Poll: Korra is over, time for general retrospect and hindsight
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Korra is a great series. Even if season 2 was dumb plot wise, it had the best characters other than Unalaq. It was screwed from the beginning. Like others have stated, LOK would have been better if the creators were given the same setup with TLA. The 1 baddie/plot per season doesn't make the series have that grandness that TLA had. Nick screwed it over some more by cutting their budget, releasing it without any build up and putting it online just so it can come back again in a few episodes. So yeah, given what they had, the creators did a fantastic job, especially in the last 2 seasons. Kudos Mike and Bryan, may your journey continue and hopefully you guys won't get screwed over again.
Just finished the series completely a little while ago, after going through all the episodes the last 5 days. I need a lot longer to be able to give a fleshed out explanation of my feeling, but I will give a pros and cons. I gave it a great rating, though by that I mean more "A series with numerous great things, but flaws make is hard to like a lot compared to some people".
Pros:
- The cast. I know people didn't like Mako much, but I even liked him. Each of them got their own backstories and we got to know them more overtime. I loved season 3 when Mako and Bolin met the rest of their family, and everything with Asami was great. Korra, while there were some aspects that were annoying, was a good lead overall. A lot of the side characters got their chance to shine as well.
- Good female characters. The females were the stars for the most part (though Verik was the best of all of them). They did a lot of the fighting, and were quite well developed as characters.
- The setting. Having the technology and just overall developed world was a really cool set piece. Season 1 really shone in this aspect with the team doing car chases with their bending. Some of the later stuff, while cool, was a bit too over the top.
- Interesting plot elements. I know season one wasn't received well, but I loved it. In the con section I'll explain why this and the other seasons failed to be amazing, but the oppression idea of nonbenders was a great idea. Some of the ideas of season 3 were interesting as well.
- Return of Toph. Loved seeing her old yet being the person I liked.
Cons
- Pacing. All of the seasons failed because of this. The first season did well in certain aspects, but the oppressing part failed to a degree, as we didn't see that much of benders oppressing nonbenders. Also the final part was rushed, and while I didn't mind how Amon was defeated, it was not as good as it could've been. Season 2 had more problems of the villain being uninteresting, and while Verik stuff was great, along with just the Mover stuff in general, there was too much going on that it created a season that had some interesting stuff, but was overall okay. Season three had half of it devoted to other things, that the villains were neglected. They were shown to be very powerful, but then they get taken out like chumps. The whole revolution stuff was just swept under the rug. Season 4 suffered near the end, but even at the beginning neglected to really build up the villain. She was just a ruthless tyrant, and I have a hard time believing that she was capable of building up the nation again.
- Too much forced humor. There were many jokes that were cringe worthy. Milo had some moments I liked, but was too much a lot of the times. Bolin, while one of my favorites, was quite guilty of this. I laughed a lot, but I feel that many of them were more out of how stupid they were.
- Some characterization. While the characters were overall good, there are moments that were just bad. I wanted to like Tenzen, but he seemed to make one step forward, two steps back all the time. Worse was Lyn, who was still one of my favorites. She seemed to become friends with Korra, then next season is back to being cold to her. The fact she didn't listen to Mako in Season 2, despite some of his accomplishments, was weird. I don't want to go into details for all characters, but the only one I actually had no problems with was Asami.
- Character skills. Season three was really guilty of this. Characters have really strong abilities, but then somehow get taken out easily. The eye girl is understandable, but when the other two get taken out so easily, it is really annoying.
- Way to advanced technology. The last season lost me near the end. Giant Robot with death cannon, mechs in general, all within three years. I know there were some bulkier ones, but to make sleeker ones, as well as one giant one, was too much for me.
- Korrasami. People are probably going to hate on me, but I feel this was something done to generate more positive feelings than what it should deserve. I liked the series overall, but there were way to many flaws, and when I get spoiled about it from reactions, It seems like an easy way to generate fanfare. Also just seemed like a way to please the shippers. There wasn't enough time to properly build up a believable relationship. I will give it credit though, more believable then the Mako stuff at least. Then again, I found both of them attractive, and I have a thing for girl on girl action, so I guess in the end, I'll give it a pass, with flaws in the building of the relationship.
Pros:
- The cast. I know people didn't like Mako much, but I even liked him. Each of them got their own backstories and we got to know them more overtime. I loved season 3 when Mako and Bolin met the rest of their family, and everything with Asami was great. Korra, while there were some aspects that were annoying, was a good lead overall. A lot of the side characters got their chance to shine as well.
- Good female characters. The females were the stars for the most part (though Verik was the best of all of them). They did a lot of the fighting, and were quite well developed as characters.
- The setting. Having the technology and just overall developed world was a really cool set piece. Season 1 really shone in this aspect with the team doing car chases with their bending. Some of the later stuff, while cool, was a bit too over the top.
- Interesting plot elements. I know season one wasn't received well, but I loved it. In the con section I'll explain why this and the other seasons failed to be amazing, but the oppression idea of nonbenders was a great idea. Some of the ideas of season 3 were interesting as well.
- Return of Toph. Loved seeing her old yet being the person I liked.
Cons
- Pacing. All of the seasons failed because of this. The first season did well in certain aspects, but the oppressing part failed to a degree, as we didn't see that much of benders oppressing nonbenders. Also the final part was rushed, and while I didn't mind how Amon was defeated, it was not as good as it could've been. Season 2 had more problems of the villain being uninteresting, and while Verik stuff was great, along with just the Mover stuff in general, there was too much going on that it created a season that had some interesting stuff, but was overall okay. Season three had half of it devoted to other things, that the villains were neglected. They were shown to be very powerful, but then they get taken out like chumps. The whole revolution stuff was just swept under the rug. Season 4 suffered near the end, but even at the beginning neglected to really build up the villain. She was just a ruthless tyrant, and I have a hard time believing that she was capable of building up the nation again.
- Too much forced humor. There were many jokes that were cringe worthy. Milo had some moments I liked, but was too much a lot of the times. Bolin, while one of my favorites, was quite guilty of this. I laughed a lot, but I feel that many of them were more out of how stupid they were.
- Some characterization. While the characters were overall good, there are moments that were just bad. I wanted to like Tenzen, but he seemed to make one step forward, two steps back all the time. Worse was Lyn, who was still one of my favorites. She seemed to become friends with Korra, then next season is back to being cold to her. The fact she didn't listen to Mako in Season 2, despite some of his accomplishments, was weird. I don't want to go into details for all characters, but the only one I actually had no problems with was Asami.
- Character skills. Season three was really guilty of this. Characters have really strong abilities, but then somehow get taken out easily. The eye girl is understandable, but when the other two get taken out so easily, it is really annoying.
- Way to advanced technology. The last season lost me near the end. Giant Robot with death cannon, mechs in general, all within three years. I know there were some bulkier ones, but to make sleeker ones, as well as one giant one, was too much for me.
- Korrasami. People are probably going to hate on me, but I feel this was something done to generate more positive feelings than what it should deserve. I liked the series overall, but there were way to many flaws, and when I get spoiled about it from reactions, It seems like an easy way to generate fanfare. Also just seemed like a way to please the shippers. There wasn't enough time to properly build up a believable relationship. I will give it credit though, more believable then the Mako stuff at least. Then again, I found both of them attractive, and I have a thing for girl on girl action, so I guess in the end, I'll give it a pass, with flaws in the building of the relationship.
The immediate response to that would be "What, do you expect something NOT infantile from a children's show?" to which the rebuttal would be "YES! ARE YOU STUPID!?"mmmikey said:
The Avatar universe had an elegant mythology. But if ever there was an excuse to retcon stuff that didn't work, LoK certainly provided it.
I remember before the Book 1 finale people were postulating that this would happen. Especially since, if I remember correctly, the Book 2 theme was announced like midway through season 1. A lot of people were disappointed that this wasn't the case.
EDIT: Oops, forgot to respond to this. Basically, uh, nature reaching for balance is explanation enough for me for people suddenly getting bending. The spirits could have intentionally incited this change in humans, or it could just be the natural progression of things. It's not a point I have too much issue with; it's everything around it that's the problem.
In the tradition of Buddhist monks, they would have simply offered to help these new airbenders come to terms with their newfound abilities. The new recruits stay home if they wish and Tenzin and co. will visit every so often during yearly pilgrimages or something, or join Tenzin and co. in a new colony repopulating the Northern Air Temple.
That being said, Tenzin's desperation to revive the Air Nomads is a reasonable enough explanation to me for him going about things in such a, as you say, myopic manner.
Yeah, Mako remembering to channel lightning only when desperation calls for it irritated me, too. Granted, it's been shown to require some time to cultivate the energy for a lightning strike, but even in TLA it was used fairly regularly. Enough so that no one ever forgot about it. I was honestly surprised when he pulled the lightning on No-Arms Lady.
I also expected them to go this route, either by physically killing her when she walks into them or by dragging her spirit away once the spirit portal opened up. But then it turned out Korra and Kuvira were physically in the spirit world and just walked out of there willy-nilly. Which was... anticlimactic. You'd think after all her crimes against humanity and nature, to the point of turning life itself into a force of destruction, she would get more comeuppance than a stern talking to. But oh well. I'm a smart guy. I can flesh out, rewrite, and fill in the gaps in the story on my own. Fanfiction writers have done stranger things.
That was the whole point if you ask me. Sometimes karmic justice is best served by a mortal agency, in this case, the law enforcement(s) of pretty much every other sovereign entity in the world, to which Kuvira submitted. The entire ending is very Watsonian, it makes a lot more effort to make sense in-universe than to please the viewer on the meta level.gandhi the peacemake said:
And trading viewer appeasement for having a consistent ending is a plus in my opinion. Kuvira's going to get her comeuppance, it's just that said comeuppance is another story, for another time. It's not part of Korra's tale. Rightly so, Korra deserves some peace and quiet and to enjoy her life with Asami, she shouldn't get bogged down in the entire "What to do about Kuvira now" matter.
I think LoK wound up pretty good with a few moments of greatness and a heck of a lot of potential that it didn't reach. If it was a movie I wish that there could be a director's cut done of it with things edited and perhaps a few more scenes here and there to fix the pacing and characterization problems. I'd actually shuffle the first two seasons together even having the two villains at the same time both with different goals and that way it wouldn't feel like Korra takes such a step back at the end of season 2. it wouldn't even be that hard to do You'd just have her defeat Amon part way through the season while the civil war stuff is going on in the back ground maybe with her being only slightly aware of it. then when she looses her bending have her do the whole reconnect with the first Avatar thing and put the avatar Won episodes in there. spacing things like this could even explain why Lyn is so stupid in season 2. just says that Korra only figures out how to restore bending to others after the spirit gates are opened. If she didn't have her bending and was trying to figure out how to do her job without it that fear could explain why she doesn't feel like the same character we know in seasons 1 3 and 4.
other than that I think you'd just have to tone down the love triangle a little and flesh out the villains just a little more and I think we would have had something truly great. Personally I would have loved to have an episode showing the chaos going on in the earth kingdom during the 3 years and Kouvira's rise to power. she likely didn't start out as a mad dictator and the steps she took along that path likely seemed like reasonable exceptions in the name of piece. and seeing that evolution even as a flash back would have been interesting.
other than that I think you'd just have to tone down the love triangle a little and flesh out the villains just a little more and I think we would have had something truly great. Personally I would have loved to have an episode showing the chaos going on in the earth kingdom during the 3 years and Kouvira's rise to power. she likely didn't start out as a mad dictator and the steps she took along that path likely seemed like reasonable exceptions in the name of piece. and seeing that evolution even as a flash back would have been interesting.
Ehhh that love triangle wasn't a problem since...a long time ago. I agree with the one on the villains tho, all of them were pretty cartoony.Nubrain said:
I disagree with the one on Kuvira tho...the flasbhack shows her to have been a power-hungry woman even while she was still Suyin's protegee.
I actually have a question regarding the show. Korra fell off my radar after season 1, I've heard season 2 is pretty bad, do I need to watch it to understand the rest of the series or can I go ahead and go straight to season 3?
Well, in my opinion, outside of missing out on the two-part "Beginnings" episodes (on just the animation/pacing perspective alone), there are only a few characters and [actual] plot points that are brought up throughout the last two seasons... I remember hearing people say that Season 4's "Remembrances" episode does a good job of bringing people up to speed for those that did skip most and/or all of Season 2, but don't take my word on it...totheendofsin said:
Overall, I say the only thing you'd mostly miss out on is certain [new] character introductions and the Season 2 finale that leads into "one" of Season 3's [major] plot points...
Thanks, I think I'll just power through it, maybe make a drinking game out of it if I feel up to it "drink whenever something stupid happens"FPLOON said:
I missed ATLA when I was first airing, so I marathoned the whole thing this summer, and immediately got stuck into Korra just before Book 3 started airing. So there's no ATLA nostalgia coming from me.
I honestly thought they were both amazing, but if I had to choose between them, my vote would go to LOK, and oddly enough it's all down to the weakest of the 4 books, book 2. I absolutely adored how much attention the universe's history was explored in the flashback sections to the origins of the avatar.
I honestly thought they were both amazing, but if I had to choose between them, my vote would go to LOK, and oddly enough it's all down to the weakest of the 4 books, book 2. I absolutely adored how much attention the universe's history was explored in the flashback sections to the origins of the avatar.
I'd say season 2 is split pretty much down the center. The opening 2 episodes were good, the 2 Wan episodes in the middle great, and the finale was good. So that's actually about 6 episodes. It is a shame that the rest were either padding or just unmemorable and the regression in Korra's character was kind of annoying. Still enough good in season 2 to watch it in my opinion.Tanis said: