With Nickelodeon essentially burning Legend of Korra off I'll just be doing a single 2 episode post with each episode broken up via their title card. Unless there is like a denoted two parter or something that would make looking at these seperate units as a whole.
“In Harm’s Way” prison break start where Zaheer, Ming-Hua and Gohzan break P’Li out of her icy cell was a rousing action set piece that isn’t the typical start for episodes of Korra or predecessor A:TLA. Action set pieces are more typically used in the third act as a mean to resolve plot. Starting “In Harm’s Way” this way made me wonder if perhaps diplomacy might be used to resolve the remainder of the 22 minute episode. Nope, true to its name characters are constantly placed in places of harm bookending the episode with a pair of prison breaks. Team Avatar and the Frightful Four aren’t that different.
Studio Mir’s animation style gives this series a vibrancy and life that shined through when viewing Studio Pierrot episodes. There is constant movement within the frame, something that is difficult when producing 2D animated products. This constant movement shines more in the small details: character blink from time to time, there are little twitches in the midground. As Bolin recaps episode 3 to Korra, he takes on an expressionistic and anime appearance before collapsing in a heap. It’s a moment of artistic license but it creates a visual truth to go along with P.J. Byrne’s vocal performance thus giving the appearance of life. These small moments may add up overtime but Studio Mir more than pulls of the large set pieces. I could watch animation for Ming-Hua swinging from place to place or climb up the cliffs of insanity. The tracking shot of her swinging from the ice spikes created by Eska and Desna was fantastic. Her water arms also appear to be always in motion.
Giving each bending discipline a distinct style and base created a visual language. As the prisoners practice air bending under the watchful eyes of the Dai Li, it is apparent very quickly that they don’t bend like traditional air benders. They are bending like an earthbender, a heavy stance with slow heavy movements. Kai is the only one who acts like a leaf. The retracting dolly shot as the airbenders try to block the disks is a small highlight for me. It was a nice touch focusing on the Dai Li agents feet getting slowly pushed back by the airbenders, interrupting their base and preventing than from bending.
In my recap for “The Earth Queen” I called what the Earth Queen was doing “impressments” which was not the best word. What I should have called it conscription like Bumi said, as ruler of the Earth Kingdom she has the right to conscript citizens for the army. Obviously the Earth Queen does not see newly found abilities and changing ones citizenship. Her warning to Korra, that breaking these new airbenders out is an act of war isn’t really brought up again “In Harm’s Way” or “The Metal Clan” but it is a threat that will hopefully be carried out creating another villain to contend with. But who would she attack, the nonexistent “air nomads” or the real prize, the United Republic? The latter seems more likely given she’s already voiced her displeasure and Lin with her Republic airship helped get the airbenders out.
My reaction to the first Deus Ex Jinora was almost one of laughter, adding a nice bit of Christian imagery to something that already looked like homage to Neon Genesis Evangelion was too much. Things grow easier to take with repetition so Jinora just astral projecting her way to finding Kai isn’t too bad and they checked its power level. Mako dropping the Lake Laogai reference was a nice call back to the old series. Almost expected to see Jet’s body floating in the water. It’s interesting that Jinora says here technique is really some high level airbending and some spiritual stuff, but that’s just a little nod that makes you go “hmm” and nothing else at this point.
Tenzin’s tearful reaction to the recently freed airbenders deciding to join him was well earned. It also helps how lush the coloring of the sunset scene was, there was a 90s warmth to it. “In Harm’s Way” is an action packed episode that caps off the two part Ba Sing Se story and feels like the show is trying to achieve the scale of season 2 but without the opaque reveals.
On the run from the Earth Queen, Team Avatar continues searching for new airbenders despite the protests of Chief Beifong. This time, they receive word that a new airbenders has appeared in the city of Zaofu, home of the Metal Clan. One of the more interesting things to see in Korra is how Bryke and Co. go about bridging the gap in time, at times logically extending it – the modern metropolis/nation of Republic City – or updating known quantites – Ba Sing Se which only seemed to get dirtier. The metal city of Zaofu appears more like a fusion of these two schools and something else entirely. The old style found in the modular rings that separate section of the city and the modern in the lotus flower inspired shells that pull up around said rings creating a protective barrier. The whole place looks like it was designed by Apple. Which is to say nothing of its inhabitants everyone is wearing metal, guide Aiwei has a nose to ear chain/piercing, one of Suyin’s sons makes abstract art and looks like Skrillex (I thought he looked more like The Dark One from The Promise). As Suyin tells Korra later on the episode she and her architect husband made this place and it feels like something from a main vision.
“The Metal Clan” serves as our first real chance to learn the backstory to Lin Beifong, via the introduction of her (half) sister SuYin Beifong voiced by Anne Heche. Korra co-creator Bryan Konietzko described her performance as “cool, classic, Old Hollywood quality to her voice which suits the time period really well” and that is largely my reaction Heche’s performance in the episode as well. She’s quite and not in the old wise person kind of way but in an assured confident way. It’s the opposite of Mindy Sterling’s Lin who is all thunder and furry. Therein lies the drama for “The Metal Clan” the fractured relationship between Toph’s daughters. So far Book 3 appears to be structured in 2 part stories which due to airing 3 episodes at once is now fractured, it’s the kind of little thing that will drive me mad.
Suyin is the opposite of her sister, a self described rebel she left home at 16 and traveled the world. Journeying abroad she sailed aboard a pirate ship, joining the circus, living in a Sandbender commune for a time. Before realizing she was really searching for a family, so she made one and a city to go with it. Suyin is a women marked by her freedom where as Lin is totally defined by her job, even if costume changes would not be an issue Lin Beifong would likely still be in the police metal. Lin’s reaction to being surrounded by her sisters everything borders on contempt and bitterness. I’m interested in seeing the reaction to Lin here, it’s very “Korra” in that she hunkers down and projects onto everything and just wants to fight.
The return of familial strife is Bryke and Co. bread and butter and also features are second iteration that our heroes are not perfect. The line that stood out most to me wasn’t the fact that Lin and Suyin never knew their fathers but that Toph was never there for them giving them plenty of room to find themselves while she was busy playing cops and robbers. Leading each daughter fighting for their mothers limited attention. It is however amazing that Bryke made Toph a single mother, there is no concrete knowledge on Toph’s marital status but it isn’t common to have a show (much less one on Nickelodeon) featuring the challenges of single motherhood. Which isn’t to imply it can’t be done, my Aunt raised my cousin on her own rather well.
As it turns out the new airbender is Suyin’s daughter Opal and she is adorable. The kind of obviously adorable that makes this sudden Bolin-Opal relationship feel badly reflexive. I’m not a person who gets invested in “shipping” and find most of that stuff poorly handled, so hey, maybe I’m just a cynical guy in this area. Opal is however our first new airbender that isn’t a part of some disenfranchised peasantry class. Opal can do anything she wants with her parents money away from the guise of the Earth Queen most likely. Making the call for her to join the rest of the recruits in at the Northern Air Temple a nice variation on past questions of cultural identity by really introducing a strong family tie. The first potential recruit was a family man but that sequence was more to raise the questions of just what is being asked of them. Suyin’s reaction to the idea of her daughter leaving to live in an Air Temple is what I’d expect out of the rich business class, able to just make or procure whatever it is they need. In this case enlisting Korra to teach Opal.
Simmering sister rage aside, “The Metal Clan” is a tranquil episode especially compared to “In Harm’s Way”. Suyin’s reveal as part of a dance troupe was beautifully choreographed; the metal bending flower was smooth and peaceful not heavy and segmented like typical earth bending. Korra and Opal’s training session is calm and relaxing, their matched movements reminiscent of the Dancing Dragon. Even Zaheer’s trip through the spinning walls is treated as a thing to behold.
Perhaps now that Zaheer’s bald appearance matches Henry Rollins more the voice sounds even better. The Frightful Four have separated as Zaheer infiltrates Air Bender Island as a means of getting closer to the Avatar right under everyones nose and to read more by Guru Lahyima. Finding a pendant with a poem written by the Guru in Tenzin’s study “Let go of your earthly teather/Enter the void/Empty/And become wind”. This sounds a lot like what Jinora told Kai about her astral projection – high level airbending with some spiritual mumbojumbo. Perhaps Guru Lahyima’s key to weightlessness wasn’t true physically but spiritually, letting him cross between the physical and spiritual realms. Zaheer doesn’t get a chance to ponder or expose to a tired Ikki for long thanks to Kya realizing who he is. The particulars of this “how” is unclear it seems like she just recognized him not she was aware he was escaped.
Their requisite fight is typical Korra action. It was nice to see Kya kick some ass and not just be the healer type.
Bits At The End
CRAZY Theory Corner: Zaheer is a “failed” Air Acolyte, that’s how he knows so much about the Air Nomads. Also the Frightful Four kill Sokka (yea that makes me sad).
So is Where in the World is Toph the new Zuko’s Mom?
I am Michael Mazzacane and you can find on Twitter @MaZZMand at weekntv.com or comicweek.com
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