kcwcommentary

[kcwcommentary]

Gustave

Like many people, I have been playing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. I hadn't planned on playing it, but the morning that it came out, I saw so much praise for it, and I often love RPGs as they were my favorite genre of video games as a kid and teenager, and I saw the voice cast and was impressed. I'm old school: I prefer physical media. Eh, maybe I'm just old. But I did some internet sleuthing and found a single physical copy that morning of release. It was an hour drive away. So I went and bought it, came home, and that evening, started playing. I loved it from the start.

I played several times over the next couple of days, and when I felt unsure how I should allocate my points from leveling up into my characters' attributes, I searched the internet for advice. And that's when I got spoiled about the end of Act 1. I have just now finished playing through the end of Act 1, and I will put the rest of my thoughts below to help any who want to avoid spoilers.

So, spoilers ahead.

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Learning that Gustave dies at the end of Act 1 broke me. Gustave is my favorite character. I love that he's intelligent, an engineer. I love his slightly curly hair. I love his facial hair. I love his blue suit he starts the game in. I love how awkward at first he is with Sophie. I love how she loves him back immediately as they start talking, despite their having broken up. I love how when the gommage happens, he turns to her and says, "I'm here." It was the most perfect thing he could say in that moment. I love his desire to protect and save others and his courage. I love so much more, but I think I need to stop listing them; I'm starting to cry. He is both the kind of man I want in my life and the kind of man I want to be.

Learning that Gustave dies caused me to lose motivation to keep playing. I kept trying, but I would go for days feeling unable to make myself play. When I finished Esquie's Nest and knew that the next main story location was the Stone Wave Cliffs, I tried to do every optional thing that I could until I had nothing left to postpone what was coming.

My dread of playing through Gustave's death sapped my motivation to play to the point that I stopped caring about spoilers, and so I looked up the ending of the game. I won't spoil the ending, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about it, and I have a lot I want to say about it. I do feel that I should play through it myself first before I write my thoughts on it.

Tonight, I finally played through the end of Act 1. I've finally played through Gustave's death. I am not okay. I didn't expect that I would be, and I'm not. I don't know what I'm expecting in writing this, but I guess I had hoped it would help me express myself, get through my feelings. I don't know it it's helping, but I don't know what else to do.

I haven't had a character death in a story affect me this hard in a long time. I do think that I needed to know before it happened, so I don't regret becoming spoiled on it.

Gustave. He's just a character in a video game. But I wanted so much more with him. I really liked him.

[kcwcommentary]

Happy birthday Shiro!

Shiro is a character I still think about often. I still look out for fan art of Shiro. I still often use a screenshot of Shiro as my computer’s or phone’s background image. As much as I think the show treated his character badly (and every character for that matter), there’s still a quality to his character of a person who has endured terrible things yet retained his core goodness. I think that’s why Shiro appeals to me so much: He is a suggestion that I can make it through whatever my problems are. So, yeah, I kind of do want to be like Shiro. Today, I can actually say “Happy birthday Shiro!” on the actual date of his birth. So, yay! and Happy Shiro’s Birthday everyone! 

[kcwcommentary]

In VLD, Romelle doesn’t really seem like a character to me. She’s brought into the story solely for the purpose of narratively assassinating Lotor’s character in season six. With that done, Romelle had nothing else. After that one episode in season six, Romelle had no narrative purpose anymore and was just sort of there. When they introduced her to the story, the VLD creative team never thought of her beyond that single use to undermine Lotor.

Romelle does get one scene in the first episode of season eight that I really liked, with her going and talking to the captured Altean pilot. That scene made me think that Romelle was actually going to have at least something of a small bit of story in the final season, but she doesn’t.

I guess she’s emblematic of how poorly most of VLD was written and how under-serviced all of the show’s characters were.

at least Merla wasn't as bad of a down grade as Romelle she's literally the worst character in the entire series who's basically Jar Jar if he were a dumb blond

Hi Anon! Thank you for the Ask!

You make a good point Anon, I can see how Cardboard Merla is a step-up from VLD Romelle. I try real hard not to be down on VLD Romelle, b/c DotU Romelle was one of my faves, but her VLD incarnation is such a hollow shell with horribly inconsistent backstory/dialogue/actions. I don’t think of VLD Romelle a ‘dumb blonde’, but I can’t think of her as much of anything, b/c she’s such an oatmeal expy of Sailor Moon with a legacy character named slapped on. It’s hard to get a read on the traits of a late series character-as-plot-device when the writing goes off the rails and said character-as-plot-device persists longer in the narrative than necessary.I’d go as far to say as that she’s less than Jar Jar. Jar Jar actually did things that couldn’t have been done by another character or by an ugly lampshade. Whereas Romelle’s only meaningful contribution to the plot* could have been accomplished with a strongly worded letter written in blood, or a tragic holographic recording.Everything else in S6-S8 was so shoehorned and railroaded that the story didn’t really need a living Altean accusing Lotor of the Worst Edgy Reveal Ever for the story to get from Fun Zenith A to Garbage Nadir Z.*What plot? What was VLD about again?

[kcwcommentary]

Except for season five. Allura does not trust nor support Shiro when it comes to his recognition that turning Lotor over to Zarkon to be executed is unethical, to the point that Shiro has to do an end-run around Allura and the other Paladins in order to salvage the situation. Further, Allura does not trust nor support Shiro when he argues and acts in support of Lotor for the Kral Zera. Allura literally, angrily yells at Shiro over it. She might trust and support him many times throughout the series, but that trust and support is not constant, not unwavering. In season five, she does reject his leadership decisions, and the team only makes it through the situations they’re in because Shiro makes it happen.

Allura’s unwavering trust in Shiro is beautiful

[kcwcommentary]

I will never get over reading this bit of interview with the executive producers that they did after season 6 wherein they talked about how they purposefully wrote Lotor to deceive and trick the audience. The reason Lotor feels like two entirely different characters is because they specifically wrote him that way.

MONTGOMERY: I think we knew all along that this was going to be the character that everyone wanted to become the good guy of the Paladins, and we knew that we weren’t going to let that play out. We would happily tease it and take it down that road, but ultimately, the worst side of him was going to be the thing that got the better of him.

DOS SANTOS: We kept saying in the room, because we all come from Avatar: The Last Airbender, “We’re going to get him right to Zuko, and then we’re going to pull it all away.”

MONTGOMERY: And then he’s going to go straight Azula.

They clearly have no respect for or understanding of character if they think that a plot twist was the only thing separating Azula from Zuko.

Love deserve be more loved by fandom than Lance. How the victim of child abusive and rebellious prince is less interesting than a boy with low self esteem (and had a pretty lovely family to infantilize him) ?😑 those fools

I agree! I think the reason Lance is more beloved by the fandom is because he was there from s1e1, the very beginning as a main character, and a lot of people sympathize or relate to him. He’s boring and spoiled, but that’s why people like to make AU’s to embellish his character. No one likes this f-boy version of Lance that the story kept trying to present as a good, heroic character:

Fandom kept trying to dig deeper, into his homesickness for earth and his family, that he would really change and get deeper, and found it…. bland. This major change never came. But Lotor’s change did, or at least, our viewpoint of him did. So why Lance but not Lotor? He has everything that many AU’s give to lance, such as past trauma, family abuse/neglect, a hero who thinks they’ve failed, half-Altean, royalty:

It was his presentation.

Not everyone likes complex characters like Lotor, especially because for most of the show that he was in, Lotor was framed as an untrustworthy villain. The way his story was told had people losing interest in the roller coaster of his character arc. From mysterious, manipulative scoundrel to on-the-run prince, to surprise hero and romantic interest (though still untrustworthy), then to insanity and then ???? death of a hero? Basically, they screwed over the way Lotor and his story was presented. And because of the mess his story arc was, not everyone agrees on who the “true” Lotor is, or when to make the writers accountable for their bad writing.

Presentation matters, and I blame the writers for not being able to decide on what they wanted to do with Lotor. To have Lotor snap in the end of s6–no matter how we try to interpret it from a story standpoint, it’s just bad writing and OOC. The puppet strings became visible, just like when they forced the lion switch and BP!keith, despite those not flowing properly with the worldbuilding and story we were given at the start. Lotor was used as a plot device because Monsanto’s wanted the classic Voltron vs Lotor battle; they wanted to use Allura’s heartbreak as a chance to push for lularry (a big ship in the old show, too). Many parts of this story was ruined for the sake of nostalgia, and it’s horrible how a lot of it was taken out on Lotor. It gave people a bad presentation on Lotor’s character when he deserved better.

Characters who are introduced as untrustworthy villains who have been abused and turn out to be good people like Lotor—these stories have been told before, and successfully, at least to some extent. And the fandom forgives and loves these characters; Zuko, Draco Malfoy, Klaus Mikaelsson or characters with similar traits minus the abuse, such as Sesshoumaru and Vegeta. 

People love redemption stories, and Lotor didn’t even need one. At the end of the day, they showed he didn’t actually do anything wrong. The Altean colony story was dropped?? So…. why did they even go through the effort of making us think he was a villain when by the end of it they wanted to show that he was always a hero? It’s that new “surprise the audience” bad writing trend. Also, I don’t think they ever really cared to begin with.

To me, Lotor was cunning and manipulative because he had to be with parents and an empire like his in order to survive. And I think we only got to see his true face only briefly with Allura, the only person he ever let his guard down around, the only one who shared all of his dreams and goals, the one who he admired as much as Honerva, if not more. I wish they focused on this Lotor more than trying to rip the rug out from under us so many times with him.

And then to compare a character as complex as Lotor to someone like lance—I mean, the boy wouldn’t stand a chance if Lotor’s character was presented the same way. Lotor (and Allura) has the story everyone makes AU’s of for their favs, especially Lance. And lance and his ‘story’ (not that he actually had one) weren’t even presented well either, the narrative just coddled him and gave him everything he wanted—and presented it as a good thing.

So instead of giving Lotor all those dark, scheming smirks and the OOC lunacy in s6, imagine if he was handled with the same compassion, so to speak, as Lance was? If we got to see S5 Lotor more without the uncertainty that he would betray the team? I think, then, Lotor would be very sympathetic and relatable to the wider fandom, even more so than now. It’s one thing for us to speculate and point out how complex and interesting Lotor is, but it’s another thing when the narrative does it. And the narrative did Lotor so much wrong.

[kcwcommentary]

I can’t be the only one that hated the Lion Switch right. I get trust they wanted they’re OG lineup from DOTU but with these versions of the characters it doesn’t really make sense. The more I rewatched the episode it made more sense for everyone to stay in their Lions and Allura being the Black Paladin and if Shiro ever did come back they could copilot and Allura still had the Castle. This is also why I think she deserves the ATLAS in S7 and not Shiro if he’s already in Black

100% agreed with all of this.

The lion switch is where everything in VLD began going downhill. The show is already a remake to the original, so they really didn’t need to have any throwbacks. To name just a few things the lion switch messed up:

•The bond between a lion and its Paladin is sacred, cannot be forced, and unique. This is apparently no longer true.

•The lore of the lions and how they mirror their Paladin was thrown out the window.

•The characterizations of the characters and what should have been their natural arcs. This most affected those involved in the lion switch, namely, Lance, Allura, Keith and Shiro.

Lance

Lance needed to learn to get over his inferiority complex around Keith and accept himself for who he is, but instead, he was given Keith’s lion as if it was an upgrade/character development, rather than learning that the role he played was just as important. This is a slap in the face; by giving him Keith’s leftovers, it’s like saying his insecurities were right, and he needed to have what Keith had to be a better person/pilot/Paladin. Lance could have been such a great character with a humbling arc all on his own, it’s such wasted potential.

Allura

Adding to that, placing Allura in the blue lion says she is even less fit than even Lance to be a leader, even though she was already a co-leader next to Shiro before the switch and has the experience that Lance and the other Paladins don’t have.

Allura said she had piloted the castle ship for half of her life. Alteans, especially magical Alteans like Allura, live ridiculously long lives; centuries, even, just to give an idea of how potentially long she has been a pilot for and for how long she has been around these lions. As her father created the lions, you’d think she would have spent time in one or even piloted one herself. However, when she first becomes a Paladin, it’s as if she’s a brand new pilot, completely unfamiliar with how to bond with her lion, even though she was the one coaching the Paladins in the beginning of the show. This not only goes against what we know of Allura from the start of the show, but demotes her from her previous rank, dragging her character development backwards. It made her seem incompetent. The only time we begin to see her character move forward again is when Lotor joins them and they explore Oriande, but that’s a meta for another post.

At the end of the day, if Shiro was not around, the team should have deferred to Allura as Black Paladin as she was already co-leader alongside Shiro in the first place. It’s like saying she was only a leader because of Shiro rather than on her own merit. And it would have made a nice contrast to her nemesis Zarkon, the previous Black Paladin.

Concerning the Atlas, I also agree; it was powered through the magic of her circlet, something which appears to have been passed down from her mother (she was seen in flashbacks wearing the same one iirc) so after having been a Paladin like her father, it would have been nice to see her getting strength through her mother and piloting the Atlas and ending the show with the original lineup.

Keith

Keith was not fit to be leader, no matter how much the show foreshadowed it and tried to make it so. From start to finish, we saw nothing but that Keith was a lone wolf who often liked to run off and work alone; there is nothing wrong with this, it just shows how being the Black Paladin isn’t a right fit for him. Not only that, but his priority was often Shiro over anything else, which isn’t what a Black Paladin should be doing in the face of war. It was wrong to try to force him into a role that didn’t suit him, and it actually made him appear worse as a character, pointed out his flaws while trying to show how heroic he is when he isn’t. The point of Voltron is that each player is equally vital. The black lion is not a prize, it’s not something to grow into like it’s the end-all-be-all; it’s an important role to play just like the others, but that’s how it was often treated; as Keith’s consolation prize for doing… what? I don’t know. Getting a space dog, I guess.

Shiro

Aside from Allura, I think Shiro’s character was hurt most in the lion switch. The show started on him, he was the catalyst to bringing the Paladins together when he escaped to earth; he was not a character to bring in and kill off like they had originally intended, and he raised the bar so high for Black Paladin that the only other person who could have replaced him (and only temporarily, mind you) would have been Allura.

On top of the fact that he instantly bonded with his lion, he was the one who found the most worth in being a Paladin. “Defenders of the universe, huh? That has a nice ring to it.”  After the trauma he faced at the hand of the Galra, namely Zarkon, he was still strong enough to fight Zarkon, the previous Black Paladin who Black was still inclined to, directly for his lion, and won Black’s trust. Shiro was the only one who went to these great lengths for his lion out any of the Paladins; he took the time to spend with everyone if they were feeling down and to make sure they took care of themselves. He brought the team together at the start and kept everyone together, and he is the one everyone deferred to without argument.

So how was Keith more fitting to be Black Paladin than Shiro once he returned? What did Keith do to earn Black’s trust, what did he do for the team that Shiro didn’t already exceed in doing? Why didn’t Keith step aside for the true Black Paladin once he returned, when Keith was the one advocating the most for Shiro’s worth of being Black Paladin?

So with all this in mind, it comes as no surprise that the team worked most flawlessly together in the original lineup. I think we all saw the potential in that and how the characters would grow and develop together in their original lions, because the foundation was so strong in at the start.

[kcwcommentary]

There is literally nothing that I like about the MFE pilots. James is a total abusive bully, and that the show then moves him to the position of leader of the MFEs with the narrative placing an expectation on the viewer that we accept his sudden, un-redeemed transition from antagonist to protagonist is offensive. The other MFEs were little more than cardboard cutouts. They had no personality. Kinkade liking videography is not a display of personality, for example, because there’s never any “why” revealed to explain where the hobby came from. There’s nothing not superficial revealed by it. James is the only one of the four that has characterization, and he is demonstrably not a good person.

James couldn’t be like Shiro even if he tried. Shiro cared about others and would work to help them become better versions of themselves, even when they doubted themselves. James was arrogant and self-aggrandizing. James was more of the shut-up-and-do-what-I-say idea of leadership, which is not leadership, even if the executive producers seem to think it was.

Whether created as an attempt at setting up a spin-off or as a display of the executive producers’ assumed good original idea that they just weren’t allowed to tell (seriously, it was their first time as showrunners, how in the world did they think they should be given free rein over the show), the MFEs were thoroughly uninteresting. As characters, they couldn’t even manifest the requirements for minor characters in a story, let alone demonstrate a more-left-unspoken quality in their depiction that would suggest them capable of being the main protagonists in a story.

Half a thought

This is probably me forgetting half the meta about the production of VLD that I read, but… I kept thinking how the MFE pilots all felt like “here’s the pilots we wanted to write.” And how those two episodes felt like an attempted spin off. But they were introduced, shown to be cooler and more competent, on a post-invasion Earth. I had felt like it might be the EPs trying to wedge in their original ideas.

But I had two random ideas pop into my head while sitting at in a Joyfull after work.

1. This comes from thinking of how James felt like a whiter version of how the EPs perceived Shiro, but-

The MFE pilots could have been their OG paladins. Not the other way around.

And

2. I had thought that the MFE pilots were a backdoor pilot, and its still possible for that to be the case. But if the EPs had known they were basically gone from Dreamworks at that point- maybe they were trying to show off their OG concept. Or recycle material again, when they knew they had nothing left to lose. Just…

Thoughts when tired sitting in a Joyfull on a show I really need to move on from.

[kcwcommentary]

@puppetmaster55

Wow. I hadn’t realized that, but you’re totally right: Honerva does win in the end. Her big goal was reuniting with an accepting Zarkon and Lotor, and with her being shown walking to and standing happily with them in the afterlife, she gets what she wanted, thereby justifying and validating her having destroyed nearly all reality in the process. 

VLD8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”(part 1)

8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”

I decided to post this commentary in two parts. 

As much as this show frustrates me, I do have some level of sadness that this is the last episode, and this specific series of commentaries is at an end. My emotions that this is the end of the show feels more pronounced now than it did the first time I watched this season. There is a sense of loss to it, and some of that sense of loss comes from knowing that with this being the last episode, there is no possibility that the show will course-correct and produce a story that I started the series hoping for. In some ways, I feel like I’m mourning for the wasted potential that this series had.

Every story has flaws. Sometimes what works for one viewer doesn’t work for another. Even if there are aspects of a story that don’t quite work for me, if in the end, I feel fulfilled, then I’m good. Endings should have a sense of fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment. I wonder if the executive producers, the writers, the producers, the executives at DreamWorks, and others involved in this series’s production felt accomplished at the end, or if they just felt like it was finally finished and were past ready to move on.

This ending was not fulfilling to me, and that makes me sad.

The episode starts where the last one ended: Voltron and Honerva staring each other down, the Alteans in the nearby city in a panic. Honerva, with her gaze focused on Voltron, has her mecha aim and fire a hand blast at the nearby Altean city. The blast nearly hits until at the last second something blocks the blast. At first, I thought it was a leg of Voltron, but after a couple different shots, I realized it was Voltron’s sword. Voltron throwing its sword to block the blast leaves Voltron distracted, and Honerva tackles Voltron, sending them both sliding along the ground into the city.

Honerva’s mech extends a blade from its wrist and tries to slam down on Voltron, but Voltron takes flight and maneuvers out from under Honerva and back to its sword. They’re then suddenly out in a nearby field without any of the city in the background and start a sword fight. Honerva uses her tail to trip Voltron, which falls backward onto the ground. She then combines her wing-blades around her wrist-sword to create a spinning purple drill and she dives down into Voltron, sending the ground in the area crumbling. We then get a shot from far above the surface of the planet so that we can see their location relative to the city. My guess is the backgrounds during the more standard shots of the fight lack any inclusion of the city in the background as a way to not have to spend time and energy keeping track of precisely where the city is in relation to where they are in the field.

Keep reading

[kcwcommentary]

@puppetmaster55

Your final paragraph is one of my biggest problems with season 8 of VLD. The main characters of the show are not the drivers of the story. Nothing that happens comes out of them. None of them have any goals to work toward in the narrative. Stop-the-bad-guys does not count as a goal because every story ever is about the struggle between protagonist and antagonist. Every driver of the plot in season 8 comes from Honerva. She’s still the antagonist though, so her character is not supposed to be the center and focus of the story; she’s supposed to be there to interrupt and inhibit the protagonists in their pursuit of their goals. So, with the whole focus and drive of the story being given to Honerva, the show’s protagonists are all turned into little more than spectators. Almost entirely, Allura, Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Coran could all literally be anyone because none of them matter to the plot. The closest any of the protagonists come to being connected to the plot is Allura, but then the possession-by-entity plot is abandoned and unresolved, and then the only other moment of being relevant to the plot is her giving up her life for no other reason than the executives wanted to kill her.

I don’t know what the EPs were thinking in deciding to take the final season and shove all the main characters aside to turn the plot over to Honverva. Literally who in the audience wanted Honerva to displace the protagonists and become the focus of the story?

VLD8x08 – “Clear Day”

8x08 – “Clear Day”

This episode is so frustrating. The carnival is a waste of time, but that’s less frustrating than Allura’s hallucination and dream. All writing is a choice. If you write a cryptic dream into a story, it has to be for a reason, it has to mean something. And I want Allura’s hallucinations and dream to mean something. I feel like I desperately try to tease out a meaning from it when I watch it. But I don’t know what it means. It’s never explained in the show, and it’s so frustrating. Ultimately, I end up so annoyed by it that I just think that the show’s creative team didn’t actually have a real meaning for the hallucinations and the dream. I think they probably just had these cryptic moments for no other reason than to just be cryptic. I don’t think they thought they had to have an explanation for what it all meant, let alone that they had a storyteller’s obligation to explain it in the story.

I’m left feeling that this episode is just more audience manipulation, and I’m not okay with that.

The episode starts with Allura talking to Tova. Hunk’s cookies caused zealots who wanted to commit genocide to now want to cooperate with Allura. That ending scene last episode leading into this cooperation really only works if you ignore everything the show has established about these Alteans. If they had only been angry and hadn’t really done anything and were captured and then they ate cookies and calmed down and changed their mind about Honerva, that would be fine. But the show specifically identified these Alteans as the ones who were piloting the Robeasts, and those Robeasts were used to drain the quintessence of several planets. Just because the Rebels seem to have been able to evacuate the population of those planets doesn’t negate the fact that these Alteans were trying to commit genocide. It really is creepy that this show just ignores that now.

Tova tells Allura that he doesn’t have much time to talk to her. This connects to how in 8x01 “Launch Date” when Luca talked to Romelle, Honerva remote killed Luca. Tova says, “Now that she has Lotor, she will use him to destroy everything—” So the show is again explicitly saying that Lotor is back. Tova states this as fact, so Honerva had to have specifically spoken to the Colony Alteans about this being the goal. Since Lotor doesn’t actually come back in this show since he’s a melted corpse, are we supposed to assume (assume, since the show never bothers to show us) that Honerva was just lying to the Alteans?

Tova convulses and falls on the floor, two creepy-mask medical personnel (seriously, who thought the visual design on medical personnel was a good look?) come in, and Allura tells them to back off. At first, I thought it was weird that she was keeping Tova from receiving medical attention. She kneels down, holds out her hand, and her hand starts glowing, and I thought she was going to use her magic healing like she did with Lance in 6x01 “Omega Shield.” Then she says, “I feel something.” Why is she only feeling it now? The entity has been in him the whole time.

Keep reading

[kcwcommentary]

Why everyone should’ve gone back to their original lions: a summary

Lance’s insecurities stem from feeling like he’s unimportant or unworthy of being on the team, yet Blue chose him out of literally EVERY other Paladin available, and without Lance bonding with Blue they never would’ve been able to reunite Voltron in the first place; Lance’s fear is that he’s just a placeholder since they don’t have anyone better, yet he was Red’s second choice Paladin after Blue rejects him which completely negates any emotional growth forged from Blue in the first place

Red was not only better suited to Keith’s fighting style, but also mirrored his own personality in that they both have trouble opening up to new people and need that somone to prove to them that they care, but once that bond is established they’re both extremely ride-or-die loyal (which is something Keith needs due to his deeply rooted abandonment issues). Keith being forcibly taken from Red and having that bond broken when she doesn’t come for him when he needs her (and neither does Black when he’s dying on an asteroid) would only further that fear of abandonment

Shiro and Black’s entire arc was about overcoming trauma (specifically Galra inflicted trauma) and unlocking your true potential, as well as showing that your past trauma does not define you; Black choosing Shiro was proof that he’s not broken, he’s not worthless because of what he’s endured, that he can recover and be strong and be a leader and worthy of respect and triumph, and him being booted from her seat (without explanation, even) takes all of that away

Allura is a commander. While her stepping into the nitty-gritty of it all was admirable and I think an important experience for her, she has gone from leader and commander of a war lead by her father before her, to a footsoldier. An important soldier, but still a step down, as she takes orders instead of giving them. She was removed from the Castle, her home and one of the last surviving pieces of her people, all to be - much like Lance - a second choice Paladin. Instead of her being the face of the resistance and the home base for Voltron and the rebellion she’s become one of five. Being a paladin is a huge important and honorable role, but for a character like Allura and her place in this story, it doesn’t make sense.

[kcwcommentary]

There is so much well written in this essay. How the show treated the death of Shiro, the clone, and having the supposed heroes of the show use the still-living clone’s body to bring back Shiro infuriates me so much. It is so true that despite how bad seasons seven and eight were, VLD told badly written and offensive stories long before the final third of the series.

[kcwcommentary]

What Voltron Taught Me About Storytelling

In collapsing so spectacularly in so many complex, horrific ways, Voltron handed me some very useful tips on what does and what absolutely does not work for storytelling. Here are some pointers I’ve scrounged out of the rubble:

1. Accept the story you have and work with it, not against it. 

Everybody and their dog probably knows about Shiro at this point—that he was scheduled to kick the bucket at the end of season 2, but Dreamworks execs demanded he stay onboard because they (correctly) predicted he’d be popular with fans. 

Most people are also familiar with LM and JDS’ reaction to this stipulation: They were full of spite for years. You can tell from the way those two brought up Shiro’s supposed-to-have-happened-death over and over across the seasons that they never got over this betrayal from the studio.

And you know what? I understand why LM and JDS were angry. With the story they originally envisioned, Shiro needed to die. He needed to step out of the way so Keith would have room to explore a leadership position without his help; so he could have a conflicted season with Lotor aboard the Castle ship; so when he was ready to assume the role of the Black Paladin he’d never have to leave her chair. In LM and JDS’ minds, Keith was supposed to start as a renegade lone wolf and end up as Shiro, not as Shiro’s right hand man—not even his equal. In their version of events, an alive Shiro would have less plot-relevance than a potted plant. Or, worse than that—he’d be a potted plant who stole Keith’s spotlight. 

Now—faced with this dilemma, LM and JDS had a choice to make. They could change their vision of the story (and Keith’s trajectory as a character)—

Or they could tackle their old pitch in a death grip and do everything they possibly could to stay true to their original creative vision. 

Keep reading

[kcwcommentary]

Voltron Legendary Defender Commentaries

Because I like having things organized, I’ve compiled a list of links to all of my commentaries for Voltron Legendary Defender.

Season One

1x01 – The New Alliance

1x02 – From Days of Long Ago

1x03 – Defenders of the Universe

1x04 – Some Assembly Required

1x05 – Return of the Gladiator

1x06 – The Fall of the Castle of Lions

1x07 – Tears of the Balmera

1x08 – Taking Flight

1x09 – Return to the Balmera

1x10 – Rebirth

1x11 – Crystal Venom

1x12 – Collection and Extraction

1x13 – The Black Paladin

  Season Two 

2x01 – Across the Universe

2x02 – The Depths

2x03 – Shiro’s Escape

2x04 – Greening the Cube

2x05 – Eye of the Storm

2x06 – The Ark of Taujeer

2x07 – Space Mall

2x08 – The Blade of Marmora

2x09 – The Belly of the Weblum

2x10 – Escape from Beta Traz

2x11 – Stayin’ Alive

2x12 – Best Laid Plans

2x13 – Blackout

  Season Three 

3x01 – Changing of the Guard

3x02 – Red Paladin

3x03 – The Hunted

3x04 – Hole in the Sky

3x05 – The Journey

3x06 – Tailing a Comet

3x07 – The Legend Begins

  Season Four

4x01 – Code of Honor

4x02 – Reunion

4x03 – Black Site

4x04 – The Voltron Show!

4x05 – Begin the Blitz

4x06 – A New Defender

  Season Five

5x01 – The Prisoner

5x02 – Blood Duel

5x03 – Postmortem

5x04 – Kral Zera

5x05 – Bloodlines

5x06 – White Lion

  Season Six 

6x01 – Omega Shield

6x02 – Razor’s Edge

6x03 – Monsters & Mana

6x04 – The Colony

6x05 – The Black Paladins

6x06 – All Good Things

6x07 – Defender of All Universes

  Season Seven 

7x01 – A Little Adventure

7x02 – The Road Home

7x03 – The Way Forward

7x04 – The Feud!

7x05 – The Ruins

7x06 – The Journey Within

7x07 – The Last Stand Part 1

7x08 – The Last Stand Part 2

7x09 – Know Your Enemy

7x10 – Heart of the Lion

7x11 – Trial By Fire

7x12 – Lions’ Pride Part 1

7x13 – Lions’ Pride Part 2

  Season Eight 

8x01 – Launch Date

8x02 – Shadows

8x03 – The Prisoner’s Dilemma

8x04 – Battle Scars

8x05 – The Grudge

8x06 – Genesis

8x07 – Day Forty Seven

8x08 – Clear Day

8x09 – Knights of Light Part 1

8x10 – Knights of Light Part 2

8x11 – Uncharted Regions

8x12 – The Zenith (part 1)

8x12 – The Zenith (part 2)

8x13 – The End is the Beginning (part 1)

8x13 – The End is the Beginning (part 2) 

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x13 – “The End is the Beginning” (part 2)

8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”

(This is a continuation from part 1.)

“One Year Later…”

Keith, Cosmo, Kolivan, and Krolia are at the Kral Zera. Keith is being broadcast across the Galra Empire and he gives a speech, “With the return of Planet Daibazaal, the Galra Empire is at a crossroads. For too long, the people of this extraordinary civilization have been manipulated by a dictatorship that placed a misguided sense of self-preservation above all else. It was a tragic, unfortunate series of events that led us down this dark, never-ending path of power and greed. But now, we, the citizens of the Galra Empire have an opportunity to make right all of the injustices set into motion by our forefathers. Because of the sacrifice made by Princess Allura, we have been given a second chance to come together in rebuilding the Galra Empire by joining the Galactic Coalition and ushering in a new era of peace across the universe.” Everyone cheers for him. It’s interesting that he says “we, the citizens of the Galra Empire.” I guess Keith now considers himself to be not just half-Galra but to be part of the Empire.

Cut to the Atlas, who’s hosting some contentious diplomatic talks. Hunk serves them dinner. It’s a satisfying end for Hunk’s character to combine cooking and diplomacy. Hunk is thankful of the diversity of his cooking crew, which includes Shay, Sal from Vrepit Sal’s, Sal’s chef’s hat-looking android (I think it’s an android), and Romelle. Hunk says, “Princess Allura, the very person we celebrate on this day, once said, we are always stronger together. If the people of your planets work together, so much more can be achieved.” Shiro stands up from the table and concurs with Hunk, “Honor her by following in her footsteps and walking the path towards peace.”

Cut to Pidge is working with Matt to build an android. Matt does not look like Matt. I know his hair cut, but his body, the shape of his face does not quite look like him to me. Colleen comes in to tell Pidge that Sam has the teludav is ready for her. Pidge tells Matt to wait until she gets back before initializing the android, who she’s named Chip, because she wants “to witness Chip’s first moments of consciousness” and she places Matt’s old glasses on the android.

Pidge in the Green Lion takes off and travels through a wormhole.

Cut to Altea. Merla tells Coran, “Construction is on course.” They’re building a new castle. He asks her, “How are preparations for tonight’s feast coming? It has to be perfect. It will be the first celebration of Allura, the first of many to come.” Coran is excited. And this just makes me think about how Allura died and we did not get a moment for her to say goodbye to Coran. Coran, who has been there for her more than anyone else, really. The show didn’t even write her to tell the others to say anything to Coran on her behalf. We get nothing to see how Coran reacted to learning that Allura died. Given how Coran has been depicted in this show, it must have broken his heart.

Up the hill, in front of a large statue of Allura, Lance is talking to a bunch of kids. “And had Princess Allura not seen that there was still good left in Honerva, we most likely would not be sitting here today. She grew to understand that there is good in everyone.” I have such a huge problem with this portrayal of Honerva being good. It just feels so offensive. One kid asks, “Even Emperor Zarkon?” and Lance slightly laughs, “Yes, even Emperor Zarkon.” The kid asks, “Do you miss her?” and Lance says, “I do. Very much. But, I’m reminded of her everywhere I look. So in that way, she’s still very much with me. With all of us, actually.”

Another kid asks him what he does now that he doesn’t pilot the Red Lion. Why does he not pilot the Red Lion? I don’t understand the logic behind this show saying that Voltron is no longer needed. Lance answers, “Well, I help run a small farm back on my home planet with my family. It’s a simple life, just the way I like it.” I am torn on this. It does make some sense in that Lance has a history of missing his family, so I could see him wanting to spend a lot of time with them now that he can. I can even understand that he would have something to do with farming since we got that one scene a long time ago wherein Lance milked Kaltenecker. Lance being a farmer does feel like it doesn’t match the core of his character that drove him to want to be a fighter pilot and proud to be a sharpshooter though. I think for me this works because I can still imagine that Lance only working as a farmer with his family for a while, a few years maybe, before he gets an urge to go once more into the universe.

Pidge arrives on Altea.

Coran, Shiro, Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith have a meal together that night in front of Allura’s statue. Pidge says that Earth has become a hub for alien activity since her father has built a teludav there. What powers it, I wonder. Wormholes were created throughout this show specifically by Allura. So where does the power come from? Shiro is pleased because the teludav will help him in his responsibilities as captain of the Atlas. Hunk comments about his use of food with diplomacy and says, “This diplomacy thing isn’t as easy as Allura made it look.” (I don’t actually think she made it look easy, but okay.) Keith says, “But then she did make everything look easy.”

Shiro asks Keith how things are on Daibazaal. Keith says there’s going to be an election for a Galra representative for the Galactic Coalition. Lance says, “Let me guess, they asked you to be their leader and you said no?” Keith says, “Yeah, pretty much.” The Galra, with their long history and culture that rigidly promotes Galra-supremacism, wanted Keith to be their leader? That does not feel in any way realistic. Lance sarcastically responds, “Classic Keith.” I guess Lance’s comment is supposed to reflect back to when Keith left the group in 4x01 “Code of Honor.” It doesn’t quite feel like an accurate response. In that episode, they weren’t exactly asking Keith to lead them, they were criticizing him for being away on intelligence gathering missions with the Blades while the Paladins were having parades. Whatever.

Coran says, “Allura would be proud of your decision Keith. I think she knew that you would always be the key to the Galra’s future.” But Keith’s decision was to not accept the position of leadership of the Galra, so what is Coran talking about? Also, there is nothing in this show where Allura expresses a thought that Keith would one day be key to the Galra’s future. I mean, Lance in 7x04 “The Fued!” said that he thought that Keith was “the future,” but I can’t think of anything from Allura where she thought Keith would make Galra culture less aggressive.

Coran continues, “Just around this table I see so many lives touched by her actions. For some of us, she was a diplomat, a teacher, a leader, and a friend. But to those of us around this table, she will always be family.” He stands, holds his glass forth, and toasts, “To Allura!” I really do like Coran. The others join him in the toast.

Later that night, Lance wakes to a light through his window and the sound of a Lion roaring. He goes outside and is followed by the others. Blue is sitting on the ground while the other Lions are floating in the air. There’s a sequence of juxtapositions of Lions and Paladins. Yellow and Hunk. Green and Pidge. Black and Shiro and Keith. Red and Blue with Lance. Lance’s Altean facial marks glow. Why do they glow?

The Lions blast off. The camera zooms out from Altea.

Then cut to two photographs of the group at Allura’s statue. One from this night’s dinner and one from some undefined time later.

Then there’s the infamous epilogue. In one of their interviews earlier this year, JDS and LM said that the epilogue was originally going to be full of silly things about background characters, not about the main characters. If that’s true, then as bothersome as the epilogue is because of the last-minute change to have Shiro marry Curtis, at least it resulted in them changing the epilogue to focus on the show’s main characters.

An image of Pidge, Matt, and members of the Galaxy Garrison in a hangar with the caption, “The Holt family established the next generation of Legendary Defenders.”

An image of Hunk with a large cooking staff of many different species with the caption, “Hunk created a culinary empire, bringing the universe together, one meal at a time.”

An image of Lance on the farm with Altean juniberry flowers and the caption, “Lance continued to spread Allrua’s message while he surrounded himself with the things he loved.”

An image of Kolivan giving a meeting with the caption, “Kolivan and Krolia became the Galra representatives to the Galactic Coalition.”

An image of Keith in a Blade of Marmora outfit with Axca, Zethrid, and Ezor helping him hand out supplies with the caption, “Keith helped to transition The Blade of Marmora to a humanitarian relief organization.”

An image of Shiro and Curtis in white tuxes with friends behind them with the caption, “Shiro found his happiness and finally left the battle behind.” About this caption, I feel I need details. If this means that Shiro retired specifically from military combat service, then I’m okay with that. Shiro wasn’t ever specifically trying to be a soldier. There might have been some military components to his being a member of the Galaxy Garrison, but his goals were always about conducting space exploration missions. So, if his having “left the battle behind” means he’s returned to space exploration specifically and not military leadership, then I’m okay with that. If his having “left the battle behind” is a reference to him being able to feel restored and whole in dealing with PTSD, I can be okay with that too. If this all means that Shiro gave up everything that had made him happy in the past for this relationship, which is what Adam had wanted him to do, then I’m not okay with that.

The image frame opens up, Curtis moves in and he and Shiro kiss while everyone cheers for them. I’m going to admit, watching it now is making me cry. As a gay man from the United States, I actually never thought that I would ever be able to get married. I’m not married, but maybe one day. But that I am legally able to do so now means a lot to me. I am older than this show’s target audience, but I still love animated storytelling. Had I been able to see a male character have a same-sex relationship like this when I was young, it would have had a huge effect on me. Growing up, I was not taught that it was okay to be gay. I was taught the precise opposite, actually. It was really hard for me. I got to the point of suicide over it. So, I think a lot about queer youth, and I don’t want any of them to go through what I went through. This show has had serious flaws in how poorly it has depicted Shiro being gay. But I really hope that if this show could have any positive effect that it has helped and continues to help kids who are like I was, help them feel that it’s okay for them to be who they are.

After the credits, there’s a shot of the Lions flying toward a nebula that looks like Allura.

Thank you to everyone who has read, liked, reblogged, commented, and talked with me about this show while I’ve done this series of commentaries. I really appreciate it.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”(part 1)

8x13 – “The End is the Beginning”

I decided to post this commentary in two parts. 

As much as this show frustrates me, I do have some level of sadness that this is the last episode, and this specific series of commentaries is at an end. My emotions that this is the end of the show feels more pronounced now than it did the first time I watched this season. There is a sense of loss to it, and some of that sense of loss comes from knowing that with this being the last episode, there is no possibility that the show will course-correct and produce a story that I started the series hoping for. In some ways, I feel like I’m mourning for the wasted potential that this series had.

Every story has flaws. Sometimes what works for one viewer doesn’t work for another. Even if there are aspects of a story that don’t quite work for me, if in the end, I feel fulfilled, then I’m good. Endings should have a sense of fulfillment, a sense of accomplishment. I wonder if the executive producers, the writers, the producers, the executives at DreamWorks, and others involved in this series’s production felt accomplished at the end, or if they just felt like it was finally finished and were past ready to move on.

This ending was not fulfilling to me, and that makes me sad.

The episode starts where the last one ended: Voltron and Honerva staring each other down, the Alteans in the nearby city in a panic. Honerva, with her gaze focused on Voltron, has her mecha aim and fire a hand blast at the nearby Altean city. The blast nearly hits until at the last second something blocks the blast. At first, I thought it was a leg of Voltron, but after a couple different shots, I realized it was Voltron’s sword. Voltron throwing its sword to block the blast leaves Voltron distracted, and Honerva tackles Voltron, sending them both sliding along the ground into the city.

Honerva’s mech extends a blade from its wrist and tries to slam down on Voltron, but Voltron takes flight and maneuvers out from under Honerva and back to its sword. They’re then suddenly out in a nearby field without any of the city in the background and start a sword fight. Honerva uses her tail to trip Voltron, which falls backward onto the ground. She then combines her wing-blades around her wrist-sword to create a spinning purple drill and she dives down into Voltron, sending the ground in the area crumbling. We then get a shot from far above the surface of the planet so that we can see their location relative to the city. My guess is the backgrounds during the more standard shots of the fight lack any inclusion of the city in the background as a way to not have to spend time and energy keeping track of precisely where the city is in relation to where they are in the field.

The drill doesn’t really damage Voltron though. Allura screams, pushes her controls forward, and an energy blast shoots out of Voltron’s eyes. Since when has Allura as a leg of Voltron been able to produce an energy blast attack out of the eyes (the head) of Voltron? The blast knocks Honerva back, and the wing-blades spin off and stab into the ground. Voltron then punches Honerva through a mountain.

Voltron’s sword, having been left stuck in the ground again, now has rockets, and it jets to Voltron’s hand. (Why did Voltron need to stop at the sword a bit earlier and pick it up on the way out of the city if the sword can come to Voltron on its own?) Voltron tries to stab Honerva in the head, but she easily moves to the side and the blow misses her. Allura yells, “Now, let’s finish this,” but then someone else yells “incoming,” and Voltron is hit by a wing-blade. The blade actually penetrates Voltron in the back (and stays stuck in Voltron). Then two more wing-blades stab Voltron, this time in either side of the abdomen. Voltron falls over face-first.

The other wing-blades swirl up into the sky and look like they stab the sky. It’s the wings piercing the fabric of space, and I actually kind of like the way it looks. Purple electricity arcs between the wing-blades to form a circle. The wing-blades piercing Voltron start to glow, a big bolt of purple electricity arcs between Voltron and the circle in the sky. Honerva stands up and flies up into the sky, into the circle. The way this is depicted, it’s so much clearer that she’s drawing energy out of Voltron to create a rift in space than it was the time she must have been doing similarly last episode. (Last episode, this similar moment didn’t show anything making a new rift, it was just spontaneously there.)

Shiro says, “We can’t let this happen. She can’t get away,” the Paladins grunt, Voltron pulls the wing-blades out of itself. There are no holes in Voltron in the three places it had been stabbed.

I do still actually like the visual design of this Voltron-Atlas combination.

Voltron blasts off and soars into the rift, everything goes white, and then Voltron is floating in space, but it’s not regular space. There are what looks like stars in the far distance, but much closer, there are wispy, glowing tendrils, like roots that look like they originate from a central, brighter source.

Lance asks, “What is this place,” and Allura says, “I’m not sure.” Then Honerva’s voice booms, “This is the beginning—” her mecha smashes into Voltron, sending it careening away “—and the end.” Honerva blasts one of the roots with an energy beam and the root explodes. The root withers away, up to the central source, and then that center and every root ignites in orangish, fiery energy.

Allura glows yellow and sounds like she’s in pain and there are flashes of different aliens living their normal lives. The light around Allura fades. Team Voltron concludes that “these strands” “are the only remaining realities” and that “this place is the source of time, of space, of” “everything.”

I know almost everything in this show’s magic system is made up and re-made in the individual moment as each moment of the series has been written, and doing that makes it impossible to argue against anything happening if it can be explained as because-magic, but it does kind of bother me that Honerva can destroy a reality now, not by tearing a rift out of or into a reality but just by shooting a strand representing it with a standard blaster beam.

Honerva sounds ridiculous when she, while gasping for air like she’s out of breath, says, “I—will end this—once—and for all!” Like I mentioned last commentary, I don’t find villains who end with cliché scorched-earth action to be compelling. This series has put a lot of time and effort into trying – and I do think the creative team was genuinely trying – to add complexity to Honerva’s character. I think the attempt was almost always clumsy, quick, and underdeveloped, but for a while they were trying to portray Honerva as not a flat antagonist. But to have her character be this spiteful person who is trying to destroy literally all of existence, every reality erases any attempt this show made to complicate her character. I know the creative team would think that saying that she’s being irrational is a defense of having written her character to act this way, but it’s not.

Let’s say I accept – and I don’t, but I’m going to pretend – that Honerva was a good person before she was poisoned by quintessence and before she was possessed by the rift entity. And then that poison and that possession turned her into the abusive, torturing, genocidal dictator that she’s been for 10,000 years. That I accept the premise that the poisoning and possession took maternal instinct away from her. That she is genuinely upset that Lotor hated her. How is her current behavior a logical, writing choice to have her react like this to a little boy from another reality whose mother died not instantly accepting her as his mother? One little boy that she knows is not her actual son says “no” to her, and she decides to destroy all of existence? Like, even if this one Lotor says no, she doesn’t want to try additional other Lotors in other realities first?

This just feels like an escalation that the writing team thinks works because what can be bigger than destroying all of existence, destroying every reality? And the end of a story has to be about the biggest thing ever, the most cataclysmic conflict possible, right?

Honerva projects energy blasts in opposite directions and spins, destroying several reality strands. Then she throws her arms wide and 18 energy beams blast outward with her at the center. (Her mecha can generate 18 blasts simultaneously? Why hasn’t she used that before? That’s a significant weapon capacity.)

While she and the others grunt with each destruction, Allura says, “She’s destroying – all realities!” This level of destruction is so over-the-top that it doesn’t have any emotional weight. This is supposed to be the climax of the story, and I don’t feel invested in the plot whatsoever in part because of its scale. Another part that keeps me from feeling invested is that this is Honerva’s story. It’s not Shiro’s. It’s not Allura’s. It’s not Keith’s or Lance’s or Pidge’s or Hunk’s. Nothing about any of the six of them has anything to do with what’s happening. They’re all just sort of here. Even with this show in the past having used Honerva/Haggar as a foil for Allura, within this specific plot, that is not being used. Maybe one could say that it comes back later in the episode when Allura’s making the decision to give up her life in order to reboot all of existence, that the story finally brings Allura’s personal story back into this and her as a “life-giver” parallels Honerva as the destroyer of all realities. But that is not now. What’s happening in the plot now isn’t connected to Allura’s story. This decision to focus the story entirely on Honerva makes the show’s protagonists all be reactive. Everything that’s happening, they’re just reacting to, none of them are active, none of them are trying to achieve anything. And no, stop-the-bad-guys does not count as a protagonist goal because it is baseline-level of simplistic.

I think we’re seeing more different species of aliens in this destruction of realities sequence than we’ve seen throughout the entire rest of the show combined. The destruction is now near total, with only one strand coming from the center remaining. Honerva has decided to pause and stare at Voltron for a moment before destroying the last reality strand. For some reason, rather than use her blaster to destroy this last one, Honerva decides to use her sword. Why? There is nothing to explain why Honerva decides to use a sword instead of a blaster. Allura quietly begs no one in particular, “No, please.” Honerva flies toward the last strand, but before she can strike, Voltron slams into her. This is the sole reason why Honerva switched to using a sword when she had been using her blasters: To allow for Voltron to hit her and knock her aside. In other words, it’s contrived. Why was Allura written to react as if there was nothing that Team Voltron could do and then have Voltron swoop in to attack Honerva? There’s a dissonance between Allura’s reaction beat and Voltron then attacking.

Voltron and Honerva fly around in a sword fight. Honerva stabs Voltron, and Pidge shifts her controls and Voltron grows knuckle claws and punches Honerva. Honerva drives Voltron backward, then Keith uses Voltron’s wings to push back. Honerva stabs Voltron with her tail and purple lightning sparks. Honerva’s enegines push harder, and she drives Voltron back more.

“If Honerva destroys this final strand, all of existence will end with it!” Allura says. That feels like it’s stating the obvious and thus unnecessary dialog. Keith thrusts his controls forward, all of Team Voltron screams, and Voltron produces larger wings. These wings are absolutely ridiculous. They are like 50 times larger than Voltron itself. Voltron pushes Honerva back.

Rather than push Honerva away from the strand, Voltron, without any characters saying anything about doing this, pushes Honerva into the light that was central to all the strands. What made them make this decision? It really bothers me that this show writes characters to behave like this. Characters aren’t supposed to just spontaneously do things. The writers are moving to the next set-piece and need to move the characters to there, so they just had the characters move to there.

I don’t understand how the show is conceptualizing this story-world’s cosmology. Where is this place from which Honerva is destroying realities? Does this location itself not count as reality? How could Honerva and Voltron exist here, how could they move around through space here if it isn’t itself a reality? I would imagine the creative team for the show would say something like Honerva and Voltron are outside of reality, but you can’t go outside of universes unless there is something there to go into. It kind of makes the fault of using the word “realities” instead of “universes” noticeable. The latter of those words could work, but the former doesn’t.

Inside, Honerva is kneeling on an endless horizon of white and slight purple above and below her. It looks a bit like the horizons that was the Black Lion’s consciousness until 8x10 “Knights of Light Part 2” had those environments be located inside Honerva’s mind where the Paladins fought the spirits of the old Paladins. I would have much rather had those environments remain the consciousnesses of the Lions, and then to have this white version be the consciousness of the White Lion. But this location is just some miscellaneous elsewhere. I also wouldn’t have minded if this white field location looked like the space Allura was shown in when the White Lion jumped into her in 5x06 “White Lion.”

Imagine if the show had kept Shiro as Black Paladin, kept Keith with Red, kept Lance with Blue, had Allura in command of the Atlas. Imagine if the show got to this environment as part of Voltron’s fight with Honerva. Imagine if here, the conversation that occurs here came to a point where here Allura actively proclaimed herself, I am the Paladin of the White Lion! That would have been so freaking cool!

Honerva turns around, sees silhouettes of the Paladins and Shiro. (I’m still curious what’s up with the rest of the crew of the Atlas. Are they still within the combined Voltron-Atlas mecha? Or were they magically thrown out into space and killed? Or were they magically erased from existence? If they’re still inside Voltron-Atlas, why aren’t they appearing here too? From the moment Voltron and the Atlas combined, the crew was simply ignored, and I guess the creative team on the show hoped the audience would ignore their absence too.)

Honerva asks, “Where are we?” and Allura answers, “The connected consciousness of all existence.” Is this different that the connected consciousness the Paladins used to get into Honerva’s mind in 8x09 “Knights of Light Part 1?” This connected consciousness definitely looks different than that collected consciousness.

Honerva continues to be annoying. “You think you’re safe here? Soon, all will cease to exist.” Hunk replies, “You have to stop this. All these worlds, all these realities, they deserve to live.” What does he mean “all these?” We were just told a moment ago that there’s only one single reality left. Also, why is he framing this as Honerva has to stop doing what she’s doing? Why aren’t the Paladins actively stopping her? This comes back to what I said earlier that this plot only has the Paladins reacting to things. This is being framed as Honerva has to stop herself, not that the Paladins have to stop her. The locus of action for this plot has been placed exclusively within Honerva’s character, not in any of the protagonists. That makes this story weak.

Honerva says, “Those realities are flawed and weak, living out the same pathetic cycle of war and pain.” This philosophy is woefully uninteresting. It feels so weird hearing Honerva say this since she’s been such a huge inflictor of war and pain. She has no validity to speak in objection to war and pain. I can’t take her character seriously because she’s been written to say stuff like this that so diametrically opposite to how she has behaved. Also, if she’s condemning all realties for being flawed, does that mean that she thinks that she is flawless?

A scene of conversation like this at a point of climax in a story should produce a sense of enlightenment, but this doesn’t. It doesn’t work because Honerva’s comments and perspective aren’t, pardon the phrase given this story, grounded in reality.

How did Honerva’s psychology progress from an alternate reality version of her son won’t accept her as his long-dead mother to her having a problem with war and pain? There’s a lot of steps missing between those two mentalities.

Allura responds, “There is beauty in their flaws.” I have actively tried to avoid comparing this show to other stories, but I can’t talk about this line without doing so. This line instantly made me think of a far better-written conversation between a protagonist and the antagonist in a specific Marvel film. That Marvel scene felt poignant, but Allura saying it here does not. For this to have emotional weight coming from Allura, her struggling with her personal flaws would have had to be a much larger, prominent part of her character arc. I want to say that this statement would be better coming from Lance, but then the show gave up on doing anything with Lance and his feeling deeply insecure.

Allura goes on about the war killing her family and her whole planet but that she now has a new family. I wish it felt like they were a family. She also says she’s gained “a purpose stronger than any I could have imagined.” What purpose is that? Beyond stop-the-Galra, which turned into stop-Honerva, what has Allura expressed as feeling like her purpose is? Allura and whatever goals she might have or could have had haven’t been the driving force behind this story for a long time. Narratively, Allura’s purpose has been to wait around until the show got this last episode so that she can die and magically reboot all realities.

Pidge says, “Humans began very flawed. There were wars, hate, but with each mistake they learned and grew.” Is Pidge saying that humans in this story have ceased being “very flawed?”

Shiro picks up from Pidge, saying, “And now we reach out to other worlds, to pass on those same lessons and spread them across the entire universe, like your people once did.” I don’t like this idea that seems built into this dialog that humanity has moved beyond being flawed and that humanity can now function as some kind of lord handing out enlightenment to other worlds. This is a very arrogant perspective.

Hunk continues, “And with every new world touched, the message grows.”

Keith then says, “Every world. Every reality. We wouldn’t exist without the others.” Uh, yes we would. Keith personally might not exist without another world since he’s half-human and half-Galra, but humans here on Earth exist without needing other life on some other planet elsewhere to also exist. The ideal that every person has value is great, but Keith’s statement seems like it goes too far.

Lance says, “Our differences are what make us stronger.” I can agree with that.

Honerva responds, “You think your words mean anything to me? I’ve lived multiple lifetimes, and all of them filled with pain and loss.” Since when? Honerva has lived 10,000 years, that is not the same thing as having “lived multiple lifetimes.” Where did this suddenly come from? She mentioned it last episode too. When talking to alternate-Zarkon, she said, “I’ve spent lifetimes trying to get back.” I don’t if this is just really badly written, like the writers have conflated living one life for 10,000 years with living multiple lifetimes, or is this something left over from the season being revised (not even necessarily the re-edit that some fans think happened, but just something fundamentally changing in the story in the middle of production)?

In 8x06 “Genesis” where Honerva is at the two-hand pedestal and is in the process of bringing Sincline back, we see different realities temporarily mixing with the main reality. There’s a moment where Honerva’s appearance changes several times. At first, I had thought she was shapeshifting back and forth between Honerva and Haggar, but then I wondered if we were seeing multiple different Honervas all doing the same thing the main Honerva was doing at their respective Oriandes. Thinking of that again now that Honerva has twice referenced living multiple lifetimes, I wonder if maybe that was originally what was happening in that moment in Genesis. Maybe an earlier version of this season had Honervas from different realities combining into one Honerva, and these two comments that she’s lived multiple lifetimes are artifacts in the dialog of an earlier version of the season’s story.

If there isn’t some kind of explanation involving a story revised while the season was well into production, then her making this comment about having lived “multiple lifetimes” makes no sense.

She continues, and her voice really bothers me here: “If I cannot experience the simple joys of life, why should anyone else!?” There is a flatness to the sound of her voice. The story and dialog seem to want to evoke sympathy for Honerva, but she’s not behaving like a sympathetic person. The expectation placed on the audience by the narrative and the content the narrative is providing to the audience do not match. This statement she just made is incredibly selfish. We’re supposed to feel sympathy for someone who thinks like this?

I’ve personally had more than a few problems in life, but I don’t resent other people for having better lives than I have. I want people to have better lives than I have specifically because of how much pain I’ve felt in my life.

This show wants us to feel sympathy for Honerva right now, but the method they’ve used to try to evoke that sympathy – having her say, “If I cannot experience the simple joys of life, why should anyone else!?” – demonstrates that Honerva herself is not capable of feeling sympathy for others.

And is this perspective Honerva’s speaking from right now supposed to be her still behaving under the influence of quintessence poisoning? Is she still being influenced by the rift entity? Or is this the real Honerva? It feels like the real Honerva to me. This selfishness she’s speaking with here feels exactly like how Honerva pre-quintessence poisoning in 3x07 “The Legend Begins” felt to me. This is why it’s absurd that the show absolves her abuse, torture, and genocide by layering the quintessence poisoning and rift entity possession excuses on top of her character. This is what’s underneath all those excuses: Honerva is not a good person. Her abusive, torturing, genocidal behavior comes, not from her having been poisoned, not from having been possessed, but from her own inability to feel sympathy for others.

Allura touches Honerva’s head similarly to how she touched Zarkon’s head in 8x10 “Knights of Light Part 2.” With Zarkon, she was angry and showed him all the horrible things he did in his life since he couldn’t remember them. Now, Allura is calm and makes Honerva see her happy memories.

Allura says, “There was a time when you loved more than just your family.” This show has not shown Honerva having ever loved her family, nor has it shown her having ever loved anything. Having a couple of still images here or in “Knights of Light Part 2” does not actually show us Honerva having once been a happy, normal person. These still images that are shown now as Allura’s speaking are a total retcon of Honerva’s character. Throwing this content, these images, these claims in now right at the end of the show is contrary to how this character has been portrayed for eight seasons. This just feels like the show lying to me.

Allura continues, “A time when your fascination with how vast the universe is gave way to your desire to help and uplift others.” Honerva has never once in this show been shown to have acted in any way that uplifted anyone else. It is so offensive to me that this episode literally just showed Honerva being incredibly selfish at the core of her being, and now the show is telling me that she used to be a person who “help[ed] and uplift[ed] others.” This claim that she used to be a good person is not supported by literally any of the content of her in this show. Allura just saying it, having a couple of still images right now, is not this show having established Honerva to have once been a good person. Again, I feel like this show is lying to me right now.

A video-memory of Allura and Lotor together appears in the mist of the two of them in the pyramid on Oriande in 5x06 “White Lion.” Honerva says, “You tried to help him.” I guess she did until she turned against him because someone told her that he had been drawing quintessence from Alteans. Even after Allura threw Lotor across the room in rejection of him, before Voltron and Lotor started fighting in 6x07 “Defender of All Universes,” Lotor still tried to get Allura to not reject him. But she did, and they fought, and the Paladins let him die in the quintessence field.

Honerva continues, “He was happy.” Lotor did seem happy with Allura. But this show told us through the story between 6x04 “The Colony” and “Defender of All Universes” and in conversation with Axca at the end of 7x03 “The Way Forward” that all these happy moments Lotor had with Allura was just Lotor lying and manipulating her.

This is so infuriating! The show introduced Lotor as someone who was abused by his parents, who was mired in the toxicity of his culture, who was subject to ridicule for wanting to treat people better. The show then did its surprise-twist to say that Lotor had been lying the entire time and that he really was “evil” all along. That surprise-twist was a giant retcon of his character. And now, the show is re-retconning him back to having been genuinely happy when he was with Allura in season five? I mean, I would like to have most of season six not exist either, but this show made that season. And they made that season specifically to defile everything about Lotor that had come before. And now the show is doing this. When Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery wrote this final episode, did they think that we had forgotten what they did to Lotor in season six?

Honerva says, “He deserved better, better than I could give.” He deserved better than this show’s executive producers and writers gave him for sure. Also, I don’t care about Honerva wishing she could have been a better mother to him now. I have seen this woman literally inflict so much pain on her son that he passed out. I don’t care if she feels bad about it now. I hate that this show is presenting the supposed sadness of an abusive parent reflecting on having abused their child as if their feeling sad about having been a horrible person is important. I care about the wellbeing of the abused, not about the wellbeing of the abuser.

Allura says, “Lotor may have been misguided, but ultimately, he wanted to preserve life.” Where was this understanding from Allura about Lotor trying to preserve life when Lotor was literally telling her this to her face? She rejected his explanations for his behavior. She repeatedly said what he told her was all a lie. The show itself did everything it could to reinforce the conclusion that Lotor was “evil” and that he had been manipulating everyone the whole time.

It infuriates me.

Allura says, “Honor your son. Help me change this.” Honerva responds, “I’m sorry, but the damage is done.” Yeah, the damage that the EPs and writers of this show have done is done. JDS and LM might have written this ending to undo the destruction of all realities, but they cannot undo the damage they’ve caused as executive producers of this series.

Allura thinks for a moment and says, “I can change the quintessence within your vessel. Your son helped me learn how to transform it from a destructive force into a life-giving force.” Here at the end of this show, I still do not understand quintessence. We have been told time and again that quintessence is life energy. That it is inherently life energy. That it is energy produced by living things. That’s how the Galra, that’s how Honerva has gained quintessence, by taking it from living things. So, how is it according to Allura here that quintessence is a “destructive force” that she through Altean alchemy can turn into a “life-giving force?” It has always been a life-giving force. Why did this show have so much trouble keeping something this simple and this fundamental to the story straight? Why is this story even now fundamentally contradicting itself?

Allura says, “But I cannot do it alone,” and holds out her hand to Honerva. Honerva says, “But that would require—” and her voice falls away, and Allura says, “I know the risks.” How/why does Honerva seemingly jump to the conclusion that what Allura is talking about will result in their both dying? Characters throughout this series have jumped to a lot of conclusions, but why does Honerva jump to this conclusion?

Also, if Allura’s plan of action is to generate a lot of “life-giving force” what about this requires her to die? The logic of this resolution makes literally zero sense. Allura’s not about to die because that’s the inevitable outcome of this story. She’s about to die because Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery wanted to kill her. It is that simple. JDS and LM wanted to kill Allura, and they made it happen even though there is literally no reason in this story for it to happen.

I know JDS and LM have said that this is a story about sacrifice, but if it is, this seems like it comes out of a perspective of people who have never had to sacrifice anything.

And let me talk about how offensive it is for this show to do this. Allura is a female character of color in an action-adventure animated kids show. This does not happen often, if at all. So, it was amazing to have a female character of color in this show. It made the show seem, for a while at least, like the people working on this show cared about inclusiveness and diversity. They’ve showed us before that they really didn’t with how they treated Shiro’s character. And now, they’re showing again that they didn’t with how they’re killing Allura.

Allura is a female character of color. She’s a character who can use magic. And here, the story kills her to magically solve everyone’s problems. In this series, Allura had been a princess, a genocide survivor, a leader, and a friend. But here, in the end, the show reduces her into nothing more than a magical negress stereotype. If you think that the magical negro/negress stereotype is not a thing, then do some research. There is a long, long history of this stereotype used in black characters in stories. It is a deeply racist stereotype. Often when a character of color is used as a magical negro/negress, the writer thinks that they’re actually doing a good thing by writing them positively: Look at how awesome the character is, they have magical powers! But they’re written to have those magical powers to solve other characters’ problems, so that makes the magical negro/negress character subordinate to the other characters. Voltron Legendary Defender takes its one main character who is a female character of color and kills her to magically fix everything.

Part of me wants to characterize the blame for this as the result of VLD having been written primarily by a bunch of white men. But I feel like that’s just giving them an excuse. I am a white man, but I have at least a bit of understanding about why the show killing Allura to magically solve everyone’s problem is offensive.  

Given how this show handled Shiro being Asian and gay and having a disability, given how this show had Lance’s being Cuban pretty much in name-only, given how Hunk’s ethnicity is never really defined at all in the show, given how the show had Zarkon speaking with praise about Keith in saying Keith’s leadership comes from Keith being half-Galra, I just don’t think most of the people who were in control of this show’s story, especially Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery, bothered to educate themselves about different constituencies of diversity. I think they were/are oblivious to how hurtful so much of what they wrote into this story has been.

JDS and LM wanted a story with a theme about sacrifice, they’ve said. They seem to think that that means characters must die. I think that they thought they were making it better when, in one of the interviews earlier this year, said that they considered killing all the main characters here at the end of the show. That just sort of emphasizes that they specifically chose Allura to kill to magically fix everything for everyone else in the story.

I don’t think the solution was to kill any of the main characters. Allure here told Honerva that she’s going to use energy that’s in Honerva’s mecha to do this. The show could totally have had Allura have to use, and thus sacrifice, the Lions of Voltron to make this reboot happen. The EPs chose to kill Allura.

Honerva takes Allura’s hand and stands up, and Allura then turns to the others and says, “I’m afraid this is where we part ways.” She tells the others that this “is [her] purpose.” Ugh!

Hunk tells her, “There is no Voltron without you,” and she replies, “Voltron isn’t needed anymore.” How is that accurate? The universe is now going to be an unrealistic peaceful utopia for everyone now?

Allura says, “The rest of the work is up to the people, and they’ll have you to guide them Hunk,” and she hugs him as he cries.

She hugs Pidge and says, “Remain curious and fearless.”

As much as I have a lot of criticism for what’s happening, I do still feel the emotion of it. And Shiro talking to Allura breaks me. I’m actually crying now:

Shiro says, “Most of them won’t know the sacrifice you made so they could live.” Allura says, “And they’ll never need to. Your selflessness taught me that.” They hug. Allura says, “Thank you.” Shiro says, “You never have to thank me for anything.”

Allura moves down the line, “Keith, I cannot thank you enough for all you’ve given me.” Keith says, “Allura, when you accepted me, it helped me to accept myself. Thank you.” Allura hugs him and says, “There is greatness in your heart and in your actions.”

Then she comes to Lance. He says, “No, Allura, there has to be another way.” She says, “There is no other way. This is all we have.” He says, “You’re too important to the cause. You’re too important to me.” She says, “I’ll always be with you Lance. And I’ll always love you.” She kisses him and Altean facial markings appear on his face.

What in the world does Lance getting Altean facial markings mean? There is never an explanation for them.

The light in this long scene has been white, but now it turns yellow. The light in the distance beams like a sun. Allura and Honerva look toward it. In the light stand Alfor, Lotor, Zarkon, Blaytz, Gyrgan, and Trigel. Allura and Honerva walk into the light.

Allura turns back to look at the Paladins one last time before heading on into the light.

(I hate that a story as hurtful and offensive as this is still making me cry.)

The light fades and Voltron and Honerva’s mecha remain. Light shrinks down into a point until everything goes dark then light explodes outward. The strands of existences spring back into existence.

The Lions and the Atlas are separated. Keith quietly asks, “Is this?” and Pidge confirms, “Yeah, it’s our reality.” The cockpit of the Blue Lion is empty.

Hunk sees a planet, “I don’t remember that planet being there before.” Lance looks up, “It’s Altea.”

Cut to “One Year Later…”

(This commentary continues in part 2.) 

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x12 – “The Zenith” (part 2)

8x12 – “The Zenith”

Because of how long this commentary is, I decided to post it as two parts. Here’s a link to the first part.

Picking up halfway through the episode, Voltron moves through the second rift.

Coran, Sam, and Slav are on the pyramid. Coran touches the two pillars of the pedestal. Only Allura and Honerva have ever been able to operate pedestals like this, but somehow, Coran can now use the pedestal too. Slav says, “If we hit [the rift] with enough energy, it should seal.”

Coran asks, “Are the Alteans in place.” I have no idea who actually answers Coran. Some ethereal, disembodied female voice says, “They’re set.” Is the Balmera talking to Coran? This is so absurd that I am literally laughing out loud.

Voltron arrives in another reality and there is yet another rift there. So, Pidge’s comment a minute ago that “the rift must lead directly to the reality Honerva’s been looking for” is now conclusively untrue. The show gives literally no explanation for why Honerva tore through all these other realities. I have never seen a story treat alternate realities like rooms of a building where you have to go through multiple rooms to get to the room you want to be in. This show treating alternate realities this way makes the whole premise simplistic and silly.

Allura gives us some sophomoric foreshadowing: “I fear [Honerva] has started a chain reaction that can never be undone.” Voltron flies through the next new rift.

The Balmeras send their energy into the pyramid, which redirects it to the rift, and Coran says, “It’s working […] holding the rift together.” Coran’s earlier stated goal wasn’t to hold the rift together but to keep the universe from collapsing. The presence of the rift was supposedly what would cause the universe to collapse, but now he’s trying to hold the rift together? Wouldn’t they want the rift to cease being open because it being open is what’s causing the universe to collapse? Also, the other realities Honerva has tore through are deteriorating rapidly, so why isn’t this main universe in a worse state of collapse than the other realities we’ve now seen since the rift has been tearing through reality here longer than the rifts in the other realities have existed?

Voltron makes it into the next reality, and Honerva’s mecha is floating there, waiting for them. She hits them with a wing-blade. Keith yells, “Countermeasures,” but I don’t know what he means by that because Voltron doesn’t do anything in response to him saying it. Then there’s a dark bubble around Voltron that Honerva created, but I don’t know what precisely it does beyond make Keith briefly grunt because she stops creating the bubble so that she can tuck her mecha into a ball and roll herself into Voltron, sending Voltron slamming into the ground. She then throws a ball of wispy black energy at Voltron. Keith yells, “Form sword” and volleys the ball back at her like they’re playing tennis. Honerva dodges out of the way. There’s a really, really large arch or some kind of structure above them that the ball hits and it explodes.

The combined form of Voltron and the Atlas does actually look cool.

Sam says, “Our current power level isn’t enough to maintain the rift.” I don’t understand why they’re holding the rift open if the existence of the rift is the problem. It feels like something is missing. Again, Coran coming here was supposed to be him working a plan to solve the collapse of the universe. But now that he’s here, his goal is holding open the rift.

Now, Coran says, “Then we’ll hold it as long as we can. Every tick gives Voltron a chance.” Something is definitely missing, or this episode is made out of different stories spliced together. What their goals are now are not the goals the episode had them speak about and act toward earlier. This is the first time that anyone has said anything about the goal being holding the rift open for Voltron. Coran’s actions are supposed to be about closing the rift, not keeping it open.

In warps several Galra ships. Krolia, who would have no idea Coran is leading this effort, calls out to him, asking what they can do to help. Remember the big war meeting at the beginning of last episode? Remember what Krolia said she was going to do? She specifically said that she was going to go get a zaiforge cannon to use in the fight against Honerva. Guess what the show has forgotten about: the zaiforge cannon. Just like the weapons’ upgrade and the needed Balmeran crystal to power it, the zaiforge cannon is now completely forgotten.

Coran tells her that they need more energy. How can Galra ships generate enough energy above what nine Balmera can? Coran says that they’re trying to “prevent the rift from expanding further.” But just a few seconds ago, they were trying to hold the rift open, not keep it from expanding. Sam had said that they didn’t have enough power “to maintain the rift” now they’re back to trying to “prevent the rift from expanding.”

This episode cannot make up its mind what is actually happening. What are these characters trying to do?

Krolia orders the Galra fleet to shoot their ion cannons at the pyramids. So, no zaiforge cannon.

Honerva flies up in the sky, spreads her wing-blades, and the tips of the wings shoot many energy blasts at Voltron. The multitude of new weapons and attacks being used in this episode is overwhelming. It makes me want to give up trying to follow the combat because there’s always going to be some new, random thing that they can do that has no set-up. Voltron again slams into the ground.

Voltron swooshes away from where Honerva’s blasts are targeted and then blasts at her in return with Voltron’s chest. They don’t hit. Honerva hits Voltron with another ball of black energy and then slams Voltron into the ground with her tail. She pins Voltron down with a couple of wing-blades and then draws energy out of Voltron.

This reality starts to disappear starting around the horizon and moving upward through the sky toward a rift in the sky that has not been there until right now. If Honerva had made it to this reality but ran out of energy and thus had to drain Voltron and use that energy to create another rift, then maybe that would explain why she was just waiting here to fight Voltron. But, Honerva is not shown creating this new rift. So, either this new rift comes out of nowhere without her having to create it, or the rift has existed the whole time but somehow was never shown and she had no reason to wait here to attack Voltron.

Honerva moves up through the rift. Voltron remains on the ground. Voltron is given time to pretend that this is the end of the heroes, the villain’s won, Voltron can’t move, the Paladins themselves are weak, and this reality has nearly disappeared. Nearly everyone – Lance, Hunk, Shiro, Allura, and Pidge – makes a statement of failure or doom, but then Keith gives the rallying speech. Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery wanted Keith to be the main character, and here he is being the main character. It will always just emphasize for me how much Shiro and Allura were the leaders of this team in seasons one and two, and then both of them were demoted so that Keith could ascend to be the main character. There is nothing about Keith’s story arc though that makes this plot and this battle have anything to do with him. Plot and character in this series is, or at least has become, completely disconnected from each other.

The big rallying speech should produce an uplifting feeling in the audience, but it actually makes me feel even more exhausted.

Voltron gets up, its wings open up, and Keith orders “fire boosters” and they fly upward.

Meanwhile in the main reality. The Galra and the Balmeras have run out of energy. The pyramid starts exploding. Sam says they can’t “contain the rift,” so their goal in this moment is not to hold the rift open. Coran’s plan fails. Regardless of if his goal was to contain the rift or to keep the rift open, they’re not now able to do either. So, what was the point in all this time spent doing whatever they were doing if it’s achieved nothing? There’s a bit explosion and everything goes white, and the main reality seems to have been destroyed.

Voltron is flying toward the rift in the reality they’re in. Reality is disappearing faster than Voltron is moving, so there is no way at the depicted rate of movement that Voltron could get through the rift before reality is gone. Also, what exactly is Voltron supposed to be in as it flies toward the rift if the only part of this reality that’s remaining is the area of the rift itself? How is there still space between Voltron and the rift for Voltron to be flying through?

Everything goes black before Voltron can go through the rift.

Cut to somewhere in space. Honerva is calmly, quietly flying to somewhere. She is eventually shown to be heading toward this reality’s Daibazaal. How did she select this reality? Why didn’t she just directly go from the main reality into this reality. Why does this reality look stable even though she would have had to tear a rift into this reality to be able to get in. If the existence of a rift causes a reality to disintegrate, then why isn’t this one disintegrating? Also, why is she going to Daibazaal? She had specifically gone to the location where Altea had been in the main reality to tear out of reality into the others there. All the other realities she’s been to, she’s been at Altea. But now, in the reality she wants to go to, she’s not at Altea. If she’s been headed to a version of Daibazaal this whole time, then why didn’t she go to where Daibazaal had been in the main reality? Why hasn’t she been at other Daibazaals as she went from one reality to the next?

There is nearly no logic to anything that has happened in this episode.

On the surface of Daibazaal, Zarkon and some other Galra are sparring. Honerva arrives. She teleports out of her mecha and onto the ground outside and walks toward Zarkon. Zarkon points his sword at her and tells her to identify herself.

Honerva says, “You don’t recognize me?” Uh, she’s wearing a weird outfit that covers up her chin, jaw, forehead, and part of her nose, and she’s some distance away from him, so I’m not surprised that it’s hard for him to tell who she is. “I’ve searched beyond the stars to be here, to be with you—” and she is shown walking out of a shadow cast by the setting sun being directly behind her, obscuring her face in the glare, so there’s even more reason for him to not recognize her, making her having said “you don’t recognize me” seem silly. She finishes, “—and to be with my son.”

Zarkon now recognizes her as Honerva. I don’t know if she is delusional here and thinks this is her Zarkon and that this reality will have her Lotor, or if she’s lying to them in hoping that they’ll think that she’s their Honerva.

Cut to inside a space ship. They’re heading to Altea. It just seems so weird to have presented this whole episode like Honerva was trying to get to alternate Alteas, only to then, when she finally gets to the reality that she’s chosen, go to Daibazaal, but then now they’re going to Altea. It makes this episode feel like it’s running around in circles. Zarkon says, “I vowed to raise our son as you would have wanted. He excels in his Altean studies. Lotor has his mother’s intellect.” Of course, this is meant to contrast with how the main Lotor was subject to brutal Galra studies, as seen in 8x02 “Shadows.” It just reminds me of how Lotor was abused by his parents.

On Altea, Alfor and his wife welcome Honerva. Allura steps forward to speak, and Honerva glares at her like she wants to attack her. If an alternate reality has an alternate Zarkon and an alternate Lotor, and an alternate Alfor, why would she be surprised that there’s an alternate Allura? Allura escorts Honerva to Lotor. Here, Lotor is a little kid. He runs toward Honerva but stops short. Honerva asks him to come to her. Lotor says, “No.” Zarkon tries to tell Lotor that his mother has returned, but Lotor says, “She’s not my mother.”

I really like little Lotor. He’s something I can say that I like about this episode.

Honerva tries to convince him that “her love for [him] is that of a mother for her child.” She then turns to the same old Honerva that she’s always been, that she was long before she was poisoned by quintessence and possessed by a rift entity.

Speaking of rift entities, notice how the one in Allura is now completely ignored.

Honerva grows a bit angry, “Come to me!” Lotor stares her down and firmly says, “She is not my mother.” Zarkon tells him, “Don’t speak like that.” It’s amazing that this Zarkon just trusts a woman who shows up and says she’s his long-lost wife. In a well written story (I’m thinking of a specific one in particular that I love), if a long-lost wife showed up out of nowhere, the husband would insist on a lot of tests to figure out who she is and what happened to her. Zarkon does nothing like that because this show doesn’t have people behave rationally.

Honerva says, “Please,” and holds out her hand. Lotor rejects her, “No! My mother is dead, and you cannot replace her.” Zarkon tries to say that Lotor is just overwhelmed. Honerva glares at Lotor. Little Lotor is clearly scared since he’s holding onto Zarkon’s leg for protection. Zarkon kind of pleads with Honerva and says, “If we had some time.”

That’s not acceptable to Honerva. I guess she thought this would be instant satisfaction for some reason. This show has acted like she looked through a lot of different realities to find her perfect one, but this one doesn’t work for her. Did she only just look no further than to find a reality in which that reality’s Honerva was dead? This falling apart so quickly makes it feel like she didn’t bother really looking at all.

She says, “Time? You speak to me of time? I’ve spent lifetimes trying to get back.” What is she talking about? She hasn’t spent lifetimes trying to get here. At most, she’s spent four years. How am I supposed to take her character seriously when her dialog and actions are written in such defiance of what the show has already showed? Just because this Honerva has lived for 10,000 years doesn’t mean she’s spent that time “trying to get back.”

Also, if she didn’t mind having an alternate reality version of Zarkon and Lotor, then she shouldn’t have minded having a clone of them either. So, why did she decide on the much more difficult tearing through other realities until she got here instead of the comparatively much simpler cloning method?

She continues, “Countless worlds have fallen in the wake of my efforts to return to you. And this is how you welcome me.” She creates a ball of black energy in her hand. Maybe this is supposed to be some kind of depiction of her getting what she wants only to have it not be what she wants, but this doesn’t work like that. For that kind of development to happen in a story, the thing that the character wants has to actually be acquired. She hasn’t actually gotten what she came here for. That kind of development is born out of showing how a character has changed internally between when they set the goal for themselves and when they achieved it. But Honerva hasn’t changed. She’s still the same, mean, brutal dictator that she’s always been.

“My own child, my own husband question who I am. I have sacrificed more than you will ever know.” No, she has not! The way she’s speaking right now is exactly how an abusive spouse and/or parent talks. (Trust me, I know.) It is so frustrating that this episode is reaffirming how abusive Honerva is only to come to the end next episode and absolve her of her behavior.

There’s a sound. Surprise!twist Voltron made it through the rift. So, the depiction of the rift closing and everything going black before they could go through was all just really transparent fakery. It makes that fake moment of them not getting through absurd because of course the conflict isn’t finished yet. Voltron’s arrival does not have a sense of a new surge toward victory for the protagonists. It’s more that it leaves me wondering what took them so long to get here.

Honerva’s eyes go wide. “No! It cannot be!” Why not? They’ve followed you through other realities before this, why is their coming through one more so impossible? I mean, I guess she thought she left them absolutely powerless in the previous reality, but really. They were chasing her before now, it shouldn’t seem weird that the chase isn’t finished.

Also, given the other realities disintegrated quickly, why hasn’t this reality disintegrated? It’s not even showing any signs of disintegration. Of course, the entire premise of realities disintegrating because someone tore into them is contrived and fluctuates depending on whatever the creative team wants to be happening at any given moment.

Zarkon yells at Honerva, “You brought this abomination upon us!?” Why would he think Voltron is an abomination? He yells some more, “You are not the Empress! You are not my wife!” He yells for the guards.

Honerva scowls, “If there is no place in this universe for me, then there will be no universe at all!” She teleports away. That’s cliché. Whatever complexity the writers thought they have been adding to Honerva’s character, this scorched-earth simplicity erases all of that. She’s back to being nothing but the uninteresting 80s cartoon villain she was as Haggar in the beginning of the series. She hasn’t actually developed as a character whatsoever.

Speaking of character, notice how this episode is concluding without any connectivity of this series’ plot connecting to any of the main characters. Literally everything in this plot now is driven by Honerva and her desires. None of the main characters have any desires beyond stop-the-villain. This is a huge part of why this show has fallen apart. The executive producers and the writers absolutely lost sight of the show’s main characters. This story has become the Honerva Show. She is not compelling enough to carry the show, especially since she’s not the protagonist.

Everyone in the Altean city seems to be freaking out over Voltron landing. There’s a twinkle in the sky above Voltron. It’s Honerva’s mecha, which lands near Voltron. She can apparently call her mecha to her from millions of miles away. She teleports into her seat in her mecha. There’s an awkward split-screen stare-down between Honerva on one side and the Paladins and Shiro on the other. The lighting of the various images used for Team Voltron and the different facial expressions don’t create a sense of unity of emotion among the six of them. It again looks like they just took six random pieces of animation and used it here. The episode ends.

This episode is a disaster. It is so hard to follow what’s happening, why it’s happening, what characters are trying to do. Characters’ goals fluctuate from one scene to the next. The entire inner story of the episode is given to Honerva, making the actual protagonists kind of superfluous. This episode could have the protagonists in this episode be literally anyone, and the story would not change.

Given how much of a mess this episode is, I can totally see how people think there has to be a late-production re-edit. I definitely get a feeling that this episode is made out of parts. I don’t know if that’s necessarily a sign that there was a concentrated re-edit effort. But there are definitely times in this episode where it feels like two separate versions of a script or multiple different episodes are being stitched together. There is a severe dissonance in how things some dialog doesn’t match other dialog, how events have a discontinuity with other events.

Something went wrong with this episode’s production.