And the Korra vlogs continue with episode 3! This is kind of rambly, but I'm mostly rambling about Toph, so it's okay.
(Note for people viewing this through Tumblr: the service I use to repost all my blog posts to Tumblr fubars the video. If you want to watch it, just click the link and go to my main blog.)
I didn't need an interview to tell me why the council was replaced off-screen by a president (and why the dude who got elected president isn't a bender) but I agree that it would have been better if the assimilation of Equalism into the status quo had been addressed on-screen. You know what else I would have liked to see on-screen? A chi-blocker. I would like to see at least one chi-blocker on screen once in all of the three subsequent seasons so it doesn't look like that army of badasses vanished off the face of the planet after their political movement was defeated. Ideally, there would be more than one and they would be doing something consistent with their core sentimental value (protect non-benders from abuse at the hands of benders) while also consistent with the end of the Equalist movement. (As opposed to their appearance in the licensed video game, which is fun to play but is written like an episode of a much less interesting children's cartoon.) For example, it would have been great if there had been a subplot regarding how the formerly metal-bender only police force gets opened up (in the show we have, they seem to employ exactly one firebender and everyone else is metalbending) and some Equalist chi-blockers sign up because they buy into the new regime. Others, however, don't buy in and form a Chi-Blocker triad, so the veteran bender cops doubt the chi-blockers' loyalty, especially when it comes to the new triad. I would have really liked it if one or more of the new airbenders had been a former Equalist, especially since as far as I can tell chi-blocking is better suited to the peculiar objectives of Air Nomad self-defense than airbending is. And of course the Red Lotus' public manifesto as delivered after the Earth Queen's murder has a straightforward appeal to former Equalists.
ReplyDeleteAlas, I fear that we won't hear from either former Equalists or a Red Lotus party, even though there's a clear space for them in this season's plot, as the internal resistance to Kuvira's regime. I notice in this episode there was some concern that Kuvira is jailing political dissidents. I wonder if Kuvira will be vilified for this practice without noting that it is simply a continuation of the Dai Li's ancient practice (or an extension of the Dai Li outside the walls of Ba Sing Sei). For how many centuries have the inhabitants of Ba Sing Sei lived in fear of the silent stone glove? It was great to see a little of the Dai Li last season, I wonder if they'll show up to try and back Wu this season. If the Dai Li can get a royalist uprising going they could count on foreign support - even if (especially if) a Red Lotus uprising clearly had more popular support.
Which reminds me - like two out of three previous antagonists, Kuvira has a legitimate point here: Wu is an incompetent and foreign powers are trying to install him as a puppet, and if she and let them have their way he really would govern the Earth Nations in the interest of Republic City, as opposed to the interest of the Earth Nation or of Ba Sing Sei.
My ideal impossible dream Season 4 would involve control of the Earth Nations being contested by Kuvira, royalists led by the Dai Li and backed by the Republic City establishment, and a popular uprising loosely organized by Red Lotus partisans and supported by the Red Lotus proper. The big twist in the plot would be Korra (& Toph) supporting the popular uprising instead of the Royalists, and this would tie into Vaatu's reemergence and Korra's decision to try to reconcile him with Rava and establish a stable balance between them. But I think instead we're going to get Zaofu vs. Earth Empire and it'll end with Suyin Bei Fong managing the Earth Nations to a greater or lesser (lesser, if I read her character correctly) extent.
I do think that the name of this season, Balance, is about Kuvira being order run amok after three consecutive seasons of Korra stomping on disorder. But I don't really hold out hope that Vaatu, the Equalists, or even the Red Lotus are going to come into play directly.
DeleteRe: spiritual stuff yeah I remember reading a book by Michael Schermer (in more recent years I hear he's turned out badly but I forget the details) in which he described the fuzzy feelings of Oneness with Everything and how that's nice but not indicative of phenomenae outside the human mind, and not getting where he was coming from at all 'cos I ain't ever felt that.
By the way, I noticed when looking at my youtube history that you have two Youtube channels. How did that happen?
Wow that post was long enough that I had to split it and I hadn't even got through the entire video. So here's a third comment to say that I enjoyed watching you come to realize, on camera, that Toph totally would be a cop (and love it).
DeleteI heartily endorse all of your ideas. Korra would have been a much better show with more politics, less love triangles. Alas!
DeleteAnd I have NO IDEA why I have two channels, they're both tied to the same email address. It's very annoying because there's no way to merge them.