A look back at what Korra has been up to for the past three years. Has she truly recovered from all she has been through?
Tropes:
- Actor Allusion: In the Brazilian Portuguese dub, Korra says "É, sou eu!" (Yep, that's me) with the exact same delivery as the intro of That's So Raven. Both Raven and Korra were voiced by Mariana Torres.
- Amazon Chaser: The fish seller Korra meets wanted to meet Avatar Kyoshi the most because of how she took down a shark squid with only one hand.
- The Bus Came Back:
- After three seasons of speculation about what she might be up to, Toph shows up for the first time.
- Katara also returns after a season of absence to help Korra recover step by step.
- Call-Back:
- Korra tries to use the Tree of Time to connect with Raava.
- Korra's vision of herself in the Avatar State is dressed exactly as she was when she fought Zaheer in "Venom of the Red Lotus", right down to the chains.
- Korra sees a mirage of Raava herself while she's traveling through the desert.
- Katara vaguely references the events of "The Southern Air Temple" when telling Korra about the hardships Aang went through after finding out his people were eradicated.
- Catapult Nightmare: Korra's first nightmare after she gets back to the Southern Water Tribe ends with this.
- Chain Pain: The hallucination of Korra tends to use her chain as much as actual bending.
- Continuity Nod:
- Many of the locations Korra visits, including the desert and the swamp, are places the Gaang visited.
- Korra's hallucinations of herself in the Avatar State are similar to Aang's nightmares in "The Avatar State".
- Toph is now living in the swamp where we first saw her in Aang's vision.
- The Avatar is still Twinkletoes to Toph.
- Korra's sparring match with the firebenders mirrors her sparring match all the way back in the first episode. Complete with the same music.
- Korra's first act when going incognito is to cut her hair the same way that Zuko and Iroh cut off their topknots in "The Avatar State".
- The leafy spirit first appeared in "A Breath of Fresh Air", following Jinora around, and again at the Misty Palms Oasis in "The Stakeout" and "The Ultimatum". It appears to be a specific breed of spirit, as a pair of them appear in the former episode.
- The salesman's photo of Aang has him doing the old marble trick, but with sushi rolls. And Aang's still looking proud of himself as he does it.
- Cross-Referenced Titles: The name of the episode is a reference to "Zuko Alone".
- Dolphins, Dolphins Everywhere: Flying dolphin-fish with ornate translucent wings! It doesn't get any better than this.
- Enemy Within: A representation of Korra's Avatar State, which may or may not be a hallucination, seems to track Korra down.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: An adorable puppy is able to see Korra's hallucination-self and scare it off. It's later revealed to be the green translucent leafy spirit that visited her in the Tree of Time.
- Follow the White Rabbit: Dog in this case; it turns out to be a spirit Korra met while trying to contact Raava in the Tree of Time.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: Part of Korra's frustration comes from a desire to resume her duties as Avatar and feelings of inadequacy because other people are making a difference in the world while she can barely even walk.
- Implacable Man: Korra's manifestation of her Avatar spirit will not stop following her, and seems determined to beat her back into shape.
- Important Haircut: Korra uses a knife to cut her hair to shoulder-length when she decides she can't go back to Republic City just yet.
- Innocently Insensitive:
- What was subtext in the Book 3 finale is more apparent here: Korra hates being told that she should focus on her recovery while everyone else does her job of maintaining balance in the world. She has to threaten Tenzin for him to finally get the point. It's worth noting that Asami, the only person she writes back to, is also the only one to express the sentiment that things aren't the same with her gone.
- The fish seller doesn't mean any offense, but doesn't seem to realize that Korra isn't in the right state to be a hero at the moment.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Korra's hallucinations don't seem to be real, or are superimposed over other attackers, but they led her to the earthbending fight club and the spirit can seemingly see them.
- Once More, with Clarity: Inverted. We see the reason why Korra entered the earthbending sparring match, and why she was soundly beaten. She was following a hallucination of her Avatar State self, who appeared in the ring in place of her opponent.
- Potty Emergency: A random guy at the start of the episode really had to go in the bathroom Korra was in.
- Primal Stance: Hunched shoulders, menacing eyes and, for extra creepy-ness, never making a sound. The apparition that haunts Korra isn't here to make friends.
- Ridiculously Cute Critter: The leafy spirit that tries to help Korra when she visits the Tree of Time. Then there's the puppy that appears to Korra and leads her to Toph, which is the same spirit in disguise.
- Rule of Symbolism: The episode opens with a shot of Korra looking in a badly cracked mirror.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Bolin seems to think letters need to have fancy words because his is filled to the brim with them.
- Ship Tease: Asami offers to come to the Water Tribe with Korra. She's also the only one of her friends Korra writes back to, as she doesn't think Bolin or Mako would understand what she's going through.
- Shout-Out:
- Katara tells Korra to move her big toe, which may also be a reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt saying "Once I spent two years in bed trying to move my big toe. After that everything else seems easy."
- Korra is led to a swamp by a spirit where she meets an old master in a cave and fights a dark mirror of herself. She even has the clothing right. Now all she needs is a lightsaber.
- Stumbling Upon the Lost Wizard: The episode ends with Korra just happening to be discovered by Toph Beifong, a character who has been built up throughout the show as the world's greatest earthbender, the originator of metalbending, and a legendary hero responsible for saving the world.
- That Came Out Wrong: Korra's rant about her lacking progress after six months ends with her angrily noting that Katara cannot heal her, which comes off somewhat blame-like even though she didn't mean it to.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: The fight from the last episode is shown from Korra's perspective, in which she sees her Avatar State self attacking her with chains instead of earthbending. Her fight with her counterpart in the forest ends with her being dragged into liquid mercury, only for her to be told by Toph she was unconscious in the mud.
- Trauma Button: After the injuries she sustained in her fight against Zaheer at the end of season 3, Korra clearly has PTSD and risks being paralyzed by flashbacks every time she's placed in a combat situation. Her vision of her creepy Avatar State self, on the other hand, presses her into situations where she'll have to fight, such as the earthbending pit match or directly attacking her.
- The Unsmile: When the storekeeper asks for her photograph, all Korra can manage is a grimace.
- Walking the Earth: Korra, in an attempt to find some way to reconnect with her Avatar spirit, travels from glaciers to volcanoes and the desert to the Spirit World.
- Worf Had the Flu: Korra's PTSD and hallucinations do a number on her performance. She loses to her sparring partners when she gets a flashback of Zaheer coming at her, a fight against a couple of thieves later doesn't go much better, and a hallucination of her Avatar State self is superimposed over her earthbending opponent.
