Siblings fight. This is one of those indisputable facts of life. When you spend so much time around another person and you’re essentially forced to do so, disagreements are bound to happen. Kids aren’t exactly great at conflict resolution and teenagers aren’t much better, which is naturally going to lead to some scuffles between siblings. “Old Wounds” deals directly with tension between Lin and Suyin and tries to complete that arc. I say tries because although I enjoyed the episode overall, something about it felt a little rushed. There’s a beat or two missing from the reconciliation between the sisters that makes it ring a little false. I was on board from the beginning and the fight between them was good fun. Once Lin passes out for 16 hours(!), she wakes and suddenly everything is hunky-dory. I wasn’t quite sure what the revelation was for Lin. Was she finally convinced that Suyin had changed? Was it a realization that she had spent her life trying to please Toph instead of living her own life? She says as much to Opal, but is that it? Even just a small scene of Lin and Suyin having a real conversation would have helped.
Overall, I think the episode works well enough. Lin’s repressed memories do help to explain why she is the way she is and actually even gives us insight into who Toph became as an adult. I always found it a little odd that Toph became a police chief given her usual attitude toward authority figures, and her covering up of Suyin’s crime shows that maybe it wasn’t the best fit for her. Motherhood didn’t really suit either apparently. We know Aang wasn’t the best father and now we know Toph had her struggles as a mother as well. I like that the show never faults Toph for not having a traditional family. Her struggles stem from the immense amount of freedom she gave her kids. We know Aang wasn’t the best father and Toph had her troubles as well. Parenting is always difficult and “Original Airbenders” shows us that even the wisest of us can have trouble being both a parent and a leader.
Tenzin certainly faced his own issues with his parents and as Korra’s mentor last season. He and Korra are on great terms now and his guidance definitely helped her become the more confident and level-headed avatar she is now. Now Tenzin has a large group of students looking to him for guidance that are even more confused than Korra was when she became his student, and he’s struggling once again. I found it a little hard to believe that Tenzin would continually have trouble inspiring a group of students until I thought about it more. Up until now, he’s presumably only had to teach his own kids and Korra. He may have had a hand in instructing the air acolytes but they were obviously eager to learn as evidenced by the one air acolyte in the group of new airbenders. At least Tenzin realized he was out of his depth and needed help even if he did overcorrect like crazy. The students needed something to unite them and show that airbender culture was important. I don’t know that Tenzin was ever going to be able to do that on his own. Luckily for him, Jinora and Kai’s abduction took care of that for him. I really enjoyed the sequence of the new airbenders attacking the poachers. The action was solid as always and even had the signature humor of the series present with the “scalp sense” moment and Milo’s always unique style of combat.
The other big action scene in this week’s double header was Zaheer’s crew throwing down with Republic City Police. We get a great showcase again of just how strong this group is although we still don’t know exactly why they’re after Korra. Fans around the web have dubbed them The Red Lotus given their diametric opposition to The White Lotus and I think that’s as good a name as any. Given Zaheer’s philosophical musings and his appreciation of ancient gurus, I’m sure he has some strong beliefs behind his desire to eliminate the avatar. Ironically enough he would probably be the perfect student for Tenzin although he’s shown that he doesn’t need a teacher. His announcement that he knows where Korra is seemed likely to be because of spirit projection which we know is an “advanced” airbending and spiritual technique. Again the show is establishing just how formidable an opponent Zaheer will be when he and Korra have their inevitable showdown.
- I didn’t touch on it much but Korra can metalbend now! This will probably be important assuming The Red Lotus attacks Zaofu.
- Varrick makes good on his work with magnets by making a magnetic suit. I’m sure we’ll be seeing that again soon.
- Bolin stealing scenes as always with his moments with Opal and attempting to hide his desire to metalbend. P.J. Byrne is a master of mumbling.
- Baby bisons! Err I mean bison.
- Meelo’s teaching methods continue to impress. “Look to your left! Look to your right! One of those people will not make it out of here alive.”
- “How many push ups did you do last night? Cause I did like 50.” – Best line of the night.
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