This is the recap for the final episode of Voltron: Legendary Defender season 2. There’s gonna be spoilers here. Duh, you guys. Duh.
We’ve done it! We’ve gotten all the way to the end of Voltron: Legendary Defender season 2, and by and large, it has felt like the second half of a regular 26-episode anime series, and that’s a good thing. From picking up exactly where season 1 ended to heightening the stakes and expanding on–but not fully answering–several mysterious questions we’ve had from the start, this series continued to be one of the most densely plotted, fun, adventurous, and all-around enjoyable shows on TV, regardless of format or medium.
So let’s not wait any further! Let’s dive into episode 13, “Blackout.” If you remember, “Best Laid Plans” ended in a cliffhanger of epic proportions, with the Paladins forming Voltron after successfully crippling and wormholing Zarkon’s command ship. But things did not remain hunky dory for long. After Voltron formed the sword and began to attack, Zarkon bellowed to Haggar that he wanted to go get the Black Lion himself, to which the witch was very concerned, since they’d yet to test whatever massive weapon Zarkon was talking about. In order to give her emperor time, Haggar launched her own weapon: a way to channel her own magic and zap Voltron with a concentrated beam of quintessence, the stuff she’s always removing from people. This was very bad, and Voltron was incapacitated because of it.
And then Zarkon launched his own weapon, which turned out to be a specially-made mech/RoBeast to fight against Voltron. It was just as big as Voltron, and armed to the teeth with tons and tons of weapons. With Voltron having a…blackout…for the moment, the Paladins were sitting ducks. Allura demanded that all of the Castle Ship’s power be diverted to weapons to help defend Voltron, to which Coran objected profusely, since they too would be sitting ducks. But Allura got her wish and a massive beam was fired from the castle, hitting Zarkon, but he was able to mirror the beam back, knocking out power to the castle, as well as knocking Allura unconscious (since she’s psychically linked to the castle).
However, this gave Voltron enough time to reawaken and get its trusty sword up and running. What happened next was a good ol’ fashioned robots-in-space sword fight, and it was super great. On top of his own sword, Zarkon had a pretty hefty and effective shielding mechanism, which proved a match even for Voltron’s shoulder-mounted cannon. While this fight went on, Allura awoke and realized that they’d have to stop Haggar from firing the quintessence beam again. She flew over to the Galra command ship along with Kolivan and Antok of the Blade of Marmora to fight hand-to-hand against the dark witch and her Druids. And while THAT went on, Coran and the uber-neurotic Slav got to work repairing the castle.
Zarkon then used a massive blast which resulted in splitting Voltron apart into the five Lions. Shiro was knocked unconscious, leaving the Black Lion defenseless. The other four Lions then leaped to aid their friend, doing their best to block the Galra Emperor from getting to his treasured Lion. While unconscious, Shiro and the consciousness of the Black Lion fuse fully and he awakens, and the Lion’s regular red wings turn into massive mega-wings. Traveling at the speed of thought, the Black Lion and Zarkon head towards each other, but rather than colliding, Shiro and his Lion travel through Zarkon, and in the process, Shiro had finally taken the black Bayard that was Zarkon’s final connection to the Black Lion. With Shiro now at 110%, the Paladins once again formed Voltron.
In the Galra ship, Allura, Kolivan, and Antok continued their fight against the Druids. Antok was rather unceremoniously killed, sending Kolivan into a rage. Allura uses her staff and gives Witch Haggar a massive wallop to the dome-piece, knocking off her hood, revealing to Allura for the first time that the evil magician was not a Galra after all, but an Altean like herself. As she stood stunned, Haggar attempted to remove the princess’ quintessence–which is substantial–but it couldn’t be stolen. “Impossible!” the witch shouted. You guys, Allura is VERY powerful, and this moment illustrated that even she was unaware of just how powerful she truly was. Haggar disappeared, while Kolivan killed the final Druids and Allura used her powers to destroy the quintessence weapon.
Coran and Slav got the castle working again, but it was right at the time the Galra ship became operational again. The paladins would have to work fast to defeat the Zarkon RoBeast. Using Shiro’s newfound strength, Voltron plunges the sword into Zarkon’s RoBeast, but it wasn’t quite enough. Suddenly, a new compartment in the Black Lion’s cockpit opened up, and Shiro put the Bayard into it, which then created–what fans of the classic Voltron show have been wanting for a long time–the flame sword! The power of the flaming sword was so strong that it bathed the Paladins in light (in what was one of the coolest images the show has ever done, depicted below).
Zarkon’s RoBeast is all but destroyed, and Voltron again split back into Lions. All of the Paladins, as well as Allura and Kolivan, head back to the Castle Ship to wormhole away, leaving Zarkon’s ship adrift in the middle of nowhere. However, the Black Lion was unresponsive and the other Lions had to drag it back to the ship in order to make it before the wormhole opened. As Pidge, Hunk, Lance, and Keith revel in their victory, they went to check on Shiro…however, the Black Lion was empty! Where did Shiro go?!
Before the episode ended, we got a glimpse of Witch Haggar tending to an unconscious Zarkon, still half-fused to his RoBeast. In a sinister line to camera, she bellowed, “Summon Prince Lotar.” OH NO! Who is Prince Lotar?!?!?!
Part of what I was worried about, simply as a fan of this show, is that the season would end with a definite ending, and we’d be done with Voltron: Legendary Defender. Not that I wouldn’t have loved to see a great, happy ending, but I don’t want this show to be over, and certainly not with so many mysteries left to solve. Luckily, this was not the case. It seems a given that we’ll get a third season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, and that’s a great thing.
I truly loved this season, and I know executive producers Joaquim dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery (et al) have more great stories, action, humor, and heart to share with us. I just can’t believe there’s no more to watch!
Share your thoughts about the season in the comments below!
Images: DreamWorks/Netflix
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
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