After Lotor's failure to have his ship pass through another dimension, Ezor and Zethrid begin to worry that after Narti, they would be next. Meanwhile, the paladins begin their plan to reclaim a third of the Galra Empire by taking over the cannons at their bases. At the end of the episode, Acxa decides to stun Lotor and the Generals attempt to take him to the empire for a pardon. He admits he understands their decision before ejecting Zethrid and flying away with his part of the comet ship.
Tropes featured in this episode:
- Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: How Lotor escapes from his handcuffs.
- All According to Plan: Implied in the last exchange.Druid: Naxzela is under attack. Voltron and the Coalition just reclaimed an entire section of the Empire.Haggar: Good.
- Big Badass Battle Sequence: The entire multi-stage battle is this.
- Bomb Disposal:
- Breaking the Bonds: Lotor pops his shoulders so he could break his handcuff link and eject Zethrid out of his ship.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Rollo, Nyma, and Beezer return for the first time since season 1.
- The Taujeerians, Balmerans, and Olkari are featured once again.
- Keith and the Blade of Marmora return after having been taken offscreen at the end of the first episode of the season.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Despite Acxa trying to assure Ezor and Zethrid that they can trust Lotor, Ezor points out that Lotor had killed Narti, who trusted Lotor. Acxa looks off to the side before pressing on.
- Continuity Nod:
- The paladins visit the Taujeerians, and the Balmera during the preparations for battle.
- Matt's rebel cell is present during the montage.
- Lotor mentions the work his mother Honerva conducted on the rift betweenr realities, as showcased via flashback in The Journey.
- Death Glare: Despite not being able to change his expression, Voltron's face manages to convey this to the Galra commanders on Naxzela after landing.
- Decisive Battle: Capturing Naxzela will allow the Coalition to blockade and capture a third of the Galra Empire.
- Do Unto Others Before They Do Unto Us: Lotor's generals betray him out of fear that they'll all share Narti's fate sooner or later.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: The Coalition uses one of the Empire's Zaiforge Cannons to disable the other.
- Humiliation Conga: Lotor has not been having a good time this season. First, his father strips him of his position in the empire, then declares him a fugitive with a death sentence hanging over his head. After that, his plans to harvest Quintessence from other realities fails, and finally, his generals turn on him out of fear that he'll kill them if they slip up.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Lotor's generals turn on him after his plan fails in order to survive.
- Invisible Means Undodgeable: The minefield on Naxzela is cloaked, so Pidge cannot figure out how to maneuver through them.
- Kill Sat: The two Zaiforge cannons are used as long-range artillery.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: Attacking Naxzela requires everyone to be split up both before and after forming Voltron.
- First, Pidge and Hunk attack a satellite relay station to prevent the Galra forces on Naxzela from contacting central command.
- Matt leads the coalition fleet to attack the first Zaiforge Cannon orbiting the planet Tek, while Keith and the Blade of Marmora attack the second on the surface of Senthama.
- Once those three targets have been neutralized, Coalition forces attack the remaining Galra-occupied planets in that region of the empire, while Voltron attacks Naxzela.
- Merciful Minion: Instead of killing Lotor, Acxa instead stuns him.
- Nothing Personal: Zethrid sounds genuinely sorry when Lotor wakes up and says that they were taking him to the empire to hopefully get a pardon. He tells them that he understands the choice they made.
- Regretful Traitor: Acxa and the other generals are reluctant to betray Lotor, but ultimately turn on him to avoid sharing Narti's fate.
- The Reveal: Despite Coran's explanation that Alfor closed the rift by destroying Daibazaal, Lotor explains that the rift could not be closed. And in fact, Lotor has managed to stabilize the rift by constructing a portal that will allow his comet ships to pass through to another reality.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The Galra commanders on Naxzela run for their lives when Voltron lands on the planet.
- Space Mines: The invisible minefield on Naxzela.
- Stealth Pun: At one point, a squad of Red Shirt anthropomorphic alien fighter pilots are getting shot down, and one of them gets a dramatic death shot. The frog is the one who croaks.
- Time-Compression Montage: The gathering of the Coalition and the final mission briefings are shown in a handful of still shots.
- The battles that commence after the Zaiforge Cannons have been captured
- Wave-Motion Gun: The Zaiforge Cannons.
