Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the recap? Wait for the recap.
Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo are tasked to locate Korra and bring her back, and they embark on a quest to find the Avatar. Meanwhile, Korra battles her inner demons in an attempt to regain control of her life. Will the children find Korra, and will Korra be ready to go back when they do?
“The Calling” is the fourth Chapter (episode) of Book Four: Balance (Season Four) of The Legend of Korra. It features more of Tenzin’s children, Jinora, Meelo, and Ikki, and of course Korra’s journey of healing. When you think about it, it’s pretty apt that the grandchildren of the previous Avatar are going in search for the Avatar.
Unfortunately, besides this thematic link, there’s really nothing much else going for this episode. It’s just not that interesting, and you would only really want to watch the last 1-2 minutes. The children simply aren’t strong or compelling enough as characters to make you want to watch the entire episode.
Highlights
Ikki gets some air time
Honestly, I don’t even remember her name at times. Neither do I remember her characteristics. She gets some moments of awesome when she manipulates the guards while she’s captured. Being the middle child is tough though, even in a fictional series – nobody seems to remember you.
Korra regains her powers
Yay! No more angst! Angsty Korra is rather annoying to watch. Angsty Korra feels like First World Problems Korra, and you really don’t want to have that vibe in the series. Plus, with her Avatar State returned, she’s fully powered and ready to take on the entire Earth Empire.
Letdowns
The children are irritating as a whole
Too many high-pitched squeals and whiny cries make the idea of letting the children carry the episode a bad one. Honestly, they may be worthy or useful individually. But put them all together, and suddenly you wonder if they are capable of staying alive in the first place, let alone finding the most important being on the planet.
Jinora is depowered
What happened to Jinora? Why is finding one person so problematic for her? Can’t she go into the Spirit World and just ask a spirit? It undoes all her progress over the past 3 seasons, and it’s only made worse through the tattoos on her forehead (which remind us that she’s supposed to be quite powerful by now).
Not much Bending
Again, as with the previous episode, the Bending is too little and too late. Remember, it’s still a children’s show, so let’s have some fighting! Or some display of Bending, please.
The resolution of Korra’s problem is too easy
I have a huge issue with the resolution. Firstly, it comes too easily to Korra. Secondly, it implies that Su and Lin are incompetent Metalbenders. Thirdly, it seems that Korra’s entire struggle was due to a foreign substance, rather than her own personal demons. There’s no character development with this resolution, which makes what she has accomplished so far severely diminished.
“The Calling” isn’t a great episode because the highlight is the very event you’ve been waiting for. Everything leading up to it feels like filler, and one wonders if they couldn’t have crammed all this into half an episode instead, and focus more on the interesting story instead. Maybe next episode?
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