Voltron Season 6 Episode 3 Review: Monsters & Mana
This Voltron Legendary Defender review contains spoilers.
Voltron Season 6 Episode 3
Voltron had an upfront order of 78 episodes. It’s very rare for a series to be given that kind of commitment. Most struggle to get past their first season. They plan a bit for the future but it’s so uncertain they need to make every moment count. We saw this with The Legend of Korra where both the first and second season’s had finale’s that could have worked as series finale’s.
Voltron though has the luxury of time. It can lay seeds for plots that won’t pay off for years. It’s a storytellers dream. With this episode however they’ve perhaps made the best use of their large series order…
By making an episode that has nothing to do with the plot of the series.
I know that sounds strange. Shouldn’t every episode contribute to the arc of a serialized series like Voltron? Perhaps, but how rare is it that a show has the luxury to just screw around for an episode? How often can a series just say, “let’s let the characters have fun”.
It’s rare. Fans always cry out to let their characters be happy and in this episode the Voltron crew gives it to us. Our main team basically gets to play D&D for a half hour and it’s a blast! Oh sure, there’s nothing deep here. We don’t learn anything majorly important about the characters or world build, as the previous “comedy” episodes ‘Space Mall’ and ‘The Voltron Show’ did.
This one is content letting the characters just bounce off each other and make jokes. The best of which is Shiro’s refusal to be anything but a paladin. It’s super adorable! Sure we can read into this but I’m just going to let it be the joke that it is.
We also get delightful touches like the sprite artwork as Pidge smashes the pots, the battle screen with Allura, or even the 8-Bit ending theme. This episode isn’t just fun for the characters but clearly the whole creative team. After seasons of intense plots it must have been nice to just let loose on an episode with all their favorite RPG tropes and break out of their design box.
Any other show wouldn’t have time to spend on a pure romp like this, but Voltron does and takes full advantage of it. It’s not anything to write home about but, much like eating candy, it’ll give you a nice buzz.
Plus it really made me want a Voltron manga. Get on that, DreamWorks.
Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter!
