... Asami was the only friend she had left at that point who had not failed her in some catastrophically demoralizing way, and frankly the time was right for a little Thelma and Louise "the hell with all these clowns" action.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I do not in any significant way disagree with this statement, mind you, but find it worth noting that Asami was desperately trying to keep Future Industries afloat at this time, and because Asami is responsible, diligent, and has a lot of daddy issues that need working out, she would be probably be reluctant to just chuck it all for a road trip.

Korra would need to trick her. :) "No, see, you can do business while we're gone! This will be a business trip."

(I'm firmly convinced this is the only reason they got her to the Glacial Spirits Festival. If Varrick isn't there for her to schmooze with, she stays home.)

>failed her in some catastrophically demoralizing way,

What'd Bolin do? :(

-Merc
Keep Rat

Well, sure; I was simply filling in relevant subtext.

>>failed her in some catastrophically demoralizing way,
>
>What'd Bolin do? :(

By that point it was more what he wasn't doing, which was basically anything useful. Or am I misremembering that he had by then mainly pissed off to be bestest buddies with the obvious sleazy war profiteer? Book 2 is all kind of a homogeneous blur of disappointment and frustration in my memory at this stage.

--G.
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Bolin was cutting anti-Northern propaganda films at the time. I mean, yeah, that counts as buddying up to Varrick, but Korra roundly approved of him making mock of Unalaq on the big screen. (As do we all, I think!) Korra approved so much, in fact, she left Naga with him so she could keep co-starring.

-Merc
Keep Rat

Right, so, not helping. I will concede that it wasn't completely clear yet to those on the scene just HOW unuseful he was being, but still.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Well, I mean... Bolin is a financially unsuccessful professional athlete with no formal education whose primary claims to fame are that he was willing to hurl himself headlong into situations he was completely unqualified to be in, and that he's friends with the Avatar.

When given a clear goal, he does great. He got into the counter-revolution against Amon as soon as it became clear that was necessary. When Korra was fomenting insurrection in the south, BAM, he was on that like white on rice.

If Korra had asked him to come to the Fire Nation with her, he'd have been okay with that. But, well, I mean... after fleeing the south pole, they return to Republic City. The Republic isn't at war with the Water Tribe, so he can't enlist and serve that way. Korra doesn't appear to need him to earthbend at anyone at that time, and a man's gotta eat. (He could probably sponge off Korra, but Bolin has pride and work ethic.) And hey, a southern partisan offers him a job sticking it to Unalaq. So he takes it. And Korra and Asami both seem to think he's doing a good job, something worth doing! So why stop?

He could be trying to help Korra with her international diplomacy, I guess, but Bolin knows even less about that kind of thing than Korra does. So he just... does how he does until someone asks him to mount up. That seems... reasonable to me? And useful? And not like he was "failing" Korra as a friend or an ally?

I dunno. Maybe it's just me.

-Merc
Keep Rat

N.B. This is not physically possible.

>So he just... does how he does until someone asks him to mount
>up. That seems... reasonable to me? And useful? And not like he was
>"failing" Korra as a friend or an ally?

Well, fair enough, I suppose. I mean, it was completely unhelpful, but more in terms of "the way this ended up being written, he was nowhere in sight at any time in which he might have been helpful between about episodes 5 and 12," rather than anything he actually decided to do, or even knew about, inside the story itself. Meta-failure, if you will. Then again, the same thing could also be said of Naga, and indeed Asami herself, inasmuch as what we are presently discussing did not in fact happen when it needed to, and that was certainly not her own fault.

--G.
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zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Oh! You meant it was a narrative failure, rather than a personal one on Bolin's (and others) parts.

Yes, on that score we are, indeed, in accord. There's an interesting plotline buried in that episode stretch vis-a-vis Varrick, who I love, but it did a grave disservice to everybody but Mako right up until the end.

Asami should have been the one to uncover Varrick's perfidy and wrest control of her company back from him, or at least publicly expose his shenanigans. Mako, and then Bolin, got to be proactive about things. That is good! Say what you will about Mako, but "unwillingness to act decisively" is not one of his faults. But it also isn't one of Asami's, which makes the constant robbing of her narrative agency... irksome. She was used so well in the first half of the season! Wheeling and dealing, doing what it took to save her company, and making time in her busy CEO schedule to also be an awesome pilot, participate in a jailbreak, and indulging in a little light vigilantism on the side.

And then she basically stands around being pretty for the back half. Don't get me wrong, I could look at Asami all day and all night, but... man.

-Merc
Keep Rat

In his case, yes. Actually, it's a pretty safe general assumption, unless I'm talking about Mako, Tenzin, Korra's parents, everybody in the Order of the White Lotus, or anyone who is in charge of any government or official agency of which Korra needs the cooperation, ever, in any capacity. (Although, from the right camera angle, that last item can also be taken to include "the production team" and, indeed, "Nickelodeon", and then we're back to where we started again. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

LIN
This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders. We should follow them.

ASAMI
Following's not really my style.

LIN
And you're all about style, aren't you.

ASAMI
Of the people in this room, which one is A, wearing a metal vest and B, not of use?

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

KORRA
Eska is a prisoner.

TENZIN
Then why do I feel like she's the only person on this boat that wants to be here?

--------------------------
CdrMike, Renegade Time Lord

The confrontation between Tony Stark and Loki at Stark Tower maps pretty satisfyingly into the "Asami actually does something" fantasy-baseball model, too, particularly the part where Unalaq says mockingly, "Oh? I thought my niece had wandered off," and Asami snaps back, "You're missing the point. There's no throne. There is no version of this where you come out on top."

--G.
"That's my secret, Jinora. I'm always angry."
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

UNALAQ
I won't touch Mako. Not until I make him kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every
way he knows you fear! And then he'll wake just long enough to see his good
work, and when he screams, I'll split his skull! This is my bargain, you mewling quim!

ASAMI
(faking it)
You're a monster.

UNALAQ
(laughs)
No, you brought the monster.

ASAMI
(turns back around; utterly poised)
So, Raava. That's your play.

UNALAQ
... what?

ASAMI
(ignoring him, on her earpiece)
Unalaq means to remove Raava. Keep Korra in the lab, I'm on my way. Send Jinora as well.

(ASAMI turns to UNALAQ)

ASAMI
(butter wouldn't melt in her mouth)
Thank you for your cooperation.

Yes, I'm aware that making Mako Hawkeye probably does him too much credit, but think about it. Hawkeye is the guy who spends the bulk of the movie the villains sock puppet, beating up his own friends and allies, until the very end, when he mostly spends his time plowing through mooks. And his big revenge shot is both mostly ineffective and entirely superfluous.

Sounds like Mako to me.

Also too: I may have already dropped this on these boards, but for those interested in such things, I present to you an excellent Avengers/LoK fusion story, right here. Nickel summary: Asami is Tony's new summer intern. Things proceed roughly as one would expect.

It's good times.

-Merc
Keep Rat

Heh, fair enough.

TENZIN
We need you to come in.

ASAMI
Are you kidding? I'm working.

TENZIN
This takes precedence.

ASAMI
I'm in the middle of an interrogation. This moron is giving me everything.

TARRLOK glances in puzzlement at his henchmen.

This exercise is never an exact map anyway. I mean, Unalaq's lines in the "I'm having a drink, you want one?" conversation, and above, imply that Korra's in the Hulk role, but when he says, "Are you ever not going to fall for that?", he's clearly talking to her, and for most of the giant set-piece battle and its aftermath she'd actually be Iron Man:

NAGA utters a thunderous roaring bark. KORRA opens her eyes and draws a deep, ragged breath.

KORRA
Uuuaahh! Wha! What the hell. What just happened?

She looks around dubiously, just moving her eyes.

KORRA
Please tell me nobody kissed me.

BOLIN
(wearily)
We won.

KORRA
(dazed)
Awright, hey! Good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just... take a day. Have you ever tried shwarma? There's a shwarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I wanna try it.

JINORA
(grimly)
We're not finished yet.

KORRA
(disappointed)
... and then shwarma after?

>And his big revenge shot is both mostly ineffective and
>entirely superfluous.

On a point of order: Hawkeye's exploding arrow trick is the reason Loki is there for the Hulk to pound the crap out of a moment later. That's neither ineffective nor superfluous, but in fact pretty much a clinic in how to maximize the Unglamorous Support role in an RPG adventuring team. :)

Bonus image, before we're quite finished mining this vein:

LIN
I recognize that the Council has made a decision. However, as it is a STUPID-ass decision, I've chosen to ignore it.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

--------------------------
CdrMike, Renegade Time Lord

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.