Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 25 and 26

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 25 - Darkness Falls
Episode 26 - Light in the Dark

These episodes really nailed it and if I could tell you why, I'd be successful writer.  Today is all about looking at these episodes versus lasts seasons finale and figuring out why this one worked so well despite being things that shouldn't work, while the last season finale didn't work for me, despite being things that should.

The first thing I want to talk about is the portrayal of magic in film, in general, and how it can be very difficult to make something magical dramatic, because it's really hard to relate to.  In a physical contest, establishing dominance is pretty straightforward and immediately makes the stakes understandable and high.  Think of Linda Hamilton standing next to Arnold Schwarzenegger in the first Terminator.  Even if the Terminator were not a robot, but just a dude, the size and muscle difference alone immediately makes you view Sarah Connor as the underdog.  Jackie Chan does a similar thing in most of his movies where he starts all of his fights from the ground, with the bad guy standing over him.  Visually, you immediately relate that he has a lot to overcome.  Even if it's not a fight, but just an extraordinary feat, it's easy to relate to, such as in Batman Begins, when Christian Bale has to curl Liam Neeson back onto the glacier.  That just looks painful, physical, and amazing.  Compare that to Professor X in a psychic duel, and it's a guy standing there, staring intently.  It all comes down to the set up and the actors for the viewers to really understand how difficult something is.

I bring this up because psychic battle is pretty much all the finale of season 2 is, compared to season 1 which had a lot more physical fighting.  Sure, they throw elements at each other, but it's easier to follow who is winning and who isn't.  But yet that finale left me bored and disappointed, while this one had me excited, emotional, and invested.

The first thing this season got right, I think, is they gave the consequences more time to breathe.  In season 1, Korra goes from being stripped of her power to developing Airbending in a scene.  In season 2, they devote just as much time solely to the Avatar ancestors being stripped away.  It's a much more powerful scene and not the only consequence of the fight.  They spend a whole episode on developing this failure, so you really feel helpless.

Secondly, there's a lot more going on, but it's all focused around the big giant psychic battle, so you feel the stakes because every character is displaying them.  It isn't just Korra versus Ammon, its the whole gang filling different roles and I'm worried for all of them.  The Aang Gang (what I'm going to call Aang's family from now on) and Mako and Bolin are in a losing battle that you can tell is a last stand.  They're willing to die for whatever Korra is doing, so you know it matters.  Jinora is doing some spiritual stuff that while it really just amounts to glowing lights, had me convinced she was going to die or be trapped in the spirit world or something.  And Korra is a giant fighting another giant.

The third thing is that the ending is way more satisfying than season 1 because Korra actually smites that guy.  Season 1 ended with revealing Ammon as a fraud, but he escapes Korra. Korra doesn't really defeat him so much as drive him off.  Where as here, there is a full on vaporization punch.

Finally, and possibly the biggest, is that things really changed this finale.  That's something that bugs me a lot in so much modern media.  What we often get is a story arc of Status Quo -> Something Bad -> Hero restores Status Quo.  That's how basically every Marvel movie since the Avengers has been, so much modern television (CW superhero shows, I'm looking at you), and the first season of Korra went.  Sure there are little changes, like Korra gained Airbending, but because she is the Avatar, we always knew she would.  But now, Avatarland is open to the Spirit World permanently, and that is a huge and scary change.  Korra appears to have grown as a person, Jinora is some super spiritualist, and who knows what the political fallout of everything is going to be.  I'm really looking forward to the next season.

Stray Observations
1. I lost my notes from when I watched the episodes earlier this week, so none of these this week.  Sorry!

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 23 and 24

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 23 - Night of a Thousand Stars
Episode 24 - Harmonic Convergence

I'm kind of at a loss for what to say about these episodes.  I have a lot of little things to touch on, so today's entry is rather scattered.  They're very exciting, definitely building  towards a cool finale, but they don't really give me a lot more information about anything.  That's not a fault, it's simple story structure.

All the background details need to be in play already for the payoff to work, adding a crucial bit of information now would be cheating.  To keep things Avatar-y, the best analogy I can think of is a Shymalan movie.  The Sixth Sense worked because all the details were already there from that very early shot of Bruce Willis sitting alone with his depressed wife, not talking.  Everything you need to know about the rest of the movie is right there, you just don't have the framework to do that.  The character building and story of that film lead you to the correct interpretation.   It's a lot less stark here, where I don't think there's going to be a sudden twist, but it's still basic structure.  If they reveal now, out of the blue, for instance, that's there's a third major spirit force, it'd feel cheap.

There were some things I looked into because of these episodes.  Varrick really likes false flag operations, for instance.  A False Flag is where you pretend to be your enemy and do something to yourself, so that you get the political backing needed to go to war.  It comes from an old Naval tactic of flying the flag of the wrong nation on your ship to identify yourself as an ally.  Real world examples abound, but also conspiracy theories surround every major attack in the last 200 years.  A Google search lead me to some pretty scary places in just a few links and I'm really not interested in talking about ones that are pretty well established.  It's just depressing and it really doesn't add to the show in anyway.

Bolin's propaganda film is another thing that I thought was interesting, but again, I didn't find a line that really ties in with Korra.   Yes, those kind of serials existed, yes, they are even more ridiculous than portrayed in the show, but they are also, at this point, embarrassingly racist, misogynistic, and not for a good cause.  The film works in the show because Unalaq is literally trying to alter the fabric of reality.  Unalaq claims he's doing it for good reasons, but the show seems pretty clear cut that he's been driven mad by the dark spirit.  I give it credit for making him not evil for evil's sake, but he still is thoroughly corrupted.  Maybe it will surprise me and seasons 3 and 4 are all about adapting to the new spirit infested world, but I seriously doubt it.

Space is really something I get excited about, as most people who know me already know.  So seeing things like the whole solar system is great.  Avatarland is definitely not Earth.  8 major bodies make the syzygy that forms the Harmonic Convergence, although it's possible there are others that are not pictured.  The recent discovery of the Trappist system shows that you can jam a lot of planets into a small place.  I am fairly confident in my understanding of orbital resonance to say that an 8 planet syzygy as shown on the show is impossible in our universe, the system would not be stable and some of the planets would be ejected.  But, this is a magic world, so let's ignore.   The 3rd and 7th planet have rings and they get progressively larger as they get further from the sun.  Or perhaps its a trick of perspective and they're all the same size or something, the angle is not great.  However, that's a very different system from ours.  Also, as there are no rings visible from the ground, we know Avatarland isn't on the 3rd planet.  It does have a moon, though, and my early blog entry where I questioned if the world is round and how gravity might work is answered.  Despite the presence of magic and spirits, gravity appears to be generally the same.

However, unlike last week, where I think looking at how long 10,000 years really is helps to appreciate how long Avatars have existed and how much society must have changed under the guidance of an Avatar, I don't know that looking at the astronomy of Avatarland really helps the show any.  It's a magic, astrological plot point.  I could go off on Pluto's status as a planet or orbital ratios, but it doesn't meet my nebulous criteria of being related to the show.  It's just a thing that is happening.

One theme of this show that I do want to talk a bit is family strife.  I mentioned this towards the end of last season, when Amon and Tarrlok ended up being brothers, but it really continues to be a huge theme.  The brothers Unalaq and Tonlaq are ready to kill each other and I think they only reason they haven't is because this is a kids show.  Unalaq's children, creepy as they may be, are seriously having second thoughts about following him and the show seems to be further exploring the concept of this familial bond being tested.  How far does loyalty to your father go?  Korra had hers tested earlier this season when she sided with Unalaq against Tonlaq,    This theme of internal family fighting pervades everything and I'm not sure how to read it.  Tenzin has a very stable and solid family, his bickering with his siblings is just standard sibling stuff, it isn't anything that's going to lead to conflict.  So what do we make of this?  I don't know, I'm really interested to hear other people's thoughts on this.  Is it just a way to make the drama more intense, personal, and Shakespearean?

Stray Observations

1. I can't decide if I like Ginger or not.  I liked her when she was putting her foot down on Bolin for being a dope, but then she immediately reverses when Bolin is a hero.  
2. The First Lady is named Buttercup?
3. Varrick really gets away with it with everything, doesn't he?  I mean, he's in prison, but it's a palatial cell and he keeps all his comforts and assistant.  Sometimes Avatar just kind of skirts over some really hard hitting commentary, like how rich people never really get punished.
4. Amnesia making the break up go away?  Dammit Mako, Asami is going to be rightfully mad.  I really hope they have a conversation, I hate plot points that revolve around two people simply not having a conversation.  See, Marvel's Civil War (comic or movies).  Mako and Korra really never sat down while on the boat and talked out what she forgot?
5. Korra is the angriest air bender ever.  They're supposed to be all calm and stuff

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 21 and 22

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 21 - The Guide
Episode 22 - A New Spiritual Age

So these episodes maintain the weirdness of the Spirit World, but in the standard animated style.  It's less cool, but still, I really dig the Miyazaki-ness.  Especially the second episode which is all in the Spirit world.  And while I don't have much to say about the real world stuff going on, it is interesting.  I'm really glad that non-Korra characters get focus when Korra isn't around them.  I don't know exactly how Mako, Bolin, and Asami are going to line up with the spiritual war, but I feel like there's a good payoff coming.

However, that's not really the topic of today.  What really jumped out at me with these episodes was the statement (that admittedly they had made before, but it never really clicked), that the first Avatar, Wan, was 10,000 years ago.  Since then, there has been a continuous string of Avatars. That's a big number and I want to put that in perspective.

There are a number of fairly old institutions in the real world.  The first that many probably think of is the Roman Catholic Church, which is definitely old, but exactly how old is a subject of much debate.  It'd be hard to claim that the Christianity that existed before Emperor Constantine was "Roman" in any way, there have been a number of schisms, reformations, splits, and Anti-Popes.  As To try to carve out a direct line of who was the Pope at any given time is never going to be agreed upon by all scholars, but the last time there was an Antipope was 1449.  I think it's fair to say that the modern institution of the Papacy really only dates back to the Council of Trent in 1545, making it less than 500 years old.   However, if we accept the official lineage of the Papacy, and that the institution goes all the way back to St. Peter (who, while the leader of the early Christian Church, was several hundred years removed from anybody being given the title "Pope"), that still puts the Catholic Church at just under 2000 years old and the number of Popes at 266.  So we're one fifth of the way to Avatar Age, and we're already at 266.  As we'll see, though, the number of Popes is pretty high, largely due to them being appointed at an old age and not holding the position for a long time.  Meanwhile, the Avatar is usually "found" at the age of 16, so I'd expect the average life span to be much longer.  Although both positions seem to be risky in regards to war and assassination.

The next oldest institution I can come up with is the Imperial House of Japan.  There is solid evidence of a continuous line all the way back to Emperor Kinmei in 539 AD.  This is the oldest "incontrovertible" organization we can get, historically.  Which means that we can track the 94 Emperors of Japan for the last 1500 years.  It's only a tenth of the way back as the Avatar, but those numbers would imply that there have been about 600 Avatars since Wan.    However, the Imperial House claims that Kinmei was the 29th of his line.  Emperor Sujin is the earliest that has some evidence for, though the actual dates of his reign are unknown and estimates vary by several hundred years.  However, if we give the official story the benefit of the doubt, he came to power in 97 BCE.  But even he isn't the oldest of the Yamato Family, there are 9 who game before him, allegedly.  Again, evidence is in short supply and converting dates to a modern calendar is also not an exact science, so while Emperor Jimmu may or may not have existed, there is also debate over what century he lived in.   However, if we go with the official family tree date, he came to power in 660 BCE, making the Imperial House of Japan 2677 years old, containing 125 Emperors in that time, averaging a reign of 21 years.  But that's still only a fourth of the way to 10,000 years old.  And I think this is our winner, here, for real world, probably true examples.

There are two organizations that I want to mention, even though it's a stretch.  The first is Imperial China.  Traditionally, Imperial China is thought to have started with the Qin Dynasty in 221 BCE and go till the Revolution in 1911, putting it at about 2100 years old.  However, this time period was not as stable as the Yamato Dynasty in Japan, there were many civil wars and uprisings and different dynasties.  But, if we want to just get as old as we can, the oldest claims of dynastic rule in China are the Xia dynasty, dates back to 2070 BCE.  It should be noted that there is no evidence that they existed older than 1000 BCE, and they may have been a legend invented to legitimize later dynasties.  This highlights very well the fact that even just 4000 years ago is so colored in myths and mystery.  The last organization is the Freemasons, which some claim practice rituals today that were developed when they built the Great Sphinx of Giza, which was about 2558 BCE, and would put them at 4500 years old.  There is no evidence to support this claim.

So the fact that Avatarland has had one contiguous institution, the Avatar, for 10,000 years, is really incredible.  If we use Japan as an example, we can guess there have been about 500 Avatars in that time.   Culture has evolved in Avatarland from feudal city-states made of what looks like adobe to full on nation states with fairly modern construction.  Technology has gone from pre-bow and arrow to radio, electricity, and airplanes.  Avatarland is, basically, about 80 years behind modern Earth.  But the thing is, they started way ahead of us.

What did Earth look like 10,000 years ago?  In 8000 BCE, glaciers still covered much of northern North America, at least all the way down to Wisconsin and New Hampshire.  England was still connected to mainland Europe and Alaska was connected to Russia.  Civilization was just kicking off.  Agriculture was just starting in certain areas, though most people were still hunter-gatherers.  Sheep were domesticated but cows were not. The whole concept of blades was in the process of being invented.  The largest "city" was likely Mureybet in Syria, with a peak population of 500, though about 1,000 years later, Çatalhöyük, Turkey, would be the first city hit 1,000 people and some argue by 6,500 BCE, it hit 10,000.  During that 1500 year time period, writing and pottery would be invented.  It would be about 1000 years before a permanent settlement existed in Sumer, and another 1000 before Egypt or Babylon were a thing.  It's at this time that human civilization on Earth looked like the civilization depicted as 10,000 year ago Avatarland.  So Avatarland had about a 4,000 year head start on Earth.  It really makes you wonder what happened in all that time.  Yet through it all, there was always an Avatar.

Stray Observations

1. There's a horn or a flute or something played by airbending the air through it instead of blowing it.  This show still surprises me with it's creativity.
2. I would love for somebody knowledgeable in the field to talk to me about the fashion of Avatarland.  I want to comment on how the Southern Water Tribe wears what looks like a Sexy Eskimo Halloween costume, while the Norther Water Tribe has tons of layers and those really weird vest/caplets that actually would be pretty sexy if that was the top.  Anyway, my point is I feel like there is something up with all this, but I don't know enough about it.
3. Tenzin goes from being really understanding and great to a stubborn ass and back again so fast.
4. Lin, you used to be my favorite, what happened to you?  Did you forget that Mako saved your life a bunch?  Did you forget that time you busted him out of jail?  Did Korra steal your memories?
5. A place that feeds off of Korra's emotions is a real horrifying place.
6. 8 planets in their solar system.  
7. I don't bring up the music enough, it really is beautiful and fitting.  

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 19 and 20

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.

Episodes 19 + 20 - Beginnings Parts 1 and 2

So, after an unavoidable delay, I'm back and with two fantastic episodes.  There's so much to talk about I don't know where to start.  We're given a two parter about the origins of the Avatar and I love this stuff.  These episodes were tailor made for me.

First off, I love a good origin story.  That may be surprising to some who have heard my opinion on certain superhero movies (if I have to see Batman's parents get shot one more time...), but it's because those origin stories are so played out.  The new Spider-man movie better not have a whole thing with the radioactive spider, because EVERYBODY KNOWS, seriously.  He's Spider-man, move on to him Spider-manning.  But when it's not horribly saturated into my very soul, an origin story is fantastic.  Dr. Strange was fun because we haven't seen it a thousand times before and also because it's a fun (if very tropey) origin.  It also lends itself well to making the character interesting.  If the main character has to learn how powers work and what they  can and cannot due, that's a character arc that writes itself.  It's probably why so many superhero movies resort to origin stories; it's the easiest self-contained storyline to portray.  I think it's definitely part of the so-called "Superman Problem."  Once he's established as the most powerful hero, where do you go?

But here is where both Avatar shows really shine.  Yes the Avatar is more powerful than anyone else, that's a premise of the show, but every Avatar we meet is flawed and very human.  Aang is a coward, Korra is an entitled brat, and Yuan, who we meet in this episode, is a thief.  He steals firebending from a giant Lion Turtle and goes to live with the forest spirits in the Princess Mononoke-verse.  He's just struggling to survive most of the time, we don't even get a fancy character flaw like "entitled" because his struggles are so primal; food, water, not getting eaten.  This man is not a hero.  It reminded me a lot of Disney's Aladdin, from the giant cat head granting powers to the way Yuan acted.

These episodes answered so many of my questions.  Bending was originally a gift from the powerful Lion Turtles, which are beings the size of cities that are basically really powerful spirits.  It was originally loaned out to people for weeks at a time, but eventually became a gift that is passed down.  I wonder exactly how the terms of this arrangement work, but I feel like genetics is probably the closest way we have to modeling it.  You can't mix them, though, because a normal human can't do it. And that's where we hit the main thing I'm excited about.  We now know the meaning behind the name of the show.   The Avatar can wield all the elements because they are literally an Avatar of the Spirit of Balance in Life.  Is everything explained?  No, but enough is that I'm very happy.  Sometimes you just want the answer to be "magic", making everything rational detracts from the work (see: Midichloreans).  And these two episodes put everything together in a context that is very satisfying and fits the show.  

Lastly, this episode did open up some interesting new questions about the ecology of Avatarland.  First off, we clearly see that there is some sort of global cooling going on.  The North and South Pole in the past have no snow or ice and the water tribe appears to be somewhere tropical.  They still call these areas the "poles" however, so we know this isn't a case like our world, where Antarctica used to be a jungle because it was located tropically.  The fact that the poles are anchored in place by dimensional portals would imply that plate tectonics is probably not a factor in Avatarland.  

Animal populations also would be strange, to us.  I have yet to see any animals that are native to both poles (I also haven't thought to look for it before), but seeing as the spirit portals are right next to each other in the spirit plane and animals wander through them freely, I would guess there is a lot of shared species between the North and South Poles.  What I am left confused with is the status of what constitutes a spirit versus an animal.  One of the talking animals that was definitely exhibiting spirit powers was like a giant Ferret Monkey?  But the Cat-deer (who is my new favorite creature in Avatarland) was definitely just an animal despite hanging out with spirits.  We also know that certain animals, like Air Bison, have a natural ability to manipulate elements, despite being animals.  Although, just about every animal we've run into on the show demonstrates a level of intelligence and a comprehension of human language well beyond even the smartest dog in our world.  These ecological questions will require further study.

Stray Observations:

1. The art style for these episodes was gorgeous.  Truly original and different and I want more like it.
2. I find it interesting how both of non-main character Avatars we've met were Firebenders.  I think the show is making a conscious effort to show that there are balanced, non-crazy Firebenders, despite the fact that they were the bad guys of the first show and have murdered the parents of just about everybody on this one.
3. A lot of fun with the spirits, it's hard to believe this is an American show sometimes.  
4. In all the generations and societal upheaval of the world changing drastically since the first Avatar, the Air nation kept the head tattoos.  I wonder what they mean.

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 17 and 18

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 17 - Peacekeepers
Episode 18 - The Sting

These were some good, solid episodes that featured our heroes attempting to violate the Geneva Convention in a variety of ways and we learn that war profiteering is not as easy as it looks.  I want to stay away from recapping, as I say nearly every week, but I still have to comment on events in the episode and these two episodes really kind of barreled through some major events.  Let's touch on a few.

The biggest is that I still don't understand what the Southern Water Tribe is.  As I said last week, there is definitely a solid, genetic basis for the different Nations.  I'm not advocating that they need to be as separated as they are (and judging by Bolin and Mako, there don't seem to be too many issues with intermingling, it just doesn't happen much), but there are real, definable differences between them.  However, the two water tribes are essentially the same.  So it's really weird how they are handled.

The two tribes interact in very contradictory ways.  People freely move between the two.  Tonlaq, the legitimate heir to leadership of the Northern Water Tribe, is accepted and respected as the leader of the Southern Water Tribe, so there doesn't seem to be any cultural bias against Northerners in the South.  They seem pretty intermingled.  On the other hand, Tonlaq is a criminal in the North and exiled, so he just moves to the South.  And he doesn't change his name or anything.  Sure, his past was hidden from Korra, but it doesn't seem to have been hidden intentionally so much as just something they didn't bring up.  So either the South doesn't recognize the sentence of Exile or Tonlaq was exiled specifically to the South, where he became the leader anyway.  This all seems very strange and to imply that the North and South are two distinct political entities.  However, this also isn't the case, as the North technically rules the South and they have one military between the two of them.   Korra going to the new President for help is rejected because the Republic doesn't want to get involved "in internal matters."  Also, the whole conflict is being described as a civil war.  But, if the North and South really are one entity in the eyes of the Republic, why did they each get a vote when the council existed?  The Southern Water Tribe somehow manages to be both the oppressed minority of the Water Nation, while also being richer, more industrialized, and controlling a disproportionate amount of international political power.

Varrick's propaganda film seems almost unnecessary, because with the exception of the President, everyone is already on the South's side.  Even the police, with the exception of Mako, immediately just assume that the North is responsible for a terrorist attack on the Southern Water Tribe Cultural Center.  The very existance of that building, especially considering how large and fancy it was, really make you wonder how the Southern Water Tribe got into this situation in the first place.  This is all ignoring that the richest man in the whole of Avatarland is Varrick, who is a pretty staunch Southern Water Tribe member (primarily because it seems like the loose regulations on business are what allow him to be rich).  And wealth opens so many doors.  Why doesn't Varrick just hire a bunch of mercenaries?  Why all the ruses and the double crosses?

Speaking of double crosses, these episodes left me sorely disappointed in both of my favorite characters.  Linn's great return is marked by her just being angry all the time, with little justification.  I understand Mako is a new police officer and just a beat cop, not a detective, but he was instrumental in uncovering and defeating the Equalist conspiracy, not to mention getting Linn her powers back.  And, as much as I hate to be the one to say it (though am impressed that Korra didn't say it), Korra is the Avatar.  Seriously Linn, why are you suddenly so antagonistic instead of helpful like you were last season?  Mako knows his stuff and has good instincts, I'm pretty sure you said that about him when you busted him out of prison.  Remember that?  You literally broke him out of jail and seem to have completely forgotten.   And Asami, you're way better than this, why are you trying to be a war profiteer?  Maybe the reason your company is failing now is because you're still making anti-Bender tanks for your father's war that isn't going to happen.  Have you considered turning all that power into making something useful?  How about instead of using that technology to fight Benders, use it to make normals into Benders?  Reclaim Equalism as a term describing raising Non-Benders up, not tearing Benders down.   That'd be a great way to use your stuff, not selling tanks to whichever side you like in a civil war.

Which brings me to my last point.  Korra, I get it.  Your brash, entitled, and don't think ahead too much.  You make mistakes, you get tunnel vision, and you're angry because this is war is personal.  But surely even you can understand that what you do in this situation is appeal for popular support, get the Republic on your side, provide aid to the South, and continue with the charge that Unalaq is not the legal ruler, but usurped power from Tonlaq.  What you don't do is try to stage a coup of the entire Republic.  Going behind the President's back and getting General Iroh to help you is straight up treason.  I can't believe Iroh was willing to even entertain the idea, but considering he walked into every Equalist trap, I guess he's not really the brightest Firebender in the Fire Nation.  At this point, I feel like this show is leading to Korra just instilling an Avatocracy and becoming the God-Emperor of Avatar-land.  

Stray Observations 

1. Unalaq doesn't even bat an eye at his daughter saying she has a husband.  There was never a wedding and to my knowledge, Unalaq didn't know anything about this.  What kind of screwed up family is this?
2. Peaceful protests being used as a cover for false flag operations and pinning violent riots on the other political party?  Why you gotta be so topical I can't cover all of it, Korra?
3. Mako returns to my favorite character status, by being the only character in both episodes to not commit war crimes.  Also, him calling out Korra was great. "What is it with you and sides?"
4. Korra, pretty sure going to his place of work and destroying his desk counts as you dumping him, not the other way around.
5. I do like the propaganda film, it's a pretty fun side story.
6. A whole episode without Korra was actually nice because it made me miss Korra.  And while I'm not thrilled at an amnesia plotline, I'm deeply intrigued that for the first time ever, Korra's instinctual response to a threat wasn't Firebending, it was Airbending.  That has to be important, right?

Legend of Korra with Jacob! Episodes 15 and 16

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 15 + 16 - Civil Wars Part 1 + 2

I've gotten pretty recappy, which is pretty much the opposite of what I want to do and this blogs mission statement.  There's a lot of reasons for that, the chief is that recaps are easy and take less time or thought.  But that ends now.   It's time to dive deep into Avatarland and this episode is a great place to catch up on that since what happens is very straightforward, the Northern Water Tribe invades the Southern Water Tribe.  A resistance is formed, crushed, and re-established, everybody turns out to be corrupt and Korra realizes that she's very easily manipulated.

This episode raises a lot of questions about the political situation of Avatarland.   We know we have four "nations", the Fire, Air, Earth, and Water, being one Nation with two Tribes.  To keep them allied, we have Republic City and a council of a representative from each nation except Water, which got two.  But more on that later.   The combined Republic has it's own military, which seems to be mostly Firebenders from what I saw.  I do not recall any Water or Earthbending going on when they fought the Equalists.

What I do find very interesting is that the Northern Water Tribe has a significant and advanced military force of its own.  Does this mean that all the Nations have their own military as well?  The Northern Water Tribe invading the South would sort of be the equivalent to the USA sending an occupying force to Puerto Rico or Guam, if I understand the political situation (both the real world and the Avatar land situations) correctly.  I believe the South is not an independent nation, but then why did they have a representative on the Republic Council?  Are they independent or not?

This leads me to my main point, which is The Equalists are totally right.  If we look at the Republic Council as something akin to the United Nations or, probably a better parallel, the European Union, we see a number of issues right away.  If Northern and Southern Tribes, despite being one Nation, though quite different culturally, get two representatives, why don't other Nations split to get more power?  Surely there's enough different Earth or Fire Nation cities where each could claim to be a different tribe and load the council?   Furthermore, we see the standard problem of representation by population versus group.  Is it fair that the considerably smaller Air and Southern Tribe have the same number of votes on the Council as the larger Northern, Fire, and Earth Nations?  This is why the EU has the Parliament and Council after all.  Plus there is the the European Commission which is a different body altogether and tasked with representing Europe as a whole, as opposed to the other two bodies which are supposed to be more in line with the interests of individual member nations.  My point is these sort of Confederation governments are complex and representation is a hard thing to nail down in any circumstances.  And the Republic Council is far from normal because they have Benders and Non-Benders.

Tenzin ends up being the point that really proves the Equalist cause to have legitimate underlying principles.  I didn't really bring this up in the first season because I thought the Air Nation consisted of literally just Tenzin, his wife, and three children.  Representation of the Air Nation's interest would have to fall to an adult and his wife married into the Nation, so it seemed natural that Tenzin would be the representative.  But now that we see Air Temples have been rebuilt and there are plenty of non-Bender citizens at other locations, I cannot help but wonder why any of those people could not be the Council member while Tenzin attends to other duties that are required of him, such as training other Airbenders, a job that Tenzin literally is the only person capable of doing.  It seems it was a requirement that Council members be Benders.  The position is only available to people who are born with a certain trait, so it sounds like the term racist should apply.   But race is really complicated in Avatarland.

See, unlike in the real world, where race is biologically largely irrelevant (some disease susceptibilities is about it, I think), race in Avatarland has some serious implications genetically.  See, Waterbenders have Waterbender children, Firebenders have Firebenders, and so on, while the Avatar is outside of the realm of genetics and firmly in the magic/spiritual side of the world.  Besides the Avatar, there is no known case of multiple style Benders.  We have a limited sample set, but enough to figure out some part of how this works.  Aang and Katara had three children, a Waterbender, an Airbender, and a non-Bender. All of Tenzin's children with a non-Bender are Airbenders.  Katara was born to two non-Bending parents.  Korra's father is a Bender, but not her mother (I assume, I haven't seen her bend)*.  So from this sample set, we can conclude that Bending is probably very similar, genetically, to Blood Type.  I like this analogy because we have positive and negative blood types as a parallel to the specialty Bendings that not every Bender of a type can do (Only some Earthbenders can Metalbend, Fire and Lightningbending, etc). So a non-Bender being a member of a particular nation is still very important because that non-Bender can only have a particular type of Bender child.  So a non-Bender member of the Earth Nation is still a carrier of Earthbending.  So there is a weird intersection of personal identity going on here, where a non-Bender is both definitely a member of a Bending Nation, but also a non-Bender and therefore has more in common, physically, with non-Benders of another Nation.  Hey, my biologist friends out there, could controlled breeding eventually lead to Bending going extinct?  Not that I'd advocate that, just curious.

The term I want to use for discrimination against non-Benders is "ableist."  Bending is a genetic condition, one that is uncommon but not too rare.  But it definitely would change how one views the world and themselves.  So what we have here is essentially the inverse of X-Men, where the powerful mutants are running the government and the normal people have little political representation.  But we also have a situation where people's political and cultural identity is tied to their familial relations to the mutants powertype.   You have a group that is cross-culturally oppressed, to varying degrees, yet that group is a fundamental, yet integral part of society and the perpetuation of that group.  While I see some parallels to Feminism, there is a level of objective capablity that a Bender hsa over a non-Bender which doesn't truly exist between the sexes.  I mean, yes, there are, generally, distinct physical differences between men and women, but I don't believe that compares to the ability to make fireballs with your mind**.  Generally, "ableism" applies to discrimination against people who are handicapped, and that might be a fair designation for a non-Bender.  They are certainly less capable than a Bender.   According to the 2010 US census, about 19% of the US population is classified as handicapped.  That's a significant portion, larger than I expected, but much smaller than I would guess the ratio of Benders to non-Benders is.  For non-Benders to not only be unrepresented, but to be apparently forbidden from being on the Council is a huge problem.  A true Democracy would have the equivalent of the A.D.A. for non-Benders.  And it would certainly allow them representation.

That's why I say the Equalists have a valid cause. That's about 2000 words, so I'll stop here.  But future topics will likely include Bender criminal violence (as that comes up a lot in the show) and further musings on a fair political system for this screwed up world.

Thanks for reading!

*If the show ever mentions that Bolin and Mako have parents from different Nations, that'll support my theory.  If their parents were not one Earth and one Fire Nation, though, then this whole thing is debunked

**For the most part, gender roles in Avatarland seem pretty equal. We see more or less equal distribution between council members, the police, pro-Benders, and the main characters. Pema hasn't really done much beyond be a mom, but I really don't get the impression that's because society is forcing her into that role so much as that's what she really wants to do.

Stray Observations

• Furthering my theory that this show is really meant to be watched how I'm doing it, all the two parters of these season line up.
• Tenzin's family is great.  I mean, they have issues, of course, but they really are fun.  I find myself wanting more of this and less of Korra.
• I brought up before how Tenzin being the second-to-last Airbender must have caused a lot of emotional issues for him and we see them come to bear here.
• "I'm usually the one startin fights," Korra is becoming way more self-aware.  
• "I promise I won't do anything rash" says Korra.  Literally an hour later she's going full Jack Bauer on the equivalent of a Federal Judge.  I don't think anybody in the room believed her though.
• Varick, the rich, southern Tribe, is the most in favor of war to protect his money.  Strong parallels here to the American Revolution, where most of the Founding Fathers were just the wealthiest people in America.
• Baby Airbison are the cutest.

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 :(