Board 8 > watching Avatar: The Legend of Korra - Long Live the Queen [spoilers]

(+) Yeah! (+)

and so forth
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avataaaaaa
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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
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everybody was bending fighting ~~

those firebenders where using lightning..
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korra korra korra, a korra made of clay
korra korra korra, we need a new update
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episode is watched

might not finish my writeup tonight but it is IMMINENT along with my finishing the series...!
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KORRA - Season 4, Episode 9

Recap: Kuvira's harvesting of the Spirit Vines is driving them insane even in Republic City, where they capture first a tour group (led by the inimicable Ryu) and then Jinora. The Avatar tries to rescue them but finds herself unable to unlock her spiritual energy, still tormented by memories of Zaheer. The actual Zaheer lends a hand, and we are BACK IN BLACK. Bolin and Opal have words.

How great is Kuvira? She looms over this episode like Azula or Ozai without ever appearing on screen. The threat grows, and even President Flaccid wants to attack Kuvira. Instead, it's Tenzin and the Fire Lord (with Tonraq curiously absent) who move for defensive fortification.

The center of the episode is Korra's personal journey as she continues to rediscover her strength as the Avatar after suffering defeats to Zaheer and Kuvira. I love the way Korra is framed to begin the episode - she's sitting, smiling, using her Earthbending to play with Naga. It's a Korra who's literally sitting on her butt while there's action to be had, and Opal calls her out hard on this. But of course, no one trusts Korra the same way anymore, and it's now reached the point where she's no longer invited to important meetings.

As for that meeting in the dungeons... Zaheer is still a bro. And of course, he's still well beyond Korra's level in terms of inner peace. Impatient as ever, Korra complains that seeing Zaheer chained up hasn't fixed anything at all ('You ruined me!'). Of course this doesn't fix her trauma! What does help: enduring it with the help of a Noted Spiritual Master. (Zaheer gets the best Morpheus lines. 'But I'm powerless in the Spirit World!' moans Korra. 'No - you are most powerful here!')

Opal and Bolin are kind of by the books here (destroying Bolin's attempt at reconciliation using Pabu was ICE COLD), but they're about to head somewhere cool. I'm actually kind of hoping that their quest ends in as gigantic of a disaster as Su Yin's original infiltration, but there's not enough time left for that - presumably this excursion will be more 'Boiling Rock' and less 'Day of Black Sun.'

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* 'It's no secret that I don't like you very much, especially after you tried to have me kidnapped -' / 'ALLEGEDLY.'

* RYU the hikokomori is back this episode as a tourguide and it's spectacular. His mom is also back and so enthused that he's employed. Granted, the job comes with some downsides - even beyond being miserably kidnapped, you deal with s*** like a brainless tourist seeing the Spirit Vines and saying 'I'm gonna poke it with a stick.' Ryu's response to being rescued? 'URGHHH. I FEEL ALL SPIRIT-Y.'

* WUUUUU. 'We reveal it was a trap - island's a prison! BOOM GOT HER!'
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I really, really hate the Opal/Bolin storyline in this.
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Zaheer just casually floating all day in his dungeon is the most badass ending for a captured villain ever.
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Grand Kirby posted...

I really, really hate the Opal/Bolin storyline in this.

opal is pretty brutal. I think it's fair for her to act this way, but it's mostly a drag from a viewing experience.

Not_an_Owl posted...

Zaheer just casually floating all day in his dungeon is the most badass ending for a captured villain ever.

yesss
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The zen Hannibal lecter

zennibal lecter
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it's like he's still on vacation!
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a likely story.
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KORRA - Season 4, Episode 10

Recap: Kuvira moves to demonstrate the power of her WMD, but Zhu Li has been sabotaging the efforts. Lin, Opal, and Bolin show up to rescue Su and co. - and run into Toph.

What I got from this episode: Toph is the greatest, Zhu Li is still secretly doing the thing, THAT'S f***ING KUVIRA, She's lying, LIN FACE, Bolin treats noodles like popcorn while observing Lin's mommy issues, Zhu Li doesn't make mistakes, 'So have have you been, mother?' / 'I TOLD YOU NEVER TO CALL ME THAT.'

This writeup probably deserves a bit more. Korra is blessed with a massive, fascinating cast and cursed with a children's TV show and only twenty hours to tell its whole story. Lin's relationship with Toph is amazing. Toph is the greatest. It could probably have taken up the whole episode instead of just a few minutes here and there. But there's no space for any more than what we get. (The episode also squeezes in some Wu/Korra pickup action. Korra x Wu OTP. For straight-Korra, at least.)

In the previous writeup, I alluded to this episode potentially being the 'Boiling Rock' episode of Korra S4. Indeed, TLoK S4 is looking by far the most like TLA. This is a good thing, especially with a lead villainess Kuvira. She's absolutely maxed out her screen time pound-for-pound - and yet she has only three more episodes to spread her metalbending prowess.

It's not a flawless episode by any means, but it reminds me that I'm sad the show is ending so quickly. And yet I need to remember not to lionize the past or grow nostalgic for this show yet - after all, a story that languishes longer necessarily burns less brightly.

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* 'What's up with him?' / 'He's an actor.' The deadpan from Lin here, goddamn.

* 'You can't go in there, kid - it's suicide!' Is this line supposed to sound as Han Solo-ish as it does? It's great.
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Toph is the goddamn best.
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foolm0r0n posted...

I just remembered how good the fights in the later episodes are

This is what I was referring to btw (plus the rest of the episodes)
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Not_an_Owl posted...

Toph is the goddamn best.

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toph is too f***ing old for this s***

the magnitude to which she's realized in tlok is unbelievable

if i do any series-end thoughts then i'll go more in depth there, but we all know it
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the ending theme to this show is so f***ing chill

i wish it were 4 times as long so i could bathe in it luxuriously after every episode ending
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me too. Crazy that it really is just that 30 second composition
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its criminal how little music we get from this show too

snippets from season 2, 1 track from season 3 and only 5 tracks from season 4
at least they sound awesome

dont want to risk spoilers by linking to them though (related videos are cruel)
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KORRA - Season 5, Episode 11

Recap: As Wu evacuates Republic City, Kuvira makes her move to reclaim it for the Earth Empire. She surprises even Zhu Li - striking a week earlier and transporting her superweapon not by the severed train line, but by giant mech. Korra abducts Batar Jr to try to learn the mech's weakness and leverage against Kuvira, but Kuvira lets it go by attempting to kill Batar along with Team Korra.

Onward marches the plot. Kuvira is great to the point where I don't even care that the mech is preposterous. (More bothersome: that the collateral damage of the WMD seems super-limited - the fact that Korra and co. are about to survive that laser with a margin of two feet kind of undermines its stated destructiveness.)

The hints that Batar would be Kuvira's undoing were certainly there. In the previous episode, Batar actually loses his cool momentarily, when it appears that Opal will be caught up in the blast. And whenever villains start talking about how much they love each other, we can safely expect that love and ambition will inevitably come to odds with one another. The choices that the characters makes at this point will ultimately define them. Batar is redeemed, if only a little, by the fact that he cares far more about Kuvira than about world domination. He's also sadly, miserably deluded that Kuvira feels the same way; the fact that she does not essentially puts her beyond redemption.

As for our hero: this episode is a giant fail for Korra. It's kind of interesting that that's the case, since in this episode, Korra is far smarter than we're used to seeing. Her ideas: 1. Cut the rail lines - unusually logistical, absolutely correct. It's bypassed because of the preposterous mech. 2. Use covert ops to sabotage the WMD - absolutely the right move. Except that due to bad intel, Kuvira is moving a full week early. 3. Exploit Batar - the most impressive move Korra makes here is recognizing that physical torture can't crack Batar - but that his heart is his greatest weakness. It's a Game of Thrones type of play - but her undoing is believing that Kuvira is as soft as Batar as opposed to a Keyzer Soze type.

The end is nigh. Kuvira has control of Republic City (and poor General Iroh has gotten his navy shredded once again). The Avatar has her back pressed against the wall and must respond. Yet hope shines through: Batar will be betraying Kuvira to help the good guys; Prince Wu has proven himself a capable figurehead if not a genius mind; and Zhu Li both apologized to Varrick and stood up to him. It's time.

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* Mako doesn't have a ton of charisma, which is one of the low-key character disappointments of the series. However, I do enjoy it when the series exploits this for humor - when trying to expedite the evacuation, he drones on about incomprehensible logistics in a dead monotone. Provides the perfect backdrop for Wu to take over.
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So close
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I am a-okay with the clearly preposterous mech (though I wish it wasnt CG-animation)
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it's a gundaaaaaaaaam
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mobile suit kuvira
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I didn't like the mech much but it is used well I think
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http://img10.deviantart.net/85c0/i/2015/014/e/5/the_legend_of_korra_and_attack_on_titan_crossover_by_champion1012-d8dujle.jpg
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char kuviranble
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well let's do this
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Avatar: The Last Newtype
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Book 4 - Toph rules
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where's tony stank when you need him
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KORRA - Season 4, Episodes 12-13

Recap: Despite their best efforts, Team Korra cannot bring down the Super-Mech alone. It takes the ingenuity of Asami's pops Hiroshi to break through the Gundam, after which Korra manages to best Kuvira. Kuvira's superweapon goes haywire, but Korra saves Kuvira using Energybending and redirects the Spirit Energy into creating a new Spirit Portal. Kuvira surrenders, Wu ends monarchy, Varrick and Zhu Li get hitched, and Korrasami becomes canon.

Things go mostly as expected here. Epic battle, different characters get to step up, Varrick and Zhu Li get together and do the thing for the rest of their lives. We even get a zero-stakes sacrifice as Asami's pops reveals the reason he got screentime earlier this season. All is well.

In the heat of it all, the details of everything are sketchy. Part of this is that this feels much more like a season finale than a series finale - Su and Lin are working together to disable the weapon, but in no way does that feel climactic. Similarly, Mako and Bolin's final fight is against the core and the two guards there, which just seems like a lackluster way to end their story. Kai and Jinora appear wordlessly to help with a plan that seems largely cooked up by the cancerous Meelo, whose last act is to save Tenzin from crashing. I'm not sure that Opal appears at all. There are faces everywhere, but much of it lacks resonance. More on this in a post-series writeup if anyone is interested.

Best not to think too much about the ubermech and how its only registered kill happens by squashing a fly instead of using that superweapon. It's still at its absolute best when Kuvira herself is on screen. That fight with Korra lasts maybe a minute on screen, but it's by far the most thrilling action. My favorite individual move is Korra's flying straddle takedown, though Kuvira's creative use of Metalbending remains a delicious treat.

As for the way the fight ends, it's a little sad - it's not by single combat, but by trauma. And yet, it's fitting, right? From 4x05, the previous Kuvira-Korra duel: It's enough to remind us that due to her durability, it's arguable that Korra's biggest skill in a fight is taking a beating while staying conscious. Indeed, the pair are evenly matched throughout their duel - until the ubermech goes down. And at that point, it's over - Korra has won, because she's the one who stayed on her feet.
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I'm really happy that the Spirit Vines don't wind up eating Kuvira whole. The ending we get is both more visually fantastic and more satisfying. This is Korra's only truly unique act of the finale: Energybending the superweapon. And it's only reduced to nothing that Kuvira can find redemption. When she wails that she's lost control of the weapon, she suddenly shows a spark of the femininity that was there before she launched her ambitions - wide-eyed, terrified, idealistic. In spite of it all she has done... she's still a person.

The finale as a whole delves heavily into one of Season 4's major themes: the power of love and redemption. Batar is finally persuaded to help bring down Kuvira when he loses Kuvira and has only his family left. Hiroshi is determined to win back both his city and his daughter. And of course, Kuvira herself surrenders when Korra's compassion and her own love for the Earth Kingdom overcome her stomach for continued war. As for Korra herself? She couldn't have found the inner peace to win that battle if it weren't for the help of noted criminal mastermind Zaheer.

Now spectacle aside, the epilogue is really sweet. Varrick and Zhu Li are an odd couple to fixate on for the ending, which is what makes their wedding work so well as a backdrop. TLA is almost frustratingly chaste, so giving us at least one blossoming couple works well - even if it plays up much more of inferior S3-4 Varrick/Zhu Li as opposed to the Season 2 dynamite version. I find myself wishing that more development could have been given to Korra x Asami if this is how the ending will go anyway.

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* Like I mentioned, my notes have a lot of criticism for the Gundam. I'll skip those here.

* 'I grew up on a farm. Did I ever tell you that, Zhu Li? This was before the Circus People took me away.'

* On the mech scratching its back: 'WOW! I wish I had that type of flexibility!'

* 'It's over. You're gonna call off your army and surrender to President Raiko -' *SMASH* Kuvira has NO CHILL.

* I mentioned it already but it bears repeating: Korra's Energybending at the end if beautiful. It feels like an incredible payoff, and instinctively, I can't even articulate exactly what it's paying off.

* I'm going to miss this series and this universe.
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They weren't allowed to have any more Korra x Asami stuff than this, apparently.
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Depends on what you mean by that. They certainly could have added more development to their relationship throughout the season. But there were limitations as far as how explicitly their relationship could be stated/shown on screen.

http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace

Hope you enjoyed that extended take on the ending theme in the final scene of the show.
https://m.soundcloud.com/jeremy-zuckerman/the-legend-of-korra
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WazzupGenius00 posted...

Hope you enjoyed that extended take on the ending theme in the final scene of the show.
https://m.soundcloud.com/jeremy-zuckerman/the-legend-of-korra

hnnnnng
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listening now to 'to heal' - so gooooooooood
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They put in a lot of Korrasami stuff, especially in S4, but I guess it wasn't really "development", more just hints. Still awesome though.

SeabassDebeste posted...

I can't even articulate exactly what it's paying off.

Korra has always struggled with grudges. For her to protect Kuvira means that she finally knows how to accept redemption from those that she previously could never even imagine forgiving.
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Yeah unfortunately kids networks are still s***ty about what they will allow in terms of same sex relationships so while they were able to hint at it a lot(and honestly I am pretty sure they started in S3) they weren't allowed any kissing or anything.

I dunno if you have ever watched Young Justice but Greg Weisman has talked about how CN told him no same sex relationships for the first two seasons of Young Justice. Thankfully they moved away from that for Steven Universe so hopefully the other networks will also
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I think creators really have the power to show the kinds of relationships they want. There's too much for the network to lose to drop a show just because it's showing some gay stuff. Although that is definitely a theory for why Nick was so hostile to Korra.

But even with Nick being so hostile, the writers stuck to their guns and showed the relationship. And it was a huge step forward since as far as I know it's the first cartoon to canonically show a gay relationship, at leas with the main character.
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The writers of this show went as far as they could in a cartoon aired on Nick. Not only in the LBGT thing, but also in terms of plot and other things.

That is the curse of Korra. It is a Western Cartoon being restricted by the fact society doesn't allow Western Cartoons to go too far.

It is still an amazing show though, and I dare say as good as ATLA. The original show had a better structured plot and better protagonists, but Korra reached certain highs ATLA could only dream of. Mostly in the last two seasons.

ZeldaTPLink posted...

That is the curse of Korra. It is a Western Cartoon being restricted by the fact society doesn't allow Western Cartoons to go too far.

Except for ones like Archer or South Park >_>
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Well those are adult cartoons and Korra is still marketed and presented as a kid's/YA cartoon.
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I think society allows a lot in kids cartoons. As evidenced by all the kids cartoons in the last few years that have pushed the traditional line and been amazing and well received. Network execs are really the only ones who were afraid to go "too far" (as if showing two girls hugging is somehow too far).
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I think there's a big difference between the actual audience of the show and the people that send in complaints to the networks. I agree that you can get away with a lot more to the actual audience, but you're definitely going to get more complains from parents and the like.
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Megaman703 posted...

Well those are adult cartoons and Korra is still marketed and presented as a kid's/YA cartoon.

Yes but there is a difference between "Western cartoons" and "Western kid's cartoons"

foolm0r0n posted...

I think society allows a lot in kids cartoons. As evidenced by all the kids cartoons in the last few years that have pushed the traditional line and been amazing and well received. Network execs are really the only ones who were afraid to go "too far" (as if showing two girls hugging is somehow too far).

Yeah thankfully the last few years have definitely been going that way.
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Also have adult cartoons even been able to show homosexuality? Other than in a totally mocking way at least? Or even things like fascism and "adult" ideas like that (esp in Steven Universe)?

I think kid's cartoons are really the ones pushing new concepts nowadays. It makes sense because kids are way more open minded.
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