I loved Legend of Korra since the first episode, because of the sense of wonder and fun it seemed to radiate in its first 2 episodes, especially within Korra herself, she's just a teenager who's gotten her first taste of freedom whilst also dealing with her frustrations in life
Then the Revelation comes, during this episode we see Korra witness Amon take away someone's bending completely, rendering them shattered
This haunts and leaves a noticeable impact on her, which is explored in the next episode and the one I'll be discussing today
In this episode we see the normally eager and temperamental Korra acting almost deflated, refusing to join Tarrlok's task force and instead throwing herself into her training to try and avoid her feelings, which draws immense concern from Tenzin, but Korra refuses to acknowledge her fear and instead builds up a thick visage of strength to hide how scared she truly is.
During this episode we see her being manipulated by Tarrlok, with him throwing a party in her honor that acts as the perfect stage to explore her character and the depths of her insecurity.
Korra is faced with the fact that she doesnt deserve this honor by Lin, a precise blow to her ego that increases her insecurity.
Then she is reminded that people expect "great things" from her,which feeds into her doubt and desire to prove herself as a worthy avatar, as well as making her insecure about her lack of accomplishment.
Finally she meets Asami, someone who she subconsciously sees as better than herself, seen in her descriptions of her as the "beautiful, rich girl" who is now with the boy she likes.
All these interactions poke holes into the armor that Korra has put up, and after a night of self doubt and insecurity, she makes a terrible decision stemming from her bruised ego, and joins Tarrlok's task force after being pressured by the press, lest she admit her fears and be seen as (in her eyes) the coward and fraud she is, that she contains and hides deep, deep down from the judgmental and expectant eyes of the world.
However her mission with Tarrlok is a success!, and as the saying goes, "Pride comes before the fall",and so Korra makes the absolutely awful decision to try and further prove her bravery to both the world and herself.
Lured into a false sense of security that is quickly shattered by Amon's appearance and swift defeat of her, Amon has her completely at his mercy, and she knows it. The way he communicates with her is very disturbing with how raw and personal it is, and his promise To "destroy her", not kill, not end, but destroy, shows how deeply he understands her, how obvious her little show was to him, and the palpable fear she has of him, of what he can do to her.
This whole episode is designed to show how far Korra will go to project an appearance of power and strength as well as why she acts like this. She doesn't want to disappoint the world, she has to be strong enough to deal with this on her own.
Yet at the end of the episode we don't see Korra the Warrior, or Korra the Avatar, but rather Korra, the teenage girl who is completely and utterly terrified, but having taken the first major step in releasing her fear.
This episode also explores the political importance of the Avatar, with Tarrlok's persistent efforts to get Korra on his side showing the positive influence her support would have on his cause, because in times of trouble, people always look towards the Avatar for help. The Avatar is a symbol of power, security and heroism on a worldwide scale, and so(throughout the entire series but specifically here) Korra struggles massively to reconcile her own human fears and struggles with the incredible, mythical legacy of those that came before her, especially her direct predecessor.
Someone on Reddit said that this episode is like the Storm Of LOK and I agree 100%. With how it completely deconstructs our protagonist and reveals so much about them, it's one of my favorite episodes of LOK and one that teaches an invaluable lesson
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