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 S03E08 – Review

By: Joshua Hamilton (story)

The Story: Once someone invades your metal utopia, you can never feel safe there again.

The Review: By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about Nickelodeon’s plan to shift the remainder of Korra‘s episodes (after this one) to strictly online streaming. It’s a move that stops just short of canning the show outright. AV Club’s Oliver Sava has a sophisticated theory about the why and wherefore that has much to do with leaks, promotion, imprudent business decisions, all of which sounds very reasonable and I’m sure he has the right of it.

Personally, though, I think he doesn’t emphasize what I see as a critical factor for this ill treatment, which is that for most of its lifetime, Korra just wasn’t that great a show. Even if it didn’t have to compete with the glory days of Last Airbender (the ratings of which only grew with each season), Korra often failed to find compelling storylines or characters, or even a consistent direction. The tepid first season destroyed much of the confidence the show gleaned from its predecessor, and the second season reached a gruesome low of quality from which Korra never really recovered.

The Legend of Korra S03E06-07

By: Katie Matilla & Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: Family, the ties that bind and gag.

The Review: There was a long period, starting in Season 1 and gaining steam in Season 2, when it looked like Korra might turn into the least likable character in her own show—which would have been awkward, to say the least. You could forgive her hot temperament, impulsiveness, and pride, but her tendency to trust her enemies before her friends displayed such a severe lack of common sense that you couldn’t help feeling her position as avatar was ill-deserved.

But her spiritual experiences last season have done a lot to polish her personality and give her some measure of wisdom. She’s humble enough to freely admit her inability to metalbend, sensible enough for Tenzin to take her advice seriously, likable enough that even when she has the occasional outburst, she seems passionate rather than nauseatingly self-righteous. All this evolution is conveyed through Janet Varney’s centered voicing, which keeps Korra sounding firm and strong, but with gentler delivery.

The Legend of Korra S03E01-05 – Review

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

The Story: Suddenly, being an airbender is a whole lot less special.

The Review: So for all those who thought that maybe I Dropped this series, my sincerest apologies. I hate to turn bar prep into my personal scapegoat for all my failings, but you have to admit, it’s a good one. Indeed, it wasn’t until commenters Daniel and Del Keyes mentioned it—thanks, pals!—that I remembered there was such a thing as Legend of Korra. Seriously, my reaction was something along the lines of, “Oh, yeah…”

I picked a real bad season to forget about the premiere, too, since the show came right out the gate with three episodes, and seems set to follow a two-episode-a-week schedule from now on. So just like my bar prep, I have a lot of catching up to do. To get started, let’s do as the show does and get the return of the spirits out of the way first. It’s exactly as disruptive as you’d expect, with vining habitats randomly popping up across Republic City, but since the show can’t exactly revive the spirit-human conflict without becoming repetitious, there’s not much anyone can do about the situation except deal with it, albeit sullenly.

The Legend of Korra S02E13 & E14 – Review

By: Joshua Hamilton & Michael Dante DiMartino (story)

The Story: Korra must learn to use her blues to defeat darkness for good.

The Review: It occurred to me that the separation of the physical and spirit worlds really seemed to be a very sensible decision at the time.  Humankind had only just started to venture from the protection of the lion-turtles, and only some had any power to defend themselves against the more numerous, long-lived, and powerful spirits.  Had the status quo remained, spirits would most likely have dominated humanity for ages, if not forever.

I bring this up in light of—spoiler alert—Korra’s decision to leave the portals between worlds open at the end of the episode, allowing spirits to live alongside humanity once more.  She doesn’t give a very clear reason for this; she only suspects, without explaining why, that humans and spirits weren’t meant to live apart and that Avatar Wan made a mistake in concluding otherwise.  This, even though all evidence at the time went to the contrary.  The better rationale for keeping the portals open is that humanity has finally moved away from the endless wars of the past, and with their rapid technological progress, preserving their spirituality has become more important than ever.

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 S02E10 – Review

By: Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: The fact the world is facing Armageddon doesn’t excuse missing tea time.

The Review: The last three episodes have marked a noticeable turnaround for the season, driving the show towards heights of fantasy that we haven’t seen since the end of the first Avatar series.  Although the political storylines have been sincere attempts to give this cartoon some sophistication, they’ve more often than not lost steam shortly after they’ve begun.  Case in point: the Water Tribe’s civil war bore little interest when it started and by now is best ignored.

In hindsight, the war seems to have been an unintended consequence of Unalaq’s plan to…I don’t know, take over the world, or something?  Had things gone his way, Korra would have acquiesced to his initial subterfuges and he might have gotten away with a semi-legitimate claim to total leadership.  But once that plan fell through, it was not only Unalaq left with an awkward military conflict on his hands, but the show as well, and neither have seemed very interested in developing that particular plotline.

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 S02 E07-E08 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: Presenting…the Avatar origin story.

The Review: There have been many times when I wished that instead of a watered down spin-off, we had gotten a direct sequel to The Last Airbender.  It wasn’t always because of Korra either, believe it or not.*  Airbender left behind a lot of unanswered questions about its own mythology, frequently raising hopes it would return to those points later on, only it never had a chance.  It was too busy overthrowing evil overlords in the present to look back on the past.

Consequently, we’ve taken for granted the whole notion of having an Avatar to begin with.  In both Airbender and Korra, the opening voiceover repeatedly states that only the Avatar “can bring balance to the world.”  In Airbender, we naturally assumed this meant finding peace among the four nations and that seemed to be the understanding among the characters in that series as well.  Somehow, we always ignored the basic questions of how the Avatar first came into being, who assigned him/her the balancing act, and what regulates the Avatar’s cycle of life and death.  These two episodes provide us direct answers to all these issues, making them by far Korra’s most important chapters on top of being crucial to the Avatar canon as a whole.

The Legend of Korra S02E05 – Review

By: Tim Hedrick (story)

The Story: It’s always best to not argue with your girlfriend—especially if she’s the Avatar.

The Review: Alright, folks, I’m officially starting to feel concerned.  I admit that I’ve never been much taken with Korra as a character, but I thought over time she might at least grow on me a little.  Instead, I find myself very much on the verge of outright hating her, which is not a good situation for a viewer and is even worse for a reviewer.  A critic can’t exactly do his job properly if his instinct is to fast-forward through every scene the protagonist is in.

I suspect even the most ardent Korra fans have to admit that lately, the Avatar has been letting her inner child run wild.  It sure explains how the other characters’ tolerance for her seems to weaken proportionately to their maturity levels, leaving Tenzin, Asami, Mako, and the President of the United Republic exasperated with her behavior and only the impulsive Varrick and dimwitted Bolin still in her camp.  At least the characters’ reactions to Korra are logical enough to prove that Hedrick and the other writers are very well aware of their lead’s flaws.

The Legend of Korra S02E04 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino (story)

The Story: The Water Tribes reconsider their tradition of having no career options for lawyers.

The Review: By a show of hands, how many of you were ninety-nine percent sure that Unalaq would turn out to be a no good, power hungry rat fink (and one percent sure he would just be no good)?  Oh, all of you?  Yeah, me, too.  The man can’t stand others having fun; isn’t that already a sign that this isn’t the kind of person that can be trusted?  Did we really need to wait for the arrival of troop ships before we decided it wasn’t a good idea to put him in a leadership position?

It’s like a Tarrlok situation all over again, only even less exciting because we already know how all this is going down.  Unalaq may be a more subtle manipulator than Tarrlok, but his plots are no less easy to spot.  Again, this only makes Korra look none too bright, as if to compensate for her avatar powers, she got less than her fair share of brains.  When Unalaq announces that he’s hand-picked the judge who’ll preside at her father’s trial, you want to rip your hair out in frustration that Korra doesn’t see this as a red flag and merely assents with downcast eyes.

The Legend of Korra S02E03 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino (story)

The Story: Talk about your cold wars.

The Review: I must confess, I have a really hard time dealing with Korra as a protagonist.  In my head, I know that fictional characters shouldn’t have to be perfectly sensible or intelligent or even likable.  But in my heart I also know that I can never respect someone who lacks that much perspective on her many flaws, or seems incapable of learning anything from her mistakes.  It’s a raging war between me the reviewer and me the reader, and it’s never certain who will triumph.

In this case, though, I think my prejudices have some real support.  I’ve already pointed out how incredible it is that Korra, having already been burned by a charismatic waterbender, would so easily go along with Unalaq’s flow.  You wouldn’t imagine her naivety could be so enduring, yet she seems unyieldingly blind and deaf to the red flags.  Upon confronting her uncle about the blockade of Northern troop ships and the way its soldiers treat the Southerners like second-class citizens, Korra misses in the most painful manner the symbolic significance of Unalaq seated upon a throne, telling her, “I need you for something more important.”

The Legend of Korra S02E01E02 – Review

By: Tim Hedrick & Joshua Hamilton (story)

The Story: I don’t suppose holy water and crosses work on these kinds of spirits.

The Review: For most of Korra’s first season, it strove to replicate the beautiful balance of humor and pathos as its predecessor, but ultimately fell short.  The Last Airbender achieved its powerful blend of childish enthusiasm and adult sensibilities by virtue of its characters naturally possessing both qualities.  The cast of Korra started out older, warier, more given to sobriety than silliness; it could never have the innocence and wonder that made Airbender so easy to love.

In many ways, the second season seems to embrace the show’s maturity a little more firmly than the first.  Aside from the irrepressible Bolin and the hyperactive antics of Tenzin’s youngest children, the tone of the show is now quietly grounded in grown-up concerns.  Even as Korra expresses her affection for the Southern Water Tribe’s yearly festival, she does so with a kind of distance, her fondness coming more from nostalgia than real pleasure.  She carries that same reservation throughout the season premiere, sometimes in a strange and stark contrast with Tenzin’s emotional regression once reunited with his older siblings.

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 S01E06 – Review

By: Michael DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: Ringside seats grow less amazing once terrorists take over the ring.

The Review: I don’t mean to sound like a downer, but I’ve found another point of dissatisfaction with this series.  It just feels like we don’t have much going on in each episode, making you feel as if DiMartino-Konietzko are trying to scrape a fairly limited plot across a whole season, filling in the gaps with as much bending tricks as they can dream up.  And while that’s entertaining enough in itself, it doesn’t make for a very driven or memorable show.

The show has a consistent problem of predictability.  At first, you think it throws you a curve ball when Tarrlok, of all people, is in total agreement with Tenzin on protecting innocent lives rather than confront Amon.  You start thinking he might have some good in his body after all, which would make him a more multifaceted character than your run-of-the-mill obsequious schemer.  And then he ruins it by immediately stepping back once he’s sure that someone else will take the blame should things go south.

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.

The Legend of Korra Episode 4 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (story)

The Story: Korra learns it’s not easy to defeat the bending world’s Che Guevara.

The Review: No doubt one of the major factors which played into the original Avatar’s popularity was the irresistible charm of its star character.  Aang had such a joyful, happy-go-lucky nature (with just the right amount of pathos thrown it to keep him from being saccharine) that it was hard not to like him.  Since you naturally feel invested in anybody you happen to like, that made any change to Aang a little more intriguing and any danger a little more threatening.

So far I can’t really say the same for Korra.  While not totally unlikable in any way, she just doesn’t capture your heart.  Part of the reason is aside from her love of bending and a superficial desire to be Avatar, she doesn’t project many qualities you can get attached to.  She’s stubborn, strident, temperamental, and cocky, which doesn’t exactly make her the most appealing protagonist.  If not for her honesty and affectionate heart, she’d practically be grating.

The Legend of Korra Episode 3 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko

The Story: Someone turn on Twisted Sister because the non-benders aren’t gonna take it anymore!

The Review: It seems pretty clear that this Avatar series won’t have the classically epic qualities of its predecessor.  The last show had all sorts of prophecies and symbolic elements running throughout the story, and the very concept of the Avatar had shades of higher powers within it.  Supernatural creatures abounded, from dragons to demons and even to demi-gods, of sorts.  Taken together, The Last Airbender was very much a spiritual tale.

Its sequel doesn’t have much to do with these rather ethereal themes, but the story it wants to tell is no less important.  Whereas the Avatar’s powers were crucial to bring an end to a senseless war driven by too much momentum to stop itself, no amount of power can really quash a war of ideas and principles.  The Equalist movement (which Tenzin foresees as a “revolution”) exists not on the basis of gaining power, but as an effort to gain dignity.

The Legend of Korra Episodes 1 & 2 – Review

By: Michael Dante DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko (writers)

The Story: Just your classic tale of an ice-country girl in the big, magic-weaving city.

The Review: Cartoons and comics have a lot in common, particularly in how they’re often dismissed by mainstream audiences, rarely appreciated for the merits of their mediums.  While anime has long established itself as an art form, people are only just now beginning to recognize the storytelling potential of American animation.  We may not be ready for straight-up dramas with no sci-fi/fantasy frills attached, but at least we know cartoons aren’t all action and slapstick.

Among the great animated series that embody this evolution, you almost have to name Avatar: The Last Airbender as one of the majors.  It may have started out as a bright, polished cartoon geared toward kids, but over the course of three seasons, it offered thoughtful socio-political commentary, complex plotting, credible character work, and even some rather disturbing psychological and moral issues.  Quite simply, it radically reinvented itself, to great success.

For that reason, I had to take a step back after watching The Legend of Korra and consider what it might become from what it is now.  The show has a similar tone to Avatar during its “middle” period, when it began to become more than a kids’ action-adventure cartoon, but hadn’t quite reached the mature heights it would achieve in its third season.  Korra and her supporting characters start out older than Aang, Zuko, or Katara ended up, and the very intro shows that culture, society, and politics will play major parts in the series’ thematic developments.