The real winner of last week’s episode of The Legend of Korra was Zhu Li, making the winner of this week’s episode is fair turn about: Varrick! The absence of his much-needed assistant has made his heart grow three sizes. The other big winner in this episode is Kuvira, which means—you guessed it—that everybody else from Korra to Suyin is a loser. Varrick and Bolin are the only non-losers, and while I’m proud of those two disasters for somehow managing to evade trouble—Varrick, above all else, has a knack for that—I don’t quite know if “winning” sums up Bolin’s rather desperate situation. I think “not losing” just about covers it.
I’m excited to see as much Huan as we got this episode; maybe it’s just me, but I’m tickled pink by Suyin’s goth kid. His art critique of the Air Nomad kids was probably the highlight of the episode for me. That sounds sort of weird, picking something so tiny as my favorite moment, but having him applaud Ikki on her emotional depictions while chastening Meelo for his representationalism? I am not to proud to admit that I cracked up at that. It could have only been improved by making it a meta-commentary on Meelo being a “bit much” earlier this season, but then, that’s just me. The moral of the story is: Huan rules.
Seeing Korra get schooled by Kuvira was painful to watch. For me, it was in part because there was some level at which I wondered if Korra going Avatar State could turn the tide; after all, we’ve seen Aang pull a “lol, nope!” using the Avatar State when he was fighting Yakone. No such luck for Korra, and I think we all saw that coming. Kuvira is at the top of her game, at the pinnacle of her ascent. Like Azula, she’s a prodigy, and if Korra is going to beat her, she’ll need to be in tip top shape. She may have gotten the poison out of her veins, but as we saw, that battle doesn’t seem to be over, yet…
We’ve been talking all season about the nature of Korra’s recovery. Will she be magically healed? How many episodes will it take? Will there be a MacGuffin or Deus Ex Machina or what? Well, it seems like those questions are still up in the air, even after Korra used metalbending to pull the quicksilver poison out of her body after Toph played Yoda to her Skywalker.
Given Korra’s “vision” fighting Kuvira, I think we can safely say that there is still a psychological element still at work. Now the question becomes one of boundaries: is it strictly psychological, or is it spiritual as well? In a world like the Avatarverse, especially after Korra opened the gateway to the Spirit World after Harmonic Convergence, where do you draw the line between mental health and spirituality?
Korra still has a few cards up her sleeve. Asami, Mako, what are they up to? Okay, Asami is starting a journey of forgiveness; I wonder if that will dovetail in with Korra needing to forgive herself? Mako, though, where have you been, buddy? Bolin’s on the loose, he’s a fly in the ointment for Kuvira; I thought for sure we’d see Bolin facing off against his brother, but now? I’m guessing the brothers will re-unite and cause some real problems with the would-be Earth Empire. Lin and Tenzin are still out there, as are Iroh II and Zuko; will we ever be introduced to the new Fire Lord? Questioning minds want to know!
Batar Junior seems to be on the ball, I’m sad to say. That is, he knows enough to pay attention when Varrick is working—but not enough to see where all those extra baffles and the feedback loop he was building were for—and it seems that not even Varrick’s sabotage can stop the Spirit Vine weapon from happening, one way or another. I wondered if that was a red herring, for a moment, when the bomb went off, but nope; the Spirit Vine Deathstar remains on track to play a pivotal role in the end of things to come. Varrick and Papa Sato as assistants to Asami as she reprograms the whole thing? That’s what I’m hoping for, though a “Vaatu ray” still seems plausible as well.
At the end of the day, it boils down to this: Korra is not in balance. Kuvira is not in balance, either, but she’s been operating on borrowed time. The Earth Kingdom was deeply out of whack, and so Kuvira had a lot of things to shake up before they became an issue…but now they are slowly starting to come to a head. This episode seems like an unequivocal Kuvira victory, but I suspect we’re on the fulcrum. Kuvira’s losing control, starting with Bolin and Varrick, and I suspect we’ll see the chaos arriving for her teeter-tottering back and forth ensuing forthwith. She may have won the battle, but she won’t win the war.
Mordicai Knode is glad to see Jinora taking her place along side Korra; she’s not just another kid, she’s a master! Talk to Mordicai on Twitter or on Tumblr.
The thing about Korra’s hallucination is I’m not quite sure it’s PTSD.
She’s done that every-time she’s faced a situation reminiscent of her final fight with Zaheer and I wonder…
We saw Aang trying to warn her with visions about Yakone back in the first season. Might not this be a similar circumstance?
A clue/warning from the Spirit World that Kuvira might very well have Red Lotus connections or have been associated with the group?
That scene with Huan and Ikki made me think he’d be a good teacher. He was so sweet and supportive. Which of course made his obviously-coming critique of Meelo’s technically brilliant art funnier. Huan has no use for prodigies with a god complex!
Korra’s fighting was off, and the animation was really well handled to show that. I am missing the crowd back in Republic City though, and hope we catch up to Mako (and Wu) soon enough. Korra and her remaining allies are going to have to regroup, and the clip from the next ep does indicate a return to Air Temple Island.
I’m also going to very curious how the season endgame plays out as we enter the second half.
Kuvira’s Anschluss isn’t going to stop with Zaofu; that was clear even before the fall of the Metal Clan.
We saw the United Republic on her Earth Kingdom map in the premiere and she’s been intent on re-unifiying the country.
The United Republic is a seperate nation, but its land WAS Earth Kingdom territory. They set up that sentiment with Hou Ting last season and I’m sure it’s going to be brought back into play.
It would also bring the series full-circle with Book 1. Republic City was the prize there and it would be a nice book-end.
So, yeah, as incredible as this episode was, it REALLY bummed me out, which led to my nightmare.
Go Bhatar Sr and Huan though, that end scene was very reminiscient of The Avengers scene in Stuttgart.
So my nightmare.
So Unagi are Pokemon apparently, and they have Rachni like claws that do the whole chest penetrating thing, so when Korra, Jinora, and crew get back to Republic City, they are aboard a ship(I don’t know) and an Unagi jumps aboard the ship and ate their Sky Bison in half, chest bursted Jinora, and IT WAS TERRIFYING.
I woke up swearing off the show, before I realized it was just a dream.
There were MagiKarps too.
Junior’s got serious anger issues and I’m calling it right now: He’ll be the wild card of Book 4.
Kuvira’s cultivated that hatred of the Beifongs, but I’m guessing its going to backfire on her and he’ll do something by series’ end that’ll blow up in everyone’s faces.
That he’s got his hand on the spirit vine trigger only adds to that sense of foreboding.
Korra’s loss to Kuvira was painful to me as well. Her possible PTSD and 3 years of non fighting aside, much has been made of her being an excellent combatant and excelling in the physical aspects of bending, so much so that Kuvira using her as a punching bag just struck me as pitiful.
Honestly all i could think was that Roku, Kyoshi, or Yangchen would end Kuvira to protect the balance of the world.
I thought Jinora’s spirit walking call for help was a nice throwback to last season. and we know she’s a Master Airbender now, I’m still waiting to see some Master Level stuff from her. They can’t hold her in reserve forever!!
As the Avatar, does Korra have the authority to remove Kuvira and set up a democratic government in the earth kingdom? It seems to me that because she has all 4 elements at her disposal that historically the Avatar has been given final arbiter rights over the world, but it seems like Kuvira is over that.
Over all it was a meh episode for me. I knew Korra wouldn’t win in her first and (probably won’t in her second) confrontation with Kuvira (i predict that Kuvira will decide to eliminate her at some point) but I expected a better showing from the Avatar. And I’m waiting to see more from the Airbenders too.
@6, The tornado move Jinora and Opal did WAS an Master Airbender move.
Korra’s loss was pretty much to be expected. It’s a quintessential rule of the kung fu movies that in part inspired the whole setting: when Jackie Chan goes up against the big bad halfway through the movie, he has to get his butt whipped—and generally in the most embarrassing way possible. (For example, see the original Drunken Master.) This gives him the best possible incentive to train like a demon so he can wipe the floor with the bad guy at the end.
It’s probably going to work the same way with Korra. I wouldn’t be surprised if her quest to recover fully took several more episodes, while the B, C, and D plots of Kuvira’s conquest, Asami’s reconcilation, and whatever Varrick is going to do now occupy most of the rest of the episodes’ run time. She’ll probably only get it fully together in time for the big battle at the end of the season.
Yeah, Korra losing was pretty much concomitant with being healed by Toph so quickly, and it works pretty well in keeping momentum going.
@Mr. Magic: It could be both PTSD and something else, in the vein that you’re talking about. I’d like to see how Korra ends the series, without it seeming like she spent four seasons learning to be spiritual, because she’s had some solid development.
I wonder if Kuvira will get fleshed out a bit more now that Korra’s been beat. There’s a great opportunity for it, but it also might cut into screentime for Team Avatar reuniting!
I’m very glad Varrick cut through all the BS of last episode and got right to the science, and glad Bolin got somewhat more proactive. Great character dynamics and balanced the tension really well.
1. Mr. Magic
Revealing Kuvira to be a Red Lotus agent would be something! That said, they’ve been leaving “defeated” villains off stage in previous seasons…though Zaheer is more alive than Amon or Unalaq ended up being…
2. LynMars
Yeah; I think the fact that such a short scene was able to communicate so much about the characters is proof that the show has DEPTHS.
I thought it was a great episode, both the Korra-Kuvira fight and Varrick and Bolin doing the thing were fantastic. I also loved the Huan moment, it was a great light moment in an episode of tension, and genuinely funny (this show’s humour is hit and miss for me, so I give it credit when it hits).
I am so proud of Bolin which sounds weird to say, but he’s been my favourite character since season 1, and it’s really nice to see him continue to prove himself a non-loser. More lavabending now please.
@1: It makes no sense for Kuvira to have any connection to the Red Lotus. Their goals are in absolute opposition: Zaheer and the Red Lotus wanted to eliminate all authoritarian structures and bring anarchy, while Kuvira is dedicated to stamping out anarchy and maintaining absolute authority. The only thing they have in common is that Korra and her friends are against them, but that’s because Korra’s job is to maintain balance, and Zaheer and Kuvira represent diametrically opposite extremes.
Come to think of it, Amon and Unalaq also represented opposite extremes in a sense. Amon wanted to eradicate the spiritual power of bending and create a purely humanist order, while Unalaq wanted to bring back the spirits at humanity’s expense. Korra responded to them by achieving a balance between the temporal and the spiritual; now she must achieve a balance between freedom and order.
I liked so many things about this episode.
I thought the fight choreography was really wonderful. Korra and Kuvira have styles that are very distinct from each other, and those styles play into their characterization. Korra’s attacks are all very direct, designed to be overpowering; no matter which element she’s using, she’s attacking headlong. Kuvira’s attacks all work the same way she took control of the Earth Kingdom, binding her opponent from an indirect position and them twisting, all the while standing like a pillar at the center. It’s really exceptionally realized.
I speculated at the end of the Swamp Episode that Korra still needs to process her trauma from Unalaq and Amon. When she struggled against the mercury at the end of that episode, the only visual cue we got of her recovery was a flash of Zaheer. I don’t think she’ll be able to clearly confront NegaKorra until we see her overcome the other two.
I reeeeeaaaally liked Huan’s moment, but not because it’s humorous (though it is). I liked it because it shows that even this teriary character who showed up to play a few cheap tortured artist jokes has grown. He’s three years older, three years happier, and three years more in control of himself.
Bolin did the thing! Varrick’s storylines are becoming some of the most highly anticipated for me. The writing and acting is just superb. “Where did that hatch come from? Forget the hatch!” “Come on, that was an easy one!” “You finally did the thing!”
I liked a lot of other things here, but mostly I was floored by that choreography (as I have been floored by it before).
@12, Yeah, I’m reaching.
I only bring up the Red Lotus since they’re a dangling thread; we don’t know how many are still out there. And unlike the post-Amon Equalists, I don’t want to see this thread glossed over.
I guess I’m also just thinking about how they tied Unalaq to Zaheer in “The Stakeout”, which was a clever merging of plot threads.
I was quite frustrated that Korra never once tried to bend Kuvira’s armor.
I know that kind of sneak attack isn’t her style, but COME ON.
Well, I guess we’ll see that in the finale.
Is no one going to discuss the fact that Kuvira was about to straight up kill Korra at the end, which I guess would make a sort of twisted sense since the next avatar would be earth, and Kuvira controls the vast majority of earthbenders, and it would remove a potential thorn in her side for at least a few years, but still.
@16, Good point, I’d kinda forgotten that in my horrific nightmare, but rewatching it tonight with the Spawn, yes, Kuvira was absolutely about to kill Korra.
Spawn is convinced that Kuvira is brainwashing people, a la Lake Laogai, because of her comments about reeducation camps.
So a new Earth nation born avatar perhaps wouldn’t be a thorn in her side at all, if she had access to them from early in their life, like the White Lotus did with Korra.
4. Aeryl
That dream is amazing, & now I’m going to start thinking of the Avatar chimeras as creepy Giger Pokemon…
6. Tamyrlink
Yeah, but Aang wouldn’t.
I loved this episode. I’ve heard from other reviewers how it’s frustrating to see Korra get beaten by Kuvira. For me, I find that view really frustrating. Wasn’t everyone complaining in Book 2 & 3 when Korra tried to solve everything by punching the problems? Now we get to where she’s grown emotionally as a character to where she doesn’t want to try to solve something by punching it and “everyone” is griping that she’s not punching the problem. I think it’s a great episode that is diving into her trying to resolve who she is a character. And I think it’s fantastic that she tried to wait as long as she did before going into the Avatar State, and equally as much that she realized the violence she was capable of in it and that it would make her no better than Kuvira. I think that’s incredible character growth for Korra that has made her more balanced and that’s what this season is about: her trying to find her balance with herself.
Great, great episode, and I’m really looking forward to the rest of this season. In fact, this Book has made me look a little less harshly at Book 2, mainly because we can see how far she has come as a character. I’m intrigued to see how the entire series arc will play out once all the episodes have been released. I know that I, for one, will rewatch the whole series once it’s all out and I know the complete narrative arc.
Yeah, I’m more forgiving of Book 2 now in light of what’s transpired over the last 3 seasons.
For me, the problem at the time was that Book 2 was somewhat disconnected from Book 1. It dealt with some of the fallout, but it didn’t really follow on.
And in a sense, Book 1 is still somewhat disconnected from the rest of the series since it’s become clear that Books 2, 3, and 4 are essentially an extended arc set in motion by Korra re-opened the Portals.
It kinda reminds me of Angel and how the show could be divided into 3 acts: Season 1, Seasons 2-4, and Season 5.
19. hihosilver28
Honestly, I’ve been waiting for the part of the show where they go “oh, no, actually, your instincts are right on Korra, that was a problem that needed decisive physical action, thanks!” I mean, I’m all for character growth but I feel like Korra has been an underdog the whole series.
20. Mr. Magic
Yeah, I sort of feel like Unalaq was very much a “part two” to Amon; I’m sad Amon was revealed as just a faker, a physical threat; as a spiritual menace, a rival philosophy, he was much scarier. The Amon-in-my-head was my favorite villain (after Azula…)
That’s why I hated the ‘Amon = Bloodbender’ reveal back in 2012. I loved the idea of a Spiritual antagonist.
I thought we’d get another chance with Unalaq, but then he went power-hungry.
At least that concept was finally realized with Zaheer.
23. Mr. Magic
IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR IT TO BE REVEALED THAT KOH THE FACESTEALER WAS BEHIND ALL THREE VILLAINS! VINDICATING MY CRAZY SEASON ONE THEORY THAT HE WAS THE POWER BEHIND AMON!
@22: Isn’t “punching the villain” pretty much exactly what Korra did to Amon? Sure, it partly backfired on her, but that seems more due to the fact that she was underprepared, not that the solution was wrong.
@24, Didn’t the Koh thread get tied up in the post-ATLA comics?
I had an argument with a friend on how Korra should have been able to beat Kuvira, given what we’ve seen what the Avatar state can achieve.
But I disagree. Narrative structures aside, Korra could not win in her current state. Even at her peak, her direct and blunt style would be very hard pressed to defeat Kuvira’s style, which is extremely tactical, and makes use of all the strengths of Earthbending, which is basically making the battlefield your plaything. Korra is too green as a martial artist to face that kind of mastery.
And I’m also still debating on Zhu Li’s true intentions. We’ve been given SO little about her in the entire series, that her outrage and treason could be genuine, or could be a mask to keep an eye on Kuvira and safeguard Varrick’s legacy.
And I really can’t stand Meelo. He’s a self-important little jerk.
I’m hoping Meelo (and Wu) learn humility by series’ end.
Wu at least looks to be poised on that path if Mako’s heart-to-heart got through to him.
25. Torvald Nom
I mean explicitly, as the “moral” of the episode. You know? Aang’s journey wrapped around, so that his ethics of non-violence– or whatever you want to call it, non-killing– was ultimately validated. I am cool with Korra being a story of growth & “Change,” but now it’s “Balance” & I kind of want to see someone tell Korra it’s okay to be passionate, too.
26. Mr. Magic
I haven’t read the comics. I have…complicated opinions about non-primary materials considered as canon. Mostly I don’t count it as canon, though I am perfectly okay with trawling it for the bits I do like as headcanon. So like, Thrawn, check, Thrawn rules. Fuzzy anti-Force worms? Not so much, as far as I’m concerned.
27. Al-X & 28. Mr. Magic.
Yeah, Meelo needs to be…tempered with a third dimension, before I like him again. As for Zhu Li, who can say? But I don’t think being the “dummy” in the ambush really counts as very treasonous; I still think she’s Team Varrick. My prediction is that the arc becomes romantic, once Zhu Li demonstrates her ability to do just fine without Varrick…& vice versa for him. Both Meelo & Varrick need the same thing: humility!
& maybe they will redeem Wu!
One thing people have said multiple times is how well the show has been at showing the characters age realistically. Regarding Meelo, he’s annoying as hell and not nearly as great at anything as he thinks, but I think this actually works within the concept of characters aging in realistic ways. He’s 9 years old now, which is a tough age for kids because everything they did that was cute before now is just annoying, but they don’t have the life experience to know that or to be able to do anything else. So while I wish we could see less of him and focus on more interesting characters, his behavior is actually pretty consistent with what the character would be.
@30: Actually I always thought Meelo was annoying.
17. Aeryl
It would come down to a race between Kuvira and Korra to reach the new Avatar. Kuvira would have to have the means of finding and testing children, assuming the kid isn’t as obvious as Korra was. And Korra would have to hope the kid is more spiritually open than she was.
@32, Korra’s dead, how she gonna do that?
33. Aeryl
Same way Roku found Aang, maybe? Obi-Wan ’em?
@34: Err, Roku didn’t “find” Aang, he was reborn in Aang’s body. The Air Nomads later determined that Aang carried the Avatar’s spirit.
35. ChristopherLBennett
Remember Aang following signs & visions from the Avatar statues at the Air Temple, was sent Roku’s pet dragon in the spirit world, & eventually drawn through supernatural influence to the Fire Nation shrine? Roku was out there in the spiritual world interacting with Aang from the start of the series.
@36, But the expectation that Korra could do the same to the new Avatar, is expecting that level of interaction from an infant.
@36: The point is that #32’s suggestion that Kuvira and Korra could somehow compete to find the new Avatar doesn’t make sense, because the new Avatar isn’t born until just after the old one dies.
I don’t really see it as Roku being “out there” — I figure the memories/personalities of all the past Avatars are within the Avatar all along, since they all share the same soul. I see it as kind of like Trill symbiosis, the symbiont containing the memories of all previous hosts. There are ways the past hosts can “come out” and interact with the current host, but they’re not really separate beings.
I suppose it could be argued that the spirit that’s reincarnated in each Avatar is just Raava herself, and that their individual souls exist separately, but I’m not convinced of that. In “Beginnings,” Raava said to Wan, “We will be together for all of your lifetimes and we will never give up.” So all the Avatar’s lives are Wan’s lifetimes, his reincarnations, and Raava is tagging along with his soul as it goes through the reincarnation cycle. So Korra, Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, and the rest are all reincarnations of the combined Wan/Raava spirit, and that means they aren’t really separate spirits, just separate memory/personality subdivisions of the same spirit.
37. Aeryl
Sure but she could communicate across the Spirit World to Astral Jinora! Anyhow, this is not a real theory! Just pushing the envelope.
@12, Going back to the Red Lotus, I’ve been thinking and I have this crazy conspiracy theory that I know is likely wrong, but I want to post it anyway.
We know that Kuvira’s first task 3 years ago was to bring Ba Sing Se under control. We also know that it was the Dai Li’s home base and that they had brainwashing techniques at their disposal during the first show.
What if Kuvira’s turn towards militarism and her disregard for the consequences of tampering with the Spirit World is being fueled in part through implanted suggestions? Not outright brainwashing, but just enough to push the Great Uniter into increasingly fascist territory?
And what if the Red Lotus is behind it?
What better way to prove their philosophy amd ideology is right by using Kuvira to demonstrate the dangers and consequences of absolute authority? What better way to orchestrate a conflict that, at this stage, is poised to plunge the entire planet into another global war? What better way to tear down the other nations than by proxy and to unleash chaos upon the world again?
And what better way to achieve this revenge than through the Metal Clan, who were key to the failure of Zaheer’s plot? Suyin saved Korra and what better way to punish her by turning her protegee against her and destroying her family?
Again, it’s a reach and doesn’t fit with the theme of the Big Bads going off the rails. But I couldn’t resist it.