With Zarkon offering to trade Sam Holt for Lotor, the Paladins must decide how to proceed.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Big Damn Reunion: The Holts are finally all reunited with each other.
- Big "NO!": Pidge when they find out that the Sam sent to them was a hologram."NO! WE HAD A DEAL! WE HAD A DEAL! GIVE ME BACK MY FATHER!"
- Also with Lotor when he notices Zarkon aiming the Black bayard at Voltron and quickly grabs a nearby piece of shrapnel.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: When Lotor suggests an alliance between himself and Allura that almost sounds like a proposal of marriage, Lance gets immediately flustered and asks if they not think about an alliance like that.
- Deal with the Devil: Lance compares their deal with Zarkon to this trope.
- Empathic Environment: Lotor begins his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to his father, and the entire area turns dark as clouds roll in. When he finally kills his father, the sun comes back to shine on Lotor as he sadly looks over his victory.
- Hologram: The Sam being sent to team Voltron is this, and Lotor quickly picks up on this.
- How We Got Here: The episode begins with the Paladins landing on a planet to meet with Zarkon, and much of the early part of the episode is interspersed with flashbacks showing the events between the end of the last episode and the beginning of this one.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: How Lotor takes out Zarkon.
- Killed Off for Real: Lotor kills his father, and unlike the last time Zarkon died, this time it actually seems to stick.
- Kinda Busy Here: After Sam calls for help, Shiro tells him "Just as sec!" while fighting Ezor and Matt yells, "Kinda busy here, Dad!" as Zethrid floats towards him.
- Little "No": When Haggar gets news that Zarkon was planning a hostage exchange for Lotor, she whispers "no" and immediately runs off.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Haggar has this reaction when she hears that Zarkon is making a hostage exchange for Lotor.
- Patricide: Lotor kills his father in a duel.
- Prisoner Exchange: The trade between Zarkon and the Paladins takes up the majority of the episode.
- Shoot the Dog: When Lotor prepares to kill his father, he's not happy about it. But the other choice is to die to a zombified version of his father.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Lotor asking Zarkon how it felt to grow weaker and how he wasn't all powerful without his lion or bayard. This pushes his father's Berserk Button and he starts going all out by injecting himself with the quintessence on his back.
- Thrown Out the Airlock: Pidge hits the button to shoot the Generals out of the ship.
- Tragic Stillbirth: Narrowly averted. Lotor nearly died when he was in the womb. While he was saved, Haggar has memories of him growing from a Cheerful Child to a brooding adult, running from her.
- Villain Ball: Zarkon grabs it by not sending out the real Holt. This means the deal is off.
- Wham Episode: Sam Holt is rescued, and Zarkon is Killed Off for Real after a lengthy duel with Lotor.
- Wham Line: Haggar telling her scientists to initiate stage four of Operation Kuron.
- Wham Shot: Lotor standing over Acxa with the Black Bayard.
- What You Are in the Dark:
- Shiro gave his bayard to Lotor before having him exchanged.
- Lotor impales Zarkon before the latter can wipe out Voltron.
