The much-awaited season two of "The Legend of Korra" has recently aired its first two episodes in the second book titled Spirits. Fans have waited one and a half years since the end of season one, wherein the eponymous character Korra restores the bending powers of those who had lost them. The first season had ended on a positive note; Korra ends up with Mako, one half of a mixed set of bending siblings, Bolin still gets to be Bolin (Why do comic relief characters have very little personal development happen to them, besides running gags?), Asami, who Mako left so surreptitiously for the Avatar (what does a super-wealthy, car-racing, weaponry expert va-va-voom bombshell have against an angsty avatar anyway?) puts her own father behind bars and rises up to manage  Future Industries.

Fans are no doubt looking forward to the romance between Korra and Mako, but what else has happened in the new season?

Korra, who can now access the Avatoar State at will, uses it mostly to win cheap games and races against little kids, has angrily switched trainers, from Tenzin who stil insists that she hasn't fully mastered airbanding yet and was about to take her on a tour of the Air Temples to learn about spirituality, to her mysterious Uncle Unalaq, who is the Tribal leader of the Northern Water Tribe. Unalaq constantly criticizes the Southern Water Tribe's lack of spirituality, which Korra's father (and Unalaq's older brother and later, as is revealed, rival) defends. Korra comes with Unalaq to unlock the portal to the Spirit World, after several angry dark spirits attempt to attack the populace.

Audiences are at first led into believing Uncle Unalaq's benevolence and wisdom, after being the only one who knows how to soothe the angry spirits and send them back home, but episode two ends with the gang overlooking a sea full of Norther Water Tribe warships moving closer and closer to the Southern Water Tribe's coast, with Unalaq hinting at a possible invasion.

Yikes.

What of the other characters? Bolin is still a Probender, but the Fire Ferrets (now with brand new team members) are back to square one and way past their former glory; he also tries to woo one of Korra's cousins, Eska (voiced by Aubrey Plaza). Asami, who develops new machinery for her father's company, hires Bolin as assistant to look for partners, as Future Industries is going bankrupt. Mako is now a member of the Polife Force, running down Triads on the streets on a very fast, very hot motorcycle. Tenzin and family (including his older siblings) continue on their voyage to visit air temples without Katara, and bookish little Jinora has a spiritual experience with the very first avatar, an airbender.

We are seeing family dynamics more than anything in this new season; we can only look forward to next week to see how the "invasion" plays out.