Wow, so best episode of Korra yet? Unreal. Let’s recap quickly and conclude with a full list of thoughts that can’t be ignored!
We start by seeing Kuvira bringing her entire army to the boarder of Zaofu and Suyin responding. Kuvira intends to manipulate Bolin as a peacekeeper, and we cut to see the arbitrator in the talks: Korra.
Korra explains to the air children that she is back in action, but this time she wants to flex her diplomacy stat instead of fighting. What a cute idea…
Boom, here is why its the best episode ever. Varrick enters, and from here on we realize he is taking main stage. I’ve said in the past that I regard him as the best minor character in any show, but I have a feeling he is no longer going to be minor.
We see the Spirit Vine technology erupting in its latent power, blowing a hole in the back of the train car and unleashing a familiar freaky purple blast even accompanied by the baritone noise we heard whenever Vaatu used it. Ladies and gentlemen, is Kuvira bringing Vaatu back!? Oh man…
Anyway, after the blast we see an incredible bit where Zhu Li is saved by Varrick and the romantic tension begins to mount, literally. I’ve thought all along that she has to bee in love with him to put up with his antics for all these years, and we see a bit of it in action. He clowns around instead of pressing the subject and Kuvira enters to impress her mandate on the project moving forward. Further confirmation she already knows whats going on with the vines. I wonder who told her..?
Back in Republic City, we see Asami and her father reuniting for the first time since Season 1. I’m going to summarize the entirety of this now, since its way too chopped up and complacent. She knows her father was a bad man, but realizes that there are worse out there. Its time to forgive, and set the stage for another epic part of the puzzle. After all, it was Future Industries that built Kuvira’s entire military outfit…
So back in Zaofu, Bolin doesn’t get things moving as was planned. The whole thing seems really poorly implemented, almost as an excuse to jump right to conflict. Bolin starts to come to his senses, and Kuvira threatens him. Maybe its just poorly written, or a poor plot idea, but the whole thing seemed really empty, and results in an obvious device: Bolin has to join Korra now that she is back!
And back she is indeed. She tells Suyin that she will resolve the conflict revealed to be created indirectly by her failures and approaches Kuvira immediately. However, things go poorly here as well, so much so that Korra actually second guesses herself yet again. This whole triangle of Suyin, Korra, and Kuvira represents a huge part of the balance story. Su won’t submit peacefully, Kuvira is happy to oblige, and Korra’s job is to balance the Good and Evil aggressive parties. Remember, there is balance in all things, no matter light or dark.
Meanwhile Varrick and Zhu Li escape with Bolin’s and we see some awesome Robot v Bending action. Varrick continues to make a fool out of himself, gets captured, and Zhu Li seems frustrated. It takes a head in Kuvira’s quarters where Zhu Li renounces poor Varry and officially pledges her loyalty to Kuvira, stating she only wants to follow the smartest person, and Varrick has proven that is no longer him.
The precipice of this action is, in my opinion, clearly the love we discussed earlier. She is unwavering in her devotion to Varrick, and when Kuvira planned to rip them apart for good, she acted to keep the two of them in the same area. We will see more of this soon, I have no doubt.
The final scene shows Korra learning that Suyin has taken matters into her own hands and has decided to cloak-and-dagger Kuvira while she sleeps. Further proof that good and evil both need balance.
What I LOVED 
Varrick and Zhu Li: We start to see who the real main characters are now. Obviously the direct conflict is pressing and it will likely end up being the headline of Korra’s success, but Varrick has his own plot to fill out. I propose that Zhu Li will save him from his “prison,” confess her love, and turn into the badass she always has meant to be to bust him out of these situations. We saw her flex a bit in the mech suit, and I imagine more is to come. The finale for these two will be preventing this spirit power from reentering the evil side, and although Vaatu likely won’t make a formal return, it will be known that it was because of Varrick’s intervention that this disaster was avoided.
The start of Season 4: The way I look at it, the first four episodes were the prologue. Its even more powerful when you think of it that way, and that’s just what I’m going to do. The story arc can’t really start to apex until Korra is involved, and after 2 hours, she is finally ready for it. Episode 5 formally began what is going to be the craziest development yet.
What I did not like
Kuvira and Bolin: I can’t decide if this was poorly written, or magnificently written and just a horrible failure on the character’s part. At the start of the episode, I was so excited to imagine Bolin coming to the front of the situation and helping play the peacekeeper in Kuvira’s stead. Meanwhile, Kuvira is actually present, it doesn’t work and then she goes on to blame Bolin and force him out? Way too predictable, making room for Bolin to rejoin Korra. This one left me disappointed with an otherwise stellar episode.