Legend of Korra: Beginnings (Book 2 Episodes 7 & 8)

I don't usually do episode-by-episode reviews of my shows (to the extent I write reviews at all anymore).  And I have not been the biggest fan of Legend of Korra Book 2. But "Beginnings," the two-part episode from Book 2 of Legend of Korra about the origin of the Avatar, was just so amazing that I felt compelled to write about my love for it.  It single-handedly revived my interest in the show.  As my friend Reshad said, we fans have been craving this episode without knowing that we have been craving it.

A few things that have helped propel "Beginnings" [already] to the top of my favorite episodes of all time (from either Avatar: The Last Airbender or Legend of Korra):

(1) The story:  I loved that the Avatar was essentially born of human imperfection, and that the Avatar cycle is basically an eternal attempt at atonement.  Many hero stories stem from some sort of prophesy, where the hero is the "chosen one" who has to save humanity.  Here, Wan started out as just a regular guy -- a human that made a mistake of epic proportions by separating Raava and Vaatu.  He and Raava then developed this beautiful friendship/symbiosis in an attempt to right that wrong and bring balance to the world, ultimately bonding together to become the Avatar.  And though the Avatar locked Vaatu away during the Harmonic Convergence, he ultimately failed to bring peace to the world.  He failed, but his spirit continues onward, trying in each reincarnated lifetime to bring balance to the world.  That final scene with Wan dying on the battlefield has brought me to tears each time I've seen the episode (which, by now, is many times...).  It is beautiful.  It is poignant.  It is phenomenal storytelling.

(2) The art:  The ukiyo-e painting-inspired animation style was absolutely gorgeous.  The colors, the backgrounds, the character and spirit animation, the stylized bending . . . everything was amazingly beautiful.  The animation in that final battle between Wan and Vaatu gives me chills every time. 

(3) The music:  Oh gods, the music.  The callbacks to the A:TLA themes.  The EPIC-ness of it all. The FEELS.

(4) The mythos:  The Avatar universe has always captured my imagination.  "Beginnings" really just adds to it.  It explains Lion Turtles.  It explains how people got the ability to bend.  It explains how people learned to bend as an extension of themselves from the original benders.  (I've seen a lot of fans ask how the Lion Turtle mythos can be reconciled with what we learned in A:TLA -- that bending was acquired from the moon/dragons/bison/badger moles.  To me, "Beginnings" reconciled it perfectly:  Wan got the ability to toss fire from the Lion Turtle, but learned how to bend from the dragon.  Though . . . query how other people got bending after the Lion Turtles stopped giving it out . . . Whatever.)  It explains the spirit world and its separation from the material world and why the Avatar is the bridge between the two worlds.  It explains where the Avatar came from.  "Beginnings" added incredible richness to that Avatar universe fabric.

In sum, "Beginnings" was awesome.  I'm not sure yet that it's my absolute favorite of all time, but it is up there with "Avatar and the Firelord" and "Zuko Alone" and all the best episodes from A:TLA, for sure.