Having finally found her brother, Pidge returns to the castle with Matt in tow. While Pidge's brother is being introduced to the team and being shown around the Castle of Lions, Zarkon finally returns to the throne of the Galra Empire. After being brought up to speed on the state of the empire, Zarkon summons Lotor back to central command and relieves him of his position, effectively exiling him once more. As Lotor and Narti are leaving Galra headquarters, Haggar uses her magic to see through Narti and spy on Lotor's movements. After learning that about the ships his son is creating from the trans-reality comet, Zarkon comes to the conclusion that Lotor intends to use the ships against the empire. Back on the castle, Pidge and Hunk use the intel Matt gathered at his listening post to refine their "Galra Finder" to the point where they can track fleet movements and communications nearly in real-time. As soon as they finish, they intercept a transmission from Central command ordering several fleets to a seemingly empty area of space. Voltron arrives to investigate and finds Lotor's command ship under fire. After determining that Haggar is tracking him through Narti, he kills her, before he and his remaining Generals flee in the comet ships.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Ambiguous Situation: It's unclear what Haggar did that allowed her to spy on Lotor through Narti. It's also unclear if Narti was actually a spy working for Haggar, or if Haggar was using her, and she might not have even been aware of it.
- Antagonistic Offspring: This episode firmly cements Lotor as this for Zarkon, as the latter orders the former's death when he learns about the comet ships.
- Bizarre Alien Biology: According to Hunk, Alteans cannot get brain freezes.
- Blank White Eyes: Happens when Allura and Coran watch Lance milk Kaltenecker.
- Bloodless Carnage: Narti's death happens without any signs of bodily fluids.
- Breather Episode: Partially. The villain scenes are still moving the plot forward and ramping up the drama, but the scenes focused on the heroes are almost entirely focused on Matt integrating into Team Voltron, along with a small sideplot about Allura and Coran learning about cows and where milk comes from.
- Brick Joke: Pidge finally figured out a way to set up the video game she and Lance bought back in Space Mall. The camera pans across a huge daisy chain of adapters.
- The Bus Came Back: Kaltenecker appears for the first time since Season 2.
- Character Death: Lotor ends up killing Narti because Haggar was using her to spy on him.
- Continuity Nod:
- Lance is seen playing Killbot Phantasm I, the video game he and Pidge bought at the Space Mall. We even get to see the very elaborate setup she has put together in order to make the console compatible with Altean tech.
- Pidge and Hunk reference the "Galra finder" Pidge developed back in Season 2.
- Matt complimenting Pidge on her color-coding and asking, "What are we, animals?" which was something Pidge said in season 2.
- When Matt offhandedly mentions their Galra intel could rival any in this or any other reality, Hunk tells point-blank, "We went to another reality. Was pretty lame."
- Color Failure: Allura and Coran both experience this when they find out where milk comes from.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Lance is absolutely not okay with Matt's apparent crush on Allura and glares at him during the episode followed by a Scare Chord.
- Crush Filter: Matt is smitten with Allura at first sight, much to Lance's annoyance.
- Dark Lord on Life Support: Zarkon still requires a life support suit in order to function.
- Evil Versus Evil: Zarkon declares Lotor a fugitive and sends several fleets to pursue him.
- Faux Horrific: Allura and Coran love Earth milkshakes when they first try them, but when asking for more, Lance says they have to get milk from the ship's cow first. Then Allura and Coran see the act of milking, and are terrified and
squicked out at the same time. - Freeze-Frame Bonus: A couple of the little puffball aliens Pidge met back in Across the Universe can be spotted in her room, along with the junk replicas she made of the others.
- Furry Confusion: Allura and Coran aren't aware that Kaltenecker isn't sapient.
- Glamour Failure: The episode opens with Haggar using her shapeshifting to revert to her appearance as Honerva.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Lance is immediately jealous of Matt when the older Holt sibling starts making heart eyes at Allura.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Not outright said, but Allura and Coran's horror when they learn where exactly milk comes from has the spirit of this trope.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Lotor kills Narti when it becomes clear that Haggar is tracking him through her. Needless to say, the remaining generals and Lotor are not too happy with that turn of events. Especially since he never tells them why he did it.
- I Have No Son!: Not only does Zarkon effectively disown Lotor, he orders his son killed on sight.
- Internal Reveal:
- Team Voltron finally learns that Zarkon is still alive.
- On the villains' end, Haggar and Zarkon learn about the existence of the comet and the ships Lotor is having made from them.
- Little "No": As Haggar spies on Lotor and realizes that he had a transdimensional comet that he was turning into a ship, she mutters "No" before running off to alert Zarkon.
- Love at First Sight: Matt is smitten instantly with Allura. We even see his vision turn heart-shaped as he gazes on her.
- Man Hug: Shiro and Matt hug when they meet again for the first time in over a year.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!":
- Acxa, Ezor, and Zethrid have this reaction when Zarkon orders Lotor and his supporters to be killed on sight.
- The Paladins have this reaction when they learn that Zarkon is still alive.
- The Mirror Shows Your True Self: Haggar is looking at herself in a magically created mirror that shows her face as Honerva.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Pidge can now extend the Green Lion's cloaking ability to all of Voltron. Justified, as she explains that the reason she never mentioned this was possible before was because she couldn't pilot the Green Lion and run the cloaking for Voltron at the same time, but with Matt as her co-pilot, she can finally test it out.
- The Reveal: The comet Lotor acquired in Season 3 possesses enough raw material to make three ships.
- Shout-Out:
- Matt's exaggerated poses when he meets Allura for the first time is a nod towards Golden Boy.
- During the scene where Pidge shows Matt the Galra tracker, her chair makes the hover-tech noises from The Jetsons.
- One of the devices jury-rigged to let Lance play human video-games resembles a Flux Capacitor.
- Tactical Withdrawal: Lotor and his generals flee in their comet ships when they are attacked by Zarkon's fleet.
- Tracking Device: Haggar planted one on Lotor's ship, but Lotor quickly removes it.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Ezor can be seen hugging her knees in their part of the comet ship after Lotor kills Narti.
- Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: In what can only be a shout-out to Studio Ghiblinote , Coran is seen escorting some very large refugees out of the Castle of Lions' elevator.
- Villain Episode: A large portion of the episode is focused on Lotor and Zarkon.
- Whispering Ghosts: When Haggar and Narti look at each other, there's whispering voices that can be heard between the two women.
- You Have Failed Me:
- With Zarkon back on the throne, Lotor is quickly stripped of his position for neglecting his duties.
- Lotor kills Narti for allowing herself to be used as a tracker/bug by Haggar.
