Today, May 19, 2154, after nearly 6 years in cryosleep, Marine veteran Jake Sully arrives on Pandora to participate in the Avatar Program (Avatar, 2009)
One year ago today I posted this miniature Avatar: The way of Water photo I created using my old faithful practical effect water technique 'tin foil'. All that CGI James Cameron used and he should have just got an industrial supply of foil 😝
• #avatar#miniaturephotography#toyphotography#photography#movies#practicaleffects
Ok. With Korra in Fortnite, and re-opening wounds from the first time I tried to watch that show (how dramatic!), I think I'm gonna try and rewatch that show again... try to enjoy it.... (and probably fail)... and torture you all with my thoughts on a decade old show.
I love Eska. She cracks me up.
I also love the business guy. Varick, I think his name is.
Hrm. Bolin was goofy before, but he never struck me as dumb. I think they knocked his IQ* down a few notches too.
Sibling/family sub-plot is precious. I love these parts.
Korra x Naga's Good cop, bad cop routine is beautiful. Oh look! The guy I called on being the bad guy turned out to be the bad guy.
Platypus Bear pooping money is... I appreciate these goofy moments of levity.
Using fire bending as a jet engine is an interesting idea. I mean... Korra could have just air bended the plane into the air, but ok.
I think I liked this one a bit better than the last one because of the fun jokes and goofy moments. Also, Korra didn't come across as a "total" moron, even though I was seriously questioning her intelligence at the beginning.
*IQ is a stupid concept and I use the term as a loose synonym for intelligence because the phrasing feels good.
Where did this idea that the Avatar needs to be neutral come from? They keep hammering Korra on this. If a scale is tipping to the left, you're not going to bring balance by applying weight to the center... I mean... not unless you use overwhelming force. No. You put weight on the right. I don't recall any of this in TLA.
"If you can't make money during a war, you just can't flat out make money" - Varrick
Damn. That's a line.
Oh. We're doing war propaganda.
Korra and Mako broke up and she's now fighting the twins on the ocean... and some kaiju spirit is slapping her around, and she just avatar stated... which again did nothing... and she got eaten. Korra's avatar state blows... and yet... that was the best part of this episode.
No. I did not feel this one. Not a fan. Basically nothing happened but some political shit and brainstorming about failed ideas. I hate skipping episodes, even when rewatching shows, but I'd consider skipping this one. 👎
Ok. So... we're looking to figure out who's doing crimes. Mako and Asami wanna lay a trap. I couldn't care less about this plot point, but ok.
Jesus Christ! Bolin! Unscripted kiss? Way to respect Ginger's fucking boundaries, dipshit. So... Bolin really can't tell the difference between the character he's playing and himself. The guy literally can't tell truth from fiction.
Ok... so there's a double-cross and now Asami and Mako are on the run from the thugs they hired to help them run the sting... which means... nothing was accomplished... aside from bankrupting Asami. Which... I guess is a big character moment... oh... which is being used to get her back together with Mako? Great... she sprung a kiss on Mako, now!
Oh snap! Ok. I like the twist of Varrick bein' the ruthless business dude. I'm suddenly interested now.
And Korra has amnesia now.
Ok... so like the whole episode really wasn't pulling me in, but those last 5 minutes or so had some fun twists. I'll give this one a positive leaning meh... but still meh.
Oh shit! It's the origins of the Avatar episodes! I don't remember anything, but I do remember that I liked it the first time I watched it. The setup feels really convoluted though. Korra loses her memory and then just happens to wash up on a shore with some people who know to take her to some pool so that she can... something? I remember liking the origin story, but how we got here is dumb as shit.
Tree guy? There's a half tree, half guy, guy. I'm really liking the art in the telling of this story.
Ok, I like how the last season we had benders have all the power, to a story where bending is a tool to take the power from greed. At least initially.
This spirit forest is cool as hell. I want more early world of Avatar stuff. The world is strange and alien and so ripe for neat adventure.
Oh... there is a strong Spirited Away vibe here.
Wan... you naive dumbass. Unleashing chaos on the world.
To Be Continued!
Yeah... I still like this part. Better than any of the regular episodes so far this season.
What the fuck are the people standing around Korra talking about?
Yeeeeaaaaaaah! More Avatar Wan!
Hrm. Why does Ravva need to hold the power until Wan masters it? That feels a little convoluted. Turtle bro makes it sound like Wan could possibly do it, but he's gonna add an arbitrary limitation that Ravva has to carry it? Or... maybe my thinking that it's a case that humans "can't" control that much power, is wrong... and it's more of that the turtle knows it can trust Ravva to not abuse the power, but doesn't know it can trust Wan? I dunno.
Oh! Ok. So Ravva is literally just holding it until Wan's ready.
Hrm... I would have liked a little more heads up that Wan would have become aware that he and Ravva could fuse together to boost his power. It feels like it just comes out of nowhere. Like... I guess you could say we learn that spirits can possess people and they impart part of themselves on the people.
Ok. Cool. I really liked that... aaaand now we're back to Korra... and everything feels rushed and nothing makes sense. Great.
While I kinda binged my way through season 1, I needed a break from Season 2's bullshit. That's why this post is a bit more spread out from the previous ones. Anyways, into the episode.
I liked the bit with Jinora playing with the spirits that only she could see. I really do like the theme of the season. The spirits of the world of Avatar were always super neat to me... this mysterious aspect to the lore.
Nobody believes Mako that Varrick is a douche. Part of me is frustrated... another part of me recognizes that they benefit too much from their relationships with Varrick and it's likely altering their judgement... so... I guess at least that's something that makes sense in this plot.
Ok... I'm feeling this whole Varrick intimidating Mako and then framing him for much crime. It feels like the Tenzin leading Korra into the spirit world subplot was stupid rushed, like so much this season. It's just Tenzin going on and on about how he can do it, and then being butthurt, and then eventually without any actual "aha" moment eventually just goes "Welp! Guess I suck. Jinora, you do it".
Kind of a meh-pisode. I don't know... I feel like things are just jumping all over the place, dumping exposition while at the same time repeating the same crap over and over again.
So Korra and Jinora in the spirit world and Korra's acting like a butt as if she learned nothing and I think I've finally put my finger on the main problem this season has. The actions that characters take are in service of the plot rather than in service of the characters.
The writers had a story they wanted to tell, and needed the characters to act in a certain way for it to work, but the actions the characters take are not in line with who the characters are. It's why it feels like the plot is this ethereal force that's just moving everything forward whether the characters are ready for it or not.
I'd compare it to the flow of a campaign from a first time Game/Dungeon Master. They have a cool plot they want to share with the players, but aren't letting the players actually take the time to play their characters and see where those characters take them. It's railroading, to use a tabletop RPG term.
That all said... I like this episode. The idea that people's own spiritual state impacts everything around them in the spirit world is really cool. We get to see Korra's insecurities and demons on display externally around her. So, while my criticisms of the season as a whole stand. This episode works well as a character story... mostly.
Library Owl guy taking "I'm with the Avatar" as a convincing argument as to why Jinora could read in the library, seemed forced. Nice to see Iroh though.
Liked this one. Not the best, but it's been one of the better (non-Wan) episodes of Season 2.
I dunno. I just feel like Bolin's complete betrayal of Mako is so... WTF? Maybe I got the wrong impression from him in the first season, but it seems wrong for him. He visits Mako in jail and is all like "Sucks that you're guilty of crime. Here, have a poster of me"
Varrick is great. Hate the guy, but that's because he's a great villain character.
I love how they lean into the cheesiness of old movies with the propaganda film. Fun to watch.
The back half of this episode was fun to watch. Bolin's fight being sync'd up with the "mover" in the background was a cool touch.
Apparently Korra's memory is messed up and now she doesn't remember her fight with Mako. I have a feeling that's going to be very "convenient" for some other convoluted story point later.
I liked this one. It wasn't fantastic, but definitely watchable. I think the railroading was minimal, so things felt a bit more natural.