Legend of Korra: Beginnings, Parts 1+2
Legend of Korra
2 x 7: Beginnings, Part 1
2 x 8: Beginnings, Part 2
Full episodes available at Nick.com.
Episode Summary (from the Avatar Wiki): Korra learns about the origins of the first Avatar and realizes what she must do to restore balance to the physical and spirit worlds.
My Thoughts: I’m depressed by how much I enjoyed these two episodes in which none of the main cast appear at all, except for a few glimpses of Korra. On the other hand, I did enjoy them, and that’s a big step up from last week.
I’ve been told that these episodes disregarded some previously-established canon regarding the origin of bending and the Avatar, which could certainly be frustrating. I haven’t finished watching TLA yet, though, so this wasn’t an issue for me.
I was a little nervous about the first few minutes, in which Wan’s food-stealing escapades looked like it had been lifted almost scene for scene from Disney’s Aladdin, but then we started getting into the larger worldbuilding, the lion-turtles, the spirits living in the human world, Wan stealing fire from the lion-turtle…yeah, it hooked me.
I liked that Wan was flawed and screwed up sometimes, but that he was trying to do the right thing. He was very human but also sympathetic in a way this season has been lacking. I appreciated that he didn’t have a simple moment of revelation, but that his journey was an ongoing thing, involving multiple mistakes and longer-term growth. Watching him learn to use the forest’s tricks against his human pursuers was particularly fun.
I’m still thinking about the revelation that the Avatar is the blending of human and the spirit Raava. It makes sense, and it fits, though after all of Raava’s insistence that spending too long in Wan’s body would kill him, I’m not sure exactly how it works. Or maybe I missed something there. The whole thing made me think of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the first slayer being part demon. Let’s just say I like the Korra version better.
And the bending! I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed the more graceful, fluid style of bending we saw from Wan.
Aye-Aye and the rest of the spirits were a lot of fun too. And Wan’s relationship with Aye-Aye and with Raava, that’s the kind of thing I’ve wanted to see all season. Complex, conflicted relationships. Likable characters.
These were the first two episodes this season that were animated by Studio Mir, the folks who did season one. I hadn’t been aware of this until after the episode. It sounds like Studio Mir will be doing episodes 10-14 as well. Based on what I saw in these episodes, I’m very happy to hear they’re doing more.
Frustrations: I find myself wondering why we couldn’t have gotten this episode earlier. Tell us that the Harmonic Convergence is coming, and give us that looming deadline to worry about instead of leading us through the meandering storyline we’ve had so far. They did it with TLA and Sozin’s Comet, right? Grr…
Korra’s whole amnesia bit seemed pointless. She could have conveniently washed up on fire sage island without having to have her memories reset. Heck, she could have had an Avatar experience while in the belly of the spirit. (Are they going to explain why the dark spirit conveniently spat her out, or how she ended up at the island?)
Finally, it would have been nice to see some female characters.
Overall Rating: I liked it a lot. It wasn’t perfect, but my expectations had dropped after last week, and this was a pleasant surprise. They crammed an entire show’s worth of story into an hour, and it didn’t feel rushed. I’m quite happy, but nervous for what will come next.
Predictions: I want to see Aye-Aye again. Presumably Unalaq has something to do with the dark spirit Vaatu. The obvious explanation is that he’s working to free Vaatu. A more interesting possibility would be that he’s either working to find a way to destroy — no, to enslave Vaatu. We know Unalaq can spirit-bend. I wonder if he’s hoping to tame and use Vaatu the way Wan joined with Raava. I really hope that Korra will focus on getting the gang back together and prepping for the big convergence throw-down. Beyond that … I think it depends on how many risks the writers are willing to take. They could fundamentally change the nature of their world, depending on what they do with Vaatu and Raava. Ultimately though, I don’t think that’s likely. I’m just happy to be looking forward to what comes next.
Annalee
October 21, 2013 @ 10:01 am
My take on these two episodes largely mirrors yours. I loved the animation, missed female characters, and wish we’d had this earlier.
The Aladdin send-up worked for me because I saw it as a deliberate homage. As for the bending canon, it worked all right for me–it’s still a retcon, but in ATLA, they always frame the origin of bending in terms of it being a legend. The shot of Wan doing the dancing dragon sequence with a dragon made it fit for me.
I hope you’re right about Unalaq trying to enslave Vaatu. That’d be a much more interesting take than him just trying to free him. We did see Vaatu essentially spirit bend in these two episodes–I wonder if that’s connected to Unalaq’s control over them. Given what we know about how power-hungry the guy is, him trying to essentially become a dark Avatar would make sense (though it does make me wonder about his history, how he found out about Vaatu in the first place, etc. Also, his kids. Are they actually spirits? Because they’re sure not convincing as humans).
My big hope is that her first stop is the air temple to pick up Tenzin. She really needs him in her life. These two episodes also make some of the earlier stuff even more frustrating–the story here was very well-paced. I really, really wish we’d seen some of this tight pacing in the plotline about Varrick.
David Wohlreich
October 21, 2013 @ 10:32 am
“Beginnings” was the most enjoyable bit of the series so far, and that’s disappointing. We have the kind of beautiful world-building and fun hero’s journey stuff that Korra has lacked. Of course, it would have been nice if the first Avatar had been a woman, or there had been some other human woman character.
I like some of the points “Beginnings” raises for the rest of the season, but, like you, I think it feels a bit too ex post facto justification/info dump.
The inconsistencies with the origin of bending don’t bother me, as the sort of high-mythic setting tends to go along with misremembered legends & conflicting stories. A:tLA explored such a concept in an episode involving warring factions (though I forget the episode name).
Ultimately, I thought this was a beautiful episode, from a writing & animation standpoint. Unfortunately, it illuminates just how little this season has moved me. I would much rather watch a season or two of Wan’s story than return to Korra’s, and that’s a bad sign.
Jim C. Hines
October 21, 2013 @ 10:43 am
“My big hope is that her first stop is the air temple to pick up Tenzin.”
Yes, please!!!
Jim C. Hines
October 21, 2013 @ 10:44 am
Yeah. Enjoyed Beginnings a lot, but it definitely left me with that bitter “Why couldn’t the whole season have been like this?” aftertaste.
LauraA
October 21, 2013 @ 11:34 am
Absolutely gorgeous episode and I’m planning planning to watch it again, soon. I hope your prediction about Unalaq is correct. My only quibble with this episode was, why did the wealth-hoarding faction have to be called “Chus”? Did they not even notice how it sounds?
Jim C. Hines
October 21, 2013 @ 11:37 am
Damn. That went right over my head, but now that you’ve pointed it out, yeah. Ouch…
Strabo
October 21, 2013 @ 12:05 pm
There aren’t really no inconsistencies with the origin of bending as far as I see. The powers were given by the Lion Turtles (as established before) and learned how to use them effectively through observing the animals/Moon (as seen by Wan learning from the dragon, learning ways that the other hunters couldn’t even dream of). Works perfectly fine in my opinion.
David Wohlreich
October 21, 2013 @ 1:07 pm
Two more thoughts:
As LauraA mentioned, the name “Chu” was ill-chosen. When I heard “I blame the Chus,” I did a spit take. Literally.
Andrea Phillips raised an objection to the simplistic morality of the Raaza/Vaatu duality. As opposed forces of light/creation and darkness/destruction, there could be an interesting exploration of the necessity of balance and the harm of extremes of anything. Instead, the world of Avatar effectively gains the Devil. While the dark avatar vs. light avatar thing would be neat, it would probably further cement this simplistic morality.
Annalee
October 21, 2013 @ 3:40 pm
I’m honestly still confused as to why she didn’t go pick up Tenzin on her way to Republic City. It seems like the writers kept him out of it solely to give Korra and the others room to make really bad choices.
I get that getting rid of the grownups is a common challenge in YA, but in this case it felt really forced (and it doesn’t explain why Bai Fong has been carrying the failball).
Brendan
October 21, 2013 @ 11:10 pm
I think what Strabo says is pretty much how I see it too. Yes, the dragon turtle gave people the energy to bend, but people that truly learn how to bend until they learn to observe the dragons, badger-moles, water and flying bison. I think that makes a lot of sense as they did throw in the part where Wan’s firebending was so much better and more natural and “as an extension of [Wan’s] body” and Wan creating the Dragon Dance fire form that Zuko and Aang learn in book 3 of the first year.
But ultimately, it’s whatever the creator decide is canon or not. But honestly, the two part episode is the highlight of the season, so far, for me. Love the change in animation style and the origin story.
Beth Matthews
October 22, 2013 @ 12:25 am
I agree with everything people have been saying. Definitely the highlight of the season. I want a spinoff show with Wan and the lemur spirit. And I…don’t really want to go back to the clusterf*ck that has been Korra and her friends fumbling around this season. :/ Although I am now very curious what the heck is going on in the spirit realm!
Is anyone else getting the sense that Avatars don’t get to die peacefully in bed? Roku got covered in lava. Aang died young. Wan died in battle. This gives me a really big sad. 🙁
“Stinky is more accurate.” = Best. Line. Ever.
Jim C. Hines
October 22, 2013 @ 10:16 am
You know, Raava kept saying that merging with a human would kill the human. Maybe the early death is somehow related to that? Though that’s probably too much of a stretch…
Jim C. Hines
October 22, 2013 @ 10:16 am
It reminds me a little of the Star Wars prequels. “You keep using that word, balance. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
Tistur
October 22, 2013 @ 7:00 pm
Beth —
Avatar Kyoshi lived to over 200, and the creators have stated that the reason Aang died so young is that he used up a lot of his life in the 100 years he was frozen.
Beth Matthews
October 23, 2013 @ 6:54 pm
I forgot to say: I really loved the music in this. Korra music is always good but these episodes really stood out.
Jim C. Hines » Legend of Korra: The Guide
November 4, 2013 @ 10:40 am
[…] Good: While not as good as Beginnings, I thought this was one of the better episodes this season. There were little things that made me […]