The Legend of Korra: The Calling (4x04)

I loved this. It was like watching an episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender again. While still advancing the major plot of the season, we also got to see a typical travel episode, with three little kids on a journey to find something important! Just like the old days.

Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo set off on their journey to find Korra. Jinora cannot seem to find a connection to Korra, no matter how hard she tries. Little does she know, Korra is cut off from her Avatar State and thus her Spirit is inaccessible. And that's not the only obstacle to finding Korra: the three siblings seem to have a hard time getting along.

Meelo keeps trying to take charge, and acts impetuous. Ikki is constantly interrupting her siblings - she scares away the girl that Meelo is flirting with, and she interrupts Jinora's attempts to meditate. Ikki wanders off, annoyed at her siblings for not letting her help. She is captured by two Earth Empire soldiers, who are working for Kuvira. Turns out, they're pretty nice guys. When Ikki explains how she feels left out of the mission, the soldiers sympathize, because they've been given this post out of the way of everyone else, and they feel left out of the Earth Empire. They help Ikki try to figure out where Korra might be. Ikki sees the swamp on the map, and realizes that it might be a good place for someone to hide.

Meelo and Jinora find Ikki and "save" her from the soldiers, even though she didn't really need much saving. She says that the swamp is a good place to look for Korra. As they are flying overhead, Jinora and Meelo both say that they're not so sure, but Ikki is determined that Korra could be down there.

Meanwhile, Korra is frustrated because Toph isn't helping her at all. They've just been sitting around in the swamp for two days doing nothing. Toph finally sends Korra on an errand to get some mushrooms for dinner. She wanders into the swamp and gets lost, and there she is confronted with frightening visions of her past, and all the times that her enemies have hurt her. Toph shows up, revealing that she figured something like that might happen. She encourages Korra to try to let the past go, by acknowledging the complexity of her enemies: Amon wanted equality, Unalaq brought the Spirits back, and Zaheer believed in freedom. They just went too far with their ideologies. Korra realizes that Toph has a point.

When Tenzin's three kids start to leave, because Meelo and Jinora don't think Korra will be in the swamp, the swamp itself intervenes and pulls them down to see Korra. After a joyful reunion, Korra is finally ready to let go of her demons, and Bend the rest of the metal out of her body. She does so, finally reconnecting herself to the Avatar State. The Avatar is back!

I don't really have complaints. I mean... there were a few moments of rather juvenile humor, but I feel stupid about saying that, because of course this show is supposed to be for kids as well as for older viewers. Still, a few of these moments, such as Meelo making a "boys only" joke and his antics with the bad berries... I could have done without them.

I've seen a few people complaining about the Empire Strikes Back-ish nature of this whole Korra plot, but I gotta say... I don't mind a good reference every once in a while. I don't think it's overdone. Still, I figured I should mention it because some people don't like it, I guess.

But everything else was just... oh my word.

These three siblings, traveling around on a Flying Bison... I was having such Sokka, Katara, and Aang flashbacks. It was glorious. I loved the complexity of these three characters, as they work together at some points, but also clash at others. In particular, Ikki got a chance to shine. Of the three kids, she's had the least amount of attention thus far, so it was nice to see her in the spotlight. I loved it when she was tied up by the Earth Empire guards and then when she needs to point to the map, she just slips her arms out of the ropes, as easy as can be, and calmly starts explaining things. Her ability to manipulate the situation to her advantage shows some real intelligence that we haven't seen from her before. Jinora has her intense Spiritual connection, and Meelo has his determined and pushy bravery. Ikki was sort of poorly defined until now, but now I can see her as a clever thinker, almost a politician in her own right.

Of course, in the end all three of the children were essential to the completion of their goal. Ikki was the one who got them to the swamp, Jinora was the one who felt the connection to Korra once they got there, and Meelo was the one who discovered the lead that lead them in the right direction towards the swamp in the first place. This message of teamwork is maybe a simple one, but it was one that was vitally important in the original show, and it's nice to see it reinforced here.

I loved the moment at the very top of the episode where Pema and Tenzin sent the kids off. It might seem silly that they trusted something this important to their children, but I think it fits in nicely with the way that adults and children function in this show, and in ATLA before it. These kids are not dismissed simply for being young. Tenzin knows that his own father was younger than Jinora when he traveled the world and defeated Fire Lord Ozai. There's a lot of trust placed on the kids of this world, which makes a lot of sense, given its target audience.

Then there's Toph and Korra's stuff. I love, love, love what Toph says to Korra about her enemies, and how she might be able to learn something from them. I'm not the only reviewer to point out that each of Korra's adversaries have been complicated characters with a lot more going on than simply bad-guy-syndrome. And maybe laying it all out like this is a bit heavy handed, but I really appreciated it. Each of these villains had an ideology behind their actions that, if practical, could have done a lot of good for the world. It's important for Korra to see that.

Also, it's wonderful that Korra had to face her past and save herself from the pain of everything that's happened to her. Nobody else could do it for her! I loved Toph's advice as Korra got ready to Metal Bend: "clear your mind, and don't freak out like the last time!" Ha. After Korra is finally back to her old self, she asks Toph permission for a hug. That was really sweet, too. Korra hugs her, and Toph just sort of vaguely pats her shoulder, as if she can hardly be bothered. Priceless.

As we move forward to the rest of the season, I'm getting more and more excited for the inevitable showdown between Kuvira and Korra. This is going to be good!

9/10