The Legend of Korra: The Southern Lights (2x02)

The second episode of this season of The Legend of Korra was nearly as strong as its opening. Overall, the setup worked very well, as this story was told on a much smaller scale than the premiere. A group comprised of Korra, Mako, Bolin, Tonraq, Unalaq, and the twins Desna and Eska all set off to the South Pole to help restore balance to the Spirit World. Meanwhile, Tenzin and his family go to visit the Southern Air Temple.

So. Korra and the gang go on a fun little road trip through the snow. It's not actually all that fun, however, because Korra is angry at her father for still trying to be so controlling. Tonraq is worried about his daughter,  and he's angry at Unalaq. Unalaq says that Korra must open a Spirit Portal at the South Pole. Even worse, she most open it at the Winter Solstice - tomorrow! Unalaq explains that the Southern Water Tribe has been spiritually ruined, and that Korra can help by opening the Spirit Portal and allowing the Spirits to dance in the southern skies once more.

Well, that sounds dandy! Nothing at all suspicious could be going on here, especially not with Tonraq practically turning blue in the face telling Korra what a bad idea this is. Mako, Bolin, and the twins are silent on the matter. Korra is basically stuck between her father and her uncle.

One of the strongest parts of the episode involved a flashback where Tonraq told the story of how he was banished from the Northern Water Tribe. He was a general, and he had been leading his men against barbarians when, in order to beat them, he inadvertently destroyed a sacred forest and released angry spirits on the village. Korra is horrified to hear this story, and is stunned that her father wouldn't tell her about this. She sends Tonraq away, and the rest continue on their journey to the South Pole.

Meanwhile, Tenzin and his children arrive at the Southern Air Temple. The people there are very excited to see Tenzin, especially. They have a moment of excitement when they see Bumi and Kya, until they learn that they are not Air Benders like their father and their brother. (I have to admit, this moment broke my suspension of disbelief a little bit. These Air Temple guys are avid supporters and protectors of the nearly lost art of Air Bending. And Aang is pretty much the most famous person... ever. Did they really not know that Aang had three children? I could be just splitting hairs, but that bothered me).

Anyways, Tenzin, Pema, and the kids all receive a warm welcome, and they go to look at the statues of all the past avatars. Jinora in particular seems very interested in the statues. She eventually finds a very old statue, seemingly made from wood, and is utterly captivated by it.

Back at the South Pole, Korra learns from Unalaq that she must enter this beautiful ice cave and open the Spirit Portal within. The thing is, the Avatar must do it alone. Mako and Bolin are upset about this, but Unalaq basically tells Korra that he believes in her, and she braves the journey alone. This was a weak spot for me. Korra has been given no training by Unalaq about how to commune with the Spirits. None whatsoever. And now she's just expected to handle this? I know Korra was getting tired of everyone controlling her, but this seems to be an extreme opposite.

Anyways, she goes into the ice cave and encounters some mean Spirits. This section of the episode had the most beautiful animation. I was captivated by all the visual beauty. She finally sees this sort of orb thing under the ice, and she tries to gain access to it using her bending techniques. Predictably, it doesn't work. Suddenly, a bunch of Spirits attack Korra. Just when it seems helpless, she enters the Avatar State and touches the Portal. It bursts open, and we see outside that the Southern Lights now fill the skies. At the same moment, far away in the Air Temple, Jinora watches in wonder as the Avatar statue lights up from within due to Korra entering the Avatar State.

Again, the animation here is stunning. I really appreciated how the two story lines connected, and I'm curious to see how Jinora's obvious fascination with the Avatars of the past will play out into the later development of her character. But I also had problems with this scene.

In the first episode, we see Korra go into the Avatar state to win a racing game against Tenzin's kids. Now, in this episode, we see her use it to open a Spirit Portal, something she has been given absolutely no instruction about. Now, back in the Better-Old-Days of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the Avatar State was a really, really big deal. Aang only did it a handful of times throughout the three seasons, and it was always seen as a last resort. On top of that, the Avatar State didn't just make him automatically bad ass. It channeled the powers of the entire Avatar line, and it was a powerful yet dangerous step to take.

Korra seems to be using the Avatar State as a shortcut. Now, this could end up being a cool part of the story and of her character's development. Maybe she becomes dependent on the Avatar State and has to learn how not to use it. But right now, all I'm seeing is a quick way to make Korra into a flawless warrior.

And then we must talk about the ending. Unalaq, Bolin, Mako, etc. are all very proud of Korra's accomplishment in opening the portal. All seems well, until we see our heroes return to the Southern Water Tribe. Something truthfully frightening awaits them there - a large fleet of ships from the North.

Concerned, Korra asks Unalaq what all his ships are doing here. Unalaq replies that although Korra has helped, "there's more difficult work to be done before our two tribes are truly united." In short...

Then, everything changed when the Water Nation attacked.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

In summary: this episode had a lot of good things going for it. The story was more focused than the first episode of the season, which I liked. It followed a smaller group of characters, and involved a journey of some sort. I particularly loved the tension between Unalaq and Tonraq, the growing hilarity of Bolin's relationship with Eska, and the amazing animation in the ice cave at the end.

However, I am a bit annoyed with the use of the Avatar State as a plot device. As I mentioned above, I hope we can see Korra struggle with her identity as the Avatar a bit more. I always enjoyed watching Aang struggle to learn and adapt his bending skills, and I wish we could see more of that with Korra.

The end of this episode was a brilliant cliffhanger, I must say. The Water Nation in a Civil War! It makes me very excited to see what we'll get moving forward.

7.5/10