Tripping Over Books

Season 1, Episode 7

The Skinny: The title of this episode–“The Aftermath”–is pretty apropos. Because this ep is the FALLOUT, yo. Amon has destroyed the Pro Bending arena, Beifong was unable to protect the spectators from an attack by Freaky Face like she said she could, and the threat of war between the benders and the Equalists is at a fever pitch. ALL THE SHIZZ, folks. This episode haz it. 

The Setup: Last week, all of the things happened. Well, the Pro Bending final is mostly what happened. The Fire Ferrets were facing the defending champion Wolf Bats, lead by Tano, aka Hair Flip. There was mad cheating on the Bats’ part, the Ferrets couldn’t beat it, and they lost. BUT THEN! Amon showed up. He had been threatening to do just such a thing unless the Council canceled the bending final so that the people of Republic City would know how AWFUL they are for glorifying benders. Except Amon only said all that with the hopes that the Council would do the OPPOSITE, thus leaving the Pro Bending Final as the perfect platform for him to basically spew his manifesto: bending sucks, benders suck WORSE, Equalists rule figuratively and soon will LITERALLY, because a new government will soon be in place so that ALL THE BENDERS GO DOWN EVERYWHERE. Republic City AND the world. BOOM. Onto the next one, folks.  

The Breakdown: Our little intro features Tarlock, the bastard, who is totally bringing his sneakiness to bear on Beifong after Amon was able to attack everyone at the Pro Bending final, and is calling for her job while looking all serious and legit and wouldn’t you know it, PERFECT for the position that isn’t even open yet. He’s a dirty dog, friends. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, which is not at all. He’s too big. I don’t even think I could shove him to the ground, and I’m no dainty daisy. BLERGH.

 So, since the arena was basically destroyed in last week’s attacks, Bolin and Mako have nowhere to live now. Korra shows up all excited because Tenzin said that the two of them could come live on Air Bender Island with Korra. HOLLA, roomies!! Mako and Korra shacking up together! Excitement all around! Of course, though, everyone gets awkward because it turns out that Hoe Cake has beaten Korra to the punch and offered Mako and Bolin a place to stay at her daddy’s ginormous estate (henceforth “The Estate”) and they’re going to live there instead. Hoe Cake shows up and, as always, is MADDENINGLY nice to Korra. She invites Korra to come over the next day to hang out, Korra says, *VOM* Hell to the naw!, Pabu greases the skids, Korra caves to the cuteness and also Bolin’s hilarity and agrees to stop by, and everyone’s cool for now. But still, Hoe Cake 1, Korra 0. I SEETHE.

Next day, Korra shows up at The Estate, and everyone is chilling in the pool. WHY Mako decides to wear a bathing suit that features a SHIRT is beyond me. Unfortunately, everyone is, like, enjoying themselves. When everyone goes to the racetrack out back (I KNOW), Korra and Hoe Cake get in one of the cars together, and I was like, “THIS IS IT. Hoe Cake is going to TAKE KORRA DOWN like the bad guy she is.” Alas. I was wrong. Hoe Cake and Korra actually bond and it’s altogether sickening. 

Mako, PLEASE. Korra would never make you keep that shirt on.

High on friendliness or whatever, Korra goes to powder her nose in one of the bazillion bathrooms on The Estate, and overhears Daddy Hoe Cake talking on the phone about how “now is the time to strike” and stuff. Earlier in the ep, we saw Beifong searching for the manufacturers of those chi-blocker gloves, and discovering a TON of them in a factory owned by someone who turns out to be Daddy Hoe Cake’s business rival. OF COURSE, Korra hears this convo and jumps to the same conclusion that everyone probably did–that Sato is in league with the Equalists–and runs to tell Tenzin and Beifong, who totally jump on the bandwagon.

Of course, news of this investigation DOES NOT sit well with Mako and Hoe Cake. Hoe Cake is indignant while Beifong and her metal benders search her dad’s factory, and Mako flat out tells Korra that if she keeps up with hating on his lady’s dad, THEY will not be friends anymore. Way harsh, Mako. Because even though the orignal search turns up nothing, YO!! I thought for a second that the phone call Korra overheard would be a red herring AND THEN IT WASN’T. Hoe Cake’s daddy is totally allied with Amon. He is the ENEMY. 

Guys. This shady factory worker tells Korra, Tenzin, and Beifong that the reason they didn’t find anything at Sato’s factory is because he has a hidden one underneath The Estate. When everyone shows up there to look for it, Mako and Hoe Cake are all,”What are you doing?! There’s nothing here! You are all WRONG!” And Hoe Cake is like, “I think I would know if my dad had a hidden FACTORY under The Estate!” But Beifong uses her metal bender magic and x-rays the ground and finds a tunnel that leads to a huge cavern underground with banners of Freaky Face all over and chi-blocker gloves and these big chi-blocker robots. And then guys? All of the shizz hit the fan OVER AND OVER AND OVER. ALL THE SHIZZ. All of it. It was bananas. I love how I kind of had an idea that it would be coming and it was more awesome than I thought it would be.  

EPIC BATTLING ensues between Hoe Cake’s dad, who shows up and uses one of those robots to go after Korra, Tenzin, Beifong, and a bunch of other metal benders. Apparently, he holds a grudge against benders because a fire bender killed his wife many years ago. This fight is basically The Tenzin Show. I mean, everyone is awesome, but GET SOME TENZIN! I LOVED seeing him air bend. He was seriously outstanding. Well, until he, and everyone, was knocked out by crazy Sato’s chi-blocker robots. EVERYONE. Including Korra. EEP!

HIS EYES ARE GOLDEN OMFG

That’s when Mako and Bolin show up to save the day, even though Mako had totally called Korra a liar earlier and said that their friendship was over because she DARED to suspect Hoe Cake’s TOTALLY SUSPICIOUS dad. (It gave me the angry-sads when he chose Hoe Cake over Korra. Seriously, get Hoe Cake out of here already. She ruins everything.) They wise up and are just about ready to get away with Korra, Tenzin, and Beifong when Sato catches them. He’s just about to put the smack down on Mako and Bolin when Hoe Cake shows up and is pretty effing shocked at what she sees. Her father pleads with her to understand why he’s doing this and makes his case to get Hoe Cake to his side by offering her a chi-blocker glove. Just when you think that she’s going to take the glove and chi-block/electrocute Mako and Bolin, she uses her dad’s chi blocker glove to electrocute HIM instead and kick some ass of her own. I will call her by her name just this once in honor of her making a tough decision and going against her own father and finding out he was a lying evil scum and then having to kick his ass: Asami is a tough chickadee. I felt bad for her. Now, Mako. End the madness please and send her packing. She’ll land on her feet. 

So everyone runs off, but not before Hoe Cake’s dad makes off with some of Beifong’s metal bending cops. Yo, can I get a “what, what” for ROGUE BEIFONG? GET IT, girl. I can’t wait to see how badass she gets while going after her missing benders and Amon. I was clapping and fistpumping and yelling. Beifong is quickly becoming my favorite secondary character on this show. She’s so FIERCE! Also, WHO NEEDS THE LAW when you have VENGEANCE? The correct answer is NO ONE. The law is useless. 

But VOM. Mako and Hoe cake are, like, stronger than ever. Seriously gagging over here. At least everyone is going to live on Air Bender Island with Korra, so that should make for some great drama and will hopefully provide ample opportunities for awkward encounters between Korra and Mako. But I’m intrigued: all those benders–and the Avatar–in one place. Seems like a HUGE target to me.  

The Last Word: So THIS EPISODE. I think it was the best one yet. SO MUCH happened. GAHH! It was nonstop action, and I LOVED it. The plot was advanced big time. The drama and jeopardy was top notch. And the conclusion was just the bomb. I’m seriously jonesing to see Beifong get revenge on Amon and rescue her benders, but I’m worried because now I feel like Tarlock is totally going to take her position and that gives me NAUSEA. 

The Lines: “Do you think your dad knows about this tunnel?”

“What a swell, scary factory you have under your huge mansion.”

Whew. That’s a lot. And I still feel like I’m missing things. But this should be enough to discuss! Hit the comments, friends!