TV Retrospective: Legend of Korra Book 1 Chapters 10-12 - Turning the Tides/Skeletons in the closet/Endgame

We have come down to the end of book 1, where for lack of more dignified phrase, the sh*t hits the fan

Chapter 10 – Turning the tides

The equalists make their moves here, and boy are they big ones, in some of the greatest action we get in the series, (not quite and the winner is, but still great) balanced with enough character and emotion to add weight to it.

Dare I say I think this is probably the best this book has to offer, animation and music as per usual are gorgeous, I cannot complement them enough on this, just I don’t have a lot to say about it.

You can tell Amon is an excellent strategist, explosives planted throughout the city, gas planted at the police station, and stinging groups covering all the councilmen. It’s very clear now that the equalists are the bad guys.

In character moments, we see Asami react to her finding out about Mako and Korra’s kiss (never confronting Korra with it oddly, we see that in book 3, sort of) she reacts a little bitter about it, but that’s not entirely out of the ordinary. Asami is probably the most developed character of team Avatar

Outside of Team Avatar, we see Lin and the airbender kids fighting against the equalists as the long prophesised baby comes along. We also see Tenzin showing the leadership skills expected of a council member as he tries valiantly to hold off the equalists coming for both him and the police

We also see Lin’s sacrifice to protect Tenzin and the airbenders, it’s quite touching, actually, and it’s some of her most badass moments to date. I adore this episode

Rating 9.5/10

Chapter 11 – Skeletons in the closet

Unfortunately, this is where things start to fall off, that’s not to say there isn’t a lot of good stuff in this episode. But the bad starts to rear its head here, starting with General Iroh, the least interesting character this series has (which is a shame because the original Iroh was one of the most interesting character TLA had to offer)

And of course there’s the revelation of this episode, that Amon is in fact a water-bender. (Sighs) and is using blood-bending to remove people’s bending (because he can do that for some reason) but we do get some good out of this revelation, the flashback was brilliant, tragic, and held more emotional weight that most of the Korra stuff this episode. But it does in turn devalue the equalist cause, and while that was clearly the point, it was an interesting cause you could understand, it’s a pity they pretty much brought it back to a bender v bender battle.

The greater stuff came earlier on in the episode, whilst Iroh himself may not be an interesting character, the battle with the ships was well done, and Korra’s adventures with the Hobo (nicely foreshadowed from chapter 1) were nice too

We see Mako and Asami come to terms with their relationship, and we saw some nice little moments between them

Interesting how Tarlok’s captivity made him realise he’d been a tool of his father’s revenge, in spite of everything.

Oh, Amon can redirect attacks with his mind now, maybe he can move their arms a bit, but he can’t control minds with waterbending, last I checked.

Rating 7/10

Chapter 12 – They couldn't come up with a less generic title than endgame?

And so we come down to what was originally supposed to be the last episode of the Legend of Korra, because of this I’m gonna make allowances for the convenient way things were wrapped up with Korra, and how everything turned out happily with no loose ends.

Because there’s a lot more to this episode, as Korra and Mako work to expose Amon by telling people and expecting they’d believe her (good plan) which worked about as well as can be expected

Meanwhile we see a far more personal showdown with Asami confronting her father, who has gone Bat-Guano nuts and attacking his own daughter with an mechatank (OK, she was in one too, but she wasn’t the first to attack)

I love how they up the pressure with each episode, with the revelation that the equalists eventually caught up with the airbender family, the revelation that Haroshi knew about the second wave.

One thing is clear is that bloodbending is one of the scariest bending forms there is, and while I’m still unsure of the details of how Amon takes people’s bending, it’s interesting to see him at his full power.

With him at his full power we get interesting scenes like Amon's top gun realising he’s been tricked, and Mako managing to hit him right in the chin(you know a direct lightning blast that close should have surely done more damage, remember how much damage Azula could do – speaking of, am I the only one wanting to see another blue firebender, or any other colour)

Speaking of great little moments, Naaga gets in on the action. You can draw some interesting comparisons between Appa and Aang, both are compassionate, caring, and loyal. You can also do the same with Korra and Naaga, both are loyal, caring, and aggressive (hot-headedly aggressive)

And it ends with Korra losing her bending ability. It is known it takes hardship to learn that one element you struggle with. Aang had to struggle against a sabre-tooth moose lion, so it makes sense that in facing against Amon here, is when she finally is able to airbend.

And the ending wraps things up nicely, Korra learns energy-bending, so can repair herself, and others, and she and Mako kiss. So, book 1 was a nice ride, I’ll see you in book 2, where let’s just say it doesn't start particularly well.

Rating 8/10

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Images used in this review are from The Legend of Korra and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.