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Hey youtubers it's Charlie and this week we got two new episodes of Korra. This video
is going to be my combined review of both of them, episodes 4 and 5. Episode 4 was the
conclusion of a two parter and Episode 5 was the beginning of another two parter, so technically
they weren't paired up correctly but I'll explain.
Hello new people, if you're just finding me for the first time I'm doing weekly Korra
videos. Be sure to subscribe to get everything. Quick shoutout to the winner of last week's
giveaway The Real Spider Mew. You win an amazon gift card. All you have to do to enter the
giveaway is be a subscriber and leave a comment.
Because there's two episodes for this video I'll be picking two people randomly. I'll
let you know who wins in next week's video.
So I'm going to start with my top 10 moments from both episodes, then do my review. Careful
for spoilers if you haven't seen the episodes yet. I'll wait just a sec...Here we go Number
10 - Welcome to Zaofu, City of the Metalbenders
This is an Avatar first, we've never seen a city made completely of metal before. It's
like looking at a metal garden. My favorite part of it was the Dance Academy with the
Metal Flower they were using to practice with.
In the trailers I actually thought we were seeing them practice fighting. Which is funny
because it's a nice mirror for the story in Episode 4 with the Dai Li Airbending army
training and what will turn into the Northern Air Temple training in episode 6.
Couple important facts about it. Suyin built it with the help of her husband, and Toph
just visited it. As Opal described meeting Grandma Toph.
When she called it the safest city in the world she was probably referring to the metal
rose petals covering the buildings at night. Since those were so large I'm going to assume
it takes several metalbenders working together to open and close them.
It seems like a city of artists and reformed criminals looking for a new way of life. Which
kind of explains why Suyin thought the idea of the Earth Kingdom still having a Queen
was ridiculous.
Who else is hoping that we get to see a classic Fire Ferrets scene with that Metal Bending
game. It looked almost like a combination of billiards and foozeball.
9 - New Characters Opal and Suyin Beifong
So there were actually a lot of new characters and Suyin has five children not just Opal.
But Opal and Suyin are the big ones. All the Bolin shipping makes it pretty clear Opal
will eventually join team korra and help them. Opal is voiced by Alyson Stoner and Suyin
is voiced by Anne Heche.
This episode was just the first part of a two part episode, so next week we'll get a
nice Beifong flashback with Toph in it that will explain why Lin hates her sister so much.
She came off like a ***, but really we don't know what her beef is, so don't be too quick
to judge. They said it had been 30 years, so whatever Suyin did that Lin claims broke
their family apart, I'm hoping they show it.
I know they'll show how she got her scars on her face, they showed them off quite a
bit in episode 5, but I find it hard to believe that was the event that tore their family
apart for 30 years.
Since Tenzin's family became a huge part of book 2, I'm wondering if Suyin also follows
Team Korra around this season. It sounds like they will eventually resolve their Beifong
family issues so I'm expecting a similar team up in the finale just like we got with Aang's
children.
Really the most interesting thing from their interaction was when Suyin explained that
neither of them knew their fathers. If you didn't catch it, they're only half sisters.
I'm betting that The Duke was one of their fathers and the other one was a character
we haven't met yet.
If Sokka were Lin's father it would make things really awkward since Lin and Tenzin were lovers
when they were children. I don't think they'll reveal who the fathers were until Book 4 or
until Toph returns, if she ever does. But they could also use the comics to reveal who
they are.
Number 8 - Team Korra Prison Break
Lots of Prison Breaks going on in the episode, both very cool. I'm interested to see what
the consequences of Korra's actions are or if they just drop the plot. The Earth Queen
claims that taking the airbenders was an act of war, but unless the Earth Queen mobilizes
against the Northern Air Temple, I don't think anything is going to happen.
We got to see Jinora use her new ability. It seems kind of like a cross between energy
bending and entering the spirit world. Like she's separating her consciousness from her
body, but is still able to remain in the physical realm.
Even though the Spirits are roaming free, the spirit realm is still a separate domain
from the physical realm. You can still travel there.
Number 7 - Team Zahir Breaks out Sparky Sparky Boom Girl
As cool as this was, all I could think about was the similiarities between Team Zahir and
Team Korra. They seemed like totally sane normal people just trying to get their friend
out. They had sense's of humor, they made jokes and had regular emotions.
This is in contrast to previous villains like Amon and Unalaq that were pretty much straight
up black hat wearing villains. There was almost no doubt they were bad.
The way they're developing Team Zahir makes me wonder if they're going to end up helping
Korra do something important. Like bring about a new age that is good, but only seems bad
because Tenzin, Sokka and Zuko never found out what their plan was.
Number 6 - Dai Li Training Camp
Did anybody else think of Karate Kid whenever the Dai Li was yelling no mercy. All I could
think was no mercy in our dojo.
What's really amazed me about all the new airbenders is how good some of them are despite
not having any training. Zahir is the most extreme example of that. Like he seems like
he's been bending for years. And Kai even seems really sophisticated with his technique.
Especially when he saved Jinora from the Dai Li.
I don't expect them to explain why, I think we're just supposed to take away that they're
naturally gifted like Azula or Aang.
Number 5 - Varrick Returns
Now he's supposedly building a Maglev high speed rail system. I loved that they kind
of buried the lead here and made it seem like he was doing weird spiritual things with magnets.
Even though Varrick is a qualified ***, he does actually conduct normal business.
So high speed rail seems in keeping with the series take on modernization.
It's like we go from feudalism in Aang's time, to cars and mechs in Korra's time. High Speed
rail is just the next step. After that it's not too long before you see
microchips and energy based weapons.
Number 4 - All of the new Ships
When Mike and Bryan said that teenage romance wouldn't be as big of a thing this season
I didn't really know what it meant. Because of Jikya and Bopal now, I'm thinking yes there
will be romance, the story just won't feature it on screen as much.
So for instance, Korra interrupting Bolin and Opal is probably just a way for them to
tell us, yes they'll probably be doing stuff whenever they're off by themselves. When we
see them on screen with everyone else, they probably won't go crazy with boyfriend girlfriend
moments.
Number 3 - Kya vs Zahir
It's awesome that Kya doesn't have to just be the healer this season. When we met her
last year she seemed like more of a hippie. I'm glad we get to see more female characters
on the show that aren't just mothers or healers.
You can totally be a badass waterbender or a cranky pants metalbender.
More to that, even on Team Zahir, it's the female members that have thus far seemed like
the most proficient. The armless waterbender Ming Hua and Pi Li the sparky sparky boom
girl.
Number 2 - Lin and Tenzin Explain Team Zaheer
The biggest WTF from all of this is that they still have no idea why Zaheer wanted to kidnap
the avatar. Clearly it's going to be the red herring this season, but Harmonic Convergence
has already happened and Korra has already been separated from Raava, who was killed,
then resurrected to reform the Avatar. So what could Zaheer possibly want to do that
would top that?
They don't seem evil, so I don't think they wanted to kill her.
I'm wondering if they're going to hold of explaining their plan until the last couple
of episodes. It didn't really become clear what the Unalaq Vaatu plan was till after
the Avatar Wan episodes last year.
and my Number 1 moment wasn't any of the big shocking reveals, it was Zahir reading Tenzin's
pendant. The one that belonged to Guru Lahima.
Here's what it said "Let go of your earthly attachments, enter the void and become the
wind".
Everytime we get a long Zaheer scene we learn a little more about what he's thinking about.
I interpreted the poem as one, being the guiding principle of airbenders. Leaving behind earthly
attachments and pursuing a more spiritual life.
But it's the part about entering the void that got me thinking. I'm wondering if Zaheer
wants to use Korra to master death.
That's just my first take, I might think about it differently in a couple weeks. But let
me know what you think the poem meant in that context. When Zaheer said it.
I didn't mention it before, but Ikki teaching the airbenders how to use the airbending gates
was so funny. As creepy as Zaheer was, I loved that he bowed to Ikki after he used them.
I secretly wonder if everything he says has a double meaning. He said each student is
only as good as their master, so does that mean he studied under an airbending master
at some point or a guru?
He seems like he knows more about bending history and lore than Unalaq did.
Let me know what your favorite moment was, I'm going to say Team Zaheer was awesome,
I can't wait to see more of their scenes. Ikki being the leaf was hilarious and I loved
the metal bending city.
Overall this was probably my favorite episode this season so far. I gave it an A just for
character development and for the way it dealt with female relationships without getting
to catty like you see on a lot of children's shows. The Lin Beifong pathos is so rich with
untold backstory. I can't wait for some flashbacks.
The setup they're doing for Zaheer's mystery plan seems so big, I have to believe it has
something to do with conquering death. And the music was so much fun. The tracks during
the prison break and the old timey music during the dinner scene were my favorite songs.
They usually wait forever to release soundtracks, so I might have to try to extract them from
a broadcast or something until they release them on itunes.
Next week's episode is the second part of the earth kingdom story. They only thing I
don't like about what's going on right now is the way Nickelodeon is mismatching episodes.
Forget doubling up, if they're going to do that I can live with it, but at least pair
two parters with the right story arcs.
Because this is my combined episode 4 5 review, I'll be doing a Q&A tomorrow, so be sure to
subscribe to get it. I'll announce the giveaway winners. Normally I'd wait till next week.
Right now click here to get that, I'll add the annotation as soon as I post it. And click
here for my top 10 last airbender characters on Korra.
Thanks for watching, see you guys tomorrow. High Fives!