[Review] Legend of Korra ep. 4 – The Voice in the Night (Shipping)

Calling all Makorrians: it may be time to abandon ship.

After all the Makorra cuteness last week, the introduction of Asami as Mako’s canon girlfriend was despicably cruel. To actually set up all our hopes for a pairing in one episode only to smash and crash them to the ground in the next is daring, I’ll give Brychael that, but as much as I appreciate directing-guts, they can’t just mess with our feels like this. Except they did. And what’s worse, they didn’t just make Mako unavailable to Korra. They made every single scene in Ep. 3 that we thought proved the mutual feelings between Mako and Korra look as close to love as Asami Sato is to ugly. Korra clinging onto Mako’s arm to “look less noticeable” now seems like a pretty awkward thing to do now that we know he only thinks of her as a friend.

L'Oreal: Because you're worth it.

Here’s the thing about this female who’s messing up our Makorra ship: there’s nothing about her that we can really grab onto and just hate to our hearts’ content. She’s beautiful, she’s nice, and as much as I hate to say it, I really do think she enjoys being with Mako. Some Makorra sailors have already ship-hopped over to Masami, and at the rate the relationships are developing, I don’t really blame them. It killed me, completely killed me, to see Mako at the gala with Asami on his arm, but I have to admit they looked quite compatible together. And when they were in the carriage ride in Central Park? Yup, that killed me too, but not so bad that I missed Mako giving Asami the Story of the Scarf. Oh yeah, that needs to be capitalized, because the scarf’s backstory is something we’ve been wondering for a while, and to hear Mako tell it not to Korra but to Asami was… ohh. If you don’t ship Makorra, you can’t possibly understand.

Oh, but Asami isn’t even the biggest ship-killer here. That award goes to Mako. All the blushing and lovey-dovey hearts exploding from him at the sight of Asami taking off her helmet like a supermodel must have been every Makorrian’s nightmare come true. “Can our tomboy Avatar still catch Mako’s eye?” it made us worry. Then the date came, with Asami touching Mako’s hands, followed by Hiroshi Sato sponsoring the Fire Ferrets, which only made Mako like Asami more, and finally, the gala, where Mako is officially a taken man. Boy, do things happen fast.

Even though Korra wasn’t anywhere near as devastated as I was to see Mako and Asami together, she was definitely bothered. Remember, Korra had been dealing with a lot of other things in this episode, and this was nothing that she needed. It’s understandable that Mako can’t always be by her side to check on how she’s doing like Tenzin is, but even after she joins Tarrlok’s task force, his only concern regarding her seems to be that she’s not showing up to pro-bending practice. Never mind that she’s faced with the duty of tracking down a foe as fearsome as Amon, the Fire Ferrets need to get some practice in, right, Mako?

BOLIN YOU PERFECT PRINCE CHARMING YOU

At least Bolin seemed unhappy at Korra’s absence. Speaking of Bolin, wasn’t he just perfect in this episode? While Mako was off wooing Asami, sweet, caring Bolin showed up with a rose and a cupcake for Korra! Yeah, he says it’s a thank-you gift for saving him from Amon, but okay, sure Bolin, if a rose is something you just casually give out as thank-you gifts. Plus, when he thought Tarrlok was a guy trying to date Korra, he got all angry and offered to “have a word” with Tarrlok. When he learned the truth, he even said, and I quote, “Oh, good. Good. That sounds better. I like that better.” I know we all got duped by the creators with the last episode, thinking that Makorra was progressing so obviously, but if this isn’t a sure sign of hope for Borra, I don’t know what is.

In fact, I might seriously switch to Borra. Mako falling for Asami hit me like outright betrayal, so you know what, he can be with Asami. He doesn’t deserve Korra, but Bolin, who actually cares, does.

(That’s what I tell myself, but I’m not sure if I can just get used to Borra like that.)

Hopefully, my rant hasn’t made every Makorrian want to jump ship now, because don’t forget, we still have “Admit it, you like me,” coming up between Mako and Korra aaaaand not to mention… the kiss. So, don’t lose hope, stay strong, and wait for next week. With our ship sunk so low, things can only get better, right?