THE LEGEND OF KORRA - Season 3 - Episodes 5-9 (Patreon)

Season One - Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 / Season One Finale 

Season Two - Part 1  - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 / Season Two Finale 

Season Three - Part 1 

Onto the next five!

5. THE METAL CLAN

I’ll get to the real discussion at the end of this one.

For now, Korra, Lin, Mako, and Bolin are on the hunt for new air benders (while Tenzin is presumably training the rest at the northern air temple). This episode notable brings us to Zaofu, an incredible city made purely of metal. In the avatar universe, this basically makes it a parallel for some futuristic sci-fi shit. More than that, it’s a city is disinterested in the old, anachronistic earth kingdom ways and instead strives for peace, arts, and the delights of aesthetic beauty. And it also seems to be the last place that Lin Bei Fong wants to go. We quickly guess at why, what with the Toph statues strewn about, as if presenting the idea of living in the shadow of her mother (who it turns out is still alive and wandering the earth somewhere!?!?!?). But it doesn’t expressly make this dynamic clear, so it isn’t exactly a “turn” when it turns out the real reasons he doesn’t want to be there is the fact that her whole extended family still lives there.

On the surface, there’s a lot of tangible joy thrown at you. Suyin’s character has this grounded, lovely charm about her as she’s showing off all her cool stuff (their chef is my new favorite character and bonus points because I can tell they actually asked a real chef what the dish should be - instead of what most writers do, which is make up some horse-shit because they think it sounds funny, which I always found super dismissive of an entire art form, but hey). Even my boy Varrick shows up for a spell! (But doesn’t get to do much yet? I’m honestly sort of suspect about this because he feels shoehorned in a way that other things haven’t this season). And god I wish the chosen air bender was the goth artist kid! But instead the air bender is Suyin’s daughter Opal, a doe-eye, achingly gentle wall flower who also seems to have a crush on Bolin!

It feels a little inexact, but this is still probably the most functional part of the episode. Mako notices that Opal’s got eyes for Bolin, but Bolin sort of chides it away citing she’s not his type. Mako then points out “his type” is either dumb mover star or psycho ice queen (which is way harsh and reductive, especially given the character changes?). What the narrative really should be putting the finger on is that Bolin only likes emotionally unavailable people because he is a people pleaser / it reflects his own love language with his distant brother Mako. But all that sort of gets jumbled and Bolin just makes this split second decision to go for it. But at least Opal finds his hideous attempts at charm to be crappy. Thus, the whole lesson sort of becomes this “be yourself” / “he’s so much worse when he tries” thing, but it still feels a little off. Mostly because Bolin isn’t actually learning something for his own sake / peace of mind. It’s still all about the naked result.

At the same time, I’m delighted that the story is actually following on Kya and Pema (who I always want to have way more going on) back on air temple in republic city. It’s also following up on the bit part characters like the dude Korra saved on the bridge! The show isn’t just dropping characters! But as they welcome new Benders from the city in, we see that one of them is Zaheer. Why is he here? It’s not clear exactly, but we get a few nice callbacks to “a life on the wind” when Korra first trained at air bending. We also get more scenes of him demonstrating skill and then he picks up this locket we don’t really understand? And then Kya confronts him until the point it just clicks? She literally just figures it out and yells “Zaheer!” It’s really weird, because dramatically-speaking those moments need a tell that gives him away. Something that doesn’t just make it feel random. They battle, but for the first time in the season there’s no real stakes or objectives other than “danger.” And when he escapes I have no real sense of why he was there, or where it going, it felt just like busy work?

Back in the metal city, Lin spends all her time being distant and furious with us for reasons that are not clear, either. I mean she clearly doesn’t get along with her family, she’s even downright furious with them. And we are left constantly left to ask, Okay, where is this going to go? But instead of telling that story, it just literally shuts us out for 22 straight minutes. And here’s my question: what do the writers want the audience to actually feel from this dynamic? We can guess plainly that there’s “something here.” But even when Korra goes to talk to Suyin we don’t get any real answers, just sort of this vague story about how their mom was distant and they fought over her love. There’s nothing rally specific to it. But for some reason this then provokes Korra to have Opal go in to reach her aunt? For reasons I guess? And then Lin just shouts at Opal and makes her cry, then cries a hidden tear of her own.

I gotta be honest: the whole thing feels so off and manufactured, but the line where Korra shouts “you’re always going to be a bitter lonely woman!” is downright fucking heinous. That’s a completely out of bounds, out of character, unmotivated thing that is all “teeth first” writing for someone just wants somebody to say the mean thing without honoring the reality of the scene. You NEED the motivations for that shit to work, but instead they spend the whole episode STILL hiding it. I GET that they’re going to go into it later, but that doesn’t matter. Because it is precisely the kind of writing that PUSHES YOU AWAY from the people on screen, instead of bringing the audience closer. It’s everything the show did in prior seasons in the worst way. And as I sat there in disbelief, I asked myself: what is responsible for the sudden backslide?

“Written by Michael Dante DiMartino” 

Sigh… I honestly didn’t know that was the case until I saw the card. But now I feel we have to have a big conversation. Look, the first thing is that a “writing credit” can be a completely mysterious thing. We have no idea who is ever responsible for what, and in the end, they are all part of a team. And an episode almost always goes through groups and the product of people. But we have to talk about situations that happen when a creator or head writer is actually one of the “least complete skill-set” writers on a show. 

To be clear 1) I don’t know if that’s happening here, but 2) it definitely happens. I mean, look up all the Sex in the City stories, which was basically a bunch of very talented female writers trying to constantly save the show from MPK turning it into pure NY fashion-driven surface-level stuff (I mean, he was head writing a show about four women called sex and the city didn’t even know what a clitoris was. Seriously. This happened). But more than that, I realize that looking in with The Legend of Korra, I *can’t* know the truth about this group of writers. What I *can* know is that when MDM names has been on these scripts we get something usually with good world building, but is way clunkier with errant, unspecific dialogue, and plotting that is full of hiding / vagueness / distant characters / mystery box bullshit. 

And when other people’s names are on them, both in the past and especially this season? We get something more functional and especially the last four episodes of transcendence. I don’t know what to say. Maybe it’s dumb luck. Maybe it was part of production schedule. Maybe eThey’re all probably part of a group of big ideas, with different strengths, or sometime it’s hard to tell show creators to come at a given script a different way or overrule them, or help them re-write something. it’s not like MDM and BK haven’t been able to recognize incredible writing before. I don’t know. I just know that from the way the last few seasons are constructed, and from the way this episode comes out, I’m seeing a trend that I sincerely hope I’m wrong about. 

But it’s worth noting that in the context of this great season, it all feels less dire. Plus I *like* the ideas of episode. And given the strength around it, I have to have more trust that it will be handled in a more cathartic way. But I want to make it clear the moments that build our trust.

And the ones that don’t.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Poor Naga, why she rip the ball?

-Bolin “You’d be surprised how bad food can taste from a dumpster”

-Varrick: “Never convicted!” Mako: “Because you escaped from jail!”

-I want to say that Anne Heche was absolutely excellent at this and nailed a really tricky role.

Okay next episode, you have some ‘splainin’ to do.

6. OLD WOUNDS

Ahhhh, the traditional Legend of Korra episode where important character motivations that were pushed off then get (semi) explained in a long flash back episode!

But I’ll say this, after my big worrying last episode I can say that this one…more or less lands where it needs to? Sort of? And unlike the seasons past where some character would just sit and tell the story with their words, this episode is at least trying to ingrain it the character’s own personal journey and remembrance. And by having Lin go to an acupuncturist, it’s also trying to do a riff of the famous Guru / Chakra episode from Avatar. 

But I us want to think about this comparison for a second. Because the genius of that original episode was that it actually used the language of chakras / blockage to get at very specific characterization that Aang was in denial about and needed to address in order to mature. But here’s it’s far more generalized. Lin is “blocked” in the sense she is stubborn and closes herself off from people and by the fact she is not having a conversation she needs to. But, like, she’s not blocked from her own mind - she knows exactly what’s going in her memory, thus the journey into her memory isn’t really an act of discovery, but more just finally letting the audience understand what’s up with her and her sister, which sort makes the metaphor for a tad duplicitous.

Basically we go back in time to learn that Suyin was a little shit. Like a fully indignant, rub it in your face, thief type who ends up getting arrested by Lin. They have a quick fight with the police wires and it turns out her sister is the one who gave her that scar! And then Toph has to cover up the arrest of her sister and send her away to protect her. Now, I realize this is part of a frequent problem with writing about Korra in that when I describe it sounds better than it’s actually presented. Because the ideas are always pretty good, it just comes down to that matter of execution. 

And in this one, I’ll admit it’s just a little more evasive in trying to figure out what that “offness” is. The version of the story doesn’t feel economic, but almost stunted. And it’s like really? We’ve been waiting three years to see adult Toph and that’s the scene? What I realize the biggest prevention here is the nature of impact. The story is plotted with therefore / buts, but it still falls across us like it’s “filling in” information. And drama is so much about creating the thing we most want or most fear that will happen. Their backstory is not written as tragedy, but what ultimately feels like mere communication of motive. Lin evens tells that “mom had to quit!” over it and it’s like, I’m not sure how or what that looks like or why? More to the point, I don’t even really understand who this version Toph IS and how it fits with the one we knew so long ago. Which brings us to other problem…

The entire point of the story is that people can change. Given what happened, it makes sense for Lin that she’d be upset and guarded about what happened and not believe that she’s different. And from everything we’ve seen of this new Suyin, we can certainly see that she’s changed and that Lin should believe it. But the thing about this flashback is that seems it was just meant to inform why Lin would have trouble coming close to her sister. But the thing about it is… we don’t see or understand the mechanism by which Suyin has actually changed. It is simply presented to us as this concrete, inescapable idea. “People change!”

But that’s not what makes change meaningful to us an audience. To really believe it, we have to see those mechanisms of change. To REALLY care and understand, we have see the how in dramatization. After all, how did Kai get nicer and start learning his lesson? Was it because that’s something that just happens with time? No, it’s because his stealing got him in trouble and then his friends were there to rescue him in a way he’s never experienced before. It wasn’t just storified, it was DRAMATIZED in a really impactful way. And without seeing it? Then changes really just do feel like lip service. 

It’s part of the same reason Opal yelling, “you’re sisters! Why would you want to hurt each other?” and it feels like some middle of the road moralization, instead of a real telling moment based on their characters that informs catharsis. You need that specificity. Thus, the “fixing” of the moment itself in their relationship ends up feeling sentiment that hasn’t quite gelled. However, what actually saves the episode is something adjacent…

While I wish “the Toph-ness is of it all” with Lin’s history was something that was more dramatized instead of hid, the episode gets to part of the point with Opal. Because her wanting to stay with her family (which wasn’t a motive I that was fleshed out, either), that is her desire to please her mother, runs right against Lin’s desire to please her own mother and all the problems and blockage it created in her life. The idea that the lesson learned is passed forward in a concrete way that applies to the situation at hand? Well, that’s not just lip service. And the real sense of catharsis that comes from it is enough to keep the episode grounded on a thematic level for the ending gesture.

Perhaps what it really comes down to is this: I like Lin Bei Fong. I always have. But I want to LOVE her character. And while it hints at so much of this backstory and shows her crying and angry, there’s this way these moments somehow fail to bring out her humanity the same way the moments of her destroying Naga’s ball do. Part of this is because the function of endearment is an odd one. Where the most overwrought of backstories often fail against the most gentle of character moments. But these episodes had an opportunity to really, truly bring us close to her… but it was only “an almost.” And almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

The truth is that after this episode, I don’t know quite what to expect of the relationships going forward and sense of functionalism with it. But I know I like these people and that may be enough… especially when we know Zaheer is coming.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-“Zaheer is now a wanted man in republic city!” Uh, that was not actually in the episode last week? Does any one else find it telling (in a bad way) when the summary of last weeks episode tells you important things that weren’t actually seen?

Random Guard: “How many push ups did you do last night? Cause I did like 50”

-Bolin: “Wow, you picked that up really, really quick! Guess you’re one of the 1 in 100!” Once again I really like that Bolin has goals / earnest emotions / fears this season.

-Model T car chase! 

-The gag of Lin firing acupuncture needles everywhere is so good.

-Bolin “Just thinking of my body and all the mustaches i might have”

-From my notes: “I know you’re scared too!” Audience: Wait, we do?

-We reeeeeeallly should have dramatized a lot of the Tenzin / Lin stuff by now. Cause right now it just sort of hangs over everything in this weirdly joked about, but not in fun way?

7. ORIGINAL AIRBENDERS

Hey, it’s the FUN episode!

You know? The low stakes adventure that usually involves some character and relationship building that cascades into a little adventure that makes those same things solidify? Feels like ages! You know! Because it has been ages!?? All flippancy aside, these episodes aren’t just filler in big 22 episode season arcs (which some people accuse them of being). They’re integral to all forms of storytelling. Not just because they’re part of a natural rhythm and let the audience breathe. But because when you let the audience breath you can actually invite them in to learn to care so much more about the smaller stakes of the people they have come to care for. Which helps so much more when the bigger stakes come rolling along.

Thus far, The Legend Of Korra has mostly avoided the FUN EPISODES much to their detriment. Again, having joking little bits of comic relief play over constant high intensity doesn’t do close to the same thing as what I detailed above. And in seasons’ past, they were so busy trying to throw you into this serialized storytelling / constant attacks / webs of convolution that it missed so many crucial moments to stop and really just let you settle in with fun character dynamics.

The architecture of this is very simple: Tenzin is boring his students to death because he’s a boring old coot. Out of frustration, he ends up taking Bumi’s (bad) advice and becomes a hard-nosed drill sergeant, but it’s done mostly as this weird instinct to punish / get one over on Bumi for making fun of him. As a result, everyone suffers! We really begin to fill out the misery of the cadets (and learn about the characterization in the process. Worst of all, Tenzin ends up pushing his daughter Jinora away from him. 

But this pushing of Jinora ends up playing into her developing psychology and she begins testing the limits of her independence. Kai’s not exactly the best influence in this matter, but he’s also the one who is reinforcing her strengths! Still they’re a tad recklessness and end up getting kidnapped by air bison poachers! Oh no! But without Tenzin there, Bumi rallies the young air cadets to form the rescue - the lessons they’ve learned in the episode begin to get applied - Then Tenzin comes to finish rescue and see what a good job everyone’s done and learned to relax a bit. Catharsis abounds!

I love that The Legend of Korra finally did this. Again, the point of this is literally to solidify group dynamics, both within the group and how the deal with the outside. And the best way to do this is the smaller stakes fun episode. It’s almost always the way… Because it’s what makes us feel like we have something to lose.

Especially when danger looms on the horizon.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Did… did they just name a character Otaku?

-Kya - “Remember that long boring story about the guy who never ate?”

-I want a baby air bison more than anything.

-Tenzin: “Shaving your head is a person choice!” Guy who just did: “Wait, what?”

-Also the call back of the Shaved Head SAVING him in the fight is an insanely amazing gag that isn’t just a gag, but a hugely effective character and story moment. Just incredible.

-I also adore Meelo’s joyful cruelty. 

-Kai: “This is just as bad as the earth queen’s prison.”

-Jinora: “They’re endangered!” Poacher: “That’s why they’re worth so much money!”

-Also I like at the end how we also got a peek of Kai’s anger issues. We’re seeing fully realized psychologies, folks! Yay!

8. THE TERROR WITHIN

Ok, no THIS is the best action scene the show has had so far. 

It starts with them demonstrating the villains’s true skill. For they manage to take Naga out / get Korra so swiftly that it really impresses us. Then it gets into that stand off with clear geography, perfect stakes, pointed set-ups, real objectives, and advantages in positioning! They even make use of their specific powers to create constant problems and reversals in the story! Because of course magma is the perfect foil for metal! Ahhhh! I love it! But given that most of the running time is just a really, really good stand-off, there’s also not much to talk about!

But that’s okay! Most of the fallout of the battles centers around suspicions of Aiwai. But notice how important it is that this plot gets wrapped up so economically. They carefully write the turns clearly from scene to scene. Team Avatar picks up the clues right when the audience does. It doesn’t dilly dally like the stuff they did with Tarrlok and Unalaq, it all gets to the point rather quickly. And Aiwei makes for a very, very good villain team member.

The last thing I’ll mention is how this episode sort of illustrates my problems on how some of the wishy washy stuff was handled with Lin and Suyin. Because here they still clearly have their “we fight” dynamic, but as an audience member I need more clarity on where they’re actually at? I know people can quickly justify and be like “they don’t know where they’re at, either!” But this is sort of my whole point. It’s so easy to succumb to the “um, like, ya know” lack of clarity that comes with real life, but that’s never what makes for something being dramatically compelling (and certainly something that rarely showed up in Avatar). It’s usually just a writing trap that sucks drama right out of the room. And where it actually MATTERS is when we come to Suyin’s decision to give Korra the keys and let her leave to go after him. 

Like, the “get Aiwei” feels like not a strong enough motivation for her to totally betray her word to her sister (especially with what’s going on). And the way it’s constructed, it ALMOST feels downright duplicitous. And here’s the thing, it just puts me right in that vague place where I’m like, wait are they setting something up with her character? Is there going to be some turn for her? Because it’s either a bad set-up for a turn or either bad motivation for the character to do something… And that’s never the spot you want to land in.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Mako getting stuck at the bad end of the awkward table is fantastic. It HAS to be Mako. Because here’s the thing… he’s part of what makes for bad conversation. 

-Bolin: “Every time I eat raw kale I’ll think of you.”

-Pabu’s scream face / the beat of Bolin seeing Korra getting kidnapped is SO GOOD.

-Bolin: “… Or he’s invisible! [hard stare from everyone] Or he’s probably just not home.”

-Bolin: “I don’t know why I’m saying that, you know I’m lying… And you don’t sound like that.”

-Bolin: “I CAN!?!?!” / “I DO!?!?!” Man, this character is just really, really working now, huh?

-Love Zaheer’s anger at failing. Feels like the right tone of it, too.

-I also feel like this is the first time we’ve seen Korra weak in a way that doesn’t feel totally manufactured? I think season one, episode four came close? But it’s refreshing roundness.

-They also direct the fake-out moment with the exploding barrel so, so well and it doesn’t feel cheap. Not an easy thing!

-I was trying to figure out Aiwei’s voice and oh my god it’s brain from Pinky and the Brain.

-As I see Asami hanging out I realize I want more Korra / Asami time. It needs it.

9. THE STAKEOUT

Okay, this one is interesting for several reasons. Starting with the fact it’s a lot like the old Korra episodes in that is unfocused for most of the running time until something very big happens, but that’s sort of the point of the episode. Our heroes start with a quest for Aiwei, but end up in a long Stakeout and have to try to find a way to spend the time before the inevitable confrontation. In other words, it’s delay, but it’s motivated delay.

I’ll say that a lot of the set-up is a least entertaining. Both Bolin’s spy plans and the the bounty hunters / mover fan reversal work for sure. But I ultimately don’t quite know what to do with a lot of the Pai Sho stuff? I feel like it’s after… something, but I’ll be honest that it didn’t click with specific regards to. Perhaps it’s about the different rules or ways of seeing the same “game,” but it sort of just feels vague. Hopefully it’s a set-up for something else that comes later, though I worry. Thankfully, it also doesn’t last too long, for we soon get to the crux of the episode. Which is really the thing to talk about.

Because Zaheer actually sits down to talk with Korra in the spirit world. To it’s credit, the long dialogue functions in two practical senses. The first is that it’s part of a long distraction so they can kidnap Korra in the real world. The second is that this sort of one-on-one dialogue is actually something Zaheer wants to do anyway. Because he doesn’t want to kill the Avatar at all, he wants the Avatar to come to his side. To see “balance” the way that he does and help eliminate the true enemy, the abuses of “order” and come to see his belief in Anarchy.

I’m going to be up front. I have a lot of trouble talking about anarchy online. Because at a certain point of exposure it invariably starts a dialogue with dyed in the wool anarchists who tell me I have the wrong idea and then often begin arguing with each other. To be clear, I actually like talking about that kind of stuff one on one or in a genuinely open way over drinks or something, but I find with anarchy online, there’s this way it can get lost in endless refraction, mostly because we’re often talking about very different things. So first let’s acknowledge there’s many different forms of anarchy, each with very different goals. 

Because I admit, there’s a tendency on the outside to see Anarchy as the belief that all systems of government must be abolished and we must go back to nomadic tribalism or something. Yeaaaaaaah, that’s not really the common thinking (and for those who do think that way, I feel like it’s sort of hard to convince people of the despotic reality that comes with that). At it’s most functional interpretations, Anarchy is laser focused criticism of the over abundant problems of capitalist or fascist police states (I mean, look at everything happening this fucking country) - But not only does these problems exist at different cultural intersections in different ways, I feel like these criticisms can discounts the comparative success of democratic socialist countries that actually take care of their citizens, etc. 

But typifying any situation is also a huge problem. Mostly because we all want it to say different things that reflect the way we see it. And there are endless permutations of historical situations where these anarchic notions and philosophies can apply / not apply. And if I’m being honest, I both do not want / do not really know how to handle the grand nuance of it when it comes to its depiction within this show. And more importantly, I don’t really know if Korra is going to be able to handle them either. But what I do know is this…

For once, we have a very human motivation for our villain. He thinks he’s doing the right thing. He even has an argument as to why, complete with valid criticisms of the system that exists. Which is so far removed from the “I’ll be a DARK Avatar!” cartoon mumbo jumbo that undermined just about everything with Unalaq last season… but it also brings to interesting point: that Unalaq was once there leader and this all ties back to Vaatu… Maybe it’s just that I feel still scarred from a lot of that stuff, but I really wish the groups existence was independent from all that. But at the same time, the fact this pack of villains is so strong at least gives makes those elements a bit BETTER in retrospect, though I’m worried about how it will play out.

Either way, the kidnapping attempt is semi-successful in that they get Bolin and Mako, but it’s the Queen has gotten The Avatar and Asami. With that, the three plot lines of the season shall be coming together… 

The plotting is working! :D

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Suyin: “You can’t control the avatar’s every move!” Lin: “I can try!” … that’s all we’re going to get when it comes to the fallout with this? What’s going on with this story?

-Bolin: “But I haven’t even told you your backstory!” / “ITS LIKE IM GIVING HIM AMMO.”

-Korra and Asami got to talk more!

-I do like that the episode characterized the feeling of what happens when you go against a chess player / game person who is just so so so much better than you.

-I’d like to see Korra’s impatience bite her in the ass more? There’s a larger thing here when it comes to the lack of Korra’s character arcs in this show, but we’ll get to that later.

-Oh, that was actually a reasonable call back and worse than we’d want fate for Aiwei? What with the going into the fog of lost souls? Question mark?

-The episode totally works, but there’s still this little thing that feels off and rambly with some of the dialogue. Like when Korra is SHOCKED for some reason that an old air bender said a vague quote that Zaheer is clearly bending to his own philosophy? It’s like I keep watching some of the episodes this season and am like “this feels off.” And then the title card hits again… “Written by Michael Dante DiMartino.” I wish it wasn’t like this, but the frequency makes it harder to ignore? And again, this isn’t a slight, his creative competence is well documented, I think I’m just running up against his current methodology? Either way, it matters little, because I’m so excited about what’s coming…

Let’s go to back to Ba Sing Se.

<3HULK