Head on in for the recap of part 2 of The Legend of Korra’s premier event!
The Skinny
Korra has fired Tenzin as her spiritual advisor in favor of her shady uncle, Unalaq, who wants to restore the Southern Water Tribe to a more traditional, spirit-honoring way of life. Tenzin and his family are visiting the Southern Air Temple, Aang’s home, after his dismissal. Korra is being a prickly mean girl, flinging accusations of secret-keeping (well, they aren’t accusations, but she’s ignoring the big picture), Mako is trying to be supportive, and Bolin is trying to get friendly with Unalaq’s daughter, Eska.
The Breakdown
Korra shows up at Unalaq’s HQ ready to learn spirit fighting. He tells her that he isn’t going to train her there, though. They are bound instead for the spiritual center of her tribe: the South Pole. And he’s not just training her. He’s taking her there to begin putting things back in balance. Korra agrees to go without asking questions.
Meanwhile, Tenzin and his family arrive at the Southern Air Temple, much to the excitement of the abbots there. They give Tenzin an ancient head shaver, and I died. It looked like it could cut a bish. Kyra and Bumi are greeted by another monk there, who assumes that as Tenzin’s siblings, they are also airbenders. AWK. Not so much. Ikki and Jinora are bickering and Milo is chasing after a lemur. It’s like National Lampoon’s Air Temple Vacation.
Anyway, back in the Southern Water Tribe lands, Korra and Mako are preparing to leave on the quest to the South Pole. Mako is adorbs, worrying about Korra having everything she needs. An unwelcome addition to the crew? Korra’s father, Tonraq. There’s a little showdown between the brothers, but Tonraq is allowed to come as long as he doesn’t interfere with whatever training Unalaq plans on giving Korra. Unalaq doesn’t let him come, though, without basically blaming him and others like him for the presence of the dark spirits, and calling him out on some mistakes he made in the past. Tonraq also mentions the Everstorm, a weather crisis of epic spiritual proportions that has overtaken the South Pole. UGH. No friendly family get togethers for these two. Bolin rolls up in a gift from Varrick: one of those motorcycles with a sidecar. Desna and Eska hitch a ride together, which throws cold water on Bolin’s plans to take Eska himself and get COZY. Ha!
They’re a ways into their trip when Korra FINALLY thinks to ask Unalaq what they’ll be DOING in the South Pole, and he drops a doozy on her: She needs to open a spirit portal. Not only does she need to open a spirit portal, but she needs to do it before the Winter Solstice to set the spirits back in balance. They don’t have much time–the Winter Solstice is TOMORROW.
Dark spirits plague their trip, but the crew makes camp in a cave. Bolin freaks because he’s afraid of dark spirits, and Eska says she will protect him because he’s her “turtle duck.” New favorite term of endearment. Of course, Unalaq takes every opportunity to shed his own special brand of buzzkill on the evening by saying that Tonraq is partially–or more than partially–to blame for the dark spirits in the first place. Way to beat a dead horse, buddy. But Tonraq tells the story of how he came to be in the Southern Water Tribe anyway. (Because Unalaq goads him into it.) In a nutshell: He was banished.
While he was still living with the Northern Water Tribe, Tonraq was a general in the army there. Once, the tribe came under attack from a band of warriors and Tonraq and his men drove them out. The barbarians took refuge in a sacred forest, assuming that Tonraq wouldn’t attack them there, but he did anyway. The forest was destroyed and dark spirits were unleashed on the Northern Water Tribe. The spirits almost destroyed the entire city, but Unalaq did his spirit voodoo to save them. Despite being saved from the spirits, Tonraq’s father banished him anyway for destroying the forest and setting them loose.
Bolin astutely points out that Tonraq should actually be chief of the Tribes, but his brother became chief in his place following the banishment. LOL he’s so clueless. But in keeping with her newfound attitude problem, Korra lays into her father for not telling her this story before. Blah blah blah, Korra. Get over yourself. But guess what she does? THAT’S RIGHT! She storms off.
Back at the Southern Air Temple, Jinora discovers the statue room, home to statues of every Avatar there ever was. She finds one of Aang and there’s a nice little moment. Then, Jinora has some kind of SENSE of something, but it passes quickly. Hmmm….
Meanwhile, the trek to the South Pole continues. Tonraq is trying to talk to Korra about not making the same mistakes he did. He tells her that the spirits and the physical world should not mix. Of course, she ignores him. Korra tells him it’s her job as Avatar to bridge the spiritual and physical worlds. Unalaq interrupts and says that it is Korra’s job to return the spirits to the sky, where they still live in the North. He’s basically talking about what we in the real world know as the Northern Lights.
Mako calls out that he thinks they have arrived, and we get a glimpse of the Everstorm. Doesn’t look good. As they move closer, dark spirits become more and more prevalent. Bolin is FREAKING OUT. Then a bunch of little dark spirit imps attack their party and no amount of regular bending can save them, even when Korra tries to spirit bend (that’s what I’m calling Unalaq’s thing). Unalaq works his magic and the spirits turn to light and leave. The imps have taken or destroyed all their supplies. Tonraq wants to turn around, but Unalaq and Korra say no and Korra tells her dad to go. He does, but not before Mako tells him that he’ll keep an eye on Korra. Korra looks annoyed (what’s new) that they’re speaking.
In fact, she’s so ridiculous right now that she calls Mako out on it and asks him, bitchily, what they were talking about and accuses Mako–not for the first time–of not being on her side. THANKFULLY, Mako doesn’t back down and he tells her that there are no sides and that she needs to trust that people are just trying to help. Korra looks appropriately dressed down.
When they arrive at the forest, Unalaq tells Korra that the spirit portal is at the heart of the forest and she needs to venture in alone to open it. Mako and Bolin protest, but Unalaq convinces her that she can do it because she has the spirits of all the Avatars in her, and that they can help her “find the light in the dark.”
In the forest, the trees are all frozen with ice and it’s eerily quiet, even though you can hear the Everstorm raging outside. Korra is soon attacked by dark spirits and tries to bend her way out of it. It’s a struggle, but she eventually seals herself into where the spirit portal is. It’s an orb in the ground. She can’t figure out how to open it.
Quick pit stop back at the Southern Air Temple, where Jinora is sleeping. I can’t tell if she dreamt this entire sequence or if she was dreaming about it and then woke up and went to the statue room, but she comes across a statue of an Avatar wrapped in the spirit-bending bands of light and wonders who it is. This development with Jinora is one of my favorite things about the season so far. I can’t wait to see what this all means, especially given the clip we saw at the beginning of the premier of Korra and Jinora mediating together.
The Avatar statue Jinora sees in the statue room. Methinks this may be a statue of Wan, the first Avatar
Back at the South Pole, Korra is attacked again by dark spirits while trying to open the portal. They have trapped her arms and are lifting her away from the orb when she goes into the Avatar state and is able to touch her fingertip to the portal. THAT is open sesame. The Everstorm clears and the Southern Lights are restored. Tonraq, on his way home, sees them. Everyone is in awe of them. Frankly, even when Korra is unbearably frustrating, she’s still a badass. Unalaq tells her that she has taken the first step in restoring balance in the south. Mako tells her that she amazes him, and she apologizes for being ridiculous.
When they all arrive back at the Southern Water Tribe’s city, though, Korra, Mako, and Unalaq observe the whole Northern Fleet arriving in bay below them. Korra is confused and asks Unalaq why his whole fleet is here. He says, cryptically, that there is more work to be done to right wrongs of the Southern Water Tribe’s ways. I mean. How does she trust this guy?
The Last Word
Some of the things that happened in this episode felt a little speedy to me. Like, Korra made it to the South Pole, survived TWO dark spirit attacks, AND opened the spirit portal in less than 30 minutes. I hope that the fact that she opened the portal plays a bigger role somewhere down the line. And she needs to quit it with the attitude. But I like the sneaky vibe I get from Unalaq–it’s amazing to me that Korra gets pissed at everyone ELSE for keeping secrets from her, but Unalaq tells her basically nothing and she lets it slide. I hope that doesn’t stick around either. JINORA THOUGH. So intrigued.
The Lines
“There are no evil spirits. There is light and dark in them all.”–Unalaq
I love this show so much. I do like the first series a little better… but I am glad to see that Avatar is continuing with the series.
If you look closely at the Avatar Statue, Jinora is mysteriously drawn to, directly after Avatar Korra opens the Southern Spirit Portal.. you can see it Is Korra. but for some reason with her arms cut off. Wan has spiky hair every time you see him in both the episodes he’s in. Aang is bald. And also right behind the Avatar, included in the statue is most likely Raava. Not Vaatu. I thought maybe it was Unalaq with Vaatu with him, hinting at the “Dark Avatar” that’s to come later in the season, but you can clearly see that it isn’t him and his 3 long dread locks. My conclusion: Avatar Korra, because she finally makes it her first true spiritual act, as the bridge between physical and spiritual worlds.