Legend of Korra: What Happened to Korra and Who Is Kuvira?

[giles]

I was with the first episode until the last five minutes. Come on guys, did you not find anything for Korra to do other than brooding?

Anyways... I think Kuvira might turn out to be good or horrible. Nothing definite on her yet, but so far I like her. She's actually making a difference for people and so what if she eventually wants to take over the kingdom? It's clear the current Earth kingdom is on a state of anarchy and the people are suffering. She's shown that she is capable of providing for the citizens, both the ones who turn to barbarism and who became victims of it after the fall of the former queen. On top of it all, the "rightful ruler" is an inexperienced, political puppet who is related to the tyrannical former queen.
The Air nomads went from enlightened monks to Batman... yeah. Right. Moving on to the characters. Opal is still bland and apparently a passive aggresive ***** on top of it now. Great. Kai (I always have to think for a few seconds before I remember his name) is still a pointless character. Is he just there to be Jinora's love interest? Either have him be interesting or be gone. All he does is generic stuff any other airbender character could have done. We had enough airbenders in the show already, just have them do it; might flesh out their characters.
And the last one is... Mako. Fuck this guy, can we please not focus on him ever again? He just keeps bitching about wanting to be a detective. What the fuck he is starting to remind me of the C-Sec bitching of Garrus Vakarian. Why should I care? I didn't even catch why he keeps trying to go back to detective work for shitty pay and sacrificing his friends and family for it. Was that ever explained?

captcha: you good?
NO

 

[Silverspetz]

I'm still curious about the season three finale. When she entered the Avatar State she was performing some advanced bending techniques, particularly flying with fire. Didn't she lose her connections to the past avatars?

Yes she did, which is why she wasn't using the air-sphere like previous Avatars did I order to fly. Jet-propulsion by fire seems like a far less advanced technique, relying on raw power to achieve enough propulsion for flight rather than perfectly controlled air-pressure.

 

[Mechamorph]

So far Balance is shaping to be one of the more intriguing Books of the Korra Cycle. Rather than bombastic, supernatural threats or maniacal fanatics the crux of what we have seen so far seems to be cast in a far more nuanced shade of grey. Well unless Kuvira turns out to be a power-mad tyrant anyway. It even has a Romance of the Three Kingdoms vibe with the legitimate heir to the throne being at best mediocre with his power propped up by talented subordinates (Liu Bei/Prince Wu) versus a genius who has a less than sterling character but would otherwise do a spectacular job of running the Kingdom (Cao Cao/Kuvira). The Earth Kingdom after all has had very ineffectual monarchs recently and seriously, does anyone doubt that Prince Wu would turn out very well once he's on the throne? Kuvira may be what the Earth Kingdom needs but certainly foreign powers would not want a strong, determined Queen on the throne of one of the largest kingdoms still standing. I guess that does play into the theme of Balance; of right versus wrong against benign and effective.

 

[jamail77]

Snip

Thats a fair opinion. There are things about the show I like it is just that I don't like any of the characters and when you don't care what happens to any of the characters it is hard to get invested in the show.

I should not have quoted you anyway. Looking at your post again I see I was a bit defensive. I have lost count of the number of times I have been told that I am wrong for disliking the show because I simply wanted TLA 2.0 when I really didn't. Anyway that was my bad. Sorry.

Exactly. It was very difficult for me to stay invested when...well, mostly Korra and Mako, acted ridiculous (not just the romantic stuff, they were both stupid about other things as well). I never bought the "They're teenagers" or "Korra was secluded for so long it affected her development" excuses either. Korra functioned well enough in the first 2 episodes of Book 1 for me to have doubts about the latter. Mako still hasn't really grown on me, but Book 3 Korra really grew on me. I would have much rather preferred Korra to start out the way she did in Book 3, but c'est la vie.

I don't blame you for being defensive. If you didn't at least sort of like Korra (the character) as a concept regardless of the execution in Book 1/2, you weren't going to like her in Book 3. At her core she is still Korra despite the growth. It's difficult to create an unlikable likable character and they most definitely dropped the ball on that. Her growth doesn't feel organic enough to me. I'm fine with how she is now: I just wish her development had been eased in better and she had been less stupid than she was in Book 1/2. It really felt unbelievable sometimes and forget all the overbearing cliches. I mean, the Avatar universe has always leaned towards cliches, but it gets ridiculous in The Legend of Korra sometimes.

While I am more pro-Korra now I understand what it's like to get those sort of attacks thrown at you and, actually, to unintentionally do the attacking. My Korra discussion thread [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.859272-People-w-previous-rational-dislike-for-The-Legend-of-Korra-have-now-joined-the-irrational-side#21324664] ended in a disaster. All I was trying to do was point out how many critics were getting irrational and drowning out the legit criticisms, but a lot of critics took it the wrong way and saw it as a personal attack. Taught me a lot about how I approach these things in the future believe it or not.

The Air nomads went from enlightened monks to Batman... yeah. Right. Moving on to the characters. Opal is still bland and apparently a passive aggresive ***** on top of it now. Great. Kai (I always have to think for a few seconds before I remember his name) is still a pointless character. Is he just there to be Jinora's love interest? Either have him be interesting or be gone. All he does is generic stuff any other airbender character could have done. We had enough airbenders in the show already, just have them do it; might flesh out their characters.
And the last one is... Mako. Fuck this guy, can we please not focus on him ever again? He just keeps bitching about wanting to be a detective. What the fuck he is starting to remind me of the C-Sec bitching of Garrus Vakarian. Why should I care? I didn't even catch why he keeps trying to go back to detective work for shitty pay and sacrificing his friends and family for it. Was that ever explained?

captcha: you good?
NO

Tenzin reorganized the Air Nation upon realizing the world needed an Avatar like presence even when the Avatar is out of commission. Frankly, I prefer it. Aside from Monk Gyatso, the children, Avatar Yangchen, and that one female monk who helped Aang meet Appa, the old Air Nation came off to me as so isolated that they were very near selfishness. They only revealed Aang's status as Avatar because they felt bad times coming and they knew they were supposed to do it; I got no sense of actual compassion when they did this. This is a difference of opinion of course.

The bland comment is a fair opinion, but how is Opal passive aggressive? She told Bolin why she has problems with him doing what he does, more or less. You talk about Kai being a pointless character, but he was introduced as being naturally gifted at airbending and someone with a criminal past. That's they dynamic here. I really disagree that any other airbender could do what he did considering how they're still very new to airbending AND that they're doing it while flying via wingsuits, something airbenders have never done before or been trained to specifically do until now. Heck, most of them are young adults minimum and we all know adults have a harder time learning such things than children born learning this stuff from the start.

In the entire series, I count Mako bitching about being a detective 2, maybe 3 times and they're all fairly short outbursts. Technically, his most recent "bitching" was more like a happy fantasy. I wouldn't call that a lot of bitching. How do you know he gets shitty pay anyway? This is never stated or implied. He and Bolin used to live in the attic of the pro-bending arena. Then, they had move into an apartment. I'd say he gets paid decently if they could afford to move into an apartment. Also, he never has to sacrifice his friends and family to be a detective. He tried to do that in the beginning of Book 3, but it's never a decision forced upon him. He even says he felt like he was drifting apart and Korra and Asami (when they had their "girl talk") and Bolin more or less say that he kind of did that to himself.

I don't say any of this to come off as a fan who believes there's nothing to dislike about this show. There are things to dislike. I just don't get your complaints here. Maybe you can clear them up for me.

 

[The Madman]

Jeez, so much cynicism both in the article and in this topic. It's the first episode, give it time. It established a time frame, it established the current whereabouts of the main cast, and it began to lay the groundwork for a season-wide story arch. It did it's job just fine.

I think it's a bit early to be arguing whether Kuvira is too cliche of a villain for example considering we don't even know if she is the villain yet, nevermind fully understanding her goals and motivations even if she is the main villain.

 

[circularlogic88]

You don't need to compare Korra with Aang to not like her. As a character, she's designed to be abrasive and go against what has been previously established and expected of an Avatar like Aang. Which is a shame because I really liked her in the first season and there seemed like there were inklings of a deeper, more interesting insecure character...up until the last 5 minutes of the last episode of season one where Aang stops on by and shows her the power was inside her all along.

Much as I still enjoy the show, it could probably have been a lot better if they'd not just deus ex-machina'd their way out of that one. In fact I really kind of wish they'd just taken the equalist uprising and stretched it out across multiple seasons. I understand that the way it was produced didn't really make that possible, of course, but it still seems like wasted potential. Seeing the avatar reduced to an airbender and forced into hiding while the revolution expands outwards sounds more interesting to me than the villain-of-the-month approach, even if I did like Zaheer.

I agree. I can't imagine that the Equalists just disappeared after that. It was such a waste of a formidable enemy. To just get rid of chi-blockers and the Equalist party's cause was really confusing for me when we picked up again in season two. Season two was such a turn-off for me. The reason I kept watching that season was to see the Tenzin family road trip. Korra herself and Mako's side plot were both just frustrating to watch.

 

[DoctorM]

I was under the impression that the new season was going to mark Korra's return to TV.

I can't believe they're going to burn off an entire SEASON online only. Weird.

We should honestly count ourselves lucky. If it weren't for the fact that 80% of production was done before Season 3 aired, Nick probably would have cancelled season 4 outright. :/

That makes sense. I couldn't figure out why they would bother with another season after burying the previous one.

Mind you, last season had low ratings because it was guerrilla programming. You never knew where or when an episode would hit half the time.

 

[R_Richard_P26]

Jeez, so much cynicism both in the article and in this topic. It's the first episode, give it time. It established a time frame, it established the current whereabouts of the main cast, and it began to lay the groundwork for a season-wide story arch. It did it's job just fine.

I think it's a bit early to be arguing whether Kuvira is too cliche of a villain for example considering we don't even know if she is the villain yet, nevermind fully understanding her goals and motivations even if she is the main villain.

I feel the same way about Kuvira. Someone on the article page in the Facebook comments said she may be more motivated not by ambition but how she's seen how much the Avatar and others have sacrificed to try and fix the world, only for corrupt and inept leaders to ruin it time and time again, and she's doing whatever it takes to try and prevent them from messing things up again.


I don't think she's going to be an overt villain so much as a foil for a severely depressed Korra or a source of friction among the whole group. Someone else could easily be the one(s) applying the pressure. As I noted in my response to the guy earlier the bandits they fought last season were very iconic with a strong road warrior thing going on. A three-way grudge match between Kuvira and Bolin, Wu and Mako, and a group of apparently organized, very numerous bandits (They must have quite a system to be able to get a plane in the air fast enough to intercept the ONE flying bison in the area. Not to mention that they have a plane at all). And of course poor Korra's going to have to pull through her personal issues only to be dropped in the middle of the whole mess.



As for the series wide criticisms I've read the problem I've had with the series is how... fast everything has been going. It's really a problem of how the series was put together. Nick only gave them one series at a time, forcing the freak of the week style format we've gotten rather than a single over arching villain. It was also made as mini series so instead of getting 20 episodes a season there's only been 12 or 13. This means a lot of the extra episodes and plot lines we got in The Last Airbender that while not giving much to the overall plot gave us a lot of the time we needed to find reasons to care for the characters. They also never got a chance to foreshadow anything, making EVERY ending a bit of a deus ex machina. Personally I feel like the first and second seasons would have been better being 3 seasons kind of blended together, with hints to the spirits being unruly put within the troubles with Amon. Perhaps have her Uncle try and warn her that with the imbalance left ignored by Aang building Amon's plans threaten to cause the spirits to go nuts. When he said that a war between the water tribes would do it in Season 2 it felt rushed to me. Like, why would they suddenly freak out after a hundred years of war and the massive battles in Republic City. (In retrospect it seems a lot more likely he was causing that as a ruse, but it'd still be nice to have some foreshadowing) For the past couple of days I've had it stuck in my head how cool it would have been to get an episode or 2 with Korra and company finding her Uncles journal or something and it explaining how he came across Vaatu and how Vaatu convinced him up was down. Seriously he went so far as to call himself the DARK avatar. What did the spirit in the tree say. Also it would have been nice for some foreshadowing on the Tree of Time. Once again throw that in the journal, like perhaps he went to it searching for knowledge, only for Vaatu to convince him he's the spirit of the tree or something. And with how he was apparently involved with the season 3 villains they could have at least have been hinted to, they were obviously very important at a point earlier, a hint would have been nice.

I don't know, I just really prefer Chekov Guns to deus ex machinas, and I prefer a show getting 20 episodes a season rather than 12 when it's something like Avatar that has such good characters and an awesome world. The other complaint people has is that they feel the characters fall flat, but really there hasn't been much stuff not necessary to the plot to give them a chance to show themselves off. It's all just felt so rushed to me, not due to lack of time or effort. The creators have done an awesome job fitting as much stuff as they could to give thoughtful stories, but Nickelodeon simply didn't give them enough space. In my mind Legend of Korra is another great series held back by the network execs, sorta like Young Justice.

 

[MorganL4]

Wait, Book 4 has already started? Damn it Nick.... We have to wait 2 years between Books 2 & 3 of TLA and then with Korra you push books 3 & 4 up against each other with only a 6 week break? Ugh. The day Korra finishes airing is the day I cease to consider your network for any programing WHATSOEVER.

 

[R_Richard_P26]

Yeah, that's another problem. I'm kind of afraid this seasons going to end up rushed because they had to get so much of it finished before season 3 was over to force Nick to let them have it.




Really wish they'd gone the crowd-funding route and been able to build whatever they wanted rather than being forced to go along with Nickelodeon's wishes. It is impressive that they managed to turn a mini-series that was just supposed to show how the world changed after Aang's time into a strong show 4 seasons long.

 

[SnakeTrousers]

Wait, Book 4 has already started? Damn it Nick.... We have to wait 2 years between Books 2 & 3 of TLA and then with Korra you push books 3 & 4 up against each other with only a 6 week break? Ugh. The day Korra finishes airing is the day I cease to consider your network for any programing WHATSOEVER.

I can see some exec at Nickelodeon reading this and thinking...

"... Good, good."

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'm surprised Nick didn't throw out 2 or 3 episodes at once. Maybe they wised up (Is that possible for a network exec?) and realized people will watch the same episodes over and over while waiting for the next one to come out, but they won't get more ad revenue if people stop doing sooner because the damned season is already over.

The thing that bothers me about Kuvira is how they introduced her last season. That lingering shot in the book 3 finale still makes me feel like she has more connections the Red Lotus. It could be a red herring, but why would they do that in the last season, instead of just making her appear at the beginning of book 4? Either way, it's ambiguous what her true motives are. I just think Zaheer's line about having many sleeper agents out in the world, the forced shot of Kuvira in book 3 and her eagerness to be right in the middle of the fight in the finale might be hinting at something bigger than just her current motives being a play for power or a well-intentioned extremist's idea of how to solve a major political dilemma. Maybe she's an agent, a former one or she's trying to draw Korra out with her strict actions for whatever reasons.

On another note, Korra started out as the one who loved being the Avatar even at a young age, contrary to Aang, who ran away from it as soon as he heard. Over time, he learned to accept his destiny with the only thing really holding him back was his desire not to kill anyone. Korra on the other hand, got a healthy dose of the outside world and its conflicts and has had doubts over and over about if she should continue being the Avatar. Whatever happens this season, maybe she will find balance in herself and maybe even find a way to pass on the Avatar spirit without reincarnation. (She is the first in a new cycle. Perhaps it will better fit a new world with harmony with the spirits and joined nations.)

 

[Razhem]

It has potential for sure, but Kuvira is a bloody waste at the moment. Had she actually been introduced last season and been a relevant secondary character, we could have known her a bit, see her be so harsh and cruel would have been an impression, not a "ok, I guess" situation.

 

[Nuxxy]

Kuvira is not the villain yet. She has a firm hand, yes, but she has done nothing but restore order and bring supplies. If she had treated the governor like she has treated the bandits (by attacking and imprisoning them in metal) she would be a villain. She is treading a thin line that could easily lead to a police state, but she's not there yet. I'm actually more concerned that Varrick is involved, because he is easily the type to betray her and try seize control of the army she laid in place.

Other the other hand, Hitler was Time magazine's "Man of the Year" in 1938.

 

[giles]

Tenzin reorganized the Air Nation upon realizing the world needed an Avatar like presence even when the Avatar is out of commission. Frankly, I prefer it. Aside from Monk Gyatso, the children, Avatar Yangchen, and that one female monk who helped Aang meet Appa, the old Air Nation came off to me as so isolated that they were very near selfishness. They only revealed Aang's status as Avatar because they felt bad times coming and they knew they were supposed to do it; I got no sense of actual compassion when they did this. This is a difference of opinion of course.

The bland comment is a fair opinion, but how is Opal passive aggressive? She told Bolin why she has problems with him doing what he does, more or less. You talk about Kai being a pointless character, but he was introduced as being naturally gifted at airbending and someone with a criminal past. That's they dynamic here. I really disagree that any other airbender could do what he did considering how they're still very new to airbending AND that they're doing it while flying via wingsuits, something airbenders have never done before or been trained to specifically do until now. Heck, most of them are young adults minimum and we all know adults have a harder time learning such things than children born learning this stuff from the start.

In the entire series, I count Mako bitching about being a detective 2, maybe 3 times and they're all fairly short outbursts. Technically, his most recent "bitching" was more like a happy fantasy. I wouldn't call that a lot of bitching. How do you know he gets shitty pay anyway? This is never stated or implied. He and Bolin used to live in the attic of the pro-bending arena. Then, they had move into an apartment. I'd say he gets paid decently if they could afford to move into an apartment. Also, he never has to sacrifice his friends and family to be a detective. He tried to do that in the beginning of Book 3, but it's never a decision forced upon him. He even says he felt like he was drifting apart and Korra and Asami (when they had their "girl talk") and Bolin more or less say that he kind of did that to himself.

I don't say any of this to come off as a fan who believes there's nothing to dislike about this show. There are things to dislike. I just don't get your complaints here. Maybe you can clear them up for me.

I doubt Tenzin has the right to interfer with other nation's politics. If the new Air Nation wants to be taken seriously, their first act shouldn't be meddling with the frail, anarchistic Earth Kingdom (they still haven't established a ruler, their actions could easily be viewed as an attempt to gain political power). Their vigilante acts is not so different from Kuvira's actions, albeit Kuvira is more organised to actually get shit done. She wouldn't send 2 young airbenders in training to fight a horde of bandits. I doubt the other nations would just buy into them being good natured.
I dunno maybe it will turn out that the Air Nation act as part of some kind of officially assigned UN task force or something, but right now it just looks like Tenzin making kids play Batman.

Opal didn't actually talk with her boyfriend regarding her problems with Kuvira (at least not more than a few sentences) and it's not like they acted like they had that talk in the past either. She bitches at Bolin for "abandoning" the people, who retorts with the good point that they can't do anything because the governor didn't want them there. She LITERALLY pushes him away and turns around, crosses her arms and sulks. What is she, 6? Got no fucking response to that? Oh noes, Kuvira doesn't just randomly hand out help, leave and let everything to go to shit again but instead wants to unite her broken nation, what a monster. After Kuvira makes the contract with the governor and Bolin looks happy, she turns her back on him. How is that not passive aggressive and childish? At this point Kuvira has done nothing wrong (despite the show trying pretty hard to paint the contract as evil) and her method seems more reasonable than the Air Nation's literally failing attempt to help them. Opal just looks like an idiot for being mad at Bolin over this.

Kai didn't need to be in that scene. I understand that Opal has the useful side function of establishing that Bolin is no longer attracted to Korra (no more love triangles plz). Kai, however, could easily be replaced by Jinora or another of Tenzin's kids or maybe Bumi. Why do they all need to hang around their family? Kai can't be much older than the kids and he's doing his share. This is what I mean, Kai offers nothing that we didn't already have in abundance thanks to Tenzin having a shitton of kids, except for being Jinora's love interest.

Mako was bitching multiple times about his detective job. The problem is that this is ALL I remember him doing. Did he do anything else? Yea, some stuff was tied to the plot about him being a detective, but that seemed more like an attempt to give him something to do. Bolin mentions Mako is sleeping under his desk (when Mako was once again bitching how important working for the police is to him) so I thought it was kinda implied that the job was shitty. Did we ever learn why his police work is relevant to him? He was a criminal first and then he was kind of a professional athelte and now suddenly being in the police is the most important thing ever. I don't get him at all and I don't even care anymore.

 

[Mike Hoffman]

Jeez, so much cynicism both in the article and in this topic. It's the first episode, give it time. It established a time frame, it established the current whereabouts of the main cast, and it began to lay the groundwork for a season-wide story arch. It did it's job just fine.

I think it's a bit early to be arguing whether Kuvira is too cliche of a villain for example considering we don't even know if she is the villain yet, nevermind fully understanding her goals and motivations even if she is the main villain.

Absolutely. I should have stressed that this episode and its representations of the characters was perfectly fine, but for my tastes it was nothing more than fine. Kuvira could go either way and I guess I would have liked for a stronger showing for her first reveal as antagonist. By the way, I'm guessing "antagonist" will be a much better title for her than "villain", but we'll see.

I'm sure the rest of the season will be something less divisive. I expect his was just the exposition before stuff gets rolling and the excitement of seeing the characters after what might have been a year between seasons would have been more fulfilling. Since it was only six weeks, it had a little less of an impact.

 

[orangeapples]

The part that disappointed me the most was perhaps that it was just a single episode. I was expecting a 2-parter. It kinda felt like it was going to be a 2-parter.

 

[RWillers]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't think Kuvira is the villain, not exactly anyway.

From how things are going in the Earth Kingdom (extreme discontent, poverty, corrupt monarchies), how the rest of the world is reacting (it looks like no nation knows what to do with the EK), and the way Kuvira is presenting herself (as the Great Uniter or whatever), I'm getting huge FASCISM vibes.

I don't know if they'd actually go with a WWII analogy in LoK, but I think the true villain this season will be not just one person but a whole movement. Considering how the Earth Kingdom has always been a mess (at least since the times of Kyoshi), Korra or one of the world's leaders would have to do something about the EK to really improve it.

Also, what better way to end the franchise than having Korra, the latest Avatar, stopping another world war in the avatar-verse?

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Just so everyone knows, the creators have said in an interview that they are dedicating an entire episode to just Korra struggling after Book 3. It is going to be similar to the ATLA episode Zuko Alone. This episode is entirely setup.

 

[R_Richard_P26]

Just so everyone knows, the creators have said in an interview that they are dedicating an entire episode to just Korra struggling after Book 3. It is going to be similar to the ATLA episode Zuko Alone. This episode is entirely setup.

That could be good. That was certainly one of the better ATLA episodes.