The relationships and arcs in Season 6 can be traced back to a single episode in Season 3
Okay, hear me out here. I was rewatching S3 and this one episode really shook me because I realised so much of what happened (and will happen) can be traced back to this one episode: The Hunted. (You know the one where Lotor chases them into the gas planet and Allura struggles to use the blue lion? Yeah that one)
Lotura, team Punk, platonic Allurance and Klance - there are hints of ALL of these in here. Some of them pretty big.
The first thing to note is how bad of a leader Keith was at the start of this episode (Keith stans hear me out).
He acted selfishly and without consideration for the team.
Lance: Weāre a team. We stick together. Isnāt that right, Keith?
Keith: Itās not about the team. We have a mission thatās more important than any one of us.
This is clear foreshadowing of Keithās arc with the blade of Mamora, and how he adopts their toxic suicidal mindset (which comes into play at the end of S4 when he tries to sacrifice himself god dammit Keith). Itās always āthe mission or deathā and Keith has already been exposed to the BOM before this episode. Heās already picking up their way of thinking.
There are consistent shots of Keith being seperated from the rest of the team.
Itās only with Lanceās guidance that Keith holds back from acting selfishly.
And itās only with Lanceās guidance that he starts to think on the right track, confiding in him first because he knows heās done the wrong thing.
Keith: I put the entire team in jeopardy.
Lance: yeah, you kinda did. But now we gotta fix it.
Literally the only person Keith listens to this entire episode is Lance. Iām not kidding. The amount times he says āyouāre rightā to Lance isā¦ well itās a mood.
by the end of the episode, Keith is set up for his development as the leader of Voltron, and his relationship with Lance. I think people forget - we havenāt had much of Black Paladin Keith. He spends all of S4&S5 in the BOM so really heās only had the rest of S3 to develop, that being interrupted with the return of Shiro (Kuron). This episode is integral to setting him up as the Black Paladin. I actually think itās the most development he gets in that respect until the end of S6.
Lance is nothing but honest with Keith this episode. At the very end we have this shot:
āRoger thatā¦ Team Leader.ā
This could be taken as flirting. This could also be taken as the fact that Lance is proud of Keith for embracing his leadership (which he was very reluctant to do earlier this season) and has started thinking of them as a team. It could also be taken as both. Why give Lance this line? The writers did this for a reason. Itās foreshadowing for Lance and Keithās development from ārivalsā to friends and maybe more.
This brings me onto the Lotura/Allurance aspect of this meta thing. Aaaaaaaand itās kinda creepy.
Lotor singles out the Blue lion during his attack. Why? We donāt know. He doesnāt know Allura is in there. He doesnāt know who the Blue paladin is, but he pursues her anyway. For the next. Five. Whole. Minutes. The writers definitely did this on purpose - it is a direct foreshadowing to his pursuit of Allura romantically.
āIām impressed that you are able to hide. But I WILL find you.ā
I used to be a Lotura shipper now I cry myself to sleep every night
Allura is terrified. This is NOT the face of a woman who is confident in her lion or, at the moment, in herself. Her first solution is to flirt with blue by putting herself in Lanceās shoes: āyouāve activated my particle barrier.ā This doesnāt work, because of course not. It doesnāt work in the same way Lanceās flirting with her doesnāt work. Instead she asks for the lionās HELP, to which it obliges.
āI canāt do this. Everything depends on me. The universe depends on me.ā This is very similar to what Allura says to Lance during their hug on the castle after Lotorās betrayal is revealed. This may be a reach, but I believe this is setting up for the inevitable downfall of Allurance as a romantic sub-plot. On a livestream recently, Jeremy referred to Lance helping Allura out as a āfriendā and to be honest I think thatās all their relationship is meant to be. Lauren also stated that a romantic arc (at this point) would be a discredit to both of their characters. We donāt want Lance to be the rebound guy.
All the genuine moments weāve seen between Allura and Lance are reminiscent of how the lion responds to her in this episode. Theyāre real, heartfelt and platonic. Lotor, however, continues to hunt her. I donāt think Lotor is going to stop pursuing her in S7 (or beyond, who knows) - but the fact that he is obsessed/in love with her will manifest itself in a way that is inherently creepy and destructive, just as the chase here is. He may in fact kidnap her as he does in the original series, which would suit his new aesthetic as a quintessence crack whore.
Iām at risk of making a massive fool of myself here, because this could be a major reach, but when Allura overpowers Lotor by freezing him, Lotor says āIāve lost control of the Left Wing. Nicely played, paladin.ā It occurred to me that the language here sounds quite political. Could this be setting up a scenario in which Allura gains power in a sense that Lotor couldnāt expect, ultimately leading her to have a one up on him and overpowering him again? Allura is a great diplomat after all, and it would be a shame if that side of her wasnāt used again in the show (but Iām sure it will be). Or maybe Lotor was just being very literal in that he lost control of his ship. Idk. I had a lot of thoughts during this ep and Iām putting them all down.
Next I want to talk about Team Punk and Lanceās delegation to being a third wheel. I think this shot here sums it up quite nicely.
Lance refers to himself as a third wheel in S6, and in S2 (I think?) a fifth wheel or āseventh wheel if you count Allura and Coranā during his conversation with the Yupper.
Despite having Pidge and Hunk to talk to in seasons 4, 5 and most of 6, Lanceās mood does definitely start to go down - and this is the start of the foreshadowing for that. Pidge and Hunk spend a lot of this episode being buddies, but it ultimately means that Lance will be pushed aside.
I donāt think Punk is romantic though. We donāt have the colour symbolism like we do with Klance (and Lotura on Oriande when the background was very much Pink and Purple). For example, when Keith and Lance have their moment in this episode, look at the background:
Blue and Red. Hmm. Inch resting.
There are no hints of yellow and green anywhere (I donāt think - correct me if Iām wrong) so I think this is simply meant to show their growing fondness for each other as friends.
Finally, I want to touch some more on that Klance thing (surprise surprise). But seriously. Near the end of this episode, there is a moment when Allura explains how she managed to control the blue lion, and she says something along the lines of, āI just tried to be like Lance and stopped thinking so hardā and heās all āare you calling me dumb?ā And she says āno Iām calling you a natural.ā They begin to tease Lance and then:
Keith slides in between Allura and Lance. Iāve seen this said before, but thereās a bit of a trend of Keith interrupting Lance and Allura throughout the show. Again, I think this symbolises the triangle the show runners are setting up - though perhaps not a triangle in the sense where Lance will have to choose between Allura and Keith, because like I said, I think their relationship will ultimately remain platonic. Itāll have to be done in a way that shows Lance accepting himself. He already has the potential to be on equal grounds with Keith - thatās been shown throughout this entire episode. Lance is the only person Keith listened to. I think that means something.
This episode is important because it tells us so many things that will happen. Team Punk, Alluraās struggles with Lotor and herself, Keith and Lanceās ever-changing relationship and Keithās progression into becoming a great leader of Voltron.
If anyone remembers more stuff from this episode that might be significant please add to this/tell me.
Now Iām gonna undermine everything Iāve said in this post by saying thanks for coming to my TED talk.
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