The Legend of Korra: Reunion

As the title would suggest, this episode was all about reuniting ¾ of the Avatar Gang, with a bonus kidnapping and rescue mission. The B-plot dealt with the hijinks of Bolin and Varrick as they struggle through the wilderness, and a final Stinger reveals that Kuvira is making the humongously bad decision to deforest the swamp in her search for potential spirit-weapons.

Perhaps Toph's involvement in this season isn't over after all...




This whole thing felt oddly disconnected from the previous episode, for although Opal mentions that her family has been taken hostage by Kuvira, there's very little fall-out as to the conquering of Zaofu. Heck, Tenzin seemed pretty blasé about the whole thing.

The focus was instead on the warm but tense reunion of Korra with Mako and Asami, who soon discover that three years is a long time spent apart. I'm in two minds about the initial conflict between them: a little awkwardness was inevitable, but Mako had no right to get snotty about the girls being in contact, and Asami's sudden anger over her father felt way over-the-top. It felt too much like they'd been thrown the Conflict Ball in an attempt to create some friction between them, for the sole purpose of a neat little speech that taught us all a valuable lesson about patience and friendship.

Surely there was a more organic way to get the point across? Yet on the other hand, it was interesting to see these three fall into their old squabbles, almost as a way of subconsciously testing the old power dynamics. Perhaps I'm giving the writers a bit too much credit in that respect, but either way – at least things are cleared up now. Their group hug was sweet (especially considering that Mako dated and dumped both these girls!) and Wu's thwarted attempts to shoehorn himself in was the comedy high-point of the episode.

The kidnapping/rescue sequence was elegantly done, from Wu being gassed by a waiter in the bathroom, to Korra's instincts tipping her off when she notices the laundry cart, to the entire train fight and the infamous "Asami kick" that was so prevalent in the trailers. Everyone acted according to their strengths (Korra's intuition, Asami's knowledge of the streets, Mako's detective skills) and their opponents weren't pushovers either.

It does make you wonder though – what exactly did Kuvira have planned for Wu? Imprisonment? Public execution? Or just a quiet and unexplained disappearance?

Meanwhile Bolin is struggling with both Varrick and the responsiblity to deliver news of Kuvira's super-weapon to Republic City ... only to be ambushed by prison escapees from one of Kuvira's "re-education facilities" who considers them enemies.

She's been purging states of anyone of non-Earth Kingdom origin, and it's great to finally get a face to these people. Suddenly the rumours and whispers of the re-education camps have a very real and human cost. Well, sort of. Sadly the most interesting thing about these characters (who had names, though I can't remember them) was their hair.

It looks like they'll be sticking around for at least one more episode, so hopefully they'll be fleshed out a bit more soon, but this show is usually so good at instantaneous characterization. Remember the crew from the airship last season that partook in the short Flight of the Phoenix sequence? They were all fully-formed individuals in a matter of seconds, so I'm not sure why these guys felt so interchangeable.

After a Bolivian Army Drill (in which Varrick acts like he's in charge so that soldiers assume that he's in charge) is almost instantly undermined by wanted posters, a bender-versus-mecha fight goes down. It's all very nicely animated, but I can't help but feel that this whole subplot was padding. Ultimately Varrick and Bolin have gone from Point A to Point Mildly Closer To Their Destination, with plenty more ground to cover.

We're now officially over halfway through this season, and I'll admit to getting a little worried as to whether or not they can wrap all this up satisfactorily. Prince Wu seems to have reached the end of his story-arc (with a nice little cameo from Mako's grandmother and extended family) so I suspect we won't have to worry about him anymore.

But there's still plenty of material left in regards to Kuvira's empire, the spirit vine experiments, the current predicament of the Bei Fongs in Zaofu, and the ongoing appearances of Korra's dark self.  Lin and Tenzin haven't had much to do, I've no idea where Kya is, and I was hoping we'd learn more about Fire Lady Honora before the end of the show.

Miscellaneous Observations:

Please let this be the end of Meelo's involvement in the plot. I just can't stand him.

Korra's reunion with Naga was somehow more touching than the one she had with Asami and Mako.

Between the blush or the "what's going on with you two?" comment from Mako, I'm sure the Korrasami shippers had a field day with this one.

"Do you always go to the bathroom with him?" "I don't go with him with him. I just stand there in the general vicinity while he ... I don't wanna talk about it." HAH. I guess this is some sort of karmic retribution levelled at Mako for having infuriated the fandom so thoroughly in the first two seasons?

As annoying as he was, I'm glad Wu is in a place he can be happily worshipped by someone who wants to worship him.

I liked Varrick's moment of heroism in malfunctioning the mechas, but I hope he's not too instrumental in the final victory. He's borderline hogging screen-time at this point, and I want the final stretch of episodes to focus on our heroes.

But it's the little details in the animation that really sets this show apart - such as Varrick's awkward attempt to get into the boat, complete with a few hops while his foot waves about in the air. Beautiful.