Recap / The Legend of Korra S4E7 "Reunion"

Nobody ever eats in tv shows, do they?

Korra returns to Republic City and Team Avatar faces their first mission together in three years when Prince Wu goes missing; Bolin and Varrick are on the run from the Empire, and meet up with some escaped citizens.

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Tropes:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Prince Wu has even less luck with Korra than he did with Asami, if that's possible.
• At Arm's Length: Korra stops Wu from joining her group hug with Mako and Asami with a hand on his face.
• The Atoner: Bolin promises to make up for blindly supporting Kuvira.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: When the escapees arrive at the checkpoint, Bolin and Varrick are posing as soldiers sending prisoners to a camp. Bolin misses a few details and almost blows their cover, until Varrick talks his way past the checkpoint by making up a wild story about fighting beasts to explain their disheveled appearance and then threatening to report the officer to Kuvira if he doesn't let them by. Unfortunately, the guard inside the checkpoint has wanted posters of them, forcing a battle once he makes the connection.
• Big Damn Heroes: Bolin and the water/firebender prisoners are on the ropes, until Varrick does the thing with the EMP and nullifies the power armor troopers, which frees up Bolin, who then decisively finishes the fight by plugging up the border checkpoint with lava.
• Brick Joke: Wu is captured on his way into the bathroom. After being rescued, it turns out he never did get to relieve his royal bladder.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • After congratulating his children for finding Korra, Meelo asks if it will earn him his tattoos. Tenzin quickly replies "No," earning a laugh from Pema.
  • Unlike Asami, whose shutdown of Wu was more snarky, Korra rather bluntly tells him it's never going to happen.
• Call-Back: Korra explains how she learned to track people through spirit vines in "The Calling".
• Character Development: Varrick shows genuine remorse and admits that he's a horrible person by inventing the spirit vine weapon. He even tries to carry Bolin to make up for his earlier mistreatment.
• Checkpoint Bluff: Bolin and Varrick, who were currently wanted for betraying the Earth Empire, are traveling with some Fire Nation and Water Tribe refugees who escaped an Earth Empire prison. They all need to go through a heavily secured checkpoint, so they pretend to be transferring the prisoners. When the guards ask for the papers, Varrick manages to bluff their way through by threatening to report the guards to Kuvira. Once they walk through, the guard notices their faces on some wanted posters and then all hell breaks loose.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Opal mentions Kuvira and her army capturing her family in "The Battle of Zaofu".
  • Korra tells Mako that she wrote to Asami in "Korra Alone".
  • Asami mentions having visited her father in "Enemy at the Gates".
  • Korra tells Mako and Asami about her meeting with Toph, describing her as "an older, crankier version of Lin." Mako asks if that is possible.
  • Varrick makes a reference back to the second season of Bolin being a mover star in Varrick's films.
  • Mako's grandmother's devotion to Earth Kingdom royalty. She's still wearing his scarf that he gave her.
  • The City of Omashu is also still around, and is hooked up to the train network.
• Convection, Schmonvection: The usual problems with lavabending aside, Bolin uses it to burn the ropes binding his hands without burning himself.
• Crush Blush: Korra blushes when she and Asami exchange compliments.
• Didn't See That Coming: Varrick remarks on how escaped prisoners weren't expecting Bolin's Magma Man abilities.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?:
  • Kuvira is rounding up all foreigners in the Earth Empire and sending them to the camps.
  • A magazine cover at the restaurant for Future Industries shows several women working on a generator, referencing Rosie the Riveter in World War II-era propaganda posters.
  • One of Prince Wu's kidnappers says "All hail the Great Uniter."
• The Dreaded: Merely invoking Kuvira's name is enough to get a wary guard to buy Varrick's story.
• EMP: Varrick rigs one up out of the battery at the checkpoint, a disassembled table, and some wire.
• Fantastic Racism: It turns out that Kuvira is imprisoning anyone not of Earth Kingdom origin in her "reeducation camps".
• Formerly Fat: Bumi appears to have lost weight during the Time Skip and so he is no longer a chubby air bender.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Korra uses airbending to carry everyone off the roof of the train, she throws her arm around Asami's waist◊ (and grabs Wu roughly by the collar).
• Gaussian Guy: Grandma Yin has one focused on Prince Wu.
• If I Wanted You Dead...: Inverted. After Bolin lavabends a moat between himself, Varrick, and the refugees, their leader points out that "if he wanted us dead," Bolin could have easily killed them. This revelation prompts the two camps to join forces in their escape.
• Let's You and Him Fight: The prison camp escapees naturally aren't willing to listen to anyone wearing an Earth Empire uniform, thus leading to a fight before an understanding is reached.
• The Load:
  • Varrick goes back and forth on this. On one hand, he isn't a bender and is physically weak since he relied on Zhu Li to do everything. On the other, he proves himself a smooth talker by convincing the border guard to let them pass and jerry-rigs an EMP out of a generator and some hastily disassembled items to disable the mechs.
  • Prince Wu is completely one. Korra and company have to manhandle his royal personage to extricate him from his kidnappers several times because he is decidedly a Non-Action Guy.
• MacGyvering: Varrick's hastily assembled EMP device is made from stuff he spotted in the checkpoint.
• Mundane Utility. Kuvira uses some of her fearsome battle suits... for logging.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Downplayed, but Bolin is upset when he meets the innocent people Kuvira is interning in her camps, realizing that he has had a part (albeit unwittingly) in ruining their lives.
• Nobody Poops: Prince Wu attempts to use the restroom by himself, but just as he asks for cologne, he gets hit with knockout gas before he makes it to the toilet.
• Not Helping Your Case: When he and Bolin are captured by the escaped prisoners and called "lowly Earth Empire soldiers," Varrick lets out that they were part of Kuvira's inner circle.
• Perma-Shave: Bolin remains clean-shaven while living on the lam, which stands in stark contrast to the stubble Varrick puts on.
• Potty Emergency: Wu goes through with this twice, though technically it's the same emergency.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Once the leader of the refugees sees that Bolin can bend lava, he convinces his group to stand down, reasoning that Bolin could have just killed them all rather than trying to convince them to work together.
• Rousing Speech: Bolin gives one to Varrick to motivate him into pressing on.
• Ship Tease:
  • Korra and Asami: Korra blushes when Asami admires her new hair, helps her onto the train while ignoring Mako, and throws her arm around Asami's waist when jumping off the train with the rest of the group (by comparison, Wu got grabbed by the collar, and Mako was bowled over by her dragging Wu).
    Mako: What's going on with you two?
  • Korra and Mako: Korra gives an adorably suggestive look to Mako when he points out their past tensions.
• Shout-Out:
  • Baraz, the firebender leading the refugees — with his lanky physique, wild hair, and having the voice of Steve Blum — bears more than a passing resemblance to Spike Spiegel. Another prisoner has the same facial hair as Spike's partner Jet Black. The creators are well known Bebop fans.
  • The menacing airships and Powered Armor-clad soldiers of the evil army closing in on the giant, spiritually-potent tree with the intent of plundering its powerful natural resources is similar to that other Avatar story.
  • The villain chopping down a supernaturally powerful tree is also very similar to "Tree of Life," an episode of a certain other Elemental Powers-themed show.
• Tempting Fate: Mako insists Prince Wu doesn't need to be guarded for every bathroom visit, something Mako is implied to do regularly, so naturally this time he ends up kidnapped.
  Mako: The one time I don't watch him pee, and this happens!
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • The mech pilots appear to have studied Bolin's last fight, as they now dodge his lavabending skillfully and try longer range fighting to take him out, and they fight 3-on-1...
  • While it may be more a return to her previous badassness rather than taking a level in it, Korra seems to already have learned a lot from her fight with Kuvira as she easily deflects the metal shard attacks that gave her so much trouble in the previous episode.
• Wham Shot: The powerful vines (even moreso than the Republic City vines) Bataar is testing are from the swamp's Banyan tree.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Mako wasn't too happy when he discovered Korra wrote back to Asami but not him or Bolin.
• With My Hands Tied: Bolin creates an earth wave and lavabends with his hands bound together.

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