I became a bitter lonely person when Tara died, but Fred definitely put me in the heartless monster camp.

Killing off one of the Beifong twins would be a move right out Harry Potter. The Beifongs are pretty much a Weasley parallel.

Let's all take a moment to appreciate how utterly level-headed, quick-thinking, and confident Korra was this episode in the face of an overwhelming crisis. And she still got to make some pretty badass threats!

It's the perfect counterpoint to Arrow's previous Big Bads. Merlyn and Slade were fantastically characterized, but they were also bombastic and over the top. A chilling, reserved villain that also outclasses all who came before him is just what the show needed.

"You're unarmed". "I will take your weapons when you are finished with them."

The biggest surprise of this episode wasn't Terrigenesis…because c'mon, we were all waiting for it. No, the real surprise was when Skye shot Ward and I immediately went "Oh crap I hope she didn't actually kill him!"

Wrapping P'Li's head in her own armor, creating makeshift armor in the middle of a fight, using a railing as a staff? Suyin's cornered the market on badass metalbending moments. I almost feel bad for Lin…

Almost every major player in this episode was a woman, and the two who were men (Bolin and Bataar Jr.) mostly got bossed around by women.

I wouldn't fault anyone for not liking this episode on its own terms, although it definitely had some highlights. Everyone calling Mako out on his BS. Varrick's entire mover summary. Some solid comedy.

And if they lost an episode, crew members would have lost weeks worth of wages. Let's not forget that.

Every time I watch Bolin lavabend, I find myself cackling with glee.

Toph is totally going to be the Russia to Kuvira's Hitler.

When has the show actually you asked you to buy into Laurel having already become a badass vigilante? Ted was teaching her to work through her aggression at most. Laurel and Ted both acknowledge to The Arrow that mere boxing lessons wasn't going to make her some sort of capable vigilante.

I get that it's easier to simplify the motivations of dictators as being purely psychopathic or sociopathic, but that's precisely your problem: you're making sweeping generalizations to fit your perception of Kuvira without actually considering the complex psychologies of the dictators that she's based on.

Well, isn't that kind of the point? Right now she's just trying to broker peace in a political crisis that she has not had any prior briefing on. As an Avatar that's motivation enough, but now that she's failed she has that much more reason to care about the conflict on a personal level.

So why does that make Kuvira "cartoonishly" evil? History has a long and bloody pattern of dictators that use whatever means necessary to establish control. In fact, compared to the conditions you would find in North Korean prison camps or Auschwitz, I'd imagine LoK's version is much tamer. This is a show that very…

…but re-education/concentration camps DO exist in real life.

And what giant battle could there have been, exactly? Zaofu doesn't have an army. It was made clear last episode that Kuvira could easily take Zaofu whenever she damn well pleased, but chose not to so as not to seem like an invader.

It goes to show how the excuse men sometimes give about being unable to write female characters well is complete bull. Every single one of the aforementioned characters (Su, Korra, Kuvira, Jinora, and Opal) are clearly written as characters first, female second. If Bryke, two straight white guys, can give them all…

For better or worse, it wasn't meant to be entertaining. The show wanted us to cringe every time Kuvira got the better of Korra. The terrifying reappearance of Nega-Korra certainly didn't help either, but I'd also wager that was the best part of the whole fight.