In the twelfth episode of the second season of The Legend of Korra, the team makes their assault on Unalaq, receiving assistance from a surprising person. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch The Legend of Korra.Â
FUCK. YES. THIS EPISODE RULED. Well, minus one thing.
The One Thing
Look. Look. I know I’m not much of a Korra/Mako shipper, and I feel like I can blame the majority of that on the writing. The entire dynamic we’re seeing at play here is unreal, y’all. Mako is seriously going to continue to let Korra think that their relationship is fine??? THIS IS AN ACTUAL WRITING CHOICE THIS SHOW IS MAKING.
I’ll add one more criticism to this, and I’ll also admit straight up that this is personal bias: if you have a problem with someone you are in a relationship with – platonic or romantic or sexual – PLEASE FUCKING TELL THEM. The whole “waiting for the right time” bullshit is cowardly, and I guarantee that every moment you wait long, the more it drifts towards “Absolutely Not The Right Time.” I promise you. I promise you that it will hurt even more when your partner or friend finds out that you lied to make things easier for you. And honestly, that’s what this comes down to. Mako wants to find the moment that’ll make it easier for him to feel better about dumping Korra. Or re-dumping her? I don’t even know, y’all, this is a MESS.
I am not opposed to romantic drama in fiction. I just don’t like this.
Planning
I do love when a work of fiction can play off of what the characters know versus what the audience knows. A perfect example of that is in the opening scene, where the team relies on their assumption that Tonraq’s army will give them assistance against Unalaq. While the scattered storylines have been overly complicated over this season, I think it works in favor of this moment. Everyone is now in one place, they’re eager to get to the south pole, and none of them know of the chaos that already happened. It’s not like they could have done anything to help! And if Asami hadn’t intercepted that distress signal? Well, shit, this could have been so much worse.
There’s another aspect of the planning sequence that I loved:
Bumi
Like the previous episode (and Jinora’s visit to the spirit world), “Harmonic Convergence” gives a sizable chunk of the action to someone who normally does not get it. His eventual contribution is foreshadowed during the planning scene (and all over the previous episodes) when he launches into yet another absurdly unrealistic story concerning some adventure he participated in where he got out in the nick of time. It’s a common theme of Bumi’s stories, so much so that Tenzin actually lashes out at his brother when he attempts to relate a story that might help them all get as close to the spirit portal as possible.
Bumi’s significance is two-fold in this episode. First of all, his story helps Asami devise a plan to get around the Northern Tribe’s blockade. This helps to suggest that there is value in the stories that he tells. Oftentimes, the history can be a link to the present. But Bumi ends up creating his own story, one that is just as absurd as the ones he’s told. After practically sacrificing himself when Oogi is attacked by a dark spirit, he… gods, how do you even describe Bumi’s chaos? It’s like he created a Rube Goldberg machine accidentally. Y’all, he makes friends with a dark spirit BY PLAYING HIS FLUTE. In any other context, we’d laugh at the very idea of this, but it works beautifully. It’s exactly the sort of thing that Bumi would do, you know?
The same goes for what happens after this, which I am struggling to describe. I think the “accidental Rube Goldberg device” is about as close as I can come to it, since he more or less destroys the entire Northern Tribe’s camp in a matter of seconds. It’s a spectacle, and it also retroactively changes Bumi’s character. Why? BECAUSE NOW IT’S ENTIRELY POSSIBLE THAT EVERY SINGLE STORY HE EVER TOLD, NO MATTER HOW RIDICULOUS, WAS COMPLETELY TRUE.
Bless this show.
The Fight
What a fantastic action sequence, y’all. I love how epic and frightening it is. With Jinora trapped in the spirit world, it’s now a believable risk that any of them might get trapped there. So there’s a sense of urgency here that’s palpable and credible. At any given moment during the final scene of “Harmonic Convergence,” I felt like these characters were outnumbered. And it was easy to think that! The dynamic here invokes an underdog feel to the fight. How the hell are these people going to beat back an entire army of dark spirits?
Actually, it’s not just the dark spirits that they have to worry about. How about that casual reveal that Unalaq is going to merge with Vaatu to become THE NEXT AVATAR? And given that Vaatu escapes at the end of this episode, that means there’s an even higher chance we’ll see two Avatars activated at once. A Dark Avatar??? LIKE THIS IS A REAL POSSIBILITY. So is everything going wrong, because there are two episodes left, not one. I’M NERVOUS. Y’ALL. SO NERVOUS.
The video for “Harmonic Convergence” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– The Mark Does Stuff Tour 2015 is now live and includes dates across the U.S., Canada, Europe, the U.K., and Ireland. Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates / Appearances page.
– My Master Schedule is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often. My next Double Features for Mark Watches will be the remainder of The Legend of Korra, series 8 of Doctor Who, and Kings. On Mark Reads, Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series will replace the Emelan books.
- Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook! I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!
– If you would like to support this website and keep Mark Does Stuff running, I’ve put up a detailed post explaining how you can!
– Please check out the MarkDoesStuff.com. All Mark Watches videos for past shows/season are now archived there!
