Voltron Season 7 Episode 5 Review: The Ruins

This Voltron Legendary Defender review contains spoilers.

Voltron Season 7 Episode 5

Ah, that’s more like it.

After the strange diversion of last episode (although where the hell did Acxa go) we’re back to the main plot. We finally learn what went down while the team was gone and it’s everything I could have hoped for.

If you’ve been reading my reviews you know I’m all in for Galra politics and although we only get a little here it’s more than enough to fill in the blanks. The Galra civil war turned extremely violent. They all tried to seize power and where the hell are my Voltron novels filling in these gaps? Come on DreamWorks, you’re sitting on a gold mine here.

Anyway, we also get our first real indication of what Haggar (who was assumed to be the big bad of this season) is up to and well… we aren’t really sure! It looks like she’ll be staying in the shadows for a bit longer. That’s fine, since we’re at least dealing with her Druids now.

I’m sure we could question whether the Druid’s story to the team was accurate or not but I’ll choose to believe it. Why not? He was luring the team in and the truth was the most devastating thing of all. It makes you wonder what’s been happening to the rebels all this time.

This kind of question is one of Voltron’s strengths. It gives you just enough to keep the main story moving but leaves enough open for your mind to fill in the gaps. Most shows either keep everything tightly focused around the main story or leave too little explained. I love it when I can imagine a whole galaxy of adventures going on.

Sometimes fans want everything explained but when you have this many characters who are heading away from the main alien action? This is a perfect way to get what’s happening across without stopping the main story dead. 

Speaking of action, how about that fight? God damn, Voltron’s action is some of the best I’ve seen in animation. The sci-fi setting lets them invent all kinds of different fights and this one, featuring teleporting, is stunning. The way Keith and the Druid are just pounding each other is dynamic as hell. It’s not quite as intense as the Keith and Shiro fight from the end of season 6 but it does a lot with the teleporting to make an engaging fight without needing to take the animation to a budget breaking point. 

I’m struggling a bit to figure out what the point of the simulation was at the start of the episode. Was it to say everyone should work together? That they should be taking this seriously? It’s hard to say but maybe it’s set up for something later? We’ll have to see.

By episode’s end Krolia is off with Kolivan and while I’m sad we’re losing a woman on the main team I am glad we’re thinning the group a little. I was noticing the giant group shots in this episode and I knew the series couldn’t keep up this high number of characters forever.

With the time skip filled in on the Galra side, I’m anxiously awaiting to see what’s been happening to the rebels and Earth. It’s an effective use of a time skip because these sort of changes in the universe are amazing to see but it’d be a shame to miss so many years with our main characters. This way we can have both and I expect them to be glorious.

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