This season of The Legend of Korra is really sticking to its eponymous theme of Change. At the end of “In Harm’s Way,” Team Avatar acknowledges that they’ve made new enemies, but they’ve also made new friends. In the most basic way, the story is about the way the Avatar is changing the world—just this time at a political level. The characters embrace the changes, following the path they think is best, and because of that they succeed. This is true both for our heroes and for our erstwhile villains, as each group pulls off a massive escape.
“The Metal Clan” shows the opposite: what happens when change is resisted, when the chi is blocked, so to speak. I suspect Lin’s grievances with her sister are more legitimate than they seem at first—there’s always a worm in the apple when it comes to cutting-edge utopias—but either way, the conflict is clearly tearing her apart. The Legend of Korra doesn’t give us the expected emotional beats, opting for realism and character development over tropes and trite moralizing. Finally, everyone please take note. It is an abstraction of the Harmonic Convergence.
So far The Legend of Korra has been really knocking it out of the park with Big Visuals—from glowing astral Godzillas to stadium Spider-Man brawls—and these episodes keep up that tradition. The ice prison, fire-breathing dragons, astral SCUBA, huge scrums and intense duels… the ticket buys the whole seat, but you’ll only need the edge. I’ve talked a lot about how this show uses subtle-and-not-so-subtle cues in the animation to good effect, from Aang and Korra sharing body language to things like this week’s Ringu style flickering as Jinora astral projects, or when Kya is fighting Zaheer—she whips out two spirally currents of water, crisscrossing them like an old school atomic symbol. Yep, that’s Aang’s daughter alright!
Speaking of Jinora astral projecting… first off, obviously Jinora is the best. I’m a known Jinora sympathizer from way back. The fact that she’s turning into an enlightened Nancy Drew is a-okay with me. What I took particular note of was that she said astral projecting was an “airbender move.” We’ve talked about how earthbenders have sandbenders, and how waterbenders have healing and spirit calming, as well as bloodbending and plantbending. We’ve seem some “advanced techniques,” like the firebender’s lightning, go from being rare talents to developed skills as bending techniques improved. “The Metal Clan” is all about the legacy of Toph’s invention of metalbending. Is astral projection the airbender advanced technique?
There is a whole host of characters dumped into our lap in this episode. So far, Change has been about families as much as anything else; heck, even the criminals are a tight knit family. The anti-Scoobies, something the Avatar hasn’t faced. We’ve seen the benefits of trust and teamwork for Team Avatar (and the Gaang before them), now we’re going to see the villains exploit those same advantages. Beyond that, Korra’s father and twin cousins didn’t just fade away into the background, and Mako and Bolin’s family are still making appearances. Obviously one of the two new episodes is just straight up about Lin’s family. These are the ties that will drive the coming conflicts, if we could just unravel them. We haven’t touched on Asami’s lack of family; we see her and Korra sparring, but after that she doesn’t get a lot of spotlight. More Asami!
Which characters will be important moving forward? We know that Avatar stories don’t just discard characters—even seemingly cameo ones—and we’ve been introduced to several families’ worth. Maybe they won’t return. Maybe they’ll stay in Zao Fu as set dressing. Maybe someone will become a recurring, Suki-like character, or heck, maybe someone will join full time, like Zuko or Toph did. That would sort of be fitting, and we’re in Toph city.
Speaking of Toph, The Legend of Korra is showing us that the cast of Avatar: the Last Airbender were imperfect, that their lives didn’t become “happily ever after” fairytales when the show ended. That’s not what life is like, so the show isn’t like that, either. That doesn’t mean seeing just the flaws is the whole picture, either. Toph might still be alive, so maybe she’ll provide more context (…but I doubt she’ll mention who either of their fathers are).
Let’s talk about Zaheer and company. So they were imprisoned for trying to kidnap Korra. Got it. In the past, I have developed my own little pet theories and clung to them beyond all reason and sense. I’m not going to do that, this time. Not that I’ll entirely take any of the characters at their word—there is obviously going to be some kind of Shocking Reveal, right?—but I’m not going to create my own maze of smoke and mirrors. Henry Rollins is doing a great job, bringing a sense of menace to his infiltration of the Air Nomads that gave his scenes a Hitchcockian air. I’m wondering if a close betrayal is at hand: Su Yin seems too good to be true. Or of course, there’s the ever-likely knife in the back from Varrick to suspect…
Mordicai Knode can’t be the only one who heard “rare meteorites” and thought “…spacesword!?” can he? Let him know on Twitter or look for him on Tumblr.
Varrick might be the too-obvious choice here, since he was the knife in the back last season. Something is definitely up in Zaofu, though, that city is too damn perfect to be, well, perfect. Besides, if Lin doesn’t trust Suyin, I probably shouldn’t either…
There was a great moment at the end of “In Harm’s Way,” when Team Avatar and the new airbenders are making their escape, and to counter the Dai Li they unleash a massive windstorm…it was glorious! I know the Air Nomads try to stay a peaceful culture, but seeing the airbenders defend themselves and their freedom that way was the first moment (so far) that it’s felt as if the Airbenders are really BACK!
@1, One thing they didn’t get to do during the first series, is show how powerfully awesome and offensive airbending can be, because Aang’s pacifism and quick mastery of all the other elements.
This series though, they are ALL OUT with the airbending and it’s awesome. It’s absolutely no surprise that Zaheer was able to defeat Kya, who, while her influences from Aang were noted, also has the most badass waterbender EVAH for a mother.
So, I am completely in love with the fact that the show has established that Toph was an unrepetent single mother from different men. My own head canon is that she was gay, and that Su’s father was Sokka and maybe Lin’s was a relative of her lover. I know that won’t happen, but I can dream.
Zaheer’s in depth knowledge of airbending continues to be a mystery. Perhaps he was one of Aang’s early acolytes?
I imagine, if the plan was to abduct the Avatar as a child, their purpose was to groom her into the Avatar they wanted her to be. Now that she’s all grown and more likely to be resistant to their influence, they are seeking to kill her to start the cycle over.
I’m very concerned for the airbenders that left with Tenzin. They weren’t exactly secretive about their intention to go to the Northern Temple(why that one? Why not the Eastern, Western or Southern ones? Why the one that is still inhabited?) and the Earth Queen was serious when she was talking about war.
I can’t wait to find out more about Lin.
And I can’t believe you didn’t say anything about the SS BOpal we saw set sail tonight(who I imagine is our next full time member of Team Avatar, as she takes a page from her grandmother’s book, a running away).
Once again, this season continues it’s run of fantastic episodes. I am incredibly excited to see where this goes from here.
Like everyone here, I’m feeling more than a little nervous about Zaofu… It seems too perfect, and the fact that Varrick is there and working for Suyin…there has to be another shoe waiting to drop.
I do love the work that they are doing with Korra, Lin, and Tenzin in these episodes. It is really neat to see all of their history coming to bear on what’s currently happening and how their relationships have evolved. Korra treating Tenzin warmly and with respect as they part ways really made me happy and showed the growth of these characters. Same thing with Lin keeping up her gruff exterior while breaking down inside.
Unlike the start to Book 2, the characters are behaving with internal motivations, not because the plot demands they do something…and I am loving it.
1. SerDragonReborn
Yeah, the fact that the Northern Air Temple is on its way to being repopulated is HUGE & I think they spent the appropriate amount of time on it– there was appropriate conflict on several levels, too. Well played, & not over played.
2. Aeryl
I like the idea of a gay Toph just fine! As for “Bopal”…too soon to say, something is obviously going on there. You know?
Why the Northern Air Temple? Well let me put it like this: if the Earth Kingdom wants to attack the Northern Air Temple, they’ll probably have to get past whatever mechanical defenses the Mechanist left in place when they were fortifying the temple to resist being invaded by the Fire Nation. Mothballed tanks & airships & stinkbombs & I think the Earth Queen might find she’s bitten off more than she can chew.
3. hihosilver28
Not gonna lie though, I sort of want the Metal Clan arc to end with “what, no, we’re not a chilling dystopia, what, we’re fine. Thanks.”
@mordicai
I think that would be great too. Kind of like with what happened with Asami in the first season, how everyone (including me) assumed she would be a villain.
these episodes were awesome. idk how to feel about the fact that so many scenes from the trailer have already been showed in the first 5 episodes…
the airbenders were awesome. i think what we’re seeing is that a lot of people dont know how to fight against an airbender.
zaheer is odd to me. without training he’s airbending like a master almost.
and the water tentacle arms arent unique to evil waterbender girl i see since Kya used them. tell me that wasnt cool how she snatched zaheer and his glider (whered he get that anyway) out of the air and slammed him down!
my pet theory was that the evilbenders wanted to turn korra into some Dark Avatar or somehow end the cycle all together
when Bolin and co. were running from the Earth Palace was i the only person reminded of that episode from the 90s xmen cartoon where they were running from that military base? (the episode where morph was shot)
i halfway expected the Earth Queen to bust out some serious King Bumi style bending when she popped up to confront Korra!
idk if theres a tvtrope for this but the evilbenders have what i call the introduction factor. when a villain first pops up they seem to be sooooooo powerful and they win all the time until the introduction factor wears off and their power comes down to a level just above the hero, which causes them to train (think DBZ) until they can get strong enough to defeat the villain.
i predict the first time korra meets them she’s gonna get her ass handed to her. even if she goes into the avatar state. but she’ll get away somehow by the skin of her teeth or maybe with a sacrifice by a member of team avatar. but eventually either all together or one by one she’ll defeat them in the end.
oh, toph is alive. and she will teach Korra something important. This I Foretell.
(toph = cadsuane) by the way
Book 3 is proving to be full of awesome, and I’m feeling the trepidation with each episode that I didn’t feel during Book 2 sans outstanding exceptions.
I kind of wanted someone figuring out that it was easy to break the Dai Li agents’ hands by bending their stone glovelets… but that’s just my savage RPG gamer talking :)
Incredible fight choreographies are back!
Tenzin getting all teary when the freed airbenders wanted to join him!
The entire para-Beifong family are incredible… I want them to remain a functional, centered, loving family without any dirty secrets. I want that whatever happened between Lin and Suyin be something well before Suyin had her family.
Loved the implication that Toph remained a free spirit and is doing with her life whatever she wants… But now I want a reunion between Katara, Zuko and Toph :)
Opal is adorable… but not the cliched shrinking violet… she is secure enough with herself to know when she likes someone, is not afraid to admit it, and is also not afrad to call Bolin on his playah BS, and non-Euchlydian-maturity Bolin is back after his leave of absence during Book 2! He takes Opal’s comments well and corrects his behavior, and admits to his faults while ALSO expressing his interest in her honestly.
Also, for such a free-spirited family… why wouldn’t Suyin let Opal go to the Northern Air Temple?
i wont lie i had an iffy feeling about Suyin and and Opal.
in the chinese zodiac metal is an element. do you think its possible that the metalbenders could focus on metal so much that they forget how to earthbend? metal is a part of earth yea but its also so different.
airbenders are the most spirtual so i can see spirit walking being an airbender technique. i’d like to see Jinora bend while astral projecting and keep her main body functioning at the same time. didnt prue do that on charmed?
Since Zaheer is so well-versed in Air bending and Air bender history, shouldn’t we expect that he WAS an Air bender and had his bending removed by Aang at some point? And that’s a motivation to go after the new Avatar after his deaht? Not like there are Air bender libraries on the way between break-out and Korra…..
5. hihosilver28
It’s part of why I like Iain Bank’s Culture novels so much. “Nope, no, we just all decided to stop being barbaric goons, have a utopia, works out great ever since we stopped having an economy…”
6. tamyrlink & 8. tamyrlink
I think it is very likely Toph is alive, however I wouldn’t rule out Team Avatar finding her Final Resting place instead of her. “Woah, Toph’s skeleton, even the bones are stone, oh god, FOSSIL LICH!!!!!”
As for the Eastern Elements, I had the same thought; I thought this cycle might have the five Chinese elements– Wood is totally on the table too– but nope. Maybe next Avatar!
7. Al-X
Oh, I liked that too! “Stop being the worst.” “Oh, okay, sorry.”
9. puck
Totally possible. I wonder if he was even Aang’s student?
Korra was totally in line with yelling at Lin at the end there–she’s trying to help her friend with her family strain because she cares about Lin, and whatever IS going on between Lin and Suyin, Opal didn’t deserve to be treated so harshly when she too is trying to help, and wants to know her aunt. Granted, there is still Lin’s side to learn, but even so, I think she knows she’s holding on too tight to whatever hurt is in the past.
We’ll see what’s up with Suyin, I do think there’s a (possibly well-intentioned) shoe to drop to complicate the avatar’s life. It could be that, like how Toph reacted to her own strict upbringing, Suyin is reacting to her too-free one, and trying to control her family a little more than necessary–as well as her city, and who knows who else (the rest of the Earth Kingdom, with her dissent against the queen?).
There is a HUGE difference between Korra’s actions and motivations this season than in the previous ones; where she could be petulant and overeactive before, she’s much more calm and considered. She listens to Lin and Tenzin explain Zaheer’s gang and their danger, and then decides her current mission is too important to give up for her own benefit; besides, she’s probably actually safer on the move. She’s responding to Tenzin and Lin much more positively, after everything they’ve been through together–and in return, they’re treating her much more like an adult, not a child.
@9: I don’t see how Zaheer could be an airbender. Aang was the last airbender 70 years before, and the only one of his children to be an airbender (until recently) was Tenzin, whose own children in turn were also airbenders.
Or… wait… there is one way Zaheer could have been an airbender… if he were also Aang’s son. Maybe he’s a disowned son that the family doesn’t talk about, like Sybok in Star Trek V. Or maybe — and it would be bold of a kids’ show to go there, but they’ve already touched on it with Toph’s offspring — he could be an illegitimate son of Aang’s.
I wonder if Lin’s father might be one of the “lily-livers” from Toph’s dojo in the graphic novel “The Promise”? Perhaps the goth poet guy with the silly name?
@9: I expect Zaheer probably studied the philosophy, physical forms, and history of airbending, the way that Aang’s fan club did in “The Promise.” Even the way he shows up to infiltrate the airbender school with a shaven head echoes the appearance of air nomad monks. Maybe he was the son or grandson of one of the fan club’s original members? Or maybe it had something to do with whatever drove him to try to kidnap the avatar in the beginning—learning all about how the avatar does what he or she does.
I’m more than a little suspicious of this gang of villains. They’re being set up as far too sympathetic to be the simple villains they appear. Either they’re going to end up having a heel-face turn, or secretly have had some (relatively) nonvillainous goal in mind all along. They’re telegraphing “bad guy” too hard for it to be the whole truth.
I like the theory that Zaheer was a air acolyte who deduced that if Aang could take bending away, he could give it, and is angry that Aang didn’t do that. Why he’d still want to take the Avatar, when he has airbending now, I don’t know.
Another theory I like, but I truly doubt, is that Opal, who has a name distinct from the rest of her family, instead named for a precious stone, is Lin’s daughter that she gave to Toph, who took her to Su. Which could make her Tenzin’s as well, explaining the airbending. It explains Lin’s emotions and why she’s touchy when it comes to Opal, and why Su didn’t tell Korra about the specific event.
Now, there has to be something else to this rift, as Opal is only 15 or 16, and they hadn’t spoken in 30, but it’s a theory that fits.
And this sensitive subject matter may be why Nick is afraid of advertising. Confirmed bachelorettehood with two children, and now maybe parent’s abidicating as parents and adoption?
@14: I don’t think Nick is “afraid of advertising.” I gather they had a big promotional rollout planned to debut at Comic-Con or something, to build anticipation for the planned September premiere. But when the first five episodes were leaked online, they panicked and made the unwise decision to rush the episodes into release (before someone could pirate the rest, I guess?). And that means they didn’t have time to develop much of an ad campaign.
11. LynMars
Your reading on Su Yin is exactly what I’m expecting, right down to the motivations. 100% concur.
& yep, Korra has…wait for it…”changed.”
12. ChristopherLBennett
Yup! The thought occured to me. Or you know, some other macguffin or shenanigans or reincarnation– after all, the bloodbenders got their powers in a flashback. Or he could be a guru, like Pathik.
13. Robotech_Master
Oh, huh. You know, last week we were talking about “canon,” so this is related– that would be a great place for the multi-media thing to shine. For the comic to act sort of like an appendix, or even just as clues for a clever reader to pick up on.
Yep, I agree, there is a Big Reveal coming. I’ve saw the term– spoiler, I guess, but it could be fanfic or speculation, I didn’t investigate further just in case it was from a leaked episode or something– “Red Lotus” tossed around. End spoiler.
P.S. I’m super amped about the Robotech Kickstarter!
@mordicai
According to the guys on Republic City Dispatch (great Korra podcast, by the way), Red Lotus is the shorthand that the fandom has given Zaheer & Co. So, I don’t believe it’s anything from the leaked episodes. I’m just thankful we’ll be past the leaks as of next week.
Also, nothing like getting back to well-written episodes to truly make you realize how lacking the first half of Book 2 really was.
14. Aeryl
Oh shooooooooot. Probably too hardcore, because…hardcore.
17. hihosilver28
Alright, then I will use with impunity.
I liked Book Two, but it is impossible to argue that Book Three is not unambiguously better, so I won’t even try.
@18, I mean they might. My family watches Once Upon a Time which is full of this kind of family angsty stuff, so they might be able to pull it off.
@mordicai
Oh, I liked Book Two as well, but primarily for the second half of the season. Which was undeniably better than the first half. That and Mir came back. :-D I would like Book Two just for Beginnings, which was a masterful episode, and would easily go into my top 5 episodes from Korra AND Avatar.
@Aeryl
I don’t know…that sounds a little twisty for Korra, cool theory though. I was pretty shocked when SuYin mentioned that Lin was her half-sister. Even though Bryan and Mike have defied the norm for a “kid’s show” again and again, I was still surprised when they had Toph have kids by two different dads. Surprised and delighted.
I was still surprised when they had Toph have kids by two different dads. Surprised and delighted.
Me too! I love how this show continues to challenge and defy what kids shows should be doing
So where the queer benders at, Bryke?
@16 Mordecai: I added a comment there about that. Given that the show itself has referred back to the events of “The Promise” (when the Earth Queen complains about Zuko and Aang taking advantage of her father’s weakness to carve out Republic City), I don’t think there can be any doubt they’re meant that way even if the creators hadn’t expressly and explicitly said so. (They were supposed to be the plot of spinoff 90-minute movies to come after the series, but Nick wanted them to go right into Korra instead.)
So you can pretty much assume that more elements from them could pop up in Korra at any time. Including, perhaps, the identities of Toph’s paramours.
19. Aeryl & 20. hihosilver28
I mean. It could be done. I just think that’s a pretty big suckerpunch. That said, Korra hasn’t shied away from relationship drama before…I dunno, we’ll see! If it isn’t true, it makes for a compelling fanon…
& speaking of queer benders, the theory– well, “headcanon”– I saw someone talking about on a quick peak at the Korra tag on Tumblr was Opal as trans. I think representations of sexuality are important but I would also guess the studio has a chokehold on the subject.
Uh, re-reading all that, I sound VERY pesimistic! I don’t mean to.
@22: I’ve read until “The Rift: Part 1” so far, don’t think Part 2 is out yet. There was one candidate I remember, but I’d doubt they’d introduce two within the same rather short storyline.
I very much doubt anything like queer benders will pop up unfortunately. Korra is already straining the bounds of what Nick wants to have on their shows, even more so than ATLA, with suicide etc. Regarding romance and sexuality teen drama with nothing beyond kisses seems to be all that’s allowed.
On the note of LOK straining the bounds of what Nick wants to have, I’m getting the distinct feeling that they aren’t too fond of this show. I understand they rushed things because of the leaked episodes, but even then the marketing had to be pretty bad. I can’t get Nick myself, but that’s what I’m gathering from other forums & youtube.
Combine that with the low ratings for season 3 (1.5 m viewers for the premiere) and their decision to air two episodes per week, which I guess is connected to the ratings, I somehow doubt we’ll get anything after LoK is done. Book 4 is already ordered, so we should get that, but that might be all, unfortunately.
As for the actual episodes:
There’s definitely something more going on than Su Yin let’s on. She’s too genuinely nice to have done anything villanous, but nice people can still do very stupid things, especially if they had a row as I expect.
Considering Korra said “You will always be a bitter, *lonely* woman”, this might be about a love interest?
Also, we never did learn where Lin got her scars, right? So maybe she got them because of something Su Yin did, directly or indirectly?
@9, 12: When Zaheer escapes, the guard says “How? You’re not a bender” so he isn’t known as a bender. If he already was an airbender, he is getting captured and being held for several years, and at some arbitrery point suddenly reveals he can bend. That doesn’t add up. I do like the theory that he’s an air acolyte though.
Also, isn’t that eyebrow something we’ve seen before? It seems so familiar to me. But maybe I’m misremembering and it’s only from the trailer?
We didn’t see much from them in these episodes, unfortunately, so there’s no new information on what their goal could be. I’m still pretty much drawing a blank.
What do we know about them?
They’re fire, earth, water and (former) non-bender, so chances are high they’re from the United Republic of Nations.
Zaheer says he got a gift from Harmonic Convergence, thus he thinks that “our path is the righteous one”. So, they are after some ideological goal, not money or simple power.
The kidnapping attempt was 13 years ago, so Korra was…around 4? How old is she actually? :P
There are three possibilites I see: Either they wanted her as a hostage, to achieve some political goal, but there are some problems with that: It has to be something that only works with Korra, and something that can’t be undone after the exchange. Not to mention that would be a bit boring.
So, either they want to take out the Avatar, but can’t just kill her because then she would just be reborn. No clue as to what their motivation to take out the Avatar would be.
Or they want Korra to do something for them (That’s what I think). Zaheer knows a lot about Air Benders, which are very spiritual, so it might be connected with the spirit world. But no more real ideas here either.
Korra is already straining the bounds of what Nick wants to have on their shows,
Do we know that? Disney is get some props for creating gay characters on their kids shows, I can’t imagine Nick wants to let them get all the credit.
The plan wasn’t to have the show air until September, per the LOK tumblr, so I just imagine they didn’t have the marketing ready. There aren’t really previews for the next episode at the end, just a repeat of the trailer. It just seems they are really scrambling because they didn’t want people to skip watching the show because of the piracy.
Like I said, I think their initial motivation to kidnap Korra, would have been to mold her, and have her give Zaheer bending when she achieved her Avatar state(that’s why there is one from every bending group, to teach her).
What their goal would be know, I don’t know, since Zaheer got his bending.
@24: “Considering Korra said “You will always be a bitter, *lonely* woman”, this might be about a love interest?”
Someone who’s too closed-off and hostile to make any friends will be lonely too. I mean, Lin didn’t even want to play ball with Naga!
As for Zaheer, the hypothesis is that he was an airbender before but Aang removed his bending when he used it for violence, as he did with Yakone’s bloodbending. Although, as I said, the only way that could have happened is if he were a disowned or illegitimate son of Aang.
Korra is probably close to 18. She was 17 at the start of the series, and I think there was a 6-month gap between Books 1 & 2. I think they said Korra was 4 when the abduction attempt occurred, though. Maybe 4 going on 5, or maybe it was closer to thirteen and a half years.
@25, IIRC, they’ve said 13 years imprisoned, but interrogated for 15. I don’t know if that was Lin rounding up when she said that, or if they only put them in those bender specific prisons 13 years ago, but the kidnapping attempt was 15.
@24: That’s a really silly hypothesis. It requires a lot of supposition, not to mention remarkably out-of-character action on the part of Aang. Toph might take multiple lovers, but nothing about Aang suggests that would be even remotely likely for him.
Occam’s Razor would suggest that the simplest explanation would be the best, and the simplest explanation would be he just happened to be an Airbender “fan” who studied the philosophy and the forms (remember, bender forms are actual martial arts in their own right, designed for physical combat in the real world) much as someone today might study ancient Greek philosophy, or Japanese martial arts, or SCA-style recreation—and then he got lucky when the bender powers were handed out. Nobody else who got bender powers was an ex-bender (and most of them showed some ability to use them without any formal training). Why should he be any different?
@27: Actually, I’ve always said that it was irresponsible for Aang not to take multiple mates. I mean, he had an obligation to prevent the extinction of the Air Nomad nation, and the only way he could create new airbenders was by fathering them. He should’ve been impregnating every willing woman he could find. When the survival or extinction of an entire culture is at stake, conventional sexual mores need to be loosened up a little.
(Not to mention that they’re conventional Western sexual mores. Lots of Eastern cultures — and for that matter many Western ones — have had no problem with the idea of concubines or polygamy, and have generally been quite tolerant of men sleeping with whoever they wanted as long as they still did their duty to procreate with their wives.)
And yes, I agree that Zaheer is probably just an acolyte or student of airbender philosophy and forms. I was simply clarifying the nature of the hypothesis that someone else proposed.
@25: But maybe Lin tries to shut everyone out because of what happened back then? It doesn’t have to be about a romance of course, I just thought Korra’s comment might be foreshadowing.
I don’t think Zaheer got his airbending taken away. Lin said to Tenzin “Zaheer’s an airbender now”, not that he got his bending back. Zaheer himself also says he got a gift, not that he got it back. Also, it’s been said no one knows what their intention was. If Zaheer was a known criminal before, they would have mentioned it. And yeah, I don’t think they’d let Aang have a child expelled from the family.
@26: No, it was 13 years in all cases.
@25: Yeah, we don’t know that. It’s just the feeling I’ve gotten. LoK has done some dark things for a kids show, not seen on any other series, so I’d think that’s about how far they’d go. And concerning romance it has always been very tame.
@30, It’s been tame, but subversive. Like the way the love triangle of the first two seasons played out, where the two interested women didn’t devolve into catfighting, and instead became friends. Or the way Katara kept turning Aang down, and that was okay, and didn’t mean they had to end their friendship. Or the way Sokka had to learn to be less of a douche before Suki would give him the time of day, instead of him “earning” her affection by saving her life. And now, Toph with her radical single parenthood.
24. Jineapple
Oh man, I bet the scars are totally involved.
25. Aeryl
I think it is indisputibly in their best interests not to be homophobic, yeah! So it would be a smart play. I am, however, pessimistic about that level inclusion. I would really like to be proven wrong! So wrong.
27. Robotech_Master
So he’s…an evil LARPer?
29. ChristopherLBennett
I’m reading Froi of the Exiles right now, which deals with the sketchy nature of social responsibility & sex. It is…pretty grim, but I like it more than Finnikin of the Rock, & I liked that one enough to read the sequel…