Amph ATLA and The Legend of Korra (ATLA live action remake coming Feb 2024)

Guys, I just realized something.

Spoiler

The Earth Queen will probably want to eat Naga. There's no way she'd pass up the chance to dine on a creature as rare as a polar bear-dog.

 

You know, I kind of want the Red Lotus to succeed, at least with the Earth Kingdom.

Spoiler

Are they saying they want to assassinate world leaders, though? That wouldn't be good. And if you just topple the leader, the system will put someone new in place.

But overthrowing the Earth Queen? That would be good.


Su is definitely with the Red Lotus, she has the same goal as them. Which, like I said, the goal itself isn't bad. It's the actions they have taken and might take to achieve those goals that aren't good.

Nice continuity with Unalaq, he really was a hypocrite, traitor, and mastermind. I often wondered why Unalaq didn't try to get Korra earlier.

It's also nice to see so much more of the Spirits.

And I can totally get a split within the White Lotus... they do seem to be quite useless, "glorified bodyguards" now.

They even tried to reconcile the different versions of Pai Sho!

I want to learn more about the founder of the Red Lotus, and the air monk that Zaheer is always quoting.,,

I also think there's a chance that they will succeed. That would be an interesting end to Book 3 and beginning to Book 4.

I also wonder if they can make Amon into a member of the Red Lotus who was kicked out.

 

The Nick player kept crapping out, though on a positive note, the episode looked good once it got out of its pixelized state as it started. Nice HD.

Episode itself :

Spoiler

Soooooo boring in the beginning. Oh yeah, we love seeing Bolin fail at things over and over again.

Oh come on, this did not need to be a scene that dragged on as long as it did. Lots and lots of pai sho while we're doing a stake out and in the middle of this serious situation. What, are they trying to make Asami seem necessary to the mission by beating Bolin at pai sho? Total fail on that.

And Aiwei's there, and he's meditating. Korra meditates too. More sitting around.

Hey, Zaheer, let's talk. Zaheer wants too much freedom. The philosophical stuff and mention of Unalaq was interesting, but not particularly surprising. I hope Zaheer comes to become something more than another Unalaq.

I also got The Rift part 2 today, which I liked more than this episode. I hope they keep these comics coming.

 

I think the point of the pai sho was to show the passage of time during their stake out without a boring montage of people pacing. It was better than pacing.

 

Finally a villain who is an ancap.

 

Sometimes I wonder if you're serious. This season has been full of action, and this episode was no exception.

 

Spoiler

Red Lotus: Communists (Think Reds vs Whites of the Russian Civil War); rhetoric about bringing down the world governments (The Four Kingdoms (Fascists and Monarchs, Republic City = Democracy) to form a stateless, classless society.

Guru Lahima = Karl Marx (inspiration for the movement)

Xai Bau = Vladimir Lenin (founders)

Unalaq = Stalin (uses ideology to further power for himself)

Zaheer = ?

 

Nah, Amon was the

Spoiler

communist, these guys are just violent anarchists

 

The symbolism around Amon and the Equalists was definitely French Revolution. I think my analogy fits better.

 

An interesting interpretation that I read of that scene was:

Spoiler

• At first, it seems like the entire Pai Sho game between Bolin and Asami is simply filler. But remember that originally, Pai Sho was the way that White Lotus members would use to identify one another. In the rule book, it talks about how throughout the centuries there have been variations of the game of Pai Sho. That's a reference to the differences between the Red and White Lotus organizations. So when Bolin tells Korra she needs to standardize the rules of Pai Sho, he's unintentionally telling her to work out the differences between the Red and White Lotus.

And I guess this episode helped answer one question: "How did Zaheer know that Korra was in Zaofu?"

Spoiler: Answer

He was (probably) meeting with Aiwei in the Spirit World, who told him Korra was there.

 

Pretty sure they're just wizards shooting stuff at each other.

 

I, too, read /r/thelastairbender after each episode!

 

Hmm, how would you guys rate the main villains so far?
Admiral Zhou, Azula, Fire Lord Ozai, Amon/Noatak, Tarrlok, Unalaq, Vaatu, Verrick, the Earth Queen, Zaheer

 

Jesus ghost spoilers. Wocky doesn't know who the villain of this season is yet.

 

Melon lord wasn't really a villain. Melon lord was just misunderstood.

 

Hm, good deduction about how Zaheer found out about Korra's whereabouts. Though its kind of convenient for both of them to be able to reach the spirit world on their own, you'd think it be a rarer ability. Last season, even Tenzin couldn't do it (he just didn't have the "gift") but his daughter did. I feel kind of sorry for Aiwei though- he's not even dead, he's stuck with his worst memories forever. That shows just what kind of people the Red Lotus are.

I forgot Pai Sho originally had something to do with the White Lotus. The group has been seriously weakened recently, going from a small but elite group of masters to just cannon fodder. I don't mind them in the peacekeeping role, the Avatar needs some help since otherwise most of the other Avatar support groups were destroyed during the Hundred Year War. Just wish the "Bolin losing" gag hadn't dragged on so long and that the one time Bolin was close to winning, Pabu messed up the game. Bolin just can't get a break or do anything really. At least Mako had more experience with stakeout-ish matters.

I read through the Rift Part 2 as well, nice to see more progress on most of the plots, aside from that inconvenient interruption when Aang finally got past the backstory and was about to get some answers. More Toph is always good and glad both Toph and Aang cooled down a bit after arguing so much in the first part. Wonder when the conclusion will be, not sure if the date for that has been announced yet.

 

I wonder if you'd think the same if I said nothing but praise for every episode..

This season has been better than season 2, and it's had action, but it's had its boring parts too. I'd prefer a short scene of the daylight turning to night from the window over wasting time on the pai sho game. This show doesn't exactly have lots of time to kill with its seasons being 12-13 episodes, I just wish they wouldn't waste as much time as they have with pointless sidetracks that add nothing and aren't that interesting to watch. It's not like I'm giving up on the show, I just think it could do better.

 

I actually thought the episode was quite nice, and the pai sho thing worked well enough. I certainly preferred it to other styles of stakeout montage.

Having said that, the invocation of Unalaq made no sense at all. Yes, he was power-hungry. But everything we learned about the character told us that he was also fairly sincere. His whole belief structure and identity was built around the idea of himself as a member of the Water Tribe's royal family. He had a strong focus on tradition and continuity, and if anything was styled as a revanchist. This was apparent not only in his public speeches, but affirmed by those working with him, like the Guardian of the library.

Are we really supposed to believe those sentiments dovetail with belief in complete anarchism? How?

 

I thought the episode was nice. The only problem I really had is that Korra was completely clueless as to what Zaheer was doing. And since when could someone do something in the spirit world AND in the physical world? If it has happened, then I must've missed it, but I was under the impression that your very consciousness left your physical body, which would mean that he split his consciousness. Not only that, but if he has that ability, why did his significant other feel the need to stay behind to "protect his body", since apparently he can do the switcheroo thing at will.

 

1. AmoNoatak
2. Varrick
3. Vaatu
4. Zaheer
5. Azula
6. Unalaq
7. Fire Lord Ozai
8. Earth Queen
9. Long Feng
10. Tarrlok
11. Admiral Zhao

 

I think Unalaq didn't really believe in the anarchism, especially with him becoming the Dark Avatar. He probably learned enough about the Spirits from the Red Lotus to form his own ideas, then planned on using them to kidnap Korra.

It's definitely new, but I think he was straining himself to just say those few words. It must be akin to being able to control your sleep-talking while you're asleep and lucid dreaming.

I forgot Long Feng!

But I agree that those top 5 should be in the top 5, though I'm not sure of their order yet.





As for what the Red Lotus wants to do with Korra now, I have two ideas...
1. Somehow use her to make it possible for everyone to bend all 4 elements
2. Reawaken Vaatu inside Raava

 

Nick is doing a pretty bad job of keeping these episodes under lock and key.

 

Yeah, not sure if Nick is intentionally this incompetent or not. For the sake of the series, not sure which answer would be better or worse.