Korra’s parents will have a major role in season 2! Woohoo!

I feel kinda dumb for caring so much about characters with maybe half a minute of screentime, but they were just adorable and I guess I’m happy to see a hero’s parents have a bigger role for once. I mean, most parents in fiction are either dead, divorced, missing, away or otherwise unavailable. Sometimes they turn out to be another superhero or a secret member of some organization or some other shocking reveal, but you rarely get parents who are normal people but also aware of and supportive of their child’s duty to the world.

I think the reason I’m interested in those two is because I find it fun to see how having the most powerful person in the world would reflect on the pair. Imagine Senna, a mere country girl who might have dreamed of adventures but later just accepted her simple, not-special life and suddenly she has to deal with raising the avatar. Or Tonraq trying to understand he had to let Korra go for the sake of greater good, despite his protective instincts (come on, a guy that well built has to be a little protective).

Which is probably why I’ll be a little disappointed when we don’t get any development with them, but that’s ok since this isn’t a story about them. I would read a fanfic though

Well, I think Bryke has shown us that while they’re not good at writing romance (at least in Korra, I liked it in Avatar with much less useless focus), they’re great at writing family relations. This is a rare show where I feel everyone has an equal chance to be a badass, regardless of whether they’re a kid or an old person. Actually, it’s a rare animated show which I feel doesn’t discriminate based on age. There are kids, there are young adults, babies, middle aged people and GASP there are actually romances between older people that aren’t treated with total disgust and older people who aren’t made fun of for being old. Not even once!

Also, Bumi looks like he’ll be tons of fun.

…is that the issues presented in it aren’t easily transferred to real life. I think it’s what produces such a controversy over Amon’s actions among the fandom. Normally you’d have really thinly veiled Nazism/Communism/slavery/racism etc. and with that an automatic solution (or rather a history lesson) which people can rally behind. Just replace the swastika! But in Korra, we’re dealing with a world truly different from our own, a world shaped by bending. It really makes you consider things differently, it forces you to empathize with people inherently different from us and try to apply our morals and rights to their world. Some people are trying hard to see certain aspects as mere metaphors (the inequality, loss of bending, bending itself), but I think what makes these so fascinating is exactly the fact that their value is based on human reactions, rather than parallels to real life events. Personally, I much prefer that kind of conflict than the ones that merely copy problems we’ve had in the past.

Considering that this is animation which is much better for actions than talking, and that Amon did stray from any rightful path he might have followed, the plot will probably be solved with a big final fight. And I’m alright with that, what matters is that the show got people talking.

Great episode once again, really did a good job rising the tension for the finale. They finally took the fight outside and truly involved the whole city. It’s a very different atmosphere than it was in the past episode, where it felt more one-on-one.

Here are my other thoughts:

*Mako, I don’t know what to think of you, but it was about time you finally got caught. Also, Pema’s “Better get outta here FAST” face is priceless.

*Can we finally get a real explanation why Tarrlok and Yakone are able to bloodbend without a full moon? One that is less circular?

*Asami is a really capable fighter and even though she’s a really nice girl, it’s good to see her showing more negative emotions such as anger (not that it isn’t completely justified).

*I kinda wish Korra was still lacking one of her arm warmers. I don’t know where she got another one exactly like that. I think it would be a nice detail. I mean, she left it back there. It isn’t exactly gonna respawn.

*Wow, I completely forgot about the car.

*I know giving birth is a natural part of life, but I’m glad they didn’t do a long awkward birthing scene.

*Those kids better get their master tattoos fast!

*I felt we saw a lot of different places in this episode, more than before. A lot of different backgrounds and areas of already known locations.

*Why, Bryke? Why did you do this to my favorite character? HWAIIII?!!

*I’m conflicted about getting a new character right in the last episode…

*Still wondering about that one cop who still has his bending.

Lin doesn’t do babysitting.

The finale is coming and here I am drawing characters who appeared for like half a minute. Tonraq, lose the beard. Senna, mess up your hair. You’re not Korra’s mom if your hair isn’t messy (no, it’s not part of her design, I just love her tired avatar’s mom hair).Also, damn you water glove, why were you so hard to draw?

I was thinking about adding a very embarrassed Korra, but I think she’d actually be happy to see her parents. Bryke, if you see this, thank you guys for giving us a hero with normal loving parents for a change.

I miss probending. 

I couldn’t resist.

I wanted to draw someone wearing a ceremonial raccoon headpiece and I wanted to draw Korra’s mom because she’s ridiculously adorable. The combination seemed obvious.

That messy hair of hers makes her look so tired. I guess that’s a given when you have to raise an Avatar.

I can totally imagine Korra also wanting to wear it, but she’d be so little the headpiece would completely cover her.

EDIT: Added baby Korra. I made the hat even bigger for cuteness’ sake.

I was worried this episode wouldn’t live up to the last one, but damn, it did. Once again they threw in a shocker right near the end. I was literally at the edge of my seat when I saw Amon, because I was expecting Korra’s buddies and a smooth rescue ending. And then when Amon didn’t fall down with his assistants, man, I felt my jaw drop! We even saw him struggle against bloodbending, which was actually the first time we saw Amon weakened and ironically, it only made him more threatening.

I have to say, the series did a fantastic job juggling two bad guys at once while keeping them on completely opposite sides. This not only added more variety to the conflict than ten bad guys can in normal cartoons, but it also put Korra at odds with the “good” side as well. We didn’t get a world where everyone is useless aside from the main character, an all too frequent occurrence, but a world that doesn’t solve everything because it’s conflicted and manipulated. The dichotomic villains were a fantastic way of showing that, our side or theirs, if you go to extremes and stop being a reasonable person, you become a villain.

I still get surprised at how fast the plot is moving forward. I think I finally got used to the pace and I’m actually glad they didn’t unnecessarily stall with Tarrlok’s secret getting out and made the Krew waste an episode piecing together something relatively simple. Bam, kidnapping secret out, BAM bloodbending secret out. So many things happen every episode.

One of my favorite things about Korra is the facial expressions and in this episode, I especially liked Korra’s reactions near the end. When she burned those Equalists, she didn’t have the usual aggressive expression one has when they’re on the offensive, she was scared, just looking for the fastest way to escape. She was even more scared when she came face to face with Amon. She didn’t even try to fight him, she just tried to buy herself time to get away the second she noticed him move towards her. I’m glad her fear from episode 4 is still there.

This isn’t related to this episode, but I like how they established the limitations of the Avatar status. Growing up in a village where everyone knows eachother, I imagine Korra probably got a lot of special treatment, but when she moved to the city where everyone is more-or-less on their own, she was surprised to find that not everyone falls to their knees just because the Avatar is in the house. She is the Avatar and that (and Tenzin) allows her to pull some strings, but at the same time, her role and accomplishments are very undefined. The people know she’s supposed to have a big role at some point, but they also expect her to prove herself.

On the bad side, Mako and Bolin continue to be pretty flat as characters. It’s unfortunate because they really had potential to be good characters and have a good relationship with Korra. Mako isn’t acting like he likes both girls at once, he’s acting like he has a Korra-Asami switch and can only pay attention to one of them at a time. And Bolin is acting like he never liked Korra in the first place. All other relationships are well developed, but the romance? Sigh.

I wonder what happened to that one officer who was guarding Mako and Bolin…

First world problems.

Mako you poor baby.

EDIT: God, I made such a stupid mistake with his hands, I feel like an idiot. Fixed it.