The Legend Of Korra Season 1 Episode 11
Janet Denzel
The Legend of Korra is an American animated television series created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.[1] A sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, the series first aired on Nickelodeon in 2012.[2] Like its predecessor, the series is set in a fictional world inspired by Asian and Inuit cultures, and inhabited by people who can manipulate the elements of water, earth, fire or air through an ability called "bending." One person, the "Avatar," has the ability to bend all four elements. Reincarnating in turn among the world's four nations, the Avatar is responsible for maintaining peace, harmony, and balance in the world. Korra, the series' protagonist, is the next incarnation of the Avatar after Aang of Avatar: The Last Airbender.[3] Four seasons with a total of 52 episodes have aired.
Like its predecessor, the series is set in a fictional universe in which certain people can telekinetically manipulate, or "bend", one of the four elements: water, earth, fire, or air. Only one individual, the "Avatar", can bend all four elements, and is responsible for maintaining balance in the world. The series follows Avatar Korra, the successor and reincarnation of Aang from the previous series, as she faces political and spiritual unrest in a modernizing world.
The main characters are voiced by Janet Varney, Seychelle Gabriel, David Faustino, P. J. Byrne, J. K. Simmons and Mindy Sterling, and supporting voice actors include Aubrey Plaza, John Michael Higgins, Kiernan Shipka, Lisa Edelstein, Steve Blum, Eva Marie Saint, Henry Rollins, Anne Heche, and Zelda Williams. Several people involved in the creation of Avatar: The Last Airbender (such as designer Joaquim Dos Santos, writer Tim Hedrick and composers Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn) returned to work on The Legend of Korra.
The Legend of Korra has received generally positive reviews, with praise for its writing and production values, and has been nominated for and won awards such as the Annie Awards, a Daytime Emmy Award, and a Gracie Award. The series was also praised for addressing sociopolitical issues such as social unrest and terrorism, as well as for going beyond the established boundaries of youth entertainment with respect to issues of race, gender, and sexual orientation. The series' final scene, intended to depict the beginning of a same-sex romance between Korra and Asami Sato, was unprecedented at the time and has been credited with paving the way for LGBT representation in children's television programming.
The Legend of Korra was initially conceived as a twelve-episode miniseries. Nickelodeon declined the creators' pitch for an Avatar: The Last Airbender follow-up animated film based on what then became the three-part comics The Promise, The Search and The Rift, choosing instead to expand Korra to 26 episodes.[4] The series was expanded further in July 2012 to 52 episodes. These episodes are grouped into four separate seasons ("Books") composed of twelve to fourteen episodes ("Chapters") each, with each season telling a stand-alone story. Beginning with episode 9 of season 3, new episodes were first distributed through the Internet rather than broadcast. The Legend of Korra concluded with the fourth season.[5]
The Legend of Korra is set in the fictional world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, 70 years after the events of that series. The people of the world belong to four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. The distinguishing element of the series is "bending", the ability of some people to telekinetically manipulate the classical element associated with their nation (water, earth, fire, or air). Bending is carried out by spiritual and physical exercises, portrayed as similar to Chinese martial arts. As a result of a genocide in the series's backstory, there is only one living family of airbenders at the time of the series.
Only one person, the "Avatar", can bend all four elements. Cyclically reincarnating among the world's four nations, the Avatar maintains peace and balance in the world. The Legend of Korra focuses on Avatar Korra, a seventeen-year-old girl from the Southern Water Tribe and the successor of Avatar Aang from The Last Airbender.
The first season is mostly set in Republic City, the capital of the United Republic of Nations, a new multicultural sovereign state founded by Avatar Aang after the end of The Last Airbender. The 1920s-inspired metropolis is described as "if Manhattan had happened in Asia" by the series' creators,[6] and its residents are united by their passion for "pro-bending", a spectator sport in which two teams composed of an earthbender, waterbender, and firebender throw each other out of a ring using bending techniques. Rapid technological growth has displaced the spirituality of bending, and what was considered a renowned martial art in Avatar: The Last Airbender is now commonplace, with benders in Republic City using their abilities to commit crime, compete in spectator sports, and fulfill everyday jobs.[7] The second season adds the southern polar region, home of the Southern Water Tribe, as a main setting in addition to Republic City, while the third and fourth seasons take place largely in the Earth Kingdom.
The first season, Book One: Air, sees Korra move to Republic City to learn airbending from Tenzin, Avatar Aang's son. She joins a pro-bending team alongside the brothers Bolin and Mako, and befriends Asami Sato, heiress to a leading engineering corporation. The ambitious politician Tarrlok enlists Korra to fight the anti-bender uprising of the "Equalists", led by the masked Amon, who strips benders of their abilities. Korra and her friends, aided by police chief Lin Beifong, unmask Amon as a waterbender himself and Tarrlok's brother, ending the Equalists' coup.
In the second season, Book Two: Spirits, Korra's uncle Unalaq, chief of the Northern Water Tribe, seizes power in the southern tribe. While Korra's friends seek support against Unalaq, Korra learns of the first Avatar, Wan, who fused his soul with the spirit of light, Raava, to imprison Vaatu, the spirit of darkness. Unalaq frees Vaatu during the Harmonic Convergence, a decamillennial alignment of planets, and unites with him to become a dark Avatar. After defeating Unalaq, Korra chooses to leave open the portals between the material world and the spirit world, allowing a new coexistence of spirits and humans.
The third season, Book Three: Change, begins as nonbenders begin developing airbending powers as a result of Harmonic Convergence, and Tenzin, Korra, and her friends attempt to recruit them to re-establish the extinct Air Nomads. One new airbender is Zaheer, the leader of the anarchist Red Lotus society. The Red Lotus assassinates the Earth Queen, throwing her kingdom into chaos, and captures Korra to attempt to kill her and end the Avatar cycle. They are defeated by Korra's friends and the new airbenders, but Korra is severely injured and psychologically traumatized.
The final season, Book Four: Balance, takes place three years later. Korra slowly recovers from her mental and physical trauma. The metalbender Kuvira, assigned to reunite the fractured Earth Kingdom, declares herself head of the new, authoritarian "Earth Empire". Kuvira builds a spirit-powered superweapon and attempts to conquer Republic City. When Korra and her friends destroy the weapon, defeating Kuvira, the blast creates another portal to the Spirit World. The series ends with the prospect of democracy for the former Earth Kingdom, as Korra and Asami leave together for a vacation in the spirit world.
Korra (Janet Varney) is the series' 17-year-old "headstrong and rebellious" protagonist,[8] and Aang's reincarnation as the Avatar. Her transformation "from brash warrior to a spiritual being", according to DiMartino, is a principal theme of the series.[9] The character was inspired by Bryan Konietzko's "pretty tough" sister, and by female MMA fighters.
The series focuses on Korra and her friends, sometimes called "Team Avatar", which include the bending brothers Mako and Bolin and the non-bender Asami. Mako (David Faustino), the older brother, is a firebender described as "dark and brooding".[2][10] The character was named after the late Mako Iwamatsu, the voice actor for Iroh in the first two seasons of the original series. His younger brother Bolin (P. J. Byrne) is an earthbender described as lighthearted, humorous, and "always [having] a lady on his arm".[2][11] Asami Sato (Seychelle Gabriel), the only non-bender among the leading characters, is the daughter of the wealthy industrialist Hiroshi Sato.[2]
The other main characters are the airbending master Tenzin, one of Aang's grown children (J. K. Simmons), and his family, which include his wife Pema (Maria Bamford) and their daughters Jinora (Kiernan Shipka) and Ikki (Darcy Rose Byrnes) and sons Meelo (Logan Wells) and Rohan. Jinora is calm and an avid reader. She is an airbender and joins the main cast in season 2.[12][13] Ikki is described as "fun, crazy, and a fast talker".[13] Little brother Meelo is super-active and comically aggressive, and baby Rohan is born during the third-to-last episode of Book One. Other recurring characters include Republic City police chief Lin Beifong (Mindy Sterling), and Korra's animal friends Naga and Pabu (both Dee Bradley Baker, the voice of a number of animals including Appa and Momo in the original series). Pabu was inspired by Futa, a famous standing Japanese red panda.[14] Jeff Bennett as the voice for Shiro Shinobi, fast-talking probending match announcer in Book One. He also does the voice-overs for the short recaps during the opening sequence of each episode.
According to critic Mike Hoffman, the romantic interests of Korra and her companions are less in the foreground than in Avatar, and feature mainly in the first two seasons.[15] In Book One, Bolin pines for Korra, who is interested in Mako, who dates Asami. By the end of the season, Mako has broken up with Asami and entered a relationship with Korra. This ends around the end of Book Two, during which Bolin suffers from an abusive relationship with the waterbender Eska. In the fourth season, Bolin dates the airbender Opal, while Asami and Korra become closer friends. The series' final scene indicates a romantic connection between them.[16] Mike DiMartino wrote that the scene "symbolizes their evolution from being friends to being a couple".[17] They continue in a relationship in the comics.
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