The Krew - Tumblr Posts
Give the Red Lotus more!
I know I made a post praising the fact that the Red Lotus had diverse personalities, but I think all fans could agree that they could’ve used more to differentiate themselves from Zaheer. Naturally, I have thoughts. The entire prison break scene just proves that P’li and Ming-Hua are ride-or-die besties, so why couldn’t that dynamic have been continued, huh, Bryke? Just a scene with P’li braiding Ming-Hua’s hair for her or teasing each other over something stupid or having a running gag with Ming-Hua, the tiniest of the group, giving the literal giant P’li piggyback rides, just because she can. I mean, if they had more moments like Ghazan’s “really? Right now?” Like, the BROTHER-SISTER DYNAMIC THAT COULD EXIST BETWEEN GHAZAN AND P’LI? I saw a creator talk about a who-can-be-more-destructive-in-battle competition between themn and like...
YES.
Like, hello, the banter during their fight scenes on the bridge getting out of Republic City or in Zaofu? Or even Ghazan gloating as he destroys the air temple with lava because he SO just won with that entire move.
Imagine a throwaway scene with P’li making too-spicy dinner and the others literally dying as she just peacefully eats and goes in for seconds. The badass Zaheer, sobbing in pain and begging Ming-Hua for the water she’s hogging for herself.
Also, I’d play up the bromance between Ghazan and Bolin a bit more, even it’s just Ghazan making a comment during their final fight that he’s sad he’s going to have to kill him.
During the stakeout fight, I’d have Ghazan and Ming-Hua sharing amused glances and snarky comments, make it explicitly obvious they’re just playing with the boys before they pummel them and Ghazan runs off to try and find Korra. They’re supposed to be “able to take down any bender,” and have had nine episodes to get back into bending after 13 years.
An idea that recently surfaced was that the red lotus should cause more conflicts within team avatar. Team Avatar’s been a little all over the place for the first two seasons, so having the red lotus so in sync with each other might motivate them to work on their own unity, and maybe help add to Mako coming back to the group and not being a weirdo about his breakups. That all just kind of disappeared as soon as they left. Hell, give them all internal conflicts surrounding anarchy! Have Korra struggling with her own doubts about the world needing an avatar and being raised by authorities--the white lotus--isolated in a compound. Have Mako struggling with being a cop when he’s reminded of how the authorities failed him and Bolin when they were on the streets, with Bolin coming to similar realizations. Even Asami, who faced discrimination as a nonbender, even if it was better because she’s rich and the Avatar’s bestie/gf. Have the red lotus leave lasting impressions on the characters. Plus, this kind of things would be great for team avatar to develop their friendships more, in a way a lot of LOK fans wish had happened.
I would show more foreshadowing to P’li’s backstory before it was revealed in enter the void. One thing I came up with was--and this is kind of reaching--Asami or Mako being reminded of their mothers, both of whom were dark-haired fire nation beauties. Maybe Asami’s mother was taller than average and fairly quiet, as well, and had some similar physical features to P’li, or maybe it was Mako. Let’s explore that trauma and its lasting impact on them! ATLA did it fantastically, and the LOK characters deserved at least some of that treatment. Maybe give one of them a brief moment alone and ask her why she’s doing these things, to which P’li’s only response is “you have no idea what people in power can do,” which we later learn is a reference to her own exploitation at the hands of a warlord. Hell, during her conversation with Zaheer in “enter the void,” maybe even add something about how she never wanted to kidnap an innocent girl, but will do it for the greater good, etc., or something that makes one of the mysteries of season 3 clearer: why would a girl who’d been kidnapped and exploited as a child be willing to do the same to another? I’d actually change the poisoning scene, having Korra knocked unconscious before they administer it, with one of them making a remark to the effect that P’li would only go through with the plan if this part of it were painless--even Zaheer yelling in their final fight that he doesn’t want to hurt her, or SOMETHING like that!
Some kind of will-they-or-won’t-they between Ming-Hua and Ghazan that has the other two rolling their eyes also wouldn’t hurt, fyi.
Red Lotus miniseries when?