The Legend of Korra 1x04-1x08

[oyceter]

Yay! I am now almost caught up again!

Spoilers have fat squishy ferret bellies

Oh writers. Why do you keep trying to do romance when you guys really suck at it? It feels like they have this romance template, and as soon as it's in place, all the characters must act accordingly despite any OOCness. I just. Pema's story about not being able to stand by knowing Tenzin was with the Wrong Person really squicked me out. And oh, Korra. I know you are impulsive, but, er, confessing to Mako was kind of terrible. And you should never argue with someone that they feel more for you than they say. Also, Mako, wtf?! Don't go tell Korra you might like her too! I facepalmed at the Tenzin/Lin bits as well... I love Tenzin being perpetually awkward, but I can't really see Lin as someone who is secretly still nursing feelings toward him.

I also wish they had introduced Asami to Korra as something other than a romantic rival. It's really odd how the guys in the main cast get to be friends and brothers and etc., but so far, the two primary women in the Gaang/Avatar club start out on the wrong foot, much like Katara and Toph did. I do love that Korra is won over by Asami's racing awesomeness, but I really hope it doesn't end up being Korra talks to Mako and Bolin, and Asami talks to Mako and Bolin, but they almost never talk to each other unless it is a Special Episode about them. That was one of the things that frustrated me most about the Gaang in AtLA.

That said, I love Asami and how she is pretty and put together and still downright badass. And she took the glove from the Equalists! But oh, show, I would really really really love Asami-Korra BFF hijinks. I would even settle for them not being romantic rivals.

Re: the show politics. Hrm. It is not complicating the Equalists nearly enough to my taste. I am glad that the benders have varying sides, and that it's clear that non-benders do have something to fear from benders, given Tarrlock's attempts at government control. But I really wish we had the POV of at least one non-bender who was pro-Equality, sympathetic, and not a terrorist. Otherwise it feels too much like "All These Non-Benders Need Is a Bender." I also wish there had been more exploration of vigilantism vs. police a la Korra and Lin's first meeting, but now that the government is under Tarrlock's control, I am pretty sure vigilantism and going outside the law gets a big thumbs up.

Also, the entire plot re: Hiroshi Sato was incredibly bad. I just. I will take that you guys have similar laws to the US's. But in that case, hello, due process! Warrants! Providing evidence before bursting into someone's home! And no, Korra's overheard conversation really isn't enough to warrant a warrant! Also, the only non-benders we really get are people who like benders and socialize with them (Pema, Asami), Equalist terrorists (Hiroshi), and the undifferentiated non-bending masses. But you cannot do all that to Hiroshi and then argue with the police later about arresting your friends randomly!

More randomly:

• Bolin bursting into tears at Korra and Mako and running away with flower petals streaming and arms flailing. Also, "You're a bad idea!"


• Pabu!! Fat belly! Waddling out the door! The only one Bolin can trust! In a little outfit! Chewing them all free!


• Lin on wires is a total and complete badass OMG AWESOME.


• Lin quitting the police = ?!?!


• Of course eyeliner guy with floppy bangs is evil.


• Tarrlock bloodbends!


• The politics don't always make much sense, but the action sequences are fantastic.


• More flashbacks please!


• Everyone trying to pile on Naga like she's Appa and then falling off. And the baby's "Yip, yip, Naga!"


• Love Asami zapping Equalists while also driving the car.


• How come Mako can't lightning bend the zappy things? Isn't it very similar to lightning?

In conclusion: PABU IS BEEEEESSSSTTTT!!!! Best little squishy rodent sidekick EVAR! (Except for my own, of course.)

Comments

[yeloson]

I'm... pretty much watching the show as one giant train wreck right now. I'm done with Korra constantly getting her ass kicked and knocked out and passing out, etc.

=(

[oyceter]

I'm not actually sure I remember all this? I think the bits I remember are Amon scaring her when she challenges and her being bloodbent, but mostly I read that as the usual "villain must seem incredibly threatening to make the later asskicking more awesome" thing.

[yeloson]

If you decide to rewatch, consider doing so with this handy phrase from Tumblr fandom: "KORRA IS THE BEST PASS-OUT BENDER AROUND".

It's really really frustrating, because basically a 12 year old boy Avatar with 1 element >>>>>> a teenage brown woman raised by several masters with 3 elements.

(actually, Katara, a 13 yo girl w/1 element and self-taught >>>>> Korra w/3 elements and masters' training...)

[jinian]

You have a point, but I think it's the shape of the story and the pacing that's causing the extra-vulnerable effect. I read Amon et al. as more terrifying and more of a threat than Zuko-errant, who even with absurd firepower didn't have a populist movement and chi-blocking on his side.

[jinian]

I don't think Mako can bend lightning? It's kind of the advanced version of fire, and since pro-bending allows NOTHING INTERESTING to be used, cf. recent skygiants fic, he might not put in the intensive training needed. (Postdoc C and I have been discussing what the advanced version of airbending ought to be, since there's none in canon; I vote for invisibility via changing air's refractive possibilities.)

Yes, that is the Bolin moment I thought you would appreciate.

I don't think Wim bothers being confused about my alternation between "I am going to marry Lin" and "I am going to be Lin when I am old." Somehow he is not that interested? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE

[oyceter]

OMG those Bolin moments were BEST! I only wish that were the show's sole romance episode, and it was a "oh man this is awkward let us never do it again" conclusion instead of the ongoing triangle/quadrangle/whatever it is.

I vaguely remember Mako doing lightning bending when he was working at a factory? But am not sure...

Somehow he is not that interested?

O_o O_o HAO?

[jinian]

He likes the show and has suggested that we watch it on more than one occasion, he just lacks the appropriate level of obsession for the great and amazing Lin.

Yeah, I liked when I thought the romance bit was SETTLED after two episodes.

You're right about Mako according to the Avatar Wiki, so I have no explanation!

[oyceter]

Like, I am not over the moon re: the Lin/Tenzin past romance... in my head I am just pretending it was kid Lin beating up kid Tenzin all the time, but OMG. Lin on wires!!! SO AWESOME.

[jinian]

I could see Lin having Super Awkward Sexual Tension with one of the few people she considers an actual peer. I cannot think that they were together in any real way.

Anyway: Lin on wires! Lin with perfect coordination flying through the air! Lin saving people! Lin's retractable shoe soles OMG!

[anime_babble]

I love Tenzin being perpetually awkward, but I can't really see Lin as someone who is secretly still nursing feelings toward him.

Me neither. Also, since they have failed to develop Pema at all beyond "pregnant wife!", I'm still side eying her comments regarding Lin being totally wrong for Tenzin. It does not help that they are working so well together at the moment.

I want Lin to be happy and not hung up over Tenzin! Is that so much to ask for the BAMF HBIC?

[oyceter]

Ahaha, I had to look up HBIC! But yes, Lin should totally should not be tied down with random unrequited romantic feelings.

[cofax7]

You know, I don't read Lin as having random unrequited romantic feelings. What I see is that they were together, and he dumped her, and she got pissed off. And because they've never really dealt with that, it still colors their interactions. She's not hanging onto the romantic relationship, she's just gotten into the habit of being pissed off and distrustful of Tenzin, and he's never really gotten over the guilt of dumping her. I suspect that one result of this season will be they'll finally move past that into being actual friends again.

[oyceter]

*nods* I think my character reading is that Lin doesn't have random unrequited feelings, but I got the impression that Tenzin and Korra thought she did or might and that the writers wanted us to think that as well.

I have a really hard time figuring out what I'm supposed to be getting from romantic character interactions because I read them so differently from the writers—Korra and Mako currently make no sense to me, as opposed to Korra and Bolin having fun together, and Asami and Mako just seem kind of random, so I've been going more on the writers' exposition as to what I think I'm supposed to be picking up.

[lea_hazel]

I'm just watching the action sequences and restructuring everything else around it in my head. I'm sad because the first two episodes were completely awesome and had so much potential, and now I'm just working so hard to unsee the romance and lowering my expectations for the equalist finale.

[oyceter]

Yeah, there should at least be some epic fic and vids from it. I am hoping that things start improving soon, because I remember not liking S1 of AtLA, but... we'll see.

Just. Argh! The romance! Why?!

[lea_hazel]

There is so much romance, and it is so bad, and it's getting really hard to brush it aside with "they are silly teenagers," especially with Pema and Lin and everything. I dislike love triangles so much.

[troisroyaumes]

The show's politics make less and less sense the more I think about it. Clearly, the makers of the show watched plenty of HK action but not enough 100+ episode historical C-dramas...

Pabu is the best! XD /the only real comment of substance I can make

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, more and more it seems that the council is so weak and easily influenced that even before Amon and Tarlock(sp?) began their respective power grabs, the council probably routinely settled every issue by caving to whoever yelled loudest--which would usually be Tarlock. Of course, now that we know Tarlock is a blood bender, this might actually make a certain amount of sense, if the (slight) majority of almost-always-silent council members are aware of his blood bending powers and intimidated by them--especially if he's hinted at reprisals if they don't cooperate. But since the writers' idea of dealing with the political aspects of the situation seems to rely heavily on heated--and usually counterproductive--confrontations and people (especially female people like Korra and Lin Beifong) quitting or refusing to have anything to do with the opposing party when the first thing they try doesn't work, the implicit-blackmail-behind-the-scenes possibility probably hasn't even occurred to them.

Marfisa

[oyceter]

Pabu!!!

But yeah, the politics really are not making very much sense at all =(. Boooooo.

[kate_nepveu]

I have no impression that Lin/Tenzin is a current thing in any variant. Which, yay. Also glad that the bitter rejected woman bit is gone.

Otherwise yeah, I have very similar reactions.

[oyceter]

That is good! I got the impression from Tenzin and Korra that Tenzin was over it but Lin might not be, which... O_o.

[kate_nepveu]

I don't know what's intended but I don't get that vibe from her at all.

[oyceter]

Yeah, that's definitely my vibe from Lin, but not from the writers, if that makes sense? It is especially confusing because so much of the writing is going in ways that feels completely inorganic to the characters, or plays on things that I just don't see in the characters that it's hard for me to tell what the writers are trying to imply.

[12_12_12]

Yeah, that's definitely my vibe from Lin, but not from the writers, if that makes sense?

That was EXACTLY the vibe I got, and it annoyed me to no end TBH. Especially since the conversation between Korra and Tenzin where Korra has her "Ah ha! Lin is tough on me because she has breakup issues with you!" moment was not framed as unreliable narration by Korra, at all. I loved the setup we got where Lin was not at all impressed by Korra's Avatar status, and (rightly) hard on her for smashing up other people's property while dishing out vigilante justice, and I feel like the (unnecessary) backstory between Lin and Tenzin, and the show's framing of said backstory, undermines that in a way I don't like. :/

[oyceter]

Yes, I really was annoyed by how the show framed it! Ha. Then again, I feel like that goes for so much of the show =(. There were a lot of really intriguing premises and ideas in there, and the execution was awful.

[(Anonymous)]

Re the female friendship thing: I don't know about Katara and Toph, since the only episode with Toph in it I've seen is the one in which she was introduced. But the fact that by the end of episode eight the show seems to think that Korra and Asami have made the transition from unwitting (on Asami's part) romantic rivals to actual friends (albeit with a few lingering issues) suggests to me that the writers are basing their concept of female-friendship-in-a-series-with-insistent-boy/girl-shipping on the Archie Comics "we're best friends except when we suddenly remember that we both want the same boy" Betty and Veronica template.

I'm pretty sure the Betty and Veronica relationship didn't start out that way. But for something like the last three decades, the two of them have basically been portrayed as getting along quite well except when Archie starts paying more romantic attention to one of them than the other or they both want to go to the same dance or concert with him or something--or, more rarely, when the two girls decide to compete over something else, like who will be elected class president. Unless Korra gets over her crush on Mako, this sort of thing may be the best we can hope for in this department, since the writers appear to think it would be positively weird for a show involving a group of teenagers to have a heroine who's cheerfully single or even just mildly interested in a guy who's unequivocally interested in her (i.e., Bolin).

Marfisa

[oyceter]

*nods* The Betty-Veronica model sounds about right. It is just so frustrating because it inadvertently makes female friendships seem unimportant; any time there's something that might get in the way of the friendship, the friendship just gets tossed aside without consideration, like it carries no weight at all. Which I feel plays into the idea that women can never really be friends with each other because we are too petty and catty and wahtnot, which... goes against all of my own experiences. Bah!