The Legend of Korra - Book One: Air

[Thestral]

Wow. Just... wow. Definitely the best episode so far with everything going on and it all clicked. Really dark, great characterization, some fun humor and deepening of the complexities of the Avatar-verse. I agree that things do seem somewhat rushed overall, but they're doing a great job telling the story nonetheless.

Too bad the new Team Avatar had such a short run - Asami's car was pretty sweet.

I don't think Tarrlok can be Amon, just because of his reaction to Korra saying they're alike, which we could see but she couldn't.

 

[RoJoHen]

Tarrlok as Amon is almost too obvious to even make sense. There's only, what, 4 episodes left in Book One? I have a feeling they're going to just get better and better. Can't wait to see how Korra's visions play into everything.

 

[Christopher]

I don't think Tarrlok can be Amon, just because of his reaction to Korra saying they're alike, which we could see but she couldn't.

I'd like to think that's true -- that he was outraged or shocked that she could think he was anything like the non-benders he hates so much -- but I suppose another possible reading of his reaction is "Uh-oh, she's getting close to figuring out that I am secretly [working with] Amon!"

 

[Agent Richard07]

What was Korra planning to do with that fire blast? Could she have killed him if he hadn't defended himself with a water shield? Was it more like an air blast intended to subdue? Or did she know he could be healed if he were seriously burned? That whole fight looked lethal enough that someone could have died, but I don't think that was either of their intent.

So, we have four episodes left. If episode 12 is indeed the end of this arc, I hope they can give us something that doesn't make it feel rushed or lacking.

 

[SG-17]

What was Korra planning to do with that fire blast? Could she have killed him if he hadn't defended himself with a water shield? Was it more like an air blast intended to subdue? Or did she know he could be healed if he were seriously burned? That whole fight looked lethal enough that someone could have died, but I don't think that was either of their intent.

It was definitely a fight to the death. Tarrlok probably didn't kill Korra because he knew that he would just end up having to deal with another Avatar in 10+ years again. Now he can just keep her in chains for the rest of her life and not have to worry about another Avatar for 100+ years.

 

[JD]

Wow, crazy episode. Very good stuff. I honestly didn't expect Tarrlock to end up being such an outright bad guy. This is the first I've come across bloodbending, it's kinda messed up. Definitely not pleasant stuff.

 

[Thestral]

^ If anything, the chilling horror of bloodbending is slightly played down (IMO) compared to from the original show. The music might be part of it, I'm not sure.

I'd like to think that's true -- that he was outraged or shocked that she could think he was anything like the non-benders he hates so much -- but I suppose another possible reading of his reaction is "Uh-oh, she's getting close to figuring out that I am secretly [working with] Amon!"

I suppose, yeah.

It was definitely a fight to the death. Tarrlok probably didn't kill Korra because he knew that he would just end up having to deal with another Avatar in 10+ years again. Now he can just keep her in chains for the rest of her life and not have to worry about another Avatar for 100+ years.

I don't know that it's entirely clear. Korra does have healing after all as we saw when she used it on Bo Lin, so she might've figured even if she scorched Tarrlok it wouldn't be so bad she couldn't heal him.

 

[Christopher]

What was Korra planning to do with that fire blast? Could she have killed him if he hadn't defended himself with a water shield? Was it more like an air blast intended to subdue? Or did she know he could be healed if he were seriously burned?

I watched the episode again and had your question in mind when that moment came. It could've been a trick of perspective, but it looked to me like the fire blasts would've bracketed his head rather than engulfed it; maybe the idea was to incapacitate him with the heat or to dazzle him with the light.

That whole fight looked lethal enough that someone could have died, but I don't think that was either of their intent.

Well, there's always a degree of exaggeration to the action here, with the characters suffering far less harm from blows and bending attacks than they realistically would. Like the pro-bending arena -- the fall from the court to the water below is high enough to be dangerous to someone who's knocked off unprepared, and there was even one scene where Korra knocked an opponent clear off the tiebreaker platform in the center, over the edge of the court, and into the water, which would've taken a great amount of force. But nobody was seriously hurt in any of those cases. And when characters are hit by fireballs, like the Equalists battling Korra atop the arena a few weeks ago, they're knocked back as though punched, rather than burned.

Maybe we should just assume that Avatar-World humans are more physically durable than Earth humans. They certainly seem to have greater longevity.

 

[RoJoHen]

^ If anything, the chilling horror of bloodbending is slightly played down (IMO) compared to from the original show.

Yeah, the original bloodbending episode (was it called "Puppetmaster?") was downright scary. It is intriguing, though, that Tarrlok was able to do it without the aid of a full moon.

 

[Christopher]

^ If anything, the chilling horror of bloodbending is slightly played down (IMO) compared to from the original show.

Yeah, the original bloodbending episode (was it called "Puppetmaster?") was downright scary.

I found the bloodbending to be extremely chilling. Korra certainly seemed horrified, and the music and directing played it up as a shocking and horrible thing, both in the present and in the vision flashes of Aang, Sokka, and Toph battling Yakone (or whoever that was). So I didn't feel it was played down, although part of the effect it had on me came from the resonance with how scary bloodbending was in A:TLA.

It is intriguing, though, that Tarrlok was able to do it without the aid of a full moon.

Just to run a hypothesis up the flagpole...

Spoiler: hypothesis

Perhaps he's somehow captured Yue, the Moon Spirit, and is using her energy to empower him? I'm a little confused about what happened when Yue gave her life to resurrect Tui, the former Moon Spirit. Did she become the koi fish? Could Tarrlok be keeping her in a tank somewhere?

 

[Mr Light]

Oh, the Spirits! I forgot about them. I hope we see them in this series soon. Well, Amon claims to working on their behalf...

Who is Yakone?

 

[RoJoHen]

Just to run a hypothesis up the flagpole...

Spoiler: hypothesis

Perhaps he's somehow captured Yue, the Moon Spirit, and is using her energy to empower him? I'm a little confused about what happened when Yue gave her life to resurrect Tui, the former Moon Spirit. Did she become the koi fish? Could Tarrlok be keeping her in a tank somewhere?

I don't know if you noticed, but the wall behind Tarrlok in his office, behind the neat waterfall thing, was clearly a large stone engraving of two koi fish circling each other. I thought that was an awesome reference to the Ocean and Moon spirits.

Honestly, though, there has been such little reference to the spirit world at all so far that I don't think it would make a huge amount of sense for Tarrlok's superior waterbending abilities to be linked to them. I wouldn't want his powers to rely on information from the previous series.

As much as I am enjoying this story, I really just want to get the mystery over with. Tell me who Amon is. Tell me what the deal is with Tarrlok. My favorite thing about A:TLA was the character development given to the villains. We knew who they were and we knew their motivations. Amon just strikes me as another "Bwah ha ha, I'm evil" bad guy.

 

[Christopher]

Honestly, though, there has been such little reference to the spirit world at all so far that I don't think it would make a huge amount of sense for Tarrlok's superior waterbending abilities to be linked to them. I wouldn't want his powers to rely on information from the previous series.

Huh? This very episode had the most extensive conversation about spirits that's shown up in the entire series, with Tenzin talking to Korra about how she needs to get in touch with her past lives, and how the visions she's getting must be Aang's spirit trying to tell her something. So it's already clear that spirituality is going to play a central role in this show.

And a ton of stuff in this series has relied on information from the previous series, like the existence of bloodbending, or the fact that metalbending relies on impurities in metal. Or the fact that Korra's getting near-weekly visions of Aang, Toph, and Sokka in their adult years.

 

[RoJoHen]

Honestly, though, there has been such little reference to the spirit world at all so far that I don't think it would make a huge amount of sense for Tarrlok's superior waterbending abilities to be linked to them. I wouldn't want his powers to rely on information from the previous series.

Huh? This very episode had the most extensive conversation about spirits that's shown up in the entire series, with Tenzin talking to Korra about how she needs to get in touch with her past lives, and how the visions she's getting must be Aang's spirit trying to tell her something. So it's already clear that spirituality is going to play a central role in this show.

And a ton of stuff in this series has relied on information from the previous series, like the existence of bloodbending, or the fact that metalbending relies on impurities in metal. Or the fact that Korra's getting near-weekly visions of Aang, Toph, and Sokka in their adult years.

What I meant is, I don't want Tarrlok's powers to be related to something so specific as Yue or the koi fish from the North Pole, which so far haven't once been mentioned in this new series. For a first-time viewer who hasn't seen A:TLA, that kind of revelation would be completely out of left field (especially since there are only 4 episodes left and Korra has yet to encounter even a single spirit).

 

[Christopher]

But it's pretty inevitable that the climax will involve Korra making a spiritual connection and accessing her full Avatar powers for the first time, and that would be an opportunity to introduce information about the relevant spirits. It is possible to refer to something that came before while still reintroducing it for new audiences. That's a balance I have to strike all the time when writing Star Trek tie-ins.

 

[RoJoHen]

I have no doubt that the spirit world will come into play, and I am in fact looking forward to it. Amon himself said that a spirit bestowed him with his energy bending powers. I'm just hoping that the final answer to all of these questions isn't "A spirit did it."

 

[JD]

As a more or less newbie (I've watched about 5 or 6 episodes of the original series) to the Avatar world, I think they've actually done a really good job of making the show fairly easy to understand without intimate knowledge of the original. I'm completely confident that if they introduced the Spirit World, they will do it in a manner that those of us who don't know it from the original will be able to understand it.

 

[Agent Richard07]

What was Korra planning to do with that fire blast? Could she have killed him if he hadn't defended himself with a water shield? Was it more like an air blast intended to subdue? Or did she know he could be healed if he were seriously burned?

I watched the episode again and had your question in mind when that moment came. It could've been a trick of perspective, but it looked to me like the fire blasts would've bracketed his head rather than engulfed it; maybe the idea was to incapacitate him with the heat or to dazzle him with the light.

Yeah, it did look like two blasts on either side of his head. Now, watching the fight again, I noticed that Tarrlok's initial water attack clipped off some of Korra's hair. I wonder if he knew that she'd be able to dodge it in time.

That whole fight looked lethal enough that someone could have died, but I don't think that was either of their intent.

Well, there's always a degree of exaggeration to the action here, with the characters suffering far less harm from blows and bending attacks than they realistically would. Like the pro-bending arena -- the fall from the court to the water below is high enough to be dangerous to someone who's knocked off unprepared, and there was even one scene where Korra knocked an opponent clear off the tiebreaker platform in the center, over the edge of the court, and into the water, which would've taken a great amount of force. But nobody was seriously hurt in any of those cases. And when characters are hit by fireballs, like the Equalists battling Korra atop the arena a few weeks ago, they're knocked back as though punched, rather than burned.

Maybe we should just assume that Avatar-World humans are more physically durable than Earth humans. They certainly seem to have greater longevity.

The exaggeration explanation works for me. Oddly enough, it's the first time I really noticed how dangerous the action can be.

 

[Hound of UIster]

Spoiler: ...

- Amon seems to be a real energybender. Aang does the same thing without the lightshow. It's possibly how he nullfied Tarrok's attack.
-Tarrok = Yakone's son as suspected

 

[SG-17]

Well that was certainly quick. I expected Korra to enter the Avatar State, seems they are saving that for the finale. Although the way Amon resisted Tarrlok was pretty amazing. Also, no lightshow when Aang energybended so maybe Amon can actually do the real practice.

Spoiler: Finale

Did anyone else see Amon bloodbend Mako in the preview? It was moving pretty fast so I may have not seen it correctly.