Long Live the Queen

"neutral"

- You think freedom is something that you can give or take on a whim. To your people, freedom is just as essential as air and without it there is no life. There is only darkness.

"Long Live the Queen" is the tenth episode of Book Three: Change of The Legend of Korra and the 36th of the overall series. It was released on Nick.com for online viewing on August 8, 2014.

Overview
''While en route to Ba Sing Se, Korra and Asami manage to escape from their cell, but their attempt to take control of the vessel results in the vessel crashing in the desert. After the airship gets completely destroyed, Asami engineers a sand-sailer out of crap metal and with Korra propelling the vehicle, the two girls and the four man crew make it out of the Si Wong Desert. Meanwhile in Ba Sing Se, Mako and Bolin are imprisoned while the Red Lotus strike a deal with Earth Queen Hou-Ting. However, she eventually ends up being killed by Zaheer, who subsequently had Ghazan take down the city's inner walls. He releases Mako and Bolin under the condition that they deliver a message to Korra.''

Synopsis


Leaving Fort Bosco, the Earth Queen's soldiers bring a thoroughly chained up Korra and Asami aboard an airship heading toward Ba Sing Se. Korra tries to persuade the soldiers to let her go, warning them that the Queen is in danger from the Red Lotus. However, her pleas fall on deaf ears as the captain deems her insane due to her talking about the Spirit World and terrorists. As the airship takes off, Korra, still in her straitjacket and muzzle, is chained to the wall. When Arik wants to chain Asami to the floor, she persuades him to chain her to the wall instead. He agrees to do so, reasoning that as long as she is tied up, there is nothing to worry about. After denying Korra's request for some water, the guard exits, leaving the girls wonder about the well-being of Mako and Bolin.



Meanwhile, the Red Lotus is driving toward Ba Sing Se with a bound up Mako and Bolin in the back. Mako assures them that they cannot be used for leverage over Korra. Although Ming-Hua tells him to be quiet, the firebender asks why they want Korra. After Ghazan brushes off the question with a generic answer that all they need to know is that the world will change for the better, Bolin wonders what it was like being in prison for thirteen years, imagining it to have been boring. The lavabender encloses that he occupied himself with renaming the constellations, while Ming-Hua reveals that she killed her time by making up stories about the guards. Intrigued, Bolin gives it a go and guesses that Ghazan was raised by an older sister, his mustache grew at the age of ten, and that he and Ming-Hua have "an unspoken attraction". After receiving a dirty look from the waterbender, an amused Ghazan lets him know that he got two out of three correct. Annoyed, Mako reminds Bolin they are the bad guys and implores him to stop being so friendly. Upon their imminent arrival at Ba Sing Se, Zaheer interrupts tells Ghazan to gag the brothers.

Credits
Written by:
 * Tim Hedrick

Directed by:
 * Melchior Zwyer

Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * David Faustino - Mako
 * Seychelle Gabriel - Asami
 * P. J. Byrne - Bolin
 * Henry Rollins - Zaheer
 * James Remar - Tonraq
 * Mindy Sterling - Beifong
 * Jeff Bennett:
 * Radio broadcaster
 * Prisoner
 * Co-Pilot
 * Jayne Taini - Queen Hou-Ting
 * Dee Bradley Baker:
 * Pabu
 * Naga
 * Camels

Also starring:
 * Mitchell Whitfield:
 * Gun
 * Engineer
 * Grey DeLisle-Griffin - Ming-Hua
 * Peter Giles - Ghazan
 * Kristy Wu - P'Li
 * Bruce Davison:
 * Lord Zuko
 * Guard
 * Keythe Farley:
 * Captain
 * Dai Li agent
 * David Kaufman - Arik
 * Gregg Binkley - Kong

Series continuity

 * The Cabbage Corp which was closed in "The Aftermath" was reopened later, and selling their products to the Earth Kingdom military.
 * Lin Beifong scoffingly thanked Korra for ditching her back in Zaofu, in "The Stakeout".
 * This is the second time freedom was use about being in Ba Sing Se. The first was in "City Of Walls and Secrets" when the Dai Li brainwashed Jet.
 * This is the second time Ba Sing Se fell, the first time being at the hands of Azula in "Crossroads of Destiny".

Trivia

 * This episode was leaked on August 7, 2014, making it the fifth episode to be leaked from Book Three: Change.
 * The person who leaked the episode did this under the name 'Zaheer for the people' on his tumblr-page. His message to the fandom is the same as the message Zaheer makes to the citizens of Ba Sing Se in this episode. He did however change some words like for example 'The Earth Queen' to 'Nickelodeon'.
 * This is the first time an airbender is seen killing in-scene.