Friday 4 October 2013

Legend of Korra "Peacekeepers" review.



Hello everyone and welcome to my review on the 5th episode of Korra, called Peackeepers which is ironic cause most of the episode revolves around people doing things that lead to an even bigger conflict.

Last week's episode ended with what seemed to be Eska closing in on Bolin but for some reason apparently that chase ended and we don't even see what happens and I feel that is a bit of a loose end myself. We do see Eska with her father when he reminds us that the most important thing about the south isn't the throne but the portal gate.


When team Korra arrives back in Republic city everyone goes off to do their own thing and this leads to a lot of tension between characters, well mostly just Korra and Mako. To show us how diplomatic and neutral Korra is she decides to join in on a protest against the Northern tribe, showing us just how rash she is since she does this despite people advising her not to.

Of course whenever anyone says " peaceful protest" that means something bad will happen and sure enough some cultural southern place gets bombed and while Korra assumes it's the northern tribe it is instead a different group that Mako is investigating.

A summary of the Mako/Korra relationship.
After being rejected by the President of Republic city who was conveniently absent last season when his you know, city was being destroyed? Love how this guy shows up out of nowhere but he does serve as a foil to Korra while Tenzin is with his family, plus its way easier to introduce one new guy than to bring back the council and have Korra deal with 4 characters. The president's refusal to rush into the situation of course drives Korra angry ( then again what doesn't these days?) and when Mako tries to be objective she just lashes out on him...hmm wonder if we've seen that before this season?

I never thought I'd be on Mako's side but he's actually right a lot of times in his relationship, sure things are hard yet oddly enough its the firebender who keeps a cool head and Korra is the hothead in this couple.

Korra showing affection to both Mako and a poor table.
After a meeting with Varrick who I think may be the one who sent those bombers, Korra directly goes to Iroh to ask for his help and while he is willing to give it he's interrupted by the President who has been tipped off by Mako. Mako has quite a few big moves this episode doesn't he?

This episode has a bunch of other side stories which is something we are getting quite a lot every episode, I love it. Varrick is going to use Bolin as some sort of movie star which sounds like it can be quite an interesting arc though I don't think it will really play out.

Tenzin's family also get a bit of a story this episode, though it's really mostly Tenzin and his son Meelo as he teaches him how to train his lemur, its a cute story but mostly it's there just to take up some screen time and won't really amount to much.

Lastly after a massive blowout between Korra and Mako which is done very publicly ( always a sign of a mature relationship) Korra decides to head to the Fire nation to consult the Firelord, an irony if the Firelord helps the South Pole after they tried to invade the Northern tribe when Aang was Avatar.


Korra is attacked on her way to the Fire Nation by the emo-goth twins which is interrupted by a weird spirit monster that ends up swallowing Korra whole.
Predictions.

This episode has a lot of story which gives viewers plenty of room to speculate and here's what I think is likely to happen in the future.

1- Varrick is involved somehow in this war, more so than we have seen so far as it seems like he might have been the one who sent those bombers during the protest, the way he seems to egg this war on just seems shady to me.

2- Mako and Korra will get back together, probably Korra will be in trouble and he will save her, its always the person who does the dumping ( that sounds wrong somehow) who ends up doing the saving and since its Mako who left I am pretty sure he will rescue his former girlfriend somehow.

3- Next episode will include Korra in the spirit world, that's why she was swallowed by the weird monster.

4- Whether or not we will see the Fire Nation this season is doubtful but after going to the spirit world I assume Korra will go back to Tenzin to ask for his advice, we all know that eventually they will reconcile.

Rating.

Not a lot of action this episode really  but it did have quite a bit of character development, especially for Mako who has been very bland this season until now and didn't do much apart from being the " Avatar's boyfriend" so it was good to see him in an interesting role for once. Sadly the Tenzin side story was mostly a waste of time in terms of plot due to that I'll give this episode a 3.5 out of 5 and say that it's just a mostly good episode.

9 comments :

  1. "After being rejected by the President of Republic city who was conveniently absent last season when his you know, city was being destroyed? Love how this guy shows up out of nowhere...its way easier to introduce one new guy than to bring back the council and have Korra deal with 4 characters."

    The President was absent last season because his office did not exist. It explained in the opening announcer-prologue this season that in the 6 months since Amon was defeated the Council was disbanded and Republic City's "first" president was elected.

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  2. This was actually by far my favorite episode so far this season. The last one felt really rushed to me, but this one's pacing worked a lot better for me. There was a lot of great character stuff with Mako and Bolin, Varrick is still being all manner of awesome (though, as you say, increasingly shady), we got brief but fun bits with Lin and Iroh, and I liked how complex they're making the whole political situation. Overall, the interactions in this episode just felt deeper and better-written to me than in previous episodes. And with Korra getting spirit-swallowed I'm hopeful we'll finally get into the real meat of this season's story (it is entitled "Spirits" after all) and also see Korra finally do some soul-searching and stop being a jerk to every reasonable character she meets.

    And while the Meelo-lemur bit did feel a little filler-ish, it was cute and fun and I enjoyed it.

    I did find the bit with Unalaq saying "Oh, actually I do still need Korra to open the Northern Portal. I just said I didn't because that's what she needed to hear" to be clumsy and confusing, though.

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    1. Korra being spirit swallowed probably means she will head to the spirit world, I mean I don't think she is likely to get crapped out right?

      The meelo story I think is due to the fact that every episode will have Tenzin interact with one of his children, first it was Ikki, now Meelo and next episode I assume the Jinora story line will start.

      I think Unalaq did that to pressure her somehow so she rushes her decission, it was clear from the start that only the Avatar can open these gates, but we will see.

      do you think the creature that swallowed Korra was the same one we saw in episode 1?

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  3. This was actually by far my favorite episode so far this season. The last one felt really rushed to me, but this one's pacing worked a lot better for me. There was a lot of great character stuff with Mako and Bolin, Varrick is still being all manner of awesome (though, as you say, increasingly shady), we got brief but fun bits with Lin and Iroh, and I liked how complex they're making the whole political situation. Overall, the interactions in this episode just felt deeper and better-written to me than in previous episodes. And with Korra getting spirit-swallowed I'm hopeful we'll finally get into the real meat of this season's story (it is entitled "Spirits" after all) and also see Korra finally do some soul-searching and stop being a jerk to every reasonable character she meets.

    And while the Meelo-lemur bit did feel a little filler-ish, it was cute and fun and I enjoyed it.

    I did find the bit with Unalaq saying "Oh, actually I do still need Korra to open the Northern Portal. I just said I didn't because that's what she needed to hear" to be clumsy and confusing, though.

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  4. This episode was very interesting. Contrary to what allot of people are saying about Korra's brash behavior, I found myself on her side through this entire episode. Consider this it is her duty as the avatar to protect the people of the world yet she cannot because of other people's decisions yet everyone expects her to just deal with it. Secondly the idea to go around the president and get General Iroh's troops to the south was not Korra's idea she just agreed with it. Not only that but most of the main characters including General Iroh agreed with her. Thirdly it is very understandable why she is so determined to get help for the south, because they are her people. He family, her friends, and her culture are being threatened and yet people are still hardly doing anything about it.

    On the note of Mako in this episode I lost almost all respect I had for Mako by the end of this episode. First off it is becoming clear that Mako values his career more than the girl he is supposedly in love with. Not only that but it seems to be more important than his brother and the fate of the southern water tribe. He chose his career over Korra, Bolin, Asami, and the entire south. Thus Mako has betrayed all of them and everything he stood for.

    When Korra and Mako broke up it was Mako who dumped Korra and the way she acted implied she didn't want to end their relationship. Also when she left she did not leave in an rage but in a depressed stage which one would not expect from Korra in that situation. This shows that Mako's betrayal and him dumping Korra truly broke her heart.

    Lastly it is because Mako betrayed Korra that she tried to go to the fire nation and thus was attacked by her cousins and the spirit. Now Korra is possibly hurt or worse and it is directly Makos fault. So by the end of this episode Mako has showed he is more concerned with his career than his girlfriend, his brother, his ex girlfriend now friend, and the entire southpole. He has also betrayed his girlfriend, his brother, his ex girlfriend now friend, and the entire southpole. He has broke Korra's heart and now because of him Korra is possibly hurt or worse.

    So yeah I'm definitely on Korra's side in this manner and unless Mako realizes that he screwed up bigtime I'm not sure I even want him and Korra getting back together.

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    1. Just because something is being threatened doesn't mean we have a right to destroy what threatens it, does it? Look at the wars going on right now just because people try too hard to protect everything that they end up being oppressors.

      I do love perspective a lot, and how we see things are very different, he and Korra were getting further apart and it was hardly his fault, she kept snapping and getting mad at him, plus he didn't betray anyone he was forced to say the truth, why take oaths then break them when it is convenient to do so?

      Bah broke her hear? she broke his desk! What did the poor desk do to deserve that? :(

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  5. I think a lot of korra's behaviour in this episode can be attributed above anything else to her desperation to save her family

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    1. mako and korra should get back together

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