Awesome / The Legend of Korra - Book One

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"I'M THE AVATAR! YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!"

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

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Welcome to Republic City

• "I'M THE AVATAR! YOU GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!" the words might as well be directed at Nick; who were skeptical about a female lead in the show. The tiny Korra then proceeds to prove it beyond a shadow of doubt; by demonstrating that she has already gained control over three elements at the tender age of four — without ever having trained with a master.
• Republic City. Not only because some actual good came of those Fire Nation colonies that started the war in the first place, but the fact that it's a thematically appropriate Expy of New York City. Not just that, but that technology has advanced. In The Last Airbender, the most technologically advanced vehicles were submarines and essentially armed hot air balloons. Come Legend of Korra, and there are cars, electric lights, and even small airplanes are introduced towards the end of season 1. Just goes to show how much the world has changed since the first show.
• "Who do you think you are?" "Why don't you come and find out?" And then the resulting ass-kicking.
  • Korra bending three elements? That's to be expected. Korra throwing adult men across the street and through windows? That's a pleasant surprise.
• Korra's awesome chase scene through the city; a combination of the action, her agility and the pumping swing music made is just stunning.
  • The Metalbending police that are chasing her are completely unimpressed by the fact that she's the Avatar.
    • The very evolution of metalbending.
• A sort of Fridge Crowning Moment: Like Airbenders, Flying Bison have clearly not gone entirely extinct.
• Credit where it's due. The Protestor manages to trick Korra into convincing his spectators that benders do abuse their powers to oppress people.
  Korra: Bending is the coolest thing in the world!
  Protestor: Oh, yeah? Let me guess, you're a bender.
  Korra: Yeah, I am!
  Protestor: And I bet you'd just love to knock me off of this platform with some waterbending, huh?
  Korra: I'm seriously thinking about it!

A Leaf in the Wind

• The Fire Ferrets' two come-from-behind wins, with Mako soloing the opposition for a knockout in the first, and Korra making her first breakthrough in airbending in the second for another knockout when they were two rounds behind.
• Korra swimming across to the arena from Air Temple Island is pretty impressive.
• Jinora — a 10-year-old girl — effortlessly completing the gate exercise without getting a scratch on her or touching so much as a corner of them. The scene could not make it clearer that this girl has the makings of an Airbending Master!

The Revelation

• Before she and Mako go after Bolin, Korra manages to "be the leaf" and navigate through the airbending gates.
• Amon's entrance was pretty epic.
• As evil as he is, Amon's speech was superb. He has just the right charisma and logic to sway a whole crowd to adopt his own beliefs.
• Amon dodging fire blasts and lightning bolts before revealing that he can spirit-bend.
  • Keep an eye on Amon when he takes hold of Lightning Bolt Zolt's arm (the arm actively shooting lightning) as he twists it and puts him in a hold. If he was even slightly off when he did that it could have easily been fatal for either him or Zolt, displaying a type of physical martial arts mastery and precision that has never been seen from any character from the Avatar universe before.
    • Zolt's and Amon's little Q&A session? It's exactly the same lines Aang and Ozai deliver after the first use of Energybending.
• The Lieutenant's Establishing Character Moment, taking on both Mako and Bolin and kicking their asses. Followed by one for Korra, cutting off his "The Reason You Suck" Speech with a surprise earthbending attack.
  • Earlier, the duo of Faceless Goons taking on Mako and Korra and taking them down with chi-blocking techniques similar to Ty Lee's.
• After their bout with the chi-blockers, they decide to wait for the Anti-Bending protestor guy in the park, to try and get some info from him. He shows up the next morning for his usual rants, and both Korra and Mako go straight for what they're after. When he refuses to talk to them, and starts to tear into Korra with his usual bigoted speech, she immediately lets him know she'll have none of it. By both telling him off and hoisting him over her head with one arm!
• Korra takes out a Giant Mook without making use of her bending. Okay, nothing special. What does she use as a weapon instead? Mako's scarf.
  • She also manages to use his strikes to weaken the nearby pipes, breaking them by throwing him into them and providing the steam needed for a distraction. She can be a combat pragmatist when she needs to be.
• Mako flinging that Equalist over his head and high into the air like a rag doll to get him off his little brother was quite impressive. He can give Korra a run for a Charles Atlas Superpower.

A Voice In The Night

• When Tarrlok mentions Aang in his speech, this exchange happens:
  Tenzin: "How dare you compare yourself to Avatar Aang!"
• Korra immediately freezing the gas she fell for in the last episode.
  • The raid itself was pretty awesome as it was basically a SWAT raid — but with waterbending!
  • Tarrlok may be a snake, but he's right about one thing: He and Korra make an amazing team, their coordination during the raid as two extremely strong benders trivializes their Equalist opponents.
• Amon's speech is this. He has Korra in his clutches, powerless, easily able to take her bending away... but he doesn't. He tells her, in no uncertain terms, that doing so now would only rally bending support; that their showdown WILL come later, and that when it does come, he will destroy her. A spectacular display of psychological warfare, Nightmare Fuel, and Badass Boast.
  • In a way, that scene is one for Korra as well: she openly challenges him to a one-on-one, despite being utterly terrified of him, and sticks to her challenge.

The Spirit of Competition

• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Korra managing to take a leave of absence from Tarrlok's squad. Considering all the political and public pressure he pushed on her, that's impressive.
• Korra winning the Ferret's third match by subtly using air-style evasive dancing to trick her opponents into lining up in one line, then launching a waterbending strike that pushes them off the arena. Considering how much of a mess of things she made with the Love Triangle it was a good way to apologize to her teammates.
• Bolin taking charge in the second pro-bending match since Korra and Mako are too distracted to play properly, ending in a tie-breaker which he effortlessly wins.
• Tahno tries to get Korra to hit him, which would get the Fire Ferrets kicked out of the tournament. Instead, she whistles for Naga, who wipes the smirk off his face.
  • Just before, Bolin warns her "don't make eye-contact!" whereupon she very deliberately makes eye contact.
• What about the beginning of the episode when the Fire Ferrets curbstomp their competitors with utmost ease?
• The fact that the Wolfbats beat their opponents in a matter of minutes and proved why they've been the champions three years running. Better yet, one of their fallen opponents had a hole in his helmet.
  • Subverted when we learn just how they have such a winning streak in the next episode.

And The Winner Is...

• Lin Beifong shows why she's the chief of the Metalbending Police: by kicking ass against the Equalist attack. Even when surprise-attacked, she shows how competent she is. And before that, stopping the council from shutting down the match. Even if it didn't end well, her reasoning was sound, and seeing that metal cable come out of nowhere to break the gavel even as Tarrlok was banging it was just awesome.
• Retroactive one for Pema. Remember how she said in episode 5 that there was some other woman Tenzin was interested in before her heartfelt confession managed to finally get Tenzin's attention? Come episode 6, and we find out that Lin Beifong used to have a romantic relationship with Tenzin, and she was the other woman Pema was talking about. So non-bending Pema actually risked the ire of a jealous and very skilled bender who, according to Tenzin, tried to get her arrested.
• Bolin manages to shoot a clay disk so precisely it bounces off the side rope and hits the rival. This guy's more talented than we thought.
• Korra saving her team from a round 1 loss by grabbing the edge of the ring, then beating Tahno in a tiebreaker in just a couple seconds.
  • Bonus points for having diverted his attention from her real attack, and then uppercutting him in the face with waterbending. She outsmarted Tahno instead of using brute force! Would Korra have done that in the beginning?
  • The level of nuance in the Curb-Stomp Battle just makes it poetry in motion. In-story Instant Replay shows that Korra's water blast hit Tahno just as he leaned forward to unleash his counter that, lacking strength due to being interrupted too early, Korra turned aside without even lifting a finger. In other words, Korra had not only fooled him to move in the way of her uppercut, she timed it so that the force would hit him in the chin just the moment he started gathering forward momentum but before he could translate it into an attack. A pro wins by being the strongest, the smartest and the fastest. A master wins by seeing every move their opponent is going to make and breaking them apart before they happen.
• She not only grabbed the edge of the ring but managed to hang onto it by her fingertips while holding Mako with one hand. And rather than save just herself, she decided to let Mako be the one to show up Tahno so she actually threw him back up and let herself fall.
• As soon as Lin is shocked, Tenzin immediately hits her attacker with an air blast, knocking them offscreen
• Shiro Shinobi's refusal to stop reporting, which doubles as a Funny Moment since he's wetting himself. Now that is being dedicated to your job.
  • Also keep in mind he was on live radio to the whole city. They likely heard him being attacked, after hearing his terror and him summing up the devastation. Since Shiro is a non-bender, then that could have been a calculated move, to show and warn the public that the Equalists are ruthless enough to attack non-benders.
    • In addition, he's reporting exactly what is going on in the exact same tone as when he covers a match. He's not dressing it up, he's not a bundle of nerves, he's not speaking gibberish. His Triple Triad reporter instincts take over despite how terrified he is. He's a reporter and he will report the news.
  • Before that, calling out the bribed referees and telling the whole city about the Wolfbat's cheating. This guy has never heard the expression "You can't handle the truth!"
  • His background (detailed in the Welcome to Republic City exploration game on nick.com) adds a lot as well. He used to report on triad crimes—you know, the same triads that regularly threaten non-benders for money. The guy's got guts.
    • This only gets better. Those triad crimes? Bending triads. Put this in perspective- he used to report on bending crimes, yet he was still willing to get electrocuted to make sure the people knew that the Equalists were ruthless enough to attack non-benders with bending friends. Watch it cross some civilians' minds in Fridge Brilliance type fashion in the future that this former reporter of bending crimes put himself at risk to be both whistleblower and example that the Equalists were bad news. This man probably just helped save the world and doesn't even know it yet.
• You have to give the Equalists their due here. Their plan was just spectacular. Lets run down the list:
  • They manage to smuggle in taser gloves and stealthily zap every metalbender cop (and Tenzin) in the room. Tenzin was the only one to get a shot off.
  • They avert the Idiot Ball and actually check the water for the Fire Ferrets, and zap them all unconscious.
  • Amon delivering a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the entire audience about applauding for cheaters after depowering the Wolfbats in front of everyone.
  • Also, though his forces seem to have been pushed back, it was actually all part of his plan, and Korra and Lin realize that they fell for it since Amon was actively trying to goad a bender versus non-bender war. Either way, he wins.
  • He pulled off an epic Xanatos Gambit even before that—the moment he specified the championship as a target, he won. If the council didn't give in, as he himself anticipated, then his attack goes through and he makes a massive statement and kickstarts his war. If they actually had shut down the arena...then it shows that even the council is intimidated by Amon, and not willing to butt heads with him. In the long scheme, there was almost no way for him to lose.
    • He also cements his rep as a Combat Pragmatist: The Metalbenders' armour is impervious to chi-blocking attacks; so what's his plan? Simple: electrocute their metal armour.
  • Lastly, in the long shot at the end we see several boats burning in the waters around the city, the same police boats which were shown patrolling the area earlier. So in the time it took for Amon's public show, his troops manage to take out the entire patrol fleet.
• Pabu rescuing Korra, Mako, and Bolin when they're tied up during the Equalist raid on the Pro-Bending arena. Badass Adorable? I think so.
  • Hell, Bolin speaking ferret belongs here too.
• Korra's fearless attempt to give chase to Amon is made extremely awesome when you consider the utter terror she has for him and the near mental breakdown he caused her two episodes beforehand.
  • In the same scene, as Amon and his henchmen re-board their airship, Korra launches a fire blast into its cargo bay that knocks all of the chi-blockers inside off of their feet. Except for Amon, who simply turns around and watches, standing perfectly still.
• Korra and Lin Beifong don't see eye to eye, which made their team up against Amon and the Equalists all the more awesome. Even more awesome how they were almost in-tune and aiding each other.
  • Some percentage of that awesome is thanks to Tenzin, who spent the pro-bending match getting Lin to lighten up toward Korra.
• From a directorial standpoint, we have this shot. Picture it: a pro-bending champion is crowned. The crowd goes wild— everyone is either standing and cheering or flailing and cursing the refs. And then the sound drops out, and everything slows down. The camera focuses on an audience member with a decidedly grim expression slowly pulling a mask over their nose and mouth. Then it goes across the arena, where another audience member does the same thing. It does this again. And again. And again. One of the masked men reaches into his popcorn and pulls out a weapon. The audience around them is completely oblivious. As are the heavily armed and armored police officers providing security. Everyone is oblivious until the Equalists begin using those weapons to neutralize the security detail and take out anyone who resists. That's right ladies and gentlemen; you've just witnessed the beginnings of a terrorist attack, on Nickelodeon. As a reviewer from The AV Club put it, "that scene was so nice, I watched it twice."

The Aftermath

• Asami taking a stand for what's right, even though it means turning against her father and knocking him out with his own lightning glove.
  Asami: I love you, Dad.
  • She also takes out the Lieutenant with her self-defense skills and his electrified kali sticks. Mind you, he defeated both Bolin and Mako by himself, and held his own against Korra (though she eventually beat him). He only stood up to Asami for a few seconds.
    • This has a lot to do with fighting styles, Bolin and Mako are long range fighters, while Asami is much better in close combat (this is also what gives the Chi-Blockers such an advantage over benders in the city).
• Mako and Bolin's perfectly timed double-teaming of one of Lin's men, to get down to the battle where the rest of the heroes would have been completely screwed without them.
• Lin Beifong using her mother Toph's technique of 'seeing' with her feet using earthbending to find the secret tunnel that leads down to the hidden Equalist factory under Hiroshi Sato's mansion.
  • Lin retracting the bottom of her boot to bare her foot may count as awesome.
  • Can we just say Lin Beifong, period? She crackles with awesome whenever she's on screen.
• Tenzin fighting for the first time in the series, and outlasting the metalbenders, Lin and Korra herself. He actually manages to severely rattle Sato's Mecha around with nothing more than air blasts.
  • The "Air Cycle". Seriously, look at this badass airbending master right here!◊
    • Fridge Brilliance: Tenzin is too tall and large for the air scooter to be practical for him, so he had to make something new.
    • Further Fridge Brilliance: That is probably the technique he invented to get named a master Airbender in the first place, the same way Aang inventing the air scooter got him made a master Airbender. I guess it runs in the family.
• So we find out these new mechs are made of platinum, i.e. no earthly impurities to metalbend, so how does Beifong deal with it? The old-fashioned way: whipping out two massive arm blades, to hack and slash at the thing's faceplate, where the controller sits.
  • More notable for the fact she's the only one that succeeds in taking out one of the mecha.
• The cabbage merchant from the first series grew an absolutely huge corporation out of his single, fragile cart. Talk about shaking his Butt-Monkey role. They even built a statue of him.
• The bad guys deserve a crowning moment in this one as well, given that their prototype mechs managed to take several police officers, 2 master benders, and the Avatar apart like cheap toys while sustaining only minimal losses.

When Extremes Meet

• The new Team Avatar is about to enter the city on patrol, but all four cannot fit on Naga, so what do they use as the solution? They get the Korramobile.
• Team Avatar's first patrol has them chasing a group of Equalists breaking out some convicted felons. They take them out and detain them before the police even arrive. Tarrlok is not pleased.
  • Mako gets one for using his lightning bending to great effect, taking down a motorcycle-riding chi-blocker without a sweat.
  • And Bolin pulling up tiles and shooting them at the Equalists like bullets.
  • It wasn't a complete curbstomping, the equalists did manage to jump from their wrecking motorcycles and land on the hood of the car, and follow it up by putting Bolin out of commission. Of course, this just leads to Asami's CMOA when she very casually zaps them both unconscious.
• Tarrlok calls Korra a "half-baked Avatar in training" midway in the episode. When she confronts him later for arresting Bolin, Mako, and Asami, she refuses to play his political games. He attacks and she shows him exactly why she's the Avatar; complete with a show of Earthbending force. At least until we find out that he's a blood-bender.
  • Tarrlok deserves deserves some credit: He gave Korra the fight of her life with his master waterbending, including using the waterfall in his office to hold up a persistent circular watershield around himself while simultaneously launching a literal hail of sharp icicles, which besides being arguably the most awesome-looking move in the entire Avatar franchise, connected several times and drew blood. Oh, and he can also bloodbend without the full moon. The man showed his true colors in less than ten minutes, and basically brought himself up to Amon's level in villainy.
    • The ice spikes not only HIT Korra, but they draw BLOOD. Neither of those things were allowed to happen in the first series.
• Korra, after being captured by Tarrlok, was so mad she breathed fire. Right in his face. He barely avoided it before slamming the car door closed.

Out of the Past

• Amon being able to resist Tarrlok's bloodbending and take his bending away. Mind you that along with his father, Yakone, Tarrlok was able to bloodbend multiple people at once, yet Amon while not immune, was able to power through it and take Tarrlok down!
  • Not just that, but Amon's entrance. Tarrlok is walking up the stairs, his eyes widen, and we see Amon, the Lieutenant, and a team of Chi-Blockers standing there, and we know that Tarrlok is screwed.
  • Also, from a storytelling standpoint, this is the first direct - as opposed to the previous indirect ones - juxtaposition of him with Aang, given the latter's scene in the flashback.
  • Amon's Pre Ass Kicking One Liner to Tarrlok. No big speech. No anger at being framed. No explaining himself, or asking for explanation. Just four words, and it's all you need to know about Amon. "I am the solution."
    • And said line was the response to an utterly terrified Tarrlok questioning WHAT he is and realizing how screwed he is.
  • Small one for The Lieutenant, although he goes down from Tarrlok's bloodbending with the others, he is shown still struggling against it on his hands and knees and trying to pick himself up while the others fell like flies. It took Tarrlok unleashing his full power on Amon to make him go down.
• In Korra's flashback, we see the full story behind Aang's battle with Yakone. The battle itself is brief before Yakone bloodbends him, with the intent to kill. Aang goes through quite the hideous ordeal, but then he breaks out of it with the Avatar state, traps Yakone, and takes away his bending for good.
  • The fact Aang was able to take away Yakone's bending with no resistance or difficulty whatsoever is worth mentioning.
    • Yakone deserves some credit here. Bloodbends while handcuffed with his fingers, and shuts Team Avatar down in seconds.
  • Not only that, but as Aang battles Yakone, some music from the original series is being played. Awesome indeed.
• Korra using her wrist band to avoid the Lieutenant's electricity when he tries to electrocute her through the metal box she's in, then fighting her way out and escaping. More noteworthy because Korra didn't do it by sheer brute force but with something smart!
  • To make it even more awesome, she held off Amon long enough for her to escape.
  • Amon tells them not to underestimate Korra, and it's pretty cool seeing his disappointment in them.
  • More impressive?They did exactly what Amon told them to do! Korra didn't just outsmart The Dragon, she outsmarted freaking Amon.
• Naga gets a CMOA as well by tracking down Korra by herself.
  • While this is heartwarming and everything, Naga is still a dog. A giant bear dog, but a dog nonetheless. It's not unheard of for dogs to either get depressed when their masters leave or go looking - even if their master is dead. This is Truth in Television if anything, but it doesn't make it any less satisfying.
• Once again, Lin Badass Beifong strikes. She was practically a one-woman-army, and everybody else was just an accessory. She busted the Krew out of jail, she freed her police-officers, she found the secret tunnel, she navigated the wagon away from quite a number of Equalists who had just been waiting for them by bending the rail and making a hole in the ceiling, and she did all of this while still injured.
  • The awesome starts near the beginning of the episode, with her Lock-and-Load Montage prior to going Equalist-hunting. She metalbends her armour onto her body.
• Tarrlok's council page even gets one. When Tenzin and the rest of the cast accuse Tarrlok of kidnapping Korra, the page gathers the courage, despite clearly being terrified, to tell them that he saw Tarrlok kidnap Korra and revealed to them that Tarrlok was a bloodbender. For someone who served right under Tarrlok and feared him, that was pretty impressive.
  • That's just scratching on the surface. The page is a small, weak, skinny, meek man—and he's a nonbender. He works for a master waterbender who is capable of the most advanced and dangerous waterbending technique known to man. Of all of the people in that room, he was the most vulnerable, and the most likely to get hurt if attacked. Even though he was visibly TERRIFIED, he told everyone the truth about Tarrlok—sacrificing his own safety to do so.
• Bolin gets one while he and the rest of the group (sans Korra) are fleeing from the Equalists, by ripping the walls of the tunnel out, preventing pursuit. Made cooler by the fact he wordlessly gets Mako to let him handle the situation, and how much less action Bolin gets out of the Pro-Bending ring. And the reaction (smiling, probably impressed) of the former metal-benders in the wagon is icing of the cake.
• When Korra comes out of the house, she sees Amon standing there looking right back at her. She immediately throws a bunch of icicles at him and it doesn't slow him down in the slightest. He immediately starts after as she runs away absolutely terrified.

Turning the Tides

• Naga, while carrying four people, jumps in the air and smacks the Lieutenant aside like it's nothing.
  • Naga swimming across the bay underwater with four passengers may also count.
• Tenzin being ambushed by Equalists, and whooping them. He also saved Tarrlok's page.
  • Even better, this ties in with Funny Moment and Freeze-Frame Bonus if you are fast enough. Tenzin has his back turned to the Equalists, and his only warning that they are about to attack is his beard shivering with the electricity. He promptly dodges three electrified disks and mops the floor with them. Beard senses tingling!
  • His fight also makes sense in the most spectacular of ways: chi-blockers were trained to combat Earth, Fire, Water, and Metal benders because those were the most widespread bending methods. They had no training against Airbenders because no one knew anything about them. Well, aside from the Air acolytes, who undoubtedly would never join the Equalists due to their loyalty to preserving the Air Nomad culture.
• Tenzin holding off the Mecha Tanks until Team Avatar arrives.
  • After they do, he airbends one so hard it hits the roof of Police HQ.
• Also Team Avatar's attack on the Mecha Tanks.
  • Asami and Bolin combining Car Fu and earth-bending to destroy two mecha tanks.
  • Bolin toppling another one with a boulder right into the helmet.
  • Mako withstanding the lightning and redirecting right back at the Mech.
  • Korra using water to clog up a mecha's engine while Bolin finishes it off.
  • Asami fighting off half a dozen Equalist foot soldiers while rescuing Tenzin.
• Lin fighting off the Equalists on Air Temple Island. It looks like she's getting beaten, then Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo jump in.
  Jinora: Stay away from my dad's ex-girlfriend!
  • And then Jinora manages to blow away the Lieutenant. Little Miss Badass indeed.
  • Then Lin metalbending an airship. Like mother like daughter.
    • Even when being debended by Amon, Lin went out all but spitting in Amon's face, and never lost her grace and dignity. This increased her Lady of War status greatly.
    • "That lady is my hero." Meelo, lad, you spoke for everyone.
    • Hell, everything that Lin does in this episode just leads up to what basically amounts to Lin's De-Powering Moment of Awesome.
• Asami sacrificing the Korramobile and smashing it into two Mecha-Tanks.
  • And speaking of Asami, she gets a non-fighting one. While Mako is NOT an evil Jerkass, he did screw up badly by not telling Asami about the kiss incident. And after Asami learns about it from Bolin... does she throw a tantrum at Korra and bash her? Nope. She waits until Korra is back to the group, then goes to Mako and directly calls him out about it. And she leaves clear that she likes Korra and doesn't loathe her out of romantic envy. Considering how such situations are usually handled in media, it's a refreshing change to see Asami at least attempt to be mature about it.
• Tenzin's children deserves a lot more credit: Jinora blasts the Lieutenant with her airbending and sends him flying over the temple roof, Ikki brings back Aang's air scooter and whoops ass with it before anyone can even react, and Meelo weaponizes fartbending, knocking a couple Chi-Blockers, before blasting away half a dozen chi-blockers with air blast and an air bomb-esque move with a Death Glare no less. They're 10, 7 and 5 respectively. Even Lin was speechless with shock and pride, that's saying something.
  • In spite of his general punching bag status in recent episodes, the Lieutenant still managed to get one brief, shining moment in before the kids arrived to wreck his shit— he not only stood his ground while his men dropped like flies around him, but effortlessly blocked Lin's cable attack before almost casually shocking her and bringing Republic City's consummate badass to her knees. If Jinora hadn't shown up when she did, Lin would probably have been captured and de-bended far faster than she actually was. A shame that mere seconds later, he ended up jobbing again for the rest of the episode.
• Halfway through the episode, Tenzin sends a message to a mysterious general right before the telegraph is cut. Then at the end, we discover what that was about: A fleet of ships stands ready to take back Republic City, led by a guy with Zuko/Ozai's face minus the scar. Then he opens his mouth, and Dante Basco's voice comes out. Finally, we learn his name: General Iroh. Amon is so screwed.
  • However, judging by the finale trailers, the fleet is the one getting screwed by Amon and his bomb dropping fighter planes.
  • Although, if this is Zuko's grandson, you can bet he won't go out without one hell of a fight. If Lin and Tenzin are anything to go by, being an epic fighter is genetic in the Avatarverse.
• The White Lotus guards actually pulling their weight and holding off the Equalists, just so Korra and everyone else could escape. And they knew what was in store for them, but fought anyway.
• For a villainous example, the Equalists again deserve some credit for their blitzkrieg. It takes a lot of coordination to pull of such simultaneous attacks, and they did it by surprise even with all of the clues the heroes have managed to get beforehand. This, for the first time, makes it very clear that the Equalists aren't just really well-coordinated and well-equipped terrorists, they're an entire aggressively extremist military.
  • And, as you would expect, Amon's organization of that military was nothing short of brilliant. Starting with well-timed strikes to take out the city's leading politicians creating confusion followed by an assault on the police headquarters using gas attacks to incapacitate most and flush others out to abduct with Sato's mini mechs, thus leaving the city completely defenseless and at his mercy.
• The finale of the episode felt not only pure awesome but also a subtle Call-Back to the original series. We all remember how every time we saw those black steel Fire Nation warships, shit was about to hit the fan. They were often haunting and a sign of violent conquest. Now we have a panned out view of the United Nation's Fleet led by General Iroh (Zuko's grandson) with a brighter and more colourful exterior, and their mission not to conquer Republic City but to take it back from the Equalists.
• Honestly, you'd have a harder time listing the moments where someone wasn't awesome. I think Tenzin's Sky Bison didn't... no... um... Amon's Lieutenant... Um... well, he had some cool entrances... and uh... wow... this is tough... guess we have to give credit to the writers for making this episode. Not a moment was spared making everything awesome.

Skeletons in the Closet

• Korra jumping in to help the fleet. Among other things, she crashes a plane with a pillar of ice and redirects a torpedo into another.
• The Fleet vs the bombers was incredible. Mines disorganized the ships, but the earth/water benders take care of them, then the planes come. We get to see them drop bombs and torpedos, and tear the fleet apart. Ships go down left and right, in huge explosions. It's not quite the Curb-Stomp Battle that the trailers led to believe. The general and several Firebenders use a cannon to take down a plane, and an earth-bender takes one down with a disk similar to the one at the probending-arena. Iroh himself gets to the crows nest, and starts blasting down planes.
  • And General Iroh blowing up a missile. That was probably 5 feet from his face. He survives. The fact that it was a strong callback to something his grandfather did just makes it better.
  • It was awesome for both sides, really. Both the Equalist Air Force and the United Forces Fleet get good shots on the other, and the animation of the entire thing was breathtaking.
• The design of the fleet. Water-benders on the side to make the ships move along with the engines (on side platforms similar to those used in the original series' blimps) as well as granting access to the water for weaponization, cannons that run on fire-bending, and several other projectiles manned by earth-benders. It even has all three emblems on the ships, showing how the three nations have made peace.
• An antagonist example. After he and his little brother got verbally abused and forced to bloodbend animals and each other by their father, Noatak finally has enough of it and bloodbends Yakone into submission while giving an epic "Reason You Suck" Speech to him.

Endgame

• General Iroh hijacks a plane. In midair. Propelling himself just like Azula and Ozai did in The Last Airbender, but with greater maneuverability than even Ozai showed - and unlike them, this is explicitly not under Sozin's Comet.
  • Then, while piloting that plane, he shoots lightning between the propellers.
  • The last plane in the fleet is right above him, about to drop a bomb on his plane. Iroh firebends straight up. Boom!
  • Crashing the last plane into the Amon-style mask placed on the Aang statue, knocking it off, was an awesome little exclamation point on the whole scene.
  • This little blurb from his page on the Avatar Wiki: "Having destroyed many aircraft, Iroh would be considered a flying ace, that is, a pilot that shoots down five or more enemy aircraft. He also earned it in a day without any prior experience or training, an incredible feat for a real world pilot. That being said, he would be the first flying ace in the Avatar world."
• Credit where credit is due, the random Equalist mook who managed to hit Iroh's plane with an unguided bomb deserves a mention. It's hard enough hitting a non-moving ground target in Real Life with such bombs, even with mechanical bombsights, and the guy aims by eye at another plane and scores a hit.
• Bolin saving Asami from her father, while calling him out for his treatment of his own daughter.
  Bolin: Mister Sato, YOU! ARE A HORRIBLE! FATHER!
• Asami's biggest CMOA being her final showdown with her father.
  Asami: You really are a horrible father.
  • Not to mention her earlier Calling the Old Man Out, telling him flat out that his wife would hate him for what he's become. You go, Asami.
• Korra Airbending Amon to rescue Mako. This is followed by her beating the tar out of Amon and blasting him out of a window into the ocean, forcing him to reveal who he really is to all his followers.
  • Best part about this? Korra forces herself out of Amon's bloodbending grip with sheer willpower to deliver the final blow, while Aang had to go into the Avatar State to do the same when facing Yakone. "No! You! DON'T!" indeed.
  • It's also the first and only time in the series where we see Amon completely helpless and without any sort of backup plan. He knows right in that moment that he's in trouble.
    Amon: Impossible!
• Korra reconnecting with her spiritual side, and learning Energy Bending from Aang.
  • Moreover, Korra's realization of the Avatar State, and properly unleashing all four elements for the first time.
  • The music adds a lot too, as the first time we've heard the main Avatar theme in its full glory in this series.
    • Even the scenery helps, the sun begins to shine through the clouds when Aang tells Korra that she's finally connected to her spiritual self, and continues to do so until all the past incarnations of the Avatar appear.
  • And let's not forget a large part of the scene's power is how it subverts the hell out of the extremely Bittersweet Ending verging on Downer Ending that it looked for all the world like the season was going to have until that point.
• Lin recovering her earthbending from Korra, and demonstrating it.
  • Note that when Lin gets her bending back, she doesn't cautiously move a few pebbles before trying something bigger when she tests it out. She immediately, and without hesitation, tries to levitate TWELVE massive boulders at once.
• Mako hitting Amon point-blank with lightning, while being bloodbent. Amon later admitted that Mako was the first person EVER to get the best of him like that, and remarks that it's almost a shame to take the bending of someone so genuinely talented. Almost.
• The Lieutenant standing up to Amon after he is revealed to be a waterbender and a bloodbender. Granted, he gets his ass handed to him (not like that's never happened before), but it's the thought that counts.
• Once again, Naga. She took out not one, but three mecha tanks by herself. Badass all the way.
• Doubles as a Tear Jerker, but Tarrlok taking responsibility for his crimes, and sacrificing himself to take out Amon for good by blowing up the boat they were on with one of Amon's electric gauntlets. "Just like the good old days" indeed.
• Korra and co. think they've discovered information about Amon that could discredit him in front of his followers, and go to one of his rallies to publicly expose him. What happens when Korra tells everyone that he lied about being burned by a firebender and that he's actually a bloodbender? A Villainous Breakdown and Humiliation Conga like Azula and Ozai? No! He calmly laughs off Korra's accusations, and then removes his mask to "prove" that he's been telling the truth, effortlessly causing Korra's attempt to discredit him to backfire, and leaving him in an even stronger position with his followers. The burn scar is fake, but looks convincing, and the fact that he had it suggests that he had always considered the possibility that he might be unmasked for some reason, and prepared accordingly. As if Amon hadn't already proven his credentials as a Magnificent Bastard.
  • Simply the moment where Korra accuses him is awesome for Amon; the camera focuses closely on his eyes, and instead of the eye-widening Oh, Crap! look we viewers might expect, his eyes narrow, showing that he's calculating how to adjust his plan, but is neither particularly surprised nor worried. This gives the viewers an Oh, Crap! on Korra's behalf, because we can guess from Amon's reaction that things are not going to go the way Korra hopes.
• Tenzin deserves major points here...after being freed at the rally, what'd he do? Immediately hurls a shot of air that forces Amon back. His other lackeys got blown away and Amon himself was forced into a defensive stance for a foot or two before the tail end of the gust passed over giving him time to roll out of the way of Mako's firebending. Tenzin follows up with a blast that spreads out along a circular front which Amon cannot dodge no matter what direction he jumps in and it sends him flying right out of the stage. The world's only living Airbending Master and youngest son of Avatar Aang everyone, the first one in-series to curb stomp Amon with air bending.
  • Fridge Brilliance: Amon's never fought an Airbender before; he isn't familiar enough with it to know how to manipulate his opponent's moves or to even know what to expect.
  • Doubles as possible Foreshadowing for how Amon is finally defeated.
• Amon is just about to remove Tenzin or one of his children's bending. Mako, who second earlier was arguing for them to make a break for it, blasts him with a lightning bolt that sends Amon ducking for cover. Followed by he and Korra running along the wall and curb-stomping Amon's followers with fire balls.
• Amon's de-bending of Korra, after bloodbending her from her hiding place, thus making her greatest fear a reality. While it allows her to unlock airbending and finally defeat Amon, it's implied that his taking away of the other three elements had her contemplating suicide at the end. Knight of Cerebus indeed.
  Amon: I told you I would destroy you.