The Legend of Korra: Battle of Zaofu (4x06)

Damn, this whole season is freakin' awesome. I don't have any complaints, seriously. Let's start with the plot!

Suyin and two of her sons go to Kuvira's camp to try to finish this once and for all. They figure that if they take out Kuvira, the rest of her army will disperse. However, the plan goes awry. As they try to sneak up on Kuvira while she's asleep, they find Zhu Li waiting instead. Kuvira then appears and captures Suyin and her children. Kuvira now has the moral high ground in the minds of the people - she didn't break the peace; Suyin did.

Kuvira agrees to battle one-on-one with Korra for all of Zaofu. Korra agrees, taking a stand against Kuvira while the others look on. It's a close fight, but Korra is still weak and unpracticed. Eventually, she is forced to go into the Avatar State to win. However, at the point of victory, Korra sees her own face reflected in Kuvira's, and she loses her connection with the Avatar State. Kuvira encases her in rock, and seems about ready to end it once and for all. Opal and Jinora use their Air Bending to fend Kuvira off, and Jinora then accesses her Spirit, to get a message to Ikki and Meelo. The two kids take a Flying Bison and come to the rescue, managing to get Korra out of there. Unfortunately, Suyin and the others are still at Kuvira's mercy.

Since Kuvira defeated the Avatar in single combat, she now rules over Zaofu. She demands that the former nobility of the city bow to her. When Suyin's family refuses, they are taken away to be imprisoned. Baatar tells his son, Baatar Jr. (Suyin's fiancé) that he is very disappointed in him.

Meanwhile, Bolin and Varrick are on a train en route to a "re-education camp." Varrick is forced to continue working on the Spirit Vine weapon, but he insists that he needs an assistant, so Bolin is allowed to help. Varrick creates a bomb and then puts it on a timer, saying that the whole train will explode, along with all of his notes and research on the Spirit Vine technology. Varrick refuses to leave the train, saying he'll set off the bomb if they try to take him away. Baatar and the others all evacuate the train, leaving Bolin and Varrick on board. Varrick is ready to die for his cause, it seems, but Bolin gets them both off of the train through a hatch in the floor, just before the train explodes.

Now, Kuvira and the others all believe Varrick and Bolin to be dead. However, Baatar thinks he can replicate Varrick's research and continue trying to make the weapon. He'll need an assistant, though. Zhu Li says she'd be honored to help.

I don't know that I have a single real complaint. Honestly. The only thing that slightly confuses me is why nobody is making contact with Republic City. Don't you think Tenzin would be interested to know what's going on? What about Mako? (Oh, I really, really hope that news reaches Mako that Bolin is dead. I love angst.)

Other than my wish for more of the characters to be there, I really have nothing bad to say about this episode.

First of all, it occurs to me that the big political maneuvering in this episode is pretty much all centered around women. Kuvira, Korra, Opal, Jinora, Suyin, and Zhu Li all had huge roles in this episode, and the control of Zaofu ultimately comes down to a power struggle between Kuvira and Suyin - even though Suyin is married, and Kuvira is engaged, their male partners are definitely subordinated to these two women and their political struggle.

Also, I love how the good guys broke the truce! Kuvira is actually not lying when she said that she stuck to her side of the deal, and the rulers of Zaofu are the ones who betrayed trust. Kuvira is such a political genius, too. She clearly knew that Suyin would pull something like this, because she had Zhu Li waiting in the bed instead of being there herself. What a great villian.

Varrick and Bolin were so funny. I loved how Varrick is just crazy, and he pulls off this brilliant scheme to get all the bad guys off the train, but then... he was seriously willing to die! The best moment was when Bolin slapped Varrick in the face and then grabbed the front of his shirt: "I want you to know - I hate you."

I still think that Zhu Li is only pretending to be loyal to Kuvira, but it definitely seems like Varrick is not in on it. I think this is the first time that Varrick realizes how much Zhu Li meant to him. They had a real partnership, even if Varrick did treat her like crap. Hopefully when this is all over, these two can be together again, with mutual respect existing between them at last.

There were lots of great jokes in this episode, actually. This was probably the funniest episode of the season. I loved the part with the paintings, and Suyin's "artistic" son saying "you're crushing my individuality!" when Kuvira's soldiers took him away. Meelo got some great lines, too. Even though a lot of really serious things happened in this episode, it still felt really humorous and quippy, which I love.

Then there's the fact that Korra isn't alright yet. She still has some psychological demons to battle. The metal is out of her body, but she's not just back to her old self. She has a long journey to recovery ahead of her still. I'm so happy that they're drawing this out. I honestly thought it was going to be over now, that Korra was going to be back to her bad ass self. And she is bad ass, don't get me wrong. But she's not just instantly fully recovered, which is great. I love that she was almost evenly matched with Kuvira, but going into the Avatar State actually ended up precipitating her downfall.

I think I'll leave it there. I'm just so freakin' happy with how this show is going. It keeps getting better and better. I'm so bummed that this is the last season.

10/10