“No! Not my Cabbage Corp.”
Over seventy-years have passed since Aang and his companions brought peace to the nations, and the cabbage business is still in shambles. Only this time, instead of a single vendor’s cart being destroyed, a whole corporation has been taken down. It’s nice to see the writers paying homage to the old series in a comedic way. Hopefully that’s not the last we’ll see of the green vegetable this season. I felt that this episode took the show in a new direction. With the attack on the arena last week, and pro bending shut down for the foreseeable future, the series needed to start focusing on the mystery behind the Equalist’s charismatic leader, Amon.
We weren’t able to see the masked villain in “The Aftermath,” but we did discover that Hiroshi Sato is one of the major contributors to Amon’s cause. The rich industrialist has been building war machines in an underground facility located beneath his mansion. With the character development of Asami during this episode, I couldn’t help but feel sympathy for her, as she chose to part ways with her father by electrocuting him with his own invention. It seems that Korra and Asami have more in common that they’d care to admit. Even with her privileged upbringing, Asami is a formidable opponent when under pressure. Korra is beginning to mature as well. The scene near the end of the episode was touching, as Korra instructed Mako to stay close to Asami as she deals with the harsh truths about her father. The Avatar must learn the importance of sacrifice, so it’s nice seeing Korra strive to be selfless when she’s just a teenage girl.
The exciting battle sequence in Sato’s underground factory was one of the highlights of this episode, and it made me realize that this is one of the best looking animated programs on television. Joaquim Dos Santos (Justice League, Avatar: The Last Airbender) deserves a lot of credit for weaving exhilarating action with well paced storytelling. After directing several episodes from the previous series, I’m pleased that he’s come back to the world of the Avatar as one of the featured directors. My favorite moment in this episode came when Chief Lin Beifong used her mother’s earth bending techniques to see the environment around her. Fancy metal armor is no match for the bare feet of an earth bender.
My final thoughts on this episode have to do with the subtext of nature vs. technology. This is a concept that was hinted at in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but not discussed in great detail. The fire nation had ships and war blimps, but many of the soldiers were still benders. Men like Hiroshi Sato who are without the power to bend elements must rely on their ingenuity. What did you think of Sato’s machines defeating three of the most powerful benders in the world? I want to make it clear that this is entirely my own opinion, but in this era of fast cars and electricity-shooting-handguns, what chance does a bender have against the onslaught of technological achievements in weaponry? I could be completely off base here, so please let me know what you thought about this week’s episode, and the role that technology played in it. Also, below I’ve posted a video of Dennis and I reviewing the first six episodes of The Legend Korra. Check it out!
-David Griffin (Follow @griffinde on Twitter)
Cabbage Man can't catch a break
Plus: Awesome Air Wheel technique!!!
I've got only one thing to say about this episode……NO! NOT MY CABBAGE CORP!
legacy of the cabbage man FTW!
I love the series, but I agree that the original series had more character depth and even world-building. Maybe becuase the world of Avatar has already been established, the writers don't see the need to show us what goes on outside of Republic City, but I want to know what happened to the rest of the nations, beyond the city walls, since Aang.
Even if they didn't go out of Republic City – you have a whole, diverse city to be explored! It has the mixture of cultures and classes in front of a 1920s Shanghai-esque backdrop. You can't tell me that there aren't a huge range of different groups and people to meet, and problems to solve within that. I just feel that if Korra talked to more people, instead of hanging out at the Air Temple, Probending Arena or Asami's mansion, we'd get a better idea of what threat the Amon conflict presents to the people, from a grassroots level. You could get invested in the city, people and the way of life, and the positive aspects of bender/non-bender interaction in building a progressive city. That would flesh out the moral grey area that is Amon (loving the ambiguity though).
That said, I was ten times more invested in the love angle this episode, where the characters started thinking for each other amid conflict, rather than the awkward teenage hormone-fest that was ep 5. I like seeing feelings grow through shared experience and overcoming stuff, rather than a forced love square. I know she's a teenager, but seriously, Korra's the Avatar! She's got way too much going on to care about Mako and Asami's lovefest.
But yeah, still love the story and Korra herself and I do think that given more time, the writers can really develop this set of characters. The eps are super short, and so is the season. I'm sure a lot of Avatar's awesomeness was in the fun, mostly filler episodes that let us see the characters doing different things. LOK doesn't have as much filler wiggle room.
Anyway, I enjoyed your analysis! Its nice to have a place to fangirl about this show!
There doesn't have to be such a strict divide between nature and technology; the benders can probably fashion technology that enhances their bending in some way. I can imagine a fire bender who wears that electricity shooting glove could do some neat things with it.
In several respects I think the season does a better job of making Korra more relatable. How often do people have a clear cut “destiny” like Aang had. Bringing balance to Republic City can mean many different things that Korra doesn’t/shouldn’t innately know. Aang had to “learn the elements” and stop Fire Lord Ozai and knew that from the start. Korra is fighting a movement. Amon just happens to be at the forefront of it.
I like that this season evens the playing field a bit through technology, chi-blockers, etc. With Aang I never felt that anyone was a threat once he learned all the elements. His own fear aside, I thought that taking down Ozai would be as easy as it was for Roku against Sozin in “The Avatar and the Firelord”. I also like that Korra doesn’t float in and out of the Avatar state every time she is “destress”. Random power-ups in fantasy, though cool or well written feel cliche and lazy.
Lastly it was nice to see Tenzin in action.
ps shout out to Mae Whitman (Parenthood, Scott Pilgrim) who voiced Katara on ATLAB. Seems she is Wonder Girl in Young Justice. She does great voice work!
**distressed
air wheel. FTW.
it was great seeing an Airbender use bend offensively.
Does anyone else miss “Sparky Sparky Boom Man”?
I love the fact that they writers found a way to make non-benders seem threatening. I had been curious since the announcement of who the enemies would be as to how the show would make them seem threatening on a large enough scale. With those giant mechs, all the electric weaponry, ty lee's chi-blocking, and amons "energy bending"(still not sure if it is genuine) I definitely see it.
awesome!!!