That Bolin has a lot of Nuktuk fans still about in the world. There’s a lot to dig into here from a production standpoint, that the Misty Palms Oasis is a hub for the spirits. This whole section accomplishes what the opening of the “The Terror Within” did in the previous episode, we start an important entry with some silliness to temper the mood before things take a serious turn for the worse. With the help of a shopkeep and the meddling of some spirits, the bending brothers are able to track Aiwei to an inn. To keep things from spiraling out with the local authorities Mako and Bolin don some (hilariously conspicuous) disguises to scope out the town.

Still the group winds their way to Misty Palms Oasis, and they locate Aiwei’s car. The first bar they step into has their faces slathered all over the walls in wanted posters, looks like the Earth Queen is serious about getting after Korra.

Team Avatar’s pursuit of Zaheer has lead them to the desert, and it turns out their presence isn’t really appreciated. For all it’s heightened stakes, this episode is another spry and fleet-footed entry in the season.

It’s quite heady, and while Korra and Zaheer chat takes up a large chunk of the episode, the writers once again do a smart job of undercutting expectations and flipping tension on its head.

Zaheer, and the Red Lotus writ large, are a kind of anarchist syndicate (we’ll circle around to this again in a second) a group bent on tearing down the fabric of organized society in the aim of returning to a more pure and chaotic state of living, one where pure freedom may live. In “The Stakeout,” another sterling entry in the season, we finally get an answer. Yes we know he wanted to end The Avatar and the White Lotus, but what drives these goals. What does Zaheer want? A simple question that has been motivating both our heroes and villains, there’s been moments of chaos and calamity as our characters come into contact with the Red Lotus (thank God I can right that now), but the MO has remained mostly elusive until now.

Long live the queen lets play