Ibrahim Noir

Legend of Korra

Book 1: Air, Chapter 3

The episode begins with Korra, now a full-on member of the Fire Ferrets, training with Mako and Bolin in preparation for their upcoming tournament. Mako says they need to get Korra up to speed if they want a chance at winning since she’s a rookie. Korra responds by throwing an exercise ball into Mako’s stomach, because she’s the Avatar and he’s gotta deal with it.

Just then, the owner of the arena, Butakha, comes in to welcome the Avatar and give Mako the team’s winnings…minus funds for Korra’s gear, rent for gym and equipment, living expenses, and a personal loan Bolin took out for groceries, ultimately leaving Mako with nothing. In addition to this, the team needs to come up with 30,000 yuans (about $4,000) for the championship pot. No money, no tournament.

So just to be clear, the Ferrets, after qualifying for the tournament last episode, need to now come up with enough money to actually participate in the tournament…because pro-bending doesn’t make them money? How in blue hell does that work? I would assume the championship pot would be collected before the qualifying matches, no? Why wouldn’t the team’s contribution to the championship pot just come out of their paycheck? Why does Bolin even need to take out a loan for groceries if the brothers aren’t living paycheck to paycheck? And if they are living paycheck-to-paycheck…why? Pro-bending is Republic City’s national sport. It’s arguably its most significant cultural piece of collective escapism, and the Fire Ferrets are rising stars. How can they be so broke to the bone here? Whatever, this is our setup for the episode, as well as the need for the Fire Ferrets to get a sponsor, so this is what we’re doing. You gotta deal with it.

So Bolin asks Korra if she has the funds, being the Avatar and all, and Korra says she’s never really had need for money since she’s always had people providing for her. In which case, she should still be able to provide some help in collecting the money then, no? At the very least you’d think she’d have some spending money. I guess not, because Korra turns up empty pockets and the episode just runs as if the group is helpless. Anywho, Mako is embittered by Korra speaking so casually about not needing money and Bolin explains that the brothers grew up on the streets having only each other since they lost their parents. The group then tries to come up with ways to raise money, and Bolin suggests having his fire ferret Pabu perform circus tricks on the street.

[Mako] Come on, Bolin. We need serious ideas.

[Bolin] I was serious…

Mako then exits, saying he’ll figure something out. Bolin, determined to prove the potential of his idea and be helpful, goes to hangout (in front of a cool statue of Zuko) and has Pabu perform anyway.

It’s pretty slow going.

Just then, a car belonging to the Triple Threat Triad pulls in and out comes Shady Shin. Bolin becomes uneasy and their dialogue indicates they’re familiar with each other. Shin tells Bolin that “Lightning Bolt” Zolt is offering serious cash for some “extra muscle.” Bolin is hesitant, recalling Mako telling him to stay away from the Triad, until Shin promises him it’s “nothin’ crooked” and tosses Bolin a fat stack.

We then cut Mako, who’s….*sigh*

Working at a power plant where he and the other workers power the city’s power grid with lightning.

Lightning generation was an incredibly rare skill in the original series, to the point that we saw no more than three characters do it in its entire run. This is because the process is a complex one, involving separating and re-colliding the yin and yang energies about. This creates lightning, which the user then merely guides rather than controls. It also required a calm inner balance, which is why Zuko never got the hang of it. The point being, lightning was impactful when it was shown on screen because of how much it informed the audience about a firebender’s power.

Because this show has no restraint, there are enough lightning-benders to power an electrical grid, and the fact that it’s relegated to such a low-paying blue collar job shows that it isn’t even held in that high regard anymore. To clarify, I can buy that Mako would be able to do it because he fits the personality type. What I don‘t buy is that he would have so many peers and that they would all be stuck working such a thankless job. What’s more is that even the motion is watered down to just pointing and firing where lightning always required an arced motion.

(from the DVD commentary of “When Extremes Meet”)

[Bryan Konietzko] So, there’s-I don’t know if we’ve ever mentioned this but um, yeah, some people were asking like, “hey, you know in Aang’s time, lightning-bending was such a rare skill but now it seems like so many people could do it. I mean, Mako and all these other like low-income guys are doing this grunt work at the power planet,” but, the idea was like it’s, you know, that’s kind of the evolution; look at sports. Things that seemed like uh, if you compare like the winning Olympic, uh, pole-vault ju-you know like vaulting jump, from like forty years ago to the one this year, I mean, they look like insane; one is just, they just-she puts her hands down, does like a-the somersault, and now it’s like, five twists and two flips, you know. Um, so the idea was that, yeah, once these things have sort of been pioneered, they become more and more common.

Bryan, in your own show you established that the barrier for entry for lightning-bending was particular and complicated, down to requiring a specific personality type. This is not the same as a sport that can anyone can learn and teach evolving over time.

🤓☝️ “Why are you making such a big deal out of this, Ibrahim? Why can’t you just accept that the bending sub-types have evolved and proliferated over the years? You didn’t really expect lightning to stay within the Fire Nation royal family forever, right?”

These changes might seem harmless, but their impact is far-reaching: If everyone and their grandmother can bend lightning, why is it any more impactful than regular firebending in this series or the original? If bending lightning is so easy, why did Zuko have so much trouble with it? Korra’s a pretty gifted firebender; why can’t she do it?

The visual of using bending to power the electricity in Republic City is a neat little idea. But you need the voice in your head asking, “What are the possible repercussions of this?”

Moving on, Mako comes back to find Bolin missing. We then cut to Korra on Air Temple Island, now moving through the air gates like a pro. Airbender training coming along nicely! Mako approaches and Jinora and Ikki tease Korra about her feelings for him and she quickly raises the earth beneath them. Korra does indeed have a bit of a crush on Mako, and this episode will be planting seeds for their, uh…engaging romance. Mako is all business, however, and jumps straight into asking Korra if she’s seen Bolin. She answers she hasn’t but insists on helping him by using Naga as a tracker.

The template for this bit of dialogue is used a lot in media, but it’s a pet peeve of mine.

[Korra] We can take Naga.

[Mako] Who’s Naga?

[Korra] My best friend. And a great tracker.

(cut to Korra and Mako riding Naga, searching the Republic City streets)

[Mako] Your best friend is a…polar bear dog. Somehow that makes perfect sense.

Mako’s response is given after the cut because it’s funnier that way, but he really would’ve said this all the way back to when he actually would’ve been introduced to Naga. We could’ve easily had this exchange, cut included, on the island and not lose out on the comedic timing but whatevs. We can file this under “things that bug Ibrahim specifically.”

So they have a walk to Bolin’s usual hangout at the front of the Zuko statue. A kid named Skoochy (voiced by Zach Callison by the way…yes, Steven Universe) says he might have seen Bolin, obviously trying to hustle Mako in exchange for more information. Their conversation implies they’ve run into each other before.

It’s small things like this that make me lament that Republic City is just bolted onto the Avatar universe the way it is, because in isolation there’s a lot of work from the creators to make it feel lived-in and alive. If this were some Elseworld story, this would be some fantastic worldbuilding.

Anyway, Skoochy reveals that Shin took Bolin, and that a turf war is brewing between the city’s major triads. So Mako decides the next best place to go would be the Triple Threat’s headquarters. Before Korra can ask why Bolin would even be involved with the criminal group she ran into on her first day, Naga makes a sharp detour to chase after Pabu in the street…A sign that Bolin isn’t far.

They arrive at the headquarters, and Mako sneaks about, uneasy that the usual front guards aren’t around. Korra, forsaking any pretense of the stealth required, casually walks up to the front door and kicks it open. I’m sure this is meant to be a cool and badass moment for Korra, establishing her as someone who cuts to the chase, but anything could’ve been happening behind that door and her sudden entrance could’ve potentially put Bolin in serious danger. This character is still on some shaky ground.

Luckily, Bolin isn’t inside though because he and Shin are gagged in one of the trucks speeding away from the building. They’ve both been kidnapped. Even more lucky that our heroes arrived not a second too late or they would have been out of luck.

Mako and Korra give pursuit on Naga and the masked kidnappers eventually tie Naga’s legs with a bola. This prompts two of the motorcyclists to fight Korra and Mako hand-to-hand in what is a pretty damn cool fight scene. Both of the benders try to fight off the attackers with firebending, but they counter with flips, twirls, and stunningly good combat skills. Their combat style is heavily reminiscent of Ty Lee, and attentive viewers are rewarded with the reveal that they are indeed Equalist chi-blockers. 

Soon enough, Korra and Mako are incapacitated, but Naga breaks free of her restraints and scares the Equalists off. In a really funny bit, Pabu tries to imitate Naga’s roar and squeaks at them.

Korra is momentarily panicked to learn she can’t bend, a neat little reminder of 1) how important the ability is to her and 2) how chi-blocking works. What’s interesting, however, is that Mako recognizes the attackers as Amon’s henchmen, meaning the Equalists have been a problem in Republic City for some time. That’s odd, since it was implied they hadn’t begun to mobilize until Korra’s arrival. What have they been doing before then that Mako can readily identify Amon’s chi-blockers? What has the city’s response been? Maybe I’m being too nosy and these will be answered in due time, maybe this was an oversight by the writers so Mako can inform the audience who the attackers were. I guess time will tell.

The small group searches the city almost all night, to no results. Korra then gets the idea of chilling in the park where she saw the protestor on the day of her arrival and asking him what he knows come daybreak. It’s a good idea as any and everyone is tired, so they have a lie-down underneath a tree in the park.

There Korra asks about the brother’s involvement with the Triple Threats and Mako explains that they used to do some work for them. Korra’s response is shock and she asks Mako if he’s “some kind of criminal.” Korra’s almost black-and-white view of morality is on display here, again coming from her sheltered upbringing. In her view, being on the wrong side of the law is the same as being evil, and she has trouble comprehending that what is good and what is lawful both exist on perpendicular spectrums. Mako gets defensive and reminds her that the brothers were young orphans with nowhere else to turn and Korra is apologetic. She then asks what happened to their parents and Mako explains that they were cut down in front of him by a firebender. The story informs a foundational part of Mako’s character: his love and dedication to his younger brother. He’s the only family he has left.

By morning, the pair are asleep leaning against each other and are abruptly awakened by the Equalist protestor’s usual yapping. Korra interrogates the protestor and launches a bunch of leaflets into the air, all advertising the “Revelation” happening that night. Korra presses further and Protestor Man reveals that nobody knows what the Revelation is, but guesses that Bolin’s “getting what’s coming to him” if he’s a bender. An approaching policeman forces Korra and Mako to flee the scene with a handful of leaflets.

They examine them on a bench, and see that there’s no location listed for the event. Mako deduces that the information’s been obfuscated to gatekeep the event, and notices a different design on the back of each leaflet. He puts together that they would collectively make a map and the leaflets they have are able to zero in on the exact location in the city that the revelation will be taking place.

What. The…

No…not yet. I’ve gotta hold it in.

How the hell would anyone, Equalist or not, readily know that the location is hidden unless you have more than one leaflet? There were hundreds of those things and only one of them has the red dot! Imagine if you were someone genuinely interested in the Equalists’ cause and wanted to attend the Revelation, and you either:

• Didn’t know about the hidden map
• Didn’t have the leaflet with the location
• Had the right one, but didn’t know about its significance
• Had the right one, knew its significance, but couldn’t tell where it was on the city’s map because you only took one like any normal person would

Imagine if even if you had Equalist friends, you still wouldn’t be able to attend because of this stupid map system. You would be fresh out of luck. Of the hundreds, of the ones they scooped in a hurry, our heroes landed not only the location bit of the map, but the surrounding parts to tell exactly where it is.

It’s time to have a chat.

You might have caught on, but Book One of Legend of Korra so far makes heavy use of luck and contrivance. Contrivance is a neat little writer’s tool that allows a convenient shortcut to whatever they want to happen in the story. It’s comparable to giving it a little push in the direction you want. It can be extremely addictive because it’s easy to write these events off as just plain good or bad luck. If it leads to a big enough payoff, most viewers won’t even notice the corners cut to get there. After all, luck exists in our world and we all get lucky here and there, right? It’s not like it’s impossible for these things to happen, right?

The thing is, what we’d call “lucky” or coincidental in our world often seems that way because we’d lack the information to explain it. Nothing ever “just happens.” Everything is beholden to the laws of cause and effect. A writer, however, has all the information about their story’s world and controls how much access the viewer has to it. They control how often these things happen and their impact. While harmless examples exist, contrivance, especially when high in frequency and impact, betrays artificiality in writing and can break immersion.

But how can you tell the harmless examples from the more egregious ones? I believe they run on a spectrum. Let’s roughly go through it using some of the contrivances I’ve highlighted in the show so far:

In a world of infinite possibilities, can the Avatar, on her first day in the city, run into the Triple Threat Triad on the exact street, day, and time they go on their regular run to extort the music shop owner for more money? Yes.

And what are the odds of that? Fairly likely odds.

Is it possible for Bolin to walk past Korra right before she’d get kicked out of the pro-bending gym? Yes, it is.

Is it likely? Not so much.

Is it possible for Mako and Korra to collect just the right leaflets to pinpoint the location of the Revelation? Yes, but not even remotely likely.

Is it possible for Mako to get hit by a moped owned by one of the richest people in the entire city who can give the Fire Ferrets the money they need to participate in the tournament? (Oh damn we haven’t even gotten there yet)

Yes, it’s possible, but my goodness that sounds almost impossible.

🤓☝️ “But Ibrahim, Katara and Sokka finding Aang’s iceberg when they did has astronomically low odds too! Isn’t that a huge mark against the original series?”

It’s true that Katara and Sokka were extremely lucky to find Aang on their fishing trip. But we’re talking about the difference between a contrivance used to advance the plot and one used to simply start it. Coincidences and lucky breaks are acceptable if they’re the inciting incident to a story. If say, the series followed Katara and Sokka going on their own journey to the North Pole, and in the middle of the season they stumbled across the freakin’ Avatar after being missing for a hundred years by complete happenstance right around the time he’d be useful, then that would be a poor use of contrivance to advance the plot. The logic is simple: It’s unlikely that you will win the lottery, but it’s a guarantee that someone will. A story should start there. The odds of anyone finding the last airbender are extremely low, but someone was going to find him eventually, if by accident. We’re following the pair of siblings that did. (The real contrivance is that Zuko just happened to be in the area when they did.)

When you get down to it, yes, technically everything a writer does is contrived. But think of them like a stage magician; it might all be smoke and mirrors at the end of the day, but it’s not good practice make that obvious to the audience! Besides, there’s a reason we attend the show even with that knowledge. We attend to believe, even for a second, that it’s real. To be part of the magic. A story that operates on cause-and-effect writing can do just that. Reaching into that infinite bag of luck can be tempting, but take the extra time to temper your work, take another crack at the problem, and see if you can create something truly solid and potent.

Rant over.

So anyway, now that Korra and Mako have the location, the two can make their way to the event. They put on disguises and Korra clings to Mako’s arm to pretend the two of them are a couple, to Mako’s slight annoyance. She argues for its practicality but it’s very likely she just wants to be close to Mako. The doorman lets them in once they show him one of their leaflets, and we see a massive crowd in a huge convention hall with a stage. There are a lot of Equalist supporters.

An announcer introduces “your hero, your savior” Amon, and up he comes through a trapdoor with his lieutenant and several Equalists lined up behind him. The crowd cheers loudly for him until he approaches the microphone and addresses them. Here’s where we get Amon’s big motive rant.

Amon explains that he grew up on a small farm along with his poor, non-bending family. A firebender extorted his father for the little money they had, and when he finally decided to face him, the firebender killed Amon’s family and scarred his face, forcing him to hide behind a mask ever since. This is his “canon event”, if you will, that put him on his pursuit of equality. Amon goes on to say that bending has been the cause of all suffering throughout history, prompting a reaction shot of Korra gritting her teeth in anger. The mention of the Avatar gets boos from the crowd. They watch in anticipation as Amon says the spirits themselves have chosen him to usher in a new era of balance because the Avatar has “failed humanity.”

[Amon] They have granted me a power that will make equality a reality. The power to take a person’s bending away. Permanently.

Everyone is in disbelief. This is quite a bold claim for a viewer watching for the first time. Of course, there’s precedent of bending being taken away and your mind can easily go back to the fate of Fire Lord Ozai. But that was done by the Avatar. Could the spirits really have gifted another human with energybending? The suspense is reaching a peak. Nevertheless, Amon offers to demonstrate and so we can only watch in anticipation. Amon brings in the leader of the Triple Threat Triad, “Lightning Bolt” Zolt (fun fact: Zolt, the doorman, and Butakha are all voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson). Next in line are the other captured triad members…and Bolin. Korra tries to move in immediately to save him, but Mako stops her so they can come up with a more effective plan.

Again lending to the idea that he might have a point, Amon is surprisingly virtuous for someone who we know from the meta is a “villain.” He’s taking bending from what we know firsthand to be dangerous criminals, and he even offers Zolt the chance to fight to keep his bending for the sake of fairness. The viewer almost wonders how Amon is going to beat such a notorious firebender, especially since Zolt can lightningbend, as his name implies. Zolt himself seems pretty pleased with the deal.

[Zolt] You’re gonna regret doing that, pal!

A very short fight ensues. Zolt can’t even touch Amon with his fire or lightning. Amon grips Zolt mid-blast in a position that very much looks like energybending if the grip was taken from behind. We see the lightning downgrade into fire and then fade into nothing. The animation is pretty sick.

There is very careful work done by the writers and animators to recall the scene in Avatar where Aang takes away the Fire Lord’s bending. Just like Ozai, Zolt falls to the ground, tries pathetically to bend at his assailant, and asks “What did you do to me?” Even Amon’s response is a darker, colder echo of Aang’s.

[Aang] I took away your firebending. You can’t use it to hurt or threaten anyone ever again.

[Amon] Your firebending is gone. Forever.

Shady Shin is next in line and soon Bolin will be on the chopping block if our heroes don’t act soon. Luckily, Mako gets the idea of Korra bending steam out of some pipes on a nearby wall. Korra enters a hallway and is demanded what she’s doing there by the bouncer at the door. Korra tries the same bathroom excuse from the last episode, but the bouncer isn’t having it. He attacks her with a pipe, delaying Korra as more and more triad members get their bending taken. Bolin is next! Korra eventually overpowers the bouncer without bending, and creates enough steam to disorient the crowd.

In the ensuing chaos, Mako flings an Equalist trying to re-capture his brother and drags Bolin out of the building. As they flee, they’re accosted by the Lieutenant, who carries two dangerous shock sticks. He electrocutes the ladder the brothers are climbing down, stunning them and putting them at a severe disadvantage. Like the other Equalists, the Lieutenant is incredibly acrobatic and can go toe-to-toe with the benders. He’s able to shock both brothers into submission in no time flat.

[Lieutenant] You benders need to understand. There’s no place in the world for you, anymore.

Just then, Korra appears and earthbends the Lieutenant into a wall to save Mako and Bolin. She calls Naga so they can make a clean getaway (I admire Bolin screaming at the sight of Naga. It’s a funny bit of comedy that manages not to clash with the seriousness of the scene). The Equalists are about to give chase but Amon stops them. He tells them she’ll make a perfect “messenger” for the city of the threat Amon poses.

We cut back to Air Temple Island where Korra arrives alone. A concerned Tenzin asks if Korra found “her friend”, and we learn he was going to send a search party for her. He really does care for her. Korra is despondent and tells Tenzin that she saw Amon. She tells him about Amon’s ability to take away bending and he immediately believes her. We cut to a frontal shot of the city as Tenzin says,

[Tenzin] No bender is safe.

Though there are some writing stumbles getting there, this episode sets up the conflict of the season excellently. The execution of Amon’s (proper) introduction is written and shot perfectly to strike fear and intimidation in the viewer, aided by the mystery of just what Amon is and how he achieved his power. And he provides a dark mirror to our protagonist Korra, posing a very real threat to her ability to bend, a core part of her identity. His restraint and genuine interest in equality make him admirable even with the realization that he’s dangerous. The Legend of Korra has some serious potential at this point and seems ready to firmly pitch its tent as a very different affair from Avatar. But we’ll have to see how everything shakes out and if the show will follow through. I hope you’ll join me next time to see how well “The Voice in the Night” carries the momentum!