En route to Naxzela, Haggar remotely deactivates the two Zaiforge cannons, disabling the Coalition's newly acquired artillery. Meanwhile, Lotor flies through space lone in before he inadvertently alerts his father to his location by tripping a sensor beacon. Zarkon personally leads the hunt for his wayward son, but Lotor manages to evade his pursuers. As they approach Naxzela, Haggar stops her battle cruiser so that she and her druids can perform a ritual that will completely destroy the planet.
Tropes featured in this episode
- Continuity Nod: Allura uses magic for the first time since her fight with Haggar in "Blackout".
- Cliffhanger: The season ends with Lotor offering an alliance with Team Voltron and the Coalition.
- Contrived Coincidence: It must have taken a great deal of time and effort to turn Naxzela into a trap that would keep Voltron in one place and destroy a sector full of rebellious systems. So much time that Haggar must have started that prep work long before anyone knew that Voltron would return and lead a rebellion in that region, leaving Naxzela as the lynchpin for taking the sector.
- Defensive Feint Trap: Haggar's plan was to draw the rebels in to Naxzela and then destroy the entire rebellion in one swoop.
- Deus ex Machina:
- Allura manages to tap into her Altean magic just as Voltron looks like it's about to be crushed by Naxzela's gravitational field, giving Voltron enough power to escape.
- Lotor intervenes just in time to stop Keith's heroic sacrifice and turn off the bomb, offering an Enemy Mine to the Coalition.
- Enemy Mine: Lotor offers one with Team Voltron and the Coalition.
- Gravity Master: Haggar turns Naxzela into a bomb by increasing the planet's gravity to crush the hexamite at the planet's core.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Attempted. Keith tries to ram his stolen Galra starfighter into the shields protecting Haggar's gravity weapon in the hopes of destroying them. Lotor does it himself before Keith's ship reaches the shield.
- Improbable Piloting Skills: Lotor manages to successfully pilot his ship across the upper atmosphere of a star while his father's fleet is forced to pull back and avoid losing their ships.
- Protective Charm: Allura uses magic to counteract Haggar's gravity spell long enough for Voltron to escape from Naxzela.
- Race Against the Clock: The Paladins spend the episode rushing to escape from Naxzela before it explodes.
- Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale: Why would the castle be on the other side of the galaxy during an operation like this? Also, given what has been shown so far, crossing the galaxy in tactically useful time is simply not possible. It would have made far more sense for the castle to be on the other side of the solar system.
- Then there is the attempted planetary detonation. Solar systems are light years apart, and the Faster Than Light technology shown so far works on individual ships, not planet-sized explosions. Anyone in the nearby systems would have years to evacuate. (In theory there could be wormholes near the planet, shunting the explosive force right onto other nearby planets, but these were not shown.)
- Additionally, the explosion is being fuel by Altean magic, which could have powerful effects of the blast.
- Selective Gravity: The Paladins and the remaining Galra sentries are unaffected by the increasing gravity on Naxzela, while Voltron is.
- Unit Confusion: Solar systems, unless they are uniformly placed (which they are not in reality, and are not on the map of the empire seen on the castle's bridge), are not a useful unit of measure.
- Villainous Rescue: Lotor destroys Haggar's new weapon, disarming the bomb in Naxzela's core and saving the day.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Lance gives Allura the pep talk she needs to use her magic again.
