The Legend of Makorra – Episode 11 & 12 (Season Finale)

It’s canon.

Well… I would like to be more enthusiastic about the season finale and especially over Makorra, but I don’t think things were handled so well. The past 3 or so episodes were beyond awesome and while the finale was good, it was “only” good and left me a bit disappointed. General Iroh was one of the highlights, I thought he was pretty badass, not as badass as Lin though, she’s in her own league. I do disapprove of the fact, that he didn’t say “honor” even once. That would’ve killed me. XD

So, what do I begin with? Let’s talk about Amon. I was pretty sure he had to be somehow related to Yakone, or maybe even was Yakone, but it turned out he was his son and I’m not even the slightest bit surprised. Tarrlok was his brother, ok, not that much of a surprise either and we get some background information. Thanks to that, Amon now is even less unlikable and his motives are actually very noble, he’s just too extreme in the way he tries to reach his goal. I guess they wanted to turn him into a tragic villain, especially with his death, I mean: he knew that Tarrlok was going to blow up the ship and I’m pretty sure he wanted it, because he knew that what he had done, was wrong. The “If I have to die, I want to die by my brother’s hand.”- style. All in all, I don’t think he worked that well as a villain. Of course, he was more complicated than Firelord Ozai and not just the pure evil that Ozai was, but the main probelm is, that what he wanted to achieve, equalitiy between everyone, is actually very noble and something they all should try to reach. This makes the good guys seem like the bad ones and Amon didin’t even kill anyone, he “just” took their bending.

About the ability to take bending away: this would have needed a lot more explanation. How can he use bloodbending to cut off the bender from his element? Bloodbending is nothing else than bending the blood that flows through the body, so it’s entirely physical. Bending depends on chi, energy that flows through the body, so how in the world can Amon take someones bending away by controlling the person’s blood? I’m sorry, but this makes no freaking sense.

One part that diappointed me a lot, was when Korra got her bending taken away. This should have been a huge deal and portayed as one, but it just… happend and was over. Just as unspectacular as her bending was taken away from her, it was given back to her. Hello Aang, nice to see you and spoil the fun for season 2 where she could have had to relearn how to bend her elements, but who cares? It was much too fast. Amon: “Btw, your bending is gone now.” and then 10 minutes later. Aang: “Btw, your bending is back now.” Really? It had to be done this way? Seriously? I mean, it was nice to see that Korra finally unlocked her Airbending, because that was the only way she was able to rescue Mako’s bending and this this was all nice, but still… it should have been a big moment, but it wasn’t and the way Korra got her bending back also wasn’t. The Avatar state falls into this cathegory as well.

The Avtaar state was something the entire fandom was really looking forward to, because the friendly Aang repeatedly went nuts when he entered it. Korra already being insanly strong the way she is, everyone expected her to explode and this also should have been a huge szene, actually, it should have gotten it’s own episode. Instead, she gets her bending back, goes into the avatar state, uses the elements once, goes back to normal. That was it? That was what all of us were dying to see the entire time? Mastering the avatar state was so hard for Aang and Korra just… did it? I’m sorry, but this could’ve been handled a lot better as well, but I guess then main problem here was that there were not enough episodes so they had to somehow squeeze it into the finale and didn’t have the time to fully explore the avatar state for Korra. It used to be a big part of the previous Avatar-series, so it’s a bit disappointing it’s so unimportant now.

Makorra, yeah, it’s endgame, great. Excuse me for not being overly exited, but the only really cool moment was the conversation that was already shown in one of the promos and I’ve fangirled more than enough over it. Other than that, Mako was being all worried and “I won’t leave your side.”, he was pretty much acting like her boyfriend the entire time already, so when he told Korra that he loves her it was only natural, but it happend so quietly. He tried to cheer her up by telling her that he indeed loves her and she runs away, because he has too much other stuff to deal with right now. If you ask me, the way Korra reacted was totally understandable. Mako might’ve only meant to cheer her up, but it wasn’t really the right time for this kind of conversation. Then after she got her bending back, she’s immediately all good again, runs into Mako’s arms, they kiss and Makorra is endgame. I’m sorry, but… what? We had so much drama over the love-triangle and it ended so fast and quietly, we’ve only barely had something that indicated the end of the relationship between Asami and Mako. I only realised later that the “I will always care for you”- szene was supposed to be the break-up. No drama, nothing, just quietly sailing into the harbor. I thought that was very underwhelming.

It was pretty cool to see Bumi at the end, though. I love Tenzins comment that he has to entertain his brother now, I’m sure we’ll see more of him in season 2, or at least I hope so. Hiroshi Sato is now officially the worst dad ever and pretty likely to be the villain in season 2, because even though many fans believe Amon is not dead… be fucking blew up with a ship. He’s gone and we need a new villain. The szene when Lin got her bending back and lifted the stones up was so much cooler than any of the Makorra-szenes in episode 11 and 12 together (I can’t believe I just wrote that). She’s just instant badassery. And Bolin finally had some more lines! Naga still outshined him though… xD She was the true hero, I’m telling you, I absolutely loved her. Like, when Lin lifted the stones, she began waving her tail, I totally loved that. And she was pretty badass as well when she got the others out of prison for example. Bolin and Naga do make a really  good team, we should’ve seen some more of them from the start.

The Legend of Makorra – Episode 10

I’m a Makorrain, I mostly write about Makorra, but if I had to sum up episode 10, I’d do it with these two words: Lin BeiFong

Oh my God, she managed to out-epic herself. She’s stealing the show. She’s literally stealing the show. I’m just saying. You know, I absolutely jumped in my chair due to all the feels I had with the entire Makorra-jelly-Asami-stuff going on, but… when Meelo said: “This lady is my hero” he was damn freaking right, this woman really is a hero. And they even had to let her say the words! Whatever happens to me, don’t look back… this literally means that she’ll be in deep shit, but will sacrifice herself for thze wellbeing of her ex-boyfriends family. Just how awesome can one character become? Lin certainly is setting up new standarts here. Just for a notice, I bet she’ll kick ass even without bending and I can toitally picture Toph being all like “You dared to hurt my Baby-girl, now I’m going to hurt you.” if she knew. Well, as of now we don’t even know if Toph is still alive (actually, I think there’s a high possibility she’s dead), but I can totally picture her going into mama-bear-mode over her “little girl”.

I really pitied Lin, I mean, it must’ve been so awkward to protect Tenzins family, bue to their past relationhip, but she did it nontheless and you can tell me what you want to, but I’m convinced she still treasures him a lot. As much as I like Pema, I think Linzin would’ve made such an awesome pairing, it’s a shame they broke up. I’m sorry, Pema, beautiful new son you got there. Back to Lin, her mother is most likely dead, she doesn’t have a boyfriend or a husband (the only man capable of handling her is probably Tenzin and… we all know what happend), she had to step down from her position as Chief and leave her beloved work, that was probably pretty much her entire life and in the end she sacrified herself for Tenzin and his family. And she KNEW she was going to get her bending taken away from her and, hell, did she kick some serious ass before that happend.

Am I sad she lost her beidng? Surprisingly, no. I’m absolutely convinced that she’s strong enough to handle it and still be the awesome hero-lady she was while she had her bending. She’s mentally and physically a lot stronger than Tanho and won’t break from this experience. While I’m talking about breaking: I get the feeling that Asami is this >>| – |<< close to breaking up with Mako. She was so freaking jealous, it actually made her seem human for once. Like I said in my previous entries, she has every right to be pissed and when Mako declined having feelings for Korra, I wanted to punch him in the face, because… Mako, you know perfectly well that you’re in love with Korra and your actions were so obvious, lying will only make it worse. And Asami knows this, too. Please, somebody, rescue us from this painful relationship, it’s totally going downhill by now anyway. If you ask me, their relationship is already past the point of no return and my prediction for the finale: Asami will turn her back to NTA because of her jealously and in all honestly, I don’t like this scenario. I would’ve preferred a friendlier version without Asami turning evil.

On the other hand: Mama-Mako watched over Korra in her sleep holding her hand being all worried. My Makorra-feels! And Mako went to get some hot water for Korra, that was so unnecessary. I mean, aside the fact that Korra needs it for… what? Pema’s the pregant woman giving birth in this episode, not Korra. Well, maybe for healing? Besides, she’s the Avatar. Mako can firebend and heat up the water and Korra could do it herself just as well. Nice escape by Pema though, I wouldn’t have wanted to stay in the same room as Asami and Mako in this situation as well. Nasty situation, but… Mako held her hand when she was asleep, I don’t care.

The parked car by Korra was amazing btw, just as amazing as Mako comforting Korra after they fleed from Airtemple island. Yes, we have the same situation again: Girls looses everything and this time, Mako doesn’t have to be reminded to comfort her, no, he actually gets it himself this time. Yay, I’m so proud of Mako. It would’ve been better if he actually sorted out his problems with his (soon to be ex-) girlfriend, before holding Korra in his arms right before Asamis eyes., Yes, that was pretty dump and so we hurt Asami yet again. Ouch. Actually, I’m feeling bad for Asami right now, but I’m happy for Korra, I mean, she must’ve noticed something, including Makos sweet behaviour towards her and the fight he’s having with Asami, As much as it’s Makos fault for not saying anything to Asami, Korra is part of this love-triangle as well and she could initiate a solution, but I doubt Korra is sensitive enough for friendly results. Still, she could at least do something that leads to Mako and Asami sorting this mess out. She was the one who kissed Mako back then, she was the one who confessed her love for him and made him all confused, so it’s partly her fault as well.

I’m not trying to blame anyone, because they’re just teenagers in love and have no clue how to handle this mess properly and they have to rescue Republic City, too. It’s probably just way too much for all of them. I’ve vome to a point where I just wait for Makorra to finally happen, because thanks to the mess between Asami and Mako that has build up in ep 10, there’s no way this relationship can survive. But… I don’t want Mako to ditch Asami and just go into lovely-dovely mode with Korra. I doubt he will, though. He may be a jerkbender, but he’s not that cold. At least I hope so.

All in all, the episode was awesome and next up is the grand finale and I absolutely can’t wait for it. Prepare for Makorra, prepare for some more bending taken away from important persons, prepare for epic firenation warships ripping wholes into Amon (seriously… Iroh! IROH!) and some more love-triangle-drama with Asami, Mako and Korra.

The Legend of Makorra – Episode 9

FANGIRL-ALARM!

I…I…I… I’m sorry, but my Makorra-feels are killing me right now. I mean, did you watch what I watched? Did you? That was Makorra right into our faces, hell yeah. Although I’ve been convinced that Makorra will be endgame pretty much since their first meeting, this was heaven, it was like: “Hey, guess what? MAKORRA for all of you crazy shippers! Eat up!” And yes, how I enjoyed eating up every single bit of it. And the best part? I predicted it, I was freaking right with my predictions. Last time I said that Lin BeiFong will get NTA (New Team Avatar) out of prison and go to rescue Korra. This is exactly what happend, only that it was Naga who rescued Korra in the end, but… close enough, it was epic. Lin was epic, oh my god, I was so happy my source of instant awesome was present the entire episode. Ok, back to my predictions, I also said that Mako will go apeshit over Korra’s kisnapping.

And he did!

Yeah, your girlfriend was standing right next to you when your brain went numb and the only thing on your mind for the rest of the episode was “Korra Korra  Korra  Korra  Korra  Korra  Korra  Korra  Korra” and she was getting jelly like hell, especially after Bolin mentioned the kiss you’ve been hiding from her the entire time, but other than that… oh wait, right, the kiss right before Lin mentioned Korra was the last time you pretty much noticed Asamis presence and after that, you pretty much ignored her, because you were too busy worring about Korra. Nevermind, aside from that, you’re a great boyfriend. Well… whatever is left after you take all that into account. Seriously Mako, just get over with it and make out with Korra, even Bolin (who had a crush on Korra) and Tenzin (father-figure) weren’t even nearly as worried as you were. I can’t be the only one who thought Mako looked like his world fell apart when he heared the news about Korra. He behaved like it was THE worst possible thing that could’ve happend to him. He was going crazy over her kidnapping, always rushing and he was always at the frontline, leaving Bolin and Asami behind, who should be the two most important persons in his life. Well, I guess he taught us that they aren’t.

And Mako carried her princess-style. PRINCESS-STYLE!

I don’t even know what to say anymore. If there was even one human being out there who still seriously though that Mako doesn’t love Korra enough, the last couple of seconds of episode 9 sank every other possible ship. The SS Makorra has proven to be quite the battleship and now it’s the last one standing. Come on, the moment Mako saw Korra, he rushed to her side, squeezing past Lin and Tenzin to be the first who’s at her side to make sure she’s safe and to be able to carry her over to the flying Bison personally. Princess-style. Smiling like a love-stock idiot. Treating her so carefully, as if she might break every second. Carrassing her cheek while telling her that everything’s ok. Oh my God Mako, are you really the same guy who, just a few episodes ago, had to reminded that your girlfriend needs your support before going over to comfort her? Why don’t you just admit it? And by the way, I still think Korra and Mako should just get over with it and get a room. With a bed. Alone. At Night. Without clothes. Hey, don’t judge me, the way they were looking at each other, their entire world was spinning just around the two of them anyway.

Ok, moving onwards, yes there was more to this episode than SS Makorra sinking every other Korra-related ship, Lin was freaking awesome. I already mentioned I was so happy to have my instant source of awesome back, because she’s personified badassery. The moment she’s on screen: *BAAAAM* epic. I’m sure she’s just naturally a badass, she’s not doing this on purpose, she’s just born this way. You know, having the most awesome mother in history, no wonder Lin turned out the way she is. And while we’re at it: allow me to fangirl over Toph while Korra was meditating (good girl, you did it! :D). Seeing Toph, Aang and Sokka was so great. Especially Sokka, he was my favorite character from the prequel, it was so good to see him actually doing something, even if it was just talking and Aang got all the action. Aang was cool too, his Airbending is quite more impressive than Tenzins. No offence Tenzin, you’re still pretty amazing, but it’s hard to reach the Avatar.

And Tarrlok? Yeah, so much about him. He got his moment to shine, his plan failed, because Lin, Tenzin and NTA are too awesome for him. To his defence, who could’ve known they were actually crazy and strong enough to break into the hideout of the equalists and come back pretty much unscratched? The fact that Amon showed up and took Tarrloks bending away was very unfortunate, but no surprise. It was all over the news that Korra was kidnapped by the equalists, it would’ve surprised me more, if he didn’t do anything. So, now Tarrlok has his bending taken away from him and he’s the one being kidnapped and he’s out of the picture. Or not, I guess Amon could be his father. Something could’ve gone wrong when Aang took his bending away? Or learning how to take bending away has nothing to do with being a bender, who knows? Sokka said that he has met the most amazing people ever and pretty much admitted that he’s not surprised by anything unusual anymore when it involves bending, due to all the crazy stuff he has seen. He’s got a really good point, to be honest.

So, all in all, the episode was amazingly awesome. I’m overly satisfied and can’t wait to see more and even more so, after the preview for the two-part finale in two weeks. It’s going to blow our minds away, I’m telling you. And before I’m out drowning myself into Makorra, I would like to add one more thing: as much as I dislike Asami being a canon overly perfect Mary-Sue, she did nothing wrong in her relationship with Mako. She’s trying to be a good friend to Korra, she’s a nice girlfriend and always had the best in mind. It’s perfectly understandable that she’s getting jelous over everything she’s heared about Korra and Mako these past two episodes and this makes me actually kind of like her, because it makes her seem more like a character and less than every man’s dream. She doesn’t really deserve hate for being Makos girlfriend, that was a decision they both made together and in their relationship she was a really nice and comforting girlfriend to Mako. It’s not exactly her fault that he’s liking Korra as well and wasn’t honest about his feeling towards Korra. And to defend him, I think it’s only just now that he truly realized just how much Korra means to him, but now he really should solve this problem, the longer he waits the worse it’ll get. The one who truly acted wrong was Mako, but he’s just a confused teenager probably seriously in love for the first time and it has to be with two absolutely amazing girls at the same time. But I’ve said this before, you know all this.

I’m out for now. Have one last Makorra-gif and see you next week.

The Legend of Makorra – Episode 8

New Team Avatar (NTA) arriving on Airtemple Island. Ikki telling Asami that Korra likes Mako. Korras reaction. NTA going after euqalists in Asamis epic satomobile. Asami getting jealous over Mako and Korra flirting. Tarlok surpressing the rights of nonbenders. Tarlok arresting NTA. Tarlok vs Korra. Tarlok bloodbending. Tarlok kidnapping the Avatar.

…

Ok, first things first. Where was my Lin BeiFong? She’s officially my favorite character in the show and raises the level of badassery  to over 9000 the moment she appears, so where was my source of instant awesome? Yeah, I know, I guess she just needs a bit time to recover, but I bet as soon as she reappears, she’s goping to blow everything up now that she stood down from being the chief. And you know what I think? She’s going to free Mako, Bolin and Asami out of the prison and go to rescue Korra with them (and Tenzin). And I’m so looking foward to it, you have no idea, so please A:TLOK don’t let me down.

Meelo and Ikki were both absolutely hilarious this episode. I was convinced Meelo wasn’t even able to talk in an entire sentence, let alone several of them in a row. I’m impressed, I have to admit that I didn’t really see it comming for him to crush on Asami. Until now I honestly thought he was just a weird kid. Well, he’s still weird, but also proved he’s not mentally unstable, just a bit weird. Ikki… was just awesome. You know, it totally cracked me up the way she told Asami that Korra likes Mako too. Like: “By the way, did anyone care to tell you that you have a love-rival?” I’m telling you, she’s the Captain of the SS Makorra, the hardest Makorra shipper among all of us. And Korras reaction? Priceless. Korra, I love you for your funny faces. She was like her world was about to fall apart, she’s probably sick and tired of the whole Asami/Mako-thing, poor Korra.

For me, as a die hard Makorra shipper, of course the little flirt-thingy going on between Korra and Mako was my highlight of the episode. I’m not sure if you can honestly tell that they were flirting, but it cerntainly went into that direction. I mean, have you seen Makos face in Asamis mirror? He looked like a lovestuck idiot and while we’re at it: congratulations Mako for not being a jerk towards Korra for an entire episode. We’re making progress here, we really are. I think it’s seriously important for both of them to not rush into a relationship at the beginning of the season. They barly knew each other and fell in love, but they have no idea how to treat each other appropriately. The longer this love-game keeps on going on, the more time they have to sort out their feelings and build up the chemistry that is going on between them and there is so much chemistry, it physically hurts. No wonder they need to sort it out with their hormones all over the place and Asami in the middle of it. Yes, I still think Makorra will be endgame and I also still think they should end up in one bed… together… alone… at night. Nevertheless, it’s good they’re given time to develop their relationship to something stable, otherwise they could’ve just destroyed everything have and that would’ve been a shame. From what I’ve seen so far, I’m convinced Korra still loves Mako as much as she did before and the same goes for Mako. No Need to worry Makiorrians, it’ll all work out, just like planned. And I can’t wait to see Mako going apeshit over Tarlok after he leanred what he did to Korra. I can totally see him jumping at his throat.

Other than the shipping chaos, this episode was pretty much meant to turn Tarlok into the enemy inside the “good side”. Well, he pretty much was the bad guy before, but now he’s the manifestation of evil, he’s exactly doing what Amon is talking about and this actually makes Amon even less evil than before. I’ve said in a previous post that Amon and the equalists have a good point and Tarlok is proving them even more right to the point that it feels like the Equalists are actually the ones fighting for the right thing and if you think about it: they are, they just use the wrong methods.

There could have been more action (Lin action), but what has been seen was just as awesome as ever. I love the fight Korra versus Tarlok, the way Korra went all “Don’t you dare calling me a half-baked Avatar!” and Tarlok was trolling her “lol, I’m a bloodbender, did ya know?” But it really surprised me Korra didn’t use the water just like Tarlok, she’s originally a waterbender, but… well. Her decision I guess. And now that NTA has been separated after being formed like 5 minutes ago and everyone being locked up somewhere, we seriously need some help from the outside. I can’t picture Korra getting out of this by herself, not against a bloodbender and she clearly can’t bloodbend herself.

So, yeah. Great episode, can’t wait for more and see you next week.

(btw, I got a new keyboard that I’m still getting used to, so… sorry for probably even more typiung mistakes than usually.)