Review Post: 1x09
CliqueClack by Julia Hass
Not Up Yet.
WSJ by Christopher John Farley
The plot is thickening, the pace is quickening, and benders are getting bent out of shape on the newest episode of “The Legend of Korra.”
The Avatar has disappeared. Tarrlok tells Korra’s friends that she’s been kidnapped by equalists. But we all saw in the last episode, and we see again in flashbacks, that this guy has blood on his hands. More about that blood later.
Tenzin, Bolin, Mako, Asami and Beifong go looking for Korra beneath the city. (Love the scene where Beifong uses her metalbending to zip up Bolin’s zipper. Funny-but a little dangerous if you think about it, which maybe you shouldn’t.) Korra’s friends don’t find her, but they do find Beifong’s men. One of her guys says that Amon has taken away their bending. So much for my theory that Amon couldn’t really take away bending!
Avatar Korra is being held by Tarrlok outside the city. She meditates and gets a vision of Avatar Aang when he attended the trial of the mob boss Yakone who turns out, like Tarrlok, to be a blood bender who can bend when the moon isn’t full. Some benders, it turns out, have special powers. Aang takes away Yakone’s bending. Later we find out that Tarrlok is actually Yakone’s son! What are the odds?
(That flashback also gives us a glimpse of a grown-up Toph-still calling the Avatar “twinkle toes”-and a mature Sokka, now a bigwig councilman.)
Amon attacks Tarrlok and takes away his bending (we also see that Amon is pretty much unaffected by blood bending). So much for my theory that Amon and Tarrlok are the same person!
After the fight, Korra escapes on Naga. A polar bear dog, it turns out, is a bender’s best friend.
TV Overmind by Ciarán Micheal
Not up yet.
Den of Geek by Kaci Ferrell
In this week's episode of The Legend of Korra, things get awesome.
While I'm sure there are a handful of people who are watching The Legend of Korra without having seen The Last Airbender, I also think it's safe to say that those people are in the minority. And for those of us who loved the original series, let's also not pretend that part of what drew us to this show had nothing to do with the temptation of getting to see how things turned out for the characters we knew and loved.
This week's episode is almost uniquely catered to us, while also managing to stay fresh and relevant to Korra's story so that it doesn't veer off into feeling like fanservice. This week's episode manages to take the fragments of the past Korra has seen and confirm for us that they are the result of Aang's spirit trying to send her a message to warn her about Tarrlok. As it turns out, special bending abilities run in families, and the revelation that Tarrlok was Yakone's son is dropped squarely onto our shoulders. (We also get a brilliant moment in which Toph refers to Aang as "Twinkle Toes" despite his protests that he's too old for nicknames. In that moment, I could've forgiven this show for every flaw because admit it: that scene was perfect.)
I admit that I'm already tired of the Asami/Mako/Korra love triangle, but what I'm not tired of is the way this show continually defies my expectations. I don't post theories very often in these reviews, but I do read each and every single one of your theories in the comments. A popular one has been that Amon and Tarrlok are actually brothers, and for awhile, I started to believe that myself. But that was torn apart in this episode when Tarrlok spoke to Amon as though they didn't know each other, informing him that he'd never before faced a bender with powers such as Tarrlok's, and then asking, "What are you?" when Amon managed to defy his blood bending.
It makes me wonder, though: why come after Tarrlok now of all times? In a very real way, Amon almost...assisted the Avatar by taking away the bending of the man who held her captive.
The most important question I have for all of you, however, is: what exactly is Amon? How can he defy blood bending? We've seen two Avatars fall prey to that ability, and yet this man can somehow withstand it better than either. Aang was only able to overcome it by going into the Avatar State. Is it possible that Amon uses a similar spiritual meditation technique?
This episode gave us so many answers, but each one only lead to more questions. It was probably one of the most tense episodes so far, and all the fights were gorgeously animated. Hearing the grown up voices of Aang, Toph, and Sokka threw me for a loop, but there was something so exciting and wonderful about seeing and hearing them as adults that it didn't matter.
All in all, this is one of the more standout episodes of the season.
CSICon by Mandi Odoerfer
Images and captions are part of original review.
This week’s episode gave us a lot of answers, but left me with almost as many questions. As revealing (and awesome) as that flashback was, I feel like it only scratched the surface of the connection between Aang’s past and what’s happening with Republic City now. With only two weeks until the Legend of Korra season finale, I’m expecting lots more answers very soon.
Last week, I suggested that Yakone was Tarrlok’s father, but dismissed it because of the political problems this would have caused for Tarrlok. Clearly, I should’ve stuck with my gut instinct. Tarrlok rebuilt himself once, and seemed pretty confident he could do it again. That’s not something he could’ve pulled off on his own, bloodbending or not. Who helped Tarrlok, and why? I can’t imagine that Yakone had that many devoted followers.
And what’s up between Tarrlok and Amon? The first time I watched the episode, I thought this ruled out them working together, but now, I’m not so sure. Tarrlok’s greeting to Amon was strange and seemed overly familiar, and he had ready access to Equalist gear. I think that before Tarrlok was exposed, they did have a mutually beneficial relationship, with both parties ready to turn on the other once they outlived their usefulness. After losing his political clout and attempting to frame the Equalists for a kidnapping, I think it’s safe to say Tarrlok is no longer of any use to Amon. It’s also safe to say that any ideas Tarrlok had about defeating Amon were misguided at best.
Aang is still twinkletoes. Sokka still loves his boomerang. Some things never change.
Amon simply shaking off Tarrlok’s bending and continuing to walk towards of his was a very cool moment, but it also reminded me of someone: Katara. She did something very similar during her face-off with Hama. While I think my theory about Amon and Tarrlok training under Yakone together is busted, I still feel like Amon might be a bloodbender. Sokka’s big speech (in which he is still obsessing over his boomerang) was delightful, but I think what he had to say was important. There’s a lot about bending people in the Avatar-verse don’t know, and I don’t think it’s impossible that a bloodbender can block someone’s bending.
I’m glad we finally got to see Korra getting in touch with the spiritual side of her bending! While I don’t think it’ll ever come as naturally to her as it did to Aang, I hope we see a lot more of it in this season’s remaining episodes, especially now that she has a better feel for how to access it. I tend to be pretty easily distracted, and I can sympathize with Korra only being able to meditate when everything else is shut out. Still, I can’t help but feel both I and Korra missed something important in Aang’s flashback. I don’t think he was simply trying to tell her that Tarrlok was Yakone’s son. There’s another, Amon-centric message in there, but I can’t think of what it could be for the life of me.
Maybe Bolin is trying to get revenge on Asami for not letting him pee in peace.
This was a victorious episode for the Makorra shippers, but geez, poor Asami. I’ve really grown to like her character, and it feels like the show has been giving her a beating in the last few episodes. Her dad is revealed to be an Equalist, her normal life is snatched away from her, she’s thrown into jail, and now, she’s finding out her boyfriend may have feelings for another girl. The scene at the end is very sweet, but it’s hard to get gushy when Asami is getting dumped on once again. I’m hoping next week’s episode won’t involve anyone getting their heart broken, but I’m not feeling too confident.
Peter Parker? Bruce Wayne? Eat your hearts out.
We didn’t see a whole lot of my personal heroine Lin Beifong, but what we did see was pretty wonderful. Her suiting up scene was spectacular, and perfect for a character who is pretty much Spider-Man and Batman rolled into one. Her zipping up Bolin is one of the biggest laughs the show has gotten out of me yet. And the look on her face when she realized her men had lost their bending was heartwrenching. See Saikhan, that’s what a real chief of police is like! Don’t think we’re going to go easy on you here just because your name is pronounced like this site! I’m not sure if we’re going to see anyone get their powers restored this season, but I’d love to see Lin and her men get to patrol the streets once again.
This is another episode that felt much longer than 24 minutes, in a good way. As much as I liked last week’s episode, it definitely felt rushed, but this one really seemed to use every minute it had perfectly. Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko may not have a whole lot of time to tell Korra’s story, but they’re making excellent use of the time that they have. After seeing the finale promo, I’m not sure what episode 10 will be like, but I’m guessing it’ll be great stuff. I’m depressed when I think about waiting god knows how long for more Korra, but I still can’t help but be excited about what’s still coming.
AV Club by Emily Guendelsberger
Way back in “A Leaf in the Wind,” Korra attempts to meditate with Tenzin and his children. The four family members sit contentedly, perfectly still, for ten seconds as Korra scratches her butt, sniffles, sneaks a peek at whether everyone is meditating better then her, then dejectedly declares that she thinks she’s doing it wrong. When encouraged to try again, she goes exactly two seconds before being all “Nope, not working!” and running away to get some juice.
I identified with this, as when I’m intermittently talked into going to a yoga class I can never manage to stop wondering if someone’s emailed me in the last 15 seconds, or whether I look stupid, or whether this hour and a half would have been better spent on one of 20 Deadlines of Damocles hanging over my head. I used to dread long car rides as a kid, but now, in a kind of sick way, I look forward to them. These times - when I physically cannot catch up with work, friends, TV, the gym, email, laundry, etc. - are the only times that the tiny, nagging voice in my head shuts up with the “Hey, couldn’t you be… doing something?” The idea of reserving an hour to meditate when I could be, say, spending time with the boyfriend I don’t see enough or cleaning the bedroom or calling my parents or, uh, finishing off a Korra review seems almost selfish, like a sin. Which is insane.
Modern America regards “doing nothing” as flaky at best and lazy or cowardly at worst, and I’m fully indoctrinated. But I’m starting to suspect that Korra’s big series arc may be a gentle indictment of this focus on doing rather than thinking, on accomplishments rather than introspection. So many of the Tarrlok-Tenzin political confrontations ended with Tarrlok saying something like “We can’t just do nothing!” and everyone else agreeing with him, and Korra’s echoed that a few times. It’s no coincidence that the Korra story is in this particular setting and has a main character with these particular spiritual difficulties-plus, she seems like the norm in Republic City, where everyone is busy, busy, busy.
Aang was a bit of a spiritual alien to the average American kid watching the first series-a 12-year-old boy who could sit down and calmly meditate whenever and wherever seemed even less plausible than a 12-year-old boy who could fly. Korra’s much more modern. She’s an impatient workaholic-her job is her life and her life is her job, literally. Her waking hours are taken up by practicing airbending forms, being on task forces, doing productive things; even her hang-out-with-friends activities are being a professional athlete and patrolling the streets. Her directive, a vague “figure out how to fix the various things wrong with Republic City,” is much more complex than “defeat the Fire Lord,” and the anxiety around “figure out” swirls around her head more aggressively with every day she can't get a handle on her powers. It’s no wonder she can’t get into meditation. How could she justify sitting around doing nothing when there’s so much to be done?
So, weirdly, Tarrlok does Korra a favor by kidnapping her and locking her in a metal box with nothing to do and no distractions.
Viewers, too, because we finally get the full flashback the show’s been teasing us with. Didn’t quite buy the voices of Toph and Aang, though that’s a hard thing to replicate. Aang in particular had a very expressive voice with a very wide range of tones in the original series, and it seems weird that puberty would replace that with a scratchy, serious monotone. Councilman Sokka’s voice was the only one I really bought as coming from the same character plus 30 years. (“With his mind.”) I did get a little shock of recognition from the animation of Toph’s body language and cursory wave with “Fine, come on, Twinkle Toes.”
Droopy Face Guy is indeed the guy on trial is indeed Yakone. I wasn’t sure from the flashbacks whether they were different people or whether the difference in appearance was because of the Anime Villain Close-Up filter - in the wider shots, Yakone he didn’t look that saggy, nor did his eyes look like they had pinprick pupils. I’m still not sure about that, and curious about the significance of the tiny pupils in the close-up; as someone pointed out in the comments last week, the exact same thing happens to people getting their bending taken away.
And speaking of people getting their bending taken away, when Aang does it to Yakone in the flashback, it’s not accompanied by the laser light show we saw in the finale of the first series. This suggests the lights were a visual metaphor for the viewers, which lends some cred to the theory that Amon is doing the same thing even though he places his hands differently. And, yup, Tarrlok is Yakone’s son (though timeline-wise, he would have had to be born years after Yakone went to jail). As Sokka outlines in the verdict, he’s just a specialty bender, probably not hooked up with the Spirit World.
One last thing about the Spirit World, from an interview the creators did back when the first episode of Korra aired:
Comics Alliance: It's been established that Korra is naturally more physical and less spiritual than Aang, which makes her fit in with the more technology dependent Republic City. Just as the new Avatar and her world have changed since Aang's time, should fans expect possible future manifestations of The Spirit World to be similarly altered?
Michael DiMartino: The Spirit World hasn't changed, exactly, but what will be interesting is to see how the spirit world reacts to Korra's technologically dependent world.
We’ve gotten practically none of that this season, aside from the mysterious, should-be-impossible things Amon can do, like being able to power through bloodbending-something we’ve only seen twice before, once with Katara, who’s also a bloodbender, and once here with Aang, who can only do with the aid of the Spirit World in the form of the Avatar state. It doesn’t seem likely that Amon’s a bloodbender, so his claims that his powers come from the spirits seems like the only plausible explanation, though I doubt he got them because the Spirit World is pissed at the Avatar like he says.
I have to assume the next season will spend a good amount of time in the Spirit World, maybe even having the big second-season conflict rooted there. And I’m looking forward to it-Korra’s terror about losing her bending and lack of identity outside her job as Avatar are going to be really interesting when put in the context of the Spirit World, where bending doesn’t work.
Stray observations:
Writing and journalism attracts masochistic workaholics like cocaine attracts… people who love cocaine. Work experiences in the modern era may differ.
“It’s empty!” “Yeah, I can see that.” The funny, humanizing beats the writers used to give to random Fire Nation soldiers are now popping up in the Equalists. Both are enemies with scary masks, but the show doesn’t want you to forget that they’re people.
Boomerang came back!
Bolin: pee-shy.
When Amon and Tarrlok meet, it seems like it’s definitely for the first time. I assume Amon followed him out there as reprisal for blaming the City Hall attack on the Equalists?
Aw, Beifong can tell from the minute she sees her men in a cage that they've been dis-bended. She looks quite maternal about the youngest one.
Three things about Beifongs and clothing: As Toph floats over the floor, you can see her uniform has no feet; she’s got a sort of stirrup-pants thing going on. Liked the little touch that when Lin is metalbending herself into her uniform, the impact of the armor rocks her forward a little. And in a couple scenes where Lin has her hand on her hip, her trenchcoat starts looking less noir-y and more bathrobe-y, in a Marlene Dietrich way.
Liked the contrasting-but-parallel narration over the scenes of Tarrlok going about framing the Equalists for attacking City Hall; reminded me to re-read Watchmen.
I’ve actually been liking Mako more now that the context of pro-bending has been removed-before, he came off as a rock star, with people recognizing him in the street; now he’s just another guy. And with the combo of his lines and the readings, the character’s been coming off like such an earnest dork. But I think we can all agree that stroking someone’s face is creepy, right?
“Wake up!” (Slap.)
Where’s Katara during the trial? I’d have thought she’d be there as bloodbending expert witness #1.
Like the last couple weeks, I'm out for the day and will swap in a better screenshot when I can get one, which will probably be tomorrow. Any suggestions or links welcome! (EDIT: Incidentally, if you ever have to go a-googling for Korra images, I cannot recommend turning on SafeSearch highly enough. Christ, my eyes.)
Wanted to qualify my reasoning on why I doubt any main characters will die: It’s not that the death would be too much for a Nickelodeon show, it’s the aftermath. These writers have shown themselves to be dedicated to having characters react to things in a pretty realistic, consistent way; if a member of Team Avatar 2.0 died, the show would have to jettison either its sense of fun or its character continuity. I do think they could accomplish the same sort of dramatic whammy while skirting that problem by having either or both of the brothers lose their bending in the finale. We’ll see about that.
I don’t think I’d mind much if we never see the face behind Amon’s mask. (This from a person who literally threw a sandwich at the television when Lost ended.) Would that bother you?