[7.8/10] Plenty of cool and/or interesting stuff here. I think my favorite part, at the end of the day, was that the episode gives Bumi a chance to shine. I like the idea that the episode sets up his stories, which always end up sounding like obvious tall tales, and then ends up having him save the day through such an unlikely and spontaneous matter that no one would believe him, even though we just watched it. In an episode with such dramatic developments, Bumi allows TLoK to have a bit of fun that livens the material and lets a secondary character be the hero.
I also appreciate that we finally get a bit of shading for Unalaq. Look, the fact that he just wants to become the Dark Avatar is pretty cheesy in a Cobra Commander sort of way, but I at least appreciate that this thing nominally stems from the fact that to Unalaq, “balance” with the spirit world means men and spirits living together, not apart. It’s a bit too little too late, but it adds a dimension other than evil for evil’s sake for the character. By the same token, I like the idea that as loyal as Eska and Desna are, they’re starting to question their father and express concerns that seem to be planting seeds a la Mai.
Plus, the sequence where Team Avatar 2.0 dive bombs Unalaq’s forces surrounding the Southern Spirit Portal has to be one of the most exciting, best animated and designed set pieces the Avatarverse has ever done. There’s so many thrilling feints, back and forths, and a clear goal that helps make the skirmish more than just a group of cool but empty events. The fact that the whole thing fails makes for an interesting development as well.
It seemed inevitable that Vaatu would escape and we’d have to have a showdown, but at least the episode manages to inject some excitement into a foregone conclusion speaks well of it. Bolin and Mako holding Unalaq off while Korra tries to close the portal before harmonic convergence made for a nice sequence, and while the dark kite laughing maniacally is a little too cheesy for me, it’s a nice touch that he calls Korra “Rava” and the purple hue engulfing the world is sufficiently freaky.
Overall, lots of action and fun in this one that only gets bogged down when we get back into the generic bad guy/force of evil business.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-08-14T23:15:35Z
[7.8/10] Plenty of cool and/or interesting stuff here. I think my favorite part, at the end of the day, was that the episode gives Bumi a chance to shine. I like the idea that the episode sets up his stories, which always end up sounding like obvious tall tales, and then ends up having him save the day through such an unlikely and spontaneous matter that no one would believe him, even though we just watched it. In an episode with such dramatic developments, Bumi allows TLoK to have a bit of fun that livens the material and lets a secondary character be the hero.
I also appreciate that we finally get a bit of shading for Unalaq. Look, the fact that he just wants to become the Dark Avatar is pretty cheesy in a Cobra Commander sort of way, but I at least appreciate that this thing nominally stems from the fact that to Unalaq, “balance” with the spirit world means men and spirits living together, not apart. It’s a bit too little too late, but it adds a dimension other than evil for evil’s sake for the character. By the same token, I like the idea that as loyal as Eska and Desna are, they’re starting to question their father and express concerns that seem to be planting seeds a la Mai.
Plus, the sequence where Team Avatar 2.0 dive bombs Unalaq’s forces surrounding the Southern Spirit Portal has to be one of the most exciting, best animated and designed set pieces the Avatarverse has ever done. There’s so many thrilling feints, back and forths, and a clear goal that helps make the skirmish more than just a group of cool but empty events. The fact that the whole thing fails makes for an interesting development as well.
It seemed inevitable that Vaatu would escape and we’d have to have a showdown, but at least the episode manages to inject some excitement into a foregone conclusion speaks well of it. Bolin and Mako holding Unalaq off while Korra tries to close the portal before harmonic convergence made for a nice sequence, and while the dark kite laughing maniacally is a little too cheesy for me, it’s a nice touch that he calls Korra “Rava” and the purple hue engulfing the world is sufficiently freaky.
Overall, lots of action and fun in this one that only gets bogged down when we get back into the generic bad guy/force of evil business.