Cool episode but the whole Yakone thing makes me wonder about Republic City's justice system. They seemed to be going by witch trial logic when it came to bloodbending. Sokka had seen weird stuff before so Yakone must be a bloodbender? Sure, he actually was but the reasoning was way off. Hopefully, this will be picked up later because it's interesting to see such a massive crack in the justice system of the good guys.

It moved so fast that is seemed to last ten minutes. They definitely don't do a lot of annoying decompression in this show.

I thought it was kinda dull, to be honest. Compared to last week, this week just felt...not as exciting. Like, I thought this was finally going to be the week Korra reached the Avatar State, but no. The only real surprise was Tarrlok being Yakone's son, but I already knew that and just needed confirmation. I liked the flashbacks, but would have appreciated an actual spiritual connection.

I'm a little confused by the advertisement for Episodes 10/11 as a finale, since there are supposed to be 12 episodes in the first season. Maybe they're not skipping a week, with 10 airing next weekend and 11/12 being the finale? That's my hope anyway.

I gotta say, I'm really hoping Korra loses her bending in the finale, just to make things more interesting, but I'll leave that alone since it doesn't pertain to episode 9.

All in all, I liked this episode, but I didn't love it. It did make me like Amon more, though. I was really glad to see him; it's been a couple episodes since his last appearance.

First overall thought was that I was glad I actually got to watch this this morning since I'm typically at work and have to wait to see the show.

There were definitively a few cool moments in the show that I did really enjoy. I love how Lin Beifong bends the metalbender outfit on her that was really cool to see especially since I love that uniform.

While I did like having the flashback explained I for one was hoping that Aang would have done something like what Roku did for Aang. Personally I think that they are waiting until the finale to have Korra and Aang be able to talk to each other.

Personally the older voices of our beloved characters seemed to be hit or miss. Obviously since they are older they can't have their kid voices and obviously they couldn't have used the same voice actors to fake having an older voice. Toph's voice just seemed not right for her. While I do get that she is to be older and all I just feel like the people running the show could have picked a better voice for her since the voice seemed to....delicate/dainty/not rough enough for her personality.

Seeing Sokka in the council doesn't surprise me all that much with the leadership skills that he tried to have during the Eclipse and what not. Did love the boomerang reference would have been even funnier if he had it on him like an accessory or just somewhere near.

Also Aang's remark of being "40" seemed more like he should have said "140" to remind everyone that he was frozen for 100 years.

I really though have been enjoying the bloodbending stuff that has been going on since it was introduced so late in A:TLA and barely talked about. Not that surprised that others know how to do it. Really think about it, Katara had to have explained it sometime and most likely after the war she may have gone back to the North Pole for more training and/or to teach other waterbenders. My guess is she demonstrated what it looked like but did not teach them exactly how it works and then other waterbenders figured out how to do it after realizing that such a thing could be done.

Also it would have been too simple if Amon just went down like the others and it does raise a few more questions about him. Amon either has been a victim of bloodbending and/or trained himself to fight the control of it or maybe there is more about him with his powers and what not.

In regards to Hangetsu's comment, I think that it was mentioned that there was quite a bit of evidence, and that Sokka was responding to Yakone's lawyer's argument that the evidence must be wrong because bloodbending without a full moon is impossible. It was the lawyer engaging in the logical fallacy, if it was anyone.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Witch trial logic? They knew that Yakone was a Waterbender, and Sokka's logic about having seen "impossible" things happen with bending was applied to Yakone's Bloodbending outside the full moon, since he knew, probably from Katara, that before Korra, Waterbenders could only Bloodbend during a full moon.

Now my biggest question since this episode: did Amon resisting Tarrlok's Bloodbending mean that Yakone is Amon? Think about it. When Katara and Hama fought, Katara was only able to resist Hama's Bloodbending because she was a stronger Waterbender. Why would Amon be able to resist Tarrlok's bending if he wasn't a stronger Waterbender?

I absolutely loved this episode. I only wish they would have had more time between Korra, and Aang flashbacks. Speaking of Aang though, I personally think this shows that Kami's theory on Amon placing an illusion in people is spot on. We see that Aang took Tarlok's father's bending. He placed his hand on both chakras, and from there his bending was gone. Amon, however, still only places his thumb on the chakra located at the center of the forehead.

I felt bad for Asami at the end, but I really felt the "Confession" of the kiss was forced, and no real brother would rat on their brother like Bolin did. Morally wrong or not, a brother would not do that. He should have said, "You need to ask Mako".

Kinda glad Tarlok got his bending "taken" and this just shows that Amon is the top dog, and he is playing for keeps.

The voice actors for the characters, such as Sokka, and Aang, I really felt fit. Toph may be tough, and hardcore, but physically she is not rough. She's physically fit, but she's still a woman, and I felt her voice went well with her. Aang, and Sokka still had their cheerful attitudes about them, and that made me smile.

Did anyone else see the preview for the "season finale"? Really upset how it's come so fast, and that we have to wait for June 23.

Book 1 is too short... She only had wind to learn, and it looks like book 2 will be devoted to that...which is just kinda boring

Amon resisting the bloodbending was scary (or at least must have been). It would make sense that Amon is Yakone, but that makes him super old. Maybe Yakone was able to inherit chi/chakra-blocking ability from Aang taking his bloodbending. Again, we also see how Aang does energybending correctly with 2 points. However, we also see that the 'evil vs. good' 'redvsblue' glow thing doesn't happen this time (which I thought to be an energybending indicator).

It may also make sense if Amon's ability has something to do with 'taking' powers. If he (being Yakone or not) was able to take the bending powers of several strong waterbenders, perhaps he is able to overcome the bloodbending like Katara did back in the day.
I must also note that Amon took the 'corrupt' bender out of the council with this episode, theoretically he could achieve a just council with a non-bender member.


ALSO: Notice some very important things Aang showed Korra beyond the obvious:
1-If you can learn to master the Avatar state, it can release you from blood-bending.
2-for, what we can assume to be, only the second time ever he energybended someones bending away.
3-He specifically did that to Yakone (PERMANENT) who then had a son that had THE SAME ability.
3.5-If Yakone, who was bendless, can have a son with the same bending: Amon's plan is flawed. He can take this generation's benders, but they will produce bending offspring.
3.7331- If Aang had his energybending 'unlocked' by the giant Lion Turtle, it may be theoretically possible that Amon is somehow related and Aang passes down that bending 'gene'.

Well, not necessarily. You said it yourself Lykka, he had to have Tarlok BEFORE he was sentenced to his jail time. That being said, he had Tarlok BEFORE he got his bending taken away. We have no idea at this point if taking someones bending allows them to have bending children. The situation never arose, and probably won't (because I'm shipping Kami's theory now.)

hm... why do we assume that he had to have Tarlock before? Also: since Aang deemed it necessary to remove his bending, Yakone could be perceived as no longer a threat and didn't have a life sentence after all.
We shall see

If you take a murders arms away so they can't kill anyone anymore, does that excuse them of their previous crimes? Is that justice for the victims? Firelord Ozai was no longer a threat and he probably spent the rest of his life in prison for his crimes. He had to have Tarlok before he was sentenced because he was in Jail, and we have no idea if their system gives cons any conjugal rights. That being said, if he did have those rights, then it is possible that he had Tarlok afterward, but highly, highly unlikely.

How did Yakhone learn if it were illegal? More than likely the same way Hama did, by just practicing. They never needed a full moon, so practicing was never an issue. He is a waterbender too, and more than likely was taught that, and became a master while secretly training his bloodbending. Besides, Tarlock is probably Fiftyish, and his father was anywhere between thirty to fiftyish. If we go by the ages that everyone seems to have kids Thirtyfiveish area? Tarlok was anywhere between five to fifteen years old. Plenty of time BEFORE his father was arrested, and sentenced to train as we've seen younger kids than fifteen do some amazing stuff with bending.

That all said, it is still possible that heritage takes precedent over spirits. The spirits, from what I understand created the avatar but it was the humans that learned the four bending practices from the dragons, moon, moles, and bison. So you have to choose one or the other; Do the spirits choose who is a bender at birth, or is heritage and genes the deciding factor. I do not believe it can be both.

Edit: They at the top refers to Yakhone and Tarlok.