When confronted, Unalaq reminds Korra that the Avatar must remain politically neutral for the good of both tribes and also dark spirits blah blah blah, but she ain’t buying his bullshit a second longer and orders him to release her father, extract the troops, and return to the North. He’s less than cooperative, and Korra’s response is…fireball! Unalaq fights back and his waterbending is pretty sweet, but he’s no match for Team Avatar, who stun him long enough to hightail it so they can catch up with the prison ship. Korra offers to back her father, but he tells her that what he really needs her to do is get the president of the United Republic involved, since a war against the North isn’t something the South can keep up on their own for very long. This puts our characters on the road back to Republic City…with a jilted and majorly pissed off Eska (eyeliner streaming down her crazyface) jetting along the surface of the water in hot pursuit. Luckily, Varrick’s yacht can outrun her. Probably. I mean, this is just… holy crap! This is the kind of massive wham! episode that usually happens halfway through the season, not right up front like this, which I find encouraging, because it says to me that the writers have bigger fish to fry and will not be wasting any time. Oh, and don’t worry…I didn’t mention Tenzin’s plot here, but it will be addressed in a supplemental Korra article! Seeing Asami again was a real treat and quite a surprise. Given her complete absence after her appearance in “Rebel Spirit,” I assumed she’d gone back to Republic City. Apparently, she’s been hanging out at the Water Tribe Marriott for the last few episodes to iron out her business deal with Varrick. Whatever. I’ll take it, especially since just hearing the sizzle of her electric glove in action again sent a shiver down my spine. It’s worth noting that every member of Team Avatar was utilized wonderfully in this episode with time left over for comedy. The whole running gag of Varrick and Zhu Li (and, apparently, a tea set) hiding from Unalaq’s goons in a taxidermic platypus bear that sharts money as a diversionary tactic is just so incredibly juvenile and ridiculous and I fucking love it. I have to say, there are about a hundred nominal reasons why Varrick’s character shouldn’t work for me and yet somehow it totally does. This episode really hit it out of the park, my only complaint being Unalaq’s disappointing downgrade from morally complex antagonist to black hat villain, so I’m going to give it 4 out of 5 stars, and I’ll see you all next week for Chapter Five: “Peacekeepers.”
