white_lotus | so how about that book 2 premiere?

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so how about that book 2 premiere?

I've posted a few thoughts over at my journal, but I'm curious what other people thought about it.

What's going on with Jinora? Do you think there's a chance she'll become Korra's true spiritual teacher? That would be pretty amazing. I'm wondering how long there are going to be these split storylines / at what point Jinora&co will meet up again with Korra&co.

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Oooh, I didn't even think about the possibility of this turning into the Korra-and-Jinora show, but that would be AWESOME. I really want that now.

I thought Eska was hilarious. It's a very old relationship dynamic turned on its head, and hopefully they're setting up a story arc where Bolin gets his mojo back.

Makorra is a hot teenage mess but I'm glad we get to see it on TV, you know? There are a lot of teenage guys out there who think that's just how things go. Girls! They're crazy! Gotta put up with them! But the show's saying, hey, getting jerked around like that isn't okay, and Korra has to face the fact that she's being a douche by making him responsible for her feelings.

The real mistake the people raising Korra made is that they always presented her with tests she could master and fights she can win. They've kept her word very clean and simple, so she hasn't had to deal with frustration or try to reconcile complexity. So now life is teaching her that this stuff is complicated the hard way.

I'm utterly baffled as to how the Korra-Tenzin interaction has gone so wrong over the past six months - they were doing so well together. I'm also baffled as to why the entire White Lotus lied to Korra - and why Aang hasn't mentioned it - and I'm astonished that this is the first real interaction we've seen between Korra and her parents. S1 gave me the very strong impression that she left to live in the compound at a very young age, and didn't have a huge amount of interaction with them - so her sudden teenage rebellion at her dad is... baffling to me.

... as is the bit where she didn't look more horrified by the invading fleet.

AND I am annoyed as fuck that Mako and Korra have left the Fire Ferrets; that Korra is being painted as a crazy laydee while Mako is just ~trying his best~; and that Asami is... basically absent from interactions, and we didn't see her interacting with Korra at all with any degree of seriousness.

So: starting out grumpy; still hopeful. (Because actually, there were nice bits: Jinora! The art!)

Haha, yes! I didn't like how Makorra came about last season, but I am kind of enjoying their relationship problems. I hope they continue to butt heads and make mistakes.

Eska was totally my roommate's favorite part of the show. "I will save you, my feeble turtleduck."

I think part of what makes me like the show so much is that I can step back and watch it as A Thing I Know Kids Will Watch. So while I can want to smack Korra and Mako's heads, I have enough faith in the Avatar creative team to belief that this is a storyline that's going to be helpful for people in similar situations. It gives you an emotional roadmap of where you are and how to get to "healthy".

Season one gave me that impression too! The White Lotus seemed like they had much more control over Korra's life than her parents. I wasn't baffled by her teenage rebellion so much as I was baffled by Tonraq's involvement in keeping her kenneled, more or less.

I don't think Korra's being painted as a crazy lady, though. She is being kind of unfair to Mako, but I find that realistic for both her character and just teenagers/people new to relationships in general. I also think that Mako doesn't have the grand perspective on the stresses that Korra is under that we have as viewers, so while he thinks she's a little nuts, we the viewers know that she's under a lot of stress and pressure and confusion.

Yeah, I felt really bad for Bolin, and I don't really understand why Mako joined the police. I hope we get more Asami & Korra interaction, and Bolin & Asami friendship, and Bolin being something other than comic relief.

Lack of Asami in this episode was the one really disappointing thing about it. Well, and lack of Lin Beifong, too, but we can't have everything. But if Asami doesn't continue being an integral part of the main team I'm going to be pissed.

Edited 2013-09-15 13:30 (UTC)

I would actually be interested if this was the Korra and Jinora show! As it is, that was a lot of set up for 40 minutes, and none of it was done well, except for ASAMI AND BIPLANES, which needs to be its own spin-off.

I don't understand why we're supposed to think that Korra's being super unfair to Mako. I mean, yes, storming off all the time isn't a great idea, but it seemed pretty clear to me that she wants him to discuss the options with her and offer an opinion as well as support, and he's just flopping between giving her an opinion without discussion, or telling her he supports her in a vague way. Only I'm not sure the show is actually presenting "having a lengthy discussion" as an option in a way that the kiddies will understand, so I'm not really optimistic about this plotline.

I just wish the showrunners were willing to make her deal with complexity either. They set up these complicated and interesting situations, but then Korra gets a simple solution. Spirits in the ruined forest need to be lived with in peace and harmony? The Avatar state will push the magic button: no negotiation required! Amon brings up a good point about unequal societies? Good thing he's a hypocritical liar!

I don't think the spirit situation in the South Pole has been completely resolved, at least... This entire book is supposed to be about her learning to deal with spirits and the spirit world. If it ends up being entirely about the Tonraq/Unalaq conflict, I will be very sad.

Fair point, but even as a first sally, it felt perfunctory. I'm fairly sure we're going to learn that she shouldn't have done that, and it would be more meaningful that she was complicit in Unalaq's plan if she'd put serious effort into waking up the Southern Lights, rather than it being something a bit unpleasant that she returns from not even tired.

Oh definitely. I mean, I love that Korra punches first, thinks later, but it'd be nice if it didn't always work for her.

Yes, exactly. I wouldn't mind that Korra is inflexible and confused in the face of real-world grey areas, but I want the narrative to actually deal with the possibility that her solutions are wrong for more than 30 seconds.

I agree resoundingly with most everything that's been said so far, and don't see much point in repetition. So, here's my unique bit.

Is the Northern polar wossname intended to be the same as the Spirit Oasis from ATLA Book 1? If so, I am confused because I thought the oasis was fairly near to the city at that point, and things wouldn't drift that much in seventy years, would they? But if it's not the same bit, then we just coincidentally have two places of Awesome Spiritual Power near the North Pole? That rings of...shoddy worldbuilding, and I expected more.

Also. I can (grudgingly) accept 'forest' around the spirit places, as a symbolism of life and wossname. But there is absolutely no conceivable reason to have them be portrayed as deciduous forests.

You know, I thought the forest was weird, but I hadn't even made the connection between it and the Spirit Oasis. I'm really curious to see if they ever explain that -- I don't usually associate sloppy worldbuilding with Bryke. =/

I haven't rewatched it yet, but going off of my memory -- I think it's clear to the viewer what Korra wants, but I don't think she really makes it clear to Mako. In the first fight, he offered an opinion and she shot it down, leading him to think she just wants support. So he offers support and then she gets angry that he doesn't give her an opinion. Mako is neither tactful nor particularly perceptive -- I think there's plenty of room for improvement with both of them, relationship-wise.

I would be okay with that, except that I felt Korra's apology later kind of undercut that arc. Yes, she is being difficult, but Mako got to have the last word of "yup, being your boyfriend is SUPER HARD" without acknowledging that he wasn't exactly being the paragon of usefulness that he thinks he is.

Yeah, that didn't particularly sit well with me either. =/ This show's adoration of Mako is just....weird.

I, somewhat cynically, wonder if they were trying to replicate some of the success of Zutara, by making the love interest less goofy and conciliatory than Aang was with Katara. Problem is, Zuko and Katara fought because of REAL DIFFERENCES, and Zuko had a lot more on-camera hardship to face (Mako's is mostly pre-show, iirc) and got knocked off his pedestal a lot, which made his posturing bearable. Mako and Korra are just straight teen romance where "being the Avatar" could probably be just as easily replaced by "going to highschool" or "having a part-time job" for all the specificity it lends to their fights. I don't mind that they're teenagers, but I want the setting to matter!

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so how about that book 2 premiere?

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