You'd think after the big Amon reveal last week, they'd have a lighter episode following. Not so at all this week. It was almost a less silly version of A:TLA's "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" where the Avatar has to deal with the fear of what they must face. Unlike Aang, though, Korra is not the type of person to admit fear.
We know right away that Korra is scared because the show opens with her being attacked and subdued by Amon and his men in a dream. Also, because the character has been so well developed so far, we know this is something that she is going to be hard pressed to tell people about. I did have to laugh at the cartoon convention that characters only change their clothes when absolutely necessary. It seems Korra not only sleeps in her regular clothes, but with her armbands on and hair things still in.
We get to finally see the council that Tenzin was so keen to get back to in the first episode. We also see why Tenzin was like that, he has to be there to try and stop the power grabs of Tarrlok. We know Tenzin is right that putting together a task force is only going to solidify Amon's claims of oppression, but Tarrlok sees it as a way to put some more power in his hands. He also sees it as a way to get closer to the Avatar to help his political clout. Unfortunately, Korra is refusing to help out of fear and not principle, which makes it easier to manipulate her into taking the job. I like that we're continuing to deal with more shades of gray than the previous series. Amon is still the bad guy, but not in the take over the world kind of way. You can see why he feels the way he feels about benders, he's just taken it way to far. On the other side, Tarrlok is suppose to be one of the good guys protecting the city, but there is definitely some shadiness going on there. I suspect were going to find more shadiness as we see more of him.
Eventually Korra has challenged Amon to a showdown on Avatar Aang Memorial Island. It was cool to see a close up of the giant Aang statue. Amon's a smart one though, he realizes that taking away her bending now is him just picking on a girl and it will make her into a martyr. Him having a master plan makes him seem much more ominous than he did before. This isn't a Fire Lord Ozai style plan of sheer brute force, Amon has cunning. Then he knocks Korra out and we get the flashbacks that put a huge smile on my face. They were so fast I had to go back a few times to catch everything, but it was definitely Sokka, Toph, and Aang. I wonder how long they going to let us hang with those images before we get a full fledged spirit talk with Aang.
On the more lighter side of things, Mako seems to have found himself a girlfriend. So the triangle begins, ugh. I have faith in the creators, but love triangles can go so wrong so easily. Asami is a good character so far, so I can't really start complaining yet. More importantly she introduces us to her father Hiroshi Sato (voice of Daniel Dae Kim, yay Lost!), and a way for the Fire Ferrets to be in the pro bending tournament. We also got a little more backstory about Mako, but the stuff with the scarf was pretty obvious already.
Lastly, I want to take another moment to praise the animation. This week we had two fights in the dark that when coupled with firebending make for stunning visuals. They were quick fights, but the coolness of the dark and light contrast more than makes up for their brevity. I also really loved the close up on Korra's face when she was listening to Amon's radio broadcast. The sweat dripping down her face and the fear you could see in her eyes was very well done.
No comments:
Post a Comment