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amanuensis1While I sit here gnawing my arm waiting for The Avengers, I gotta say, the most recent episode of The Legend of Korra, "The Spirit of Competition," is one of the most perfect pieces of storytelling I've encountered in a less-than-half-hour episode. That? Coulda been a freaking season on another show. An agonizing, why-are-you-stretching-it-out-this-way season.
I think one of the things that delights me so about the Avatar TLA universe is that it refuses to get caught in the "If Only Those Characters Had Talked About What They'd Seen For Just Fifteen Seconds We'd Have Got Past That Misunderstanding And Could Have Avoided That Whole Plot" cliché. (I'm sure there's a shorter TV Trope name for it.) ATLA refuses to do that. People see something, they misunderstand, but are shortly talking about it and working it out so that we can get on with better story.
I really can't recall an "Underdog Sports Plot" where the heroes were allowed to look competent and kick some opposing team butt first off. I was gaping! When do we ever get that sort of thing?
Bolin! I love you, Bolin. Sure, Korra isn't feeling the romantic vibes for you, but I think the two of you can get married anyway and she can fall in love with you after you've built up a marriage based on respect, common ground, stability, and devotion. It would work.
Having said that, I love Korra's thing for Mako and Mako's for Korra. Mako's such a gentleman. Yes, I said that and meant it. He's with another girl right now, a splendid girl whom he shouldn't take lightly, and he's not about to let that go just yet nor is he going to run around behind her back. I'm quite happy to sit back and watch how that's going to develop.
I love Korra taking romantic advice from pre-pubescent girls whose sources of wisdom are the ATLA universe's equivalent of Tolkien and My Little Pony. I love Bolin competently stepping up to take charge of the face-off, unafraid to make the decision when his big brother is having an off game. I love Mako swallowing his pride and telling Korra the complicated truth about how he feels, and I love Bolin's sobbing reaction--not angry, not seething, but honest miserable blubbering. I love the Nickelodeon-friendly show having Bolin carb-bloated on noodles instead of inebriated so that it amounts to the same effect. I love Pabu waddling his fat little belly out the door. I love how Mako and Bolin aren't just brothers, they're guys, and how resolution sometimes is as simple as admitting, "Girls. Sheesh." And I love Korra being allowed the plotly honor of a last-second one-woman knockout comeback--it's her show, after all!
I just kept saying, "This is perfect," with every new shift in that story. It really was.
I think one of the things that delights me so about the Avatar TLA universe is that it refuses to get caught in the "If Only Those Characters Had Talked About What They'd Seen For Just Fifteen Seconds We'd Have Got Past That Misunderstanding And Could Have Avoided That Whole Plot" cliché. (I'm sure there's a shorter TV Trope name for it.) ATLA refuses to do that. People see something, they misunderstand, but are shortly talking about it and working it out so that we can get on with better story.
I really can't recall an "Underdog Sports Plot" where the heroes were allowed to look competent and kick some opposing team butt first off. I was gaping! When do we ever get that sort of thing?
Bolin! I love you, Bolin. Sure, Korra isn't feeling the romantic vibes for you, but I think the two of you can get married anyway and she can fall in love with you after you've built up a marriage based on respect, common ground, stability, and devotion. It would work.
Having said that, I love Korra's thing for Mako and Mako's for Korra. Mako's such a gentleman. Yes, I said that and meant it. He's with another girl right now, a splendid girl whom he shouldn't take lightly, and he's not about to let that go just yet nor is he going to run around behind her back. I'm quite happy to sit back and watch how that's going to develop.
I love Korra taking romantic advice from pre-pubescent girls whose sources of wisdom are the ATLA universe's equivalent of Tolkien and My Little Pony. I love Bolin competently stepping up to take charge of the face-off, unafraid to make the decision when his big brother is having an off game. I love Mako swallowing his pride and telling Korra the complicated truth about how he feels, and I love Bolin's sobbing reaction--not angry, not seething, but honest miserable blubbering. I love the Nickelodeon-friendly show having Bolin carb-bloated on noodles instead of inebriated so that it amounts to the same effect. I love Pabu waddling his fat little belly out the door. I love how Mako and Bolin aren't just brothers, they're guys, and how resolution sometimes is as simple as admitting, "Girls. Sheesh." And I love Korra being allowed the plotly honor of a last-second one-woman knockout comeback--it's her show, after all!
I just kept saying, "This is perfect," with every new shift in that story. It really was.
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Date: 2012-05-06 11:46 am (UTC)And everyone communicates. It blows my mind in the best way.
*goes to look up those character names (I can't remember everyone yet DON'T BE MAD.)*
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Date: 2012-05-06 04:35 pm (UTC)And Bolin is such an absolute sweetheart. His flailing arms. His comfort-eating binge. His tears, and his kickassery, and his admission that his feelings were hurt and now he needs some praise ... the show has gotten some well-deserved praise for writing non-stereotypical female characters, but it deserves just as much for writing non-stereotypical male characters too.