Category
😹
AmusantTranscription
00:00The Legend of Korra Turf Wars.
00:03It starts with me finally seeing Avatar Korra and Asami go to the spirit world.
00:09Korra talks as if you never know when the ground might drop out from underneath you here, just because it surprised her a lot.
00:16But I don't remember that in particular ever happening here.
00:19I guess it makes sense that she'd be pretty paranoid of a place that temporarily turned her into a child.
00:26And the reason she even took the risk of going here then was her confidence as the Avatar.
00:33They ride on a flying bird dragon and look at giant versions of weeds.
00:39We see them stand on giant mushrooms, which is only interesting on its own because it happens a lot elsewhere.
00:46Then they finally did something a vacationer would do again by going swimming.
00:51Korra challenges her to a race to see who climbs to the top of a mountain first.
00:56It's charming to see her tease Korra that she's being slow, because I know she's usually nice to her just playing around.
01:02It also tries to be amusing because Korra lies that she's going easy on her.
01:07Then there's a rumble, so maybe things will finally get exciting.
01:11While the story before this was visually interesting, it still had me impatient from boredom.
01:17It turns out the mountain was a giant rock spirit.
01:21He throws them wanting to leave and Korra ear bends to slow down their fall.
01:26She hopes Asami's okay and apologizes feeling responsible for this.
01:31Asami stays calm because they've been through worse and reassures her.
01:35She says they lost all their supplies and the last thing she wants to do on their vacation is kiss her.
01:42I'm both happy for them and very confused because the show never made it clear that they developed feelings for each other and never showed them admit it thanks to not being allowed to.
01:52Even them holding hands as the final shot came out of nowhere.
01:56But I thought it was just because they were preparing to head into a dangerous world and had to be a good team to get through it.
02:01If it weren't for the people responsible for the show confirming their relationship upgrade and that spreading on the internet, I never would have known before reading this comic that they got a crush on each other.
02:11And I can understand someone being confused as an off-put by this being in the series only if it's because this is set in the big band era where you'd expect the two to be too afraid to tell each other how they feel in the first place.
02:22So they're lucky this even happened.
02:25Instead of the writer lazily keeping their confession off-screen and making their relationship upgrade jarring when they were nothing but friends before, the story should have shown me them telling each other how they feel.
02:36Maybe then their vacation to the spirit world wouldn't have been completely forgotten by me to the point where I was surprised at getting to see it when I re-read this.
02:44I know there's a page of Shiptea's examples between them in the last season of the show, but I only saw those as friend moments.
02:51It's not a shipping moment unless there's kissing or blushing.
02:55I could have only taken this seriously if this was a later time period, but instead the series rushed it.
03:00I know these couples existed in every time period, but that doesn't distract me from how lucky these two had to get.
03:07It's like if the writer made his desperate-for-money main characters win the lottery, where we know it's still possible so it's not literally a dance ex machina, but it's still a problem if it feels like it.
03:18I don't think anyone complained about Bolin getting a girlfriend in the form of a new character really late in the show, so the fans would have been fine with it if Korra and Asami had the same treatment.
03:28They'd get along well, so they do make great partners.
03:32Better than Korra and Mako, who are arguing constantly.
03:35Korra reminds Asami of when she took her racecar driving when they first met, and says that she was relieved to find out that she could be just as intense and wild as someone who was told she was too much of that her whole life.
03:46She's never had anyone in her life who got her the way she did.
03:50This does some extra work in justifying why they became so close.
03:54Even without the slime, they still got along.
03:56I just never got the sense in the show that they are literally kindred spirits.
04:01Asami says that in the three years they were apart because Korra was recovering from being poisoned, she realized how much Korra meant to her and almost told her that in her letters,
04:10but was too scared to in case she'd never come back, because she already seemed untrustworthy by being away from her for so long.
04:18So now I have to assume that Korra was the one who told her about how she felt and caused her to confess.
04:24Asami asks Korra when she knew how she felt about Asami.
04:28Korra says that after she was poisoned, she was there for it.
04:31Why wouldn't this apply to the rest of her friends, too?
04:34And it's a stretch that Asami was the only one she wrote to when she was gone, as if the rest of her friends suddenly meant nothing to her.
04:41She doesn't even have to open up to them just because she's writing to them.
04:45She puts her hand on Korra's shoulder saying she's glad she wrote to her.
04:49I wish her friendship with her was memorable in the show so that I could buy it better.
04:54Even after seeing the show twice, I can't remember any standout moment where they really enjoyed their friendship.
05:00Their ride shows up, and Asami fortunately wonders how it keeps knowing where to find them.
05:06Korra says it can sense where she was.
05:08It would have made more sense right away if she said it could recognize her scent instead.
05:13Korra helps her climb up on it, and she says their vacation doesn't have to end, and tells the dragon bird something in a whisper
05:20which keeps it pacing fast.
05:22The ride heads for some portals.
05:25I always liked that they were shaped like lines of light instead of the stereotypical circular portals.
05:31Korra got the harebrained idea to visit her parents with Asami and tell them about them because she naively assumes they'll be happy for them
05:38in the big band era.
05:40But the similarity to the real world American big band era in Korra's Republic City is still too much to have you believe this will go well.
05:48The Korra show doesn't feel as much like a separate world from ours because Republic City feels more like America than Asia.
05:55Korra hugs her dad, who reminds me of a cow to an appearance, and there's some more boring predictable dialogue.
06:02Korra's mom puts her hand on his shoulder and invites the two to dinner because they must be starving.
06:07Korra says it smells good and gets thanked and called sweetie.
06:11Korra just says their vacation was fun, and there's an awkward silence.
06:15So for once it's understandable that the pacing is slow.
06:19Korra somehow didn't think she'd be this nervous.
06:22They hold hands and Asami calls her incredible and has some more likable dialogue.
06:28After a surprised reaction, Korra's parents are happy for them with Korra's mom saying it's wonderful because they're supposed to be likable characters.
06:36It could have gone either way, and I'm relieved that the writers spared us the easy drama that would have been more believable.
06:42There's other sorts of conflict you can have in a story that actually do have a chance of being enjoyable to read.
06:48It still seems rushed that's so easy instead of telling a story about this.
06:53Korra hugs her mother who says she's happy for her and she thanks her.
06:57Korra's dad thoughtfully warns her to be careful because it's best to keep her personal life private.
07:02Her mom's smart enough to warn her that not everyone will be accepting.
07:06Korra recklessly plans to tell anyone she wants without caring.
07:10Completely ignoring Asami's nervousness about this earlier.
07:14She joyfully assumes they're narrow-minded even though they're clearly the opposite and Asami wisely says they should go.
07:21And thankfully she says good idea and they leave as Korra's dad says he didn't mean to upset them.
07:27Asami admits she understands the reaction and says she's not embarrassed and would totally be right behind her.
07:33I doubt that.
07:34She says she wanted to hold herself for longer.
07:38It's cathartic to see Korra immediately admit that she was being an idiot who steamrolled over her feelings and apologize.
07:44It's satisfying to see her immediately confront Korra on this instead of pushing the drama to the side for action for a while.
07:51And she immediately forgives Korra. Lucky her.
07:54But they are pretty good friends.
07:56And they go into the portal together holding hands.
08:00I was just so used to relationships and characters that people want together being abused by the writing for tedious relationship drama from stuff like Archie,
08:08Sonic, iCarly, and friends.
08:10So it's impressing me that I don't see that.
08:13I feel like the very concept of relationship drama makes a relationship not really worth showing in a story when other forms of drama are
08:19always better in entertainment, not making you impatient for it to be over instantly.
08:23In a public city at the new portal,
08:25a stuffy old man expects Ink's daughter Jinora and her new airbender friends to leave this place or he'll call the cops
08:32because this is his property. Jinora thinks they have the right to be here just because the land belongs to some spirits.
08:39He's the one who's right, but he's trying to make us hate him with his attitude problem.
08:45This place used to be in the spirit world.
08:47So I can understand Jinora saying that it should legally belong to the spirits because their property replaced his.
08:53As long as the spirits actually have a legal ownership from having an actual government, which I never saw a hint of before.
09:00They always seem to be like sentient animals who just wandered the wild or lived in caves.
09:05Jinora says she was just meditating near the portal.
09:08I'll always prefer her original outfit.
09:11The old man introduced himself as Wonyoung who tried to comfort Asami on her father's sacrifice.
09:17Jinora says he's trying to build a road to drive tons of tourists into the spirit world.
09:22Korn and Asami know firsthand what a fun and pleasant place the spirit world is.
09:26So I feel like it'd be selfish of them to think no one but them should get to enjoy themselves there.
09:31The real problem is that only people with airbending or earthbending would be able to survive a fall from being thrown by a giant there.
09:38So they should be explaining that the spirit world is dangerous for that reason.
09:42But somehow these two don't explain that. So he has no chance of understanding their point of view.
09:48How does he not know that sometimes spirits can be dangerous?
09:52He should explain that only bandits will be allowed to visit the spirit world.
09:56Without that rule, he'd be opening himself up to getting sued for irresponsibly causing people to get killed by spirits.
10:03The spirit arbitrarily calls this place sacred.
10:06I think the spirits are just calling all their property sacred out of arrogance just because it's their property.
10:11The spirit wants the portal closed because he doesn't want humans exploiting it.
10:16It sounds selfish when he just says that.
10:19The spirit thinks he has to protect his kind when obviously the humans are the ones that need protection from them.
10:25Why are invincible gods afraid of humans instead of casually ignoring them?
10:30They shouldn't even care if they were to build buildings in the spirit world.
10:34Of course, she thinks the energy of the portal will have a harmonious effect on the city's people.
10:39Since when does portal energy brainwash people into being calmer?
10:44The spirit holds it responsible for keeping the portal safe.
10:48Asami puts her hand on his shoulder, reaffirming her loyalty, and the new Air Nation plans on helping too.
10:54Eventually, Korra goes into the Avatar's state and scares Wonyoung and his people away.
10:59I don't understand why he wants to build a road because people will be able to get to the portal and enter it without one.
11:05Isn't there a road nearby anyways?
11:07The spirit world will be so interesting that people would visit it regardless of whether they had to walk for a while to get there.
11:13And he should know that.
11:15Then the story gets boring with some street gangs having a bending fight.
11:19Which is boring because it happens a lot in the show already.
11:23Why am I seeing this? Where are the main characters?
11:26It turns out one of the street gangs has a new leader.
11:29It's interesting that he fights with Kains and is an acrobat.
11:32But it just seems to be him getting lucky by dodging off the rungs.
11:36I get to see the impact when he hits one of the people who is insisting on trying to take his gang's territory on him for no apparent reason.
11:44I get why we aren't told the reason because we're not supposed to sympathize with street gangs.
11:48But it's so lazy writing to not clarify a motive.
11:52It's not like these people benefit from having more territory so that they could have more places to sell drugs.
11:58Or even anything other than that that the comic would be allowed to reference.
12:02Eventually it's revealed that the new leader, Takoga, is a chi-blonker.
12:06A flying vehicle above them has metal bending cops come out of it who started arresting using their metal bending.
12:13And Mako and Bolin are part of the cops with Mako still on the job despite being injured.
12:19In a world with waterbending healing, why is he still hurt from the end of the show?
12:25I have to assume there aren't any waterbenders nearby.
12:28And that Korra sucks at healing.
12:31And that he can't afford to go to a hospital to get healed by one.
12:35Another criminal gets arrested effortlessly.
12:38It's charming that he asks Bolin how he's been and Bolin tells him about it because of their past friendship.
12:43And the criminal says he's impressed by these two. I guess he liked them so much. He's just happy they got jobs at all.
12:50So that's why he doesn't simply hate them for becoming cops. It's so convenient.
12:55I don't know why someone able to form such a bond became a criminal.
12:59Bolin thanks him and eventually Mako whispers to his boss what his plan is to trick information on the new villain out of him.
13:07So Toph's daughter with a forgettable name presumably lies to him.
13:10Causing him to say that the attack on the gang was Takoga's plan, not his.
13:15When a part of the spirit world merged with the human world in the city, it replaced the triad's turf.
13:21So Takoga killed their old leader in the chaos.
13:25Then at the temporary evacuee camp. It's explained how the evacuees who lost everything are being helped by people.
13:32If a waterbender is right there in the city, why is Mako still injured?
13:37I guess she sucks at healing.
13:40In one of the comics stories, Katari healed Sokka's broken arm in the span of one story.
13:45And Mako having a broken arm isn't even required for the plot.
13:51I guess Mako didn't know where to find Aang's daughter or where the medic tent even was.
13:57Everyone starts happily greeting Korra.
14:00And Aang's son Tengen sweetly smiles at this and hugs her.
14:03Hoping she and Asami are both feeling refreshed from their vacation.
14:08Korra thanks him as Kiya welcomes Asami home, showing her affection.
14:11It's good writing that we get to see the realistic consequence of the destruction of people's homes downtown.
14:17Weren't some of the people there been tail-fragged by the sudden appearance of the spirit world place?
14:22I'm glad it's not talking about that.
14:24Tensen starts giving out boring exposition, and so far I don't know if I need to know it yet, so I'm bored.
14:31He complains that the president somehow did nothing to help this problem because he's so concerned about re-election.
14:38He somehow doesn't realize that helping might get him re-elected.
14:42It's satisfying to learn that he's unpopular because he surrendered to Kuvira the tyrant.
14:46Korra pets a lemur, and thankfully Kiya says some of the evacuees are just grateful for Korra saving the city.
14:52Tensen says she had a great idea, as I'm still desperate for stuff to happen again.
14:59Korra wants Asami to go with her, and I get why she'd rather stay here.
15:02She makes an excuse that she'd rather learn how to actually help.
15:06And people want to see the avatar, not her.
15:09Thankfully, Korra humors her without a big drama and leaves, wanting to lift people's spirits.
15:15She feels sorry for people here, of course.
15:18But it's especially important to point out when she's being sympathetic because some fans just want to see her as unsympathetic.
15:24Because she's not like Aang.
15:26It's a way to see the civilians thank her and say she's the best.
15:30She asks if there's anything she can do to help and gets overwhelmed by people smartly asking for help.
15:36If only she had a piece of paper and a clipboard to write this all down, it wouldn't be a problem how many favors were requested.
15:42She is the avatar. It's her job to help out.
15:45Tenzin cares more about her than the people here, so he plans to get her out of here.
15:49Thankfully, Korra wants to stay.
15:51Earthbend to make a platform and makes a long, boring speech to tell them to see this as a new beginning.
15:57If you can earthbend to make a platform, why aren't there a bunch of houses here made from earthbending?
16:02I assume that there isn't enough land here for all them to have little houses, but still, none of them having them is stupid.
16:10She reassures them predictably.
16:12I wish she didn't talk so much.
16:15I'd rather see things happen than a bunch of dialogue.
16:18Tenzin sweetly smiles at a raising morale for people, and eventually Korra gets told Asami started drawing plans for new houses.
16:26I guess by real homes, those people meant homes with running water and electricity, and Korra knew that.
16:32Because homes like that actually would require money from the city to make.
16:36Then the story seems to waste my time with a focus on the president focused on re-election.
16:41We were already told about him.
16:43Tenzin's complaints shouldn't have been there then.
16:46I like that Reiko actually objects to a misleading campaign poster.
16:50It doesn't mean much for its morality though because he immediately agrees to it.
16:54I like seeing Korra tease him on it.
16:57He's told the problem and he says he doesn't have the money to help because Isamihel thought he needed more cops instead.
17:03I didn't think they were understaffed.
17:06But this isn't a forced situation because even without that,
17:10he could have still spent all of his money on fixing infrastructure, which he mentions.
17:15And thankfully the campaign manager tells Reiko that helping them would be a good idea.
17:19He shouldn't be written to say he has an impossible approval rating.
17:23I wish the pacing was faster because Reiko figured this obvious fact out on its own.
17:29He shouldn't need this guy to do all the thinking for him, and he did all the thinking for himself as far as I saw in the show.
17:35So this is out of character.
17:36He humors the heroes, gets thanked for it, and Korra warns him about Wonyoung's plan and presents him a good idea to make the land and nature reserve.
17:45Which you should have remembered getting told that the city's broke.
17:48She should have said you could buy the property after you had the money.
17:52Isamihel reassures her as they leave and appreciates the sunset.
17:57This is trying to be heartwarming, but I'm just writing another scene full of talking with nothing happening to look interesting and exciting.
18:05Because the plot of the arc overall has barely progressed, so most of the time I'm just really bored talking about this.
18:12Kiya reassures them that they make a good couple.
18:15She figured them out because out of nowhere they reminded her of how happy she was from the first vacation she had with her first girlfriend.
18:23It still doesn't make sense.
18:25They're friends.
18:27So why would seeing them be happy together cause her to jump to this conclusion when they were happy together before?
18:32Being slightly happier with someone doesn't mean you're in love with them.
18:36She just believed this because she really wanted it to be true so she could have someone to relate to.
18:41I guess that makes sense enough to justify this.
18:44I'm just saying that when you do something controversial,
18:46you should have it be written better instead of having constant overly convenient writing carrying it along the whole time.
18:53Because that's not going to cause more acceptance right away.
18:56Anyways, Kiya also reveals out of nowhere that her friends and family all know that she's had a girlfriend.
19:03Of course as her parents were worried about what people would say about this.
19:07Kiya says that's normal for the Water Tribe because they prefer for people to keep family matters private.
19:13Kiya says her father was just supportive of her.
19:16Which is another convenience I wouldn't expect because Aang's a relic from a century ago who kept struggling with progress.
19:23And if she was an airbender, he wouldn't have been as supportive.
19:27But conveniently it turns out that in the Air Nation,
19:30nobody hid who they loved.
19:32But didn't Aang grow up almost entirely around other kids?
19:36When would he have ever seen adults other than Monkey Atsu?
19:40Apparently he did all the time after all.
19:43This is justified because it's another world from ours.
19:46So it doesn't have to be like ours to make sense.
19:49But it still takes getting used to because it's unexpectedly pleasant.
19:53Speaking of that, even the Fire Nation was tolerant of more unique couples for most of its history.
19:58It sure is another universe, alright.
20:01That's easy to forget though because immediately,
20:04it reveals that So is an outlaw of this kind of relationship just so the writer could give him an unnecessary kick-the-dog moment.
20:11At least that's believable.
20:14The story says Kiyoshi liked both just like Asami and Koridon.
20:19It sure is convenient that they met while also both being that way.
20:23But coincidences do happen.
20:26I don't like the way she's drawn here though.
20:28The Earth Kingdom has always been the slowest to accept change and the most repressive with their military.
20:34You mean the Fire Nation was, right?
20:37They can make their own element appear whenever they want. So they're always the most dangerous army.
20:43This discussion wants to make it more believable that they got together with the excuse that's another planet.
20:48But it fails because all it does is say that it is looked down on in most of the world.
20:53Including the land they're standing on.
20:56The Republic City most recently belonged to the Fire Nation.
21:00Anyways, Korid doubts she and Asami would find acceptance.
21:04Which is better writing than her always stubbornly staying with one opinion and idea of behaving.
21:09I just prefer seeing characters be written realistically.
21:13Asami says she feels like people are more accepting in the city now.
21:17What does she think then?
21:19I guess she conveniently saw a bunch of alternative couples in the evacuee camp without them being treated rudely.
21:25But she shouldn't say that.
21:27Because I don't take it seriously that she just says she has a feeling. Not knowing it for a fact.
21:33He says he'll know when the time is right to share the news.
21:36And eventually says that anytime they need to talk, she's here.
21:40Korid thanks her and so does Asami and Bolin shows Korid affection as Mako hugs Asami.
21:46And Korid congratulates Bolin on his first arrest.
21:49The girls are asked how their vacation went.
21:52And because it was somehow too awkward to talk about it, even though most of it was normal friend interaction.
21:58They plan to tell them the truth to stop hiding things from their friend.
22:03Korid's interrupted by the astral projection of Jinora saying that street gangs are fighting the new airbenders.
22:09So the heroes take a ride on an air bison heading for the portal.
22:13Mako can't call the cops for backup because radio frequencies have been screwy since the portal appeared for no logical reason out of nowhere.
22:22Translation, the writers wanted more tangent for longer and the heroes having a bunch of backup would destroy that.
22:28But the cops would take until the end of the fight to get there anyways, so that's no excuse.
22:34Korid glides over to the airbenders and the fight starts. I don't feel motivated to describe most of it.
22:40As usual, what exactly happens in the fight isn't the point.
22:45But it was interesting how he used a cane to throw someone over him.
22:48I can't wait for Toga to fail in some way because if he always stays like this, he'll be nothing but a villain too.
22:56Eventually a smoke bomb gets thrown.
22:58So that's interesting too.
23:00And this lets Takoga get away.
23:02Mako thanks him for the save as he helps him up and makes him smile by calling him partner.
23:08The spirits decide to protect the portal. So people get scared away.
23:12And Korid calls the spirit out.
23:14Eventually Korid saves Asami and sends a rock and a bat gun.
23:19I don't know why Asami is all dazed.
23:21She just got sprayed with water.
23:25Eventually, a spirit threatens Takoga and merges with himself destructively because he's fine with ruining his own life.
23:33Or killing himself.
23:35It's dramatic and makes it more interesting. So it makes more sense meta-wise than in universe.
23:41The spirits leave.
23:43Asami waking up makes Koro leave to kiss her in front of her friends.
23:47Who only react with surprise for a few panels before conveniently being happy because we're supposed to like them.
23:53What a nice alien world version of the 1920s.
23:57It also helps that they're friends. So of course, they'll be polite to them.
24:01But it still doesn't feel like how it realistically go.
24:05Mako is the only one that reacts realistically and I just have to assume it's because he used to date them both.
24:11Bolin's smart enough to ask why the street gang was here because he thought they weren't after the spirit portal.
24:17I like that even Bolin gets a smart moment.
24:20Korid figures that someone sent them to intimidate away the new Air Nation.
24:25Wonyoung predictably was the one who sent the criminals after them.
24:29And Takoga comes after him for revenge.
24:31Wrongly assuming Korid sent the spirit to attack him.
24:35Despite not being that far away when she talked to him.
24:38Plus she would have been talking louder than normal because she was upset.
24:42But apparently his hearing's not good.
24:45Takoga tells me works for him now.
24:48I can't blame him for wanting to get back at him and get a reward for his life being ruined.
24:52His family wouldn't want to see him looking like this.
24:55Korid thanks Aang's family for accompanying her on the air bison trip where she plans on wasting time reassuring the evil spirits.
25:03Somehow Milo's the only one still sleepy this early.
25:06Ikki looks forward to seeing pretty flowers, but only sees dead ones from the spirit world.
25:11I hope this thing makes sense because this seems dumb.
25:14Milo's not pure good and just complains that he was woken up for nothing.
25:18He's kind of the most relatable one here.
25:21Tenzin puts his hand on Korid's shoulder and reassures her.
25:25She thanks him.
25:27Jinora says only the spirits have the power to kill those flowers.
25:30And Korid thinks they did it as a warning to keep humans out.
25:33It makes a bit more sense that she said the whole reason humans want to visit this place is because it's good looking.
25:40So it only makes sense to make it not good looking.
25:44Ikki touches a dead plant for no reason,
25:46which means it can't take it very seriously when it magically grabs her and all the plants try to grab them despite being dead.
25:53So it must be that they're getting controlled with magic.
25:57They'll rush out of the spirit world, see tanks from the united forces,
26:02and General Iroh tells metalbenders to set up a perimeter.
26:06After last night's battle, the president wants the portal on lockdown.
26:10And sadly doesn't immediately simply explain that he doesn't want citizens coming here because who knows what the spirits would do to them.
26:19Which would immediately make him sound reasonable.
26:23Korid's against the troops being here because it'll only make the spirits more mad.
26:28And it's a lampshade that this isn't a necessary decision.
26:31The story gets boring as Mako's boss is shown unnecessarily recapping to us for too long,
26:37and it only gets more interesting when she can't read his handwriting.
26:41Bolin was just so excited they just felt like he had to tell her some private information.
26:46Which he doesn't cause drama about.
26:49And Mako calls him out on this.
26:51She's filled in on Korid's hunch about who sent the criminals, and for no reason she thinks she's wrong.
26:58It's like her not believing that Beric did something wrong all over again.
27:02She says Wonyoung is very hard to get to.
27:05So she demands some evidence first.
27:07It's reasonable.
27:09But who else could it be really?
27:12Bolin thanks Ping the criminal for the flattery.
27:15And Mako interrogates him to try to track down Takoga.
27:19And because he says messages, Bolin assumes he's being given messages with kids because of his own past history and again.
27:27Mako praises him and gets thanked.
27:29And eventually after the story is boring for too long with nothing to say about this unnecessary scene,
27:35someone tells the avatar she'll have to make an appointment with the president to talk to him because he's busy when he's clearly not.
27:42And I like that she makes him shut up.
27:45She expects her argument against his idea to be listened to despite it sucking.
27:50She should have said he might be looking at another spirit crisis in the first place.
27:55Korra says she made the portal by accident and had no choice because Kuvira's weapon was out of control.
28:01Somehow, Raiko successfully turns people against Korra despite what she said making it obvious that her actions saved the entire city.
28:10I'm just thinking are we really doing this?
28:13The rest of the story was so much more mature than this and this is just straight out of a stupid kid's story.
28:19He does have a point that she was vacationing instead of helping the people she made homeless.
28:24I don't take her seriously when she says it wasn't like that because how else could it be like?
28:30Asami tends to stand up to him.
28:33What was the point of this scene?
28:35I thought it was to make Raiko look good for showing us what the new housing would look like.
28:40I don't see how this is necessary.
28:43Asami says someone should put Raiko in his place and Tenzin says the person more capable than him of leading the country is Varric's secretary.
28:52Because she was able to keep up with all of his silly demands.
28:56She's reluctant and thanks them.
28:58Eventually, Asami comforts Korra when she's angsty and the story's pacing slows down again.
29:05The narration's boring too. At least it's justified in-universe because Bolin's doing it and he gets told to shut up.
29:12The story starts wasting my time again until finally Mako notices one of the kids that deliver messages for gang members.
29:19He runs away and eventually Mako grabs him easily.
29:23After a while of him being annoying but realistically evasive,
29:27Mako lates him and says people could die if they don't find the guy he's working for.
29:32So they're given the info.
29:34Eventually, Asami gets approached by someone condescending who somehow doesn't want her to complete the construction project for a homeless evacuees.
29:42She's a gang leader who Asami thinks Asami would agree to work for.
29:46She says her gang would offer her protection for a monthly fee.
29:50Asami says she already told her so I assume she's going to get hurt in the next panel.
29:55I'm glad she gets a chance to equip her electrical blob instead.
29:59Luckily, the leader decides to leave and come back in a few days on the off chance she'll have changed her mind by then.
30:05I say luckily because she's outnumbered.
30:08The smart thing to do is obviously dehumor them.
30:11What is a place she didn't have no security?
30:14Anybody can just walk in here.
30:17Why does the story expect me to be interested in a bunch of criminals I never saw before talking?
30:22Their dialogue is boring.
30:24Finally, Takako shows up again.
30:27He brags that he's stronger and quicker now and plans to take control of an entire city.
30:32I guess just to take advantage of him being the most scary looking gang leader ever known.
30:37It still seems silly because that's a lot of tedious work they might not like having to do.
30:42Ugh, I really don't care about what these villains have to say.
30:46I know the heroes are going to win and even if they lose the current fight, they'll win in the end.
30:50And everything they're saying can probably be skipped just fine because it'll come up again when stuff happens.
30:57It turns out that Mako accidentally led Bullet and his boss to a room full of mannequins with a bomb.
31:03Thankfully, he's forgiven right away because it's not his fault Takako is one step ahead of them.
31:08I guess the kid was told to tell them to go here.
31:11Mako wants to talk to Wanyo, so he goes to his office and is expected to leave.
31:16He's been missing for days and his employees didn't call the police because he's such a private man.
31:21I see the pacing's as bad as ever.
31:24Eventually, it turns out Korra has to talk to a big guy first before visiting Asami because she was smart enough to hire a security guard.
31:31That's a little effort.
31:33But obviously one guy would still be outnumbered by a gang anyways.
31:37Asami tells Korra what happened to her and tells her she'll handle it herself.
31:42Because she doesn't want to feel like she has to help her.
31:45They hug and eventually some people complain about being hungry.
31:49And Veric kept some food for himself because he's smart.
31:52Veric reassures her and then expects a massage.
31:55And it's satisfying when she intimidates him into doing that instead.
31:59Considering what a bad boss he was before.
32:02She asks him about the idea of her running for president.
32:05Do we need to see a scene like this?
32:08Well, it was worth getting to see him compliment her.
32:10And it gets more character development because she's worried that she wouldn't be able to handle losing the election or having to run a country.
32:18Korra gets stood up at a restaurant.
32:21At least I get to see someone talking a respectful way to her.
32:24She has the common sense to assume Asami's in trouble.
32:28And call Mako telling him in Berlin to meet up with her.
32:31Eventually, Korra sees Asami's office in a mess.
32:34Again, the story dwells on something more than necessary.
32:38That's what the word eventually means in these reviews.
32:41The story shows us the hideout of the Crystal Gang.
32:44Korra barges into it and eventually gets told to look for Asami by the leader.
32:49Aang's family does some predictable long-winded bitching.
32:52Mila says they should get all the airbenders together and march on the portal.
32:57Tenzin says a peaceful protest with them all could rally the city's people behind them and pressure Raikou to withdraw the troops.
33:04Even though the troops are there to protect the city from spirits they're rightfully paranoid of.
33:09The Air Nation isn't guarding the place 24-7.
33:14Predictably, Korra didn't find Asami.
33:16Why did she get kidnapped when she has an electrified knockout glove?
33:20I'm asking this because all this exposition is boring.
33:24It makes sense that they didn't show her getting kidnapped,
33:26because how is the writer supposed to actually make it look justified when she has a glove like that?
33:33Korra gets told what Mako learned recently,
33:35and he gets radioed in his cop car that the police department's being threatened by the very same gang they're after next.
33:42Korra gets to tell Takoga that she was trying to stop that spirit,
33:46and surprisingly, he believes her.
33:49If only the pacing was faster.
33:51Eventually, it reveals to them that Wanyo is being held hostage in a blimp above them.
33:56Eventually, Korra starts using her bending against the bad guys and gets grabbed by Takoga's spirit arm.
34:02Korra is told to let Toga and his gang leave, and Asami gets threatened in front of her.
34:08Eventually.
34:10The leader of the Creeping Crystal Triad gets humanized because she's playing pool for fun.
34:15The name of her gang is too long though, so I don't like saying it.
34:18Eventually, her rival gang intimidates her with fire and plans on taking over her territory.
34:24General Iroh sees the Irbisons approaching and is level-headed like I expect.
34:29He tells Tenzin that he wants to see a peaceful resolution too.
34:33Ms. Beifong explains that they can't do anything because Takoga threatens to turn the neighborhood into rubble if they make a move.
34:40Eventually, Korra gets confident for a few panels, and she thanks her.
34:44Eventually, they get to see Asami call out to her,
34:47eventually get to see Asami call out to Wonyoung because his grief got her in the situation.
34:52He just justifies himself predictably, and she takes the obvious to reminding him of a past situation.
34:58And she tells him off that her father is better than him, which makes him ashamed.
35:02Takoga still blames Korra for what happens to him, even though clearly he got himself in that situation.
35:08He kidnapped Asami for a more interesting reason than the reason we thought.
35:12He knows she's good at machinery, and he wants her to make him something according to one of her father's blueprints,
35:18which he found because it was given to Wonyoung by her father.
35:22He says that when he realized her father wanted to make him weapons, he walked out on a deal with him.
35:27I like knowing why he walked out on a deal with him after all. Wait, if he didn't like the blueprints, why didn't he destroy them?
35:34Now I have to assume that he was saving them for a rainy day, in case he was extremely desperate for money he wanted them developed.
35:42Because otherwise he could have stopped the whole plot.
35:45Because otherwise this and Korra sucking at explaining herself to Wonyoung are pretty good reasons for the whole plot is lucky it even happened.
35:54She sees a blueprint of a gas dispersion pump, and his plans to threaten the city with poison gas from an airship.
36:01Asami wastes time refusing to help him, when obviously it's do or die.
36:06And he threatens someone in front of her, causing her to humor him.
36:09The president finds out about Zuli's campaign, and is smart enough to assume she'll win right away.
36:15He calls her a hero for helping Korra take down the mecha giants of Kuvira's invasion.
36:20His campaign manager is smart because he says he could make her look bad to people by calling her reckless because of it.
36:26The president's told about the protest and says it's an opportunity to change the narrative.
36:31After a needlessly long time,
36:33Mako does explain that he's been getting Kia to heal him.
36:37It needs to be explained that she's bad at healing.
36:40Even then, wouldn't that just hurt him? How is healing nerfed?
36:45Korra feels bad for him and says that if she stopped the spirit from attacking Tokoga instead of saving Asami, none of this would be happening.
36:53Spirits are invincible. How could she stop the spirit? I guess she means energy bend the spirit to make it feel better?
37:01Asami probably shouldn't have been in the fight when she's a non-bender.
37:05Mako relates to her that he's been in her position before in the show.
37:09He has a plan to search for Asami without tipping off their enemies,
37:13but it'll explain later because Beifong can't know about it for some reason.
37:18She hugs him and predictably explains that the only reason he's been acting awkward is because one of his exes dating another one of his exes
37:25is hard to get used to.
37:27And acknowledges that she and Asami are perfect for each other.
37:31Personality-wise, there really is no hard evidence against that.
37:35I mean, Korra does get mad at her sometimes, but she gets mad at everyone sometimes.
37:39Because she wants people to humor her and be on her side.
37:42And none of her arguments with her result in drama that lasts too long.
37:46Milo lampshades that protesting is boring and Tenzin puts his hands on his shoulders.
37:52Eventually, Raiko says to send in the water benders.
37:56And thankfully, General Iroh wishes he was allowed to call them off.
38:00Why does he even care what the airbenders are doing? I guess he thinks the people will side with them?
38:05All he has to do is tell Raiko that the airbenders aren't fighting back and there's no cause for this and immediately changed his mind.
38:13Why is he so indecisive when he was extremely sovereign about refusing to lead his army against Unalaq?
38:19Amon and him have the same personality of being lying jerks with better reputations than they deserve.
38:25And they both have weird names that don't tell me anything about them without research.
38:30So it made just as much sense for me for one of them to have the name Unalaq as the other.
38:34And it's been years since I watched the show.
38:37I guess the reason he changed his mind is because he doesn't want even worse PR than having them here would have.
38:42A part of the wall falls over and Zule tells everyone behind her to follow her, bringing a camera crew.
38:48Tenzin thanks her for convincing all those people to join her.
38:52She says in front of a camera that the portal is a symbol of harmony and should be shared by everyone, not held hostage.
38:58So she gets people to start chanting against him. She has a good reputation. So it makes sense that it's easy.
39:05Mako explains to his friends why he knows where the creeping crystals are.
39:10The leader of the gang gets talked to by Mako as she makes a crystal float above her hand.
39:15Because earthbenders can't just control dirt and rocks. They control jewels too.
39:20Which makes their inability to control pure metal less believable because it's from the earth too.
39:26So if jewels are part of the earth element despite not being dirt,
39:30it makes you wonder why that doesn't apply to metal too because it's just as associated with earth.
39:36Korra wants to know how to move around her old turf undetected.
39:39And Mako offers her a chance to get her turf back as a reward.
39:43And she says her gang got their name from the original creeping crystal that traps people in it.
39:48So there's more than one type of it?
39:51I like that they're heading for the abandoned earth and fire factory.
39:55Asami says she's almost finished.
39:58Korra goes into the room to start fighting and Asami gets taken aboard the airship.
40:03The creeping crystal gets immediately smashed by Takoga because he's so strong.
40:08So all that build-up about it was for nothing.
40:11He grabs a part of the flying airship.
40:14And Jurgala tells Korra unnecessarily that Takoga left taking Asami with him.
40:19And Korra tells her to go with her.
40:22But she refuses despite being outnumbered.
40:25Well, she wouldn't be a gang leader if she was careful.
40:28Why'd Korra get told to ride a motorcycle if she can use an air scooter that goes faster than it?
40:34Korra's a hunch about where they need to go because she assumes Takoga's going back to where this all started.
40:40Asami whispers to Wonyoung that if Takoga releases the poison gas, only the people in the airship are going to be killed.
40:48It's almost like it was a stupid idea for him to trust someone to engineer something for him that she didn't want.
40:54It's wild that she's got more guts than Eggman.
40:57Eggman didn't make sabotage armor for Sigma and the Zeti in Worlds Unite.
41:01Even though Asami had people watching when she made this thing, too.
41:05Of course, they didn't suspect a thing because they didn't know how she was supposed to do it.
41:10But Asami's used to being a hero. She's used to constantly facing dangerous situations.
41:15Conveniently, it turns out there's gas masks in the airship.
41:19I like that she gets to be proactive instead of just relying on Korra to save her.
41:24She whispers that she'll need Wonyoung to get her in hand gas masks when the time is right.
41:29Takoga takes a long time making a speech from his airship to make an impression.
41:33I like that Raiko's just annoyed.
41:36He wants Raiko to withdraw the United Forces from the city or he'll use poison gas.
41:43He also explains who he's got as hostages.
41:47Asami grabs some wires and makes a click.
41:50And Raiko says that he backed down against Kuvira and isn't going to make the same mistake again.
41:55He orders the troops withdrawn for now.
41:57And then he wants the airship taken down despite the hostages in it.
42:01Which would have only been a good plan on the off chance Korra's plan failed because it'd save a whole bunch of people.
42:08It sounds harsh, but it's good that he had a backup plan for it.
42:11So at least one of the people are helping evacuate people.
42:14And Korra asks Tenzin if everything's alright.
42:17General Iroh warns Korra about Raiko's plan and how many minutes she's got.
42:22Korra asks when Tenzin ever knew her to be careful, which is charming at a time like this.
42:29And she rides and airbites him.
42:31Asami releases the gas in the airship and dodges the punch and even flips him.
42:36Wonyoung damages a window and the two heroes get their gas masks on.
42:40But Tokoga's magically immune to poison gas even though only part of his body is spirit.
42:46And yet both parts of his body are unaffected.
42:49He takes off her mask and she immediately starts coughing even though she should have known not to inhale.
42:56Korra airbends away Tokoga and uses more airbending to give Asami an air bubble to breathe.
43:02So that's interesting.
43:04Somehow Korra plans on landing the ship even though she's bad at driving and she's the bender.
43:10So Asami says she'll steer the airship while she protects her.
43:14She should have known that was a better plan.
43:17Tokoga causes some damage that releases the gas.
43:20And Asami makes the assumption that every spirit is immune to it even though they always show a huge variety of species differences from each other instead of all being the same species.
43:30There's no reason most of them would be immune.
43:33And any that are is just a convenient coincidence.
43:37But she doesn't have a better option than to drive to the spirit world anyways.
43:41So she didn't really believe this it would make just as much sense.
43:45Considering that firebending is her default skill,
43:48I wonder why Korra's doing nothing but airbending even though firebending would let her create a wall of fire that she could get rid of in
43:54instant no harm, no foul.
43:56So that'd be far more likely to hit her target than little bursts of wind.
44:01Really nothing in this arc is showing off what a badass Korra actually is compared to other benders that can fight.
44:07Korra eventually gets g-blocked.
44:10And he almost falls out of the window.
44:12So it must have been her steering that caused him to fall towards the window when it was gonna kill her.
44:17Wonyoung finally makes himself useful and uses an axe to make Tokoga fall.
44:22I spent the whole arc expecting him to make a rogue sacrifice by the way.
44:26Makoto's pulling in to help the girls while he does something stupid.
44:30A little girl says she hurt her leg while some gas is catching up to her.
44:34It's not explained how in the world that happened.
44:37Because there's nothing around her that could have actually hurt her leg.
44:41I guess someone bumped into her when running away.
44:45It could have just been that she had a sprained ankle and it made just as much sense though.
44:49And Zuli runs over to her in front of the Air Nation and brings her to safety.
44:54Someone thanks her and Barak hugs her and I like that he hopes that was gotten on film.
44:59Of course it was and the camera also got footage of Raiko running away.
45:04Even though he could have trusted the airbenders to protect him.
45:07The airbenders keep the poison from being a threat.
45:10Although I have to wonder why they didn't do that before she got the chance to save a kid from it.
45:14Why did they wait so long doing nothing?
45:17The airship lands with the girls flying into Tokoga's thugs in rough shape.
45:21Korra says she can heal them with spirit water. I guess spirit water because it's better at healing.
45:27Magically.
45:29And I guess that's being relied on because she's a bad healer.
45:32If she was a good healer, she would have healed Mako's arm long ago.
45:38Korra says something unusually sappy to quote Asami. The girls show each other affection.
45:43Wano gets unhandcuffed and the spirits show up.
45:47Eventually Korra wonders if this particular portal was never meant to exist.
45:52Which makes sense because of all the problems it caused.
45:55But Asami says it's too precious.
45:57The only reason she'd say it's precious is because it looks pretty and she would say that about every portal.
46:02It has to be because of the vines in the area making it look better.
46:06Wano gives up his claim on the land here and the spirit asks him why because he's suspicious.
46:12So he says he owes these two women his life.
46:15The spirit humors them but says he'll be watching what happens next. He's got nothing better to do after all.
46:22Korra thanks Wano, who I'm not gonna say the last name of because the story never tells me how to pronounce it.
46:28And it's too easy to make fun of.
46:30Asami shakes hands with him.
46:32Bolin puts his hand on Mako's shoulder and Mako says there was no sign of Takoga.
46:38And somehow he survived with no injuries for no reason.
46:42Again, only some of his body is part spirit.
46:45So only some of it would be unharmed if that was the logic.
46:49Weeks later, a bunch of people are gathered at a hotel ballroom hoping to see Zu Li get elected.
46:56There's a lot of time wasted here.
46:58Mako talks to Bolin unusually nicely and he quits out of nowhere because he can't be tied down and likes to fly.
47:05If that means he doesn't want to keep the same job forever,
47:08that would be really bad for him because eventually who's gonna hire him with him having a reputation of quitting every few weeks?
47:15He says it's about time he goes his separate ways from his brother.
47:18So maybe it just means that he doesn't want to work with them forever.
47:21Because he wants to prove he's more than just a little brother who needs protecting.
47:26Korra's dad asks how she and Asami are doing and says he doesn't want the water tribe customs to dictate how he talks to his daughter.
47:34He hugs her stating the obvious and gets thanked.
47:37And predictably Zu Li wins and gets cheered for.
47:40She gets to hug Beric again, who treats her a lot better as her husband.
47:45Congratulating her and everything.
47:47Zu Li thanks people and makes a boring predictable speech.
47:51Eventually, she encourages people to say hi to strangers when passing by to encourage peace.
47:56Everything else she says is boring.
47:59It's too bad to see Raikou without finding out what job he's gonna get after this.
48:04I still don't know.
48:06Zu Li gives the ownership of the portal and surrounding area to the Air Nation.
48:11Eventually, she says the true mind can weather all the lies and illusions without being lost.
48:16So Sarge is pretty weak then.
48:18Asami and Korra hold hands and Korra says she loves her and gets to hear it back as the story ends with Zu Li's speech
48:24mentioning light when there's a portal of light in front of them.
48:28I just realized, shouldn't there be a ton of moths gathering around the portals?
48:33And why does the story end without Dakota being killed off when he'll never be used again?
48:38He's not gonna be able to do anything new if he does come back.
48:41This arc by Michael DiMartino and Brian Konietzko
48:46was mainly about a street gang that kidnapped Asami once to take over the city with the gas-filled blimp
48:53because his leader became more ambitious from a spirit merging with him in a fight over territory thanks to CEO.
49:00But none of that deep plot was memorable to me.
49:03So I forgot about all of it by the time I went back to it.
49:07While this was the first time in Avatar that a gang tried taking over a city,
49:11that's still not enough because the Fire Nation already did that.
49:15So the only thing memorable about this arc is Kia's discussion with Asami and Korra about their out-of-nowhere relationship
49:21and how people like them were treated historically.
49:24Which is just a pointless scene because they never encountered backlash anyways
49:28and it just tells you what you would have already assumed about the world.
49:32And their lack of backlash would have made sense
49:35if they didn't establish those in as a heteronormative crusader.
49:40To summarize, the story should have shown us the moment where they told each other how they felt
49:44to make the start of this feel natural so I could appreciate it.
49:48Nowhere the couple in fiction would get away with an off-screen love confession.
49:53The arc's intense and engaging story with a nice twist where a gang leader helps the heroes.
49:58But usually it's made boring by having nothing but boring dialogue that goes on too long.
50:03I prefer it over The Promise because there's still necessary action scenes for a lot of it instead of almost nothing happening until the ending climax.