Surprise, surprise! Voltron: Legendary Defender is back, and, like usual, it hasn’t been a long wait. Less than five months since Season 4 debuted on Netflix, Season 5 is here just waiting to be streamed by everyone who’s been around for the Paladins of Voltron’s war with the Galra Empire.

Like the previous season, Season 5 has only six episodes in hand, and it makes the very most of each and every one. There are positives and negatives that come with a truncated season such as this; fans only have to wait a few months for the show to return with fresh stories, and there’s no threat of padding to slow down the narrative. The six episodes in Season 5 of Voltron: Legendary Defender are engrossing enough that binging them all in one sitting feels like a two hours that goes by in the blink of an eye.

Still, two hours isn’t enough time to tell a sprawling story as what 11-episode Season 1 and 13-episode Season 2 offered. It also means that, with a cast as large as what Voltron: Legendary Defender contains, a few characters aren’t going to have a very long moment in the spotlight, if one, at all, but Season 5 recognizes its limitations and sets its sights on developing a few key points in the vast universe where Voltron: Legendary Defender takes place.

There’s no one character who steals the show in Season 5; instead, it’s a whole race that shines, one that has gradually amassed depth over the course of the series. The Galra started out as a one-dimensional, villainous empire, but by now have been shown to possess many layers through the likes of the Blade of Marmora and Prince Lotor and his cohorts. Their race are not strictly mindless, war-mongering brutes, and that evolution continues when a new leader must be chosen to lead their shrinking, but still dominant empire.

The Kral Zera―a ritual that anoints the new leader of the Galra Empire―is a story arc that cements the rich background which drapes this universal conflict. In showing a culture behind the very people who have largely been portrayed as the heartless villains in this series, Season 5 allows Voltron: Legendary Defender yet another opportunity to break through the confines of its source material and be so much more than just a modernized Saturday morning cartoon.

It has its share of camp, it has its share of silliness, but is has just as much sincerity to tell a worldly story for a wide audience.

For every bit of progress being made by the Paladins of Voltron and their allies, they are merely minor steps in a war that’s lasted hundreds of years and spanned countless galaxies. Lotor’s assumption of the Galra throne; the rescuing of Pidge and Matt’s father, Samuel Holt; the growth of Lance’s abilities as a pilot; the discovery of ancient Altean alchemy by Allura―all of these strides are significant, but their inability to end the war with the Galra, alone, emphasizes that there is no easy solution to a conflict so ingrained in the universe.

The two key figures of the war―Voltron, itself, and the Galra Empire―both feel very small when placed within the larger picture. Zarkon went down, yet there is still a tremendous task at hand in stabilizing the fractured Galra Empire, and subduing its hostile factions. Voltron and all its wild weapons and battles is what brought viewers to the show in the first place, but after 45 episodes, we’re sticking around for so much more than just a single mech. Season 5 feels like an encapsulation of the character building and world building that Voltron: Legendary Defender has been so successful at.

As has been a tradition to this point, Season 5 ends with a thrilling final episode, one that prioritizes the aforementioned world building. Allura’s and Lotor’s quest to attain a new understanding of mighty Altean alchemy takes the show so far beyond the mecha and sci-fi roots that pervade the narrative. Their journey to a mythical land and encounters with supernatural guardians provide another dose of fantasy elements that help make Voltron: Legendary Defender such an eclectic series. This show has grown far past the label of a single genre.

It’s all so good that it’ll make you wish that DreamWorks and Netflix could find just a little bit better balance in the efficiency at getting out new seasons and the number of episodes contained within. They do a phenomenal job with just six episodes, but perhaps with 9-10, some of the characters who have been a bit shallow could flesh out. Lance had flashes of much-needed development in Season 5, but they need to expand. Hunk desperately deserves the chance to evolve past being just comic relief, while Keith has had scarce (although, pivotal) appearances for two seasons in a row, now.

Let Season 6 get all the time it needs, and this show comes that much closer to perfection.

FINAL SCORE

8.75/10

Season 5 of Voltron: Legendary Defender procures every ounce of action, lore, and drama that it possibly can from the mere 6 episodes it showcases. By now, the series has firmly established that it as a lot more to offer than just a really cool mech and giant robot battles. Season 5 is a glowing example of that, a microcosm of the expectations it continues to defy. With 45 episodes down, Voltron: Legendary Defender has already achieved great things, and is poised for much more for the rest of its run.

+ The Galra race is provided further background to deepen their culture, while Lotor has ascended to being one of the show’s most compelling characters

+ A terrific mix of action sequences, between giant mech battles, stealth missions, on-foot melees, and even a little bit of Indiana Jones-esque temple diving in the season finale

+ New doses of mystical elements diversify this already-rich setting, blending multiple genres together

— Six episodes can only tell so much story and show so much character development, leaving some of the cast and plot points in limbo for the time being

Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 5 is available exclusively on Netflix NOW. For more Voltron: Legendary Defender coverage from The Geekiverse, check out our reviews for the other seasons.

Jeff Pawlak is the animation buff on the Geekiverse. He’s watched plenty of anime in his time, and he’s glad to see that American studios have started churning out a string of animated epics in recent years. While he eagerly waits for Season Six of Voltron: Legendary Defender, he points his attention to Nintendo video games, giant monster flicks, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and other animated shows and movies. Find him on Twitter @JeffreyPavs

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