When Extremes Meet

"When Extremes Meet" is the eighth episode of season one of The Legend of Korra and the eighth of the overall series. It debuted on June 2, 2012 on Nickelodeon.

Overview
''After Saikhan's appointment as Chief of the Metalbending Police Force, Tarrlok's control over the city strongly increases. As Mako, Korra, Bolin, and Asami form the new Team Avatar, they get in the councilman's way, causing him to retaliate against them.''

Synopsis
Mako, Bolin, and Asami arrive at Air Temple Island on Tenzin's boat, where they are greeted by Korra, Ikki, Jinora, and Meelo. As the group is heading up to the temple, they learn that men and women reside in separate sections. Meelo notes that Asami is beautiful and asks for some of her hair. Mako then jokes that he has competition.

Meelo and Jinora show Mako and Bolin to their room, while Korra and Ikki show Asami to hers. On the way, Ikki blurts out to Asami that Korra likes Mako. Surprised by this, Korra freaks out as Asami remarks about this, visibly uncomfortable. Korra then slams the door on Ikki preventing her from entering, much to Ikki's dismay.

Asami comments that she likes the room, noting how charming it seems, and adding that there nothing to remind her of her father. When someone knocks on the door, Korra assumes it is Ikki and yells at her to leave. However, when Tenzin opens the door, Korra is visibly embarrassed. Tenzin greets them and does not take offense in Korra's actions. He then tells her that there is to be an official police chief election ceremony, and that they should attend.



As they arrive, they witness former Captain Saikhan assuming Lin Beifong's place as chief of the Metalbending Police Force. He announces that all information about the Equalists and their revolt will be directly passed down to Councilman Tarrlok. The startling revelation surprises both Tenzin and Korra.

Korra and Tenzin meet with Tarrlok to talk to him. The Councilman expresses his excitement and his wish for Korra to rejoin him and his task force now that the pro-bending season was over. Korra, however, strictly tells him that she has no intentions of doing so; furthermore, she had no need of his help, being the Avatar. Tarrlok, however, calls her a "half-baked Avatar in training" who cannot even airbend. Korra reacts with dejection to those words, as she believes herself to be a failure.

As she and Tenzin leave the ceremony on Oogi, Tenzin's sky bison, Korra asks her airbending master why she cannot airbend, despite already learning most of the forms. Tenzin tells her that Aang not only had his bending teachers but also the past Avatars to talk to. Korra then reveals her visions of Aang to Tenzin, who advises her to meditate on her visions.



After some time to herself, Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Pabu locate a crying Korra. The Avatar confesses to her friends that she feels alone and thinks she is "the worst Avatar ever". They encourage her by reminding her that even Aang had not mastered all four elements when he had been fighting the Fire Nation and that he had his friends by his side. Together they decide to patrol Republic City with Bolin calling them the new Team Avatar. After Naga's refusal to carry all four members, Asami decides to use one of her father's Satomobiles.

Using police scanners Hiroshi installed on the Satomobile, the team easily locates an Equalist group escaping, and captures them. When Tarrlok, his task force, and the police arrive, multiple reporters are already taking photographs of the team and their success.

Korra then mocks Tarrlok of his lateness, something the Councilman does not take well. The next day, he manipulates the Council into passing a law prohibiting anyone to join the Equalists and banning non-benders from the streets after a certain hour. Tenzin protests against the law, saying that it restricts the rights of the non-benders. Nevertheless, the rest of the Council goes ahead and votes in support.



As the new Team Avatar finds a supposed "Equalist rally", they discover that the Councilman actually had forced non-benders to live without electricity late at night. As the innocent people call for help reminding Korra that she is also their Avatar, Korra talks with Tarrlok, however, she is completely ignored; furthermore, Tarrlok starts arresting the people because of his belief that they were Equalists. As Korra opposes him, he arrests Asami, Mako, and Bolin. The Avatar lifts two huge slabs of earth at Tarrlok in protest, only for him to tell her that she will also be arrested if she carries out her attack. At Mako's urging, Korra drops the rocks and tells her friends that she will talk to Tenzin and resolve the entire issue as they are brought to jail.

As Tenzin arrives, he immediately sought the release of Korra's friends and other innocent non-benders saying that they are entitled to due process of law. Chief Saikhan directs him to Tarrlok, telling him that he is the one he would need to talk to resolve this issue. Korra states that Saikhan is the worst chief of police ever, and is backed up by Tenzin.

That very night, Korra takes Naga to City Hall, where she meets Tarrlok. The Councilman is keen to remind her that by intimidating him to cower to her will, she is doing exactly what the Equalists have been protesting against. Korra rejects the idea and retorts by saying that Tarrlok's oppression towards non-benders is similar to Amon's actions. At hearing this, Tarrlok lashes out at Korra and seeks to eliminate her from thwarting his plans. He uses waterbending to attack Korra and force her to the wall away from him. As being attacked with razor sharp icicles, she was unable to attack back. The Avatar eventually gained the upper hand by earthbending the fountain wall against Tarrlok, pushing him out of the room. He falls to the ground with Korra in pursuit.



With no available water to bend and with Korra about to firebend at him, Tarrlok resorts to bloodbending despite the absence of a full moon, claiming that there is a lot she does not know about him. With a swift motion, Tarrlok slams Korra into a building column and towers over her as she starts to black out. Korra then has another vision of Aang, Toph Beifong, and Sokka at the unknown individual's trial, who had been seen in previous visions. When Sokka appears to be incapacitated and in severe pain, Toph attempts to attack the individual with metalbending cables but is unable to. The vision quickly shifts to Aang, with several people behind him having their bodies being controlled by bloodbending. He reaches out with his hand toward the smirking man, but struggles to do so.

Tarrlok then ties Korra up in ropes and throws her in the back of a truck, telling her that he is taking her somewhere far away from Republic City, where she will never get in his way again. She is barely able to let out a breath of fire before Tarrlok shuts the door and starts driving toward parts unknown.

Credits

 * Written by:
 * Michael Dante DiMartino
 * Bryan Konietzko


 * Directed by:
 * Joaquim Dos Santos
 * Ki Hyun Ryu


 * Starring:
 * Janet Varney - Korra
 * David Faustino - Mako
 * P.J. Byrne - Bolin
 * J. K. Simmons - Tenzin
 * Seychelle Gabriel - Asami
 * Dee Bradley Baker:
 * Tarrlok
 * Pabu
 * Naga
 * Oogi


 * Also Starring:
 * Kiernan Shipka - Jinora
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes - Ikki
 * Logan Wells - Meelo
 * Richard Epcar - Captain Saikhan
 * AJ Gentile - Council page
 * Jeff Bennett - Radio broadcaster


 * Additional voices:
 * Janet Varney
 * J. K. Simmons
 * Dee Bradley Baker
 * Darcy Rose Byrnes
 * AJ Gentile
 * Jeff Bennett

Series continuity

 * Lin Beifong is recovering from the injuries she received during the Battle at the Equalist factory.
 * Shiro Shinobi returns to narrating the opening newsreel after being knocked-out by the electrified glove in "And the Winner Is...".
 * Asami uses the electrified glove given to her by her father in "The Aftermath".
 * Korra has her third known vision of the past, this time of Aang, Sokka, and Toph getting bloodbent.
 * Aang and Sokka were bloodbent for the second time, as shown in Korra's flashback. The first time was by Hama during the full moon in the episode, "The Puppetmaster".

Character revelations

 * Tarrlok is revealed to be a bloodbender, the third known user of the art in the franchise following Hama and Katara. He is also the first known bloodbender known to be able to perform it without the need of a full moon.
 * Saikhan is the new chief of the Metalbending Police Force, having been appointed by his predecessor, Chief Lin Beifong.

Goofs

 * When Asami hits two chi-blockers with the car and knocks them off their bikes, both chi-blockers are female. When they land on the car to fight the new "Team Avatar", one is a female and the other is a male.
 * When Korra earthbends the wall of Tarrlok's study, the waterfall flow is immediately interrupted at the side when the wall begins to flip. When Tarrlok notices that the wall is flipping, the waterfall flow is not interrupted until it almost hits him.
 * When Tarrlok states Korra is in his way, just after bloodbending her to the ground, his left arm is outstretched and pointing downwards, while his right arm is pulled back and almost parallel to the ground, just a bit downwards. In the next panel, his left arm is bent to his right side, across his chest, while his right arm makes an angle upwards.
 * On Air Temple Island right before the new Team Avatar place their hands in a pile, Bolin is seen with his hand on top, but in the next shot his hand is on the bottom of the pile, switching places with Asami.
 * When the new Team Avatar are listening to the police scanner and eating dumplings, the dumplings in Mako, Korra, and Asami's hands disappear in the next panel.
 * When Asami presents her electrified glove to the team, she is wearing her racing uniform. In the next scene where the new Team Avatar attempts to ride Naga, Asami is wearing her usual outfit, and when she gets up, she is wearing her racing uniform again. This phenomenon also occurs earlier in the episode, when the new Team Avatar is formed. Before the group unite their hands, Asami is wearing her racing uniform, while in the next shot, she is wearing her usual outfit.
 * When Korra gets in the back seat with Mako, she sat on the right side, but in the next panel, she is sitting on the left side.

Trivia

 * During Korra's vision after blacking out during her fight with Tarrlok, Toph can be seen metalbending cables toward an unknown individual. The Metalbending Police Force's uniforms from that time period appear to have the metal cables stored in circular canisters around the waist, as opposed to the wire spools on the back of the uniforms in present-day.
 * This is the first time that a character is seen bleeding in The Legend of Korra, this being when Tarrlok unleashes a barrage of icicles on Korra and she gets cut by a few of them. This is the third time a character has bled in the Avatar franchise.
 * A petroglyph depicting Tui and La encircling each other was present on the stone wall behind the waterfall in Tarrlok's office.