Last week I was fearing a love triangle. Instead we got a love rectangle, and it turned out to be not so bad. The main reason for that was Bolin, quickly becoming my favorite character of this new series. After the darkness of the last two episodes, it was also nice to have lighthearted breather for a change.
I'm going to level with you, I'm kind of a closeted shipper. I get invested in the will they/won't they of TV shows. I routed for Luke and Lorelai, Jim and Pam (and their precursor Tim and Dawn), and Simon and Kaylee, just to name a few. When it came to Avatar, it was always Aang and Katara, and then when it was shown that Toph had a crush on Sokka, I was even more interested in that. Since that particular one didn't work out, it's lucky for me that I'm also not the kind of shipper that thinks everything is ruined when a preferred pairing doesn't happen. I fear I may be latching myself to another sinking ship now, because after this episode, you can put me firmly in the camp of Korra and Bolin.
So for anyone keeping score: Mako and Asami are together, Korra likes Mako, Mako likes both girls and is very confused, Bolin likes Korra, Korra likes Bolin but not in that way (yet?). It's like an episode of Grey's Anatomy, except it's actually possible to follow. On advice from Pema, Korra confesses to Mako, but is denied. Then when she goes on her great date with Bolin, the jealousy bug gets to Mako. Korra being sixteen, though, she really only has eyes for the brooding one. While Mako might have been jealous, that doesn't mean that he wasn't right. Korra may not have realized it, but she was leading Bolin along. It all came crashing down out on that veranda when Bolin saw Korra and Mako kissing, which led to the hilarious "drunk" on noddles scene from Bolin. You still with me?
To top all this crazy romance stuff off, it was in the middle of the pro-bending tournament. The team strife led to some close calls, but the Fire Ferrets have made their way to the final round. Now they just have to face Tahno and the Wolfbats. We haven't seen much of Tahno, but they've done a great job of laying out his personality in a very short time. They even had him mispronounce Avatar like they did in the-movie-that shall-not-be-named. The Wolfbats extremely quick takedown of their semi-finals opponent was the perfect way to segue into next week with a sense of dread for our heroes.
In the end the team is willing to put it all behind them, and I'm glad that all of this came and went in one episode. Other shows would try to draw this out over weeks, but the Avatar has more important threats to deal with. I'm sure we'll be seeing more romance in the future, but I like the idea that it comes in spurts when there's not any immediate danger happening.
One thing that really sells this show and makes it better than the many other cartoons out there is the attention to the little things. Jinora and Ikki's different takes on love, the disgust of the other patrons after Korra and Bolin's burping contest, the guy who was excited to see Mako before realizing he's in a bad mood ("Hey, Makooo...oh"), the overstuffed Pabu shuffling behind Bolin being carried out of the noodle shop, all great details. Finally, my weekly praise of the animation. This week it was the beautiful snow effects. I've never seen snow like that, it just seemed so immersive, like watching a 3D movie, very well done. The pro-bending matches were great, as usual, too.
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