Legend of Korra: Book Three Finale Review: Korra Rolls On

[HjelsYells]

The ending, and especially the last shot were really, really unsettling. In a great way. Not many cartoons I've seen have been this gutwrenching.

 

[K.ur]

No discussion of that the red lotus has metalbenders or who P`li did mean with "being part of his war machine".

 

[Lightknight]

As Korra gets more and more sidelined by the actually interesting characters I've been finding the show become more and more entertaining.

Fantastic series all the sudden. Got a lot back by focusing less on her as a whiney avatar and more as her as just one of a team.

 

[Scarim Coral]

While orignally I thought that metalbending captain played a future role in season 4 due to her late introduction but since she was voice by Zelda Willaim, I think it was more of a guest voice like that tennis playing voicing that prison guard who was kind to Iroh during his improsionment. Still would that mean that episode was made right after Robin death or was it mere coincidence or maybe they already made that scene already but got her to voice that character?

 

[Robot Number V]

Something wierd I noticed watching the 3rd season again: Zelda Williams' character actually appears several times before, in the Zoufu (sp?) episodes. Her face is a on a newspaer being read by Lin for like a second, and she appears during the kidnapping attempt. She just didn't get any special attention. It was really subtle.

Anyway, I guess my point is that whatever role she plays in the next season, they've been planning it for a long time.

 

[The Feast]

Kind of funny considering that the only dying characters in Legend Of Korra, from the first season is the bad guys, and none of the good guys (Of course, there are implied character's death, like Mako and Bolin's parent, but whatever). No matter, still an entertaining show in my book.

 

[thejboy88]

Even though I generally seemed to like the Korra show more than most Avatar fans, this third Book has been an absolute joy throughout. The action, the drama, the character interactions, all of it has been top-notch, even by this franchise's standards. The themes and maturity are a welcome thing for younger audiences. After all, I've always held that the gratest cartoons of my generation were the darkest ones, and now it seems that the newer kids on the block have something just as good to call their own, which is an absolute win in my book.

Korra especially has been great to watch over the course of these past few years. We've seen her develop from an overly-eager young Avatar, to a more serious-minded one, and now finally to one who questions whether the world even needs someone like her around anymore. She's been through Hell and back and I would, hand on heart, easily call her one of, if not THE, greatest animated female characters that has ever been created.

If Nickelodeon Studios is too cowardly to let this show return to TV because they're afraid of having such serious stuff shown to kids, then frankly, they don't deserve to have it. With any luck, they'll pass over to a studio that respects this show's creators and writers far more than the Execs at Nick ever did, and give them the free reign they need to keep making this show better.

For it WILL get better, I have no doubt of that. With the way they ended this Book, and a fourth already in production, I predict that this show will carry on to take it's place as one of the true greats of animation.

 

[Wolyo]

The writers only told us that he was an expert fighter, and we never once saw him really practicing air bending in the show at any point. So we have no way of gauging his skill beyond what they show us in his fights, and what he shows in his fights suggests that he either trained extensively off-screen, or he's just good because the plot demands that he is. Show, don't tell. This is narrative 101.

Have you seen his prison? You don't lock someone like this if he can not kick some major asses without bending.

Prison fully made of metal, 5 guards with at least 3 firebender and 1 earthbender/metalbender. No windows, on the top of a very high rock pillar, accessible only by a retractable bridge. They showed us that he was an enormous threat even without bending and that prison was not made to keep his friend from breaking in, any of the three could have destroyed that from the outside.

That's a lot of ressources used for a simple man, demonstrating that he was taken as seriously as a combustion bender, a lavabender and a waterbender who can use water with only her mind.

 

[Cavouku]

In regards to the lightning: I don't know how it works in the Avatar world, but pure water is non-conductive. I always assumed, since we've seen water being pulled out of sand, or having other impurities removed from it, that the water that most waterbenders carry is often distilled or something. Ming-Hua was using cave-water at the end, which is loaded with minerals that would conduct electricity.

This begs two questions. 1: Is that how it works, or does Avatar take the Pokemon route of "Electric beats water"? If so, the best I got is that Mako just never had a good enough opportunity, or it's just one of those things that escapes you in the middle of a fight. 2: Does Mako know all that about water? I might hazard that he doesn't, despite his being around waterbenders at least since his probending days, and likely since the Triads; it's not pertinent information. And besides, maybe I'm wrong about waterbenders distilling their water before usage. That's probably unnecessarily time-consuming or impractical.

But water not being inherently conductive (just being a good medium for plenty of conductive materials) is something I always want to remind everyone in these situations.

 

[Dalrien]

It's interesting that you claim I have the crappy memory when I seem to recall more about the lore of the show and how things work than you do.

Except you constantly forget that Mako worked at creating 'power' for the city with his lightning during season 1. (Oh, and Amon felt it too)

Also, nice way to close an arguement.

 

[KazeAizen]

[...](I)t is Mako who dispatches his foe first, shocking Ming-Hua by using lightning on the water she is standing it. Of course, we have to ask why he didn't do that many episodes ago(.)

Yeah I found that fight pretty anti-climatic. He fights her of, but falls for her trap and they're on her turf now and then wham just pulls the Ace out of the Sleeve and it's over.

Thing is I don't think he could Lightning Bend until that moment, it was supposed to be his "Oh, I'm fucked" - Moment like Zaheer and Bolin had in the previous Episode (Unlocking Flight, and Lavabending).

And it's understandable, she was freakin' scary with her weird Waterlegs and the shadows she was casting.

Would've loved it if they'd have padded it out a bit and let them have they're fight with Makos new power.

But that's just my idea on why he suddenly pulled the lightning card, can't remember maybe he had used it before.

He was actually shown to shoot lightning and even working at a power plant in earlier seasons.

 

[Hectix777]

I'm not gonna repost all of that for a quote, because that has to be some form of spamming, so I'll just number and separate everything. Also these are just my thoughts.

1. Red Lotus being followed and the poison:
I think it was understandable for the Red Lotus to know they would be followed, what they didn't expect was to be found so quickly. They were probably prepared for some kind of martyr move once Korra died or prepared to disappear if it all went right. I'm sure Zaheer knew he would be found, especially in such a standout location, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon. As for the poison, keep in mind that this era is roughly set in the 1920's, this never came up in history class, but I'm not sure the world had a great understanding of toxic materials other than "if it feels weird, don't touch it" or a highly comprehensive list of poisons and its effects. Mercury has been known to be poisonous, psychedelic, and pretty ravaging, an effective Avatar's bane. If they used that then Korra should have died no sweat. Plus, I'm not sure the Red Lotus had a proper grasp on how powerful Lin and Suyin were as metalbenders, while you can say they were trained by Toph, all that says is they're powerful, it doesn't provide a measure of their strength. They probably thought Suyin wasn't powerful to extract the poison, that and he didn't find out on them finding hat kind of poison was used on Korra. If they just knew Korra was poisoned, they would have used waterbending which would have done nothing. Still don't know how Jinora knew, I missed that part.

2. Bolin Lavabending
Here's my opinion on that moment: I don't think Bolin was even trying to lavabend, I think he was just trying to buy time. His brother, best friend, and sorta-father were all on the edge about to die, literally. Either Bolin was trying to mimic Ghazan and lavabend, or Bolin was just using a standard move in his own style that he thought would save his friends, even if it meant his life. It's been brought up at multiple points in the series that the element you bend is more linked to your persona than your nation. Bolin's style is pretty much the exact opposite of Toph's, it's fluid, it's about being fleet footed. Bolin developed this style for pro-bending, where standing still is signing up to lose. So Bolin adhered to a fluid earthbending style, who knows where he learned it, but he somehow accidentally made the moves that allow lavabending. Plus metalbending was a myth when Toph was alive, she discovered it by thrashing around in a panic to escape. It was probably easier for Bolin to try something that he saw could be done then Toph learning metalbending on a fluke.

Y'know what I was actually prepared to write an argument on the rest of those points, but then I thought about it, and then Adventure Time came on. These are the two points are really care about, I'm utterly shameless in admitting that Bolin is my favorite character.

 

[Wolyo]

I'm utterly shameless in admitting that Bolin is my favorite character.

He is by far the best character this season. Not much screentime but still.

And for you Bolin Fans out there:

 

[xaszatm]

I had some problems with this season, to say the least.

1)Why did the Red Lotus use a metallic poison to try to kill Korra, knowing that two metal benders were hot on their heels? If they had used any ordinary liquid poison without metallic components, they would have won. Instead, they were idiots, and lost.

2) Bolin's lava bending is effectively an asspull and amounts to almost nothing, as it only saves them the one time (which could've easily been rewritten to work without Bolin doing that) and still doesn't give him any sort of edge against Ghazan. It's basically pointless.

3) While I liked the use of all the new airbenders to defeat Zaheer, I *hated* that they defeated Ghazan and Ming-Hua with just Mako and Bolin, two teenagers who previously got mopped up by these two in a straight-up fight. It took two expert metal benders from the Bei Fong bloodline to beat one of their members before that. Ming-Hua's defeat was especially bitter as it's the only time that Mako had the brains to use his lightning bending, and Ming-Hua (a supposed expert of water bending) had no hard counter to this.

4) I've had a serious problem with Zaheer being so good at airbending all season that, by the season's end, he's effectively surpassed even Tenzin. They excuse it by saying that he studied the air nomads in the past, but I don't see how that could possibly translate to him having such flawless technique as to virtually go toe-to-toe with Tenzin, an expert airbender trained by Aang himself. Just because I read up on kung-fu technique doesn't make me a kung-fu master.

5) There seems to be a total lack of consistency regarding healing in this seeason. Tenzin, who was beaten up rather badly by all four of the villains, seems a-okay two weeks later during Jinora's ceremony. Bumi, similarly, seems to have bounced back fine. Kya, on the other hand, is still using a crutch to walk, despite her beating not being nearly as severe as Tenzin's, not to mention that she's a water bender who was no doubt trained by the best healer in the entire world who is also her mother. There's no reason for Kya to be worse for wear than Tenzin or Bumi. Similarly, the Avatar is still wheelchair-bound two weeks later? Why isn't she getting healed by Katara on a daily basis, or if she is, why isn't it helping? Why all of a sudden NOW does the series pretend that people need to heal "naturally" when we've had healing via water bending firmly established in-universe since Aang's storyline, and we know full well that said healing can damn near revive you from the verge of death? I'll grant that it has more emotional impact this way, but it also feels very hollow when you consider that there's really no reason she should be in this state, unless they're using a Padme-esque excuse that her heart and mind are so broken that she's "lost the will to live" or whatever.

6) They took the time to set up four villains that have AMAZING new ways to use bending....and then ruin all of them by giving the same or similar abilities to their existing cast members. Tonraq is shown using an ability similar to Ming-Hua's water arms against Zaheer, and Bolin spontaneously develops lava bending. I wouldn't be surprised if, by season 4's end, *someone* among the airbenders develops flight, as well. They did such a great job making their villains unique and threatening, and then took that uniqueness from them.

It was no "Jinora Jesus" ending, at least, but that isn't saying very much since that ending nearly made me stop watching the series altogether. Season 4 would have to be unbelievably good to convince me that this series was worth producing at this point, since all it seems willing to do is destroy a lot of the world and setting, which is a big part of what made Aang's story so good.

In the effort to keep raising the stakes higher, they keep destroying a lot of the lore that made the original world so vast and interesting. In the first season, they ruined the "spiritual" nature of air bending by having Korra suddenly and inexplicably trigger it after losing all her other bending (which makes no sense since Amon's ability should have blocked all bending period since it locks up chakras). In the second, they destroy the Avatar's very nature, "killing" her attachment to the other Avatars, which effectively makes her basically just a person who can use all four bending types. Now, they're effectively pretending that "healing" isn't a thing, and they're making it seem like people can just randomly trigger new bending abilities at will. And they keep falling back on characters from Aang's storyline to try and hold up the narrative because they're seemingly afraid that Korra's cast can't hold its own.

1. They used metallic poison because no one would have suspected it. Keep in mind that no one other than the Red Lotus (who isn't talking)knew what the poison was. Let's say that Jinora didn't know what the poison was and Korra could still talk. All Korra would be able to figure out was that a shiny liquid was entered via the skin. How would people suddenly go "That's metal! Lin, save her!"? Most would figure that this would be a liquid based poison and fail to retrieve the poison out. It was only because of Jinora explicitly told them that it was a metal poison that they were able to save her.

2. Lava Bending was slightly hinted at but ultimately not of real concern. It's pretty clear that Ghazan wasn't really trying with the fight against Bolin. And it was only when he was ganged up upon when he lost it.

3. Perhaps Mako didn't lighting bend because of how obvious it is to spot? Even during the killing scene he as making obvious movements with his hands. Lightning has always been this really easy thing to dodge on this show unless you have a boatload of circumstances to distract you.

4. When is Zaheer ever good? Maybe the last few minutes of the last episode was over the top, but when is he ever seen to be a better airbender? Did you not see the fight with Tenzin? What is Zaheer doing during that fight? Running and whenever he tries to hit Tenzin, he completely misses. Tenzin is repeatably landing blows during the fight. The one thing Zaheer is good at in airbending is dodging, which is already one of the most basic tenants of airbending.

5. Healing wounds and recovering from them are two different things. Muscles need rest and physical training in order to guarantee proper movement. Even then, some people might opt to use things like crutches and wheelchairs because they don't want to stress their muscles. Besides, I don't remember healing curing the aftereffects of repairing broken bones and muscles.

6. Why are you surprised that other benders have some knowledge of this stuff? Especially Ming-Hua's. Out of all the specialty benders, hers is the most normal. And probably someone will gain flight in season 4, now that people know the myth is true, people are going to try it.

You know, if you are having this many problems, maybe this show is no longer for you. It is true that Korra has moved in a different direction than Last Airbender, and maybe it isn't what you are looking for. That's fine, it happens. But none of these points really hold any water and seem more and more like you are just looking for something to hate in this show.

 

[xaszatm]

How about the fact that they literally just got done fighting FIVE metal benders at the air temple?

And if you try to use that "they didn't expect to be followed" excuse again, then I'll be forced to conclude that the Red Lotus is composed entirely of morons, because their actions were constantly being followed by the main cast for most of the season. They were stalked to the secret oasis, they were followed to the air temple, and they didn't kill their pursuers there. So they had no reason not to be prepared short of abject stupidity.

Perhaps you are looking at this wrong. Remember that the Red Lotus are surprised at how long it takes for the metallic poison to start activating the Avatar state. This means that they believed that the poison would be fast-acting. Now, consider the following, you are being chased by multiple people who are after the girl you just kidnapped. Do you A. make a new poison just in case the group breaks in to clear for any errors; or B. administer the poison right away and kill her before they come at you? B is faster and has a greater chance of succeeding as making a new poison would waste precious time, time the Red Lotus clearly does not have.

 

[Kajin]

Except you constantly forget that Mako worked at creating 'power' for the city with his lightning during season 1. (Oh, and Amon felt it too)

Uh, I didn't "forget" that. I was the one who pointed it out.

I was the one who noted that Mako's refusal to use it against a water bender who (according to everyone's insistence) has NO way to counter lightning bending....pretty much means that Mako's an idiot. The only other reasonable explanation is that there is some sort of counter to the technique, because it's clearly not as limited as it used to be in the time of Aang.

This is easy enough to explain. Mako is a good guy. He didn't use lightning bending before because that's a pretty fatal move and, because he considers himself a good person, would only ever use it as a weapon of last resort in the most dire of circumstances. From what I recall, this is only the second time he's ever used it on a person in the whole series, and both times were when he was pushed up against a wall and had no choice. First time he was being blood bent by Amon. Second time he was being overwhelmed by a crazy water bender with no backup and no other way to counter or fight back effectively. Less character stupidity and more character trait. If you're the kind of person that thinks lightning should be the first answer to all problems, the cops probably want to have a word with you.

And the only real counter a waterbender could have against a lightning attack was if they threw the water away from their bodies and formed it into a wall between themselves and the attack, which Ming Hua didn't have the time to do because Mako's attack came way too fast for her to react. She couldn't use the lightning redirect attack, either. Even though the style is based on observing the waterbending style, it's still very much a firebending technique. Something she'd be unable to do since she's not a firebender.