The Legend of Korra: The Stakeout
August 1, 2014 10:33 AM - Season 3, Episode 9 - Subscribe

In the first pure digital release of Legend of Korra, Team Avatar track Aiwei to the Earth Kingdom desert town of Misty Palms Oasis and discover that the Metal Clan traitor had arranged a meeting with Zaheer and Company. Intent on following Aiwei to Zaheer, the team decides to stakeout his motel room until his departure. Many Pai Sho games later, Korra discovers that Aiwei has entered the Spirit World and meditates to enter the Spirit World to chase after him. What follows are a whole bunch of answers from Zaheer, the identity and background of the Red Lotus, and a frantic fight between Mako and Bolin against Water for Arms and Lava Guy.

"Korra, as Avatar you need to standardize all the Pai Sho rules!" - Bolin

This episode is at least available at the time of the drafting of this post on Nick.com and Amazon Instant Video. There are no plans for iTunes, but it should appear on other instant video streaming sites, such as Google Play at some point.
posted by Atreides (17 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 
Oh my God, Zaheer, you sound like you should be wearing dreads, hemp clothing, and listening to Rage Against the Machine, because you are so about fighting the power and, like, anarchy is awesome, dude!

Man, the Red Lotus could've been a kickass democratic/communistic society focused on empowering the people to take control of their lives and their government, getting rid of those remnants of feudalism and working to continue to heal those scars left by the 100-year-war. Aang started it, but Red Lotus and White Lotus could work together with Korra to continue it, to bring in the spirits and benders and non-benders together, because it was called harmonic convergence, and it's not just about the spirit world and the human world, it's about everyone joining together.

But, no, it's goddamn Anarchy 101 "chaos makes things strong" nonsense. Dammit, Zaheer. Why doesn't Water-For-Arms and Lava-Guy just go "We're out, yo." and go kick ass all over the place?

Okay, there's my rant.

I love Bolin. I will continue to love Bolin and his stupid self. I love that Asami had something to do in this episode, and I hope that her and Korra take down the Earth Queen together in a totally lesbionicawesome way.

I had a bit of a cringe at Bolin's mover fans, simply because the second she pulled out the doll, I thought about the dolls and figures I've made, and I was like "Really? You're going to badmouth fan creativity?" C'mon, guys, you don't have to pander to the fans, but when you make fun of them, it kinda sucks.

But despite my complaints, I'm definitely excited for what's going to happen in the next episodes.
posted by Katemonkey at 11:47 AM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]


Korra literally stepped into the role of the fan base this episode when Zaheer sat down and said, "Ask me anything you want..." As a result, we got the low down on the Red Lotus Society. Incidentally, it appears the actual Red Turban Rebellion may have inspired some of this season's storyline. It involves a break off from a White Lotus Society which tried to bring down the ruling government in the 14th Century. I give Matt Patches creds for bringing that up (well, mentioning it in a podcast - it may have come from another Korra fan).

"Anarchy, Anarchy, I don't know what it means but I like it!" - Legend of Ricky Bobby.

It's strange that the Red Lotus included the democratically elected government of the United Republic of Nations in with the Earth Queen, based on the language of oppressed masses and having freedom. But generally, they're saying that everything as is, is unacceptable, the entirety of all current systems must be burned to the ground because some how, this will result in a better world. Like good traditional Avatar enemies, there's an inch of "Well, that isn't too outrageous..." It also echoes Amon's call for Equality from Book 1.

Man, the Red Lotus could've been a kickass democratic/communistic society focused on empowering the people to take control of their lives and their government, getting rid of those remnants of feudalism and working to continue to heal those scars left by the 100-year-war. Aang started it, but Red Lotus and White Lotus could work together with Korra to continue it, to bring in the spirits and benders and non-benders together, because it was called harmonic convergence, and it's not just about the spirit world and the human world, it's about everyone joining together.


Truth!

So some observations...Aiwei used "We" when referring to Zaheer's actions "outing" him and others. I think again, this could further indicate Suyin is part of the Red Lotus, particularly because she's already voiced some anti-Earth Queen/Government creed. However, also from the conversation, I don't think there was any established trap that Suyin helped construct by sending Korra after Aiwei. There could have an inkling that Team Avatar would run into the Red Lotus, but I don't think it was all by design. Another plot point, Zaheer refers to Aiwei as a loose end and throws him into the valley/fog of lost souls (I am ZHAO THE CONQUEROR!). By eliminating Aiwei, particularly after Aiwei had already lead Korra to him, Zaheer is basically saying that Aiwei's presence could imperial other plans or persons. This might have been done to keep Aiwei from being caught and confessing to Suyin's involvement. What else, based on what we know of Aiwei's role, could his continued existence threatened?

It was fun, it's always fun, going back to an ATLA location. The spirits were everywhere, interestingly, though I'm not so sure they easily telegraphed that Aiwei or the Spirit World was nearby. They have been present everywhere, but Ba Sing Se for the most part. I think the writers could have done something a little better there to achieve that goal of the spirit presence.

Asami has a bigger role again than just sitting tight or sitting at the dinner table. She's sitting across from Bolin and routinely kicking his butt in Pai Sho. No offense to Bolin, but I would love to see the show reveal her skill at strategy against someone of a higher playing level (dare I say, intelligence...?). It didn't help me, as it appeared I adopted a more Bolin style at chess. Doh.

I do think the writers have pretty much decided that in a battle involving benders, Asami isn't a player. I really want to see her lay out a bender, even if it means really applying the Chi Blocker glove. (Wouldn't it make sense for a father who lost his wife to a bender to have his daughter trained in chi blocking?!) Like someone mentioned in the last post, I loved seeing her kick biker gang butt. I want more Asami kicking butt scenes!

'He was right, I do have terrible drinks."

I didn't mind the movers fans, though I thought it was kind of predictable the moment Bolin said they looked like bounty hunters. Avatar loves to play against expectations. It's an Avatar thing. I thought the doll and fan excitement was more of a loving poke than a spiteful prod. I wonder if Bolin will ever get back into movers?

Did anyone recognize the books in the top drawer of the motel room?

I did like the surprise Earth Kingdom captured them twist at the end. The end of this episode has pretty much laid down the groundwork of a season finale surrounding Ba Sing Se. Red Lotus sparking a popular uprising in the poorer slums of the city or just an assassination attempt? Given the fact we were given a strong taste of life in the outer ring, I'm thinking the latter. Likewise, our air benders in the North have to return in some form or another, or at least the ones with names, Tenzin, Kai, Jinora, and Bumi, and so on. Given the attachment by Zaheer to the Air Nomad Philosopher/guru, I got to think a Tenzin/Zaheer battle is in the formulation. (And more Zuko - totally getting more Zuko, probably the White Society in general like the end of ATLA).

The fight between the Fire Ferrets and the Red Lotus. We've become so accustom to seeing Mako and Bolin handle themselves and their opponents that it was kind of shocking to see how desperate they were in fighting off Ming-Hua and Ghazan. It wasn't an even battle in the least, and I suppose this helps to console my fan hurt of seeing Zuko go down nearly as easily. One would wonder if it would have been any different if Bolin and Mako had managed to switch it up. I have the fear that it would have probably been very much the same. It's going to take a posse of our finest heroes to bring down this quartet of anarchists.

I hope to re-watch it again this evening, but for now, dems some of my thoughts!
posted by Atreides at 12:31 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]


So....is Aiwei's body already dead? Or will be likely to die? That is dark.

Anarchy is great if you are a super-buff dude with amazing skills; not so much otherwise when you become easy pickings. Zaheer's got some reckoning coming, one way or another. And I hope he is going to have a philosophical debate/air battle with Tenzin, and maybe Jinora. Ain't nobody tell Tenzin what Air Nomad philosophy really means.

My biggest hope is that Bolin will learn something about either lava- or metalbending and level up.

Also, Team Avatar, when the spirits try to tell you something, pay attention, dammit.

Also I really want a chance for Lin to do something awesome.
posted by emjaybee at 4:54 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]


I am 100% behind any animated series that has questions about political philosophy as the main driver of the plot. My favorite cartoon is The Legend of Prince Valiant, an adaptation of the comic strip that aired in the early '90s on The Family Channel, and was substantially about justice and the rule of law. I also have a soft spot for Liberty's Kids, the PBS cartoon history of the American Revolution.

I think the main difference between Korra and the antagonists is a matter of degree. The antagonists all have legitimate grievances - non-bender oppression, spiritual imbalance, unfair political structures - but they use extreme measures to resolve them. If there was a group advocating for those causes in a reasonable way, Korra would probably work with them.

Korra herself doesn't really have any coherent political philosophy beyond "people should not be oppressed", which is fine for now because the story is about her growth. Presumably she'll grow into having a coherent way to articulate why the autocratic Earth Queen is bad and the democratically elected Republic President is good.
posted by Small Dollar at 9:04 PM on August 1, 2014 [2 favorites]


It's too early for me to be coherent, but I think that maybe I should definitely rewatch the paisho scene really closely, because I think that might be a metaphor for the entire series.

I hope it means that a giant fire ferret will appear, because they're cute.
posted by Katemonkey at 9:52 PM on August 1, 2014 [1 favorite]


My biggest hope is that Bolin will learn something about either lava- or metalbending and level up.

I can't believe they would introduce Bolin's attempts to metal bend and not have him achieve it by the end of the season. My expectation is that our captured Bolin will effect an escape for him and Mako based on him figuring out the skill.

I am 100% behind any animated series that has questions about political philosophy as the main driver of the plot.

This line of thinking always comes back at me like a boomerang. It's incredible to me that such a show exists, as it seems to buck the trend of just most television shows in general. It's just plain awesome.
posted by Atreides at 7:13 AM on August 2, 2014


I never thought I would see Korra wearing a Hannibal mask.
posted by Pendragon at 5:04 PM on August 2, 2014


Here's a thought. Clearly, you don't need arms to waterbend. In The Last Airbender, King Boomi is able earthbend while being sealed in a metal coffin.

So, should Korra be able to bend her way out of this while restrained?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 11:30 PM on August 2, 2014


So, should Korra be able to bend her way out of this while restrained?

That question struck me, as well. Boomi had the complete freedom of his face, but he's also a 70+ year old Earth Bending Master. If anything, being the Avatar doesn't necessarily equate to instantly being the best at bending an element, it just means you master them faster. For example, I doubt Aang in ATLA could have performed the lightning redirection move that Iroh invented without the training. I think unless Korra specifically trained to bend without stance or body movement, she won't be able to bend her way out. I do think it's a yes, she should be able to, if she had had that prerequisite training. Of course, if she went into the Avatar state and there was a previous Avatar who knew....well, that option is off the table!

As a back up, when I first watched the episode, I thought Aiwei had accused Zaheer of exposing him and "others" at Zhao Fu. On rewatch, not in a busy cafeteria on my phone, I realize it was Zaheer who scolded Aiwei for such. Thus, the connection between Aiwei and Suyin being conspirators is weakened from my previous thought. Yet, Suyin definitely is someone who I think would have been a candidate for the old White Lotus before it "strayed" from its original mission. One of the key elements we saw with the old White Lotus was a universal allegiance, not one bound necessarily to one's bending nation and combined with those who admired knowledge, beauty and other awesome things in life. Suyin seems to fit that bill.
posted by Atreides at 7:49 AM on August 3, 2014


Katemonkey, I love your first comment, and it gets to the heart of the one issue I have with this episode (which I really liked): will the story of this season be, like season one, Korra bravely fighting to reestablish the status quo?

which is fine for now because the story is about her growth

Agreed, though I wish it were a bit more about her growth. I noticed how many times this episode Korra reverts back to "I'm gonna wreck it!", which is making her equal only to Tenzin at having to learn the same damn lesson over and over again.

A couple of weeks ago, I posted that this season has felt very dramatically inert and directionless, but I have to say the last two episodes have been really fantastic and have gone a long way towards helping me fully get on board with this season along with everyone else.
posted by Ian A.T. at 5:04 PM on August 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


The thing about political intrigue is a large part of why Gundam was pretty interesting back in the day, especially because whenever random soldiers from either side were depicted, the Bad Guys were always really decent people, and the Good Guys were drunks and abusive and just generally awful to civilians
posted by DoctorFedora at 4:32 AM on August 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


So....is Aiwei's body already dead? Or will be likely to die? That is dark.

Pretty damn dark, actually. Aiwei is a traitor from our the point of view of our protagonists, but he's an accomplice and comrade from the POV of Zaheer. And Zaheer doesn't just kill him (which would be bad enough), he sends him to hell.

That is some 9th-circle black treachery right there.

And it seems to be a pretty big contrast from Zaheer's earlier dealings -- while there's been discussion of assassination of the powerful and our antagonist foursome is clearly fearsome, I can't recall seeing the Red Lotus administering fatal blows (possibly some volcano-prison guards, not clear).

I'd guess this + his speech to Korra is the writer's way of establishing him as not just an antagonist but an actual villain -- like all the Avatar villains, interested in breaking a lot of eggs to make their preferred variation on the might-makes-right omelete. Less interesting, though.
posted by weston at 6:19 PM on August 5, 2014 [1 favorite]


Teaser of the next episode is up on the Nick site.

I am excited by prospect of more Korra/Asami teamwork. Also by Asami's tsking over shoddy Cabbage Corp products.
posted by emjaybee at 8:00 PM on August 6, 2014


I am excited by prospect of more Korra/Asami teamwork. Also by Asami's tsking over shoddy Cabbage Corp products.

Someone needs to write the fan fiction equivalent of a Tolstoy novel about the Cabbage man and his descendants.

Last night, I realized that if Amazon releases the episode early, I can download it onto my kindle fire and watch it at lunch. I then realized I'd agreed to go to lunch with a coworker because we always keep saying we'll have lunch and we never do. Now I can't cancel. Argh.
posted by Atreides at 6:50 AM on August 7, 2014


Been doing some reading from around the webs. A couple of people on Reddit have compared Zaheer and The Red Lotus to Bane/Ra's al Ghul and The League of Shadows, particularly as seen in The Dark Knight Rises. It will be interesting to see how events unfolding in Ba Sing Se compare to TDK's Gotham.

There are also rumors of a speculated-as-possible but as-yet-unused powerful airbending attack making an appearance tomorrow.
posted by weston at 9:11 PM on August 7, 2014


There are also rumors of a speculated-as-possible but as-yet-unused powerful airbending attack making an appearance tomorrow.

The post is up and the episode out!
posted by Atreides at 7:01 AM on August 8, 2014


I was kind of expecting/hoping Korra would pretend to be sympathetic to Zaheer's goals and willingly go off with the Red Lotus gang. Which could lead to lots of wailing and "Korra, how could you?" from the rest of Team Avatar (naturally, Korra wouldn't tell them what she was really doing), and she could get them to train her in lavabending and combustionbending and whatever other -bendings they have which she hasn't mastered yet.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 7:20 AM on July 29, 2017


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