So much for the element of surprise.
After Team Avatar and the Beifong family say farewell to Opal as she departs to the Northern Air Temple, Zaheer and his group infiltrate the city of Zaofu, in an attempt to kidnap Korra. They sedate her and try to make an escape when Bolin notices them and sounds the alarm. Soon, all of Zaofu is on high alert as Ghazan creates a moat of lava to protect Zaheer's gang. The metalbenders try to cross the moat, but P'li's combustion bending prevents them from even getting close. With one option left, the Beifong sisters grapple from one of Zaofu's domes and grab Korra from above while Bolin takes P'li out with a precision earthbending shot. With Korra lost, Zaheer covers the area with smoke to allow his group to escape in the darkness.
Their failed attempt results in an investigation into how they managed to infiltrate Zaofu. Aiwei, the city's truth seer, implicates a young guard in the crime, but Team Avatar is suspicious. Korra leads her crew to investigate his house, and discover he was the mole all along. They confront him as soon as he returns home, but the slippery rat uses a bomb to destroy any evidence of his misdeeds and escapes. Despite orders to remain in the security of Zaofu, Team Avatar leaves the city in an attempt to track Aiwei down and learn anything they can about Zaheer's fixation on the Avatar.
Tropes:
- Advice Backfire: Defied by Bolin. Now that he's got a good thing going with Opal, he doesn't even give Varrick the chance to offer some pointers (especially since his last advice almost got him killed). Clearly, he's learned from experience.
- Badass in Distress: Korra spends the entire battle against the Red Lotus paralyzed and semi-conscious.
- Bad Liar: Bolin's usual problems lying look outright ridiculous when in front of a truth-seer. Even he wonders why he bothered.
- Bookcase Passage: Aiwei has a secret tunnel behind one of his bookcases, which he used to sneak Zaheer's gang into Zaofu.
- Broken Pedestal: Suyin's reaction towards Aiwei's betrayal shatters her trust in him and also shakes her personally. He was like family to her.
- Chekhov's Skill:
- During metalbending training, Bolin uses a tiny rock to land a pinpoint headshot on his opponent. He later uses this skill to nail P'Li in the head and shut off her combustion bending.
- Su's dancing helps her evade Zaheer's attacks when rescuing Korra.
- Mako's sleuthing skills, courtesy of his time as a detective, come in handy from the episode's halfway point onward.
- Likewise, Varrick's talent of being a former evil mastermind really helps, because he knows the tactics of others.
- Continuity Nod:
- Zaheer uses the same shirshu spit darts used by the Sandbenders to abduct Appa in the original series. It is also treated with aromatherapy the same way it was in Jun's and Nyla's first appearance.
- Varrick fingers Aiwei as the true traitor by pointing out how framing the guard lines up exactly with how he framed Mako last season.
- Varrick also brings up his feet again.
- Crazy-Prepared: Aiwei was well-prepared for any outcome after the city was attacked. Even though Korra isn't kidnapped, he's in a position that makes sure his loyalty cannot be questioned, as well as finger anyone he wants. When he's discovered anyway, he has an escape tunnel to flee the city, a bomb to destroy any evidence, a car to make his get away, and he collapses the tunnel so he'll be gone by the time the guards find the exit.
- Elite Mooks: The Metal Clan fare better against Zaheer's gang than the White Lotus did. However, the Red Lotus leave before the guards can do anything else.
- Evil All Along: Aiwei has been a spy all this time. He's the one who told Zaheer about Korra's location.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Both Pabu and Naga sense Zaheer's gang coming. Naga gets knocked out before she can fight back, while it takes Pabu two tries to alert Bolin.
- Exact Words: Since they suspect Aiwei to be a traitor, the Krew tries to get past his lie detection by telling half-truths. However, since they were already in his room without being invited, it's pretty clear that even their half-truths aren't fooling him. Then he discovers that his secret passage has been opened and drops the pretense completely.
- Foreshadowing:
- When practicing Metalbending, Bolin ends up launching a small rock rather than metal, and pegging one of the Bei Fong twins right in between the eyes. Later in the episode, he pegs P'li in the same spot, where her combustion ray emitter tattoo (and the sixth chakra) is.
- Aiwei warned Korra she had no idea what was coming,
neither did the audience.
- Frame-Up: Aiwei frames a random guard in an attempt to throw suspicion off himself. Even Varrick knew right away something was wrong with the picture.
- Friendly Sniper: This episode makes out Bolin to be one, combining his probending precision with earthbending's solid projectiles to nail P'Li's Achilles' Heel.
- He Knows Too Much: Aiwei caught the kids in his room, and being a truth seer, can tell right away they dug too deep in the case and got close to the answer. He traps them in the room and nearly blows up the place.
- Hollywood Glass Cutter: Ming-Hua can do this entirely with her waterbending: cutting a circular hole in the glass with the tip of a cutter made of ice, and using her watery arm as the suction cup.
- I Lied: When around her sister Suyin agrees with her suggestion that Korra shouldn't seek out a confrontation with Zaheer and that she should return with Lin to Republic City. Later that night however she gives Korra and co the keys to a jeep and admits that she just told Lin what she wanted to hear.
- Instant Expert: Korra is quickly getting the hang of metalbending, in typical Avatar fashion (it probably helps that her personality is pretty earthy, hence why she had trouble learning to airbend) but still has a ways to go. Bolin, however, still can't metalbend at all.
- Instant Sedation: The paralytic darts take effect in seconds.
- It's Personal: Suyin takes the thought that someone betrayed her trust very personally and becomes angry and confrontational with the guard framed as the guilty party. After finding out that Aiwei, someone she considered to be like family, betrayed her she goes behind Lin's back and secretly sends Korra and co out to capture him.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Varrick is quick to point out how the situation with the guard and Aiwei parallels what happened with his Frame-Up of Mako, and he turns out to be entirely correct. It takes a mastermind to know another mastermind.
- Living Lie Detector: Aiwei again, only this this time it works against the heroes, since there's no-one to tell if he's lying, and it's extremely hard to deceive him.
- The Mole: Aiwei turns out to be working for Zaheer.
- Near-Villain Victory: Zaheer's gang very nearly manages to escape with Korra.
- Oh, Crap!: Suyin has a particularly detailed set of reactions upon learning Aiwei is a traitor.
- Orgy of Evidence: The framed guard has all the relevant evidence lying out in plain sight for anyone to find. This and the guard's age clue Mako in to the situation being more complicated. Being that Varrick was an evil mastermind himself, even he notices how incongruous the evidence placement was, and gives them a hint that the guard is being framed.
- Orphaned Etymology:
- Varrick makes mention of the Lyme disease. Unless there's also a town called Lyme in the Avatarverse, this sounds weird.
- Suyin designates the car awaiting the Krew as a "Jeep".
- Over-the-Shoulder Carry: Both when Korra is kidnapped by the Red Lotus as well as after she is rescued by Lin, she is getting carried over someone's shoulder.
- Poor Communication Kills: When he's asked if things are ready via the radio, Mako says "No go." He's mistaken as saying "Go," prompting Lin and Suyin into diving early before P'Li is properly stunned by Bolin.
- Pull the Thread: Mako's misgivings cause Aiwei's plot to unravel.
- Revealing Cover Up: Aiwei is able to cover his tracks relatively well, but the problem is he set Hong Li up too well that even a former mastermind such as Varrick knows it's fishy. Mako realizes the Guard's age makes him too young to know about the conspiracy and that the events in question are beyond the guard's capabilities. Additionally, Aiwei blows up the evidence but in doing so, that is enough to seal his guilt.
- Spanner in the Works: If Pabu hadn't gone Evil-Detecting Dog and alerted Bolin, Zaheer and crew might have escaped with Korra.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Lin puts an emphatic hand on Suyin's shoulder when Su is stunned and shocked by the revelation of Aiwei's betrayal. In general, the sisters are on better terms now, though Suyin somewhat risks it by going behind her sister's back again.
- Tranquillizer Dart: Ming-Hua and Zaheer use darts coated with Shirshu poison to paralyze Naga and Korra, respectively. They use their bending in place of a conventional launcher.
- Treacherous Advisor: Aiwei is secretly working with Zaheer, having provided his gang with the means to enter the city and bypass the guards.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: After Lin and Su manage to rescue Korra from him and damage his glider, Zaheer realizes that the battle is lost and decides to create a smokescreen so he and his posse can escape.
- Wakeup Makeup: When the alarm sounds, Asami shows up looking the same as normal despite it being the middle of the night.
- We Win Because You Didn't: While the Krew, the Beifongs and the Metal Clan were holding their own better than everyone else who've faced Zaheer's group so far, they're still getting smacked around for most of the fight. When Lin and Su are successful in extracting Korra, Zaheer realizes that they failed their objective and retreat becomes the best option.
- Who Watches the Watchmen?: Aiwei, as a Living Lie Detector, is in the absolute position of trust since he can identify all criminals and subversive elements... but only another Living Lie Detector can tell if he is lying, allowing him to not only be The Mole but to have the unimpeachable ability to finger anyone besides himself as the guilty party — since who is there to contradict him or prove him wrong? All he has to do is call them a liar, and create a situation with Plausible Deniability to preserve his credibility. The only solution is Mako Pulling the Thread by finding evidence that can't be denied as him being mistaken or lying.
