The Legend Of Korra: Civil Wars Part I Review

The first thing I thought once the episode was over is that I can’t fully judge it without its second part. As things stand, we've only gotten one side of a conversation, and now have to wait a whole week till the next. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but if I am to judge this episode on its own merits, I can’t judge it fairly. It was ok, moves the water tribe story line further along, but does little else.

Korra still struggles with her role as not only an Avatar, but a peace keeper, a member of the water tribes, and the fact that she’s from the currently occupied south. There is some interesting interplay between herself, her father, and her uncle, but no major revelations are made. She comes to terms with her father’s past just in time for Unalaq to stand between them. I’m still not fully convinced that he is a baddie for the season, but he has no doubt overreached far beyond any good intentions he may have had.

I could be wrong, he does suffer from a severe case of shifty eye syndrome!

Of course, the Southerners resistance to the occupation is justified. One minute they were living day to day as free men and women and the next they are told to go indoors and stay out of the military’s way. From their point of view, some spiritual zealot they see once a year has come to their town and forcibly taken control. And what are his justifications? From his point of view they were a hedonistic society that was leaving their spiritual past behind. It’s a nice message to send to the people you are trying to get cooperation out of.

So what of Unalaq’s plan? His desire to reopen both water tribe spirit portals to calm the angered spirits seems to be the right thing to do, but what of this travel portal it will open? Not sure how this fits into his plan, but I’m sure there is some ulterior motive behind it all. And how long have these portals been sealed, and why were they sealed in the first place? If Korra stopped to think for a minute, she should remember that just six months ago she was able to converse with Aang and gain her powers back. Maybe she could get some invaluable advice from him! But as seen before, she’s more of a doer than a thinker, but it does eventually come to her.

Seriously, this only happened six months ago. Remember?

So with Korra’s father in trouble, Unalaq gaining more ground, and a little side story of Bolin’s girl troubles, the only other story worth talking of is the infighting between Aang’s kids. It seems Aang was about as good a father as most other fathers. I’m sure he did his best, but it’s never good enough. With Kya and Bumi believing Aang played favorites with Tenzin (and it seems they might have a point), tension seeps its way from the Water Tribe to the Air Temple. Sure it’s sibling rivalry at its base, but there is a bite to it all. It seems that Tenzin’s siblings have always had a resentment to his preferential treatment from Aang, and could possibly explain why they picked on him. It seems to ultimately be a minor story, but it’s interesting to know that the little kid who saved the world and idolized by so many was fallible.

So that was it. Animation once again was very good, as was the sound. But without the second part, I'm not sure what to make of this episode. I’ll reserve judgment until next week when I have the full story.