Damn, the fight scenes in this were amazing. The pro-bending stuff has been fun, but the beauty of bending is the crazy creative stuff you can do and this ep had it in spades.
Lin's arc was alternately great and terrible. I was rolling my eyes at Pema going into labour at the worst possible moment, but I did like that, even though they had the opportunity to do the "the only other adult woman around during labour is a woman who is super uncomfortable with kids, haha!" thing, they didn't, and Lin's actual skills were recognised as equally important at that moment, instead of it just being about mocking her discomfort with "feminine" tasks. On the other hand, I could have done without her being relegated to "my dad's ex-girlfriend" all the time. It was especially annoying because it would have been a cute line if being his ex-girlfriend was shown as being much less fraught. I keep wanting to fan-wank the whole Lin-Tenzin-Pema triangle into something more interesting because "I am awkward around the people I/my SO used to fuck" is incredibly boring and typical, whereas "I have remained friends with my ex and am on good terms with his wife and kids" would at least be unusual, and would make "my dad's ex-girlfriend" a joke about simplifying what was obviously a more meaningful relationship instead of a straightforward description. Plus Lin sacrificing herself for Tenzin is a little awkward, though I'm hoping that she won't ultimately have sacrificed herself and that she can have some plot of her own while she's trying to escape with no bending.
I am extra tired of the Korra-Mako-Asami triangle. I did like that Asami said that she likes Korra and seems to be appropriately mad at Mako, which you don't always get in love triangles, but everything else was tedious. Everyone involved has legitimate points (except for Bolin who was just stirring up shit and hasn't even done anything with the A plot to redeem himself from that), but they're being presented in the worst possible way, and in a way that makes me worry that it's the narrative that's doing it badly, not just the characters being teenagers and bad at this...
Not sure about Iroh, I feel kind of "really, another new character?" and if the United Army (is that the right name?) fixes shit then that's going to be really narratively unsatisfying and deus ex machina-y.
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Lin's arc was alternately great and terrible. I was rolling my eyes at Pema going into labour at the worst possible moment, but I did like that, even though they had the opportunity to do the "the only other adult woman around during labour is a woman who is super uncomfortable with kids, haha!" thing, they didn't, and Lin's actual skills were recognised as equally important at that moment, instead of it just being about mocking her discomfort with "feminine" tasks. On the other hand, I could have done without her being relegated to "my dad's ex-girlfriend" all the time. It was especially annoying because it would have been a cute line if being his ex-girlfriend was shown as being much less fraught. I keep wanting to fan-wank the whole Lin-Tenzin-Pema triangle into something more interesting because "I am awkward around the people I/my SO used to fuck" is incredibly boring and typical, whereas "I have remained friends with my ex and am on good terms with his wife and kids" would at least be unusual, and would make "my dad's ex-girlfriend" a joke about simplifying what was obviously a more meaningful relationship instead of a straightforward description. Plus Lin sacrificing herself for Tenzin is a little awkward, though I'm hoping that she won't ultimately have sacrificed herself and that she can have some plot of her own while she's trying to escape with no bending.
I am extra tired of the Korra-Mako-Asami triangle. I did like that Asami said that she likes Korra and seems to be appropriately mad at Mako, which you don't always get in love triangles, but everything else was tedious. Everyone involved has legitimate points (except for Bolin who was just stirring up shit and hasn't even done anything with the A plot to redeem himself from that), but they're being presented in the worst possible way, and in a way that makes me worry that it's the narrative that's doing it badly, not just the characters being teenagers and bad at this...
Not sure about Iroh, I feel kind of "really, another new character?" and if the United Army (is that the right name?) fixes shit then that's going to be really narratively unsatisfying and deus ex machina-y.