Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 13 and 14

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 13 - Rebel Spirit
Episode 14 - The Southern Lights

And so we're back, with Book 2: Spirits.  They open with a big boat being attacked by a phosphorsent squid and I'm excited for the show again.  Even if the show just flounders on finales, if they keep the momentum going like they had in the first 10 episodes of season one, I'll be thrilled.  And the first two episodes of this new season get back on track.

So first off, I have to confess, I remember nothing about spirits in the first show.  A few seconds of Googling shows that Aang had plenty of dealings with them, but I simply don't remember.  I'm avoiding looking up more for fear of spoilers, but boy do these guys look like Miyazaki. They don't quite have that level of cute in a deeply unsettling way that spirits in Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away do, but I feel it has to be intentionally aping that style.  It certainly falls inline with the case that despite being an American production, the show qualifies as an anime.

Instead of going through the episodes chronologically, I want to hit what appear to be the main thrusts of the second season.  Starting with the obvious main plot of Korra's introduction to the spirit world.

The Avatar being the bridge to spirits is new to me, as I said earlier, after a full season where everything was pretty much Steampunk Shadowrun.  They even open with Mako in a really cool motorcycle chase (followed by him giving a super lame one-liner.  SUPER LAAAAME MAKO.  You used to be so cool.) to set up the distinction between the more industrial parts of Avatar-land and the more spiritual parts.  And it's cool, the festival we see is really creative, with cool games and prizes that fit the world so well.  The conflict between Korra's down to earth father, Tonraq, (who apparently has similar temper and lack of foresight issues as Korra) and the more spiritual uncle, Unalaq, is really highlighted well in a number of scenes.  Tonraq shows up for their quest on a snow mobile while Unalaq is on a whooly camel (or something).  It really highlights their differences without saying much.  And it's also nice to see that Tonraq really is a good dad, even if Korra is often too bratty to appreciate it.

Speaking of Korra being bratty, she obviously hasn't learned much from last season.  Her first line is "I'm the Avatar" when Tenzin is scolding her for using her Avatar powers to beat 6 year olds in a game.  Instead of learning humility or respect, I think her take away was "I am unstoppable."   You're too good for her Mako, even in your new, lame, bad one-liner spewing boyfriend role.

Unalaq is pretty obviously a villain from the get-go.  Between his creepy children and spirits attacking, I'm pretty sure he's arranging everything to look good.  Even so, I still didn't see him showing up with an army at the end to occupy the South Pole.  This cliff hanger left me really pumped for the next episode.

We also see a lot more of Aang's descendants.  The Tenzin story is really great and to me, the highlight of these episodes.  His oldest sibling is a sister, Kya, who I think is a water bender?  I haven't seen her bend, but she's definitely water tribe.  She also has a really sweet look going on.  I don't know what it is, but the character design for her is really cool and I hope we see more of her.  Tenzin's brother is fun and silly, but definitely seems to have his heart in the right place.  But it's Tenzin's oldest daughter, Jinora, that really intrigued me.  She starts having visions and weird dreams after seeing the statue room in an Air Bender temple and it's really cool and creepy.  To me, this was more "supernatural" than Korra's storyline with the spirits.  It sounds weird to say that in a setting with bending and spirits, but ultimately spirits are just like weird animals and bending is just a kind of physics.  Visions and prophecy are really much more mystical and I like that.

In another storyline, Asami is in business trouble and goes to a weird Howard Hughes type for help. Unfortunately this was pretty much the whole deal here, I wanted a lot more about her, as she is my favorite, but she didn't go on the journey with them in the second episode, so she's just hanging around South Watertown or whatever they call it.

Overall, these episodes did a great job of moving Korra into a more mystical show while still keeping some of the politics and maneuvering around.  Korra herself is pretty easy to manipulate, mostly because she's pretty young and immature, so that leaves a lot of room for dramatic tension.


Stray Observations;

• While Unalaq's creepy daughter hissing at Bolin is actually a legitimate response, Bolin, those kids are bad news.  I guess The Shining doesn't exist in Avatar-land, because you should be running.
• Speaking of Katara's family, what happened to Sokka?
• The Everstorm, that's such a good name for a thing.
• I know I'm critical of Korra, but she does learn.  After Naga's first freak out, she learns to trust the beardog's instincts.  
• This carnival is so great, the animators must have had a lot of fun coming up with prizes and games.
• "Avatar state is not to be used as a booster rocket" Tenzin, how do you know what a booster rocket is?  Is there a space program in Avatar-land?
• DANCING OTTER PENGUINS!  That is all.
• No Linn :(

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 11 and 12

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 11 - Skeletons in the Closest
Episode 12 - Endgame

I didn't think I'd be writing this, but here I am.  I'm disappointed in the season finale.  All that stuff I wrote last week about it not being a mystery box type show, about how it feels well planned, and how I don't want Ammon to be somebody with a secret identity?  Yep, all of that was the opposite of how the last few episodes turned out.

Again, these two episodes feel like a set, episode 11 is a bunch of flashbacks to set up episode 12.  We find out Ammon is Tarrlok's long lost brother, he's been a Water Bender this whole time, and he removes peoples powers with Blood Bending.  Look, we all knew that Ammon had to be some sort of Bender, but this feels... cheap somehow?  Every antagonist of the season ends up being related, it's too neat.  I'm all for Ammon being a hippocrit, but I don't know, this fell really flat for me.

There's some good character stuff in these episodes.  To get Korra to come out of hiding, for instance, Hiroshi calls Korra chicken.  He's got a pretty solid read on her.  And it almost works, but Mako talks her down.  That's the kind of thing that keeps me coming back to the show.  We have character growth, interaction, and it all fits together.   Of course, then Mako immediately tries to kiss her.  Not cool dude.  There's a time and a place and that is not here or when you're still sort of with Asami?  I don't know what their status is, but I don't think they do either.

Ammon has been a step ahead the whole way, and there's this overconfidence that all the Benders have.  So it's not really surprising to me that Ammon has set a trap involving secret biplanes and bombing runs.   I'm unsure how many people are killed here, but it's definitely a non-zero number, which again, is pretty violent for the age group I feel is the target.  And I do love the biplanes, battleships, and the whole 1930s asthetic.  It's a lot of fun and visually really appealing.  This fight also demonstrates something that I don't think we've seen enough.  Korra, due to her personality, tends to sort of default to Fire Bending, she only really has used Water Bending in the Probending Arena.  I think it makes sense given her character, but it's a very clearly a mistake on her part.  She is a freaking powerful water bender.  I mean like that was seriously scary.  When your solution to airplanes is a 100 foot tall water spout that lifts you into the air so you can spontaneously produce hundred foot tall icebergs in the path of planes, maybe you should use Water Bending a bit more often.  She's never come close to this level of power with Earth or Fire.

The flashbacks to Ammon and Tarrlok's childhood are solid work.  Somehow they keep managing to ramp up the creepy with Blood Bending.  The scene where Ammon makes a pack of wolves dance like puppets is seriously disturbing.   But it also introduces one of my problems with this episode and the next one.  Suddenly we're trying to make "bad fathers" into a major theme.  Ammon and Tarrlok are the way they are because their father forced them to be tools of his vengence.  Asami's father is suddenly revealed to have been largely absentee and that there is a lot more resentment there than we've seen.  It feels like it should have been a running theme the whole season, instead of suddenly strong on us.  It's not a good twist.

The show does have a few good twists though.  The first is that Ammon captured Tenzin and his family.  I was seriously caught off guard by this and it was a wonderful way of raising the stakes.  Then, Ammon takes Korra's Bending, which was a great twist.  Her being helpless in the face of Blood Bending was not unexpected, but Ammon basically winning was really further than I thought they would go.  I didn't know how they would resolve it, and the solution was both clever but also another thing about this episode that really annoyed me.  Korra finally is able to Air Bend, so while Ammon took her bending at that time, since she gains Air Bending after it, she can now do that.  And she does, saves the day, and Ammon runs away.

Look, I like that way of turning around her losing her Bending.  That's cool, that's a great way to do it.  It means only Korra, as the Avatar, could come back from losing it and it's a really nice way of resolving the problem.  My problem is how she gains Air Bending.  This whole season, Tenzin has been telling her Air Bending comes from calm.  It's going with the wind and just sort of refocusing it.  It's based on Tai-Chi.  Korra's problem with Air Bending has always been portrayed as a direct result of her anger and entitlement issues.  She feels she should be able to do it, so she tries to force it, which leads to her not being able to do it, which frustrates her, and makes her less able to do it.  But this episodes shows that the problem was she wasn't desparate enough.  Really?  That's not what we've been saying.  The solution to her Air Bending problem shouldn't have been getting more pissed off because Mako is in trouble; it should have been finding inner peace.

I was super hopeful at the end that this was all set up for Korra having an identity crisis.  Her only being able to Air Bend means she's not the Avatar.  Her whole identity, everything, is based around the fact that she was born the Avatar.  Every episode this season has involved some variation on "You have to do what I say, because I'm the Avatar."  And suddenly, she isn't.  Wouldn't that have been really interesting to explore?  Instead, she gets all her bending back right away.  Maybe it was a moment of growth and season 2 will go more into it, but I was disappointed that this was resolved so quickly.  

And speaking of quick, her and Mako "love" each other already.  Wow, that escalated quickly.

All that said, I am excited for the next season (Book, in Avatar parlance).  I hope my misgivings on these few episodes are either addressed or just a hiccup in an otherwise stellar show.  I can't wait.

Stray Observations:
1. I don't have anything to expound on this with, but that ending with Tarrlok's murder/suicide of his brother Ammon was dark.  And frankly, near perfect.  Wow, I was stunned.
2. Naga is stupid strong, I mean she just rends steel like it's nothing.
3. Iroh can fly?  Apparently he is Iroh-man.
4. Tenzin has a crazy brother, which I look forward too.   More Aang family is great.  Is this guy an Air Bender?  Only time will tell.
5. I kinda hope next season, Asami is the "villain", after the way Mako treated her.  I also hope she kicks all their asses.
6.  Lin gets her powers back, yay!
7.  While I agree with the who Equalist point about not being second class citizens, I don't think they've fully thought through the whole "take away all bending" idea.  Isn't the technology based on bending?  Like power plants are just Fire Benders hitting things with lightning, if you get rid of all of them, how far back are you setting society?

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 9 and 10

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 9 - Out of the Past
Episode 10 - Turning the Tides

So everything I said last week about how quickly this show moves?  I didn't even know.  These two episodes were insane, going from more personal stuff to a full on war in under 60 minutes.  I wish other shows moved like this.  I think what really helps is the show isn't a Mystery Box type show, it has a story to tell (how Korra became a fully fledged Avatar) and it's going to barrel down that road.  The show isn't constructed around a particular surprise or plot twist, so it has the freedom to have more plot twists and events.  Having watched Westworld in the middle of the last entry and these two episodes, I appreciate that all the more.

After Korra's ill advised attempt on Tarrlok's life, she ends up in a platinum cage while Tarrlok fakes an attack by Equalists to blame her disappearance on.  Tarrlok is great, this is a dude who has it all figured out.  He is cold, smart, and honestly just so satisfying to hate.  The way he plays everybody in the beginning of the episode is fantastic dramatic irony.  However, he doesn't count on one thing; Tenzin being really self aware and smart.  Which is completely in character, but I don't think Tarrlok saw it coming.  See, Tenzin understands that his talents lie in the smoothing things over, diplomatic arena.  Tenzin is the guy you go to if you have a problem with a neighbor's loud music or you need to make a trade deal with another nation.  And sometimes, a situation calls for violence.  Not unmitigated destruction, just focused, targeted, and overwhelming force applied like a scapel.  So Tenzin calls up Lin.

I really like the Tenzin/Lin relationship, and it's explored a lot in these two episodes.  Exes still being close friends is not a common pop culture trope, but Korra handles it really well.  You see why they were together, you see why they aren't anymore, but you see that they still care very deeply for each other.  So when Tenzin says Korra is missing, Lin, who has been boiling over since her SWAT team got captured, essentially declares one woman martial law.  She takes the rest of Team Avatar out of prison because prisons are for people she doesn't have use for.  They track down an Equalist base and rescue the rest of her men and Lin cleans up.  It's here that Tenzin figures out Tarrloks double cross.

Korra not being saved is something I truly appreciate in this show.  Here's a perfect example of how to demonstrate that her friends will do anything to save her, but yet Korra still saves herself.  The team does something, but it was pointed in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, Korra learns to calm down and think.  And her being smart is scary.  She connects with Aang spiritually, figures out that Tarrlok is the son of a former mob boss/antagonist of Aang.  Blood Bending is genetic, which really makes me wonder more about Tenzin's siblings and if any of them are Water Benders.  When the Equalists show up and lobotomize Tarrlok, Korra uses brains and insulation to escape her platinum cage. On top of that, she doesn't fight, she runs.  Which is smart, because she spent several days in a cage or unconscious and has no plan.  I mean, Korra making a tactical withdrawal?  That's real character growth.

There's more love quadrilateral stuff.  Asami continues to see reasons to be jealous in every Mako and Korra interaction, but because Asami is an adult she just calls him out on it.  He says they'll talk about it later, which is understandable consider they are in the middle of a coup.  Asami isn't happy with this, but also seems to put it aside.  Lin and Pema also put aside their differences, because Tenzin has to go to the city council and somebody needs to protect his family, considering his wife, Pema, is going into labor.  As Lin said, they are the last Air Benders and more important than her.  I'm glad somebody finally said it in the show.  Lin, you're my favorite.

So much happens in the next 15 minutes, I don't even know what to talk about.  There's attacks on each of the council members, with only Tenzin escaping, there's a full on fight between Team Avatar and those platinum mechs that pretty much involves Asami kicking all the ass.  A fleet of Equalist zeppelins start bombing the city.  It feels like a season finale, and that's still two episodes away.

There are two things I do want to bring up, though.  The first is the attack on Tenzin's family and my first honest criticism of the show.  So a group of baddies come to the island and Lin is, predictably, wiping the floor with them.  But she eventually gets overwhelmed and is about to lose when the Air Bender kids show up and save the day.  Look, I get it's a show targetting a younger audience and this kind of thing is to be expected.  But so far, Korra has done a really good job of justifying it's "kids save the adults" moments.  And this would have been so easy to justify.  Those kids are literally the only Air Benders left, so the Equalists have no idea how to fight them.  We could have seen how some of the training exercises we've seen those kids do effortlessly (but give Korra so much trouble) are incredibly useful and take these guys down.  Instead, we see the least creative fight so far.  It's just throwing some air around and the little kid is a Fart Bender, I guess.  It's cheap gags and there is no reason these kids, doing exactly what every other person fighting Equalist Ninjas has done and failed, succeed in beating the ninjas.  It was disappointing and honestly beneath this show.

However, the last moments of this show make up for it.  Korra and her gang escape to the sewers while the Air Bender Family and Lin flee on their flying bison, while a bunch of zeppelins give chase.  So naturally, Lin jumps onto the zeppelins and just wrecks them.  It's a great sequence, well written, well acted, and well animated.  Don't fight Magneto from a metal airship.  She gets captured and Amon lobotomizes her, but she's defiant to the end.  I really, really, really hope Korra can give these people their bending back.  But, if she can't, I'm sure Lin is still going to be an ass kicker.  Asami is also not a bender, and she's way better at taking people down than Mako or Bolin, so Lin will probably just wake up pissed off.

Then we cut to the Navy and General Iroh! Who is, I assume, the son or grandson of Iroh from Avatar.  He's also voiced very squeaky.  We'll see in the next episode how I like it, I gather.   But boy, these two episodes were insane.

Favorite moment: When Pema starts going into labor, Pema says "Oh no, the baby's coming" and Tenzin's son (the future serial killer/current Fart Bender) just sticks his face into her belly and screams "NOT NOW BABY."

Stray Observations:

1. I did a bad job taking notes this time because I got too involved.  That's probably a great sign for the quality of the show, but unfortunate for this blog.
2. I like how easily the council people are defeated.  It really shows how Aang changed things to be about diplomacy and the leaders are no longer just the strongest and the meanest.  
3. It was cool to see adult Toph, I liked her a lot in the first show.  
4. What is the limit of a Blood Bender's power? Because it seems like Tarrlok and his father were grabbing like 50 people at a time.
5. Blood Bending remains horrifying.  Legit horrifying.
6. I hope there isn't an Ammon reveal.  I just want him to be some scarred dude who hates benders.  If it turns out he's somebody we know in disguise or something, it'll be kind of a let down.

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 7 and 8

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 7 - The Aftermath
Episode 8 - When Extremes Meet

So I didn't expect how hard this would be.  See, I'm really enjoying the show, but I don't want to publish one of these three times a day, so I'm forced to throttle my consumption of the episodes.  I'm a binger by nature, but doing it this way forces me to be considerate about the show.  I could write something about episodic television, and probably will, but that's not for here.  Onward!

One thing about this show that I really like is how much happens while still maintaining world building.  While some of the plot points are a little heavy handed and juvenile, I feel like the show really changes every episode.  Relationships rise and fall over a single episode.  Burned bridges stay burned, the status quo is constantly changing.  I think that's why I liked the first wave of Marvel movies better than the second and it's definitely something I loved about earlier season of Arrow.  I hope this show can maintain that momentum, because it can't be easy to constantly be flipping things.

Case in point, in the first episode of this week, we learn it was Asami's father that was the Equalist, because, yet again, a Fire Bender crook murdered his wife (that's 3 incidents involving 4 major characters of Fire Bender murder).  Asami's response to this is great, and we finally see her true character.  She sucker punches his dad, says something to the effect of "Sorry Dad, I'm not down with murder" and takes him down along with Lance Henricksen in like 3 seconds.  I knew she was too cool to be the traitor.  And with that, we've established a lot about her in just a few episodes..  We knew that she was smart and rich.  Now we know she's got backbone and a code.  It was her mother that got murdered by a Bender, but she's still going to be a good person.

And despite being just 7 episodes in, we're already seeing a major shift in power dynamics.  Asami is no longer super rich.  Now Korra is the one helping out and Asami is the one who is jealous.  Though let's be real, Korra was petulant and snide when Asami was being nice.  Asami is a pretty gracious guest despite being completely out of her element.  She even manages to pull off the "I'll just pack a few things" and ends up with a mound of suitcases gag while still being less entitled than Korra.

Lin continues to be my favorite.  She resigns from the police force, officially because she got a bunch of officers captured and Asami's father get away.  But she then vows to seek her own justice "Outside the law".   Just the best.  But with her out of the way, Councilman Tarrlok steps up and puts somebody in charge of the police that seems to be basically his lacky.  Korra tries to call him out on it, but turns it all into being about her. She's the Avatar, so she's a big deal.  Tarrlok rightfully puts her in her place, pointing out that she's just the Avatar in training.  So naturally Korra throws a fit because, gosh darn it, air bending is hard.  Oh no, Korra might actually have to do something difficult once in her life.

I will say this about Korra, while she is a rage monster who as far as I can remember has only made one good decision on the entire show, her bad decisions are often pretty awesome.  I always knew that wizards in the 1930s has untapped potential, but watching a chase between motorcycle riding ninjas and a 1930s style roadster with element slinging people in the back was just about the coolest thing I've seen all week.  There's awesome use of powers, but it's still Asami, the non-bender, who cleans up.  And this wasn't even the best fight of the episode, which comes when Korra just attacks Tarrlok in the capitol building.  Because Korra never met a problem that couldn't be solved through intimidation and punching.  Again, Tarrlok calls her out on this and he's not wrong.  But he's also not a misguided councilman trying to gain power, he is evil.  And a Bloodbender, which goes really poorly for Korra.  Seriously, of all the things on Avatar, Bloodbending is the most horrifying.  She literally becomes a puppet.  Korra has some sort of vision (I think it was a courtroom with an old Aang in it and people being upset) and is put in the back of a truck and sent somewhere.

While I give Korra a lot of crap for being young, impulsive, and really egotistical, I want to make it clear that this isn't a criticism of the show.  She acts in a relatable and consistent way and the show is constantly showing us how she's mishandling the situation.

On top of that, the whole non-Bender curfew/indefinite detention plotline (man a lot happens in an episode in this show) really surprises me.  Legend of Korra hits on political topics strongly for a kids show, and frankly, I think it's handling the whole freedom versus security debate better than Winter Soldier did.   And now to force myself to wait for the next two.

Stray Observations:

1. Apparently Metal Bending doesn't work on pure platinum.  So there is a non-bendable substance.
2. Look, I like Pabu, but stop calling him a Fire Ferret.  He is a Red Panda.  Not just in look, but there was literally a short description of his species and I swear they were just reading the wikipedia entry on Red Pandas.  
3.  "You're pretty, can I have some of your hair?"  I'm calling it now, Tenzin's 5-year old (ish?) son is a serial killer.
4. Although Asami's hair is amazing, I have to admit.  It's always perfect, even during a car chase in a convertable.  Is she a Hair Bender?
5. Korra calls people "knuckleheads."  So she does have some redeeming qualities.
6. This is a show that appreciates a well timed fart joke and I respect that.

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 5 and 6

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 5 - The Spirit of Competition
Episode 6 - And the Winner is...

I feel like last week I got way too recappy.  If you want to know what happened in the episode, watch the episode!  The show is really great and this week cemented that for me.  I'm also seeing that this episodes pair off really well.  The first two were both needed to set up the show, the second set of two were basically a two parter, and these two are a complete story as well.  I wonder if the show is written in hour chunks and then split up a bit for broadcast.

I like Pro-Bending now, because I get it. It really is a sport, not a martial art.  Seeing a bunch of matches with penalties called got me behind it. I realize my complaints before were akin to saying "Why doesn't the first baseman just hold the runner down until the ball is caught."  I don't get how the scoring works yet, but I do like that there is blatant corruption in the sport.  I was surprised that our heroes lose because the referees just straight up refuse to be fair.  For a kids show, that's not exactly the kind of life lesson I expected. It makes it feel real, but it's also a perfect metaphor for how Benders behave in society, a metaphor that is not missed when Amon shows up and ruins everyone's day. I'll cut the show a lot of slack for how much things that would work as subtext are just plainly spoken, seeing as the target audience is probably 12-year-olds.  

The love quadrilateral heats up.  I just feel sorry for everyone involved, it's not going to end well.  I feel bad for Bolin, because the whole time he's out with Korra, he's too oblivious to see that she's just hanging out, not going out, with him.  I feel bad for Mako, because he seems legit torn between Korra and Asami, which isn't a nice place to be.  I mean, he's kind of a jerk, but while he has some feelings for Korra, he's being really clear that he's made a choice and he is not stringing her along (though I worry that will change).  I feel really bad for Asami, because she has no idea any of this is going on and is inevitably going to be heartbroken (unless she's a spy playing them all).  I feel the least bad for Korra, because Mako was pretty upfront with her and she totally was trying to manipulate him by going out with Bolin. Come on Korra, I'm trying so hard to like you and you're just not giving me anything.  Though being bad at romance is a lot more relatable than being a spoiled Chosen One.   It's just a nasty nest of teenage hormones and drama.   The highlight for me was when the rival pro-bending team interrupts Bolin and Korra's non-date and Korra doesn't rise to the bait.  Like she totally doesn't explode, I really thought she was going to beat that guy up and instead she just lets her riding Polar Bear Dog growl at him.  Is this character growth already?   Well done, Korra, there's hope for you yet.  Also, while it's played as kind of "Look at this buffon, he's all bluster," the fact that the rival team backs down when confronted with an angry Polar Bear Dog seems pretty much the senisble reaction.  The thing is as big as a car!

We also got more political maneuvering and more Lin, who is rapidly becoming my favorite character.  She's just a straight up, no nonsense badass with a job to do.   Also, I am further confused by Tenzin's age, because Linn (his ex) seems to be about the age I originally thought Tenzin was (late 40ish, probably 50s) while his wife, Pema, looks much younger.  Maybe Lin dyes her hair white, I don't know.  Anyway, while the council, which seems to consist of Tenzin, the ever sensible, Tarrlok, the powerhungry northern Water guy, and the three other dudes who do whatever Tarrlok tells them to do, are all talking about how best to negotiate with terrorists, Lin steps up and says "we don't negotiate with terrorists"  Then Tarrlok maneuvers her into saying "I will personally guaranty everyone's safety at the stadium."   I smell a rat.

Now, look, I have a lot of sympathy for the Equalist cause.  Non-benders don't have political representation, they seem to get murdered by benders a lot, and the statement that every war has been about bending seems to have a lot of truth to it.   But all that said, Amon is straight up a bad guy.  He shows up at the end of the championship game, lobotomizes the winning team, blows up the field and leaves like half of his men to die.  He's cold.

And you know what, Korra really steps up.  I mean, she gets her ass handed to her, but she doesn't even hesitate to jump into the frey and go after Amon in a pretty great kung fu battle.  I mean, it's everything I want in an Avatar fight plus zeppelins.  If you've met me, then you probably know that zeppelins are my favorite thing ever.   And this is kung fu with people swinging from zeppelins.  Not only that, but I'm fairly certain she straight up killed some henchmen.  I won't call it murder because they a did just blow up a stadium, but for a kid's show, they really aren't pulling their punches.
Alas, the combined might of Korra just doing something instead of whining and Lin swinging around kicking ass doesn't win the day.  They end up beaten, with a ton of police zeppelins destroyed. Like 10 zeppelins, and those things can't be cheap. Things are not looking good.

Favorite quote, from a member of the reigning Pro-Bending Champions:
"If you'd like to learn how a real pro bends, I'll give you private lessons."  Dude, are you hitting on the Avatar or trying to taunt her?

Stray observations:

1. "She couldn't be with her true love.  So she rode a dragon into battle, burned down the whole country, and then jumped into a volcano.  Sooo romantic" This may be an American show, but they really have a handle of how Asian fairy tales work.  
2. Amon has a ton of people working with him. Like seriously, there must have been literally hundreds of agents for his plan to work
3. Not enough Asami in these episodes, she's just there to make Korra angry and I wish she had more to do than that
4. Lin is what would happen if Batman Beyond's Barbara Gordon got bitten by a radioactive spider... somebody call Bruce Timm RIGHT NOW, this has to happen
5. Also, anybody going to tell me how Lin got those scars?
6. Pabu, the Fire Ferret, is a badass who saves everyone else through the power of chewing

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 3 and 4

I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  I will be spoiling episodes as I go along, naturally, so consider yourself warned.

Episode 3 - The Revelation
Episode 4 - The Voice in the Night

While the first two episodes were solid, these too really pulled me in.  And while I'll admit to having misjudged Tenzin in my last review, I am further in my conviction that Korra has some serious entitlement issues.  However, I am also convinced that the show wants me to feel this way.  The show opens with Korra complaining about having to get up for practice with the pro-Bending team (called the Fire Ferrets, after the team mascot Pabu, who is a Fire Ferret, which is Avatarland for Red Panda).  It's just like Korra, she bullies her way onto the team and then complains about practice.

Anyway, the rest of the team are brothers Mako (the dreamboat) and Bolin (the idiot).  The three of them need to come up with 30,000 money units (I forgot the currency) to enter the championship tournament, which leads to my favorite exchange of these two episodes:

Bolin: Do you have a secret Avatar bank account?

Korra: I got nothing. I've never really needed money, I've always had people taking care of me

Mako: Then I wouldn't say you have nothing

Aww snap!  Mako and Bolin's parents were murdered in front of them by a Fire Bending mugger when they were children and they've spent the time since then scrapping together enough money to do things like get enough dirt to eat or buy diptheria medicine.  Korra is at least self aware enough not to argue back that sometimes she had to have chocolate sauce on her ice cream when she wanted hot fudge.

To make the money, Bolin takes a job from Shady Shin, which is totally not sketchy.  Bolin and Pabu go off and work some "security," and mobsters in this world seem really chill with their hired muscle bringing pets with them.  I'm trying not to get too recappy in these, instead I want them to be mostly reactions, but that's hard to do.  Anyway, things go bad and they get kidnapped by steampunk motorcycle riding ninjas who look like they're from the Court of Owls.

What follows is an awesome fight, the kind of fight I wanted Pro-Bending to be. Mako and Korra show up on the Polar Dog and fight the ninjas.  It seems weird to me, but totally in character, that Korra, despite being a Water Bender by birth/upbringing, immediately goes to Fire Bending as a default reaction.  She's a bit of a hot head and boy does she channel that.

Anyway, the Ninjas wipe the floor with them, despite not being Benders, and hit them with some pressure point stuff that temporarily blocks their ability to Bend.  This is my jam guys.  Like straight up, chi blocking kung fu.

I have to say, I really like the Equalist plotline, because these guys are not wrong.  They're non-Benders who talk about how they're second class citizens and they want equality.   There also seems to be a completely legitimate wing that's just a political movement.  The fact that Amon (voiced by Steve Blum, of Cowboy Bebop fame) and his two chief lieutenants (voiced by Lance Henriksen, of Aliens, and Clancy Brown, of everything really) are basically the terrorist wing of this movement doesn't negate the legitmate grevances aired against Benders.  Also Amon's family was killed by a Fire Bender who also burned Amon's face off.  Turns out, Amon has developed a technique where he basically lobotimizes you with his chi and you're not a Bender anymore.  This stuff gets dark.

The next episode picks up right after this and things just get worse.  We finally meet the city council, which has five members, who I initially thought were one of each Bender and a non-Bender, but turns out that since Water Benders live at the poles, they get two votes.  Equalists are not wrong, guys, non-Benders do not count.   Anyway, there's some political manuevering and because Korra is basically Marty McFly, she can't back down when somebody said she's scared of Amon.  Despite her being obviously terrified of Amon.  So she ends up on a task force to capture Amon.  And it's awesome.  These swat guys have great body armor, the police chief Linn is the baddest of the bad, and they do a really great bending sequence.  Korra calls out Amon publically for a duel, but of course Amon shows up with like 50 of his ninjas, because he's the bad guy.  Come on Korra, you should have seen this coming.  There's the usual "I don't want to kill you/take your Bending" bad guy stuff while Korra is helpless, and the ninjas all vanish.  Tenzin shows up and is actually a really great dad.  I mean, I know he's not her dad, but man, I like Tenzin now.  Korra has a total breakdown, which is fair.

But all of this pales to Mako's adventure.  Because Mako really is just, like, the MAN.  The only way he'd be any better is if he were voiced by Nathan Fillion.  He has the best day.  He gets hit by a moped driven by an incredibly hot woman who feels bad, so she takes him on the perfect date.  First, go to a tailor to get a new, custom suit, then a fancy restaurant, then a personal tour of her fathers state of the art automobile factory.  I thought Mako was the best, but Asami steals the title.  She knows how to treat a hot guy she accidentally ran over with her moped.  And Asami handles Korra really well, trying very hard to be nice and friendly when Korra is obviously super jealous. Also, her father, a wealthy industrialist, agrees to sponsor the team into the championships.  I mean, is Mako the just the luckiest guy who witnessed his parents' brutal murder as a child or what?   Seriously, though, it smells of a setup to me and I worry that Asami is going to turn out to be an Equalist spy.

Stray Observations -

1. I love the 1930s serial bit they use for recaps.
2. Mako gets a job generating electricity at a power plant, so Lightning Bending turns out to be a subset of Fire Bending.  
3. Korra bends steam, and since she's still not able to Air Bend, steam must be part of Water.
4. Shady Shin.  I love that name.
5. Korra has some serious PTSD, but Bolin, who was literally on a stage about to be used as an example of Amon's lobotomy technique, seems pretty ok?
6. Trying to decide if Bolin or Korra are worse at having a crush on a person. Whatever, I really have no ground to criticize here. 
7. Shady Shin gets a second call out.
8. I didn't talk too much about the council here, but I can tell I'm going to like these parts
9. Also, the mystery pregnant lady is definitely Tenzin's wife, not daughter.  I think Tenzin is younger than I thought.

Reader Response!

By request, I've been asked to put up a question or a puzzle in each entry and I love that idea.  This week: make a case for which kind of Bender can bend Paper.  Or is Paper like anti-bending armor?  Tell me what you think!

The Legend of Korra With Jacob! Episode 1 and 2

So to finally actually get this blog off the ground, I’ve decided to do a running review of a tv show.  I came to that idea awhile ago, but reviews of other shows I watch regularly never really seemed to work for me.  Probably because new shows are on their schedule, but older shows on streaming services are on mine.  So we’re doing Legend of Korra, two episodes at a time. Am I putting way too much thought into a kids show?  Yes, certainly.  I watched the original Avatar: The Last Airbender some time ago and I remember the basics of the world, but not a lot of specifics.  However, I remember liking it very much, so I thought I’d watch the follow up series.  Please no spoilers for this show, but if I’m forgetting something from the original series, feel free to remind me.  

Episode 1 - Welcome to Republic City 

Episode 2 - Leaf in the Wind

First of all, Korra writers, “Leaf in the wind”?  Really?  Too soon people.  Too soon.  

I feel I need to be upfront and open with a bombshell.  I don’t like Korra very much.  I’m definitely intrigued by the show, but the character Korra is entitled and unlikeable.  She seems to throw tantrums a lot and literally told the police they can’t arrest her because “do you know who I am?” And when she gets frustrated and destroys the training panel thing in the Air Temple, I just thought to myself how much of an entitled, uncaring brat she is.  

Now, I get it, a lot of this is because of how she’s been brought up.  Raising the Avatar in a secluded compound where the masters of the various Benders come to her seems like a really bad way to do it.  First off, you run into the problem that you hit right away with Tenzin, that the masters are busy people and need to do things that master Benders do.  Secondly, you’re really robbing the Avatar of an opportunity for growth and education.  This doesn’t seem like the world of Aang, where there was a genocide to try to kill him.  Korra is safe in this world, the Avatar is a celebrity, not the target of assassination (although I’m sure that will change with the Equalist plotline).  She should have visited all the great cities, every nation, been in every grand library and travel to study with the masters.  And instead she’s been basically cooped up and forced to process all this information without any application of it.  

One of the things I remember liking so much about the Avatar  was how your bending influenced how you thought and approached problems.  And while they still have that here, it seems that exposing to Korra to all of these different environments would go a long way towards providing her with the tools to process these different points of view and philosophies.  

I do appreciate that Korra is older in this show. I mean, she’s probably 16-18, almost certainly under 20, but she’s not Aang’s 10 or 11.  It means she’s an adult(ish) and so at least that makes her deciding to participate in pro-Bending a choice made by an adult and not just a spoiled child throwing a tantrum.  I could look past those part if she wasn’t constantly destroying this in fits of petulance.  Also, it means that when the show invariably turns to romance, it won’t be as uncomfortable as some of the stuff in the first series was.   So that’s cool.  So is the Polar Bear Dog, but Avatar always had cool animals (if I see a wolf-spider though, I’m out).  

Tenzin, meanwhile, doesn’t seem like an Air Bender.  He seems way too stubborn and stuck up.  But at the end of the first episode, it clicked for me.  At some point, he was talking about how he needed to see his father’s dream through for Republic City, and I realized how screwed up he must be.  I mean, think of the pressures on him.  He is the son of the Avatar, which means it probably didn’t take much for him to always feel a huge burden and overshadowed.  Also, since Aang technically really isn’t an Air Bender anymore, Tenzin is the last Air Bender as well, and the responsibility of repopulating the Air Nation is on him.  I’m also confused if the pregnant lady is his wife or his daughter, she seems really young.  I really thought she was Tenzin’s daughter and the three children were Tenzin’s grandchildren until one of them called him dad. 

This brings me to my next question, which is how does this bending work, genetically.  Katara’s older brother in the first show was not a Bender, but she was, so it’s obviously not guaranteed that all siblings will be Benders.  I don’t know if Katara’s parents were Benders.  But Katara and Aang had at least one Bender child (they mentioned he has a sister, I think, so they have more children) who was an Air Bender who appears to have three children, all of whom are also Air Benders.  I haven’t seen any other Air Benders, so that could be it?   But then we meet the two brothers on the pro-bending team, Mako and other guy, who are brothers but one is a Fire Bender and the other is an Earth Bender.  Are their parents one of each?  Please, animated children show, I want more genetics.  Presented in Punnett squares, if possible.

That brings me to Pro-Bending.  I love so much about the idea, but the execution falls flat.  The idea behind it is great.  Of course you’d have a sport based around bending.  The fact that they dress up like American Gladiators only makes it cooler.  But it’s ends up just being dodgeball.  They stand and throw balls of their element at each other until somebody falls over.  This could be so cool.  Giant tentacles of water rising out of the water trying to grab them, the ground rippling as the Earth Benders send waves down the playing field, a giant tiger made of fire pouncing on opponents, that sort of thing.  Instead they just toss balls at each other.  Hopefully it picks up.  At least it’s not a sport centered around a single character who just has to do one thing to win the whole game.  

Some stray observations - 

1. Katara and Korra’s parents send her off with their blessing, but don’t think to give her money or supplies?  I mean, Korra looked like she didn’t even know what money was
2. The Metal Bending cops are basically the dudes from Attack on Titan
3. The love triangle setup is so obvious, but it’s a kids show, so I’ll let it slide.
4. Seriously though, why does everybody, including the radio announcer, fan over the one guy (I forgot his name), when Mako is obviously cooler, better, and more aloof, thereby making him the obvious favorite?
5. If I were Korra, I’d just make an Earth boat and then Water Bend a wave to surf around at like 60 miles per hour, but I guess she just likes swimming?
6. Metal Benders, are they a new thing, or are they just a subset of Earth Benders like Blood Benders are a subset of Water Benders?  
7. Do Air Benders only bend air, or any gas?  Can Water Benders bend vegetable oil?  Water Benders can make ice, can they make steam?  If they do, can Air Benders take control of it?  Could an Air Bender just do the Haber Process at will, thereby solving all food problems for the various nations?  How about making liquid hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel? 
8. Are there other Benders?  Like Plant Benders?  Light Benders?  Cat Benders?