Well okay, with this episode of The Legend of Korra, Kuvira seems to be well and truly beyond the pale. Ethnic concentration camps, Kuvira? Yep, you’ve gone and Godwin’d yourself. Not to mention that all the guys have the sides of their heads shaved, all Hitler Youth style. It’s a good look in Sleep No More, but here it is frankly just ominous. There is no doubt in my mind that the next stage in Kuvira’s plan is the “re-unite” the Earth “Empire” is marching to conquering Republic City. It looks like she’ll be in black-and-white by the time she gets there, though this season’s theme of “Balance” still gives me hope of some nuance in the final ethical calculus.
Worry not: this is a fun episode; a nice change from last week’s episode that features Asami’s stun glove, Bolin’s hot lava, the Noah’s Ark of Bumju, Naga, Pabu and some sky bison & flying lemurs, and Korra back in Water Tribe duds.
Having Varrick run back in to mess with the wires and generators at the Berlin Earth Empire Wall to jury-rig an electro-magnetic pulse to take out the mechs? To me that’s a perfect example of how Avatar: the Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra have always choreographed battles with an active environment. The work of Sifu Kisu and his team are rightly lauded, with each bending style having their own complex physical backstory in the form of martial arts and signatures characters have their own unique variants. Very cool, but equally as cool is how rarely static the fights are. Fighters change the battlefield as they brawl. Earthbenders forming walls, ramps, holes; waterbenders making ice sculptures, slip-n’-slides, floods, that sort of thing. Even powerless Jet used the hooks on his swords to turn the trees into an active environment, and non-bending Sokka and Piandao’s battle was explicitly environmental, bamboo trope and all.
Avatar gave us the start of technology as an “environment,” from the deep sea oil rig prison with Evil Sulu to it’s apotheosis in Toph and Sokka taking on the Fire Nation airship fleet on the Day of the Comet. In The Legend of Korra, the prevalence of metalbending and the exponential growth of industrial technology have evolved that battlefield even further. Tearing the roof off a train and airbending off a bridge or using your know-how to hotwire whatever’s on hand is par for the course. Think laterally!
I just wanted to take a moment to appreciate that; it’s the opposite of old lo-fi Hanna-Barbera cartoons where things were foreshadowed by the fact that active cells were a totally different color than the background. Now everything is in play, through what I imagine must be really well integrated communication among choreographers, animators, writers.
Varrick’s really become an interesting character study. Going from amoral and gonzo to developing a conscience (but still with plenty “mad science”) has been a winding road, which makes it all the better. No watershed moment, no big catharsis, just slowly inspired to be better by Korra and the crew. That’s my take on it. He’s the case study on the benefits of mercy and rehabilitation. He’s still a fast-talking scoundrel with a penchant for monkey-wrenching, but now he’s doing it for the side of the angels and not just his own short-term profit. It certainly doesn’t hurt that his slapstick works in a way Meelo’s doesn’t, either. Hog-monkeys! Speaking of people who, like Meelo, would be annoying in larger doses, we get Prince Wu again.
Fine, he gets kidnapped—Wu-napped—and we get a nice set piece out of it. A fairly minor conflict, but it gives us a chance to see the real conflict, the character interactions. Why did Korra write to Asami but no one else? Mako’s like “what’s going on…” and I’m like “oh crud, shipping intensifies.” Asami is mad that Korra presumes to judge her or her relationship with her dad after she bounced for three years. Their arguing tips off the bad guys, having very real consequences.
Feelings are hurt, but in the end it is resolved in a healthy way, through catharsis and talking about it and then hugging it out. Grandma is a nice bow on Wu’s story, and on Bolin and Mako’s extended family’s story. Remember, this series never forgets about it’s continuity.
Bolin is the star of this one, I am very happy to report. I think I’ve been waiting for this episode from the moment the brothers showed up. Showcase Bolin! This was a watershed episode for him. First off, how awesome is he when he’s lavabending all over the place? So awesome. Then he knows when to hold ’em, knows when to fold ’em; he communicates subtly with Varrick (“do the thing!” having established their teamwork skills) and seizes opportunities, knows when it’s time to stop talking and start doing. He turns enemies into allies and is all brave and leadershiping…it’s great and I think his star is on the rise. Team Bolin.
Mordicai Knode wonders if Toph will perish in battle defending the Spirit Banyan or if that’s how we’ll discover she was a ghost the whole time. He also thinks it would be funny if his prediction was right, and Korra bonds with Raava and Vaatu and that restores her ancestral memories and it’s just Avatar Kyoshi screaming “JUST EARTHBEND IT INTO AN ISLAND!” Find him on Tumblr and Twitter.
Also, THE HAIR THIS EPISODE.
Don’t forget that this episode welcomes Steve Blum back to a role in Korra, and this time he’s a good guy! (The fire-bending refugee.)
I squealed when Korra clushed, I ain’t ashamed. I woke my daughter up to SQUEE about it(for the record, she thinks I’m insane).
I really hope Bolin makes it back next week, he has some crow to eat for Opal. Was Jinora’s voice actress busy, because she had not one line.
So, the final scene gives me hope we’re about to see Toph again.
However, they can’t really have Toph kick Kuvira’s ass, no matter how badly she needs it, because it’s antithetical to Korra’s story, so now, I’m worried we’re about to see Toph go out with a bang, get into a fight she can’t handle, deliver some well deserved beatdown, only to go down.
TEAM BOLIN.
Bolin was my favourite fire ferret from the start, and it is really nice for the show to reqard faithfulness to a character with this kind of development. Likewise Varrick – I completely agree I love his conversion to the good guys, without bang or revelation, just great character development. I love the lavabending choreography, it looks really powerful and effective. It’s also interesting that lavabending is such an awesomely powerful ability, but it’s a bit tempered by Bolin being a nice guy. He could be melting those mech suits to slag if he didn’t mind about killing people. I hope we get to see him do something truly epic in the same lines as Ghazan melting an entire mountain at the end of Book 3 (perhaps he’ll bring the wall down?)
I could also watch Mako and Wu all day, and I’m loving that the writers have finally worked out that Mako’s most effective role in Team Avatar is as the straight man, not as the love interest.
Regarding shipping: did you see how Korra reacted to Asami complimenting her new haircut?
I’d say that’s an even stronger indicator ;).
@@.-@: I’m not sure about Bolin holding back much – he did try to sink the suits in lava, but these things are surprisingly mobile.
I cannot wait for the epic ass-kicking that will ensue when Toph finds Kuvira and Bataar messing with her Spirit Tree. If Katara and Zuko want to show up just to do some old-time Team Avatar bad-guy-crushing, I’m good with that too.
2. Robotech_Master
I kept waiting for him to jump in one of the mecha & shout “SHOWTIME!”
3. Aeryl
I’m telling you, she’s Bruce Willis.
4. Grim Wolf
Yes, we want to see Mako get trolled. Plus, he deserves it!
Kuvira’s arrogance and stupidity regarding the Spirit Vine harvesting really is staggering.
The escapades of Senlin Village, Zhao, and Unalaq have taught us one central rule of the franchise again and again: Screw with the Spirit World at your own peril.
So how could Kuvira, who’s been insightful and genre saavy, be so stupid? Is it just arrogance or does she know something we don’t?
I’m willing to bet that Toph does start to give Kuvira the beatdown and when she has the upperhand they unleash the newly reassembled spirit-vine laser on her.
Toph goes down, despite still being the best earthbender of all time, and the rest of the world gets motivation to throw diplomacy out the window.
And I agree the series endgame will be Kuvira trying to annex the United Republic.
They practically set it up last season with Hou Ting’s ranting about how Zuko and Aang stole Earth Kingdom land from her father. And the URN has been on Kuvira’s map since the season premiere.
Of course the Anchluss won’t stop with Zaofu. The question is what incident or pretext she’ll use to justify the annexation? Korra and company may go behind enemy lines to take out the Vine project, but that could give Kuvira such an excuse.
And the stupidity of it all is that the URN isn’t Zaofu. The other leaders (and especially not Zuko) aren’t going to sit back on this one – especially given Kuvira’s WMDs. Is the Great Uniter really arrogant enough to undertake a move that could ignite another global war?
Dat blush doe :)
Asami reading a magazine about two lady engineers, awyeah.
And then Korra blushes when Asami says she looks good, YUS. Shipping intensifies, indeed!
We’ve had proactive, badass, good-hearted Bolin. We’ve had Korra and Asami and Mako realistically falling back into their roles. This is great, great stuff lately. So sad it’s coming to a close…
As badass as Toph may be she has little chance of winning a fight when all her enemies are on zeppelins where she can’t see them. Then again maybe the magic vines will just pull them out of the air for her (as they keep doing with bison).
I’m also pretty curious as to whether Toph can bend pure platinum though? She probably can.
Given how even Suyin missed some of the mercurery in Korra’s body, I think it’s possible the original Beifong might have better luck bending platinum.
Hm, I had wondered why Toph kept the poison she extracted from Korra. I wonder if maybe she’ll use it on Kuvira, and Korra will have to draw it out of her, would be an interesting turn of events…
Varrick said something this episode about Bolin being a charismatic, inspiring speaker, and I immediately thought “Wait Bolin is going to turn into a powerful leader when this is all said and done, isn’t he?”
so it took concentration camps and a magic nuke for people to see Kuvira was completely godwinded from the start? I wonder how are they gonna fill up the next 6 or so episodes.
Edit: I completely ship Korrasami.
@12. That magazine wasn’t just about women engineers; that was an ad inviting women to come and work for Future Industries. Looks like Asami’s doing her part to support STEM.
And remember that Bei Fong women have a long history of beating the crap out of airships.
@17, I supppouse the concentraction camps represent a different level of evil for us given 20th Century European history.
We all knew something like it was coming, but I’m still somewhat shocked Kuvira actually did it. Dissenters and political enemies are one thing.
But imprisoning non-Earth Kingdom citizens is only going to piss off the international commnity even more and add to the pressure to depose Kuvira and intervene militarily.
Again, this is what makes Kuvira’s behavior and actions crazy. It took the Fire Nation a century to take over the Earth Kingdom. With the advances in technology, the Air Nomads, URN, Water Tribes, and Fire Nation could get bogged down for years trying to subdue it.
Does Kuvira simply not understand that she’s plunging the planet into another catastrophic global war? Is she really that arrogant?
17. franksands
I mean, yeah? It’s the weapons of mass destruction & the concentration camps that are the problem, not the crisp-but-ominious-given-WWII looking uniforms!
I’m also a bit confused why everyone thought Kuvira was going to anything other than facist. She wanted unite not all people, or all non-benders, or some other kind of supranational group, she wanted to unite the Earth Kingdom, or as she calls it now the Earth Empire. She did this not on some kind legal precedent, or an appeal to tradition, but on the force of her personality. One might say she’s trying to embody the ideal Earth person. She basically a text book facist.
This is probably how she is going to to justify invading the URN, because Earth people live thus it should be part of the Earth Empire, just as Nazi Germany justified the invasion of Poland by saying they were uniting the German people. She doesn’t care if this starts a global war, all she cares about is uniting the Earth Empire by any means neccassary. She was never meant to be grey or morally complex, I thought that was quiet obvious when she stapled peoples arms to a rail road and made them swear themselves to her. She’s a bad person, and not even one with a noble goal, it’s a wholely self-motivated power grab with underlining belief in the nationalistic superiorty of the Earth Empire.
That being said I don’t think Korra actually needs a grey villain. She herself is a pretty grey character. She basically solves (or solved) all her powers with a literal divine power without much second thought. She’s opposed a popular rebellion that aimed to give an the common people more power. I think Amon was the last grey villain she needed, because really the entire series has been about Korra coming to terms with her own power. To showcase people who would are either, moralistically speaking, equal to her or even better, would undermine Korra’s journey. It’s better to show villains who have a point (equality, spiritual balance, freedom, and now order) but are still terrible people, it doesn’t undermine Korra yet still challenges her worldview. It’s smart writing to be perfectly honest.
@21, I think it’s a testament to the show’s writing that Kuvira’s pissing me off this much. I haven’t been this riled up since Unalaq and the Vaatu stupidity.
I think part of it’s also Aang’s larger legacy being threatened. Aang ended a global conflict and now the ambitious of an insane Metalbender are on the cusp of undoing that.
@18 Toph needed Sokka to be her eyes in the final battle, they only got on board because he could see where they were. Sokka took out most of the ships with his Airship Slice and by telling Toph how to bend the rudder, Toph can fight anyone if she is on their ship but she is blind to where airships are and what they’re doing.
Lin only slowed her airship pursuit down a bit before being captured and Amonded, plus her sacrifice was in vain anyway as her protectees were captured anyway.
Not a great score really.
Her best chance would be to remain below the surface where she is protected and can’t be seen, its not like she needs to be able to see out the same way anyone else would
I’d say Kuvira’s character, if not moraly grey, is complex as far as her motivations go. She isn’t power mad or a psychopath like Ozai or Azula, she just believes that she is right and that she has the right to act on her conviction. The reason why so many people follow her is due to her goal. She doen’t want to modernize the Earth Empire at all, she wants to take it back to its roots. She may not like to think of it this way, but she is the new Earth Queen. Her goal is to purge the other races from the nation and unify her race. In the comics there is a divison between the Fire Nation colonies and the rest of the Earth Kingdom. The Earth King and Aang wanted to abolish these colonies and return the “Natural” order (i.e. the Four Nations before the Great War). Aang changed his mind when he saw how integrated the colonies had become, he would have split many families in an attempt to return things to “normal” as many Fire Nation settlers had married into the existing Earth Kingdom families. There would be no place for their children if he continued the “Harmony Restoration Movement.”
Kuvira is doing what Aang at one time believed to be right, she is returning the Earth Empire to what it was before the colonies. This is why she is imprisoning those whose heiritage is easily identifiable, the other benders and those who stand with them. They are a reminder of compromise (not something Earth is known for as an element) and “failure.” People follow her because she embodies everything they love about the old world order. Why does she need a super-weapon? Because she needs to project strength. Why does she build walls around her borders? Because that’s what the people want, it promises security and strength in uncertain times. She honestly believes that it is up to her to restore the balance, much like a young monk from years gone by. She is more of a Dark Avatar than Unalaq ever was, she was only able to sieze control because of Korra’s weakness. Everything she does makes sense, she isn’t crazy or self-obcessed. She is the dark side of order as much as Zaheer was for freedom, or Amon was for equality, or well… Unalaq for… religious extremism? The only way in which Kuvira is a villain is her uncompromising view of reality that leads her to harm others for the “greater good.”
That’s my two cents anyway. Anyone else see a dig at James Cameron with that shot of the swamp?
Holy spelling mistakes Batman!
Given the final season’s title is BALANCE, I’ve been wondering if the series will end with the dissolution of the URN and a return to the Four Nations.
I also think Kuvira has an advantage that Aang didn’t have: The passage of time.
It’s been 74 years since the end of the War and the creation of the URN. Most of it’s current residents surely think of themselves as Republic citizens instead of Fire Nation colonial descendents.
Annexing the URN also makes a fitting endgame for the franchise. This all started with Sozin establishing those colonies and it would be fitting to come full circle and end on those former colonies.
21. BDG
Because I think it would be a better story to tell about someone’s flirtation with the temptations of power– think, America right after the Revolution– than to invoke the 20th century’s World Wars in order to collapse a moral grey into a black or white quantum state.
26:
I very much doubt that. There is a reason why Aang saw that dissolving the colonies would be a bad idea, and that is that the myth that different peoples have to stay apart is simply bull. To end the series on that note would send quite a weird message. There’s no reason for Bryke to do that, and if they did, it wouldn’t be a good ending.
@25,27: I agree with Arthur that Kuvira is not morally grey, but still complex. Just like Amon, Unalaq and Zaheer, she started out with a noble goal. She got corrupted on the way and by now, through her actions, it is very clear that she is a villain – just as was the case with the other three.
I think it would have been interesting for once not to have a clear villain, but there was no reason to expect that.
I too thought it was clear from the start that Kuvira was a villain from the start, even if we only got actual confirmation of the worst with this episode. Anyway, Kuvira as she is works fine too. It’s fine to have a clear villain, as long as he/she is well written, and Kuvira is.
Toph definitely won’t win the battle next episode if it does take place, but I hope they won’t have her take out half the army or beat Kuvira on her own and then get overwhelmed. I don’t want the new cast to be overshadowed by some fanservice to show how awesome Toph is. She doesn’t have to lose immediately, but by the numbers its quite clear who should win.
As for the shipping: I like Korrasami, and I think it’s cool Bryke shows the possibility of LGBT relationship – but I don’t think there’s time to properly establish a romantic relationship good enough to be able to end the series on that note, regardless whether it’s Korrasami or Makorra. I think it’s best not to force a resolution on that.
Oh, and Mordicai, I think one “the” should be enough for the title ;)
@@@@@ 27 I think’d have some disagreement on the nature of morality of revolutionary America (one does not flirt with power when one owns slaves and actively participates in forcible murder of entire people’s, one is power in its cruelest form but I digress). I think the moralistic ‘battle’ is fine as it is. Mostly because I don’t view it as a black vs white battle, it’s more of a black vs grey battle pretty much just like WW2. There is clearly bad guys but how good they good guys are is another question, Varrick was amoral capitalist, Bolin was working for the bad guys half the season, Wu is incompetent, the UNR is marbled with inequality and corruption, and finally Korra is unsure of her normally violent ways. I think if we had a more morally complex villain it would lessen Korra and cos journey to herohood. I also think it would lessen the impact of the conflict.
@28, I’m less interested in the Toph / Kuvira throwdown, even if Toph’s loss is garunteed.
I’m more interested in the fact that Kuvira’s in the Swamp and that she will likely be seeing visions. This, I think, is key to understanding the root of Kuvira’s drive.
We got part of it with the flashback a few episodes ago, but we’re still missing a key part of her backstory: The eight years preceding her arrival in Zaofu.
What happened to her family? What brought her to the Metal Clan? Did whatever happen during these years have a bearing on her embracement of Suyin’s outlook and the Great Uniter’s current actions?
@20. As I said from the beginning, Kuvira is as one-dimensional as Unalaq. Even TvTropes admits she’s magic hitler (WARNING TvTropes link)She would only be more evil if she had a moustache to twirl or a white cat to pet. And where is the rest of the world forces while Kuvira takes over the Earth Kingdom? Where are the united forces?
As for Toph, since she already did her yoda/wise hermit part, I doubt we will be seen her again.
Edit: Is @24 really defending Kuvira? This should be interesting.
Raiko presumably re-deployed the URN forces along the border or aong the coast after Kuvira seized power.
I’m worried about the URN’s ability to fight a land war; we’ve only seen naval forces up to this point.
@@@@@ franksands
I’ll bite. I don’t think Kuvira is a one-dimensional villain. I think that unlike Unalaq, she has reasons for what she’s doing and that they make sense. Unalaq, I never felt like he wanted anything but power and would do anything to get it. Kuvira did just want to step up and bring some form of balance back to the Earth Kingdom when everyone else was absent from the problem. I think that’s admirable and necessary. Now that said, along the way she grew to love the power that she attained and wanted more of it. I do believe that she still wants a united Earth “Empire”, but now that’s not because it would be better for the people, it’s because she wants the power. But I can see where she’s coming from and I don’t think it’s one-dimensional at all. I’m not saying she’s right or defending her actions, but she has compelling motivations that are driving her.
For the record I don’t think either Kuvira, or even Unalaq are one-dimensional characters, they have layers, I just don’t think they’re morally complex, they’re clearly acting in immoral ways. That’s not to say they don’t have complex set of relations to those actions, it’s just those actions themselves aren’t exactly nuanced. I think Amon is probably the best example of the entire series, both TLA and LoK.
@33, And that’s why it drove me crazy when Kuvira called Suyin a coward for not stepping up to the call when Raiko asked her to lead the re-unification task-force.
I think Su recognized the danger of this kind of scenario unfolding and was afraid she’d be tempted by the power she could gain.
And I want someone to point out the irony to Kuvira that it’s no longer about unifying the Earth Kingdom. She’s hoarding power just as much as Hou Ting did.
@@@@@ Mr. Magic
Just because someone is afraid about what may happen doesn’t excuse them from stepping up and accepting responsibility. I don’t think Suyin was wrong necessarily, but I agree with Kuvira that it was cowardly to hide behind her walls where she didn’t have to see anyone suffer the anarchy that the Earth Kingdom was descending into.
I view Kuvira as more Magic Saddam than Magic Hitler. The whole ‘Great Uniter’ thing, and her entire claim to legitimacy, is that without her the land would be torn apart by bandits. Apres Moi, les Deluge, if you will. Necessity, ever the creed of tyrants.
This posits a not incredibly subtle question to the Avatar, once she gets her Avatar State under control. (Should she/we intervene to overthrow this dictator, and what responsibilities does that bring her?) Kuvira and reeducation camps, or Wu and wholesale slaughter?
And, obviously, the heroic spirit of the Avatar can’t choose either alternative. The people of the Earth Kingdom/Empire must be saved from both disorder and tyranny. Su is a coward, Wu is inept, Korra herself isn’t….hmm, there’s just something fundamentally wrong with the Avatar reigning in power.
My best guess? Korra ends up returning Wu to power, but as a constitutional monarch. He wouldn’t mind, he’s much better suited to being a figurehead than an actual statesman, and Mako as his Prime Minister/Dai Lee would do a fine job running things.
I know it’s probably not going to happen, because, action show, but I kind of wish it ends up with another confrontation with Kuivira like at Zaofu, in front of her whole army, at the gates of Republic City but instead of fighting, Korra simply asks, repeatedly… “Why?” Not the same word over and over again, but constantly challenging her answers:
Why do you need to unite the entire Earth empire, exactly as it used to be? Who does it benefit to expel all non-Earthbenders? To force people who want to be independent to bow and swear their loyalty to you? Zaofu was doing fine as a mostly independent entity, providing much needed diversity and new thought… why quash that and make everybody the same? Why are you afraid of change? What makes you better than the Earth Queen? If they swore loyalty to you at the point of a sword, why shouldn’t they swear loyalty to the next warlord who comes along and threatens them?
And eventually Kuivira gets angry at being challenged and says abominable things and attacks and either realizes how abominable they are and how far out of balance she’s fallen by falling to the temptation of her own ambition, despite how noble her goals started out (like Zaheer, Unalaq, and Amon) and comes back into balance, eventually deciding to reach a compromise, a power-sharing agreement, etc, or she’s mildly (but not conclusively) defeated, orders her army to attack, with their superweapon, only to have her army refuse, realizing that she couldn’t satisfactorily answer Korra’s questions and that they have power too that they were giving up without thought.
Kuvira is power crazy, but…she’s the only person in the show who gets the power of an army. It’s interesting, how Suyin has managed to keep Zaofu so peaceful for so many years unlike the melting pot of republic city. Reminds me of Scandinavia, with all their wonderful social security and tight knit culture and not letting people in. They don’t march armies anywhere, they get their power through subtler means. Kuvira and Suyin really seem like the only two rulers who actually realize they have people to rule over. Republic city runs itself, what with Tenzin being airbender fixated, and the Fire Lord and the Water Chiefs seem to be clueless benders too. Why didn’t Zuko take an army, or just more people to the North Pole to stop Zahir? Why do most benders stick with each other and work without a diverse army? Unity seems difficult, what with benders going one way, trying to relate to the spirit world, and non benders the other, working from first principles with what they’ve got. The avatar is supposed to be the liasion to the spirit world, but she doesn’t have any answers. So people are finding or making their own, and causing chaos in the process. Kuvira took control of the chaos. I mean, she’s clearly power crazy if she’s trying ethnic cleansing (why do villains never read the history books?) but she seems to be trying to replicate what Suyin has done on a larger scale, and realizes that force is necessary to direct people to do the things which will have the most impact on progress. Trouble is, everyone has very different ideas of what progress means. And unlike in the real world, where the climate change battle will be decided for us, in Avatar land it’s always going to be a small group of benders who have the power. Amon started from the wrong place, republic city was too big and dynamic to build up an army. Kuvira has grown steadily. Her endgame might be wrong, but her methods…she’s done more to earn people’s trust than anyone else, in my opinion.
@31, No, I’m simply pointing out that the sane individual doesn’t think of themselves as evil, if they did they wouldn’t be able to inspire confidence and loyalty in their followers. I’m playing the devil’s advocate to adress her appeal to Earth Empire residents. As was mentioned above by several people, Kuvira has become the new “Queen,” everyone loves a strong and uncompromising leader in war times (unless on the recieving end of their brand of “justice”).
@39, Republic City DOES have an army, the United Forces, Bumi was General in the army, and so is Zuko’s son Iroh. That’s why they were talking about sending for it during Enemy at the Gates.
@33, I wonder if Kuvira’s even conciously aware that her campaign’s no longer about reunifying the Earth Kingdom, but in solidfying her own power.
@31, Regardless of the flaws of Kuvira’s depiction, Unalaq’s still going down as my least favorite Bid Bad.
I loved the idea of a funamdentalist waterbender and then they had to go and make him power hungry. The problem was, they had just done that with Tarrlok the previous season and it felt like they were repeating themselves.
43. Mr. Magic
Agreed; Unalaq just sat there acting sketchy until suddenly, evil big bad!
Though, as I’ve acknowledged before, I did love how they tied him into the Red Lotus arc.
Retroactive continuity, but it does make Book Two play somewhat differently now that we know:
1. Why Tonraq confined Korra to the White Lotus compound.
2. Unalaq was enacting a hugely distorted version of Zaheer’s plan.