The Legend of Korra S03E09-13 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Joshua Hamilton, Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: To make a better world, it’s got to be a more violent, crime-ridden one first.

The Review: Gol-ly! It’s been ages, hasn’t it? Mostly my fault; with Korra now exclusively an online show, you’d think I’d have more freedom to watch it than ever, but that hasn’t been the case, unfortunately. My internet being unreliable as it is, it was often the case that I’d stream about five minutes of an episode before the whole thing cut out and I’d have to rejigger the connection to get it back on. Ultimately, I found it easier to—ahem—torrent the episodes and watch them at leisure. Please don’t tell anyone.

In a way, though, it’s nice to review a whole batch of episodes at once because you come away with a better sense of Korra‘s big picture and tackle some big points all at once. For example, instead of spending a paragraph every week rhapsodizing over the gorgeous bending sequences we’ve gotten lately, I can just use this one paragraph to say these are some gorgeous bending sequences. If the Powers That Be ever get foolhardy enough to attempt a live-action adaptation of this series, I’m positive no budget will be able to capture the pulsing choreography and lithe movements of multiple benders flinging, thrusting, whipping their various elements at each other.

The Legend of Korra S02E11 & E12 – Review

By: Joshua Hamilton & Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: Once again, Nuktuk, hero of the South, saves the day!

The Review: [Incidentally, I understand the season finale is up for viewing on the Nick website, but I’m planning to cover them once they have their TV showing.] Ever since the double-headed “Beginnings,” this show has experienced a pretty dramatic turnaround.  Up until those episodes, both the characters and plot seemed painfully thin, despite repeated efforts to generate some kind of material worth investing in.  Had the show continued in that manner, I probably would have had to reconsider any commitment to review the series past the season.  Fortunately, the writers are absolving themselves quite admirably.

Make no mistake, though, that this is a rehabilitation going on in the show.  You can see that just by the way the writers still struggle with squaring the Water Tribe’s rather dull civil war with the far more interesting going-on’s of the Harmonic Convergence.  Even now, Unalaq fails to articulate his initial need to dominate the Southern Tribe, especially since he later reveals his overarching goal in allying with Vaatu:

The Legend of Korra S02E09 – Review

By: Joshua Hamilton (story)

The Story: Once again, playing around proves more spiritually fulfilling than meditation.

The Review: After the high point that was the last two episodes, with their high fantasy setting and world-shaking stakes, it feels like a bit of a drag returning to the somewhat mundane affairs of the present story.  On the plus side, “The Beginning” has given two boons for the show’s use: a far bigger and more important mission in the impending Harmonic Convergence, and some new perspective for Korra after her recent trials.

It may feel a little weird at first to see Korra’s newfound patience, but it sure beats the dreariness of her prior petulance.  Besides, it would have defeated her whole reconciliation with Tenzin if ten minutes later, she reverted to her usual hissy self after he admits he’s never been to the Spirit World before.  In exercising remarkable self-restraint, Korra’s usually hidden compassion comes to the forefront, allowing her mentor to grapple with his own failings.

The Legend of Korra S02E06 – Review

By: Joshua Hamilton (story)

The Story: Bolin gives Mako his first taste of method acting—and it is not good.

The Review: It’s a testament to the strength of the character work on Avatar: The Last Airbender that some of its best episodes didn’t revolve around Aang at all.  When it comes to The Legend of Korra, it’s not so much that the supporting players have reached a point where they can support an episode by themselves, but rather that your patience with Korra has gotten so exhausted that it’s just a relief to not have to deal with her for a while.

Either way, this is the strongest episode of Korra this season, and much of it has to do with the fact that you still have some affection and respect for the featured characters.  Besides Tenzin, Mako and Asami are the most centered characters on the show, with responsibilities and goals that remain personal and constant, no matter what kind of nonsense they get embroiled into.  Without Korra around, they have an opportunity to get some actual work done, free from the distractions of temperamental outbursts or unnecessary complications.

The Legend of Korra S01E11 & E12

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

The Story: It may come as a shock to you that Amon is not a family man.

The Review: I’m a regular reader of Wired, the ostensible boutique magazine for geeks, and I find it, just like whatever that’s “boutique” anything, is a little prone to making broad, definitive judgment calls with no support.  Take Scott Thrill’s take on The Legend of Korra, in his eyes the “Smartest Cartoon on TV.”  Now, I didn’t quite do a spit-take on reading that headline, but I must say, with no offense to Thrill, that I respectfully disagree.

The last couple episodes have been solid enough to make me eager for the season finale, but halfway through, right around the point where Tarrlok spills the beans on every revelation you ever needed, I found myself turned cold.  Be forewarned, this next chunk of review will contain quite a few spoilers, so shut your eyes and move on if you’re not into that kind of thing.

The Legend of Korra S01E10 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: The unemployed Lin seeks a new career in childcare.  Hey, desperate times…

The Review: Amazingly, we are nearly at the end of the show’s first season, and as we get closer to the finale, it becomes increasingly clear that the story we’re getting now is the only one DiMartino-Konietzko care to tell.  I always suspected the romantic sub-plot and everything to do with pro-bending were just brazen ways to commercially fill the time until the primary material could get going, but for now, let’s set all that behind us.

And as much as we would like to, we can’t.  We still have this totally uninteresting Asami-Mako-Korra triangle nudging its way into an episode when it’s not wanted.  Frankly, the show hasn’t done a great job defining Asami beyond her love for Mako and drag-racing, but here we get to see her no-nonsense attitude, which knocks directly into Mako’s strong, silent nature.  I, for one, think the non-bending debutante has the high ground on this one; all she’s asking for is some truth and explanation, and Mako refuses to give either, citing the Equalist chaos as excuse.

The Legend of Korra S01E09 – Review

By: Michael DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: Grown-up Aang = less cute, more beard.

The Review: In some ways, this show has been quite prudent in avoiding too many references to or guest spots from the original Team Avatar.  Obviously, DiMartino-Konietzko want the show to stand on its own to some extent, and give the new cast a chance to grow without distractions from already beloved characters.  Yet it would’ve been highly unusual if we didn’t get to see the old gang at some point; I’m certain there’d be some kind of protest if that happened.

Honestly, though, while it’s exciting to see the grown-up Aang, Sokka, and Toph, the only real resemblance they have to the cute kids we knew and loved are echoes in their physical features (with Aang, you don’t even get that; you can’t see a trace of the round-faced kid in this Amish-bearded, strong-jawed man).  But that’s to be expected; they couldn’t possibly be impulsive or silly children forever.  And on the bright side, you at least get a “Twinkle-toes” out of Toph and Sokka’s borderline creepy affection for his “trusty boomerang,” so it’s not a complete loss.

The Legend of Korra S01E08 – Review

By: Michael DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: Take a lesson from the Abba Teens, guys—tribute bands aren’t actual bands.

The Review: A couple weeks ago, I mentioned how I felt DiMartino-Konietzko only had so much story to tell for this season and how they’ve attempted to disguise the fact with several plotlines that didn’t really offer any worthwhile material.  Big example: the entirety of the pro-bending arc, which basically had some flashy animation and did virtually nothing else for the show.  At times, it almost exasperatingly got in the way of the truly intriguing stuff.

I’m talking, of course, about the bender versus non-bender war we’ve currently got in full force.  With all the opposing parties are out in the open, it seems like only now DiMartino-Konietzko can stride confidently into the story they’ve wanted to tell all along.  Everything certainly clicks a lot better than it has in the first half of the season, from the character interaction and even to the battle sequences.  You can sense purpose behind every moment, which is a great feeling.

The Legend of Korra S01E07 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: Even in the Avatar world, you can’t trust big corporations.

The Review: It gets increasingly difficult to talk about this series, not only because its strengths and problems are consistent across every episode, but also because there really isn’t all that much to talk about.  I mentioned last week how thin the plot seems to be, and for the sake of contrast, you should look to this week’s episode of Young Justice for an example of a packed episode.  I think it’s pretty clear that this show hasn’t delivered nearly that kind of substance so far.

To be fair, Legend of Korra has a much smaller cast than Young Justice’s bursting population of characters.  But it certainly doesn’t help that the show focuses so intensely on Korra, maligning her supporting cast to strictly that: support.  When you look at Mako, Bolin, Tenzin, or Lin, none of them have major plotlines of their own to help break up the episode; their stories invariably tie into Korra’s in some way, and that makes for rather stagnant storytelling.  Compare to The Last Airbender, where you can go a whole episode without seeing Aang.

The Legend of Korra S01E05 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: If only one can bend feelings the way one can with the elements.

The Review: Look, I know how the entertainment business works.  It’s never lost on me that if the audience latches on to something, it’s in the show’s best interest to play to that.  I understand that shipping certain couples on a TV series can bring in a lot of fans—many of whom might never even care for the show otherwise (I knew several women who couldn’t care less that West Wing was a great drama so long as Josh and Donna got together).  I get it.

But I always find the romantic plotline the most predictable and frequently the least interesting part of any story.  For any regular readers of my reviews, you know how often I rolled my eyes when one of those warm and fuzzy scenes popped up between Superboy and Miss Martian (or Artemis and Kid Flash, for that matter) on Young Justice.  You probably also know I have pretty much the same reactions for any Korra-Mako bits of fluffiness.