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lokgifsandmusings · 6 years

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Definitive Ranking of Book 1 Episodes, #8/12

8. 1x10 “Turning the Tide”

Baby cramps, heroic sacrifices, turn-based combat, and some quality time for Hiroshi and Amon.

If you read my last definitive ranking, you knew this episode was coming next. And full disclosure: I actually don’t overly mind it. I think the pacing is pretty decent and moves, the interpersonal tensions are...unfortunate though understandable given everyone’s perspective/history, and it raised the stakes of the season in a pretty tangible way.

Now, that said, this is also the episode many point to as where the wheels sort of came off in terms of the main plot. Amon bombed the city, and immediately all nuance was stripped from the narrative. The Equalists went from having a point, but going too far in their pursuit of their definition of justice, to being more one-note villains looking to break Republic City. From Nolan’s Bane to Lady Shiva, if you will. (I’m probably wrong about this comparison in some way.)

TEC is really good right now btw. And interestingly Nolan’s Bane is rather like this Ra’s.

What’s dangerous about this criticism is that it can veer into “well it’s not what I wanted territory.” But I truly don’t think it’s controversial to say that the best potential this season offered was digging into the nonbender vs. bender conflict and how the latter group’s privilege was creating quite the untenable society. I mean...that’s what the antagonist and the Equalists were built on, after all.

What’s weird is that Bryke did seem to want to tap into that, at least somewhat. “When Extremes Meet” showed the oppression of the masses in a pretty stark way, and a way that specifically evoked police brutality in our world. It’s impossible to separate Tarrlok rounding everyone up from today’s cultural context. Hell, even the series opener had Korra pointing out how the city was “totally out of whack”, because it was. She witnessed extortion and the domination of the triads first-hand, not to mention arbitrary “no fishing” rules when there were people who clearly were struggling to feed themselves.

In “And The Winner Is...” Amon painted the shock gloves as a means of liberation. Then there’s also a very valid reading of debending as “disarmament”, particularly when Amon was just targeting triad members. His debending of Tahno undercut his point, but there was some neatly spun bullshit about the bending-worship culture and Tahno being a symbol of all that was wrong.

I guess what I’m saying is that there was a very strong, consistent thread regarding the nonbenders’ plight and relegation from positions of recourse. There was room to debate Amon’s method and desired outcome, and obviously that room was filled with characters like Asami who would never blame benders as a monolith or join the Equalists, yet still were committed to justice. Granted, she was only given her father as a sounding board for those beliefs and it was framed in a very personal, rather than systemic way, but we at least know people like Asami exist, and are probably in the majority. (The full stadium for the probending final suggested that, for example.)

So what the hell were Bryke thinking when they had Amon and Hiroshi bomb the city? We’re not talking a targeted attack on the police department either...we’re talking a major bombing campaign that looked pretty damn arbitrary.

It’s like...they came up with a way to script the world that would have rejected Korra as a symbol (as her arc demanded) and challenged her to find her own voice and place within it. They also came up with an antagonist that was chilling in the way that you could see people signing onto his campaign, yet was out of balance in his method of achieving equality. But then Bryke were worried that given these two components, they didn’t have a way to argue our protagonists’ side for them or something, so they just...had the Equalists bomb everything.

It’s frustrating, because Amon’s targeting of council members and the policemen were effective parts of the episode. It was clever how they went about doing that (down to the exterminator-in-disguise and giant magnets), and the action surrounding those two events worked. Yeah, we had a weird turn-based combat thing going with Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami outside of the police department, but it also showcased their individual abilities and their collective action as a team outside of a car.

What boggles my mind is that Bryke had the perfect mouthpieces through which they could have dug into the implications of the story they were telling: Pema and Asami. I know I’ve complained about the wasted potential in their one shared scene before, and probably too much for most people’s liking. But come the fuck on; these are the two most prominent nonbenders in the show (at this point), and the focus is Pema’s baby cramps instead of us hearing it articulated why they can’t side with Amon—why it is that his methods are too extreme.

I think what’s worse too is watching this in 2018. Fighting back physically against oppressors and dismantling corrupt systems is a whole lot less of a hypothetical thought exercise than it used to be, and more like issues and decisions we may well have to grapple with. So let’s hear a word put in for nonviolent resistance! Let’s see what the counter ideas from the nonbending perspective look like. And for the love of god, let’s have people actually object to Amon’s various puppy-kicking moments. Hell, he and Hiroshi could have even had a conversation about the “necessity” of what they’re doing! It could become clear that Hiroshi disagrees, but is kind of in for a dime, in for a dollar, and blinded by his own personal grievance.

Ugh, I’m doing fix-it fic again, aren’t I? But these are very valid storytelling options that were ignored. Hiroshi just became the guy who provided tech, rather than someone who could have like...challenged this a little. Make him singularly focused on wiping out the triads, and it can become increasingly clear that his “acceptable loss” meter is wayyy out of balance, while Amon has no true interest in being remotely measured and is after every bender. Idk, I’m just spitballing here, but I do feel that actually digging into this would have made his ultimate defeat more satisfying. And the off-screen presidency less of an ass-pull and more something that came out of a dialogue introduced in Book 1.

None of these problems are contained to “Turning the Tides,” I should note. “Skeletons in the Closet” had very bizarre aftermath of the bombing, and also introduced personal stakes for Amon that were entirely separate from the cultural dynamic the season was digging into. Like it’s a fine story that he was cynically capitalizing on it for his own purposes, I guess, but then there was so little between him and Korra that any larger point was missing (unlike, say, Kuvira who was also personally driven, yet a perfect foil and actively “taking over for Korra” in Korra’s mind).

It’s just that “Turning the Tides” truly lived up to its name; it was the episode that scrubbed all nuance away from the plotline, even wrapping up the plotline was notably “worse” in terms of quality of the show.

What’s odd is that despite this, it was still fairly enjoyable, and not just because it gave us our first whiff of Makoperator.

As I said, the two bigger action sequences were good. Asami and Mako’s ongoing fight was not exactly compelling TV, but still gave Asami a fair bit of agency and was “realistic” enough for teenagers. Lin agreeing to protect Tenzin’s family shows us that once again she’s Too Good™ for literally everyone around her, and of course her sacrifice at the end was completely gripping. Too bad it gets undercut.

The worst that can be said outside of the implications is that the fart-bending was cringe-worthy, and I’ve yet to figure out a rationale for the necessity of that failed Equalist invasion during Pema’s labor. Rohan wasn’t even given a name like “Aemon Steelsong” where the situation of his birth affected anything. I guess it was cute to see Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo’s capabilities, though we also get that in “Endgame” (sorry, Lin).

Altogether, that’s why this episode ranks as back-middle. I can’t really complain when I’m watching it...just when I think about it.

But again and again I keep coming back to the main issue of the season: Bryke didn’t understand what they wanted to say. Not for Korra’s arc at all, and now as this episode demonstrates, not for the tensions introduced.

It was a cool concept, but this is the moment that marked it for just that, and nothing more.

#12 1x12 “Endgame”

#11 1x05 “The Spirit of Competition"

#10 1x11 “Skeletons in the Closet”

#9 1x06 “And The Winner Is...”

1x10 photo recap found here

Book 2 ranking/essays found here

Book 4 ranking/essays found here

#book 1 ranking #lok meta #korra 1x10 #turning the tides #legend of korra

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kekepuaa · 7 years

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I managed to get to 1x10 of Voltron (yeah, I’m slow. I’m not good with mech genre):

It has pretty much everything I loved about LOK without the things I hated about it too

But that’s probs because I’m not in the fandom

..........it might be better that way...

...or.....just don’t...get...involved in.....discourse? ? ? ???? ? Hm...

I don’t really ship anything?? L O L.

If I were to choose, I’d probs go Klance just because I’m a sucker for bickering couples

Not to mention, their brand of bickering soothes my soul

But nothing jumps out at me lol

One of my absolute favorite things is Lance calling Keith “mullet.”

Sister: Does the big guy like the alien girl? Wait, is the alien a girl? // Me: Girl, I don’t know how alien gender politics work. Also, no.

It’s hard to pick a favorite character just because they’re all, like, really good??

I may have a soft spot for Pidge

She’s really funny and cute and gr8

I actually love the moments where you’re reminded that she’s just 14 (i.e., her getting super hyped about a robot and playing with it while everyone else is having a Super Adult Convo)

Her relationship with Shiro??? A++++

Me: *sees the spam musubi in Hunk’s mind when they’re trying to form Voltron* ...oh he’s definitely Poly. That isn’t a headcanon.

Hunk being Samoan is what pushed me to actually continue watching it (since I stopped at 1x3 last year LOL)

Can I just say???? That I actually love this???????? Because:

Polynesians are almost never depicted being anywhere off an island, much less outer space?

Polynesians are also never depicted as being engineers???????????????? We’re literally seen as the opposite of that?

Actually Polynesians are never in cartoons. The only other examples before Hunk were Moana and Lilo and Stitch.

Me: *hears Allura speak the first time* Hehe...heheh...Jasper...

SHE HAS LITTLE FOREST ANIMAL FRIENDS!

Keith and Shiro both reminded me so much of Mako, but I was able to separate them by 1x05 c’: (Love u, Mako)

Do you know how much time they’d save if you just CUT THE TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCES?!?! God. It’s like Sailor Moon all over again.

I’ll finish it later on, but yeah, here’s basically what I thought.

#jaz watches voltron

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