Etcetera | A Journal

25 | summary + predictions before s7 drops (vld)

Holy shit I'm so excited and yet also so terrified and YES, I am once again going to stay up late and binge that shit the second it comes out. Experiencing something without spoilers is an amazing experience that I almost never get to have :'D

So I meant to do a long and rambly "my feelings on the entire show" kind of post that I alluded to a couple of times, but, uh. Some things happened. Family deaths and whatnot. So that sank pretty low on my list of priorities for obvious reasons. Here I'm gonna share a much shorter version of that and get some of my predictions and theories and things jotted down just so I have proof in case I'm right! So, uh, here we go.

—KEITH
He is still my favorite, my precious son, and I'm so impressed and happy with his development. It looks like he's gonna keep his scar through season seven and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. I kind of hope it heals at some point? I'm just not used to it and it makes him look kind of oddly rugged/a lot older. It's such a silly thing to be nit-picky about, but I'm very visual.
Apparently he's now the proper black lion pilot. Montgomery said in an interview that Shiro's connection with black has been severed and that he can't pilot it anymore. And Keith is properly ready now. Which, I'll admit, is really bittersweet. I'm still so nostalgic for and attached to the seasons one and two lineup, where everyone matched with their lion and shared traits with it and Shiro was the leader of the formation. We'll never have that again. :'( I wonder if they'll ever get a new intro? I get why intros are weird, as it's a separate budgeting thing, but still. It's really jarring. At the same time, it kind of serves as a reminder of how far we've come.
I've already gone on and on about his development in other posts, though, and explained how I feel about the way they chose to give him some extended time alone with his mother. Even if it was kind of an odd choice, it was what he needed and it was nice to address that somewhat realistically (as in, not brushing it under the rug or pretending like his problems could have been overcome in a day).
I'm SO HAPPY he's back with the team. I get why they sent him away for a while. He was getting a lot of screen time and focus, and if they'd dragged out his whole loner mentality/clashing with the team thing for too long, he would have gotten irritating and the audience would have lost the ability to sympathize with him. Absence makes the heart grow fonder! I'm really looking forward to his falling back in with his friends. Oh, how I've missed his banter and snarky quips.

—LANCE
Okay so. People keep asking for a Lance arc and wondering where the Lance arc is, but the thing is, we've been watching the Lance arc the entire time. The Lance arc is his development. His character change has been both subtle and really obvious and has clearly been given a lot of care! I don't know what the "payoff" of the arc will be, or if it will even come, but it's been very well done up until now and I trust that the writers are going somewhere with it. Seeing him pilot the black lion or lead everyone in some way, even if it's only for one battle or mission, would be really cool and feel deserved and earned at this point.
Mostly, it seems he's overcome his "womanizing" ways. He finally developed somewhat serious feelings for a girl and got rejected/realized she didn't feel the same way, which made him understand how terrible he might have made other people feel, whether by doing the same to them or by making fun of people for feeling the way he feels. As a result, he doesn't hit on Romelle or Krolia at all (though there's a chance he wouldn't have hit on Krolia anyway seeing as she's Keith's mom and that's not cool). Season one Lance would have done so.
A lot of people seem to forget, but the pilot sort of makes Lance seem like he's supposed to be the main character, and I think it might come full circle. Lance will likely have to take charge at some point.
On another topic... That drawing Lauren Montgomery did has been relevant so far. Allura and Pidge are holding the "gender" sign. Allura supports it and Pidge is behind it. Pidge has a gender reveal and Allura sort of supported the arc by finding out and confronting Pidge about it. Keith and Hunk are holding the "race" sign. Hunk supports the sign and Keith is behind it. Keith has the race reveal and Hunk is the one who talks to him about it and stands up for him with Allura. The only remaining two are Lance and Shiro holding the "LGBT" sign. Lance is behind it and Shiro is supporting it. So... if we're assuming the progression is correct, Lance and Shiro are going to bond some more and Shiro will have to help him. Also, Shiro apparently has Kuron's memories (I'll get to that), so they'll have to talk about that stuff in general. Lance feels bad about not being able to help Shiro and Shiro likely wants to apologize for the way Kuron treated Lance.