The Legend of Korra: Civil Wars Part I and II

Yeah, I’m just not feeling this season. And I hate that, because I really, really want to love this show, but there’s just something missing. As such, I only have a small list of observations instead of a proper review…

So the Northern Water Tribe’s forces have arrived in the South. But in what capacity? Is it an invasion? A coup? What changes are they enforcing? How is it affecting the life of the casual citizen? We saw a mild altercation on the street and Varrick complaining that his ships couldn’t leave the harbour, but other than that, what is the North actually trying to do?

The lack of context for this development was perfectly exemplified in the scene where Korra confronts Unalaq about the turmoil in the city. She finds him in an empty room, sitting on a throne. By himself. In the dark. What’s he doing there? Just sitting? Doesn’t he have stuff to do? That’s this entire situation in a nutshell.

Unfortunately, I still find Korra’s parents to be incredibly boring, and the reveal of Unalaq as an Evil Uncle isn’t too impressive either (honestly, that’s up there with the Wicked Stepmother as a trope that I’m thoroughly sick of). It’s a pretty extreme gambit to have set all this up just to put his own brother in prison, and even more far-fetched is the idea that he deliberately had his brother banished by instructing barbarians to attack the tribe and then hide out in a spirit oasis, knowing somehow that his brother would follow them, destroy the place, and anger the spirits.

Again, I wish I had more background on Tonraq and Unalaq in order to appreciate these twists. I’m still not sure whether Unalaq is genuinely trying to do what he believes is best (which is mildly interesting) or just a power-hungry politician (which isn’t interesting at all).  I mean, in theory, it would have been fascinatingly ironic that Unalaq went to so much trouble to banish his brother only to learn that Tonraq ended up fathering the Avatar, yet we’re given so little history on him that it just exists in a void.

I guess what’s frustrating is that Avatar: The Last Airbender was excellent at taking familiar tropes and making them feel fresh and innovative. Yet here, things like the brotherly feud and the fixed courtroom drama and the chase scene with Korra and the judge felt like things I’ve seen millions of time before.

***

Running parallel to all this socio-political crisis is the drama that’s going down among Tenzin and his family at the air temple. And by “drama” I mean “squabbling.” I’m not sure why it was considered a good idea to have such a low-key conflict running parallel to events that could upset the balance of the entire world, but every time the switch happened it yanked away the momentum of the Southern Water Tribe plot-line.

Jinora’s storyline about the Avatar statues has disappeared along with Ikki, resulting in one of the calmest searches for a missing child of all time. Despite their very young daughter/niece being gone all night, Aang’s three adult children find plenty of time to squabble among themselves over things that happened years ago. Good to know their priorities are in order.

Riveting.

I can’t say I really care about the sibling tension that exists between Bumi, Kya and Tenzin, because up until these episodes, I didn’t even know it existed. As with Tonraq and Unalaq, I feel that the show is dealing with issues that have been broiling for a long time without the audience knowing much about the involved participants. The only thing I know about Kya and Bumi for example, is that one’s a waterbender and the other is a non-bender, and that they harbour some resentment toward Tenzin for monopolizing Aang’s attention. And the only reason I know that is because the show spelt it out for me.

And also, I kind of find it hard to believe that Aang would take off around the world with Tenzin and not bring his other children with him. I could buy that Bumi and Kya felt less important than Tenzin and that Aang’s focus would inevitably be on his sole airbender child, but that he would actively leave his eldest children out of vacations is a bit much for me to grasp.

This was cute though.

Tenzin’s reunion with Ikki plays out like something I’d expect to see at the conclusion of a cheesy family sitcom, complete with cute fuzzy animals reflecting their familial drama and Tenzin realizing that his troubles aren’t that different from his child’s. And now all’s well? Okay, that was easy enough.

***

Back in the south, the stuff with Varrick hiding in the platypus bear was fairly entertaining, particularly the fact that his assistant was in there too (though as someone with claustrophobia, I had to lean away from my computer screen at the thought that there were two people squeezed in there) as well as the sailor’s baffled reaction to the sight of Bolin hugging a platypus bear driving a ship.

But all the stuff with Bolin and Eska is just awful! Not only in the way he’s being treated, but that they’re bringing out yet another overworked character trope: the Psychotic Ex-Girlfriend.

And what possessed them to have Mako describe ending a relationship as “pulling off a blood-sucking leech”? And then they wonder why people don’t like the guy??

I don’t think Korra and Asami have spoken yet. Gah. I was looking forward to their post-breakup friendship, but at this point I honestly don’t know why Asami hangs around with these people.

And finally, I could deal with all of the above problems (and more) if I at least had something pretty to look at, but – and maybe it’s just me – the animation simply doesn’t look as good this time around. The beautifully rendered backdrops of the past now look sparse and flat, and the fluid action sequences have become awkward and choppy (especially the one in which Korra rescues Unalaq – that scene in which she throws a drapery over the kidnappers just looked awful).

So, I think I’m possibly going to call it quits in regards to reviewing these episodes. If it picks up again next week, by all means I’ll jump back on board, but otherwise I’ll just watch and comment at the end of the season.

Edit: Obviously I did return, and I'm thankful I did considering the season picked up after this – and then vastly improved come Book Three. Still, it's a shame it all had to sink to such a low before finally finding its feet.