"We have to keep moving. No matter how long it takes."
Keith: I finally understand why you left...you put the mission above all else.
Krolia: That's not true. I left to protect the person I most love — you.
Krolia: That's not true. I left to protect the person I most love — you.
Following up from their last appearance, Keith and his mother track down the source of the Quintessence used to make Ranveig's superweapon.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Almost Kiss: Allura and Lotor almost share a kiss before Pidge and Hunk interrupt.
- Canine Companion: Keith ends up saving and adopting the Time Wolf while traveling on the space whale's back.
- Came from the Sky: How Krolia came to Earth, and how she and Keith's father meet.
- The Confidant: Lance tells the mice how he feels about Allura. The mice, of course, tell Allura this at the end of the episode.
- Daddy Had a Good Reason for Abandoning You: Krolia had to leave Keith and his father in order to slow down the Galra scouts coming to Earth, both to keep the Galra from trying to steal the Blue Lion and to keep them away from her partner and child.
- Death by Flashback: In one of Keith's memories, Krolia finds out that her partner had died when Keith was young.
- Exposition Beam: The Quantum Abyss sends out flares that induce expository flashbacks into Krolia's backstory.
- Fake Kill Scare: It looks like one of the Galra scouts shoots Keith's father, but he survives.
- Flashback Effects: What the Quantum Abyss does to Krolia and Keith over the two years they're there.
- Futureshadowing: Keith sees a vision of Shiro charging at him saying that "Neither of us are going anywhere!"
- Give Him a Normal Life: Krolia decided leaving was the best way to protect her partner and child.
- Good Parents: Keith's parents tried their damnedest to be this, for as long as they were able. Unfortunately, the universe had other ideas.
- Happily Married: Krolia and Keith's father (for a while, anyway).
- Held Gaze: After Krolia decides she will remain on earth to protect the Blue lion, her partner gently takes her hand and says that he wants to help. She's stunned by this response before slowly smiling.
- How Dad Met Mom: The episode tells through flashbacks how Krolia ended up with Keith's father.
- I Choose to Stay: While her partner asks if she was going to return to her mission and contact her people, she admits that her ship crashing was the best thing that could have ever happened to her and wouldn't go back even if she could. Instead, she chooses to remain on earth to protect the Blue Lion. Unfortunately, after Galra scouts manage to find the Blue Lion, Krolia has no choice but to leave so she can keep the Galra from getting their hands on it and to keep Keith and his father safe from them.
- Innocently Insensitive: Pidge and Hunk's teasing of Lance is meant in good fun, and they clearly assume Lance is just being a drama queen. Unfortunately, Lance is genuinely heartbroken, and their mocking of his feelings for Allura, on top of their overt "Team Punk" solidarity (where Lance is clearly a third wheel) is just driving him further away from the group.
- Ladykiller in Love: Lance claims he's this to the mice, even Pidge and Hunk take time to tease him about it.
- Last-Minute Baby Naming: The first flashback has Keith watching his parents picking his name as a newborn.
- Little "No": When one of the scouts says he neutralized a primitive outside, Krolia does this.
- Love Hurts: Lance's confesses to the mice that he actually really cares for Allura, but feels that he can't measure up to someone like Lotor, especially because Allura probably wouldn't take him seriously.
- Mythology Gag: Krolia initially wanted to name baby Keith "Yurak."
- No Name Given: Keith's wolf is never referred to by name. Even his father is never referred to by his name.
- Parent-Child Team: Keith and Krolia form one of these during the episode.
- Pensieve Flashback: Keith is shown as a third-person observer in the flashbacks to his parents' past.
- Plot-Relevant Age-Up: Keith is aged up two years during the trip to the Quantum Zone. It's clearly to justify his immediate competence and confidence when he returns to the team and to give him time to properly bond with Krolia.
- Someday This Will Come in Handy: She hands her partner her blade to one day give to Keith saying that, "He may need it someday."
- Space Whale: Krolia observes giant whale-like creatures that are able to navigate the quantum abyss, and she and Keith hitch a ride on one. Overlaps with Turtle Island, since they create entire atmospheres and ecosystems on their backs.
- Taking the Bullet: Krolia does this for Keith during the first wave of shot out in the quantum abyss.
- Third Wheel: Lance points this out even more during this episode when he asks Allura and Lotor if they would need a third wheel for their project, how Pidge and Hunk's teasing makes him feel and when he tries to talk to the mice about his problems.
- Time-Passes Montage: The two years Keith and Krolia spend on the creature's back are shown like this, with the passage of time being indicated by the changing seasons, their house's transformation from a simple cave with a campfire in the middle to a decorated lodging with a fireplace, and the Time Wolf growing from a cub to an adult.
- Wham Shot: The episode ends with Keith and Krolia finding a living Altean inside the Quantum Zone.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Krolia originally wanted to name her son "Yurak". Keith's father gives her a weird look and suggests "Keith" instead, to which she agrees. However, it's possible that Yurak is considered a nice name among Galra.
- A Wizard Did It: Hunk and Pidge ask why they weren't called over to help build the ship, and Lotor says that it wasn't like common ships they were used to and how it was "quite different".Pidge and Hunk: (Aside Glance) Magic.
- Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time is wonky in the Quantum Zone if you don't follow a specific route. Keith and Krolia experience two years on the back of the alien creatures, while only a few days at most pass in normal space.
