Reviews of television shows
After All These Years Have you noticed something. A through line, whether intentional or nor, hangs through every single premiere in Korra, one that isn’t really commented or remarked upon by the show. Yes each premiere in the series ends in the … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “After All These Years” & “Korra Alone”
“I hope you will only ever imagine how horrible it is to never return to the life that you love. You are smarter than that, Gilina.” Building an episode of television around a single guest star is a bit of … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×07, “P.K. Tech Girl”
In Which There is Service and Sacrifice There is a point in every long running story where the true depths of the narrative unfurl, where ideas hinted at or pointed toward finally come into focus and the crux of the … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Venom of the Red Lotus”
The Ultimatum One of the reasons the death of the Earth Queen is such a huge moment for the franchise is that it finally, and truly, throws out the character safety net that has existed for the run of Avatar and most … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Ultimatum” & “Enter The Void”
The Stakeout What does Zaheer want? A simple question that has been motivating both our heroes and villains, there’s been moments of chaos and calamity as our characters come into contact with the Red Lotus (thank God I can right … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Stakeout” & “Long Live The Queen”
Original Airbenders What a week. After a short hiatus for processing the world in the past seven days I’m happy to so that I’m motivated and ready to wrap up the rest of the Legend of Korra. Indeed the timing is noticeably … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Original Airbenders” & “The Terror Within”
“When I was a boy I dreamed of two very different lives.” “Only two? I wanted hundreds.” The strangest thing about many early Farscape episodes is that the character they’re about is often not the character that they follow. “Thank … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×06, “Thank God It’s Friday, Again”
The Metal Clan As the title of the third season has so helpfully reminded us, one of the driving themes in The Legend of Korra is change. This is a show built on the inherent premise that it is different from … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Metal Clan” & “Old Wounds”
The Earth Queen The Avatar is having a bit of a legitimacy crisis. It’s an idea that’s been haunting the entire background of The Legend of Korra, but doesn’t start to bloom into a full theme until now. In a world … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Earth Queen” & “In Harm’s Way”
“Whatever your crime, exile from your own kind is atonement enough.” CN: Discussion of sexual assault. It would be unfair to say that, five episodes in, we’ve finally hit the true Farscape, because bad and uneven episodes are as much … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×05, “Back and Back and Back to the Future”
A Breath of Fresh Air How one defines worth in the world of long form entertainment is a tricky thing to considered. So much of our current discourse around things like television shows or video games is hinged on a … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “A Breath of Fresh Air” & “Rebirth”
Darkness Falls In my prefatory paragraphs about the The Legend of Korra I made note that the response to the show was similar to the response to The Last Jedi. A mixture of indignation at changes to the world’s lore, and for some, awe … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Darkness Falls” & “A Light in the Dark”
Night of a Thousand Stars I remarked in the article on “A New Spiritual Age” that the final act of this season is mostly gobbledygook slathered over with an amazing coat of paint. If the first half of this narrative … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Night of a Thousand Stars” & “Harmonic Convergence”
The Guide In the post about “Beginnings” I speculated that the season might have been helped if the story of Wan had been placed earlier, allowing Korra to have a clear goal to pursue rather than dither about in malformed … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “The Guide” & “A New Spiritual Age”
After Lost concluded and many people complained how unsatisfactory the ending was, one of the creators —- I’m not sure which, if it was Carlton Cuse or Damon Lindlehof —- mentioned that it wasn’t the mystery that was important to … Continue reading El Santo watches Siberia, or the sublime bliss of leaving a mystery unsolved
Am I the only species in creation that doesn’t thrive on conflict? “Throne for a Loss” isn’t a good episode that lost its way—probably, the best version of this episode was always going to be a little dry—but it definitely … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×04, “Throne for a Loss”
Part One I don’t think there’s a cure all solution to fix this season of television. The production was too distraught and the resulting story too messy to find a panacea for the myriad of issues that plagues the screen, … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Beginnings”
Peacekeepers Throughout the entire Avatar franchise the show has hewn pretty closely to a few basic rules to keep its characters looking consistent with one another. There’s the general art design put forward by Bryan, but there’s other things as … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Peacekeepers” & “The Sting”
Part One One of the fascinating things about Korra as a character is that she has a full and (semi) functioning family. In most fantasies of this sweep and scale our hero is severed from filial ties in one way or another, … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Civil Wars”
Rebel Spirit Alas we have arrived at the moment I’ve been dreading since my commitment to writing about Korra, for as much as I deeply love the show there is no way to sidestep an important fact: the second season just isn’t … Continue reading Re-Avatar State: “Rebel Spirit” & “The Southern Lights”
Never. Swallow. A dentic! If “I, E.T.” was Farscape establishing its Planet-of-the-Week framework, “Exodus from Genesis” lays out the boundaries for a Farscape Ship-in-Trouble episode. Moya has been infested by a swarm of extremely large bugs; the temperature is rising … Continue reading The Wonders I’ve Seen: 1×03, “Exodus from Genesis”
