Wikipedia Brown was genius.

Hi Everyone! And Hi StillThinkingOfACreativeName!

I enjoyed listening to this week’s episode because so rarely do I get to listen to the show and not know what it’s going to be about (this happened once last season). It’s stimulating because it gets me thinking about the episode again. It’s also frustrating because I have opinions and I’m used to being able to interrupt these people. : )  

Overall, I was much more positive on the episode. Granted I was technically on a vacation and my mood was good, but I thought it was an uptick in characterization while a downturn in animation quality (for the last episode this season, it looks like).

I agree with Devindra that Tenzin holding onto his pride gave us a few too many scenes of attempting to meditate. Time that could have been used better to give Kya some sort of warning about Jinora’s Spirit Friends. Joanna was right that it happened suddenly and oddly. The time spent on Tenzin wasn’t too bad. I don’t think he was withholding information. By the time Korra gets there, we’ve had side-story moments with Tenzin and most everyone else. Tenzin’s breaking down and doesn’t want to join the “I disappointed dad” club. The pride made sense, and it was nice that Jinora – the only one not previously sidelined with Tenzin – explained why the weird glowing Avatar statue was cut into the story when it was.

On the Detective Mako side, there were frustrating decisions made, but they weren’t out of the realm of possibility. I may not agree with them, but the show has given us reasons to believe them, or at least believe it long enough to give the show a chance to elaborate.

I don’t believe Bolin and Asami would believe Varrick over Mako, but I believe the show is trying to make me think that. Asami says the company is all she has of her Dad, Bolin is getting noticed and wealthy. It might make the characters seems dumb because it’s executed as quickly as it is (and the animation isn’t helping me engage), but I can see what I’m supposed to believe. All of this is leading to, like, a Mako prison break that’ll be awesome. If I have to tolerate some briskly-plotted stuff, so be it.

Mostly, after Beginnings, I have the confidence I was missing at the start of the season: the confidence that at the end of the season, I will have wished this was all one big movie so they could maneuver the story better. It’s funny how often I forget there’s a Civil War in the South because of Harmonic Convergence. I assume that at the end of this season they’ll wrap it up, but I felt like this all could have been dealt with differently.

Would the fandom react to a single episode of “Tenzin Finds Himself With His Family” like a lack-luster “Appa’s Lost Days?” Or would that have contributed to a less herky-jerky transition in-and-out-of Republic City?

I’ve asked this question before: Is it a compliment to say you’re really looking forward to binge watching the series when it ends if that means week-to-week it doesn’t fire on all cylinders? 

Anywho – I like episodes of Republic City Dispatch I’m not on, because then I can rant on the website later.

This Saturday, though, “The Fearsome Foursome” usher in A New Spiritual Age.

-Da7e-