identify as a compass stone, the map to the magical realm of Oriande, which houses the secrets of Altean alchemy. Krolia and Keith are overwhelmed by invading forces before they can do anything. Krolia shows she can use Keith’s blade and offers to make a deal, much to Keith’s confusion. She wants a ship in exchange for the code to unlock the door to the weapon.

Allura’s tears unlock the compass stone, yes, seriously, giving them the location of Oriande. Although they’re in the air, they’re quickly fired upon. Keith’s evasive manoeuvres help and soon it’s revealed the weapon is a living creature that slaughters the Galra still on the base. They make it out of range and Keith works out what I said at the beginning.

I really don’t care about the robot having fun subplot, but the Keith stuff is engaging and the Allura/Lotor stuff continues to be interesting

Rating 7.5/10

White Lion

So everyone gets up to speed on the situation about Oriande, and it’s time to head. Coran recognises the co-ordinates as the Patrulian Zone, a sector of space long deemed unsafe to navigate. But they’re going there anyway.

They arrive, finding a graveyard of ships, at the centre a white a hole, a massive source of radiation with an unknown source. Lotor recites a poem he uncovered that implies their journey requires them to go through the white hole. The radiation will fry the castle’s system but Voltron might be able to withstand it.

So Voltron is formed and Coran opens a wormhole, it gets the through but as they approach, a Lion like entity blasts them away, they have no way to attack it either. Coran notices that Lotor’s altean marks are glowing and Lotor concludes that only worthy alteans can head through, with that Lion serving as the guardian of Oriande.

The castle is hit by the attack and is depowered, Voltron is hit and the lions all lose power as well. They exit the Lions and head back to the castle. Lotor explains the mark of the chosen and how he and Allura are the only ones that can enter the white hole. To the objection of almost everyone, naturally with the exception of Shiro, she and Lotor head out, using transport crafts to get close enough.

Allura and Lotor arrive in Oriande. Lance’s worry is beginning to irritate Pidge, Hunk and Coran as they make repairs on the castle. Shiro takes him away and asks about what happened on Olkarion in the Lion headspace. Again, this is leading to something but this incident ultimately means nothing. Again, this scene might work if Lance worked something out because of it but he doesn’t. We already have enough foreshadowing, it’s not like it’s necessary.

A bit on Lotor’s backstory and the reason why he and his father are at odds is explained here but I’ll go into details when I cover season 8. Just know that in the original Voltron, Lotor had somewhat of a romantic obsession with Allura or something, I think they’re trying for a more nuanced version of that. The two approach a temple, filled with ancient markings. A white Lion guides them through the temple, they find statues of ancient alchemists, the Sages of Oriande.

But being an action show we need some action, the statues attack but they stop upon seeing the compass stone. They proceed further into the temple and are trapped in a room, with the ceiling collapsing, fortunately a controller similar to the teladuv saves them, but now they’re both in separate phases of reality, fighting the white Lion.

You see the differences in their approaches, Lotor fighting with his fists, using the Galra mantra. He defeats the Lion but finds himself outside the temple. Allura works out that to gain the secrets of life, she must be prepared to give her own and she is rewarded with the secrets they need. With air low, the paladins are passing out. Allura arrives and restores power. But for the season’s cliffhanger, it’s revealed that Haggar now knows the location of Oriande.

This does some decent world-building but not a lot changes because of it, hopefully things that come from this will increase my intrigue

Rating 7/10