Review: Legend of Korra “Enter the Void”

When the video goes live at a certain time, and it takes 45 minutes for a page to load, the expectations only grow. This has to be the best episode of The Legend of Korra with this rate. Find out if part one of the two-part finale was worth it!

Spoilers!

I can give a rat’s ass about what anyone says about “Enter the Void.” This episode was better than “The Ultimatum,” not only because it was a shit ton of fighting, but it was the gateway to the season finale! The sheer destruction that the Northern Air Temple went through at the hands of Gazhan, and the utter decimation P’Li put the band of Metalbenders through were just insane.

It wasn’t just that. You get to see, that no matter how much Zaheer cares or loves a person, they are just a means to an end. Before Korra goes to give herself over to Zaheer, you see a rare tender moment where Zaheer actually shows affection to P’Li. P’Li got caught in her own Combustion, and I would think that she blew her face into bits. I am finally getting to see what everyone can do in the face of adversity, and I am very impressed.

Let’s get back to Gazhan for a second. This dude laid waste to an entire temple, and it was a rather splendid temple, even if it was for Air Nomads. I am sure this will look better on Blu-Ray, because Nick’s video player is still the grainiest video player I’ve seen since Real Media. The scene where the temple is crumbling down on top of a magma flow is something to behold, even with the graininess of the player. I am going to re-watch these last five episodes again when the season comes out, just to see them in their full glory.

The aftermath of this has Bolin, Mako, and Asami trying to rescue Tenzin from said lava flow. This goes flows from where Gazhan tries to trap the group, through a makeshift passage into a room, down the stairs, and into another makeshift tunnel going out of a mountain. This is where things get interesting. Bolin, using death as a really great motivator, finally learns  advanced Earthbending when he Lavabends the flow out away from the group! I am actually happy for a fictional character. How the hell did that happen? Good writing creates great bonds.

While Bolin would have been the badass of “Enter the Void,” that title goes to Zaheer. No, this time it isn’t because Henry Rollins is a badass himself. This time, it’s because he was able to fight of Tonraq. When Zaheer dispatched Tonraq off of a cliff, he was left with Su and Lin. What does he do? He chants a phrase, and falls backwards off of a cliff. Of course, he doesn’t die. HE FLIES!

Later on, Zaheer tells Ming-Hua and Gazhan that he is no longer bound by Earthly tethers, and that he entered the Void. Now, the weight of this is that he is the first Airbender since Guru Laghima to be able to fly, because he found true freedom. He has no Earthly tethers, and was granted the power to fly. The saying on that locket Zaheer stole from Tenzin’s personal study was the key. These are the words Zaheer lives by, now:

Release your earthly tether

Enter the Void

Empty, and become wind

It looks like the plan Zaheer has was to sacrifice Korra. He has some weird looking Waterbenders come in with a poison, and start to bend it out of the bowl, as the episode ends.

I honestly don’t know where to go with “Enter the Void.” There’s so much left that is unanswered. Is there a higher power Zaheer is working for? If so, who is the head of the Red Lotus? Where in the hell is the rest of the White Lotus? Where is Zuko? The only person right now who is in any shape to help is Bolin, but when he has to take on more than one of the Red Lotus members, he’s screwed. Unless Tonraq finally gets it together, and Mako learns to bend lightning, things are in bad shape.

“Enter the Void” was a great segue to the final chapter, “Venom of the Red Lotus.” There was so much that transpired during “Enter the Void” that actually made Zaheer and his gang look menacing, finally. I have gone on at length saying that something needed to make Gazhan and Ming-Hua truly something that needed to be locked up for years, and we finally got it tonight. So, to answer the question I posed earlier. Yes, “Enter the Void” was worth the 45 minute wait.