Legend of Korra: A Fantastic Finale With a Perfect Ending

[schmulki]

This was a pretty bad series finale. It was 30 mins of a season finale + 10 mins of, "quick, lets try to wrap up all this other stuff!" Parts didn't make sense (Bolin can officiate weddings? Asami's dad dies and then 5 mins later she's partying, followed by 10 seconds of sad, then, lets vacation!), it felt rushed (could have used one more episode to actually wrap the season up), and unlike ATLA, the hwole show just never really felt like it had a solid direction. Korra was possibly the worst avatar ever, characters never quite felt like they had established personalities, and the "villain a season" thing made it so it never quite felt like we had a chance to get to know anyone or establish a relationship before it was onto the next big bad guy.

I know we were never going to get the first series again, it was too perfect to replicate how amazing that was. But I kept holding out hope that Korra would at least close in on it. It sadly never did.

("fun" fact: we made sure to let 3 weeks of episodes build up before watching each time, because there were too many times where 2 episodes in a row would be horrible and at least by waiting for 3, we could guarantee getting a decent episode)

 

[Shingeki no Gingerbeard]

This was a pretty bad series finale. It was 30 mins of a season finale + 10 mins of, "quick, lets try to wrap up all this other stuff!" Parts didn't make sense (Bolin can officiate weddings? Asami's dad dies and then 5 mins later she's partying, followed by 10 seconds of sad, then, lets vacation!), it felt rushed (could have used one more episode to actually wrap the season up), and unlike ATLA, the hwole show just never really felt like it had a solid direction. Korra was possibly the worst avatar ever, characters never quite felt like they had established personalities, and the "villain a season" thing made it so it never quite felt like we had a chance to get to know anyone or establish a relationship before it was onto the next big bad guy.

I know we were never going to get the first series again, it was too perfect to replicate how amazing that was. But I kept holding out hope that Korra would at least close in on it. It sadly never did.

("fun" fact: we made sure to let 3 weeks of episodes build up before watching each time, because there were too many times where 2 episodes in a row would be horrible and at least by waiting for 3, we could guarantee getting a decent episode)

The entire series felt rushed. Reducing each season order from 20 episodes down to only 13 means a lot of development has to be curtailed to fit the new runtimme. Each season also dealt with very specific threats; none of which tied together, not even tangentaly. It's a VERY different series, which isn't a bad thing, but the two will inevitably be compared.

I can deal with the girls being bisexual and in a relationship (my wife is bi), but I honestly didn't see as much of the relationship building as others have. I'm not an avid shipper, and the ending feels forced to me; like it was intended specifically for the shippers. Maybe it was another factor of time constraints, but honestly I'm surprised we didn't get more of Mako and Asami trying out things out again after that brief rekindling in Season 2 and the nudging by his grandma in Season 3. Even just an acknowledgement would have been nice.

I'm also shocked, and a little disapointed, they didn't kill Mako off in the finale.

TL;DR

For a series billed as "The Legend of Korra," I feel as if the reduced runtime of the various sagas hurt the narrative which ultimately creates the legend. The major plot beats necessary to resolve the central conflicts are all hit with aplomb, but the subplots are not; and to end the series with an underveloped subplot resolution is...weak.

 

[tzimize]

more of people maknig up things about Korra and Asumi being gay..it's not cannon... both girls are straight.. people are reading waaaay to much into nothing..

While we cant really know, it seemed like a pretty clear direction to me.

And I loved it. It was subtle enough to not be in your face, and direct enough to give kids an idea that this is ok.

More good rolemodels like this would be great wether its for gays or bisexuals. Very mature and well done by Nick I must say. Its probably the most impressive scene in the entire series.

 

[tzimize]

snip

See post above mine. But more importantly, good call on the MLP bit. I think the fan personalities that have been created for the two work well together, but still, clever pic.

Very true. And the latest Equestria Girls Movie has the creators having a bit of fun with it. Not that I'm a fan of the pairing, I r

Oh hey look [http://michaeldantedimartino.tumblr.com/post/105916326500/korrasami-confirmed-now-that-korra-and-asamis], DiMartino, the co-creator of the series, confirms that they're a couple.

Our intention with the last scene was to make it as clear as possible that yes, Korra and Asami have romantic feelings for each other. The moment where they enter the spirit portal symbolizes their evolution from being friends to being a couple. Many news outlets, bloggers, and fans picked up on this and didn?t find it ambiguous. For the most part, it seems like the point of the scene was understood and additional commentary wasn?t really needed from Bryan or me. But in case people were still questioning what happened in the last scene, I wanted to make a clear verbal statement to complement the show?s visual one. I get that not everyone will be happy with the way that the show ended. Rarely does a series finale of any show satisfy that show?s fans, so I?ve been pleasantly surprised with the positive articles and posts I?ve seen about Korra?s finale.

and here's a word from the other creator [http://bryankonietzko.tumblr.com/post/105916338157/korrasami-is-canon-you-can-celebrate-it-embrace]

god, its like DOUBLE canon now

You might have missed the part where I indicated that I didn't care what they say about it. My problem isn't with the pairing, or the intent, but the lack of build up. There was no hint of this, right up until they suddenly be came a thing. If the creators want to say it's canon, that's fine but my complaint then becomes poor writing on their part. You can't just Deus-exing them into a couple like that without it being jarring when it's contrary to their personas leading up to it. I'd have the same problem if Asami suddenly was dating Bolin at the end. It's like an after thought put in to be edgy or something.

I think you're confusing romantic feelings for a fully developed romance/marriage. What we saw in the end was the START of Korra and Asamis relationship. And I'd say that if you rewatch some episodes its been pretty clear who Korra has been most happy to see coming back to R-City.

This is why they were going on a journey together, to explore those feelings and get some privacy. There was no ring on anyones finger, they were both starting out.

Captcha: How about that!

How about that indeed captcha. Its a good time to be a TV-viewer thats for sure.

 

[Seracen]

I didn't have that huge a problem with the coupling (BioWare fan for life!). My problem is that there wasn't enough set up. Yes, I know people try to say there were hints, but they weren't enough. The "hints" came across as them becoming sisters, not lovers. 8 mins of film over the course of 3 seasons (1st doesn't count) is NOT enough setup for a relationship!

As it stands, the moment comes across more as a publicity stunt, not sincere.

 

[Piecewise]

" A Fantastic Finale With a Perfect Ending"

Really? Do you just have insanely low standards or are you one of those worthless shippers who is declaring this the best thing ever because two non-characters held hands at the end with no justification or build up?

Korra has been, in basically every aspect, sub-par compared to ATLA. The third season was great, but the first season was a pacing nightmare and ended with a Deus Ex Machina. The Second season was just plain fucking horrible, and the fourth season meandered mindlessly and shamelessly put pandering to the fanbase before story cohesion.

You people are so busy jerking off over Korrasami you apparently have forgotten that that particular relationship had zero development, that Asami is a fucking non-character whose only traits are "Doormat" and "Suffering", and that the ending of the show involved a giant robot suit made of platinum firing death lasers. A premise that was brought up as a satirical joke months before the finale.

 

[Piecewise]

I didn't have that huge a problem with the coupling (BioWare fan for life!). My problem is that there wasn't enough set up. Yes, I know people try to say there were hints, but they weren't enough. The "hints" came across as them becoming sisters, not lovers. 8 mins of film over the course of 3 seasons (1st doesn't count) is NOT enough setup for a relationship!

As it stands, the moment comes across more as a publicity stunt, not sincere.

This is an important point. Because people are crying "But it was set up! But it was hinted! You're just looking at it through hetero lenses (Actual line from one of the writers), you bigot!"

And here's the thing: Even if we go back and look at all their interactions as sexual or romantic attraction (Many of which it seems very questionable to do), hints and hindsight do not a relationship make.

They basically went from a handful of vague instances of flirting over the course of like 8 years in universe to straight up eloping with nothing in between. That's poor writing, pure and simple. Sure, the vast majority of the characters are basically cardboard models with one or two defining traits, and sure the romances have basically always been unwarranted (Why did she get together with mako? What do they have in common? What do they even fucking do when they're not saving the world?) but at least they had some set up, weak as it was.

You wanna end on a lesbian romance? Go for it. But for god sake don't just fart it out at the very end of the last episode; because now it seems like the creators cared FAR more about making a bunch of 14 year old girls (and creepy obsessive 30 year old fans getting vicarious emotional experiences) squeal with poorly reasoned delight, rather then making the story coherent.

 

[KazeAizen]

" A Fantastic Finale With a Perfect Ending"

Really? Do you just have insanely low standards or are you one of those worthless shippers who is declaring this the best thing ever because two non-characters held hands at the end with no justification or build up?

Korra has been, in basically every aspect, sub-par compared to ATLA. The third season was great, but the first season was a pacing nightmare and ended with a Deus Ex Machina. The Second season was just plain fucking horrible, and the fourth season meandered mindlessly and shamelessly put pandering to the fanbase before story cohesion.

You people are so busy jerking off over Korrasami you apparently have forgotten that that particular relationship had zero development, that Asami is a fucking non-character whose only traits are "Doormat" and "Suffering", and that the ending of the show involved a giant robot suit made of platinum firing death lasers. A premise that was brought up as a satirical joke months before the finale.

Yeah. People are totally going to take you seriously when you start off your comment with an insult.

The first season ended with a Deus Ex Machina eh? Oh its not like Avatar the Last Airbender did that to end its series. Not at all. Also I don't see how season 4 pandered to the fanbase instead of putting story first. If by pandering you mean putting Korra and Asami together or including Toph then you might have a point. Except it was brief with Toph and they didn't beat you over the head with other.

Yes. That particular relationship had absolutely zero development. You are right. Its not like they palled around at all during season 1 and 2. Its not like they clearly had the best chemistry out of all the character for two solid seasons. Of course Asami is a doormat. Not like she offered to take Korra around on her family's personal race track in a car, or console Korra with letters while she was away, or be one of the smartest people the show has ever had.

Your problem with the suit is what now? Not like the Fire Nation built a big freaking drill 70 years prior of about equivalent size going off of existing tech.

 

[McMarbles]

I was behind Korrasami from the first hint, but I didn't think Nick would have the mivonks to actually go through with it.

 

[Mumbly]

Best ending in the entire series. Oh, and Korra and Asami falling for each other? Hell, I wasn't surprised by the Varrick/Zhu Li pairing, so I saw Korrasami happening from miles away. Or maybe that was wishful thinking.

I find it funny how people are making this about sexuality and sexual preference. I'm willing to bet money that if you put them in the same room with a dozen of "Objectively sexiest people" of each gender, they'd still fall for each other instead. It's not about whether they "like guys" or "like girls". It's about that they love each other for who they are as a person, not for what gender they are.

 

[Piecewise]

" A Fantastic Finale With a Perfect Ending"

Really? Do you just have insanely low standards or are you one of those worthless shippers who is declaring this the best thing ever because two non-characters held hands at the end with no justification or build up?

Korra has been, in basically every aspect, sub-par compared to ATLA. The third season was great, but the first season was a pacing nightmare and ended with a Deus Ex Machina. The Second season was just plain fucking horrible, and the fourth season meandered mindlessly and shamelessly put pandering to the fanbase before story cohesion.

You people are so busy jerking off over Korrasami you apparently have forgotten that that particular relationship had zero development, that Asami is a fucking non-character whose only traits are "Doormat" and "Suffering", and that the ending of the show involved a giant robot suit made of platinum firing death lasers. A premise that was brought up as a satirical joke months before the finale.

Yeah. People are totally going to take you seriously when you start off your comment with an insult.

The first season ended with a Deus Ex Machina eh? Oh its not like Avatar the Last Airbender did that to end its series. Not at all. Also I don't see how season 4 pandered to the fanbase instead of putting story first. If by pandering you mean putting Korra and Asami together or including Toph then you might have a point. Except it was brief with Toph and they didn't beat you over the head with other.

Yes. That particular relationship had absolutely zero development. You are right. Its not like they palled around at all during season 1 and 2. Its not like they clearly had the best chemistry out of all the character for two solid seasons. Of course Asami is a doormat. Not like she offered to take Korra around on her family's personal race track in a car, or console Korra with letters while she was away, or be one of the smartest people the show has ever had.

Your problem with the suit is what now? Not like the Fire Nation built a big freaking drill 70 years prior of about equivalent size going off of existing tech.

Ok, lets do this:

1.Just because ATLA had dumb decisions it doesn't make it ok for Korra to have worse ones.

Yes. ATLA's spirit bending and magic rock was dumb. It was. They should have set spirit bending up far in advance and not had the rock at all. The fact that it DID does not some how make Korra's bizarre choices any more acceptable. The only difference is that ATLA was a very strong series with a handful of stupid choices, while Korra was a middling series with many more stupid choices, including a few that basically ruined the lore of the series, decisions which I could violently rant about for days because they were so stupid and detrimental. And no, this relationship wasn't one of them. In terms of terrible, the Korra/asami shit is meh, but it is still bad because everyone is praising a detriment as a positive.

2. Pandering

The problem is that they introduced Toph, hyped her up, and then had her do basically nothing. The poison was a red herring, her advice was questionable (And Korra ended up ignoring it) and her actions in combat were basically negligible, save for what amounted to throwing a smoke bomb so everyone could run away. Not to mention the fact that her character hadn't really evolved in the 70 odd years since the show ended, and her problems with her daughters were resolved in like 30 seconds with one apology and a hug.

The point is that she was there because fans wanted her to be there, not because she had any major part to play. There were many, much better ways to handle her if you wanted to bring her back, and tons of stuff to do without her. But she has to show up and act like toph because fan service.

3.Korra and Asami's Development and chemistry.

Ok, first, Asami is a non-character. Tell me, what are her hobbies? Her Likes and dislikes? What does she do when she's not using her inexplicable kung-fu or being dragged out to bow down to one of the other characters or be used as a plot device? Why, exactly, were her and Mako dating? Why did she want to get back with him? (Why would anyone want to get with the boring cyborg non-human that is mako?) Asami exists to do one of three things
Invent things because the plot needs a gadget.
Be a plot device, usually via suffering
Be the third in a love triangle (IT HAPPENS TWICE!), or support another character, usually for no reason.
We don't really know anything about the lady, which is really weird considering she's apparently the romantic lead.

And yes, Korra and Asami DO get development. They do pal around. I'm gonna laugh at that chemistry comment because Korra has all the chemistry of a noble gas; she's boring and monotone, unless she's screaming or freaking out or jobbing it up to extend the series.

Regardless, thats not the point. The point is that their relationship wasn't developed enough to earn the ending. Aang and Katara's relationship took fucking three seasons to get to a goddamn kiss. Three seasons of Aang saying he loved the girl. Korra and asami have a few flirty moments over the course of like 8 in universe YEARS and then suddenly they're soul mates and lovers eloping to the land of shitty generic spirits. Hell, even the "Hints" people are banging on about are silly. She returned one letter, she complimented her hair, and she said they were friends. Woop woop, guess thats true love. Oh, she offered to use her massive fortune to help Korra get better and then actually did nothing? Neat. Korra should have gone with katara; least she actually did something.

The thing is this: You don't develop a relationship with hints. Thats not development. A handful of instances of flirting spread out over a huge period of time isn't the sort of thing you make a convincing relationship out of; and it's definitely not the sort of thing you make the ending romance and scene out of.

Seriously, how do you think this is acceptable or good? Have you never read a book? Do you not know what relationships are actually like? I'm not trying to insult you but I don't see how you can accept this shit as acceptable characterization and plot development unless you basically have nothing worthwhile to compare it to. Even the tripe that is Game of Thrones is better then this.

4.Mech

My problem with the suit is that it's a 20 story tall bipedial mech that was conjured out of nowhere with out anyone IN THE ENTIRE WORLD noticing it. A Mech made of Platinum, which should be worth something like the GNP of the entire world, with a main weapon they only just finished making less then two weeks ago yet have a completely functional firing system for. A mech that, despite the horrible balance issues inherent in a biped design, isn't beaten by just being shoved over.

A MECH WITH A FUCKING GLASS COCKPIT. A glass cock pit that they, rather then simply breaking into with any one of their DOZENS OF PEOPLE THAT CAN FUCKING FLY, INCLUDING THE AVATAR, force yet another scene of asami suffering by pointlessly killing her father in order to open up a hole in the armor.

So yes, the drill was dumb, but at least it felt like a big, slow, lumbering, single use automota, not a fucking pacific rim jaeger pulled out of goddang nowhere.

Also korra's stubborn refusal to back down destroyed the entire city and killed unknown thousands, while destroying the livelihood and possessions of the rest of them.


Oh well, at least it didn't end with korra ruining a visual metaphor from the last series and using it's corpse to fight satan. Oh god fuck season two.

 

[Super Cyborg]

Snip

Gotta agree with you here. I only recently powered through the four seasons a little while ago. I liked Season one a lot despite the flaws, two I liked as well, but three and four to me were just not good to me. As I think about the series over time, I dislike it more and more, much which you described.

While there were decisions that caused the series to be more jumbled than it should've, each season itself had problems. One had a interesting premise and setting, but there was to much stuff going on at once to make each point actually stand out. While I didn't mind the ending of the season (mainly how Amon was defeated and getting the powers back), overall it wasn't satisfying.

Two had an interesting set up, but the villain was bland, which I think if Verik was the central villain, with Korra doing Avatar stuff with a war on the loom by an unknown force, it would've been much better.

Three was dreadful now that I think of it. 4 villains that are huge threats, which three of them get taken out with ease. So much time was focused on the airbender stuff and the Beifongs, that the villains had no development. Motivation was vague and the whole revolution thing didn't go anywhere in the season. The best I can give for the whole group is that the leader was into philosophy. Only good thing was with Lyn and Su, and that wasn't that well done.

Four was worse, as the villain was supposed to be a great uniter, but we see nothing in how she had the ability to do something like that. Korra's stuff with getting through her PTSD was not done well, with Toph giving vague hints and her magically getting better, but not till later. All character stuff was bland and not well done, especially Bolin and his GF, as she seemed to be a bit petty about the whole thing, and while I liked Bolin enough, he is dumb as rocks.

I wanted to like Korra, but when the first two seasons with all its flaws are better then the second two seasons, that's a problem. I might try watching both series again at some point, but it might be hard to get through Korra again.

 

[KazeAizen]

Hate rant

You really expect me to counter every one of your points by writing a wall of text like you knowing full well you've already made up your mind?

 

[Mumbly]

Hate rant

You really expect me to counter every one of your points by writing a wall of text like you knowing full well you've already made up your mind?

I'd guess that, no, he was rather hoping you'd do exactly what you did so he can now say "Ha! Told you! You can't even prove me wrong! Ah-ha-ha! Ha-ha-haha!"

Less colorfully, tho, I suppose.

 

[KazeAizen]

Hate rant

You really expect me to counter every one of your points by writing a wall of text like you knowing full well you've already made up your mind?

I'd guess that, no, he was rather hoping you'd do exactly what you did so he can now say "Ha! Told you! You can't even prove me wrong! Ah-ha-ha! Ha-ha-haha!"

Less colorfully, tho, I suppose.

You sir are probably right. Its not that I can't do it. Given enough time I too could write a non school assigned essay on the intricacies of The Legend of Korra. Truth be told though. I just can't be bothered.