Episode 6 is in the books! Let’s do a full recap, and then discuss some of the parts that were awesome and some of the parts that were the opposite of awesome.
We immediately get into the action, with Suyin and her two sons enacting their covert attack on Kuvira. Things quickly resolve with the worst possible outcome for the people we are meant to be rooting for. Not only is Kuvira not there, but they fell right into a trap. How predictable…
What is awesome here is we get to see Zhu Li without her normal attire and glasses. Is it weird that I’m developing an attraction to this character?
Inside the city, Korra is discussing the options with Opal and Jinora. We see Opal pleading the case against Kuvira strongly, building up the theme of this episode even more heavily. But quickly the mood turns as Kuvira speaks over the city’s public address system… wait what? How does this even happen. It clearly shows speakers already set up? How does she have access to this from outside the city? Ya never mind. Anyway, she is not pleased. She issues the command for Korra and the rest of the representatives to come pick up their trash and figure something out.
Inside the Kuvira funktrain, Varrick gets prodded by Baatar Jr. and runs his normal misdirection. Here we see classic Varrick, proving just how ridiculously intelligent the character actually is, but doing so in a very silly way. He talks his way into Bolin getting released from prison and he clearly has an escape plan, which isn’t obvious at first.
In front of the city, the legions of the Empire are engaging in a standoff with Korra and the two young air benders. Kuvira baits Korra hard, and without hesitation she bites. Sigh.
The scene is right out of Troy, even down to the one-on-one match to decide the entire war. Agni Kai status – minus the explosiveness.
And minus the everything from Korra’s perspective. Honestly, go watch the battle. Its pathetic. Korra is clearly behind from the get-go. Its obvious Kuvira, who has gone full Magneto down to controlling Korra’s actions with small metal sheets, is dominant. But, its not without reason.
Back on the train, Varrick’s plan unfolds. It’s super cheesy, but he has managed to create a bomb out of the spirit vines right under Baatar Jr’s nose, and uses it as leverage to separate them and earn their freedom. Only thing is, he’s actually willing to go down with the ship!
The fight resumes with Korra and Kuvira, and the only option for her seems dem glowin’ eyes. She transforms, but before she can flex her power, she experiences the PTSD frights again, this time seeing her face on Kuvira. Its pretty spooky, I thought for a split second Kuvira could actually go into the Avatar state as well. But ya, she falters and loses hard because of it.
Hektor interferes in the battle, and the Greeks decide this means war! Catch my drift? So this massive army descends upon Jinora and Opal, and they pull out their trump card: Tornado Bending! Why didn’t they do this sooner? It buys enough time for Jinora to contact Ikki and organize for an evacuation.
Meanwhile, Bolin decides he’s too young to die, and he busts Varrick out before their half of the train explodes in a truly epic fashion. Varrick reveals this was all part of his plan, down to the feigned suicide, just to get Bolin to act in a fashion that would save them both, like Zhu Li would.
The beaten Korra gets saved by the Air contingent, and Zaofu officially falls and Baatar Sr. and Jr. share a pretty powerful scene.
The final scene shows Kuvira talking to Baatar Jr. and Zhu Li about their potential relaunch of the Spirit Weapon project, and her final words are chilling ones.
Begin dismantling the Domes.
Seems to me like she plans on repurposing the city and its metal…
What I Liked
– Korra is set up to fail: Seems weird at first, but its gotta be part of a bigger picture. I’m hoping it means Toph has to get involved. They hint at it after she fails in the Avatar State, but its obvious she still has something going on with her. It either wasn’t just the residual Mercury, or Kuvira has some other trick up her sleeve. This also says to me that these two will either not 1v1 again, or when they do, the situation will be entirely different. Think about it, she got whooped. What will happen that will make her gain the power to decisively beat her under the same circumstances? Its why this part of the episode redeems the whole of it.
– “Balance” is filling out nicely: I REALLY love this theme, much more than the previous ones. For a great reason as well. Toph tells Korra that “Balance” transcends light and dark. We see this in screaming fashion today. Suyin clearly demonstrates her lack of balance and Opal feeds into it. I have a feeling Opal turns into a renegade after this and that becomes a big part of it.
– Varrick pt2: This is huge as well for me. He has escaped, and we see Zhu Li commit to a doomsday device. I’m sticking to the idea that she is acting as an agent to uproot Kuvira to help reunite with Varrick and go full<3
What I Hated
– Unfortunately, this entire episode other than what I mentioned. It was just ridiculously weak, especially the Korra-Kuvira fight. It felt like filler more than the Air Children episode. Like, “Well there HAS to be a standoff at Zaofu, so we aren’t even going to try and make it interesting.” E7 must rebound strong.
