All right, you know the drill. Episode's right here. Watch and return, if necessary.
Well, for me, this was the best episode that The Legend of Korra has put across yet. The lighting and the action were typically excellent, but the thing that made "When Extremes Meet" a classic is its tight focus around one central conceit.
At the beginning of the episode, the bending brothers and Asami take up Korra on her offer to move to Air Temple Island, and we get some good-feeling camaraderie between the airbender kids and their new co-residents. Ikki and Bolin's interactions in particular are a real treat. Ikki blurts out to Asami that Korra likes Mako, and we're left a little unsure whether or not Asami had already surmised that fact. It would have seemed to be a minor detail, but when Asami shoots a nasty glare at Korra and Mako later on in her rear-view mirror, it makes it seem like maybe there is some ongoing strife that will be mined later (and this will be the basis of my "crackpot-theory-of-the-week").
So the episode shifts tone when Tenzin seeks out Korra, so that the two of them can go to see the ceremony naming the new police chief, Saikhan, in Lin Beifong's place. This has got to make Korra feel great. This is some official city business, and Tenzin thinks Korra should be there just as much as he should. During the press conference, when Saikhan states that he will be reporting to Tarrlok on all matters pertaining to the Equalist Revolution, Korra makes a comment to Tenzin, calling Tarrlok a weasel-snake. Is this to impress Tenzin that she's lined up with his way of thinking now? I think it can be read that way. She's feeling like big stuff. So when she goes up to Tarrlok after the conference and tells him: "You need me, but I don't need you. I'm the Avatar," there's a fair amount of hubris in that statement. Even I felt like maybe she deserved to get taken down a peg or two. But what Tarrlok does is destroy her self-confidence by reminding her of her failure to airbend, telling her "You're not the Avatar. You're just a half-baked Avatar."
And it's around that power dynamic, the struggle between Korra and Tarrlok, that the rest of the episode turns. Instead of following Tenzin's advice and trying to meditate on the flashbacks she's had of Aang, Korra goes and mopes on a cliff-side. And when her friends tell her that she can go out and save the city with them, without airbending, she is only too willing to listen. But it is not for the city's salvation that Korra goes into the night with her friends. She goes to prove to Tarrlok and the entire city that she is a fully capable Avatar, even despite not being able to airbend. The fact that she sticks around at the scene of her victory and waits for Tarrlok to arrive tells me that the main thing she wanted to accomplish was showing Tarrlok up.
And with that, the balance of power shifts back to Korra. But what does she accomplish? Feeling Korra's burn, Tarrlok goes into the ruling council the next morning and practically demands that they pass a curfew on non-bending citizens, presumably because any of them could be an Equalist. Though Tenzin strongly disagrees, the council, of course, passes Tarrlok's measure. The power swings back to Tarrlok.
And when Korra and her team get a call on their police scanner that there is a large Equalist mob gathering in a suburban area, they race to the scene to find that it's only a group of non-benders who have had their power shut off as part of the curfew. This sets up a beautiful tug-of-war between Korra and Tarrlok, each asserting her or his own power in indirect ways. When the crowd reminds Korra that she represents them, too, she shoves two police officers out of her way and promises the non-benders that she will put a stop to their oppression. But when she confronts Tarrlok about it, he orders the metalbenders to gather the civilians and imprison them. Korra fires back by using her earthbending to counteract Tarrlok's orders. Tarrlok, frustrated again, decides to strike back at the Avatar by arresting her friends. Korra strikes back by raising up two giant boulders and threatening Tarrlok with them. Tarrlok then threatens her with jail time, too. Korra comes out the loser in that round.
But despite Tenzin's insistence that he would take care of the matter in the morning, Korra cannot sleep until she has taken action to rescue her friends. Except that her true motive is not trying to rescue her friends, but rather asserting her power to force Tarrlok into freeing her friends. She is still stinging from Tarrlok calling her a half-baked Avatar, and it shows when she uses earthbending to throw him off of a ledge in city hall, saying: "Still think I'm a half-baked Avatar?" But, in the end, Tarrlok still gets the better of Korra, bloodbending her into submission.
Korra shows the extent of her pride throughout the episode. It is humility that Korra is missing, not airbending. If she had stayed on Tarrlok's task force, not only would the curfew never have been enacted, but she would also have been able to keep an eye on Tarrlok without him suspecting that she was doing so. Her superiority complex has made the entire city worse. She's right, she can't save the city as she is now.
Korra never gives up. Also, she looks like Katara in this shot. Y'know, except the fire.
Other Stuff:
- I didn't bring up the flashbacks this week, because it looks like we'll be getting some extended time with Aang next week, so I'll just deal with it then.
- The voice for Captain Saikhan sounded familiar, so I looked it up. Captain Saikhan was voiced by Richard Epcar, who also voiced (among many other characters) Batou from Ghost in the Shell.
- I still don't trust Asami. It was a little too easy for the team to knock off those chi-blockers, given the difficulty they had in the past.
- I think I saw Tahno in the crowd of non-benders that Tarrlok arrests. Judge for yourself:
Crackpot-theory-of-the-week: Asami is still evil in my book, and is probably pretty close to Amon. But that look that she gave Korra and Mako when they were giving each other googly eyes in the backseat of her car tells me that maybe she really does care about Mako, and maybe that will be what brings her away from evil.
All images are the property of Nickelodeon, Inc., Bryan Konietzko, and Mike DiMartino. All rights reserved.
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