1x06 And the Winner Is...

[8.7/10] One of the great things about Avatar: The Last Airbender was that it was a generational story. Sure, it was a story about what the Aang Gang were doing in the here and now, but it was also a story about what had happened with Katara’s parents and with Zuko’s parents when they were all much younger, and about what had happened with Aang a century ago, and even about what had happened with Avatar Roku and and Fire Lord Azulon. That allowed the show to progress things in the present day, but also give our heroes a sense of place in history, filling in gaps between then and now.

The Legend of Korra is managing to do the same thing, and it’s the benefit that the seventy-year time jump provides. We already know the major events that happened lo’ those many years ago, but the seven-decade skip ahead allows the show to gesture toward Aang’s defeat of a subsequent threat, and to a time when Tenzin and Lynn Beifong were young men and women. If there’s one thing that sets show in Avatarland apart, it’s that these series always use the past to inform the present, and in the process, explore causes and effects.

“And the Winner Is” mostly achieves this in the tension between Tenzin and Lynn. The reveal that there’s a romantic history and bad blood between them adds layers to Tenzin’s dignified stoicism and Lynn’s gruff demeanor. It also gives power to the notion of the two of them setting aside their differences to defend the city from Amon’s threats against the bending championship match.

That match takes up most of the middle portion of the episode. The confrontation between the Fire Ferrets and the Wolf Bats is some of the show’s superb animation coming to the fore. The elemental effects are outstanding, and the sequences tell a nice story of our heroes giving it everything they have and scoring some unexpected points despite the refs clearly being biased in favor of their opponents. (It’s unclear at present whether the payoff comes from the scummy Wolf Bat leader, or more likely, was a ploy by Amon so he could defeat “the best benders in the world” while still leaving The Avatar for Later.)

But the masterstroke of “Winner” is punctuating the moment of defeat and glory and sporting accomplishment with a much more serious encounter. The imagery of fans in the stands slowly donning masks and revealing their arm-tasers amid the fanfare was truly ominous. There’s a cleverness to having electricity-wielders take out a metal-bending defense force. And the way the bad guys slowly neutralize our heroes and make way for Oman was intimidating in the best way.

Naturally, Oman uses the occasion to demonstrate his powers and give a “new world order” speech announcing that the revolution has begun. There’s shades of Syndrome from The Incredibles here, with the idea that technology has allowed non-benders to stand equal with their element-wielding counterparts and that it’s rectifying something unfair. There’s also, naturally, some commentary on the benefits and drawbacks of technology there.

But before we can ruminate too long on the philosophical implications of Oman’s oratory, the incident erupts into a superlative sequence where Korra goes after him and his goons as they attempt to sneak away by dirigible. It calls to mind the many sequences in Batman: The Animated Series where the caped crusader went after The Joker on similar terms. The blocking and animation are superb, with cirque de solei-esque acrobatics in force as Korra struggles to take out her bete noir.

What adds meaning to this fight is that Lynn jumps in to help. Despite her issues with Tenzin and, by extension, The Avatar, she recognizes that Korra’s project is a vital one and risks her own life to fight the Equalists and save Korra’s. It’s adds a nice bit of character to the proceedings which could easily have just gotten by of the coolness of explosions and gravity-defying combat.

All-in-all “Winner” works as a stellar culmination of the first half of this season, combining the pro-bending elements of the story, the Equalist threat, and the generational character dynamics into one tremendous mid-season climax. Excited to see where the show goes from here.