Check out Lisa’s recap of Episode One to get all caught up on Team Avatar!
This week, we get to spend some quality time with our beloved, in crisis Avatar. Korra is looking beat up, friends. She’s doing some underground bending matches and, umm, losing. After she cleans herself up following her most recent loss, she wanders out into an alleyway–not exactly sure where she is–and sees…DUN DUN DUNNN…HERSELF. Avatar-state Korra, pre-haircut, pre-downward spiral, pre-new wardrobe of khaki green. And apparently this isn’t the first time down-on-her-luck Korra has seen her. They fight, until some kindly neighborhood folks come upon the scene, only to see just the one Korra, flat on her ass. It’s clear that something isn’t right in Korra’s melon.
Broken Avatar is broken. Sad face.
We go into flashback mode to Korra leaving Republic City. Team Avatar is saying their farewells before Korra leaves to go to the South Pole three years ago. She only meant to be gone for a few weeks, apparently. Tenzin assures Korra that the airbenders will handle anything that comes up, and Team Avatar tells her to get better soon and stay in touch. Something is rotten in the state of the Avatar, you guys.
In the Southern Water Tribe lands, Korra has nightmares of her final face off with Zaheer. She has a heart-to-heart with her mother, who doesn’t see any improvement in Korra’s state of mind or her recovery. She promises her mother that she’ll visit Katara.
The poison from Zaheer did lots of damage, obvs, but Katara tells Korra something that I’m sure is going to feature prominently in her recovery: In the end, whether or not Korra gets better is squarely on her own shoulders. Korra sounds very frustrated. I guess she hasn’t been able to move her lower body? Did we know this, friends? Anyway, in the middle of her sessions with Katara, she has flashbacks and gives up.
Emo Korra writing to Asami
All of Team Avatar are writing to her, and Korra reads her letters from them. Bolin even DRAWS HER PICTURES like a kindergartener. I love him. HE IS EVERYTHING. But even their friendship from afar doesn’t seem to break through Korra’s mental and physical blocks. She yells at Katara and seems to be losing hope, and lonely. Katara reminds her of the suffering Aang endured when the Air Kingdom was destroyed, and says that he turned his suffering into motivation and found peace. Something tells me that Korra just isn’t there yet, you guys. But she manages to have a breakthrough in her physical therapy. WORD. YOU CAN DO THIS, GIRL.
Bolin’s picture.
Back to present-day Korra walking down a shady street by herself. She sees a little puppy behind her and then, AVATAR KORRA is there. The puppy starts growling ADORABLY. (Seriously, this dog is super cute.) It’s little growls make Avatar Korra go away. Korra follows the puppy.
Another flashback sees Tenzin visiting Korra. She has improved tremendously from before and is putting on a fire-bending demonstration. In the midst of it, she has a flashback of Zaheer. Tenzin assures her that rushing things won’t help anyone, but Korra is worried about the Earth Kingdom. Tenzin says that things there are under control, thanks to Kuvira. As always, Korra remains impatient. She writes a letter to Asami and says that she’s getting a lot better but still cannot go into the Avatar state without having visions of Zaheer. Then she asks Asami not to tell Mako and Bolin that she’s written to her instead of them, but that it’s easier to talk to her. I LOVE THIS FRIENDSHIP FOREVER.
After talking to her parents, Korra tells them she wants to go back to Republic City, but that she wants to go alone. SHE LEAVES NAGA I DIE. NOT NAGA. I HAS THE SADS. Korra winds up in some tropical-looking place that is most certainly NOT Republic City. She gets caught up in chasing down some thieves who are, of course, benders, and she can’t stop them.
As Korra is arriving in Republic City, she sees the vision of Avatar-state Korra on a cliff and turns around. She docks somewhere, removes her trademark Water Tribe clothes and hacks off her hair. Avatar identity crisis is in full swing.
Korra winds up at the Northern Water Tribe lands and visits the spirit portal. Some spirits see her meditating and wonder aloud if she’s ACTUALLY the Avatar because they don’t sense any Ravaa energy. Korra hasn’t been able to connect to the Avatar’s energy for two years at this point and won’t accept help from the spirits. She’s determined to figure things out for herself. She sends a letter to her parents lying, saying she’s in Republic City, when in fact, she’s wandering the desert trying to find herself. The Avatar-state Korra follows her everywhere, which seems to include the Earth Kingdom, where Korra now lives.
Back in real time, the puppy has brought Korra to the swamp, and it turns out to be one of the spirits she met at the Northern spirit portal. In the swamp, she finds Avatar-state Korra. They fight again, and Korra is on the defense for most of the early going. Then Avatar-state Korra pulls her into this weird puddle of white…stuff and Korra goes under.
When Korra wakes up, she’s in an underground cave with an old woman who says that she knew the Avatar in one of her previous lives. Then, YOU GUYS, she turns out to be OMFG TOPH BEIFONG. I CANNOT I CANNOT I CANNOT. KORRA HAS FOUND TOPH BEIFONG. THIS IS ALL THE THINGS.
