Voltron: Legendary Defender (Re)Watch 8.2, "Shadows"

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As the final season of Legendary Defender moves forward, a look back at events seems in order--and the present episode offers just that.

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8.2, "Shadows"

Written by Mitch Iverson
Directed by Rie Koga

Synopsis

She's seen a lot. It hasn't all been good.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

In an obvious flashback, Acxa attacks Honerva to defend Lotor; she escapes, sending Galra forces out into the cosmos. Her own forces press on, searching for Lotor; it is clear that the memories upon which she reflects are disjointed in time. They and a lack of news of Lotor overwhelm her as she comes across the physical remnants of Lotor's last fight with Voltron and reflects on her long past with Zarkon and Lotor. She rails against the druids and the fracturing Galra empire, bending to the purpose of reclaiming her son as her history becomes clearer.

It does not appear a good time is being had by all.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The commander she had sent out is returned to her, albeit in poor condition. Exercising her powers, she interrogates him, plumbing him for information about Lotor. His answers displease her, and she kills him before summoning a kral zera. Another flashback explicates the manner in which she killed the commander, an exercise of power that literally sucks the life out of those upon whom it is turned and akin to a planet-killing ritual she performs. Yet another leads to her being delivered of Lotor, away from whom her then-ruined-minded self turns, and the following discussion with Zarkon.

The kral zera ensues, with the usual posturing and fighting. Honerva appears, declares herself and her hatred of the Galra, and destroys those there gathered to the last and least, consuming them.

Honerva recalls a further break from Lotor occasioned by Zarkon, and returns to the site of his death, making one last attempt to retrieve him. His latter days are revealed to her, and she reflects on one of the few points of connection she was able to make with Lotor, though it was no pleasant thing for her.

There would seem to be more where that came from...
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary

Soon after, she arrives at the Altean colony Lotor had established, where she assumes control of it in her son's name. She soon converts it into a cult bent on eliminating Voltron and working her will: the resurrection of Lotor. They travel to Oriande to begin effecting that plan, with Honerva using what she finds there to construct the kinds of robeast that assailed Voltron on Earth. She also reflects on one of the points when Lotor's efforts to work peacefully were undone by Zarkon's orders, a point where he had been soured by the constraints of Galra society and where she had had to help sour him. And she sends our the first of her new robeasts to destroy Voltron.

Discussion

The present episode emerges from several earlier episodes, perhaps most notably "White Lion," "Omega Shield" and "The Colony." The earlier episodes make clear that Honerva seeks what Oriande offers; what is less clear then is what Honerva takes with her, which the present episode clarifies. The last makes much of Lotor's messianic persona and Honerva's somewhat frustrated desire to support him. The two tendencies combine in the present episode to make a darkly medievalist gesture; Honerva becomes a twistedly Marian devotional focus, co-opting an already-present cultish structure based on her motherhood and bestowing upon her most devout followers power and puissance deriving from clearly supernatural sources. In some senses, she has touched heaven, and she did bear someone perceived as a savior to an outcast people who might well be called chosen, so there is some resonance with a not often appropriated medieval trope--though, as with much else, that appropriation is made unpleasant, indeed.

That the series as a whole makes use of medieval and medievalist tropes, and that it does so for both protagonists and antagonists, is of interest. The idea embedded therein is different than the commonplace invocations of the medieval by current media, which tend to be either inaccurately nostalgic for a time that was somehow better and more pure (with "pure" being a decidedly fraught term, as is amply attested by a series of articles on The Public Medievalist and elsewhere) or inaccurately condemnatory of practices more modern thinkers like to believe they do not also share--or exceed in barbarity. The invocations remain simplified and adapted, of course, but that they are both to the good and the bad at least gestures towards an understanding of the medieval as a complex, nuanced time, one in which people fit into types no more (or less) than now, and which has something to say to later audiences, even if filtered through many lenses or added onto many times. And that is better than many "more adult" properties that claim to be "really" or "based on the real" medieval, to be sure.

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Re)Watch 8.1, "Launch Date"

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The final season of Legendary Defender begins with a bit of relief--and some developments that seem to have been long in coming.

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8.1, "Launch Date"

Written by Lauren Montgomery
Directed by Michael Chang

Synopsis

It is a bit meta, isn't it?
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Following up on the events of the previous season (and with an interesting call-back to earlier versions of the series), the episode opens with Pidge watching a television send-up of Voltron's adventures. Meanwhile, the Altean who had been piloting the robeast that landed on Earth continues to convalesce, with Allura and Romelle considering her condition and circumstances. Romelle tries to puzzle out what went wrong with her erstwhile friend. Additionally, Hunk and his family see to the supply of the Atlas in preparation for its journey into space to continue the fight against the Galra threat. He moves to console Lance, who has not been able to make sincere romantic overtures towards Allura, and pushes the Red Lion's Paladin to pursue her.

After, a meeting sees Shiro give a speech summarizing their current circumstances and situation. Reports are made and accepted. Keith voices the urgency of their mission, and Shiro authorizes an evening off in preparation for it. Lance manages to ask Allura out, albeit with some prompting from Hunk. Romelle encourages her to accept, and she does. The two Alteans enlist Pidge to help Allura dress for the date; negotiations with her mother allow it to happen.

It is as silly as it looks.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

The captured Altean wakes as Romelle, Allura, Pidge, Nadia, and Ina proceed to shop for clothing. They find at first that they need trade goods to do so, but Pidge's fame is soon enlisted to secure most of what they need. There are limits to what it can do, however, and Pidge relinquishes a prized acquisition in favor of Allura's clothes.

At the same time, Lance confers with Coran regarding the date. Coran stands in loco parentis for her and harangues Lance. And Lance seeks out Keith for counsel about Allura. Although they do exchange barbs, they seem to hold one another in esteem and bond over the discussion.

Allura arrives at Lance's home for their date, a dinner with his family. Introductions are made, and dinner proceeds pleasant, replete with ribbing Lance. Allura is reminded of her own loss of family. After, she and Lance walk together, talking; Allura restores a park about which Lance waxes poetic before confessing his love to her. She responds in kind, the two sharing a kiss at long last.

It's not a face to look forward to.
Image taken from the episode, used for commentary.

Meanwhile, Romelle is enlisted to speak with the captured Altean, whom she knew before escaping from Lotor's machinations. She reacts badly to it, raging against Romelle for what she perceives as perfidy before Honerva, whom she reports is involved, kills her from afar.

Allura returns from her date to find a pensive Coran and Romelle waiting for her. They confer with Shiro about events and the resurgence of Honerva, but the mission on the Atlas proceeds as intended, the mighty ship bearing the Paladins back out into the cosmos to conclude their battles.

Discussion

The present episode is another that is minimally medievalist. That is, the common elements of the series that have long been medieval remain so, but little if any of the medieval is added by events in the present episode. The promises of the previous episode seem to be on their way to fulfillment, perhaps, with Haggar/Honerva clearly returning, so there may be some more medievalism to find or some reinforcement of it in the coming episodes.

And there seems to be potential for the culmination of another thread. That Lance stands in for Lancelot in many ways has been made clear. Although she does not hold the formal title, Allura may as well be queen of the Alteans--and the present episode suggests that social concerns will mean Lance and Allura are not looking at a long-term relationship. How Lance mimics or corrects his namesake's actions, if he does, will bear some attention, to be certain.

So will how the final season of Legendary Defender manifests the medieval, generally.

A Few Comments about Medievalism in the Non-Medievalist Classroom

ℑ've noted elsewhere that my continued engagement in academe is chiefly through the Tales after Tolkien Society, a few other memberships in scholarly organizations, and teaching at a for-profit university. I've also noted that, in the teaching I've done at for-profit and non-profit schools, technical colleges and Big 12 universities and small liberal arts schools, I've rarely been assigned to teach courses with explicit expectations of medieval content. Consequently, I've had to think of ways to incorporate my own work into what I offer my students, and I've had some success; if I may be forgiven a bit of self-promotion, my comments on the matter are available here. But there are some others I might add to them, given recent experiences teaching in the for-profit school; I have hardly exhausted the topic.
The recent experience suggests to me that some of my ideas continue to work in the different environment than existed for me when I wrote the chapter. I am, for example, still apt to use Æ, Ð, and Þ in examples, rather than X, Y, and Z, and I still work to make use of the medieval and medievalist when I put together examples of student work, whether the "major" papers asked for by their assignment sequences or the discussion posts that are the focus of the online and hybrid instruction I am paid to offer. (The medievalist is more common as it takes less explaining to make make sense to students not necessarily well steeped in the medieval--which is a concern with eight-week instructional sessions devoted to non-traditional students who are working full-time jobs for the most part and taught by an instructor who has a different full-time job. The academic expatriate life is real.) But such are only surface issues, amusing me, perhaps, and making my job easier, but not necessarily making it work better for my students.
I am, unfortunately, constrained in my current teaching by institutional demands. As noted, the term is only eight weeks long, and I see students once each week--if that often. As such, there's not much time to work even on the core materials, let alone to supplement them with works five hundred years old and more and that require explication--though I do still trot out some of my more...entertaining Kalamazoo papers for them. And my assignments are rigidly structured by centralized dictate, so I've not got much flexibility in choosing texts or approaches. I have, at times, developed supplements to the course structure, alternatives that fit institutional demands, but students avoid them time and again in favor of the worn-out standard topics that just so happen to have cheating materials readily available to get around the demands of doing the work the class expects. Making them more overtly medievalist is a thing I could do, certainly, but given how little interest students have shown in the other topics I've offered, I'm doubtful as to whether it would do them or me any good for me to do so.
I offer this post not to complain; I am aware that I am in a reasonably decent position, even for one who's not an academic expatriate. Indeed, I adjunct along something not unlike the traditional model for adjuncting--someone pursuing it as a side-venture and more or less for the love of it--rather than the hyper-exploitative horror it readily became. Instead, I offer it because I know I am not alone in facing such challenges, and I had the thought that others might well have insights I do not--and the hope that sharing them would suggest itself as a thing worth doing.

A Few Comments about a Medievalist Trope: Mead

𝔒n 28 November 2018, Fred Minnick's "Mead: The Return of the Sweet, Ancient Flavor" appeared in the online version of Forbes magazine. In the article, Minnick comments at some length on the resurgence of mead's popularity and focuses on an interview with Jason Phelps of Ancient Fire Mead & Cider. A too-brief gloss of mead's millennia-long history leads into the interview. The interview itself notes reasons for the association of mead with the current craft-brewing movement before explaining what mead is and allowing Phelps to explain his own preferences. Celebrity influences on mead-making are noted, as are entries for drinkers and makers of mead into doing so. A basic recipe for a variety of mead is presented, and final comments on the value of honey for mead-making are offered.
That such a piece would attract some attention for a member of the Society is eminently sensible, of course. Mead is a staple of medievalist works, ranging from the Game of Thrones that Minnick mentions through Katherine Kerr's Deverry novels to invocations of Norse myth in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to Tolkien and further afield. It is also a frequent attraction at the International Congress on Medieval Studies where the Society meets, courtesy of the Medieval Brewers's Guild and others. Too, meads themselves make much of their medieval association, as witness such brands as Chaucer's from California; the Thorin's Viking and Knightly Meads made in Marble Falls, Texas; several varieties produced by the Texas Mead Works in Seguin, Texas; and the many varieties of Dansk Mjød--among many others. For an article in a publication normally far removed from the medievalist--Forbes is not noted for its engagement with the deeper past, in keeping with its business orientation--to treat it is therefore welcome and deserving of the Society's attention.
There is another point of interest, aside from the medievalism in a prominent business publication in itself. Minnick makes repeated reference to the Vikings in situating mead as a largely medieval drink. (It is not necessarily so, but that is an argument to be made in another place and time.) That he does so seems to betray a common point of understanding not unlike what Paul Sturtevant observes in The Middle Ages in Popular Imagination (reviewed excellently by Shiloh Carroll here and elsewhere by me) and which Society Founder Helen Young observes in this very webspace (here and elsewhere). Ideas about the medieval are shaped by popular media (in part due to the longstanding association of medievalist works with those intended and appropriate for children), and, for whatever reason (likely the inherent violence and the association of the conquering, raiding, "brave warrior" spirit with cultural conceits in the United States, to which much media responds), Vikings figure prominently in prevailing concepts of the medieval. For Viking to be a shorthand for medieval is not a surprise, though there is much, much more to the medieval than the raiding Norse; while it is good to see the medieval appear in a prominent publication, it is a shame that more richness is not associated with it therein.