Korra Season 3 Episode 6 (extended)

To everyone, who feels this kind of struggle of the overthinking others opinions, you should read the great book "the courage to be disliked" by Ichiro Kishimi. It's about the philosophy/psychology of Alfred Adler, who had besides Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, the biggest impact on modern day psychology.

Max Pickartz

Omg I was so happy when goodwin said 'not to worry too much about other people's opinions because in reality others don't really care that much and are too concerned thinking about themselves and their own things.' That's literally the mindset that helped me a lot with coping with my anxiety and always the advice I give to friends nervous about their image or about even a class presentation. I just tell them that the way you are so worried what others think of yourself, most people are busy doing the same regarding themselves, so no one cares enough to judge harshly or be rude to random strangers. Like I'll tell friends (in the example of stressing for a class presentation) to think of how they are and where their mind is at whilst in a class watching peers present. You probably are barely attentive, and just focusing on the stress for your own presentation coming up. Or if you are worried about physical appearance too much, imagine how you are walking by strangers. You're just thinking of your own stuff, not even noticing what others are wearing or how their bodies look. So yeah that realization I had years ago probably back in high school has taken so much of the self-conscious mental burden off my shoulders and allows me to quickly dismiss those anxiety-driven negative thoughts. It's so liberating to adapt that mindset because it leaves room in your brain for important things and to use that once wasted time and energy for furthering your own life. Accomplish your goals and become a person you'd be proud to know without being handicapped by irrational fears of being judged/ridiculed. It's in a sense a self-fulfilling prophecy because as you be more insouciant regarding the trivial or superficial opinions of others and their perceptions of you, that liberation permits self-growth, motivation, and gives opportunity for success, which then in turn gives you more confidence and self-assuredness that is now rooted in facts/reality instead of being reliant upon subjective ideals and ones (often dysmorphic) perception of self.

witz

On Toph's decision specifically, I don't agree with it, but I feel like this goes hand in hand with her desire to be admired and to have a certain image with the public. She knows at that point that Su's causing trouble, and so she comes up with the easier solution of just shipping Su out of the city. She felt for so long that her parents failed her, to some degree, that I imagine this moment is difficult for her. She tried to not be her parents and went too far in the other direction, so now Toph has to face the consequences. She's likely struggling with the idea that she failed as a parent as well, at least to a degree, and she can't accept the idea that people would know the great Toph Beifong did anything poorly. I agree with the idea that Lin's indignation is drawn more from the desire to be validated in the sibling rivalry than the fact that Toph is covering up a crime. Su was breaking the law, and Su then essentially assaulted a police officer while refusing to submit- on top of the fact that Su injured her sister, on a personal level. Lin probably thought that she had that in the bag and Toph was going to take her side. This episode did a good job of touching on the subject of self-image in multiple ways.

Kris Ivory

This three episode stretch with the Metal Clan is my fav 3 episode stretch in all of Korra.

benj

I absolutely agree with everything you said throughout the episode on Lin & Su's relationship, and how complex it is. I do empathize with Lin more throughout the 2 episodes, since for a majority it, it felt like most of the people around her were on Su's side without knowing the whole story or considering Lin's feelings, even if that's something Lin herself doesn't want to deal with. I'm happy that she got closure, but it felt like it was forced closure since she never wanted to be there in the first place. I also wasn't a huge fan of the fact that Su still never actually directly apologized for her actions or owned up to what she did. She just kinda vaguely apologized and wanted to move past it. That being said though, that's fine, I still love her, and appreciate that she's very much a likeable character that has flaws. To not make this too long and to not end up messing things up too much since my ability to put the thoughts in my head into words is hard, I love the Beifong sisters, I love that they each represent different sides of Toph, and their problems aside, and my own problems with how they made up aside, I was and still am happy that they were able to find a way to get along again.

WolfWarrior623

I'm not sure its a "time" thing since Korra was able to do it in a single afternoon. It may just be that Aang simply wasnt adept at it

Rudy Strother

I feel like it was Bolin deflecting the issue but he was in a way accepting because he admitted the truth in her statement. I also feel like Linn having the scar is almost a parallel to Zuko having the burn because they were both from family.

carter joens

Yeah I agree, not sure if this is a cannon or not but ive read that she uses her mind to waterbend just like how Amon mastered psychic bloodbending without even making one single hand gesture. This just shows that even physical disabled benders can have such big potential with their bending abilities like Toph with her blindness

Jose

Love that Suyin and Lin's fighting styles are so different from one another. Suyin is much more fluid and smooth, while Lin is a bit more grounded.

Tommy Nguyen

i don’t know if you noticed, but the water arms girl on team Zaheer doesn’t have arms. You never commented on it or anything so I was unsure if you saw lol.

Joseph Hallowell

Haha or rather nearly every episode this season. Its genuinely hard to find weaker episodes this season. Finally when Nickelodeon gave Bryke two seasons, they did what they do best and gave us high quality content. Not that the first two seasons were low but you know....

I guess Aang never had much time to really learn metalbending with all his responsibilities in the world or it was just something that never came to him. Maybe it didn’t fit well with his nature. Though I still remember his quote in the drill episode “What I’d give to be a metal bender” before Toph even invented the ability.

Official Jrem

Like you I really identify with both Suyin and Lin. When I was in high school my Mom gave me so much freedom... my senior year I only saw her on days I wanted a home cooked meal. I spent my time resenting her and going against everything she wanted for me. As a single mother she spent her time doing right by us giving us what she could. I also set a bad example for my sisters who looked up to me. But as I grew older and joined the Marine Corps and now lead a life in Government Service I grew to be a lot like Lin, valuing order and the rule of law becoming too strict and hard line with little growth. I have spent the past 2 years really evaluating my relationship with my mother and sisters to find the balance between the two extremes of a life of order and freedom. I really identify with the Beifong sisters and their journey of forgiveness. This show and your commentary also helps me put my own thoughts into words. So Thank you so much! :)

Joshua Solano

Couldn't believe she said that. Such a low blow

Alex G

Sorry about that. Starting tomorrow I'm going to set a time for uploads, so hopefully that will make things easier for everyone.

Alex G

There's a quote I love, often attributed to Plato, that goes something like "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a difficult battle."

Alex G

Tommorows episode is probably one of my favorites in season 3. You know beside the finale and the two episodes before it.

hays collins

“No wonder Tenzin ended things with you years ago” no doubt the biggest burn in this show.

hays collins

I also like that about Korra. I don't need the characters to be perfect for me to like them.

Alex G

These shows have always been great about allowing their heroes to be flawed and their villains to have some redeeming traits. That's part of what makes it so dynamic. And yeah, I think putting "right" in quotes is perfect, because it's not necessarily what's right for her, it's her creating a facade based on what she thinks other people will think is right (at least partly).

Alex G

I relate to both of them so much. Together they capture a lot about like... growing up and adolescence and identity.

Alex G

DANG IT I’ve been waiting for midnight to check since that’s when you upload to patreon and now I find you you posted two hours earlier. Ugh. Haha

hays collins

"At the end of the day, nobody really cares about what you do". This is a philosophy I've taken to really recently and it's actually helped me a lot with some of my insecurities. Sure I still have a lot of them, but the knowledge that everyone is just as wrapped up in their own head and their own issues and not focused on me is... freeing. I also really like Su and Lyn's conflict in this episode. You know that they love each other, but Lyn just has this huge disconnect between who her sister is and who she thinks she is. They want the best for each other, and it reared it's head in an ugly, yet important way. Sometimes fighting through things with family / friends is the last/ only way to get through them, because it forces us to say what it is we really mean and confront the issues head on. I also just want to say, I'm a big fan of how they had the ARMLESS waterbender drive the getaway car XD

Aidan Pullen

I like that the writers went with showing both Toph and Aang as flawed parents. Both of them had traumatic experiences with their parental figures growing up. It's more realistic that they would overcompensate in areas that were lacking as children. Toph's story especially intrigues me as a result of her childhood, from not having just one relationship to giving her daughters more freedom than she should have. Her reaction to Su's crime, sending her away and destroying the evidence, seems like the impulsive kind of action we'd expect of younger Toph, and that isn't so surprising she'd revert to it as older Toph.

Faureamour

One thing i really love about korra and i think some people hate is the realistic take of the Atla kids progression as adults and parents. Aang was not perfect father and toph was clearly a pretty bad mother. Her daughters dont even know their fathers, and due the the environment of their parenting they grew scornful of each other and their mother and didnt talk for 30 years. I think Toph probably focused on her career and responsibilities more then the care of her children. That can be really dissapointing when as a fan you love toph. but with aang and toph fans overlook these things and all the amazing good and success the the kids of the ATLA generation get lumped into this foolish thinking "well thats aangs son or thats Tophs daughter! Of course the can do so and so!" It bothers me because the show goes out of its way to fight against those notions but as fans people fall back on they love of characters. I feel Tophs children are amazing and good and successful worthwhile people more in spite of toph than because of it.

Nico Salerno

also su loves meteorites! wonder where she got that from hehehe. fun headcanon

NitrousOxide19

i think its pretty interesting that LoK has gone for showing toph and aang as not the best parental figures (katara obv has been good). it kinda makes sense with aang having so much on his shoulders and toph not caring at all. i can see lin's side a bit more; she did everything 'right' her whole life but gets treated equal to her sister who's done everything wrong. its pretty unfair on toph to reward that behaviour but it is very in line with her character. glad they got closure finally tho

NitrousOxide19

Oh wow great touch

Alex G

Hello fellow oldest child who raised their siblings. Everything you said hit so close to home. Watching this episode for the first time a while back was like looking into a mirror, I wish Id realize sooner that resentment towards my family got me nowhere. The day I realized I was the only one holding myself back and that I didnt need to be the "Lin or Katara" all the time, was the day my life made a turn for the better.

Dierane

And about one second before Opal does lol

Alex G

This episode was always really tough for me. I was an older sibling with an almost parental role to my more free and irresponsible younger siblings. It is very easy for me to relate to Lin and the severe feelings of indignation and injustice of the situation, but just like Lin's path, those feelings of bitterness lead to nothing worthwhile for personal growth. It really does feel frustrating when you're desperately seeking structure for comfort, and those more fulfilled by chaos or freedom seem so much happier. It feels almost unobtainable, like watching them from behind glass of your own making.

Kingsley

Definitely right about the sibling rivalries. Lin and Su's personalities are each a side of Toph taken to the next level, so it makes alot of sense that there would be alot of animosity. Especially since we know Lin is one to hold long lasting grudges (Tenzin) I love watching the different family dynamics in LOK, especially Team Avatar's kids it must be alot of pressure to be the saviors of the world's children. So very realistic, altough I think I relate to Lin a little too much.

Dierane

Some cool tidbits about the young Lin and su. Lins voice actor was the one who did azula and Suyin was tophs original voice actor from the main series! :) i really liked that she came back to voice one of her characters children

Cody Taylor

You had that realization about Lin's trouble with seeing all of Su Yin's success at the exact moment I did! How validating.

DogBless

I can’t wait till all these puzzle pieces click it’s gonna be amazing

DrowsyCody

I'm open to trying acupuncture. If I'm really lucky, maybe I'd get to access some repressed memories. Toph having two willful daughters is definitely karma in a big way lol. Having kids suddenly makes her accountable in ways she always avoided.

Alex G

about bolin's turmoil. reminds me of a quote: “When you consider things like the stars, our affairs don’t seem to matter very much, do they?” - Virginia Woolf (Night and Day)

Makima

I love the domes on zou fu they seal the city in tight I see why it’s called the safest city Poor zhu li having to clean up all of zarricks messes I’ve never had acupuncture but I’d definitely like to try it someday. Though I’m not a fan of needles Omg when Ming hau attacks the deliver driver she’s so deadly I love her. Also that driver was super smart to run. Like always combustion bending is terrifying imagine a combustion bender under sozins comet it would be like a nuke... Su was such a brat! At least she was a criminal like her mother. Toph doing her best trying to protect her kids while also being Sturn and breaking the law doing so AND feeling guilty about it. I love how LOK adds more humanization to the Gaang with them making mistakes and being flawed adults. Korra is the first metal bending avatar I’m shocked toph never taught Aang but not surprised. And Bolin is so relatable in being hesitantly try something that people tell you only a few people have the ability to do. Also pabu is venomous?!? Lin and Suyin fight was epic and so fluid. And Sutton’s line about tenzin was uncalled for 😂 and Bolin line about siblings fighting was spot on.

DrowsyCody