The first episode of Book 2: Spirits, it first aired on September 13th 2013, alongside "The Southern Lights".
Six months have passed since Korra defeated Amon and the Equalists: The Republic City Council has disbanded in favor of electing a president. Commander Bumi retired and is now living on Air Temple Island with Tenzin (who now has time to teach Korra the ways of airbending) and his family. Mako has since joined the Republic City Police Force, leaving Bolin the only remaining team member of the now struggling Fire Ferrets. Asami has taken over as leader of Future Industries, but the company is deep in the red due to the stigma that her Equalist-minded father put upon it. Elsewhere in the world, there have been reports of ships being attacked by supernatural forces.
So for one reason or another, Korra and her friends have decided to go to the Glacier Spirits Festival, a celebration founded to bring the Northern and Southern Water Tribes together and preserve balance with them and the spirits. Once they arrive at the South pole, they meet with Korra's father, Tonraq. Another ship also arrives; on-board is the chief of the Northern Water Tribe and brother of Tonraq, Unalaq, and his virtually emotionless children, Desna and Eska. Unfortunately, Unalaq is not pleased with how secular the festival has become, claiming that it used to be a more solemn time. He believes that this is the reason the spirits are restless and attacking the boats in southern waters. Korra, growing tired of learning the ways of airbending, is keen to learn about combating the spirits.
In order to repair Future Industries' damaged reputation, Asami had agreed to meet with Varrick, a shipping tycoon and one of the richest business people in the world. After pointing out that Varrick was in fact not levitating, it seemed like Bolin blew the deal, but Varrick immediately takes a shine to him and immediately agrees with helping Future Industries get back onto its feet.
At the banquet, Unalaq expresses his displeasure that the Glacier Spirits Festival is a mere shadow of its former self, and because of that, the spirits are angry and are attacking ships. He wishes to teach Korra how to commune with the spirits and also reveals that it was not Aang's instruction to keep her isolated, but her father's. During the carnival itself, Bolin attempts to befriend Eska, who (in a certain sense) reciprocates. Meanwhile, Korra is conflicted in that she doesn't want to be told what to do any longer, but appears to be lost when faced with making a decision for herself.
Later on in the night, Korra and her friends are awoken by Naga, who senses something. A dark spirit materializes in front of them and begins to attack. With lightning-fast reflexes, it easily dispatches Mako and Bolin and makes short work of Tonraq and Korra. Tenzin attempts to talk to the angry spirit, but is immediately rebuffed as well. Korra tries to combat the spirit once more and is almost defeated when Unalaq arrives, calms it down using a special technique and sends it away. Korra, tired of the restrictions being placed on her, agrees to make Unalaq her new teacher, which saddens Tenzin.
Tenzin and his family (including Kya and Bumi) leave for the Southern Air Temple, without Korra, who is left wondering if she made the right decision. Unalaq confirms that she has.
Tropes:
- Ascended Fanboy: Bolin's new teammates are the cosplaying fans from episode 6 last season.
- Be as Unhelpful as Possible: Mako's attempts to be a supportive boyfriend are anything but, though it's not helped by Korra being so temperamental.
- Big Damn Heroes: Unalaq stops the Dark Spirit before it could strike Korra.
- Blowing a Raspberry: Korra does this to Ikki when the latter complains about Korra using the Avatar State to win a race.
- Bond One-Liner: Mako has a whole list of them prepared. Some of them involving puns.
- Brick Joke:
- From the previous series. The other airbender kids wouldn't let Aang play their air scooter game because he was the avatar and would have an unfair advantage. Here, Korra wins an air scooter race against Tenzin's kids by entering the Avatar State to get a speed boost.
- Tenzin mentions early on that now that he has retired from the Council he can focus on relaxing with his family. Bumi, amused at the concept of Tenzin relaxing, decides he has to see "vacation Tenzin" for himself. At the end Kya mentions that she is looking forward to seeing the "vacation Tenzin" she's heard so much about.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Korra angrily chews her dad and Tenzin out for making the compound she had to stay in for years.
- Conveniently Empty Building: The Dark Spirit attacks in the middle of the night, thus making sure that when the battle inevitably spills into the festival, it's deserted.
- Creepy Twins: Desna and Eska. Despite being Korra's cousins, she notes they've always creeped her out.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- The episode opens with the new Fire Ferrets getting knocked out in a few seconds, said to be an all-time record.
- There was also Mako's Stern Chase with the triad.
- Korra, Tonraq, Tenzin, and the Ferret bros also end up subjected to one by the first Dark Spirit they encounter.
- Distracted by the Sexy: As soon as Ginger walks in, Bolin is more focused on her than Varrick's explanation of how he intends to turn her into a model for his new film industry.
- Establishing Character Moment: Varrick does a really nice one to establish how much of a Bunny-Ears Lawyer he is.
- Every Year They Fizzle Out: Justified. The Fire Ferrets, who were ranked second in the previous championship, got knocked out quickly because two of their stars quit to be a Fair Cop and work on their Avatar training.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Or Polar Bear Dog — Naga alerts the others of the spirits arriving by howling.
- Facepalm: Asami's reaction to Bolin calling Varrick on his "levitation". Things turn out fine, though.
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Bumi and Tenzin, respectively, despite Bumi being a good several years older. According to Bumi, Tenzin's always been like this.
- Gone Horribly Right: Bolin tries to impress Eska. His attempt is less than spectacular, but it's enough to amuse her, and decide he's worth spending time with.
- Good Colors, Evil Colors: Spirits have dark colors when rampaging but turn gold when calmed down.
- Mathematician's Answer:Eska: You amuse me. I will make you mine.
Bolin: You mean like a boyfriend? Or, like a slave?
Eska: Yes. [drags him away by the collar of his jacket] Win me prizes. - Mood Whiplash: After Unalaq rips into the Southern Tribe for their lacking spiritual practices, Varrick lightens the mood by calling in an otter-penguin trainer to do a routine.
- Mundane Utility: Korra uses the Avatar State to win an air scooter race. Lampshaded by Tenzin that she cannot use it as a "booster rocket". She also later uses her waterbending powers to win a shooting competition.
- Not Helping Your Case: As Unalaq examines the Glacial Spirits Festival, he bitterly notes that what was once a solemn time is now just a chance for people to stuff arctic hens down their throat. The scene pans to Bolin trying to do exactly that.
- No, You: It seems Ikki has inherited Korra's tendency of making lame comebacks.Jinora: [on Ikki's idea of her airbender tattoos being lightning bolts instead of arrows] That doesn't make any sense.
Ikki: You don't make any sense! - Rage Against the Mentor: After getting continuously frustrated that he seems to treat her like a child, finding out that he was complicit in keeping her locked up in the compound most of her life, and seeing how ineffectual he was against the Dark Spirit, Korra finally snaps and renounces Tenzin as her mentor.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Unalaq gives a restrained but sincere one to the Southern Tribe during the Royal Feast, lamenting the greed, materialism and spiritual decay he has beheld earlier the same day.
- Recoil Boost: Mako uses his firebending to get some extra air on his bike, as well as soften his landing while ruining the triad's truck.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Tonraq and Unalaq.
- Schizo Tech: We see that the Avatar world's technological progress isn't exactly in line with our own, as movies have only now been invented in the middle of The Roaring '20s.
- Shout-Out: The film of the galloping ostrich-horse is very similar to Sallie Gardner at a Gallop
(1878). - Time Skip: We pick up six months after the end of season 1 and find out the changes made to the city and our protagonists lives since then.
- Unsettling Gender-Reveal: Bolin thought both Desna and Eska were "lovely ladies" before Korra calmly pointed out that the former is male.Bolin: Oh, no, sure. I knew that. [Beat] Uh... And which one is Desna?
- Villain Opening Scene: Although they aren't villainous in a sense, the opening scene in the first episode shows a Southern Tribe ship getting sunk by a large Dark Spirit squid.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Ikki and Tenzin get onto Korra for using the Avatar State to win an Air Scooter race, the former because it was "cheating" and the latter because it was a rather petty use of phenomenal cosmic power.
- Korra calls Tonraq and Tenzin out for constantly keeping things from her and keeping her locked up in the compound for most of her life instead of letting her go out and explore the world like past Avatars.
- The Worf Barrage: To show how Korra's violent methods are useless, her Avatar State-boosted attacks do absolutely nothing against the Spirit she is battling and gets thrown around like a rag doll. Tonraq also gets to display his bending skills, but gets his ass handed to him.
