LoK Book 1 AU

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 LEGEND OF KORRA – BOOK 1: THE FIGHTING MONGOOSES AU
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Q: What's this all about?
A: Some Legend of Korra fans were disappointed with the writing in the series' first book. They felt the plot and characterization had wonky moments on a constant basis, and the "what if" fan scenarios were more interesting than the actual series. People on +/a/ had a thread where they were discussing their personal ideas about the series.
This pastebin is a a compilation of all the fan ideas and suggestions made during the discussion. The discussion thread originally used the word "rewrite" because the intention was to play backseat editors and talk about everyone's personal ideas. But since most people liked the idea of planning one single big edit of the story instead of multiple edits that were contradictory with one another, let's just combine the edits together and call it an alternate universe instead of a rewrite. The title says "The Fighting Mongooses AU" just to give it some kind of name that can be used if needed.
I left a lot of the details in this textdump fairly fuzzy, and it's also very possible that there could be plotholes, typos or brainfarts that I failed to notice. If there's any interest in polishing up this AU, that's fine and any improvements are welcome. But if book 1 is far enough in the past and people don't feel like going back to it, that's also fine. Mostly I just wanted to type this textdump so I could get everything regarding book 1 out of my system once and for all.


Q: What's this AU trying to do?
A: -To write the first book of LoK within the constraints from back then. The book must be exactly 12 episodes, and it needs to have proper closure in case the network won't renew the show for new seasons. But there must also be enough room to write new plots in case the show does get renewed.
-Character personalities and backgrounds are to be kept as intact as possible, and character bios are used as reference. Korra is hotheaded and impulsive, Mako is serious, responsible and protective of his brother, Bolin is fun-loving and affable, Asami's got a kind heart, Tahno's an arrogant douchebag, and so on.
-There are a bunch of tweaks in the details but the plot follows the same key events as the show itself. Korra is found to be the avatar, she grows up, she goes to Republic City to learn airbending, meets new friends, becomes a pro-bender, joins Tarrlok's task force, Amon attacks on the arena, Hiroshi Sato is revealed as an equalist, and blahblahblah.
-Love triangle drama hurts the character dynamics between the cast too much and makes their interactions awkward. Because of that, it needs to be reduced to a minimum, and it's not necessary to even have official couples by the end of the series. If there's any romantic hinting, it's only between the final official couples. Put focus on the story and let the fans take care of the shipping.
-Add some more scenes where Korra tries to learn airbending in the course of the book.
-Try to make sure that character actions will make sense, and the audience will not be left asking "why on earth would he/she do that? It's not in their best interests to act like that".
-More action, consequences and conflict. If a character fucks up or pisses off someone else, it will bite them in the ass later on.
-In the show, a lot of the fights against the equalists had a tendency to end with someone losing their bending or getting electrocuted, and it got a bit boring. Also, it wasn't as visually impressive as benders moving the elements. Because of that, the AU tries to add more bender vs. bender fights.
-There are markers for possible commercial break spots too, to make the long strings of text into more manageable chunks, and to try to estimate how much time each section would need. Each of the break spots could be moved around in case some scenes seem like they might end up shorter or longer than estimated, or if the timing for a commercial break feels awkward.


Q: Are there any major changes to the characters or their roles?
A: Most of the characters appear simple enough to redeem the way they are, but a couple of things about their backstories are too difficult to work with. These things are changed in the AU:
-Amon's scars are real. The idea of them being just make-up was too silly and Scooby Doo-like.
-Amon's not doing any kind of "I'm saving you for the last" thing with Korra. Instead, his plan is to capture her and take her bending the moment he happens to get a chance. However, he wants to do it in some big public event where everyone can see it happen, and he's not doing it at the Aang Memorial Island because it's too remote and there are no bystanders around. He also has a bunch of other plans about Korra. The equalists are trying to provoke her into the avatar state so that there will be collateral damage and outrage at her rampaging like that. And most importantly, Amon wants to fight Korra and take her bending while she's in the avatar state; he hopes that doing so would disconnect the entire world from bending.
-Less pro-bending, more triads. The triads are a more interesting plot element to work with, and they're relevant to both the equalist subplot and to Korra bonding with Mako+Bolin. Also, the pro-bending stuff that remains is tied more into the triad storyarc. The sport already looked kind of dirty in the series with its paid referees and the way they were taking a big chunk out of the Fire Ferrets' winning money, or demanding the team to pay so in order to keep playing. So let's do more with that; pro-bending in this AU is a dirty sport with lots of ties to the criminal underworld.
-Toza never stumbled on the bending brothers. The brothers are still living on the streets, and they have a bit more involvement with the triads. They've been saving money for the pro-bending tournament in the recent past, and the tournament is their attempt to escape a life of crime and poverty.
-Less focus on the times of the Gaang. The story's supposed to be about Korra, and the scenes with the old Gaang are overshadowing the protagonist of the series.
-Order of the White Lotus are portrayed in a less dickish fashion.
-Lin/Tenzin romance in the distant past makes things too strained. It either didn't happen in this AU, or if it did, it's waaaay back in the past and everyone got over it a long time ago. It's never addressed and it doesn't affect the characters or their actions these days. Lin values responsibility and the law, and she initially hates Korra because she's a reckless teenaged brat. It's got nothing to do with past romances and bitter personal feelings, and Lin wouldn't let petty grudges like that affect her treatment or opinion of Korra. She's a strict professional, and Korra as a person is annoying the heck out of Lin.
-Asami/Mako/Korra love triangle made things too messy so it's dropped. Same thing with Mako/Korra/Bolin. The only romance that's allowed is the final one; Mako/Korra.
-In this AU, Wolfbats are the novice underdog instead of being the defending champion. People expect the Fire Ferrets to win the finale because they've got the avatar on their side. This change is needed due to a couple of plot reasons.
-Iroh was introduced into the series very late and he barely even had a role other than blatant fanservice and stealing screentime from the important characters. Because of those factors, his character's role is reduced into a cameo in this AU.


Q: Anything else worth notifying?
A: I'll be using some acronyms in this write-up for certain frequently-used words:
RC = Republic City
TTT = Triple Threat Triad
OWL = Order of the White Lotus
FF = Fire Ferrets
LBZ = Lightning-Bolt Zolt
ZZZZZ = a marker indicating that some details are WIP and need to be worked on. When I'm writing stuff, I use these kinds of markers for spots that are difficult to write. The reason is so that I can later Ctrl+F to find each of these instances and polish them up a bit.
YYYYY = indicates an update that was added at a later date. Most of this textdump was written soon after Book 1 ended, but in the case of some plot-points, later material (LoK DVD, Book 2, artbook, etc) either contradicted or confirmed something about it. So I'll use YYYYY as a marker to point out those parts.
Also, when Amon takes someone's bending away, I'll be calling it "de-bending" because it's a short and simple word.
Compiling this textdump began some time after book 1 finale. The time of finishing and posting this online was October 2nd 2013. The first four episodes of book 2 had already aired by then, and they get referenced in a couple of points.


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The episode list of the AU
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Episode 1: Welcome to Republic City
Episode 2: A leaf in the wind
Episode 3: The revelation
Episode 4: The voice in the night
Episode 5: And the winner is...
Episode 6: The aftermath
Episode 7: When extremes meet
Episode 8: PLACEHOLDER EPISODE NAME #1
Episode 9: PLACEHOLDER EPISODE NAME #2
Episode 10: Turning the tides
Episode 11: Skeletons in the closet
Episode 12: Endgame

"Spirit of the competition" is pretty much skipped entirely. This means that the episodes after it are one episode ahead of the actual series until episode 10, where the episode numbers start matching up with the series again.
The episode where Korra is kidnapped ("Out of the past") gets some changes that kinda prevent using its original episode name, so it's just "PLACEHOLDER EPISODE NAME #1". And the episode right afterwards is what the removal of "Spirit of the competition" enables; some screentime for an episode where we get to see the equalist POV a bit more.
Some of the episodes are mostly fine the way they were in the show and I'll be brief about their summaries. But some other episodes are edited more extensively, so their descriptions are more detailed and much longer.




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Episode 1: Welcome to Republic City
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-Korra gets introduced as a bratty baby.  We get the "I'm the avatar, you gotta deal with it" scene to establish her personality as a reckless, impatient and confrontational kid
-Montage about Korra growing up, learning bending. We could see a brief glimpse of young Korra playing with baby Naga, too.
-Cut to the present day. Korra says byebye to her parents before starting the travel to RC
-She travels on Naga's back. Katara and a couple of OWL guards are travelling alongside on a carriage
-Korra provides some exposition by talking excitedly about getting to train airbending with Tenzin. The dialogue establishes that she's mastered all the other elements except air, and she struggles with the spiritual side of bending. Also, the OWL has agreed that she needs to be under Tenzin's tutelage now. Tenzin's the right man to teach this stuff, and it's time for Korra to learn air, anyway.
-In the city, journalists surround Korra and want to talk to her. Smug and proud, she gives a quick press release
-Korra reaches the island. Tenzin, Pema and their kids greet her with enthusiasm. Some air acolytes are seen in the background, there are more OWL guys around, and Oogi's flying up in the sky
-Keep Pema's line about how she wants her next baby to be a non-bender. It was a nice way to foreshadow that there are some issues between benders and non-benders
-Instead of asking about Zuko's mom, Jinora wants Katara to tell stories about how avatar Aang found a herd of skybisons and revived the species, or how the air acolytes came to be. However, Ikki interrupts. (This scene is needed because Aang and Appa being the last ones of their kind was an important, plot-driving factor in AtLA. The bisons and acolytes need some kind of brief handwaving in the new series, and it needs to happen on-screen. Website bios or SDCC panel discussions aren't enough; most people don't go looking for that stuff, and they're left thinking Oogi and the air acolytes are a plothole. - Katara doesn't need to tell the full story; Jinora just needs to briefly mention that yeah, Aang found some secret bison herd.)
-Katara gives some kind of speech about how it's Korra's generation's turn now, and she leaves with the OWL escorts

[commercial break]

-Korra wants to start airbending training, and she's eager to try creating tornadoes and whirlwinds. But Tenzin says she should just settle down for now, and they'll start tomorrow
-Korra's being impatient and Tenzin finally tires out. He says that she could sit down and meditate in order to get a nice, soft start into airbending lessons
-Korra's disappointed but tries it anyway. The scene goes like it does in the series' episode 2; Tenzin and his kids manage to do it, but Korra can't
-Korra figures, fuck this shit. She decides that meditating is lame and if she can't get to do any cool bending today, she goes to see the big, interesting city instead. She gets Naga and they leave the island.
-Korra encounters the equalist protestor and the scene proceeds just like in the show itself
-Possibly a scene where Korra sees some homeless people (Gommu the bush bum, or Skoochy?) living in lousy conditions, and she realizes that the city isn't as perfect as she thought it'd be? If this kind of scene is added, maybe there could be an early bird cameo by Bolin or Mako hanging around with a group of bums? (Think Princess and the Frog, and how the two main characters actually met at the very beginning of the movie but it was a brief, meaningless encounter and both forgot about it quickly.)
-Korra encounters the triad guys bothering the citizens. Again, the scene goes like it does in the show. Saikhan and his metalbenders join the scene eventually, and they want to arrest Korra because of the vigilantism and the collateral damage she caused. Korra escapes on Naga and a chase scene begins
-Korra on Naga's back and Asami on her moped nearly collide into one another. Asami realizes Korra's being chased by the cops and she must be a criminal, so she tries to stop Korra. They fight until metalbenders reach them and arrest them both.

[commercial break]

-Korra and Asami get thrown into the jail. To pass time, they talk with each other, and they end up finding a connection. One of the topics they're both eager to discuss would be pro-bending, and they decide they need to go see a game together.
-There could be a radio playing at the police station; a game between the Fire Ferrets and someone else. When both girls got excited to listen to it, this might help them realize they've got some things in common. ZZZZZ
-Korra gets taken to Lin and they have a talk until eventually Tenzin comes to pick Korra. The scenes go much like in the show; Korra tries to defend like "I'm the avatar" but Lin's like "I don't give a shit about who you are". Both Lin and Tenzin admonish Korra and give her a lecture about her actions. She feels ashamed. She walks out of the police station all miserable, until she sees Asami outside too, waving her hand. At least Korra got a new friend, and they arrange to meet again tomorrow.
-Cut to the equalists listening to a radio broadcast that replays Korra's press release from earlier. Amon and Lieutenant briefly discuss about the avatar being in RC.


EPISODE 1 NOTES:

-Lose the bush bum's scene/dialogue because he's irrelevant. Also, cut the scene with the woman selling food. Korra would be rather stupid if she travelled a long journey without packing any food or money with her.

-OWL-related scenes mostly deleted so that Asami/Korra meeting would fit into the 20 minutes.
The episode made OWL look like cranky old pricks while Korra was being a speshul teenager and the adults just wouldn't understand her. IMO that subplot was not necessarily needed, and it could be cut in order to get to the point and reach RC more quickly, and to get some screentime for Asami.
I figure Aang realised he had to deal with heavy, dangerous issues while he was still a kid, and he felt guilty about running away from his duty and letting his people get killed. He probably felt concerned about the safety of the next avatar, and he advised OWL to keep a closer eye on the next reincarnation. Or that's my fanwank theory explaining why the OWL seemed overly protective of Korra, why they preferred to isolate her somewhat, and why they built that compound for her.
But OWL's justifications for their actions weren't directly discussed in the series, and OWL wasn't very relevant later on anyway. So, I'm cutting the parts making OWL look bad, and I'm choosing to depict them as reasonable authority figures. [YYYYY: Book 2 so far has revealed that Korra being stuck at the compound was actually more because of her parents' decision than anyone else's.]

-I'd like a bit more to be done with Korra's parents. There are so many action heroes who are either orphans or have evil parents, and I think it's cool that Korra's parents are normal and alive. So, I'd really want to see a bit more of them. But whatever, they're not too relevant to the story, and I guess there's not much room for them. [YYYYY: Book 2 seems to focus on them. Also, it's been revealed that they're not as normal as fans had thought during Book 1. Korra's dad is actually an exiled prince instead of any random peasant.]

-ZZZZZ I want Korra to listen to the radio at some point during this episode so she can hear the Fire Ferrets playing at the arena. The idea would be to set up her interest in the sport and to establish Mako and Bolin before they appear. If there's another place where the radio scene could happen than the police station, that'd be nice; I'm not sure if they'd keep radios in the cells.



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Episode 2: A leaf in the wind
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-Korra reading a paper and asking if she could go see a pro-bending game. Tenzin says no; he says pro-bending is a mockery of bending and he doesn't like that sport.
-Korra has an airbending lesson with Tenzin and the kids. "Be the leaf" and all that, but Korra fails to pull it off. She's completely exhausted by the lesson.
-At the end of the lesson, Asami and Hiroshi come visit the airbender island in order to see Korra
-Hiroshi gets introduced as a jolly, loving and cool father who cares for his daughter and spends a lot of time with her
-Hiroshi admires the airbending island and asks Tenzin about how various things work there (the questions should sound neutral and non-chalant, but when rewatching the series, it should be obvious that he's actually spying on the island's defenses and weak points so they can plan the equalist attack better)
-Hiroshi, Asami and Korra leave the island and go spend an evening at the city. Tenzin's a bit wary about it but accepts on the condition that Hiroshi will be watching over them and making sure Korra won't be doing anything stupid. Hiroshi promises. But once they get to the mainland, Hiroshi smiles and says he thinks the girls are responsible enough to handle things on their own. He goes do his own stuff; Korra and Asami are left by themselves. Now that Tenzin isn't around and can't stop her, Korra wants to go see the pro-bending arena. Partly because she's wanted to see it for a while, and partly because Tenzin's attitude made it into an exciting forbidden fruit, and she feels mischievous.
-The girls go to the near vicinity of the arena. There they encounter a juggler/beggar with his trained fire ferret; Bolin and Pabu. They watch their performance for a while with a couple of other people.
-Bolin gets in trouble. Maybe he doesn't have a permit to do street performances, and Saikhan's forces chase after him because of that? Or maybe Pabu steals some food (possibly from the lady who was selling food in the first episode) and runs to Bolin, which makes people think that Bolin's trained Pabu to be a thief? Either way, Korra and Asami figure that Bolin's just some poor beggar and they decide to save him from an angry mob. Maybe they stand in front of Bolin and beat up some idiot who isn't aware they're challenging a talented martial artist and the avatar. Or maybe they just go "he went that way" while Bolin's hiding in the opposite direction
-After the situation is over, Bolin is excited and grateful about the intervention, and he tries to flirt with the gals but he's being awkward about it. Korra and Asami find it kind of amusing and they think he's an endearing guy, although not in a romantic fashion. Bolin tries to impress them by boasting that he's actually a pro-bending player. For a while the girls laugh it off thinking it's a joke, until Asami suddenly realizes that yes, he's one of the Fire Ferrets, and she starts fangirling.
-Korra tries to ask why would a professional pro-bender need to beg in the streets, but Bolin dodges the question and changes the subject. He tells that as a pro-bender, he gets access to the arena, and he suggests if the girls want to go see all the VIP spots from the inside and meet his brother, and so on. Korra gets excited about this chance, and they go.

[commercial break]

-Cut to Mako doing pro-bending training by himself at the arena gym. Shady Shin comes to talk with him, and he tells Mako that the FF need to lose their next game on purpose. There are betting rings for pro-bending and the games are secretly fixed by TTT. If Mako fails to comply to playing a rigged game, Shin warns that LBZ and TTT will get pissed off: "You've worked for us in the past and you've got obligations towards us, Mako. If you don't do this, they'll come down on you, hard". Mako argues for a bit but then gives in and requests: "Just keep Bolin out of this, he doesn't need to know". Satisfied, Shin leaves.
-Bolin steps in soon after Shin's left and he introduces the girls to Mako. Korra's curious about Mako, but Mako's in a bad mood and being kinda rude.
-After looking at Korra, Mako suddenly gets a moment of realisation. He looks at the day's newspaper laying around. It's got a photo of Korra, and he realizes this girl in Bolin's company is the avatar. He gets worried about why the avatar is there and whether she's planning on busting Mako and/or Bolin because of their past associations with the TTT, but he can't ask that kind of question directly. So Mako becomes very evasive and avoids talking with the women. He's just watching them and getting anxious about what they might be planning.
-Bolin hasn't read the paper and doesn't realize who Korra is. He's just being social with the girls and demonstrating how pro-bending works while Mako sulks. Korra practices earthbending with Bolin and is doing pretty well.
-Eventually Korra can't help bragging about being the avatar. Bolin's awed at this reveal but Mako remains grumpy.
-However, Korra does some nice pro-bending, and even Mako can't help complimenting her.
-Cut to Korra sucking at "be the leaf" exercises, and just getting beaten up and frustrated.
-Later at the night, some OWL guys listen to a pro-bending game on the radio, and Korra's listening to it as well. But Tenzin shuts off the radio and says he doesn't want Korra wasting her time listening to this crap.
-Korra sneaks off to the arena. FF vs. Ember Island Eel-hounds is about to begin, and Korra meets with Asami at the arena
-Cut to Shady Shin talking with Mako again, just before the game. He wants to make sure Mako will be sticking with the plan. Mako tries to just shoo him away so that Bolin won't see that Mako's still in contact with Shin.
-Hasook walks into the room and asks "who's this guy?"
-Mako sees no way out so he tells Hasook about Shady and TTT, and he tells him that they need to lose tonight's game on purpose. Disgusted by the mere idea of it, Hasook quits and storms out
-Shady was listening during the conversation and comments "It's all the same to us; if your team lacks a player and has to forfeit, the Eel-hounds will automatically win, and that'll make everything easier. There's a lot of yuans in this."
-Mako sighs, Shady leaves
-Bolin comes to the locker room. Mako tells him that Hasook quit and they've gotta forfeit now
-Asami and Korra come see the boys and ask what's wrong. After they tell about Hasook, Asami notifies that Korra's a waterbender, and Korra offers that she could play in the match. Mako can't refuse her help without telling Bolin about what's going on. Also, he thinks that Korra's a newbie and won't be able to win the game

[commercial break]

-The game begins. Korra's initially playing in a clumsy fashion. She's only trained with the earthbending discs, and it takes a while for her to get used to the required waterbending style
-Cut to Tenzin wondering where Korra is. OWL guys are listening to the game on the radio, and it gets revealed that Korra's playing the game. Angrily, Tenzin goes to get her.
-Korra figures out how to pull off the airbending movements that Tenzin had been trying to teach. Tenzin sees this and his angry mood dissolves
-Mako tries subtly to fuck up the game, but Korra manages to earn a win just barely. Tenzin cheers in the audience
-Bolin, Korra and Asami excited about the victory. Mako is worried now that they fucked up the fixed game, but he doesn't tell the others. From some distance away, Shady Shin looks ominously at a grim Mako
-Korra asks if she can keep playing for the FF in future games too. Bolin eagerly agrees while Mako goes "sure" in a dark, distracted fashion
-Mako says "You go ahead, Bolin, I'll need to stay for a while". Bolin, Asami, Korra go to celebrate their victory. Bolin might be trying to hide that they're poor? He could go like "oops, I forgot to take any money with me, hehe, could you ladies buy the drinks?" Also, Korra's a bit disappointed that Mako seems to be a bit of a wet blanket and isn't as excited about the victory as the others
-As she walks out with her friends, Korra encounters Tenzin and stops. Tenzin looks serious and Korra worries about getting busted and starts apologising, but after a while Tenzin relaxes and tells her that he saw her movements at the arena and yada yada. Korra asks if she could go celebrate their victory, and Tenzin says alright. While running off, Korra yells about how she's now a FF member. Tenzin sighs.
-Mako's left alone at the arena. Some guys grab Mako's arm in a dark alley. "Mako. Lightning-Bolt Zolt would like to have a talk with you". Mako's worried but composed; he was expecting this, and he wanted Bolin out before this happens.


EPISODE 2 NOTES:

-I chose Eel-hounds as the opposing team randomly, I just looked at a list of pro-bending teams and picked one of them. The team against FF could be anything else.

-During some scene at the arena, maybe Korra might have her first meeting with Tahno? In this AU, episode 5 gets about entirely cut and a lot of Tahno scenes are lost. So maybe some of those scenes could be relocated here to establish the rivalry; some sort of scene where Tahno attempts to flirt with Korra and taunts the FF, earning Korra's dislike. ZZZZZ

-Pro-bending rules could be different and more straight-forward.  The way it is in the series, the game is too complicated and it needs way too much explanation about its rules. It would be more simple maybe as some kind of ball game where you try to get goals, or if the rules were more relaxed and allowed for more freedom in how to bend.  The strict rules also cause the problem that pro-bending doesn't get to be flashy, creative and visually impressive. The most interesting bending happened when the Wolf-bats worked together and combined various forms of bending (rocks in the water), but that was an illegal move and not allowed in a normal match. Regular games of pro-bending are rather tedious to watch.

-In the series, Mako was rude and indifferent towards Korra up until the moment when he found out she's the avatar. After that discovery, his attitude changed. That made him look like a self-serving gold-digger who's only interested in people who can help him climb up in social status. So, I'd like for Mako to slightly open up to Korra before he discovers she's the avatar. Like, maybe he reluctantly finds himself being impressed by her bending and gives a half-hearted compliment about it, like he did in the series. Just something small and subtle to indicate that he had some interest in Korra before he finds out she's the avatar.
Alternatively, Mako just keeps avoiding Korra and doesn't really have a talk with her until after Korra rescues him from the equalist rally. He becomes thankful and appreciates Korra for her character/actions instead of her status.

-I was thinking of revealing Korra's identity a bit later. Maybe Korra earthbends a pro-bending disc soon after she meets Bolin and Mako, and they assume she's just a regular earthbender who's got this Water Tribe look because she's from a multi-ethnic family with earth and water heritage. So, maybe Bolin teaches pro-bending as an earthbender, and Korra's ability to bend the other elements doesn't come up until later as a surprise reveal for the bending brothers. The coolest timing would be right after Hasook quits and the team lacks a waterbender. Also, Korra might have initial trouble adjusting to waterbender position because she only trained pro-bending as an earthbender.

-However, one thing that bothers me about the series is that the bending brothers didn't realise who Korra was. Her arrival in Republic City was made public in a press conference, and people took photos of her for newspapers. Mako and Bolin must've heard that the current avatar is a Water Tribe girl named Korra, but they didn't manage to connect the dots until Korra practically spelled things out to them.
I'm not sure how to do this. I'd like to avoid making the brothers look like dumbasses, but I'd also like for Korra's identity to come as a surprise a bit later, and that she connects with Mako and Bolin some time before they ever realise she's the avatar. ZZZZZ

-In the series, Korra appeared to be a pro-bending fan yet didn't even know the most basic rules of the game. I think this was done so her mistakes could teach the audience the rules. But wasting time on the rules of a fictional sport was dumb, and it was illogical that Korra wouldn't be aware of the rules. I'd like her to know the rules fine enough, but the problem is figuring out the required bending style and mastering the technique.

-Air acolytes. Did Tenzin hire them to just do various tasks on the island? Or are they hanging around because they have air nomad heritage and they want to get in touch with their roots? Or were they some kind of geeks who've read up about air nomads and are into them? Do they worship Aang as some kind of saint and are they here because of him? Do they believe that if they keep staying on the island, they'll eventually develop airbending abilities? Or do they believe it's impossible for them to ever be able to airbend, but they hope their future kids might be if they were get to grow up in this environment? Or are they some kind of fangirls like Pema, and secretly hoping for Tenzin to give them airbabbies?
Whoever these acolytes are, I'd like for Korra to have some short discussion with one of them. Korra could be complaining about how difficult airbending is, and she'd talk about it with some random acolyte(s). The discussion then go to the near-extinction of airbenders, and their repopulation. The acolyte reveals something about his/her personal goals.

-[YYYYY: The Republic City Hustle videos actually used the concept of the triads (and Shady Shin in particular) fixing pro-bending games, and there were a lot of similarities to this episode outline that I'd written long before it. It was kind of neat to get a confirmation about some of these themes, but it's also a bit annoying; after Republic City Hustle was released, this plot outline sounds kinda like a repeat of the same plot.]

-One issue that was discussed: just how deep in the criminal underworld were the bending brothers? There were a lot of varying thoughts on the topic when this AU was discussed, but the main idea is that Mako was deeper than Bolin. He was protective of his little brother and tried to take care of him, so he would try to earn money in whatever way he could. He also tried to shelter Bolin from all the really unpleasant stuff, which is why Bolin ended up growing into a lot more naive and cheerful person than Mako. Mako sacrificed his own innocence in order to raise and protect Bolin's.
Bolin might've done some petty crimes with Mako when they were younger, and he is aware of Mako's connections to TTT. But once Mako started growing up and realising that triads were bad for them, he's tried to keep Bolin away from anything illegal. He's also tried to get out of TTT himself, too.
There are also some similarities to how Mako dealt with the love triangle in the actual series. He had a problem and he should've directly confronted it to get it over with. But instead, he just tried to hide the problem and pretend it didn't exist so that he wouldn't end up having an argument with anyone. So in this AU, he's doing the same; he doesn't want to talk about any problems and he's trying to hide from Bolin that he's still in contact with TTT. But ignoring and hiding the problem only makes it worse.



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Episode 3: The revelation
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-Bolin comes to Mako & Bolin's current settlement early in the morning (in this AU, they're just drifting in any temporary locations and they don't really have a permanent home): "Hey Mako, we were celebrating last night and it was awesome! Where were you?". Then he realizes nobody's home and he can't find Mako
-Cut to Korra practicing airbending movements with Pema's kids
-Bolin comes to see her and asks if she could help. Mako's disappeared, he can't find him, and he doesn't know where else to go. Korra agrees to help
-Possibly a scene where Jinora suggests that they go report the disappearance to the police, but Korra and Bolin both reply "NO!" at the same time? Korra would be reluctant because Lin hates her, and Bolin because he fears the police won't like Mako's past
-Naga gets introduced to Bolin and Pabu, so that we'll get their reaction, and that Naga learns Pabu's not a snack.
-Korra and Bolin riding on Naga, trying to come up with clues on where Mako could have gone to, and Bolin realizes that Skoochy might've heard of something. They find Skoochy and he tells them that Shady Shin's been pressuring Mako for a while now, and Mako appears to be in deep shit with him. The triads get mentioned and Korra asks what is up with that. Bolin is forced to confess that the brothers have been involved with TTT in the past. Korra's disgusted and horrified: "Are you saying you guys are criminals?!"
-Bolin denies this accusation and talks about how the brothers lost their parents at a young age, and they've been homeless and poor ever since. They were young and alone and had no good options available, so Mako used to work for TTT a bunch of times to earn a living. They had been saving money for the pro-bending tournament because the tournament was supposed to be their way out of the life of crime/poverty. They wanted to leave their past behind and start a new, better life. Bolin tries to defend his past by saying "lots of kids in this city have no choice". Korra looks at Skoochy, realising this is another orphan streetkid who's involved with the triads. She feels horrified and sad, and pities both Bolin and Skoochy.
-Bolin explains that Mako is his brother and pleads for Korra to help him. Korra agrees, for Bolin's sake.
-Bolin and Korra aren't particularly great at strategies, so they decide to just go directly to the TTT HQ and confront the triad. But when they reach the building, they find a bunch of equalists kidnapping Mako and a couple of other people. Brief chase/fight scene, chi-blocking introduced, Naga saves Bolin and Korra, but the equalists manage to get away.
-Korra's frightened about losing her bending even for a moment, and if the equalists are involved, she decides they might need help. "Could we bring Asami with us too? She has experience with self-defense and she might be able to fight these guys better."
-They get Asami with them and tell her that equalists have kidnapped Mako and they've gotta save him. Asami joins them. Naga doesn't want to carry that many people on her back, so they ditch her and take Asami's car instead.

[commercial break]

-Korra & co wonder how on earth are they supposed to find the equalists, until Korra remembers about the protestor in the park and figures that guy's the only one they know who might actually know something
-They find the protestor. Korra demands information and bullies him. Asam tries to hold Korra back a bit
-ZZZZZ I would like there to be a less convoluted way to find the rally. How are people supposed to find their way to the place? There can still be a secret message that needs to be noticed and decoded, or a password. The idea is that the whole thing needs to be complicated enough that no random, unwanted people will end up at the rally, but simple enough that every potential equalist sympathiser will know exactly how to find their way there. Maybe the protestor's (or even every equalist sympathiser's) task is to scout which people are trustworthy enough? Maybe that guy gives a password only to people that seem receptive to equalist material? If that's the case, Korra & co could spy on him and see which people he talks to, and then approach the person and ask such person for more information (most likely Bolin would need to walk up to the person and lie about being fond of the equalist message. Korra's too famous and no equalist sympathiser would tell her anything, plus they already saw Asami in Korra's company)
-Bolin, Korra and Asami drive to the equalist rally and get disguised.
-Amon arrives to speak.

[commercial break]

-Korra & co listen to Amon's speech. They react with shock and disbelief when Amon talks about his backstory as a farmer's son and whatnot
-They watch LBZ and other TTT guys lose their bending
-Asami realizes that since Mako's there along with TTT members, he's gotta be a triad member too. She angrily asks about that. Bolin quickly says no, it's just a misunderstanding and Korra panics that "Guys, we've gotta do something!"
-Bolin's reassurance calms down Asami a bit, and she's the one to come up with a plan because Korra's too hot-headed and Bolin's too nervous
-They manage to save Mako. During all the confusion, a de-bent and somewhat dazed Shady Shin manages to escape along with them too, and he runs with them into their getaway car. The situation is too hectic so nobody objects or fights about Shin joining them. Mako and Korra reach out of the windows and bend fire behind them to keep the equalists away while they're trying to escape. After they're safe, Asami asks "so who's this guy?" about Shady, and after hesitating a bit, Mako replies "a friend". Bolin looks at Mako with a questioning expression but doesn't comment. Instead, he tries to lighten the mood with some joke about how they seem to be safe now
-At the docks, Asami drops everyone off the car and says she's gotta go home before her dad gets worried
-Mako approaches Bolin and Korra, wanting to thank them and explain about everything, but Korra says she's not interested in it today. She's depressed and scared by Amon's speech and actions at the equalist rally, and she's angry at Mako for being involved with the triads and shit
-Mako's being sad and looking at Korra as she leaves
-Korra goes to the airbender island and talks with Tenzin about what happened


EPISODE 3 NOTES:

-ZZZZZ There's a timeline problem here. The last episode ended at night right after the pro-bending match, and this episode began with Bolin getting worried about Mako next morning, and it took even more time until he actually found his brother. What happened with Mako & co during all the hours of the night and the next day, and why didn't LBZ just deal with him right away? - Maybe LBZ was asleep like normal people and they just locked Mako away for the night, and maybe he was busy the next day; I dunno. I can't think of ways for the timing of the events to fit better, and I'd like to come up with an excuse for Mako just being out of any plot-relevant action for a long stretch of time. Maybe he was actually being beaten up off-screen, and he ends up looking a bit scuffed up when we next see him.

-Originally, I was thinking maybe Mako saves LBZ because the guy's still Mako's boss and Mako feels some loyalty towards him. But eventually I chose Shady Shin because he appeared to be more likely to interact with Mako/Bolin than LBZ was. And the reason I wanted someone from the triads getting rescued was so that it's possible to have some named triad characters in the later episodes, too. I wanted to replace much of the pro-bending airtime with triad involvement, and it's easier when there are some named characters left to work with.

-I was also thinking I'd rather have the escaping triad guy to be de-bent rather than have their bending intact. In the show, all the de-bent characters just disappear from the plot, and I'm not too happy with that. It would be more interesting to see them adjust into their new situation, and it'd be good to see how Amon's actions affect the characters.

-If LBZ were the one to get rescued, the idea was that he'd put a lot of value in the concept of honor, he'd be grateful towards Mako, and he'd forgive about FF messing up the pro-bending game. He'd half-let, half-kick Mako out of TTT. Also, he'd be busy trying to maintain TTT and worrying whether his underlings will try to usurp him now that he has no bending and some of his second-hand men remained captured by Amon.

-And another thing about LBZ: is that how Mako learned lightning-bending? Did he learn by watching LBZ, or did LBZ teach him? Might be kinda neat to imply that somehow at some point. [YYYYY: apparently LoK DVD commentary did actually mention something about Mako learning lightning-bending from LBZ. Also, in "Republic City Hustle", it seemed like LBZ apparently was willing to go out and openly get involved in triad stuff, instead of just commanding his minions to do stuff for him while he's sitting at home. Because of that, it might be possible to actually swap Shin to LBZ in this episode and some later ones where we'll meet the rescued character again.]

-Skoochy in the series said: "Shady Shin showed up and flashed some serious cash. Bo took off with him in his hot rod. The Triple Threats? The Red Monsoons? The Agni Kais? All the triads are muscling up for something real big. Now that's all you're getting outta me!"
What was that "something real big"? An approaching gang war between the triads? A response to Amon? Or were they reacting to the avatar's arrival to the city? Maybe a bunch of mob bosses from various factions were planning to meet up in order to discuss Amon and/or the avatar? Maybe a team-up between different gangs, in order to take out either of these new threats? Why was this topic never discussed later in the series?
I kind of liked this idea on +/a/ that maybe all the various triads could've been having a temporary truce and a meeting between different mob bosses (either about Amon, or avatar, or both), and Amon's men could've kidnapped everyone there for the Revelation. So, all the triads would be crippled by the loss of their most powerful members, and they'd probably be plunged into a pretty chaotic state. Mob wars everywhere in the city, and less organised opposition for the equalists.
However, as you already could read, the scenario compiled into the episode summary above involved only TTT losing its leading figures. That's what happened in the series so I'm sticking to it. Maybe Amon targeted TTT specifically because it was the only multi-ethnic triad in the city, and he wanted to make sure there will not be co-operation between various forms of bending. "United we stand, divided we fall".

-Naga doesn't appear in the latter half of the episode. It's important for the episode to end with Shady Shin being rescued with the others, and I don't know if there's enough room on Naga's back for that many people.




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Episode 4: The voice in the night
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-Korra has a nightmare about Amon
-Mako and Shady Shin meet to talk, maybe in some scummy-looking pub
-They discuss that LBZ and some other high-ranking TTT members lost their bending and they're still held as Amon's prisoners somewhere, and TTT is in a somewhat chaotic situation. Shady's trying to hold TTT together: "Bad things are coming, Mako. You're not our priority right now, and we're gonna try to get organised again".
-Shady says that as a gesture of thank-you for Mako and his friends getting Shady out of there, he's willing to put the pro-bending incident behind them. He asks Mako to stick around and co-operate with TTT; Mako's a talented bender, and TTT needs manpower right now. Mako says no. He still wants to get out and live a free life, outside of the triads.
-Shady's upset about this reply and skeptical about Mako's chances at living a crime-free life. But he's still grateful about being saved from the equalist rally so he grudgingly accepts, even though he's not happy about it: "Your friends did get me out of there, so I'll let you go. Do whatever you want, play pro-bending if you wish, and good luck with the tournament. Just don't come crawling back when things don't turn out the way you thought they would".
-Shady leaves the pub. Mako's left alone, wondering and hoping that the whole pro-bending thing will work out
-Cut to Tenzin and Korra reporting to the council about last night's equalist rally. Council and Tarrlok are met for the first time. Tarrlok's introduced as a slimy but charismatic kind of guy. Lin is also present to hear this stuff because she's the chief of the police
-Korra and Tenzin summarise what Amon did. The council has trouble believing the concept that Amon would actually be able to de-bend people. Lin is antagonistic and curious about the person that Korra was trying to save, and what was the reason why the equalists had kidnapped him. Korra tries to brush it off like "he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time", but Lin suspects there's more to the story
-Eventually the council decides to hush up the whole equalist rally. They figure they only have Korra's word about this stuff, and not any concrete proof that the effects of Amon's de-bending are permanent. Also, they want to avoid any fear and panic among the public
-Korra's upset and gets a bit pissed off about the council's decision; she thinks it's not a good idea. Lin scoffs at Korra's emotional reaction and makes sure to show she still dislikes her. However, a bit later she voices pretty much the same opinion as Korra did; she doesn't like the council's decision either
-The council also discusses that Amon's attack on TTT might have destabilized the criminal underworld, and there's a chance they might face another "Yakone situation". Korra nudges Tenzin and asks what does that mean. He explains that "Yakone was one of the earlier figures of RC's organised crime, but he disappeared one day. That caused a power vacuum and in-fighting among the criminal element; gang wars in RC streets. After Amon taking out LBZ, history might repeat itself."
-Korra and Lin are dismissed. Tenzin asks Korra to wait outside while he stays to discuss some council stuff. He says it's just minor details that shouldn't take too long to deal with
-Once only the council is around, Tarrlok suggests the creation of the task force so they can deal with the equalist situation
-Tenzin accuses Tarrlok of making this suggestion at pretty much the last minute and without giving any kind of advance information about it to the council or the press. He says that Tarrlok is very obviously trying to push this major change as unnoticeably as he could, because he knows it'd cause a controversy if he made his suggestion public before putting the issue to a vote
-However, all the other council members comment that Tarrlok's idea sounds reasonable. They discuss its advantages briefly and decide that the city is in an exceptional situation and they need exceptional measures. All the others but Tenzin vote "yes"
-After the council meeting, Tarrlok has a private discussion with Korra and asks if she'd like to join his task force. Korra is surprised to hear about this task force stuff and she rejects because it comes a bit too suddenly. Tenzin and Korra leave.
-While going back to the airbender island, Korra and Tenzin discuss Amon. Tenzin talks about how long ago did Amon appear to RC and how he's been operating. [ZZZZZ the show itself didn't give any information about the recent past so there's not much to work with. Maybe Amon arrived a couple of months ago and he himself hasn't appeared in public, but the equalists are holding protests in public places and getting non-benders interested in the movement? Maybe the council has suspected that the equalists have some kind of big underground movement going on, and the rally from the last night confirms that theory?]
-Korra and Tenzin wonder about Amon. How did he de-bend people? Is it like a modified version of chi-blocking? Maybe it will wear off in time? And what about Amon's backstory? Korra comments "do you think he was telling the truth about his parents being murdered? I don't like that guy, but that sounds horrible!"
-Another topic Tenzin and Korra are wondering is that if Amon was telling the truth, does that mean the spirits are against the avatar now? Is that why Korra can't connect with her spiritual side? Maybe the spirits don't let her to, and maybe they've chosen Amon as their representative, and they want him to fight Korra? What did Korra do wrong? How did the avatar fail the spirits?
-Korra worries and panics about these what-ifs, but Tenzin tries to tell her to calm down. He suggests they could try meditating with avatar trinkets (think AtLA episode "Avatar Day", when Aang tried to connect to Kyoshi by wearing her clothes). Tenzin says using some of the past avatars' memorabilia might help Korra getting in touch with her past lives, and their spirits might be able to give her some helpful advice. The past avatars might know how Amon's ability works, and whether it's true that the spirits think the avatar has failed.
-After reaching the airbender island, Korra tries to meditate with items that used to belong to previous avatars (Aang's hang-glider at least, maybe Roku's hairpiece, and possibly something else too). But she still fails. She gets discouraged and goes to mope.
-Mako comes to see Korra because he wants to explain himself. He feels bad about being rude to Korra before, especially now after she joined Bolin and saved Mako from the equalists
-Korra asks "I still can't believe it. How could you work with the triads?". Mako tells her that since the brothers had no parents as kids, he's done stuff for TTT every now and then to get money, but he tried to do it alone and keep Bolin out of it. He tried to protect Bolin and be his "mother", and he tried to hide his worst side from Bolin, especially once they both started growing up and Mako began to realize that TTT were bad influences to them. But now he wants to stop hiding, and he already had a long talk with Bolin about this last night. He wants to put his past behind him: "I'm not proud of the things I've done"
-Korra asks what sort of stuff has he done for the mob. Mako tells ZZZZZ [some mob stuff, I can't decide what. Some kind of low-level crimes that are crummy but not unforgivable. He's supposed to be a good guy and sympathetic to the audience, so he can't have run around kicking puppies.]
-Mako says he just wants to live a normal, quiet life now. He's hoping for FF to win in the pro-bending tournament so they'll get the prize money that helps them to start honest careers
-Korra reassures him that she'll be sticking around with the FF to the end
-They talk a bit more about Mako getting kidnapped first by TTT, then by equalists. While Korra is complaining to Mako about the council's decision, there's a radio on the background playing some background muzak until Amon suddenly hijacks the broadcast. Amon talks about how the council is apparently trying to silence him to death and they're trying to deny what happened, but that truth will come out and the non-benders will prevail
-Korra gets freaked out by the broadcast. Mako comments "So much for the council hiding things. There's gonna be a lot more rumors circling around from here on"

[commercial break]

-Pema calls for Korra to eat and invites Mako too
-While everyone's eating, Tarrlok just invites himself like he did in the series. He gives a gift of some sort to Korra and asks again for her to join the task force. Korra is uncertain (the task force sounds like action but she's scared of Amon). She ends up rejecting, and says she's got airbending and pro-bending practice to do.
-Korra, Mako and Bolin later doing pro-bending training at the arena's gym
-Asami joins to watch them train
-They start talking about Amon. Bolin talks about how scary the whole thing was, and how terrifying it'd be to lose your bending. He says he wouldn't know how to even live without his bending, and he'd feel like half a person.
-Asami gets somewhat butthurt about the implications. "Oh, you think that being a non-bender is worse than being a bender? You feel that you're better than non-benders?". Bolin packpedals like "nonono, I didn't mean it like that" and Asami goes "well, what did you mean then?". The teens argue for a bit but then they apologise to each other, and it's nothing too serious.
-Tahno joins the scene. His team is stinking rich and they bribed someone at the arena (Toza?), and now his team is taking over the FF's timeslot at the gym. They drive the FF away when it's supposed to be their turn to train. The FF will now have to train elsewhere, or during a worse timeslot.
-The team leaves and goes like "so what do we do now". Korra says there's gonna be some kind of ball later at night; some sort of event where the city's honouring the avatar or whatever. Korra and Tenzin's family are supposed to be present, and she asks if the others could come too, so she won't feel like a complete alien there. Asami's got an invitation of her own to the party so she's coming anyway, and after some hesitation, Mako and Bolin agree as well.
-Some preparation before the ball; maybe a moment about Mako and Bolin not really knowing what to wear, and the girls helping them. The scarf stays though.
-The Krew is at the ball. Hiroshi meets the bending bros and kinda disses on their clothes in a brutally honest fashion much like when he made that "dirt poor" comment in the series. His negativity here should foreshadow his feelings about benders, but it should be subtle enough.
-Lin disses on Korra at the party, although maybe in a bit more subtle fashion too. She seemed a bit too aggressive and needlessly bitchy in the actual episode.
-Tenzin's kids can still do some comic relief at the ball.
-Tarrlok approaches Korra again with some cool gift, and Korra starts wondering if that was the reason for the entire event; so that Tarrlok could harass her about joining the task force again.
-Tarrlok doesn't deny pulling some strings there, but he says it's what had to be done. He talks about how big of a threat Amon has been recently, and he asks "So what are you going to do about it, avatar Korra? What are your priorities? Are you the avatar or not? Are you here to play pro-bending, or to serve our city?"
-Korra's uncertain: "Well, I..."
-The press confront Korra and their questions about Amon rile her up. She issues a challenge to Amon. Asami & co are shocked.
-Cut to somewhere close to Aang Memorial Island. Korra is preparing for the confrontation while Tenzin, Lin and Tarrlok are expecting shit to hit the fan. Tenzin tries to talk Korra out of the fight while Tarrlok suggests that his task force could accompany Korra so they could ambush Amon, but Korra wants to prove herself as the avatar. She says "Look, I already told Mako, Bolin and Asami: this is something I have to do myself, without help from others. It's between me and him". Lin is both cranky but also reluctantly impressed by Korra being so headstrong about her actions. Korra might remark to Lin something like "yeah, yeah, you're just gonna be unhappy no matter what I do".
-Things happen like in the show. Amon doesn't show up just himself; he throws a bunch of equalists at Korra, and she ends up defeated.
-Amon's talk in episode 4 was pretty threatening and cool, but to fit some of the changes to the storyline, his speech to Korra could go something like this instead:
-"I received your invitation, young avatar."
-"You infiltrated my rally to rescue criminals, and you're running around with them. You are a triad sympathiser and you use your powers to persecute people who are weaker than you."
-"I could deal with you right now, but I want your fall to happen when the whole city is watching. I know the councilmen and the metalbender police force are watching the island, and I will be able to sneak past them by myself, but it's uncertain whether I can do it while dragging you around. So our confrontation will have to wait for another time and place."
-Amon leaves and Tenzin arrives. Korra falls apart and Tenzin comforts her, telling her that it's okay to be afraid
-Tarrlok arrives, saying that the equalists managed to escape. Korra suddenly says she's joining his task force after all.

[commercial break]

-Cut to next day. Korra is unsuccessfully practising airbending and Tenzin approaches her like "Korra, we need to talk"
-Korra: "I don't wanna talk about it" and evades a discussion
-Asami tries to approach her next. "You've been acting so weird after the equalist rally and now with that... incident"
-Korra opens up, telling Asami she's been scared. She was terrified when Amon threatened him and made these accusations about her and Mako
-Asami's mood changes a bit because she still feels grudge about Mako having connections to the triads
-Korra dodges the topic of Mako and continues that after being defeated yesterday, she realizes now she might need help, and maybe she can't beat Amon alone. That's why she joined the task force; she doesn't want to go against Amon alone.
-Cut to Korra, Tarrlok and the task force about to go catch some equalists. Same kind of scene as in the show; they attack some kind of illegal training facility and Tarrlok compliments Korra, talking about how they make such a great team. Journalists take photos.
-Maybe a montage of Korra and Tarrlok attacking equalists in various locations, with Korra and Tarrlok doing some cool bending together and going like "fuck yeah, go team"
-Cut to an upset Korra reading newspapers while Asami and Bolin are around. Pema is some way away, taking care of the airbender kids while Mako's helping her out.
-The papers are criticising the equalist busts. They talk about how Korra and Tarrlok are too violent and zealous, and they discuss the injuries some equalist trainees received during the arrests. The articles talk about how most of the people in those training camps were fairly normal citizens and beginners at martial arts, and they didn't have any kind of authority position amongst the equalists. The papers also argue that it's wrong to deny non-benders the right to learn how to defend themselves, especially now that the triads have been acting up in response to Amon's attacks. There's tension in the air and the streets have become more dangerous.
-The articles are also quoting an anonymous bystander who witnessed Korra lashing out at the protestor at the park earlier, when she'd been looking for Mako
-Korra whines "I'm a screw-up", and the other teens try to console her.
-Korra: "I don't know what to do. I need to learn airbending but I can't, and I need to help the city but I don't know how, and I just want to play pro-bending and have fun, too. What should I do?"
-Asami and Mako are uncertain. Bolin says that Fire Ferrets need her and the task force is making it harder for her to arrange any time for pro-bending practice, especially now that Tahno fucked up their schedules too. Besides, the tournament's gonna be over soon; maybe Korra could focus on pro-bending now and task force later?
-Korra's like "but is it selfish if I just play pro-bending while the city needs the avatar?"
-Pema gives her advice: don't be afraid to live your life, and do what feels right to you. A person is young for only a brief moment of their life, so they should make the most out of the time they have.
-Korra hesitates and states she needs to think about it.
-Later, Tarrlok and Korra are holding a press conference. Tarrlok's defending the task force's recent actions. He's being very charismatic, smooth, and trying to make them sound all justified. Korra's still thinking, and she remains silent and uncertain.
-Eventually a random journalist asks her some tough question, pushing her enough to make her decision. She speaks out against the things she'd done in the task force, and says she doesn't feel like it's right for her to stay in the task force anymore. So she quits.
-Korra simply walks out of the press conference, leaving a stunned Tarrlok alone with the surprised and curious journalists.
-She smiles, hops on Naga, and races off into the sunset or whatever. [ZZZZZ Try to think of a more satisfying ending. Something uplifting that makes the audience feel like she did the right choice, even if she did just choose fun and games over avatar responsibilities. Maybe she goes ask either Tenzin or her friends whether they think she did the right thing, and they say that yeah]



EPISODE 4 NOTES:

-This episode in the series had Mako bonding with Asami and getting some rather cute scenes with her, which made it more difficult to build a believable Mako/Korra romance later. Mako appeared like a strict, serious guy who seemed to appreciate Asami's calm and mature demeanor. Meanwhile, Korra's impulsive, reckless and a bit childish personality just didn't seem compatible with Mako's character.
Since Asami and Mako pretty obviously had chemistry and seemed to fit well together, this AU is trying to put obstacles between them so they can't connect, and so that Makorra is the only true option. For that reason, Asami's holding a grudge against Mako because of his triad past in this AU. She got a bad first impression of the guy and she just barely tolerates him for Korra and Bolin's sakes. Until Mako and Asami patch things up later on, Asami should either avoid talking with Mako, or give some slightly snippy comments every now and then.

-The worst part about this episode was Korra avoiding the FF and skipping practice sessions. She hadn't known them for a long time and it wasn't very wise to avoid spending time with them. She was going AWOL and doing the exact same thing as Hasook. Her whole friendship with Mako and Bolin was very new and fragile, and it could easily have ended right here. - So, all that stuff is cut, and she's still in frequent contact with the FF throughout this episode.

-Give some lines to the council members who are not Tenzin or Tarrlok. Show that they're bad at their job; incompetent, corrupt, reactionary, not too smart, or whatever. Let them say why exactly they're siding with Tarrlok in various situations, and show the audience that there's a reason why equalists want to take them down.

-The main theme of this episode was fear. Korra was scared of Amon's abilities, and scared of dealing with him. I'd like to add another theme into the episode; priorities. The rewritten episode attempts to deal with Korra trying to decide between airbending training, pro-bending, and task force.

-How did the equalists get into the Aang Memorial Island and out of there despite people watching over the situation? Back when the show was airing, this caused speculation that Tenzin, Tarrlok or someone was actually on Amon's side and they were deliberately letting the equalists go. Could Hiroshi have built them submarines or something that let them reach the island unnoticed, or what? I'd like the rewritten episode to have some kind of handwave on the topic of the equalists getting in and out of the island, but I have trouble thinking of how it could've happened. ZZZZZ

-LoK had lots of downer endings for its episodes. They were pretty powerful, but in retrospect, I feel like there were a bit too many of them. The series felt just a tad too gloomy. So the Amon confrontation is moved to an earlier point, and there's some screentime to process the situation before the episode ends.

-Pema's relationship advice in episode 5 was shitty. I'm keeping the concept of Pema giving advice and it's still the same kind of "do what you feel is right" thing with a somewhat selfish/irresponsible tone, but the context is different and the idea is to drive the plot forward.

-Another option I was considering was to keep Korra on the task force for a bit longer, and that she'd quit maybe an episode or two later. But in the end I decided to follow the series and make it just a one-episode deal.




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Episode 5: And the winner is...
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-Korra and Asami are at some Future Industries warehouse/factory location. They're standing in front of a giant fan. Radio is playing some music in the background. Since Korra still remains stuck with her airbending studies, Asami wants to help her. She's come up with an idea that could work as an airbending training exercise.
-Korra: "Bring it on!"
-Asami turns on the fan. Korra sets a stance, fighting the wind. She throws a punch, eyes shut and flinching a little - because the fan was totally knocked over by the rock floor lifting up. The power cord snaps and everything.
-Korra: (eyes still shut) "That wasn't airbending, was it?"
-Asami: (apologetic, hesitating) "Not... really." (Watches Korra's disappointment) "But I'm sure you'll get it next time!"
-Montage of them trying multiple times, Korra failing disastrously. There is desperate flailing involved. Burning things by accident. Etc.
-Then Hiroshi appears and gets angry at all the destruction of company property. Maybe hints about the over-protective father angle and his feelings about benders [and yes, I just pretty much copied this scene directly from the +/a/ thread because I happened to really like how someone had written this scene]
-Hiroshi leaves the location. Korra and Asami start talking about the pro-bending finals later tonight, but then the discussion goes to Mako. Asami is still visibly upset about the guy. Korra: "Come on, try to forgive him. He's actually alright"
-Radio broadcast gets interrupted by Amon hijacking it again. He issues a threat about the airbending finals. Asami wonders whether the council will comply, and Korra says she's not waiting to find out
-Cut to city hall. Tenzin and Tarrlok talking about Amon's threat with the rest of the council, while Lin is also present due to her position as the police chief. Korra just marches through the door, angry and determined, with Asami tagging along some distance away in a lot more hesitant fashion. Maybe also show some security guys who didn't want to let Korra in but were too afraid to stop her?
-Lin is upset: "And what are you doing here?". Korra defends: "I'm the avatar, I should get to talk about this too!". Lin argues "Right now, you're only a pro-bending player and you are busting into a closed meeting"
-Tarrlok defends Korra's right to be there. Asami might have to slink out of the room, though.
-Tarrlok tells Korra he's in agreement with Tenzin; the council wants to cancel the pro-bending finals for the time being
-Lin accuses both Tenzin and Tarrlok of being gutless. She says she could take her metalbender cops to the arena. Tarrlok talks her into promising to take personal responsibility for the security of the event
-Tenzin still votes against the finals but the others take Tarrlok's side.
-Korra tries to thank Lin for help, but she just leaves.
-Korra whines to Tenzin and he tries to explain that Lin's a good person, but a bit difficult sometimes
-Cut to airbender island later. Mako and Bolin heard about Amon's threat and they've arrived here, looking for Korra, so they can talk about the situation.
-Instead of finding Korra, Mako ends up bumping into Asami first. She tells him that yes, Korra knows about Amon's threat, and the council says they're still gonna play the game.
-Both Mako and Asami are a bit uncomfortable around each other, but Mako decides to ask if they could agree on a truce. He likes hanging out with Korra, and it's getting awkward if he has to keep avoiding Asami all the time.
-They agree to try to get along. They also end up having a talk about their dead parents and they find some mutual ground because of that. Mako talks about the importance of his scarf. [ZZZZZ YYYYY I was thinking that maybe this discussion could also involve talking about the firebending triad called the Agni Kais. They could be like some sort of "Sozin was right" neo-nazis who are still bitter about the end result of the 100-year-war; viciously nationalistic, and with strong views against people who marry someone outside the Fire Nation. They could target these "blood-traitors", and they might be the firebenders who keep killing everyone's parents. So the parents of Mako, Asami and Bolin were deliberately targeted mob hits. And Mako joined TTT, the only multi-ethnic triad, because they offer protection from that. Mako could talk to Asami about the difference between TTT and Agni Kais, so that she would realize that her and Mako's loved ones were killed by the same people. Mako joining TTT was not some kind of Stockholm Syndrome; he deliberately allied himself with people who were opposing the Agni Kais and their beliefs. - However, I think Bryke stated at some point that Mako & Bolin's parents died because of just some random mugger. Asami's mom died by the hand of the Agni Kais, but it was during a break-in/robbery. Both sound like they were unfortunate accidents instead of pre-meditated murders. But if there's lots of parent-killing firebenders running around, I think it'd make sense if the series established some kind of connection between the killings.]
-Anyway, Korra finds the others. She says that no worries, the game's still on, and she's about to leave for the arena soon. Mako says cool, and he leaves with Bolin.
-ZZZZZ Ship-teasing is an Avatar tradition, so maybe some here? Korra might've seen Asami and Mako talking from some distance away, so after Mako is gone and they're alone, she could ask Asami (maybe in a bit jealous fashion) "so... you and Mako?..." and Asami responds "What?! No way"
-Korra says she's happy that Asami and Mako are trying to get along, especially since she wanted to talk about the brothers
-Korra: "After tonight's game, the tournament will be over. For Mako or Bolin, things are either changing after tonight, or they're gonna go back to normal"
-She talks about the brothers' living arrangements and how they're homeless. She says Bolin earthbends them temporary settlements, or they hang out with some hobos who live in the sewers.
-Korra goes "Anyway, I wanted to suggest something." (dun dun dun, no explanation what that means until the end of the episode)

[commercial break]

-At arena, the pro-bending finals are beginning
-Korra and Mako are getting dressed up for the game. Bolin's done, so he's playing with Pabu and rehearsing the tricks he makes. One of the tricks they're rehearsing is the chewing trick that was used on the ropes later in the episode. Bolin gets teased a bit like "oh come on, chewing? That's not a very impressive trick. What kind of useful purpose would that even have, anyway?"
-Tenzin and Lin watching over the situation and talking about the security measures. Then they talk about Korra. Lin complains how Korra is irresponsible, reckless. Also, Lin used to admire and respect the wise yet playful avatar Aang, he was such a cool old guy. But now he's gone and this pest of a teenager is standing in his place.
-Tenzin says that's the avatar cycle and everyone has their time on this earth, it's not Korra's fault. He asks Lin to give Korra a chance, reminding that Lin used to be a reckless teen once too, and telling her that Korra and Lin are not so different. Lin looks a bit grumpy but thoughtful at that suggestion
-Instead of FF being the underdog, in this AU people expect them to win, because they have the avatar on their side.
-During the game, it becomes clear that the Wolfbats are cheating but the referees are not doing anything. Korra & co realize that the Wolfbats have money and connections. The referees must've been bought, and the TTT might be involved too
-Korra remembers the last time they played a match that was supposed to end in a certain way, and she asks "Are we gonna get in trouble if we win?"
-Mako says that probably not; Shady Shin said earlier that he was letting Mako and Bolin go. He's gonna make the game harder for FF, but Mako doubts he'd come after them again now that Mako's links to TTT have been severed and he doesn't have any real obligations for them anymore.
-Keep the cool bit where Wolfbats combine rocks with water. Also, the short scene where Tenzin's getting emotional about the game; it's amusing.
-Despite FF putting up a fight, Wolfbats manage to narrowly win due to the help of the refs. Korra & co fall off the arena, down into the water.
-The equalists attack in the audience. Lieutenant electrocutes the water to knock out the FF
-Asami and Hiroshi in the audience with Lin and Tenzin. The latter two get taken down. Asami rises up to use her self-defense skills but Hiroshi grabs her: "No! They've got weapons!".
-Amon rises up to the arena.

[commercial break]

-Wolfbats and Amon fight for a brief while. Wolfbats lose and Amon takes their bending. Then he makes his cool little speech.
-Lieutenant ties up the FF and gets them on one of those rising platforms. Mako and Bolin are still dazed from electrocution and out of action, but Korra's more clear-headed. She remembers back to when Amon talked about how he wants to take her bending publicly, and she realizes this must be the moment. She freaks out and tries to fight against Lieutenant but the struggle makes her to accidentally fall off the rising platform.
-Korra manages to just barely wriggle herself on dry land, with some weird and clumsy waterbending technique. Pabu is down there too. Korra remembers the tricks Bolin was doing with him earlier, and she snaps her teeth to tell Pabu to chew the ropes. He starts working on them.
-The platform where Lieutenant, Mako and Bolin are reaches Amon. He keeps the microphone away and talks only to Lieutenant for a moment. He's disgruntled; he only wanted the avatar, not these two.
-There's an explosion outdoors and Amon says this is taking too long, they don't have much time left, and they're going to have to leave now.
-He grabs the microphone again and makes a final portion of the speech. Another explosion up on the roof of the building; then Amon steps on those platforms that take him up to the airship. They blow up the arena too.
-Pabu's done. Korra is free and she waterbends herself up. She misjudges the distance but Lin intervenes and saves her.
-Amon's up on the airship already. Lin and Korra have a fight with Lieutenant and other equalists on the roof.
-Outdoors, Korra realizes there'd been an aerial fight between Amon's ships and the metalbender blimps. Some distance away, more police blimps are approaching as a back-up, which caused Amon to leave instead of waiting for a chance to de-bend Korra.
-Korra falls off the roof. Lin realizes she could either go after Amon or rescue Korra, and she chooses the latter. Amon gets away.
-Lin's sad about her failure to prevent all this, but she's finally an ally of Korra's.
-The citizens have escaped from the arena. Mako and Bolin come to Korra, and so does Asami who's followed by Hiroshi. Relief over the fact that everyone's okay. Tenzin approaches Lin.
-Mako's upset about what happened and uncertain what now. Him and Bolin had placed all their hopes into the tournament.
-Korra says her and Asami had been talking. She had gotten Tenzin's permission to offer the boys a home at the airbender island, and Asami said she'd talk with her dad so Hiroshi would offer them a job
-Hiroshi surprised at this while Asami's apologetic; because of all the excitement about the game, she forgot to ask her father about it
-Hiroshi slightly reluctant and annoyed about getting this situation suddenly pushed on him, but he agrees to see what the brothers could do at his factories
-Mako+Bolin eager and grateful. Korra watches them, then walks up to Tenzin and Lin who are talking about Amon's actions. She takes a sad look at the destroyed arena as Tenzin declares that RC is at war.



EPISODE 5 NOTES:

-Episode 5 of LoK had pro-bending matches that didn't drive the plot forward in any kind of way, and it had awkward romantic interactions that hurt the character dynamics between the main cast. Pretty much the whole episode is unnecessary and needs to be skipped so we get some screentime to deal with more important things. This episode synopsis was more like episode 6 ("And the Winner is...") with the pro-bending finals, and after this, the AU is gonna be one episode ahead of the actual series.

-Another possible plot path: if neither LBZ nor Shady Shin came to be rescued and escaping during Revelation, TTT could still have a grudge against Mako. Because of this, Fire Ferrets have to quit the pro-bending tournament; at the arena, there was too much of a chance to encounter TTT guys who had an axe to grind. All pro-bending scenes from after the Revelation are removed. This episode's final pro-bending match is just Korra and Asami going to the finals as fangirls and sitting in the audience. Maybe Asami could have VIP access due to her status; they could meet Tahno right before the game and fangirl for a bit about a pro-bending star, but then they realize he's a jerk and they decide to cheer for the opposing team instead. Some comic relief could come out of Korra and Asami competing against Tahno's fangirls in the audience, and both groups trying to cheer louder than the other.
This plot direction could work if you really hate pro-bending and want as many traces of it gone as possible.

-One discussed option was that when Amon attacks, Bolin is still up on the arena and loses his bending along with Wolfbats. The reason why this would be nice is that then we'd get to keep a de-bent person around. We could see that character dealing with their loss and learning how to live like this. It's kind of crappy how the show kept tossing all de-bent characters offscreen and making them irrelevant after they lost their bending. If we got to see a de-bent person as a main character, Amon's actions would feel more personal, concrete and meaningful.
However, Bolin already has trouble getting any kickass moments, and he's just the comic relief. If he were de-bent, he'd lose the chance of doing pretty much anything relevant in fights, and he'd become even more useless than he already is.
And as for the idea of Mako being the one to lose his bending: he was already caught in the Revelation rewrite, so it'd be a bit repetitive to have him in the same situation again.
Finally, there's the possibility of Korra losing her bending. Then she'd have a lot more time to deal with it, learn who she is without her bending, and figure out a way to fix her situation. That might be nice, but that plot divergence would also require all the later episodes rewritten in a lot more extensive fashion.




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Episode 6: The aftermath
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-The episode recap in the beginning is a Tarrlok propaganda broadcast
-Lin gets demoted in rank. Partly because she feels responsible for what happened, and partly because Tarrlok's pressing the issue in front of the council. Saikhan becomes the new metalbender police chief.
-Korra, Tenzin, Hiroshi are at the police station talking about what happened at the arena
-Korra meets a rather depressed-looking, de-bent Tahno and they have a moment
-Korra, Tenzin & co wonder how Amon managed to have so many people at the arena, successfully hiding their gear, and where does he even get his funding? He must have some high-tech people at his disposal to be able to come up with those shock gloves and all
-Mako and Bolin move to airbender island. The airbender kids greet them, and Bolin could be seen playing with them a bit later; he looks like he'd be cheerful and immature enough for a thing like that
-They also get those jobs at Hiroshi's factories. Bolin's moving crates around, Mako's producing electricity
-Bolin uses bending as a shortcut for moving the crates. He bends layers of earth to move the crates around, making things faster and more efficient. That means there's less work for the others, but on the other hand, they have to move on to their next tasks quicker and it makes their work pace faster.
-Some factory workers get grumpy at this, and they're annoyed by how much easier the tasks are for Bolin. They're not happy about Bolin's bending messing up the pavement, either. Bolin gets ashamed and stops bending at work. Instead, he starts using the Future Industries fork lifts like everyone else (this will turn out important later on)
-Korra and Asami come visit the brothers to see how they're doing at their new jobs.
-Asami and Hiroshi are chatting together in the background while Korra's talking with the brothers. Mako mentions something about how his workload is pretty big because he's the only firebender around and they tend to use alternate methods of producing electricity. Bolin also comments something like "it's almost like he doesn't even hire benders". But everyone just shrugs it off, thinking it's a coincidence
-They make some neutral remark about Mako's past triad connections and Hiroshi overhears it. He gets seriously upset about that and flips out. Asami takes him a bit further away and tries to calm him down. Hiroshi's telling her that Korra's friends seem kind of shifty and they'll probably be a bad influence. Asami tells him it's okay, she was pissed off at Mako at first too. She tells her dad she had a talk with Mako earlier and found out that he's allright, and they've actually got things in common. Hiroshi tries whispering her that she doesn't understand, and getting involved with triad people is a huge mistake. He tries to tell her that this bunch of people can't be trusted. Asami gets angry that Hiroshi's trying to tell her who to be friends with and how to live her life.
-Hiroshi excuses himself and leaves.

[commercial break]

-The teenagers talk about Hiroshi's outburst. Asami tries to explain that her dad just really hates the triads because of his wife being killed by the Agni Kais. She says it's all fine though, she's gonna talk with her dad some more and smooth things over.
-Korra goes to the bathroom and overhears Hiroshi saying something suspicious. She thinks back to the moment just before, and some other past occurrences before that. She suspects Hiroshi of being an equalist. She is worried about ruining her relationship with Asami, but she feels that there seems to be some reason to suspect Hiroshi.
-Later, Korra goes to meet Lin with Tenzin, and she reports her suspicions to them. Lin says she's not the chief anymore but Saikhan's a good man and they're in fine terms, so she's gonna talk to him. Korra asks her to avoid mentioning it was Korra's testimony that made them go after Hiroshi, and Lin promises.
-The police investigate Future Industries. The press reports they're doing it because of "an anonymous tip". While Lin and Saikhan are looking into the situation, Asami rants how she'd want to personally meet the coward who slandered her father like that and caused all this trouble. Korra's being unusually timid and nervous while Asami talks.
-The police are finding no evidence. One of the bending brothers wonders about the identity of the anonymous source, and it accidentally slips out that it was Korra. Asami gets really upset at that. Mako butts in and says that Asami's being irrational; Korra did the right choice and suspicions like this need to be investigated. They argue a bit. Mako eventually wonders if Asami's reacting so strongly because she might sympathize with the equalists, too. Asami is appalled by this accusation.
-Asami sidelines herself like "go ahead and investigate all you want, I'm off. You can come apologise when you're ready, but I don't know if I'll be in the mood to forgive". Her and Hiroshi leave. Korra fears for her friendship with Asami, but the search for proof continues.
-Some time later Saikhan, Lin and metalbender cops are talking about where to look next. They discuss that they want to ask Hiroshi some questions but can't seem to find him anywhere. Saikhan takes a couple of his men and goes to search a warehouse in a different location. Lin stays and gets a small squad of hers to command; she still wants to examine this area a bit more thoroughly.
-As Saikhan leaves, Bolin joins the discussion. He's curious about metalbending and asks if they could give some tips on how to pull it off. Some random metalbender disses on Bolin's earthbending and comments on how weak pro-bending is, and another cop remarks that weren't those two guys just former criminals, anyway? Bolin gets a bit flustered at that.
-Lin decides to humor Bolin and she gives him some brief metalbending basics, without expecting anything to come out of it. Bolin tries but fails to metalbend anything.
-Mako comes ask Bolin what he's doing. Lin expresses dislike at Mako because he's a former triad member, and he's been slippery at escaping justice. Mako: "Hey, I want to put all that in the past, and we are on the same side here now". Lin's grumpy but doesn't say much.
-Lin finds a secret underground portion of the facility. Tenzin and the metalbenders get in. They decide that Korra can come too because she's the avatar, but Mako and Bolin have to stay out; they're just bystanders. The brothers protest but the police stay firm. The brothers are left alone with some metalbender cop guarding them.
-Korra & co find both finished equalist gear and stuff under construction down there, including the mechas. Hiroshi reveals himself in a mecha.

[commercial break]

-Hiroshi says "the plan was to support Amon in secrecy, but you've ruined that now, haven't you"
-It's revealed that the reason for Hiroshi's disappearance was that they were moving and temporarily dismantling all the equalist equipment from here and disguising the place as just a factory wing, in case the police do manage to find the tunnel. But they were too late and didn't manage to finish their work before being found out. (Also, some equalists later on in the episode should be wearing equalist gear while others would have just Future Industries work clothes)
-Hiroshi seals everyone in. Mako and Bolin hear some disturbance from underground and get worried. They pull off the sneezing trick to take out their guard and go after the others. Just as they're about to go, Asami appears. She'd been looking for her dad but couldn't find her so she came to ask if anyone's seen him, and now she's shocked to find the brothers in front of a tunnel she never knew about. All three sneak off after Korra & co. They realize soon the area ahead is sealed off, and they'll have to create a tunnel by earthbending in order to get through.
-The mechas attack Korra & co. Lin is about to get squashed at some point, but Mako intervenes and joins the fight at the last moment. Lin shouts that he was supposed to stay up and safe, and Mako replies something witty but I can't think what [ZZZZZ]. Then they proceed to kick ass, getting some cool action moments while co-operating in the fight, building some trust between the two of them. Maybe they could throw some quick compliments about each other's fighting abilities, too.
-Bolin asks Asami to stay a bit further away. They're fighting huge robots and she's a non-bender; even if she can do martial arts, she can't fight a freaking mecha. Asami's cranky about this but complies and stays hidden while Bolin joins the fight.
-The equalist attacks should visibly focus on taking down Tenzin and/or Korra, and someone might say a bit of dialogue to underline that. Those two are their biggest priorities; Korra due to her status as the avatar, and Tenzin because he's on the council and the only grown-up airbender. Maybe Hiroshi could shout "Get Tenzin or the avatar! It's them that Amon wants", or something like that.
-Korra & co get defeated and end up unconscious. Hiroshi and his men hop off their mechas, and Hiroshi tells his men to gather everyone up and get them secured so that they can be taken to Amon. He says that now that they were forced into a confrontation like this, it's unsure what will happen next, and they'll just have to go to Amon ASAP to revise their plans.
-The metalbender cops are lying down closer to them so they grab them first and take them into a truck. Then they go for Korra and the others. Asami gets out of his hidey-hole and walks up to a shocked Hiroshi who realizes she just saw everything. Asami looks very distraught.
-Hiroshi explains his motivations and talks about how Asami's too young to understand what things were like before, and how the benders affect this city. He talks about how hard he's had to struggle to build his company from the beginning, and how much easier the benders have it. He makes sure to mention the death of Asami's mother, and he reminds Asami of Mako's past as a criminal; he says that Mako is exactly like the people who killed Asami's mother. He badmouths Korra as well, and tries to exploit the argument that Korra and Asami had earlier. He talks about how much he loves his daughter and only wants her to be safe. He says he did everything for her, and he offers her the shock glove.
-Korra & co are getting conscious but they're still too weak to stand for the moment, and they can just watch.
-A hesitant Asami takes the glove. Korra pleads "Asami...", and Asami just looks really angry for a moment. Then she chooses her friends and moral beliefs over her family, says "I love you, dad", and electrocutes her father. Some equalists attack her, but Asami takes them out with a combination of martial arts and the glove.
-Since the others are still weakened and a couple of equalists climbed up back to the mechas, Lin decides they'll just have to make a quick escape. They go back through the hole that Bolin had bent earlier, earthbending the hole shut while they leave.
-Cut to a police blimp. Lin wounded and in need of a hospital. She's upset about losing her squad to Hiroshi and going through yet another failure, and she realizes she's not gonna have much of a career with the police after this. But she still wants to do her part in making the city safe, and she makes her comment about how she's planning to work "outside the law".
-Asami's alone and upset. After everything that happened, Bolin's freaked out while Mako is uncomfortable, and it's Korra's task to approach Asami. She's sorry she played a big part in separating Asami from her father, and Asami's sorry she got so angry at Korra even though she turned out to be right. They reaffirm their friendship so that the episode ending is bittersweet instead of completely bleak.



EPISODE 6 NOTES:

-Cut the part where the guy working for Hiroshi gives information to Korra. His character doesn't make sense. At first it looked like he was genuinely ratting Hiroshi out, but later on it turned out that it was a lure and he was setting a trap.
The police were unable to find anything for a while and Hiroshi could've gotten away with it. Why would he deliberately set up a trap in which he implicates himself as a criminal? Did Amon tell him to do that, and why? Or was Hiroshi just making some kind of rash, misguided move independently, without notifying Amon?
That supporting character was pointless and his actions just raised questions. Cut him out.

-Fans on the internet said that platinum is very rare and inconvenient material to use for mechas. Some suggested that it would be more simple if the mechas were made out of metal that has no impurities in it, or something. I don't know much about how metal works, but it would be nice if the mechas made a bit more sense; they should be made out of a material that's unbendable, durable, and simple enough to acquire. [ZZZZZ]

-Cabbage Corp subplot removed. They were a red herring and in the end irrelevant. Removing them would give a bit more screentime for other developments.

-One idea here is that Hiroshi avoids hiring benders, and stealthily screens his employees to make sure he's only hiring people who would share his political views. This is how he managed to keep it a secret that he was manufacturing weapons for the equalists; his employees were loyal to him and a large portion of them were equalists, so they wouldn't rat him out. Also, some of the weapons could be disguised innocently just in case, like pretending that the parts that were bought for mechas were actually used for building fork lifts. And maybe Hiroshi's company is so large and influential that his hiring practices are why there are a bunch of unemployed, homeless benders in the city in the first place, despite the fact that benders can do various tasks faster and more effectively than non-benders.
Hiroshi could also talk something about how he's trying to create technology that surpasses benders, replaces them, and makes them obsolete.

-Originally I had Saikhan joining everyone to the underground facility, but in the end I wrote him out because he wasn't there in the original episode.
Also, since it was Lin leading a squad here instead of Saikhan, she'll be completely responsible for what happened. If Saikhan had been there, he'd be her superior and he'd carry the responsibility for the failures. But with just Lin here, her career as a police will suffer, and she'll end up considering the idea of serving the city as a vigilante rather than a police authority.

-How many metalbenders did Lin have with her? In the actual episode she had five I think, plus the one upstairs who was supposed to guard the brothers. Anyway, the reason the number is important is that the captured men are gonna reappear in a later episode, and one of the plot changes is that they're gonna tag along with the Krew for some time after that. I'd like to keep their number small like 2-4, so that their addition doesn't change the team dynamics too much. ZZZZZ



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Episode 7: When extremes meet
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-The police take Future Industries under a lot of scrutiny, and the journalists are very curious too. The surveillance and examination gets so hard to deal with that Asami moves to the airbender island with the others. Also, she doesn't like looking at her house and being reminded of what happened with her father.
-Korra and Asami end up talking about what happened with Hiroshi
-Korra: "I thought you were going to electrocute me for a while back there". Asami does a sad smile and says she didn't really know what she was going to do, either.
-In response to the discoveries that the biggest corporation in RC has been secretly co-operating with the equalists and funding their revolution, and that the equalists have new and previously-unknown weapons, Tarrlok keeps pushing the council on the topic. Everything that's been happening scares the council members, and they're even more receptive than before to Tarrlok's suggestions. Tarrlok also disparages Lin's failures and drives Saikhan into distancing himself from Lin. As a result, Saikhan becomes more aggressive about enforcing Tarrlok's laws. He's turning into a dick.
-Tarrlok comes up with a new law that concerns public speeches about equalists. The protestor at the park is arrested for that and taken to jail. Korra goes like "never liked that guy, good riddance", but Tenzin is worried about what kind of precedent it sets to write a law about speaking out.
-The council keeps writing new laws in an attempt to take control of the situation, and the task force becomes more active and forceful. Lots of busts and raids keep happening, and there's McCarthyism and suspicion against any non-benders.
-Korra and Tenzin heading for a press conference, but they get recognised and interrupted by some random bystanders. They ask Korra when is she gonna do something about the triads fighting in the streets; the task force is only interested in the equalists and they keep ignoring the triads. People tell Korra "You should do like avatar Aang did and take away the bending from these people!"
-Korra: "What are you saying?"
-Random guy says that avatar Aang was capable of taking bending from people and it's apparently some sort of avatar magic, so Korra should be able to do it too. He says that triads are bad people, they don't deserve their bending, and Amon did the right thing when he attacked TTT.
-Korra doesn't like the idea of taking even a criminal's bending: "But that's wrong, bending is like a part of your soul or something".
-People nearby start arguing. Some are defending Amon, some accusing him.
-Some old, senile-looking woman says that the last time things were this bad was decades ago, back when the criminals lost a mob boss, causing a lot of criminal in-fighting until the Monsoons and Agni Kais became established. She's about to go onto some boring old story but someone manages to talk her out of it. (ZZZZZ Yakone foreshadowing; try to make it work better than that)
-Tenzin says something wise and calm that defuses the situation
-The press conference starts. Korra and Tenzin listen to a speech by Tarrlok. After that, they confront Tarrlok and Saikhan about the council's recent actions. Korra also whines about how they've been treating the hospitalized Lin in their public speeches, and she says it's not fair.
-Tarrlok suggests Korra to join his task force again, now that the pro-bending tournament is over and she should have more sparetime. Korra refuses and calls him out on being a manipulative cunt. She says he's just going for the equalists but ignoring the problems people are having with the triads. Tarrlok makes the "half-baked avatar" comment, wounding Korra deeply.
-Tenzin and Korra are travelling back to the airbender island on Oogi. Korra asks "why can't I figure out airbending"
-Tenzin talks about how airbending works. "No selfishness, no attachments, knowing how to let go of things that are important to you". Loss is a part of life so you'll have to have acceptance of that. You need selflessness and a certain sense of detachment.
-Korra has trouble with these ideas. She appreciates her friends and she couldn't just accept the idea of losing any of them
-Tenzin: "I know it's hard, but it's all about getting a moment of enlightenment; a moment where things just click". He compares the situation to how people used to think that metalbending is impossible until someone tried it. And nobody knew you could make an air scooter until Tenzin's father tried it. Tenzin tells Korra that you just need the mentality to be open about the unknown, so that you can see possibilities that you didn't notice before.
-Korra: "I just don't think I get it."
-Tenzin: "I know you will eventually."
-Back at the island. Korra practices airbending but nothing comes out of it today, either. This time she gets more frustrated than before and just firebends in anger, then goes to sulk and cry.
-Korra's friends are looking for her and manage to find her. They tell Korra that they've got her back. They're the new Team Avatar. They end up deciding they should take a stance against the crime in the city as a team. (ZZZZZ the scene in the episode felt a bit artificial, what with the way they tried to mimic the last series and its team dynamics. Is there a way to improve the scene?)

[commercial break]

-Krew driving the Ava-car, listening to the police frequencies and going after triad street gangs, equalist attacks, or robbers, or any other criminals that are causing problems
-Mako may meet and fight some of his former criminal pals. If so, they'd probably call him a backstabber. (The Krew won't end up encountering Shady Shin though, because he's still gonna have plot relevance later on)
-Montage of fight scenes and shit
-Eventually Tarrlok hears about what the teens are doing. He goes talk to Korra about it, trying to discourage her from interfering in these things. He thinks she's making Tarrlok's policemen look bad. Korra refuses to comply to Tarrlok
-Cut to city hall. Tarrlok wants the curfew law for non-benders. The council members get some lines of dialogue to explain their views on this law, and they all except Tenzin end up voting for it
-Cut to late night. People are having a curfew protest and the Krew hear about it on the radio. They go to the location expecting a riot and a fight, but then they realize that Saikhan's metalbenders are facing just normal citizens. Some mom and kid go like "you're our avatar, too", and they go have a tense confrontation with Tarrlok
-Tarrlok decides to imprison Asami due to the fact that her father was revealed to fund the equalists. He also imprisons Mako and Bolin on suspicions of being involved with the triads, and says to Korra something smug like "didn't you mention that you wanted me to put more effort into doing something about the triads?". Task force members go for Korra's friends while the metalbender cops target the protesting non-benders.
-Korra earthbends a couple of huge rocks and is about to start a fight. Asami & co are horrified. Tarrlok says that if she will do this, she's going to commit treason against the council. He also goes something like "are you feeling lucky, punk" about the fact that there are metalbender cops and task force members everywhere around them, and what does she think will happen if a fight breaks out? Is she going to fight against all of them, or does she believe some of them would be more loyal to her than they are to the council? The metalbender cops and task force members look uncertain and it seems like even they don't know what they would do.
-Mako asks for Korra to back off, so she does.

[commercial break]

-Korra and Tenzin go talk to Saikhan but he's not letting the Krew out.
-Korra complains to Tenzin. Tenzin says sorry but they can't just do what they want to, and they have to work via correct procedures
-Korra thinks for a bit and then gives some excuse to leave Tenzin, saying she has some business in the city and she'll return to the airbender island later. Tenzin takes Oogi and leaves. Korra goes to meet Tarrlok secretly.
-Korra angry and demanding to let her friends go, while Tarrlok keeps his cool while goading Korra.
-Tarrlok: "The avatar is an outdated concept. One petulant teenager should not and will not have the authority over this city."
-Tarrlok: "The world doesn't need you to balance it. The four nations are blending together, it's only natural, and the avatar is just holding it back. You are outdated."
-Tarrlok talks about how council is the authority here, not Korra
-Korra clearly wants to punch Tarrlok into submission but holds back
-Tarrlok says him and Korra are very similar, and that "You will only be relevant if you're smart and ally yourself with me; we have more in common than you think". Korra protests, but Tarrlok remarks that Korra came here to intimidate him and force him into doing what she wanted. He says he admires her because of that. This "compliment" deflates Korra. She goes like "This isn't over yet", and leaves.
-[ZZZZZ read the notes at the end of the chapter!] Some mystery guy #1 had been following Korra's actions earlier during the episode. He'd been watching and following her around after Team Avatar took a stance against the triads. Now that Korra is leaving for the airbender island and she's alone, mystery guy #2 is approaching her.
-Guy #2 tells Korra he has some important information about how to get her friends out of the jail, and he talks her into coming along to meet someone. (Due to something in the next episode, there should be some random bystanders in the background who see and recognise Korra here.)
-Mystery guy #2 takes Korra to meet mystery guy #1 in some shady place, and guy #1 turns out to be the Red Monsoon mob boss (they're the waterbending triad of RC). He talks to Korra like see, we're both Water Tribe here, we're basically family and we should stick together. Korra has been attacking all the triads indiscriminately, and it's been a bit of a nuisance for the Monsoons along with the others. They should make a deal that she'll only attack the competing gangs and leave the Monsoons alone.
-The mob boss says he knows Korra has disagreements with the city's official policies, and he knows that she has gotten acquainted with people who have triad connections, so taking the next logical step for co-operation shouldn't be too hard. He suggests that if the avatar were to ally herself with the Monsoons, they could be a powerful force together; they could really make a difference in the city. They could make a scheme to remove Tarrlok from his position, and then they could release Korra's friends from the jail. They could co-operate so that both would become stronger.
-Korra is silent and astonished, but finally she lashes out like "I can't believe you're even suggesting this!". They're criminals, so she just attacks them without thinking things through. They had misjudged her character; they thought she'd have sympathy for fellow Water Tribe members, and they didn't realize how impulsive she can be. But once they get over their initial surprise, they attack her back.
-Maybe one of these guys is a bloodbender and manages to subdue her because of that? Or maybe adding an OC who's also another bloodbender would be too much. It might be better if Korra just gets overpowered because there were a big bunch of triad members nearby, watching over the situation. Either way, there should be a cool and fierce bending fight here until Korra gets KO'd. (ZZZZZ There are some requirements about the scenery. The civilian bystanders are needed to see Korra walking up to this location a bit earlier, so when they hear a fight happen, they should realise the avatar must've been involved in it. But the place should be hidden enough by trees, houses or anything so that the witnesses are unable to see the fight itself, and they don't get a chance to identify Korra's attackers as waterbenders. This is needed for the next episode's plot. Also, since it's a waterbending triad, these guys need to have some material to bend. Are waterpouches enough to help them win, or should the meeting location be right next to a river or something?)
-The triad members are shocked and upset about how the situation ended. One of them goes like "we just took down the avatar! What are we supposed to do now?". The Monsoon mob boss looks grim, then tells them they have to get her in their car quick and leave with her before anyone comes by to investigate.
-Tenzin at airbender island. Airbending kids are playing with Pabu. Naga howls. Tenzin is puzzled by this until he realizes that Korra's taking a lot of time and it's really late. He gets worried and figures out that Naga's sensing something bad must've happened.



EPISODE 7 NOTES:

-I tried to use only canon characters and avoid creating OCs, but couldn't think of a way to make things work here without an OC or two. I wanted Korra to end up in some kind of trouble by the end of the episode, and the trouble needed to be so dangerous that Lin thinks she needs help from Korra's friends, and she decides to bust them out of the jail in the next episode. Lin has to think Korra's in some kind of life-or-death situation, and that only Korra's friends can help.

-Originally I was thinking maybe Korra tries to meditate and ends up stuck in the Spirit World (a malicious spirit might not let her out; also, Aang may try to contact Korra and give her fragmented flashbacks about Yakone) and there's some kind of esoteric reason why only Korra's friends can get her out of there. But I couldn't think of ideas on how to work with that concept, so I thought maybe just a crappy kidnap scheme like Tarrlok did in the show, except the scheme is perpetrated by some other character. Tarrlok seemed pretty manipulative and calculating, but his attack on Korra and the attempt to kidnap her were very dumb moves; maybe even OOC. So I'm using the kidnap subplot but making another, less intelligent character pull it off.

-Now that we're speaking of triads again: one of the things I wanted to incorporate is the idea that the metalbender police are corrupt. They're letting the triads run the place on purpose, and that's why organised crime is such a problem in the city.
However, if Lin's men were corrupt, that'd make Lin herself look rather inefficient, and I didn't know where the "corrupt cop" subplot would fit, anyway.
Maybe the cops are alright but some council members or judges are corrupt, and they keep letting criminals out after the metalbenders catch them? I dunno, I'd like to explain why RC's authorities are reacting to the equalists so harshly while still letting the triads get away with it. Corrupted leadership would be a nice way to explain it, and it could make the situation less black-and-white and more interesting.
Maybe the triads are some kind of safe evil that the authorities have grown used to, and they prefer to avoid dealing with them in an attempt to avoid provoking them and starting any trouble. Meanwhile, the equalists scare them because they're openly calling for a revolution. They actually want to attack RC's leadership and change the society, and for the ruling establishment, that's pretty threatening. ZZZZZ






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Episode 8: PLACEHOLDER EPISODE NAME #1
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-Reporters taking photos of the location where Korra was attacked in the previous episode. There are a couple of equalist gloves lying around in the ground there.
-Lin is at the hospital. She hears on the radio that the avatar has disappeared and that equalist gear was discovered at the scene of a vicious bending attack where witnesses saw Korra right before the attack. The radio broadcast also warns that according to Tenzin, the avatar's polarbear dog ran off during the night without her master. People are warned to remain cautious in case they encounter it; polarbear dogs can be dangerous animals.
-Lin gets up and goes to the city hall. She speaks to Tenzin, Tarrlok, the rest of the council and Saikhan as well, requesting to have a couple of men so she could investigate Korra's disappearance and plan a search and rescue mission.
-Tarrlok refuses, saying that Lin's already made too many mistakes. He explains that the task force and the metalbenders are too busy maintaining order in the city, especially since Lin managed to lose a chunk of their most talented men earlier.
-Tenzin is unhappy about Korra's disappearance, but he still says Lin should just go and rest due to her earlier injuries.
-Saikhan is apologetic towards Lin, but Tarrlok has too much power these days. Saikhan wants to advance his career and keep Tarrlok happy with him.
-After being denied to have any men, Lin says that maybe Korra's friends could have any sort of information about Korra's whereabouts. She asks if she could at least get the clearance to go ask them some questions. Tarrlok says no; they're suspected criminals. The council (apart from Tenzin) agrees that they could be potentially dangerous, and they don't deserve to be spoken to right now. They'll be interrogated later, and by someone else than Lin.
-Even if Tarrlok doesn't have anything to do with the kidnapping in this AU, he's happy about a convenient chance to keep Korra out of his business, so he doesn't want to let Krew out. He's rather smug: "I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do"
-Tenzin tells Lin that he's going to work on it and try to get the council to help with the situation. Lin leaves. She realizes nobody's actually listening to Tenzin and the Krew are not getting out of the jail any time now. There's no idea what sort of trouble Korra could be in, yet the council and the police are going to do nothing. Lin sees no other options; she's got to do the "outside the law" thing and get Korra's friends out of the jail. They're the only ones who could help find her now.
-Lin goes to the police station. She bends the walls, sneaking into the prison stealthily and avoiding to be noticed.
-There are a couple of guards near the Krew's cell. Lin notices they seem young and inexperienced, so she bluffs her way through as if she were still the police chief. The guards go like "Sorry, but we're not supposed to let anyone in". She says the council commanded her to go for the Krew, and the guards are uncertain: "I thought they said you were not the chief anymore, and that you were in the hospital". Lin goes "do I look like I'm in the hospital? I can see you are new here, but I would suggest not to challenge my authority". The guards are intimidated and they let her pass.
-Lin talks to the Krew: "Listen carefully. I'm not the police chief anymore, and I don't have the authorisation to let you out. If you come with me, it would be a jailbreak. It would be dangerous, you could wind up in any sort of trouble, and your lives could change for the worse. But the reason I'm asking you to come with me is because Korra's in trouble and the council is not doing anything. Are you up to it?"
-Mako gets his deer-in-the-headlights moment, indicating his feelings about Korra: "Korra's in trouble?!"

[commercial break]

-Lin gives more information offscreen during the break. The Krew easily agree to come, despite the risks.
-They get past the two guards and then they get ready for some sneaky stealth to get out of the police station without anyone noticing, but Saikhan happens to be there and sees them: "What are you doing, Lin?"
-Lin tries to convince Saikhan to let them go and pretend he never saw them, while Saikhan tries telling Lin he'll let this slide if she just takes the Krew back to jail right now. Neither one wants to fight, but neither one's willing to back off either. A bitter bending battle takes place between them. Other policemen notice and the fight scene grows bigger. The Krew drop the sneaky approach and instead, their escape turns into a chase scene with multiple forms of bending and martial arts. Lin's still injured so she needs a bit of help from the others.
-They get out and manage to shake off their pursuers. Now they're all fugitives.
-They decide to start their work by looking for some equalists and interrogating them to give more information about what have they done to Korra and where do they keep their captives. They wonder how to do the first step; where to find equalists?
-They talk that the equalists are probably somewhere in the tunnels below the city. Mako remembers the time the equalists caught him and some other TTT members, and they manage to find the tunnel where he'd been stashed some time before the equalist rally. It's still an equalist hideout, but not a vast prison complex in this AU; just a smaller place for temporary stashing of Mako & co. They find a couple of equalists there.
-Keep the scene with "It's empty!" "Yeah, I can see that". The voice acting had so much personality in it and the scene was funny. Also, could these two guys be recurring characters and pop up a couple more times, please? ZZZZZ
-The Krew attack equalists. Mako grabs one of them and threatens him with a fireball, angrily asking where Korra is. He's totally on parent-killing mode until the guy goes "please don't hurt me, I have kids". Mako finally realizes what he's doing and stops. He gets a minor PTSD about his parents' deaths, and he gets uneasy and scared of himself. Also, you could get something cool out of this if Bolin, Asami and/or Lin react to Mako's actions here, either before or after Mako stops threatening the equalist. At least Bolin and Asami would probably have empathy/pity for both Mako and the equalist, but I'm not sure if Lin would care about a criminal. One of Mako's allies could also some time later approach him to talk about what he was doing back there. They could either calm him down, or talk about Mako's parents, or ask something about his feelings for Korra. There are a lot of options available on how to handle it, and I'm not sure which one would be the best. ZZZZZ
-The guy says that the equalists haven't seen the avatar and they don't have her; they've been as baffled by the last night's disappearance as anyone. The equalist equipment at the crime scene must've been placed there by someone who wanted to frame the equalists.
-Lin's got experience with interrogations and she determines that the guy seems to be speaking the truth. Then she realizes that it makes sense; the equalists wouldn't just leave their expensive stun sticks and gloves lying around instead of grabbing them as they leave. It's too suspicious and it stinks of an attempt to frame the equalists, or to divert suspicions from the real perpetrators.
-Mako asks "where did the attack happen, anyway?". Lin tells the location she heard on the radio.
-Mako replies "That's deep in the Red Monsoon territory. The Monsoons must have some information on what happened on their turf. We should go for them"
-Bolin: "I just hope Korra's still okay."
-Cut to Korra. She's inside a rapebox (=the box thing that Tarrlok had for some reason, supposedly to contain captured hostiles that can't do metalbending). She's been unconscious for a long while, but she wakes up now.

[commercial break]

-For a moment after waking up, Korra panics and tries punching the box. But when that fails to do anything, she listens to what's happening outside the room she's in.
-There are muffled voices outside the room; Monsoons are talking about what to do. They've been arguing ever since last night and can't reach a decision. Korra's reckless nature came as a nasty surprise. She's not willing to co-operate but they can't let her out and make her leave either, because she'd probably just attack them again. They consider just keeping Korra as their prisoner and talking to her until they get her convinced about a mutual agreement. But they argue she seems too stubborn; she'd probably pretend to be convinced by their arguments so that they'd let her out and she could backstab them.
-Because of the possibly confusing structure of this episode, there could be some dialogue to make the situation more clear to everyone in the audience. The Monsoons could mention something about the equalist weapons they left at the scene of the attack, and they could wonder about whether it's gonna fool the authorities. Maybe they could also mention that just to be sure, they had some of their men giving the police falsified statements about how they saw equalists carrying Korra away?
-They talk whether they should make Korra just sleep with the fishes or something, but some of the men feel uneasy about that. They think that if you kill the avatar, their reincarnation would know about it and come after you sooner or later.
-Korra yells at them to let her out. They walk up to the box and talk with her, but it doesn't go anywhere. She bends some fire through the grates of the rapebox.
-Eventually the mob boss gives up and decides Korra's too stubborn to deal with. The only remaining question is whether they'll just open the box so they can kill her right now, or whether they should play it safe and suffocate or starve her inside the box, and then discreetly take care of the body.
-At that point, Korra hears Naga's howl from outdoors. Deus Ex Naga has tracked Korra's scent and she bursts into the building, attacking the men. Korra yells encouragement. Naga traps one of the guys and Korra demands him to open the rapebox or else she'll give Naga the command to bite his leg off. The guy opens the rapebox and Korra just runs off with Naga. The Monsoon mob boss gets up and yells at his men to stop Korra. Her and Naga get surrounded from all directions. (Naga is huge and dangerous. Are there any weapons that would work against polarbear dogs? It would be nice if this scene has the feeling of "uh-oh, we're in trouble" instead of "no worries, Naga is here and she will save Korra". Also, maybe Korra's hands could be tied-up so she can't use her bending properly and save herself? Also, these guys are waterbenders, so there should be some excuse for lots of water to be nearby for them to use. ZZZZZ)
-Then Asami, Bolin, Mako and Lin join the scene as well; they'd been looking for the Monsoon HQ, and they also heard Naga's howl a bit earlier and knew Korra must be here. If it's possible to come up with some battle banter dialogue to establish those things and avoid making it sound like forced exposition, that'd be neat.
-Big fight scene. The heroes win. They hear the sirens meaning that the police have been alerted, so they escape the scene.
-Safe distance away, Mako says that him, Bolin, Asami and Lin have gotta go underground now that they've broken out of the jail and become fugitives. Korra asks why couldn't they just come with her to Tenzin and see if they could find a good hiding place. Lin says they don't want to get Tenzin involved in their mess; Tarrlok could try to find an excuse to go after him and maybe even his family. Also, Mako and Bolin have lived in the streets, they have done dodgy things, and they'll be able to keep the Krew away from trouble. "We've hidden from cops before, we have experience at it". Lin smirks at that.
-Korra & co agree on a meeting place and time so that they'll find each other later to talk about what next.
-Korra: "See you, and good luck"
-Asami's been looking a bit pensive and quiet for a while, but right before the others are leaving, she says: "hooold on a second, I just thought of something. We're just going to leave and live on the streets? I've never done anything like that, and I don't think I could do it. But I think I have a better idea". She has a slightly evil-looking smile on her face.
-Cut to Korra & Naga arriving at airbender island. Tenzin, Pema and kids rush to greet her, and the kids ask where's Bolin.
-Tenzin is worried and asks if Korra's alright and what happened. She says she herself is fine and her friends rescued her, but they're on the run now. "Also, there's something else" she says, in a fashion that makes it sound pretty bad. [ZZZZZ fix that line; make it something that sounds like they had a disagreement with Asami and she did something bad, and make it fit the next episode's events]
-Cut to the equalist hideout from earlier. Lieutenant is there investigating on what the Krew were doing there earlier. Suddenly a couple of equalist mooks escort Asami to Lieutenant: "sir, she just came here on her own and said she wanted to talk with our superiors. What are your orders?".
-Lieutenant asks "Aren't you Hiroshi Sato's daughter? What are you doing here?"
-Asami replies: "I've made some bad choices in the past. I realize now that the laws in this city are wrong, and I don't want to be a fugitive from them. I've left the avatar to ask my father's forgiveness, and I want to join the equalists."



EPISODE 8 NOTES:

-Continuing with the Red Monsoon triad OCs from the previous episode; read the notes on the last ep.

-Some changes in the narrative to make this a rather Lin-centered episode, focusing on her search for Korra. Also, Korra's current whereabouts are kept as a mystery from the audience until a bit later. Not sure if this approach works at all, but I just thought it might be interesting to try something a bit different.

-Gaang flashbacks are cut because the story's supposed to be about Korra, not Gaang.
Korra meditating was neat in the show, but if all she had to do was just sit down and do it, that makes her look a bit dumb. Why didn't she try that before a bit more? Also, she couldn't do it back when she was calm and fine, so I'm not too sure if she could do it when she's scared, desperate, and anxious. I think it might fit better if she was too distracted to meditate in a situation like that.

-In this AU, the de-bent metalbender cops are captives elsewhere. Their scene is cut for the time being, but they will return in a later episode.

-Does Tarrlok admit to the police that he was the last person who saw Korra, or does he keep it a secret in an attempt to make the search efforts more difficult? If he lies, it should be as clear as possible that he's not working in co-operation with the Monsoons; he's just taking advantage of the situation.

-What is Amon's response to the avatar disappearing and the equalists getting blamed for it? Would the avatar's disappearance cause him to make any public moves? Like, maybe some kind of radio statement about how the benders are probably causing trouble again and shifting blame of their own internal scuffles to the equalists? Would Amon try to go looking for Korra? Or would he just start a hectic investigation amongst the equalists to find out if any of his men had ended up in a confrontation with the avatar last night but didn't inform Amon about it? Maybe Amon's reaction could be brought up at the equalist hideout, either when the Krew get there or when Lieutenant is looking into their actions later on? If the Krew secretly overhear equalists talking about Korra's disappearance, that could give them the final proof that someone framed the equalists. ZZZZZ




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Episode 9: PLACEHOLDER EPISODE NAME #2
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-Night-time soon after the last episode's ending, in the location where we last saw Asami. She's walking with the equalists and they take either a car or some mopeds to leave for a different location.
-Zoom out. Mako, Bolin and Lin are watching from some distance away as Asami and the equalists leave. Mako & co are wearing something inconspicuous because the police are looking for them now.
-"I think she managed to get in", comments Mako. "Let's hope for the best. I really don't like her idea of infiltrating the equalists and spying on them. It seems dangerous"
-Lin says "she's a resourceful young woman, she'll be able to handle it."
-Cut to Asami at equalist HQ, meeting her father who is surprised but really happy and excited by this development
-Asami has talks with different random equalists on various topics. The equalists like to talk about how it sucks to be a non-bender in the city; it's hard to compete as a fisherman when waterbenders can do that stuff more easily, and construction workers can't find jobs because all the positions are filled by earthbenders, and there's no chance to get a job at a factory when they only want firebenders. They talk about how Tarrlok is a shithead, and so is the whole council for going along with his plans; this entire city is unfair. And all of them are benders... there's no non-bender POV or representation in the city's leadership.
-Asami tries direct the topic to Amon. Some equalist talks about him: "He's not killing anyone, he's just taking away their special powers. If we can live just fine without them, so can the benders"
-Asami is told that the equalists are trying to provoke Korra into avatar state because old reports say that the avatar can be unpredictable in such a state. It could make for some good equalist propaganda if the avatar were to do some massive property damage, or even end up causing casualties. Also, they ask whether Asami knows why the avatar hasn't used her avatar state yet, and how to get her to do it?
-Asami learns that even the equalists don't seem to have any idea on who exactly Amon is.
-Equalist #1: "I think he's a spirit whose form consists of all the restless souls of those who were killed in the great war"
-Eq. #2: "No, what's with the loony conspiracy theories? He is what he is; a man who's speaking on behalf of the spirits who granted him his powers"
-Eq. #3: "I wish he'd take his mask off, I don't think he can look as bad as he claims"
-Eq: #4: "Have you ever seen people who were burned by firebenders? It looks nasty"
-And so on. Might be cool to use some fan theories about Amon, his mask, and what's he hiding behind it. However, most of the equalists would probably believe Amon's official story and it's part of the reason why they follow him, so they shouldn't be expressing theories that cast Amon in an unfavourable light. If there's theories expressing the idea of Amon lying about his past, they should come from some overly-imaginative conspiracy weirdo who's clearly not taken seriously by anyone.
-Cut to Korra alone with Naga. She talks to her about how her best friend's undercover with her worst enemies and the rest of her friends are running from the law. She complains that she feels so lonely. [ZZZZZ is there a way to make this scene feel more organic and less like stiff exposition? Something to establish that her friends are away from her, she fears for their safety, and she suddenly feels just really lonely.]
-Equalist HQ. Lieutenant talks with Asami and says something polite about how glad he is that she reconsidered the equalists and made the right choice
-Asami asks him about Amon. Lieutenant: "Amon? I was in a bad place in my life a couple of years back, but then he showed up and I realized we have the power to change things for the better. But why are you asking? I prefer not going back to those times."
-Asami tries to make it appear all nonchalant, but Lieutenant gets a bit suspicious about her questions.

[commercial break]

-Korra at the city with Tenzin's kids, at a marketplace buying some nice food and such.
-Korra sees Tahno again. He's become an absolutely depressed shit and a dirty hobo by now; he really can't deal with the loss of his bending
-Korra is shocked by how much he's changed. Korra: "Equalists are monsters for doing this to people! Even he didn't deserve it"
-Korra also speculates: "I think Amon does something that messes up people inside when he takes away their bending. He's a cruel and horrible man"
-Tenzin says he suspects it's more in their heads and feelings instead of any kind of physical damage. They've grown with their bending and it's just hard for these people to learn to live without it
-Hiroshi and Asami talk. Maybe something about Asami's mother, if there's any interesting discussion to be had on the topic. Something to show that Hiroshi still loves both his wife and daughter a lot, and he's happy they're together again, and he thinks his wife would be proud. He's oblivious about the fact that Asami's faking her loyalty to the equalists, and that his loving words are guilt-tripping her pretty badly.
-Tenzin, his kids and Korra go to the city hall after their shopping; Tenzin's got some quick business there and he tells the kids to wait with Oogi. However, Korra goes to meet Tarrlok while Tenzin's away
-Tarrlok expresses fake pleasantries about how happy he is that Korra turned out to be alright despite the kidnapping situation, and it's great that she's safe now
-Korra tries to play nice. She tells Tarrlok about how Lin and the others managed to track her down and came for her when she needed them. She tries to say they did the right thing, and Tarrlok should take their charges away from them.
-Tarrlok refuses and tells her how they broke the law multiple times. He also says that Korra must have information on the Krew's current location, and if she doesn't release it, she's hiding criminals.
-Korra gets angry and the discussion becomes more heated. Tarrlok accuses Korra for her various past actions (such as wasting time on pro-bending despite Amon threatening the city), whereas Korra accuses Tarrlok for making bad laws that make things hard for everyone in the city. She tells him that she was told how he didn't give Lin any help to find Korra during her disappearance, and that she suspects he probably didn't even really want Korra to be rescued
-Tarrlok smiles in a way that says "no shit, Sherlock". Even if Korra had already suspected it, his indirect confirmation shocks her
-Korra: "I know Amon's a monster, but I'm starting to think you're just as bad as him"
-That remark makes Tarrlok irrationally angry. He loses control in the heat of the moment and attacks Korra. A brutal bending fight takes place and the room gets totally trashed
-Korra is about to win. She's gonna punch a couple of fireballs into Tarrlok's face. Tarrlok is gonna whip out bloodbending in desperation
-At that moment, the council aide guy (or the "squeaky-voiced liar") happens to step into the room to ask about some boring formal business (ZZZZZ or maybe because he heard a lot of noise and came to see what's going on?) but stops speaking the moment he sees the scene. Korra and Tarrlok both halt and stare at him
-Korra doesn't know what to do now. Tarrlok thinks quickly and accuses Korra of attacking him. Korra yells in anger "I was not! He started it!" while her fists are still flaming. The aide guy just looks kinda skeptical and horrified, and Korra finally realizes she should put out the flames
-Tenzin arrives a moment later too. He's shocked, upset and disappointed about what happened

[commercial break]

-Korra and Tenzin's family on the airbender island, listening to the radio. The broadcast is Tarrlok speaking to the public: "Avatar Korra is a loose cannon". He accuses Korra of attempting to murder a council member, and how he had to bend against her in self-defense. He demands that the avatar's actions need to be checked on, and laws have to be established to take care of the risk of rogue avatars
-Korra, frustrated: "but I didn't do it! Okay, so maybe I did get kind of angry, but he attacked me first!"
-Tenzin: "I believe you, but it doesn't matter what happened there. It's your word against his, and nobody else can know for sure except you two. Tarrlok wants to challenge you, and he wants to establish that the council's word will be superior to the avatar's"
-Someone (an OWL guy? They might be getting frustrated by how hard it is to keep Korra safe) could express criticism that first Korra went to meet the Monsoons alone, got into a fight and got kidnapped, and now she went to meet Tarrlok alone and got into a fight again, under very similar circumstances. Korra tries to explain herself.
-One of Tenzin's kids might ask what was Korra gonna do to Tarrlok, anyway, if she hadn't been interrupted. Korra would get uncomfortable and avoid answering the question.
-The phone rings. Tenzin replies, then starts spluttering; it's Asami and he doesn't really know what to say to her due to the fact that she's an outlaw now and Korra told her she's working undercover as an equalist. Korra realizes from Tenzin's dialogue that the person he's talking to has to be Asami, and she grabs the phone.
-Korra tries to ask whether Asami's okay or if she's calling now because she's in some sort of trouble, while Asami asks what the hell happened with Tarrlok and what is going on. They're kind of talking on top of each other, and both are extremely worried about the other one's well-being
-Eventually Korra manages to say that things just happened, Tarrlok got really pissed off for some reason and attacked, and Korra herself got kinda carried away during the fight too
-Asami tells that she's okay and she's managed to find out a lot of stuff by talking with random equalists. But she's still a newbie in their ranks so they don't tell her all the details about their operations, even though her father is upset about that and tries to get her more clearance.
-She speaks hurriedly. She says that one thing she learned is that the equalists are going to make a move against Tarrlok today, and it's set to happen really soon. She tried to get the word out to Korra earlier, but she was unable to get to a phone where nobody would be overhearing her
-Meanwhile, Tarrlok is still speaking on the radio broadcast in the background, but suddenly an explosion happens. Korra looks out the window and sees smoke coming from the city hall. She's freaked out and says "I think they're starting already"
-There are sounds of a fight on the radio broadcast
-Korra decides she has to go out there and she hangs up the phone. Even if she doesn't like Tarrlok, there's an equalist attack happening and she has to intervene. But the OWL guards stop her. The equalists have proven themselves to be unpredictably resourceful and competent, and it would be too risky to go out there now.
-Korra's frustrated: "but I'm the avatar! How am I supposed to do my job if you guys keep stopping me from doing it?"
-The OWL try to say that they're responsible for the avatar's safety and they are gonna keep Korra here. The metalbender cops and the task force will deal with this situation, and there's probably no way for Korra to reach the city hall before the situation is over, anyway.
-Korra argues "but you just said that the equalists are really good at what they do! What if the metalbenders and the task force end up losing the fight? They need all the help they can get, and I have to go!"
-The OWL get stern. They say that Korra still hasn't got any control of the avatar state, and she hasn't even made any significant progress on airbending. She simply isn't ready yet, and this debate is over. These statements are punch to the gut for Korra, and all she can do is worry and watch the pillar of smoke coming from the city
-Cut to city hall. Amon's troops have taken down some security guys while a bunch of journalists are cowering in corners
-Tarrlok is still standing. He's looking at the bystanders who are staring at him and Amon. He's thinking of resorting to bloodbending, but he's worried about the fact that there are witnesses around.
-Tarrlok: "You have no idea what you're dealing with". Amon: "Oh, I think I do. I know what you're thinking of, but you don't really want to do it, do you?"
-Tarrlok's eyes widen as he wonders if Amon really does know, and if he does, how. He pussies out on using bloodbending. Amon takes care of him and says something cool. Maybe something that he says in private to Tarrlok, and something that he says to the rest of the city on the microphone that Tarrlok was using earlier for the radio broadcast. Something about how Tarrlok's been derailing his plans for a long time and how he had to deal with him before he makes things into a bigger mess. Or maybe about how the avatar belongs to Amon, not to Tarrlok. ZZZZZ
-Amon de-bends Tarrlok. He commands the bystanders to stay down and he tells his men to leave everyone else; Tarrlok is the priority and they need to take only him.
-If Amon first tells his men to take Tarrlok away and then makes his speech part on the radio, the last scene could cut back to Korra and her reaction to Amon's words.


EPISODE 9 NOTES:

-A lot of the edited episodes in this AU try to follow the plotpoints of the actual series, and this one strays possibly the furthest away from it. Someone suggested the idea of Asami infiltrating the equalists and making both Korra and Amon in-universe wonder about her true loyalties. I liked the idea, and I thought it could be used for providing the audience more information about the equalist viewpoint. Also, the previous episode's ending was a fake-out because I thought it could be nice and dramatic.

-Maybe some sort of scene transitions here to make parallels about how Korra and the equalists feel about their opponents? Something similar to "The Storm" in AtLA mirroring the stories of Zuko and Aang, and setting up the idea that they might be not so different. This episode could be like Korra talking about how horrible Amon is, and then it cuts to an equalist saying the same thing about Tarrlok, or something like that. This might require cutting the "Asami talks with equalists" scenes and moving them around a bit. And even without the idea of making parallels, some Asami/equalist scenes could require more cutting and pasting around. ZZZZZ




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Episode 10: Turning the tides
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-Late night or early morning, maybe at RC park, in a secluded spot that the Krew had agreed on at the end of ep 8
-Asami standing around there alone, anxious and waiting. Talking to herself: "Where are you? Hurry up already!"
-A bunch of shady people finally approach Asami very purposefully; three from one direction, one from another. They're all wearing clothing that looks unfamiliar and covers their faces. Maybe like the hood that Zuko was wearing in AtLA book 3 when under disguise in public places, or the big flat hat in "Zuko Alone" and such. Either way, clothing that isn't familiar to the audience and conceals the characters' facial features.
-The people reveal themselves to be Bolin, Mako, Lin and Korra. Asami is relieved that they're finally here.
-Korra complains about how she had trouble shaking off OWL. They've been getting really paranoid about Korra's movements and they're setting up more guards than ever; they don't want to let her out of their sight anymore.
-Mako: "well, after you got kidnapped and all, you can't really blame them. The city's grown unstable, and they just want to make sure you're gonna be safe in the future".
-The Krew talk a bit about how they've each been doing, then Asami reports the things she's heard from the equalists
-Asami: "Amon always wears the mask at the equalist hideouts and nobody seems to know much about him. I haven't had the chance to meet him so far. The Revelation was the first and only time he talked about himself in public. His second-in-command, this Lieutenant guy, is probably the only one who knows anything about him personally"
-Korra: "Do you know what he's done to Tarrlok? Or any other people that have disappeared because of him?"
-Asami says that Amon mostly lets people go after taking their bending, like with the Wolfbats. But if he thinks a person would still be potentially powerful and dangerous even without their bending, he locks them up so they won't become a threat. He wants to avoid killings because he seems to be some kind of idealist about that kind of stuff
-Lin, hopeful: "So my metalbenders must still be alive. Where does he take his captives to?"
-Asami tells the location of the prison complex
-Asami also starts telling about how the regular equalists themselves feel about things, and how they think the council is the real enemy in the situation. [ZZZZZ avoid making Asami's stories overlap too much with the previous episode's dialogue. For example, jump-cut through some of her stories so that she tells them offscreen and she doesn't repeat stuff that the audience already knows. Or leave out some stuff from the previous episode and reveal it in this one]
-Asami talks about how she hadn't fully realized just how many disgruntled non-benders there are in the city. They face harsh competition from benders on the job market and they feel grudge about that, and about the bending triads bullying people. Asami says she's lived such a luxurious life that she never realized just how well her life used to be, or that she was in the small minority
-Korra: "So you think the equalists have a point about some things? That things are easier for the benders of the city?"
-Mako: "But me and Bolin have always been poor too, and we're benders. It's not about benders or non-benders, it's the city that's messed up"
-Lin talks about how bad economical situations can create unemployment and discontent, but it's beside the point; both the equalists and triads are still doing wrong and they must do something about it
-Asami: "Anyway, they said something big is going to happen soon. I don't know what and when exactly, they said that as a security caution, they're going to give more details about everyone's tasks only right when the strike is about to start. And I don't know if there will be enough time to give a warning when it's about to happen, so I had to tell you about it now."
-Asami narrating a voiceover on a flashback segment. In the flashback, Hiroshi tells Asami that Amon's plan is to get the airbenders. Hiroshi: "Out of all the bending nations, the airbenders are the weak link. If they can be taken out, it's possible we could be able to break the avatar cycle. Getting the avatar out of the picture will give us the upper hand."
-Asami: "They're just kids though..."
-Hiroshi: "Yes, and it's regrettable, but sometimes you have to do things for the greater good. Sometimes things are necessary"
-Asami voiceover as the flashback moves to present day: "Amon's going to target Tenzin's family."
-Back at present day; everyone's shocked about Asami's reveal.
-The discussion strays to how the equalists seem to be scared of benders. Korra has trouble understanding that; she's lived with bending all her life and it's a natural part of her. She doesn't get how anyone could be scared of bending.
-Asami: "It makes sense though, you guys do sometimes scare even me... it's what you're capable of. Fire can burn people, earthbenders can make earth swallow you alive, airbenders could probably suck the air from your lungs..."
-Korra: "Well, if that wasn't completely against the airbender philosophy..."
-Asami: "...waterbenders can drown you and I've heard bloodbending's possible too; like, bending the blood in a person's veins and making your body move like a puppet. It's just scary"
-Korra: "Yeah but that's illegal"
-Asami: "Criminals don't care about whether something's legal or not."
-Asami: "I heard there was once a bloodbender who got convicted and had his bending removed by avatar Aang, but after he was in prison for a while, he just disappeared and nobody knows what happened. He could still be around somewhere" [ZZZZZ is it possible to make Yakone/bloodbending foreshadowing less clunky? Or another option; maybe Amon used to experiment with bloodbending before he started the equalist movement, but he accidentally ended up killing his victims, and he was seen as a mysterious bloodbending serial killer who was never discovered? Is there a way to refer to this now, and reveal the truth later?]
-After arguing for a while, the Krew agree that in the end the problem is not the power, it's people who choose to abuse the power.
-It's early morning and people are getting up already. The Krew agree on their next meeting time and place. Asami leaves, going back to the equalists so that they won't get suspicious about where she is. Korra and the others stay in the park a bit longer but put their hoods etc. back on.
-Mako wonders to Korra if Asami can be trusted or maybe she's a double-agent. He thinks she sounded a bit like she had some sympathy for the equalists and their concerns. Maybe she found out more information but didn't tell Korra and the others
-Korra: "How could you say that? She left her father for us! She's our friend and she's putting herself at risk for us!"
-Mako: "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you. I'm just saying that I'd like to be absolutely sure we can trust her, that's all."
-Korra angry, but also a bit hesitant about the difficult situation that Asami's in
-Korra: "Anyway, the important thing now is that I've gotta let Tenzin know so that they can make sure to prepare"
-Cut to some equalist location; they're already about to start the attack.

[commercial break]

-The attack begins. Equalists take down the councilmen and bomb strategically important locations. Tenzin manages to escape and the council aide asks him what to do. He decides to go find Saikhan.
-Korra and the others hear an explosion and Korra goes like "oh no, not this again! I'm not just letting it happen this time!" (referring to the last episode's end). She's about to just run off to the city, to the direction the explosion was coming from, but then she A) remembers that she needs to warn Tenzin and B) hears more explosions from multiple other directions.
-The teens run into a location where they get a clearer view of what's going on. There's smoke coming from various directions and there are equalist airships in the sky. Bolin points at one of them; it's approaching the airbender island. Korra & co are horrified. Korra's about to leave for the island but the others say they're coming too. Doesn't matter if they're fugitives or not, the situation is bad and they have to do something
-Amon and Hiroshi flying on a blimp above the city. Hiroshi looking at a family portrait and grumbling that they should've delayed the attack. He wanted his daughter to be here beside him, to see this glorious moment and to finally meet Amon. He's upset that he couldn't find her at the HQ
-Amon says he appreciates all the hard work that Hiroshi's done for the equalists, but the attack had to happen right now. With Tarrlok taken down, the council has become a headless chicken. Currently the former police chief is a fugitive, the triads are in a chaos, people are angry at the council and they want security. They're in a moment of weakness. If today's council session were allowed, they might either start listening to Tenzin, or drop the charges against Lin and allow the police force to get organised again, or call United Forces to help with the situation. This was the moment when they had to attack.
-He finishes with some kind of boasting villain talk.
-Saikhan and Tenzin at the police station, trying to send a help request to the United Forces navy. However, equalists cut the power before they managed to send the message, and the building gets attacked. Tenzin gets people out but there are mechas outside. Tenzin manages to kick ass against them but can't stop Saikhan from getting caught. Then he sees the blimp on the airbender island. By this point, it has reached the island already.
-Lieutenant & co drop down from the airship to attack airbender island. Pema, the kids and the air acolytes are scared and go hide in the buildings. OWL share some panicked dialogue about how they can't find the avatar anywhere. But right now, they can't do much else than prepare to defend the airbenders.
-Korra and the others might encounter and fight a couple of mechas too. Then they reach a boat to the airbender island, and Korra waterbends in a fashion that makes the boat go faster. Oogi and Tenzin appear too
-By the time they reach the island, the OWL guards have been defeated and a couple of them have been brought up to the airship as prisoners. The equalists are searching the buildings and looking for the airbender kids who are hiding with Pema. Korra & co split up, fighting the equalists and trying to find the airbender kids and air acolytes before the equalists do.
-Maybe a scene where an equalist hears someone hiding, is about to attack them, then sees it's just Pabu. He could be disappointed he didn't find the airbenders, so he kicks Pabu in frustration. At that point he hears a growl behind him, turns around, and sees a very angry Naga. The scene cuts away. (This is a late addition. I just realized I didn't have Naga in this episode despite the fact she had to appear in a moment, so I tried to put her somewhere. Also, some air acolytes might be hiding from the equalists somewhere behind Naga.)
-Random equalist mook or two finds the airbender kids, but then Bolin appears and saves them. Pabu runs from somewhere and jumps for Bolin; they'd been separated for a while and they're excited to see each other again.
-Tenzin reunites with his family. He says RC has fallen. The police and the entire council have been attacked and there's no one left to lead the city. The Krew aren't really outlaws anymore because there is no law now, and no one to uphold it. Tenzin says they must get a word to the United Forces so they'll take their navy here to deal with Amon's forces and stabilize the situation.
-Tenzin says he's gonna take his family and leave. He alone can't stay and fight, and he can't put his family under harm's way again. He's going to personally deliver the message to the United Forces, and he will come back and fight when his family is safe.
-Tenzin offers to take Korra with him to keep her safe too, but she says that only if her friends can come as well. Tenzin says Oogi can't carry that many people. Korra says that then she'll stay in the city with her friends. Tenzin asks Korra to be careful. He asks her to get out of the city and go hiding with the Krew.
-Lin sees there are more airships approaching the island. She says she's coming with Tenzin, just in case they end up in a fight and need a bodyguard. They're the last airbenders and they need protection
-The remaining OWL guys say they'll distract the equalists and keep them in the island so that Korra & co will get a head-start and manage to escape. Korra, Bolin, Pabu and Mako leave on Naga. They do the cool trick with diving into the water and Korra bending an airbubble around them.
-Tenzin's family leaves. Airships chase them. Lin hops off to fight the airships. She takes one of them successfully out, making it fall into the water. The other ship gets less destroyed and the equalists still have control of it, so they stop chasing Oogi and steer the ship towards land instead. Lin's still standing on top of the ship fighting some equalists when it hits the ground.
-Korra and the others are away from the island by now. They saw what happened, and they're looking sad and horrified.

[commercial break]

-Mako says they've gotta go to the site of the wreck looking for Lin, and to see if she's still alive
-Korra says Tenzin adviced her to leave the city
-Mako: "Tenzin's an airbender, it's all about dodging, running and hiding from fights for them. But as for us? We have to go find Lin, it's a matter of having honor"
-They eventually agree to go see what happened
-Korra & brothers are some distance away and see that Lin survived, but now she's accompanied by Amon (Korra & co are close enough to recognise them, but too far to affect the situation or reach them)
-Amon demands Lin to give information about the avatar, but she refuses. He takes her bending. The scene in the episode was cool, and should be preserved pretty much exactly as it was. Keep the sad rain too.
-By the time Korra and the brothers reach the location, the equalists have already left and taken Lin with them
-They ponder what now. Then they remember Asami talking about where the equalists keep their prisoners.
-Korra, Mako and Bolin sneak into the equalist prison complex. Some fight scenes, then they do manage to find Lin. They say they're sorry Lin lost her bending, but she just ignores the idea of wallowing in self-pity and focuses on the moment; she wants to go looking for her metalbenders. The others say they don't have much time and they've gotta leave ASAP, but Lin stays firm
-They manage to find the men Lin lost earlier and they learn they've lost their bending too. Bolin's the only one with earthbending, and he gets the guys out of the cell. While they're about to leave, they find Tarrlok in one cell that's isolated from all the others.
-Tarrlok looks unkempt and a bit unhinged. He asks them to let him out so he could escape with them. (In this AU, he's spent less time in jail, he's had less time to deal with the situation, and he's less depressed than in the series. Instead of just mournfully accepting what happened, he's more angry and confused towards Amon.)
-Korra: "Give us one good reason to get you out of there."
-Tarrlok: "I know who Amon is".
-Everyone's shocked
-A bunch of equalist reinforcements have been alerted and they attack at that moment. Korra decides they've gotta take Tarrlok with them
-They get Tarrlok out and run. They end up chased into a big room that has a bunch of equalist gear (stunsticks, shock gloves, clothes, a couple of mechas), but it's a dead end.
-Lin instantly grabs a shock glove to defend herself. Her men and Tarrlok follow her lead. They're not used to fighting like this, so they should be pretty clumsy and bad at it.
-Bolin tries to earthbend an escape tunnel but can't, the walls are all metal here. Then he gets an idea; he goes for a mecha, tries it a bit and comments "just like a Future Industries fork lift!". He uses the mecha to smash an improvised escape route through the wall. He wrecks the mecha in the process but opens up a way into another tunnel. (Asami's line is given to Bolin here because of reasons.)
-The group manages to fight or shake off the equalists. Before they leave, Mako looks at the equalist stuff laying around in the room and decides it might come in handy later. He steals some equalist clothes, just in case.
-Later on, the group has found a hiding spot somewhere (ZZZZZ think of some good place. Maybe a junkyard? Or the tunnels that the hobos were using? Some abandoned crappy place where nobody would ever want to go to).
-Korra demands Tarrlok to tell what he was saying earlier.
-Tarrlok tells them Amon's lying about his past; he was born to Yakone and he's a bloodbender.
-Korra: "that mob boss who used to live in RC decades ago?"
-Tarrlok: "yes. After his escape from the prison and his subsequent disappearance, he moved on to the Northern Water Tribe to live under a false identity. He raised a son and taught him how to bloodbend like him." (there could be short cuts to flashback bits while Tarrlok talks in voiceover)
-Someone says they thought bloodbending is only possible during full moon but Tarrlok says that no, it's public information that Yakone could bloodbend even during daytime, and Tarrlok has witnessed that his son can do it too. He also says he doesn't know how Amon does what he does
-Korra: "Whoa, whoa... how do you know all this?"
-Tarrlok: "Because... I used to live in the same town as Yakone when I was a kid, and he made his son bloodbend me for practice. I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of his bloodbending, and I know it's him. I found out the moment he took my bending. He has somehow come up with a way to take person's bending away by bloodbending them"
-Quick flashback cuts of Noatak bending Tarrlok
-Korra: "That's sadistic!"
-Mako: "great... how are we supposed to fight a bloodbender? How did Aang do it against Yakone?"
-Lin: "If you knew Yakone was an escaped criminal, why did you never tell anyone? The disappearance of Yakone has been a mystery that people have been trying to solve for decades! And why didn't you report that these people were practising bloodbending?"
-Tarrlok: "Yakone had moved to my village in an attempt to start a new life under a different name, and I learned about his past only much later in my life. That man terrorised me for much of my early life, and it's a painful topic to me... I'd rather put my past behind me. And it doesn't matter now, the point is... avatar Aang took away Yakone's bending. Surely you must know how to do it too, avatar Korra? Just take away Amon's bending, that is what he deserves for everything he's done."
-Korra: "But wait. Why did you get so angry when I compared you to Amon, if you claim that you didn't know back then?"
-Tarrlok, angrily: "Of course I'll get angry about being compared to a person like him! He's destroying the city and all that it stands for, while I'm trying to keep it together!"
-Bolin mutters quietly something sarcastic about how he's not doing a very good job
-The Krew comes to the conclusion that if Amon really is a bloodbender, that makes it harder to physically fight him, but it can be used as an advantage. If he's lying about his past, they could discredit him more easily and make his movement fall apart
-Korra gets outdoors, pets Naga a bit, then tells her to go to the wilderness for a while and feed on wildlife. Bolin asks her what is she doing. Clinging onto Pabu, he asks how could she tell her pet to go away.
-Korra says Naga can handle herself and they've done this in the past a couple of times too, so she knows they'll meet again. But right now, the group has to stay hiding. Naga's too big and easy to notice, and it was best if they separated for now. [ZZZZZ read notes.]
-Asami at equalist HQ. She bumps into her father who's accompanied by Amon and Lieutenant.
-Hiroshi asks where was she in the morning. Since he couldn't find her, she missed out on the big day.
-Asami has thought up an excuse, and she tries to explain it and appear sincere. [ZZZZZ think of a plausible excuse here] She says that after the attacks began, she was far away from the HQ, and she tried to get back to see what was happening and what would her task be. But all the fighting in the city delayed her, and she apparently arrived too late.
-Lieutenant's been suspicious about Asami and he still is, but doesn't say anything. Amon staring at her with that mask is also making her nervous.
-Amon says he's glad to finally meet Mr. Sato's daughter. He also makes a short speech and says that RC is now theirs or something


EPISODE 10 NOTES:

-An idea from some random thread on /co/: "Air Acolytes could have hardened themselves and maybe in the end offered themselves as sacrifices so that Tenzin's family could escape. Showing where their loyalties lie ultimately and in this great pursuit of freedom some of them begin to Airbend for the first times...it could have been beautiful".
A scene like that would change the status quo quite a lot, as Tenzin's family would not be the only remaining airbenders anymore. Because of that, I didn't add it into this script proposal. It strays a bit too far away from the canonical episode plotline. But I really like that idea, and I prefer it over the concept of Tenzin's family being the only ones left. The return of the airbenders would show more hope for the future.

-In this AU, airbender kids don't get to have their kickass fight moment.
I suppose the equalists were not as familiar with airbending as they were with the other elements, and the kids managed to catch them by surprise because of that. Still, some fans felt that losing to a bunch of kids made the equalists seem like less of a threat, and especially since their defeat was so undignified that it involved fart jokes. The scene made Lin look kinda bad too.
I chose to cut out airbabbies being awesome and instead, allowed Bolin to do something cool for once.

-Another thing people complain about is Tenzin; they say he never gets to be cool in fights. So since the Krew were in a different location, he gets to deal with the mechas himself here.

-No childbirth because it doesn't progress the story and there's no time for it. The baby can pop out offscreen between the books.

-ZZZZZ Where should Naga and Pabu be during all the big fight scenes of the finale two-parter? Pabu following Bolin around isn't too big of a problem and he can stay, but Naga is capable of taking down three mecha-tanks simultaneously, and her contribution can affect fight scenes a lot. Plus she can track down people pretty well and end any questions about disappeared characters. She's too overpowered and she has plot-breaking abilities, so I tried to write her out for the time being. But I'd still like a better way to remove Naga from the picture, though.

-It was a popular fan theory that Amon's bloodbending fucked up the forehead chakra. I don't think I mentioned chakras at any point during this fan edit. But if it's possible to establish them somewhere and then refer to them in this episode when they discuss Amon's de-bending method, that might be nice. For example, someone asking "whoa, it's possible to actually bend the forehead chakra?"





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Episode 11: Skeletons in the closet
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-Episode recap narration is done by Amon (compare with the earlier episode where it was by Tarrlok)
-Amon's taken over the city and he's criminalised bending. He's not de-bending every single person though; he's targeting just those who cause trouble or use their bending publicly, and he's trying to scare the rest into submission so that they will not be using their bending at all. However, people are scared of equalists and squealing on their bender neighbours, or reporting them just because they have a grudge against them
-Amon also releases the RC park protestor guy from jail, along with the other people who'd been imprisoned by Tarrlok earlier
-By this point, the city should look kind of beat-up from all the bombs and fighting. Also, the equalists had messed with electricity earlier when they attacked the police station, so maybe there's power outages too.
-Instead of carving a giant separate Amon mask and attaching it on Aang's statue, the equalists have spray-painted Amon's colours on the statue of Aang
-We could see Skoochy making some kind of anti-equalist/pro-avatar graffiti on a wall but getting arrested for it, maybe? Are there any neat logos or symbols that he could be using in a scene like that? Or maybe he could deface Amon posters with a moustache or something.
-Two masked equalists are listening to a speech by the protestor. Then they leave, but once they're alone, they get attacked by a group of people. Both equalists respond by firebending. Their attackers are very surprised about the concept of firebending equalists, and especially so when one of the equalists earthbends too.
-One of the equalists recognises one of his attackers and says "Shady Shin?"; he realizes that his attackers are Shin and a couple of other triad guys, so he unmasks to let them know his identity.
-Shady Shin: "Mako? What are you doing? You haven't seriously switched sides and turned equalist?"
-Mako: "I'm trying to stay undercover here!"
-The other equalist unmasks too, and it turns out to be Korra. The triad guys are surprised that the avatar's still in the city. Korra looks more annoyed than Mako; she still doesn't like the triads, but she's okay with a truce for now.
-Cut to the Krew's hideout. Lin's trying to teach Bolin how metalbending works while the ex-metalbenders are practising with the equalist weapons they'd stolen earlier. Tarrlok's there too, but he's just sulking.
-Asami joins the scene. She says she got their message about their new hideout spot but she can't stay too long; she worries that some equalists might be getting suspicious about her. (This is the first time the audience sees Asami, Tarrlok and the ex-metalbenders together as team members. Asami doesn't react like there's anything new about the situation. Try to make it clear that some time has passed after the last episode's end, and Asami learned about the jailbreak offscreen between the episodes.)
-Korra and Mako return, greeting Asami. They report about the speech they heard, and the confrontation they had with the triad guys. (ZZZZZ important detail: Mako is removing the equalist disguise and getting dressed up into his normal clothes, but Korra doesn't bother to take off her disguise yet.)
-Korra & Mako say that according to Shady Shin, the remnants of the triads have teamed up and are now working together against the equalists, and planning a counter-attack. Shady Shin managed to talk his allies out of fighting Mako, but a lot of them were still a bit cranky about Mako and Korra going after crime a couple of episodes ago, so they didn't want to tell any detailed information about their current plans.
-Asami tells what news she's got, and she does another flashback narration. She tells about how Hiroshi had taken her to the airfield where they launch their blimps, and she had seen these new airplanes they've got. They're much faster and smaller than blimps, and they can drop bombs. Amon and Hiroshi are certain that the United Forces navy will try to intervene sooner or later, and the planes are supposed to be their secret weapon against them. They can attack the ships from the air and the UF are gonna be like sitting ducks. They have no defense against aerial attacks like that. Asami thinks that when the United Forces navy arrives, they're probably gonna end up in real trouble
-The flashback also shows Asami asking her father if she can inspect these planes, to see how they're built. Hiroshi happily gives her the permission
-Bolin: "You've gotta be kidding me! How many secret new weapons can your father even keep making?"
-Asami tells she already "took care of" the planes at the airfield where they'll take off, and she marks on a map another location. It's a Future Industries factory where the planes, mecha-tanks and other shit are being produced, and there's a lot more crap in there. She says a lot of the equipment there and especially the planes have to be dealt with before the United Forces navy reaches RC
-Mako says that maybe they should co-operate with the triads and help them out with that stuff? They could tip off the location to the triads, and then join them in their attack against the factory
-Korra: "I can't work with the mob!"
-Mako: "But you know, the enemy of my enemy is my friend and all that. Think about it; which one's more evil, anyway?"
-Korra hesitates: "I... dunno..."
-Mako: "Come on, the answer is obvious, right?"
-Asami replies "the triads" while Bolin says "the equalists" at the same time. They stare at each other in a surprised silence for a moment
-Lin: "I say we should just let them do what they do, and not get involved with them. We don't have the manpower to stop them now, anyway. We'll deal with the triads later. But the current situation is that equalists have taken over the city, and they are the priority right now"
-Someone asks Tarrlok's opinion and he's surprised that they want his viewpoint, but then the person continues that they want his opinion only so that the Krew could proceed to do the opposite of it. (ZZZZZ kind of a mean joke I guess, and this exchange could be dropped. Also, my main reason for this question was because I'm curious about Tarrlok's view on triads and I'd honestly like to know. See the notes section for more discussion on that.)
-If there's a chance to make Lin and Tarrlok bicker a bit here or elsewhere, I would like to see that happen. They probably wouldn't like each other too much and they're both cranky about losing their bending, so it might be kind of amusing that they've gotta try to get along and work together now.
-Asami also mentions that the equalists are trying to keep it confidential and they haven't told it to the public, but Tarrlok is currently the most wanted on their list; not Korra. They have orders to stun him on sight, get him to Amon as soon as possible, and not engage in discussion with him. The others are kinda curious about this and Tarrlok's looking rather uneasy, but he brushes it off; it's because he's the only one who knows Amon's actual identity, and it's actually further proof that he's telling the truth. Amon wants to silence him because the information he has poses a risk to him.
-Asami leaves. But she doesn't get far; a couple of minutes later she bumps into Lieutenant and a couple of other equalists, plus some random guy. She asks what they're doing here. Lieutenant replies that the random guy lives nearby and he had given them a tip that the avatar had been hiding around here. Then Lieutenant asks what's Asami doing here.
-Asami comes up with a lie that she'd been investigating some hearsay about the same thing. Lieutenant says that's great, then they can go see the place together. Asami tries to tell she already checked out the location but didn't find anything. Lieutenant asks "are you absolutely sure? It's always possible there could've been a blind spot somewhere, and that they managed to hide. I think I want to still look into it personally. And if we do end up getting into a fight, I would be honored to finally fight by your side".
-Asami doesn't know what now; how to convince the guy go away, or how to give her friends a warning. Reluctantly, she agrees to come along.
-Korra and the others are still talking. Some of them think they should just leave the city already while others think they should stay and deal with the planes. Korra's torn; she feels like she has her avatar duties and she has a responsibility for the city, but she also remembers Tenzin's advice to wait for the United Forces to arrive. After getting into a couple of bad situations in the past, Korra feels like she probably should listen to Tenzin and avoid rushing into situations like she's done before. But she also realizes things are going badly in the city, and she feels the itch to fight back. She just can't decide whether she wants to wait or fight.
-Lieutenant's folks see them and attack: "There they are!". Korra and others are shocked to see Asami alongside them.
-Asami's trying to keep up a facade for the Lieutenant. She's trying to fight convincingly enough to keep him from suspecting, but she tries not to fight well enough to do any real damage to Korra & co, and she herself has to avoid getting hurt by her friends too. They're trying to ask her what is she doing, but she's trying to keep up the facade for Lieutenant and can't reassure her friends that she hasn't betrayed them.
-The fighting gets the characters separated. Lieutenant is fighting Korra but they're on some sort of unstable structure that collapses, and Korra ends up in a dark, hard-to-reach tunnel. Some heavy stuff piles up on top of the hole she fell through and Lieutenant can't reach her, plus he gets knocked out for a moment. Korra loses consciousness too. (ZZZZZ I really don't know how to make it work like this, but I want Korra to be separated from the others for plot reasons.)
-Asami is a bit further away in another location, fighting Bolin with a couple of other equalists. Bolin manages to deal with the other equalists and knock them out. Asami sees that they're alone for now and she can stop pretending. She tells Bolin she had no chance to do anything else back there.
-Mako gets done with his own fight, goes looking for the others, finds Bolin with Asami, and is about to attack in a protective brotherly rage. Bolin and Asami manage to talk him down though.
-They make very hasty plans and agree to maintain Asami's cover. She fakes being injured in the fight (possibly even causing some small injury that looks like it came from a fight with an earthbender?). They pretend that she lost against the brothers while the boys leave the location.
-Mako and Bolin find Lin, her metalbenders and Tarrlok. They're fighting a couple of enemies, but the brothers help them overpower the equalists.
-Mako: "where's Korra?" Nobody has seen her and nobody knows. There are no sounds of fighting anywhere nearby anymore. They shout for Korra for a while, but the sounds of the battle have made people aware of the fact that something's going on. More equalists are coming and they have to leave. Mako's particularly unhappy about that, and he wouldn't want to leave before finding Korra. But they're about to get outnumbered and they'll have to leave now.
-Cut to Korra. She wakes up. It's dark. She tries to call for others but nobody answers. Then she tries to earthbend but the tunnel's too unstable and she could risk collapsing the whole place and getting completely trapped. Maybe there's some flammable material and she can't firebend to get light, or the tunnel system is so complicated that having light doesn't help her to find a way out.

[commercial break]

-Korra's freaked out for a while, but then this happens: "I want to see more buildup to Korra's airbending. A quiet moment where we watch Korra "sense" the wind as it blows through her hair, tugs at her clothes, curls around her fingertips. A moment when air saves Korra; maybe she's trapped somewhere dark, underground, and can't earthbend because it's unstable. She feels a current of moving air and that leads her to safety. Basically, I want more buildup like that gorgeous moment when she made it through the spinning panels. I want her to develop an emotional connection with air."
-She gets out of the tunnel by finally finding some connection with air. It would be something similar to how getting trapped in a rapebox forced her to meditate, except getting trapped in a situation where she didn't dare to bend helped her focus on a current of air.
-After reaching the groundlevel, she celebrates for a moment about the fact that she feels like she finally found a small connection with air.
-However, soon after that it comes apparent that she's still close to the same location and it's still full of equalists examining the place for clues about the Krew.
-The Lieutenant is questioning Asami about her failure to catch anyone, but Asami has no trouble dodging the accusations since Lieutenant came empty-handed too. Also, Asami's story is that she got cornered and outnumbered by two benders, so it should be acceptable that she might lose in a situation like that. But then they notice Korra. Korra escapes and the equalists chase after her.
-Korra runs off in some maze-like area, trying to shake off the equalists. They're all splitting up into different directions, trying to find her. (ZZZZZ again, I have only a vague idea of what the location should be like, but can't decide how to make it work like that.)
-Korra runs into a dead end and is about to turn back the way she came when an equalist jumps in front of her. He manages to chi-block Korra and make her unable to bend for the time being. Before Korra manages to take this guy down by just punching him, he yells an alert and calls the others.
-Asami's happens to be the most nearby to Korra. She sees Korra's in a dead end, and she approaches Korra. Korra demands "what's the big idea?!". Asami's finally getting a moment alone with Korra and she whispers quickly "I'm sorry, I had no way to warn you and I had to keep my cover, we've gotta get you out of here right now before they reach us". She asks her if she can bend a quick hole into the wall or the ground to get out, but Korra tells in frustration that she got chi-blocked and can't bend for a moment
-Soon after they're done discussing that, Lieutenant arrives to the scene followed by a big bunch of equalist mooks. They're a bit further away, but both ladies are trapped now. Lieutenant yells "take her down, now!"
-The next conversation is whispered and the equalists are far enough that they can't hear it:
-Korra: "what do we do?"
-Asami: "I have a plan"
-Korra: "okay, go for it"
-Asami zaps Korra with the shock glove. The equalists are surprised and gleeful. They get Korra tied up and taken into a truck.
-Lieutenant approaches Asami. He says: "I'll have to be honest with you; I used to think you might be a spy and that you didn't truly believe in the revolution. But you did good there, and I apologize for ever doubting you."
-Asami looking disgusted and angry, but in an ambiguous way. Compare to how Snape had "revulsion and hatred" on his face when he was about to kill Dumbledore, but the reason for those emotions became clear only later.
-Cut to Lin and her men, the bending brothers, and Tarrlok. They don't know where Korra is and they're talking about what now. Hide and wait, or attack the factory they were talking about earlier. They're still being chased and they decide that it's only a matter of time until they get caught in the equalist-controlled city. So they decide they're going to at least try to make a difference and attack the factory that Asami marked on the map. Lin could have some inspirational speech to her metalbenders here, about how they're gonna try their best even if they don't have their bending anymore.
-However, Tarrlok says they're insane and he doesn't want any part in a plan like that. He just wants to get out of this mess alive. He splits up but the others don't really care; they never particularly liked him.
-Amon was having a big public event today at the pro-bending arena. It was meant to be a propaganda speech about how they've taken over the city, and how to spread the message of equality to the rest of the world next. But now that Korra happened to end up captured, the event is turned into a spectacle where everyone can come see as the avatar loses her bending.
-Korra is restrained in a way that prevents her from bending. A group of equalists are guarding her when Asami comes and asks if she could see the avatar. They say no. Asami says she was the one who captured the avatar in the first place. They still don't want to let her talk with Korra. Then she says she's Hiroshi Sato's daughter, and she asks the guards to tell her their names so she can report them to her father. This convinces the guards to let her see Korra. Asami says she wants to have a private talk and settle some old scores; they have some personal history. The equalists grudgingly let her and move a bit further away so they can't hear Asami and Korra talk, but they watch her alertly to see she's not doing anything.
-(ZZZZZ Important detail: Korra is still wearing the equalist disguise that she had been wearing early on in the episode. She never got a chance to change back to her normal clothes. And Asami's currently wearing identical equalist clothes because she's pretending to be an equalist. These details are needed for a later plot-point, unless if it's possible to come up with a way to get the girls out of the arena via some different means.)
-Korra's angry and goes like "great plan" and Asami's "I'm really sorry. I thought there were too many of them and it might be better if only one of us got captured instead of both, so I decided to maintain my cover."
-Korra's like "Is there anything we can do right now" and Asami says "I don't really know, things are pretty bad but I'll think of something"
-Korra gets taken up to Amon. Amon makes a speech of some sort about what he's going to do now.
-Like with LBZ, Amon allows Korra to be released so she gets a fighting chance. He's certain he can take Korra and he wants to show everyone how much superior he is.
-Korra's scared, but now that he meets the guy and is speaking in front of a huge bunch of people, she grabs her chance to inform the public. Instead of just fighting Amon, she accuses him of being a fake and a liar.
-Korra: "that story about being raised by a farmer and being scarred when your parents were killed is not true, you grew up in the Northern Water Tribe. Your father was the bloodbender and the mob boss Yakone, and you're a bloodbender too."
-Amon takes away his mask, and turns out he has scars.

[commercial break]

Korra is shocked by the reveal but tries to fake being confident: "Big deal, what do some scars prove?". Korra suggests the scars have got to be fake, or he might've gotten them in any other way. Just having scars doesn't mean he got them in the way he says he did.
-Amon whispers silently enough that nobody in the audience hears: "Prove it."
-Lieutenant is nearby though, and Korra's accusations made him feel uncomfortable and a little bit uncertain.
-Korra and Amon fight for a while.
-While they're fighting, Amon talks to her: "It is said that the avatar state is a defense mechanism that activates automatically and involuntarily when the avatar is in extreme peril. It is also said that the avatar is the bridge linking our material world to bending and spirituality. I have a theory that if one were to disconnect the avatar from their bending while they're in the avatar state, it would sever mankind's connection to bending. All the benders of the world would lose their bending. But that is merely my theory. What do you think? Care to put the theory to a test?"
-Korra loses the fight and she's about to lose her bending too. Amon waits.
-Korra is horrified and silent. She can't think of anything to say.
-Amon still waits. He wants her to enter avatar state so he can test his theory. And he would also find it acceptable if Korra enters the avatar state and he gets killed by an out-of-control avatar; he would become a martyr and the equalist movement would become something bigger than ever before. (ZZZZZ I don't know if he should express that death wish here, or somewhere else, or even at all. This was just an idea I thought about but I don't know if it's worth incorporating. Also, this is a popular fan theory I used here. During book 1, people thought Amon had some kind of big masterplan to remove bending from the whole world with a secret weapon. I'm using this fan theory as Amon's theory, but he can't test it because Korra simply can't reach avatar state.)
-Amon: "No avatar state? Nothing?"
-Amon: "You continue to disappoint to the end. Such an anti-climax."
-Amon puts his fingers on Korra and finally takes her bending
-Amon: "This is our enemy's icon, their hero. The era of bending is over."
-People cheer, some of them are shocked
-Korra devastated, tries a few bending punches but nothing happens
-Asami realizes she waited too long and she still hasn't come up with any good plans, so she just decides to abandon caution and break her cover. She zaps Lieutenant from behind with her glove and the crowd goes "oooh", then she keeps Amon at her glovepoint as she circles around towards Korra. Amon's not trying to approach them. The pro-bending arena is filled with equalists and he's certain the two ladies will get captured soon enough.
-Amon: "Do you really think you two are going to have any chance of an escape?"
-Hiroshi: "What are you doing, Asami?!"
-Asami: "I'm sorry, dad."
-Asami leaves the scene supporting Korra and walking backwards so she can keep an eye on Amon. The guy still hasn't bothered to move because he thinks their efforts are absolutely futile and it's kind of amusing to watch them try.
-After getting out of the arena section and into the corridors, the ladies start running. Korra's pretty much dead weight though, and Asami's struggling to keep them moving.
-The equalists are getting into positions on various exits and doorways of the arena, and Asami can hear and see them moving around some distance away. Then she hears movement from ahead of her too, realizing they're about get trapped soon. But suddenly she gets a stupidly obvious idea she hadn't thought of earlier.
-Cut to Mako, Bolin, Lin and ex-metalbenders. They're approaching the factory. In the series they ended up getting caught in kind of a jarring fashion; each of them just walking into an electrocution trap at the same time and very suddenly. It was pretty comical, so maybe they should get caught after a fight scene instead? If that happens, Mako and Lin should get some more screentime where they co-operate in combat. I just like the idea of a former police and a former criminal connecting [YYYYY: Lin and Mako growing a bond would also become useful later, and it might be part of the reason why Mako ended up becoming a cop by book 2.]
-Cut to arena; a large group of equalists are running in the corridors looking for the avatar, when they stumble on two other equalists. One equalist is leaning on the other.
-The equalist that still manages to stand says "the avatar and her friend attacked us. My friend was wounded badly. They went that way, hurry up!". The larger equalist group goes for the direction that was pointed.
-When they're gone, the other equalist whispers to the apparently-unconscious equalist "hang in there, Korra" (explanation just in case it's not clear enough; Asami put equalist masks on their faces offscreen, so that the women will look just like any other equalists)
-Asami and Korra manage to get out by using their equalist gear and redirecting the equalists to the wrong direction. They take Asami's car and drive away. Also, somewhere during this escape, there might be a good chance to use the equalist smoke grenades that didn't get to appear too much so far.
-They're safe for now, but Korra's getting worse. She moans about losing her bending for a while, then she hyperventilates and either faints or goes on some kind of coma-like state from shock.
-Cut to Amon and Hiroshi. They realize their men can't seem to find the girls, and it's very possible that they managed to escape. Hiroshi is absolutely shocked that Asami betrayed him like that. He's in denial and wants to believe that she was just not thinking clearly or something. Amon's upset that he underestimated the girls and didn't take them down while he could.
-Hiroshi demands that the planes must go out right now, instead of revealing them to the public later as was planned. They must fly over the city searching for the girls. They can cover ground faster than any other equipment they've got.
-A couple of the planes take off.
-Cut back to Mako, Bolin, Lin and ex-metalbenders in a fight scene. They see the planes flying and they're in awe; they've never seen anything like that, and they realize now how important it is to destroy these weapons.
-Asami's driving and looking at the planes too. She talks to herself like "waaait for it...", until finally the planes get damaged for no particular reason and fall down, smoking. Asami goes "yeah!"
-Hiroshi looking at the planes from further away with Amon. At first Hiroshi's shocked and surprised. Then he realizes it has to be sabotage, and finally he figures out that's why Asami wanted to look at those planes earlier. "She planned for this all along... she was never on our side. She chose those benders instead of her own father." Hiroshi's really freaking pissed off now.
-Cut to Mako, Bolin, Lin and ex-metalbenders. They end up losing their fight. They get knocked out and captured.
-Korra's in some dream-like state, maybe Spirit World, or hallucinating, or whatever. Either way, she's supposed to be in the back seat of a car but we see her in some kind of dark forest maybe. She's depressed, crying about losing her bending, and wondering if she's dead.
-Suddenly Aang is there beside her. Aang: "When we hit our lowest point, we are open to the greatest change."
-Korra is surprised: "I finally got in contact with you? Why did it have to happen now instead of earlier!"
-Aang talks about how she experienced loss and how that helped her connect with him. Now she'll have to face acceptance of loss so she can move on. Or something deep like that.
-Korra: "I'm such a loser I can't airbend, and now I can't bend anything else either. What kind of point is there to be an avatar who can't bend? Maybe I should just be gone so the avatar cycle can go on..."
-Korra gains advice from Aang: "Do not give up. You are more than just your bending"
-Aang: "All the non-benders are born without bending, they never know what it feels like to be a bender, yet they go on to live good lives. Are you saying their lives are worthless? That Asami or Pema are inferior to you?"
-Korra: "Noooo... but I was the avatar, they expect me to..."
-Aang: "You are still the avatar, and you can do anything you want to do. Being the avatar is also about setting the example and being a rolemodel for people. Be brave and don't give up"
-Aang helps Korra to find the inner strength to keep trying even without her powers
-If there's a possibility to show Aang's playful and light-hearted side here without making it feel like he's making fun of Korra's situation, that would be cool
-Aang: "Before you leave, there's something you must know." Aang gives her brief glimpses of flashbacks about Yakone's times. Korra gets to know their full meaning here but without their context, the audience doesn't.
-Korra wakes up from this dream/coma/hallucination/spirit world trip/whatever it was. She realizes she's nearby their old hideout place but some distance away, just in case any equalists would still be around. She's sitting in Asami's car with Asami. She had been worried and she's relieved Korra is awake now.
-Asami says she's sorry Korra lost her bending, and sorry she couldn't stop it from happening. She tells what's going on. "You've been out for ZZZZZ hours [think of some good number there that fits nicely]. I came back here to see if anyone might've returned after all the fighting is over, but there's just us now. We don't know where Lin, Tarrlok or the brothers are, or how they're doing. And my father found out the truth. I can't go back to him anymore."
-Asami, sad: "I really don't know what we should do now."
-Korra's first looking sad as well, then says with new determination: "We continue fighting."


EPISODE 11 NOTES:

-What would Tarrlok's opinion on the triads be, anyway? He wanted to take over the city like Yakone, but he felt that his father's method was flawed. Is he completely against organised crime and does he want to avoid any involvement with the triads? Does he think that was his father's main mistake? Or does Tarrlok believe that the mistake was that Yakone was purely a criminal and didn't butter up the local authorities? Does he believe that organised crime is fine, and his fucked up because he didn't put enough effort into maintaining connections with politicians? Basically, does Tarrlok think his father was too corrupted, or that he wasn't corrupted enough? Would he think in this AU that Korra should co-operate with the triads, or that she should avoid them? And if the Red Monsoons had approached Tarrlok at some point, would he be okay with it or very upset?
The answers to these questions would kinda affect how to handle Tarrlok's character here, but he didn't really address the triad issue in the series. His opinion is left vague and I just don't know.

-Lieutenant gets a subplot about suspecting Asami's loyalties and putting pressure on her. Lance Henriksen is cool but he got to speak way too rarely. Also, Lieutenant turning against Amon in the finale was one of the scenes with the most emotional impact. It might be nice if the guy had a little bit of characterization before that.

-Originally I was thinking of another way to get the girls out of the arena. In my earlier draft, the corridors were so full of equalists that the girls had no choice but to run off into a room nearby and end up trapped in there. But it happened to be the FF locker room. Since Asami is a big pro-bending fan and she's had VIP access to all the locations in the arena, she would have talked to people who knew the building inside and out. She had been told about a secret panel in the FF locker room, so she opens that and Korra & Asami manage to get out through it.
The nice thing about this would be that all the pro-bending shit would turn out useful and pay off a little bit here. The main reason I dropped it was because it required Korra to be a bit more lucid and ask how did Asami know about that panel even though Korra didn't, despite having been in that locker room so frequently.

-A checklist of equalist weaponry, just to keep track of everything that can be encountered or destroyed at some point:
*Shock gloves
*Stun sticks
*The rope things with weights that are used to tie up people's legs to trip them up
*Smoke grenades that cause greenish smoke
*Mecha-tanks (destroyed by Bolin and Naga in the series)
*Blimps (a couple of them taken down by Lin; the rest probably survived intact through the fights)
*Planes (destroyed by Iroh in the aerial battles, and by Asami using a mecha to tear apart the planes on the ground)
*Naval mines
The last one was relevant only for the United Forces ships, and I'm not sure if the mines require addressing in this AU. The Navy's not coming until a bit later, so the planes needed something else to make them relevant and give them an introduction.
Also, is there a way for some Krew member at some point to use a smokebomb against the equalists while trying to escape? Might be cool to use equalist weapons against the equalists. The rope things seem like using them would probably require some practice, so if a Krew member just grabs that stuff and tries to throw them, they should probably fail horribly.

-I thought it was a bit silly how the equalists had actually created a separate mask for the Aang statue. Originally I thought they had vandalized the statue by carving it and permanently changing its features. It was an emotionally powerful moment to see Aang's memory disrespected like that, and I was fairly disappointed when it turned out to be a separate piece that would just easily fall off. So in this version the Aang statue is altered in another way; just some rough paintjob to make it look like Amon, and the paint can be removed afterwards.
Zuko and Toph statues could be vandalized in a similar fashion as well. They were benders and important icons of the establishment as well, so I don't think the equalists liked them any better.

-This episode turned out a bit more Asami-centric than I intended, and she kinda steals the spotlight. That bugs me somewhat. Oh well.
Btw, if there are ways to make both Korra, the audience, and Asami herself uncertain about Asami's true loyalties, and if it's possible to keep the audience guessing until the moment she runs off with Korra, that'd be nice.
Maybe if Asami asks the equalists to let her talk with a captured Korra, but they won't allow her to do that? That would mean she doesn't get a chance to apologise or explain the reasons behind her actions. She gets to reassure Korra and the audience only right after she finally decides she can't delay breaking her cover any longer.




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Episode 12: Endgame
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-Korra changes from the equalist clothes back to her normal clothes. She wants to make her last stand against Amon as openly as possible. Asami thinks she's being suicidal.
-Asami: "I don't know how you expect us to fight, we don't really have the means to do it"
-Korra: "I wasn't ready to confront Amon before, but now I am." Asami's just in disbelief.
-Then Korra whistles really really loud; like ear-piercingly loud. Asami asks what's she doing, but Korra just smiles like wait and see.
-Cut to the factory. Bolin, Mako, Lin captured and they've been locked up. The ex-metalbenders are too, but they're in a different cell some way away from them. The equalists who captured them try to interrogate them
-One of them recognises the group and asks "You're that thug avatar's friends, aren't you?". He calls Lin a "pig" and the brothers "triad scum"
-The equalists brag that the cell is earthbender-proof, so don't try anything. Lin asks whether it's metalbender-proof too. The equalists say no, but it doesn't matter. They know that Lin and all the metalbender police have been targeted and de-bent by now, and they saw in the fight earlier that nobody in the group was metalbending anything.
-Cut to Korra and Asami. Turns out the whistle was Korra's method to call Naga. She's telling Asami to stay behind; this won't take long and Naga will be there to protect her, so she's not gonna end up in trouble. Asami thinks she's crazy but lets her do what she plans anyway.
-Naga runs off, carrying Korra.
-Everyone around Korra recognises her and the polarbear dog as they run through RC streets, and they're shocked she's just out in the open like that. Nobody tries to stop her though, because Naga's a fucking polarbear dog.
-Cut to Bolin, Mako and Lin at their cell. The equalists are arguing some distance away about what to do with their prisoners
-Some of the captors want to just kill the Krew and get it over with, but the other equalists argue it would be against Amon's agenda; he wants to keep the revolution as bloodless as possible. Plus there's the fact that one of them is the former police chief and two are apparently the avatar's friends, so Amon may want to deal with these people personally.
-Bolin's been trying to bend a way out but the equalists were speaking the truth; he can't bend their way out of here.
-Lin encourages Bolin to try to metalbend the lock on the door. She pushes and goads him like the drill instructor from Full Metal Jacket
-Bolin keeps trying but nothing's happening with the lock
-Cut to Korra. She arrives at Central City Station and Naga jumps towards Zuko's statue, raising Korra to its pedestal. Everyone's looking at her, confused and amazed. She speaks: "People of Republic City, I'm avatar Korra, and I want you to deliver an important message to the equalists: tell Amon that I want to meet him. Here, at Fire Lord Zuko's statue, in two hours. Everyone at the city is invited to see it as well. We're going to settle this once and for all. See you all tonight, if Amon's brave enough to show up and meet me for the final time."
-Naga jumps down and they run off again.
-Cut to Mako, Bolin, Lin. After some fierce effort, Bolin manages to pull off metalbending. He snaps the little lock and gets the group out of their cell.
-They go release the ex-metalbenders out of their cell too, and then they attack the equalists. (Lin and her men have been unarmed from their shock gloves and they don't have their bending. Until they find some better equalist weapons to use, they'll have to use chairs and anything else they can find as improvised weaponry)
-Cut to Korra and Naga running. They run into Tarrlok in a fashion that leaves it ambiguous whether it was a coincidence or if they were deliberately tracking him down. Korra and Tarrlok still don't like each other, but since being on the run alone has been pretty nerve-wracking for Tarrlok, he agrees to join Korra and climb on Naga.
-Cut to Mako, Bolin, Lin and ex-metalbenders at the factory. Their group is outnumbered and they've been cornered again. But at that moment the wall explodes; it's Shady Shin and a big group of people from other triads. They were aware of this factory as well, and this was the place where they planned to hit all along.
-Lin and his men are extremely unhappy and pissed off about fighting alongside these people. Still, they ended up rescued at the last minute and that's nice. So they're fighting the equalists and destroying all the planes and mecha-tanks they can find.
-Cut to Korra and Tarrlok; they're back with Asami again, in some spot where it's difficult for people to follow them.
-Asami is not too happy to see Tarrlok and says: "You were wrong, by the way. Amon isn't Yakone's son. He unmasked. He has the scars he's been telling about, and it looks like his story about his past is true."
-Tarrlok (shocked and somewhat concerned): "what?!"
-Asami suspects Tarrlok had been lying. Maybe he came up with a quick lie just to get himself out of the prison earlier, or maybe he still feels grudge towards Korra and wants to discredit her; maybe he wanted Korra to issue false accusations about Amon and make a fool out of herself in public.
-Tarrlok denies all this and looks even more mad than ever before. Korra says it's okay and tries to calm both of the others down.
-Tarrlok demands now he wants to be there when Korra goes see Amon. Asami doesn't trust the guy and she's reluctant, but Korra says she's okay with Tarrlok joining, and she feels like it might even be a good thing to do so.
-They decide it's time to leave. Korra tells Naga to stay behind; earlier she wanted to attract attention, but now she wants to leave as discreetly as possible. They grab some cloaks or other shit to hide their faces, and Asami drives the other two to the location.
-Cut to Mako, Bolin and Lin. They're about to attack a bunch of equalists when they overhear them shouting to each other about how the avatar's challenging Amon into a showdown. Mako attacks the equalist and demands more information. They find out that Korra is still alive but she's lost her bending, and now she's challenging Amon into a fight at the Central City Station despite the loss of her bending. Mako freaks out at this new information.
-Lin tells Mako to go after Korra. Most of the equalists in the factory have been beaten but there's still more weaponry to destroy, and Lin will be able to take care of the rest with her men.
-Mako's a bit worried they're gonna start in-fighting with the triad guys. Lin and Shin reluctantly agree on a temporary truce, but they're still glaring daggers at each other
-Mako and Bolin leave to look for Korra. Bolin decides to take a mecha-tank from the factory and ride it so they can move faster. There's probably not enough room inside the tank, so Mako just grabs onto it uncomfortably from the outside, sitting on top of it.

[commercial break]

-Cut to Central City Station. There are lots of curious people around, waiting for something big to happen, but equalist forces have formed a barricade around the plaza and they keep people a long distance away from the statue.
-Asami, Korra and Tarrlok are moving by foot now, amongst the citizens. They realize the equalists are barricading people from getting any closer to the statue. There's a big empty clearing around it, and they can't get closer to the statue without attracting attention. Asami tries to talk Korra out of this plan but she's still firm. They return back where they came from, Asami and Korra get back in the car, and they drive towards the statue honking the horn to get people out of the way. (Tarrlok stays behind and blends in with the citizens.)
-The car stops next to the statue. Korra hops out and uses the car as a jumping board for getting on top of the statue's pedestal. Asami is kind of distraught about Korra jumping on top of the car like that and potentially damaging it.
-Korra's about to speak to the people when one of the mecha-tanks breaks ranks and goes for them. Some of the equalists yell that they have orders to stand down until Amon gives the go-ahead, but the guy in the mecha doesn't listen. Hiroshi's been waiting for Korra so he could kill her for turning his daughter against him. Now that he sees Asami's here too, he just goes nuts and he wants to kill them both
-Hiroshi's about to smash Korra into a pulp with the mecha but Asami drives the car at the mecha, knocking it a bit, allowing Korra to dodge
-Hiroshi's completely mad and he goes for Asami next. Asami yells that she'll try to lead her father out of here. She drives away, wildly honking the horn to get the civilians out of her way. Hiroshi follows her on his mecha.
-Cut to an anxious Korra; she didn't expect that to happen and she's not too sure if her plan was good. Then she notices the equalists are moving closer towards the statue everywhere around her. As they break out of the barricade formation and approach Korra's position, the civilians try to take a chance and get closer too.
-Then Korra realizes that during all the commotion, Amon had reached the pedestal of the statue as well. She turns around and sees him on the opposite end of the statue's pedestal. (ZZZZZ how did he get up there, and how to do it in kind of a Batman fashion? Did he just climb, or was he somehow hiding there all along? Or maybe a blimp showed up and he descended down from it by using those ropes with small platforms; that seems like a dignified and cool way to get there.)
-Amon: "You have lost your bending. You have no chance against me. You should've run while you could. How do you intend to oppose me?"
-Korra: "I thought that you of all people should know that bending isn't everything."
-Amon doesn't say anything, but he's clearly angry
-Cut to Mako and Bolin on a mecha, approaching the Central City Station. A car chased by a mecha is coming from the station's direction and they nearly crash into them. The brothers realize that was Asami in her car and she's in trouble. Bolin wants to help her so he turns the mecha around to go help Asami, but Mako says he's still gotta find Korra. He jumps off and continues towards the station.
-Cut back to Korra and Amon at the statue. The equalists and the citizens are really close to the statue now.
-Korra addresses the people watching. She tells them that as everyone saw earlier, she's now brought down to a non-bender, so she hopes that even if they believe in Amon, they would listen to her now. She still asserts that Amon is a bloodbender; she says she has spoken to avatar Aang's spirit, and he confirmed it to her.
-The protestor guy yells that it's a nice story but they've only got her word on it, and she's clearly got to be lying.
-This provokes Tarrlok into action. He's been hiding in the audience so far, but now he yells that Korra is telling the truth and Amon is a liar
-When Tarrlok reveals himself, Amon appears shaken and kind of panicked for once. He shouts at the equalists to grab him, and they do. Once Tarrlok is caught, Amon yells at his men to shut him up. Some of them try but others are curious about what Tarrlok's saying and why is Amon acting so worried about this. Also, Tarrlok's putting up a fight and not making it easy.
-While struggling with the equalists, Tarrlok demands "what on earth did you do, and how could you do it to _me_?! How could you take my bending?"
-Protestor guy or some other random equalist nearby Tarrlok: "Because you're a powerhungry politician, duh"
-Tarrlok: "But he's my brother!"
-A shocked silence for a moment, then a lot of buzz about what the hell did he just say. However, Korra looks calm, like she expected this. Tarrlok's looking upset, angry and hurt
-Amon tries to dodge the topic and deny it. He demands again his equalists to gag Tarrlok and make him shut up, but they've now become as curious and shocked as everyone else, and they all want to hear more.
-Tarrlok keeps pushing Amon: "Why are you lying about your backstory and scars? Are you trying to scam the equalists? Are you trying to grab control of the city by manipulating them with lies about some utopian new world they believe in?"
-Someone demands that Tarrlok's just trying to shake everyone's faith in the revolution
-Tarrlok says that he's certain that Amon is his brother and Yakone's son. Yakone died long after Noatak had left the family. He was not murdered by a firebender, as Amon claims.
-Amon takes his mask off and yells: "I am not lying!"
-Tarrlok: "But Yakone was not a farmer! He was our father and you are my brother, Noatak!"
-Amon: "That man is not my father. He may be so by blood, but my real father died back in ZZZZZ" (come up with a backstory about how after leaving Yakone, Noatak was found and adopted by some cool guy, but then some firebender killed him and gave Amon his scars. This is one of the biggest backstory changes I wanted to do; that the scars and Amon's story were real, but he omitted some crucial details in order to paint his situation in a more favourable light. Also, give some kind of flashbacks about the events, and make Amon and Tarrlok speaking in voiceover as they discuss their pasts.)
-Amon: "The spirits _have_ spoken to me. I am here to rid the world of bending, and my past is irrelevant."
-Lieutenant has climbed up to the statue pedestal and says: "No, it's not."
-Cut to Asami. She's driving to escape and to lure Hiroshi away from civilians. She might also use the car like some kind of demolition derby thing against the mecha. Finally Hiroshi manages to catch her and partially wrecks the car. He's about to kill Asami, yelling about how she's betraying her mother's memory. Bolin arrives in his mecha just in time to rescue Asami. He goes all "Mister Sato, you are a terrible father" and Hiroshi gets defeated.
-Cut back to Korra, Amon, Tarrlok.
-Lieutenant feels betrayed by the reveal that Amon's a bender. He takes his goggles off and stomps them. Lieutenant: "I dedicated my life to you!"
-Amon: "And this means nothing! I've seen what benders can do, Yakone made me and Tarrlok bloodbend one another for practice and I know first-hand how terrible powers these people have. My faith in the revolution is absolute and I'm going to fight against benders as long as I live!"
-Lieutenant: "But you are still bender scum! And all this time, you lied to us!" He looks like he's about to attack Amon.
-Amon, frustrated: "Yes, I did leave out some details, but it was necessary. The system is broken and someone has to do something about it. Yakone managed to escape from captivity because of corruption, and the RC council was enforcing that same corruption. I have the power to stop them, and that's what I must do!"
-Tarrlok: "Hold on, you're blaming me? I'm trying to save the city from the inside, from men like our father!"
-Amon: "And you're not doing a good job at it!"
-Korra: "That's what Bolin said too!" (ZZZZZ originally Bolin was supposed to be here and say "that's what I said too!", calling back to ep 10, but I was unable to make him reach the location in time. I don't know if this line is stupid or funny. The repeat of the dialogue and the joke could be removed.)
-Mako's pushing his way through the crowd, then quickly jumps up into the statue pedestal to join Korra. Amon takes a fighting stance. Mako asks Korra "are you okay? I was told he took your bending" while glaring at Amon, placing himself protectively in front of Korra. Mako's about to engage in a fight with Amon. Korra grabs his arm and says she's fine and yes, she's lost her bending, but she doesn't want a fight right now; she wants to talk things out here
-Tarrlok, to Korra: "You want to talk with us? Do not butt in, this is none of your business. You have no perspective, and you have no idea what is going on here. You are a bystander and nothing more."
-Korra: "yeah yeah, I know you and me don't really like each other that much, but I think I should have a say in all this."
-Amon: "You're only a teenager. You should never have gained that kind of power, and none of what happens today should be yours to decide about"
-Korra: "Well, I guess it's nice that you two can at least agree on something, then"
-Korra: "Look, I don't know if I'm the best person to do this, but I'm the one who has to try, and I will"
-Korra: "I'm still the avatar and it's my task to bring balance into the world. Benders and non-benders have both done some good and some terrible things. There is good and bad in everyone."
-Korra: "Don't you see? You're both saying you're trying to do good to this city, but you're doing exactly what Yakone did! You are both terrorising these people!" (Korra points at bystanders) "The city's being wrecked and all the fighting is tearing families apart! Just look at Mister Sato. Or you two."
-Korra: "For the sake of the people of this city, just let it end. Nobody wants any more suffering."
-The equalists who got Tarrlok restrained are uncertain about what happens now, and they've released him at some point. Amon sees Lieutenant is still glaring at his direction. He realizes the mood of the crowd around them has been changing and people are turning against him. Some of them are cheering at Korra. Someone throws a rock at Amon and a bunch of the people have that look like they're preparing to attack him. In desperation and anger, he bloodbends Korra, maybe yelling something about how she ruined his victory. Mako attacks him in response, then he bloodbends Mako too. The crowds run off from the statue in fear.

[commercial break]

-Lieutenant is horrified to see what Amon can do. He finally gives into the urge to attack Amon. His attack causes both of them to get knocked down from the pedestal. Amon loses his bloodbending grip on Korra and Mako, and they fall to the groundlevel as well. Tarrlok yells "Noatak!" in reflex at seeing his brother in trouble, and he tackles Lieutenant. They fight for a while, but then Amon bloodbends Lieutenant and smashes him against the statue.
-Some people are running away, some approach Amon with the intention to attack him. Amon and Tarrlok look at each other, uncertain about how much they trust each other after all this. They're still brothers but a lot of bad things has happened between them. But then Amon grabs Tarrlok's hand and drags them both away, bloodbending everyone nearby them (both equalists and civilians, both neutrals and hostiles) so they get a clear path from out of the plaza
-Mako crawls to Korra to see if she's okay. Both of them are kinda weak though. They get sort of a cheesy nice Spider-Man 2 moment; random bystanders approach them, offer their hands and help them up
-Around them, the equalists are dealing with the situation. They see Korra and Mako, but they don't feel like fighting anymore. Amon's a lying bloodbender and he just indiscriminately bloodbent some civilians and even a bunch of his own while trying to get away. Lieutenant, his second-in-command, turned against him. Everyone saw Sato just trying to murder his own daughter like a madman. What now? They're taking their masks off, dropping their stun sticks on the ground, and just walking away. Civilians are looking on, confused.
-Korra's arm is hurt from the bloodbending or the fall. Mako hesitates for a while, then grabs his scarf and uses it as a first aid bandage. (after writing this, I suddenly thought "aw crap, Korra's a waterbender and she could just heal herself, I can't use this scene after all" but then I remembered "oh wait, forgot that she's currently de-bent and can't do that")
-Cut to Amon and Tarrlok about to escape on a boat. Amon's shaken but determined about his actions while Tarrlok's looking kinda hesitant and distant. Amon talks about how he's sorry he had to take Tarrlok's bending, and how fate brought them against each other. But now there's no one else left for them, and they should stick together.
-Amon: "We're going to get a new beginning somewhere, it'll be just like the good old days... brother"
-Tarrlok, depressed: "She was right. We're just repeating a cycle. Both of us swore to fix what our father had done, we swore to do good to this city, but we ended up becoming like him. Yakone started something and it's still continuing. There is no redemption for us. Just let it end."
-Tarrlok places a shock glove on the gas tank while Amon drops a single tear.
-Cut to Korra talking to Mako and a bunch of random citizens who want to help them: "Their boat's still on sight, we can still get to them if we're quick!"
-The boat explodes in the distance. Everyone watches, shocked and silent.
-It starts raining. The rain washes off the Amon mask paint from the Aang statue (see previous episode's beginning or its notes section)
-Bolin and Asami reach Korra and Mako. Everyone's relieved that all of them are still alive, and they do a grouphug to celebrate. They watch as the United Forces Navy finally approaches. Tenzin's flying ahead of the ships on Oogi, worried about the state of the city and everyone's well-being. (Bumi and/or Iroh might get a cameo here and Tenzin might express some frustration towards his brother)
-Korra greets Tenzin excitedly and informs him that there's probably still some fighting going on in more remote parts of the city; some equalists, triads, and Lin's men. But with the United Forces around, they should be able to get the situation under control.
-Cut to later. Korra, OWL and Tenzin hold a speech to the city about how to work for a better tomorrow and about how people were split in the city due to this conflict, and now they must be reunited. Also, they need to make changes in the city so benders and non-benders from all nations can co-operate better. The council and the avatar really failed the city, and they have to work to get back the trust and respect of everyone.
-Korra: "I don't know if the world doesn't need the avatar anymore, but I'll try to do my best helping you anyway, if you want to let me. Not as the avatar, but as Korra"
-Korra: "Even if Amon was a fraud, he still had a point about certain things. There are a lot of unhappy people in this city, and we need to listen to them more, so that we can make the city into a better place to live for everyone."
-A cheesy moment again; the mom and the kid who were seen at the non-bender protest in ep 7 are now watching this press conference. The kid tugs Korra's shirt and says something nice and cute that lets Korra know she's doing good.
-Cut to South Pole. Katara tries to heal Korra's bending but can't. Korra is sad, but not as sad as in the series. She says she wants to be alone for a while but smiles at the others to let them know it's okay, she's not doing anything rash. She leaves for a lonely spot. She sits down to meditate and manages to contact Aang.
-Korra thanks Aang for his help earlier. Then she asks if there's anything she can do about her loss of bending.
-Aang: "What Amon did to you is just an illusion."
-Korra: "What are you saying? I really can't bend anymore, I've already tried."
-Aang: "It's all about making a realization, gaining a moment of enlightenment, and finding yourself free to do the unknown. It's kind of like air scooters and metalbending..."
-Korra: "yeah, yeah, I remember Tenzin saying something like that"
-Aang: "...and now you've seen another example with bloodbending. People used to think that bloodbending is possible only during full moon, but Yakone and his sons opened their minds and they were capable of doing it at other times too. They simply had to realize the moon is always there, even when they couldn't see it. As long as they knew that, they were able to draw power from it, even outside of full moon. People who don't even consider trying the impossible will not succeed at it. Yakone and his sons tried the impossible. So did Toph Bei Fong when she discovered metalbending. And I hear my grandson Meelo has discovered new and unique forms of airbending as well. There will always be possibilities for those who are willing to see them." (if Aang mentions Meelo like that, there should be some fartbending scenes in some earlier episodes)
-Korra is thinking about Aang's words.
-Aang: "Look within you; Amon can't take your bending away from you. He can only hide it, but you are the avatar and he can't take your special connection away. The avatar state, the access to the spirit world and the four forms of bending are all irreversibly part of you, and nobody can truly take them away except for you yourself. Open your mind, Korra."
-Korra gets out of her meditation state and Aang disappears. Then she closes her eyes and concentrates hard.
-Korra opens her eyes. They're white and she's in the avatar state. She bends the three elements she's already familiar with.
-She gets out of the avatar state, then she talks to herself like "it's all about the realization, seeing the possibilities, and finding a moment where things just click...". She tries to calm herself down and feel the wind like in an earlier episode with the cave, and finally she airbends a little puff of wind. She does a fistpump and shouts "yes!"
-Mako's looking for Korra and sees her bend. He's amazed and happy. (ZZZZZ should there be a big Makorra kiss here, or should it be left for Book 2? If there's a kiss, who should initiate it? Korra, Mako, or both at the same time? Or should Mako approach her on that topic a bit earlier, to express the "I don't care if you can bend or not, I still love you" sentiment?)
-Cut to Korra, Lin, and a lot of the rest of the cast. Korra is nervous and says she's not sure if this is gonna work and it's just an idea she had after talking with Aang's spirit about things and whether it's possible to do some kind of modification of what Aang did to Yakone back in the past, but Lin says that yeah, let's just try it.
-Korra puts her fingers on Lin, goes to avatar state, and manages to give her bending back.
-Lin thanks Korra. Tenzin says he's proud of her.

+POSSIBLY, if it's revealed mid-development that the series gets more episodes, something like this could air at the end:
-Korra: "Thanks for all your help, Aang. But one thing still bothers me. How did Amon do what he did? How did he even learn that you can take people's bending away with bloodbending?"
-Aang: "The spirits hold the answers."
-Empty screen with the advertisement text: "Join Korra in Book 2: Spirits" or something.



EPISODE 12 NOTES:

-Where should Korra and Amon meet for their final encounter? I thought about using the pro-bending arena because that's where they fought in the episode, plus the location is important to Korra. But I had already used it in the previous episode and didn't want to reuse it. Then I thought about the city hall because of its symbolic meaning; it's where RC's leaders decided how to rule the city. I also thought about Aang Memorial Island because it's got a lot of importance for the audience. But that location and the airbender island had the same problem; they're too far away from the continent, and there isn't enough room for lots of bystanders to see Amon's defeat and spread the word of it. Amon's defeat has to be very public and absolute so that no sparks of the revolution will be left after he's gone. In the end I chose Central City Station and Zuko's statue because it's got a wide open area around it, so I can fit all the bystanders there.
The big problem is that according to some RC map, the location is in the inner city and further away from the sea, whereas the pro-bending arena was right there next to the water. It would take a bit longer time until the bloodbending brothers can get on a boat. Unless if we're bending the world map a bit and pretending that the station's location is slightly closer to the water? Or maybe just create some fitting area somewhere very close to the pro-bending arena and the docks?
The reason why proximity to the water is important: I'd like Amon to find a quick escape from the situation by reaching the water and using his waterbending in front of everyone, in some equally showy and desperate way as he did in the series. And even more importantly, I'd want Korra and the bystanders to never lose sight of Amon, Tarrlok and their boat; they should have absolute certainty that the explosion in the distance is Amon. ZZZZZ

-I like scenes where the protagonist and antagonist meet but the characters end up just talking rather than fighting, and they're both trying to verbally puncture holes into their opponents' self-confidence. I just find scenes like that more tense and meaningful than pure fight scenes. That's part of the reason why this episode outline ends with a climactic debate instead of an end fight. Plus, the whole story is about beating an abstract ideology, and the way to do it is by using the pen instead of the sword.

-ZZZZZ Aang gave Korra information about Amon's past in the previous episode's end, and Korra made a plan. She was hoping that taking Tarrlok with them to the statue would help uncover Amon's lies to the public. However, it might be fairly OOC for Korra to actually think and plan something, and especially if the plan involves manipulating other characters. She's not very clever and it's hard to see her doing stuff like that. I hope it's balanced out a bit by the fact that her plan wasn't foolproof and it could've gone pretty badly if her talks about bloodbending had been unable to goad Tarrlok into spilling the beans in front of everyone, or if Amon just sent his mooks there to capture Korra instead of showing up personally and engaging into a verbal debate?
...meh. It would probably be a lot more Korra-like if she just went for Tarrlok and angrily confronted him about the fact that he'd omitted some details about his relationship with Yakone and Amon. Or alternatively, Korra simply gathers her courage and goes meet Amon even though she has no masterplan. After talking with Aang, all she has is just this stubborn good feeling that things will work out. But fortunately she has dumb luck on her side, as she always does; Tarrlok arrives to watch the showdown on his own and happens to get provoked into speaking out.
I'd like some way to make Korra be actually prepared and ready for the final encounter with Amon, while still not revealing to the audience in advance that Tarrlok's the key here and everything depends on him. Over the course of the series, Korra should've learned that it's bad how she has a tendency to run into situations unprepared, and she should avoid doing that here. However, being an impatient meathead is still a big part of her, and her arguments against Amon should sound like dumb kid arguments. Her words should not be intelligent or sophisticated; they should be childish but truthful.

-ZZZZZ One idea I was originally playing with was that Amon and Korra meet again (possibly Tarrlok is with them too at this point) and they think they're alone. Tarrlok gets Amon talking about their pasts, but Lieutenant and some other equalists are actually secretly listening to them nearby, and even more bystanders appear as the scene continues.
I really don't know how to make the final encounter of Amon and Korra to work, and it would require a lot of reworking IMO. I want Korra to initiate the showdown and have at least some kind of plans for it, but she should not be as scheming/manipulative as she turned out to be in the draft you read.
If it's possible, it would also be nice if Amon has some kind of reason to think that Tarrlok has ended up dead at some point. That would make him think the information Tarrlok possesses is no longer a threat since he can't offer a testimony, and Korra would have no solid proof about her bloodbender accusations. So, Amon wouldn't be worried about the possibility of Korra having some kind of secret weapon against him, and he'd be willing to meet her.

-Not sure if it's a good idea that Aang simply showed Korra what happened with Yakone and his kids. It would be better if he could only show her his own memories instead of someone else's. It's been a while and I'm not totally sure, but I think that's how it worked in AtLA, when Aang was talking with Roku and such?

-Originally I intended for Asami to end up in the mecha-vs-mecha fight with her father, but things ended up going differently. The plan was all along to make Bolin use a Future Industries fork lift in an earlier episode and then apply that knowledge on commanding a mecha at a later point. He was supposed to abandon the mecha and Asami was meant to use (possibly the same) tank in the finale. But I couldn't find a way to make Asami reach a mecha at some point. I'm upset about this; I would really like to get the mecha-vs-mecha fight between the father and daughter.
Also, I wanted Asami to be using the same car throughout the series and expressing a lot of love and care for it, but then she would have to sacrifice it and use it for a fight scene, and it would end up getting wrecked somewhere close to the end.
I'd like a way to destroy Asami's car earlier, and then get her into a mecha in the finale, and finally have Bolin (possibly accompanied by Naga) intervene as Asami's about to get killed by her father. If there's a way to do these things, that would be nice. ZZZZZ

-Speaking of Naga, Korra just left her behind here. It might be nice if Naga gets to do something badass in the finale too. Is there a way to let her take down some mechas somewhere? Could Korra send her off to look for Mako, Bolin, Lin to see if they need any help, wherever they are?
Maybe Naga could go find Lin and her men. It bothers me a bit to leave them alone with the triads, especially since they're without their bending. Once they'll take care of the equalists, Lin and Shady Shin might find some kind of disagreement and end up fighting each other (for instance, the triads might want to steal some equalist weapons for themselves but Lin wouldn't want to let them). Naga being there to protect Lin's men might make things more equal, and she could probably help destroy the factory too. ZZZZZ

-My draft for this episode had a scene where Lieutenant was just sitting depressed and broken, some time after all the shit hit the fan. Some equalist mook would ask him what to do now, and he'd say that the revolution is dead. He'd stomp his equalist glasses at that point, and all the other equalists would be discouraged to continue with the movement.
Since it sort of looked like Lieutenant died in the actual series but it was a bit unclear, I didn't want to address his fate in this AU either. I wanted to keep it as ambiguous as it was in the series; Amon bloodbends him brutally and after that, he's not seen anymore.

-I was trying to fit a "V for Vendetta" or "I am Spartacus" scene where a group of equalist sympathisers are working as decoys and wearing Amon masks to protect their idol, and Korra wouldn't be certain which one's the real Amon until she heard and recognised Steve Blum's voice. The original plot outline was that random people were wearing the masks at the statue, right before the confrontation between Amon and Korra took place. Korra and Asami would realize that none of them is the real Amon. But some other citizens would attack the fake Amons until Korra climbed up to the statue pedestal, commanding them to stop.
I couldn't make it work though, so I cut it out.
Maybe some other episode could have room for a decoy Amon scene where Korra just attacks these random masked citizens until she realizes that it isn't helping at all, and you can't fight an ideology in that way? Maybe episode 3 could work. I cut a lot of scenes from the episode with the equalist rally, and there could be some room in there. ZZZZZ

-Korra got over her bending loss much quicker than in canon. That's kind of OOC. This is the biggest issue resulting from time constraints; I couldn't figure out how to make her lose her bending earlier without derailing the storyline too far away from canon. I'd want there to be at least one full episode between the loss and the reintroduction of her bending, so that she has a bit more time to deal with it until she's able to move on from it.

-Mako's scarf got a small subplot in this AU. It was showed that Mako cares about it and doesn't want to take it off, then he discussed its significance to Asami, and now he uses it as a bandage for Korra because even though he cares deeply about the scarf, he cares more about Korra. Back when book 1 was airing, I thought that's what they were setting up and that's why they told its backstory; so that Mako had to make a "scarf vs. love interest" decision at some point.

-Again, all Shady Shin scenes after the Revelation could be swapped with a de-bent LBZ. He has authority and experience at leading, and he might be able to do that better than Shin. I used Shin mostly because I wanted Mako to have some kind of personal connection with the rescued triad guy, and I thought he probably wouldn't be deep enough in the triads to have a connection like that with the big boss of TTT. But Republic City Hustle showed that LBZ operated more openly than I'd thought, and it's actually a possibility that him and Mako interacted in the past. ZZZZZ YYYYY

-When Korra is addressing the city after Amon's been defeated, it might be nice if all the nations stand there; water (Korra), fire (Mako), earth (Bolin), air (Tenzin), and Asami to represent non-benders.

-Lightning-bending is Mako's Chekov's gun, but I didn't really use it anywhere, outside of the part where Mako's working at Hiroshi's factory. If he can lightning-bend, it might be nice to give some moment where he gets to use that ability in a fight scene. Not necessarily here and against Amon, but at some point.

-ZZZZZ A lot of the Yakone stuff and Noatak/Tarrlok early lives is probably left kind of fuzzy in this edit since it's revealed later, out of order, and not in as much detail as in the series. That might seriously need some work on it. Also, I tried to think of ways to make foreshadowing references to Yakone and bloodbending in the earlier episodes, but a lot of those instances sounded rather clumsy and way too obvious.
I'm not totally sure how to let the audience know about the backstories without making the truth too obvious too early, or without resorting to tediously long exposition infodumps. Is there a way to sprinkle bits of information across the book until all the dots get connected at the finale two-parter?

-I wanted to let Korra have her bending at the end of the book, but keep the bending loss of Lin, Tahno, the council and everyone else permanent. I was planning that Korra gets to have her bending because of her unique avatar attributes, but there's no way to help the others and they'll just have to live like that from there on. It would feel like there's more permanent consequences that way, instead of just a cheap magic button that cancels out everything that happened.
I kept the show's original ending so that the episode outline sticks to the canon. But I would still prefer the rest of the cast to remain de-bent.

-The murder-suicide was a pretty neat scene, but I thought it felt somewhat out-of-place in LoK. It didn't feel like it fit the show's tone that well. But I still kept the scene because it was a key moment, and it was rather powerful.
The main part that bothered me about the boat scene was that the heroes of the story were not there to either contribute to the villain's final demise, or to at least witness it. It felt like there was no closure, and it was unsatisfying that Korra wasn't the one to take care of Amon once and for all.
The idea with my dialogue changes here was that Korra played a part after all. Her speech was the final straw that demoralised Tarrlok and pushed him over the edge. Also, even if the circumstances around the boat explosion will remain a mystery for the LoK cast, they saw it happen and they know for certain that Amon is dead now. It's over.

-The idea here is that Korra had already been pushed past her spiritual block and she reached Aang in the previous episode, and that's why she had no trouble doing it here. Not too sure if this works or if it raises the question "why can she meditate successfully now even though she couldn't do it before"? ZZZZZ

-I thought about giving Korra either the avatar state or airbending somewhat earlier and that she could use either of them against Amon in the finale. But in the end, I decided to give them all in the same batch after Korra talks with Aang. I switched the order a bit though; airbending is the last thing she gets instead of the first one.
In the series, Korra learned from Aang how to give a person's bending back. I removed that scene because it was a bit too much that Aang just solved everything for her, and I thought it was a bit weird to see Aang's spirit interacting with a living person like that. However, the removal of that scene makes it kind of problematic that Korra just comes up with the method to grant people bending, at the last minute and totally on her own. I tried to tie it into Aang's speech; they were talking about discovering new and unknown forms of bending, and it inspired Korra to think whether it's possible to reverse Aang's bending removal and give a person their bending back.
As I mentioned, I would really like to remove the ending scene with Lin and leave de-bent people the way they are, so that Amon would leave at least some kind of permanent mark on the city and its people. I just think it de-values Lin's sacrifice and makes it a bit meaningless in hindsight (especially in the actual series, where it turned out that she'd failed to save the airbenders after all).




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A couple more thoughts: Bigger story changes
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The episode synopsis you just read attempted to rewrite the 12 episodes of LoK into a more solid plot while still keeping as much of the characters and plot intact as possible. However, if we're allowed some more freedom in how much to change things, here are some suggestions:

-If we're having a story about a class struggle, and if our hero is on the side of the ruling establishment instead of the underdog rebellion, the plot should be in the format of JLU Cadmus arc. What I mean is, the heroes (Korra / The League) and villains (equalists / Cadmus) fight each other until a bigger evil rises (Tarrlok / Luthor). At that point, the two opposing sides will come to realise they have more in common than they thought, and they should team up against the evil that threatens them both. At the end they need to recognise that everyone made mistakes and went to the extremes, and they should find a satisfying balance/compromise from somewhere in between; the society needs a reformation so that both benders and non-benders will be happy. My main wish is that the series has a Mexican standoff between Korra, Amon and Tarrlok, and Korra has to choose to team up with one of them in order to take down the bigger bad.

-However, if having a class struggle is too challenging issue to tackle, then the villain should be more obviously evil; a hateful person who's ready to kill for what he believes in. The stakes need to be about survival instead of loss of superpowers, because the latter issue just isn't as meaningful from the viewpoint of the audience.
If the loss of superpowers is meant to feel intense, then that means the issue must be explored, and the series must show de-bent characters attempting to deal with their new situation. They can't be just shoved offscreen and made irrelevant as soon as they lose their bending.

-Amon's character and powers should be something more interesting, and a better explanation is needed. Almost anything else than the canon explanation goes. Maybe he could be a disgruntled airbending acolyte with some kind of grudge against Aang/Korra, or a non-bender who perfected chi-blocking techniques, or the embodied spirit of everyone who died in the 100-year war, or a "chi-sponge" who quite literally takes away bending from people and grabs it for himself to use, growing more and more powerful all the time. Just anything else than a secret bloodbender.

-Amon's method of removing people's bending could be flawed, and maybe it could do some kind of harm to either the body or the soul. If Amon knows this but doesn't care about it, it would be a nice way to paint him as a pure villain. But if he doesn't realize it and learning about it upsets him, then there's a chance for some kind of redemption and finding an understanding with Korra.

-If Amon and Tarrlok have to be brothers, it would make sense if their personalities were switched: Noatak's the weak softie while Tarrlok's the talented, cold one. Yakone's lessons become too much for Noatak and he escapes while Tarrlok stays and becomes dedicated to rule RC with an iron fist. Noatak tries to build a new life and a family of his own, but it's taken from him by some benders. He grows to hate his bender heritage, and he feels that bending has brought only pain into his life. He wants revenge, equality, and a world without bending. Maybe he even feels personal responsibility for brother's political movements in RC.

-Or even better, Tarrlok and Amon should not be brothers. Just two unrelated men on the opposing sides of a struggle. The focus and the core of the story should be with the conflict of benders vs. non-benders, instead of brother vs. brother and their daddy issues. The brother reveal was like straight out of some crappy soap opera.

-Adding to the previous comment, the backstory with Yakone and Gaang should not be included at all. In the series, the main conflict revolved around the brothers and their relationship with their father, while Korra was just a bystander to all the interesting shit that happened (which is why I included some lines where this was called out). Take out the Yakone subplot and Gaang flashbacks entirely, and you can concentrate better on Korra's struggle against the equalists.

-And yes, I'd be willing to cut almost all Gaang references. I was excited to see them back when the book was airing, but in hindsight, they're overshadowing Korra and the rest of the cast. I don't see a reason why for example Lin would have to piggyback on Toph's popularity and be her daughter, instead of being a completely independent OC with no relationships to Gaang. Lin's personality was sharp and defined enough to make her stand on her own. The only reason why her being Toph's kid might be nice is that it could make a comment about nepotism in RC. Also, it was useful for creating a bad first impression when Korra tried pulling a "don't you know who I am", and attempted to talk to Lin about the connection between Aang and Toph.

-Asami should be more normal and flawed. In the series, she's the daughter of a rich industrialist, good at self-defense, a talented racecar driver, extremely kind-hearted and forgiving, gorgeously beautiful, and always makes the morally right decision. In other words: way too special, awesome and perfect. Also, her viewpoint makes it harder to make a point about equalists and their message. As a non-bender, she should have some temptation towards equalists in order to drive some kind of conflict/drama, but she's too privileged to have any.

-Asami simply has no purpose in the plot outside of the love triangle. I want her to do something with the equalists but switch sides later on. Either she needs to be a non-bender who gets seduced by the equalist message, or she should be an equalist who eventually comes to realize that Amon is a scumbag and she can't support his actions. Asami having a personal connection with the Krew would make things more personal and interesting with the equalist subplot.
If Asami is too pure and can't have anything to do with the equalists at all, then she and her father are both pretty irrelevant, and I don't see why either of them would be needed at all. Cutting them out would give more time to flesh out Tarrlok, Amon, Mako, Bolin, or anybody else.
I liked the idea of Asami joining the equalists to spy on them, but I feel like she got to be a little too kickass at points here, and I would want to knock her down a bit. It would be preferrable to me if she was really tempted/torn by the equalist message, or if she really switched sides at some point.

-Bending loss is permanent for everyone else except Korra.

-If the book's ending can be changed: maybe it could be that Korra lost her bending in the finale and never gets it back here, but since she's the avatar, she has access to the avatar state. And when she's tapped into it and channelling the abilities of all the past avatars, she'd be capable of bending the elements. Book 2 would be about trying to fix her situation and grant her bending at other times too, and she'd require spirit guidance or something. It could involve discussion about chakras and mending Korra's forehead chakra. The stuff Amon did was something new and strange, so the way to fix it would have to be something new and strange too. It should not be about "re-learning" bending (wtf?) or unblocking the chakras.
The problem with this is that book 1 episodes had a lot of downer endings, and it would be nice if the book itself ended on a happy and uplifting note.



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A couple more thoughts, part 2: Book 2 ideas
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The idea of the write-up was to make book 1 work as a standalone story yet still leave the door open for the possibility of more books. Here's a list of themes and plot threads that could potentially happen in the next book:

-Korra and Tenzin will try to find the spirit that was in contact with Amon. It's a creature much like Heibai, except more malicious and willing to lie/deceive (which it might've done to Amon). It doesn't like RC, technology, or people losing their touch with spirituality. It loathes Korra because it thinks she's not a good avatar, and it dislikes Aang too because his long absence allowed much of the world to be ruined by a war. Plus, both avatars have allowed the world to change so much. The spirit hates all of the city except the park and the airbender island; they're the only parts where there's enough nature and respect for the spirituality of bending.
This spirit might also be the reason why Korra had so much trouble with the spiritual side of bending. The spirit was blocking her from accessing it until Korra experienced intense loss (getting de-bent) and selflessness (fighting for the citizens despite the loss of her bending), which finally managed to push her past the block.

-As Lin and Mako find a connection, Mako expresses a wish to join the police and Lin helps him out with that goal (now that the council's down and everyone sees they fucked up, Lin gets to become a well-respected police again).
Bolin finds Lin's personality too rough and he doesn't have the guts for police work. Even if he could theoretically become a metalbender cop, he's not interested. He goes for a pro-bending career instead.

-Mako uses his police work to go after his former associates, hunting down triads with the information he's got from working with them. Also, he tries to find the guy who killed his parents.

-What if Bolin cracks jokes as a coping mechanism? What if he dislikes Mako's attempts to protect and shelter him, and what if he has inferiority complex about it? I'm mostly thinking this because of an online character bio hinting at that sort of stuff. It could be brought up and discussed more in book 2. And if Mako was hunting down the guy who murdered their parents, the book could go more into the brothers' pasts too. Flashback episode?

-See earlier discussions about the idea that Korra didn't get her bending back during the finale, and in book 2, she'll have to find a way to mend her chakra or find some enlightenment that fixes the situation.

-After establishing everyone as friends, how about if something even worse than the equalists happens later on? Something that splits Asami and Korra on the opposing sides and forces them to fight each other? What if Asami turned out to become the final boss of the series? The audience could sympathise with both women and it could be really heartbreaking to see them as enemies like that.
Or another thought, now after seeing Korra interrogating a judge with a polarbear dog in book 2: how about if later books had Korra turning into a villain protagonist, and the rest of the Krew had to take her down?
The latter idea would probably be too heavy topic for a Western kids' cartoon to handle, though. And the idea of Asami becoming the end boss might be rather uncomfortable too.



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A couple more thoughts, part 3: Miscellaneous
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Random text snippets that I couldn't fit anywhere but wanted to mention anyway:

-Early during Book 1, people suggested that each episode would deal with unblocking a chakra. There would be themes of survival/fear (ep 4), pleasure/guilt (ep 5) and so on. The theory was cool but too complicated to make it work, so I didn't incorporate it.

-I'm curious about Amon's private life. What does he do on his sparetime? Does he spend all his days with the equalists, wearing his mask and make-up? Or does he walk in the city without his mask like any normal citizen? Where does he live, does he have a job, and so on? How frequently does he wear the make-up? Does he do it every time he wears the mask, just in case anyone demands to see the scars?

-According to online bios, Naga is the only tamed polarbear dog in the world history. That's a bit too special for my tastes. I can accept that tamed polarbear dogs would be rare, but it's weird if nobody before Korra had managed it. Absolutely nobody even tried? Are they so temperamental that you can't even handle a baby polarbear dog safely? Or if Korra managed to tame Naga mostly because of her avatar powers, why wouldn't there be some avatar before her who could try it? I could imagine for example Kuruk trying a challenge like that.

-Parent-killing firebenders. Now that Amon's story is true in this AU, this theme keeps popping up a bit too often.

-Bloodbending can do things nobody ever thought of. Is it possible to do more with bloodbending than just hurt people? Are there any potential medical uses that should be explored? When Katara made bloodbending illegal, was it a knee-jerk response?

-I wanted to fit a scene where Korra and her pals talk about avatar reincarnation. They'd ask whether Korra could access the memories of her past incarnations and get some airbending advice that way. After that they'd discuss reincarnation in general, and there would be some subtle hints about the Mako/Iroh connection (in case you live under a rock, Mako's name is a tribute to the deceased VA of Iroh). It would be implied that Mako is a reincarnation of Iroh from AtLA. At least the love of tea should be mentioned, and it could kinda hint at the idea of friendships transcending lifetimes, too. I mean, here's Toph's daughter, ending up in the company of Iroh's reincarnation and becoming friends with him, even though they had been on the opposing sides before.

-It might be nice to have a scene where Korra and Asami race to see which one's faster; Naga or Asami's car. Or Korra & Asami doing self-defense practice. Just friends doing friendship stuff together. Couldn't fit either of the scenes anywhere, so had to cut them out.

-Was the council elected or appointed? That would be important information. If they were elected by RC's citizens, at least the people got to say their word on it. But if they were appointed by the other nations, then yeah; the equalists would have more of a point.
If the council members were elected, Tarrlok could rub it in for Korra: "I was chosen by the people while you were not", or something.

-One idea on the topic of Asami and Mako: both seemed a bit too serious in book 1 and didn't get too many moments where they'll get to appear goofy and endearing to the audience. A lot of the AtLA cast had a silly side or some kind of moments where the show made jokes at their expense. So, try to think of more comic relief moments for Mako and Asami. Mako could get the fussy and over-protective "mama Mako" side that people were speculating about early in book 1, or he could be the comically serious straight-man. Meanwhile, Asami could geek out over cars and technology. Copy/pasting a post I liked:
"Make Asami more interesting. There are a lot of awesome ideas about how to do that in this thread, and I'll just expound a little on those. We know she likes racing and motor vehicles and what have you. All right. So have her die a little inside when Korra trashes an awesome car with her urban bending mishaps ("Do you realize what you've done?! That was a custom-built Thunderbolt Z-7!") It could even be an Equalist vehicle pursuing them! Have her make a car-related reference/joke/metaphor no one understands that falls flat, and mumble "I thought it was funny" to herself. Korra's got skills that are beyond her, so play up her skills that are beyond Korra - as a tinkerer, racer, forward-thinker, and so on."

-I liked the idea that Mako could be a slightly self-loathing firebender. His parents got killed by fire, and maybe he could be kind of unhappy about his element and very cautious about using it. Korra could help him find the joy and life of firebending. Meanwhile, Mako could teach Korra some restraint and calmness, helping her find firebending techniques that used to be too subtle for her "just punch everything" approach. It could maybe help with her airbending/spirituality lessons too.
Cut because I couldn't find a place where I could stick it in.

-When Lin made her comment about working outside the law, people wanted her to become the Blue Spirit or something, and a bit of a Batman-like superhero. I liked the idea but left it out anyway because it felt unnecessary. Also, I was trying to cut down on the Gaang fanservice, and I felt a Blue Spirit reference would count as that kind of stuff.

-How did Amon gain the power to remove people's bending? Did he learn from some person he met? Or did he examine some old scrolls to research ancient forgotten bending arts? Or did he come up with it on his own, by making horrific experiments on people? I'd like for book 2 to discuss the topic a bit, and I'd want it to tie into that book's own storyline as well.

-I wanted to use a scene where Hiroshi tries to talk to Asami, attempting to convince her to not be friends with Korra. The idea was that there could be a subplot where Korra and Asami have a big disagreement (Korra being jealous towards Asami because she thinks Asami's interested in Mako) and they would be arguing about something, and Hiroshi would try to take a chance to talk with Asami. He'd try to suggest that Korra doesn't seem like a good friend, or something. Hiroshi loved his daughter and wanted her to stay away from Korra because A) he hates all benders and especially the avatar and B) he knew the equalists would attack Korra sooner or later and he didn't want Asami to end up in the middle of it. So it makes sense for him to try to convince Asami to stay away from Korra. But Asami would get so pissed off about this talk that Hiroshi wouldn't want to try addressing the topic again.
Cut because all romance shenanigans were removed. The only place where this kind of scene sort of happens is right after Hiroshi finds out about Mako's past, but the discussion is more like an angry outburst instead of a calmly manipulative attempt to persuade Asami.

-Timeline. In some episodes of LoK we saw summer-like weather while others had snow. What's the timespan of the series? Are we talking days, weeks, months? Is the weather in the episodes any kind of indicator of the passing of the seasons, or does RC have a more fluctuating weather? Or maybe the book took place in autumn, and the weather kept alternating between summery days and wintery days? Also, how long timeskips are there between different episodes or certain scenes?
The one instance where I remember timeline being mentioned was Korra's comment in the finale two-parter: "It's so crazy. A few months ago I was in the South Pole practicing for my firebending test, and now I'm in the middle of an all-out war". Up until that line of dialogue, I had assumed the book had taken place inside the span of a few weeks at most.
Anyway, the timing was a bit unclear in the series, and it's kinda unclear in a lot of the episodes I wrote too. This might require more attention. ZZZZZ

-Two ideas I liked:
"1. Establish that Amon's "energy bending" is flawed and can lead to extreme illness, internal injuries, or even death in de-bent people sometime after the procedure is performed. For added bonus points, have Amon be aware of these side effects, but undeterred in his quest to de-bend the world. You've now established that Amon is willing to knowingly gamble with the health and lives of all benders for the sake of his cause; that's pretty monstrous." [This was written by someone before the finale reveal. Since Amon used bloodbending rather than the method that Aang used on Ozai or Yakone, making this idea work would be easy.]
"2. More of a plot-point scenario: have Amon kidnap one or several powerful healers from Republic City's hospital and de-bend them. With these abilities gone, several people waiting for treatment in the hospital (benders and non-benders, young and old, rich or poor) suffer and die. Have Amon react to this occurrence by saying something like "Sacrifices are to be expected on the path to equality". Once again, you've established that Amon is willing to let innocent people from all walks of life die due to his actions and that he finds this acceptable; now he's a viable threat." [The de-bending of some healers could be mentioned for example in the episode where Lin is at the hospital.]

-I wanted the characters to discuss something illegal at some point after Amon has taken over, and Lin would say "To hell with the law" or "it's not like the law matters in RC anymore". It would highlight how her attitude has changed after the beginning of the series. I couldn't think of a place where either of the lines would fit though.

-Try to think of scenes where bending forms can co-operate, like the rocks-in-the-water thing in the pro-bending match. It was so cool, and I'd like the Krew to mimic it and try doing more stuff like that.

-Tenzin seemed surprisingly eager to act like a "chicken little" in the series. Whenever any trouble happened, he was quick to declare that no bender is safe or that the city is at war. He wanted to cave in to the terrorists' demands and cancel the sport games, and in the end he ran off, leaving Korra & co behind.
I think the series wanted to portray him as the wise, lone voice of reason who tried to keep the city in peace and stop the conflict from escalating. But at times, I got this feeling like he was just extremely cowardly.

-Why did both Amon and Tarrlok end up in RC if they both wanted to abandon their father's legacy? And did Tarrlok's being a councilman affect Amon's decisions in any way? Did he choose to go for Republic City specifically because his brother was there and he felt responsibility about him being a shitty politician? Or did he go to RC regardless of Tarrlok? Did he ever think about revealing himself to Tarrlok and reuniting with his brother? Or was Tarrlok's career choice an unpleasant but in the end irrelevant obstacle for Amon? Did he believe in the revolution so devotedly that he just tried to ignore the fact that his brother happened to be on the opposite side of the issue? After imprisoning Tarrlok, why didn't Amon approach him until after everything was over? Did he not care about his brother anymore, or was he too scared to have a talk with him?

-What was Noatak doing after leaving his father but before becoming Amon? A lot of years passed and he must've had some kind of life to live in between that time. How did those years affect him, and did anything happen that pushed him into becoming Amon later? Or was Yakone's bloodbending the one and only influence for him?
These questions are part of the reason why I made both his scars and backstory real in this AU. But I'd still like to know more about the guy's life.