Nickelodeon’s ‘The Legend of Korra’, the sequel series ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, premiered its hour-long season one finale Saturday, June 23, 2012 with the two-part epic, “Skeletons in the Closet” and “Endgame.”

Major spoilers ahead for the finale as well as the entire first season.

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). She is also friends with Mako (David Faustino), a Firebender, and his brother Bolin (P.J. Byrne), an Earthbender. The three play on a team, the Fire Ferrets, in a competition known as pro-bending. Right now, Korra and her friends are embroiled in a struggle with Amon (Steve Blum), leader of the Equalists, who has developed the ability to remove a person’s bending permanently. He wants to conquer Republic City and destroy everyone’s bending abilities.

In the previous episode, Amon declared war on Republic City and began attacking its citizens with airships. Tenzin took his family away from Air Temple Island while Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling) fended off their pursuers, losing her bending ability in a selfless act to save them. Korra and her friends have been hiding underground in a colony for the homeless as they await the arrival of reinforcements led by General Iroh (Dante Basco), grandson of Zuko.

General Iroh’s battleships reach the city but the airships have been replaced with airplanes, which easily dominate the battlefield. Korra intervenes and manages to destroy the fleet, but she and Mako learn that there are more of them on the way. General Iroh sends word to his brother Bumi to send more troops while Korra and Mako head up into the city to take Amon head on at a rally.

While waiting to confront Amon, Korra and Mako find Tarrlok (Dee Bradley Baker) imprisoned. He reveals that Amon is actually his brother, formerly known as Noatak. They had been raised by the evil bloodbender Yakone to become bloodbenders as well, but as he continued forcing the two brothers to bloodbend, Noatak became angry and resentful of them both. He snapped and ran away from home while Tarrlok grew up alone, thinking his brother had died in a snowstorm.

Korra and Mako attend the Equalist rally and tell Amon’s followers that he is actually a waterbender, but no one believes them. Amon reveals that he has captured Tenzin and his family and Korra and Mako rescue them.

Meanwhile, Bolin, Asami (Seychelle Gabriel), and General Iroh head to the airfield to destroy the remaining airplanes in Amon’s army. With some difficulty, they are able to tear up the airfield and Asami defeats her father, who had been working for Amon.

Amon chases Korra and Mako through the pro-bending arena and after a vicious fight, he removes Korra’s bending. Mako manages to injure him and tries to get the both of them to safety, but Amon corners him and just as he tries to take Mako’s bending, Korra unleashes her airbending. He falls into the water outside around his followers and in his enraged state, he exposes his waterbending. Most of his followers give up on the cause and he lets Tarrlok out of his prison and escapes. While fleeing Republic City, Tarrlok explodes the boat, presumably killing them both because they have nowhere left to go.

Korra is taken back to the Air Temple to be examined and Katara admits that she cannot restore her bending. Korra is heartbroken and Mako tries to console her, revealing that he is in love with her. Korra runs off alone and in her despair, she contacts Aang in the Avatar state and he is able to restore her bending. She and Mako admit their love for each other and the season ends there.

The finale is a heart-stopping ride, to say the least. Every scene has a deep emotional impact on the characters as well as the audience. It is by far one of the most adult-oriented episodes as well because it deals with child abuse, war, and an onscreen murder-suicide, which may cause some parents dismay as they watch with their children. However, because these issues are handled with exceptional care and expert writing, the finale ends up being one of the most powerful in the show’s history.

Furthermore, while Mako has been receiving heavy criticism from the fans for his actions in the season so far, his utter devotion to Korra in the finale is simply amazing. He fights his hardest to stop Amon, and even when he fails, he still manages to save Korra, nearly dying trying to get her to safety.  If nothing else, his sacrifice and love for Korra deepen the bond between them more than words can say.

While the finale is excellent, the biggest flaw is the last minute restoration of Korra’s bending. This problem is largely due to time constraints and episode limits. Because the first season is only twelve episodes long, the writers have had to condense the story and rush the ending in order to resolve the lingering problem with Korra. Some fans have been waiting all season long to see Korra reach the Avatar state and converse with her other reincarnations, and so some feel cheated that they did not get to fully enjoy it. Plus, Korra’s restoration happens in less than a minute so it feels like a cop out as she didn’t have a long time to deal with only being able to airbend.

Still, even with its problems, the season finale of Korra is a magnificent ending to an already stellar show. Season two has already been written and is currently being animated, set for a release sometime in 2013.

Grade: 4/5

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Nickelodeon’s ‘The Legend of Korra’, sequel series to the hit show ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’, continued Saturday, June 16, 2012 with its tenth episode, “Turning the Tides.”

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). She is also friends with Mako (David Faustino), a Firebender, and his brother Bolin (P.J. Byrne), an Earthbender, and plays on their team, the Fire Ferrets, in a competition known as pro-bending. Right now, Korra and her friends are embroiled in a struggle with Amon (Steve Blum), leader of the Equalists, who has developed the ability to remove a person’s bending permanently. He wants to conquer Republic City and destroy everyone’s bending abilities.

Meanwhile, Councilman Tarrlok (Dee Bradley Baker) has been waging his own war with the non-benders, thus causing he and Korra to butt heads. When Korra confronted him for wrongfully imprisoning her friends, he kidnapped her and lied about it, saying that Amon captured her. However, former Chief of Police Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling) broke Korra’s friends out of jail and brought Tenzin along to discover the truth. Once discovered, Tarrlok fled Republic City, intending to take Korra with him, but then Amon showed up and took his bending away. Korra narrowly escaped Amon’s clutches and returned to Republic City, where her friends soon found her.

The tenth episode picks up with Korra recovering from her ordeal with both Tarrlok and Amon. She tells Tenzin and her friends what happened, leading them to believe that Amon’s actions are escalating towards his end game. Tenzin sets up a meeting with the city council to figure out how to stop him.

Meanwhile, Asami (Seychelle Gabriel), Mako’s girlfriend, has begun to get agitated with all the attention Mako bestows on Korra. She confronts him and demands to know if he likes Korra in a romantic sense, but Mako stresses that there is not enough time to argue when the entire city is in danger. This argument puts the two of them at odds with each other and the tension becomes so thick that even Korra later notices it.

When Tenzin heads to the council meeting, several Equalists attempt to capture him as they already captured the other council members, but Korra and her friends intervene. Seconds later, Amon leads several huge airships to begin a siege of Republic City. One of the airships heads towards the Air Temple, where Tenzin’s family lives, and they all rush back to help. Lin Bei Fong and Tenzin’s family fight off the Equalists, but more of them are coming. Tenzin sends a message to a nearby Fire Nation city for help while he takes his family to safety. He tells Korra and her friends to stay hidden in the city until the Fire Nation army arrives to help. As they leave, two airships follow them and Lin jumps off to stop them. She destroys one of the airships, but gets captured before she can stop the second one. She is brought before Amon and when she refuses to give up Korra’s location, Amon takes away her bending.

Only moments after this tragedy, the Fire Nation city responds to Tenzin’s message and sends their troops led by General Iroh (Dante Basco), son of Zuko. They are set to arrive in Republic City in three days to confront Amon and bring him to justice.

This episode is by far one of the most emotional in the first season. The escalation of the war between benders and non-benders as well as between the characters is built with ultimate precision. The dynamics of their relationships are changing as a result of constantly being in danger. By far, the most heartbreaking moment is when Lin’s earthbending is taken away from her. Her sacrifice to save Tenzin’s family is one of the most admirable actions in the entire series.

Furthermore, the action sequences are as astounding as always. The animation style lends itself to some of the most visually stunning fights one can be graced to witness. It was particularly satisfying to see Tenzin in action as he defended himself against the Equalists in their mecha suits. Tenzin always teaches peace and understanding, but like his father Aang, he is ready to defend the innocent and fight oppression.

The only thing that detracts from the quality of the episode is the continued lack of attention paid to Bolin. Because the Asami/Mako/Korra love triangle is so prominent, Bolin has been unable to get much screen time in the past few episodes. This is understandable, but also unfortunate as Bolin is a fabulously entertaining character and deserves more screen time.

The hour-long season one finale of ‘Korra’ is slated for June 23, 2012 at 11am EST. All of the events in the show have led up to this and you will not want to miss out. Be there.

Grade: 5/5

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Nickelodeon’s hit show ‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), the sequel series to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005), continued Saturday, May 19, 2012, at 11 a.m. EST with its seventh episode, “The Aftermath.”

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). She is also friends with Mako (David Faustino), a Firebender, and his brother Bolin (P.J. Byrne), an Earthbender, and plays on their team, the Fire Ferrets, in a competition known as pro-bending. In this game, teams compete to knock each other out of a ring using their bending.

In the previous episode, directly after the pro-bending championship between the Wolfbats and the Fire Ferrets, in which the Ferrets lost due to the Wolfbats’ cheating, the leader of the anti-bending movement, Amon (Steve Blum), burst in and attacked all of the players as well as the police officers. Amon had learned a technique that removes a person’s bending permanently, and he took away the Wolfbats’ bending powers, promising that he would do more to “help” the non-benders of Republic City.

In “The Aftermath”, the arena is mostly destroyed, meaning Mako and Bolin will have to move out as it had been their home. Korra arrives to tell them they can stay with her, but it turns out Mako’s girlfriend, Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel), daughter of automobile titan Hiroshi Sato, has offered to let the brothers stay at her place. Korra later visits them at the mansion and learns there is a little more to Asami than her money and her looks. She can drag race and she knows self-defense.

However, Korra overhears her father on the phone and is led to believe Sato is working with the Equalists, Amon’s anti-bending group. She goes to Tenzin and the Chief of Police, Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling), to tell them what she heard. Bei Fong starts an investigation on Sato’s estate, which angers both Asami and Mako. Mako tells Korra to drop the issue or they will no longer be friends, but Korra trusts her instincts and pushes onward.

They search Sato’s factories and find nothing, but then an anonymous worker tips them off to a secret underground factory beneath Sato’s mansion. Bei Fong, Tenzin, Korra, and a handful of police officers find the factory only to be caught in a trap by Sato, who has a new army of mechanical suits.

He defeats them and starts to capture them to take to Amon, but Bolin, Mako, and Asami intervene, freeing everyone except the captured officers. Bei Fong vows to resign from her post and rescue her kidnapped officers outside the law while Mako apologizes to Korra for his actions and comforts Asami.

This episode is relatively solid, but it does have a couple of noticeable flaws. First, the plot is incredibly predictable. As soon as Korra learns of Sato’s secret phone conversation, a savvy watcher will be able to tell he has set a trap for her and wants to lure Bei Fong, Korra, and Tenzin into his clutches to prove his valor to Amon.

Similarly, when Sato confronts Asami and asks him to side with him, a sharp viewer will know she will decline the offer based on the brief characterization we see of her earlier in the episode. Thus, most of the tension in the episode is minimal.

Second, the forced tension between Korra and Mako is becoming more of a problem. The writers of the show are well aware of the “shipping”, i.e. supporting two characters in a romantic relationship, that the fans engage in for the show and so they delight in poking fun at them whenever possible.

This notion was exemplified in episode five, “The Spirit of Competition”, where they basically forced a love triangle among Korra, Bolin, and Mako only so they could immediately destroy it. The romantic tension has only been building since episode two and so the characters’ interactions do not have as much weight as the characters preceding them in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ where the main heroes’ relationships developed naturally over time.

Mako accuses Korra of being jealous just because he is in a relationship with Asami, and it is a predictable move by the writers to use this angle, especially when it is quickly resolved by the end of the episode. If they had not forced Mako and Korra’s possible romance in the fifth episode, it could have felt more tense if Mako did not know Korra had feelings for him, which would then compel her to decide what to do about the issue. As it stands, their relationship comes across as rushed.

On the upside, the fight sequence between the Equalists and the benders, while short, was breathtaking. This is the first time we see Tenzin cut loose and show off his airbending skills, and they are quite a sight to behold. Furthermore, there is also a rather clever Shout Out to the Cabbage Man from the previous series who is a meme in the ‘Avatar’ fandom and the joke lands with brilliant success.

Overall, the episode is predictable, but enjoyable all the same. It is yet another good stepping stone of building tension on both sides of the pro-bending and anti-bending war brewing in Republic City.

‘Korra’ premieres Saturdays at 11 a.m. on Nickelodeon. Don’t miss it.

Grade: 4/5

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Nickelodeon’s new animated series, ‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), the sequel to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005), continued Saturday, April 21, 2012, at 11:00 A.M. EST with its third episode, “The Revelation.”

Spoiler alert!

For the new viewers out there, ‘Korra’ begins 70 years after the events of ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ and picks up with the new Avatar, Korra (Janet Varney). She is a Water Bender from the Southern Water Tribe who has come to Republic City to train with Tenzin (J.K. Simmons), son of Aang and Katara, to learn air bending after having mastered the other three elements (earth, water, and fire).

She meets two brothers, Mako (David Faustino), a Firebender, and Bolin (P.J. Byrne), an Earthbender, and joins their pro-bending team, the Fire Ferrets, a group who participates in competitive bending matches in an arena.

In “The Revelation,” Mako and Bolin are approached by the seedy owner of the pro-bending arena who says they have to come up with a large amount of money to pay for their expenses and stay at the arena, or they will be disqualified for the championship pro-bending game. Bolin suggests taking his pet, Pabu, out to the time square to perform for money, but Mako declines, choosing to work at a lightning bending factory.

Bolin proceeds to the square anyway and meets a shifty member of the Triple Triads, a criminal organization in Republic City. The man offers Bolin a huge amount of money for a bodyguard job, and Bolin agrees. After he comes home from work, Mako realizes Bolin is missing and seeks out Korra. The two ride into town looking for him and find out he is mixed up with the Triads, who are holding an underground meeting alongside Amon (Steve Blum), the mysterious leader of the anti-bending movement in Republic City.

Mako and Korra disguise themselves and make their way in. At the rally, Amon reveals he had been a victim of an unknown Firebender’s wrath. He wears a mask because his face has been badly burnt, but that is not the only information he leaks. Amon has figured out a way to take away a bender’s powers permanently, which he demonstrates on three different benders. He is about to do the same to the captured Bolin, but Korra and Mako work together to save him and manage to escape unscathed. Korra returns to Tenzin and tells him what she saw.

Much like the previous episodes, ‘Korra’ showcases beautiful animation, vibrant characters, and a strong plotline. The fight scenes are especially engrossing this time around because Mako, Korra, and Bolin are in real danger of losing their powers as well as their lives. The events of the episode are expertly paced and executed with plenty of tension to keep the audience’s attention.

One of the best elements of this episode is the dynamic between Mako and Korra. It has been implied that Korra is developing a crush on Mako, who butts heads with her on occasion because of his usually stoic personality. However, in this episode, some of the friction between them started to crumble.

Mako reveals how he and Bolin became orphans. An unknown Firebender killed their parents in front of him, so he feels intensely responsible for his younger brother. Despite his hard exterior, he cares deeply for his brother and learned to trust Korra as they worked to rescue Bolin. Makorra fans, those who are in favor of a relationship between the two, were ecstatic to see them sharing intimate moments that hint at a future romance.

‘The Legend of Korra’ is an outstanding show thus far and continues hinting at exciting new episodes for the future. It airs Saturdays at 11:00 A.M. EST on Nickelodeon. Be there. You won’t regret it.

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