In this edition of Stellafera Watches LOK, half of the story made me take the side of someone that I did not expect to, half of the story had one thing that made me RAEG, and some of my surprisingly accurate predictions come true yet again. It's time for Stellafera to review Out Of The Past.

My reaction shot for this episode took a ridiculously long time to find.

Tarrlock displays such dedication towards being as terrible as possible that it's almost admirable. He freaking electrocutes himself just so that he can say that he and Korra were attacked by the Equalists when she goes missing. Devotion.

I expected that Korra was going to reach the Avatar state in that cage, but instead we have her connect with Aang in meditation. Prediction correct! I really like the voices they chose for the adult characters. They are all different (especially Aang), but you can see roots of their adult voices in what they sounded like in A:TLA. While Toph was my least favorite member of the original Team Avatar by a wide margin, I really liked adult Toph. She retains a bit of her immaturity, no matter how old she is.

"Accused of bloodbending? THOUSAND YEARS DUNGEON."

So, about Mako. He's the one that I didn't expect to take the side of but did. While I had issues with him in this episode, I didn't dislike him as much as everyone else seemed to. A large part of it is thanks to my powerful anti-shipping goggles. I don't think Mako's behavior here is entirely romantic (although the carrying Korra in his arms at the end RIGHT IN FRONT OF ASAMI did annoy me greatly and his interrogation of the guard was completely out of character). Mako has a tendency to be overbearingly protective of people, just like Katara.

But you know what? The only thing that stops Mako from being as great of a character as Katara are BUCKING LOVE TRIANGLES. Imagine this season if you removed the love triangles. It would fix almost every characterization problem. There is no depth added because of the love triangles. They are not really significant to the overall plot. The ONLY good thing that came out of them was the Bolin flowers meme.

Still flawless.

Anyways, we continue with the flashback and OMG SOKKA. Adult Sokka is perfect. There is no way to improve upon him. None. A comment on "Mark Watches The Legend Of Korra" explains:

Hi again, I'm still invisible

LADIES AND GENTLEMAN.

 

I AM A MATURE, GROWN-ASS MAN WHO RUNS A TRIBUNAL.

 

LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY BOOMERANG.

 

Bless Sokka forever, I want to be exactly like him if I am ever in a position of power.

Considering that Sokka from the original A:TLA was exactly like me in almost every way, I do hope that I continue in this respect and grow up to be like Sokka. So, bloodbending. Argh, if Katara were in this scene, she would've just stopped Yakone in ten seconds flat. I wonder what is is exactly that lets Yakone bloodbend in broad daylight and not Katara or Hama. Hama probably never thought she could outside of the full moon, and Katara would never want to bloodbend again anyways. That's my theory. Aang taking away Yakone's bending is justified, but it does put you on edge thanks to the show conditioning you to react that way. Very clever.

AND THEN THE THING THAT MAKES ME RAEG happens. Tarrlock loses influence, and Amon takes his bending away. He barely got to be in control for an episode and a half! While this does thankfully prevent Tarrlock from being Amon, I wanted Tarrlock to be threat until the end of the season. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I want Tarrlock back. Thankfully, the LOK fandom is ready to fix terrible things yet again:

Naga saves Korra's life, but this merely confirms my theory that naga is actually Amon. First, we've never heard Naga's voice. It could be Amon's! Ever notice that Naga goes missing at the same time as Korra? NOT A COINCIDENCE. And Naga only comes to save Korra AFTER we see Amon watch Korra roll down the hill. He actually did plan on doing something about that; he took off his Amon mask and it turned him back into a polar bear dog. It's all part of the plan. Finally, Amon is so competent because he constantly spies on Korra as Naga. Nobody thinks to keep secrets away from the polar bear dog. It shall be their downfall.

Mark my words. Naga is going to be the mastermind behind this whole season. Just you wait.