Voltron Season 7 Episode 3 Review: The Way Forward

This Voltron Legendary Defender review contains spoilers.

Voltron Season 7 Episode 3

There’s a lot of really great stuff in this episode. The division between Lotor’s former generals, the casual banter between the Galra crew, the space battle with the Paladins, and Lance rushing in to protect Pidge with zero regard for his own safety.

But I want to focus on Coran. 

I’ve regularly seen the complaint that Coran is “too goofy”. To that I say, why? What’s wrong with having a wacky character who approaches situations in a silly way? Coran’s antics in this episode are legit comedic gold. The way he thinks he’s so great but the Space Mice outshine him at every turn? That’s hilarious!

And who knows? Maybe his lies and disguises could have worked on the ship, you never know! Plus, even if they failed on the surface they did end up helping the Mice free the team! Coran is secretly more helpful than even he might realize.

Obviously comedy is subjective but it makes me wonder why we’re so quick to dismiss a funny character in favor of more “serious” ones? Throughout this episode I kept thinking about our interview with Coran’s actor Rhys Darby where he discussed why the character’s humor makes him more realistic.

“It’s important because when we live life whether we’re here on Earth or in space, we have senses of humor. We use those all the time and you don’t often see those in a lot of sci-fi that take themselves too seriously. I’d probably have more of a laugh if I was in (those) situations.”

He’s totally right. There are some people who, in the face of peril or evil, would be laughing at everything. This especially works for Coran who’s more used to these situations. Remember, we’ve seen hints of Coran’s past and how he used to get into trouble like this all the time. Of course he’d approach it a bit zanier than our main team, this is what’s worked in the past.

Just because Coran doesn’t have a seemingly tragic backstory or angsting about some inner conflict doesn’t make him a bad or “too goofy” character. Some people either just don’t have that in their lives or they’ve already dealt with it long ago and choose to have more fun.

It reminds me a lot of Hunk, a character who of course could use more screen time, but people seem to not love as much as the others because he isn’t filled with angst. Come on, people. Not everyone needs to be a brooding emo boy (sorry Keith) to be an interesting character. I actually find characters like Coran and Hunk more interesting because they choose to be happy or zany.

It’s a powerful statement about them, that they don’t always fall into despair but confront these horrifying situations head on with a smile or joke. Even Hunk got in a little joke with Zethrid and Ezor!

Of course the jokes didn’t work for Hunk and Coran this time but that’s who they are and I love them for it.

Quick side note, I’m still delighted how well this series has utilized the Space Mice. I couldn’t believe they were included at all in the first season but seeing them actually save the day in this episode? All hail the glorious Space Mice!

Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter!