Leading up to this final season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, I was not nearly as excited as I was for previous seasons. How could I be excited to witness the end of something that taught me so much about myself and where I want to go in life?

Voltron: Legendary Defender cemented my desire to go to graduate school to pursue a degree in screenwriting. Was Voltron a perfect show? Of course not. But I want to take what I learned from the show—good and bad—and use that to create a show that might one day stand on equal footing and bring together as many people.

I feel honored to have supported this show through thick and thin. Even when the show was not at its greatest, I still believed in its potential.

Much like the characters within Voltron, having the strength to believe can make all the difference.

Season 8 truly did reach back to its roots, remember who its audience is, and end the show in the most meaningful way it could.

By the end of this series, there was a marked difference in the characterization of each Paladin.

Pidge was able to finally relate to people in a way she had never been able to before on Earth. Hunk did not overcome his fear of the unknown but learned to bravely work through it. Lance was able to let go of some of his cocky, arrogant façade and let show his sincerely, loyalty, and serenity. Keith found inner peace with who he was, and where he was once lost, he found his way. Shiro did not let his inner drive push people away but allowed that to draw people close to him and find happiness in the end.

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In a way, Allura’s death was not an unforeseen event. Each of the Paladins had a life or drive to return to even following the war. Allura’s life, from the instant she woke up, was centered around freeing the universe of the Galra. Since that had been completed, her death was not only the most logical conclusion but also helped to provide closure for the end of the series.

Season 8 provided a great mix of progressing the plot forward while at the same time allowing its audience to decompress with fun episodes like Episode 1: Launch Date, Episode 7: Day 47, and Episode 8: Clear Day. At the same time, it did not forget that it had a plot to conclude.

There were also several nods to the original 80s Voltron several times during episode 1 as well as in the designs of the original Paladins’ armor when placed in contrast to the new Paladins’.

At this point in the series, this season was focused mainly on tying together the plot and fleshing out its last few untapped characters.

Unlike the other Paladins, Lance did not seem to receive the same character progression. Season 7 helped to bring together the events that changed Lance and allowed him to become more comfortable with himself and grow his fake confidence into real inner strength.

I may not have been a huge Lance fan at first, but as is certainly the case for many Voltron fans, he grew on us. His ending was bittersweet, and as sad as it was, Lance never seemed to be the next Black Paladin like some fans thought he would be. As he said in season 6, “I’m just a boy from Cuba.” Not everyone has to rejoin the Garrison and gallivant across the universe creating technology or providing aid. Sometimes, what’s best for people is to take a break, go home, and figure out the next step.

Honerva was relatively unknown as a character. The audience knew little about her motivations and end goal due to the large focus on the Paladins and Voltron Coalition. This season fleshed her out more as a character and villain. Rather than the insane space witch many referred to her as, she was, in reality (this and every other one), a mother.

However brief, her interactions with Lotor were very telling about her character, and those interactions served to be the basis for the central conflict in this season.

Some people may criticize this last season and say that Honerva’s character was redeemed in the end through her joint sacrifice with Allura, but I disagree. Honerva never apologized for what she had done nor did she seem remorseful. She was resigned at the end. Yes, she died by helping to bring back the other realities that had been destroyed, but she was neither thanked nor honored for it.

Allura also displayed some surprising characterization. Her nature has always been to do what is right and just, but the introduction of the “Entity” brought that seed of darkness that lurks in everyone more to the surface.

If Voltron has showed us anything, it’s that everyone is capable of good and bad whether human, Altean, or Galran.

As this is the last season, there would be no point in saying, “I wish they could have done this differently” or “Maybe next time they could do this.”

Part of the beauty of the end of a series is that it’s done. Whether you agreed with the way events ended or not, appreciate the story for what it was.

There were several scenes I appreciated the hell out of that made me laugh, gasp, and sob hysterically:

1) All of Colleen and Pidge’s interactions were hilarious. These reminded us that Pidge really is just a teenager, and despite having grown tremendously throughout the show, she is still a kid. 2) Baby Lotor. That’s it. Nuff said. 3) Kosmo is confirmed Best Boy. The goodest space wolfo. 4) The entire scene in the mess hall with the IGF fighters and Acxa. 5) Takashi Swole-gane, and 6) The “1 Year Later” endings.

Photo credit to Netflix Photo credit to Netflix Photo credit to Netflix Photo credit to Netflix Photo credit to Netflix Photo credit to Netflix

Call it bias, call it whatever you want, but I can’t end this without bringing up something very near and dear to my heart that I think Voltron did so, so right: the LGBT representation.

I think you all know which scene I’m referring to specifically.

Another famous (or maybe infamous) show that is noted for its LGBT representation is Avatar: The Legend of Korra and its season finale. Many people criticized the show for not explicitly stating that Korra and Asami were a couple at the end of the series. While the creators later confirmed this, confirming it off screen and writing a specific scene to showcase this are two very different approaches.

The audience has known since the season 7 trailers dropped that Shiro was a member of the LGBT community, and many had speculated during a picture released on co-producer Lauren Montgomery’s Twitter where Shiro was holding a “LGBT” sign.

There were many criticisms with the way Shiro’s sexuality and relationship with Adam was portrayed in season 7. While I thought it worked very well for the series considering Voltron: Legendary Defender’s genre is not romance, fans accused the writers of creating Adam and killing him off in the same episode as a ploy to draw fans in who wanted to see more LGBT representation.

As far as Voltron and shipping goes, no one was ever going to be 100% satisfied. Whether Sheith, Klance, or Punk, I think the writers did the smart thing by avoiding that mess entirely.

If anyone is mad about Shiro’s scene at the end of season 8 because he didn’t end up with Keith or Lance, you’re missing the point of what that scene represented.

When I saw Shiro holding his new husband’s hand with the spray of petals and their joyful friends around them, I teared up. When Shiro and his husband kissed, I full on started crying. To see people like me proudly displayed was one of the greatest parting gifts the team who worked on Voltron: Legendary Defender could have given us.

For this and for the entire series, I can’t express in words what this show has meant to me.

To Voltron: Legendary Defender, its cast and crew, thank you. Thank you so much.