The first half of Voltron: Legendary Defender season 3 deals with rebuilding the team and reforming Votron, all the while a new adversary schemes.
Warning: SPOILERS for Voltron: Legendary Defender season 3 ahead!
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Voltron: Legendary Defender has been a big success, captivating fans both new and old with its version of Voltron defending the universe from the Galra Empire. Not at all a continuation of the classic 1980s cartoon but more of a straight reboot, Legendary Defender manages to update the source material while staying true to its roots, weaving the Voltron saga in with the more personal hurdles each Paladin must face.
And after two seasons, there have been more than few hurdles: the team as a whole has had to come together and learned to fight as one as each Paladin also learned to truly bond with their Lion in order to unlock its full potential. Learning to form Voltron was only ever one step, to really cut it as the legendary defender, everyone - not just the Paladins, but Princess Allura and Coran, too - had to learn trust in each other and their abilities.
Now, in the aftermath of the season 2 finale, Team Volton will basically need to do that all over again. With Shiro's abrupt and unexplained disappearance, season 3 is very much a period of adjustment. And not just to being down one Paladin, but to being faced with a whole new kind of villain.
Page 1 (this page): Episode 1 - Changing of the Guard
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Episode 1 - Changing of the Guard
With Zarkon's defeat, planets across the universe are beginning to fight back and declare their independence. There to help them, as always, are the Paladins of Voltron, pushing back against the forces of the Galra Empire. What's not been there, however, is Voltron. The giant robot hasn't appeared anywhere since its battle with Zarkon, and those civilizations that have placed all their hopes in Voltron to keep them safe and defended are beginning to take notice.
The growing questions about Voltron's absence aren't lost on the Paladins or Allura, but to them it's so much bigger than losing Voltron - they've lost their team leader and friend, Shiro. And his absence even more so than Voltron's weighs heavily over this first episode, affecting each character and influencing how they're reacting to the growing rebellion and their responsibility to it. For Keith, it's even more than losing a friend and mentor, it's a realization that his time to lead the team has come much sooner than he expected. Unsurprisingly, he isn't handling it well, acting more distant than usual and becoming hostile whenever someone suggests finding a new pilot for the Black Lion. And while Keith's becoming the leader has been telegraphed for some time - not to mention it's how it plays out in the original cartoon - having him grapple with that responsibility is a necessary step in his journey, requiring him to accept the role rather than it being simply thrust upon him.
Not all of 'Changing the Guard' is filled with such heavy contemplation, however, and the lighthearted spirit fans love about the show and its characters remains. Coran has a great bit about what percentage hors d'oeuvres play in diplomacy, Lance and Hunk show off what skilled pilots they've become when helping to free the planet Puiga, and the later dinner scene, though emblematic of the struggles their growing alliance will face, still includes some funny moments to cut the tension. ("I'll have a pizza roll.")
This beginning to season 3 is all about change and how its characters react to it, and nowhere is there a bigger change than with the introduction of a new villain. Longtime Voltron fans have been waiting for Prince Lotor to appear, and hopefully, they aren't disappointed because his arrival signals a real shake-up in how the show will operate. Where Zarkon - who isn't necessarily gone, but severely injured enough that he isn't in any position to lead let alone antagonize - was hell-bent on capturing Voltron, Lotor has a more insidious agenda. He's pleasant, charming, and understands that by assimilating your enemies rather than destroying them, it's easier to hold on to power. It's a vastly different strategy and one that Team Voltron may not be equipped to counter.
Episode 2 - Red Paladin
Along with being a different sort of villain, Lotor quickly displays that he's also a different sort of Galran. Each of his closest generals are not pure-Galra, but rather "half-breeds" with a mixed heritage of Galran and something else. They're so unlike what we've seen from the Galra Empire so far, and when they attack Puiga, it's immediately evident why allowing other races to fight for you can be so advantageous. Lotor's generals are also all women, which frankly, isn't all that strange for a show that's made a point of giving female characters important and diverse roles, but it's welcomed all the same as it isn't really the norm among action cartoons. They also kick butt, displaying unique abilities that should have fans excited for when they will inevitably square off against the Paladins.
Until then, however, 'Red Paladin' gives us Lotor's slow examination of his enemies as he unleashes an attack against Team Voltron for the sole purpose of sizing them up. It is again unlike anything his father would have attempted, engaging the Paladins in a way that allows him to learn about them before ever putting himself or his generals at risk of defeat. In a way, Lotor is similar to Grand Admiral Thrawn on Star Wars Rebels, an adversary with a dramatically different way of approaching his enemy, livening up a conflict that's now two seasons old.
And Lotor's plan works brilliantly because these aren't the same Paladins his father faced, but a new team that's still learning to work together. How the characters shift into their new roles isn't at all surprising - Keith takes over the Black Lion, Lance the Red, and Allura joins them in the Blue, just like in the original cartoon - but the reasons given reveal how the team's dynamics have evolved. Keith is finally accepting his role as leader, though the adjustment isn't an easy one; Lance, having yearned to pilot the Black Lion himself, puts what's best for the team over his own desires, displaying traits that make him the best choice to be Keith's right hand; and Allura, who so desperately wished she could fight alongside the Paladins (though she's certainly been doing her part piloting the castle) is finally accepted by the Blue Lion.
Plus, the scenes of Pidge and Hunk taking their shot at piloting the Black Lion are pretty hilarious, reaffirming why they pilot the Lions they do, as is Lance's utter confusion when the Blue Lion rejects him and Keith's continued possessiveness towards the Red Lion. So at least not everything is changing.
Episode 3 - The Hunted
Having a Paladin for each Lion isn't all that's required to form Voltron. What's needed is a team that works together as a cohesive unit - something that this team is so far incapable of doing. Having placed a tracker on Lotor's ship, Keith decides they should pursue it and take out Zarkon's heir now. It's an impulsive decision, but then that's Keith.
His foolish decision only ends up creating more opportunities for Lotor, who chooses to fly out alone and face the Paladins himself. And while the ensuing battle makes for some striking action, it only exposes how terribly out of sync the Paladins are with each other and their lions. Keith isn't leading but trying to take on Lotor all by himself; Lance isn't helping but rather harping on Keith's poor leadership; and Allura isn't listening, ignoring any of the advice her fellow Paladins offer. In short, they're a total mess.
Realizing how inept they are, Lotor devises a trap in where he leads them to a planet engulfed in a storm which will distort their sensors. Flying basically blind, their inability to work as a team ends up with everyone separated - a literal representation of their own shortcomings as a team. In the end, it's Allura, their newest member, who bonds more closely with the Blue Lion to reveal a new sonar ability that she uses to track down her missing teammates. And it feels right for it to be Allura that brings them together - not only was that her initial role in the series, pairing the Paladins with their Lions, but as the one most unfamiliar with being part of a team it's she, not Keith or Lance, who has the biggest personal hurdle to overcome: learning to ask for help. (We also get her hysterically accurate impression of Lance as an added bonus.)
This breakthrough for Allura leads to a most satisfying moment in which she's able to get the upper hand on Lotor, displaying impressive skill for a newly minted Paladin. She also has a great line when the team finally unites to form Voltron - "Hunk, I'm a leg!" - and that enthusiasm, along with how they absolutely wreck the Galra ships Lotor called in for back up, are a strong indication that this Voltron team is finally on the right track.
Episode 4 - Hole In The Sky
The first three episodes of Legendary Defender season 3 were clearly all about reforming Voltron - both the team and the giant robot - as well as introducing their new antagonist. In fact, they could have easily been strung together as a short film or extended premiere and they would have worked just as well. With its fourth episode, "Hole In The Sky", Legendary Defender begins exploring new ideas and introduces what is sure to become the major arc of the season.
It begins with an Altean distress signal, which obviously has Allura jumping at the opportunity to rescue her people since it had been assumed that she and Coran were the only survivors. They arrive at a ship trapped inside a strange wormhole that when they pass through, takes them to an alternate reality. It's a classic sci-fi trope and one Legendary Defenders uses for both gags and some serious introspection. An alternate reality provides the chance for alternate versions of characters we already know, and while we don't get mirror-versions of anyone who passes through the wormhole, we do meet this reality's versions of Shiro and Slav - members of a resistance movement called the Guns of Gamara who are fighting against the Altean Empire.
And while Slav is certainly a fun character, even in this reality, having the alternate version of Shiro be called Sven is probably Voltron's best joke to date. A callback to the original series which actually had a character by that name who died after only a few episodes, this Sven also has a bad Norwegian accent and dies shortly after we meet him. Thank you, Sven, though we hardly knew you, your sacrifice won't soon be forgotten.
In this reality, Zarkon was defeated long ago, after which Empress Allura established the Altean Empire to spread peace across the universe. And in perhaps a bit of foreshadowing to the kind of empire Lotor wants to build, this "peace" basically became join us or we'll lobotomize you. It's evil, which Keith and the rest of the Paladins recognize immediately, but it takes Allura a little longer to accept. Similarly to how she's had to learn Galra isn't synonymous with evil, she has to learn that Alteans aren't wholly good by default. There are shades to morality, and Legendary Defender is certain to explore that even more as season 3 progresses.
What it will also most certainly have is a showdown between Voltron and whatever giant robot Lotor creates with the transreality material found in that comet. It's an interesting piece of information we learn about Voltron's creation, explaining why this robot is so incredibly powerful. But seeing as Lotor orchestrates the whole scenario - the distress signal, ensuring Voltron returned with the comet, everything - it's incredibly worrisome to think what such a clever adversary will do with such a powerful weapon.
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Voltron: Legendary Defender seasons 1, 2, and 3 are available to stream on Netflix. Season 4 premieres on October 14th.