‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), the sequel series to the critically acclaimed ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005), has officially received an order for 26 more episodes from Nickelodeon. The show’s huge viewership and steady ratings through season one, which premiered April 14, 2012, encouraged the Nickelodeon executives to give it another shot.

The new order for episodes will be in addition to the 14-episode second season, which is set to premiere some time in 2013. The creators of ‘Korra’ held a panel at San Diego Comic Con on July 13 where they showcased new character models and backgrounds for the upcoming season. The cast and crew for ‘Korra’ also showed up to answer questions and sign autographs for excited fans.

‘Korra’ tells the story of the 17-year-old Korra (Janet Varney), the new Avatar following Aang. It takes place seventy years in the future as she has learned to master earthbending, waterbending, and firebending, but needs to learn airbending to become a completely realized Avatar. Aang’s eldest son, Tenzin (J.K. Simmons), was set to teach her airbending, but he is called away to Republic City, a large city riddled with crime and tension between the benders and non-benders. Impatient, Korra follows him to the city and gets into trouble, but through her determination, Tenzin decides to let her stay at the airbending temple with his family and start her training.

However, Korra has a difficult time understanding that airbending requires patience, peace, and repetition. She feels frustrated with her inability to airbend and her isolation on the island. She sneaks out one night after listening to a pro-bending match. Pro-bending is a competition where benders compete to knock each other out of a ring and Korra finds herself in love with the sport.

She bumps into Bolin (P.J. Byrne), an earthbender for the Fire Ferrets, and he invites her to watch the match. Bolin’s brother, Mako (David Faustino), assumes Korra is just another one of Bolin’s many fangirls and treats her coldly until he realizes she is the Avatar. Soon afterward, their third team member quits and Korra volunteers to take his spot so the Fire Ferrets can compete in the championship tournament.

Tenzin discovers that Korra is playing in the arena and demands that she return home, but she refuses. She struggles to stay on her feet in the match, but then she remembers Tenzin’s training and eventually helps the team win. After seeing her improvement and her zest for probending, Tenzin agrees to let her stay on the team.

The main plot of ‘Korra’ is centered around the tension between benders and non-benders in Republic City. A mysterious masked man named Amon (Steve Blum) appears and claims that he and his followers, the Equalists, will stand up for non-benders. He demonstrates that he has the ability to remove a person’s bending, thus becoming a threat to all the benders in the city.

Furthermore, Councilman Tarrlok (Dee Bradley Baker), wants to hunt Amon down and secure himself as the savior of Republic City in the meantime. He and Korra butt heads repeatedly because of his misuse of the police force and blatant manipulation of Chief Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling), daughter of Toph.

The 12-episode season ended June 23, 2012 and fans are still reeling from the action-packed, emotional roller coaster the show put them on. The season finale was one of the highest rated and widely watched shows on that Saturday morning and contributed greatly to the decision to order more episodes.

‘Korra’ is expected to return with a 14-episode second season some time in 2013. Don’t miss it.

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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), returned from its two week break with the eighth episode, “When Extremes Meet,” on June 3, 2012.

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). Korra 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 previous episodes, the leader of the anti-bending movement, Amon (Steve Blum) destroyed the pro-bending arena, leaving Mako and Bolin homeless. Mako’s girlfriend and daughter of the inventor of Satomobiles, Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel), offered to let them stay at her mansion, but Korra, Tenzin, and Chief Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling) discovered her father, Hiroshi Sato, was working for Amon. Thus, Asami rejected her father and they all have decided to stay with Korra on the air temple island.

Tenzin’s daughters and son, Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo, help the Fire Ferrets get acquainted with the island when they arrive, but unfortunately, this doesn’t go as well as Korra hoped. Ikki blurts out that Korra has a crush on Mako to Asami, and while Asami does not address this, there is now underlying tension between the two ladies.

Meanwhile, the slimy Councilman Tarrlok  (Dee Bradley Baker) has appointed a new Chief of Police after Bei Fong resigned so she could work independently to rescue the officers Amon captured in their last battle. He then gets the city council to allow him to issue a curfew for all non-benders in an effort to stop the Equalists, or people who support Amon, much to Korra and Tenzin’s frustration.

Korra is also upset because she has still been unable to airbend, but Mako, Bolin, and Asami cheer her up by offering to help her patrol Republic City. While out, they catch a group of chi-blockers and Equalists and turn them in, much to Tarrlok’s annoyance. On another night, Korra and company find out Tarrlok has shut off the power to the homes of non-benders, causing them to protest in anger. She tries to intervene, but Tarrlok’s officers take her friends hostage. She and Tenzin go to the prison the next morning, but the Chief of Police refuses to release them.

Angered, Korra bursts into Tarrlok’s office that night and demands to have her friends freed. Tarrlok offers to free them if Korra returns to working with his taskforce, but she refuses. The two engage in a brutal, heated battle. When Korra gets the upperhand, Tarrlok reveals that he can bloodbend—or control the water in Korra’s body so that she can’t move. He kidnaps her and throws her in the back of a police car, driving her outside the city limits and thus raising the stakes.

This episode is definitely one of the best of the Korra season. The drama is gripping and sometimes downright terrifying, especially when Tarrlok bloodbends Korra’s body. The tension building between the good guys and the bad guys is well executed, and the stakes are very real. Everything feels like a natural progression towards the season finale, which is only several weeks away.

However, there was one drawback that I noted and it is similar to previous complaints I have had about the show. Since ‘Korra’ is shorter than ‘Avatar’, it has to take shortcuts with certain character arcs and dramatic moments. I did not like that Ikki just blurted out that Korra likes Mako for the sake of making Asami suspicious and jealous of the two friends.

I would have preferred her to find this out on her own because Asami is the least developed character in the series so far. She is beautiful, strong and kind, but that is still about all we know about her. She is a bit of a boring character and so seeing her catch on to the little smiles and mild flirting between Korra and Mako on her own would make her seem more perceptive, and therefore, more developed.

‘The Legend of Korra’ premieres Saturdays at 11a.m. EST. 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 hit show ‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), sequel to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ (2005), continued with its sixth episode May 12, 2012, “And the Winner Is…”

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. The Fire Ferrets have made to the final round and have to face the reigning champions, the Wolfbats, led by the arrogant Tahno (Rami Malek).

As Korra, Mako, and Bolin train for their upcoming match, they hear the sinister leader of the anti-bending movement, Amon (Steve Blum), interrupt the radio broadcast. He commands the city council to shut down the pro-bending championship tournament or he will make a move against them. Angry, Korra, Mako, and Bolin charge into the city council’s meeting and plead on the behalf of their tournament.

Tenzin, Tarrlok, and the other council members disagree and want to shut the tournament down to avoid adding fuel to the class war already going on in the city, but the Chief of Police, Lin Bei Fong (Mindy Sterling), comes in and offers her personal protection. The council agrees to her terms and Tenzin tries to talk her out of it, but she refuses to back down. It is here that Korra learns that Tenzin and Lin Bei Fong were once romantically involved, much to Tenzin’s chagrin.

Korra, Mako, and Bolin start the match against the Wolfbats only to discover one horrifying fact—the Wolfbats have paid off the referees and use several kinds of cheating moves without getting any fouls called on them. The Fire Ferrets struggle to defeat the Wolfbats, but all of their illegal moves overwhelm them and they lose the match.

Just after the tournament ends, Amon’s followers electrocute all the police officers, as well as Tenzin, Bei Fong, Korra, Mako, and Bolin, and enter the ring.

Amon takes away Tahno and the Wolfbats’ bending and delivers a speech saying that it is time for all non-benders to be treated as equals. Amon starts to leave but Korra and Bei Fong recover and give chase. Unfortunately, Amon slips away, leaving the pro-bending arena destroyed and many of the people worried that the Avatar cannot defeat him.

This episode’s strength is in its fight sequences. The pro-bending match is incredibly engrossing as we see Korra, Mako, and Bolin give it their all trying to defeat the Wolfbats’ dirty, and outright brutal, attacks. The stand out moments are Korra’s one-on-one tiebreaker match with Tahno, where she uses her agility to uppercut him right off the platform, and when Korra and Bei Fong fight Amon’s electricity-wielding henchmen.

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ was inspired by Chinese, Inuit, and Japanese cultures and so is ‘The Legend of Korra’. The fighting styles that the characters use have influences from several different kinds of martial arts to make truly thrilling fight scenes that will leave you breathless and dying for more.

In addition, the gorgeous animation only enhances the experience. The highly stylized art creates stunning colors and an amazing fluidity to the characters’ movements as they fight. These scenes are definitely worth watching more than once and can be appreciated on several levels, from a technical standpoint and from an emotional standpoint as we feel the weight of Korra’s frustration at not being able to catch Amon.

The only drawback I noted in this episode is that Tahno turned out to be a one-trick pony. He is obnoxious, self-absorbed, and downright cowardly, and some of the fans were hoping to see more out of him than what they got.

Many speculated if he would begrudgingly respect the Avatar after their match, but after losing his bending to Amon, there is no telling if his character will disappear entirely or return to the series in upcoming episodes.

‘The Legend of Korra’ premieres Saturdays at 11am EST. Make sure to check it out.

Grade: 4/5

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Nickelodeon’s ‘The Legend of Korra’ (2012), the sequel series to ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ continued Saturday, May 5, 2012 with its fifth episode, “The Spirit of Competition.”

Spoiler alert!

Seventy years after Aang and his friends defeated Fire Lord Ozai, Korra (Janet Varney) became the newest Avatar and is now training in Republic City to master air-bending 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 who plays on their team called 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. The Fire Ferrets have made the play-offs and their first round is coming up.

However, tension between Mako, Korra and Bolin is high because there is a rapidly developing love triangle in the works. Korra has a crush on Mako, Bolin has a crush on Korra, and Mako is in a relationship with Asami, the beautiful daughter of Hiroshi Sato, the automobile titan who is sponsoring their team.

While they’re at home, Bolin asks Mako if he should ask Korra out and Mako advises against the idea because they’re friends and teammates and he cares about his brother, but it’s also obvious that he has some feelings for Korra but isn’t being honest with himself about it. Bolin doesn’t listen to him and makes up his mind to ask her out later.

Meanwhile, Korra talks to Tenzin’s daughters, Ikki and Jinora, who question her about Mako. She denies having a crush on him but still asks for their help, which is comically awful as they are both children. Pema, Ikki and Jinora’s mother, encourage Korra to tell Mako how she feels.

The Fire Ferrets win their opening match in the championship but unfortunately, right after the match Korra very awkwardly blurts out that she likes Mako and he admits that he doesn’t feel that way about her. Moments later, Bolin comes in and asks Korra out. At first, she says no but Bolin eventually convinces her to go out with him and they head to a noodle bar. Having seen this interaction, Mako starts to feel regretful about his decision.

Korra and Bolin have a fantastic first date but bump into Tahno, the arrogant leader of the pro-bending champion team the Wolfbats. Bolin tells her not to egg him on because he’s trying to instigate a fight so that the Fire Ferrets will get disqualified, but Korra stands up to him and scares him with her giant polar bear-dog, Naga. Tahno backs off and Bolin and Korra continue their date.

Korra returns to the arena for their next match, but Mako intercepts her and demands to know what’s going on with her and Bolin. She accuses him of being jealous and they both storm off angrily into the arena. Because Mako and Korra are mad at each other, the team’s chemistry is way off and Bolin steps up, just barely winning the match on his own.

Korra and Mako confront each other again and Mako admits that he hadn’t been completely honest with Korra, who takes it as a sign that he’s still interested in her. She kisses him and he kisses her back, but Bolin catches them and runs off, heartbroken. Mako goes after him and finds him overeating at the noodle shop.

Mako drags Bolin back to the arena for their next match and the team barely manages to beat their opponents. Afterwards, Bolin, Korra and Mako all apologize to each other and agree to work harder to beat their next opponents. They witness a match with Tahno’s team, who knock their opponents out in the first round, sending a clear threatening message to the Fire Ferrets.

The writers of ‘Korra’, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, are no strangers to the fandom and this episode basically serves as a clear message that “shipping”—investing in the relationships of a certain pairing—is not the main goal of the show. They basically drew a line in the sand and told the fans to back off by definitively addressing the two main “ships”—Makorra, for those who like Mako and Korra together and Borra, for those who like Bolin and Korra together.

The episode ended on an ambiguous note as all three of them apologized to each other and the audience will be left hanging to see if there is any other aftermath in the upcoming episodes.

While this was a bold move, the timing of this episode felt extremely off, in my opinion. This is only the fifth episode of the first season. We have only seen Korra and Mako spending time together in the third episode and we have only seen Korra and Bolin spending time together in the first episode. Thus, their relationships are not grounded enough for the viewer to believe that there is enough for them to start romantic relationships.

This episode starts out with Mako mentioning that Korra has been training intensely with them for several days, but since we aren’t shown any more evidence of their chemistry, it doesn’t have much of an effect. Korra’s confession to Mako feels premature and is uncomfortable to watch.

It is in character for her not to know how to talk to a boy as she is young, but it is out of character for Mako to be so wishy-washy. He hasn’t shown any romantic interest in Korra until this episode so it feels like an example of “Show, Don’t Tell” gone wrong—that is, it’s always better to show the audience evidence of something instead of having a character tell you it’s true.

The entire love triangle was resolved too soon in the series, and too quickly in the 22 minute episode. Granted, there is still plenty of show to go and these feelings may resurface, but I personally would not have taken such a gamble so soon.

‘The Legend of Korra’ premieres Saturdays at 11:00am EST. Check it out.

Grade: 3/5

The article ‘The Legend of Korra’ Episode 5 Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

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.

The article ‘The Legend of Korra’ Episode 3 Review appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.