The Legend of Korra: "And the Winner Is..." Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode to follow.

In this week's episode of The Legend of Korra, s*** got real with Amon and the Equalist revolution. After announcing his plan of attack on the pro-bending championship, the Council had to formulate a strategic response. Unfortunately for them, they weren't the only ones invested. As we might have guessed, the decision to shut down the tournament didn't exactly sit well with Korra, Mako and Bolin -- and naturally, the trio had their own two cents on the matter. But it was Chief Lin Bei Fong who stepped in with the curveball in support the Avatar.

This was really the first time we'd heard from Toph's hard-edged daughter since the pilot, and her history with Tenzin proved to be very interesting. Lin and Tenzin's banter was really great here, as was Korra's coy pestering of Tenzin. It was nice getting some background on Lin, especially since we'd already seen some obvious tension earlier on in the series. It was also neat how their romantic backstory tied into Pema's account from last week.

Following last week's humdrum pro-bending match, I was bracing myself for more of the same during the championship. But I couldn't have been more wrong. This episode had some of the most creative pro-bending yet. Between the Wolfbats' dirty fighting and Korra's epic save with Mako, there were plenty of spectacles on the arena to keep things interesting. I also got a good laugh from Pabu's little dance number with Bolin at the start of the tournament.

- Nickelodeon

Even more awesome than the pro-bending, though, was the Equalists' surprise attack -- and it looks like the chi blockers have acquired a few new toys. (Anyone else think of Iron Man when they whipped out those repulsor gauntlets?) I've gotta say, it was really gratifying to see Amon's revolution and the pro-bending racket dovetailing in such a spectacular fashion. It's cool that these two storylines weren't completely separate after all. There were some great bits here as well. I got a big kick out of the pro-bending announcer narrating his own demise at the hands of a chi blocker.

But the absolute part of the episode was getting to see Lin and Korra fight side by side against the chi blockers. I loved watching Lin do her thing with those metal wrist-whips; when she first launched Korra through the arena ceiling, I literally got goosebumps. I honestly didn't think I would like her character as much as I did, but dammit, Lin had some killer moments. Not unlike her mother, I think Lin Bei Fong may soon become a fan favorite. Who knew she'd kick so much ass? (Now if only we had Tenzin there to lay down some airbending fury...)

Overall, I think this episode was one of the best yet. It had some fun interaction among the characters, a welcome infusion of comedy as well as some of the most jaw-dropping action we've seen on the show thus far. Plus, we even got a few more hints on Avatar Aang, and perhaps our first look at the mysterious Yakone -- although that's still up for debate. In any event, it's clear we're heading into some exciting territory. Where the first few episodes promised potential, "
And the Winner Is..." delivered results.


Source : http://tv.ign.com/articles/122/1224583p1.html

Fringe: Season Finale Review

Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.

The Fringe: Season 4 finale was fun and fulfilling, but it was far from flawless. If this had been the end of all things Fringe, it might not have been as satisfying. But as it stands this is just a transition point for a future we've already seen, and that casts the events of this story in a much more favorable light.

The opening minutes contain all sorts of interesting, mysterious nuggets to suck us into this episode. Bell's slick little hologram of a world without humans is an odd but compelling start. Then we have September getting stuck in a ground trap, which was a nifty idea, although the explanation as a "stasis rune" seems more like it would be at home in World of Warcraft than Fringe.

And Astrid's alive! It may have been unlikely that they'd kill her off (especially given her appearance in "Letters of Transit"), but the producers uncertain about the future of the series when they filmed the season finale, so it wasn't a far-fetched idea. But she's not dead, just bed-ridden, and Jasika Nicole does a great job of pulling at the heartstrings with an emotional scene full of tears and reddened eyes.

Then our girl Jessica Holt (Rebecca Mader) appears and shows her true colors as one of William Bell's pawns. Excitement abounds when she starts busting caps at September, finally giving him the wound he's had for the past few episodes and answering at least one mystery from this season. Too bad Jessica didn't get the memo that Olivia's gotten pretty good at killing bad guys with her superpowers.

Then Fringe does that thing they do fairly often... you know, talking to the dead. But I have to admit, this was the best of all the dead body interrogations. Crazy Eyes Jessica was a brilliant touch, and of all the scenes in the episode this is the one that's getting the most buzz on the Interwebs. It's strange and disconcerting, but in the best possible ways.

So that concludes my first gushing session for this episode. Now things get a little more critical, so gird your loins.

- FOX

In the past few weeks I've felt like Fringe has been getting a bit goofy/cheesy with its storytelling. The villains were becoming more comic bookish and less nuanced, and the dialogue has started to get stilted. That's still the case in this episode. Some of the lines border on extreme cheesiness, like "you had the power all along" from Nina. In fact, a lot of questionable lines came out Nina's mouth this week, although I still loved her role in setting up the chat with Crazy Eyes Jessica.

Then the climax arrives, and everything culminates with the showdown on Bell's ship. William Bell is there ranting and patting himself on the back as classic supervillains often do, and he's telling all the secrets of his master plan in long expository sessions so that there's only one logical conclusion: Olivia has to die.

So I wasn't really that surprised when Walter shot her.

That doesn't mean the events were any less entertaining. It was just that I was expecting it to happen since it seemed the only logical direction. I was still sitting on the edge of my seat when these events played out, but these great moments were still tinged with disappointment. Bell's reaction to the foiling of his carefully laid out plans is weak. There's barely any dejection at all. Bell's final moments in this story basically boil down to "Oh... Well, that sucks. Anyways, peace out!" Then he disappears in suitably convenient manner that seems like the equivalent of a puff of a smoke.

And for all this to pass the "suspension of disbelief" test, you have to assume that Bell, the mastermind that he is, wouldn't have considered that Peter or Walter or might have offed Olivia to save billions of lives. Hell, she might have even done it herself. It's just not airtight storytelling that holds up to scrutiny.


Leonard Nimoy Discusses Returning to Fringe


We didn't get the anticipated tie-in between William Bell's plans and the impending Observer invasion which, though predictable, would've been freaking awesome with the right execution. Instead, all these happenings were just the plan of a brilliant man gone insane and mad at the world. It's very cliche and seems like an inadequate end to a season that spent so much time building up complex plots, but it is saved by the gravitas of Leonard Nimoy and John Noble. Without them, this plot might have been laughable, at best.

Okay, let's go back to gushing now.

Once Olivia is "dead" Walter jumps into action and does what only he can do: save the day with genius. The tie-in to Walter's regenerative lemon cake was a nice touch, and the images of him having to do all sorts of gruesome impromptu surgery are charged with emotion and concern about the aftermath of all this craziness.

After all that, Walter is still just his usual self as we see at the end of the episode when he confuses urine samples for lemon jello. That was beautiful. Then the scene switches to a tender moment between Peter and Olivia. After the events of "Letters of Transit", it wasn't hard to figure out that Olivia's big news was a bun in the oven but it's still another nicely done tie-in that keeps things going flowing into next season. And that bullet that popped out of Olivia's brain is surely the same one we saw Henrietta wearing on her necklace.
Broyles getting promoted is a nice touch too, and adding Nina to the R&D division could make for some interesting moments later as well. Everything is coming together rather nicely.

Serving as a bridge for next season is ultimately the great success of this episode. It's entertaining TV, but it certainly wouldn't have been a great end to the series if it had come down to that. Questions that Fringe fans have been waiting for answers to forever (like the identity of Mr. X) were left untouched and Bell's final plan felt a little disappointing after all that build-up. But fortune and benevolent TV executives have smiled upon Fringe, and the show will have a chance to wrap up everything next year. We've seen a glimpse of what's to come, and this episode just helps to get us there.


Source : http://tv.ign.com/articles/122/1224617p1.html