Reflection and Analysis

VLD - Series Ended on a Major Low Note (12/22/2018)

There is no getting around the fact the last season of Voltron was horrible. This isn't to say there weren't things I liked. I honestly loved Pidge, Hunk and Keith this season as they were for the most part in character, or at least they were until the ending where Lance is the only one concerned about Allura and Altor is saying he thinks he's the right guy for her. I'd say I loved Shiro this season, but we didn't get enough of him. I loved the camera catching the day to day life on ship except for the Lance and Allura moments, but more on that in a bit.

The pacing was horrible, and I honestly struggled getting to the end. I hated the fact Allura died at the end just, so everything would be fixed including things which shouldn't have been. I'm sorry, but her planet and the planet of the Galra shouldn't have been fixed as they had nothing to do with the making of the current time rift situation. Lance most certainly shouldn't have gotten the marks he did. A lot of the plot lines felt like the writers were simply tying up lose ends, but not necessarily doing it well.

Rumor has it the reason the season tanked is because LM and JDS purposefully tanked the season because they were let go due to toxic work environment. The explanation I've seen is that they've not been promoted to other projects like a studio normally would, but that they'd been given the chance to put out feelers just before season seven aired. They apparently didn't like being let go and thus decided to do exactly what they promised fans they wouldn't do in the final season, but they basically justified the fears of old school fans holding off watching the series – that they wouldn't care about the original canon material.

For those who are new to the Voltron fandom and don't know some of its history, the older fans in fact do have quite a bit of power over what happens. The reason Voltron Force in fact got canceled after the first season lay with the fact old time fans were pissed off with the fact the lore was mangled the way it was, but LM and JDS are aware of this. What they don't realize though is that – because VLD had such a good start and was what fans hoped in a reboot – that fans would much rather see this fixed than left alone. Particularly since this is salvageable.

We can't get past this without talking about how a message was sunk into the very first episode that, "this isn't your Voltron, so don't expect the flagship pairing for the franchise." They did this despite knowing how well pairing Superman with Wonder Woman instead of Lois Lane went over and how it got retconned the first chance they got. Yeah, the entire Lance/Allura thing can be retconned out of existence if the IP so chooses, but fans don't have to accept the ending as canon simply because LM and JDS want them to. In fact, many are sticking to the first six seasons of the series for writing fanfic or writing fix-fic for the final season, or even alternative endings.

I'm sure the actor who plays Hunk knows what we fans know that Coran is in fact super serious and the fact he's comedic doesn't change the fact, but also knows that Keith's character was at a stage where he was becoming more happy and friendly. Allura's changes were done to tackle a stereotype, but he likely thought he was simply poking fun of the fact people were worried about those changes and not helping to make a slap in the face against Keith and Allura fans for wanting their pairing to be endgame. It is after all the flagship pairing.

Moving along, the pairing between Lance and Allura is far from healthy. There are reviews which claim the pairing was in fact healthy because they cuddled and supported each other, but cuddles don't mean a healthy pairing. In fact, when I see a pairing which simply cuddles and there is no conflict I find myself wondering if there isn't something not being addressed. For this one we come down to the fact Allura is shown as being supportive of Lance, but he isn't of her. He's in fact pushy and really shouldn't be in a relationship with her.

For starters the first episode starts off with him acting like a possessive bastard who feels the only person Allura should be with is him. While we could chalk up his reaction to him being jealous of Keith it honestly removes any choice in the matter from Allura's hands. One of the things which caught my attention regarding the relationship was that the entire thing wasn't a choice for her, but a choice forced upon her. Such reactions are also a sign of a relationship which will be abusive. Actually, Lance unfortunately ticks off a lot of the boxes for emotional abuse. Perhaps this shouldn't be surprising given the rumor regarding toxic work environment?