Finale Part 1

K312 Enter The Void

Written By - Mike Dimartino Directed By - Ian Graham Animated By - Studio Mir Another Korra finale, hard to believe we only have one more to go. Always the most anticipated episodes of Korra and going into this finale it was no different, there was a lot of excitement and intrigue about so many things, how did it work out? In my opinion very well, not perfect, but a very solid end to a great Book 3 Change. The finale and this episode specifically were full of emotion and great action, though perhaps lacking the overall scope and epicness of the Book 2 finale, something I think will be hard to eclipse. In terms of "Enter The Void" alone, second to last episodes have one main thing to accomplish, move thing to the final stage, cranking things up to 10, without eclipsing anything that will happen in the last episode. This episode does that well, in that it overall has more character moments than K313 and it does have very strong moments of its own, but it does not outdo the final episode. It ends with an intense cliffhanger, setting up the strong moments that allow the last episode to be so grand and epic. What I really enjoy about this episode is that while it is literally just the planning of an attack, the attack happening and initial aftermath, it does manage to be very character and emotion focused. Think about the fights that happen. Lin and Suyin fight P'Li and Korra and Tonraq fight Zaheer. Two sisters fight for their lives just like father and daughter do the same. The issues between Lin and Suyin have been in the background for the most part since K306 Old Wounds, but I like that we get the final resolution here, with Lin telling her sister that she loves her just before she goes to distract P'Li. It continues the sense of dread that revolves around every fight towards the end of this Book, Lin knows she may not survive and Suyin knows she has to kill or be killed, the sisters have to put their lives on the line and kill to get out of this fight alive. With Korra and Tonraq we get a continuation from Book 2, initially Tonraq was over protective and wouldn't let Korra make decisions like she makes here, this time he is still concerned, but trusts her so much more now. We get some nice scenes between the two as they separate before the trade, then when it goes wrong Tonraq is right there to fight beside his daughter against Zaheer who had already tried to kidnap her many years ago. Again the drama of the fight comes out as Tonraq is going for the kill on Zaheer and Zaheer returns the favour as he sends him flying off the mountain and Korra thinks her father is killed. We as the audience know he is alive even before we see him hanging from the metal wire, but to Korra in that moment it is real and full of emotion. These two groups fighting highlight that it is possible to have great fight scenes fail because there is no emotion involved, thankfully something that is never the case in Avatar and Korra, these scenes show the strength of emotion in fight scenes very well. These moments are not confined to the heroes either, we get P'Li's best moment of the Book when she goes to see Zaheer. The two have an honestly touching moment when they show how much they love each other and P'Li thanks Zaheer for showing her what true freedom means when he saved her from a warlord years ago. I will admit that given what happens to her later on, this scene highlights the severe amount of lost potential for her as a character, there is an interesting backstory there, one we may never get now and that is hugely disappointing. It is an interesting idea giving the villains a truly emotional moment showing a big connection. Which is why in the big fight it also gives the villains emotion in the fights, P'Li and Zaheer are fighting away from each other and when Lin distracts P'Li it gives Suyin the opportunity to pop out and wrap her armour around P'Li's head just as she fires an explosion. P'Li is killed in the battle and we get a huge close up on Zaheer as he turns to see what has happened to his love. It is far and away the most gruesome death we have ever seen, they don't show it all of course, but the implications are hard to stomach. It means Zaheer and Korra have both suffered a loss two scenes in a row which he brings up at the end of the episode to her. It is after this that we get the reason the romance between Zaheer and P'Li has been highlighted at all, the reason Zaheer has not been able to Enter The Void is because he has always had one attachment left, his love for P'Li. So when she is killed, he is able to Enter The Void and become wind. It is fascinating to me that they effectively give Zaheer the same problem that Aang had in 219 The Guru, that to become more powerful you have to cut your attachment to the person you love. Aang refuses to and P'Li was killed, it really presents the ability of flight as a double edged sword. You gain an amazing ability, but at the cost of never being able to be close to anyone, an interesting concept. You don't get much of this doubt with Zaheer, but there is a hint towards the end of the episode when Ming-Hua brings up P'Li, it is the one point in the episode after he gains the ability that he stops flying. The death has very much affected him. On the other side of the episode we have Mako, Bolin and Asami go to the Northern Air Temple to collect the Airbenders as part of the trade. Naturally The Red Lotus set a trap and have only brought Tenzin to the trade, with Ming-Hua using waterbending to make puppets to represent the other airbenders. You are again invested in this fight scene, because Mako and Bolin were badly beaten by Ghazan and Ming-Hua before and they are protecting an injured Tenzin and Asami. In this episode it is not really a fight scene and more Ghazan putting them in a position where they may not survive, saving the full on fight for the next episode. It becomes Bolin vs Lava as the group flee downwards through secret passages. It is very intense as the Lava is just relentless melting through and flowing around all obstacles leading our heroes to a dead end. I thought the only way out was for them to jump down the mountain and maybe Oogi would return, but instead Bolin steps up in a very powerful moment and finds out that he can Lavabend. He is even more special than a metalbender, which makes him so much more interesting. Even just the contrast between Bolin's funny character and the crazy destructive ability of Lavabending, you kind of ask yourself "What is he going to be doing with Lavabending after this book?". I criticised the metalbending teases in previous episodes, but they managed to make them worth it as the payoff was so big. Kai then arrives on his Bison, Leftie. And saves the group, I loved the subtle humour of the small Bison being able to carry so many of them with no problem until the last person got on and then Leftie was going down. The various groups minus Korra meet up and Kai reveals what he has been doing since the end of the last episode, he found out where the other airbenders are being held and the group has their goal. Small note has to be made about Kuvira, who introduces herself by name with a big close-up shot with music underscoring it, she may as well have said the words "I'm important now!". Finally we end in the secret Red Lotus cave where Korra is being held, suspended in the air by Platinum chains just about to be poisoned by the Red Lotus. It was a great way to end the episode, in that we still have not been told what their intentions are for Korra. They had multiple times to kill her before, so they do not want to simply kill her. It leaves you wondering if the poison will allow them to control her or something like that, a great way to be going into the final episode, still some stuff to learn, still mysteries to be revealed. On the otherhand because they are waiting until the very last episode to reveal their ultimate goal, it means that it has to be big and IMO it wasn't as big or surprising as it could have been, but I will discuss K313 in my next review. Overall this is an excellent episode, it does everything you want a second last episode to do. Venom Of The Red Lotus should thank Enter The Void for setting the stage so well for it. Amazing fights, huge emotion and lots of suspense, exactly what a finale needs.