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

"Guys, I have an awesome plan to open the northern spirit portal--we're going to squirt it! With water! Lots and lots of water! We can't lose!"

It's funny; JK Simmons plays like a thousand characters, but when Tenzin speaks, I only hear Tenzin. But now that I know Jinora is Kiernan Shipka, I ONLY hear Sally Draper.

 

I thought it was a pretty good episode, especially with the main plot. Tenzin: "I knew this would happen"

Though the Republic City plotline needs to start wrapping up, and I do hope Lin smartens up soon (as well as Asami and Bolin). I'm still wondering how Varrick fits into the larger story. Mixed feelings about Mako/Asami.

I also hope Kya and Bumi get to do more soon... wouldn't it be interesting if Bumi finds out how to enter the Spirit World and eventually Kya and Tenzin do too? (though that probably won' happen since now they have to protect Jinora and Korra's bodies).



Also, I've been thinking... since there's been about 10,000 years worth of Avatars... who have evenly appeared in all of the 4 main nations... wouldn't that mean that every single human alive during Korra's time is very likely to be a descendent of at least one of the previous Avatars? Then the entire Avatar world really is one large, dysfunctional family.

 

I guess we're back to the boring stuff..

So Jinora is pretty much the LoK Lion Turtle, she can conveniently see spirits and bring Korra into the spirit world no problem.. Yeah whatever.

Lots of meditating.. and Tenzin being dramatic at a bad time.. And Kya and Bumi adding absolutely nothing yet again..

And Bumi is an annoying dumbass..

Mako and Asami, meh who cares.

And we're still left unsure about Verrik..

 

Lin is being ridiculously dumb, as Wocky said. HOW IS SHE SO STUPID?

She's going to take the word of the Triads and two of the slimiest, laziest, crookedest looking cops on the planet over Mako.

They're basically Arnold Flass from Batman Begins.

She'll refuse to listen to anything Mako says, EVEN AFTER HE PRESENTS EVIDENCE, but officer Beevis and Butthead? She'll listen to them.

Lin was my favorite character from the first season. In this season, she's an idiot and a disappointment.

 

They are doing the exact same thing to Unalaq and Lin lately. Just completely warping established characters so that they can be shoe-horned into the needs of the plot, instead of creating believable situations. It's certainly a let down from the show's usual quality.

 

I dunno, Mako does have a criminal past.

I'm not really in the "Lin is being dumb" camp. But then I never really cared for the character so maybe I just don't give a crap if she is dumbed down.

Still think Jinora is the LoK Lion Turtle. :b

 

Togruta I guess I don't understand why you say that, though. The Lion Turtle came out of nowhere, and introduced totally new, plot-resolving powers that we hadn't even seen mentioned before then. Jinora, by contrast, is a girl with a strong innate connection to the spirit world. We have seen evidence of this for her personally in earlier episodes. More than that, we have seen plenty of examples of this sort of thing in the TLA universe before. Unalaq had a deep inclination towards the spirit world, and that's basically the lynch pin for this entire season's plot. We are told over and over that Air Benders as an overall culture were deeply spiritual. In fact, it's to the point that Tenzin is unusual for not having this ability. From the original series, it is heavily hinted throughout that Iroh had some sort of unusual contact with the spirit world, and a deeper connection to it than most.

So what exactly are you objecting to? Jinora is doing nothing that a long line of characters before her haven't already.

 

Yeah, Lin and Unalaq seem to be passing the Idiot ball to each other at this point.

Unalaq: I'll free the manifestation of Chaos and Destruction! What could possibly go wrong?

I have the same thing with Grey DeLisle. I've heard her in plenty of other things before, but now I only hear Azula.

And with that, I disappear until I get part three of The Search.

 

I'm glad Kyoshi isn't around much, because when she speaks I hear Bastila Shan.

 

Well, Jinora only sees spirits in the episode, and is suddenly capable of being Korra's spirit guide in the moment where it's needed. It's super convenient for the story, just like the Lion Turtle showing up, so that's why I make that comparison. Maybe it's not as random, but the small bits of foreshadowing didn't really explain how Jinora is suddenly gifted with spiritual stuff and able to go into the spirit world. Plus I don't see a point for it at all. I guess we'll have to wait and see, but to me it's like they just wanted to shoehorn a kid character to an important role.

 

Well, afaik, Sally is Shipka's only other major role. Her other tv appearances are guest starring or extras.

Compare JK Simmons, who demands pictures of Spirit-Man from Korra.

 

I'm not yet sold on Lin being dumb. It could be she's playing the long game and getting the corrupt cops and Varrick where she wants them. First of all, after going through everything she did with Mako and Team Korra, I have trouble seeing her believing for even a second that Mako would steal from Asami. But if Mako's arrest keeps Varrick thinking everything is going ok, she might just do it. It's clear to everyone those cops are crooked so I have to assume she knows it too but needs evidence to expose them.

Really hope it is something like this and not Lin running with the idiot ball.

 

Unalaq's a weak, selfish and corruptible *******. His character has remained consistent throughout Book Two. Lin's a strong, selfless and incorruptible hero. Her recent behaviour does seem odd. The two have nothing in common.

 

I wonder if they'll ever explain who Unalaq's wife is/was...

 

I'm not seeing this "Lin is being dumb" thing myself. We the audience know Mako is innocent, but how is she supposed to know? She doesn't owe any special bias to Mako.

 

The "problem" with Lin is that she's following due process rather than agreeing with Mako's theory because Main Character. I'll admit that she does seem weirdly obtuse with regard to the mustache twins' obvious douchehood, but I think there's merit to the theory that she's more on the ball than it appears and just biding her time.

Meanwhile, the AV Club on Beginnings:

Obviously we generally agree here about the episode(s) being awesome, but I'm curious how you folks feel about that general premise--that Korra's story is less satisfying because it's fundamentally a story of greys and ambiguities, whereas ATLA was easier to digest morally.

 

Anyone else have the crazy idea that maybe the only way Korra can stop Vaatu will be to force him into another prison like that tree, except this time the prison will be one of the characters in the Spirit World? Would be an interesting dilemma for Korra and gang if Jinora had Vaatu's spirit inside of her and was constantly struggling to stay uncorrupted?

Also, forgive me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't Grey DeLisle supposed to voice a character this season? Or has she already done that and I've just missed it?

 

Isn't this the same lady who kept the Avatar under arrest for catching some thugs and dishing out "vigilante justice"? It didn't matter that she and her mother had been friends with the Avatar, so I don't see any reason why she should believe Mako.

 

I don't think the issue is about due process at all. I even agree that she doesn't have a lot of reason to buy in to Mako's theory. But her behavior is still deeply inconsistent.

In the first season, while she rightly called Korra a vigilante, she also seemed at times unhappy with Tarrlok's more adventurous proposals that put unnecessary strains on or made unconventional use of the police force. While she had private sympathies, she wasn't professionally on anyone's "side" but what she thought was best as police chief and a city administrator. That was a reasonable characterization. Her skepticism of Mako sort of makes sense in that light. If he's being over-eager, or not meeting an evidence standard of some sort, part of her job is to pull the reins and slow him down.

Where it doesn't make sense is her treatment of the Triad tip. They offer no corroborating evidence. They have no real reason to come forward in the first place. It's not even clear anyone in their organization has been arrested. Yet, Mako has a full scale investigation launched against him, complete with search warrants. This is despite his open admission that it was an off-the-record sting operation, which is fully corroborated by Asami. None of this gives Lin pause? Then the rest of her actions look even more bizarre. If she's this pro-active about investigations, why doesn't she seem to care that no one even understands what the device Mako found at the crime scene even is or does? Let alone what it means.

She can be an extremely skeptical chief, or she can be an incredibly open one that likes to chase down every lead. What she can't be is someone who swings wildly between the two extremes, in inverse proportion to the degree she trusts the person bringing her a theory. I agree it would be terrible writing to have her side with Mako just because he's a main character. But it's equally poor writing to have her opposed to him for this reason. Both are arbitrary, artificial ways to advance the plot that sacrifice her character's consistency.

 

I don't see how she's "against" him. She says she "has to follow up on the lead", so she does. He just did a "sting" operation behind her back, he's with Asami, and he has a criminal past. Why not follow up on it? If she found nothing, no worries. Again, we know Mako's innocent, but how is she suppose to know?

 

All this would be perfectly valid - only if it turned out that Lin wasn't actually playing a deeper game. It might turn out that those two idiots that were essentially running the arrest of Mako were planted in the police force by someone, but Lin knew about it and was simply playing along in order to reveal a larger plot. So yeah, your analysis stands as of now, but we don't know the whole picture yet.

But I still think comparing her to Unalaq is wrong.