Beginnings (and Korra, "The Revelation")

I woke up this morning at an ungodly hour to catch a train to Paris. My excitement to see my mother overpowering my grumpiness at having to get out of bed, I made it to Lille-Flandres with plenty of time to spare and ended up in Paris without incident. If I had thought ahead, I would have bought a train ticket directly to the airport to meet my mother, but instead I ended up having to take a regional train once I got to Paris-Nord. This was a crowded and uncomfortable experience, and my poor mother had to wait for me much longer than I was comfortable with, but we eventually found each other. Charles de Gaulle is one of the most confusing airports I've ever been to. It's a good thing I knew which terminal my mom was flying into, because her cell phone doesn't work in Europe and we had no way to get in contact with one another.

It was wonderful to see her. I've been looking forward to this trip for about two months now, and it's hard to believe it's actually happening. We didn't talk much at first, mostly because we had to take the packed regional train and then the Metro back into Paris and to our hotel, but after we dropped our things off, we had a nice lunch at a sandwich shop and just enjoyed being together. It was a reasonably nice day out; I regretted not taking my jacket with me from the hotel, but the sun occasionally made an appearance and the cold wasn't as noticeable as it has been recently. After lunch, we went up to our room, whereupon my mom promptly fell asleep for several hours, and I followed suit, waking up in time to watch the new Legend of Korra episode but not motivated to do much else. I fully expected my mom to be extremely jetlagged; I was basically a zombie when I first arrived in Europe, so frankly I'm impressed she managed to stay on her feet as long as she did. Around 6:30 we stepped out for dinner, and ended up eating at a vegetarian place called Aquarius I'd read good things about on TripAdvisor. We weren't disappointed; the food was tasty and the staff was very nice. Our server spoke some Spanish, so our meal ended up being a mishmash of my three languages (and my mom's two). My mom had expressed interest in seeing the Eiffel Tower, so we took the Metro out in that direction, but it was cold enough and the line was long enough that we decided to head back to our hotel without going up. We Skyped my dad and each took a shower, then watched some Spanish news on our TV. Museums tomorrow!

My mom at dinner

My dinner

Meanwhile, have some disjointed and spoilerific thoughts on the latest Korra episode:

•  I was initially bothered by the pacing of this episode, but I watched it again and found that I didn't mind so much. I am not a fan of the shortened opening credits, but I suppose I'd rather they use the extra time for storytelling then an opening sequence.
• Korra is already growing so much as a character. Not only have her pre-airbending skills improved drastically (look at her slide through those gates like a pro), but she's also learning to listen to people more. I like that she actually sat back and listened to Mako after he chastised her for criticizing him about working for the Triad back in the day.
• Speaking of which, Mako and Bolin used to run numbers for a gang when they were living on the streets. No big. Oh, and by the way? There are turf wars, extortion, and other mafia crimes in this show, which airs on Nickelodeon at 11 in the morning. 
• Mako's parents were killed in front of him when he was eight years old. So he's Batman, basically.
• Korra and Mako continue to be adorable together. The scene where they fell asleep on each other in the park, and then freaked out when they woke up and realized what had happened? Gah, so cute! I also loved it when she called him "City Boy," when Ikki and Jinora teased her about liking him, and when she grabbed his arm to "attract less attention" at the rally. Sure, Korra. (Just kiss him already!)
• Bolin is so funny and sweet. He's pretty naive, but I think it just makes him cuter. Pabu and the circus tricks? My heart can't handle it. I also love the obvious affection he and Mako have for each other. Aww, brotherly love.
• Mako, why are you so exceedingly attractive? I already had a big crush on Zuko, and now there's a new hot firebender with angst issues but who is secretly a huge dork? Mike and Bryan, what are you trying to do to me?
• So now for the important stuff: the revelation itself.
• Is Amon energybending? I'm not sure. I've seen some fairly convincing evidence that he's actually blocking the head chakra and just using his theatrics to make it look like energybending. Whatever he's doing, he's really scary, and already a much better villain than Ozai. Also, the stuff about the spirits giving him the power to remove bending, and his desire to basically replace Korra's role in the world? Chilling.
• I'm pretty sure he's lying about his backstory. I kind of want him to be a self-loathing bender, maybe even the firebender responsible for Mako and Bolin's parents' deaths. Wouldn't that be mindblowing; the mask comes off, and Mako recognizes who he really is? But I do find it interesting that, even if it's made up, his story is remarkably similar to Mako's.
• I had expected the Mako-and-Bolin-getting-electrocuted stuff to come up later on in the season, so I was surprised to see it so soon, but it's a relief to know they weren't too badly hurt.
• Korra needs to come up with another excuse for poking around forbidden places, because no one believes her when she says she's looking for a bathroom.
• I was glad to see Tenzin, even if just for a cameo. Glad to hear that Korra let him know where she was going, and he was okay with it, too.
• Characters that have been in every episode so far: Korra, Tenzin, Jinora, Ikki, and Naga. Missed seeing Meelo and Pema this time around!
• Can't wait for next week!