09.21
We've got bottled water, and we're not afraid to use it!
So this week gives us yelling. Kya calls out Tenzin. Mako calls out Bolin. The twins reveal why expressing positive emotions can be a bad thing. On top of that, the Korra family’s inability to communicate properly has led to a whole mess of misunderstandings between everyone. Also, Northern and Southern Water Tribes are now at odds with each other. With the Northerners stepping on the South’s turf like it’s their neighborhood. And you can’t step on someone else’s territory and look like a king. That’s gang code 101 right there, especially when both sides have the power to drown each other with water. Make one move, and you’re sleeping with the fishes.
Seriously, the Northern Water Tribe is painted to be so ludicrously evil. They march through the land just like the Fire Nation. Unalaq’s making arrests like nobody business. Even kids are getting involved in the occupation. By all standards, these are pretty unambiguously bad actions. If the writers reveal that these guys are the heroes all along, these prior actions will come off as pretty awkward and mishandled. What is the staff trying to prove if Unalaq’s not supposed to be the mustache-twirling villain he’s been portrayed as for these past few episodes? There’s not even a mere hint that maybe the Northerners are the good guys. We only have Unalaq’s word and some raging spirits that only appeared around the time he appeared? How do we know Unalaq didn’t release the spirits during that incident with Tonraq then as well? How do we know he didn’t just hire kidnappers to act as if they were abducting him to give Korra the wrong idea? It’s a lose-lose situation for the show if both endpoints are either portraying a one-note zealot as a hero or story twists that could be predicted from the first episode. Instead of establishing some gray conflict, the only potential theories are that both sides are bastards or the season will be another standard good versus evil plot. Maybe Bryke can pull off a third option, but Korra’s not that kind of show.
Unalaq’s portrayal just sounds like Professor Snape done wrong. While Snape was a sadist to Harry on a regular basis, there were multiple times throughout the series where Rowling made it pretty clear that Snape was looking out for Harry’s back. Anything he did that could be construed as evil gets explained early on as part of his backstory and personality, so we could get a glimpse as to how he could be a hero on the inside despite all the trappings of a villain. Rowling portrayed the issue ambiguously, making the audience constantly guess whether Snape was for or against the side of good. Other than wrangling a couple spirits, Unalaq hasn’t revealed any of that uncertainty. There’s nothing that makes you think he might be a good guy.
On the plus side, at least the show portrays Korra as probably not being in the right this time. I liked that scene where the little girl calls Korra the worst Avatar to contrast with how Unalaq tells Korra she’ll be the most admired. But that moment only develops how the characters see Korra instead of Korra herself. She’s still bull-headed and thinks with her heart throughout the episode. At one point, she apparently confuses a masked man for her own father despite only having the vaguest evidence to support her case. I know Korra’s not exactly intelligent, but when the character who’s supposed to be the latest in a long line of elemental sages does something like that… yeah.
Despite that, I like the idea of making the Avatar flawed such as how Kya and Bumi complained that Aang never let them go on trips. While it goes against prior characterization where Aang was so pure that fighting Ozai was something he took an entire episode to meditate on, establishing that kind of conflict is an interesting idea if not a bit out of place. Once again, I can tell the writers are trying to do something new, but what they’re doing seems inconsistent with what was previously laid down in the show. A lot of the gains that could be made are up in the air, so the payoff in the matter is far from being set in stone. Shows like Young Justice have tried and failed with that concept. Maybe we won’t see a redo of that plunder, maybe we will. It’s all cloudy from here on out.