Korra book 2 episode 6

[psocoptera]

Hard to feel sorry for Asami given that she thought giving supplies and assistance to organized crime was a good idea. Also don't they have insurance in the Avatar-verse? (Didn't the Chinese invent insurance hundreds or thousands of years ago? I wrote at least one paper on Chinese economic history at Swarthmore but I can't remember anything about insurance. Anyways, it seems like the Avatarverse should have insurance, if they've also gotten as far as joint-stock companies. I know, I know, she let the policy lapse due to her cash flow issues, or whatever, this is a kids show and we don't want to talk about boring grown-up things.)

Also, AMNESIA! Amnesia is one of my favorite tropes, this is the most excited I've been about this show this season.

ETA: I like Varrick being an evil mastermind. I would *really* like Varrick actually being the buffoon he seems and Zhu Li being an evil mastermind, willing to play along with being the long-suffering assistant for control of "Varrick's" empire. Descended from one of the Joo Dees, who swore after the fall of the Dai Li to never let themselves be controlled or used by anyone again, she has been trained by her grandmother in all of the Dai Li's brainwashing techniques, which she is now adapting for subliminal messaging in the movies. Oh, and she's totally doing it with Ginger.

Comments

[q10.livejournal.com]

I like Varrick being an evil mastermind. I would *really* like Varrick actually being the buffoon he seems and Zhu Li being an evil mastermind, willing to play along with being the long-suffering assistant for control of "Varrick's" empire. Descended from one of the Joo Dees, who swore after the fall of the Dai Li to never let themselves be controlled or used by anyone again, she has been trained by her grandmother in all of the Dai Li's brainwashing techniques, which she is now adapting for subliminal messaging in the movies. Oh, and she's totally doing it with Ginger.

THIS. that is better than My Little Sky Bison.

[q10.livejournal.com]

after the last couple of episodes, i'm tentatively hoping the worst may be behind us. virtually all the characters are still being unsympathetic and awful, but the show has some minimal awareness of that which makes it a lot more palatable.

the first show, in hindsight, made good use of the fact that it was set in a world with few real legitimate authorities - if Team Avatar came up against the powers that be, the powers that be in question were at best inept, well-meaning underlings of a dysfunctional and vaguely Orwellian bureaucratic monarchy, and at worst the legions of terror of a genocidal, militaristic absolute monarchy. plus, the world was already in a state of perpetual war, so it's not like there was a strong ‘if it ain't broke, don't fix it’ argument against disruption.

on the other hand, in Leged of Korra we see a lot of complex governing institutions, that have, if not legitimacy, at least the advantage that they've been dong a decent job of keeping peace and order, and we've now got this world's first serious experiment in electoral democracy, which presumably comes with a measure of something like legitimacy. so now, when our heroes are bumping up against authority, even if we're sympathetic to the outcome they want, it's really tricky. if the show is willing to engage with this in an interesting way, it could be awesome, but given what we've seen so far, i'm not holding my breath.

[psocoptera.livejournal.com]

This is a really good point, and I would love it if the show really got into questions about the appropriate role of the Avatar in a "modern" (problematic word there but you know what I mean) society. What *is* appropriate for Korra to do on her own, what does she need the approval of some other authority to do, how do the normal rules about benders apply or not apply. Church and state, should Superman stand trial, so much potential!

Sadly the writers seem more interested in who's making smoochies with Mako than in any of this.