Voltron Season 7 Episode 2 Review: The Road Home
Voltron lets its new cast have some fun but with so many main characters it leaves the episode with little substance.
This Voltron Legendary Defender review contains spoilers.
Voltron Season 7 Episode 2
There’s something charming about watching Voltron let its new cast settle in. With the addition of Romelle, Krolia, and Keith’s wolf we’ve got our biggest cast of main characters yet and the series sets aside some time for them to play and set things up for the future.
After the intensity of the end of sesason six we’re still firmly in the “let them have some fun” space. The first half of the episode is mostly comedy, just letting everyone bounce each other. It’s sort of amazing when you realize we have nine characters in these scenes (plus animals) and they’re all given at least a little bit to do.
Is it way too early to say I’d take a bullet for Romelle? Oh my gosh, she’s great! It’s nice we’re finally getting some more women on the team and she’s just a bundle of joy. Not that everyone else has become brooding anti-heros or anything but it’s nice to see someone so full of happiness and not at all tainted by the horrors of the war the team has had to face.
Also, she can throw a mean punch. The more I see with her and Hunk especially the more delighted I become. Those two are a great double act and I hope they become fast friends as the season goes on.
Keith’s wolf also gets some time to shine, showing off some teleporting powers that’ll certainly come in handy down the line. I was worried that his ability to teleport would be a little OP but thankfully it looks like doing it too much tires him out.
Krolia gets to show off more in the second half with her fighting skills, not being much for words like her son. Again, it’s great we have more women on the team and it actually makes it nearly gender balanced! Four women, five guys. Spinoff focusing on the women of Voltron when?
That second half features some solid lion combat and even some new powers for Hunk (anyone else notice he’s already being given more to do?) It’s fun to watch but it just confirms that this episode is mostly set up. It’s fine set up to be sure but it doesn’t really all tie together. The comedic first half doesn’t really gel with the more action heavy second half. They almost feel like they’re two different episodes that got welded together.
Everyone gets a moment to shine but when nine main characters plus their pets need moments to shine? You’re not left with much substance. It’s fun fluff but I worry that if the series keeps this many characters around we’ll start having problems. Either it’ll be long stretches where certain characters get very little to do (see Hunk in some of the previous seasons) or EVERYONE has to get a moment to shine and we don’t have enough time for proper focus episodes.
It’s okay to see big team episodes like this once in awhile but Voltron needs to be a bit more focused in the future. I’m interested to see how the series balances this huge cast as the season goes on.
Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter!