Ibrahim Noir

Last time on Legend of Korra, Korra sent Tenzin away so she could learn the ways of the spirits from Unalaq. But what kind of “great plans” does he have for our young Avatar? And what does it mean for the Southern Water Tribe? Are we likely to get answers to all this and more in this episode? Only one way to find out.

We open on Korra, bright and early, ready to start learning “that Unalaq spirit fighting.” Korra still thinks she’s going to be learning how to fight despite the pacification technique Unalaq put on display the night before. Unalaq explains that they’re going to be taking a trip to the South Pole, the spiritual center of the tribe. He says the darkness formed by the South’s spiritual neglect threatens to destroy the tribe, and at the Pole is where they’ll make it right.

Uhhh…okay.

We then arrive with Tenzin and his family at the Southern Air Temple. It looks magnificent, especially compared to how it looked about 70 years ago.

This was Aang’s childhood home, so it makes sense to infer that he’d oversee its restoration by the Air Acolytes, who we see sweeping the temple. They’re also, uh, feeding some lemurs.

Where did these lemurs come from? Why the same writing aether that Oogi and all the extra sky bison came from!

Also the Air Acolytes apparently don’t know Aang had two other children besides Tenzin. Seems strange to me since they’re older and I think any children of the Avatar would be at least somewhat famous, but I guess this lines up with the idea that Aang didn’t spend as much time with Kya and Bumi. More on this later.

Back at the South Pole, Mako is helping Korra prepare for the trip with Tonraq shows up. He insists he’s coming to look after Korra. Korra and Unalaq both push back on this and Unalaq implies that Tonraq is partially the reason the Spirit World is out of balance because of something he did in the past. When inquired about this further by Korra though, Tonraq deflects and talks about the Everstorm guarding the Southern Portal. For those wondering what the Everstorm is, it’s the writers’ answer to the question “Why the hell haven’t these spirit portals been accessed or brought up before?” It’s not a good one though. The Everstorm is a massive blizzard that’s apparently ravaged the South Pole for decades but it was created as a result of dark spirits, who only got mad enough to create it about 20 years ago in-universe. So no, this doesn’t address the most damning thing about these spirit portals being tacked onto the lore, which is that Aang, Katara, and Sokka all throughout Book One travelled to the North Pole, and they had the means to do so in their backyard.

They should have said the portal was stuck under several hundred thick layers of ice formed over centuries of misuse. I still wouldn’t be fully satisfied with it, but it would so much better.

Anyway, Tonraq insists on coming but the tension is defused by the arrival of Bolin, Desna, and Eska. Bolin arrives in a snowmobile he got from Varrick that comes with a sidecar, but he gets stuck ferrying Desna and Eska when he clearly hoped to ride with Eska in the sidecar.

Hilarious.

Next Unalaq tells Korra about the spirit portal (seemingly for the first time). It’s been sealed and she’ll have to open it to bring the human and spirit worlds back in balance with each other. She only has a limited time to do this because the winter solstice is tomorrow and that’s when the two worlds are closest together, which is…correct! An incredibly rare instance of Legend of Korra respecting the Spirit World lore!

They set up camp for the night and Korra tells her dad to fess up about what he did to anger the spirits in the past. We learn the Tonraq was actually born and raised in the North…but was banished!

Twenty years ago, Tonraq was a general, and he helped run a group of…uh…

I’m not sure who these are. They’re dressed in red and at least one of them is definitely a firebender, but it’s not made clear that this is a Fire Nation attack. Huh.

Anyway, Tonraq and his platoon run them out of the tribe and into an ancient forest belonging to the spirits. They captured the barbarians, but destroyed the forest in the process. This caused the spirits to become dark and nearly destroy the tribe if not for the timely intervention of Unalaq. Tonraq is held responsible for the tribe’s near destruction and is banished. During this flashback there’s a Traitor Shot of Unalaq which is meant to clue us in that he’s evil and he orchestrated Tonraq’s banishment.

In the present, Korra gets angry that Tonraq kept this from her and storms off.

Back the Air Temple, Tenzin leads Jinora into the room full of Avatar statues.

Jinora looks up at Aang’s statue, intrigued, but she suddenly senses something behind and whooshes around in a Fire Emblem-style transition, but we don’t see what was behind her.

Alrighty then.

Back at the South Pole, Tonraq tells Korra she has every right to be upset with him, but that they should stop their quest because the physical and Spirit worlds should remain separate. Korra retorts that as the bridge between the two worlds, this is her duty. Instead of telling her that the presence of portals makes the title meaningless, Tonraq suggests that Unalaq’s word can’t be trusted. But Unalaq interjects and says that the Southern lights (aurora borealis, contextualized as “spirits dancing in the sky) aren’t visible in the sky like they are in the North since the Hundred Year War brought the South “out of balance.”

What you’ll notice this season (and the rest of the show, really) is the word “balance” being thrown around any time the writers need an excuse for a thing to happen. It pretty much becomes a meaningless term by the time we get to the end. How was the South brought out of balance as a result of the war? Is it because of all the waterbenders that were taken/killed off? Is the war responsible for the Southern Tribers not praying enough or something? Did the war cause spritual imbalance in other parts of the world? We get no answers.

Nontheless, they arrive at the Everstorm but are attacked by dark spirits. They got much of their supplies stolen/ruined. Korra tries to pacify one with Unalaq’s technique and it alllllmost works but then doesn’t because she doesn’t have enough EXP or whatever. Bear in mind that Unalaq hasn’t even taught her how to do this yet.

Bolin is saved by Desna and Eska. The visual of them using ice spikes to deflate his snowsuit is funny, but he had previously said that the suit has internal heating. So isn’t he fucked now in this blizzard?

Tonraq urges everyone to turn back since most of their supplies have been damaged but Korra coldly kicks him off the expedition instead.

Damn.

Tonraq leaves and before he does, Mako promises to keep an eye on Korra for him, which she spies on in the distance but seemingly doesn’t hear. She suspiciously asks Mako what they were talking about and accuses him of taking his “side” against her again. Her venomous attitude is becoming more and more difficult to bear. I understand she’s under a lot of pressure but she hasn’t really been given a reason to be distrustful of anyone other than her father. I don’t know why she’s so attached to this idea that Mako secretly has it out for her or something.

They arrive at the site of the portal, and Unalaq tells Korra she’s on her own from here on out, despite the protests of Mako and Bolin. And there’s no real reason why they’re not able to come. Yeah, it’s ultimately the Avatar that has to open the barrier sealing the portal, but Korra could definitely use backup against any dark spirits she might meet in there. It raises the question of why Unalaq allowed anyone else to come in the first place. This isn’t even necessary for Unalaq’s secret evil plan. In fact, it’s pretty detrimental. He’s going to flip-flop on this throughout the season but right now he absolutely needs Korra to open the portal and she’s very nearly killed by the dark spirits blocking it. If she had failed here, that would have been it for both of them.

Nontheless, Unalaq tells Korra that he believes in her. Korra’s response is this:

[Korra] I guess I’m just so used to people telling me how to do things that I forgot what it was like to have someone trust in me.

It’s worded nicely as the source for Korra’s grievances so far this season, but it kind of falls apart when you remember the scenes of Korra blatantly asking Mako what she should do and being frustrated when he tells her to do what she thinks is best. It seems like Korra simultaneously wants to be calling the shots in regards to her own life but is also unsure of herself and needs guidance. I guess to be charitable one must assume Korra’s after a sweetspot where she can make her own decisions but still get counsel on certain decisions. This is absolutely fair but this is not said or even implied by Korra. She just kinda gets mad at everyone who tells her anything she doesn’t want to hear without explaining why. The most concrete her grievances get is in regards to decisions made on her behalf without asking what she thinks, and she’d like to make her own decisions now…which it has so far. Unalaq is her mentor now just like she wanted, she’s going on this trip with him just like she wanted, even her father has left the party just like she wanted. Korra has pretty much gotten everything she wants this season so far. So her confrontational attitude, particularly towards Mako who only seems to want to stay out of Korra’s way and support her however he can, comes accross as really forced and insufferable.

Anyway, Korra ventures into the ice where she’s predictably attacked by dark spirits that look like snakes. This is intercut with Jinora waking up early to go back into the statue room. She sees a wooden statue of an Avatar that probably won’t be relevant later in this season.

Korra makes it to the portal but can’t open with her bending. She is very nearly wrapped and consumed entirely by the snake spirits but she’s able to open the portal with a touch of her finger.

With the portal successfully opened, aurora borealis fills the sky. At the same time, Jinora gasps and stares in wonder as the statue of Wan glows. Tonraq, far off in the distance heading home, looks on proudly at his daughter’s work.

Bolin, overjoyed at Korra’s return, goes to hug her, only for Eska to waterbend an ice guillotine around his neck and demand to know why he’s initiating physical contact with another woman. Unalaq commends Korra and Korra apologizes to Mako for being “a total pain.” Not sure why she’s apologizing now. What’s changed other than the fact that she’s opened the portal? If Korra had a moment back there where she realized what a jerk she was being, we needed to see that. Otherwise, it just comes across like she’s only “sorry” now that she’s gotten a win.

The group returns to the Southern Tribe to find Northern troops mobilizing on the shores. Unalaq mysteriously tells Korra that opening the portal was just the first step, and that there’s more work to be done before the tribes are “truly united.”

This is new. Is Unalaq trying to spiritually rectify the South or unify it with the North? Whatever, I’m sure it’ll be fine.

And that’s “The Southern Lights.” Not a whole lot to say about this one without repeating myself. We’re continuing to chip away at the lore of the Spirit World before “Beginnings” comes and rams a train right through it, and Korra is pretty nightmarish in this one. But we’re only a couple epiodes away from Unalaq officially showing his hand. I’ll see you guys next time in “Civil Wars, Part One.”