Monsters of Television

“Ah! Stop! I want! To be! On! Your back!”

I was talking with sava earlier this week about the conclusion of Avatar: The Last Airbender, specifically Ozai’s fate. It wasn’t something I was particularly happy with it as I felt like it was something of a deus ex machina, while admitting that the show had very few options open to it in dealing with Ozai.

And now that deus ex machina is back, and I’m forced to determine what, exactly, its role is here. After the jump, there’s going to be a discussion of it, and what it means, so spoilers for TLA‘s last episode are going to figure heavily into that, just as warning.

The episode, as a whole, however, is fairly solid as we see more of the seedy underside of Republic City, and there are a couple of interesting question going forward about where bending fits into this society.

So let’s get right to is: Amon seems to be able to energybend, which basically boils down to permanently taking away someone’s bending. Aang, learning it from lion turtle in the series finale, used to take away Ozai’s firebending and ended the war. According to the lion turtle, energybending is best summed up as thus: “In the era before the Avatar, we bent not the elements but the energy within ourselves. To bend another’s energy, your own spirit must be unbendable or you will be corrupted and destroyed.”

This description, provided it’s still accurate, would indicate that Amon’s spirit is something that cannot be corrupted, presumably based on his dedication to the Equalist movement (which is much larger than anyone seemed to suspect). But that Amon has access to energybending, and not just chi blocking (which is apparently quite common, and I’m surprised no one at the South Pole bothered to teach Korra about Mai’s techniques) would seem to indicate that his connection to the spiritual realm isn’t just talk.

Of course, this is just conjecture at this point. Energybending was a hell of a lot flashier when Aang did it, but that could simply be because he was the Avatar. And perhaps it’s just a very advance form of chi blocking. Either way, it creates a very real threat for Korra and her crew (which lacks a non-bender to pick up their slack; THEY NEED A SOKKA!), one that I am curious about how they intend to combat as this revolution gears up for primetime.

Meanwhile, Republic City continues to be a nicely realized classist city, with poor urchins angling for cash and more than a few different bending criminal organizations all bucking for turf. While I look forward to all that being fleshed out a bit more, what caught my eye the most was the brief scene of Mako bending fire into lightning and using it at the power company. It’s an odd political implication, as benders are doing this sort of service to power Republic City, but so only a so-so amount of pay. It complicates the idea that benders are at the top of the food chain in Republic City, something the Equalists are arguing, and instead puts them in a more “blue collar”-esque job.

Also of interest is that firebenders seem to be at the core of a lot of problems, criminally speaking anyway. Amon singles them out for ruining his face while a firebending mugger killed Mako and Bolin’s family. And while more than just firebenders are in the Triple Threat Triads, names like Red Monsoons and Agni Kais imply connections to firebending traditions more than other styles of bending.

But I liked the episode overall, with these observations being more questions about being in a new world that is an extension of one I know so well. The showdown with the chi-blockers was very nice looking (though the show’s use of CG is sometimes kind of too noticeable), and I dig Korra’s general badassery, including taking on a guy at least 4 times her size without using much bending or lifting up the megaphone dude with a single hand. She is not one to be messed with.

That being said, I’m not sure she’s ready for whatever Amon has in store for her, and Republic City.

FINAL THOUGHTS

• Pro-bending seems like a total scam. You’d think the boys would know that they needed to pay to get into the final rounds.
• The episode certainly got the most out of Kevin Michael Richardson in this episode. I’m fairly certain he voiced at least three different characters, including Butakha, the owner of the pro-bending arena.
• Guys. I really want a Pabu plush.
• Setting-wise, the confrontation with the chi-blocker reminded me a lot of this scene from Ghost in the Shell.