'The Legend of Korra' Review/Recap: "The Calling"

Joey Sack ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The main focus in the latest episode of The Legend of Korra, “The Calling,” is on Tenzin’s three eldest children as they travel around the Earth Kingdom in search of the Avatar, while also cutting back to Korra as she learns from both the swamp and from her earth bending master from a previous life how to finally move on and find peace. This episode is great because it shows how Tenzin’s kids have really grown up since we first met them, and it shows how much Korra has changed as well.
After discovering that Korra (Janet Varney) left the South Pole six months ago, and facing the problem of Kuvira and her “Earth Empire,” Tenzin (J.K. Simmons) tasks his three oldest children, Jinora (Kiernan Shipka), Ikki (Darcy Rose Byrnes), and Meelo (Logan Wells) to find the Avatar and bring her home. It makes sense to send his kids to find Korra, since Jinora, an airbending master for three years now, is able to meditate and sense the Avatar’s spiritual energy, allowing her to hone in on her location.
During their journey, all three siblings butt heads over what to do, who should do what, and so on, but most of the time, the middle child Ikki is the one who bears the brunt of her siblings’ criticisms and complaints. It’s great to see these three characters act in roles outside the realm of just being cute; they’re growing up, with one of them having earned her master tattoos, and the other two being powerful air benders in their own right. Also, this episode does a good job at showing these kids as kids and, more importantly, as siblings; they bicker, they often hate each other’s guts, but in the end, they come together to accomplish their mission. Anyone who has siblings can attest to that kind of interaction, and anyone who is the middle child in their family can attest to Ikki’s struggle as well.
Their visits to different villages are great to see, as Jinora meditates to try and locate Korra’s energy while Ikki and Meelo go into towns to see if anyone had seen the Avatar; one line that was really effective was when they ask a man if he has seen the Avatar recently and he says “we still have one of those?” It just goes to show how long Korra has been out of action and how much some people may not see a need for the Avatar in the world anymore. Of course, later parts of the episode, as well as the previous episodes this season, clearly show that the Avatar is needed and always will be needed. It’s just interesting to hear the common people’s thoughts on a legendary figure like the Avatar. The people closest to the Avatar know that she’s needed, but what about a normal person in the Earth Kingdom? What does having an Avatar mean to them?

Meelo has a few really funny moments, especially when he hits on a girl handing out flowers. They seem to hit it off pretty well, until Ikki comes in and ruins the moment, “Thanks a lot, Ikki! You drove away the love of my life.” The interactions between Tenzin’s kids felt genuine and really added to the plot of this episode.
While the three grandkids of Avatar fly around looking for Korra, Korra is still in the swamp with Toph Beifong (Philece Sampler). Toph won’t bend the remaining metal poison out of Korra’s body, since the young Avatar seems to be holding onto it pretty tightly, so Korra tries to get the blind earth bender to share some of her memories about her time with Aang, Katara, and Sokka; it’s not as interesting as she hoped, though, since Toph isn’t very interested in telling stories (“I threw some rocks at the Avatar, he got all whiney, and Sokka fell in a hole”).
Just to reassure everyone, Toph is still Toph; her wit is dry, she’s sarcastic, and she can be nurturing when she needs to be. Here’s hoping that she makes more appearances following this episode. While walking around the swamp, Korra sees visions of her past enemies and the times when they caused her the most harm: she sees when Amon took her bending away, when Unalaq and Vaatu ripped Raava out of her, and when Zaheer and the Red Lotus poisoned her. With some helpful advice from Toph, Korra starts to realize that the reason she holds onto the little bits of metallic poison inside of her is because she holds onto the past too tightly.
All of the enemies that Korra has faced have hurt her in one way or another, with some of them coming dangerously close to killing her, and now she realizes that to fully recover, she needs to let go of those past enemies. Amon can’t hurt her anymore, Unalaq can’t hurt her anymore, and the Red Lotus can’t hurt her anymore. It’s very much like a line from the Book Two: Spirits episode “Beginnings:” “she must confront her own past if she is to move forward.” Now, Korra must learn to let her past go so she can focus on her future.

In addition, all of Korra’s enemies had one thing in common, and that thing creates a flaw in their ultimate plan: a world without the Avatar. Korra knows that that kind of world would be thrown completely out of balance if people like Amon, Unalaq, or the Red Lotus were allowed free-reign without an Avatar to keep power in check. This rationale is, ultimately, what shows Korra that Avatar is indeed still needed and that she still has a very important place in the world.
This episode, given one of its main locations, has several callbacks to the Avatar episode “The Swamp,” including visions of the past, the swamp seemingly acting of its own free will, and the giant banyan-grove tree serving as a symbol for the fact that, as Aang once put it, “everything is connected.” While these similarities are noticeable, they’re not too distracting; they more serve to be “oh, yeah, I remember that!” moments rather than “those are cheap, pandering” moments.
Another great thing about this episode, and all the episodes so far this season, is the pace at which the story progresses. Every second is used to establish the story for the rest of the season; we don’t have to see Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo schlep all over the Earth Kingdom for more than one episode, and we don’t need to see Korra moping around in the swamp for more than we do. The episodes may be one minute shorter than episodes from Book Two, but they are even more tightly written than ever.
While this episode and the previous one may not be the most action-packed that Korra has seen, you don’t mind it all too much because the brief moments of action that we get hold you over for the great character moments in these episodes. At this point, we’re only four episodes into the season; we still need to set up the rest of the story, then we can have crazy amounts of action to our heart’s content. If we focused too much on action, we wouldn’t see great moments of growth for Tenzin’s kids and for Korra, all of whom have grown up so much since the series began, while still retaining the personality traits that we have come to love about them.
“The Calling” continues Korra Book Four’s winning streak, with great moments from Tenzin’s kids, Korra, and everyone’s favorite blind earth bending smart-mouth. New episodes of The Legend of Korra premiere every Friday on Nick.com and the Nick app. Tune in to see just how much the world needs its Avatar back.
Overall Episode Grade: B+/A-