Korra Discussion Post: Out of the Past

[whitelotusmods]

Discussion for this week below! Spoilers up to 1x09.

Comments

[vickyblueeyez]

The finale is going to be so good. I wonder what other villian will be after Amon. I didn't expect Amon to just be one season.

[diet_poison]

A few things.

First, I started out really disliking/not trusting Asami, and by now? I ADORE her, she is one of my favorite characters! She was flawless in this episode. except for the love triangle parts as noted below

I am SUPER EXCITED about Korra really starting to connect with Aang. I love love love adult!Aang and the whole adult!gaang and I'm so excited to see more of these flashbacks <3

Tarrlok: I just wanted to punch him in the face even before it was revealed that he is a villain as well - and I love him as a villain, quite a lot. He is a person who has gained a lot of political power and is dangerous - or at least, was, since I guess the cat's out of the bag now. I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up being the ultimate villain of the series, or at least connected.

Speaking of which, I thought Amon was going to be the ultimate villain, but I guess he's not? since apparently his arc is about to culminate? I am disappoint - why create such an awesome, creepy villain and then only keep him around for a season?

Also, what's going to happen with the whole benders v. non-benders thing? Because I really liked where that was going lately - that they were finally starting to show that yes, benders CAN be and sometimes ARE oppressive to the non-benders and it's not all morally black-and-white (benders=good, equalists=bad). I would love if Korra came to more of an understanding of this. I don't like what the Equalists do, but Korra did not help that situation with how she treated some of them in the first few episodes. I want to see some empathy and understanding; I want to see the main characters realize that it's not all black and white. (Also? I think one reason why I loved Asami so much in this ep is that she was absolutely *indispensable* to the krew, even though she was the only non-bender there.)

I'm sick and tired of the love triangle bullshit being pulled in just about every episode. Stop it. Just please. stop. Stop bringing high school drama into this situation, do you really think they'd stop to worry about crushes and who kissed who in the middle of a fucking rescue mission? I'm so tired of romance being central to the story when we're not even done with the first season yet. ugh

Lin Bei Fong is made of amazing and I adore her.

Tahno is such a cool character and I hope they bring him back in some way.

And finally, Naga is flawless, full stop. <333

[delphi]

I demand a Lin Beifong spin-off.

[lea_hazel]

So many thoughts! First, I still hate love triangles and probably always will. This one is particularly noxious and I hope at least that Asami doesn't grow to resent Korra and/or cling to Mako, because that would just be icing on a terrible cake.

Second, I got pretty attached to both Amon and Tarrlok as antagonists, and while their stories were well-handled, I can't help but think both of them had high concepts that could have been handled with greater finesse and depth. All in all, I am often ambivalent about LOK. I love and fangirl it! ...But. *shrug*

As a final note, Korra's doe eyes towards the end of the ep were totally working on me. Usually I'm immune to that sort of thing.

[opusculasedfera]

Amon was probably the best thing about this ep. Tarrlok(sp?)'s plan was kind of ill-thought out, though believeably desperate. Amon is still mysterious and creepy and actually seems to have an ultimate goal in mind, which is always handy. Any speculation on his ability to resist bloodbending? I wonder if having been a bender whose bending Aang removed might have given him some ability to resist? Or it does lend weight to the theory I've seen here a few times that he's not actually human, he's a spirit of some kind, which might make him less made of water? (And would, now that I come to think of it, be a nice way to tie Korra's social role - spirit world diplomacy - into the new political world that may or may not need an Avatar as much any more.)

If Amon is going to be defeated this season, does that necessarily mean the Equalist arc is over? I'm not sure it would happen, but it would be basically perfect if Korra defeated him and then realised that they still had to deal with his people and the very real social problem.

Very tired of the love triangle. I really wish people would sit down and talk about these things, though I worry that if they did, I would object to the way that conversation would go as well... Am I in the minority when I say that Mako has basically done nothing wrong? Korra was not at her classiest when she kissed him, but as far as terrible things go, hitting on someone who has a SO and then backing off when he says he's not interested is not really high up there. On Mako's side, am I misremembering that he was basically slightly confused and attracted to Korra, but he explicitly turned her down? Even if you are seeing someone, being hit on is not the same as cheating, honestly. It worries me that the narrative is building this up as an actual problem where Korra and Mako were somehow unfaithful, when it's more of a stupid misunderstanding.

Also I was really enjoying Korra and Asami being friends (driving fast cars together! Team Avatar!), so I will be very upset if they ditch that in favour of incredibly bland romance. AtLA was so good at female friendships, I really hope they haven't regressed.

[staranise]

Everything I was going to say about this episode got eaten up by SOKKA'S TRUSTY BOOMERANG.