I missed like ten minutes in the middle of the episode because Nicks player is terrible and I'm impatient.
I'll probably be alone in this, but I hate evil airbenders motives. It's almost as bad as what they did to Amon and evil uncle. At least they still look cool and have interesting powers. Hopefully they don't completely fuck them up by the end of the season.
Not much really Nicks video player is pretty awful
Doesn't even have any video quality settings which is something you would expect it to have by now in 2014
Nope. That is why I was bitching about this when they announced they weren't just releasing all the episodes digitally at once (and doing the once a week release). Because, it's basically the same release schedule as before, but now we don't get the free HDTV version of it. We only get the free shitty quality version on Nick.com
Now, I would gladly be willing to pay for all the remaining episodes (so I can just watch them front to back). But that we have to wait 5 weeks, just so Nick can have it up on their site (in shit quality for ads), that is bullshit.
Wow, what an episode. Zeheer's motivations really sit well with me, and I'm glad that he exists within the grey area as opposed to Unalaq who went full evil last season. The action was great, the pai sho was great, the spirits were great, and the humor was great. Probably my favorite episode of the season.
I'm guessing Zaheer's motivation? I was personally okay with, simply because I wanted it to be kept simple (vs being something outlandish). And I'm just glad it's not a revenge plot. I guess I can understand the expectation for it to be something more then just anarchy. But given the way the Avatar world is shaped (especially post 100 year war), I actually think this kind of movement makes perfect sense (given the time period). Plus, I think it's good that Zaheer is someone that isn't evil just to be evil. He has a genuine philosophy and thinks it's the right thing to do.
I'm cautious about how they wrap this up. Because ultimately, Korra and Zaheer won't see eye to eye. So I hope he doesn't just descend into a cartoony evil villain.
Wow, what an episode. Zeheer's motivations really sit well with me, and I'm glad that he exists within the grey area as opposed to Unalaq who went full evil last season. The action was great, the pai sho was great, the spirits were great, and the humor was great. Probably my favorite episode of the season.
It's a funny parallel that Team Korra are now wanted fugitives by one country, just like Team Avatar in the original series. Speaking of which, it was great that Korra & co. were acting like a group of friends, helping out one another on this mission.
As for the episode itself, I love that the stakes have been increased, and I'm hoping that Hou-Ting will be put in her place in the next episode.
Guess I'm the odd one out, I didn't really like that episode, mostly because of Bolin.
I'm kinda sick of Bolin at this point. He's too stupid and zany compared to the rest of the cast that even the other characters just roll their eyes when he speaks. The worst part is that his dumb stuff could have worked really well with their disguises, but instead we got bright yellow cloaks and goggles. They really stood out but their disguises were also boring.
Zaheer is alright I guess. I don't remember much of the backstory behind the White Lotus so I can't really say the if the Red Lotus origins is faithful or just convenient. Either way, their goal seems pretty dumb, though their group never seemed like much more than simple antagonists. The idea that an organized group of people seek anarchy has never made sense to me but that also exists in real life I guess. Their idea that somehow creating chaos will restore balance makes about much sense as the Avatar being the vessel for Vaatu while also the force for keeping balance anyway. I did laugh when Zaheer said Korra was smart while he had her in the most obvious trap ever. She was pretty good in the past few episodes but in this one she seemed more dumb than hot headed.
The setup was good though, Asami and Korra captured by Earth Queen should make for a good episode when they attempt to break out.
I really don't have anything else I would say bothered me. As far as Zaheer's motivation goes, I'm totally okay with it. At least it wasn't some "revenge" plot. I actually like how Zaheer believes what he's doing is right (compared to Amon and Unalaq).[/SPOILER]
Yeah, as far as Zaheer's motivations go I definitely see where he's coming from and I can't help but want them to succeed in at least taking out the Earth Queen. It's nice to have an antagonist that I can at least sort of feel sympathy for.
Yeah, I loved that one. I think this seasons success in part comes from all the new locations. AtLA was never really stuck in the same place, and they had opportunities to introduce all sorts of characters and scenarios. This season is really helped out by the variety.
tying Korra's kidnap plot into Unalaqs story? That he was apart of the Red Lotus. Did that work for you? I find it interesting how much this season is trying to directly tie into the previous one, given they said they were only doing self contained seasons.
tying Korra's kidnap plot into Unalaqs story? That he was apart of the Red Lotus. Did that work for you? I find it interesting how much this season is trying to directly tie into the previous one, given they said they were only doing self contained seasons.
tying Korra's kidnap plot into Unalaqs story? That he was apart of the Red Lotus. Did that work for you? I find it interesting how much this season is trying to directly tie into the previous one, given they said they were only doing self contained seasons.
I'm ok with it and i'm all for more continuity between the books which has been sorely lacking for quite a while
Really liked how they showed off more of the impact of leaving the spirit portals open in this episode
I'm ok that it gives Unalaq some more backstory and I suppose some of his original motivation for last season
well i wonder how i can actually watch this. From Southamerica here (no amazon), Nick is probably blocked based on the country you're watching from, whatever...
tying Korra's kidnap plot into Unalaqs story? That he was apart of the Red Lotus. Did that work for you? I find it interesting how much this season is trying to directly tie into the previous one, given they said they were only doing self contained seasons.
I thought it was good. I wish they had done something similar with
Amon. You know how Amon's public story was that the spirits had chosen him? It should have been true, and it should have been specifically been Vaatu trying to get rid of bending in the world since that's what caused him to be defeated the last time. Missed opportunity.
Anyway, great episode. It feels good liking Avatar stuff again without reservations.
Nope. That is why I was bitching about this when they announced they weren't just releasing all the episodes digitally at once (and doing the once a week release). Because, it's basically the same release schedule as before, but now we don't get the free HDTV version of it. We only get the free shitty quality version on Nick.com
Now, I would gladly be willing to pay for all the remaining episodes (so I can just watch them front to back). But that we have to wait 5 weeks, just so Nick can have it up on their site (in shit quality for ads), that is bullshit.
How long are we going to keep up the spoiler tags?
Anyway, Zaheer's motivations are finally revealed, and they're pretty good. I'm still calling them the Z-team, I don't care who they work for.
He's definitely right about one thing, the White Lotus has fallen to the point of being laughable....though I never really got what the White Lotus was actually for, originally. We only knew of them as an underground organization and that they were good because Iroh was part of them. According to the Avatar Wiki, they were "an ancient and formerly secret society that transcends the boundaries of the four nations, seeking philosophy, beauty, and truth. They are devoted to the sharing of ancient knowledge across national and political divides." LoK added that they protect and train the avatar. I want to know what initiated this change, because it's so radical.
But the Red Lotus is not what the White Lotus was either. Honestly, their talk was very reminiscent of V for Vendetta (the comic, not the movie) talk on order vs chaos vs anarchy, though Zaheer seems to think Chaos and Anarchy are one and the same.
Slight V for Vendetta spoilers here. Nothing huge except by implication, but it's mostly similar dialogue choice.
“Eve: All this riot and uproar, V... is this Anarchy? Is this the Land of Do-As-You-Please?
V: No. This is only the Land of Take-What-You-Want. Anarchy means "without leaders", not "without order". With anarchy comes an age of ordnung, of true order, which is to say voluntary order... this age of ordung will begin when the mad and incoherent cycle of verwirrung that these bulletins reveal has run its course... This is not anarchy, Eve. This is chaos.”
And while this is obviously a fertile ground for debate, I hope they see it through. The problem with people in power is that they can use that power for destructive purposes, as Sozin did. Or they can do it to push for great things. Fire Lord Zuko seems to have done that with Republic City and Suyin with Zaofu. In terms of comparing narratives, V For Vendetta's setting a dystopian future of totalitarianism and dictatorship. His argument that chaos was preferable or necessary had some merit, and even including that the tone was morally ambiguous. LoK's settings takes place where the world can be either good or bad depending on it's leader. With that, it's kind of hard not to see Zaheer as a bit crazy in this context.
Which might be fine. I mean, if their past attempts is how the writers manage to do complex villainy, then I'd prefer that they keep it more simple with Zaheer. I guess I'll just have to see where they go with it.
As for Unalaq being part of the Red Lotus, if the writers think it adds anything to his past character, it doesn't. Unalaq either didn't truly believe or he changed his mind on the Red Lotus' philosophy, and we have no idea why or if it's even relevent to the story we were told. Just adding things to a characters background doesn't deepen the character if those things aren't related to the main narrative. Unalaq was just a stereotypical evil dude and he sucked. If they want to change that, they'll basically need to change his entire character arc in Book 2.
On an unrelated note, I loved how Zaheer played Korra like a chump while complimenting her intelligence, just for asking basic questions any person would think to ask in that situation. But personally, I think it's going to be extremely important to see how Korra deals with Zaheer and his group ultimately. This is the first villain she has met that stands by his beliefs and she even admits has a point. If she just kicks his ass into submission like the others, it's just going to mean she hasn't learned to deal with any problems any other way. That said, I'm not sure what she should do here. I guess it's because Korra hasn't developed much past the first episode of this season, so I'm not sure where they're taking this. But it can't be like the ending to last season where Korra just does something different for reasons unknown. What she ends up doing is going to be as important as why she ends up doing it.
Other notes: Loved the "Water Tribe OUT" callback. lol.
Bolin is an idiot. Why in the hell would you dive into the goddamn pool.
well i wonder how i can actually watch this. From Southamerica here (no amazon), Nick is probably blocked based on the country you're watching from, whatever...
How long are we going to keep up the spoiler tags?
Anyway, Zaheer's motivations are finally revealed, and they're pretty good. I'm still calling them the Z-team, I don't care who they work for.
He's definitely right about one thing, the White Lotus has fallen to the point of being laughable....though I never really got what the White Lotus was actually for, originally. We only knew of them as an underground organization and that they were good because Iroh was part of them. According to the Avatar Wiki, they were "an ancient and formerly secret society that transcends the boundaries of the four nations, seeking philosophy, beauty, and truth. They are devoted to the sharing of ancient knowledge across national and political divides." LoK added that they protect and train the avatar. I want to know what initiated this change, because it's so radical.
But the Red Lotus is not what the White Lotus was either. Honestly, their talk was very reminiscent of V for Vendetta (the comic, not the movie) talk on order vs chaos vs anarchy, though Zaheer seems to think Chaos and Anarchy are one and the same.
And while this is obviously a fertile ground for debate, I hope they see it through. The problem with people in power is that they can use that power for destructive purposes, as Sozin did. Or they can do it to push for great things. Fire Lord Zuko seems to have done that with Republic City and Suyin with Zaofu. In terms of comparing narratives, V For Vendetta's setting a dystopian future of totalitarianism and dictatorship. His argument that chaos was preferable or necessary had some merit, and even including that the tone was morally ambiguous. LoK's settings takes place where the world can be either good or bad depending on it's leader. With that, it's kind of hard not to see Zaheer as a bit crazy in this context.
Which might be fine. I mean, if their past attempts is how the writers manage to do complex villainy, then I'd prefer that they keep it more simple with Zaheer. I guess I'll just have to see where they go with it.
As for Unalaq being part of the Red Lotus, if the writers think it adds anything to his past character, it doesn't. Unalaq either didn't truly believe or he changed his mind on the Red Lotus' philosophy, and we have no idea why or if it's even relevent to the story we were told. Just adding things to a characters background doesn't deepen the character if those things aren't related to the main narrative. Unalaq was just a stereotypical evil dude and he sucked. If they want to change that, they'll basically need to change his entire character arc in Book 2.
On an unrelated note, I loved how Zaheer played Korra like a chump while complimenting her intelligence, just for asking basic questions any person would think to ask in that situation. But personally, I think it's going to be extremely important to see how Korra deals with Zaheer and his group ultimately. This is the first villain she has met that stands by his beliefs and she even admits has a point. If she just kicks his ass into submission like the others, it's just going to mean she hasn't learned to deal with any problems any other way. That said, I'm not sure what she should do here. I guess it's because Korra hasn't developed much past the first episode of this season, so I'm not sure where they're taking this. But it can't be like the ending to last season where Korra just does something different for reasons unknown. What she ends up doing is going to be as important as why she ends up doing it.
Other notes: Loved the "Water Tribe OUT" callback. lol.
Bolin is an idiot. Why in the hell would you dive into the goddamn pool.
I felt like the Unalaq tie in was kind of contrived. I'm personally all for continuity between seasons (it allows larger plot arcs to breathe and play out). But this feels tacked on. Mostly because, they did such a poor job with Unalaq. The way they present him in Book 2 is as an evil person from the very beginning w/ no explanation how he became that way. So this idea that he was Red Lotus is kind of strange.
Of course, if he was always evil and just went with the Red Lotus to kidnap Korra so he could eventually pull off his evil plan, okay. But that seems like quite the convoluted plan (to dedicate yourself to an organization). So the implication is that he was influenced by the Red Lotus philosophy. Meh. Thing is, I don't actually dislike the tie in. I actually like it. I just think technically speaking, it feels sort of clumsy and doesn't really add much outside of tying in Korra's plot with something bigger.
I think this episode was really great though because it really did a lot of things with a short amount of time.
scene where Zaheer and Korra were just talking. It made him seem truly menacing and showed Korra as fearless. I also like the return of old "talk with her fists" Korra. She shows she's grown by not actually just resorting to violence, but we can see that inclination is still there.
As for the Nick.com player, it streams in HD, but the ghosting is terrible. I'm not going to pay for it on Amazon, because I'll buy it on Blu-ray and don't want to double dip.
Ai-Wei not being able to tell he was being watched? Doesn't this guy have earth-sense strong enough to be able to tell when someone's heart is beating fast, but he doesn't hear scuffles of 4 people AND A POLAR-BEAR-DOG? Felt like he was jobbed. Especially when Zaheer just teleports him to the fog of lost souls.
jumped into the pool. That probably wasn't the move to make, but I can understand his motivation at the time given the meteors and lava he was being assaulted with.
Zaheer is powerful beyond reason. He's probably the best air bender in the world ( lol well only Tenzin would have had more time to be better than him), but I say that even comforted to the time when air benders were still around. He can even go into the spirit world. A feat that during Aangs time was supposed to be extremely rare. Not only that, he can project himself and travel anywhere in the spirit world on the fly. He can also talk with his physical body while his spirit is in the spirit world.
Lol I mean come on now.
Edit: are we going to get clarification on spoiler tag rule now that this has moved digital? I just assumed like before, once it goes up online spoilers are game. It's just more inconvenient now because it's not scheduled. So basically all Friday would be a time to skip the thread until you see the episode.
Zaheer is powerful beyond reason. He's probably the best air bender in the world ( lol well only Tenzin would have had more time to be better than him), but I say that even comforted to the time when air benders were still around. He can even go into the spirit world. A feat that during Aangs time was supposed to be extremely rare. Not only that, he can project himself and travel anywhere in the spirit world on the fly. He can also talk with his physical body while his spirit is in the spirit world.
Zaheer is such a great character though that I don't mind. I really like his personality and his philosophies. And he's a lot of fun to watch. I just think his abilities are pretty insane.
Like I laughed when he just took Aiwei to the valley of lost memories. Like damn he can instantly travel where he wants in the spirit world now!?
Inb4 he starts oxygen bending and crushing peoples lungs.
they're going for at least a little continuity, and Zaheer's goals seems are a hell of a lot better than being Unalaq evil or the revenge story I was expecting.
Ai-Wei not being able to tell he was being watched? Doesn't this guy have earth-sense strong enough to be able to tell when someone's heart is beating fast, but he doesn't hear scuffles of 4 people AND A POLAR-BEAR-DOG? Felt like he was jobbed. Especially when Zaheer just teleports him to the fog of lost souls.
Ai-wei went out like a chump I agree, but I would guess it might be a little difficult when there's still plenty of people and even some larger spirits walking around. It's not like he knows team avatars distinct foot fall vibrations.
Zaheer is such a great character though that I don't mind. I really like his personality and his philosophies. And he's a lot of fun to watch. I just think his abilities are pretty insane. Like I laughed when he just took Aiwei to the valley of lost memories. Like damn he can instantly travel where he wants in the spirit world now!?
Inb4 he starts oxygen bending and crushing peoples lungs.
