Awesome / The Legend of Korra - Book Three

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The Avatar State at its most awesome.

Moment Subpages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.

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A Breath of Fresh Air

• Zaheer's jail break. He takes out benders of every type using airbending, which he's barely had a chance to get used to.
• Apparently, there was once an air nomad guru who was so in tune with his element, he spent the last 40 years of his life never touching the ground.
  • Of course, the guy who claims this admits that said bender lived millennia ago and most existing records of the man are just children's fables he wrote, but Zaheer remains adamant that there's a kernel of truth in there.
  • The finale proves that this may actually have been a true story.
  • To note, the credibility of the story is irrelevant. He knows the true value is the lesson it teaches and the wisdom within the Guru's recorded words:
  Zaheer: Like all great children's tales, it contains truth within the myth. Laghima once wrote, "Instinct is a lie, Told by a fearful body, hoping to be wrong."
  Guard: What's that supposed to mean?
  Zaheer: It means that when you base your expectations only on what you see, you blind yourself to the possibilities of a new reality.
  • In his case, the teachings helped him quickly adjust to becoming an airbender, unlike all the other new airbenders we previously saw.
• Korra talking down a suicidal new Airbender and convinces him to join the new Air Nomads. Superman would be proud.

Rebirth of a Nation

• Ghazan's jailbreak. He's spent his time in prison working out, and when he gets access to some rocks, he turns them into a flying shuriken of death magma!
  • He's spent thirteen years in a wooden prison on the ocean. It was implied in the first season of AtlA that the reason the earth benders imprisoned by the fire nation lost hope, was because they were disconnected from their element. Ghazan has been disconnected from his element for thirteen years, and not only has he shrugged off thirteen years of interrogation, he still believes he'll escape strongly enough that he's working out until the time comes.
• Ming Hua. Not only is her fighting style based off of her not having arms, but she manages to keep her water tentacles in place even when she's at rest. This after being in prison for years.
• Zuko is riding a dragon. Considering that dragons are fully sentient beings whose trust and respect is VERY hard to earn, Zuko has clearly gone very far in his Sun-based fire skills. He has truly undone the mistakes and regrets of his Fire Lord great grandfather (One of two men who were the last known to have had dragon companions) and honored the memory of his Avatar Great Grandfather (the OTHER man of the two who had dragon companions). He can stand beside them as their equal.
  • His manner is also notable. When told of the prisoners escaping, he is clearly, understandably, angry that this has happened. Importantly, Zuko also calmly explains what is going on and how he intends to deal with it. No ranting or threats that Zuko as a teenager, or a man more like Ozai would have resorted to. Zuko's response immediately makes it clear that he, at some point, became the fair and capable Fire Lord the world needed following Ozai's defeat.
  • Hell, Zuko's appearance can in itself be considered a Moment of Awesome. After two books of uncertainty and teasing by the Creators, we finally get to see him after a seven-year absence, and at this point, he's already pushing towards ninety and still fully capable of tracking down four highly dangerous convicts and moving to intercept their plans.
  • Not to mention the fact that, despite what he just said about the convicts being more than capable of dispatching groups of benders with ease, Zuko shows no hesitance in taking them head on. He was Fire Lord (and is still called "Lord Zuko") for a reason.
  • On a minor note, Zuko still talks and acts like the boy we knew and loved, only with 70 years of experience behind him. This is partially due to the writing, as well as his new voice actor, Bruce Davison, who managed to get Zuko's mannerisms and enunciation perfectly. That's incredible attention to detail.
  • Another minor note. Zuko doesn't wear long robes or a cloak or a crown to announce his royal lineage or anything. His clothing is tight and his armor is practical. He's dressed to fight.
  • Pay attention to the music in the background. The Tsungi Horn makes its return!
• Smaller achievement than most, but makes up for it by being highly personal and mixed with Heartwarming Moments: Bumi takes part in the Airbending exhibition by firing off multiple palm-blasts of wind. Considering that the first episode saw him only being able to do any tricks unconsciously and under extreme duress, this rapid increase of control is phenomenal. The small look of accomplishment he wears as Bolin praises the progress "just a couple of weeks of dedication can amount to" seals the deal.
• While it is in the middle of a tense moment, another subtle example for Korra's Character Development:
  • After weeks of dealing with highly-stressful situations (for all of them), Korra is ordered out of Republic City - Korra coldly brushes this off, saying she was leaving anyway, but the moment she's talking to Tenzin seconds later, it's about how happy she is they're going to begin rebuilding the Air Nation. Virtually no sign of anger at all, restrained or otherwise... and this is Korra we're talking about here.
• This line from Korra during her argument with Ryu, as it symbolizes her development into a humbler person who doesn't strictly define themselves by their role as the Avatar.
  Korra: Well, I didn't ask to be the Avatar, but I am, and I'm fulfilling my duties.

The Earth Queen

• Zuko, and his immediate handle on the situation by rationally discerning what the criminals next action would be, and moving to intercept them personally.
  • Zuko's dragon. Where the dragons from the previous series were close-to-traditional, noodley-bodied Chinese dragons with some bat wings on their middles, Zuko's steed has a bit more Western characteristics blended in and is much, much bulkier and visibly strong. Only people with the greatest of integrity and personal strength can earn a dragon's respect and companionship, let alone such a fine specimen.
• Korra not being oblivious and calling the Earth Queen out on being Obviously Evil. She's clearly learned her lesson from Unalaq.
  • And that savviness extended to their fight with the motorcycle gang (see below): while escaping, the head proclaims the Avatar's on the wrong side of this fight, as that money belongs to the people, not the Queen. Rather than outright dismiss this, Korra tentatively asks "Why do I get the feeling he's right?
• Korra and Asami fighting off a motorcycle gang. Especially Asami's actions, which include racing toward speeding vehicles coming straight at her, expertly leaping up at the right moments, then slamming the vehicles/their riders to the ground. Helped by the fact that she hasn't had a real fight scene in a season.
  • Also, before the fight begins, when the duo are surrounded by burly, heavily-armed brutes on motorcycles, the only reaction Korra and Asami have is one of slight annoyance. They're that confident in their abilities.
• Desna and Eska working with Tonraq and Zuko after the Civil War, back when the former two were the bad guys. This is the first time we get to see them do something as good guys.
  • As an added bonus, the twins are co-ruling the Northern Water Tribe. This commentary just sums up how awesome this decision was.

In Harm's Way

• P'Li's breakout.
  Tonraq: That's no snowstorm. That's him.
  • Zaheer holds his own against Tonraq. Also have to give Tonraq some credit, considering he was the only one that stood his ground until P'Li took him out.
  • Ghazan beats Zuko without needing to resort to lava. Zuko does pretty well, though, considering he's well past his prime at this point.
    • That Zuko was capable of fighting at all is a crowning moment for him. P'Li was so cold she couldn't firebend on her own, she had to wait for the dragon to attack her, catch those flames, and then she was able to firebend herself. In the same situation, Zuko put up a reasonable fight against Ghazan, who chose not to throw lava at him. One wonders if he feared what Zuko could do if the heat of the lava gave him warmth.
  • Ming-Hua efficiently takes out Desna and Eska (though the two put up a decent fight with some amazing moves of their own), then breaks out P'Li.
  • Finally, P'Li is able to block dragon fire, shoot said dragon down, then nearly blows up Tonraq to keep him away from Zaheer. One scene establishes that she is not an adversary to take lightly.
• Jinora using Astral Projection to locate Kai.
• Mako, Bolin, Jinora, and Kai take on three Dai Li agents. Mako and Bolin take point, using team tactics to take out two of them. Then the Drill Sergeant Nasty grabs Jinora, so Kai gets to score some payback by knocking him out.
• The rescue of the airbenders from the Earth Queen.
• Previous to this point we'd never seen what happens when you have a massive amount of airbenders working together: they're able to project a literal wall of air outwards, preventing the Dai Li from even touching them
• On that note, let's look at the Earth Queen herself, and how the Dai Li unequivocally serve her. Remember in the previous series? Where the Earth King was just a puppet controlled by his State Sec and their leader? Now imagine what kind of political maneuvering and force of personality she must have if she's now controlling the Dai Li and not the other way around.

The Metal Clan

• Zaheer's plan to find the avatar by infiltrating the new airbenders in Republic City. It didn't work, thanks to Korra and Tenzin splitting up, but kudos for trying.
• Zaheer clearly gets Airbending. He nimbly dodges through the gates by somersaulting.
  Meelo: "Now that man is a leaf."
• Points to Kya for seeing through Zaheer's disguise and taking him on; although he proved too much to handle, she gave him a pretty good fight.
  • The animation in this fight scene between them is simply fantastic as well. Studio Mir knocks it out of the park.
    • Particularly where she grabs him in mid-escape with waterbending - Zaheer being on a stolen glider - and then slams him into the ground.
    • And when her final attack is picking up the entire pond and throwing it at him. Pity Zaheer simply sidesteps and launches an air bullet at her.
    • And despite it being established that Kya is the best fighter out of Aang's children, she's still savvy enough to call for back-up as soon as the fight starts.
    • Up until now, Zaheer had easily beaten any bender who got in his way. Kya managed to give him the first real fight we saw him involved in in the series.
• Varrick plans to create a magnetic railway! Give it a little time, and Zaofu will have it's own Shinkansen line, and if they export it, just imagine the possibilities for international shipping, transportation, and leisure activities, if the idea of magnetism is applied to other fields. A clean, efficient mode of transportation -and potentially energy, given time to develop the proper technology to harness it- unreliant on fossil fuels, and only barely reliant on bender power to give it the push needed. Varrick was right, the future of Zaofu could very well be magnets!
• Korra calling Lin out on her rudeness.
  • Her plan to use Opal to lighten Lin up is one when you think about it; it's a light-handed, subtle approach that uses diplomacy and the human element. Sure couldn't see season 1 Korra thinking up something like this; it's some good character development. Even afterwards, when it flops, she has enough composure to give a "The Reason You Suck" Speech instead of another half-baked "You're oppressing yourselves!" utterance.
• The very existence of the Metal Clan and Zaofu itself. An entire city devoted single-mindedly to innovation, freedom of expression and meritocracy? Yes, please!
  • The visuals we get while flying into the city via airship, much less the transportation from district to district by rail. Dear god, the whole place is Scenery Porn at its finest! It definitely qualifies as a moment for the animators and artists.
  • And again, the design of the city itself counts as this, both for the animators, and for Baatar, Suyin's husband. The layout of each individual section of the city is designed in such a way that they resemble lotus flowers in bloom during the day, but at night, the individual "petals" (in reality, probably massive blast shields) close over the districts like a protective shield on massive hydraulic pistons in a way that's highly reminscient of the way the skyscrapers of Tokyo-3 expand and retract in Evangelion. Not to mention he's the primary architect for the city, and is constantly expanding upon and renovating/upgrading the original design. No wonder Su married the man, he's a bona fide genius!
• Suyin, point blank. After two seasons of Lin accomplishing nothing, we have Toph's other daughter, who is actually worthy of her mother. Like Toph, she left her home at an early age, and wandered the world to find herself. After becoming an master in several arts, including metal bending, she married an architect and made her home in an empty valley. Said valley is now home to a city that makes the planet Krypton look like a caveman built it with Lego. And the basic philosophy of the inhabitants of this city is to be as awesome as humanly possible.
  • A ferocious sea pirate fixes her gourmet meals. And she invites Magnificent Bastard Varrick to dinner. She is definitely Toph's daughter.
  • Nobody in her city can lie, they raise massive shields at night, and she talks smack about the Earth Queen over dinner. When she says her city is safer than Republic City, Lin is visibly jealous and doesn't deny it.
• The invention of the game "Power Disk", courtesy of Suyin's twin sons, Wei and Wing. Even if they took influence from airball, they get props for managing to make it work with an entirely different kind of bending.
• Opal calling out Bolin for doing his usual Casanova pick up lines and then advising him to just be himself.

Old Wounds

• The fact that you can actually use metalbending for acupuncture techniques/therapy. Metalbending multiple, tiny, sharp needles simultaneously, with such precise accuracy that there is no risk to the patient whatsoever. It ties into the idea on the CMOH page of bending being used for more than just combat or sports, showing that it can be integrated into nearly every aspect of society, if one only puts their mind to the task and remains open to new ideas. Another example of the awesome culture that drives Zaofu to be what it is to this day.
• Korra learning how to metalbend, and managing to bend the meteorites into recognizable shapes within a day.
  Suyin: Congratulations! You're now the first metalbending Avatar.
  • Future avatars that reach the Avatar State will be able to metalbend because of her. Pretty soon, we'll have an avatar that can master five elements instead of the usual four, one of which was the Magnum Opus of one of the previous Avatar incarnation's closest friends. To quote her, "Toph, you rule."
    • Hell, just the implication that the Avatar can master more than the four primary elements would be groundbreaking for a multi-generation-spanning entity as old as the Avatar who spent the last 10,000 years restricted to the four main elements. Think of what the Avatar could do if they could master other unconventional elements such as lavabending, combustionbending, or hell, even bloodbending.
• Opal getting in-between her mother and aunt while they're fighting, knocking away both their attacks with airbending blasts.
  • While it did end with Lin wearing herself out- much to the concern of all involved- the fight between the Beifong sisters was definitely this, both for the two of them, and Suyin in particular. From a martial arts standpoint, it was an incredible demonstration of the unique differences in either sister's bending styles, and which parts of their mother's own style they incorporated into their bending. Watching the fight, Lin's approach is all about power, defense, strong attacks that are rooted firmly to the earth and pack a lot of punch, which is very much in line with the real-world martial art earthbending is based off of (Southern Hung Gar). Conversely, Suyin's style resembles that of her mother's unique earthbending from the original series (based off of Southern Praying Mantis), emphasizing speed, agility, redirecting an opponent's inertia, and wearing down the enemy with fast strikes while keeping out of their reach. While in an even fight, the two styles might cancel one another out, because Lin came into the battle physically weaker, Suyin had the upper-hand, and could've easily won. That's not to say that Lin lasting as long as she did, let alone trying to continue the fight in her condition, wasn't as impressive. Far from it, actually. Hell, it was amazing she could even stand, let alone bend at nearly her full potential!
    • Even then, both sisters still brought their own personal touches into the fighting styles. Suyin was quite fond of backflips (and pivoting), whereas Lin jumped around high and a lot (with mid-air flips as well).
  • In addition, where Lin's stances and strikes are the directness of earthbending taken to their logical extreme, Suyin's bending style incorporates the fluidity and adaptability of waterbending, and the acrobatics and indirectness of airbending, allowing her to easily dodge barrages and projectiles thrown her way by Lin, and to defend against every attack she attempts, while hitting Lin from angles Lin isn't defending against. She, like Zuko, has clearly incorporated the other elements' philosophies into her bending style.
• While a major dick-move, Suyin commenting on how Lin's abrasiveness is the reason Tenzin broke up with her is pure awesome for someone to say and emerge unscathed. It's a double CMOA for Suyin especially considering it's the piece that led to the two sister to immediately come to blows with each other.

Original Airbenders

• The new airbenders fighting the Evil Poachers and winning.
• Bumi shows his natural leadership skills and helps organize the Airbending recruits to help rescue Jinora and Kai.
• Kai breezing through the airbending obstacle course in a snap, including getting past everyone else who's struggling ahead of him.
• Kai beating the bison poacher for kidnapping the sky bison and Jinora: "You can think you can take away Jinora, and these baby bison!?" Tenzin is forced to step in and stop him, but still praises Kai's technique - it's not hard to hear that he subtly enjoyed it as well.
• Jinora has a number of them:
  • Jinora keeping up with her father during the 10 mile hike.
  • Going into a Calling the Old Man Out speech to Tenzin when he gives her a Just a Kid reaction when she asked for her airbending tattoos.
  • Her reaction to the Evil Poacher attempt at intimidation? "You're disgusting".
  • Asking help from a spirit when she was unable to use her Astral Projection.
  • Also doubles as a Heartwarming Moment: After Kai frees himself, he goes to free Jinora, but this selfless child tells Kai to free the baby bison first.

The Terror Within

• The entire fight to stop the Red Lotus from kidnapping Korra. Highlights include:
  • P'Li curving her combustion shots to hit targets behind cover.
  • Ghazan using his lava bending to turn a makeshift metal cage into a lava moat, with the remains of the cage providing cover.
  • Ming-Hua providing cover for P'Li, making it nearly impossible to land a hit on her.
  • Zaheer, once Lin has gotten away with Korra, creates a smokescreen that not only lets them escape, but flash-cools the lava moat.
  • Bolin managing to knock out P'Li's combustion bending with a precision rock attack, right before she can blast Su and Lin.
  • Lin and Su roping in to save Korra from the roof, and Su shooting Zaheer out of the sky when he tries to stop them.
  • Wei and Wing, despite being very young, still hold their own against the powerful benders.
  • Even the Zaofu guards hold their own reasonably well.
    • To put their skill in perspective, they managed to pull Zaheer out of the circle his group had set up, then keep him separated until Lin had grabbed Korra and was pulling her to safety. By comparison, he beat Kya and two White Lotus firebenders in half the time. One of them also had the tactical insight to damage his stolen airbender glider so he couldn't fly anymore.
• Korra and the gang figuring out that Aiwei is a traitor.
  • Likewise, Aiwei being Crazy-Prepared enough to escape and destroy any evidence.
    • Aiwei really deserves extra credit for how in control he is from the second he confronts the group in his living room. While the kids fumble pathetically to come up with half-truths in a desperate attempt to slip past his truth sense, Aiwei smoothly and casually offers explanations for Mako's initial suspicions, nonchalantly restoring the order of his shelf while the Krew watches and cringes, and not missing a beat when he sees his tunnel is discovered and drops his escape cover.
• Remember how potent shirshu venom was in the first series? Well, it takes three darts of it to bring Naga down. It took roughly five licks from a shirshu to put down an adult sky bison like Appa in the original series. If Naga needed that much venom to be put down (intentionally or otherwise), that cements how strong a threat she is.

The Stakeout

• Zaheer being able to communicate to his team while being in the Spirit World.
• Mako and Bolin fighting Ghazan and Mingu-Hua despite being heavily outmatched. They may have lost but they did buy enough time for the others to escape.
• Zaheer can teleport through the Spirit World with ease.

Long Live The Queen

• Zaheer suffocates the Earth Queen with airbending. He delivers a premortem "Reason You Suck" Speech while literally sucking the air from her lungs.
  Zaheer: You think freedom is something you can give or take on a whim, but to your people, freedom is just as essential as... air. And without it, there is no life. There is only... darkness.
  • Zaheer has completely turned the notion of airbending as a defensive, non-lethal discipline on its head. How do you defend against that?!
• Zaheer uses airbending and stealth to get into the Earth Queen's throne hall and eavesdrop without even the Dai Li detecting him.
• Ghazan effortlessly destroying the inner wall in Ba Sing Se. To put it in perspective, when Azula took over Ba Sing Se, she co-opted the Dai Li and had them do most of the leg work. It took her two days. The Red Lotus came to Ba Sing Se with no intent to overthrow the queen, got tired of waiting, and liberated the entire city in roughly two hours by themselves.
  • Followed by the poorer residents of Ba Sing Se rushing into the upper levels. They've been treated almost like animals for centuries, caged in the slums, and now they've been freed. A lot of Upper-Class Twits are going to learn the hard way that the dog bites back.
• Korra and Asami for the entire episode. Captured by the Earth Kingdom, they proceed to quickly break out and non-lethally take down the crew of the airship they're on. It crashes in the process but They recruit the soldiers to help them salvage the airship for parts to build a sand skimmer. Then they sail across the desert, take down a giant sand-whale creature that tries to eat them, and return to civilization with the respect and thanks of the men previously holding them prisoner.
  • Special mention goes to Asami prying the metal railing off the wall, to free herself. Shoddy workmanship or not, that's a great show of strength. Extra special mention for instantly recognizing the shoddy workmanship and then charming the guard into securing her to the railing instead of the floor.
• The giant sand-shark creature. When it fully reveals itself for the first time - via cracking the newly-repaired airship in half - you know it's a legitimate threat to the group.
• The Red Lotus effortlessly taking down the Dai Li. They are the only one to do so in the fastest amount of time.
• Between trying to get Bolin to metalbend, Mako manages to blowtorch through one of the bars of the cell.
• The animators deserve props for the creature that was pursuing Korra, Asami, and the Earth Queen's forces. They used an animal many viewers might have never heard of and still made it pretty accurate.

The Ultimatum

• Children of the Avatar vs the Red Lotus, BEGIN!
  • Tenzin and Zaheer, the first time two Airbenders have ever engaged in battle with each other, and the choreography was excellent.
    • After spending much of the season showing that he is an uncanny prodigy in airbending, Zaheer gets thoroughly schooled by Tenzin. In the end, it takes the combined efforts of the entire Red Lotus to bring him down.
    • As far as fighting goes, this is really Tenzin's episode. For a man who preaches peace and harmony, it's easy to forget that he can throw down. Just as all the airbenders and acolytes are rounded up, Tenzin single-handedly pushes back their captors to give everyone else time to escape.
    • One can really note their differing ideologies and philosophies in the way they fight, and how severely outclassed Zaheer was: Whereas Tenzin moves in a graceful, evasive manner evocative of a leaf in the wind, countering his opponent's attacks by turning his momentum against him and moving through the air like a breeze, Zaheer prioritizes strength and brute force, utilizing his airbending to augment his jumps, as well as direct kicking and punching attacks that are meant to knock Tenzin off balance and possibly injure him - Tenzin simply uses the above mentioned techniques to evade Zaheer. Until P'Li steps in, Zaheer does not land a single blow on Tenzin during that entire fight. Brute force won't do shit if your opponent can simply dodge and turn that raw power against you.
    • Tenzin doesn't just evade Zaheer. He No Sells every single one of Zaheer's blows. Even after P'Li downs him, Tenzin has more than enough fight in him to fight back against the combined might of Ming-Hua, Ghazan, and Zaheer. It takes a direct shot from P'Li to actually hinder his fighting ability in a meaningful way.
    • Tenzin's last successive attack on Zaheer is Aang's iconic one-legged T pose from Season 1's extended intro.
    • Worth noting is that, up until this point, Zaheer has never fought anyone else experienced in airbending. The closest he ever came to someone who knew how to fight airbenders were Kya and Zuko. When faced with Tenzin, a master airbender, he's completely outmatched. Zaheer may be an airbending prodigy, but he's ultimately inexperienced and untrained compared to someone who's spent their life mastering the art.
  • Ming-hua and Kya's Waterbending battle is also a sight to behold.
    • Two badasses take on each other in combat in a brilliant display of waterbending, though Ming Hua eventually gets the better of Kya at the end.
  • Bumi managing to stay alive against a Master Lava Bender is pretty impressive as well.
    • He's jumping on Ghazan, pulling his hair and biting him. Ghazan has been mowing through his opponents with ease throughout the entire season, and yet Bumi, without even using his airbending, manages to briefly get the better of him.
  • A subtle moment for Zaheer in that his fight with Tenzin is clearly diversionary. He spends the first 30 seconds of their duel running away, drawing his most dangerous adversary away from his own allies. While he was clearly outclassed, he managed to pull off a strategic victory by stalling until the rest of the Red Lotus could save him. What Zaheer lacks in power and skill, he makes up for in cunning.
  • One thing easily forgotten in all of this is that any member of the Red Lotus could take down any other bender in the world; even Zaheer who did not have bending before. Tenzin managed to curbstomp Zaheer and it's not until P'Li started spamming her combustions did Tenzin start to fail. These are the same people that gave trouble to the combined might of Eska, Desna, Tonraq and Zuko.
• P'Li is a one woman gunship. She single handily prevents the air bender novices from escaping and then turns the tide against Tenzin.
• Kai having the bravery to distract P'Li long enough to help the other Air Nomads get away.
  Jinora: What are you going to do?"
  Kai: Whatever I can.
• Tenzin's defiance towards Zaheer.
  Tenzin: I will never let you get to Korra.
  Zaheer: Unfortunately, you don't have a choice.
  Tenzin: Yes, I do.
  • and:
  Zaheer: Give up. It's over.
  Tenzin: As long as I'm still breathing, it's not over.

Enter The Void

• Despite being chained at her hands and feet, Korra still manages to fend off Zaheer pretty well with her limited mobility.
• Ghazan uses his lavabending to basically melt an entire mountain, Tenzin's home becoming a giant lava castle in the process.
• As a result of Ghazan's attempt to kill them, Bolin discovers he can lavabend when he needs to save his brother and friends. He also manages to shove several metric tonnes of rock in their escape.
  • Even more impressive is that he had no idea he could do it. When his loved ones were about to be killed by lava flow, he ran ahead of them, seeming prepared to sacrifice himself, before reversing the lava that surrounded him and the entire wall back. Die or Fly at its finest.
• Su and Lin team up to bring down P'Li; Lin running out from cover to draw her fire so Su can slam a metal jacket over P'Li's head just before she fires. Kaboom.
• Zaheer pauses in the middle of battle, horrified at losing P'Li. This gives Korra a chance to fire an attack. Zaheer immediately dodges the attack after a moment of mourning, simply because he's devoted to the task at hand, confident that finishing off the Avatar would respect P'Li's sacrifice.
• Zaheer breaks out an airbending skill so ancient it was thought to be impossible: he flies, unaided.
  Zaheer: Let go your earthly tether. Enter the void. Empty, and become wind.
• Lefty, Kai's faithful Sky Bison, carries Kai, Bolin, Mako, Asami, and Tenzin. Take note that Lefty is still a baby calf and managed to carry five people, four of whom are full grown adults.

Venom of the Red Lotus

• As depressing as it was for Korra, it was kind of awesome to see the Big Bads from the previous seasons in her hallucination. Who didn't squeal like a fanboying Bolin when they heard Amon's voice again?
• The Red Lotus tries to force Korra into the Avatar State so they can kill her by poisoning her. This goes about as well as you'd expect.
  • Korra physically tears her chains right out of the wall, takes out both Ghazan and Ming-Hua, then chases Zaheer with lethal intent until the poison finally stops her.
  • Korra uses airbending to blast away Ghazan's lava. She must have put some incredible pressure behind that blast.
  • After three seasons, we finally get to see Korra in full Avatar state and stuffing her opponent's every attempt to stop her. The Red Lotus chain her up and try to kill her when she accesses the Avatar state? Oops, her Super-Strength broke your precious little trap. Zaheer flies away? You forgot she's got rocket feet, bitch! He tries to be Superman and dodge her? HERE'S A MOUNTAIN FOR YOUR FACE. HOW 'BOUT TWO?! He's still trying to dodge? Maybe some ice on your feet will chill you out! The only reason Zaheer makes it out of the fight is the poison weakening her. If there was ever any doubt that the Avatar state wasn't a feral force of nature, this fight shuts it down.
  • It's worth noting that the Avatar State was zeroed out in the finale of the last book, meaning the current bridge between worlds has no energy or knowledge from previous Avatars to draw on. That means, with the exception of whatever boost Raava may give her, everything Korra did in this fight is quite simply done with her own power and skill. The only difference is that she no longer has any human inhibitions holding her back.
  • It's easily missed among the suspense of the scene/episode, but for a moment, Zaheer's expression heavily implied that he was shocked Korra resisted the poison's effects for so long.
  • Korra used either Super-Strength to shatter her platinum chains, which were several times heavier than iron, or she metalbent platinum, something which is supposed to be impossible, even for the likes of Toph. No matter how she broke free, it's awesome. And she unambiguously bent her chains afterward.
• Zaheer lasted a long time against "berserker" Avatar State Korra. He avoided every attack until Korra froze his foot and disabled his flight for a bit. More than that, when he attacks, he usually connects. He ultimately held out long enough for the poison to beat Korra, and it took Jinora and all the other airbenders working in concert to stop him.
• Mako takes down Ming-Hua. Half of the awesomeness is in the misdirection; Mako has her cornered and without water to fight with, so she dropped into a cavern full of water. Just as it looks like Ming-Hua will demolish Mako, he gets clear of the water and exploits the Logical Weakness of a waterbender who is physically touching the water she's bending: electricity. It's especially awesome because it makes Mako the only one to take down one of the main Red Lotus members on his own, and after an entire season free from lightning bending, it was unexpected for both Ming Hua AND the viewers.
• Bolin vs. Ghazan, Round 2. Ghazan commends Bolin on picking up lavabending, and though Ghazan has the upper hand in terms of experience, Bolin holds his own very well. Then Mako joins the fight, and Ghazan can't take them both.
  • One thing to note is how Bolin earthbends in these fights - Instead of merely dodging out on direct shots like he usually does he smashes some of the rocks being thrown at him head-on and manipulates the terrain even more. One can notice that he now appears much more confident following the discovery that he could lavabend.
  • A subtle touch is Bolin winking at Ghazan when he reveals that he's picked up lavabending. After a season of expressing his disappointment at not being able to live up to the image of his hero Toph, he has good reason to be proud of discovering he possesses a near mythical form of bending. The wink expresses his newfound confidence perfectly. Ghazan's reaction is awesome too: instead of having an Oh, Crap! moment, he looks like a Blood Knight who finally met an earthbender foe who might actually be a challenge.
    Ghazan: (with approval) So that's how you got out of the temple. Not bad. Now let's see what you've got!
  • Ghazan attempting a Taking You with Me, preferring death over going back to prison, by causing the walls of the cave they're in to collapse. Luckily Bolin earthbends himself and Mako out just in time.
    Bolin: Give up, Ghazan! You can't win.
    Ghazan: I'm never going back to prison! If I'm going down today, YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!!!
• Jinora's master airbender ceremony is full-on awesome. It includes Tenzin's Rousing Speech for Korra...and Jinora having shaved her head so that she looks like her grandpa Aang when he was a kid.
  • What Jinora did to earn her arrows: leading the entire group of New Airbenders in summoning up a freaking tornado to stop Zaheer. It's made even more awesome by a remix of the original Avatar theme playing.
  • The tornado is so powerful that, while trying to carry Korra away, Zaheer's newly acquired flight abilities aren't strong enough to resist it's power and he has to drop Korra to try and escape safely.
  • A subtle moment when Jinora returns to the other airbenders after using her astral form to find an exit. She's has just found out that the only person with enough power to rescue them all is about to be killed. Does she panic? Does she cry or give up? No. Jinora just goes to devising a plan with the others to get them out. Jinora is C.U.P. or cool under pressure!
• How about Korra's final defiant stand against Zaheer? The airbenders giant tornado as previously mentioned is too strong for Zaheer's flight abilities while he is carrying Korra but he's able to resist it's effects after he drops her. Suddenly it seems that Zaheer will escape with his crimes unpunished when all of a sudden the chain still wrapped around Korra's arm flies up and wraps around his ankle. At this point Korra is near deaths door and can't even use her bending anymore but she refuses to let Zaheer escape. Using the momentum of the tornado and her own brute strength she delivers the finishing blow by pulling Zaheer down and slamming him to the ground fighting until her last breath to capture her enemy. Bonus points for her cracking the ground with her landing.
• The imprisoned airbenders (and Pema) conceiving and executing a feasible escape plan with some excellent stealthy airbending passes. It's too bad one of the guards happened to look back and see Opal unlocking her chains, or they could've made it — still, it leads to an awesome Earthbending Big Damn Heroes.
• Asami shows us she still knows how to kick some ass by vaulting under a small rock opening and electrocuting an earthbender.
• Suyin metalbending the poison out of Korra, saving her life.
• Bolin stuffing a sock in Zaheer's face when he starts ranting about the Red Lotus is not yet defeated is as awesome as it is hilarious.
• Tenzin promising that the Air Nation will help fight evil, especially since Korra is currently out of commission. Such direct involvement in the world's affairs is a big departure from how the Air Nomad culture was run since its founding, and shows Tenzin's devotion to Korra and the nations he grew up a part of is just as great if not greater than his loyalty to his ancestral culture.
  • It's also a great way of showing how after being all but exterminated by the Fire Nation nearly two centuries ago, the Air Nomads have finally reclaimed their place as one of the five nations of the world. Aang may not have been able to witness the restoration of his people, but his efforts paid off in the end.