Legend of Korra: Operation Beifong Review

The Beifongs return in "Operation Beifong."

*Spoilers Ahead*

Yes! Toph is back! After her scenes earlier in the season with Korra, I never expected to see her again, but it was great for her to meet her daughters again, and it was especially awesome for her to team up with Lin and the others in a rescue mission. Bolin's reaction to Toph is one of the highlights of the episode in terms of humor, because he essentially expressed the fanbase's reaction to Toph. 

All of Toph's interaction, backstory, and character drama with Lin were easily the best part of the episode. After last season's Lin and Suyin drama being a highlight, the brief allusion to Toph's backstory was great. Continuing to be the mouthpiece of the fandom in the episode, Bolin asks the long awaited question: Who is Lin's father.... And the answer is..... Kanto, just a guy named Kanto. To my knowledge, he was never mentioned in anything Avatar related before, so he is really just a one-off name for the fans to write fanfic novels about, because you know that is going to happen. All Toph said about Kanto was, "Nice man, but it didn't really work out between us." It was not disappointing by any means, but at least we got something! 

Korra's short side-plot with the Spirits being unwilling to help the Republic City was a necessary plot point to further the story over on her end, although it was not all that interesting. 

Towards the later part of the episode, the action was definitely a strong point with some stunningly animated action sequences. Suyin's battle with Kuvira was superbly executed. Metalbending in general is just freaking awesome, but Suyin's elegant fighting-style is stunning to watch, especially her grabbing some metal and using it as armor. Conversely, Kuvira's style of bending is more visceral and aggressive, which fits perfectly with her militaristic personality.

Zhu Li turning out to be a double-agent is apparently not surprising for most of the fanbase, but I do wish she remained an antagonist. She had the motivation. Varrick was a jerk to her, and she was never overtly good either.

Lastly, after freeing her family, Toph returns to her swamp, because fighting wars is a young person's game. It would seem that this is the last that we are going to see of Toph, unfortunately. 

Overall: 8.7/10- "Operation Beifong" is a return to form for TLOK, being one of its best episodes in the last few weeks, thanks to the Beifong centered story, drama, and action.

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