Nickelodeon’s smash hit ‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), the sequel series to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005) continued April 28, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST with its fourth episode, “The Voice in the Night.”

Spoiler alert!

Seventy years after Aang and his friends defeated Fire Lord Ozai, Korra (Janet Varney) is the newest Avatar and is training in Republic City to master airbending with Aang’s son, Tenzin (J.K. Simmons). However, there is a violent anti-bending movement rising to power led by Amon (Steve Blum), who has declared that he can remove any bender’s powers permanently.

In the previous episode, Korra and her friend Mako (David Faustino) went to rescue Mako’s brother, Bolin (P.J. Byrne), from Amon’s wrath at a rally. Korra has been deeply shaken by Amon’s ability to take away a bender’s powers but has not been dealing with the fear properly. Instead, she has been having nightmares.

Meanwhile, a Republic City councilman named Tarrlok gets permission to put together a task force to stop Amon from recruiting more anti-benders. He approaches Korra and asks for her help, but she refuses. He begins showering her with gifts in an attempt to bribe her, but she continues to refuse him.

In town, Mako literally bumps into the beautiful daughter of the automobile mogul, Hiroshi Sato, named Asami (Seychelle Gabriel). As an apology for nearly running him over, she offers to take him out to dinner, and the two hit it off. Asami is a big fan of the Fire Ferrets, Mako’s pro-bending team he shares with Bolin and Korra, and offers to sponsor them for the Pro-Bending Championship. Ecstatic, Mako accepts.

Tarrlok throws a party for Korra and invites her and Tenzin’s family to join in the festivities. Tenzin suspects a larger plan is in the works, but allows Korra and his family to attend. Korra meets Asami and sparks fly as she feels a bit jealous as she has been nursing a slight crush on Mako. Tarrlok invites the press to aggressively ask Korra questions about how to stop Amon, thereby pressuring her to join his task force.

Tarrlok’s task force learns of an underground group training chi blockers for Amon’s armada, and they shut them down, leading to Korra challenging Amon to a duel. Tenzin and Tarrlock warn her not to go, but she ignores them and heads to the duel. Near dawn, Amon shows up with his men not to fight her, but to send her a message.

He admits he could have easily taken away her bending and killed her, but he says he is going to destroy all the benders first, and save her for last. Amon knocks her out, and Tenzin finds her. Korra finally confesses how afraid she is of losing her bending and not being able to stop Amon, and Tenzin comforts her, closing out the episode.

The emotional twists and turns of this episode truly make it shine. Korra is brave and strong, but she is also very vulnerable and sensitive because she has so much responsibility as the Avatar. She struggles with admitting her fear and definitely has a lot to learn before she is ready to take Amon on head-to-head.

This episode is also a great exploration of Mako’s character. He acts rather closed-off around Korra because he does not trust her completely, yet around his brother and new love interest, Asami, he is kind, personable, and even a bit shy. We learn that the scarf he wears belonged to his father, and it is the only thing Mako has left of him after his parents were murdered when he was eight years old. It adds a layer of depth and significance to his character and makes him much more accessible.

Furthermore, Amon’s threatening presence became even more solidified with his direct threat against Korra. He has proven to be a cold, cruel, calculating force that Korra will have immense difficulty overcoming in the upcoming episodes. Special mention goes to Steve Blum, an incredibly well-known actor in the animation and anime world, for adding such a convincing layer of malice to the character.

The promo for next week promised the start of the pro-bending tournament, meaning Korra fans will be getting more of the fearsome Fire Ferrets and, thus, more interactions between Korra, Mako, and Bolin. There will be plenty of awesome action sequences and friction between the hotheaded Korra and stubborn Mako, much to the Makorra shipper’s delight.

‘The Legend of Korra’ premieres Saturdays at 11 a.m. EST. Be there! You won’t regret it.

Grade: 5/5

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About the author

Letitia Carelock
An aspiring novelist with a B.A. in English from the University of Georgia. She loves nothing more than great novels, exciting comic books, excellent movies, enthralling TV shows, and spending time with friends talking about nerdy things.

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5 Comments for ‘The Legend of Korra’ Episode 4 Review

Comicazie

Nicely written :p
I thought this episode was awesome, it had a bit of everything and that flashback at the end completely took me off guard. Looking forward to tomorrow morning’s ep

Reply

Letitia Carelock

Thanks! I’m glad you liked it. I’m very excited for the next episode as well.

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crystle111

Not to complain or anything (because I really loved the flashback at the end of the episode) but why was the flashback shown exactly? Does it have any reference to what’s to come , ie. spiritual encounter with the deceased members of Team Avatar, or was it just to spike up the fans?

Reply

Letitia Carelock

Personally, I think it was just a teaser to get the fans excited for finding out about the ATLA characters as adults. I’m guessing they’ll go into it in detail in a later episode.

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crystle111

guess so. but you gotta admit Aang looks totally hot with the beard!

Reply