Legend of Korra - season 4

[reyler]

You know, it's clear from Varrick's segment talking smack about how much Unalaq sucked that they tried to pull another Ember Island Players out of their asses here, but that episode had two things this didn't:

 

A) was used to force some self-reflection in the cast and further their overall character arcs

 

2) WAS NOT A FLANGING CLIP SHOW

[Zhon]

Guys, they had no choice on that clip show.  Nickelodeon slashed their budget.  Take a look:

 

http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/103173899927/a-few-preemptive-words-about-episode-408

[Niniel]

That is sad.

 

About last episode: 

 

I felt that it was a bit rushed. I´m happy that we got to see Toph again but her naming Lin´s father that casually felt strange. It was more like a message to the fans than making it important for the story. I don´t felt that the Lin - Toph relation in the end was very convincing either. It would have needed some more episodes to slowly change. 

 

I´m a bit sad that I won´t get to see the Toph - Katara - Zuko reunion. 

 

But yay for Zhu Li being on the right side. Not that I doubted it but it was great to see. 

[reyler]

Yeah, I heard about that not long after making that post. But you can totes see Nickelodeon's position; after all, Korra is 'spensive and they still have another twenty seasons of Spongebob to preorder! *sigh*

 

I thought Toph's dismissiveness on the subject was actually pretty in character. A lot of people have been talking about how Toph's approach to raising her children was highly influenced by her own upbringing and she ended up swinging hard towards the opposite end of permissiveness. I thought, under all that, it was kind of sad that even some eighty years later, she's still prone to writing off and ignoring problems that she can't solve by punching them.

 

I do think Bumi (original) spoiled the fandom on just how resilient old people are in this universe; everyone was expecting Toph to kick some ass when she finally got in the game, but apparently a bad attitude will only hold you up so far. Also I finally realized that the thing that's so jarring about Toph's appearance is that her clothes keep her old bright color palette, while for the most part the show sticks to more muted colors for clothing.

 

Also, rolling back to last week, I knew the fact that Zaheer was the first big bad to survive his season meant he'd be showing up sooner or later. I wasn't expecting how they used him. Nice that he seems to regret what happened in the Earth Kingdom as a result of his actions, even if he doesn't seem to regret the actions themselves, or the philosophy that motivated them. Also wonderfully consistent of his character that he still holds no personal malice towards Korra and even aids her when he believes they have common cause, even though he'd probably still be down with killing her were the circumstances right.

[Niniel]

Agree on Zaheer. 

 

 

Yes, Bumi and the rest of the old guys were excellent benders still at an old age. It´s too bad that that isn´t the case for the older women. 

[Niniel]

Of course, both Toph and Katara have shown to be great benders still. And this is a show about the new generation. But still... *sobs* 

[reyler]

Well, depending on how close to Aang's age he was, Bumi was around 108-112 during Avatar. Iroh would have been quite a bit younger despite all the grey; sixties at the upper limit, considering Ozai couldn't have been more than forty-five. Pakku was probably around seventy, given he was of an age with Katara and Sokka's grandmother. Nothing tangible on Jeong Jeong beyond having been Zhao's teacher, and nothing useful on Piandao at all.

 

Toph would be about ninety here. If not for Bumi's extreme example, it wouldn't be so unbelievable that she wouldn't be as strong as ever. Even with that, it's still quite plausible. I think the difficulty in fans' eyes is the same as anyone's difficulty with accepting that people, no matter how strong their body and forceful their personality, will eventually diminish. PVP did a pretty good storyline on this a few years ago when Brent found that, for the first time ever, he was able to beat his 1950s man's man of a father at arm wrestling, and found that suddenly this guy who all his life was a symbol of strength, suddenly wasn't so strong anymore.

 

I think it's also one of the ways in which Korra has reined in some of the excesses of Avatar's worldbuilding; Kyoshi lived to be over 200, after all, and Ozai is apparently only two generations removed from Sozin, who was an old man when he started the war.

[reyler]

So, uh. Giant mecha? Really? You guys really went there? Looks an awful lot like the god-warriors from Nausicaa. Or maybe the EVAs from Evangelion, but the Ghibli influences tend to be stronger.

 

Also, Baatar Jr, you are so, so stupid. It was screamingly obvious the moment they nabbed him (hell, even from their scene together where they talk about getting married) that Kuvira was going to sacrifice him. The only surprise (if that) was that she felt bad about it.

 

Also on the subject of stupid, stupid men: Varrick, god dammit. So close, and yet, so far.

 

Hey, Iroh II is still in this show! He got a line! He still doesn't matter!

[Niniel]

Ha, ha. I loved to scene with Varrick and Zhu Li. The scene where prince Wu calmed the people was good as well.

 

 I agree, Baatar Jr is stupid. And the gigantic robot thing - ugh!

 

Now I just want to see the end. Korra has not been in focused much, it´s time. 

[reyler]

The thing that makes me angriest about Baatar Jr is that it's the first syllable of his name that has two like vowels, but the spoken emphasis is on the second syllable.

 

IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE

 

Anyway. When the mecha was walking towards Republic City, there didn't happen to be a shark in it's path, did there?

[Niniel]

I don´t think so. I don´t think so. 

[reyler]

Just as well; the ol' Giant of Bab-il didn't really look physically capable of jumping.

[reyler]

Well, that's that. And I guess despite everything else they got away with in terms of violence, that's still the closest we can get to onscreen canonization of Korrasami. At least they arranged it in such a way as to still leave no ambiguity. They did throw me for a second with Korra's final scene with Mako. The way the scene was going, internally I was just going "no no no do not do not do that oh thank god". Still, they way they held hands and stared into eachother's eyes, not to mention the parallels to how Aang and Katara ended the first series, you can't help but wonder why they didn't just have them lean in a little bit as they vanished, just enough for suggestion. You know, give us something! Probably best to blame Nickelodeon.

 

Speaking of Mako, nice that he tried going out like Spike. Hard to tell if his arm got Zuko'd, since we only got a brief look at it outside of bandages.

 

I smiled way harder than I should have at everything Varrick and Zhu Li the whole way through.

 

Badger moles. *shakes head*

 

It's interesting the way they tried to make that eleventh hour Kuvira parallel, not only to Korra over the season, but also her changing personality over the course of the series. Not entirely certain it worked, but points for trying. At least it cleared up the fact that Kuvira was (and her predecessors as well) more of a thematic villain than a true character in her own right. I do wonder how you jail a metalbender long-term, though. Does she get a Bumi Box of her own? Will they replicate the elevated wooden cell she had Su and her family in? They certainly don't seem high on executions in this world, given that war criminals like Ozai just get thrown in jail for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the highly individualized personal prisons the Red Lotus members got.

 

Still kind of disappointed Kuvira didn't provoke a Princess Mononoke-style spirit disaster, given the whole Forces Beyond Your Understanding line they were running down. We did get an Akira-style explosion/implosion out of it, though.

[Niniel]

Badger moles!!!!! Awesome! 

 

I liked most things in the two episodes. Everyone got their time to shine and they did a great job as a team. I would have wanted to see more from the airbender kids but it was okay. 

 

Zhu Li is just great. I almost got a tear in my eye when Varrick proposed. 

 

I got a bit confused about the last scene with Korra and Mako. But the end with her and Asami was great. I guess that is as far as Nickelodeon is willing to take it. Didn´t think we would get anything else. Korra and Asami going on a vacation in the spirit world was good enough for me. 

 

I have already forgotten why Korra doesn´t remove their bending abilities. Can´t she do it anymore?

 

 

And now it´s over. :(

[reyler]

The knowledge of how might have been tied to Aang's memories, which she lost access to when Unalaq pulled Raava out of her. Or she might not have ever known how to remove bending, just how to restore it. And then for a third option, she might just not want to open that can of worms again, not after Amon.

[Zhon]

Well Korra, it's been a bumpy ride, with lots of glorious ups and frustrating downs.  But it's come out pretty well overall.  Is it as good as Last Airbender?  No.  But it can stand up to the original on its own merits.  Korra became a fascinating character, as did the vast majority of the cast; the villains were powerful and enjoyable as thematic villains even if they weren't fully developed characters in their own rights; and when the right notes are struck, it becomes a powerful engaging series.

 

Though now comes the obvious question:  Will there be another Avatar series after Korra?  After all, with the Avatar cycle cut off and restarted, Korra is now the oldest Avatar that new generations will be able to communicate with.  And there's Raava of course.  But it would be interesting to see where they take this world with a third spirit portal and an Avatar without all those past lives to call on.

[Niniel]

I kind of wish that this is it. It rarely gets better and better, often the opposite.