I accidentally posted the previous Strange Halloween reviews a week early, so to allow for the 2 Halloween reviews to drop next week, here's the review I missed.
We’re taking another look at Voltron, thus far the team has faced the challenge of restoring to a universe in disarray whilst Honerva is ready to send more of the robeasts after them.
Battle Scars
We open with a robeast crashing down on Olkarion. Team Voltron are out in space, they’ve tracked a Robeast to a particular quadrant but it’s so big they’ve spent days checking star system after star system without much success. It’s got people a little on edge, especially Allura who’s very not OK with her people being used the way they are. She suggests making for the colony but talks of that are shut down and for good reason, travelling through the quantum abyss could make a 1 hour journey a 10 year and Voltron has been gone long enough already. Lance manages to calm Allura down, whilst Pidge has an idea to check out Olkarion.
They try and call ahead but get no response but we need to fill some time, so let’s form Voltron. They use Voltron’s hyper-jet wings, they arrive in the system but no contact and now there’s a Weblum, now you might remember from way back in season 2, they feast on dead planets so yeah… it’s not good news.
They arrive and their mission becomes a search and rescue, find any survivors and get them off world before the Weblum attacks. Their worst fears are soon confirmed, a robeast attacked the planet and siphoned away its quintessence. Pidge in particular is taking it hard but it’s her connection to the Olkari people that might be her greatest asset here, as they seemingly left a message for her within the ground.
She sees a vision of the life-filled forest as the robeast made its landing. They head into the city and the visions continue. The Robeast was quick to work in converting the planet. Ryner, and before I continue I should mention that yes, Ryner is voiced by Mindy Sterling, who played Lin in the Legend of Korra. Anyway, Ryner is telling her forces to help evacuate and prepare for a counter-attack. She seems somewhat aware of Pidge’s presence.
Unfortunately, the Weblum is closing in and they to evacuate. Allura asks that the others buy them a little extra time so Pidge can continue and hopefully find some answers. However the Weblum is a formidable creature and they can’t form Voltron. It does seem like at least some of the Olkari were able to evacuate successfully, Ryner wants information retrieved from the communication tower, so that’s where Pidge heads next.
The Paladin’s efforts against the Weblum have been pretty much for naught. Pidge discovers from some Olkari scientists that the robeast travelled via wormhole, something we, as the audience, knew already. They prepare to upload information to an off-world server when the robeast attacks the tower, it’s unknown whether the upload is completed as of yet. Allura heads up to assist with buying Pidge more time.
Allura’s sonic cannon seems to have some impact on the weblum. Ryner, like Pidge, believes the mech had a target here. And soon their theory is confirmed as the robeast takes off with the Olkari cubes. Not sure why Ryner didn’t choose to evacuate at this point, given that she could’ve relayed this information to Pidge herself. Anyway, knowing what she needed to know, Pidge falls back, allowing the Weblum to do its work. These visions also gave Pidge a way to track the robeasts.
It’s another one of the darker episodes season 7 was known for, it’s if anything even darker because we knew Olkarion and its people. Still, it’s nice they get a worthwhile send-off, giving information that could save billions
Rating 9/10
The Grudge
There’s a nice little scene of the crew of the Atlas bonding, but it’s soon down to business. Pidge has designed a programme to track the wormholes used by the robeasts and they discover Oriande is an epicentre of it. If you remember back to season 5, Oriande is accessible only by worth Alteans carrying the mark of the chosen and is the key to a considerable power.
The groups agree to rendezvous but strangely the Atlas receives a message that the Paladins would be delayed and The Lions receive a message changing the rendezvous point, they see what they think is the Atlas but is in fact in Galra cruiser than pins down their lions, forcing them to flee in their suits. Given the bits of character given to Acxa, I think you can guess who they attackers are here.
But interestingly enough, this doesn’t play it’s hand quickly, the ship deploys drones to search for them and despite an attempt to override by Pidge, it still manages to find them. Keith manages to down one and upon hacking it they reveal it’s been enhanced by Olkari elements and is able to lock into the unique signatures of their weapons and suits. Unfortunately, with atmosphere being largely carbon dioxide they won’t have long if they abandon their suits, but they have no other option.
The ship deploys more drones to search for them. The crew themselves beam down, a few Galra we don’t know and someone who looks rather like Ezor but apparently. The leader of the group, wearing a mask with a modulated voice clearly has a grudge against the Paladins. Looks like there’s a techie in their group who’s Olkari, who’s been handling the communications mixups.
Acxa is at a firing range and is beginning to notice that Veronica is following her around, though not for the reasons she might think. Lance has a clever idea to keep them from getting lost but they’re soon under fire from the pirates? The ground gives way as they attempt to flee. The pirate Captain’s grudge appears to be against Keith in particular.
There’s a snafu in communication and Acxa and Veronica realise something’s amiss, it’s soon discovered that the signal has been hijacked, they soon get the location of the Paladins and head to rescue. Keith and Pidge use a series of traps, home alone style to deal with their attackers, whilst Allura uses her camouflage abilities to knock down her and Lance’s attackers as the Atlas arrives.
Keith ditches his suit away from the others, and we find out here the captain is in fact Zethrid, angry and Keith for driving Ezor away… for some reason. She puts Keith at gunpoint but the crew of the Atlas, including Acxa arrive. Acxa implores her to try and let go of her hatred but it doesn’t seem to work, Veronica takes the shot, which would’ve caused Zethrid to fall to her death but Keith saves her. In a cell, Acxa allows Zethrid a visit from Ezor.
It’s an odd episode to say the least but not a bad one
Rating 7/10
Genesis
OK, robeasts have landed on various planets, they’re starting off dormant, protecting themselves with a particle barrier but soon come to action, drawing quintessence from the planets. Honerva is using the Olkari cube to amplify the energy as it’s sent directly to Oriande, and can create a means of draining quintessence across a galaxy. With that, coalition forces are sent to lead evacuation efforts as Voltron and the Atlas target Oriande directly.
They arrive and are soon confronted by 2 robeasts, unable to waste time on them, they leave that to the Atlas, which seems to be coping fairly well considering. Voltron ehads through the white hole but as they do, the quintessence is beamed through the cubes, straight to Honerva, whose using it to drain the quintessence from the guardian of Oriande, which she does successfully.
Unfortunately, it seems the robeasts are also capable of projecting a giant form that can strike the Atlas. The MFDs are dispatched for precise strikes on their chests whilst they get help from Ezor, Zethrid and the Olkari they captured. He manages to project holograms of the Atlas to serves as decoys, allowing the MFDs to make their strike.
Voltron is not fearing as well, even in spite of a new weapon. As they begin seeing breaches into alternate realities. A massive burst of energy takes out all the nearby robeasts and the Atlas. It seems her objective was to pierce the quintessence field and withdraw Lotor from it. It’s seemingly successful, with the mech proving yet another sizeable threat for Voltron. It splits them into their Lion forms, but one of the pilots of the robeasts begins to think that something is amiss, soon confirmed when ‘Lotor’ kills one of them trying to defend from an attack by Lance.
Allura tries to make a run for Honerva but she uses a shroud of darkness to offer her a choice, join her quest to return Altea or watch her friends die as she stops holding ‘Lotor’ back. Allura submits and ‘Lotor’ is called off. The Atlas regains power as Honerva begins her next gambit, the Paladins and their Lions all begin to recover and have to move as the white hole begins to collapse. They wait for the Lions and make their escape via wormhole. Things have gotten pretty bleak, they failed and all of reality will witness the consequences.
It’s interesting how this season tries to up the stakes from previous ones. I feel it may have gone overboard but that’s something I’ll get back to when we see the actual finale. As it is, it’s a great way of tying together everything we’ve seen so far.
Rating 8.5/10
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