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comradekatara · 3 years

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what would your ideal lok season 2 plot have looked like? (or parts of it, I know this is a very big question)

oooh boy. where to begin. like. there is SO MUCH to talk about and Im not gonna be able to remotely cover it all but just know that this is very off the cuff stream of consciousness and also I’m on a lot of post-surgery pain meds rn so if this is kinda incoherent pls bear w me. also obvious disclaimer before I elaborate that this is hardly the only way to “fix” lok, and in fact I could think of many more alternatives if needed, but this is simply the inspiration that happened to strike me in this moment, so I decided to run w this idea. and again, sorry if incoherent, writing this on a lot of pain meds lmfao

okay so i just want to start this off by saying I love the red lotus (especially comrade ming hua, wettest of pussies), and i think that if developed correctly, the conflict between the red lotus and the white lotus could’ve been the core political conflict at the center of the show, not just for book 3, but for the entire series.

to elaborate: the fact that lok doesn’t have a narrative throughline plotwise to complement korra’s internal journey is one of the many factors that makes the show less memorable than its predecessor. while zuko, zhao, azula, and long feng all have different (and oftentimes opposing) goals, their characters all represent various facets of the same enemy that aang is necessarily (the avatar, an airbender) and uniquely (the last airbender) equipped to face. and of course, ozai represents the worst/most harmful aspects of every villiain/antagonist throughout the show, making his clash in ideology against aang the ultimate conflict aang must face to conclude his/the central thematic arc. even if each book centers around a different element, each episode, regardless of season, still contributes to a thematic whole, and feels like part of a larger coherent arc. conversely, every villain in korra does exist as korra’s thematic foil (to varying degrees of impact) and forces her to confront her own humanity & role in the world, but said antagonists have no cohesion as a whole, especially considering that they are all ideologically inconsistent and well.....weird.

okay so back to the red lotus. the thing is, their ideology is just... extremely sound. like, other than their, erm, problematic execution, they’re making points! and obviously, the fact that their ideology is more coherent than the main characters’ (who are liberals who uphold the status quo at best) while their methods are violent & scawwy is just plain ol propaganda. like idk what the writers thought anarchism is but it is not, in fact, an ideology that is literally synonymous with our figurative definition of “anarchy.” pandemonium was literally a republic, etc. in fact, the promotion of communal values and the abolition of unjust hierarchies is exactly the kind of ideology the gaang promotes, both in isolation (most prominently in their air temples and on kyoshi island) and directly opposing imperialism, colonialism, and police states. the red lotus demonstrates similar values to that of aang, katara, toph, suki, probably zuko assuming that demon in the comics is no son of mine, etc. so it’s just weird that they’re written as villains in a show that is ostensibly an extension of the previous show’s themes. imperialism and police states are bad until.... they aren’t? idgi. makes no sense. anyway.

we learn from zaheer that the red lotus was an offshoot of the white lotus formed by xai bau after the war, who disagreed with their decision to come into the open and plainly serve the avatar. and again, based on what we see of the white lotus in lok, xai bau made points! they are a pretty fucking inept organization that clearly made a lot of mistakes when handling korra’s education as a child. and even before korra is born, there are plenty of other critiques to be made of the white lotus. for one thing, I can’t imagine that iroh is an uncontroversial figure among their ranks. yes, he is a great man, but he also has a famous history of perpetrating incredible violence that I cannot blame anyone in their organization for being unwilling to overlook. for a secret society so large and ancient, it makes perfect sense that eventually the internal discord would lead to fissures that break off into their own organizations, with their own ideology & goals.

unalaq’s character is dumb and nonsensical, but the retcon that he was a member of the red lotus who actually just wanted power is kind of interesting, because it does reframe his motivations, and the idea that he knew zaheer connects at least 2 of the main villains from each book. of course, this also makes no sense, because zaheer would never be comrades with a monarch (which the chief of the nwt functionally is), and I doubt that anyone in the red lotus would be like “ofc u can join our anarchist collective!! don’t see anything wrong w that lol.” if anything, it makes a lot more sense for unalaq to have been white lotus, but also nothing about unalaq makes sense so nvm. let’s put in a pin in this tho.

basically, what im getting at here is that centering the show around a white vs red lotus conflict, as two ideologies stemming from the same philosophy that diverged after the war, with different approaches to the same goal of balance & harmony, could be the narrative throughline (plotwise) that lok needed to mirror korra’s arc. neither faction is entirely correct, but they both have ostensibly good intentions, with complicated players on both sides (fwiw, katara is part of neither faction, but her sympathies would lean red ideologically speaking), and now that korra is of age, she must take a stand for herself and find a solution that works for her, as the avatar. both sides have people who want to inhibit her power in different ways (white lotus is overprotective & oppressive, treats her like glass instead of like a person; whereas red lotus believes that there shouldn’t be one single bridge between humans & spirits, and that the avatar’s role is antiquated & unnecessary), and these ideologies also reflect the people’s approach to the avatar as a figure, who generally dehumanize her (either positively or negatively). therefore, korra must come into her own as a fully-realized person, outside of her bending ability, her spiritual connection, her political influence, or her reputation.

book 2 is the primary book in which the spirit world is explored, and there are just generally so many elements of this season that could’ve been so fascinating had the ball not been dropped so thoroughly. I loved how korra struggled with airbending and her own spirituality, and this is yet another element of the show that would’ve been strengthened by implicating the white lotus more thoroughly in this issue. because of course korra isn’t going to be able to unlock the element of freedom in a compound that exists to restrict her, or uncover her spiritual needs when being raised in an environment that is constantly forcing her into a dehumanizing role. aang grew up in the air temples, traveling the world with his friends and being guided gently and playfully by his mentor who loved him unconditionally; korra was constantly monitored and surveilled by an organization dedicated to making sure she never got to be a real kid. yes, she had her parents, and katara, and naga, but as wonderful as they are, she never had any human friends her age until she was in her late teens, and she barely got to leave her little training compound.

korra needed to be able to make her own decisions for herself, but it wasn’t tenzin or tonraq holding her back by trying to parent her, it was the white lotus and their obsession with policing her every action for her entire childhood. I think another missed opportunity was not showing us a more evident divide between the white lotus as korra’s inhibitors, and katara as korra’s mentor who promotes her forging her own path & defining her freedom. it’s clear that katara is torn between wanting to keep korra safe and wanting korra to be allowed to experience the world for herself (similarly to how kanna also struggled with katara’s desires to travel the world). like I said, katara would not subscribe to either faction, because she sees korra first and foremost as a human being, and therefore cannot agree fully with either ideology, but I do also think she sympathizes more with the red lotus, since she is constantly butting heads with the white lotus and what they think is best for korra, and also just generally holds anarchist values, even if she does strongly believe in the avatar as a spiritual & political figure.

another thing is that lok is kind of confused by its own exploration of spirituality. sometimes it seems to acknowledge the inherent politicization of the spiritual, and sometimes it acts as if politics & spirits are separate, which is obviously not the case as demonstrated in atla (and the kyoshi novels). again, unalaq does not make sense as a character, but he could’ve played an interesting role in book 2 had book 2 been remotely coherent! for one thing, his connection to the spirits leads him to solve a centuries-old problem, which is the peaceful eradication of malignant spirits, a problem that kuruk was unable to solve in his time, which led to his untimely demise. of course, book 2 does not remotely interrogate what makes spirits malignant (or, “dark” lol) other than “well they’re being corrupted by vaatu, who is evil personified” (dumb, starwars level morality, avatar u should be better than this). in the kyoshi novels (which are so much better than lok in every possible way, btw), the reason the spirits start attacking humans is because humans are developing over sacred land that yangchen promised the spirits wouldn’t be interfered with. while kuruk knows that the spirits are in the right, he has no choice but to kill them, which in turn physically corrupts and ultimately kills him. now this is an example of a tragic conflict with no definitive solution, lok take notes!

but anyway. unalaq has finally found a way to solve this problem. and maybe he’s not actually a monarch, maybe he was elected specifically because of his spiritual power (I think that after the (functional) “death” of his only child, arnook would need to find another solution as to who should succeed him as chief than simply lineage, and katara, revolutionary that she is, is like “hey what if.....monarchies bad, actually?” and so by the time of book 2, the nwt isn’t actually a monarchy) and he uses his influence as a spiritual/political leader to try and take back the southern water tribe by manipulating korra into supporting him. and of course, by “take back,” I do fully mean that the southern water tribe was previously independent from the north because katara (and others, including sokka, but mostly katara) made sure of this fact very early on after the war (again, fuck the comics). so unalaq resents that the water tribe avatar is from the south, because he wanted to mentor (ie, control) the water tribe avatar, but unfortunately katara ended up getting the new avatar, not him. so he’s like, well, if I opened the spirit portals and turned the south back into a colony of the north, then that could solve all of my problems at once! oh and also kill katara, obviously. she needs to go.

and then another added layer of unalaq’s resentment could be the fact that she’s tonraq’s kid, bc if tonraq hadn’t left the north, then she could’ve grown up there and he could’ve been her mentor. but again, I don’t think tonraq should have been in line for the throne, or become chief of the south, i just think that maybe he left because he had a falling out with unalaq that was so bad he was just like “fuck this im leaving.” maybe something to do with their father & tonraq being the favorite & unalaq resenting him for it. idk im just spitballing here but u can literally never go wrong with an edgar & edmund subplot. and he also resents his kids, who are basically the same age as korra, for not being the avatar. like how dare they. (also eska & desna are actually fleshed out and not terrible & unnecessary in this version ofc.) so unalaq uses the fact that tonraq left the north as a way to manipulate korra & win her over, and he gets her to direct her misplaced anger at the white lotus at her father, so she opens the southern spirit portal, and she’s so proud of herself because she’s never been able to control that much spiritual energy before, and unalaq’s like “oh yes there’s so much i can teach you” and she’s so excited!! and his plan is going perfectly until korra learns that unalaq is responsible for trying to poison katara.

if not for the fact that katara is able to heal herself for long enough that she survives, and then korra and kya take her into the spirit world through the newly opened portal and heal her with spirit water, it definitely would’ve looked like katara had simply died peacefully in her sleep. she is quite old, after all. and unalaq’s plan could’ve kept going off without a hitch. but katara knows that she was poisoned, and mako uses his sick detective skillz (tho he’s a not a cop here. bc i say so.) to trace it back to unalaq. at first korra is like “ugh mako you’re obviously LYING because you’re mad that im spending more time with my cool uncle than with YOU” (and then she’s like “ha! jealous much??” when mako’s like “that doesn’t make any sense and i am just trying to support u....”) but then asami steps in and very calmly explains to korra why mako is right, and korra’s like “omg yeah asami ur right that makes so much sense ur so smart” (to which mako is just like “bro.....wtf”). so yeah fuck unalaq he tried to kill katara!!!! and why would he even wanna do that....UNLESS.

and while that’s the main plot for book 2 (again, tying in the white lotus conflict thru unalaq, who is white, NOT red lotus, and korra has really had it up to HERE with these guys jfc), there are also a lot of other aspects from that season that I think could’ve been explored so much better. like, again, the tensions between the north & south, and katara’s involvement in decolonizing the south before korra was ever born, and now again that unalaq is attempting to colonize it again. or how when korra enters the spirit world for the first time, she runs into iroh who helps her become more comfortable in the spirit world. which, don’t get me wrong, I actually did like, but I personally also think that could’ve been more interesting had we seen sokka in the spirit world (we can see iroh there too btw! that’s not mutually exclusive! and maybe even yue also!!) because I think learning that sokka a) lives on in the spirit world and b) was also a white lotus grandmaster when he was alive would be interesting considering that katara would be playing a much larger role in this season and so we see that they were both on the same side, and this conflict isn’t so clear-cut. so korra stumbles onto sokka and iroh playing pai sho together, and learns some history of the spirit world and some history of the white lotus, which helps inform her decisions throughout the rest of the show.

and then of course all the characters who aren’t korra in this season have just nothing to do or are utterly misused (what even WAS bolin’s arc). so I would’ve liked to see asami grapple with the ramifications of her father’s attempted filicide & the fate of future industries, and just generally be given more narrative space to figure her shit out. and mako finding a career path (that isn’t a fucking cop!!!!!!!) that actually interests him & helps him feel like he’s making a difference, and also coming to terms with the fact that as much as he loves & admires korra, they are simply not compatible romantically. and bolin’s arc can still serve as commentary on the nature of nationalistic propaganda because I do think that thread has a lot of potential, but the whole thing with eska is weird & unnecessary. and then jinora’s role as a burgeoning spiritual leader is actually perfect I wouldn’t change a thing there (other than to adapt it better to a more coherently-written season as a whole, of course) bc I love what they did with jinora in books 2 & 3!!! definitely the second-best character of lok for me (after korra herself ofc).

ultimately, what this season needed was to connect the spiritual & political conflict in a meaningful way to korra’s own character growth, which is why her deciding to leave the spirit portals open is important, but the journey getting there is just so.............. confusing. I also think that book 1 doesn’t really make sense politically or thematically at all, and neither korra’s resentment of the white lotus or the republic city citizens’ resentment of the ruling class (which, to be clear, is not benders, lol) is fully explored to its natural ends, so in this book 2 rewrite books 1, 3 & 4 would also necessarily need to be rewritten of course. the only thing I wouldn’t change, quite frankly, is “korra alone,” which is an AMAZING episode no notes there!!! so yeah, in summation, we need a) a more coherent antagonist in unalaq both ideologically & thematically, b) a larger role for katara (and sokka!) considering that this book is about exploring the political tensions in the southern water tribe that started developing after the war, c) a vision of the spirit world that aligns better with the (excellent) precedent set by atla, d) an overarching conflict re: the white vs red lotus framed by not only unalaq and the white lotus’s failure to fully educate korra, but also sokka and iroh in the spirit world playing pai sho (which is obviously also a metaphor that frames the plot/themes bc u know i live for pai sho metaphors lol) and introductions to zaheer & ming hua (who was once katara’s pupil, lest we forget the deep lore) et al, and then finally e) korra’s friends getting thematically relevant character arcs that inform both the themes of the season and their characters throughout the show.

I can go more in depth about any of these elements at some other point, but this has already gotten super fucking long, and is probably incoherent af bc like I said, I wrote this on my phone in one sitting basically while recovering from surgery (im fine btw) so this is not the most organized outline in the world... I obviously have a lot to say on this matter tho so feel free to ask for any clarifications or elaborations! apparently I will never stop having thots on this

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