The Legend of Korra The Southern Lights Review

September 13 2013

Looking for our review of the first part of The Legend of Korra's one hour premiere Rebel Spirit Click here.

Warning Full spoilers from the episode to follow.

Now on her own free from Tenzin's watchful eye Korra's spiritual training began with a journey to the South Pole accompanied by the not so merry band of Unaloq Mako Tonraq Bolin and the twins. It was good to see that Korra wasn't wasting any time in starting down her path as the Avatar or at least what Unalaq believes her path should be.

More so than Rebel Spirit The Southern Lights packed in a lot of backstory particularly in regards to the spiritual state of the Southern Water Tribe which fueled most of the conflict among Tonraq Unalaq and Korra. These scenes were a bit slow moving at first with Unalaq verbally feeding Korra (and us) a ton of information about the Ever Storm the ancient spirit portal the Hundred Year War and the Southern Lights. Luckily Bolin and Mako were there to break up the exposition with some humorous interplay. Bolin's gear presentation was especially enjoyable as was his quieted afterthought Did I interrupt a conversation

Of course the journey to the South Pole wasn't all talk. Tonraq's flashback was one of the more intriguing sequences here and it was interesting to learn about his attack on the ancient forest and his banishment from the Northern Water Tribe. Not only did this explain Tonraq's hostility towards Unalaq but it also says a lot about Korra's personality as well. It might even explain why she has so much trouble connecting with her spiritual side. Perhaps as they say the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree (even if that apple is the Avatar).

The first spirit fight was also pretty cool though not quite as visually stunning as the one we saw in the last episode. Still the skirmish was unique in that the group was fighting three smaller spirits instead of one which made for a couple of interesting moments. I got a big laugh out of Bolin's frantic reaction to the little spirit phasing into his snowmobile OOOH it's in the engine

It's also worth noting Korra's failed attempt at using Unalaq's spirit taming technique which if there was any question before almost certainly derives from some alternate form of waterbending maybe an offshoot of the healing sub skill Without speculating too much this probably means that Unalaq and Korra aren't the only waterbenders capable of using this technique although I would like to know where Unalaq learned it (or if it's his own creation how he devised it).

Janet Varney Talks Book Two

Meanwhile Team Tenzin (let's make it a thing shall we ) paid a visit to the Southern Air Temple Aang's childhood home. (Neat ) Beyond the fact that Tenzin and his family were basically rock stars I found it most amusing that the Air Acolytes had never even heard of Kya or Bumi. I also chuckled at Milo's immediate objective upon arrival to catch a lemur. ( I'm gonna name him... Pokey )

But the real star of this family vacation (at least this week) was Jinora. I admit I geeked out a little bit when I saw her and Tenzin entering the statue room (first seen in Book One of Avatar The Last Airbender). In fact I think one of my favorite moments from this episode was when Jinora stopped to admire Avatar Aang's statue taking in the sight of her grandfather for the very first time then suddenly turning around almost as if she felt Aang's presence in the room with her. I like how the creators are already making her more of a central character in Book Two presumably in preparation for expanding her role.

Also exciting was Korra's plunge into the icy forest. Her scuffle with the spirit serpents was particularly eye catching as she punched fire into one of its mouths air spun back up on her feet and created an ice barrier all in quick (read badass) succession.

However less clear (for now) is the lasting impact made by the opened portal. Obviously Korra's restoration of the Southern Lights was a step in the right direction but it's still uncertain whether that ended the Ever Storm or merely subsided it. The portal opening also appeared to have an effect on the illuminated statue that Jinora discovered. (Could it be Wan's the first Avatar's )

In any case Unalaq's Northern troops invading the South is likely to cause even more of a headache for Team Avatar moving forward with Unalaq's true motives becoming more apparent. If this episode's ending is anything to go on it seems like Korra may be going back to Tenzin sooner than we think.

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