Legend Of Korra: Will It Bend!

[MLai]

Given how the writers like to play with the fans, I know fully expect an episode involving pirates and leaking.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

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Or perhaps the show is intentionally playing the genre-saavy's audiences expectations, making her look like the ""obviously evil" pretending to be a sweet girl" stereotype, when really she is just a sweet girl and when you find out that she is just a sweet girl, you'll all smack your heads at the obvious and curse yourself for not just using Occam's Razor.

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Errr... given her looks, and how quickly she has taken control of a main character, Occam's Razor as applied through TvTropes tells me that she is indeed evil, at the very least by association. I agree she seems nice and wish that the writers are subverting the stereotype. But unfortunately, in Korra so far, tropes are being played very straight. I will reserve judgement for now since she did not follow it up with any of the obvious outward signs of evilness (dark looks when Mako isn't watching her, hidden agendas, etc.) but still...

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Councilman Korlic/Korlak/whatever, on the other hand is so obviously friggin evil, that the only way he could become more so, is if he made and started walking around with a sign reading in capital letters: "HI. I'M A CORRUPT EMOTIONALLY MANIPULATIVE POLITICIAN, HOW MAY I MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE TODAY?"

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See, this guy, on the other hand,feels very real. The city is ruled by a five-men council. Of course the moment the Avatar isn't sitting in the council, there is going to be an internal fight to take over the political vacuum left behind. It is only natural that one of the members will step up by increasing personal power by giving themselves an army (or task force, in this case).

That situation is only related to the guy being evil - I mean, yes, of course the career politician with high ambition is the obvious choice to be the one heading the coup, but he needn't have been so obvious. That said, I still think there is about even chance he is Amon (said so a few pages back), and is whipping up the anti-bender revolution to create a crisis that allows him to take full control of the city. You can't become a dictator without a major crisis that pushes a council in that direction, and if there was a brewing discontentment with bending, a cynical bastard like Mr. South Water tribe council member would be all for it. About the only issue is how he learnt spiritbending when he is already a waterbender, but that's really an issue for every possible explanation of Amon, so it's not a big worry for now.

Regardless, I'm starting to get the feeling that even though she can bend all 3 elements, she's not a formidable combatant. Her techniques always default to basic whenever she gets stressed, so full of holes even non-benders can just wipe the floor with her.

Yet she did dispatch her instructors who are supposed to be good. Maybe it's just inexperience and nerves.

When she dispatched her sparring partners (notice it was never her instructors, who were always watching from the sidelines), it was an exercise, with clear rules. I think she's finding the real world, with all the ancillary concerns (like fear for her own life/bending/responsibilities as avatar/etc.) a much bigger weight to carry. They addressed it in episode 4, too, in the final scene. Maybe now she'll grow up a little - another way in which she is nothing like Aang, of course. He was ridiculously wise for a 12 year old. Korra is ridiculously childish (grr! smash!) for a 17(?) year old.

----

Also, is it just me, or Rich girl looks like 30?

Grey Wolf

[thubby]

Too boring

Also, how did a normal bloke learn Energybending?

avatar aside, great men are not born, they're made.
sokka was a "normal bloke" until he went and helped to save the freaking planet.

I'm assuming a young amon got into a conflict with aang from the flashback we saw.
either that or the likely near death experience of losing his face could have easily awakened him to the spirit world if he wasnt in tune with it already.
the information on how to do it exists in the material and likely spirit world.

on top of which, why can't he figured out how to do it on his own? i know it's not science, but facts exist and they tend to get figured out by everyone eventually.
calculus, as complicated as it is, was "invented" by 3 different people with no knowledge of one another.

[BRC]

I'm not sure Councilman Korlak, who me and my friends have decided sounds like he's constantly trying to sell you a car, has his eyes on a full-blown Coup. He thrives in the system far too much to want to destroy it.

Think about it, he, along with the Southern Water Tribe member, are the weakest members of the Council. Theoretically, they're all Equal, but the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom representatives have their nations right there with a sizeable population from both in the city, and Tenzin, while technically his "nation" is just his family, has the whole "Son of the guy who saved the world" thing.

He's also much younger than the rest of the Council. He probably just showed up, having replaced a retiring representative. He's a snake for sure, and is probably an antagonist who will try to have Korra imprisoned or jailed the moment she stops being useful, but I don't think he's actively working with Amon.


Or if he IS, both are intending to double-cross the other (Korlack will lose)

[Hiro Protagonest]

you're making a mighty number of assumptions there.
1) we don't know just how much he made from the energybending shtick. agreed, anything more than 0 is a bonus, but that doesn't mean he could actually live of it. he and his brother get free lodging in exchange for cleaning up and competing. for all we know, the money he got from energybending might not be enough to rent a place for himself and his brother.
2) we have no idea how "readily available" that job fuelling electricity actually is. For all we know he was subbing for the regular guy who was sick that day, and it may never happen again.
Given the 1920s setting, I feel confident equating the energy production job to a dockers job back then. these things were in the hands of the mob, highly sought after by scores of jobless people as a means to put together a few meals, but still not steady jobs and hardly enough to pay for anything more than a meal or two a day. Simply hard to come by on anything like a regular basis unless you're in with the foreman.
Equal amount of assumptions to yours, yes, granted.. but realistic.

We know there's unemployement, we know Mako had to run numbers for the mob just to survive on the streets. We know they took the first chance they got to get off the street and that chance was pro-bending. We know that they're indebted to the shady guy who runs the pro-bending. Most likely they can't just walk out on him without landing on the street again.
Quite simply, there's no way for you to tell that energybending at the powerplant would be a viable alternative to pro-bending, as far as sustaining oneself and one's little brother. In fact, for all we know it's a highly draining activity that can only be done for so many days in a row, and therefore has a high rotation and simply doesn't pay enough to make a living for 2 people....but is better than nothing, which is why it's a good extra income for someone who already has rent provided by other means.

...How far asleep were you when you wrote that?

But yeah, I was going to bring this up. Generating electricity made him "decent money". That's probably not enough to live on by itself.

[Fjolnir]

Though honestly the council seems to me to be a pretty good extension and justification for a bias towards bending.We have a 5 man council, and the only ones we have met for any period of time both bend and it wouldn't be surprising if at least one of the others bent as well which would put nonbenders in the minority at the leadership level of the city...

[Kobold-Bard]

Though honestly the council seems to me to be a pretty good extension and justification for a bias towards bending.We have a 5 man council, and the only ones we have met for any period of time both bend and it wouldn't be surprising if at least one of the others bent as well which would put nonbenders in the minority at the leadership level of the city...

Didn't Tarlok say that they were all Benders? I'm sure he said something to that effect during his rant about the task force.

[Ninjadeadbeard]

avatar aside, great men are not born, they're made.
sokka was a "normal bloke" until he went and helped to save the freaking planet.

Bending, be it Elemental or Energy based is something determined at birth, like eye or hair color. While a great man can be made, he can only work up to his potential if born with that potential. As awesome as Sokka was, he couldn't bend. Not even a little. Amon therefore must be a bender.

either that or the likely near death experience of losing his face could have easily awakened him to the spirit world if he wasnt in tune with it already.
the information on how to do it exists in the material and likely spirit world.

Oh right. I totally forgot all those times Zuko Energybent people's bending away during the last series after he got his face scarred with fire. Oh wait...

on top of which, why can't he figured out how to do it on his own? i know it's not science, but facts exist and they tend to get figured out by everyone eventually.
calculus, as complicated as it is, was "invented" by 3 different people with no knowledge of one another.

Bending is not science, nor is it mathematics. As I said, either you are born with it, or not. It is magic genetics. At best any normal person can Chi-block, but that doesn't require bending powers in the one doing the blocking. And we have never seen Chi-blocking perma-ban a Bender's power.

But yeah, I was going to bring this up. Generating electricity made him "decent money". That's probably not enough to live on by itself.

And they still needed to take out a loan from their landlord for food. A well-paying job it ain't.

[Dienekes]

That's a perfectly fair and reasonable stance to take, however I would make one caveat - if the person has no responsibilities (and makes no undue demands on society), then I'm all for them to keep chasing their dreams.

As soon as they get responsibilities, be it in the form of looking after family, supporting their city/country in a time of need etc, then I'm with you.

Ehh, if they continue with a hobby to the point of hindering people they're responsible for I stop feeling apathy to them and start hating their guts.

...How far asleep were you when you wrote that?

But yeah, I was going to bring this up. Generating electricity made him "decent money". That's probably not enough to live on by itself.

I live in a city, as I'm sure lots of you do. Mako was able to find a job, that paid "decent money" in what appears to be about a day or less. If he can pull that off he can find something. It might mean getting your hands dirty, and doing labor you don't want to, but you can definitely find something. Now the rather odd limits that dehro brings up aren't actually in the show. Someone got sick and they're controlled by the mobs, that is frankly completely pulled out of the air. The only evidence we are given to the ease of finding a job is that it is not very difficult at all. Until the show states otherwise that is what the base assumptions should be. Adding extraneous details with absolutely zero support in the show just makes the argument meaningless.

Speaking of, this is a growing city, Bolin can move stone with his mind. When they were thinking up jobs his first response should have been: I'll go see what if the construction sites have openings.
loan from their landlord for food. A well-paying job it ain't.

They did that with their winnings before they gained money from the electric mill. It's obvious that bending is the one that is not a well-paying job.

[BRC]

Well, remember that the Brothers are Pro-Benders, with the "Pro" standing for "Professional". Any long-term job they find needs to be flexible enough to give them time off for practice and games, and any work they do can' tire them out too much or they'll be unable to play. If Mako was just filling in at the power plant for a day, that's one thing, but imagine of Bolin went up to a construction company and said "Hey, I need a job, I'm an Earthbender, but I can't work too hard".

If they dropped out of Pro Bending they could probably find steady jobs, they're both skilled Benders after all, but here the question was if they could earn enough to get into the Championship, not if they could put food on their plates.

[Spacewolf]

Are you sure mako only did one day? It looked like he was coming out of the plant when he got hit by the scooter

[Reverent-One]

Blah, I forgot to set the DVR for Korra yesterday and missed it. Then found when it was supposed to replay today and set it to record that. But when I sit down and hit Play, what do I find recorded? Spongebob Squarepants.

#First world problems

[Morty]

Bending, be it Elemental or Energy based is something determined at birth, like eye or hair color. While a great man can be made, he can only work up to his potential if born with that potential. As awesome as Sokka was, he couldn't bend. Not even a little. Amon therefore must be a bender.

Says who? The origins and nature of Amon's ability are, to put it mildly, foggy. We can't rightly say what's possible or impossible here.

[t209]

I wonder we get to see Cabbage mobile getting destroyed, like the Cabbage merchant in Avatar.
Anyway, I wonder if the "good" guys will

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,especially the new task force, become more oppressive (Search and Seizure without permission), which would make the equalists more of a good guys. And Amon seems to think like David Xanatos (knowing that taking away her power will make her a martyr).

[Grey_Wolf_c]

I'm not sure Councilman Korlak, who me and my friends have decided sounds like he's constantly trying to sell you a car, has his eyes on a full-blown Coup. He thrives in the system far too much to want to destroy it.

A coup doesn't always destroy a political system. In fact, it seldom does. I'm thinking here the Roman Empire coup. They had a senate, that eventually became a puppet to the guys with the armies (Sila was the first to abuse the dictator position, but the famous one was, of course, Caesar). Whether or not Korlak is Amon, Korlak has been trying to gain the upper hand in the council - we know this because Tenzin said as much ("another of your..."). This is logical because, as I said, the Avatar used to sit in the council. Now, I'm sure that Aang didn't see him as the most powerful, and I'm sure he tried to have them all be equals*. But, at the end of the day, one of the council was much more powerful than the others. That must have shaped how the council worked. Korlak is just trying to take that position for himself, since no-one else will. Human beings are hierarchical by nature. We tend to like a single ruler with advisors more than a group of people that disagree.

And they still needed to take out a loan from their landlord for food. A well-paying job it ain't.

And yet when Mako comes back from his first day, he seems fairly happy. Which means, at the time, he though he would be able to make enough money to get them into the tournament, as well as feed them. It is only after he spends the day looking for his brother that the tune changes - possibly because he missed his next shift?

Grey Wolf

* As an aside, I suspect that Toph and maybe Katara sat on the council at the time, too: that would explain the metal bending cops, if Toph was put in charge of the police forces.

[thubby]

Bending, be it Elemental or Energy based is something determined at birth, like eye or hair color. While a great man can be made, he can only work up to his potential if born with that potential. As awesome as Sokka was, he couldn't bend. Not even a little. Amon therefore must be a bender.

we dont know energy bending is like the others.

Oh right. I totally forgot all those times Zuko Energybent people's bending away during the last series after he got his face scarred with fire. Oh wait...

zuko was struck with a deliberately cosmetic wound by one of the most skilled firebenders in the world as part of a practiced ritual.
bandit killing his family and going to town on his face, then likely leaving him to die is significantly different.

Bending is not science, nor is it mathematics. As I said, either you are born with it, or not. It is magic genetics. At best any normal person can Chi-block, but that doesn't require bending powers in the one doing the blocking. And we have never seen Chi-blocking perma-ban a Bender's power.

we know at least 5 people learned bending later in their lives.
as has been pointed out, there are problems assuming bending is genetic.

[endoperez]

Bending, be it Elemental or Energy based is something determined at birth, like eye or hair color. While a great man can be made, he can only work up to his potential if born with that potential. As awesome as Sokka was, he couldn't bend. Not even a little. Amon therefore must be a bender.

"But with the non-bender thing, it'd been said by Mike & Bryan that Sokka had potential to be a waterbender, he just never realized it. So maybe there are a few people that seem like non-benders, but they could actually be benders. Never know."
The source sucks, I'm trying to find the original.

edit: I can't find any actual interviews, just lots of "I heard somewhere"s and "I think Bryke said"s.

Also, regarding your example... Contrasting bending ability to eye and hair colors is an unfortunate example, since we already have Yue in the series. Her hair turned white after birth. It was a rare thing though, as it took a spirit's direct intervention. To get similar powers, Amon would have had to be chosen by spirits or something - and that's pretty much what he said in The Revelation.

[John Cribati]

we know at least 5 people learned various bending forms later in their lives.

Fixed that for you. We've never seen anyone (beyond the avatar) spontaneously gaining the ability to bend an element. That implies that you're born with the capacity to bend or you aren't, and if you have it, you either figure out that you have it, or you don't.

[Devonix]

Here's a thought. Perhaps Amon is telling the honest truth about everything. But perhaps the spirits that "showed him the way" were like Ko the face stealer trying to get revenge on the Avatar?

[BRC]

A coup doesn't always destroy a political system. In fact, it seldom does. I'm thinking here the Roman Empire coup. They had a senate, that eventually became a puppet to the guys with the armies (Sila was the first to abuse the dictator position, but the famous one was, of course, Caesar). Whether or not Korlak is Amon, Korlak has been trying to gain the upper hand in the council - we know this because Tenzin said as much ("another of your..."). This is logical because, as I said, the Avatar used to sit in the council. Now, I'm sure that Aang didn't see him as the most powerful, and I'm sure he tried to have them all be equals*. But, at the end of the day, one of the council was much more powerful than the others. That must have shaped how the council worked. Korlak is just trying to take that position for himself, since no-one else will. Human beings are hierarchical by nature. We tend to like a single ruler with advisors more than a group of people that disagree.

I wouldn't quite call that a Coup so much as just playing politics to win. With five, theoretically equal representatives sitting on the Council, political power is going to be in the hands of whomever has the most prestige.

Actually, come to think of it, I think the real prize here may be Korra. Once she comes of age, The Avatar is going to be a major political player in the city, ( I mean, they have a giant statue of the last one). Karlock seemed very eager to get Korra onto the task force, which is weird because from a tactical standpoint she's not worth it. She may be a powerful and versatile bender, but she's got no experience with police work, and you can get powerful benders without buying them cars and throwing them parties, ones who are less likely to compromise everything because they haven't been properly trained to fight as a team like chief Beifong's men have.

He gets a publicity boost for having Korra on his taskforce, but I think that's just a happy bonus. I think his real goal is to get Korra to trust him. Korra will be a big name whether she wants to or not, and she's got no head for politics. Once she trusts hi, it will be easy to turn her into a mouthpiece for his policies. Karlock tells Korra "Hey, call a press conference and propose the city do X", Korra, trusting Karlock to know what needs to be done, does so. Karlock submits the proposal to the Council and, since none of them want to be the ones to vote against The Avatar, it passes.

If anything, I think Karlock is going to a silent coup. Not a true overthrow of the system, he never acquires a title beyond Councilman, just one day everybody takes it for granted that he makes the decisions. If he's got a Puppet Avatar in his pocket, that just accelerates things.

But, in the end, I think Karlock is an opportunist. A clever one maybe, but an Opportunist none the less. I can't see him working with (or being) Amon. Karlock's victory is only complete when Amon is defeated and unmasked allowing Karlock to pose for the pictures as the Savior of the City. Karlock is predictable, I could see him being manipulated by Amon, but I can't see them working together.

[t209]

I wouldn't quite call that a Coup so much as just playing politics to win. With five, theoretically equal representatives sitting on the Council, political power is going to be in the hands of whomever has the most prestige.

Actually, come to think of it, I think the real prize here may be Korra. Once she comes of age, The Avatar is going to be a major political player in the city, ( I mean, they have a giant statue of the last one). Karlock seemed very eager to get Korra onto the task force, which is weird because from a tactical standpoint she's not worth it. She may be a powerful and versatile bender, but she's got no experience with police work, and you can get powerful benders without buying them cars and throwing them parties, ones who are less likely to compromise everything because they haven't been properly trained to fight as a team like chief Beifong's men have.

He gets a publicity boost for having Korra on his taskforce, but I think that's just a happy bonus. I think his real goal is to get Korra to trust him. Korra will be a big name whether she wants to or not, and she's got no head for politics. Once she trusts hi, it will be easy to turn her into a mouthpiece for his policies. Karlock tells Korra "Hey, call a press conference and propose the city do X", Korra, trusting Karlock to know what needs to be done, does so. Karlock submits the proposal to the Council and, since none of them want to be the ones to vote against The Avatar, it passes.

If anything, I think Karlock is going to a silent coup. Not a true overthrow of the system, he never acquires a title beyond Councilman, just one day everybody takes it for granted that he makes the decisions. If he's got a Puppet Avatar in his pocket, that just accelerates things.

But, in the end, I think Karlock is an opportunist. A clever one maybe, but an Opportunist none the less. I can't see him working with (or being) Amon. Karlock's victory is only complete when Amon is defeated and unmasked allowing Karlock to pose for the pictures as the Savior of the City. Karlock is predictable, I could see him being manipulated by Amon, but I can't see them working together.

I was going to talk about it but I am afraid I don't want it to become political on using the term "Military Industrial Complex"

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with Sato Mobiles.

[thubby]

Fixed that for you. We've never seen anyone (beyond the avatar) spontaneously gaining the ability to bend an element. That implies that you're born with the capacity to bend or you aren't, and if you have it, you either figure out that you have it, or you don't.

so you're arguing the first people to bend their elements (of which there were at least 5, 1 for each element and we know the first earth benders were a couple) carried the capacity for an ability that isn't genetic, and just so happened to try imitating things associated with their element?

...Koh is a spirit who was around before the first avatar came to be. He is one of the wisest beings in existence, and to him, a human lifespan is only a few days. If Aang made him angry, it would be like being stung by bees.

i dont think he meant ko specifically. i seriously doubt he's the only ancient spirit lurking about.

and humans are known to wipe out entire nests for the inconvenience and discomfort bee stings present.
ko is amoral at best, and immortal beings like him arent always mature.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Here's a thought. Perhaps Amon is telling the honest truth about everything. But perhaps the spirits that "showed him the way" were like Ko the face stealer trying to get revenge on the Avatar?

...Koh is a spirit who was around before the first avatar came to be. He is one of the wisest beings in existence, and to him, a human lifespan is only a few days. If Aang made him angry, it would be like being stung by bees.

[John Cribati]

...Koh is a spirit who was around before the first avatar came to be. He is one of the wisest beings in existence, and to him, a human lifespan is only a few days. If Aang made him angry, it would be like being stung by bees.

Avatar Kuruk tried to kill Koh on several occasions, and he's still okay with Aang. Koh holds no grudges.

[Devonix]

Yeah I was just using Koh as an example of a spirit, remember Koh took the face of a previous Avatar's wife which caused him to go on his vengance hunt. There is presedence of spirits targeting Avatar's or other things going on in the human world.

Hell the thing with Amon could just be some game that's being played.

[Soras Teva Gee]

I wouldn't quite call that a Coup so much as just playing politics to win. With five, theoretically equal representatives sitting on the Council, political power is going to be in the hands of whomever has the most prestige.

Actually, come to think of it, I think the real prize here may be Korra. Once she comes of age, The Avatar is going to be a major political player in the city, ( I mean, they have a giant statue of the last one). Karlock seemed very eager to get Korra onto the task force, which is weird because from a tactical standpoint she's not worth it. She may be a powerful and versatile bender, but she's got no experience with police work, and you can get powerful benders without buying them cars and throwing them parties, ones who are less likely to compromise everything because they haven't been properly trained to fight as a team like chief Beifong's men have.

He gets a publicity boost for having Korra on his taskforce, but I think that's just a happy bonus. I think his real goal is to get Korra to trust him. Korra will be a big name whether she wants to or not, and she's got no head for politics. Once she trusts hi, it will be easy to turn her into a mouthpiece for his policies. Karlock tells Korra "Hey, call a press conference and propose the city do X", Korra, trusting Karlock to know what needs to be done, does so. Karlock submits the proposal to the Council and, since none of them want to be the ones to vote against The Avatar, it passes.

If anything, I think Karlock is going to a silent coup. Not a true overthrow of the system, he never acquires a title beyond Councilman, just one day everybody takes it for granted that he makes the decisions. If he's got a Puppet Avatar in his pocket, that just accelerates things.

But, in the end, I think Karlock is an opportunist. A clever one maybe, but an Opportunist none the less. I can't see him working with (or being) Amon. Karlock's victory is only complete when Amon is defeated and unmasked allowing Karlock to pose for the pictures as the Savior of the City. Karlock is predictable, I could see him being manipulated by Amon, but I can't see them working together.

Tarrlok please.

[t209]

I think I find out about Amon's plan...

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According to current episode, he sees a big picture that Korra would be a matyr if he drains her power away. So let the politics do to Amon's bidding. Unlike BRC's comment, I believe that Karlock would use his taskforce to threaten the councilman into approving his solutions. The task force will become more oppressive, which Equalists will have no problem in finding angry nonbenders, from Karlock's administration.
Kinda remind me of Kane recruitment of angry inhabitants of Yellow Zone against GDI, who abandoned them.

[dehro]

we dont know energy bending is like the others.

we do actually..we have seen it happen, which constitutes precedent. more importantly, we have no reason to believe that it shouldn't until we're told otherwise.

so you're arguing the first people to bend their elements (of which there were at least 5, 1 for each element and we know the first earth benders were a couple) carried the capacity for an ability that isn't genetic, and just so happened to try imitating things associated with their element?

how the first human beings to learn bending learned their bending is never witnessed or shown on screen.. it is generally understood that they took it each from bending able animals, but, and it's a big but, even in universe, this is hearsay and legend. even the characters who talk about the animals that incarnate the bending of one of the elements and how they learned it from them are merely repeating the common lore/legends. a bit like today most ancient religions have traces or accounts of inundations/floods and the current theory is that it's an ancestral memory of ancient ice-age like stuff. in other words, we don't actually know how the first human benders learned the stuff or whether spirits implanted it in them or whatever else. let's not reopen yet again the "it's genetics, no it isn't" debate, pretty please?

...How far asleep were you when you wrote that?

pretty far actually

Bending, be it Elemental or Energy based is something determined at birth, like eye or hair color. While a great man can be made, he can only work up to his potential if born with that potential. As awesome as Sokka was, he couldn't bend. Not even a little. Amon therefore must be a bender.

Bending is not science, nor is it mathematics. As I said, either you are born with it, or not. It is magic genetics. At best any normal person can Chi-block, but that doesn't require bending powers in the one doing the blocking. And we have never seen Chi-blocking perma-ban a Bender's power.

again, if he's a bender, he's the first bender who is portrayed bending in a non visually recognizable manner. There is nothing on screen that goes swoosh, changes colour, comes with light effects or anything alike, which we know for a fact happens every time someone is bending something. This is even more true with energy bending which occurs on screen twice, both times with green/yellow-ish visual rendition. Until I see the greenyellow stuff happen, I will not acknowledge that something that doesn't look like it is energybending. It's a much smaller stretch of what we know, to postulate that either Amon is lying through his teeth and has only found a way to prolong his chi-blocking a lot more than Tay Lee back in the day, or that he has developed it in such a way that indeed the effects are permanent. We actually see him perform chi-blocking on screen, which he wouldn't need if he had energybending (which however would show..and would make his arguments against benders in general fall in pieces).
In fact, were it not for extraordinary circumstances, Aang being hit in a chakra by Azula (albeit through lightning and not a punch) would have perma-blocked him from going into avatar state. It's the closest thing we have as a precedent, and firmly points towards chakra manipulation/chi-blocking, rather than a misterious form of energybending that comes without the visual rendition of it.

The only evidence we are given to the ease of finding a job is that it is not very difficult at all. Until the show states otherwise that is what the base assumptions should be.

am I misremembering, or is the existence of poverty and rampant unemployement the very first thing that Korra learns about Republic City from the words of the park-bush-hobo who she shares a fish with in the first episode? Doesn't he explicitly state as much?
Yes, I was throwing in a lot of hypotetical situations to explain why Mako could find a job in a jiffy.. but I have yet to hear a solid argument supported by anything that has happened on screen that says that finding a job really is easy and that it wasn't a fluke..

on an entirely different note..it seems to me ever more evident that Amon is someone who used to be tight with Aang, or at least with the new generation (chief Beifong and Tenzin)..maybe a renegade disciple of Aang. The reason why I say this, is that he managed to smuggle himself and his cronies onto an island that was in the middle of a lake/stretch of sea, surrounded by police officers.
I'm guessing there's a secret passage that gave him access..and he'd only know about it if he was intimate with whoever resided or resides in Air Temple. I'm starting to think that Amon might indeed have been a bender originally, and that Aang took it away from him, maybe for committing homicide with it? ..causing him to become resentful of benders in general.

[Hiro Protagonest]

Alright, finally got the episode downloaded through iTunes and watched.

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...Okay, yeah, Asami has all the makings of a femme fatale. It's so obvious, though, that if she turns out to be a femme fatale, I am going to be angry at the complete lack of subtlety. Why can't she be a genuinely good person? And no, "misguided, and eventually turns to the good guys in the end" doesn't count.

[Xondoure]

To settle the bending genetic argument once and for all consider that if it were genetic there would be no one left who lacked the ability to bend. The tiniest changes in animal ability can shoot through a population like wild fire under the right conditions because of the minute advantage that ends up making all the difference. Bending is not a minute advantage, and it has been around for a very long time. That alone points towards bending being of a more spiritual nature.

As to energy bending we know next to nothing about it. We know the Avatar can learn it. We know Aang was probably the first in recent memory to master it. We know it can be imbued/instantaneously taught to others. We know it can remove peoples bending. We know that the description of "bending the energy within ourselves" sounds an awful lot like the training Aang received from Guru Pathik. We know that in two completely confirmed cases there has been light involved. We do not know if there is always light involved.

Personally, I don't think this is enough to draw conclusions from. I would hypothesize that Guru Pathik was an energy bender, that energy bending is normally an internal thing meant for mastering your own energies, but that it can be bastardized to enforce your will upon others. I would also guess that Amon is not lying about his abilities, because that would be rather anti climactic. My final hypothesis would be that if one were to master energy bending themselves they could restore their innate ability to bend or possibly even be able to bend where they never could before. Time will tell if any of this proves to be true.

On an unrelated note

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Ms. Sato's moped outfit is way too similar to the chi blocker uniform for that not to be intentional. What she wants with the fire ferrets is yet to be determined but my guess is she's more interested in Korra than Mako. Of course she could like him too, I fully expect a speech about how if he were to support them it would prove not all benders are evil and that perhaps those loyal to the cause could be spared, or maybe just once he is a non bender they can be together as equals. Something of the sort.