#(muahahaha guess who has a new ship >:3)

[odanurr87]

Watching Voltron Season 3

Welcome to another epic instalment of Watching Voltron! Today, we’re watching Season 3 of the Legendary Defender. I already watched and commented Season 4 in case this post would be better served by commenting both seasons as a whole rather than separate. I was surprised to find that the last episode of Season 3, “The Legend Begins,” does work like a sort of season, or mid-season, finale. It’s a brief interlude, recounting the tale of the original Voltron paladins, before we’re back to the action with Season 4′s, “Code of Honor.” There’s a noticeable time skip between the two episodes and, more importantly perhaps, a shift in the way Team Voltron is working, that mark a clear separation between the two seasons, even if there is an overarching plot linking the two together.

Before we dive into it, I’ll leave you the links to my other Voltron reviews and commentaries:

Voltron Season 1 Review

Voltron Season 2 Commentary

Voltron Season 7 Commentary (yes, I have noticed the gap)

There we go. Now it’s time to watch Season 3 of Voltron: Legendary Defender!

Episode 301: Changing of the Guard

“We can’t always put the fate of the universe in the hands of a giant weapon.” Agreed.

Teamwork! Our Paladins are getting better.

Oh, I forgot, Lance still hasn’t grown up.

“The universe needs Voltron.” Not right now it doesn’t.

Lance standing up for Kolivan? I’m impressed.

You could’ve easily lied and said the lions were liberating other planets. It’s probably half right.

This season we’re getting Pidge’s brother back. Got it. (next season but so close!)

Don’t be an asshole, Keith. You were making such good progress last season.

Finding a new Black Paladin isn’t the same as giving up on Shiro.

Introducing new villains.

Why do they keep asking about Voltron? They’ve seen the lions, haven’t they?

Nice going, Keith. You just blew it.

I hate to bring this up again, but, seriously, this is supposed to be our mighty leader? Someone who can barely control his temper?

Badass villain introduction scene?

A conspiracy’s brewing.

What, does Lotor have Superman’s hearing now? I don’t like him already.

I’m skipping this. It’s obvious who’s winning the fight.

Meet evil Team Voltron.

Oh, so Lotor’s evil? Who knew? #sarcasm

Leave it to Lance to start the conversation.

Episode 302: Red Paladin

Surely calling for help would’ve been the first thing to do, right?

Oh, god, it’s Kuvira all over again. This is gonna be painful to watch.

“Keith would be the worst leader of Voltron.” I have to agree, we’ve seen nothing to show us otherwise. Won’t stop the show from making him the leader though.

“And Lance is the goofball.” How long are you going to keep this up, show?

It’s about time Allura joined Team Voltron!

“Keith, stat, make me a sandwich. I’m the leader now!” Hunk’s trial was the best!

“This is your moment.” That’s precisely why you’re not fit to be the leader at this time, Lance.

Yup, the Black Lion chooses Keith. Shocker. You could’ve at least set him up better in previous seasons. Whatever.

At least Keith is willing to admit it. Gotta give him props for that.

Wow, that was rather wise and accepting coming from Lance. In fact, I could picture Shiro saying the exact same thing. There’s leader material somewhere in there!

No takers for Red?

Admiral Ackbar said it best, “It’s a trap!”

Blue’s not responding? I think I know why.

“No way. Keith probably trained it to bite my head off.” I chuckled.

The first of several parallels between Lance and King Alfor.

Lance got the hang of Red pretty fast.

Allura joins the fight!

“Sometimes what we want isn’t necessarily what we get.” Someone’s giving Lance some great lines this season.

“This is how I lead.” By totally blindsiding your teammates?

Episode 303: The Hunted

No, Hunk, attacking right now is a decidedly bad idea.

A single fighter against all five lions. I guess it’s time to show how badass Lotor is. I’m rolling my eyes.

“Everyone stay out of my way.” Great leadership.

Now the enemy knows you can’t form Voltron. Happy now, Keith?

I know I’m getting ahead of myself but, how could anyone trust Lotor after pulling this shit?

There’s only so many times I can bring up Keith being reckless and a bad leader.

Lance’s back to being the rational one.

The explosions damage the lions but not Lotor’s ship? Okay.

About time you recognized you screwed up. I’m liking the Keith-Lance dynamic here.

“What would Lance do?” I don’t think that’s the right question to ask.

“The universe depends on me.” Whoa, slow down there.

“Someone’s learning.” Someone’s a little full of himself.

Voltron’s back, baby!

All that he’s missing is an evil moustache.

Episode 304: Hole in the Sky

Well, considering you learned in the previous season that Haggar’s Altean, I’d say it’s certain you and Coran are not the last Alteans.

Why not try tugging it out of that hole first?

First, the fact that a distress call was triggered doesn’t mean someone’s alive on that ship. Second, I can’t believe Keith is going all prudent on me, but I agree, this is probably a trap.

“I’ll do it myself if I have to.” Who’s being reckless now, huh?

Hang on, hang on. They’re only now realizing this “wormhole” connects to a different universe? Did they fail to see the other half of the ship wasn’t there when they crossed?

Alternate realities! This is shaping up to be an interesting one.

Couldn’t you have told them Alteans are evil in this reality?

Do we really need to have Lotor and his cronies every single episode?

Lotor wants to create his own Voltron. Got it.

Altea’s rule, huh? That doesn’t sound good.

The hoktril. Need any more evidence?

Someone needs Allura as a puppet head. (getting the ship moving works too, but I’d have preferred if they’d tried to convince her to impersonate Empress Allura)

The Alteans’ true colors revealed at last. Muahahaha!

Remember when Allura gets tricked by Lotor later in the series? Someone should’ve made her rewatch this episode.

Steal the comet? Why not blow up the ship? Who wants to bet the episode ends with Lotor getting his hands on that comet? This is so predictable it’s boring.

What did I say? Boring. None of Lotor’s victories have been earned, it’s like he’s getting a free pass to the season finale.

Episode 305: The Journey

Is that you, Shiro?

Something’s wrong here.

What are you remembering?

Oh, so they let him go. Trap anyone? I wonder if these guys are working for Haggar and not Lotor.

Well, looks like stage three of Operation Kuron was short lived.

Lucky that’s water and it isn’t poisonous.

Looks like there’s a lot of people invested in Operation Kuron not failing.

Subject Y0XT39, huh? You mean there were more of him?

That anomaly is probably the guy sent to spy on Lotor, right? Figures.

Self-destruct?

Oh, so this episode takes place at the same time Episode 3 does?

He didn’t get to Voltron in time. Not quite what I’ve come to expect from this show.

They found him in the end though.

That ending was… odd?

Episode 306: Tailing a Comet

Lance has a sniper rifle now.

I’d say Allura’s way past learning to use her bayard.

Black Lion’s ability to teleport? Why would it teleport its pilot away from it?

Shiro’s back. Wait, weird headache? I suspect foul play!

Shiro took command awfully fast.

I know this scene, I’ve talked about it before. Lance is willing to give up his spot on Voltron for the good of the team. An unexpectedly selfless gesture on his part.

Uncomfortable moment for Shiro and Keith. I feel bad for Keith, he only led Team Voltron for two episodes and now he’s out.

Civil war!

Keith is being the bigger man here. I feel it was Shiro’s place to stay put.

The Black Lion isn’t recognizing Shiro. The plot thickens.

Oh, it’s that guy again.

I don’t get it. Why is Lotor infiltrating a base under his command? Didn’t he have the comet already?

They’re after the teludav?

He made a ship out of the comet? A prototype?

So this is one of Haggar’s bases. Got it.

Remember what happened the last time you tried to go after Lotor, Keith.

It was Acxa alright.

Keith’s learning teleportation, nice!

Why didn’t they blow up the fighter while they had the chance?

It’s too quick for Voltron? Okay.

Well, it’s easier to destroy the cargo ship, right?

Is Lotor tapping into their communications that he knows what they’re going to do?

Good one, Keith!

Episode 307: The Legend Begins

Are we getting a flashback episode?

Flashback episode!

So Alfor was the Lance of the group? That is... interesting.

Zarkon meets his wife. Also, he was scared of a cat. Just saying.

Yes, pursuing knowledge is good but nothing says you can’t be prudent about it. What am I saying, this is Haggar we’re talking about.

Looks like someone screwed up.

No doubt about it, King Alfor had style!

What if the lions hadn’t chosen any of them? That would’ve been quite the predicament.

Oh, so when Alfor built these lions he didn’t know they could turn into Voltron? Guess there’s precedent for the Atlas then. Damn.

That’s it? One punch and it’s down? These paladins had it easy!

Not so fast!

Thus begins the rift and Zarkon’s turn to the dark side.

Yeah, yeah, and what else did they discover while Voltron was protecting the universe?

Daibazaal is about to pull a Krypton.

Alfor should’ve probably blasted the thing with his lion then and there.

Something tells me Zarkon is not being straight with the paladins.

How did Alfor send away the Black Lion? Did he shortly become his paladin, like Keith?

It kinda works as a season finale, doesn’t it? Hmm, perhaps more of a mid-season finale.

Closing Thoughts

Not much to say other than that I feel Lotor is not as good a villain as Zarkon was in previous seasons. Like I said in my commentary, Lotor’s victories are unearned most of the time and, naturally, he’s good at everything: fighter and melee combat, strategy and tactics, alchemy, etc. He can anticipate anyone and has planned for everything. In other words, he’s so perfect right off the bat he’s boring. Zarkon may be an archetype, true, but at least he’s an archetype done right. The only new villain I could kind of get invested in was Acxa, given her previous interaction with Team Voltron and her restraint when facing her enemies, unlike her partners. Having said that, evil Team Voltron didn’t do it for me.

Beyond that, Lance unexpectedly comes to terms rather easily with the idea of Keith leading the team, going so far as to encourage him to accept the Black Lion’s choice. Despite a catastrophic first mission as leader of Voltron, Keith eventually recognizes he messed up in a heartfelt conversation with Lance, and becomes more prudent as a result, slowly growing into his leadership role. Sadly, that’s all out the window come Season 4, but that’s a story for another post.

Having read that Shiro’s quick return was mandated by the show’s executives, I didn’t expect it to be nearly as good as it was. Even though it didn’t feature Voltron or the paladins, it was an entertaining episode overall, hinting at a bigger mystery left to unravel. However, it’s unfortunate since Shiro’s return cuts short Keith’s growth as the team leader, a fact the writers decided to double down on in Season 4. I was honestly looking forward to seeing Keith and Lance settle into their roles as leader and second-in-command, and how their relationship evolved as a result.

Going back to the past with the last episode was a fitting choice to end the season, all things considered. While not as good as The Legend of Korra’s “Beginnings” two-parter (few episodes can be), “The Legend Begins” serves the same purpose by exploring the origins of Voltron, the rise of the Paladins, and the tragedy of Zarkon and Honerva (Haggar). I must say it’s impressive how deftly it achieves this over the span of 20 minutes, though I’ll admit I found Honerva’s radical transformation a little harder to swallow than Zarkon’s.

Not a half-bad season all in all, but still not as tight as Season 1. Also, I’ve only just noticed, was there less humour this time around? Could be, could be, and that’s not bad at all in my book. See you around in Season 4!