Voltron Season 4 Rewrite

"Reunion" Rewrite Analysis

-This episode was incredible, I don't think anyone is going to argue about that. However, while it was incredible as an individual episode, perhaps maybe even the best individual episode in the entire series, it was actually not the best in terms of following through with the season's plot. We got Matt. That's it. It didn't contribute to the season or the show's overall plot in any other way, and that's a huge problem when the season only has 6 episodes. So, to fix this, I connected it to the plot by directly showing Pidge the Galra vs Galra conflict going on between Lotor and Zarkon's sides multiple times, be it at Kraydah's Moon, or just after the tombstone scene. She doesn't know what it is, but now she's seen the inner conflict, and now the episode is more vital to the plot. Also, Zarkon got name-dropped in front of Pidge...that's a thing. Not to mention the return of Sendak...basically, I just made this episode much more central to the plot while not changing the overall theme of the episode, which is "Find Matt".

-So, one thing to note; last episode, when Shiro first regained connection with the Black Lion, it was so they could rescue a supply ship and get it to Olkarion. Well, that's the same supply ship that gives Pidge the information on the shopkeepers location, because it was carrying nano-thermite titanium boron!

-I know I cut Lance and Hunk's only lines in this episode, but they were pretty unnecessary and don't fit the tone of this episode anyways, so, deleted 'em.

-As for the shopkeeper, you may have noticed I changed this entire scene, sort of. I made him somebody who actively supplies explosives to the rebels, because honestly, why else would he have Te-osh's location? If he was willing to turn in Pidge to the Galra just for having footage of an escape, surely he'd be willing to turn in information about the rebel's whereabouts. So, I made him a rebel himself. A rebel shopkeeper, who refused to give Pidge the intel because he didn't trust her. He was just doing his job; good guy. Also, this is the first scene where we see Sendak watching her, which, yeah, I replaced the pointless lizard guy completely with Sendak, who is a character that will be important eventually, sort of like a third party even though Lotor is technically a third party against the paladins and Zarkon.

-I changed the Kraydah's moon scene to make it more plot relevant. Instead of it being a random Galra attack, the Galra were fighting each other (last episode, Lotor ordered Acxa to have the commanders attack the outer corners of the Dalterion Belt, and it's mentioned in this episode that that's where Pidge is, so this was set up). While they fought each other, they happened to discover the rebel base. Then, after one fleet won, they decided to try to take out two birds with one stone by attacking the rebel base. Luckily Pidge was there to save their lives. The scene still plays out relatively similar, except it now bears weight on the plot.

-Te-osh's scene is more or less the same. No, it IS the same. I had nothing to change there, very powerful scene that helps Pidge with the "find Matt" plot.

-Matt's grave scene is...yeah. Always an emotional punch to the gut; I had to keep it in. It's iconic. It was difficult to give that scene the same tug that it had in the show, but I did what I could, making every sentence short and simple yet heart-wrenching in that scene. Also, another scene of Sendak following her. This time, we see that his ship can go invisible.

-In the show, Pidge just sees a couple Galra fleets while flying and has to go invisible. This has literally no bearing on the plot and was practically only there to show off her cloaking device to set up for next episode, where it becomes relevant, so instead, she gets to see more Galra vs Galra in-fighting. Ties this scene to the plot while keeping its initial purpose.

-The beautiful reunion scene was the same, up until Sendak shows up. Again, I replaced pointless lizard guy with Sendak. Here's my complaint on lizard-dude; first of all, how would he know to follow Pidge in order to find Matt? He says, "I'm here to collect the bounty on your brother Matt. But a paladin of Voltron and the Green Lion? What a day." So CLEARLY he knew following Pidge would lead him to his real target, Matt, but...how could he know that? It honestly makes no sense. In my rewrite, Sendak follows Pidge because he wants to capture her; he doesn't give a quiznak about Matt. He's just been waiting for the right time to strike ever since he found her alone at the shopkeeper's place. Why didn't he attack at the memorial? Let's just say he arrived once she was already leaving.

-The Sendak fight was, yeah. It mirrored the fight with the lizard dude. Sendak has a new mechanical arm that's much smaller than his old one, since his new one wasn't from the druids. It's just a mechanical arm. Very symbolic for where his character is. I don't really think Sendak would fight with whips, but we'll call that a one time thing. Maybe a weapon specifically designed to help him fight Pidge, though Shiro's the one he's interested in (even though our Shiro is a clone).

-Also, Matt survives, hurray, and they escape because he turns off the gravity in the room completely thanks to his generator. The main reason for this was to show they had to escape Sendak and couldn't beat him. Also, if they beat him, they could've just kept him prisoner and brought him back with them to interrogate him about Zarkon, and...that's not the plot line I wanted to go for for him. He's a rogue threat, not a captured threat. For now. He already played the role of both in season 1, technically, but, we'll see where he goes now that he's a failed commander with zero friends and zero influence.

-Also, Sendak mentions Zarkon to Pidge, so yay, this episode has even more plot significance now.

-It manages to end in the same way, with Matt noticing Pidge kept his glasses, which segways into the beautiful flashback, and yeah. Hurray for this episode! Much happier ending than the last one.

Those are the details I changed and wanted to comment on in regards to this episode! Obviously, the title comes from Pidge and Matt's reunion, and I use the word both at the tombstone scene to help the swerve and at their actual reunion. Very beautiful episode. Individually, it was already a 10/10 despite the lizard dude not making much sense, but here, I've rewritten it to have more bearing on the plot without changing anything that made it such a fantastic episode. Hope you enjoyed!

Next time, Voltron Season 4 Episode 3: Battle Royal (yes, I did change the title of this episode, and I'll explain when it's posted)

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