History Recap / TheLegendOfKorraS4E10OperationBeifong

* ShipSinking: Toph had no canonical love interest in ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', but obviously that didn't stope people from shipping her with various characters from that show. When it was revealed Toph's daughter Lin would be a major character in ''The Legend of Korra'', there was a lot of speculation that Lin's father would be revealed as one of the male characters from the previous show, with Sokka being a popular candidate. This episode sinks all of those theories, though Suyin's father is still not revealed, and of course it's also possible Toph might have had a separate relationship that didn't lead to any kids with a character from the previous show. It's still clear that Toph didn't end up in a HappilyEverAfter type of romantic relationship with anyone, as she prefers to live by herself in the swamp,

** When it comes to Lin and Toph's argument, Lin is right that Toph should have told her about her father earlier, and Toph has a point about how Lin is holding onto old grudges.

** Toph points her finger in an authoritative gesture while not facing the person she's addressing, as she obviously does not care which way she's looking.

* PassingTheTorch: Toph officially retires the old Team Avatar and leaves the heroics to Korra and her friends.

** Toph gives one of these to her daughters at the end of the episode after admitting she wasn't the best mother.

** Just to drive the point from the pilot home, the reason the surviving members of the Gaang haven't had large roles in this series is sad, but simple: they're ''old'', and can't fight as long as they used to. While the original series did feature a team of BadassGrandpa's retaking Ba Sing Sé by themselves (one of whom was a centenarian), not everyone will age that well.

** Just to drive the point from the pilot home, the reason the surviving members of the Gaang haven't had large roles in this series is sad, but simple: they're ''old'', and can't fight as long as they used to.

* [[CallingTheOldManOut Calling The Old Woman Out]]: Lin finally unleashes decades of anger and frustration with her mother.
-->'''Lin:''' "After I patched things up with Su, I figured maybe I should try to reach out to mom. But now that we're together again, I remember why we stopped talking. You make me furious, and you don't even know why. And when I tell you, you don't ''care''. Once we save Su, you and I are finished."

* AudienceSurrogate: Bolin asks the question on everyone's mind: who is Lin's dad? Unlike the big brouhaha over where Zuko's mom went, Toph gives a straight answer. Said answer is blunt and anti-climatic. Bolin reacts accordingly.

** When it was revealed that Lin's father is someone named Kanto, a person of no importance, [[AntiClimax including the audience]]. Missing parents are not automatically indicative of a special lineage, and finding out who they are is seldom going to be as shocking a revelation as it typically is in fiction. Just because the audience know the two characters, doesn't mean they'll hook up together.

* SchizoTech: Bataar Jr. pulls out what look like printed circuit boards from a compartment on the Spirit Cannon during the near-explosion [[spoiler:caused by Zhu Li's first shown attempt at sabotage]].

* PetTheDog: Bataar Jr. seeing Opal in the spirit weapon firing line and yelling that they need to stop the firing sequence.

* BadassGrandma: This gets deconstructed a bit, with Toph pointing out that the old Team Avatar members are getting old and aren't as capable in battle anymore, which is why they haven't been as prominent (with Toph citing Katara not taking an active role in the Water Tribe Civil War as an example).

** Turns out, people don't take it well when they grow up without their [[DisappearedDad father]] or their [[MissingMom mother]]. Lin may be in her fifties, but she's still angry she never knew her dad.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As mentioned above and below, Baatar Jr. may have locked up his own family,p but was aghast when he saw Opal in the firing path of the spirit vine cannon.

* DumbassHasAPoint: Wu suggests evacuating Republic City because of the spirit vines growing hostile and Kuvira's impeding attack, which Raiko and Mako concede is a good idea. Mako gets annoyed when it turns out that [[JerkWithAHeartOfJerk it was just to impress Korra]].

** Mako tells Wu this after the before-mentioned DumbassHasAPoint moment, adding that with this thinking, he would be a king he (Mako) would serve. Subverted when he Wu says he wanted to look good so Korra would date him, forcing Mako to retract his previous statement.

* SoProudOfYou: Mako tells Wu this after the before-mentioned DumbassHasAPoint moment, adding that with this thinking, he would be a king he (Mako) would serve. Subverted when he Wu says he wanted to look good so Korra would date him, forcing Mako to retract his previous statement.

** The carrot spirit Wan befriended when he lived at Aye-Aye's oasis shows up at the Tree of Time, or at least a member of his kind does.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Baatar Jr.'s WaveMotionGun is actually modeled off of a RealLife weapon, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwerer_Gustav Schwerer Gustav]] [[http://worldwar2database.com/sites/default/files/wwii0213.jpg railroad gun]].

* EvenEvilHasStandards: As mentioned above and below, Baatar Jr. may locked up his own family up but was aghast when he saw Opal in the line of the spirit vine cannon.