Avatar: Legend of Korra episode 2

OK, so we’re on to episode 2, and whilst this episode lacked the political intrigue of the last, it was still satisfying, what with Korra beginning her airbending training and the introduction of two new characters, ‘Joker’ and ‘Jerk-Ass’.

So there I was, going into the second episode hoping for a little more development on the rebellion, what the rebels hoped to achieve and Doom’s obvious ulterior motives but, instead I got almost an entire episode’s worth of fight scenes which, in retrospect wasn’t actually a bad thing. This is gonna be a 26 episode series so there’ll be plenty of time to explore the rebellion later. And as all novelists will tell ya’, there’s no point revealing everything to the readers straight away- eliminate the story’s hook and they’ll quickly lose interest, the same applies to this. Silly Ty, for not realising! And, you know, the fights themselves weren’t all that bad…

The pro-bending fights showcased some of Avatar’s most impressive animation and introduced us to two new characters: the aforementioned Joker, Bolin, and Jerk-Ass, Mako. You know, whilst their personalities aren’t what you’d call original, it’s still nice to know that, with these two on the scene, the show’s cast will no longer consist of just Korra, toddlers and a whole bunch of old people! I quite like comic relief characters, especially when they’re the over-enthusiastic, “I’m God’s gift to women” kind so, already am I quite fond of Bolin. When you take into consideration Korra’s just as over-enthusiastic it’s easy to see they’ll end up bouncing off of each other’s vibe quite nicely, becoming partners in crime, kinda like Ouran’s twins, ‘cept without the incest! Plus they’re bound to work even better when in the presence of acting straight-man, jerk-ass, Mako. Now, I’m much less keen on Mako- no big reason why, I’ve just never been all that susceptible to the whole angsty, brooding teenage male archetype- it’s just not my schtick. Still, I’m interested to see how his character will develop, and don’t you think he holds an uncanny likeness to a certain Firebending Prince?

So, we’ve our hero, our joker and the jerk-ass, all we’re missing is a medic/glasses-chara and Korra’s love interest. Here’s hoping Mako doesn’t double up as Mr Love Interest- that’d be too much. Sure, I like couples that can engage in a bit of banter with each other but, Korra and Mako seem so stubborn and hard-headed a potential romance between the two of them could easily end up being as long-winded and drawn out as that of any fluffy couple worth their salt.

I don’t have a great deal to say ‘bout Korra’s airbending training ‘cept it made me realise just how much I’d underestimated Korra’s stupidity. She has a real ‘If it don’t work, smash it’ mentality, kinda like the Hulk. Korra smash! Heh, seeing a trend with Marvel characters here! Also, the movement training itself seemed kinda fun, definitely gentler than any of the bending training Aang underwent. Monks, tch…

Hope now we’ve met a couple more characters and are already part-way through Korra’s training, (she’s mastered the movement at least) there’ll be a little more progression with the plot next episode, whenever I can expect that to be released… *shrug*