Legend of Korra: Spirits

[Dînadan]

Given the joke about Asami being Batman, would that make Varrick Lex Luthor? ;p

Also, Chuck's closing thought about 'the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend' puts me in mind of a quote from a Warhammer 40k novel - 'the enemy of my enemy is a problem for later; in the meantime they might be useful'.

[SpacePaladin]

Well, at least Mako gets eventually called out for his multiple cases of relationship ineptitude. By his own extended family no less.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

I feel that it is time to share this comic of exceeding relevance: http://neodusk.deviantart.com/art/LoK-E ... -407122268

[Hearthstone23]

Who's stupider: Mako or Neelix? I say Neelix.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Who's stupider: Mako or Neelix? I say Neelix.

Depends how we define "Stupid". I'd say if it's a question of competence, well, Mako may fuck up at a lot of things, from love to sting operations, but he IS a competent firebender, and a bending is a competence he asserts. Neelix, on the other hand, claims expertise in every area and is inept in all of them.

If we're talking "stupid" in terms of failing to make decisions that benefit oneself in the long term, Neelix did, despite having no useful skills whatsoever, manage to go from being a dumpster diver struggling to make ends meet too a crew member of a starship with replicators and nice soft beds. From there he asserted total martial law over all kitchen affairs, become a Starfleet diplomat, and ended up leading a colony in a land of his own choosing. Mako started out getting a meet-cute story with an amazing girl, and managed to dump her for another relationship that rapidly went further south than the first open spirit portal. He left pro bending for a police career and has so far gained the emnity of just about everyone in his office.

[Winter]

Sorry for how long this is I just had to get this out of my system and wanted to see what you guess thought. Apologize for any and all misspelling, dyslexia is a persistent little bug.

You know what really bugs me about The Sting? Well are several things that bug me about The Sting but Chuck covered most of it but anyways, what bugs me is that here Mako is a utter hypocrite. In Peacekeepers he told Raiko that Korra was going behind her back and get help from Iroh and when confronted by Korra on it he made it clear that he was doing his job. Now I'm not blaming Mako for this, it was a difficult situation and in this case both sides were right and both sides were wrong. The South does need help in combating Unalaq as they are very under equipped to deal with the North's military might but going behind the Presidents back to get it was a bad call and could have caused more harm the good. And Mako knows that so he was in his right to tell the President about it but at the same time he did turn his back on his girlfriend.

Then, one episode later, Mako goes behind Lin's back and actively breaks the law by going on a illegal sting operation as he works with known criminals. And at no point is he ever called out in it or realized what a massive hypocrite he is. And what's worse is that it only made things worse, had Mako not done this Varrick may never have had the opportunity to rob Asami and at no point is Mako ever punished for his actions. On the contrary his rewarded for them, he gets back with Asami for his "Bravery" and "loyalty" to her even though, as Chuck pointed out, everything that goes wrong is his fault.

But the worst part about all this is how Mako figures out that Varrick is the mastermind behind all this, and by figure out I mean the episode literally hands him the answer. In some of the best mysteries the revaluation is a result of the character and the viewer putting all the pieces of the puzzle together after all the clues come together that were right in front of you that require you to put these pieces together just. In Bad mysteries the character does zero detective work and the answer is just handed to him. Make goes to talk to Bolin, sees the explosions used are the same as the ones he saw in the last episode and then the episode literally hands him the evidence he needs. Huzzah he didn't have to work for it.

One of the biggest issues with Mako is the fact that he never has to work for anything, if he wants something the episode just gives it to him and that remains the case throughout the series. Needs money to compete in the Tournament, meets one of his biggest fans and is just given the money with no questions asked. Loses his home after the Equalist attack, Asami and Korra offer him a place to stay at their place. Can't choose between Korra and Asami, breaks up with Asami after one argument so he can get together with Korra. Skipping Spirits.

Having issues interacting around Korra, barely talks to her throughout most of Change, Korra hugs him and everything's all better again.

He doesn't earn anything, he doesn't work to over come his flaws he just, suddenly gets everything he wants. And one top of that, he barely contributes anything the series as a whole.

In contrast, Asami is a much more well rounded character, has to over come her own personal demons, has flaws she has to confront and works to over come. Asami also always contributes to the plot or Korra's character in Every season. Air, she had to confront her father and help save republic city, (which is the only major plot point from Air that has any lasting impact BTW). Spirits, her trying to save her company is a major plot point in the Republic City conspiracy plot. In Change her relationship with Korra is given a lot of attention and is the next major step in both of their character development. And Balance has her continuing relationship development with Korra and her rebuilding her relationship with her father which plays a major role in the finally.

A lot of people say that Asami has little depth and no real development but honestly, I don't agree. She's a lot like Toph, Uncle Iroh and hell even Varrick, already great characters with a huge impact on the plot or other leads who are not to be underestimated. Hell I actually think that Asami has more development then Toph, Iroh and Varrick and I love those so that's saying a lot.

[Winter]

Who's stupider: Mako or Neelix? I say Neelix.

but he IS a competent firebender, and a bending is a competence he asserts.

Actually now that I think of it, how many fights has Mako won? There's his fight with Ming-Hua at the end of Change but other then that most of his victories in a fight are usually the result of the other characters. Just as a random example, Reunion Mako is pretty much useless throughout the episode and is in fact responsible for Wu getting captured in the first place, ("Oh, so its my fault Wu disappeared!" Yes Mako, it is. You had one job and you messed it up. And you are blaming one of the two people who are working to clean up your mess. What did Korra and Asami see in him!?) And as soon as the fighting started he got knocked out after one hit while Asami takes out one of Kuvira's goons in one hit.

Hell in After All These Years, if the guys who threw pies at Wu were actually there assassinate Wu they would have successes because they hit their mark, (though that would mean that Wu wouldn't have been around for Balance so that might actually have been a good thing to screw up). Mako, you are Neelix, Harry Kim and Chekov all in one. You are as useless as Neelix, as boring as Chekov and as pathetic as Harry Kim. Bolin is more well rounded then you! (plus Bolin actually has a character arc in Balance). Am I the only one who thinks that Mako should have left the series after Spirits?

[Wilahelm2]

Spirits is the season where everyone ends up looking like an jackass at some point. The only who escapes this is Asami who maintains her record of ending a season more awesome then when she started. A record she will keep for the rest of the series. As for Korra and Mako, that's going to take some unpacking.

My own head canon for how Korra acts in the beginning of the season is that this is a result of her battle with Amon. He was the first real enemy Korra faced as the Avatar and he out played her every step of the way. The only reason she won was because Amon accidentally activated her air bending letting her take him by surprise. Also the restoration of her bending had nothing to do with her but with Aang's spirit coming to help her. Despite all her training, the friends and allies she had gathered, and her own determination Korra's victory over Amon was nothing but dumb luck and she knows it.

Korra's behavior are her trying and failing to deal with this. She is angry and frustrated with herself for not being a successful Avatar. Korra tries to appear confident but its been clear for awhile that she has a lot of insecurity about being able to live up to legacy of the Avatar, especially compared to Aang. However Korra is not the most emotionally mature person at this stage in her life so she lashes out. She blows up at her dad, Tenzin, and Mako to avoid dealing with her own issues. Its why Unalaq was able to manipulate her so easily at first, he saw Korra's insecurities and frustrations with herself and played on them to get her on his side.

The worse the situation gets with the Water Tribes the more Korra feels like she has failed as the Avatar and the more she lashes out at those around her. It wont be till she gets a better understanding of the true legacy of the Avatar that she will learn to stop letting her own issues drag her down. Her feelings of frustration and her insecurities wont go away but she will get much better and dealing with them rather then just lashing out at those around her.

Mako's problem are similar, he sucks at dealing with things that bother him emotionally. He keeps bouncing between Korra and Asami because he can't bring himself to fully commit and deal with being in a relationship long-term. During the early honeymoon phase he's fine but once problems start to develop he checks out. He doesn't talk to his either of his girlfriends and try to deal with whatever issues come up but instead he avoids talking about them until it all blows up in his face. Burying his feelings and focusing on practical matters was an understandable reaction after his parents were killed and he had to take care of his little brother but as an adult he now has a very hard time dealing with emotional and relationship problem. The only time he does deal with it is when he is backed into a corner and has no choice and by them things have usually fallen apart.

All that being said things could have been made a lot clearer in the series but there were behind the scenes factors that played into that and it wont be the last time this show has to deal with that

[aceina]

is there any way to put a spoiler tag i have something to discuss but its from season 4 and this is about season 2 so yea

[Dînadan]

is there any way to put a spoiler tag i have something to discuss but its from season 4 and this is about season 2 so yea

I don't think so; you could try altering the font colour to white to make it harder to read without highlighting and then those who want to read can then just highlight the coloured text to read it if they wish.