[Legend of Korra Finale Spoilers] Implied with a sledgehammer!

[sumanoskae]

It's implied hard enough that I think we can assume that if the show was rated R instead of PG, there would be no implication needed. Talk about your Ensemble Darkhorse victory.

 

[maneyan]

Bah, when all is said and done I liked that they did this. Sure, it was subtly hinted, but only subtly because we didn't expect it. If she'd been ONLY writing letters to Bolin etc we'd have started saying "hmm wonder if..." etc etc. But since we expected Korra to be into guys only, we didn't do it this time. Yep, Korra's evidently bi, and that's all there is to it. Chill out people, there's no propaganda here, there's "Yeah she's bi, deal with it". Bit like how Samus turned out to be a girl in the first Metroid game. So yeah. I liked this ending. Not very overblown, makes sense when I think about it and hey, I think they could work together.

After thinking about it more one of my big problems with it is; it's so effortless. In a story a romance has to overcome something for me to care. Otherwise it's just two people who like each other a whole big bunch then they live happy ever after. Worst. Story. Ever. It's like watching a sports movie where the team starts out as the best and then goes on to win the championship. Who would watch that?

Say what you will about "star crossed lover's" and "love triangles" but there is at least some investment in it. Hell even in Fallout:NV(god I talk about this game a lot) Veronica's hinted at romance with Christine has some investment. You wan to see these two overcome there the prejudice of there faction and get together. They don't witch make it kind of sad, but like I said there is investment.

Whatever in the end this is just one bad plot line in an otherwise good show.

Everyone's allowed to have an opinion, but I'm going to tell you straight out that your opinion is wrong(joking please don't murder me). As someone above showed, there's been hints that Asami and Korra share a special bond, there WERE buildup to this and when thinking about it it DID resolve naturally and pretty organically. I think that at least.

To elaborate on what I liked about the "effortless" bit is that it wasn't effortless as much as it was "undramatic". I know a lot of people have a problem with inclusion of LGBTQ characters in media because they feel it becomes so ham-handed; "THEY ARE HERE AND THEY ARE QUEER AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT HOP ON THE OFFENDED EXPRESS ALL THE WAY BACK TO STRAIGHTSVILLE" basically. And there's a reason for the in your face LGBTQ activism. For a long time you were allowed to be non-straight only if you didn't show it, at all. Basically hide it behind locked doors and don't let it show to the public. be "perverse" in your own home. The pride parades etc are for the express purpose of telling that attitude to go fuck itself and those who hold it to reevaluate their views. However on the flip side we get scenarios were it must be such fanfare around a characters non-hetero preferences.

Korra and Asami, however, didn't. It was low-key, undramatic, and a good way to organically give a happy ending without having it clog up an entire plotline. I mean "Okay, Earth-Hitler is at our doorstep... wanna kiss instead of work to stop him?" is also a plot-line that I've got a problem with, that people who should be working around the clock to do something, straight or gay or whatever, go off to smooch. Here we didn't get that, we got people focusing on what mattered and when all was said and done, Korra said "hey... wanna go off somewhere and see if there's anything here?" And they did, off to a place where there's no war and shit to deal with and they can have a good time. I don't think we see the confirmation that Korra/Asami will live together happily forever after, we see the start of something, something that'll make them happy after all the shit they've had to eat. I can think of worse endings, really.

I hope I make sense

 

[mmmikey]

I was disappointed they went as far as they did and didn't have them kiss or embrace or pretty much put the seal on it. Their episodes are online only. Their budget has been cut. & it's the very last episode. They haven't done anything as shocking or touchy (to me anyways) as season one's murder-suicide (but implied double suicide since Amon could sense what his brother was doing that whole time). Just do it!

Nowhere in Korra & Asami's budding romance did we see the desire or buildup. Letters as evidence? Really? Blushing to a compliment? More plausible, but weak. Korra was gushing over Mako in season one. Of the people I know who are gay in real life, I haven't known one who was head over heels for someone of the opposite sex. They've admired the beauty of other men or women but that's about it. I honestly don't know that many bisexual people but those I do tend to lean towards long term heterosexual relationships. None of this is etched in stone.

But for all the missteps and awful writing if this was going to be the climatic scene of the series it deserved better treatment than this. A lot of the series' relationship building has been ham-fisted except when it seemed the creator's had bigger fish to fry.

Varrick and Amon seemed to be the only complicated characters in the series for me.

I think Mako should have died in the finale. And given her final battle circumstances, Korra for that matter as well. What the hell happened there anyways? Whatever. I've only seen the show through the same lens since season 2.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

The ending was pretty underwhelming though. Expected more closure I guess. ATLA had a much better ending ( along with everything else).

TLA's ending was pretty corny as well honestly.

There was the last agni kai which was a fantastic confrontation between Zuko and Azula and probably my favourite scene in the series, but otherwise the ending wasn't all that great. Aang pretty much only wins the final fight because of coincidence (He just happens to hit his back on a rock in the exact spot that would magically let him have his avatar powers back.) and he never actually has to confront the biggest problem he'd been facing for the entire season, that killing might be the best solution, because a magical turtle came out of nowhere and whisked him away to teach him a last second cop-out answer to his problem... A solution that doesn't really make much sense when you think about it because bender or not Ozai was still the fire lord, it's a hereditary position after all not one determined by ability. Realistically he'd have had loyalists all over the place causing trouble, trouble that might have been lessened were he dead instead of being made into a living martyr for his cause.

Plus I found the last second romantic note the series ended on just as tacky then as I do now, but that's more of a personal preference really.

The comics are going to deal with that. Azula will lead Ozai loyalist in the next Avatar comic.

And Aang being a pacifist and all his other love of the old ways is a fatal flaw. He wants to keep the old ways, even if it would mean technological decline. It gets explored more in the comics.

The rest I disagree with, though I can see why you think this.

 

[Saetha]

Okay, slightly off-topic, but is anyone else kinda pissed about how people are calling Korra a masterpiece over that ending scene?

Like, yes, representation is great, but it doesn't fix the VERY real flaws the show was suffering from. It doesn't magically make Korra a perfect show. But I'm seeing a lot of posts to that tune ("Canon lesbians WHAT A MASTERPIECE OF A SHOW!")

Is that how good writing's done, then? Because I'm a writer and I'm taking notes here. So I can just chuck any thought and planning and just end with non-white lesbians? That's what it takes to be praised as an amazing writer? Cause damn, fuck all that effort I've been putting into writing...

 

[gandhi the peacemake]

we got people focusing on what mattered and when all was said and done, Korra said "hey... wanna go off somewhere and see if there's anything here?" And they did, off to a place where there's no war and shit to deal with and they can have a good time. I don't think we see the confirmation that Korra/Asami will live together happily forever after, we see the start of something, something that'll make them happy after all the shit they've had to eat. I can think of worse endings, really.

I just wanted to quote you because I like the way you said this. It does bring up an interesting difference between this ending and the three endings prior, which is to say that this one was rather more a preview of things to come than a final coda. Which is kind of saddening only in that we know there's no more to come.

I remember way back at the beginning of this season, I said I would have preferred for this final season to be completely about the two of them, eschewing the grand scale for more close-knit character interplay. Maybe that would have made the ending sit better with some of the fans.

They haven't done anything as shocking or touchy (to me anyways) as season one's murder-suicide (but implied double suicide since Amon could sense what his brother was doing that whole time). Just do it!

Zaheer strangling someone to death doesn't count? Lin or Suyin or whoever it was metalbending that pot onto Tall Lady's head such that she blows herself up? The Red Lotus subjecting Korra to what is presumably mercury poisoning?

Granted, none of that was nearly as moving as the Amon/Tarrlok murder-suicide, but I'd say they were equally shocking and/or touchy.

Letters as evidence? Really? Blushing to a compliment? More plausible, but weak. Korra was gushing over Mako in season one.

Then perhaps that says something about why Korra's relationship with Mako ended where hers with Asami only grew stronger... to the point where she trusts her enough to expose her vulnerable side to her, writes letters to her and her only, and blushes at her compliment, and stumbles over her words after making a Freudian slip.

A lot of the series' relationship building has been ham-fisted except when it seemed the creator's had bigger fish to fry.

So why complain when the creators decided to keep the relationship building in the background and only come back to it once all the bigger fish have been fried? Because they kept it so much to the background that you didn't notice it?

I think Mako should have died in the finale. And given her final battle circumstances, Korra for that matter as well. What the hell happened there anyways?

1.) Agreed. Would have preferred dead Mako. Or last-moment-swap-I-get-to-be-the-big-hero-this-time Bolin.

2.) Also agreed. Would have preferred dead Korra rather than new portal.

3.) What happened was tons of spirit energy build up apparently equals new spirit portal. One would think they could have come up with something more creative than that. Have Korra, since she enters the Avatar state just before the laser strikes them, energy bend the laser. I mean, it's presumably a blast of pure spirit energy, so it would stand to reason that she could bend it.

And since bending energy means you're open to energy bending yourself, maybe the spirit energy bends her as well. The spirit energy returns to the spirits, but so too does the Avatar and Avatar cycle. Korra remains as just a waterbender or without bending at all, and her growth allows her to be okay with that.

Either that or she takes the spirit energy into herself and transcends into a higher state of being.

Or she bends the spirit energy into Republic City itself, and in the spirit world a new spirit is born, the spirit of the city. I dunno.

All the energy coalesces into a jewel or something, a physical manifestation of all that spirit energy; they deem it too powerful for anyone to have and take it into the spirit world and put it in Iroh's care.

I'm throwing ideas out there, but they all sound more interesting to me than what we got.

EDIT:

Okay, slightly off-topic, but is anyone else kinda pissed about how people are calling Korra a masterpiece over that ending scene?

I am. Well, I'm not pissed off at all, really, but I certainly disagree with the notion. And if anyone DOES think that Korra is a masterpiece because of that ending (or indeed a masterpiece at all), then they'd be extremely wrong.

Though a fairly popular tv show actively depicting sexualities other than Full-On Straight in a positive light is still extraordinarily rare, and those who take great comfort in seeing that feel the need to celebrate it. If their celebration seems a bit excessive at times, it's only because they have had so few chances to do so.

Is that how good writing's done, then? Because I'm a writer and I'm taking notes here. So I can just chuck any thought and planning and just end with non-white lesbians? That's what it takes to be praised as an amazing writer? Cause damn, fuck all that effort I've been putting into writing...

From my experience with writing, a significant enough portion of it comes about unplanned anyway, so perhaps writing a member of your cast as a non-white lesbian might just be the thing it needs to suddenly fit the story. Who knows. Certainly not you, not yet.

 

[jamail77]

Okay, slightly off-topic, but is anyone else kinda pissed about how people are calling Korra a masterpiece over that ending scene?

No, because that's not the only reason why people were so impressed with the finale. I've read many of the posts and articles on the finale and maybe that makes my experience too anecdotal, but I've seen even the most vocal people praising the ending scene cite what else they liked. They praise the action, they praise the moments all the characters got, they praise how the sacrifices had impact despite their predictability, Korra's maturity growth, how it made the giant mecha suit work well enough despite it coming off kind of silly for this universe in that time period, and so on.

Yes, a lot of these posts and articles spend a lot of time on that ending scene. A lot of it is how the shipping went from sort of a joke and evolved into something more serious especially with the moments we got in Book 3. The other part of it is that a lot of American cartoons wouldn't even hint half as hard. A lot of people who can relate to that ending scene were overjoyed they finally had a mature American cartoon with someone like them in it. So, it takes up a good chunk of these posts, but it's only because of how invested people got in that fan shipping over time. It stopped being a joke and turned into something people wanted to experience as a pivotal moment in American animation. It doesn't help that the Avatar franchise has always had a very active, maybe even aggressive, shipping fan base. At this point, fans have practically defined both the original series and Korra with their shipping wars in a way I don't think many of the majority of other cartoons' fanbases can say.

To be honest, I do think the praise is a bit undeserved with Kuvira's short talk with Korra and surrender probably the weakest element. They could have really wrapped up something in depth with her. What we got felt insubstantial to me. The praise towards that scene is what annoys me more than how people devote at least half their reaction/review musings to that ending scene. Yeah, it's nice to see Korra demonstrating how far she has come since the show began, but the Kuvira side of that scene is just totally lacking for me. Still, overall I'd say the finale was a good ending for the show nonetheless.

Their episodes are online only. [snip]

Varrick and Amon seemed to be the only complicated characters in the series for me.

Not true. After Nick moved it to online they moved it back to TV 1 month after Book 3 wrapped up. Book 3 was aired again from the beginning every Friday with multiple episodes. Even when caught up Book 4's episodes still aired on TV later than they did online though, so I'm not sure what was the point of the multiple episodes. Why bother bringing it back to TV at the pace of multiple episodes if you're not intending to catch up to the point you can air Book 4 episodes online and on TV simultaneously? Nick logic I guess. If there is a sensible explanation I can't think of any. I don't know if being returned to TV affected the finale's ending scene. Just pointing this out. It doesn't surprise me a lot of people still believe it stayed online since Nick managed to market the show even worse than before. Frankly, I'm actually glad they moved it back to TV because my laptop screen stinks (though I wouldn't be surprised if Nick's video player doesn't show the animation at the quality it was meant to be shown at as well), so it looked WAY better on my TV. I watched episodes I'd already seen online on TV again just for the better visuals.

Varrick is a complicated character? I'm not just saying that because I'm dismissing him as simple comic relief because he is more than that and I do like his character. It's just...I don't really see how he's all that complicated. I agree with Amon, but I feel he lost some of that relative complexity with the way Book 1's last few episodes wrapped up the story. It didn't help that I thought too much time was devoted to pro-bending and terribly written love triangle/square arcs that could have been better spent on flushing out the sociopolitical crisis, getting us invested and making the Equalists and Amon more understandable.

I think Mako should have died in the finale. And given her final battle circumstances, Korra for that matter as well. What the hell happened there anyways?

1.) Agreed. Would have preferred dead Mako. Or last-moment-swap-I-get-to-be-the-big-hero-this-time Bolin.

Bolin earned that. While I slowly found myself liking him better than in Books 1 and 2, Mako is still far too bland a character and his heroic moment felt ill fitting when Bolin was standing right next to him.

3.) What happened was tons of spirit energy build up apparently equals new spirit portal. One would think they could have come up with something more creative than that. Have Korra, since she enters the Avatar state just before the laser strikes them, energy bend the laser. I mean, it's presumably a blast of pure spirit energy, so it would stand to reason that she could bend it.

And since bending energy means you're open to energy bending yourself, maybe the spirit energy bends her as well. The spirit energy returns to the spirits, but so too does the Avatar and Avatar cycle. Korra remains as just a waterbender or without bending at all, and her growth allows her to be okay with that.

Either that or she takes the spirit energy into herself and transcends into a higher state of being.

Or she bends the spirit energy into Republic City itself, and in the spirit world a new spirit is born, the spirit of the city. I dunno.

All the energy coalesces into a jewel or something, a physical manifestation of all that spirit energy; they deem it too powerful for anyone to have and take it into the spirit world and put it in Iroh's care.

I'm throwing ideas out there, but they all sound more interesting to me than what we got.

I thought the portal was fitting honestly. The idea behind the United Republic was that the Earth Kingdom had to give up its former land and the Fire Nation its ill gained colonies, both possibly the biggest nations fighting the 100 Year War. It was to show their commitment to a new world where beings of all kinds could live together harmoniously. We got spirits living in Republic City in Book 3. It felt right to me that now we have a portal to the Spirit World itself right in the heart of the city.

Personally, I don't think energybending would have worked. We know that it allows you to mess with another person's life energy. It'd feel too random to me to go with that when we've never seen it being used on anything but sentient beings. I guess you could argue when Korra freed Jinora and that spirit vine tourist group she was energybending, but even so I feel like that's different than the idea you're advocating. I can see some interesting scenarios coming out of it admittedly if it were possible. However, I can tell you that energybending doesn't make you more susceptible to being energybent by the thing you're energybending. We are only told it makes you susceptible to being corrupted by the energy, not that the person being energybent just energybends you back. How would they know how to do that? I know that's not what you meant, but in order for the spiritual energy to do what you're describing it'd have to be doing something along those lines and I don't think we ever get a clear enough confirmation on energybending to write that ending as an alternative possibility.

Transcends into a higher state of being? I think if they went that route it would be feel really out of place. She's already the Avatar. She's got the spirit of light bonded to her. I don't want some Force ghost or all powerful being. I feel it goes against the themes of the show actually. So, that just sounds silly to me, sorry.

Yeah, this doesn't sound much better either.

 

[Ladylotus]

Okay, my two cents: Overall, the finale was fantastic. The best season finale by far (Sorry Seasons 1 and 3, you were both fantastic but this did a much better job of wrapping everything up), but it wasn't without flaws.

First, let's start with flaws:

The existence of the Colossus was never adequately explained. How was that hidden for so long? It's still up in the air, at this point.

Kuvira's redemption was kind of... Quick? I mean, I get that this is largely Korra giving Kuvira mercy, but Kuvira was willing to murder thousands of people, including her very husband, all over some land that was willingly given half a century (give or take) earlier. All in all, it seemed rushed.

And on the subject of rushed things, Wu's personality change. The hell? Has this season spanned entire months between Wu doing everything for entirely selfish reasons, him personally leading an escape of civilians, and putting his nation on the path to change? Like, if ANYTHING was rushed, it was that.

Opal x Bolin. That was never really settled, or at least I never saw it. I'm going to assume that it ended in a good way, but overall that needed at least a little nudge so people knew things were okay between them.


Now for the pros:

The fight scenes were fantastic. From the first to the last, every one of them was well done.

Mako's lightning bending. THAT scene had me in actual tears. I want to hold it up as one of the most emotional moments in the entire season, if not the series. It only could have become more emotional had his sacrifice been complete.

Asami's father dying. That was a shock for me, I had no idea the episode was going to go in that direction, and I'm glad it did. I love that they managed to get me to go from hating him to nearly in tears over his sacrifice.

The new directions: Republic City is significantly damaged, and there is a new spirit portal inside of it. Legend of Korra (comics, of course) could essentially go anywhere at this point.

Varrik x Zhu Li. Despite there not being a whole lot of hinting (Until a week prior Varrick thought she had left him for dead) or buildup, I loved it. The wedding scene was a great place to end things.

The wedding scene. It did everything it needed to do, settling down any thoughts of Korra x Mako, giving Tenzin a last word (though I am sad to say that I lost my bet when I assumed that by the end of the series he'd be dead), changing the fabric of the Earth Kingdom, and overall leaving everything on a positive note.

Korra x Asami. That final scene was a spectacular end. Just subtle enough to make sure people know, and simultaneously not piss the particularly stupid homophobes (read: Soccer moms and other people who think perfectly natural relationships between people of the same sex are perverted or pornographic). It leaves a lot open for the comics.

 

[gandhi the peacemake]

I thought the portal was fitting honestly. The idea behind the United Republic was that the Earth Kingdom had to give up its former land and the Fire Nation its ill gained colonies, both possibly the biggest nations fighting the 100 Year War. It was to show their commitment to a new world where beings of all kinds could live together harmoniously. We got spirits living in Republic City in Book 3. It felt right to me that now we have a portal to the Spirit World itself right in the heart of the city.

The spirit portals and the spirit world in the first place never sat right with me. They took something ethereal and turned it into a vacation spa complete with reception areas and everything.

But disregarding that, the portals are unique locales. From a symbolism perspective, they lose a lot of their significance and reverence when it turns out one can simply be willed into existence given you detonate enough nukes.

Personally, I don't think energybending would have worked. We know that it allows you to mess with another person's life energy. It'd feel too random to me to go with that when we've never seen it being used on anything but sentient beings.

Well, what is spirit energy if not pure life energy? What are you bending when you bend the energies of living things? Just because one hasn't tried energy-bending non-sentient objects doesn't mean one can't.

I mean, the whole point of bending and the elements and spirits and all that is that there is a complex codependent relationship between man and nature, nature in this case being literally Everything Else. If you can bend people, why can't you bend nature?

However, I can tell you that energybending doesn't make you more susceptible to being energybent by the thing you're energybending. We are only told it makes you susceptible to being corrupted by the energy, not that the person being energybent just energybends you back. How would they know how to do that? I know that's not what you meant, but in order for the spiritual energy to do what you're describing it'd have to be doing something along those lines and I don't think we ever get a clear enough confirmation on energybending to write that ending as an alternative possibility.

If your energy is corrupted by the other person's energy, is that not in effect you being energybent? Not by the thing you're energybending, necessarily, but by that thing's energy itself. Which is, when you think about it, pretty much one and the same. It's a battle of wills, but with material consequences.

But back to the spirit laser. How would the energy laser know to energybend the Avatar? It doesn't need to know. Manipulating energy puts you at risk. If, in this hypothetical situation, Korra were to suddenly begin energybending the laser, she would immediately put herself at risk of... something. Who's to say? I mean, I suppose you could consider the personality and intentions of the vines from which this spirit energy comes and/or the "psychological" effects being turned into a weapon would have had on them, and how all that could hypothetically affect Korra, but the point is it's something neither the characters nor us nor probably the creators would have known exactly what to do with, and that presents some pretty exciting storytelling possibility to me.

Transcends into a higher state of being? I think if they went that route it would be feel really out of place. She's already the Avatar. She's got the spirit of light bonded to her. I don't want some Force ghost or all powerful being. I feel it goes against the themes of the show actually.

Ah, well, you're just not thinking big enough. What I mean isn't like something from Naruto or Dragonball Z, where things just scale in terms of destructive power.

What lies beyond the spirit of light? What lies beyond the very idea of spirits? That's what I'm trying to get at with this "higher state" thing.

If you want to think of it another way, imagine the dimensions of the Avatar world set up as such:

1st dimension - line
2nd dimension - plane
3rd dimension - space
4th dimension - time
5th dimension - spirit
6th dimension - ???

Try to imagine something that exists within that sixth dimension. That would be the "higher state" that I'm imagining.

So, that just sounds silly to me, sorry.

Yeah, this doesn't sound much better either.

No offense taken. That's what spitballing is for.

 

[Eddie the head]

Everyone's allowed to have an opinion, but I'm going to tell you straight out that your opinion is wrong(joking please don't murder me). As someone above showed, there's been hints that Asami and Korra share a special bond, there WERE buildup to this and when thinking about it it DID resolve naturally and pretty organically. I think that at least.

That's not an issue really. I've heard argument's that Mass Effect 3's ending was hinted at and had buildup. That doesn't stop it form being bad. This is not as bad as Mass Effect 3, but I still don't think it's good.

To elaborate on what I liked about the "effortless" bit is that it wasn't effortless as much as it was "undramatic". I know a lot of people have a problem with inclusion of LGBTQ characters in media because they feel it becomes so ham-handed; "THEY ARE HERE AND THEY ARE QUEER AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT HOP ON THE OFFENDED EXPRESS ALL THE WAY BACK TO STRAIGHTSVILLE" basically. And there's a reason for the in your face LGBTQ activism. For a long time you were allowed to be non-straight only if you didn't show it, at all. Basically hide it behind locked doors and don't let it show to the public. be "perverse" in your own home. The pride parades etc are for the express purpose of telling that attitude to go fuck itself and those who hold it to reevaluate their views. However on the flip side we get scenarios were it must be such fanfare around a characters non-hetero preferences.

Being "undramatic" is kind of the point. That's not interesting. The first step to writing a story(or in this case a plot thread) is asking if it needs to be told. Saying two people like each other the end is not a story worth telling because there is no investment. Even if it's two characters we know, and we like, not giving them anything to do is just uninteresting. Really no story was told someone just said an event happened."There was pie and it was good." Is not exactly an epic for the ages.

I'm not asking for a huge story about acceptance just anything. Or more accurately in this case just omit the whole thing. It's not needed and adds nothing.

Korra and Asami, however, didn't. It was low-key, undramatic, and a good way to organically give a happy ending without having it clog up an entire plotline. I mean "Okay, Earth-Hitler is at our doorstep... wanna kiss instead of work to stop him?" is also a plot-line that I've got a problem with, that people who should be working around the clock to do something, straight or gay or whatever, go off to smooch. Here we didn't get that, we got people focusing on what mattered and when all was said and done, Korra said "hey... wanna go off somewhere and see if there's anything here?" And they did, off to a place where there's no war and shit to deal with and they can have a good time. I don't think we see the confirmation that Korra/Asami will live together happily forever after, we see the start of something, something that'll make them happy after all the shit they've had to eat. I can think of worse endings, really.

I hope I make sense

If you don't want to put a plot line in there then what's the point of having the pay off to it? This is a pay off, but without a plotline it's just an event. Just having an event is boring. And yeah it could have been worse, but it could have been so much better by just ending it after Korra and Tenzin talk. I'm sorry but all of this just comes across as very hallow to me. The Emperor has no clothes and this has no reason to exist.

 

[mmmikey]

Zaheer strangling someone to death doesn't count? Lin or Suyin or whoever it was metalbending that pot onto Tall Lady's head such that she blows herself up? The Red Lotus subjecting Korra to what is presumably mercury poisoning?

Granted, none of that was nearly as moving as the Amon/Tarrlok murder-suicide, but I'd say they were equally shocking and/or touchy.

I can see your point. I think I would count those except that they followed the season one murder-suicide. To me that set a strong tone for the series it failed to follow up on in season 2. I'd put the regicide up higher, just for its premeditation and the fact it was a slow death. The Combustion woman's death was a move of self defense. It was jarring in a cartoon that has most fights end in GI Joe fashion, but again doesn't surpass what has come before. I'll readily admit that this is all subjective.

Varrick is a complicated character? I'm not just saying that because I'm dismissing him as simple comic relief because he is more than that and I do like his character. It's just...I don't really see how he's all that complicated. I agree with Amon, but I feel he lost some of that relative complexity with the way Book 1's last few episodes wrapped up the story. It didn't help that I thought too much time was devoted to pro-bending and terribly written love triangle/square arcs that could have been better spent on flushing out the sociopolitical crisis, getting us invested and making the Equalists and Amon more understandable.

Well, I'm looking at this from season 2. He had sort of a Prince Wu presence at first. Some sort of comic relief, nutsy tycoon. And he was under the radar, to then be revealed as a war profiteer in the better B storyline running through that season. While his subsequent appearances never lived up to this, it was one of the better moments in the series.

Okay, my two cents: Overall, the finale was fantastic. The best season finale by far (Sorry Seasons 1 and 3, you were both fantastic but this did a much better job of wrapping everything up), but it wasn't without flaws.

First, let's start with flaws:

The existence of the Colossus was never adequately explained. How was that hidden for so long? It's still up in the air, at this point.

Like how did they mine that much platinum and build a mech that size without raising any eyebrows? And also develop an engine that runs off what we are shown to be extremely volatile energy source within a span of weeks maybe. And that everyone that operated in the machine had to know its existence but no one in higher positions had an inkling about it. And then it also trace radio frequencies and EMP source points. It looked cool and it was ominous but overpowered beyond what was really needed.

 

[GabeZhul]

Honestly, I would say the entire series peaked at Book Two, episode eight; aka the flashback to Avatar Wan. It was a straightforward, unique, visually arresting episode from beginning to end and it made the rest of the series look downright ugly in comparison (especially the CG machines, ugh). Also, while I said "peaked", I guess it would be more accurate to say that the entire series had a sudden spike of quality there to which only the best parts of Book Three and Four combined could compare. Yeah, I really, really loved that episode.

[Edit]: And now that I recalled that episode, I suddenly realized it also completely retconned the notion of where bending came from (in Aang, benders learned from animals and nature, in there is was given to them by the lion-turtles). I am feeling a lot more ambivalent about that detail...

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

and Kovira's dead parent defense

Actually Kuvira never tried to use it as a defense, she actually never brought it up before Korra said it must have hurt, and then she simply used it to compare the two of them

Fair enough, I should've say "(partial)justification". It still came off as a weakly executed Alas Poor Villain moment.

The giant mecha thing... meh. Would have probably been better if it didn't move like a video game character from the 90's.

I wish they would have went with "Dora" Spirit Cannon instead. Thing wasn't much less ridiculous, but it just appeared more menaceful to me.

After thinking about it more one of my big problems with it is; it's so effortless.

But for all the missteps and awful writing if this was going to be the climatic scene of the series it deserved better treatment than this. A lot of the series' relationship building has been ham-fisted except when it seemed the creator's had bigger fish to fry.

Yep. I mean, i get that this might be a case of Getting Crap Past the Radar(yes, i'm using a tvtropes definition again, sorry), but it's still kinda jarring that the main character's romance plot was much less straightforward compared to other they've included. After all this dust around ending has settled i cannot help but think "Aww, that could be a really sweet and heartwarming moment if we only had time to get emotionally invested."


And one more thing: Anyone else feels that third spirit portal happened only to provide a nice background for Kovira's redemption and Korra/Asami moments, and didn't make much sense besides 'duh magic'?

 

[Flight]

I think it's just what we think it means. And really, I honestly hope it is, because they seem a better match to me than Mako and Korra did. Besides, it's a cute image.

 

[laggyteabag]

[Edit]: And now that I recalled that episode, I suddenly realized it also completely retconned the notion of where bending came from (in Aang, benders learned from animals and nature, in there is was given to them by the lion-turtles). I am feeling a lot more ambivalent about that detail...

In the words of Varrick: "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story kid". I'm pretty sure that the reason why they retconned all of this stuff is because it was a cool story to tell and damn the continuity. Besides, the Avatar Wan story was what, 10,000 years ago? Whilst it may have been common knowledge back then, this particular detail may have been lost in time, and scholars only put the pieces together to make a story that at least made sense.

Another way of explaining it is that whilst the Lion Turtles bestowed bending upon humans, many humans looked for examples of bending within nature, thus coming across dragons, flying bison, badgermoles and studying the moon. They then adapted these techniques used within nature, and these animals became the first master benders.

 

[FPLOON]

You know what would totally make my day? A mini-sequel series where Korra and Asami just chill out on their vacation and ruin this whole relationship thing for everyone. Or fuck it, just make a whole series where the characters just do the craziest, stupidest fanservice things. Get Toph, Zuko and Katara reunited at an old folks' home and have them whine about them kids these days. Make an episode where Mako finally realizes broody cop isn't what he wants to be, and tries out a whole bunch of wacky jobs. Make Bolin a lavabending teacher. Or have him return to his movie career. Make an episode with Toph, Lin and the twins from season 2 where they just stand in a room and try to out-grump each other.

In other words, akin to those Avatar chibi shorts from TLA? YES PLEASE!!! They can even have one where Mako misses Wu so much that he starts questioning his own feeling towards him... which all leads up to them kissing each other in a warm embrace...

Oh wait... That's the synopsis of my fictitious slashfic involving MakWu... *shifty eyes*

 

[The Night Shade]

The ending was great it may be kinda rushed but i can see the two together, they have great chemistry and i hope it's canon cause it's a good step towards more diverse characters and relationships.

 

[Ieyke]

The ending was great it may be kinda rushed but i can see the two together, they have great chemistry and i hope it's canon cause it's a good step towards more diverse characters and relationships.

Rewatch the series. It's not actually rushed at all. It's actually one of the most natural and organically developed relationships ever depicted on TV.
And yea, it's canon.

 

[Josh123914]

The ending was great it may be kinda rushed but i can see the two together, they have great chemistry and i hope it's canon cause it's a good step towards more diverse characters and relationships.

Rewatch the series. It's not actually rushed at all. It's actually one of the most natural and organically developed relationships ever depicted on TV.
And yea, it's canon.

I'm kinda glad there wasn't a kiss.
Cuz with Aang and Katara it was a culmination of events and setpieces relating to them liking each other.

Here? I feel like we're only seeing the veeeeery beginning of a relationship.
In TLA, Aang would dispute him and Katara being "together" by mid-season 3, whereas here, if you asked Korra "Are you and Asami dating?" Well, for one you might get punched / electrocuted / what have you, but most likely the first definitive Yes would be when they're in the Spirit Portal together.