JadedWriter
Member
I will for a bit when they get back home, it's currently just me and Young Justice.
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The Legend of Korra: Book 4 |OT2| ALL HAIL THE GREAT UNITER
- Thread starter Toa TAK
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williamsan
Member
Family issues suck during Christmas for sure, but now it doesn't feel like Christmas for me unless there's at least one argument hahahaha. I too am alone this Christmas, but by choice. My mother invited me to her house for Christmas, and it's only a 6 hour drive, but I've always done it at my father's place. Holidays with Mom feel too strange haha.
Anyway, I hope you got at least one present. And if you didn't, today's the day to buy yourself something nice! Happy Holidays!
Been waiting for someone to GIF one special moment in Day of Colossus, where Kuvira fires her arm cannon at Korra in a sweeping motion, Korra rolls to avoid and the spirit laser cuts a line across Republic City skyscrapers in the background horizon. Haven't seen one yet though, will learn how to make GIFs for this gif alone haha. Such an awesome moment.
Glad you're going to spend time with them. At least you have them around this Christmas.
Yeah, they could have done much better than what they did. If they had spent less time wasting lines on people like Kai we might have gotten something more.
JadedWriter
Member
Thanksgiving was essentially just me and my mother. I've gotten used to it, but it still sucks. I really don't even enjoy being asked, "what are you and your family doing for the holidays?" I also can't answer that with "My family is dead (figuratively)."
I still think the final season is pretty dreadful in a larger context. Like, I'm still surprised that we had an entire season full of nothing. Just a really dull plot. And there is just SO MUCH they could have done with Korra's personal arc. It's just so sad to me, that the show ended on the limp note that it did.
To me, the finale is really telling of so much. Because I still say the finale really had no real character/thematic resolution. There might have been some attempts at resolution (like Korra's bizarre suffer for compassion stuff, and Korrasami). But there wasn't any like, overall proper resolution that brought things together. And even as a single season, the finale was awful (just because the plot went no where, and really lost all steam by the final act. And there was like no pay off to any of the arcs set up).
What really gets me about Book 4 is that, I look at something like Book 2, and to me, Book 4 is clearly better written episode to episode. Like, each episode has a really strong structure and has good pacing. They are entertaining. Whereas most of Book 2 is just a disaster. Like episodes couldn't even come together it was so messy. And yet, Book 2 had much much better plot points, and overall thematic stuff going on. So you had two seasons where each had the opposite major flaw (one had really great ideas and themes, but had terrible execution. The other had like no themes/plot, but really great execution).
Book 4 to me, is kind of the worst way a show could go out on. Because it's just a cowardly way to end a show. It's just such a flavorless, dull way to limp across the finish line. I would much rather we had a Disaster like Book 2 for the final season, because it at least attempted something. It at least made us feel something.
What bugs me so much about Book 4 looking back, is that it is well written. It is...competent. And yet, I just hate how dull it is. How much it had nothing to say when everything was over. That is what I can't get past. BUT KORRASAMI, so that makes everything alright. Lol Bryke, the fan base. Everyone smh. I wanted Korrasami back in Book 2 (you can check my old posts, I was even rooting for it on here). And while I do understand the importance of this happening on a kids show, it's just insane to me that so much focus is going to something that was so poorly written. It's as if, Bryke knew Korrasami would dominate the discussion, so that was their ace in the hole. Nothing else mattered in the end, because this became a story about Korrasami. And it ended with Korrasami. The entire show was leading up to Korrasami.
But what is so fucked about this, is just how many plot/themes they just said fuck you too. How little the finale really wrapped shit up, or really had anything to say about what the series was about. In the end, it was Korrasami. I would have been okay with it all being about two lovers. But lol come on now. This show was 5% Korrasami, and 95% other shit. Hell, even Bolin had more importance then that relationship. Ugh.
Also Merry xmas mothafuckas.
To me, the finale is really telling of so much. Because I still say the finale really had no real character/thematic resolution. There might have been some attempts at resolution (like Korra's bizarre suffer for compassion stuff, and Korrasami). But there wasn't any like, overall proper resolution that brought things together. And even as a single season, the finale was awful (just because the plot went no where, and really lost all steam by the final act. And there was like no pay off to any of the arcs set up).
What really gets me about Book 4 is that, I look at something like Book 2, and to me, Book 4 is clearly better written episode to episode. Like, each episode has a really strong structure and has good pacing. They are entertaining. Whereas most of Book 2 is just a disaster. Like episodes couldn't even come together it was so messy. And yet, Book 2 had much much better plot points, and overall thematic stuff going on. So you had two seasons where each had the opposite major flaw (one had really great ideas and themes, but had terrible execution. The other had like no themes/plot, but really great execution).
Book 4 to me, is kind of the worst way a show could go out on. Because it's just a cowardly way to end a show. It's just such a flavorless, dull way to limp across the finish line. I would much rather we had a Disaster like Book 2 for the final season, because it at least attempted something. It at least made us feel something.
What bugs me so much about Book 4 looking back, is that it is well written. It is...competent. And yet, I just hate how dull it is. How much it had nothing to say when everything was over. That is what I can't get past. BUT KORRASAMI, so that makes everything alright. Lol Bryke, the fan base. Everyone smh. I wanted Korrasami back in Book 2 (you can check my old posts, I was even rooting for it on here). And while I do understand the importance of this happening on a kids show, it's just insane to me that so much focus is going to something that was so poorly written. It's as if, Bryke knew Korrasami would dominate the discussion, so that was their ace in the hole. Nothing else mattered in the end, because this became a story about Korrasami. And it ended with Korrasami. The entire show was leading up to Korrasami.
But what is so fucked about this, is just how many plot/themes they just said fuck you too. How little the finale really wrapped shit up, or really had anything to say about what the series was about. In the end, it was Korrasami. I would have been okay with it all being about two lovers. But lol come on now. This show was 5% Korrasami, and 95% other shit. Hell, even Bolin had more importance then that relationship. Ugh.
Also Merry xmas mothafuckas.
My man Bolin
from a lowly probender to putting in work w/ the best earthbenders around.
JadedWriter
Member
Korrasami exists to save book 4. It'd be like if Dexter ended with Deb and Dex having sex given how shit the last season of that show was.
Too bad he didn't get a proper ending. Crazy how much this season focused on Bolin. How much the overall series he was a key player. And yet all we get is, a zoomed out shot of him and Opal going to the dance floor.
No real sense of conclusion/resolution. The audience didn't really get to say goodbye. We didn't get to see Bolin reflect on things or react to the end of his journey. We didn't get jack shit. As much as I hate epilogues, I kind of wish we had a flash forward epilogue to show us what these characters did. Purely because, they added way too many characters, and there wasn't enough time. I hate these plot devices, but the ending we got was just so unsatisfactory in terms of the side characters.
That brings up a question, why don't you like Epilogues?
I don't dislike them. I meant I don't usually care for the flash forward epilogue. I've always found them to be lazy. Like writers didn't have enough time to flesh things out so they rely on this time jump to move things in a way they couldn't.
Sometimes it makes sense though. Like even tightly written stories sometimes just can't do certain things with characters without a passing of time.
I guess it's more so I hate how this has been used by authors in the past. Like I found the Harry Potter one dreadful. I also think Bryke used the time jump in Book 4 poorly with regards to Korrasami.
I have to agree. For the first 4 days I was ecstatic and shaken to the core about the whole Korrasami thing, now that I'm beginning to calm down, I'm starting to see all the flaws.
Everything else in the series took a back seat to it in the end, even though it was never one of the main focuses. Like I mentioned in another post, Bryke could have easily shown more interactions between the two, making Asami accompany Korra to see Zaheer in prison instead of Mako for example, that would have been a great opportunity to bring them close together, as Korra was dealing with her demons.
If their relationship was going to take the upmost important out of everything else at the end, then they should have made Asami sort of a second protagonist by making her a main focus, instead of leaving her in the background as a minor character, because as it is, the likes of Bolin, Varrick and even fucking Zhu Li were more important than her.
As much as I love Korrasami, Bryke dun fucked up in depicting it well. They could still have kept the whole thing subtle and under the censors radar by making the two interact more, but nope. Hopefully in their next show if they go down the same route with a female protag with a female lover they do it better, and actually make the love interest a bigger part of the story this time.
Tal Shiar Agent
Member
While I agree that the ending and Book 4 could have done more, I still really loved it, and not just for Korrasami. The finale fight was so epic in both scale and power. Nothing compares to it.
The question I have is, who is more to blame for the lost potential? Bryke or Nick? Obviously both played a part, but how much is Bryke just not being good at containing character plots and how much is them having to pick and choose what to do because Nick kept screwing with them (first extended the series after Book 1 finished, second slashing their budget)? I think it shows why Book 3 is the best.
When they wrote Book 1 they thought it would be self-contained, so the only big issues were finding their footing and the overuse of probending. I don't know what happened with the first half of Book 2, was Nick rushing them out the door to get it done? Did they just not really know where they were going with it? After Beginnings Book 2 got really good but the Kaiju fight was a weird choice.
Book 3 really shows that they knew they had another season and had a definite plan in mind for the story. I think that Book 4 would have turned out better if Nick didn't fuck with them by taking Korra off the air and cutting the budget. It seems like they had to compress the story because of the clip show and had to cut and crop.
The question I have is, who is more to blame for the lost potential? Bryke or Nick? Obviously both played a part, but how much is Bryke just not being good at containing character plots and how much is them having to pick and choose what to do because Nick kept screwing with them (first extended the series after Book 1 finished, second slashing their budget)? I think it shows why Book 3 is the best.
When they wrote Book 1 they thought it would be self-contained, so the only big issues were finding their footing and the overuse of probending. I don't know what happened with the first half of Book 2, was Nick rushing them out the door to get it done? Did they just not really know where they were going with it? After Beginnings Book 2 got really good but the Kaiju fight was a weird choice.
Book 3 really shows that they knew they had another season and had a definite plan in mind for the story. I think that Book 4 would have turned out better if Nick didn't fuck with them by taking Korra off the air and cutting the budget. It seems like they had to compress the story because of the clip show and had to cut and crop.
I feel like fanfiction (and sometimes fan works in general) get a really bad rep in this thread. Sure, there's a ton of crap out there in terms of fanfiction. But the crap isn't that hard to ignore, and in my experience the gems out there make it worth reading fanfic at all.
I don't think writing it is a waste of time... I mean, if you enjoy it, why not?
Mr Fahrenheit
Member
Merry Christmas, KorraGAF. I got you the gift of attempting not to say negative things about the finale for a day, which probably means I'm going to have to not look at the thread.
Edit: already breaking my promise because of Azula's post. I could say a lot, but I'll just say that I think calling Korrasami 5% of the show is incredibly generous, try 1% Korrasami / 99% everything else.
If you like writing why not? I mean, writing something is better than writing nothing right? As a shit tier writer myself, I can only write and hope people point out flaws for me to improve. (Which why Bryke's tumbler pot irritated me since it legit felt like he was covering flaws since I was viewing things with my hetro-lens) I already knew they were going to be a couple...still that comment was rather dumb.
TacticalFox88
Banned
So....LoK is like Mass Effect then.
My issue is that, the finale fight had like no weight to it. I didn't care about Kuvira. I didn't care about what she was trying to do. I didn't even really feel the characters (outside of Bolin/the Beifongs) had any emotional connection to it. And funny enough, they didn't even do much with Bolin and the Beifongs on an emotional level (although they did have an awesome fight). They were like the only characters that really had any emotion connected to Kuvira and what she was doing. And even they didn't deliver on that plot.
There was just this huge disconnect from the action/conflict and the characters. ATLA's finale had much more epicness to it because all of the emotional weight tied to the fights. THIS MEANT something to the group. This was the fight for the world. To stop an evil force from taking over. It was about all the lands that had been taken over and destroyed. Their own families had taken a toll.
Kuvira was just a half baked villain, and who no depth to her. Bryke never went into the political implications or "what the earth kingdom needed"....it was never about that. It was purely about Kuvira as an over the top villain. And she failed on that level. Which is a shame because Kuvira was really fuckin interesting. So much she could have been.
I agree the finale itself was a tight 44 min of action/pacing. I don't dispute that it wasn't a good episode, it was. But it was missing plot + theme + emotional pay off. And that is why I think it's such a bad ending. It feels like the writers checked out during Book 4 (which is why it had such a casual sense to it, and the finale felt like a very casual stroll). In the end, the audience was denied resolution/conclusion to so many things. The rest of the characters that mattered took a back seat to Korrasami. The entire ending was Korrasami. It's just, sigh.
To me, the finale was just about a big dumb fight (which was awesome), and a side couple that didn't deserve to be the entire ending.
Mass Effect's biggest issue is that they wrote themselves in a corner with the Reapers. Holy Moses did they ever...
Tell me I'm wrong about how easy it would've been to fix her.
Why did Bryke fail us (again)?
That and, the main plot kept changing between each game. They never had a firm grasp of what the plot was going to be (I think they kept changing writers, or the main writer Drew had his ideas changed). Anyways, there was never a consistent focus on what they wanted the story to be.
So each game felt kind of disconnected and all over the place (with regards to the plot). The final game really gave no fucks about what came before it. They had their blinders on, and just kind of wrote a self contained story that was supposed to be the end to the rest of a connected series. And it was awful.
I still think Mass Effect 3's overall writing is bad. People focus on that ending (which okay, I get it. The ending sucked the big one. The final mission leading up to it was also pitiful considering how much build up there was to this final conflict. The final mission was a joke in terms of the narrative, and gameplay).
But I think the whole crucible plot was really contrived and poorly conceived. It was the major flaw in the story that kept it from ever taking off. And the rest was just meh. There were some really amazing moments in ME3. But the overall plot was pretty bad.
Yeah I saw that. And you are right. That is what is so fuckin baffling about Kuvira and this final conflict. Like...how little effort it would have taken to fix her character, and give the story more of an emotional impact. That's why I think the writers just checked out. Like they were burnt out on all the bullshit. How hard the series was to make. They had one last push with Book 3, and couldn't be bothered past that.
Book 3 should have been the end. Honestly, that finale was amazing. The ending was really sad and beautiful (it was a masterful episode in comparison to the turd that was Book 4's finale). Obviously I don't think they could have ended the series with Korra being sad LOL (although that would have been bold as fuck. A lot more bold then Korrasami).
BUT...my point is, minimal effort could have fixed Kuvira. And yet, there was so much wasted time in Book 4. So many "non" plot episodes. Episodes that just spun their wheels. Bizarre plot structure that felt circular and a waste of time. Book 4 feels like a 4 episode story stretched out as long as possible across 13 episodes. So there was fuckin NO EXCUSE for them not to have done something with Kuvira.
In book 3 I can kind of see it. I still don't excuse them for introducing new characters when we didn't need anymore. But that season for the most part, felt pretty packed. I still think Kai should have been cut for Zaheer backstory, or just an episode or two abou this group and their beliefs.
But Book 4 had no excuse. It was so open to time. They had so much time. I'm really baffled by how they approached Kuvira. Even more baffled by the finale, how they tried to shoehorn that backstory with 1 min dialogue with Korra and Kuvira (her mother issues, that was so cringe and laughable). How they wanted to use her contrived backstory to then tie it into Korra's end resolution (which I might add, wasn't even properly built towards). I dunno. I'm blown away by some of the bizarre choices Bryke made. I really am. It's one thing to not agree with a choice. To not like a plot. But that's not this. This is just pure confusion. I just, what. I don't even.
JadedWriter
Member
There really was so much fluff bullshit they could've axed from this season, but the show thinks the main cast is what's the most important, considering one of the best eps from the season didn't even focus on korra to begin with. After the initial battle they really should've focused more on Kuvira. Instead they just shoe horn some shit in there thinking people weren't going to be critical of it. Instead it's "fuck character closure and plot, here's some Korrasami."
I don't even think they did a good job with the characters though. The main cast that is. I mean, yeah they got their time to shine. I think the way they used all the side characters to contribute to the fight, was well done and fun. But I can honestly say for most of the season and the finale, I just felt a huge disconnect from these characters, and them having anything really...meaningful to work towards, or to learn from.
I mean, oddly enough, I think the Beifongs might have had the most plot in terms of character stuff. Being betrayed by Kuvira. Having their land stolen from them. The city they built. BEING BETRAYED by their own blood. They had the most emotional story in the entire season. And even that didn't really like fleshed out or, like it had some kind of proper resolution.
I guess my biggest issue with the finale besides having any kind of plot, was just how little it seemed to care about the rest of the characters besides Korra and Asami. The problem is, Korra and Asamis relationship really didn't start until Book 3 (and it was an introduction at best). They spent so little time with each other in Book 4. So why were they given closure/resolution, but everyone else didn't seem to matter in the end (when they did more for Korra, they were more pivotal to the plot). It's so bizarre.
I also think back to the overall structure of the show. You have Book 2: Korra is away from the group (the group is split up). You have Book 4 (korra is away, the group is split up).
That means for 50% of the book, Korra is away, and the group is split up (roughly). And considering that, they only barely became friends in Book 1 (and really, that was the weakest aspect of Book 1 outside of the ending...it was the relationships feeling a bit shallow and not really justified).
So to those arguing there was so much depth to this team Avatar, that the relationships were great. I really question that.
I also think this is part of the problem with having a new antagonist each season as well. If Amon or The Red Lotus had been the main villains of the show, then we would've been fine with a bunch of duds here and there because there will always be time to explore them throughout. But by limiting themselves to 13 episodes, and pretending that all that bloat they created will go away, everything gets stuffy and everything suffers for it, just like Book 4.
Book 4's finale was crazy fun, but if it just had something resembling a character driven, or plot focused finale, it could've been so much better. Because all the superficial and technical aspects of a good action-packed finale was there, minus character development and a goal for the overarching story.
I wrote a lengthy Pokemon fanfic novel that involved kids being forced to become trainers if they came from poor families and kids who did terrible in school.
I kinda miss it, but writing it I realized how much work goes into actually plotting out a story in long form.
If I were to write a story about Korra and her universe, I'd probably write something about why guns don't seem to be a thing people use as weapons when they have everything else under the sun.
I kinda miss it, but writing it I realized how much work goes into actually plotting out a story in long form.
If I were to write a story about Korra and her universe, I'd probably write something about why guns don't seem to be a thing people use as weapons when they have everything else under the sun.
I ended up loving the finale like after multiple watches. By the third time, I really quite enjoyed the finale a lot. But it was just such a bad ending in terms of the overall series. I even think it as a bad ending for the season (because of that disconnect from the plot. But to be fair, the season really didn't want to build up a plot. So it was an issue that compiled on).
I just think the show really lost all steam after Zaheer. I'm really curious if Bryke even wanted to write beyond 3 seasons. If they really had anymore in them to go past Book 3. It really feels like they were stretching the season out. My only gripe is, if they were going to do that. If they were going to spin wheels. They should have really focused on Korras emotional plot. As well as Kuviras. They had so much wasted time. They could have easily focused on character driven stuff. Which doesn't require a massive budget. And it shouldn't require that much creativity. If you are a half way decent writer, and a human (lol) with feelings, yeah not that hard to write for that. Especially when they had nothing else to write about.
JadedWriter
Member
I think it's very telling about a show when most of my favorite characters are side characters. I don't hate Korra but I wouldn't list her as a favorite of mine after the first book. After that book the character structure just got all damn lopsided, the only character from season 1 that I still like is Lin and they butchered her in Season 2. Bolin I find to be annoying at times, he has his moments but he's uneven, he didn't get good till he broke away from the main cast. The cast lacked in chemistry.
Yeah. What is sad is, I think on paper Korra is much better then Aang. I could relate a lot more to her, and I just like her design overall. But the execution was just so poor, that I ended up preferring Aang by a large margin.
I think that is the best way to sum up this show: frustration. I so badly wanted to love it. I so badly wanted to like Korra and root for her. I really wanted this to be better than TLOK (or to at least stand on its own as this great side thing). But nope. I really had hope too, after Book 3. I figured Book 4 could be great. So we would have 3 overall great seasons, and just 1 misstep of a season. But in the end, we got a really limp dull final season that had nothing to say.
For me where I stand, Korra is about a 60/40 show. Maybe it's closer to 50/50. But I did love some stuff in Book 2 and 4. So I hate about 40% of it (which is close to half). That's a damn shame. I wonder how I'll look back on the show when time has passed. Damn.
Nick should release the soundtrack as an Xmas gift to the Korra Nation.
It's great that they took the time to (sorta) develop Varrick and Zhu-Li's relationship, but was it really necessary if they really cared to do anything with Kuvira? I don't think Bryke cared at a certain point either. I dunno. That's why once the Blu-Ray comes out we can finally see how their minds operated when developing this story, because just like watching Book 4 itself, it's going to be interesting, and not in the best ways.
Ah man, Zaheer. It sucks that Kuvira got the short end of the stick on Byrke's writing, because Zaheer and his Red Lotus weren't built up by everyone just by saying to each other "He's BAAAAAD news guys!" We actually saw him and his comrades break out of jail and tear shit up and the audience got to witness first hand the kind of dude he was. With Kuvira, her intro is super serious, badass fighter, and then ominous shadow grin. Then the rest of the series wants to tell me she's a complicated individual? What? She's manipulating the shit out of everyone up until the Battle of Zaofu is over, then the re-education camps, straight up Nazi imagery, and that EVERY time she's about to kill someone on this show she NEVER hesitates to do so. Literally every person she wants dead this season she just goes for it without remorse. And guys, we're still seriously questioning whether or not she actually loved Bataar Jr. Come on.
It's great that they took the time to (sorta) develop Varrick and Zhu-Li's relationship, but was it really necessary if they really cared to do anything with Kuvira? I don't think Bryke cared at a certain point either. I dunno. That's why once the Blu-Ray comes out we can finally see how their minds operated when developing this story, because just like watching Book 4 itself, it's going to be interesting, and not in the best ways.
I don't think you people understand how serious I am about how Meelo's existence in the show shines light on possible overhead issues Bryke maybe had. The amount of time dedicated to this character in a show that didn't have the luxury of wasting time with filler is enough to make me question, again, if Bryke had to have some sort of character in to keep the show from becoming too mature (which they fucked up in their own way since they don't have the skill to since they are not based Hiromu Arakawa who managed to tie so much shit together at the end of her story with a big ass red bow while managing to dedicate time to talk to real-life soldiers about their experiences in war.)
You have farting Meelo, and then you have weapons of mass destruction, PTSD, the irrelevance of government, and inequality between the benders and nonbenders. Por que?
Instead of having our characters (which got way too numerous and unwieldy, and honestly, not fun at all to keep around like that pleasantly one-note Jade woman who had that giant lizard back in ATLA), live within the situations brought upon by the antagonists of the show, they always had to be doing something instead of exploring the realities of what was going on around them. Book 4 at least at Korra deal with PTSD, so that was a step in the right direction even though that resolution was kinda lame as well. An extra scene with Korra alone after talking to Zaheer would've been perfect.
New conclusion: Bryke obviously wanted to write something on a bigger scope and scale from A:TLA. However, I don't think that's their forte. Not yet at least. I also think having multiple big bad antagonists one after another was a bad move. Amon (not as a blood bender but as the Darth Nihilus of the Avatar verse) or Unalaq should've been this huge scheme bad guy along the lines of Father with them using the Red Lotus to stir shit and Kuvira as an upcoming leader trying to unite everything and coming into conflict with Korra for actively trying to take advantage of the situation.
You have farting Meelo, and then you have weapons of mass destruction, PTSD, the irrelevance of government, and inequality between the benders and nonbenders. Por que?
Instead of having our characters (which got way too numerous and unwieldy, and honestly, not fun at all to keep around like that pleasantly one-note Jade woman who had that giant lizard back in ATLA), live within the situations brought upon by the antagonists of the show, they always had to be doing something instead of exploring the realities of what was going on around them. Book 4 at least at Korra deal with PTSD, so that was a step in the right direction even though that resolution was kinda lame as well. An extra scene with Korra alone after talking to Zaheer would've been perfect.
New conclusion: Bryke obviously wanted to write something on a bigger scope and scale from A:TLA. However, I don't think that's their forte. Not yet at least. I also think having multiple big bad antagonists one after another was a bad move. Amon (not as a blood bender but as the Darth Nihilus of the Avatar verse) or Unalaq should've been this huge scheme bad guy along the lines of Father with them using the Red Lotus to stir shit and Kuvira as an upcoming leader trying to unite everything and coming into conflict with Korra for actively trying to take advantage of the situation.
Season 4 is not even that bad from a plotting stand point. It's just that the character moments don't hit like they should, and Korra's convalescence is too prolonged. It doesn't feel like she's finding balance - she's just frustrated. But she does get incrementally more confident with herself as the season wears on. There's no real impact to this, however, because there's nothing to measure her progress against.
Her conflict with Kuvira should have been more personal. Her friends should have been more important to Korra getting her mind right. As it is, only a few of Asami's lines in that clip show episode exist for that purpose.
Also, Meelo is the most innocuous of extraneous characters.
Her conflict with Kuvira should have been more personal. Her friends should have been more important to Korra getting her mind right. As it is, only a few of Asami's lines in that clip show episode exist for that purpose.
Also, Meelo is the most innocuous of extraneous characters.
I think another battle with Kuvira should've been included this season as it would've been a great marker for her progress with her PTSD. Then at the finale it would have had greater impact after meeting Zaheer and taking out Kuvira.
But what do I know?
JadedWriter
Member
With Korra and Aang you could see Aang grow and change from episode to episode, with Korra she would be one way for a season and then up and change again after the following season, it was never a gradual transition. Yes Aang still acted like a self centered idiot at times but they eventually called him out on it and you could see him learn from it.
Basically this.
However, I am sad to say Korra as a character was squandered potential. I can see the arc taken with her and it's the ideal one, however we have more time being told how she grows as opposed to seeing her grow. The exception to this was how she dealt with Kuvira at the end, which is to me the glowing moment of her character throughout the entire show.
Interesting stuff. I'll be sure to check this out, and think about it.
I just want to say this. I don't understand why Bryke pushed for the 13 episode format (they said they wanted it, they even originally wanted that for ATLA)...and yet they kept writing like they had 22 episodes. That is what bothers me the most.
And I just find it bizarre how, for most of the series they wrote like it was 22 episodes, and then in Book 4, they wrote like it was only 4 episodes, and didn't put any effort in to doing anything with all the time they had. It's just so strange. But the fact that Bryke chose to write the 13 episode season like 22 episodes (compiling new characters, adding more side plot), that is where I lose any sympathy. Where I no longer find the limitation stuff an entirely valid excuse.
Although I still think budget, time obviously had a big impact on them. So I do understand that.
Problem is, there was no build up to Korra treating Kuvira that way. To me, that whole thing came out of no where. Since when has Korra been troubled about forgiving or using violence over peace. Granted, she's always been hot headed and quick to use aggression. But this was never an arc, where she felt troubled by these things.
So her whole suffer for compassion, and treating Kuvira that way at the end, really felt kind of odd. It certainly wasn't the plot set up for Book 4 (which was more so, about her accepting the things that has happened to her, letting go, and moving on. Also finding her own self and relevancy in a world that is constantly questioning her role).
Her compassion resolution really made little sense. And so while I do think it was a glowing moment for the character, it felt so odd and unearned to me. It felt so disconnected. Like what the fuck did that have to do with Book 4's character story.
Honestly, I feel like they just gave up on Korra's arc in Book 4. Like they had no idea what they were going for, so just kind of landed on something "feel good". They just landed on something to make Korra seem like she changed. But there was no through line to any plot to get us to that point. It was so strange and unsatisfying.
I also feel like the writers were being lazy. They were trying to mirror a lot of ATLA. Korras compassion at the end, was meant to mirror Aang's moral dilemma (without the dilemma). But Aang's character was always built around trying to be peaceful and compassionate, while also struggling to have to use violence against evil people. That was something that was integral to the character. So that plot element with Ozai made sense (even if many feel the way the turtles came in was very contrived). If you go back and watch the finale, there is so many moments where they directly reference ATLA's final, and it's just so hard. Since these moments in TLOK lack any kind of emotional punch (the scene with the portal light shooting up, which was supposed to be Ozai having his energy bent. Even down to the music). But the Ozai moment had so much emotional weight, and so much pay off. So it meant something. Who cares about a random spirit portal being opened, with no kind of tie to any plot.
EDIT: Also, we never got a resolution to Korra's avatar state demon thingy. I mean, she let go of the past with Zaheer. But we never saw that Avatar state spirit thingy again. We didn't see it go away. So talk about setting up plot, and not doing anything with it. It's as if, they wrote one arc for Korra at the beginning, and then lost their way with it. Then gave up.
JadedWriter
Member
The Legend of Korra Book 4: Indifference.
The Legend of Korra Book 4: the Empty Void.
The Legend of Korra Book 4: Disappointment
Infinite Justice
Member
The bold basically sums up Korra's entire "character" for all of the seasons (including Season 1 and its one note nature) for me.
Its like some massive amount of shonen plot armor
Nah, I'll be damned if Bryke could pull off a betrayal like that. You'd be giving them too much credit. I'm being gracious with Nihilus, who's easy to see as an antagonist.
I feel her resolution with Kuvira wasn't an end to a personal arc of Korra's within Book 4, but within her personal arc of the whole story. Her compassion made sense to me because Zaheer put her in a position where she had to genuinely question why her enemies did what they did, and Toph's whole purpose besides fanservice was to be Yoda and guide her to understand this.
By letting Kuvira live, Korra allowed herself the agency and control she felt she had lost and honestly never had throughout the entire show. Case in point: even though she outright stated she kicked Amon's butt in Book 2, her vision of him in Book 3 along with the other past antagonists genuinely did frighten her.
As far as portraying this, I felt there was a lot of talking about it as opposed to seeing Korra deal with it outside of her PTSD. That itself, IMO, is lazy.
That Dude John
Member
I would've accepted it if it was just a thing in her head, but they make a point of having another spirit see it. They had to have been something more to it.
X
Xpike
Unconfirmed Member
The Legend of Korra Book 4: Only watch the last minute
JadedWriter
Member
The Legend of Korra Book 4: Tribbing.
- Status