It's the final confrontation with Zarkon, and the Paladins are struggling to fight against the Galra Emperor. But when Allura sacrifices herself to give them time, they angrily push on to defeat Zarkon once and for all. Allura recovers and goes off to stop Haggar and her druids from interfering further. Despite all of the hope riding on Voltron's shoulders, this battle with the Emperor doesn't seem like it will be the Paladins' last.
Tropes for this episode include the following:
- 11th-Hour Superpower: Shiro unlocks two in quick succession:
- He discovers the Black Lion's ability to teleport, allowing him to retrieve his Bayard from Zarkon's possession.
- Soon after, he uses said Bayard to activate Voltron's Blazing Sword and deal the final blow to the Emperor.
- Ambiguous Situation: Shiro has mysteriously vanished from the Black Lion while his Bayard still remains inside his cockpit.
- BFS: When using all of their bayards together, Voltron is able to use the famous Blazing Sword.
- Deep Sleep: After his fight with Voltron, Zarkon is temporarily unconscious.
- Didn't See That Coming: The Blade and the Paladins didn't know that Zarkon's ship could drain Voltron of quintessence.
- Do Not Go Gentle: Shiro begins to rally the others to reawaken their lions, and asking if they were done. When Lance is asked, he replies, "Let's go down swinging."
- Fade to White: When Allura and the castle get hit by a blast Zarkon reflected back at them, however they do survive.
- Flat Joy: When Coran and Slav get the ship back online, Slav tells everyone that he was fine. Lance mutters, "Oh great, Slav made it."
- Foreshadowing: The title of the episode. Not only do the Paladins, Allura and Zarkon (in a sense) "black-out", but at the end of the episode it becomes a Stealth Pun for Shiro mysteriously vanishing from his Lion.
- Heroic Sacrifice: To give the Paladins some time to recuperate from having their Quintessence taken, Allura puts all the energy from the castle into blasting a beam at Zarkon. She knows full well that the castle would be defenseless, but chose to do it anyway.
- Heroic Second Wind: Despite being drained of Quintessence and their Lions barely functioning, Shiro rallies the other Paladins to not give up and continue the fight.
- I Can't Believe I'm Saying This: Based on Haggar's tone of voice when she says to summon Lotor, she's not entirely happy about the idea.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: One of Haggar's Druids kills Antok by blasting him In the Back with an energy bolt in this fashion.
- Left Hanging: Season 2 ends with Shiro missing and Zarkon out of commission, but the latter has a son who can take his place.
- Mauve Shirt: Another Marmoran dies at the Druid's hands.
- No-Sell: Witch Haggar is dismayed and disgusted (and Allura visibly shocked) when her spells cannot harm the Princess. Instead they unintentionally give Allura what amounts to a brief mystically empowered Super Mode.
- Oh, Crap!: Haggar's visibly shocked when her magic fails to harm Allura followed by This Cannot Be!.
- The Reveal:
- It's shown that when Haggar's hood falls from her face, she has pointed ears, just like an Altean.
- She also reveals that Lotor will be playing a role in the next season.
- Spare to the Throne: Haggar relays the order to the Galras to summon Prince Lotor, who was never mentioned until now.
- Taking You with Me: Zarkon attempts to do this as his armor looks like it's about to explode and he grabs onto Voltron. However, Voltron manages to stop him by impaling him with the Blazing Sword.
- Unfinished, Untested, Used Anyway: Throughout the season it has been established that none of the test pilots survived piloting Zarkon's anti-Voltron Humongous Mecha. When one of his men tries to point this out to him, he kills the protestor and pilots it anyway.
- Wham Line: Haggar relays this command to the Galra commanders: "Summon Prince Lotor"
