Episode link: here. Discussion of the episode: ahead. Beware.
In my last review, I mentioned how excited I was for this episode. I thought it was going to be an elegant exploration of Republic City in the wake of Amon's bold move at the Pro Bending Arena. I had hoped we would wander the city with Korra, seeing how the shockwaves were spreading through everyone we have met so far. Boy, was I wrong.
But I can't help but wish that that had been the past episode, instead of what we got. Close your eyes and imagine with me*: At the beginning of the episode, Korra is at city hall, slightly behind-and-to-the-left-of Tenzin. The council (in other words, Tenzin and Tarrlok) are debating plans to protect the city from Amon, but Korra keeps interjecting ideas of her own. To get rid of her, Tarrlok appoints her as ambassador to the city. Tells her it's the Avatar's job to bring people together. He wants a report of her impressions about the state of the city by the end of the week. So Korra goes out to Republic City Park, and sees the student protester. He's spewing his rhetoric, and stops to give her a look of superiority. She hangs her head, and goes and sits by the pond. Gummo, the old homeless man, comes out of his bush, and they converse about the way that Republic City is becoming. She can go talk to Skoochy, and either find out how the gangs are reacting from him, or pass by some of their turf, listening to their gossip. Go visit the shopkeeper from the first episode who owed the gangs protection money. He might have some interesting opinions about Amon. You can fit in the Tahno scene at the police station, or have Korra stumble upon him at a Healing Hut or something. Talk to Chief Beifong while you're at the police station--the contents of that conversation could be a nice way of showing how her attitude toward the Avatar has changed. Of course you still have to include the Pro Bending Arena scene that was in the actual episode that aired this week. I could go on, but the point is, this feels it would have been a much better episode than the one that actually aired this week.
*Don't actually close your eyes and imagine with me. You can't read with your eyes closed. Unless someone is reading this to you.
So, what was so wrong with the episode? I might have been a little harsh, but its first flaw was that it was not the episode I described above. I sat down and was prepared to watch a character-building episode. Instead, what I got was hasty character exposition, more love angst, and mecha tanks. So that was it's first problem. And actually, that was also its second problem. This felt like an episode in a kids show. Some people might counter by saying: "Well, this is a kids show!" I don't think that holds up as an argument, though. Would so many people count Avatar: The Last Airbender as a landmark in television if it had been nothing more than a kids show? The complexities of plotting in Last Airbender were superb, and they respected the audience, regardless of who comprised it. The creators never just dropped a plot point out of thin air; there was always (well, usually *coughcough* Lion Turtle *cough*) an allusion to important mechanics before they were implemented.
We should have heard more about Hiroshi Sato before such a big reveal in this episode. We should have found out that his wife was killed by firebenders well before now. Asami has been a player in the last four episodes. Why are we just now hearing that she's been taught self-defense since she was "this" tall. To introduce a characteristic because you want to use it later in the episode is something that a common kids show would do. I expected better planning from the Avatar crew. Watch "City of Walls and Secrets" from the old series. That's what I expect.
So, I guess I should get on to the actual guts of the episode now. We start out with Korra showing up at the former Pro Bending Arena to tell the boys that they can come live with her, only to find out that Asami has already offered them a place at her house. Korra is dejected, but accepts an invitation to Asami's house the next day, after some urging from "Pabu".
We get the scene with Tahno (which unfortunately seemed a little out of place in the episode we were given), and then head to the Sato Estate to hang out in the pool with Asami and the bending boys, where we find out that holy crap Asami's an awesome driver and can kick butt! (So why did Mako make her feel so safe in "The Voice In The Night" if she's so great at taking care of herself?) Then, coming out of the bathroom, Korra overhears Hiroshi Sato talking to "somebody" about very suspicious things. I hate this as a setup. Not only is it overused, but the opportunity for the character to be proactive and learn these facts herself is replaced by coincidence. Nothing is required of Korra in order to find out this information. All she has to do is listen at the keyhole. And if she hadn't been there, none of this episode would have taken place.
To sum up the rest, Korra is proven right (surprise, surprise) about Hiroshi Sato and there ends up being a big factory under the Sato mansion. Turns out Hiroshi had lured the metalbending cops, along with Tenzin, Lin, and Korra, to his "lair" to test out his new mech inventions, and also to capture the meddling benders to take them to Amon. There's a fight; benders lose. Asami comes in and saves the day by electrocuting her father. Everyone's moving to Air Temple Island, and Lin is quitting as police chief so that she can get her cops back/defeat Amon "Her Way."
Everything that happened this week may not have been expected, but the way the plot was laid out made it feel very much like a connect-the-dots worksheet. Everything was exactly as it seemed. This is part of what makes people (like the guys over at Republic City Dispatch) think that Hiroshi's not actually a main player in Amon's scheme. He's a little too earnest in his beliefs, and his strategy (expose my secret factory by bringing in top-flight benders, and in the best case, take them to Amon and hope nobody notices that the chief of police and a council member is missing) is not very sound. Additionally, the fact that Hiroshi tries to capture the Avatar for Amon also means that Amon does not keep Hiroshi very "in-the-loop" with his current plans. Otherwise, Hiroshi would have known that Amon could have had the Avatar as a prisoner at least twice if he had wanted her. Hiroshi doesn't know that Amon has something special in store for the Avatar.
The theory put out on the latest episode of Republic City Dispatch is that Asami is still not someone to be trusted. That she is further in on Amon's plan, and has to clean up the mess that her father has made in this situation. Plus, this incident has given her a chance to prove her trustworthiness to Team Uh-vatar, allowing her to get closer to the Tenzin and Korra. I support this theory, and the picture I posted at the top of this article looks to back it up. The guys also bring up the idea that, if Asami is Super-Driver, why was she unable to avoid Mako on her moped?
I still don't trust Tarrlok, either.
Other housecleaning:
- Platinum being unbendable seems like a cop-out. I understand why they did it (to increase dramatic tension), but it just feels like using 'magic metal'. "You can't bend this metal, because it's enchanted!" Why not make the metal bendable? I feel like that would make the world of Avatar a little more fair. It's not like there're metalbenders crawling all over the city who are going to make your invention worthless. We've seen, what, eight? They can't be everywhere at once.
- As others have noted, the mechs do look like Big Daddys from Bioshock. Still kind of a cool design, though.
- Bolin is beginning to lose some of his charm for me. All he does is provide comic relief, and it's starting to get less funny, too. I need to see some seriousness in his actions, some sense that he's a human being and not a two-dimensional gimmick.
- Really, any scenes with the bending brothers and/or Asami are usually a big let-down. The show drags whenever Mako hits the screen, and I just really don't care what happens with any of their characters.
- Tenzin and Lin Beifong, on the other hand, interest me immensely. I don't even think it's because of their connection to the original series. It's more that it's informative for me to see responsible adults in Republic City interacting with each other and figuring out the implications of what is going on, rather than watching Mako threaten Korra with "we're not gonna be friends anymore!!!"
- Why doesn't any of the several very proficient earthbenders down in that factory bend the earth to tip over these mechs? Defeating my locomotive opponent with earthbending would have been my first instinct, if I was a very proficient earthbender.
Crackpot-Theory-of-the-Week:
We got no flashback this week, but I'm going to say that this Yakone character was a firebender serial killer, and Aang took away his bending. That's what gave Amon the idea to try to take people's bending away, because that's how Avatar Aang punished the person that killed his parents.
No episode this Saturday. Nick will probably show a repeat, so, if you want, you can come and read the review I did for whatever episode that ends up being.
All images are the property of Nickelodeon, Inc., Bryan Konietzko, and Mike DiMartino. All rights reserved.
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