Legend of Korra 1.09: "Out of the Past"

[lizbee]

So the WORST THEORY EVER was completely wrong.  Which is good!  I'm totally happy that Toph and Sokka did not die horribly at the ages of 40 and 43 respectively! 

Only, I was kind of ready for a massive angst-fest, and I even started writing fic about teen!Lin running away to Republic City and getting into hijinks with Tenzin and making him take her to the place where her mother died.  I guess that can be AU.  Anyway, with no HORRIBLE PREMATURE DEATHS to deal with, this seemed almost light and fluffy compared with my expectations!  Oh well!  It was pretty great anyway.

Things I loved:

- LIN BEIFONG IS THE GREATEST PERSON IN THE ENTIRE WORLD. When she gets dressed, her clothes come to her. And now we know what her underwear looks like, which is important for REASONS.
- One of the council members in the flashback was dressed as an Air Nomad, which means we can be fairly certain he's a non-bender.  I mention this because there's a lot of meta about how there are no non-benders on the council, and clearly never have been, etc, and as usual I've been wondering if maybe fandom has been jumping the gun as usual.  (Which is not to say the non-bender population isn't under-represented and so forth, but unless Tenzin's job becomes a hereditary position, there's probably going to be another non-bender after he retires.  Unless, of course, politics is the route Meelo chooses to take for world domination, and frankly I wouldn't put it past him.)
- Meelo rivals Lin Beifong for greatness.  Although I always find it amazing that he's not constantly in trouble, but that may have more to do with my own upbringing than Tenzin and Pema's parenting.
- I love Mako a lot, but he needs to sit down with Korra and Asami -- well, he needs to sit down with himself first -- and use his words.  I ... am quite similar to him, in that I'm not very introspective and I'm not good at analysing my motivations (which may be why I like him so much, when the rest of fandom seems to hate him like poison at the moment), so I'm sympathetic to his situation.  But dude, there comes a time where you have to be honest with people, including yourself. 
- (It does seem unfair that fandom expects Mako to be socialised in exactly the same way as a person who grew up with two parents and a stable home life.  Bolin developed those soft skills, because Mako sheltered him.  No one sheltered Mako or gave him space to learn.  In a lot of ways, he's in completely unfamiliar emotional territory, and he's still learning how to deal with that.  Like holding Asami back and being protective of her the other episode, because that's how he expressed his love for Bolin.  The fact that he cares for Korra and doesn't feel a need to protect her in the same way is a sign of how much she shatters his preconceptions.)
- (I have this new theory that Mako and Asami will break up in the next episode, and then the season will end with her going back to the Fire Nation with Dante Basco's character to find her roots/become part of a family that has overcome its own dysfunctions.  I'm not usually a fan of "And then she became royalty so it was all okay" endings, but I could make an exception for this one.)
- (But you've all seen how bad I am at theorising and predicting!)
- I like to think that Sokka's time on the council mostly involved telling zany stories about his weird adventures.
- Not gonna lie, I got a bit choked up when Aang's music was playing.
- Amon v Tarrlok: I lolled.  Mostly at the way Amon was like, "Yes, bloodbending.  A MINOR challenge to my power!"

Things about which I theorise:

- Did the incident with Yakone inspire both Tarrlok, to follow in his father's footsteps, and Amon, presenting him with a solution to the problem of bender oppression?
- When they were dating, did Lin wake Tenzin every morning by slapping him, or only on special occasions?
- "Because you're Yakone's son!" is not a good answer to the question of, "But how can someone bloodbend during daylight?"

Ways fandom ruins things:

- For so many years we've had meta about how bloodbending is an inherently feminine skill, mooooooooooooooooooooooons and bloooooooooooooooood and wooooooooooooooooooooooomanly pooooooooooooooooowers, and that portraying it as evil is misooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooogyny (because robbing people of their bodily autonomy is what feminism is all about!).  So now it seems kind of weird to have two powerful male bloodbenders.  Thanks, fandom, I didn't realise your stupidity had subconsciously infected me.
- Apparently I have a lot of feelings about Mako, most of them defensive.  Sorry, Asami, emotionally stunted people don't come with warning labels.  Better luck next time.
- People complaining that Bryke are too mean about fandom should probably go look up Russell T Davies for starters.
- But let's face it, most of the time I don't think it's possible to be too mean about fandom.
- For example, there's a lot of angst happening about how this is the most offensive and mean thing anyone has ever said about fans.
- Seriously, some hardcore Tumblr unfollowing needs to happen.

Things I didn't like:

- I just worry that everyone's cold, running around without their winter coats!

Comments

[innerbrat]

Dear fandom,

SOKKA.
SOKKA SOKKA SOKKA
What is wrong with you, OBVIOUSLY SOKKA.

Love,
me.

Dear Sokka,
I love you too.
Love, Boomerang.

And and and I'm really siding with Asami on the thing. Well, I don't mean 'siding,' because goddammit Mako is doing NOTHING WRONG WTF FANDOM? But I totally feel for her after losing her father and her home, and having to be sheltered by benders on the charity of the super most powerful bender ever, and then to worry about her bender boyfriend liking the super most powerful bender ever...
...Asami's a teenage girl too, fandom, GOSH.

Also, can we have more Asami/Lin/Korra? Plzkthxbai.

[lizbee]

IN CONCLUSION, SOKKA.

And yeah, this is a terrible situation for Asami, and she's handling it with a lot of grace. Certainly she's the most emotionally mature out of this love triangle and will make an excellent Fire Lady.

[terajk]

Okay, so I'm totally not even caught up yet (as in, this is the first episode I've seen since the first two), but our theory about how Lin became a cop out of spite/rebellion was totally Jossed. (POLICE CHIEF TOPH!)

[lizbee]

I KNOW! I'm a little horrified that Toph is in a position of power and authority! WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

[terajk]

I'm a little horrified that Toph is in a position of power and authority!

ME, TOO! And I even was a little bit, "Well, she's obviously a corrupt cop" before realizing that she can't be 13 forever even if she did suffocate two dudes in a metal box that one time.

[lizbee]

Actually, the advantage of being SUPER-DUPER RICH and MASSIVELY EGOTISTICAL might be that Toph's basically incorruptible. Because there's nothing you can offer her that she can't go out and get for herself.

[terajk]

YES. THIS.

[lizbee]

ALSO ALSO ALSO, it would be really funny to see what happened if someone tried to get to Toph by taking Azula and Lin hostage.

And by "funny" I mean, "that would be a really short, messy adventure for said criminals."

[terajk]

IT WOULD BE HILARIOUS. Though I'm sure they would've busted themselves out of captivity before Toph even knew they were gone.

[lizbee]

Exactly! "Toph, I'd like to report an attempted kidnapping. I suppose you'll need to arrest me for manslaughter again."

[terajk]

"Azula, it's really sweet you want to see me at work like this, but damn."

[herewiss13]

It's horribly wrong, but after the fly incident, I'm curious what a Bo-Lin (see what I did there?) ship-dom would be like.

[esmenet]

Terrifying and hilarious, no doubt.

[rj_anderson]

Makani's already on it. (Totally SFW, just hilarious.)

[lizbee]

1. THAT IS AMAZING!

2. Oooh, Makani's doing LoK art!

[esmenet]

Mmm, I don't think most people actually hate Mako. It's just that he isn't coming off too well in this romance triangle thingie, and he hasn't gotten enough character development outside of it. Bolin seems to actually have had character regression rather than development (way to turn him into Generic Comic Relief Guy, Bryke) but unlike Mako most of that non-character-development time is spent on him being funny and adorable.

I love that Amon basically walks it off.

LIIIIIIIIIIN I love you you are gorgeous and badass and wonderful and also we need an Asami/Korra/Lin threesome, stat.

[sqbr]

After Homestuck my standards for trollish creators are pretty high, Bryke don't even rate.

And now we know what her underwear looks like, which is important for REASONS.

I am glad I am not the only person who noticed that *cough*

I really really hope Asami and Mako have a proper talk rather than all this teen angst. I mean, they are teenagers, but it's painful to watch.

I was thinking about it, and I'm wondering if Tarrlok was planning on feeding Kora, or if he was going to just let her starve to death slowly, hoping she'd become too weak for the avatar state. I guess we'll never know!

[lizbee]

I want to know why Tarrlok even had that metal box in the basement of his isolated mountain cabin! Did he keep it around for emergencies, or is he actually a serial killer?!

[archangelbeth]

I'm going to guess that he had it made for Lin, and it's actually made of plat. He didn't trust that he was going to be able to keep her from going all vigilante on his bloodbendy butt, and planned to kidnap her and stick her in a box until she died or developed Stockholm Syndrome or both.

Tenzin may have also been a candidate for THE BOX in Tarrlok's mind, because he never went WITH THE SCRIPT, ****IT!

Both Boxed at the same time for bonus "they kill each other, yay" points.

[lizbee]

Okay, someone needs to write all three of those AUs. NOW.

[archangelbeth]

...I will see what I can do.

[sqbr]

That is a very good question. Though as discussed below, there are a range of powerful benders he might plausibly have ended up needing to silence as he rose to power. Maybe he got it on the assumption he'd need it eventually, and you know how it is with pure platinum boxes, jut when you need one they're all out of stock...