LogFAQs > #870303930

And that's the thing. Every season of TLOK has started out incredibly promising but been unable to live up to it all. TLA was an epic crawl over sixty episodes, slowly unfurling more details about the world. Few and far between were the episodes that unleashed MASSIVE HYPE over the setting - the Northern Water Tribe and City of Secrets and Lies being by far the most notable. In TLOK, each season is relatively self-contained, and we're inundated with a new world of possibilities and intrigue each season.

Yet the web of possible storylines necessarily has to collapse, and with such a limited number of episodes, we almost inevitably lose much of the promised complexity in those storylines. Season 1 didn't ever show us the lives of the regular Equalists; Season 2 turned its villain into a caricature who wanted to fly a kite; Season 3 depended heavily upon its villains and short-changed them in the end, having their crowning achievement happen outside the point-of-view of any of the main characters, and never really having them score a decisive victory over the good guys. Even in TLA, the insane wave-function of intrigue in BSS essentially collapsed into 'Long Feng sucks at life and is evil, so just beat him up.' So I'm going to withhold my hype.

... But I can't help the optimism, and I'm going to try to justify it. If the political/'arc' story stays focused on Kuveera, Wu, and the stability of the Earth Kingdom, it'll have twelve episodes solely focused on its primary players. That's more than Long Feng, more than Amon (who necessarily remained enigmatic), more than Zaheer even (who spent half his season busting his family out of prison and most of the rest on the run). Aside from filling in her backstory, we seem to know exactly what's up with Kuveera, meaning we can build her up, get to know and love and hate her, and tear her down - all while examining the consequences of her actions. That leaves a ton of space for Bolin to pontificate her morality, Wu to mature as a political ruler, and Korra to regain her purpose.

So against my better judgment, yeah, I'm hype as f***.

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* Kai is way more tolerable now that he's a mid-/older teen. I appreciate what Tenzin is trying to have the Air Nomads do for sure. Are they trying to tease Kai/Opal now that they're closer in age and working close proximity and always wearing tight clothing (so goofy!) around each other? Jinora is wordless this episode and Bolin/Opal is clearly not working out.

* Fantastic touch in the crowd scene I mentioned before: Among the picketers are Kuveera supporters.

* Bandits have become so pervasive that no one bats an eye that they have access to airplanes. Jeez.

* Fearless President Raiko remains as much of a schmoozer as ever. I love his consistent presence since Season 2: just because you disband a corrupt political council doesn't make the world peachy-keen.

* Probably worth noting: Varrick is in the brigade of Kuveera. He has a tendency to back winners and love war. I don't know if he'll be a major factor this season, always good to see!
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness