Team Korra starts the show off by sparring with Suyin's twins, Wei and Wing. I'll be honest, I don't know which one is which. And that information will never really matter. Suyin insists that sparring is the way to develop skills, so Korra and Bolin are facing off against the Wonder Twins. Korra gets a slow start, but her opponent celebrates too early. While Bolin hems and haws about how metal bending takes time to develop, Korra comes back from her opponent's successful hit, and bends metal cables to totally wrap him up in a few graceful twirls.
Avatar Playtime
When Bolin's opponent starts becoming bored with Bolin, he retaliates by slinging a pebble at the kid's face, hitting him right between the eyes to the crowd's amusement. Bolin's only other bright spot of the day is dinner with Opal. It's bittersweet, though, as Opal is bound for the Northern Air Temple after dinner. Bolin is already moping about whether the future sucks because Opal won't be there, or it's wonderful, because he'll see her again eventually. Varrick offers well-refused relationship advice; one presumes it is to find one's own Zhu Li. Varrick's not done at dinner though. He offers up his latest invention, a device that detects air benders. Korra and Asami are excited at first, until it does nothing. Varrick is indignant- you have to air bend into it! How can something detect an air bender without any air bending!
Non-tech people are so dense
Wrong. After seeming to know from nowhere that Korra is in Zao Fu, guess who shows up? Zaheer and the gang mysteriously appear in Zao Fu, slinking around in the darkness, aptly avoiding the guards. They face no trouble as they creep through Zao Fu's gardens to Korra's room, Pabu the only witness to their trespass. Pabu tries to wake Bolin, who tells Pabu that it's not playtime. Stupid fire ferret.
Can I play with you?
Ming Hua turns one of her water arms into an icy saw, cutting into Korra's window so they can open it. Naga, sleeping in front of Korra's bed, rears up to attack, just as they shoot tranquilizer darts into her; it takes a few, but she's down for the count. Korra awakes, and they take her down with one. She's awake, but paralyzed.
This time, Pabu's ready, mobilizing Bolin by biting him. Bolin's protests die as he realizes he's seeing Zaheer's gang carrying Korra through Zao Fu.
Ah!!! Why can't I find my shoes???
Mako, who no doubt obviously loves sharing a room with his brother, wakes up too, and they both instantly go into professional bender mode, launching out of their room into the garden, bending and shouting for help. Bolin, in what will be standard for the rest of the season, takes on earth/lava bender Ghazan, while Mako takes on water bender Ming Hua. P'Li takes on everybody, one awkward face blast at a time.
Awesome fight graphic
Zaheer and his gang are quickly surrounded, and not just guards. Just when they might escape, the heavy metal plates inlaid into the garden move and surround the gang. Suyin, Lin and the metal bending kids have joined the fracas. Zaheer and his gang prove adept, though. Zaheer air bends himself high and out, to distract guards while Ghazan lava bends the ground below, melting down the plate prison they were trapped in. Team Korra is quickly bogged down. They strategize quickly that Suyin and Lin will drop from cables above the gang to rescue Korra. Bolin will stun P'Li, temporarily keeping her from blowing up Korra's rescuers. An old-time battle radio materializes to help them coordinate the rescue. They succeed, with Bolin getting a tiny rock into P'Li's forehead just in time for Lin to snatch Korra away and rise back up. Zaheer tries to take her back, but Suyin hurls rocks as darts into his glider. He hits the ground back with his gang, and decides the mission is a failure. Zaheer then summons a huge cyclone around his gang, from which they disappear.
Later in the morning, Aiwei treats Korra so she's up and and running. Lin angrily demands to know from Suyin how this could have happened. Suyin is furious her security was breached. The entered so easily, Aiwei assumes it was an inside job. Aiwei, who can detect lies from increased heart rate and temperature, offers to question all the guards. Remember, it's he who makes the suggestion. Suyin angrily demands he does so.
Suyin, Lin, Mako and Korra spend a boring day interviewing guard after guard. Aiwei detects no lies, so no traitors. Lin, getting frustrated, demands that Suyin be questioned. Korra feels embarrassed, but Suyin agrees right away, sitting for Aiwei's questions, and declaring that she had nothing to do with the attack. Sure, but do you have anything to do with Zaheer in general? Have she and Aiwei decided to work together, so he'll tell the others that she's being honest?
Do you think my nose ring is distracting?
Hong Li, a young guard, 18 years old, is next. He answers all of Aiwei's questions, and seems fine, but Aiwei signals to the crowd that this is the guy! Hong Li insists on his innocence, but Suyin all but leaps on him to tear him limb from limb. Aiwei declares that they should search his quarters. Once again, he's suggested it. And they find a letter, supposedly written by Zaheer, that they're coming, and a ledger of guard duties. Case closed. Mako wants to go re-question Hong Li, because the sooner you do the sooner you wrap up the case. Aiwei decides they'll let Hong Li hang a while. No hurry. Everyone can just relax, right?
Korra, Asami, Bolin and Mako are perplexed at Aiwei's actions. While trying to figure them out in a courtyard, who should come to give his thoughts than good ol' Varrick. Who just happened to overhear everything while looking for cooled lava stones to use as foot exfoliants. Zhu Li demonstrates, to a horrified Team Korra.
Zhu Li's favorite part of the job!
Besides foot hygiene, Varrick also has some crime-fighting advice- if the evidence is there but feels wrong, chances are it's a cover up. Mako, remembering that Varrick would know all about cover ups from his own experience, then realizes that Hong Li is only 18. He was a five year old when Zaheer tried kidnapping Korra before; how would he even know about Zaheer, if this isn't public information? And nobody's figured out how he got connected to Zaheer in the first place. But who would frame Hong Li? Suyin told them that there are no secrets in her city. Mako reminds Team Korra that there's one person who could get away with lying. The lie detector himself. How would anyone ever know Aiwei is lying?
Bolin scopes out the place, noting that Aiwei's house looks empty, but trying to wheedle out of going inside anyway. Mako's having nothing of it- they need to check out his house without him knowing they were there, so he and Team Korra proceed inside, where Bolin quickly misplaces a vase. While Mako is replacing it, he notices some scuff marks on the floor underneath. Bookcases aren't really supposed to move. Unless, as Mako discovers, they slide away to reveal a secret stairway and door.
Maybe he's just brewing beer down there
Aiwei comes back, and they barely have time to put the bookcase back and assemble by the front door. An offended Aiwei demands to know what they're doing in his house, and Bolin goes for it, trying to come up with a story until he realizes that Aiwei totally knows he's lying. Defeated, he lets Korra be partly honest with Aiwei. Ha! When you can't lie, just tell a little bit of the truth. She admits that they feel like the evidence against Hong Li doesn't add up, and Aiwei won't question Hong Li to clear up their confusion. Aiwei dismisses their doubts. As he does so, he quietly moves his stupid vase back where it's supposed to be. The room is instantly tense. The kids know they're caught, but no one says anything. Until Aiwei sees that his bookcase hasn't been closed all the way. Team Korra is busy scrambling for an explanation when Aiwei, facing his secret exit, nonchalantly tells Korra that she has no idea what's coming for her.
I'd tell you what's coming for you, but no one likes spoilers
That's when a massive metal sheet comes down, blocking Aiwei from Team Korra. Korra needs a few tries to break it open, and Team Korra gets a little impatient, so much so that when they're through, they don't stop or even slow down as they scramble to the secrete basement, where they discover a humongous bomb waiting for them. It rocks Zao Fu, and Korra makes her team an air bubble for a bomb shelter just in time. Lin, Suyin, and Zao Fu's totally ineffectual guards are on the scene in moments, with Lin and Suyin now angry at each other. There's a tunnel at the edge of the earthen basement, but it will take time to clear of rubble and discover just what's in it. Suyin is now so shocked that her perfect city has been the scene of two crimes, that veteran officer Lin orders the guards to find the end of the tunnel, and hopefully Aiwei, too. They're not very good at preventing Zaheer and his followers from attacking Zao Fu, but they're dutiful guards who launch into action once they get an order.
So, Aiwei was the gang's inside man. But how did he get word to Zaheer that Korra was in Zao Fu? They'll only find out if they find Aiwei.
So, Aiwei was the gang's inside man. But how did he get word to Zaheer that Korra was in Zao Fu? They'll only find out if they find Aiwei.
Lin and Suyin continue their fight later in the evening, as the guards have found the end of the tunnel, but their are only tire tracks leading away. Aiwei has gotten away. Suyin is totally blown away that Aiwei betrayed her trust. Lin insists that Korra must return to Republic City for her protection. Korra hates the idea; Republic City is no safer than Zao Fu, and she's tired of hiding. Best to flush Zaheer out and take him down, herself if necessary. Lin and Korra work each other into a flurry of shouting before Suyin breaks it up. She's calm as she tells Korra that Lin's right, but gives her the night to rest before traveling back to Republic City.
Korra decides she'll spend the night fuming that she's being sent back to a home she's been banned from. But before we can fantasize about the scene where Lin tells President Reiko that his stupid exiling means nothing to her, Suyin interrupts the fun. She was just playing Lin. In a move she'll no doubt pay for tomorrow, she gives Korra keys to her car, an old version of a Jeep. Between the WW2 like radio, trucks, and now a full-fledged Jeep, I'm beginning to wonder just what era's technology Korra's story is using. But I digress. This season isn't about the ancient traditions of the Avatar in a rapidly evolving modern world. It's about Korra, riding Naga off from night-time Zao Fu, with Mako, Bolin, Asami and Pabu taking the Jeep on the road, following Aiwei's trail by tire tracks and scent wherever it goes. Hopefully to Zaheer.
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