This is a Voltron: Legendary Defender recap, of the ninth episode of season two. That episode is called “The Belly of the Weblum.” If you haven’t seen that episode and don’t want to be spoiled, please turn back now, good paladin.

Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s eighth episode, “The Blade of Marmora,” turned out to be a pivotal one. Not only did it finally bring the paladins of Voltron officially in league with the clandestine group of Galra turncoats from the episode’s title, but we found out that Keith has some Galra blood in his veins. From here on out, it will be all about bringing together the forces opposed to Zarkon and finalizing the plan, which revolved around building a big enough teludav to wormhole Zarkon’s whole ship into the nether reaches of space. And for that, they need supplies.

The ninth episode, “The Belly of the Weblum,” opened with Hunk asleep on the bridge. He assumed he’d only been out for a few minutes, but Pidge informed him it had been three hours, and he’d effectively missed the whole of the plan hashed out by Shiro and the leader of the Blade of Marmora, Kolivan. Allura was very clearly concerned about the revelation that Keith has Galra blood, and was also still less than enthused about working with Galras in the Blade, so she had a bit of a rough go, especially considering she and Keith shared a connection not three episodes prior.

In a sense honoring the life of Oolas, the fallen Blade member who saved Shiro from imprisonment, the plan was to upload a virus to Zarkon’s ship and disable it, allowing the wormholer to send him and his fleet into the middle of nowhere space, and then, while the ship is floating dead, for Voltron to kick the crap out of it. Good plan, really. To carry this out, they needed to split up, and in this episode, Hunk and Keith were sent in the Yellow Lion to get the crystals that get turned into teludav lenses. Easier said than done.

The crystals are secretions made by an intensely dangerous giant space worn known as a “weblum.” All of this was relayed to Keith and Hunk en route via an instructional video Coran made 10,000 years ago. As such, the video kept cutting out right as he was about to reveal important details. This was one of the funniest parts of the episode; I love that even in this serious space opera, with huge stakes and real danger, they still find time for comedy of personality and situation. So much fun.

Once they got to the Weblum, the trick was to get inside of the beast via its gills and make their way to the second stomach. Unfortunately, they were constantly chased by the creature’s floating enzymes seeking to break down our heroes with acid. No bueno. Hunk got lost in the circulatory system and Keith ended up finding a Galra scout ship that had been lodged in the membrane of the weblum. He freed the pilot — who never spoke and we only ever saw his mask — and the two started got ready to collect secretions while Hunk had to go outside and put the weblum in danger (that’s the only time it secretes the crystal). He did so by getting farted out back into space.

They succeeded, the Galra scout stole some crystals and scampered, and the paladins headed back. The episode wasn’t about the destination, though; it was about Hunk and Keith bonding. This was also the first mission post revelation about Keith’s origins, and Hunk’s jovial demeanor eased tensions immediately. He even commented on Keith, making a joke at one point, saying “Boy, Galra Keith is way funnier than regular Keith.”

Elsewhere in the episode, Zarkon was using Haggar’s druids to zap him with magic in hopes of getting a stronger connection to the Black Lion, but to no avail. And Haggar’s investigation into the mole in the fleet almost blocked by Commander Thace, who is, of course, the member of the Blade of Marmora. Oh, what a tangled web they weave.

“The Belly of the Weblum” was a great example of the show doing “solo missions,” or episodes that spotlight just some of the main characters. The tenth episode is another spotlight — what Pidge, Lance, and Shiro were tasked with. Until then!

Images: DreamWorks/Netflix

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!