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Recap / Voltron: Legendary Defender S4E2

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Now that there's a lull in the fight against the Galra, Pidge takes off in the Green Lion to track down her brother. Throughout her search, she reminisces over her memories of her brother. An encounter with a black market arms dealer on a Galra-controlled planet gives her a lead on Te-osh, leader of the rebels who freed Matt from prison. She arrives at Te-osh's last known location to find the rebel cell under attack by the empire. While Pidge provides aid to the rebels on the moon of Kraydah , a bounty hunter tracking Matt ends up on Pidge's trail after interrogating the arms dealer she visited. The Galra attack the rebel ships again, and Te-osh's ship sustains heavy damage in the escape. Te-osh gives Pidge her transponder, along with the code for Matt's, before dying from her injuries. Pidge tracks Matt's transponder signal to a decaying planet, only to find a field of tombstones honoring fallen rebels.

As Pidge kneels before her brother's grave, devastated by the knowledge that she was too late, she notices that his date of birth listed on the grave marker is in the wrong format. This allows her to figure out that the dates listed were actually formatted in a code Matt and their father had developed to communicate with each other under the Garrison's nose. Decoding the dates provides her with a set of coordinates, leading to the realization that Matt is still alive. Pidge follows the coordinates to a listening post on a desolate planet. After she arrives, she's attacked by a masked warrior living in the base. The two fight until she knocks her opponent's mask off, revealing her brother. Amid their heartfelt reunion, the bounty hunter arrives and attacks them with electrified whips. Using their combined intelligence, the two siblings manage to defeat him.


Tropes featured in this episode:

  • Badass Bookworm: Matt has become one since being broken out of prison.
  • Bait-and-Switch:
    • At first, it appears that Matt has been dead for some time, but then it turns out he's still alive.
    • There's a cloaked stalker secretly following Pidge around, and when she finds her destination she's attacked by this cloaked guy... who turns out to be her brother Matt. Then the real stalker finds them.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Matt is immediately on the bounty hunter after he grabs Pidge and demands he let go of his sister.
  • Big Sister Instinct: Inverted in that Pidge is the younger sister; when Pidge fights a masked Matt, she demands to know what happened to her brother. Then she defends him against the bounty hunter.
  • Big "NO!": Pidge screams one as she reads the inscription on Matt's gravemarker.
  • Big Damn Reunion: Between Pidge and Matt, and the title for the episode isn't subtle about it.
  • Bash Brothers: A half genderbent example with Pidge and Matt.
  • Big Brother Mentor: Matt was one to Pidge before he left for Kerberos.
  • The Book Cipher: The Holt family encryption is a variant, with the numbers needing to be offset by a certain amount before matched to the book entries.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The encryption that Matt taught Pidge; he had mentioned he would use it in space. Pidge recognizes it on his "grave" and figures out they're coordinates to his real location.
  • Contrived Coincidence: Te-osh and the rebels just happened to be on the planet they were last sighted on. Somewhat justified given that she couldn't leave the planet due to the Galra fleet keeping the rebels pinned down.
  • Cue the Rain: It starts raining when Pidge discovers Matt's grave.
  • A Day in the Limelight: This episode follows Pidge as she goes off to look for Matt.
  • Disappeared Dad: Pidge and Matt have finally been reunited, but their father is still missing.
  • Dramatic Irony: Played for Laughs in the last flashback, when Pidge tells Matt she will personally fly into space and go get him if he doesn't return from his mission. The irony is that she's joking, yet she ends up doing just that by the time we see the flashback.
  • Dramatic Unmask: Pidge doesn't realize that the masked warrior attacking her is her brother until she knocks his mask off.
  • Dual Wielding: The bounty hunter dual wields energy whips.
  • The Easy Way or the Hard Way: Pidge sighs about this when the Unilu dealer decides to turn on her, she ends up getting the upper-hand by knocking him out with a nearby container.
  • Faking the Dead: Matt has a grave marker among at a memorial for fallen rebels, but he's actually alive and manning a secret listening post.
  • Flash Back: This episode features several, showing Pidge's relationship with her brother prior to his disappearance.
  • I'm Dying, Please Take My MacGuffin: Te-osh gives Pidge her transponder and the tracking signal for Matt's before she dies.
  • Let's You and Him Fight: When Pidge finds Matt's hideout in the asteroid, Matt attacks her, mistaking her for an intruder. They end up fighting, and Pidge doesn't recognize him because a mask conceals his face. He stops when she demands, "What have you done with my brother?!" and she stops in turn after unmasking him.
  • Little "No": Pidge lets out a small "oh no" when she sees the mass grave.
  • Mauve Shirt: Teosh, a rebel leader, dies in front of Pidge. She mistakes Pidge for Matt and speaks well of him.
  • Meaningful Background Event: Shiro and Keith are shown in Pidge's flashback at the Galaxy Garrison, cementing that their friendship predated Matt joining GG himself.
  • Mugging the Monster: The bounty hunter believes he can take out a Paladin of Voltron and Matt Holt, wanted rebel. While he is a threat, the siblings manage to outsmart him.
  • Public Secret Message: The Holt family's personal code uses book references and math calculations to send messages.
  • Rapid-Fire "No!": Pidge's reaction when she reads the inscription on the war memorial.
  • Sibling Team: Matt and Pidge team up to work together on fighting off the bounty hunter.
  • Shock and Awe: The bounty hunter's whips are electric.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone: After months of having to put off her search because of the war with the Galra, Pidge manages to find her brother Matt. Now she just needs to find her father.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Matt has gone from a Garrison astronaut to a wanted rebel with a bounty on his head. He shows that he's as talented at fighting as Pidge is.
  • Tragic Keepsake: This episode reveals that the glasses Pidge wears were given to her by Matt before he left for Kerberos.
  • Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer image for the episode on Netflix shows Matt alive with Pidge in her Paladin armor, so the audience knows he's alive even when the episode leads to his grave.
  • War Memorial: Pidge finds one on the planet she tracks Matt's transponder to.
  • World Shapes: Kraydah's moon is mainly spherical, while the planet she finds the memorial on is partially destroyed in a similar manner to Daibazaal.
    • The planet she finds Matt is shaped like a cone, and the only gravity is inside Matt's bunker.
  • Wretched Hive: The planet where Pidge meets with the black market arms dealer.
  • You Are Too Late: Played with, Pidge runs through the graveyard to find Matt's fake gravestone and she believes for a moment she was too late to save her brother before realizing his birthday was wrong.

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