"Your defiance is adorable."
"Are you saying our fate rests in Coran's hands?"
— Pidge
While the rest of Team Voltron is captured by Ezor, Zethrid, and their band of pirates, Coran is still stuck aboard the Black Lion. With the help of the mice, Coran escapes and attempts to find the prisoners; he is aided by Acxa, with whom he develops a plan. Zethrid and Ezor question the team, but are interrupted by the guards being alerted to Acxa's presence. The mice bust the team out of the cell. They happen upon Coran and retrieve their weapons. Lance leads them back to the lions while Keith returns to help Acxa escape.
Later, Acxa reveals that she's now an agent of the Coalition. More importantly, Voltron hasn't been seen since their fight with Lotor — which, to the rest of the universe, was three Earth years ago.
Tropes:
- Big Brother Instinct: Zethrid correctly pegs that the team is protective of Pidge, and Lance instantly reacts violently when she is threatened.
- Call-Back: Two of the guards discuss a sale involving "free Kaltaneckers with every purchase."
- A Day in the Limelight: A spotlight episode for Coran, who usually takes the walking database/Mission Control/Plucky Comic Relief role.
- Declaration of Protection: Zethrid to Ezor, after Ezor's mood improves she happily notes, "That's my girl."
- "Die Hard" on an X: Zigzagged. Coran attempts to play "Die Hard on an Alien Ship" straight when he realizes he's the only unsecured teammate onboard the Black Lion, but needs the help of the mice to even bypass the lockdown and get past the guards (one of which he accidentally knocks out, and even then still gets recognized for said guard's stolen scarf). With Acxa freeing the Lions and staying behind to fight Zethrid and Ezor, Coran has an easier time helping the paladins escape.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: With Wolf having been injured in the previous episode, Coran has no way of conveniently teleporting in and out to save the others.
- The Dreaded: Lotor is this to his former generals. The entire reason that Ezor and Zethrid decide to take Team Voltron prisoner is out of fear that Lotor has also returned.
- Dressing as the Enemy: Coran (accidentally) knocks out a guard and steals his uniform.
- Eek, a Mouse!!: One pirate is easily freaked out by mice, as seen when the mice land on his shoulders.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Acxa's hair is longer than in her last appearance, falling in a short bob around her ears.
- Forgot About His Powers: Subverted; Alteans have been established at least twice by this point to be able to shift their features so they can better blend in when among other species. Coran seemingly forgets about this when disguising as a guard, but it's later revealed he merely didn't bother with it because he had a face-covering helmet. Once he loses the helmet, he does bother using the ability.
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: The mice, along with Acxa, actually wind up doing most of the things Coran sets out to accomplish.
- Poor Communication Kills: Ezor and Zethrid want to know where Voltron has been for the last three years. Unfortunately, the Year Outside, Hour Inside nature of the Quintessence Field means that to the team, it’s only been a few weeks since they last saw those two. This confusion leads to Pidge almost getting tortured as a result.
- Running Gag: Apparently the guard Coran knocked out has a recognizable scarf he stole on a mission, which a few other fellow Galra guards point out when Coran attempts to blend in. They're then taken out before they can put two and two together.
- Scared of What's Behind You: Coran thinks a couple of pirates turned tail when he threatened them; they were actually running away from the powered-up Green Lion.
- Secret Path: Discussed Trope. When Lance feels around for a secret passage, Keith remarks that he's watched too many movies. But when it's pointed out that the alternative is counting on Coran to rescue them, Pidge volunteers to help look for a hidden exit.
- Ship Tease: According to Zethrid and Ezor, Acxa may be interested in Keith.
- Time Skip: The time slippage from the team's interdimensional hopping in the previous season is three decaphoebs, or three Earth years.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Coran changes his skin color as well as his hands to look like a Galra and Allura uses it to make herself taller and take out the Galra Coran was attempting to take out.
