lizbee | Legend of Korra 2.03 - "The Civil War" (part 1)

APPARENTLY I'm having too many feelings to type a cut tag. THAT'S PROMISING. In fact, I'm having a lot of thoughts, and am looking forward to watching this again tonight with

weaver and

indeed. (Saturday nights are Feels 'n' Korra nights for the next few weeks.)

So narratively, the Water Tribe plot and the Air Temple plot were only linked by themes of family, but I found them equally compelling. But let's cover the Water Tribe first.

It's interesting that both seasons of LoK so far have been about pitting the Avatar against Fascism in its various forms -- season 1 had your "let's persecute minorities while appropriating the language of social justice" types versus Tarrlok's law and order types, and Unalaq is more your nationalist, I think.

delphi remarks that Korra's so sheltered she has no Fascistdar, but let's face it, lots of people don't.

I sense some retconning here, with the establishment that Southerners who hold the title of "chief" are merely village chiefs -- sorry, Hakoda, turns out all this time we've been promoting you -- and that the Northern Water Tribe technically has sovereignty over the South. I'm kind of glad that has been made clear, because the two tribes, though quite similar, have been separate for at least a few hundred years, and have different cultures in many respects -- and basically, I've been feeling like calling this a civil war is like ... okay, if England invaded Australia (again), and people called it a civil war, I'd be pretty shirty, you know? So setting up that the tribes are, on paper, a single political entity works.

Having said that, like Senna says, the conflict between the tribes has been going for a really long time. Probably since before the North said, "What, you're the subject of genocidal attacks? Welp, good luck with that!" and effectively abandoned the South. They're closer again, with the infusion of northerners to repopulate the SWT, but that in itself is probably a source of tension. I mean, they have a seat each on the Republic City council.

Anyway, this is all what Bryke neatly described on Tumblr as "Trade Federation stuff", and the important question is, how does it affect Korra?

Things Korra's not good at: politics, defusing hostilities, admitting she's wrong. I get a certain sadistic amount of glee at watching her try, and then fail, and then try again and fail differently.

(Fandom has been exceptionally misogynistic this week with regard to Korra. It's been quite ugly, and between you, me and the entire internet, I'm beginning to side eye anyone who says Asami is a better character. I mean, Asami's great and all, but there's something dodgy about disregarding the unfeminine, imperfect, bolshy heroine in favour of the pretty, feminine one who never causes any upset.)

I really loved the scenes where Korra interacted with her mother. And not just because Senna's voice actress is amazing. Senna seems terribly quiet, maybe even shy, but there's immense strength behind that. I'm curious, though, because she says she and Tonraq really wanted to raise a family -- but Korra is an only child. Did they think it would be best if they could give Korra all their attention, or were there other factors? (There's four years between Korra's birth and her manifestation as the Avatar, after all.)

Oh, and Bolin and Mako were around.

MEANWHILE, AT THE AIR TEMPLE, we have some really unexpectedly mature stuff about being the middle-aged children of a Great Man, and being an adult who feels that your childhood(s) could have been better, and sibling rivalries and stuff.

Judging from my Tumblr dash, fandom is not happy (HAH! AS IF FANDOM HAD THE CAPACITY FOR HAPPINESS!) to learn that Aang was not in fact the perfect dad. Words like "character assassination" are being chucked around.

For my part, I'm over the moon, and not just because "established character turns out to be a pretty average parent" is a major narrative kink of mine. (Why do you think I love writing kidfic?)

It makes a lot of sense that Aang wouldn't necessarily be a great dad. For one thing, as Korra's plot demonstrates, there's a certain amount of inherent conflict between "being the Avatar" and "having a family". And Aang grew up in a culture where children weren't raised by their own parents. He probably saw his relationship with Tenzin as replicating the one he had with Monk Gyatso -- a sort of loving spiritual mentorship (with pranks), very much paternal to our eyes, but I doubt the Air Nomads perceived it that way.

I mean, there's also the bit where Kya and Bumi's perceptions may not accord with reality either. As kids, my sister and I were convinced that our brother was Mum's favourite, when really, it's just that they had the same temperament and communicated more easily. Families are complicated! And it's actually kind of cool that all this is coming out in a setting outside of Republic City, because if Lin was there, she'd be able to offer a more objective outsider's perspective. And I kiiiiind of don't want that yet. I'm quite enjoying the sibling dynamic in isolation.

I'm also enjoying that, both last week and now, there seems to be a growing conflict between Jinora and Ikki. Which makes sense to me, because while they're very close in age, Jinora's on the cusp of puberty, and that's a time of, you know, tension.

GROWING UP IS HARD. JUST ASK KORRA.