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The backstory of the brothers is truly sad but also one of the best examples of how the cycle of abuse can poison innocent kids. Tarrlok tried to be good, but his upbringing tainted his views, wants, and needs. It took him being broken to realize the pain he suffered back then was back, and how he became like his father in a way. His repenting to Korra is so very sad. This is one of the many reasons Legend of Korra deserves just as much love as ATLA, both are clearly different in how they tell their stories. But they both do so with a lot of care. Korra is more mature then ATLA, so it takes on more mature and difficult subjects. It gives subtlety and fleshes out them.
I don't disagree, Season 1 of LoK is incredible and well written. But the problem is, this is the best season. Whereas ATLA got better with each season, it feels like an incredible pay off at the end. LOK overall is a 7.5 pushing to an 8 (Season 1 is almost a 9), ATLA is a solid 9, if not , 9.5
@@HA-lo7sjyeah..I agree with you…I think, given the circumstances with the studio issues throughout the production of Korra, I have to give the show a 9.5. There were so many things that could have gone disastrously throughout the show…and the first 6 episodes of season 2 were the worst of that. I am disappointed that they really couldn’t ever decide what to do with Mako….I wish they would have just kept him doing pro bender stuff throughout season 2 instead of becoming a “detective” same goes with bolin becoming a Mover star…
@@HA-lo7sj That is fair. Though I do enjoy each season in its own way, it isn't as evenly shown as ATLA was. With all due respect though ATLA is a masterpiece and comparing almost feels unfair to LOK. I will say that from what I learned LOK had issues due to being told each season was going to be the last. So they designed each season to be almost stand alone and all is meant to come together by the end of the season. With that in mind they had to rush each seasons story to just fit one season, then when they got told okay you get one more season they had to rush to build on what they already created and finished. If ATLA had as much issues as LOK in development I dont know if we would of gotten the magic it is. I have a feeling if each season was given a chance to flesh out more we would of been happier. But we can only enjoy what we got.
@@amandanorris8 Same feels about the studio issues. For all they been thru they really did good for LOK. I did hear that for some reason the first episodes of season 2 were developed at another studio, so the art throws people off, but if they could of kept it to the same studio maybe we wouldnt of felt as bad about it? More spoiler focused warning: As for Mako, hes difficult to deal with. The love interest issues gives me a feeling he wasn't as mature as he thought and couldn't handle it. Then again Mako was 19-22 or something around that at the start of LOK, so expecting him to be super mature is a bit much. The whole detective thing/mover actor thing to royal guard/reunification help guard for the brothers I think was suppose to be what they move on to as they got older. Retired young athletes looking to take on serious work. Especially with influence from Avatar doing good in the world I can see them wanting to be active in helping their people. Its difficult to think what to do with the characters considering Korra. In the end though Mako was a young man in college age, where its quite common for people to flip flop on what they want to be.
@@HA-lo7sj SPOILERS, if anyone reading this hasn't at least finished Season 1 ignore this comment. I disagree with Korra's season 1 being the best season. Personally Season 3 & 4 are better than Season 1 in almost all aspects. Also, one big flaw of Season 1 are the pacing, not that it's boring, but the fact that it goes right to the main conflict without slowing down a little to have more character exploration is a problem. For example, General iroh is introduced here in the eve of the finale, without any explanation of his character, even though his presentation alludes to him being a character of significance, but he has his one air battle on the Season Finale, no character exploration, much less depth, and he just makes quick appearances in following seasons, so he's not even a secondary character, but a quick supporting one that is left in the background. Finally, the resolution for Korra's losing fire, earth, and water bending is extremely rushed. She goes to cry and suddenly everything is ok again. Season 1 has one of the quickest and lamest conflict resolutions (the battle with Amon and Equalists is fine, I'm talking about Korra and her issue losing almost all her bending). It's like an entire episode is missing there. One episode in which she overcomes and accepts that she lost part of what defined her, while finally having a true moment of reflection, peace, and meditation she connects with her spiritual side and THEN she would've seen Aang and things would've panned out as they did the Finale we got, but this time she'd earn it by struggling.
@@ivanalegrehes usually a really nice guy but recently he has come across extremely hypermasculine / condescending to Pudgey which makes me uncomfortable. Feels like compensation for something ….
@@uclachemistry yeah, I'm still new to this channel, and I can already see many of his good qualities, but that's one area where it feels like he's fronting
If you think about it, there is an important similarity between bloodbending and energy bending - the reaching into another's soul/body. Every time one does either, they are exposed to the soul of the one being bended - corrupted and corrupting. That is why Katara felt dirty doing it.
Maybe he’s blocking the energy flow in the body with blood bending similar what azula did to aang when she hit him with her lightning strike while he was using the avatar state and until the ozai fight he couldn’t go into the avatar state so I think amon is blocking the energy flow of these benders so they can’t bend.
The creators explained later that Amon basically uses bloodbending to sever chi pathways; essentially permanent chi-blocking. Also he uses very small and subtle amounts of bloodbending when fighting hand-to-hand so he knows where a person's strikes will hit so he can dodge them while also not revealing the truth.
You're not wrong that Korra would have greatly benefitted from having full 20 episode seasons to work with, not to mention knowing ahead of time that they would get more than one season. I think its a valid criticism, and its regrettable when you envision how much better the show *could* have been if they were given a fair shake.
This point is what kills me every time. I truly think Korra had the potential to surpass avatar, but they weren’t given the same freedom as creating ATLA. Which is ironic how Korras main problem in S1 is freedom. Mental and Physical
Now you understand why Amon is so hard to fight. He basically blood bends in every fight and that's why you cannot even get a hit on him unless you surprise him.
In Avatar, the main villian was simply evil - simple and effective. But now the creators have that series under their belt, they are building much richer villians: not black and white, Amon isn't evil, he is just misguided. His motivation is honest, just wrong.
Great take but I just want to mention that Ozai was still a very realistic type of Evil. He wasn’t just evil for evils sake. He had the same delusions that every mass homicidal tyrant has had. It simplified the villain while not being totally shallow. His behavior and attitude still reflected very real and awful evils that have occurred in throughout history
It may just be me, but with many of the villains in ATLA and TOTK I tend to separate their "motivations" from their "manifesto". Because their manifesto, or what they preach can often disguise their true motivations. You're right in that Ozai was more simplistic, his motivation and manifesto are one in the same, the only thing that matters is power and being the most powerful means destroying all adversaries, he's got a real natural selection mindset. I'd liken Amon more to Sozin actually; fixated on absolute power and deluding themselves and others, justifying their actions by saying it is what is best for the future of the world. But that's just my take🤷♀️
Idk, removing something natural from a person's body by force seems very evil to me. What Amon is doing is like cutting off someone's legs to make them shorter because they're taller than average. It's seriously fucked up.
@@controlman7490 I agree the action is bad, but the character isn't evil. Amon honestly believes that his actions are for the best - he's wrong, but he dies believe it. Evil is not just an action, it's about intent. When a soldier kills an enemy in a war, did that make them evil? Because the same action in a different situation is murder, and someone who kills a many people as a soldier might would be thought of as evil if it wasn't in a war. Motivation is important. I'm Avatar, the Fire Lord continued the war out of greed for power, not only that, but he killed and harmed people simply because he felt like it. He was evil. Amon is doing what he does because he believes that in the end, he is making a better world.
@@lightningg252 to a degree, I would say you have a point about Amon, but as written, I think he really did believe he was making a better world - I never did he was a Saint, there are definitely person gains as well. That too is a difference between the 2 series, the characters in this one are fast more complex. The are a mix of things, not just one thing or another.
Yakone attempted to take over repuplic city through the underworld. Even after his death, his sons attempted to do the same. Tarlok did it through politics and Amon did it throuhh revolution,
@@Anzak721 Oh yeah, totally forgot that Cosmetic Surgery is somehow, for some reason, an actual thing in this world that had Bronze Age tech 5 minutes ago. Because why TF not; put ATLA in the title and any of this sh*t will fly among a fanbase desperate to return to that world. Poor deluded fools...
@@AstaraBrightwingThat’s exactly how I felt with kuvira, at first she just seemed kinda rough taking recourses and stuff then I remember being hit out of nowhere with the “camps”. Made me take an immediate 180 on her character.
I think the point of this series is finding balance. If you go all in on most things, you end up out of balance and a fanatic. In my view, that was the creator's point.
Fast paced and rushed are different in my opinion. I think the first season was rushed to the point the plot and Amon as a villain suffered. Also it forced OP characters like tenzin and lin to be sidelined harder during fights to let korra and the gang shine. Just comes off as sloppier writing. ATLA Stan over here cuz the character development and overall writing was so tight and would come more full circle.
@anonymouslyblessed idk I still disagree. Tenzin was raised by Aang and has the rarest form of bending. To me that makes him a contender for top bender fighter in the world. It should be pretty hard to hit him like it was Aang. Lin is similar since she was raised by MF toph. One of the best earth benders the world has ever seen (the other one being king bumi). Yeah the electricity would be a hard counter but a smart and competent metal bender would know this or at least learn after an initial confrontation showing the electric technology. Also these are full grown adults compared to main group who are inexperienced teens
@anonymouslyblessed those are really good points and make total sense. But regardless mentor figures should be shown to be more competent in a show that has to do with fighting through a magic system. So I don’t disagree that the power level makes sense but it’s not as satisfying to see the MC surpass them when they’re nerfed during fights early on to make Korra look better. So you can totally explain away why they’re mid fighters but that doesn’t make it good writing just because you can provide logic to it. It just comes off as lazy and the viewers can feel like they’re missing out on what they think the mentor characters should be able to do. As someone who really likes fight anime and animations power scaling is an important part of world building and when it comes off as unbalanced it takes me out of the show
@anonymouslyblessed Lin maybe not, but Tenzin is most definitely an OP character. He proves this, especially during S3. Even in this season, the man launched a mecha tank like 10 stories up, so his air bending is very powerful. On par with his father's.
The United Forces *are* the defenses of Republic City. It's a city that was meant to be a unification of all four nations, so their army is all nations. The council of the city commands the army (at this stage I believe)
Not sure what “animation error” you're talking about - one eye was in the light from Korra's glowy water healing and the other was in the shade. Also, wild that Spartan's doubling down on Pudgey thinking it was Zuko 🤣 dude see's her get excited over the voice actor and lets his assumptions run free
Agreed! I got JUST AS EXCITED as Pudgey did and I knew it wasn't Zuko. I think Pudgey has proven she's not stupid by their BB reactions alone (Lily of the Valley gun spinning scene?)
One thing that I really like about this episode is that shows how much bloodbending is invasive towards others and corrupts the bender, its a doubled edge sword - its has some similarities with sharingan on the psicological aspect, the more you use the more “sad” you become, etc. Really good story.
I think it's more to do with how cruel their father was. Blood bending it's self doesn't naturally corrupt someone. Katara has used blood bending more than once and she didn't turn into a sadistic monster. Every evil blood bender we've seen was either already a terrible person(Yakone) or suffered extreme abuse that turned them into horrible people(Amon, Tarrlok, Hama). If Yakone was a nice father who encouraged his sons and showered them with love he could've taught them blood bending and they both would've most likely turned out to be benevolent men.
@@controlman7490 Katara did it a few times, imagine spending your entire childhood training using bodies, controlling animals or anything without their consent, what does that do to your mind? think about it.
@melttt It doesn't do anything to your mind inherently. It depends on how the ability is taught. Had Yakone been a nice man and taught his sons they should only use blood bending to defend themselves or defeat dangerous enemies then both of them would've grown up understanding that such a power is reserved only for extreme cases and is to be used moderately. That's not the reality, though. Yakone was an evil man who verbally and emotionally abused his sons and taught them that their only purpose in life is to use blood bending to destroy the avatar. Obviously, if you're teaching children, it's ok to harm innocent people. The children will grow up believing that it's ok. Blood bending is not an evil skill. The bender is what makes the skill evil or not. Katara used the skill on people who actually deserved it, and both instances her life was technically in danger, so she is proof that blood bending has no effect on the benders mind. The abuse a person has suffered determines how they use blood bending or any form of bending for that matter.
Right like the only theory I can think of for how Amon takes someone’s bending away with Bloodbending is by changing the direction/flow of a person’s blood because I think they said before how bending is in your blood so with Amon messing the currents of how your blood flows to help you bend it severs the ties of your bending.
The way I viewed it is Aang spiritually took your bending away, whereas Amon physically does it. The same way chi blockers like Ty Lee prevent your bending with precise hits to you externally, Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally instead and permanently alter your body that way. Would be ridiculously painful
The thing I love about Bolin is that while he's clearly meant to be the 'Sokka figure' (as the goofy comic relief member of the gang), they didn't try to make him literally Sokka. Sokka's more cynical and snarky, while Bolin is more 'pure hearted' (for lack of a better term). Definitely way more sincere and comfortable with his emotions (and also not nearly as smart as Sokka). Oh, and on rewatches I noticed that when Tarrlok was bloodbending Korra he seemed to be in pain, and while I had initially assumed it was the effort of blood-bending, after learning his story I reckon it was emotional pain. He said he never wanted to use it on anyone, and I doubt that sentiment changed over the years.
0:56 Some voice actors from both shows come in the series. Dante Basco (Prince Zuko & General Iroh), Grey DeLisle-Griffin (Princess Azula & Ming-Hua), Jessie Flower (Toph Beifong & Young Suyin Beifong), Dee Bradley Baker (Appa & Momo & Tarrlok & Naga & Pabu), Daniel Dae Kim (General Fong & Hiroshi Sato), Clancy Brown (Long Feng & Yakone), James Sie (Cabbage Merchant & Lau Gan-Lan) and Serena Williams (Ming & Fire Sage).
Brilliant reaction 😭 y’all hit ALL of my favorite key moments AND delved into every theory I was hoping you would. 10/10 reactors, W insight, constant laughs and relations as true fans of the show (lore, etc.). So excited for the finale 🙏🏽😭😭
The clues that Amon and Tarrlok were related were Korra's visions. They occurred when she had a run in with a child of Yakone. While Korra (and you) were able to figure out Yakone was Tarrlok's father she didn't remember that the visions started when she encountered Amon. We knew from ATLA that a more powerful water-bender could break the whole of a blood-bender. That was the clue that Amon was a water-bender
**SPOILER RULES**: Please keep all information to the episodes they have watched. Please allow S&P the same opportunity you all had to enjoy this experience the same way you all were able to. You can talk about anything within reason but please: 1. No character/character arc spoilers 2. No future event/episode hints or spoilers 3. No cheeky hints/semi-vague remarks about spoiler material, future episodes etc. they can be figured out. 4. No spoilers that are outside of the flavor lore exceptions rule. 5. Minimal setting of expectations for specific seasons or episodes of content, especially negative. Too much of this can alter the way they naturally receive and interpret the content. Flavor Lore Exceptions: Anything that is NOT explained by future episodes, but helps provide understanding or context for the episode is fine. An example being how Aang tends to fight defensively due to his air bender background, or why he is a vegetarian. !!ATLA+LoK Discussion Discord Channel!!: *We have a ATLA+LoK discussion channel on the Discord! If you want to discuss the reactions or the show in general with others in the community, spoiler discussion is ALLOWED there IF you use spoiler tags for content they haven't seen. We welcome you to join us! These are all of our mods across TH-cam, Discord, and Patreon: -SuddenImpulse -Wilson -Shellbot - BlackCaiman16 -Jonoridge -JWRANS -ChangDaBang -CheekyWalrus ************************************************************************************** IMPORTANT MOD MESSAGE SPECIFIC TO LEGEND OF KORRA- READ BEFORE POSTING: ************************************************************************************** If you want to say you dislike or like it WITHOUT going into specific details that's fine, but traditional spoiler rules apply for LoK. We must maintain BLIND reactions and opinions for the Legend of Korra content, just as we did with ATLA. That is what people are paying and watching these for. We are well aware of the heavy debate about these two shows. Please keep the ATLA vs TLOK debate and controversies to our community LoK discord channel AND ONLY THAT CHANNEL. We want those paying for Korra reactions to have an enjoyable time within the community and throughout this experience, and not have to sift through a bunch of hostile and aggressive debating or attacking the show. It just ruins the vibe and the fun, and if enough of it occurs it can also color S&P's reactions and cause them to be less natural, the very thing we are here for. Thank you!
Earth Nation/Benders - Green Eyes Water Nation/Benders - Blue Eyes Fire Nation/Benders - Gold Eyes Air Nation/Benders - Grey Eyes None Benders (mostly) - Brown Eyes
Ozai represents the traditional empire building approach that pretty much every country had until 200 years ago. The Korra villains often represent modern utopians who believe in something but are unafraid to bend others’ will to get the world they think is better. Hence utopian world views like communism and fascism might have positive roots but end up being destructive forces killing millions.
...this season was supposed to be the ONLY season. LoK was pitched as a 12-episode mini-series. Nick didn't greenlight additional Books until what became known as Book 1 was in post-production
This was an example of Aang's philosophy of not killing his enemies not being the best in his duties as avatar. Had he killed Yakone, none of this equalist problem would have happened
yup. as much as he might have wanted to respect life, sometimes you must realise that some bad people will not be stopped and the good thing to do is stop tqhem from having more chances to hurt others
I agree with Spartan's criticism here. I remember watching this ep on release and although I really liked it, I did have the sense that they were moving the story quite quickly to get to the endgame. Unfortunately I think it was a symptom of them only knowing they were doing the first season at the time. It's a shame because I love all the plot points and the story has great nuance. With the limitations they had I think they did a great job overall.
It would have been way worse if they'd left it on a cliffhanger and never got renewed for any additional seasons, so I think they chose the best course of action. So it's not something I feel like I can criticize, because it wasn't a flaw in their storytelling so much as them being forced to make the best of a difficult situation.
If things feel like they are going by fast or feels final, it’s because they didn’t know if there would be a second season. So that’s why it feels that way. 2nd season will feel that way too
Except that's not really the problem. What they did "know" from the start was that they had a single season of 12 episodes in which to tell their story. Sure, they were given a 2nd season later on, but that's not really relevant to the script they wrote for the 1st season. The network didn't offer them 20 episodes and then halfway through the season cut it down to 12, or anything like that. That's not what happened. The writers *knew* that they had 12 episodes to tell their story...and they simply didn't handle the pacing very well. I don't think it's terrible, but it definitely could have been paced much, much better.
I will never forgive Mako for not officially breaking up with Asami. Thats the implication in this "sorry things got so messed up" scene, but thats not a real breakup, nor is it even an apology for the way he treated her. He only deigned to let her know the relationship was over after essentially moving on to a new relationship with Korra. He even goes for that kiss with Korra, which she avoids, before his subpar conversation with Asami.
@@darkstar3116you can't help who your heart is drawn toward, BUT there is emotional intelligence in acknowledging that it does affect the other person who cares about YOU, that it will hurt for them, and that you're not oblivious or selfishly callous to that fact. Refusing to ever acknowledge that impact is just a form of denial so you can keep feeling like a good person, even though a genuinely good person would at least end the current relationship first, AND would be sympathetic to the fact that they caused someone pain. It doesn't mean you're wrong to move on, but both things can be true at the same time, it's not black and white, either/or
@@darkstar3116 Mako spent all his time and attention to Korra long after she was safe. That's not caring for someone's wellbeing, that's trial running a new girlfriend. Asami was owed a breakup episodes ago, instead of being strung along.
Dang lol I hope none of your partners in real life manipulate your feelings and cheat on you behind your back for months as does happen bc if you can’t even forgive mako in this tv show I can only imagine the degree of resentment something like that would cause irl
@yomamma.ismydaddy216 I have no idea what point you're trying to make. Yes if someone cheated on me for months behind my back I would resent them, that's a pretty normal response to that kind of situation???? Would you be fine with it?
If we assume bending is cotrolled, like every other function of the human organism, from the neurons and the brain in general, then someone who controls blood, can stop or even accelerate such functions. Merging real life science and a bit of realism in a fantasy setting is never an easy task but I think in this case it is well done.
Don't assume. Ever. The real world source material that bending is based on is what we refer to as "internal martial arts". It has thousands of years of real history, and has nothing to do with "merging real life science and a bit of realism in a fantasy setting" for the sake of a kids show. In fact, you have the entire concept directly backwards... We are energy that controls a body, not a body controlling the energy within.
Considering where bending comes from, I'm pretty sure it's 'supernatural'. Probably fueled/controlled by a person's chi/chakras. So it's probably like an advanced form of chi-blocking in which he uses the blood in the body to 'plug up' a chi path (as opposed to chi-blocking strikes which simply bruise the chakra points, cutting them off temporarily due to the swelling). Whereas Aang's technique was probably literally removing the actual spirit energy that gives the bending, the same way the lion turtles did.
Idk if they read the comments, but I want to put it out there. When they made this first season, they only thought they would be able to make one season. So they did their best to expand while making it self-contained.
I always imagined Aman's taking away bending powers as using blood bending to induce brain damage that severs off a bender's bending abilities from their conscious mind. 'This is different from Aang's which is spiritual and removes the bending fundamentally.
blood bending + healing power = bending lobotomy. This is why he needs to be up close, touch the person and the person needs to be still. It's basically brain surgery.
When seeing Korra consider that the 1st season was just gonna be that. Then they got greenlight for the second but only that. And then finally got a go with season 3 and 4. So if you feel them a bit cut or rush is because they never knew thet where gonna get season 2 and then did not now if they where getting a go to season 3 and 4.
This is why the villains in Korra are clearly better than atla. Obviously the fire lord is epic and bad ass, but his motive is one dimensional. At least the villains and animation are undoubtedly superior
Disagree. All of the villains in Korra propose unique ideas and have interesting perspectives, but only become evil in the end. Reminder that the Fire Nation conquering the world in ATLA started behind the idea that they wanted to share prosperity and peace with the world. Which in and of itself is not evil. It's only how Sozin and Ozai chose to "share prosperity", that led to their wrongdoings. The issue with Korra's villains, is the ideas they have are never revisited, making the beliefs of these multifaceted characters go to waste.
@@CraZeKllutchy Why would you say they're not revisited? The result of Amon's revolution was a complete overhaul to Republic City's system of government, with their first elected president being a non-bender. While we don't get any specific focus on the details of the political situation, I can't imagine many people would have been pleased with limited air-time being devoted to politics beyond what was necessary for the plot. And then the whole situation in season 2 has long-lasting consequences, the villain's motivation was 'balance' (though obviously not his true motivation), and that led to Korra leaving the spirit portal open and that was a very prevalent aspect of season 3. And Zaheer and company's actions directly lead to the events of season 4, which explores exactly what their goals would accomplish (and even kind of explores a world without an Avatar, since Korra goes MIA for a time). So honestly the only villain who doesn't get any follow-up to their motives is Kuvira, and that's because she was the villain of the last season.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 I don’t see how Raiko being the first elected president has anything to do with Amon’s initial ideas, about equality. For Unalaq, his actions did absolutely nothing, and eventually become his justification for pursuing his own selfish goal. Opening the spirit portal was a rather nuanced action by Korra, not Unalaq. His idea to be a catalyst for a combined and more spiritual water tribe, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, we find out that’s not his ultimate goal, and his initial ideals fade with his death. You could argue that Korra opening the spirit portal IS them becoming more spiritual, but I’d say that’s a reach. Kuvira had a very similar story. Someone who initially posed some interesting ideas, wanting to bring the Earth Nation together and help its people after the previous tyrannical queen was killed. But once again, she just became another tyrant who was eventually replaced by Wu and her idea to unite the Earth Kingdom fades with her downfall at the end of the show. The ONLY villain whose idea is explored and becomes an integral part of the plot, is Zaheer’s. We actually revisit him in S4, and he plays a key role in helping Korra save the world from Kuvira. Let me be clear, I’m not trying to claim that the other villain’s had no impact on the overarching plot of the show. All I’m saying is their interesting and nuanced perspectives are typically brushed aside at the conclusion of each season.
@@CraZeKllutchy The council that Tenzin was a part of over Republic City was not elected, they were appointed. Making the leader of Republic City an elected official was introducing equality, because a non-bender's vote counts just as much as a bender's. And the fact that a non-bender won was a big deal too, because it's probably the first time the non-benders felt represented by the government.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 I'm fairly certain the other council members that were not Tenzin or Tarloq were non-benders. Not to mention in no way, shape or form does an elected president equate to equality. It might be a step in the right direction, which is also a reach, but that's wildly different than exploring the idea of the inequality between benders versus non-benders. Once again I'll reiterate, an interesting and complex idea/perspective that is cut off by the other plot points of the series.
It's the dead of winter in Australia, which is about the same temperature as Los Angeles in December in most places. So... not really a winter at all, by Canadian standards. I guess you'd wear jackets or sweaters if temperatures in the mid-teens (Celsius) / mid-fifties (F) feel cold to you.
This is why Amon is such a compelling anti-hero. He truly believed in his purpose. As Varys said, nothing is more terrifying than a just man -- or a man who truly believes himself just.
10:57 The eyes aren't two different colors and it's not an animation error... One eye is lit with blue light and the other is in darkness.... it's lighting....
at this point Korra does know the fundamentals of air bending, but it seems is holding her back either physically or mentally from producing air like an average air bender :D
I would have loved it if the first season had been expanded into 2 or 3 seasons so the story could have been explored better, but i think they did it well for a single season.
@anonymouslyblessed yes, that seems often to be the problem when a show that looks like it should be great seems to have troubles. TV meyers would do far better if they got rid of the executives
Looking at this reaction I realized something. I think one of the things why people didn't like The Legend of Korra so much is the fact that the bendings are nerfed, and in this chapter there's a sample of that: in the line of prisoners that Amon is going to take away their bending, there are some members of the Order of the White Lotus. We are talking about the same Order that, with 5 members, one of which was a non-bender, reconquered Ba Sing Se against a Fire Nation army. What the hell happened in all that time?
Honestly? I think it was just a change for the show. As cool as it was, having Team Avatar taking out entire highly trained armies all by themselves in the original show was a big stretch. Or how Ty-Lee and Mai literally took out a whole battalion of earth benders at the drill using throwing knives and fists. It's absurd from a 'realism' stance, but because the OG Avatar was more 'cartoon-y' (for lack of a better term) we didn't think too much about it. Since Korra's story is more 'grounded', I think they wanted to make the fighting more 'realistic' in the sense that even if you're fighting lower-skilled opponents, you're gonna have a really rough time if there's a group of them. And frankly I appreciated it, because there was never any sense of danger in the OG show from regular enemies. Like, the Dai-Li were supposed to be elite earth bender secret service types and yet they got bodied by two pre-teens and two teenagers. They made the Dai-Li out to be scary/a threat, but they were nothing. In Korra Amon's soldiers legit feel dangerous because even if they're not as strong as the main cast (with the exception of Mustache Guy) they're still threats in numbers. Whenever one of our heroes were surrounded by four or five Chi-blockers I felt the tension, whereas in Avatar I never felt that tension from even the supposedly 'elite' enemies. So the short version: the characters in Korra aren't weaker than the ones in Avatar, the setting was just made more grounded. So if AtLA were remade in the tone of Korra then Aang and the gang wouldn't be taking on whole armies, and if Korra were remade in the tone of Avatar then Korra would be eating Amon's minions for breakfast.
Even though Bumi is named after an earth bender he couldn't be an earth bender. Parents of certain elements can have kids of those elements. So Aang and Katara could have water or air bender kids (or nonbender kids). Not sure, but maybe the Avatar could have kids that bend any one of the four elements.
From what I've seen avatars can only pass on their 'natural' bending type, because only that one is hereditary while all the others are held by Raava. So Avatars don't actually have all four bending types, they have one bending type and then three others being held for them to use whenever they want.
I thought it was an odd choice to have Zuko's teenage voice coming out of a grown man's mouth lol, Dante Basco could have deepened his voice at least to reflect Iroh II's proper age
I agree, but Dante Basco has very little voice range so if they wanted him to cameo then there was only one voice available. I've actually met him in person (really cool guy) and it's surreal to hear Zuko's voice coming out of him, lol.
Aang spiritually took your bending away, whereas Amon physically does it. That’s the way I viewed it: The same way chi blockers like Ty Lee prevent your bending with precise hits to you externally, Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally instead and alter your body that way. Would be ridiculously painful Either way I think this plot line is much more feasible than certain ATLA fans make it out to be 😅
Just no. First of all, you've straight contradicted yourself. "Amon physically does it"... "Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally". Chi is an entirely spiritual concept, the only physical aspect of chi is that it is contained within this physical shell and follows similar paths through the body as the blood does. Blood is considered to be the physical form of chi, which is why an expert bloodbender is a step away from bending a persons energy itself. Which is why Aang could remove bending permanently and Amon can't. Both the Lion Turtle & Guru Pathik explained exactly how all this works to Aang in ATLA. Please refer to the first Doctor Strange movie if you need a visual example of how little the physical matters in regards to control of spiritual energy.
@@somashaman well explained, though i feel like you've just explained my point but in detail - how amon takes your bending away by messing with physical chi paths - which is the blood, in your words. Which is essentially what i meant as well - he does not affect it spiritually like aang. I feel like you saying "chi is entirely spiritual" and "blood is considered the physical form of chi" is also a self contradiction? haha. Anyway that shoudn't matter - as i believe chi must have some form of physical aspect to it otherwise how would chi blockers like ty lee be able to stop you bending with their physical attacks? Either way i feel like our points are actually very similar, just i was very vague so you could interpret that flaw from what i wrote, thats my bad - was just trying to keep my original comment shorter :)
I always feel as though this reveal lessens Amon's character as it makes him out to be a charlatant that the heroes can defeat by exposing him to his masses rather than confronting his very valid argument for the plight of non benders.
I think a problem is that we see no real Bending oppression prior to Amon stirring the pot, either At most one could point to all the council being Benders, but Sokka was on there once and if the idea is that like say, as people in RC identify less with fou nations "Bending vs Nom-bending" slowly became the new in- and out group dynamic for them, theyd have to TELL that story As is, all we really saw as established in RC was classism, regardless of Bending status
@@AstaraBrightwing We know of three people murdered by two firebenders, yes. That's not a lot. Also high bending crime rate does not equal bender oppression. We also see a good deal of impoverished benders being exploited by the system (predatory pro bending business, the factory Mako works at, hiring penniless benders of the streets like Bolin) And nonbenders with incredible wealth (the Satos, Cabbage Corp)
SPOILER kind of: Spartan and pudgey know this already cause they've seen the episode so i guess we can all agree that everything, but korras ending and how she got her bending back was great in the final episode.
20:54 What Noatak is doing by taking peoples bending away, it initially may not seem like "oppression", but if you think of it more as the unholy combination of cultural erasure and conversion therapy, the sinister aspect of it becomes more clear. In regards to benders as a group, he's actively trying to wipe out centuries of heritage and cultural identity (that's on the genocide checklist), and in regards to the individual you have a particularly nasty analogy for the oppression of non-conforming people (with the added irony that he's basically the stereotypical closeted conservative who can't stop being homophobic)
Spartan the executioner you sent to send me to the lord of light at dawn. 1st off he was late and 2nd his sword broke on my neck cause I'm BUILT DIFFERENT! But sloppy work is to be expected from a member of house spartan 😂
So Amon can just take bending away with no explanation? Please tell me there will be more back story with a giant Lionturtle teaching him the way at some point.
Good episode... But itgets so much better... Still waiting for season 3 :) Sorry Amon but you are not the "bad guy"... Actually none of them are... Just "out of balance" like ... will say! :)
This is the point in the story I always look back at how Aang took the firelord's bending away rather than killing him. I never agreed with that decision and this is why. If Aang had killed Yakone he never would have had sons to shape into such monsters. People feel bad for Tarlok after this story and I really don't know why. If you look at history Tarlok was a Hitler in the making, he just ran into a worse tyrant before he had the influence he needed to best Amon.
We definitely did NOT see that coming!
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The backstory of the brothers is truly sad but also one of the best examples of how the cycle of abuse can poison innocent kids. Tarrlok tried to be good, but his upbringing tainted his views, wants, and needs. It took him being broken to realize the pain he suffered back then was back, and how he became like his father in a way. His repenting to Korra is so very sad. This is one of the many reasons Legend of Korra deserves just as much love as ATLA, both are clearly different in how they tell their stories. But they both do so with a lot of care. Korra is more mature then ATLA, so it takes on more mature and difficult subjects. It gives subtlety and fleshes out them.
I don't disagree, Season 1 of LoK is incredible and well written. But the problem is, this is the best season. Whereas ATLA got better with each season, it feels like an incredible pay off at the end. LOK overall is a 7.5 pushing to an 8 (Season 1 is almost a 9), ATLA is a solid 9, if not , 9.5
@@HA-lo7sjyeah..I agree with you…I think, given the circumstances with the studio issues throughout the production of Korra, I have to give the show a 9.5. There were so many things that could have gone disastrously throughout the show…and the first 6 episodes of season 2 were the worst of that.
I am disappointed that they really couldn’t ever decide what to do with Mako….I wish they would have just kept him doing pro bender stuff throughout season 2 instead of becoming a “detective” same goes with bolin becoming a Mover star…
@@HA-lo7sj That is fair. Though I do enjoy each season in its own way, it isn't as evenly shown as ATLA was. With all due respect though ATLA is a masterpiece and comparing almost feels unfair to LOK. I will say that from what I learned LOK had issues due to being told each season was going to be the last. So they designed each season to be almost stand alone and all is meant to come together by the end of the season. With that in mind they had to rush each seasons story to just fit one season, then when they got told okay you get one more season they had to rush to build on what they already created and finished. If ATLA had as much issues as LOK in development I dont know if we would of gotten the magic it is. I have a feeling if each season was given a chance to flesh out more we would of been happier. But we can only enjoy what we got.
@@amandanorris8 Same feels about the studio issues. For all they been thru they really did good for LOK. I did hear that for some reason the first episodes of season 2 were developed at another studio, so the art throws people off, but if they could of kept it to the same studio maybe we wouldnt of felt as bad about it?
More spoiler focused warning:
As for Mako, hes difficult to deal with. The love interest issues gives me a feeling he wasn't as mature as he thought and couldn't handle it. Then again Mako was 19-22 or something around that at the start of LOK, so expecting him to be super mature is a bit much. The whole detective thing/mover actor thing to royal guard/reunification help guard for the brothers I think was suppose to be what they move on to as they got older. Retired young athletes looking to take on serious work. Especially with influence from Avatar doing good in the world I can see them wanting to be active in helping their people. Its difficult to think what to do with the characters considering Korra. In the end though Mako was a young man in college age, where its quite common for people to flip flop on what they want to be.
@@HA-lo7sj SPOILERS, if anyone reading this hasn't at least finished Season 1 ignore this comment.
I disagree with Korra's season 1 being the best season. Personally Season 3 & 4 are better than Season 1 in almost all aspects. Also, one big flaw of Season 1 are the pacing, not that it's boring, but the fact that it goes right to the main conflict without slowing down a little to have more character exploration is a problem. For example, General iroh is introduced here in the eve of the finale, without any explanation of his character, even though his presentation alludes to him being a character of significance, but he has his one air battle on the Season Finale, no character exploration, much less depth, and he just makes quick appearances in following seasons, so he's not even a secondary character, but a quick supporting one that is left in the background. Finally, the resolution for Korra's losing fire, earth, and water bending is extremely rushed. She goes to cry and suddenly everything is ok again. Season 1 has one of the quickest and lamest conflict resolutions (the battle with Amon and Equalists is fine, I'm talking about Korra and her issue losing almost all her bending). It's like an entire episode is missing there. One episode in which she overcomes and accepts that she lost part of what defined her, while finally having a true moment of reflection, peace, and meditation she connects with her spiritual side and THEN she would've seen Aang and things would've panned out as they did the Finale we got, but this time she'd earn it by struggling.
The way Pudgey was ready to throw hands after Yakone called Katara a coward for banning bloodbending 😂🙎🏽♂️
I think Tarlok and Noatak would have a good heart when they didn't had a father like yokone❤
Hmmm. An interesting nature vs nurture discussion.
Specially Noatak, he really had a nature of being kind and protecting people.
the sad thing was that Yakone initially moved on from his criminal past when started his family.
Don’t think general iroh eyes were different I think it was the glow from Korra healing him reflecting in his eyes
You're very kind for using the word "think" when it was obvious to pretty much everyone but them
Pudgey looking radiant as always
plus her laugh is infectious
I'm with Pudgey on this. she didn't mean it's Zuko, but Zuko's voice ❤️
Thanks some one said it... Spartan is very rude to Spudgey.
Facts. She didnt even speak before spartan berrated her.
@@josechamu240 yeah Man, she is only trying to enjoy what they are doing together...
@@ivanalegrehes usually a really nice guy but recently he has come across extremely hypermasculine / condescending to Pudgey which makes me uncomfortable. Feels like compensation for something ….
@@uclachemistry yeah, I'm still new to this channel, and I can already see many of his good qualities, but that's one area where it feels like he's fronting
If you think about it, there is an important similarity between bloodbending and energy bending - the reaching into another's soul/body. Every time one does either, they are exposed to the soul of the one being bended - corrupted and corrupting. That is why Katara felt dirty doing it.
Maybe he’s blocking the energy flow in the body with blood bending similar what azula did to aang when she hit him with her lightning strike while he was using the avatar state and until the ozai fight he couldn’t go into the avatar state so I think amon is blocking the energy flow of these benders so they can’t bend.
@@RoronoaZoro-rk8kv There is no maybe, that's exactly what he is doing.
The creators explained later that Amon basically uses bloodbending to sever chi pathways; essentially permanent chi-blocking. Also he uses very small and subtle amounts of bloodbending when fighting hand-to-hand so he knows where a person's strikes will hit so he can dodge them while also not revealing the truth.
You're not wrong that Korra would have greatly benefitted from having full 20 episode seasons to work with, not to mention knowing ahead of time that they would get more than one season. I think its a valid criticism, and its regrettable when you envision how much better the show *could* have been if they were given a fair shake.
This point is what kills me every time. I truly think Korra had the potential to surpass avatar, but they weren’t given the same freedom as creating ATLA. Which is ironic how Korras main problem in S1 is freedom. Mental and Physical
Now you understand why Amon is so hard to fight. He basically blood bends in every fight and that's why you cannot even get a hit on him unless you surprise him.
In Avatar, the main villian was simply evil - simple and effective. But now the creators have that series under their belt, they are building much richer villians: not black and white, Amon isn't evil, he is just misguided. His motivation is honest, just wrong.
Great take but I just want to mention that Ozai was still a very realistic type of Evil. He wasn’t just evil for evils sake. He had the same delusions that every mass homicidal tyrant has had. It simplified the villain while not being totally shallow. His behavior and attitude still reflected very real and awful evils that have occurred in throughout history
It may just be me, but with many of the villains in ATLA and TOTK I tend to separate their "motivations" from their "manifesto". Because their manifesto, or what they preach can often disguise their true motivations. You're right in that Ozai was more simplistic, his motivation and manifesto are one in the same, the only thing that matters is power and being the most powerful means destroying all adversaries, he's got a real natural selection mindset. I'd liken Amon more to Sozin actually; fixated on absolute power and deluding themselves and others, justifying their actions by saying it is what is best for the future of the world. But that's just my take🤷♀️
Idk, removing something natural from a person's body by force seems very evil to me. What Amon is doing is like cutting off someone's legs to make them shorter because they're taller than average. It's seriously fucked up.
@@controlman7490 I agree the action is bad, but the character isn't evil. Amon honestly believes that his actions are for the best - he's wrong, but he dies believe it. Evil is not just an action, it's about intent.
When a soldier kills an enemy in a war, did that make them evil? Because the same action in a different situation is murder, and someone who kills a many people as a soldier might would be thought of as evil if it wasn't in a war.
Motivation is important. I'm Avatar, the Fire Lord continued the war out of greed for power, not only that, but he killed and harmed people simply because he felt like it. He was evil. Amon is doing what he does because he believes that in the end, he is making a better world.
@@lightningg252 to a degree, I would say you have a point about Amon, but as written, I think he really did believe he was making a better world - I never did he was a Saint, there are definitely person gains as well.
That too is a difference between the 2 series, the characters in this one are fast more complex. The are a mix of things, not just one thing or another.
Yakone attempted to take over repuplic city through the underworld. Even after his death, his sons attempted to do the same. Tarlok did it through politics and Amon did it throuhh revolution,
How does the son of a fugitive from justice get to be a member of the city council?
@@noneofyourbeeswax01I mean, the series pretty much explained that Yakone changed his identity (name and face).
@@Anzak721 Oh yeah, totally forgot that Cosmetic Surgery is somehow, for some reason, an actual thing in this world that had Bronze Age tech 5 minutes ago. Because why TF not; put ATLA in the title and any of this sh*t will fly among a fanbase desperate to return to that world. Poor deluded fools...
@@noneofyourbeeswax01 1 Yakone changed his identity and 2 children shouldn't be punished for the sins of their parents.
That's the thing with the Korra series. The villains tend to have some good points, even if you disagree with their methods or conclusions.
@@AstaraBrightwingThat’s exactly how I felt with kuvira, at first she just seemed kinda rough taking recourses and stuff then I remember being hit out of nowhere with the “camps”. Made me take an immediate 180 on her character.
I think the point of this series is finding balance. If you go all in on most things, you end up out of balance and a fanatic. In my view, that was the creator's point.
Every time I re-watch Korra its a pleasure to find that it's a lot more mature and fast paced than The Last Airbender. Korra is underrated.
Fast paced and rushed are different in my opinion. I think the first season was rushed to the point the plot and Amon as a villain suffered. Also it forced OP characters like tenzin and lin to be sidelined harder during fights to let korra and the gang shine. Just comes off as sloppier writing. ATLA Stan over here cuz the character development and overall writing was so tight and would come more full circle.
@anonymouslyblessed idk I still disagree. Tenzin was raised by Aang and has the rarest form of bending. To me that makes him a contender for top bender fighter in the world. It should be pretty hard to hit him like it was Aang. Lin is similar since she was raised by MF toph. One of the best earth benders the world has ever seen (the other one being king bumi). Yeah the electricity would be a hard counter but a smart and competent metal bender would know this or at least learn after an initial confrontation showing the electric technology. Also these are full grown adults compared to main group who are inexperienced teens
@anonymouslyblessed those are really good points and make total sense. But regardless mentor figures should be shown to be more competent in a show that has to do with fighting through a magic system. So I don’t disagree that the power level makes sense but it’s not as satisfying to see the MC surpass them when they’re nerfed during fights early on to make Korra look better. So you can totally explain away why they’re mid fighters but that doesn’t make it good writing just because you can provide logic to it. It just comes off as lazy and the viewers can feel like they’re missing out on what they think the mentor characters should be able to do. As someone who really likes fight anime and animations power scaling is an important part of world building and when it comes off as unbalanced it takes me out of the show
@anonymouslyblessed Lin maybe not, but Tenzin is most definitely an OP character. He proves this, especially during S3. Even in this season, the man launched a mecha tank like 10 stories up, so his air bending is very powerful. On par with his father's.
@anonymouslyblessed Nevertheless, he's still a pretty OP character.
The United Forces *are* the defenses of Republic City. It's a city that was meant to be a unification of all four nations, so their army is all nations. The council of the city commands the army (at this stage I believe)
"Locke was a good guy" omg the clap back, go Pudgey!
Not sure what “animation error” you're talking about - one eye was in the light from Korra's glowy water healing and the other was in the shade. Also, wild that Spartan's doubling down on Pudgey thinking it was Zuko 🤣 dude see's her get excited over the voice actor and lets his assumptions run free
Agreed! I got JUST AS EXCITED as Pudgey did and I knew it wasn't Zuko. I think Pudgey has proven she's not stupid by their BB reactions alone (Lily of the Valley gun spinning scene?)
“There’s no such thing as a bad student only bad teacher”
Mr Miyagi.
YESS MARRY ME
They STILL need to watch the KK movies AND Cobra Kai!! ❤
One thing that I really like about this episode is that shows how much bloodbending is invasive towards others and corrupts the bender, its a doubled edge sword - its has some similarities with sharingan on the psicological aspect, the more you use the more “sad” you become, etc. Really good story.
I think it's more to do with how cruel their father was. Blood bending it's self doesn't naturally corrupt someone. Katara has used blood bending more than once and she didn't turn into a sadistic monster. Every evil blood bender we've seen was either already a terrible person(Yakone) or suffered extreme abuse that turned them into horrible people(Amon, Tarrlok, Hama). If Yakone was a nice father who encouraged his sons and showered them with love he could've taught them blood bending and they both would've most likely turned out to be benevolent men.
@@controlman7490 Katara did it a few times, imagine spending your entire childhood training using bodies, controlling animals or anything without their consent, what does that do to your mind? think about it.
@melttt It doesn't do anything to your mind inherently. It depends on how the ability is taught. Had Yakone been a nice man and taught his sons they should only use blood bending to defend themselves or defeat dangerous enemies then both of them would've grown up understanding that such a power is reserved only for extreme cases and is to be used moderately. That's not the reality, though. Yakone was an evil man who verbally and emotionally abused his sons and taught them that their only purpose in life is to use blood bending to destroy the avatar. Obviously, if you're teaching children, it's ok to harm innocent people. The children will grow up believing that it's ok. Blood bending is not an evil skill. The bender is what makes the skill evil or not. Katara used the skill on people who actually deserved it, and both instances her life was technically in danger, so she is proof that blood bending has no effect on the benders mind. The abuse a person has suffered determines how they use blood bending or any form of bending for that matter.
I think the psychic blood bending is a tie to how "combustion" bending works. Channelling the chi through the head based on the light chakra.
I think What Amon / Noatak does it block Your chakra in your “third” eye via blood bending
Right like the only theory I can think of for how Amon takes someone’s bending away with Bloodbending is by changing the direction/flow of a person’s blood because I think they said before how bending is in your blood so with Amon messing the currents of how your blood flows to help you bend it severs the ties of your bending.
The way I viewed it is Aang spiritually took your bending away, whereas Amon physically does it.
The same way chi blockers like Ty Lee prevent your bending with precise hits to you externally, Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally instead and permanently alter your body that way.
Would be ridiculously painful
The thing I love about Bolin is that while he's clearly meant to be the 'Sokka figure' (as the goofy comic relief member of the gang), they didn't try to make him literally Sokka. Sokka's more cynical and snarky, while Bolin is more 'pure hearted' (for lack of a better term). Definitely way more sincere and comfortable with his emotions (and also not nearly as smart as Sokka).
Oh, and on rewatches I noticed that when Tarrlok was bloodbending Korra he seemed to be in pain, and while I had initially assumed it was the effort of blood-bending, after learning his story I reckon it was emotional pain. He said he never wanted to use it on anyone, and I doubt that sentiment changed over the years.
0:56
Some voice actors from both shows come in the series.
Dante Basco (Prince Zuko & General Iroh), Grey DeLisle-Griffin (Princess Azula & Ming-Hua), Jessie Flower (Toph Beifong & Young Suyin Beifong), Dee Bradley Baker (Appa & Momo & Tarrlok & Naga & Pabu), Daniel Dae Kim (General Fong & Hiroshi Sato), Clancy Brown (Long Feng & Yakone), James Sie (Cabbage Merchant & Lau Gan-Lan) and Serena Williams (Ming & Fire Sage).
Brilliant reaction 😭 y’all hit ALL of my favorite key moments AND delved into every theory I was hoping you would. 10/10 reactors, W insight, constant laughs and relations as true fans of the show (lore, etc.). So excited for the finale 🙏🏽😭😭
He's probably using blood bending to permanently block that chi point around the third eye/arrow point in the forehead.
The clues that Amon and Tarrlok were related were Korra's visions. They occurred when she had a run in with a child of Yakone. While Korra (and you) were able to figure out Yakone was Tarrlok's father she didn't remember that the visions started when she encountered Amon.
We knew from ATLA that a more powerful water-bender could break the whole of a blood-bender. That was the clue that Amon was a water-bender
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I think he managed to take away bending by combining Blood Bending and Chi Blocking.
Earth Nation/Benders - Green Eyes
Water Nation/Benders - Blue Eyes
Fire Nation/Benders - Gold Eyes
Air Nation/Benders - Grey Eyes
None Benders (mostly) - Brown Eyes
Ozai represents the traditional empire building approach that pretty much every country had until 200 years ago. The Korra villains often represent modern utopians who believe in something but are unafraid to bend others’ will to get the world they think is better. Hence utopian world views like communism and fascism might have positive roots but end up being destructive forces killing millions.
...this season was supposed to be the ONLY season. LoK was pitched as a 12-episode mini-series. Nick didn't greenlight additional Books until what became known as Book 1 was in post-production
14:08 Wow, they look so sweet and innocent it's hard to believe what they grow up to be.
One of the best back stories i ever seen as far as cartoon or anime. What a sad story between the brothers.
I assume it's a combination of chi-blocking and bloodbending to make it permanent...
It's never explained, but that's what makes the most sense....
obrigado por postarem o vídeo de manhã, assim posso almoçar enquanto assisto a jornada Avatar de voces
Na moral, brasileiro é achado em todo lugar 😂
This was an example of Aang's philosophy of not killing his enemies not being the best in his duties as avatar. Had he killed Yakone, none of this equalist problem would have happened
yup. as much as he might have wanted to respect life, sometimes you must realise that some bad people will not be stopped and the good thing to do is stop tqhem from having more chances to hurt others
I agree with Spartan's criticism here. I remember watching this ep on release and although I really liked it, I did have the sense that they were moving the story quite quickly to get to the endgame. Unfortunately I think it was a symptom of them only knowing they were doing the first season at the time. It's a shame because I love all the plot points and the story has great nuance. With the limitations they had I think they did a great job overall.
It would have been way worse if they'd left it on a cliffhanger and never got renewed for any additional seasons, so I think they chose the best course of action. So it's not something I feel like I can criticize, because it wasn't a flaw in their storytelling so much as them being forced to make the best of a difficult situation.
If things feel like they are going by fast or feels final, it’s because they didn’t know if there would be a second season. So that’s why it feels that way. 2nd season will feel that way too
Except that's not really the problem. What they did "know" from the start was that they had a single season of 12 episodes in which to tell their story. Sure, they were given a 2nd season later on, but that's not really relevant to the script they wrote for the 1st season. The network didn't offer them 20 episodes and then halfway through the season cut it down to 12, or anything like that. That's not what happened. The writers *knew* that they had 12 episodes to tell their story...and they simply didn't handle the pacing very well. I don't think it's terrible, but it definitely could have been paced much, much better.
I will never forgive Mako for not officially breaking up with Asami. Thats the implication in this "sorry things got so messed up" scene, but thats not a real breakup, nor is it even an apology for the way he treated her. He only deigned to let her know the relationship was over after essentially moving on to a new relationship with Korra. He even goes for that kiss with Korra, which she avoids, before his subpar conversation with Asami.
@@darkstar3116you can't help who your heart is drawn toward, BUT there is emotional intelligence in acknowledging that it does affect the other person who cares about YOU, that it will hurt for them, and that you're not oblivious or selfishly callous to that fact. Refusing to ever acknowledge that impact is just a form of denial so you can keep feeling like a good person, even though a genuinely good person would at least end the current relationship first, AND would be sympathetic to the fact that they caused someone pain. It doesn't mean you're wrong to move on, but both things can be true at the same time, it's not black and white, either/or
@@darkstar3116 I think it's just about empathy, ofcourse you don't own anyone anything, but then again, it's not a business transaction.
@@darkstar3116 Mako spent all his time and attention to Korra long after she was safe. That's not caring for someone's wellbeing, that's trial running a new girlfriend. Asami was owed a breakup episodes ago, instead of being strung along.
Dang lol I hope none of your partners in real life manipulate your feelings and cheat on you behind your back for months as does happen bc if you can’t even forgive mako in this tv show I can only imagine the degree of resentment something like that would cause irl
@yomamma.ismydaddy216 I have no idea what point you're trying to make. Yes if someone cheated on me for months behind my back I would resent them, that's a pretty normal response to that kind of situation???? Would you be fine with it?
If we assume bending is cotrolled, like every other function of the human organism, from the neurons and the brain in general, then someone who controls blood, can stop or even accelerate such functions. Merging real life science and a bit of realism in a fantasy setting is never an easy task but I think in this case it is well done.
Don't assume. Ever. The real world source material that bending is based on is what we refer to as "internal martial arts". It has thousands of years of real history, and has nothing to do with "merging real life science and a bit of realism in a fantasy setting" for the sake of a kids show. In fact, you have the entire concept directly backwards... We are energy that controls a body, not a body controlling the energy within.
Considering where bending comes from, I'm pretty sure it's 'supernatural'. Probably fueled/controlled by a person's chi/chakras. So it's probably like an advanced form of chi-blocking in which he uses the blood in the body to 'plug up' a chi path (as opposed to chi-blocking strikes which simply bruise the chakra points, cutting them off temporarily due to the swelling). Whereas Aang's technique was probably literally removing the actual spirit energy that gives the bending, the same way the lion turtles did.
Idk if they read the comments, but I want to put it out there. When they made this first season, they only thought they would be able to make one season. So they did their best to expand while making it self-contained.
the United Forces aren't an outside force. if you remein episode 1, Republic City is the capital of the *united* Republic
United forces, is apart of republic city’s military.
Impressive episode. Truely a sad story.
I always imagined Aman's taking away bending powers as using blood bending to induce brain damage that severs off a bender's bending abilities from their conscious mind. 'This is different from Aang's which is spiritual and removes the bending fundamentally.
blood bending + healing power = bending lobotomy. This is why he needs to be up close, touch the person and the person needs to be still. It's basically brain surgery.
As the writer said, Iroh III representing how Zuko looked like at the age of 30's without his scar
So yeah it can be said, we see Zuko right now 😁
9:02 one of the things I like about this season: great war technology
you see Tarlok but all hear is Rex haha.
When seeing Korra consider that the 1st season was just gonna be that. Then they got greenlight for the second but only that. And then finally got a go with season 3 and 4. So if you feel them a bit cut or rush is because they never knew thet where gonna get season 2 and then did not now if they where getting a go to season 3 and 4.
This is why the villains in Korra are clearly better than atla. Obviously the fire lord is epic and bad ass, but his motive is one dimensional. At least the villains and animation are undoubtedly superior
Disagree. All of the villains in Korra propose unique ideas and have interesting perspectives, but only become evil in the end. Reminder that the Fire Nation conquering the world in ATLA started behind the idea that they wanted to share prosperity and peace with the world. Which in and of itself is not evil. It's only how Sozin and Ozai chose to "share prosperity", that led to their wrongdoings.
The issue with Korra's villains, is the ideas they have are never revisited, making the beliefs of these multifaceted characters go to waste.
@@CraZeKllutchy Why would you say they're not revisited? The result of Amon's revolution was a complete overhaul to Republic City's system of government, with their first elected president being a non-bender. While we don't get any specific focus on the details of the political situation, I can't imagine many people would have been pleased with limited air-time being devoted to politics beyond what was necessary for the plot. And then the whole situation in season 2 has long-lasting consequences, the villain's motivation was 'balance' (though obviously not his true motivation), and that led to Korra leaving the spirit portal open and that was a very prevalent aspect of season 3. And Zaheer and company's actions directly lead to the events of season 4, which explores exactly what their goals would accomplish (and even kind of explores a world without an Avatar, since Korra goes MIA for a time). So honestly the only villain who doesn't get any follow-up to their motives is Kuvira, and that's because she was the villain of the last season.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 I don’t see how Raiko being the first elected president has anything to do with Amon’s initial ideas, about equality.
For Unalaq, his actions did absolutely nothing, and eventually become his justification for pursuing his own selfish goal. Opening the spirit portal was a rather nuanced action by Korra, not Unalaq. His idea to be a catalyst for a combined and more spiritual water tribe, isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, we find out that’s not his ultimate goal, and his initial ideals fade with his death. You could argue that Korra opening the spirit portal IS them becoming more spiritual, but I’d say that’s a reach.
Kuvira had a very similar story. Someone who initially posed some interesting ideas, wanting to bring the Earth Nation together and help its people after the previous tyrannical queen was killed. But once again, she just became another tyrant who was eventually replaced by Wu and her idea to unite the Earth Kingdom fades with her downfall at the end of the show.
The ONLY villain whose idea is explored and becomes an integral part of the plot, is Zaheer’s. We actually revisit him in S4, and he plays a key role in helping Korra save the world from Kuvira.
Let me be clear, I’m not trying to claim that the other villain’s had no impact on the overarching plot of the show. All I’m saying is their interesting and nuanced perspectives are typically brushed aside at the conclusion of each season.
@@CraZeKllutchy The council that Tenzin was a part of over Republic City was not elected, they were appointed. Making the leader of Republic City an elected official was introducing equality, because a non-bender's vote counts just as much as a bender's. And the fact that a non-bender won was a big deal too, because it's probably the first time the non-benders felt represented by the government.
@@kenjutsukata1o1 I'm fairly certain the other council members that were not Tenzin or Tarloq were non-benders. Not to mention in no way, shape or form does an elected president equate to equality. It might be a step in the right direction, which is also a reach, but that's wildly different than exploring the idea of the inequality between benders versus non-benders. Once again I'll reiterate, an interesting and complex idea/perspective that is cut off by the other plot points of the series.
Guys when did you film this reaction tho ? The heat over here is crazy 🫠
It's the dead of winter in Australia, which is about the same temperature as Los Angeles in December in most places. So... not really a winter at all, by Canadian standards. I guess you'd wear jackets or sweaters if temperatures in the mid-teens (Celsius) / mid-fifties (F) feel cold to you.
Spartan & Pudgey This Channel Is Truly Incredible!!🔥🐐🐐🙏
❤️🙏🏼 thank you!
This is why Amon is such a compelling anti-hero. He truly believed in his purpose. As Varys said, nothing is more terrifying than a just man -- or a man who truly believes himself just.
"animation error" lol
Korea can't magically learn airbending, she's been learning the whole time.
korea 😂
10:57 The eyes aren't two different colors and it's not an animation error...
One eye is lit with blue light and the other is in darkness.... it's lighting....
at this point Korra does know the fundamentals of air bending, but it seems is holding her back either physically or mentally from producing air like an average air bender :D
Pudgey during the intro mentioning everything she wants from these last two episodes and me here like:
- Check
- Check
- Check
Epic first season! So much action, so many good story points!
Ah yes good old Locke is the friend everybody needs, he wil give you a hand when needed.
hi can u post more of this, its way better than the others
It wasn’t animation error. It was the reflection of Korra’s healing water
The story is so well written. And it doesnt stop here!
I would have loved it if the first season had been expanded into 2 or 3 seasons so the story could have been explored better, but i think they did it well for a single season.
@anonymouslyblessed yes, that seems often to be the problem when a show that looks like it should be great seems to have troubles. TV meyers would do far better if they got rid of the executives
Looking at this reaction I realized something. I think one of the things why people didn't like The Legend of Korra so much is the fact that the bendings are nerfed, and in this chapter there's a sample of that: in the line of prisoners that Amon is going to take away their bending, there are some members of the Order of the White Lotus. We are talking about the same Order that, with 5 members, one of which was a non-bender, reconquered Ba Sing Se against a Fire Nation army. What the hell happened in all that time?
Honestly? I think it was just a change for the show. As cool as it was, having Team Avatar taking out entire highly trained armies all by themselves in the original show was a big stretch. Or how Ty-Lee and Mai literally took out a whole battalion of earth benders at the drill using throwing knives and fists. It's absurd from a 'realism' stance, but because the OG Avatar was more 'cartoon-y' (for lack of a better term) we didn't think too much about it. Since Korra's story is more 'grounded', I think they wanted to make the fighting more 'realistic' in the sense that even if you're fighting lower-skilled opponents, you're gonna have a really rough time if there's a group of them. And frankly I appreciated it, because there was never any sense of danger in the OG show from regular enemies. Like, the Dai-Li were supposed to be elite earth bender secret service types and yet they got bodied by two pre-teens and two teenagers. They made the Dai-Li out to be scary/a threat, but they were nothing. In Korra Amon's soldiers legit feel dangerous because even if they're not as strong as the main cast (with the exception of Mustache Guy) they're still threats in numbers. Whenever one of our heroes were surrounded by four or five Chi-blockers I felt the tension, whereas in Avatar I never felt that tension from even the supposedly 'elite' enemies.
So the short version: the characters in Korra aren't weaker than the ones in Avatar, the setting was just made more grounded. So if AtLA were remade in the tone of Korra then Aang and the gang wouldn't be taking on whole armies, and if Korra were remade in the tone of Avatar then Korra would be eating Amon's minions for breakfast.
Even though Bumi is named after an earth bender he couldn't be an earth bender. Parents of certain elements can have kids of those elements. So Aang and Katara could have water or air bender kids (or nonbender kids). Not sure, but maybe the Avatar could have kids that bend any one of the four elements.
From what I've seen avatars can only pass on their 'natural' bending type, because only that one is hereditary while all the others are held by Raava. So Avatars don't actually have all four bending types, they have one bending type and then three others being held for them to use whenever they want.
Pudgeys smile gone :(
If it was Kyoshi dealing with Yakone instead of Aang none of this would've happened...
Just saying
Fun fact: After Season 1, seasons 2-4 were greenlit at the same time. Do you know how rare that is?
I thought it was an odd choice to have Zuko's teenage voice coming out of a grown man's mouth lol, Dante Basco could have deepened his voice at least to reflect Iroh II's proper age
that's Dante's normal voice lol but he sounds super young
I agree, but Dante Basco has very little voice range so if they wanted him to cameo then there was only one voice available. I've actually met him in person (really cool guy) and it's surreal to hear Zuko's voice coming out of him, lol.
Aang spiritually took your bending away, whereas Amon physically does it. That’s the way I viewed it:
The same way chi blockers like Ty Lee prevent your bending with precise hits to you externally, Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally instead and alter your body that way.
Would be ridiculously painful
Either way I think this plot line is much more feasible than certain ATLA fans make it out to be 😅
Just no. First of all, you've straight contradicted yourself. "Amon physically does it"... "Amon trained to mess up your chi paths internally". Chi is an entirely spiritual concept, the only physical aspect of chi is that it is contained within this physical shell and follows similar paths through the body as the blood does. Blood is considered to be the physical form of chi, which is why an expert bloodbender is a step away from bending a persons energy itself. Which is why Aang could remove bending permanently and Amon can't. Both the Lion Turtle & Guru Pathik explained exactly how all this works to Aang in ATLA. Please refer to the first Doctor Strange movie if you need a visual example of how little the physical matters in regards to control of spiritual energy.
@@somashaman well explained, though i feel like you've just explained my point but in detail - how amon takes your bending away by messing with physical chi paths - which is the blood, in your words. Which is essentially what i meant as well - he does not affect it spiritually like aang.
I feel like you saying "chi is entirely spiritual" and "blood is considered the physical form of chi" is also a self contradiction? haha. Anyway that shoudn't matter - as i believe chi must have some form of physical aspect to it otherwise how would chi blockers like ty lee be able to stop you bending with their physical attacks?
Either way i feel like our points are actually very similar, just i was very vague so you could interpret that flaw from what i wrote, thats my bad - was just trying to keep my original comment shorter :)
Now it makes sense why i thought they were the same person
I always feel as though this reveal lessens Amon's character as it makes him out to be a charlatant that the heroes can defeat by exposing him to his masses rather than confronting his very valid argument for the plight of non benders.
sounds like ad hominem
Kinda but his motives are still that he hates benders and bending. I think its like a more radical jong jong the deserter
I think a problem is that we see no real Bending oppression prior to Amon stirring the pot, either
At most one could point to all the council being Benders, but Sokka was on there once
and if the idea is that like say, as people in RC identify less with fou nations "Bending vs Nom-bending" slowly became the new in- and out group dynamic for them, theyd have to TELL that story
As is, all we really saw as established in RC was classism, regardless of Bending status
@@AstaraBrightwing We know of three people murdered by two firebenders, yes. That's not a lot. Also high bending crime rate does not equal bender oppression.
We also see a good deal of impoverished benders being exploited by the system (predatory pro bending business, the factory Mako works at, hiring penniless benders of the streets like Bolin)
And nonbenders with incredible wealth (the Satos, Cabbage Corp)
I literally can’t wait for season 2 and especially 3 lol
Is it just me or does Spartan looks like the actor Theo James?
Yes this was very enjoyable
SPOILER kind of:
Spartan and pudgey know this already cause they've seen the episode so i guess we can all agree that everything, but korras ending and how she got her bending back was great in the final episode.
Ts not quickly it's at the right time it's right at the end of the season before the last episode
Shipping Iroh and Korra. Fire + Water always. ❤😂
I knew the reference😌
It's big stakes
I guys really think this million dollar funded show left in animation error of eye color? I guys were seeing the glow of Korra’s healing
20:54 What Noatak is doing by taking peoples bending away, it initially may not seem like "oppression", but if you think of it more as the unholy combination of cultural erasure and conversion therapy, the sinister aspect of it becomes more clear.
In regards to benders as a group, he's actively trying to wipe out centuries of heritage and cultural identity (that's on the genocide checklist), and in regards to the individual you have a particularly nasty analogy for the oppression of non-conforming people (with the added irony that he's basically the stereotypical closeted conservative who can't stop being homophobic)
"Bending will not longer exist and we'll live in a world where everyone is finally equal"
Sure mr billionaire, sure
lol
The United Forces is Republic Cities army fyi
Lol guys plz get thru season 2 this show is actually good 😂
not only are they brothers, but they are gay incest lovers according to my personal fanfiction. It all makes sense. Tarlok is obv the sub
Spartan the executioner you sent to send me to the lord of light at dawn. 1st off he was late and 2nd his sword broke on my neck cause I'm BUILT DIFFERENT! But sloppy work is to be expected from a member of house spartan 😂
tread lightly. i spared you that is all. further treason will see you flayed. niw fall in line
It made sense that he took down United forces easily l understand that l would not complain about it
He is not a bender
So Amon can just take bending away with no explanation? Please tell me there will be more back story with a giant Lionturtle teaching him the way at some point.
He’s just manipulating blood flow to block chakras, giving people the impression that they’ve lost their bending.
What's the time out there I always say appreciate the early uploads but it may not be early for them 😅 appreciate it anyway cuz I be up 😂
🎧
Good episode... But itgets so much better... Still waiting for season 3 :) Sorry Amon but you are not the "bad guy"... Actually none of them are... Just "out of balance" like ... will say! :)
bruh yall wondering if general iroh the son or grandson of zuko AND WHEN IT IS SAID....YOU TALK OVER IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do you not like very good smart villians that are several steps ahead of the good guys
This is the point in the story I always look back at how Aang took the firelord's bending away rather than killing him. I never agreed with that decision and this is why. If Aang had killed Yakone he never would have had sons to shape into such monsters. People feel bad for Tarlok after this story and I really don't know why. If you look at history Tarlok was a Hitler in the making, he just ran into a worse tyrant before he had the influence he needed to best Amon.
YES UES YES YES YES YES YES YES
This is not Fellowship of the Ring part 2..