I’ve thought about it and first things first let me lay out the answer: I’m only going to talk about “Night of a Thousand Stars” and “Harmonic Convergence” in this post. Yes, the other episodes were posted online, but I want everybody to be able to follow along, even though I personally am an online viewer. Are the other readers of this blog? Speak up! How do you get your Korra?
That aside, there is plenty to talk about in these two episodes! And lots to like. This is a big arc, but if you ask me it doesn’t let you down, even as the stakes get higher and higher. Maybe you disagree; but for me, there is nothing in the two episodes we got fair and square this week that I didn’t like. We’ll have plenty of time to talk about the last two episodes later.
Bolin time! All season long they’ve been building up to this. Or maybe “building down” is the word, as Bolin has been a buffoon, has been trusting the wrong people and been used as a pawn…but today is the day that changes. Get it together, Bolin. It is nice to see the stadium, but once it becomes a stage for Bolin’s showdown, you know he’s got, quite literally, the home court advantage. Nuktuk shows us Pabu’s “Juji,” a snow raccoon with laser eyes, but the real eye catcher is Bolin’s fight sequence, which is athletic and inventive, and has The Announcer freaking out in the stands.
Meanwhile, outside of the technology-packed streets of Republic City—there really is a powerful sense of “place” in The Legend of Korra—Tonraq and his crack team of snowboarding rebels are on the assault. They’ve got the strength to defeat the Northern troops, but not the dark spirits. The inevitable Tonraq versus Unalaq ends badly for Tonraq; sometimes the need for justice isn’t enough; sometimes the tyrant wins. Later on, in “Harmonic Convergence,” we see the same holds true for Team Avatar, when what appears to be a fairly successful plan of assault is spoiled by the dark spirits.
Then again, sometimes the scoundrel loses; Varrick winds up behind bars, and no thanks to the varricake-eating cops—totally different than doughnuts—Mako is freed. Just in time for the love triangle to get started up all over again. You know, Bolin said something that made my sympathize with Asami a little bit more—she thinks Mako is just like her dad, another person she was wrong to trust—but this whole “end of the world, amnesia, abandonment, break-up, friends with benefits” situation Mako is trapped in isn’t as easy to get out of as you’d think. There aren’t clear transgressions here, so unlike last season, the tangle is more compelling. (But still not that compelling…)
Bumi time! The comedic side characters get a chance to make good in these episodes. Bumi playing a flute is a not-that-subtle but not-that-clumsy Chekhov’s Gun, and it plays out nicely. All of his “with three mice, some figs and a candle…” stories seem a little bit more plausible after he rampages through the bunker in a haunted mecha. What a world we live in where we’re watching stories about possessed mecha! With Naga and Pabu at the climax, it is a fun scene that yeah, like Sokka, shows you can still be light-hearted and make meaningful advances in the story. Tell a few jokes but set up the next scene along the way while getting stuff done.
So yes, Anti-Avatar is the plan. That’s what we learn. Big, bad, not morally grey at all Unalaq. It is a big, goofy, awkward plan. I sort of think that is what The Legend of Korra is. Avatar: The Last Airbender was like magic day at summer camp, that one piece of childhood unadulterated by the troubles of the outside world. The Legend of Korra is the gawky teenager, the adolescent figuring out who kisses who, and learning to grow up already and start doing what needs to be done. Korra seems ready to do it. Tenzin seems ready to do it. Team Avatar seems ready to do it.
…and Vaatu breaks loose. Everyone has been driven here by anger, no one is feeling their zen. We’ve seen how the Spirit World reacts to emotions—from the Avatar especially—so it isn’t a surprise to me. The Tree of Time is like the tree from Dagobah; what’s in there is what you take with you. Of course, this is the Avatar universe. You knew it had to get as bad as it could get. You knew they had to fail and build a new, better plan…and fail again. Right now, honestly? My biggest concern is that Jinora might become the new moon, so to speak. You know, sacrifice herself for the good of the cosmos? I sure as heck hope not, though.
Mordicai Knode also got a big kick out of seeing the planet; that is the sort of thing he is into. Find out what else he’s into on Tumblr and Twitter.
They posted the last two episodes on-line too?
Oh cool, so they did!
As to these episodes: one of the things I’ve always loved about Avatar is that, sooner or later, every dog has his day—even secondary comedy-relief characters get their chance to shine. And boy do they. I was rooting for Bumi all the way through.
And Bolin’s fight did some really clever things with the juxtaposition of the movie and the real-life fight. I have to say that the cinematography of the series, which was already pretty good, took a major leap with the move from Avatar to Korra. They do great things with focus, panning, and camera moves. The Bolin fight was a great example of that.
So it turns out the cops were just incompetent, not corrupt. And wow, did the Varrick plot ever come to a screeching halt. Why on earth did Varrick, who was always so careful to work through cutouts to the point where the mobsters couldn’t tell who hired them, hire those waterbenders directly? Did he get a dose of Lin Bei-Fong’s stupid pills by mistake?
The scene with Varrick and Zhu Li in the prison cell was hilarious as always, though I kind of have to wonder how realistic it is that he’d get to keep his luxury cell and his assistant after being arrested for trying to kidnap the president. Oh well, Rule of Funny.
A little surprised you didn’t mention the Bolin-and-Ginger thing, where the actress suddenly decides that, since Bolin is suddenly a hero for real, she suddenly is his girlfriend after all. The Uncomfortable Relationship Follies continue!
I have to say, I was kind of expecting Team Avatar to pull a fake-out and enter through the Northern portal, which presumably wouldn’t have been as well-guarded given that it hadn’t been opened until just recently.
Oh well! Off to watch the last two episodes now.
I love that Bolin and Bumi got their days in the sun, as it were. I like Bolin, and it’s been depressing seeing him play the fool. This Bolin is what I’ve wanted to see all season. It’s annoying that they had him be an idiot so this could be his shining moment, but it was good that they at least let him take the court.
And Bumi… oh, I love that they made all of his oddball crazy stories way more plausible.
I feel bad for poor Asami. I really want to see her step up and be the awesome character she seemed poised to be at the end of season 1.
…and, well… the Avatar stuff just doesn’t seem all that awesome, actually. Unalaq is bland and uninteresting. There’s no substance there, he’s just a Big Bad Guy. Korra does OK, I guess, but she’s up against a caricature. It’s sort of unfulfilling.
1. Robotech_Master
I don’t know, cushy house arrest, cushy minimum security-maximum ammenities seems like a pretty plausible landing pad for a war profiteer to me, but maybe I’m a big old cynic…
Ginger & Bolin is…I think something Bolin should be able to suss out. We’ll see if it is anything more?
2. Tesh
A more fleshed out everything is in the show’s best interest. I have watched the last two episodes, so I have more to say on that, but I don’t want to go too deep…which is the curse of something like this!
I liked these two episodes a lot. I wish the rest of the series felt more like these episodes. I think I’ll have more to say next week when we can talk about the entire finale (I watched all of it and can’t remember where one ep stopped and the others begin so I’ll just wait.)
4. DarthRachel
I had to refer to my notes very carefully, but basically this is all the stuff that happens up until Vaatu gets freed.
@3
I’ve seen the final two as well, and I never did see much nuance or interest in Unalaq. He’s a threat, and has some spectacular moments of action, but he’s still just… another megamaniacal stock villain with a little spirit power for spice. He works as a splashy antagonist, but he’s not even as interesting as Amon *as a character*. Some of his implications are more interesting, I’ll grant.
For me, the finale left more questions than answers, but I guess I’ll wait until the next write-up so everyone’s on the same page.
Loved the final four episodes. Like Mordicai and everyone here, I’ll hold off on discussing the final two, though. Thank heavens for Studio Mir. The differences really are night and day from an animation perspective.
It was great to get Bolin to have some agency and actually do some stuff in these episodes. Finally. I’ve been missing the skilled, lovable Bolin from the first season, since he’s largely just been a buffoon for this one.
I’m really disappointed that we didn’t get more from Unalaq. I think that the team is better than creating a Snidely Whiplash in the Avatar world. I also feel that it is somewhat important to know how Unalaq found out about Vaatu and all the stuff regarding Raava, Wan, and the Harmonic Convergence. That all factors into his motivations as a character. Anyway, I think that Amon is one of the greatest TV villians that I have seen and a high water mark for the show.
On a side note, does anyone know who Grey Delisle (voice of Azula in A:TLA) played? I couldn’t pick out her voice like I could with Dante Basco
@8 Minor spoilers listed in her voice credits for the “Darkness Falls” episode:
http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Grey_DeLisle
As some others, I’ve seen the finale as well, so I won’t discuss it overly much for now. These episodes continue the trend of the last ones – good writing, dialogue etc. when you look at them isolated, but in terms of the larger storyline, there isn’t much improvement (mainly concering Unalaq). I’ll grant that these episodes, especially the finale, were pretty epic, but on the whole Season 2 falls short of S1 and definitely short of AtlA
Bumi and the flute was a tad too convenient for me – Wiping out the entire camp just by accident was too much. I could accept the music working to calm the spirits, but enraging the others so they conveniently animate a mechatank to destroy everything? Ehh…
I’m also disappointed that they had Ginger decide she’s Bolin’s girlfriend after all. Generally, I’m disappointed in the Bolin arc – We’ve seen him make a lot of mistakes, and now the normal Bolin’s back…but that’s the issue as well. To me, it felt more like they just reset him to Season 1 Bolin instead of having him learn from his mistakes.
6. & 9. Tesh
Agreed; Amon would have made a better “Anti-Avatar,” if you ask me; that was his whole pitch to begin with, after all!
Very nice to hear Miz DeLisle again…
@8 “I also feel that it is somewhat important to know how Unalaq found out about Vaatu and all the stuff regarding Raava, Wan, and the Harmonic Convergence.”
I wonder if they’re building up to something with all of that? We’ve had two big bads with unexplained mysterious powers so far, given that we never found out how Amon learned to bloodbend people’s bending away either. It could be possible that there’s no explanation coming, but it’d be an interesting angle if there was a common link.
. . . or Unalaq could astral project prior to all this and got access to Wan Shi Tong’s library. That’d also explain it, given how buddy-buddy they seemed.
I really enjoyed all of it though it feels more like a 2 hour set piece as opposed to 4 individual episodes.
Someone who is not me did make an interesting observation about Unalaq. He was stern but contained and focused on the spiritual balance at the beginning, if overly power hungry. But even though he took horrible steps and definitely was Not Good, he wasn’t the slightly crazed thing he was by the end. Until the spirit portal was opened and he got access to Vaatu.
Could the ultimate 4th season arc be a tie-together of all the various villains? hahaha, ridiculous speculation ahoy!
Can’t wait to talk over the last two episodes.
Oh, boy. Where to start.
Dark Avatar. Yeah. Saw that coming. Kind of disappointed they actually said it that way though. I would have preffered for Unalaq to at least keep some sense of certinty that he was pursuing the right moral path.
But, no. He even called himself the Dark Avatar. Kind of killed the joy of it. Mostly becaue he went from being a curious character who’s true motivation was obscure to a stock villian with no actual depth. Never like seeing that.
Bolin’s battle, on the other hand, just amazing. Loved it. Everything about it was awesome. Also loved that he was able to see the truth when put plainly in front of him. He may be a dork, but he’s not an idiot.
On that note, he said exactly what I wanted to hear him say. He admitted he’s always let others lead his life, and was becomming his own man. There are always stumbles and falls along that path, but at least he knows he’s on it.
The rest, I’ll leave. I saw the final two episodes as well, but don’t want to get into them.
I think we can all at least agree that Bolin’s battle as Nuktuk confronts the villain on the screen was really fantastic, one of the best fights so far. Satisfying.
Yeah I have to say that I am impressed with the double episode. Also, I watch my online too.
I will have more to say when you speak about the last two episodes. I have questions and you better have my answers…or else.
LOL
@15 mordicai
Made all the more so by it being Bolin saving the day.
I mean, he did some seriously cool earth bending, but really, getting to see him be a hero was what made it shine.
16. MasterAlThor
I might have…theories, let’s say.
17. CainS.Latrani
Yeah, the essential ingrediant was Justice Bolin. Remember last season with WolverLin & Irohman? Did Bolin ever get a superhero nickname? ’bout time. Bolster Gold? Naw.
Bolinman. He was all kinds of Bolinman.
Sadly, that’s about all the good things I can find to say about the final four episodes.
19. CainS.Latrani
I don’t get it?
Probably should type it Bolman, but either way, he was all kinds of Batman.
I also saw the 4 last episodes. I feel I must be the dissonant voice here. I am very disappointed with book 2. Don`t get me wrong it’s still a good show and the only SFF decent show currently being shown, but astronomically far from The Last Air Bender and Korra book 1.
Unalaq is the first antagonist in the whole Avatar series that is completely shallow. He’s evil just because. He wants to destroy the whole world with no good reason, no background is given. Also how did Unalaq get so good controlling spirits and learning about Vaatu and harmonic convergence and all this stuff created in this season that nobody new and was never mentioned before in the Avatar series. The “spirit portals” themselves are another aberration retconned into the Avatar universe. They just exist to satisfy a plot point.
Also, on last week’s post, I said that instead of risking Jinora’s life, Korra should have gone to the south pole directly, either invading with full force or stealthly or Team Avatar could create a diversion so she could enter the portal. Interesting how things turned out, huh?
@22 franksands
Actually, I pretty much agree with you. I found a lot of what happened this season to be straight up confusing or pointless. Mostly because they could have done so much more with what they had.
I honestly expected Unalaq to be a misunderstood hero, doing what he felt he had to to protect the world. Instead, we got a paper mache villian with no motivation or even reasoning.
In lieu of that, a good reason for being bad would have done, but no. Not even a good reason for becoming a Dark Avatar, which I still can’t believe he actually called himself.
Varrick was what I expected to be the big bad, but no, just comic relief. Even in prison, he was just comic relief. No motive ever given beyond making a few extra bucks, never mind the real depth of what he actually did, or could have been plotting to do.
All in all, without spoiling the final episodes, a very disappointing season. Hopefully next season will be stronger.
I do have to say, as lackluster as the season has been, it has still had some great moments. I’m going to be going around saying, “Do the thing!” and chuckling to myself for some time to come.
As good as Bolin’s fight was, I’m still very let down with his character arc. He’s not among my favorite characters, but I still think he could have been portrayed better than a self-deluding fool, to the point of making light of his brother’s imprisonment.
I had very high hopes with Unalaq as well, but gave up on him when he started splashing at the closed Northern portal with clenched teeth, and almost had to facepalm at his maniacal appearance when torturing Jinora (whom I too feared would sacrifice herself in the end).
That said… Korra’s growth saved this season for me, she looks and acts a LOT more mature since getting in touch with Wan and Raava, even her reunion with Mako she’s more subdued and aware that there are More Important Things at hand than her relationship. And I have to say she looks lovely with her hair loose :) (I confess to have an aestetic crush on her and her design; she’s gorgeous :3 ).
Asami rules: she’s a crack driver and ace pilot; she’s been supportive of both Mako and Bolin even when they were too self-absorbed with their own drama. Asami deserves her own character arc in Book 3.
Any more comments belong to the last two episodes and thus next week’s column. I watch online, but since Nick blocks streaming to my country, I have to find… alternative channels.
@25,
“Asami deserves her own character arc in Book 3.”
YES. I’d really love to see her step up and take the spotlight. Maybe after the finale’s character beats, she doesn’t have to be stuck in the stupid love story drama, and she can step up and do something great, like redeem the Equalists.
Lin needs a bit of reclamation too, I think. She really seemed off this season.
. . . Has everybody forgotten Fire-Lord Ozai?
Not all villains need to be morally ambiguous; some people are just not nice.
(And I think the best part of the Bolin fight was the announcer just not being able to stop himself.)
More than Ozai, I’d say Azula.
Still, that aside, Ozai had motive, reason, and intent. There was a purpose behind his actions that was understandable.
I can’t really say the same for Unalaq.
I should also note that I thought at first they were going to have Bolin’s stardom end in an, “Hey, wait a minute, why’s Nuktuk bending earth?” moment akin to how Amon lost his influence.
But then I remembered that, as a member of the major-league pro-bending team the Fire Ferrets, it wasn’t exactly unknown who and what Bolin was already. So I guess the audiences of Avatar-Earth just have a lot more patience with an earthbender playing a waterbender than we do about “racebending” in our films. :)
@29, Varrick even mentioned it in his “Everybody said I couldn’t do this” speech prior to the film. It was hilarious.
I, unlike the rest of you cheaters, have not seen the last two, so I appreciate the silence on them.
These episodes were amazing, I miss Lin. Bumi is the best.
@27. as @28 mentions, Ozai really was completely evil, but he had a reason for that, and I could understand why he did what he did, specially by the end of Book 3 of The Last Air Bender. He had background. What do we know about Unalaq? He’s evil and he wants to be a “dark avatar”. I was really astounded the he called himself that. One thing is to do evil things because you think your way is the only way, as the fire lord did. Another thing is to call yourself “evil” and say something like “I will be the evil lord of Darkness”.
@31 He didn’t say that. He was very explicit that he does not think seperating the physical and spiritual worlds has been the best thing for the worlds, that the Avatar containing Raava has created a greater imbalance within the world, and that joining with Vaatu will create the true balance that the Avatar falsely claims to achieve.
He has goals and motives. They may be unfathomable, much like Ozai’s(I don’t know about you, but I myself can’t wrap my head around world domination), but they exist. He’s trying to recreate the world as it was before the advent of the Avatar. We know he won’t succeed, because that’s not what Vaatu wants, but he’s too deluded to know that, look at how deluded his children are.
Just got the final four episodes this afternoon – finally gotten through them. Like Al-X i have to find… alternative methods…
They were ok I guess – the Bolin fight was all kinds of amazing (especially the way it was juxtaposed with the mover) but I guess I was still ticked off with him for being a dork – was half hoping there was a coded message or something on that poster he dropped off.
Bumi stole the show though. And of course “Do the thing!!” he he.
@32. I’m afraid any response here might contain spoilers for the remaining 2 espisodes. Let’s get back to this next week, shall we?
Fair enough
I get my everything online. I watched it all in one shot (more or less,) and was moderately satisfied with the ending but still had a number of issues that I’ll want to talk about once the next article reviews the finale.
36. Oblitron
Putting it in now; look for it in the usual slot! OH IT IS ON.