Well…it’s been an interesting couple of days huh? First, we thought Korra was cancelled, and now we KNOW that it will air on Nick.com from now on (full story here). So technically, tonights episode of Legend of Korra will be the last one on broadcast television. Weird huh? So, does “The Terror Within” deliver a powerful episode to send Korra off in style? Yes…but at a cost.
After last weeks “Original Airbenders” we came back to Zhaofu to see that Korra and crew were getting ready to leave the city soon. Opal got a touching sendoff, one I hope isn’t literally as I (and Bolin) would like to see more of her. And as night fell you knew something was going to happen…and boy did it ever!
Zaheer and Team Anti-Avatar “managed” to get inside the metal flower city and kidnap Korra! And the way they did it was very cool. Waterbending glass cutting? Check. Taking out Naga? Check. Drugging Korra and taking her without a fight? Check!
In fact, if it wasn’t for Phabu, Korra would’ve be taken! This lead to the BIGGEST fight of the season. As Team Anti-Avatar took on Mako, Bolin, Lin, Su, her family, and every Metalbender that could be spared, it was huge! And yet, despite the numbers, Team Anti-Avatar held their ground numerous times. Including Ghazan literally melting the ground into lava so no one could approach them. And P’Li using her combustion bending to keep everyone else at bay. The choreography was very well done, and everyone got their moment to shine (save for Asami, but honestly, what could she have done?) in this trench warfare style fight.
Points for creativity for having Su and Lin basically bungie cord down to pick up Korra. And Bolin stunning P’Li with a “you have to be good to make that shot” stone throw was pretty boss.
It was also cool seeing Zaheer take to the skies to try and get Korra back, only to be foiled by some epic swinging and bending from Su. A curious thing was seeing Zaheer livid at the thought of not getting the Avatar. Seeing that moment really makes me wonder what is going on here, and you’d think that after that fight we might find out…but we didn’t.
After a cloak escape the search began for how Team Anti-Avatar got into Zhaofu. Cue interrogations with the Truth Seer!
This for me was where the episode went downhill. Why? Because it became very obvious who the real traitor was. It started off fine, even had some Lin/Su tension that showed though they are willing to be sisters again, some things die hard. But when the young guard was accused, I instantly knew that Aiwei was the traitor. After all, who would suspect the guy who sees the truth…to tell a lie?
I’ll grant you, there was some good moments here. Especially Mako calling out Aiwei for his “sweat him out” approach. It’s good to see Mako not abandoning his cop training. And of course, Varrick was again there to lend wisdom and insanity to the proceeds. Heck, the image alone is worth the price of admission.
My problem is that it was drawn out, and by the end we don’t know why Aiwei betrayed Su, what his connection to Zaheer and crew are, and what he meant my “you have no idea the people who are after you Avatar”. It’s frustrating, especially now that we have only 5 episodes left, we need progression, and the whodunit really stalled things.
Hopefully, with Korra and team now pursing Aiwei (at the behest of Su), we can finally get some answers. Cause we need them, and soon. A rushed ending could seriously hurt this season.
One final note, I’m still not totally happy with the portrayal of Bolin. The guy just can’t catch a break. Opal is gone, he can’t do Metalbending, and he’s still not confident in himself. That rubs me the wrong way. We’ve seen Bolin be a boss bender, and a great guy. Yes, he’s comedy relief, but playing that up too much can hurt the character.
I noted in my review of “Original Airbenders” that we needed the story to really take off as the back half of the season was now here. Sadly, that didn’t happen. But I’m not going to give “The Terror Within” too low of a score because it did do some things right. An epic battle, certain characters shining, and a true glimmer of hope that things will escalate soon gives me enough reason to score it well. I love Book Three of Legend of Korra, I just want it to end like it started, wonderfully written, and not afraid to change things up.
Todd Black
Todd Black is reader of comics, a watch of TV (a LOT of TV), and a writer of many different mediums. He's written teleplays, fan-fictions, and currently writes a comic book called Guardians (guardians-comic.com). He dreams of working at Nintendo, writing a SHAZAM! TV series, and working on Guardians for a very long time!
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