10.18
Do they come in extra large?
This week presents betrayal and hypocrisy within the politics of restoring the Earth Kingdom. The promise of a spiritual world has run empty, letting the fury of fascism run amok. Yes, these tyrants have the excuse of cleaning up from the messes of previous despots, but they are too blind to recognize how their predecessors went wrong. The wheel keeps turning, and those who fought evil in the past have become villains themselves. While the Avatar cycle was hampered, the cycle of oppression goes on with no one ready to stop it. Corruption will always find a new incarnation, and they—oh, you were only looking at this episode for Toph.
So Toph’s back, and her progression throughout the metaseries has been an interesting one. She went from pampered princess to blind bandit to official officer to hardened hermit. Toph’s gone through the most changes out of any of the characters, yet there’s still that spark of the little girl who made a monkey out of the Boulder. She’s still obnoxious. She’s still aggressive. And she’s still reliable. With the Avatar universe going through revolutions both in politics and technology, it feels peaceful to know that there’s still a part of the old age ready to help. Yeah, Guru Pathik or somebody could have easily utilized her role, and the return of ATLA characters has been as fanservicey enough as it is, but it’s the sentiment that counts.
That sentiment isn’t shared in-universe though, as seen when Kuvira crushes a Kyoshi pendant to show the world what she stands for. Where Toph symbolizes how the old ways can still work, Kuvira represents the dark side of innovation. She has very good reasons for her iron grip on the Earth Kingdom—the knowledge that so much as a crazed airbender and his friends can topple a nation can do that—but those reasons come without compromise. She’s witnessed such a massive threat that she’s too paranoid not to see anyone else as a potential hazard. The peacekeepers at Zaofu struggled to bring Red Lotus down, so how can they handle rebellions on a countrywide scale? That kind of tension requires a more focused mind, and Kuvira’s decided that Suyin’s teachings are too gentle for that outlook. The season could be focusing on Korra’s stress from Zaheer’s torment, but his effects are also wearing on Kuvira’s mind.
In a sense, she’s carrying what Zaheer intended to do last season by overthrowing the rule of kings and queens. The villains have been echoes of each other. Amon’s call of arms for equality resonates in Unalaq’s violent demands for spiritual balance. That flows into Zaheer’s ideology borrowed from long-dead gurus and a desire to get rid of secular desires, and has ultimately went into Kuvira’s agenda for a world without another selfish Earth Queen getting in the way. Players may change but the game stays the same as can be attested by Toph (and David Simon) earlier in the episode.
But that theme of treachery echoing throughout eras could be subverted through Wu’s character. On the surface, he’s just as shallow and materialistic as his great-aunt. Most hints suggest that if he were crowned at this point in the show, he would be on the track to being just another oppressor. But this episode gives him humility, from Mako of all people. Where Kuvira was an initially good person tainted by power, he’s a seemingly bad person who is refused authority. He is like his ancestor Kuei in that regard, having been too sheltered and condescended to by generals to make an actual choice for himself. And even though that would be another echo, it’s a sign that evil’s not the only thing that incarnates itself through the times.