Korra book 2- Spirits- trailer and discuss

[Lord Relvenous]

He always does great work, but I think that sword is probably his best looking piece I've seen from him, unseating Gimli's ax as my favorite. It's a gorgeous recreation, and you get the idea that he's an actual fan of the show.

[Steve]

I think the big clue was using the live action DVD as target practice.

[Ford Prefect]

It was a tad irresponsible of Kya and Bumi to try to guild-trip Tenzin when his daughter is missing isn't it?

They didn't exactly bring it up out of the blue.

Here's my question why are Kya and Bumi both childless, they are the son and daughter of an airbender after all.

Because they're human beings, not baby making machines for a nation that doesn't care they exist.

[Mr Bean]

Here's my question why are Kya and Bumi both childless, they are the son and daughter of an airbender after all.

Because they're human beings, not baby making machines for a nation that doesn't care they exist.

I mean why, you figure Bumi might have a bastard or two knocking around even if he's not married. And Kya might never meet that special someone, but both childless? I'm wondering if it's a future plot point, hey brother and sister why no kids?

[Crazedwraith]

So I just caught up on the three episodes so far and man. It's not bene great. So much stuff seems to be out of left field. And the pacing seems messed up.

And more important, it just doesn't seem fun. The characters have all become unlikable. And the whole Tenzin/Korra falling out just feels like they've forgotten the rapport they build up in book 1. To the extent Korra doesn't think anyone except guy-we've-only-met-just-now has any faith in her, what?

[JME2]

I think Korra's arrogance at finally entering the Avatar State (and the victory over the Equalists) is blinding her to the lessons of Book 1.

Shes' reverting back to her pre-Amon behaviors and Unalaq has been carefully stoking her ego and insecurities.

[Ahriman238]

She's pretty clearly impatient. She feels she's mastered Air to the same standards she has the other elements, and I think she has. Mostly because she never bothered with the underpinning spirituality and philosophies of the other elements either. It's not actually out of character for her to be impatient and easily frustrated, and a couple months of Tenzin saying she hasn't mastered Airbending, no matter how perfectly she can do the moves could drive her over the edge. Especially when she hears it's not Aang's wish that kept her at home until she snuck out, but her parents' and Tenzin's choice. The line about nobody believing in her? Yes, that's BS, but understandable in her position. Tenzin may believe in her, but when's the last time he actually said it, or let her do something important without his help or advice? I'm betting it was around the time Amon took a fast boat out of town.

Particularly where she learns about all this at the same time her teacher and father are treating her uncle, the only one to effectively deal with the spirits, with barely veiled suspicion and hostility.

[Lord Revan]

Something people seem to forget is that Korra is in the end a 17-year old girl and she has spent most of those 17 years locked in a compound with little to no true social life so her impatience and lack of social skills aren't so odd when you remember that.

[Steve]

So, new episode, the balloon is going up, as they say.

Some really impressive fight scenes at least.

I'm wondering what Unalaq has said and done to buy time against the rest of the world.... because even if the North has superior forces it can't win if the rest of the world unites to force it to back down. He has to have done some kind of manipulation there (perhaps backing the President's campaign?). I think it would be interesting if we find out the division is actually the Earth Kingdom, with its focus on legalism and authority, being his main supporter, while the Fire Nation would be the defender of the South's rights. Especially since the Fire Nation might also feel some matter of obligation since they're the reason the South had to be rebuilt in the first place.

[Lord Relvenous]

This episode was great! They're really hitting their stride with the humor, as this one got more than a few belly laughs out of me.

[JME2]

This episode was great! They're really hitting their stride with the humor, as this one got more than a few belly laughs out of me.

Yeah, the shot of the pissed Eska coming after Bolin at the end had me in stitches.

And I agree with Steve. Like Amon, Unalaq has to have some kind of plan for dealing with the other nations. His 'nobility' is not unlike Sozin and could end up igniting another global war.

[J Ryan]

This episode was great! They're really hitting their stride with the humor, as this one got more than a few belly laughs out of me.

Yeah, the shot of the pissed Eska coming after Bolin at the end had me in stitches.

And I agree with Steve. Like Amon, Unalaq has to have some kind of plan for dealing with the other nations. His 'nobility' is not unlike Sozin and could end up igniting another global war.

I'm pretty sure it's going to have something to do with the spirits that have been randomly attacking so far. My guess would be what Kora has done with the first portal not having quite the pacifist result.

[JME2]

Yeah, it's very interesting that Unalaq could open the Northern Portal without Korra. I'm guessing she was insurance, that there's some cost or hurdle.

[Ahriman238]

Might have a deal with the Dark Spirits, or be turning them loose and protecting his forces and settlement with his water-spiritbending. Or, being a world leader whose clearly been planning this for a while, he's done spadework to delay an Allied response perhaps by getting one or more nations on his side. Or just convincing them that this is an internal matter for the Water Tribe.

Figures once there's some action and Korra clues in that Unalaq's a villain, they immediately have to leave the fighting to sound the alarm and rally support.

[Mr Bean]

There goes my hope that Uncle was not the evil villian.
I'm now hoping for him not to really be him. Come on Kohn, time to make your entranced.

[Batman]

Blueberry Spicehead? Seriously?
Unalaq being the villain was telegraphed from the word go and it's not like evil siblings are unprecedented in the Avatar universe.
The 'bad' guys wearing Water Tribe blues and grays was somewhat disconcerting.
I know this Verric (or whatever he's spelled like) is supposed to be...eccentric, but seriously, putting an airplane on a ship without thinking about how you're actually going to launch the damned thing?
I DID like the BATO pack idea.

[Ford Prefect]

Unalaq being outed as a villain this early on makes me think there's a twist coming.

[Steve]

Maybe, maybe not. The twist may be real motive, or it may be that he's being manipulated by an unseen figure.

[Crazedwraith]

I actually liked this episode better than the preceding ones. Tenzin and Ikki's scenes were especially nice and I even liked Varrick's schtick more in this episode.

Still not sold on the Bolin/Eska thing though.

[Ahriman238]

So, what are the chances as long as the gang are going north they'll drop by the Southern Air Temple to pick up Tenzin and family? He and Bumi would be a great help in convincing the other nations to get onboard. Plus, with the likelihood of rampaging spirits being unleashed by the conflict and maybe controlled by her evil uncle, Korra really needs to get on the ball with her spiritual training.

[JME2]

Yeah, it's like Book 2 of the original series.

Sooner or later, Team Korra's subplot will re-intersect with Team Tenzin's subplot.

[Steve]

Yeah, it's very interesting that Unalaq could open the Northern Portal without Korra. I'm guessing she was insurance, that there's some cost or hurdle.

And as it turns out... he didn't. It was a bluff.

And I love it when things like that happen. There seems to be in inclination in people to believe what characters say on screen and to then cry "INCONSISTANCY!" when there's an obvious reason: lying. Granted, some writers foolishly sustain this attitude by... having it become true. But thankfully not this time.

So, I'm betting this is where the Spirit World storyline kicks in. It would be too easy to presume the Agni Kais were just hired by Unalaq's people, after all, so I'm contemplating if we have another player in the game.

On a final note.... this is the Mako we needed last year. He's growing out of "Commander Makotay" behavior (Thanks again to Chuck for that) and showing something beyond bland moodiness. He's got a job to do and Korra is interfering with it and constantly letting her strong head lead her into bad calls. And now she's, y'know, trying to undermine the civilian leadership of the world's leading nation to fight a private war and mad that he didn't disobey his lawfully-constituted leader for her.

On that issue... As much as we're supposed to hiss at the President refusing to help, we have to face facts; the Water Tribes are technically supposed to be one society, thus this is an internal matter in the eyes of the rest of the world(especially since the South was so shattered by the Fire Nation that they were effectively stateless), and finally, if he did side with the South, that far more numerous North would be up in arms - destabilizing Republic City since it would suddenly have a large enemy population within its borders - and would decry interference in internal affairs; an accusation that would likely find willing ears in Ba Sing Se, with its own wide and hard-to-control kingdom, and maybe even parts of the Fire Nation. It would be politically reckless for the newly-instituted leader of a society that just six months ago faced a massive internal insurrection over the privilege of benders to take his nation to war on the say-so of the world's most powerful bender versus one of the bending world's lead heads of state. The Republic's rebuilt institutions haven't even settled yet and Korra wants them to go to war?

Not that I can't understand her feelings, but she's being foolish. Korra is still very young, and she's impatient, and she's angry, feeling hurt and betrayed by her uncle, she's not thinking of the consequences of such things. She has to learn to consider the world as a whole, just as Aang did. (And frankly it's not entirely her fault; her father and the White Lotus and Tenzin did her a massive disservice with how they chose to raise her).

One of the themes I'm seeing creeping up, especially with that training subplot involving Meelo, is the issue of control and how much is too much. Unalaq believes in controlling the whole of the Water Tribes to combat a menace from the spirit world and to heal the rupture in their society. His views on control passed to his children, with Eska clearly unable to consider Bolin as anything but personal property, someone for her to find contentment with via control. Tonraq tried to control Korra's upbringing to keep her safe. Even Korra seems to give in to the impulse to take control of a situation to direct it how she wants it to go, even if it's not for the best. And we see Tenzin has ideas on training that... I'm not sure fit how Aang would have developed, although its clear Aang was not perfect either (which is good. Aang is not the Messiah literally, he had flaws, and I can see him alienating his other children from his glee at having an Airbending son and a future for his nation. One can only wonder at the fights he must have had with Katara or the sense of worry and despair that might have gnawed at him before Tenzin was born and proven an Airbender). Given the name of the season is "Spirits", it's an interesting link. One ponders if the issue is going to be Korra learning to let go, to not try to control when interacting with spirits.

We'll have to see how this all plays out.

[Mr Bean]

My new hope is that all sides in this conflict are dirty. Also Korra sure loves to smash things.
That looked like a nice desk to.

[Ahriman238]

Awww, looks like no modern Fire Nation for us.

I have a theory why Korra can't replicate Unalaq's... don't want to call it spirit-bending, but you know what I mean. She has the basic form down pat, but her attitude is wrong. Unalaq approaches it as "please accept this display as a humble offering, and leave in peace." Korra is more "C'mon, vanish already!"

Wow. I wonder how many problems they've had in the past with kids wielding the personal and political power of the Avatar. So far she's added her unofficial seal of approval to Unalaq's seizing control, threatened and later attacked a judge for ruling against her family, recklessly attack Unalaq without immediately taking him into custody or otherwise decisively ending things. Now she's subtly inflaming tensions by leading the Peace March and blaming the Northerners for the bombing, yelling at the President when he won't rush to war on her say so but tries diplomacy, and going behind his back to get the war going anyways.

Lin was awfully understanding of her office getting messed up.

Great to see Iroh again.

A third party seems to be involved, it doesn't really benefit Unalaq's side to shell out for the bombing. It might, in a convoluted way, benefit the South but only in the sense of making them victims and martyrs in the local press. No, I'm fairly confident someone else wants to inflame tensions in the city.

Gold star to Steve for the point about Control.

[Mr Bean]

Wow. I wonder how many problems they've had in the past with kids wielding the personal and political power of the Avatar. So far she's added her unofficial seal of approval to Unalaq's seizing control, threatened and later attacked a judge for ruling against her family, recklessly attack Unalaq without immediately taking him into custody or otherwise decisively ending things. Now she's subtly inflaming tensions by leading the Peace March and blaming the Northerners for the bombing, yelling at the President when he won't rush to war on her say so but tries diplomacy, and going behind his back to get the war going anyways.

In the past the Avatars were not sheltered by the White Lotus and trained by traveling to each different Tribe. We see this with Roku in that A, he finds out when he's an adult. And B, he trains with the masters in their homes and from what we have seen the best benders have the ear of the rules of their respective Kingdoms. So Korra's problem is she's lived only in the Monastery and Republic city. She's not had years of training getting to know the rules of every single kingdom or tribe.

Also she's still using the Avatar state only for power ups rather than as a source of wisdom. When's the last time she's talked with Aang? Oh yeah season 1.