FA+
Shop
Legend of Korra Season Finale (Warning: Spoilers)
11 years ago
General
If you didn't read the title, there are going to be spoilers. Stop now if you don't want events spoiled for you.
Now that that is done, let me get to the venting:
Did you watch Avatar: The Last Airbender? If you did and liked it, then you will understand everything very well. Avatar was an amazing series that transcended the standard formula for a kid's animated TV show. It was an incredible journey across a landscape that was new and untraveled for us, giving us sights like Ba Sing Se, the Northern Water Tribe, and many other locales. It had the perfect mixture of adventure, humor, and drama. But the one thing that made it more impressive was the use of the antagonists.
Before I start analyzing everything, I'm going to point out very clearly who the main antagonist is: Fire Lord Ozai, who is voiced by Mark Hamill. Fire Lord Ozai is the driving force behind everything that is going on in the entire series, except for the initial invasion of the other kingdoms, but that was his grandfather's thing. However, we don't know much about Fire Lord Ozai until much later in the series, the Fire Lord usually obscured by shadows or flame and only appearing in very specific moments until Book Three. Which is where we start with the other antagonists.
Zuko is the first, as that's who we're led to believe is the real bad guy of the series in Book One. He's the one who is hunting the Avatar and also attacks the Southern Water Tribe's village. According to kid's show logic, he's the bad guy, no questions asked. Later on, though, we start to learn more about Zuko and his motivations and start to unravel details about his past that make him easy to relate to, or sympathize with. It's not until we start seeing Admiral Zhao that we start to figure out what's really going on with this season. When the gang finally makes it to the Northern Water Tribe is when we see how far Zhao will go to achieve the Fire Nation's goals. Killing the mortal vessel of the moon spirit to destroy all water bending is a ballsy move, as well as a very evil thing.
Zhao is thwarted, as one would expect from a show for kids, and the moon restored by self-sacrifice. With one bad guy gone, one must take its place, right? Yup. At the end of the season, Fire Lord Ozai orders his daughter, Azula, to go find the Avatar and her brother, Zuko. This builds up who is the bad guy in Book Two and beyond. Azula is the perfect bad guy for a kid's show: no good qualities about her whatsoever. But, at the same time, Zuko is still around and showing that while he's a good guy at heart, he still does bad stuff, like steal to get by. Zuko and Azula, while not necessarily together, go after the Avatar throughout the entirety of Book Two, ending with an alliance and an opportunity for Zuko to go home by helping her destroy the Avatar. While we know that Aang is fine, the Fire Nation believes he is dead.
Book Three starts off with an obvious shift in Zuko, his transition from antagonist to supporting protagonist. Sure, he still tries to kill Aang, but he realizes his fault and tries to help Aang learn fire bending and becoming the fifth member of Team Avatar. And we all know how the story goes with Fire Lord Ozai being defeated and Zuko becoming the new Fire Lord and bringing peace and prosperity and a new age.
But...
There's Legend of Korra. Korra isn't a bad show, but it is lacking some of the story elements that tie together the seasons, like with Avatar. Granted, I'm going to leave Book one of Korra out of this discussion as the show was only meant to be a mini-series and end there. Book One is its own thing. Book Two and Three, however, are linked and form the basis of a story that is very poorly crafted together.
Book Two is about the spirits and the Spirit World and a past that explains how the Avatar was created in the first place. The backstory is amazing and well crafted, much better than the rest of the season. I would ahve rather seen a season about Avatar Wan than this season of Korra. The trouble comes from the lack of a cohesive antagonist. First it's the spirits, then it's an unknown force, then it's Unalaq, then it's Vaatu, and finally it's the two of them. All of this makes for a very confusing narrative, but the glue that would connect Books Two and Three together was never there until it was explained halfway through Book Three.
Book Three's antagonist is the Red Lotus, led by Zaheer, voiced by Henry Rollins. Zaheer explains to Korra that Unalaq was a member of the Red Lotus, which could have been a driving point in Book Two. There was no mention of the Red Lotus at all and it would have made for a more united set of seasons, more like how Avatar was. But we didn't get that as Zaheer was captured in the end. It was explained that the Red Lotus was still out there, but that doesn't mean anything to someone that is looking at this from a storytelling perspective. There are too many holes to appreciate the depth that Korra is trying to convey.
Korra is very much more a teen and adult-oriented show, actually showing death and serious injury, but it suffers from an overly complicated plot that is never explained until the very last minute, or the conflict is ended by a deus ex machina (Bolin can lava bend and the poison in Korra is metal-based).
Now that that is done, let me get to the venting:
Did you watch Avatar: The Last Airbender? If you did and liked it, then you will understand everything very well. Avatar was an amazing series that transcended the standard formula for a kid's animated TV show. It was an incredible journey across a landscape that was new and untraveled for us, giving us sights like Ba Sing Se, the Northern Water Tribe, and many other locales. It had the perfect mixture of adventure, humor, and drama. But the one thing that made it more impressive was the use of the antagonists.
Before I start analyzing everything, I'm going to point out very clearly who the main antagonist is: Fire Lord Ozai, who is voiced by Mark Hamill. Fire Lord Ozai is the driving force behind everything that is going on in the entire series, except for the initial invasion of the other kingdoms, but that was his grandfather's thing. However, we don't know much about Fire Lord Ozai until much later in the series, the Fire Lord usually obscured by shadows or flame and only appearing in very specific moments until Book Three. Which is where we start with the other antagonists.
Zuko is the first, as that's who we're led to believe is the real bad guy of the series in Book One. He's the one who is hunting the Avatar and also attacks the Southern Water Tribe's village. According to kid's show logic, he's the bad guy, no questions asked. Later on, though, we start to learn more about Zuko and his motivations and start to unravel details about his past that make him easy to relate to, or sympathize with. It's not until we start seeing Admiral Zhao that we start to figure out what's really going on with this season. When the gang finally makes it to the Northern Water Tribe is when we see how far Zhao will go to achieve the Fire Nation's goals. Killing the mortal vessel of the moon spirit to destroy all water bending is a ballsy move, as well as a very evil thing.
Zhao is thwarted, as one would expect from a show for kids, and the moon restored by self-sacrifice. With one bad guy gone, one must take its place, right? Yup. At the end of the season, Fire Lord Ozai orders his daughter, Azula, to go find the Avatar and her brother, Zuko. This builds up who is the bad guy in Book Two and beyond. Azula is the perfect bad guy for a kid's show: no good qualities about her whatsoever. But, at the same time, Zuko is still around and showing that while he's a good guy at heart, he still does bad stuff, like steal to get by. Zuko and Azula, while not necessarily together, go after the Avatar throughout the entirety of Book Two, ending with an alliance and an opportunity for Zuko to go home by helping her destroy the Avatar. While we know that Aang is fine, the Fire Nation believes he is dead.
Book Three starts off with an obvious shift in Zuko, his transition from antagonist to supporting protagonist. Sure, he still tries to kill Aang, but he realizes his fault and tries to help Aang learn fire bending and becoming the fifth member of Team Avatar. And we all know how the story goes with Fire Lord Ozai being defeated and Zuko becoming the new Fire Lord and bringing peace and prosperity and a new age.
But...
There's Legend of Korra. Korra isn't a bad show, but it is lacking some of the story elements that tie together the seasons, like with Avatar. Granted, I'm going to leave Book one of Korra out of this discussion as the show was only meant to be a mini-series and end there. Book One is its own thing. Book Two and Three, however, are linked and form the basis of a story that is very poorly crafted together.
Book Two is about the spirits and the Spirit World and a past that explains how the Avatar was created in the first place. The backstory is amazing and well crafted, much better than the rest of the season. I would ahve rather seen a season about Avatar Wan than this season of Korra. The trouble comes from the lack of a cohesive antagonist. First it's the spirits, then it's an unknown force, then it's Unalaq, then it's Vaatu, and finally it's the two of them. All of this makes for a very confusing narrative, but the glue that would connect Books Two and Three together was never there until it was explained halfway through Book Three.
Book Three's antagonist is the Red Lotus, led by Zaheer, voiced by Henry Rollins. Zaheer explains to Korra that Unalaq was a member of the Red Lotus, which could have been a driving point in Book Two. There was no mention of the Red Lotus at all and it would have made for a more united set of seasons, more like how Avatar was. But we didn't get that as Zaheer was captured in the end. It was explained that the Red Lotus was still out there, but that doesn't mean anything to someone that is looking at this from a storytelling perspective. There are too many holes to appreciate the depth that Korra is trying to convey.
Korra is very much more a teen and adult-oriented show, actually showing death and serious injury, but it suffers from an overly complicated plot that is never explained until the very last minute, or the conflict is ended by a deus ex machina (Bolin can lava bend and the poison in Korra is metal-based).
Another thing that I love about the show are the fan theories since so little is explained, especially "who are Lin and Suyin's dads?" I like the idea that Sokka and Toph may have hit it off for a one-nighter and made Suyin (who has very clear Sokka qualities).
Yeah I've been suspecting that! They kinda hinted at it a little I think