The Legend of Korra Recap: Episode One, “Rebel Spirit”

Finally, friends! Season 2 of The Legend of Korra is here. I am beside myself with glee and fangirlish anxiety (you know, the excited kind). From what I’ve heard and seen on the interwebs, this season is going to be a little darker and a little more intense than season 1, and I’m looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to recapping each episode here for all of us to hash out and analyze and geek out over. It’s all just a big win.

So without further ado, let’s get down to it! Programming note: The premier event consisted of the first two episodes. To keep things clearer, shorter, and easier for me, I’m recapping those episodes separately. First up?…

The Skinny

First of all, as part of the premier event, we got a little snippet of clips from the upcoming season. Among some of the gems? Korra riding a flying dragon (YES), Korra and Jinora having some kind of spirit mind-meld (more about this coming), and the first glimpses of Wan, the first Avatar. Also, overriding theme? Dark spirits are raging in the south, where Korra is from. As Avatar, Korra has the spirits of all previous Avatars within her, and thus, the foundation for Season 2 is laid. There’s no mistaking it: Spirits is a beyond apt name for this season.

The Setup

The old-timey movie recaps are back, and they give us a SUPER quick catch-up of how Season 1 finished up for Team Avatar, and it tells us that 6 months have passed since Korra defeated Amon. Korra and Mako are still together, the Council has been disbanded and replaced with a President, Bumi (Tenzin’s brother) retired from the United Forces and is living at Air Temple Island, and the Southern Water Tribes are in danger.

The Breakdown

Prologue-y thing: ship near the south. And old man is trying to scare a young worker by telling him that he shouldn’t lean too far over the rail because “you never know what creatures lurk in the murky depths.” He walks off lol-ing to himself. EXCEPT. The young guy sees a HUGE squid-like THING swimming around their boat and tries to warn the old man, but it’s too late: One of the tentacles comes up and snatches the old man, and the rest of the tentacles latch onto the boat and slowly drag it under. AHHH!

Back in Republic City, the Fire Ferrets are gearing up for a match at the Pro Bending Arena (which looks rebuilt from last season). Huzzah! Pro Bending! Bolin is giving an inspirational, motivating speech to the rest of his team, which we soon see is NOT actually Mako and Korra, but two total unknowns. They get knocked out basically right away and Bolin wonders were Mako is when he needs him.

Turns out, Mako has gotten a taste for bringing bad guys to justice. He’s chasing a van carrying a couple of Triads down on his motorcycle, all three of them bending as they speed down the road. Mako, of course, beats them with some pretty sick fire-bending moves.

We next catch up with Asami, who is landing a plane in an airfield. One of her advisors comes up and tells her that, ever since her father was arrested, Future Industries is persona non grata. No one will do business with them–even though as Asami notes, their planes are good to go–and they are almost bankrupt. She tells him not to worry–she has a meeting with someone in the South Pole who can help them. Poor girl. She still looks worried.

On Air Temple Island, we show up in the middle of a hard-core air skating race (you know, when the airbenders make that ball of air that they kind of sit on and speed around) between Korra, Jinora, Ikki, and Milo. Ikki is winning, but Korra goes into the Avatar state for some extra juice and wins. Ikki calls Korra out as a cheater, saying she can’t use Avatar state to win a race, which Tenzin overhears. He’s MAD. He tells Korra that she’s dangerously misusing the Avatar state and that she still has lots of things to learn about airbending and the spiritual aspects of being the Avatar. Korra, being her sometimes overconfident self, tells Tenzin that she doesn’t need to learn anything else; she knows how to airbend and can enter the Avatar state. Training = unnecessary (SUCH a teenager). Then Tenzin says that this is why they are all going on a vacation to visit the air temples. Bumi, who has been watching this whole thing (and who is HILARIOUS), wants to come, Tenzin says he’s not invited, and Korra looks annoyed. (Seeing Tenzin and Bumi interact is PERFECT. They still act like kids who like annoying each other.) The only consolation to Korra is that before they go on their air temple tour, they’re all going to a festival in Korra’s hometown. But the tension between Korra and Tenzin is obvious.

Then we finally get the first of a few nice little scenes between Korra and Mako as the whole gang is on their way to the Southern Water Tribe’s Glacier Spirits Festival. As with their most adorable scenes, they are leaning up against a sleeping Naga. Mako gives Korra the rundown of his police chase and tells her that Chief Beifong (BEIFONG!) thinks could become detective soon. Korra laments having to train instead of fight bad guys like Mako, and is basically, “Woe is me, I’m the FREAKING AVATAR.” Mako tells her that Tenzin is just doing what he thinks is best, Korra accuses him of taking Tenzin’s side, and then storms off. To be honest, Korra is kind of whiny in this episode. Whiny and impulsive and arrogant, a little bit.

Upon arrival in the south, we meet Tenzin’s sister, Kya, and Korra’s parents, including her dad Tonraq. We also meet the chief of the Water Tribes, Northern leader Unalaq, who is Korra’s uncle. We also meet Eska and Desna, Unalaq’s twin kids. THEY ARE SO WEIRD. But the greeting between Tonraq and Unalaq is chilly at best. They are brothers, but they do NOT get along.

Unalaq comes off as a very spiritually devout, traditional leader. He bemoans that the Southern Water Tribe has forsaken the spiritual element of the Glacier Spirits Festival. He then brings up the fact that because of these “new traditions” in the south that disregard the spiritual foundation of the festival and of life, sailors are being attacked by dark spirits and basically the whole Southern Water Tribe is going to pot. This is news to Korra, who takes offense that no one told her. Of course, her uncle is surprised that the Avatar didn’t know. Unalaq offers to teach Korra the spiritual element of waterbending, but Tonraq interjects, saying that Tenzin is Korra’s teacher. The interpersonal politics here are touchy to say the least.

In one of the funnier spots of the episode–not surprisingly, most of them involve Bolin–Asami is going to her meeting and she brings Bolin with her as an assistant. She’s going to meet with Varrick, one of the richest men in the world. Asami tells Bolin to basically keep his trap shut and just stand there, but when they get inside, Varrick is attempting to “levitate” to a bunch of hangers on. He acts like he did, everyone else amuses him by clapping and agreeing, but Bolin calls him out. Varrick then proceeds to go on a hilarious, overblown rant about his moving pictures. He bosses his assistant around and is generally eccentric and loud, but the bottom line is he agrees to do business with Asami, who thanks Bolin for being such a good assistant.

At the Royal Banquet that night, Korra is chatting with Unalaq, who continues to point out that this used to be a spiritual festival. He sounds like a pretty legit stick in the mud. Like, worse than Tenzin. He continues to make his case for teaching Korra the spiritual aspects of Avatar-dom. Unalaq tells Korra that all the other Avatars before her traveled the world to learn, but Tenzin and her father (and the White Lotus) kept her from that. This grates Korra, as she is already getting fed up with Tenzin and his training. In keeping with Korra’s attitude thus far, she bristles and says that who she trains with is her decision. Unalaq’s motives seem clear and shady to me, but Korra doesn’t seem to notice.

Unalaq gives a speech where he says that the south is becoming spiritually corrupted and that the north will soon have to take action to protect them from themselves, and from the dark spirits that come from the materialism and selfishness of the Southern Tribe. Tonraq looks like he’s about to crush his wine glass with his bare hand. This Unalaq guy…He’s like the new Tarrlok. Don’t trust him at all.

After the dinner and speechifying, Bolin, Mako, and Korra are walking around the festival when Bolin tries to make his move on Eska. Guys, these twins are SERIOUSLY ODD. They are a guy and a girl who are barely discernable from one another, I can’t figure out where their necks went, and who are attached at the hip. They have, like, NO social skills, and Eska (together with her brother–WEIRD) decides to make nice with Bolin basically as an experiment. Poor Bolin.

Eska–the girl–is on the left. Desna–the boy–is on the right. Honestly. So weird looking.

At the festival, Korra and Mako have another argument where Korra bitches about Tenzin because he’s keeping her from doing her duty as Avatar, which is as her uncle says: to fix the spiritual corruption of the south. Korra asks Mako’s opinion and he backs off, saying he’ll support whatever decision she makes. Korra is SO EMO right now, complaining and storming off everywhere.

Later that night, Naga is howling outside. Korra tries to hush her, but she continues to bark and growl. The reason slowly comes into view: a dark spirit, come to attack the tribe. It’s super fast and not corporeal. Korra tries to go all Avatar on it to no avail. Mako and Bolin help–no dice. Her father does some badass waterbending–useless. Tenzin tries to speak to it to see why it is angry and the spirit pauses for a moment, then throws Tenzin to the ground. The only person who is able to defeat the spirit is Unalaq, who does these tai chi-looking arm movements that calm the spirit down and turn it all to light. It walks away. Korra is amazed that he was able to do this, and he tells her it’s because he knows things about spirits that no one else knows. Tenzin tells him that Korra still needs to learn about airbending. Unalaq tells Tenzin that taking Korra to the air temples won’t help her, and when Tenzin and Tonraq try to tell Korra that she shouldn’t or can’t train with Unalaq, Korra kind of has a hissy, throws their ineffectiveness against the spirit in their faces, and FIRES TENZIN. *sad face*

The last scene is Tenzin packing up with his family to go on their air temple vacation. His mother, Katarra, makes him take his brother and sister with him, citing the importance of family. The whole bunch of them leave to visit Aang’s home temple. Korra and Mako watch them leave, and Korra asks Mako if he thinks she did the right thing firing Tenzin. Mako tells her honestly that he doesn’t know, and for once, Korra doesn’t freak out. Unalaq comes up behind them and tells Korra that she made the right decision, and that he has great plans for her. Umm, IMMEDIATELY SUSPICIOUS (although I was suspicious of him from the moment we met him).

The Last Word

I like the way things are set up for the rest of this season, friends. I’m unsure of the motives behind Unalaq’s actions, so that makes me nervous, but I know it will be good drama. Korra seems like she needs a good, swift kick in the ego, but her attitude is so natural for someone her age. Also, importantly, WHERE IS BEIFONG.

The Lines

“So you’re from the North? That’s, like, my favorite direction.”–Bolin