Legend of Korra: The Guide
Legend of Korra
2 x 9: The Guide
Full episodes available at Nick.com.
Episode Summary (from the Avatar Wiki): Korra seeks Tenzin’s help to enter the spirit world for the first time.
The Good: While not as good as Beginnings, I thought this was one of the better episodes this season. There were little things that made me happy, like Bumi telling tales about beating an earthbender in a rock-throwing contest, and Meelo’s random snot-bubble. Details that make me think someone is remembering to put a little fun and humor back into the show.
And we needed the humor to balance out cranky Tenzin. While his frustration was far from subtle — lack of subtlety seems to be an ongoing theme this season — I liked seeing his frustration at his own failure, his determination to live up to what he believes Aang dreamed for him, and his obvious pain. Yay, character development!
Seeing Jinora playing with the dragonfly-bunny spirits and eventually taking Korra into the spirit world was wonderful. I want more of Jinora, please. (Also more of Bumi and Bum-Jun!)
Korra seems to be in a calmer, more mature place after her Avatar spirit chat, which is nice to see. I enjoyed her recap, too – and Tenzin’s “I knew this would happen!” Korra hasn’t lost her sense of urgency, but she’s no longer charging every which way with that unthinking impulsiveness that kept making things worse. We’ll see how she responds to Mako and Asami, but for now, I’m happy to see her growth. You also see it in her spirit-bending, which seemed more centered and calmer … and actually worked 🙂
Finally, long after I had given up all hope, they humanized the twins! Eska defied her father and took her brother from the spirit world to find a healer. I was so happy about that scene it almost made me forget how terrible the development of those two characters has been up until now. It gave me hope they might even do something cool or interesting with Eska and her brother…
The Bad: Oh, yay. More love triangle tension.
I wish Tenzin would have gotten over himself sooner. Instead of hammering us with his angst, temper that by letting him find joy and pride in his daughter. Celebrate Jinora fulfilling that part of Aang’s dream. I liked Tenzin’s struggle, but I felt like that plotline could have been much stronger.
Mako tries to tell Bolin and Asami about Varrick. They don’t believe him. What a shock.
And once again, it feels like Lin Beifong’s character was wasted. Sigh.
Predictions: Well, we know Unalaq is trying to free Vaatu because Reasons! Korra and Jinora are off to the spirit world to close the southern portal. Mako is under arrest. We’re heading toward a Korra/Unalaq battle in the spirit world. I assume we’ll be seeing the twins turn against their father at some point. What I’m not sure of is how they’re going to bring the two storylines back together. You’ve got Korra and Team Tenzin on the spirits/Unalaq front, and Mako et al. on the Varrick conspiracy front.
I’m guessing Vaatu will get out, and Korra will have to either put him back or — depending on how gutsy the writers are feeling — free Raava to contain him. I hope Mako getting arrested will be enough of a kick-in-the-ass to put an end to the Mako/Bolin fighting. They’ve already done that once this season with the arrest of Korra’s parents, but I’ll take the repetition if it leads us to an actual team again.
Oh, and I’m looking forward to the final episodes being animated by Studio Mir!
Annalee
November 4, 2013 @ 11:04 am
Another big round of agrees. We saw a very human side of Tenzin, but that thread could have been stronger.
I still find Bumi a bit too much of a caricature–Iroh got away with being comic relief because he had a whole lot of depth to back it up, but I don’t see that in Bumi. I was really glad to see Kaia acting her age, but it’s starting to feel like Aang’s kids only have one grownup pass between them and have to keep trading it off. If Kaia’s being a grownup, Tenzin has to be petulant and self-centered, etc. Jinora’s fear that her father was mad at her was a little heart-breaking and perfectly on-beat.
I’m actually really hoping this is the *end* of the love triangle. I was really, really happy they didn’t do the usual ‘girls are catty’ thing between Asami and Korra last season. Asami dealt with the breakup with a lot of grace. I’ll be very sad if this ends up with Asami and Korra at odds.
As for Eska and Desna, that was a good moment, and I hope we see more of it, but personally it’s such a huge contrast from Eska earlier in the season that it feels more like wiping up a mistake than it does like a character arc. It’s good to see some humanity in them. But when they humanized Zuko, we saw the seeds of it from the very start. He didn’t magically turn into a real boy nine episodes in.
Also can we just get a police drama starring Lin Bei Fong? Maybe an hour-long high-budget thing on ABC? “In the criminal justice system of Republic City, the people are represented by two separate, but equally important groups: The police who investigate crime, and IDK I guess the Avatar if shit gets real.”
Simon
November 4, 2013 @ 12:29 pm
I actually had a thought around Varrick. He’s just too silly/dumb to really be the mastermind of the evil stuff going down. Sure he’s business savy but what if it’s not him pulling the shady strings but actualy his assistant who’s the real mastermind. I’m kinda hoping this because aside from the obvious he’s an evil jerk stuff going on with him now, he still is one of my favorite characters of the season.
Thoughts?
Jim C. Hines
November 4, 2013 @ 12:30 pm
I think we’ve seen hints of depth from Bumi, but I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more.
Also can we just get a police drama starring Lin Bei Fong? Maybe an hour-long high-budget thing on ABC? “In the criminal justice system of Republic City, the people are represented by two separate, but equally important groups: The police who investigate crime, and IDK I guess the Avatar if shit gets real.”
Yes please!
Jim C. Hines
November 4, 2013 @ 12:31 pm
I’d be on board with this, if only because it would make Zhu Li into an actual character instead of the mindless servant girl.
Dara
November 4, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
Honestly, for me, the whole year has been zooming straight up since Korra and Mako broke up. I never liked that and hopefully now it’s over for a while. SO MUCH YAY! And I don’t know whether it’s coincidence or not, but almost exactly there is where everything else started to work.
It’s also helped a lot for me, separately, to have read The Promise, at last – mostly because it makes a lot of Korra’s approach to things, for better and for worse, make so much more sense. It shouldn’t be necessary, and it’s kind of suboptimal storytelling that it helped so much, but once I had those missing pieces, I felt much better about her character overall.
Strakul
November 4, 2013 @ 6:55 pm
For your predictions, I’m sure Vaatu will break out, but in addition to the possibilities you list there is another one far riskier: Unalaq becoming the Avatar of Vaatu. That would really change the future scope of the series and bring about a lot of tension and uncertainty. I would LOVE to see that happen, but the nature of any future Avatar seasons/series would be completely different.
Jim C. Hines
November 5, 2013 @ 10:56 am
One more thing to add to my reading list, once we finish watching Avatar: TLA 🙂
Beth Matthews
November 8, 2013 @ 1:08 am
“I still find Bumi a bit too much of a caricature–Iroh got away with being comic relief because he had a whole lot of depth to back it up, but I don’t see that in Bumi.” <—THIS. Iroh was funny and silly but he had real gravitas and emotion when he needed it. I don't see that with Bumi. I feel like the closest we got to that was the hug scene with Kya. Also, the voice actor they picked for Bumi annoys the heck out of me.
"As for Eska and Desna, that was a good moment, and I hope we see more of it, but … when they humanized Zuko, we saw the seeds of it from the very start. He didn’t magically turn into a real boy nine episodes in." AND THIS!
And yes, they are WASTING Lin Bei Fong. And making her conveniently stupid so the plot works.
Beth Matthews
November 8, 2013 @ 1:12 am
I also groaned when Asami and Mako got back together. I think everyone should just be single for a season. No love triangles. There is enough drama without the lame romance arcs they do. And I LOVE romantic stories, but these subplots are not well done.
That said, I’ve just this moment decided that I ship Bolin and Zhu Li (is that her name? Varrick’s assistant…). Maybe then ZhuLi will become an actual person instead of a punchline. Although I would also go for her being the secret mastermind behind everything. Maybe her and Ginger were in on it together.
Seriously, how did a show that is aiming to be so girl positive end up objectifying so many of the female characters this season? Sigh.