The Legend of Korra: Civil Wars, Part 1 (2x03)

Excellent. This is by far the best episode of The Legend of Korra we've had yet. It brought in some interesting conflicts and developed several of the characters in ways we haven't seen yet.

So, there were two main plots this week. First of all, the Northern Water Tribe is basically occupying the Southern Water Tribe. Things are very tense. Unalaq tells Korra that she must not take sides, and must try at all costs to prevent a civil war. She does her best, but unfortunately the Southern Tribe sees her actions as a betrayal. Meanwhile, Varrick is planning a rebellion against Unalaq. Korra shows up in time to stop a kidnapping attempt on Unalaq, horrified in thinking that her father is among the insurrectionists. When she discovers that he is not, she is so grateful that she returns home to apologize for all of the strife between them. Then... Unalaq appears, putting Korra's parents under arrest. 

I liked seeing Korra struggle with her duties as the Avatar. She has been craving the power and responsibility of being the Avatar for such a long time that once Unalaq gives it to her, she wants so badly to trust him. It's interesting, because Unalaq isn't shown as a totally unsympathetic character. He is certainly creepy, but he's not killing people in the streets or anything. He's a man who very firmly believes in something, and has lost sight of how best to go about getting it. It makes sense that Korra would be taken in by all his talk of "restoring balance" and whatnot. 

Mako was barely in the episode, other than as someone to offer Korra the moral support she needs. My feminist side delights in the fact that Korra's having to deal with all of this on her own, while Mako basically sits back and does nothing. However, I do hope his character gets his own plot very quickly, or finds some way to help Korra in the coming days. I want to see Mako do some bending!

Bolin was also relegated to a small roll this week. His relationship with Eska continues, and I must say, there are some good jokes here. Eska tells Bolin that when she returns to the North, he will accompany her. Bolin runs to Mako, freaking out. His brother tells him to break up with her. Bolin can't figure out how to go about doing that, however, since Eska seems to refuse to let him go. This all culminates in an extremely awkward dinner outing. It's Korra and Mako, with Bolin and Eska... and Desna. Those two are weirdly co-dependent.

I liked this comic relief subplot, although once again I do hope that we can see Bolin in a more serious role in the coming weeks. Given that Eska is the daughter of Unalaq, there could be some interesting moments of tension between them as Bolin has to decided where his loyalties lie. I would love to know more about the twins, beyond just their creepy dead tones and identical movements.

And then there's the other main plot of the week. Tenzin and family are enjoying their time at the Air Temple, when we learn that Ikki has run off. Pema and the other kids stay at the temple while Tenzin goes out to look... and his sister and brother tag along. The rest of the episode basically just follows them as they attempt to find Ikki. Since this is just Part 1 of "Civil Wars," we don't find out what happened to Ikki. Instead, we get to focus on the most interesting character dynamic that this show currently has to offer.

Tenzin and his siblings are quarreling, like siblings do, but instead of the comic relief we've thus far gotten from Bumi and Kya, things turn serious. Tenzin  keeps waxing poetic about their great childhood, and about all the fun family vacations they went on around the world, when Kya and Bumi tell him he's wrong. Apparently, Aang took Tenzin on all these great trips, but not his other two children. They say that their father was too busy always trying to save the world to be a good father to them.

Woah. That's some heavy stuff, Nickelodeon. Are you telling me that adorable little Aang grew up to be an absentee father? That he showed blatant favoritism towards one of his children? Bumi and Kya don't seem to resent Aang to a large degree, but you can tell they both get tired of Tenzin's behavior concerning Air Bending: Aang must have had the same attitude, that they have the weight of an entire culture on their shoulders. The other two children of the most famous Avatar ever are understandably a bit bitter about Tenzin's attitude.

And then of course Bumi has an extra dose of bitterness, because at least Kya is a Water Bender. Bumi isn't a Bender, which is of course no reason not to be a bad ass (see: Sokka, Asami) but it must make it particularly difficult to be the child of the Avatar if you aren't a Bender. There's this fantastic scene where Bumi tries to jump down a cliff side on these rocks, and Kya and Tenzin both just use their Bending to dart down, no problem. Bumi falls and hurts himself, and Kya heals him, all the while chastising him about the fact that he has to stop trying to do everything that a Bender can do. (They reminded me so much of Katara and Sokka in this scene that I choked up a bit).

In short, this plot tread was fantastic. It brought out all these complexities and layers into characters we really didn't know much about. I'm excited to see how this will continue to develop. 

So. I really don't have any major complaints about this one! That's really nice to say, because The Legend of Korra ordinarily has some pretty bad stumbling blocks. If the show can keep up this momentum, I'm going to be very pleased!

9.5/10