Voltron: Legendary Defender (Re)Watch 7.3, "The Way Forward"

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Things grow darker around the Paladins as the seventh season continues.

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7.3, "The Way Forward"

Written by Mark Bermesderfer
Directed by Rie Koga

Synopsis

The Lions are held in a Galra ship, de-powered and under guard, with their pilots imprisoned, along with Romelle and Krolia. Lance unsuccessfully seeks a way out of captivity as Krolia plots more effectively. Coran's fate is uncertain, offering some small hope.

Very small.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

For his own part, Coran struggles against inadvertent imprisonment, meeting with limited success but cheering himself before being startled by the Castle mice. They effect the escape he seeks and release him, in turn--along with the teleporting wolf, which is injured. They progress usefully, clearing a way for Coran to make his own exit from the hold where the Lions are held, clad in the uniform of one of the Galra guards.

It's not a bad look for him.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Zethrid confers with Ezor, who is worried that Lotor yet lives and will pursue them. Zethrid makes to comfort her, reminding her of their accomplishments to date. Ezor then determines to torture the prisoners.

Coran continues his escape attempt. It does not go well for him. At all. Acxa's intervention saves him. Meanwhile, the Paladins are confronted by Ezor and Zethrid, who have questions about Lotor's disappearance and their own absence. Coran and Axca proceed, with Coran questioning Axca's motivations and noting the situation. Plans are determined and begin to be enacted as the questioning continues. Lance tries to intercede, albeit unsuccessfully. And the Galra become aware of Axca's actions, requiring her to defend herself.

She seems to be doing it well.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Coran's own adventures go less well than Axca's, but they offer a useful cover for the mice to make their way forward. Acxa's plans begin to bear fruit, and Ezor and Zethrid leave off their questioning to see to it. The Paladins are subsequently rescued by the mice, who report events to Allura. Exflitration ensues, albeit with some difficulty, and Acxa faces her erstwhile comrades. Keith deputizes Lance to lead and makes to retrieve her; the rest make for their space-borne Lions, doing so under fire as Axca's fight continues, assisted by Keith. A desperate escape plan follows, and Keith and Axca are retrieved.

In the wake of their escape, the Paladins rest on a bleak planet and confer about their diminished status. They find that much more time has passed than they had realized; the universe believes Voltron has been gone, and the Galra have been fractured. Axca expresses contrition for her misdeeds and pledges herself to help Voltron's allies amid the tumult that has surely reigned.

Discussion

If the Arthurian themes that have announced themselves throughout the series are to be followed in the present episode--and there seems to be something of the "did not die, but went into another place" at work--then the current situation seems to be an imagining of Britain after the fall of Arthur. The prophesied legend gone after briefly holding back a period of chaos following imperial rule seems to describe both the presumable aftermath of the legend and the previous seasons of the series, making the current episode something of an interesting bit of medievalist work. Many such works assume a medieval stasis (a term I borrow from TV Tropes, and it fits); Tolkien's works have their heroes in mail and wielding swords across millennia and more, and the many derivatives do much the same. Robin Hobb's Elderlings corpus does, as well, although it does at least work with the idea that technological development is not uniform and shows some developments as the works progress. And Legendary Defender is not immune; the few scenes depicting the pre-Empire Galra show technology not less advanced than what they wield in the main series.

Part of the prevailing medieval stasis inheres in not looking at the medieval/ist that would follow the medieval works being adapted and appropriated. Not much is said about what follows the return of the king (and even Tolkien's appendices are light compared to the rest of the corpus). The current episode suggests a subversion of that--and one very much in line with what is seen of medieval literary practices, which often read as a series of tagged-on "And then he [and it's almost always a he, unfortunately] did this." We are getting to see some of the fallout of the heroic exertions from previous seasons, which is a good thing. Looking at what comes next promises to be worth doing.