(no subject)
I didn't review the last episode, "The Spirit of Competition", because I didn't have much to say. We kinda all knew the love triangle was coming, and that it would be Korra/Mako/Bolin was fairly predictable. The only thing that wasn't clear was the exact direction it would take, up until Asami's introduction in the previous episode, that is. So, I don't care? But I didn't care about original AtLA shipping either. I will ship my crack ships and get my lulz and stay pretty mellow about it all because I know it won't be canon and that's part of the fun.
When it comes to romance in fiction in general, I like the build up to be slow, like uber uber slow to the point where I'm not even sure it's going to happen until the end, and I always like it to be a distant second to the overarching plot. While I don't agree that there was no character development - of course there was - I do agree that it was too fast, fell into cheesy tropes that ultimately bore me, and that there are other methods of developing characters. Arguably better ones.
However, via the brilliantlizbee I found this essay, which argues that the entire point of this episode is for Korra to unlock her blocked water chakra that is preventing her access to her spirituality (and by extension, airbending, the Spirit World, and the Avatar State). Good ol' Guru Pathik said that this chakra is blocked by guilt but that's only partly the truth; it's about general difficulty with emotions - dealing with them, connecting emotionally with other people, etc.
She also argues persuasively here that the episode before, "A Voice in the Night" dealt with Korra's first chakra, also called the "root" chakra, which is associated with the element of earth and is blocked by fear/not dealing with your fears. So if the next episode deals with shame, or more precisely, Korra's ego and how she moves beyond her self-centered p.o.v. and brash overconfidence to become more mature, learn empathy for the non-bender point of view, and gain understanding of the bigger picture*, then inkstone is definitely onto something and I will be convinced that it is on purpose. In that case, I'll be much more accepting of "The Spirit of Competition" as it is.
Also if all this is true and Korra has an episode for each of her chakras, then I predict she will not enter the Avatar State until the eleventh episode, and it will be the first time she's ever done so. Alternately, she'll enter the Spirit World and talk with Aang. Maybe both? Both would be awesome.
This also means that when Korra looks up at the moon, she doesn't see Yue, she just sees a round disk.
*is that a reasonable accurate interpretation of the manipura chakra?
When it comes to romance in fiction in general, I like the build up to be slow, like uber uber slow to the point where I'm not even sure it's going to happen until the end, and I always like it to be a distant second to the overarching plot. While I don't agree that there was no character development - of course there was - I do agree that it was too fast, fell into cheesy tropes that ultimately bore me, and that there are other methods of developing characters. Arguably better ones.
However, via the brilliantlizbee I found this essay, which argues that the entire point of this episode is for Korra to unlock her blocked water chakra that is preventing her access to her spirituality (and by extension, airbending, the Spirit World, and the Avatar State). Good ol' Guru Pathik said that this chakra is blocked by guilt but that's only partly the truth; it's about general difficulty with emotions - dealing with them, connecting emotionally with other people, etc.
She also argues persuasively here that the episode before, "A Voice in the Night" dealt with Korra's first chakra, also called the "root" chakra, which is associated with the element of earth and is blocked by fear/not dealing with your fears. So if the next episode deals with shame, or more precisely, Korra's ego and how she moves beyond her self-centered p.o.v. and brash overconfidence to become more mature, learn empathy for the non-bender point of view, and gain understanding of the bigger picture*, then inkstone is definitely onto something and I will be convinced that it is on purpose. In that case, I'll be much more accepting of "The Spirit of Competition" as it is.
Also if all this is true and Korra has an episode for each of her chakras, then I predict she will not enter the Avatar State until the eleventh episode, and it will be the first time she's ever done so. Alternately, she'll enter the Spirit World and talk with Aang. Maybe both? Both would be awesome.
This also means that when Korra looks up at the moon, she doesn't see Yue, she just sees a round disk.
*is that a reasonable accurate interpretation of the manipura chakra?