Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the recap? Watch this!
Mako and Bolin struggle to return to Korra and reveal that Earth Queen Hou Ting has been kidnapping Airbenders for her own personal army – and that includes Kai! Meanwhile, Zaheer, Ming Hua and Ghazan face off against the Waterbenders to release the most powerful member of their group – P’Li!
“In Harm’s Way” is the 4th Chapter (episode) of Book 3 (Season 3) of The Legend of Korra, and it’s a doozy! All the bender battles that were missing in the past few episodes have been stuffed here, and it also features several plot twists to do with Hou Ting! Not that we didn’t expect it from her, but certainly not this early in the season.
The villains have also reached their first milestone in that they’ve acquired all their team members. Already, an incomplete set of bad guys were tearing through all of the defenses of our protagonists – what will a complete group of Zaheer’s allies do?
Highlights
Bending battles galore
There’s the battle between Zaheer and the Waterbenders (Tonrag, Esna, Deska, Zuko), and then the battle between Team Avatar and the Earthbenders of Ba Sing Se at the end. What makes these battles so much more exciting is that we know the emotional and physical stakes behind these conflicts, causing us to root for our heroes even more.
In the case of the Zaheer-Tonrag fight, because we’ve already spent some time with both groups of characters, their battle reflects our internal struggle – we empathise with both teams, so who do we want to win? This, more than the battle itself, is what makes the conflict so much richer and more compelling.
Zaheer’s team is complete
With the arrival of P’Li, we now see one Bender of each element in the team. In a way, they form the perfect counter to Korra’s own team. In a symbolic way, they also represent balance – which is exactly what Korra, as the Avatar, is meant to do within the story. So now we have both groups attempting to achieve what is ostensibly the same objective – but with very different intentions in mind. This further enriches the conflict to come, when they actually come face to face. Go Zaheer!
Hou Ting’s treachery
Completely expected, but it makes Hou Ting such a fun villain to watch. She’s already wreaking havoc right after her debut episode, and her schemes and plots will definitely come back to bite the Avatar in the behind when she least expects it.
Jinora’s expanded role
It’s good to see that Jinora is becoming more of an active protagonist here, rather than the helpless deus ex machina of the previous season. I hope the next season features her grown up, so we can see just how much she has blossomed as an Airbender.
Letdowns
Hou Ting is not an Earthbender
I was half-expecting her to be a very powerful Earthbender… but I guess she’s just a devious political figure. No matter, it’s not like Korra won’t have her hands full with the quarter of villains headed her way.
“In Harm’s Way” ties up the seeds of the first few plot threads that have been sown, ending the first Act of the entire season. While the Airbender search plot seems to have been resolved, we now have Zaheer and his Benders to watch out for. I’m pretty sure they’ll be a far more lethal threat than anything the Avatar has faced so far, and this also means that Korra will be gaining equally powerful allies in the process!
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