The politics in The Legend of Korra are getting down to brass tacks. It’s hard not to see Kuvira as a net positive. There is no reason whatsoever to support the royal dynasty. Heck, as far as I’m concerned, there was every reason to support its overthrow. An actual caste system, an apartheid of rings that is so culturally ingrained that even the mall in Republic City’s “Little Ba Sing Se” is segregated by class. A powerful secret police, kidnapping and press-gangs. Propaganda and cruel whim and extortion. I’m with Bolin on this one.
I think Kuvira should hold an election—why wouldn’t she, she’s beloved—and then just claim authority thus. President Raiko sets a precedent for it. Then there you go. We should be so lucky: I kind of want to see Bolin succeed at keeping her on the strait and narrow…even as tensions increase.
Kuvira’s rise seems almost…inevitable. Combine the technocrat philosophies of Suyin’s Zaofu, the rise of the military in the wake of an imploding state, longstanding dissatisfaction with the current regime with a power vacuum and what do you get? The thing is, as much as the movements were undermined by corrupt leadership and tactics beyond the pale, the Equalists and the Red Lotus had a point. Kuvira has a point. It’s hard not to like her as she pushes the useless Prince Wu out of his fancy hotel rooms (even if he has some sweet dance moves). As I’ve been saying, as light a hand with making her a villain would be appreciated; make her an antagonist, but not a proper “bad guy.”
Great Uniter could go either way; but “Earth Empire” has an ominous ring to it. This book is called Balance; the brother-against-brother theme they are building up, along with the failings of the monarchy, make me think Korra will ultimately come as a peacemaker, compromising between Kuvira’s need for legitimacy and the Republic’s need for autonomy; like I said, I’d hold an election, with a vote in Republic City whether to remain seceded or rejoin the Earth Empire. Kuvira would win, and independence would win, and the legitimacy of one would hinge on the legitimacy of the other. Also, I want to see lavabending, Bolin. If it comes down to brother-against-brother…I used to think Mako would have taken it, but with Bolin maturing, I’d give it to him now that they’re older.
Speaking of things we want to see more of, Jinora is back. Meelo, be quiet, let the master speak! Very exciting to see the three of them tasked with recovering Korra. That’s what I’ve been asking for, and I’m ready to see how these characters have developed in the last year. Also I’m wondering if this means they meet Toph; if anyone could overwhelm her Oscar the Grouch exterior, it would be the airbending kids. They might just be the balm for Korra’s spirit that she needs to find peace—balance—to boot.
Can I talk for a minute about kid’s commercials? I saw one for this LEGO Star Destroyer, all pro-Vader, where the whole thing unfolds on hinges and turns into a playset for your minifigs. That. Is. Awesome. I want that, of course I want that! Then there was a commercial for these Monster High Freaky Fusion dolls that are these gothed up half-zombie, half-unicorns and centaur-harpies. I grew up in the midst of the witch-hunts and Satanic Panics of the 80s, and seeing stuff like this available like it’s no big deal makes the weird kid inside me happy, at least in a crassly commercial way.
I know some people who are freaking out about how great Toph was but…frankly, I just don’t care yet. I think it is fine? She’s not intrusive in the story, but apart from “I’m the original Beifong!” I haven’t seen why she’s here now. Just to mentor Korra? My theory is that Korra has crossed into the Spirit World proper, and that “tune in, turn on, drop out” Toph is a g-g-g-ghost. It will end with Korra’s catharsis and then an inversion of the Monk Gyatso skeleton reveal, where you realize Toph was Bruce Willis the whole time.
So it looks like the appearance of Toxic T-1000 Avatar wasn’t just symbolic in Korra’s last hallucination (if that’s what you want to call it), as Toph can sense the quicksilver of the Red Lotus’ poison still insider of her body. “Oh-ho! A straight forward physical explanation? I did not see that coming!” I was ready to be surprised by it…but no, no, of course there is a psychological aspect. Korra is keeping the metallic poison inside herself. Münchausen by bending? Toph, frustrated, tells her that she’s going to need to metalbend the poison out of herself, since Korra can’t relax. After, of course, Toph slings mud at her and knocks her around the swamp a bit.
What’s with the vines this episode? We hear Toph talking about them like they were Game of Throne’s weirwood, almost a vast fiber-optics network. Then we see Varrick with one. That’s where I see the heel turn coming from. The mad scientists are going to cook up something crazy. Bending machines? Spirit guns? Using captured spirits as batteries? Maybe Raava and Vaatu are hiding in the vines. Whatever it is, it’s the game changer. It’s the Sozin’s Comet. That’s what I’m predicting.
More little details of whimsy that brought joy to my life in this episode: the Kyoshi Medal of Freedom, since Kyoshi is the best, the cuteness of the frog-squirrel, seeing Eska loom in to do her doom and gloom—always glad to see character continuity—and even the old Earth King’s stuffed bear. Aw, Bosco! Maybe it’s just a wax replica? Nah, you know how these tourist traps are. This show is smart from the tiniest detail to the biggest clue. I wonder if they’ll even turn Wu around; after all, Orphan Black managed to turn Donnie inside out! The last season convinced me that The Legend of Korra can do anything. So I’m all in. I’m along for the ride. Buckle up. Bring it on.
Mordicai Knode wonders if we’ll ever meet the new Fire Lord. He is on Tumblr and on Twitter, are you?
I’m not sure what you mean by “meet” but in case you missed it, we already saw the Firelord, she sat next to Zuko at the coronation – she just didn’t say anything and we still didn’t learn her name.
I’m not so sure I would describe Kuvira as “net positive”. Regarding things we have ACTUALLY seen her do, or regarded from the viewpoint of a character like Bolin, who only gets limited information, I would agree with you.
However, for the viewers, this episode is FULL of flashing “warning” signs. There’s the heavy-handed symbolism of Kuvira crushing the medal of freedom. There’s her quite explicit threat to other world leaders. The name Earth Empire definitely has a negative connotation, and to top all that – We get mention of internment camps, one of the most clear aspects of a dictatorship. Granted, right now it’s just a rumour – But Bryke hasn’t used the unreliable narrator (or whatever the equivalent for a TV show is) trope very much. What we hear as rumours is almost always true.
Kuvira running internment/concentration camps puts her very clearly on the villain side, which would disappoint me. I hope this one turns out to be wrong, but I’m doubtful…
You’re quite right about Kuvira’s rise being inevitable – I just don’t get how ANYONE would think that giving one single person free reign and then ask her to hand the power back would work. It’s beyond stupid, so much that it’s almost unrealistic. But, oh well…
As for Toph…Meh. I didn’t really see point of having Zuko in LOK, and now even more time is spent on Toph. I wish they would ignore ATLA characters and focus on the new cast, which is still underdeveloped imho. Where was Asami in this episode?
Back on Toph… I don’t know, it felt too forced. Too over the top. She’s an old woman, but still somehow behaves like the child. It’s almost like she regressed from the Adult Toph we saw in flashbacks.
And I have to say I’m no fan of this “tough love” working as therapy. That’s not how you’d treat a PTSD patient, which Korra seemed similar to. However, as of this episode I’m not so sure of that anymore…
I have to admit I don’t quite understand her problems. Is it just that she’s afraid of being hurt again? Or is there more?
It doesn’t seem like the avatar not being needed plays a role, as we have speculated…
Going with historical analogies, the spirit vine is the equivalent of a nuclear weapon.
I don’t see Varrick defecting, but Zu Lee? OMG YES PLEASE Tell me the reason I saw Zu Lee in a mecha looking SOFA KING PISSED is because she’s finally ready to deliver the Pepper Potts sized whoop ass that Varrick/Tony Stark so desperately needs.
And I wouldn’t get my hopes up for a brother vs brother throwdown, as soon as Korra shows up and sees right through Kuvira, Bolin’s making excuses days will be done.
I think Toph is very much alive, and what she’s bringing, is some tough love and insight. Everyone else has been to eggshell around Korra to see that Korra’s real problem is that she doesn’t WANT to be the Avatar anymore, which is what I called when I saw her in the ring. It’s nice to see the show getting there. I don’t even think Korra was truly aware of how much she dreaded that, but now that Toph has thrown it out there, she has to face it.
@1 I pointed out elsewhere, but the brand new train is quite evocative to me, especially because Asami was so integral in its construction.
Soon, we will learn that Kuvira is transporting people to prison camps on the train, which will lead Team Avatar to destroy it(in the trailer).
Also, I think the show is doing a wonderful job with Kuvira, and I like that she’s pretty unequivocally evil.
She could call for an election. But she won’t. Because she doesn’t believe in ruling with the consent of the governed, she thinks “innovation should lead us” and her mind, she’s the most innovative person.
She claims out loud that monarchies are for punks, but she’s marrying into the Bei Fong family to get some of that dynastic mojo(there is no chemistry between her and Batar Jr, and Batar Jr is LITERALLY Percy Weasley, so marriage of convenience my friend).
I’m sure her motives were purer when she began. But what she was hoping to achieve then, and what she wishes to achieve now, are two diametrically opposed things.
Given that the Earth Kingdom is basically China, and given that the time frame of this series is basically the 1920s or so, the historical analogy that comes to my mind for Kuvira is Mao Zedong. The young Mao was fighting to free his people both from a very corrupt and exploitative regime and from brutal imperialist invaders (the Japanese), and once those groups had been expelled, he had to rebuild his ravaged country into a viable state. He had a very utopian vision for how his particularly Chinese flavor of Marxism would reform and heal his nation. But the longer he was in absolute control, the more that power corrupted him, and the more he lost his way. The younger Mao’s writings make it clear that he expected the creation of a stateless utopia to be the gradual, meticulous work of generations as people were gently coaxed toward enlightenment and self-sufficiency one by one; but as he grew older and mortality loomed, he became determined to force the process to completion in his lifetime and killed millions in the attempt.
So yeah, Kuvira means well, and at the moment she’s the lesser of two evils. But the path she’s on is leading somewhere very, very deadly. As long as she continues to assume that the only way the people can thrive is by obeying her orders without question, then things will not end well.
Am I the only one who realized once there was still some metal inside Korra, that it would probably be used against her by Kuvira? I thought once Toph tried to remove it that I would be wrong, but since it is still there, it seems like such a Chekovian element being set up for a future fight. And that will possibly be the real impetus for Korra to pull herself together and get that stuff out of her.
I could be wrong, but I read a TV Tropes a LOT.
@5 We’ve seen Korra fight against Kuvira(‘s troops?) in the trailer, which mostly seems to be from earlier episodes. It could very well be this is how she’ll be defeated by Kuvira in the next few episodes.
@5, Korra’s refusal to see the metal within her is an indicator of her subconscious desire to no longer be the Avatar. There is no way she leaves the swamp without removing it herself, thus indicating, she is willing to take on the mantle of the Avatar again.
Personally I half-suspect that Toph is lying about the residual metal as some kind of Dumbo’s-feather way of restoring Korra’s confidence. I’m not sure that really makes sense, but I’d find it disappointing if Korra’s struggles were due to some simple physical cause rather than the psychological cost of all she’s gone through.
I wanted to have something immediately more meaningful to say (I’ll try again later), but reading the review and the comments makes me thing of how Korra’s overall journey has been very specifically drawn out from her very first appearance.
The first thing we see Korra say, when she’s just a tiny little baby is “I’m the Avatar; you gotta deal with it!”
It’s not super insightful to say that what we’ve seen is that Korra is always trying to make the fact that she’s the Avatar other people’s problems. What we’ve seen before, and what we’re seeing now, is that she’s the Avatar, yes, but she needs to deal with.
I think that conflict has been made clear over and over. What I suddenly find cool is how nicely those VERY FIRST WORDS EVER fit into the whole thing.
Loving the season soo much but I have this sad overal feeling knowing this is the last venture into this universe…. :-(
@8, I get that, but I like how they are tying it to her psychological condition. I was momentarily upset by it when Toph first talked about it, figuring it was gonna be an easy out that had Korra back on her way to Republic City by the credits, but when it couldn’t be solved without some extra mental work by Korra, I was cool with it.
@9, I’ve been thinking a bit along those lines, and about how what being the Avatar means to Korra, and how it has changed.
When she was younger it was a chance to be the center of attention, but the threat by the Red Lotus led to her being isolated well into her teen years.
So she runs away with Katara’s help, and goes to Republic City. There, she meets the Equalists, and her first challenge to her self image. She’s always viewed herself as the most awesomest person, because she’s kickass. But then, she meets people who view bending as inherently unfair, and HER the most unfair of them all. When Amon is successful at debending her, even though she’s eventually restored, this is still a severe challenge to her self image.
She’s eventually seduced by Wan’s story, and like him, changes the world. And these changes have again, led her to question her self image. She began to see the Avatar as a tool for diplomacy as she rebuilt the Air Nation. But these challenges of the self were interrupted by Zaheer’s poison, and that has left Korra wondering, after all these years, if she even WANTS to be the Avatar.
And with the fact that the world is still standing after 3 years could even help convince her that the world doesn’t need her, feeding into this loss of self.
1. Jineapple
I mean, MEET her! Who is she, what is, for instance, her name! Introduce us! & as for Kuvira….well, when I see these rumored atrocities, I’ll change my point of view, but until then, taking a stern line with fickle bullies (Raiko hardly has my respect) trying to instill a puppet prince…no foul.
3. Aeryl
See, & I just think that is…easy. I don’t know, we’ve just done this “villain seems good, then oh ho, nihilistic world-destroying evil!” twist already. A couple of times. I am ready for the reverse-twist.
@12,
“villain seems good, then oh ho, nihilistic world-destroying evil!”
I disagree that Kuvira ever “seemed” good. Aside from saving Tonraq, the only things we’ve seen her do have been bad things. Threatening poverty stricken bandits. Use the same bandits to extort support from villages. Cut off supplies to people that desperately need them. Circumvent global diplomacy to install a dictatorship. Be a petty tyrant and bully to Wu(kick him out of his hotel room? SRSLY) Threaten to invade another city that won’t fall in line.
There was never a moment when Kuvira’s motives were in doubt here.
but until then, taking a stern line with fickle bullies (Raiko hardly
has my respect) trying to instill a puppet prince…no foul.
Except that’s not what she’s doing. This is the equivalent of Gen. Tommy Franks refusing to hand administration of war torn Iraq over to Paul Bremer, at the ceremony.
She didn’t address her concerns over Wu’s administration beforehand, she didn’t try to get them to reconsider or postpone the coronation, she misled everyone that she was going to be a good soldier so she could ambush them in a public forum over her refusal to step down, and used showmanship to stoke her militaristic popular support, and the threat of military force to achieve her goals with world leaders.
Again, Kuvira’s not, and never has been from what we can see, interested in an option that doesn’t end in conflict.
I’d just like to point out, again, what a great show this is when there’s so much room for interpretation of character motives this way. I tend to agree more with what Aeryl has to say, but I can see where mordicai is coming from.
It’s only too bad that the show has done so much overt telegraphing, delving so heavily into comic-book villain shorthand. It would have been more interesting if they’d done more to make her more sympathetic and shade it grayer. Make her apologetic but firm instead of boisterous, cold, and hard. Show that she has the concern for the people of the Earth Kingdom she claims to instead of being more interested in power and “innovation” for their own sake. Give her a little self-doubt over whether she’s doing the right thing.
But she doesn’t have any of that. You kind of have to ignore or deprecate the importance of things that were shown rather blatantly to reach that kind of conclusion. This is still a kids’ show, after all, and kids’ shows have to have their villains.
@15,
Show that she has the concern for the people of the Earth Kingdom she claims to instead of being more interested in power and “innovation” for their own sake. Give her a little self-doubt over whether she’s doing the right thing.
I do believe she feels she has the best interest of the Earth Nation at heart. But yeah, her lack of self doubt indicates that she isn’t big on self reflection. One consistency in the Avatar story is that the heroes DO doubt themselves(which is another reason why Korra’s journey has been so incredible, do bring her to a place where she does doubt herself).
When I see Kuvira’s metalbending in action, I can’t help but be reminded of Magneto.
Also, Korra training in a swamp with an old master? Kuvira establishing an Earth “Empire”? Korra hoping to bring Balance? Maybe Varrick is gonna create some spirit lightsabers.
@16 I don’t know about that. I ran across this Orwell quote in context of another article I was reading, and it seems remarkably appropriate:
Looks like Kuvira has had that end in mind for some time.
@18, I completely agree that she’s after power, now. But I don’t think she started out desiring power, like Bolin is now, she just wanted to help people and knew that she could.
But the combination of her insular and privileged upbringing, her own skills at metalbending, combat and diplomacy, and the fawning support she got as she became successful, has changed her from the idealist who first set out on this path. She NOW wants power. And she balms her conscience with the ideals she started out with.
As we’ve said, no one ever see themselves as evil.
In my opinion Kuvira has officially Godwinded. She is magic Hitler. Also the politics is being very heavy handed, does someone believe Kuvira has any good intention?
Also, very sad that Toph was in fact turned into the old hermit in the swamp and we will probably not see her again. Also another thing, when Toph says shes can see the whole world, she was sitting on a tree. Can she bend wood now? did she learn swamp bending?
@20: Kuvira is nowhere near Hitler levels yet. And I still say Mao is a better analogy. Mao arguably started out with good intentions but let power go to his head. Hitler was just a power-hungry demagogue who exploited his people’s basest impulses to trick them into giving him power. Amon was closer to Hitler, because he was lying to his followers, only pretending to support their cause so he could exploit their anger to accrue personal power. Kuvira is absolutely sincere in her goals, just ruthless in her pursuit of them.
As for Toph, the ability to sense spiritual energy is independent of bending. Guru Pathik was not a bender, but he was attuned to spiritual energy and able to sense the connections between living things. Toph has presumably learned the same skill; the vines are merely the conduit. It’s probably not too different from her ability to sense vibrations, so it was probably easy to learn.
(And swamp benders don’t bend wood, they bend the water within it.)
I’m pretty sure things are going to get pretty bad this season. One thing I’ve liked about this show is that they haven’t been afraid to put Korra through the ringer in even worse ways than Aang. I can’t figure out if it’s pure PTSD or some other disorder, but Korra is a mess, and I’m looking forward to seeing her rise out of it. This season’s name, Balance, I think also refers in many ways to Korra accepting what it means to BE the Avatar. She’s done a lot AS the Avatar, but has never been able to really balance out what that means as far as protecting the world. Being the Avatar for Korra has mostly been about bending and taking on bad guys; but at her core, she sees the Avatar as a fighter, not as a leader, teacher, and preserver.
Kuvira is the complete opposite of Korra this season: where Korra is doubting her abilities, her health, and her purpose, Kuvira is beyond assured of herself. Kuvira is very likely the big bad of the season, much like Zaheer was last season. And I agree with another poster here, the spirit root is definitely a chekovian intro in this episode for a bigger purpose later. I’m not sure what Kuvira’s end game looks like though, but I think of her as another Ozai or Sozin, a person with great ambition that demands an Avatar to bring back to order.
Speaking of which, I loved Bolin in this episode. The way he got completely handled by Kuvira with just a few words that he immediately then repeated in argument to Mako shows exactly why Kuvira needs him: he’s a believer. Every dictatorship needs someone on board who can be manipulated by their idealism, and Bolin is that guy. I can imagine that there were a lot of people that were convinced to believe in Kuvira because Bolin is a likeable, genuine guy, even though Kuvira is not. And guys like Bolin always make excuses and work as peacemakers between parties involved without realizing what it really is they are defending. I think Bolin has the longest journey in this season, and we’re going to see him go through an amazing character arc from this episode. At some point he’s going to realize who Kuvira really is, feel betrayed, and start working against her, and I can’t wait to see it.
Also… speaking of character arcs… I see great potential for the deposed Earth King. He’s a buffoon right now, but I have a feeling that over this season, he’s going to be spending time with the members of team Avatar and learning what leadership is supposed to look like. I’m not sure if I’m right on this, but I’m going to call that he’s going to end up the Earth King at the end of the season, but not before he goes through some seriously humiliating knocks along the way, and gains a respect and reverence for his own people.
The Airbenders were a joy to see; its interesting to see how they’ve become almost a peacekeeping force instead of air nomads like the previous Airbenders were. Anyone else think that the Earth “Empire” and the Airbenders are coming into conflict soon? Earth and Air are natural opposites, after all. :D I’m stoked. Tenzin, in a lot of ways, had in season 1 the spirit of an earth bender in an airbender’s body. He was rooted, pragmatic, and inflexible. He’s learned to change with the times a bit, which has been good for him. Now I think it’s time for the new Air nations’ newest test between their philosophies of peace with the new Earth Empire’s philosophy of dominance.
Toph was a welcome sight for me; I think it’s important to show that just because a character grew older, they didn’t necessarily mean they got wiser. Toph had two kids with two different men that she completely abandoned along with her job in Republic City, and we don’t know why. She’s still an earth bending master, but she’s got major people issues. I’m glad that just because she was in the episode, it didn’t mean we were getting a magic cure-all out of the appearance. Don’t get me wrong, I love Toph; but I didn’t want to see her as a deus-ex-machina to get Korra through this rough patch, and thankfully, the writers delivered.
All in all, I can’t wait for the next episode. Korra has an uphill battle to fight, but I think the one I want to see her win the most is the battle she’s waging inside. When she finally is a fully realized Avatar… comfortable not just bending the elements, but at peace with who she needs to be to keep balance in the world, I think she’s going to be amazing, and can deal with people like Kuvira on equal footing.
@22, I agree with most of your comment, but I don’t necessarily about Bolin. While I’m sure he’ll grow and examine why he fell for for Kuvira we selling, right now he believes in Kuvira, but he believes in Korra more. When she comes back, that’s when the situation will change, IMO.
RIGHT the lack of election seems pretty bizarre. But maybe Kuvira’s doing the whole “shock value” thing?
Also, there weren’t any representatives from the fire nation, were there? WHERE THEY AT.
You just blew my mind with the whole Sixth Sense thing going on with Korra. But of course it makes sense because the spirit brought her there. Of course it does.
@22: I don’t want to see Wu restored as the Earth King, because monarchy is an antiquated and intrinsically corrupt institution. Giving absolute power to a single person cannot possibly be healthy. Even if the occasional king is good and just, their descendants in the royal line will inevitably become more and more isolated from reality, more selfish, more pampered and shallow. Every Earth King or Queen that we’ve seen has been either pampered and out of touch or corrupt and rapacious, and that underlines the intrinsic flaws of monarchy as a system of government. The Earth monarchy needs to end. Kuvira’s fascist system is not the right alternative, but it arose as a response to the ongoing failures of the monarchy, so restoring the monarchy would just be making the same old mistakes and wouldn’t actually fix anything. What the Earth nation needs is a more populist system of governance.
@24: We did see Zuko and his daughter, the current Fire Lord, at Wu’s coronation. They were seated next to Raiko and Tenzin.
Kuvira’s quotes:
“There is something you must know about me; I always get what I want.”
“Use the all the four elements, the Avatar State, everything you want. I know you a lil’ rusty.”
“I knew you were weak.”
Kuvira is a delusional Internet pseudo-intellectual with anime avatars. She uses the words “know”, “clearly”, “the fact that you…”, “hard truths”, “know” to “conquer” a debate but without reason, logic or essence.
27. Kuvira Disliker
This isn’t about conquering Zaofu, it’s about ethics in bending journalism!