Alright, these are a bit over due due to the last two days being busy, but on the plus side that gave me some time to read over the threads comments before I added my own.
I don't seem to have the major problems that other people have, namely Zaheer's abilities. I do question it, enough that I expect some kind of explanation to it, because everyone else who has airbending powers sucks at it except for him and Kai...but their the only two characters who have demonstrated innate spiritual understandings or knowledge. Kai, I already discussed how he seems to have lived a life of detachment from any place, people, or even truth. And now Zaheer has mentioned Guru Lahima twice, which kind of closes the book on the fact that he was an airbending student beforehand. People, even in this thread, forget that airbending has very little to do with the actual superpowers. Iroh, a firebender, learned what is essentially a waterbending technique when he learned to redirect energy. Aang has more than once used his airbending movements without any use of actual airbending to defeat an opponent. And the twisting panels exercise itself is one that requires the understanding of wind movement rather than knowing how to shoot wind itself (BE THE LEAF!).
All that suggests to me that Zaheer knew airbending long before he was ever an airbender. And even if he wasn't, he clearly understands airbending philosophy, which in ATLA was more important than knowing something as superficial and shallow as the movements of airbending. Granted, if you want to look at it realistically, his muscles should have deteriorated from lack of activity and he just should not be as fit as he is, but that goes for all of the prisoners (including the earthbender we saw doing pull ups before he was rescued. Whatever they're feeding him should not be sustainable enough for him to be able to expend energy on training himself). In fact, they should not be alive. It's really a mystery as to why they weren't just killed, but I'm basically saying them being as good as they are is a problem with the Z-team as a whole, not Zaheer himself.
Most of Episode 4 wa good. It opened up really nicely with that prison break, then showed Kai going through the airbending training before being rescued. The rescue sequence itself was really good too. Kai got the predictable character development he had to get to not be reviled. Bolin even managed to do something. I know, I'm as shocked as you are.
The main problem is Jinora. The Spirit thing was obviously bullshit. It was bullshit because they didn't know what happened in season 2, so obviously they're not going to know whats going on now. But more importantly, from a character perspective, they implied they have a connection because she has a crush on him over one day. ATLA did this too with Sokka and Yue, so it was hard to swallow, but you know, atleast Sokka and Yue talked and had fun together before they pretended they had any kind of special relationship. There is no point that Jinora and Kai interacted aside from when she greeted him as he entered the airship. And then they have a part where the asshole trainer Dai Li grabs her (why would the Dai Li grab her? She's not a Ba Sing Se citizen so it's not like they can legally conscript her), and they make a point that Kai is the one that saves her and then gloats over his awesomeness. You know, TLA was pretty above this whole "rescue damsel in distress" bs to the point they make fun of it, but now it's used as a supposedly legitimate development of their relationship. *pfft*
Right, then Episode 5. Okay, so I had a problem with Lin having a rock up her butt the entire episode like everyone else but there is a bigger problem: Suyin. She is awesome.....too awesome....impossibly awesome....because okay, she traveled the world, was a pirate, in a circus and hung out in some sand colony before building an entire city...out of metal....HOW?! She looks like she's in her 40's at best. And where the hell did she get the sheer ludicrous amount of funds required to get that lol worthy amount of metal, let alone metal workers to build everything from building (with a flower shape that close up on demand) to airship airports, to....everything!...and she is also a dance instructor for a unique play using metal bending, collector of meteors, and the friggen leader of this city. More than that, she is not only efficient and not corrupt, she outright scoffs at the notion of corruption, criticizing Korra lying to her while being reasonable and noninvasive about it. She is reasonable beyond measure, trying to welcome Lin with open arms despite her being difficult, is kind and polite, patient, openminded with her kids, her city is the safest ever and......
Okay, look, people like this do technically exist. But good lord. Leonardo da Vinci would be feeling inadequate and small minded next to this woman. The one that gets me most is that one day she decided randomly she wants a home, so she builds herself a city. Do you have any idea how much a city costs to build? Where the hell did she get the funds for that?! AND build it up to that in what, 15 years at best? Insane. Granted, people in the avatar world can accomplish things ridiculously fast, but this is still over the top. So...for me, she breaks believably and that's a bigger problem than Lin being a grouch, which probably has a reason (and I hope it's not infertility, because it seems stupid to imply that every woman ultimately wants a child and Lin has never shown the slightest interest in kids).
Right now, the only thing that stops her from being a mary sue is that she doesn't really have much of an impact on the story. For all her wonder, she is just a vehicle to give Korra a new airbender to train and her only investment in the conflict thus far is her grudge match with Lin. People think Mary Sues are just unrealistically talented people, which Suyin definitely qualifies as, but their talent is truly a side effect of the true symptom: unwarranted impacts on the plot/characters is the true mark of the mary sues. As I just explained, Suyin is still a minor character, ridiculous accomplishments aside and Korra of season 1 and 2 is a much better example, since the laws of the avatar universe literally break for her convenience. Still, LoK writers...handle with care....
On the stuff I liked, Toph having two kinds from different fathers is....kind of revolutionary, I think. I honestly cannot think of another cartoon that admits the mother had two different fathers without even giving the fathers enough importance to be named. Zaheer's disguise was a good one. It didn't fool me, but it did 2 of my friends. His fight with Kya was also good. Also, people seemed to criticize the fight, saying Kya is an experienced waterbender who should have won since he's a noob. Again, I explained how I reason Zaheer's abilities, but just because she's the child of Aang and Katara doesn't mean she is necessarily a combat expert. You guys do know that she was basically a hippy before Aang died and then she came back to relative normalcy. She'd probably know more about various experimental waterbending hallucinogens than fighting techniques....and she still managed to hold her against the guy despite that. A similar complaint was launched against Zuko, which I guess I can see, but I think that's just the worf effect in play.
