The Legend of Korra – Episode 9 “Out of the Past” Review

Hmm, I wonder what happened…

Thanks to my busy schedule, catching the show at its regular airtime just wasn’t going to happen this past weekend. I just arrived back from California (I was out enjoying Major League Gaming’s Anaheim event) and spent most of the day sleeping. Once I woke up, I knew one of the first things I had to do was to watch the latest Korra episode, not only because I had missed it over the weekend, but because if I waited any longer, I’d run into more spoilers than I had already come across.

Anticipating another awesome episode, what I got was probably my least favorite episode of Korra so far. While it’s not the worst thing in the world to be the worst of an already-amazing series, I was ultimately rather disappointed with the episode.

—

Continuing the events of the previous episode, “When Extremes Meet,” we find Korra has been locked up in a remote cabin stationed in the bitter mountains just outside of Republic City. Of course, Tenzin and Korra’s friends would have to find out soon enough, as the council’s meeting room was utterly devastated by the clash between Tarrlock and Korra the night before. When Tenzin arrives, Tarrlock is being treated by a healer due to a wound by electrocution. According to Tarrlock, soon after Korra arrived at his office the night before, Equalists attacked the building, took out Tarrlock and kidnapped Korra. Tarrlock, however, is a terrible liar, but without immediate evidence lying around to the contrary, Tenzin decides to begin searching for Korra elsewhere.

At the same time, Lin Beifong hears of the Avatar’s kidnapping on the radio, prompting her to retrieve Korra’s friends from jail and team up with Tenzin to go search for Korra. In the meantime, trapped inside a metal box, Korra begins to meditate on the visions she had been having about Avatar Aang, whom we find was trying to reach her to warn her about Tarrlock. This warning is obviously a bit late, but nevertheless she puts the pieces together, though not too long after Tarrlock explains that he wants to start his life anew with Korra as her hostage.

Meanwhile, Tenzin, Lin and Korra’s friends find an entrance to a tunnel perceived to be used by Equalist forces. Sure enough, their hunch is correct, and soon after Lin finds that a prison within in the tunnels is holding the officers captured by Amon a few episodes ago. Swiftly taking out guards, the squadron makes its way into the prison. On the way, however, Bolin spills the beans to Asami that Korra and Mako had kisses several episodes ago, much to her dismay. She’s also put off by Mako’s eagerness to find Korra, especially when he confronts an Equalist guard and threatens him. The guard too spills the beans, explaining that the Equalists had nothing to do with Korra’s kidnapping, but that Tarrlock had lied about the incident entirely.

Korra, still meditating on her visions, finally pieces together the mystery of the man that has been in court in her mind. Yakone, a scumbag criminal warlord operating within the depths of Republic City, was finally put to trial after Toph and Aang confront him with multiple witness and victim accounts under their belt. In court, Sokka, then the head of the council, issues Yakone a life sentence in prison. In response, Yakone bloodbends the entire room and escapes. Only Aang is able to break free of unconsciousness quick enough to catch up to Yakone, who once again tries to bloodbend the then Avatar during their fight. Just before Aang’s body is twisted in all the wrong places, his Avatar state kicks in, allowing him to subdue Yakone and remove his bending through an energybending maneuver.

Meditating through fist-bump, the new cool and hip way to meditate.

Back at the council, Tarrlock stumbles upon the ground led by Tenzin and Lin, as well as the current police chief. Accusations are made that Tarrlock kidnapped Korra, which are immediately declined. However, the tables are turned when Tarrlock’s secretary comes out to confirm their accusations and states that she was scared to say anything because Tarrlock is a bloodbender. No explanation is needed for the group – Tarrlock immediately bloodbends the entirety of everyone in the room (except, it seems, the secretary, who’s ninja quick skills got her out of harm’s way, it seems), knocks them out and runs off.

With Tenzin and co. in quick pursuit, Tarrlock  makes his way back to the mountain cabin with Korra inside. After explaining his aforementioned plans,  Tarrlock leaves the cellar in which Korra is being kept in, only to find Amon and his forces waiting for him in the middle of the room. Tarrlock bloodbends Amon’s Equalists, even Amon himself, but the Equalist leader is somehow able to deny his bloodbending and continues moving forward toward Tarrlock, though not without some difficulty. Tarrlock is taken down and removed of his bending soon after.

With Tarrlock out of the way, Amon orders his forces to retrieve Korra. Overhearing his plans, Korra counters his forces and makes a desperate escape out of the cabin. Amon follows, but then gives up the chase after she slides down a snowy hill. Naga somehow finds her tired body aside a tree and brings her back to Republic City, where Tenzin, Lin and her friends find them wandering the streets of the city. With the reassurance of Mako, Korra is finally safe.

—

As I wrote up that summary, I kept thinking to myself, “I honestly should have enjoyed that episode.” And I did, as I enjoy all episodes of The Legend of Korra. But the writing kept reminding me of several instances that stuck out at me to provoke the contrary. Too many times in the episode did I find myself either completely able to predict what would happen or not at all excited by the events taking place. A good narrative should have some instances of suspense or excitement, but all I found in this episode was just…a narrative.

Most of what bothered me with this episode was that many instances in it were executed poorly or just did not live up to the potential of the situation. The most encompassing example of this is that the opportunity to finally explore outside of Republic City is completely robbed from us. All we got was a cold cabin within a snowy mountainous landscape. The environment had absolutely no character to its name, which means that not only was the place uninteresting while we were there, but also that I have no need to revisit that place once again (and it seems like that will become a reality since Amon abducts Tarrlock at the end of the episode anyway).

As much it has been rather clear that Republic City will always be the main setting of the series, being able to see places outside of this realm would help put the city in an entirely new perspective and give it more depth. One of the coolest things about the original series is that we got to explore alongside Aang and his friends and find new places just as they did. However, with Republic City, it seems like the setting has been rather exhausted. I mean, of course the Equalist forces were in some random storm drain under a bridge or whatever, where else can they possibly be at this point?

I hope he doesn’t say anything relevant to the plot!

 And then, once again, the love thing comes into play, though recently all we’ve been getting are small references to the tension between Asami and Korra over and over again. This time, Bolin is in character, unable to keep himself from telling Asami that Korra and Mako have locked lips in the recent past. Now, I’m not saying that Asami shouldn’t be at all shocked, as she should be, but she approached the situation very oddly by just blatantly asking if Korra and Mako were, “more than friends.” The situation was predictable – once Asami and Bolin were clearly in view together walking down the tunnel and she turned to him, there was clearly only one thing on her mind. And despite all the evidence showing that there are obvious reasons why there is so much tension between Asami and Korra, as well as the brothers (in romantic terms, of course), she decides to poke at the issue anyway. Because, you know, that was obviously the best time for her to bring it up.

Then there’s the issue of the writing deciding to explaining everything that is obvious. One thing I seem to notice every once in a while is that an issue or event is explained directly in full view of the audience despite us viewers being very much aware of the situation. Now, this isn’t always a bad thing – the characters need to be explained things, too. But, when the Equalist guard just has to go out of the way to specifically say, “omg tarrlock lied to everyone he did it he did it,” when it’s probably already perfectly obvious to Tenzin and Beifong after searching the prison that that is indeed the case, it’s somewhat hard not to notice. At least have Tenzin have a sudden realization to himself, prompting them to run off for Tarrlock, as that would clearly demonstrate to the viewer that they, too, understand what is actually going on.

The episode wasn’t entirely lacking in good execution, though. Lin Beifong was certainly the star of the show this episode, from her Iron Man-like cladding of her armor to her “zipper-bending,” much to Bolin’s embarrassment, to her clever way of escaping Equalist forces in the tunnel. She’s still the stone-cold strategist and fighter that she has been shown to be throughout the series, and I absolutely love her for it. And even the smaller, character instances that show the small quirks of each character were there, such as Tenzin’s humorous facial expression given to Meelo climbing over his face to grab a phone. It’s small things like that that keep the characters in the story not only lovable and awesome, but human. Or it could just be that Tenzin is still amazing in every way (nothing implied here).

—

We want to capture the Avatar, but let’s not go after her, I just ate dinner.

However, despite all of that, the episode just didn’t hook me in. I constantly anticipated an epic fight or a mysterious revelation or something to make me wanting more. The episode does have me wanting more, but only because it didn’t have much to offer and now I hope that the next episode is just better overall. Sometimes its good to have episodes that aren’t completely over-the-top or super-revealing, as I’ve said in the past, but if the episode does nothing at all, it doesn’t serve much of the same purpose. I’m disappointed to say that the episode just didn’t end up where I had hoped it would – we’re back in Republic City (yawn), Korra is safe (good, but yawn), Asami is still WTF on the whole Korra/Mako thing but doesn’t actually do anything about it except experience teenage angst (yawn), Amon gives up the chase of Korra after making like maybe ten steps in her direction (puzzling, yawn), etc.

Past episode of Korra made small, yet successful attempts to keep me hooked throughout the entire episode, but I just didn’t feel the same way coming out of ,”Out of the Past.” Did I really expect Tarrlock not to be Yakone’s son and possess the same bloodbending skills his father had? Not at all. But what I did expect was a bit more suspense, a bit more drama. At the very least, we need it more often – remember, this show is not as long as the original series, so episodes cannot afford to be as relatively dull as this one was. How can I cope with an episode being not that impressive when the episode count will be so limited?

If anything, this episode was just one big missed opportunity – one big missed opportunity to create sincere drama, sincere suspense, sincere danger, or at the very least bring us places outside of Republic City. We got none of that, instead a rather predictable episode that had much to do about nothing.

I shall await the next episode in the series with eagerness, not because I want to see what happens next, but because I want to actually see something happen.

The Legend of Korra – Episode 8 “When Extremes Meet” Review

Not only do they meet, but they clash.

*Warning: This Review Contains Full Episode Spoilers*

After The Legend of Korra took a week-long break from air time, the show returned to its 11:00am EST Saturday airing with another episode continuing the saga of Avatar Korra and her adventures in Republic City. Unfortunately, due to being rather busy, I wasn’t able to watch the recent episode until today, thus the late publishing of this review. Since I’m leaving for California tomorrow to attend Major League Gaming’s Anaheim event this weekend, this was pretty much the only time I’d have to write this review. So, here we are.

For anyone looking for an early tl;dr – this was an episode of The Legend of Korra. That’s simply what it was, and by that I mean it was just another quality entry into the already spectacular, developing series. The episode did not have much that really stood out for me, but there was nothing much equally as negative in it to make me feel like it could have been done a lot better. I honestly cannot define this episode as anything other than a solid episode. If anything, we got a great progression in the narrative, so I will give the show that – we advanced positively and significantly through the plot, and that’s a good thing. Kudos. It was an enjoyable episode, but certainly not the best.

I guess that wasn’t a tl;dr.

What I’m trying to say here, and not trying to spend too much time on, is that this episode didn’t “stand out” to me. There wasn’t an amazing fight to get hyped for, there wasn’t anything that really turned the tables on me as a viewer. Was the narrative predictable? Not necessarily, but then again, maybe it was. I was a bit spoiled on what actually happened in the episode before I watched it, so that could be it. I’m not sure. But let’s move on.

—

In “When Extremes Meet,” Asami, Bolin and Mako have arrived at Air Temple Island to make their new home alongside Korra and the rest of the airbenders and their families. It’s all rather standard fare, except Meelo, who develops a crush on Asami and doesn’t hesitate to make this fact known. Meelo has established himself as great comic relief in small doses, and in this situation he once fits that bill perfectly (especially later in the show, when he enters the scene literally carried and landing with one of the most epic toddler farts of all time).

I dunno, are his eyebrows thicker than Drake’s? They have to come close.

The only thing that is generated from this scene, other than the actual act of the three characters moving in, is when Ikki decides to make it known to Asami that Korra likes Mako. As expected, this is uncomfortable for everyone involved, but that’s expected. At this point, it seems like the love interests between all of these characters has been laid out on the table so many times that these kinds of situations are just bound to happen, but of course they still come off as awkward every time. Surely, this means the tension between Asami and Korra still exists, no matter how often they are able to act nice and courteous toward each other most of the time. However, the brief moment is washed away when Tenzin alerts Korra to the crowning of the new police chief and that they should be in attendance.

We find out not too long later that Councilman Tarrlok has appointed a new police chief in place of Lin Beifong by the name of Saikhan. Saikhan is nothing more than a puppet for Tarrlok, and Tarrlok does not seem to be at all worried about keeping that fact under wraps. So confident in his actions, Tarrlok makes it clear that the captain answers to him and, when Korra and Tenzin approach him later, asks Korra again to rejoin his taskforce. Of course, she declines, but the feud doesn’t end there. In fact, it’s cranked up to eleven and beyond later in the episode.

After the new “Team Avatar” hops in one of Asami’s stylish roadsters and successfully takes out a band of escaping Equalists using vigilante justice, they hear of a supposed Equalist rally being contained by Tarrlock and police forces. However, the team finds that the rally is actually not a rally at all – the Equalists are just innocent non-benders being locked down somewhat legally thanks to a new law passed by Tarrlock and reinforced by the rest of the council not too long ago. Heavily outnumbered, Team Avatar is powerless to stop the police from rounding up and arresting a large number of the citizens, and with Tarrlock being the complete male genitalia that he is, Asami, Bolin and Mako are also arrested. Korra is unable to do much of anything.

Reminding us regular humans once again that being a regular human sucks.

Well, that is, except for busting into Tarrlock’s office later that night and giving him the smackdown of his life. After destroying essentially all of Tarrlock’s office and much of the central council room, Korra is ready to deliver a final blow, but not before Tarrlock reveals a secret power – bloodbending without a full moon. Stunned, Korra is roped up and taken away by a disheveled Tarrlock in a truck, heading toward the icy mountains just outside of Republic City.

—

It’s hard for me not to look back at this episode and just simply comment that, “I enjoyed it,” because I made this blog to do more than that. But that’s essentially how I mostly feel about the episode. It was entertaining, well-done, of high quality, and with very few hiccups. Let me quickly comment on those.

First, when Korra and Tenzin confront Tarrlock after the announcement of the police chief’s position being filled, Tarrlock comments that Korra is merely a, “half-baked Avatar,” which cuts Korra rather deep. I honestly was not expecting Korra to react in such a way – sure, she has had her emotionally breakdowns before, but those were all after rather momentous events (I can’t fault her for collapsing after Amon pretty much had her in her grasp and nothing was stopping him from destroying her right then and there). This didn’t seem to warrant that heavy of a response, especially since she has been mostly adamant toward Tarrlock and, dare I say it, very strong. So, why such a response?

Also, is it me or does the council have no spine whatsoever? Sometimes I just can’t believe that they agree with everything Tarrlock says. Why is Tenzin even in the council if they don’t listen to him? Hell, who are they anyway? They’ve been nameless representatives this entire series and not once have they ever acted upon actual logic, not even their own opinion it seems. Every scene with them involved has become entirely predictable – Tarrlock says something, Tenzin logically refutes, Tarrlock speaks again to conclude, the council votes in favor of Tarrlock. What’s the point of the council if everyone there is essentially spoken on behalf of Tarrlock himself?

Does Korra have to be the only one to question this guy all of the time?

However, as I said, these were minor hiccups – despite the fact that I don’t necessarily agree that Korra should have reacted to Tarrlock’s comment the way she did, that moment was used to shape a good portion of what followed in the episode, so at least the moment wasn’t completely useless as it was a tad out of character as far as I’m concerned. And as for the council, well, we now know that Tarrlock can bloodbend. Is it possible that he’s controlling the council directly? I mean, then, why don’t they protest, or is he blocking that ability, too? It’s not a complete solution, but it’s possible.

See, that’s the thing, once again the episode has minor issues, but those issues don’t do much to change anything, they’re really not that big of a deal. Everything is smoothed over one way or another. So all the lows of the episode, very small lows mind you, are evened out eventually. That’s why I continually find this episode as just simply solid. Not revolutionary, just solid.

Of course, the biggest development from the entire episode is the ending, when we not only find that Tarrlock is a bloodbender, but also sincerely wants Korra so out of the picture that he’s actually going to physically act on that wish by doing something with her out in the mountains (as far as I’m concerned, it seems like he’ll just dump her somewhere). Tarrlock being a bloodbender seems to be the most important development out of this entire show, as now Tarrlock’s power has indeed extended beyond being mostly political and now giving him somewhat of an edge over the Avatar. Bloodbending was tackled rather successfully by the Gaang in the original series, but in The Legend of Korra, this is an anomaly that, alongside Tarrlock’s political strength, is substantially influential and powerful.

On the other hand, Tarrlock capturing and driving off with Korra wasn’t necessarily expected, but certainly not out of the question. I don’t expect anything completely terrible to happen to Korra – isolation will probably end up granting her a stronger spiritual connection somehow. She’ll come back changed, that’s what I’m thinking. However, this situation has a lot of possibilities. Will she meet anyone new? Will she learn anything new? Will she discover anything new or reach a new area of the world we have not yet seen? Will this situation outside of Republic City be more than just an adventure in a snowy vista or will we actually get to experience the modern world of Avatar outside of the locale we’ve been through time and time again? I do like where this could go.

—

It was a good episode, that’s that. The narrative brought us farther with good pacing, discoveries were made; highs were not too high, lows were not too low, and everything smoothed out eventually. And, if anything, we’re at an open-ended part of the show that has a lot of possibilities. That’s good, right?

Actually, I’m glad nothing irritated me or seemed off this episode. While it could have been more excited or more epic, then again we may not need that every episode or it becomes too expected. We need episodes like this to keep the show leveled and make the best experiences even better, even if we don’t get to see climatic bouts every time opponents look at each other the wrong way.

I’m still on the Korra train, and the ride continues to be very enjoyable.

The Legend of Korra Episode 8 Sneak Peek – Fresh Wheels

Just not as awesome as a flying bison

Thanks to the kind folks over at Korra Nation, we’ve got a new sneak peek on the upcoming eighth episode of The Legend of Korra, which will be airing this Saturday at 11am EST after the show skipped a weekend in air time.

Episode 8 seems to pick up right after the events of Episode 7 with Korra and friends creating “Team Avatar” (not very original, I guess) to patrol Republic City. In this clip, we see that Korra’s polar bear dog ends up not being very suitable for the foursome to ride around the city, so instead Asami pulls out another ridiculously beastly, racing-esque vehicle from an unnamed garage, prompting the rest of the team to jump in. It seems like despite her father being, you know, evil and whatnot, she still has access to all the very expensive perks she had before.

The clip doesn’t really reveal much – the team is going to patrol the city, they need a new ride, Asami gets them a new ride, they go in the new ride, etc. Nothing special here, to be honest. However, there is one thing worth noting in this short clip – Asami held onto the chi-blocker gauntlet that was given to her by Mr. Sato in the previous episode (before she then delivers him sweet justice) and now plans to use it to fight the Equalists, rather than disposing of the weapon. It’s uncertain of what may come of this, except that we know that Asami is just as dedicated to fighting the Equalist scourge as the rest of the team is.

To watch the clip, click the link:
http://korranation.tumblr.com/post/24079887998/team-avatar-is-ready-to-patrol-republic-city-but

Episode 8 airs this Saturday,  June 2nd, at 11am EST.

Republic City Update

What’s up everyone?

First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who’s been hitting up the blog so far, absolutely loving the traffic! So my many thanks to all of you out there checking this place out every day or however many times you check this place out.

Anyway, so I’ve been rather busy the last week or so. Thankfully, this came when there was no new episode of Korra, so I really haven’t had the time nor topics to blog about. I’ll be writing more once again after this Memorial Day weekend is over.

Also, Republic City Radio will be starting up soon, I hope to have the first episode out within the next two weeks.

And finally, for any Starcraft 2 players out there, I myself am a Gold league Terran player on the road to super stardom (of course!). If anyone is interested in playing with me, add me as a friend and send me a chat message when I’m online! My name-character code is RaPTuReFBGMx.431 and I’m pretty much on every day.

That’s it for now. More coming from Republic City in the near future!

“The Aftermath” Episode 7 Review *Contains Spoilers*

A trip to hell and back for Korra and her friends

Last week, I spent a good amount of time talking about The Legend of Korra’s pacing problems, which raised a number of concerns for me as a fan of the show, namely in rushing the narrative and potential lack of character development. It seemed like I needed something to knock me off of that train of thought. Well, it’s safe to say that the seventh episode of The Legend of Korra, “The Aftermath,” was certainly that something – “The Aftermath” is quite possibly one of the best offerings this Avatar series has to offer, an extremely strong entry for the show as the series finishes the first half of its first season. “The Aftermath” is proof that Korra’s problems continue to be ever dangerous, and slowly more and more people are getting involved, and hurt.

The episode begins with Mako and Bolin packing up their loft, reminiscing about the now-closed Pro-Bending arena, with Korra announcing that she has made arrangements for the brothers to stay at her home. As we learned with an early sneak peek, this ends up not being the case – Mako and Bolin instead move into the Sato estate with Asami, much to the frustration of the butler. However, their accommodations prove to be less comfortable than originally thought when suspicions arise that Asami’s father may be working with Amon and the Equalists.

Despite Asami nor Mako believing Korra, Korra is steadfast and has Tenzin and Lin Beifong investigate with her. Thanks to a mysterious tip, the trio learn that Mr. Sato has a secret factory under his mansion being used to build a new type of weapon to be used for the Equalist revolution. Asami is once again in disbelief, but Korra’s suspicions turn out to be true. Korra, Tenzin, Lin, and metalbender police travel deep under the mansion to find that Mr. Sato is indeed working with the Equalists, supplying them with “mecha tanks”, large, powerful mechs on tank treads with a platinum body to assure that no earthbender can manipulate them. After a long fight, Mr. Sato and some Equalists, operating a half dozen mecha tanks, take out Korra’s group, though are unable to stop Mako and Bolin from saving Korra, Tenzin, and Lin. Asami proves her worth, too, as Mr. Sato’s gesture for her to join his cause are met with a fierce retaliation. Minus the metalbending cops, the group returns safely, finding themselves in the aftermath of yet another calamity.

—

“The Aftermath” ends up a more important episode than at first glance. Though we have lost the Pro-Bending competition, and we did not see Amon in person at all, a number of other important developments arose. The most important of them all is obviously Mr. Sato being an Equalist (and continuing to be an Equalist, as he is not completely taken out in the factory). In all the previous episodes, there is practically no reason to suspect that Mr. Sato is aligned with Amon. However, it is pretty well-telegraphed in this episode; Korra spying on him ends up giving him away as we learn that Korra was indeed correct in her suspicions from the beginning. This makes the reveal of Mr. Sato being an Equalist a little less shocking, but nevertheless its a development no one could have seen coming going into this episode, especially considering his proximity to Asami (whom we’ve always understood has no bad intentions) and the brothers.

Speaking of which, we finally get to see some quality development in Asami, who, so far, has merely been a minor rival for Korra. She stays consistent with her “independent woman” archetype, though she does clearly contrast with Korra, who has always displayed similar independent characteristics. Asami also reveals a bit more passion than usual, being very adamant that her father is not an Equalist (before finding out the truth, of course), and genuinely worrying about the situation below the workshop. Finally, we’re getting to see more and more of Asami, and in better ways, making her a more worthwhile and contributing character, which is great to see.

Apparently she’s also a very good race car driver. Go figure.

Lin Beifong and Tenzin get a lot of spotlight, as well, still teaming up without any discourse. It’s odd to see how well these two work together, or at the very least appear to be. We don’t see any bitterness between them, though it likely still exists somewhere or somehow. Nevertheless, both are amply used in this episode – Tenzin finally shows off his fighting skills, which are rather bizarre but equally as entertaining and awesome, while Lin continues to be a brutal powerhouse (though, still nothing beats her performance from last week’s episode when she fought alongside Korra). Even Mako and Bolin had some good moments as a pair (and Bolin continues to have some of the funniest lines in the show, without a doubt).

And, of course, there’s Korra, who’s still as headstrong and immovable as always. Her assertion and determination shine in this episode, and though she stays consistent, she’s not completely a two-dimensional, “let’s go get the bad guys!” kind of character. Korra shows pity to Tahno when she runs into him, as well as toward Asami, who clearly needs support after legitimately kicking her father’s Equalist ass.

—

“The Aftermath” leaves us with less closure than its title may suggest, which means we’re seeing more and more develop as time goes on. Now, Mr. Sato will continue to be a villain, which will certainly have an affect on the group, especially (and obviously) Asami. Asami’s taking of Sato’s glove showed an odd, perplexed, struggling look from her, one that reminded me a lot of Azula from The Last Airbender. Honestly, that to me is how Azula would have reacted to having that glove bestowed upon her, though she probably would have joined her father in that case rather than knock him out. I don’t believe there’s any connection there, but it’s just something I noticed.

Either way, having Mr. Sato as an enemy may make or break Korra’s group. Asami could very well find herself under the wing of her father, even Amon, in the near future thanks to this, and it may indeed come to that. We’ll have to see if Asami’s strong will will allow her to keep her faith of goodness and loyalty to her friends.

And how long will this last?

Of course, we also have to wonder how our heroes will continue to develop with each other, as well. Asami clearly needs the support of Mako, so I see them being as close as ever, which will most likely continue to get on the nerves of Korra. Then again, she seemed to get past her feelings for Mako to instruct him to take care of Asami, so maybe she has come to terms with the cards she has been dealt? I’m sure this then means Bolin will make more attempts for Korra’s heart, which may end up being more successful than before.

There are a lot of open ends left at the end of this episode – as I said there isn’t much closure; has Korra gotten over Mako? How will Lin Beifong deal with the Equalists if she does indeed resign from her post and take matters outside the law? What is Amon up to? What will become of Mr. Sato and his mecha tanks? Will Asami be able to stay on the side of good for very long?

Just like before, we’re left with a lot of questions. I guess that’s another thing I like about this show, that we’re constantly guessing. It creates a unique dynamic, especially that the dangers have increased, and that we know that Korran and her friends may have to make sacrifices in the near future to take out a growing threat that certainly isn’t going away anytime soon.

The Legend of Korra – The Pacing Problem

Indeed

One of the things that made the original Avatar series great was the character development – we saw Aang transform from a childish, frozen-in-an-iceburg-then-reintroduced-to-society youngster to the Avatar that the world needed him to be. We also got to see his relationship with Katara evolve, Sokka becoming more of a man and less of a goofy sidekick, Zuko less of a crazed stalker and more of a moral leader. Certainly the characters we were introduced to at the beginning of the series were not the same ones that came together after the defeat of Fire Lord Ozai.

Of course, none of these things could have happened without time. It took a couple of seasons and several episodes more for Prince Zuko to become a welcomed part of the Gaang, while it didn’t exactly take a couple of episodes for Aang to get romantic with Katara. Though the Avatar fanbase obviously would have loved an infinite amount of The Last Airbender seasons, the three that we got ended up being the perfect amount to start, maintain, and finish the story that we now ridiculously love.

But then there’s The Legend of Korra, a series that I too absolutely love to death, but concerns me. So far, the show has been stellar, but a painful reminder keeps nagging me internally – the show is moving very, very fast.

Now, we should be all too aware that it has been pretty well advertised by the show’s creators that this series will not be as long as the original series. The Legend of Korra is set to run for two seasons of twelve and fourteen episodes, respectively (though, interesting note, Nickelodeon has included the option for more seasons). This essentially makes Korra’s lifespan roughly equate to a full season of The Last Airbender plus some extra episodes.

With that in mind, it’s easy to see why the show is indeed going faster: there’s just not enough time to progress at the rate that The Last Airbender did. There’s just absolutely no way that you can cram 60 episodes worth of content into 26 episodes worth of time. That is certainly the reason why, by only halfway through the first season, the Pro-Bending tournament is already completed.

Still, while it makes sense given the time frame why The Legend of Korra is moving at a quicker pace, I can’t help but feel like it may end up being a negative for the show as a whole.

It wasn’t too long ago when we were introduced to Korra.

If you haven’t caught glimpses of the faster pacing of the show, possibly due to just not paying attention or loving the show too much to cast stones at it, there are three major examples that should set you straight.

First, the entirety of Episode 4. Without recapping the entire episode, it’s best instead for you to go re-watch it online. Notice while you’re watching it the very rapid changing of scenes and how short each individual scene is. The entirety of the episode culminates in what is pretty much a montage, and thus a ton of stuff happens in the narrative in very little time. Because of this, there is very little character development going on (Bolin and Mako, established obviously as two main characters in the plot, are barely seen) and more rushing through plot.

Second, the aforementioned Pro-Bending competition. Only a few episodes ago we saw Mr. Sato confirm his sponsorship of the Fire Ferrets for the championship tournament, only to somehow end up at the tournament’s finals a very short while later, our only information on the matches that took place in between being given to us by a quick recap at the beginning of the episode. The Pro-Bending tournament seemed to have been established as a focal point for the show leading up to Episode 6, so for it to be over so abruptly is rather jarring.

And, finally, love. That’s right, love. You know, that thing that somehow managed to make Mako and Asami go from being involved in a vehicular accident to being extremely close boyfriend/girlfriend material in about five minutes, and the same thing that made Korra make out with Mako as Bolin strolls in to witness probably the most disappointing event in his entire life, and the very same thing that made Korra decide to pour her emotions out haphazardly to her teammates without caution. Yeah, that stupid thing.

Let’s talk about that final example for a bit. Putting it into perspective, the love square (Korra, Asami, Mako, Bolin) established in this series is a huge contrast to the love shape (I honestly don’t know what you’d call it) seen in The Last Airbender. Despite more players being involved in the original love shape, it took a very long time for it to develop. Katara and Aang did not immediately become lovers within less than ten episodes, nor did Sokka or Suki (to a different degree, of course), and Zuko’s love interests varied a bit, as well, before stabilizing.

However, in The Legend of Korra, for some reason the 100 years between The Last Airbender and itself made it socially acceptable for teenagers to share their emotions on that level without regard. Korra and her friends are older in their series than Aang and his friends are in his series, so wouldn’t that call for more maturity?

At least Bolin was spared the sight of some tongue action.

The only one here that seems to be acting normally is Bolin, who’s persona was very well (and extremely humorously) reflected by his reaction to seeing Korra and Mako together that fateful night. The others, on the other hand, well, I just can’t say the same – Mako is generally shown as a stand-up, straight-edge guy, but even then it didn’t take much for him to lock lips with Korra.

Anyway, let’s get back on track here (I should probably just write a whole article on the love stuff going on in this show, huh?).

Now, with all of that said, despite the pacing having to be what it is because of how long the show will run, that doesn’t make the pacing itself fine. And I cannot be the only one to notice this. This makes me wonder – if they knew the show would have a faster pace than The Last Airbender, why make The Legend of Korra inherently shorter?

Despite there being the option of having more than two seasons, I’m pretty certain that the two seasons announced will be the only two seasons. I could be wrong, but that’s how it’s looking. But why? Why make the sequel to one of Nick’s most popular shows ever, which was rather short compared to other Nick flagship shows, even shorter? With such a rabid fanbase, wouldn’t they want to make the show just as long, if not longer? Fans have been waiting several years for Korra to finally start, but it seems like it’ll be over before we know it, and not at all in any good way that that phrase can be taken (if there even is a positive attribution for it).

Ultimately what worries me is that the artificial limitation that this Korra series has been given in it’s length may hurt the overall quality of the series. We may never see the kind of character development we saw in The Last Airbender because there may not be enough time for it. We may never see the kinds of epic clashes that The Last Airbender brought us because we’ll never have enough time to find the contexts for those clashes to happen. And then we’ll find ourselves once again in a world without new episodes of Avatar in no time, a kind of world that nobody should want to live in.

 I could be worrying a bit too much here, and that shouldn’t take away from my enjoyment from the series (and I will make sure that it won’t), but then again I may be very correct, or at least justified in feeling this way. And that in it of itself bothers me – I shouldn’t have to worry about this. If anything, I should be assured quality of the caliber of the original series. Not to say that Korra isn’t high quality, but quite possibly not as high quality as it could be. And that’s a disappointing thought for any Avatar fan to think.

“And The Winner Is…” – Episode 6 Review *Contains Spoilers*

The finale of the Pro-Bending Tournament leads to the beginning of revolution…

Yes, I know, it’s episode 6. I haven’t even reviewed the first five episodes, but considering that I just made this blog and, “And The Winner Is…” just came out, I figure I might as well review this episode before I head back to the previous ones.

 And yes, there are spoilers.

Once again, the show begins with an update from the radio announcer Shiro Shinobi (who has to be one of my favorite parts of the show, by the way). So far, the Fire Ferrets have advanced all the way to the Championship match (apparently this tournament is single-elimination or we missed a ton of matches) to face the White Falls Wolfbats, who have already created a rivalry with Korra and her teammates.

The match, however, had the possibility of never happening at all – the United Republic Council decided to close the arena and cancel the match after Amon threatened to attack the stadium with his chi-blocker forces. Thanks to some persuasion from Korra and a most unlikely source in Lin Beifong, the match finds itself underway, though not without apparently the city’s entire police force keeping watch. The Fire Ferrets and Wolfbats collide, with the Wolfbats using bending tricks to gain an advantage, and though Korra is able to take out Tahno in an exciting tie-breaker in the second round, the Fire Ferrets fall just short of winning the tournament.

Still, things go awry – after the Wolfbats claim victory, Amon and his forces ransack the arena; Tenzin, Lin, and her cops are electrocuted, as is Korra and her teammates; and Amon personally removes the bending powers of the Wolfbats under the justification that their cheating against the Fire Ferrets is parallel to the unjust treatment of benders upon non-benders in Republic City. With that, Amon and his forces leave, but not without resistance from a powerful Korra and Beifong duo, who take out a number of chi-blockers, but are unable to get to Amon. Amon leaves with a victory and the Pro-Bending arena in ruins.

At least his public speaking skills are good!

—

For those of you who saw Episode 5 (which I will address in a future post, I promise!), going into Episode 6 may have caused some concern. For some reason, everyone decided to spill the beans on their entire emotional stature to the rest of the cast in that episode, so I was a bit afraid that somehow this would happen again. Thankfully, it did not – in fact, the exact opposite occurred.

Not only did everything seem settled since the events of the previous episode, but there seemed to be absolutely no motivation from any of the characters to attempt to flair upon love interests once again. There is not one kiss, there is not one revealing of personal interest, nothing. Everyone was a friend, not a couple.

The only “relationship” ordeal that did come about was when Korra questioned Tenzin about his relationship with Lin Beifong, who, as we’ve seen for the entirety of the series so far, wants very little to do with him. Korra, who apparently is some love guru, is able to figure out that Tenzin and Lin were once a couple before things ended in hot water. What could have ended up as another emotionally-driven episode ends up being a rather good definition of Tenzin’s character – though he’s unable to completely pull himself away from the conversation with Korra before the truth is revealed, he nevertheless keeps his emotions in check, unlike the haywire interactions we saw from the characters in the previous episode. His dramatic restraint was a nice touch.

Of course, one of the biggest parts of the episode is the actual bout between the Wolfbats and Fire Ferrets in the Championship match, which was more or less the same of the kind of action we’ve been seeing from these fights. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the fights are still high in quality and very entertaining. The only exception here is that we did get to see the first examples of cheating in the arena – players bending sources in outside zones, firing off water shots filled with rock shards, using ice to slip up opponents.For a competition that has so far been played fairly, it was quite interesting to see how the arena can be used to create an unfair advantage.

Still, the pro-bending competition bothered me a bit. First of all, the referee made absolutely no calls against the Wolfbats, making Mako come to the conclusion that he had been paid off so the Wolfbats could win. Now, I’m not a professional athlete or analyst, but I’ve watched a good number of professional sports in my day (also known as, a huge amount of NHL, NFL, and NBA competition), and it seems like just paying off the referee to garner a win isn’t the easiest thing to do. I don’t know of anyone or any team that could just get away with that.

Not only that, but pro-bending seems to be the only largely popular sport in the Korra time period, so how is it that this got by someone? You’re telling me that the one referee (there should be like three, honestly) in charge of the most important athletic competition championship in the entire region can be easily bribed like that? Not sure if I buy it.

Seriously, the sport gets a giant golden stadium, but the refs can be bribed?

There’s also an issue of pacing – the entire series seems to be advancing its narrative at a much quicker pace than the first Avatar series. We got a very large taste of this in Episode 4, which had so many different things go on that the episode could have lengthened its individual scenes a bit and probably be cut into two or more episodes. This didn’t happen in Episode 5, and less in Episode 6, but what did happen in Episode 6 is that somehow we’re all the way at the end of the competition.

I may be alone on this, but don’t you think that this tournament should have ran a bit longer? Sure, we have absolutely no idea how many teams were actually in the tournament (it could have been 16, 8, or even 4 for all we know), but to have the tournament start not too long ago, and then, just like that, we’re watching the championship match? It all feels a bit rushed here. Considering how the tournament has been a rather consistent and stable part of the show so far (bring the main cast of characters together, giving them a reason to meet regularly, creating tension between the characters), to see it end so early in the season comes off a bit oddly.

Still, this episode did a lot of things right. Shiro the announcer’s commentating of his own electrocution was absolutely hilarious, and Bolin’s apparent fluency in ferret language was amusing (he must have played a lot of Animal Crossing when he was younger). Tenzin continues to be one of my favorite characters in the show, keeping a level head on his shoulders but still showing human qualities and being just as vulnerable as everyone else.

The guy is a straight baller.

And, if nothing else, the episode ended phenomenally with the combat between Korra and Lin Beifong versus Amon’s chi-blockers. Korra and Lin, despite not getting along virtually all of the time, fought together extremely well, making for some exciting action and creative choreography. Lin also seems to be more adapt at swinging around buildings than Spiderman is, while Korra is finally able to hold off chi-blockers successfully without too much help, actually being a dominating force against Amon’s men and not being taken down or captured.

—

Like the rest of the episodes, “And The Winner Is…” is another quality entry in one of television’s best new shows. Though the pacing of the series continues to bother me, and other minor plot points flag some concern, the episode nevertheless continued to enthrall me in the legend of Korra, literally. We got to see some stellar action and more from the evil Amon, who continues to be a very scary threat, considering how close he is to Korra and her friends day in and day out. Going into Episode 7, “The Aftermath”, we’ll get to see how the council, Korra, and the city address Amon’s destruction of the competition arena, and maybe more about Amon and the Equalists, who continue to be a mysterious threat to the city.

There are several things to be sure of here: Amon and his forces have grown very strong. And it’s very likely that the Avatar has not grown in strength at the same rate. How will she be able to handle this? Will Mako and Bolin have to finally join her on some Avatar duties, especially since the tournament is over? Will Lin Beifong team up with Korra again? And what about the love square that has developed, will we see more of that?

Oh, and Korra has flashbacks about Aang and his friends once again. Yay!

Be sure to look out later in the week when I take a second look at this episode and preview the next episode, “The Aftermath”.

Welcome to Republic City!

Thankfully no one took this website name. Avatar Memorial Island is sort of a mouthful!

Anyway, I’m vVv Rapture, aka Dakota (call me whatever you wish), a competitive gamer and college student. I spend most of my days playing video games, hanging out with friends, eating, sleeping, and procrastinating on my school work, like many people. However, unlike many people, there is one other thing I do – every morning at 11am, I turn on my TV to watch The Legend of Korra, quite honestly my favorite show on television right now.

Now, most people would just watch the show and enjoy it, but I can’t do that – I must enjoy it with everyone else, and everyone else must know that I enjoy it. Thus, I made this blog, so I can write to my heart’s content about the show and do whatever else that makes me happy (other than, you know, basic life functions, friends, family, etc.).

As I write this, Episode 6, “And The Winner Is…” just premiered on Nick. And, of course, I watched it. But unfortunately I did not start this before the show began to air, so I’m a bit behind.

Nevertheless, I plan to continue with this blog. Here at Republic City, I will be blogging every week (probably several times a week), reviewing new episodes, previewing upcoming ones, interviewing people, talking about details in the episodes, making predictions, and pretty much anything else.

In addition, you should also see near the top of this page a tab called, “Republic City Radio.” That is my upcoming podcast for this blog that will be posted every Sunday. Each episode will be short and sweet – I’ll recap the previous week’s Korra-related news, as well as talk briefly about the latest episode and the next one (as I do full reviews and previews in text). And, well, anything else. Currently, the podcast will most likely start next week, not tomorrow, and will get even better by the end of the month as I will be getting new recording equipment hopefully by then.

But overall, here’s what you have to worry about – follow this blog, let your friends know, and, most importantly, read and comment. Read and share your thoughts! Do what makes you happy, like nothing at all. But just, at the very least, enjoy this blog. Because as much as it is for me, it is also meant for you, any Korra fan out there.

So, I hope all of you stick around and help me make this blog great. I’d love to look back at this when Korra is over and truly marvel at the awesome series we all enjoyed together. Or didn’t, whatever floats your boat.