“Blood Duel” and “Postmortem” mark a shift in the series with the death of Zarkon (Neil Kaplan) at the hands of Lotor (A.J. LoCascio) with the help of the Paladins of Voltron. The first episode shows some cracks in the team over discussions of trusting Lotor versus turning him over to Zarkon in exchange for the captive Samuel Holt (Nolan North) before the team uses some deception of their own and rallies together to rescue Pidge‘s (Bex Taylor-Klaus) father leaving Lotor one-on-one with his father. Although you don’t expect the major villain to be wiped out mid-season, h choice does open new possibilities for the series.
“Postmortem” begins to probe the effects of Zarkon’s death including the power vacuum left at the heart of the Galra Empire. For Lotor that means attempting to enlist the Paladins help to take the throne. For Haggar (Cree Summer) that means enlisting the help of Lotor’s imprisoned generals. And for one Galra commander, that means attacking the Coalition’s new base of operation with weapon that turns the vegetation of the world against its inhabitants. The episode not only showcases Lance‘s (Jeremy Shada) improvement of a Paladin but also picks up the long-dormant plot thread of something being off about Shiro (Josh Keaton) since his return foreshadowing new trouble for the Paladins in the not-so-distant future.
