The Legend of Korra

[Knight Dude]

That was a pretty good episode. I wonder how the Red Lotus is going to tie into this. If I'm not mistaken, Kuvira was hinted to be apart of the group right?

 

[tmw_redcell]

I don't think Kuvira is going to be a part of the Red Lotus. The Red Lotus was about to achieve their ultimate goal and Kuvira was still fighting against them. And right now she seems to be pretty clearly fighting for the opposite goals of the Red Lotus again, trying to establish order and reinstate the Earth Monarchy. Is she's still a member of the Red Lotus, the group has such disparate goals that being a member is basically meaningless.

 

[Kluft]

I watched the 1. episode of Season 4 twice and have written down my thoughts to it:

It might sound overly critical but thats only because I hold the series to high standards.

What I liked in chronological order:

Spoiler

• The homeless guy from the 1. season, the hippocows? from the original series makes an short appearence.
• prince wu isnt completely annoying
  
• The villain in this season and isnt unnessesarly drawn out over multiple episodes
• Is the Meelo scene a reference to Jojo's bizarre adventure? (I haven't seen it yet)
• Fight scenes, Dialog, Voice acting and animations are great as always
  (it's almost not worth mentioning since every episode has it)

What I didnt like:

Spoiler

• The people in the background during the conversation between Mako and Asami dont move.
  (I know that not important but it's distracting once you notice it)
• Opal just looks for 3 seconds while Kai falls and the bandit gets away with the supplies.
• How Korra gets beaten in the near the end even though she's supposed to be really good bender ?

Unanswered Questions:

Spoiler

• who made those glidersuits for the airbender ?
  
• Why are Varrik and Bolin part of Kuivra's army ?
  
• Where do Kuivras metalbands she fires come from? (thery are not part of her armor like Lin's)
  
• There are normal bees in the Avatar universe?
• where did the bandits get planes and why would they use one, most of the transport is done on ground.

It's a rather good episode and gets across what this season will be about.

 

[Knight Dude]

I watched the 1. episode of Season 4 twice and have written down my thoughts to it:

It might sound overly critical but thats only because I hold the series to high standards.

What I liked in chronological order:

Spoiler

• The homeless guy from the 1. season, the hippocows? from the original series makes an short appearence.
• prince wu isnt completely annoying
  
• The villain in this season and isnt unnessesarly drawn out over multiple episodes
• Is the Meelo scene a reference to Jojo's bizarre adventure? (I haven't seen it yet)
• Fight scenes, Dialog, Voice acting and animations are great as always
  (it's almost not worth mentioning since every episode has it)

What I didnt like:

Spoiler

• The people in the background during the conversation between Mako and Asami dont move.
  (I know that not important but it's distracting once you notice it)
• Opal just looks for 3 seconds while Kai falls and the bandit gets away with the supplies.
• How Korra gets beaten in the near the end even though she's supposed to be really good bender ?

Unanswered Questions:

Spoiler

• who made those glidersuits for the airbender ?
  
• Why are Varrik and Bolin part of Kuivra's army ?
  
• Where do Kuivras metalbands she fires come from? (thery are not part of her armor like Lin's)
  
• There are normal bees in the Avatar universe?
• where did the bandits get planes and why would they use one, most of the transport is done on ground.

It's a rather good episode and gets across what this season will be about.

Well.

Spoiler

Regarding Korra, given all the crap she went through recently, you could argue that's she's not in the best state right now. Even her wounds are all fixed up, her mind might still be a mess. Hence the why's she's doing the "MMA" thing anyway. She probably isn't going to be on her A game. On top of that, she's pretending to only be an Earth Bender. So that cuts 3/4ths of her normal fighting style right there, and we know that she's used 3 of these elements for nearly all of her life. That could sort of be like a Boxer only using one of his arms. Well, not exactly, but you get what I mean.

As for the Flight-suits for the Air Benders, I'm guess it was something that Varrik made. Or Asami, one of those two would be good guesses. Unless there's another inventor I'm not thinking of.

That Prince was annoying to me. But I think Mako being his bodyguard could lead to an interesting plot point.

 

[theeboredone]

I'm hoping the Prince actually grows up in this Book, and comes to a conclusion that maybe he's best being a figurehead similar to how England runs things. He could be the celebrity, while politics are controlled by the people.

The next episode is all Korra as that was given out by the IGN interview. We will hopefully see flashbacks or at least her coming to terms with herself. The past three years probably meant she wasn't training or staying in tip top shape. Plus, suffering from the PTSD, she is bound to be a pathetic fighter. I actually like this as a natural "power down" rather than something gimmicky like poison. Even when she gets back into form, I can still see her struggling with her fighting instincts.

I can totally see Asami devising machines that will play a role against Kuvira's machines. Varrick is probably just in it for the money/land so to speak. He will defect once he sees things changing. Bolin will eventually defect, though I still find it odd that the military was his "calling". I can't imagine that guy waking up early, doing drills, being yelled at, etc. etc.

With that being said, still concerned about all the characters and their screen time/plot. Let's hope some of the characters like Opal and Kai are weeded out. I'd rather they just focus on the Krew.

 

[Airgemini]

Kurvira definitely gives me Azula 2.0 vibes.
If I had seen this thread earlier I could have given better fresh opinions. But I liked the episode!

 

[theeboredone]

"Korra Alone" in 5 hours! I wonder if this is where she finds you know who? Watch it end with the credits when she discovers the person.

Edit: Called it lololol. And OMG. THE FEELS!

Edit 2: Freakin Aang...

 

[Sedda]

i dont like this episode as much as other people, but it at least gives us a lot of info about how korra is gonna come back and rek

i like toph's voice, but her design is kinda weird. she looks creepier than the bloodbender lady from atla lol.

also, why is she wearing her atla clothing? i think something else wouldve worked better

 

[Kluft]

Just watched episode 2.

My thoughts:

Spoiler

I like how first seconds spell out korra's mental state.
They have to come up with really good explanation about chained korra.

Its basically about everything that happend in the 3 years.
And that about all I can come up with for this episode (that hasn't been mentioned earlier in this thread).

Spoiler

I also noticed that all antagonists in tlok have a theme about the avatar being pointless and not needed in their society.

 

[BirthNote]

I just saw ep3, and I gotta say I LOVE Toph even more than her child self. If only Korra met her earlier...

i dont like this episode as much as other people, but it at least gives us a lot of info about how korra is gonna come back and rek

i like toph's voice, but her design is kinda weird. she looks creepier than the bloodbender lady from atla lol.

also, why is she wearing her atla clothing? i think something else wouldve worked better

The funny thing is that Old Toph and Hama have the same actress.

 

[Strong Badam]

Really a fan of Toph in this series. She kept her personality almost verbatim from TLA which is great. Most of the other returning characters from TLA who helped out Aang are these old wise people who are eager to help the Avatar in any way they can, but not Toph. She's just as feisty as ever. A refreshing change of pace from characters like Zuko and Katara, the roles of whom I certainly don't mind but refreshing all the same.

 

[Sedda]

^^ I agree. This episode was reaaally good and Toph is now by far my favorite of the old characters (in this series).

I still don't know why they had to use her old clothing though. She kinda looks like an 80 year old wearing a power rangers suit to me

 

[Strong Badam]

I don't mind her clothing. Toph's entire character is quite representative of enlightenment, of a detachment from aesthetic and superficial things. As she said she's more in-tune with the world now than ever, in the swamp, as a blind woman who feels the ground and roots for knowledge of the outside world. It's entirely in character for her to not care enough to change her attire.

 

[theeboredone]

Enjoyed the episode. Prince Wu's hip thrusts lmao.

Kuvira is starting to get on my nerves. She's officially just a power hungry ruler, who has no regard for anyone who even wants to engage in talks with her. Removing Wu from his hotel room, giving the Republic a middle finger essentially, lying to Bolin about how she handles things, and threatening Su about invading Zaofu (which will happen). She needs to go down.

Korra needs to snap out of it. I'm getting tired of her sucking so much. By next episode, she needs to have these issues resolved. The episode will be called "The Calling", so that better be the case.

 

[Airgemini]

I actually wasn't feeling Toph all that much in the episode. I almost felt like they were almost too over the top with her "Tophness".
Kuvira just doesn't intimidate or feel as threatening to me as past villains. Yes, she controls a good portion of the Earth Kingdom but a majority of those that she rules over are already well aware of her nature and don't care for her. It's not like the whole Earth Kingdom is her loyal army.

Whatever purpose the spirit vine will play intrigues me but other than that I thought the episode was decent. This series tackles a lot of political stuff in an interesting way. I honestly feel like with this season there's just too much going on for it to be done in 13 episodes. There's so much stuff going on with Kuvira that even if they decide to kill her I feel like it's not enough to resolve everything going on with the Earth Kingdom.

 

[Sedda]

Well, it's the same as with Ozai. Killing him doesn't didn't immediately the fire nation. Killing the emperor doesn't destroy the empire, so there's always that.

I liked Toph's characterization and the fact that they didn't just make her into the same old wise elder archetype, but that's my opinion of course.
While I do think there's a bunch of things going on at the same time, everything is nicely correlated with the main Earth Kingdom plot. The only thing that is outside of that is Korra's recovery. Everything else (Wu/Mako, the vines, the bandits, the airbender involvement, Bolin) seems to all be tied to Kuvira and her regime, so it doesn't feel as messy as the multiple storylines in book 2 for example.

 

[theeboredone]

Decent episode. A bit slow and unnecessary for my taste. At this point, a lot of Korra's problems were just being repeated, which kind of made it fillerish. Meelo is super annoying. Jinora was surprisingly acting like a "know it all" to her siblings. Must've gotten it from Tenzin. I found that their "adventures" were mostly filler as well.

Dunno, the whole episode just felt repetitive and slow. Though it does set up nicely for an action packed episode next week.

 

[Strong Badam]

YES, thank you Toph! You finally brought up the biggest issue I've had with The Legend of Korra since Season 1.
What I love so much about Korra is that each "villain" has an underlying truth that they're seeking in a destructive and harmful manner. But they're just immediately forgotten after they're defeated, as if their opinions were invalidated by their means. Amon's message had truth in it, Unalaq eventually did result in the release of spirits, and Zaheer got rid of the tyrannical Earth queen. These were passionate and driven people with a good idea, but went about it in the wrong way, and now the series has finally mentioned that.
Loved Toph's appearance in this season so much. <3 And I'm glad Korra is back to her old self, ready to deal with the issues in the world again. Somewhat fillerish but there have been worse in the series so I'm not too bothered by it.

 

[Airgemini]

I very much enjoyed Toph's character in this episode.
I agree that it felt filler but it was a good filler for me. I just want to see Toph reunite with Katara!

 

[Xivii]

I kind of teared up when Korra and the kids were reunited. That instrumental music always gets me.

 

[Knight Dude]

I would agree that the Calling was a bit filler-ish. Not that the episode was awful, it had some good moments. But at least Korra's out of her rut. I wonder if they'll go straight for the Zaofu invasion thing. Probably not. We might get another episode of build-up first.

 

[theeboredone]

I would agree that the Calling was a bit filler-ish. Not that the episode was awful, it had some good moments. But at least Korra's out of her rut. I wonder if they'll go straight for the Zaofu invasion thing. Probably not. We might get another episode of build-up first.

This is been nagging at me. Yes Korra is supposedly back to her normal self...but is she? I imagine she would have a final confrontation with Dark Korra one more time. She's definitely over the physical aspect of recovery. Not sure if she's all there mentally...

Storyboard art implies that Korra will get her "normal" outfit back in Episode 7. So we got two more episodes of Lara Croft Korra.

 

[theeboredone]

The buildup before the fight! We got to see what caused the rift between Su and Kuvira and quite honestly...

Su is a total douche for abandoning the Earth Kingdom in their time of need. She didn't have to do what Kuvira is doing, but arranging some task forces, sending supplies, etc. would have helped so much. On the flipside, Kuvira and Bataar Jr. are total douches and need to be taken down. Korra can't catch a break.

Thank you for your one annoying line Meelo.

Kuvira running "re-education" camps? Yikes.

 

[Knight Dude]

The buildup before the fight! We got to see what caused the rift between Su and Kuvira and quite honestly...

Su is a total douche for abandoning the Earth Kingdom in their time of need. She didn't have to do what Kuvira is doing, but arranging some task forces, sending supplies, etc. would have helped so much. On the flipside, Kuvira and Bataar Jr. are total douches and need to be taken down. Korra can't catch a break.

Thank you for your one annoying line Meelo.

Kuvira running "re-education" camps? Yikes.

Yeah, overall good episode. You'd think Su would be able to do something like that, but I guess it'd get in the way of plot. Honestly I'm just glad that Bolin just now got that Kuvira is obviously evil. I'm guessing we'll see a bit more of those "camps" are really like later on.

The stuff Asami was alright too. Though would her dad really get that much older in what, 4 years since season 1.

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, overall good episode. You'd think Su would be able to do something like that, but I guess it'd get in the way of plot. Honestly I'm just glad that Bolin just now got that Kuvira is obviously evil. I'm guessing we'll see a bit more of those "camps" are really like later on.

The stuff Asami was alright too. Though would her dad really get that much older in what, 4 years since season 1.

The only way I can justify Su's refusal to help is that she hates monarchies, and refuses to help Raiko and crew establish a new one. With that being said, she could have at least projected those thoughts, rather than just saying "Nope!"

The Sato storyline was really random, but I'm guessing Hiroshi will play a big role in the upcoming war. RC is gonna need him. No other reason to have this plot, other then to reestablish him.

 

[adumbrodeus]

Su establishes her objection pretty strongly, she was worried that she'd succumb to the same temptation Kuvira did.

 

[theeboredone]

Does she actually say that? I know Su says Kuvira reminded of herself, but that's about it. I don't see Su as someone who would be corrupted by power, given she could have done more than build Zaofu.

 

[adumbrodeus]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding her but that seemed to be where she was going throughout the entire conversation, that she doesn't trust herself with too much power because she's afraid that she'd go too far given the opportunity.

Wondering if it's based on an unexplored area of her past.

 

[Airgemini]

It was an alright build up episode. Can't say I enjoy robot fights over bending but it wasn't bad.
I agree that while Su has the right to say no she could have at least helped out. Pretty sure Julie is just playing Kuvira and will turn on her in the end.

 

[theeboredone]

Yeah, so obvious Zhu Li was playing Kuvira like a sap. Though I wouldn't be surprised that what she said had truth to it. Varrick does treat her bad.

Also, subtle tidbits. Gotta love em. This one is just funny to me, because Mako told Bolin to go hook up with Opal.

 

[Phislamajama]

I hope this isn't the last we see of Toph

 

[Sedda]

Im not sure I enjoy Kuvira as a character overall. However, if you accept that she's just a power-hungry villain, she's a very well designed one at that. This is shown really well when Zhu Li fools her by feeding her huge ego to let her stay with her on the train.

Obviously, Hiroshi will be a big part of how Kuvira is defeated. I don't see any other reason to bring him back since they don't have any episodes to fill up with relationship stuff. I'm still a bit worried about how theyll handle prince Wu. I guess we'll see

 

[theeboredone]

The book is called "Balance", and if there's one thing that was made obvious to us, all the villains were extreme of one spectrum. Kuvira started out as a "gray" character, but we quickly learn of "reeducation" camps, how she will take land by force, and pretty much force people to work. Once again, extremism rearing its ugly head. Power got to her, and what's going on here is a prime example of WWII. The other nations sitting back, and letting Kuvira (Germany) grow in power, and then things hit the fan.

 

[theeboredone]

Wow, Korra could not even land a single hit. Fail. And of course it was obvious her PTSD wasn't fixed.

Personally, while the episode was fine, I'm getting really tired of the pacing. First episode showed everyone Republic City, and now most of them have been practically ignored for the past 4 episodes and dedicated it to Korra moping around. I mean, I get PTSD is a long recovery, but we don't need to see 17/22 minutes dedicated to her moping. I'd rather have it all focused on something or someone else.

 

[FloatingMew]

I'm going to list my prediction here for the stupid reason of "OMG I KNEW IT HAHAHAH"
SPOILER ALERT FOR PAST EPISODES
I think Kuvira is the reincarnation of the Dark Avatar. I don't think the Dark Avatar cycle follows the same rules.

Prediction for dark avatar
-One element
-As soon as one is killed, a person that Vaatu finds worthy becomes the Dark Avatar. Age doesn't matter, thus why I think it is Kuvira

I honestly thought when Kuvira's hair was covering her face (When avatar state Korra started to land hits) she was going to be revealed as the Dark Avatar. When she showed her face I was so hyped until I saw that it was like that of Korra's face. I think this is the first time we have seen the hallucination's face appear on another body without it showing Korra's whole body. I think as the Dark Avatar, Kuvira can show these hallucinations to Korra (To protect herself? Avatar state type thing made to save herself?)

TL:DR
I think Kuvira is the Dark avatar because hallucination Korra's face appeared in Korra's... hallucination/vision on Kuviras body.

 

[Kadano]

Meh, I‘m still disappointed by this series. The conflicts and villains feel so forced to me. Kuvira says her reason to capture Zaofu is to use their technology in the entire kingdom. Additionally, she is the leader of the Earth Kingdom and to keep it from breaking apart, it’s justified to maintain a certain level of control in every part of it.
However, unlike the other parts of the Earth Kingdom, Zaofu was able to protect itself independently so far. It would be justified that it would get a better contract, something like autonomy.
Kuvira can’t justify taking complete control because there already is a capable leader. Korra should at least properly argue against the takeover and not just keep stating “I can’t let you take the city”.
It seems they made her arguing skills bottom tier so that she doesn’t end up solving anything without violence.

Speaking of violence, why is Korra’s bending style so incredibly stupid? She still shoots air like it was fire, so that it can conveniently be escaped, instead of horizontal wide-range gusts. I mean, of course, the writing required her to lose here. But I’d really prefer the writers being more critical of their work and re-writing the plot if it turns out to be unrealistic or stupid.

And, before you bring that up, the “but Korra is still recovering from her illness” john doesn’t apply. Using airbending in a way that covers more field does not require more strength, just a little thinking.

To continue on the illness thing: I feel that “some poison is still inside” mini-plot was just filler. Suyin is supposed to be one of the best metal benders, why would she not be able to fetch all of the poison?

I’m afraid this season will (yet again) end in a villain battle without the interesting questions that it tackled ever being resolved:
Is progress possible without slave labor?
Is it possible to retain real autonomy within a large-scale system / empire?

I think Kuvira is the Dark avatar because hallucination Korra's face appeared in Korra's... hallucination/vision on Kuviras body.

So all the other characters who Korra perceived as herself have been Dark Avatars? I think you’re misinterpreting this.

 

[theeboredone]

As far as Korra's incompetent fighting style goes, I also agree it doesn't make sense. She has been rehabbing with the WL prior to leaving six months ago. She should still be able to have a basic concept of properly fighting rather than lunging mindlessly. She's throwing stuff, hoping something hits. If she magically becomes Book 3 form as far as fighting goes by the end of this, it's going to make zero sense. How does one alleviating her PTSD = properly fighting?

Regardless, Varrick's storyline was awesome.

Also, this was awesome.

 

[Airgemini]

It was an alright episode. I seriously feel like every single time Korra has gone into the Avatar State in this entire series so far there's always something that hinders her in some way.

I need this book to pick up its pace though.

 

[theeboredone]

It was an alright episode. I seriously feel like every single time Korra has gone into the Avatar State in this entire series so far there's always something that hinders her in some way.

I need this book to pick up its pace though.

Yeah, I'm really getting tired of something getting in Korra's way. She can't seem to have a clean ol' fashion victory on her own. Hell, did you notice it was JINORA who saved her in the end of this episode? It had to be done, but it was still...Book 2 and 3 memories.

I really hope Korra beats Kuvira one on one in the end. No Jinora, no airbender tornado, no poison, nothing.

 

[Kadano]

Or maybe Jinora should just tell Korra the hard truth that she’s a terrible Avatar and steal her powers.

… Wait, that’s what I was hoping for in season 2. Then they went for the completely unrealistic love story between Jinora and that thief kid, which made me lose all respect for her character. How could I forget.

I feel like the creators should stop doing what’s convenient and go for something refreshing, well thought-out. Korra doesn’t seem like she got any wiser through her battles against the villains. I mean, yeah, she did say that unlike her old self that had insisted on fighting, she now wants to solve problems by talking. But that’s not really gonna get her anywhere if all talking she’s capable of is “i can’t let you do that”. In the end, she still jumps to fights instead of analyzing the situation properly.

Getting her Avatar connection stolen would probably go against the established canon, but something of the sort should have happened that made her grow up somewhat by now. I mean, I’d expect the Avatar reincarnations to require some sort of spiritual / wisdom potential from its hosts. Aang had that. Roku had that. But Korra? Bolin might as well be the Avatar.