"That lady is my hero."
[pre-finale]
So HJ2 was all "I am afraid to watch last week's ep because I was spoiled by tumblr for something very unhappy-making in it," and I was peeved at her for telling me this, because let's be honest: what conceivable development(s) in this show would even qualify as "very unhappy-making"? There are precisely two:
1.) LIN BEIFONG DIES
2.) LIN BEIFONG GETS HER BENDING TAKEN AWAY
So I knew that at least one of these was going to happen, and the knowledge turned all my anticipation into dread. CURSE YOUUUUU HJ2 j/k j/k ilu but never spoil me like that again.
Watching the ep I still howled "NOOOO NOT HER BENDING NOOOOOOOOO" at the applicable places. This particular tragedy--that of a genius rendered suddenly and irrevocably unable to do the thing s/he is a genius at--is a killer for me. This is not to say that geniuses rendered unable to perform their genius stop being worthwhile human beings or that they couldn't also turn out to be really good at some other thing, or find some equally rewarding activity/goal/path to give meaning to their life, blah blah silver lining blah, but I hope we are all agreed that taking away e.g. Yo-Yo Ma's power to play the cello would be a net loss for humanity.
Of course I'm reminded of Tehanu, and how outraged I was on first reading that book in 7th grade, because when Ged lost his power forever and had to learn to live without it, I could only see that as a terrible injustice. Now that I'm older and better versed in feminist theory lol I can see Le Guin's project: to revisit Earthsea from the perspective of the disempowered and unprivileged (and by extension to critique the convention of high fantasy then and now to ignore the perspectives of the unprivileged), to remind readers that people with power/privilege can gain in humanity and understanding when they lose their power/privilege. But Ged was already a humane person to begin with, you know?! And while I grok that loss of privilege can be v. educational for a dude at the apex of the social hierarchy, the loss of a great talent (one used for the benefit of humanity) is still heartbreaking.
Anyway. Which author was it who says she thinks of the worst thing she could do to her characters, and then does it? (Bujold?) Taking Ged's magery away was definitely the worst thing you could do to Ged, and taking Lin Beifong's bending away is the worst thing you could do to her. AND ALSO TO ME lol no but it particularly burns because how rare a creature is Lin Beifong?! I mean, we the viewers need our stone-cold metal-bending martial-arts badasses who are MIDDLE-AGED LADIES, because unlike male characters of superlative power, such characters are NOT a dime a dozen. We need our lady action heroes who wear full-body armor and tear up enemy dirigibles like it ain't no thing.
OTOH I've been hoping that the issue of privilege in Korra would be explored more interestingly and/or thoroughly than it has been--I mean, none of Our Bender Heroes have really bothered to interrogate their own privilege, or recognize that the equalists have a legitimate gripe re: the position of benders in their society. So maybe nonbender!Lin Beifong could become some kind of vehicle for that interrogation. Which could be a good thing. Nevertheless I am still shedding a million tears because what Lin Beifong could do with metalbending was amazing to watch and it was a joy to have her as an action hero and even if she was close to the top of the kyriarchy of her world I am kind of pissed that my precious middle-aged lady action hero's agency got taken away argh.
[post-finale]
LOL OKAY NEVER MIND NOW EVERYONE'S FINE, so much for interrogating privilege or depicting characters having to adjust to its loss lol.
That all happened really fast at the end, and objectively speaking the resolution was way too easy--but w/e, FEELS I HAS THEM, it was was gut-satisfying and thrilling to see Korra wield hitherto untapped massive cosmic power and restore Lin's bending. Lin kneeling LIKE A KNIGHTLY VASSAL TO HER LIEGE m-my heart. Also I kind of want to watch "I can airbend? I can airbend!" Korra splode Amon outta that building 100x forever.
EDIT: I should add that although I'd hoped this series would do some things it hasn't (yet), I've enjoyed it heaps and been entertained throughout. For once the shipping part was relatively insignificant to my enjoyment!! p.s. still waiting for perfect adorable underage uke girlfriend for Lin Beifong to appear.
Next up: Brave!
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