Going into the fourth and
final season of Korra, I had high hopes. I felt that the seasons got
progressively better, and I was left feeling excited about a new
mini-generation after Jinora got her tattoos and Kai looked to be a something
of a new hero figure. The first episodes felt like they were fulfilling that
promise – after a short timeskip, there was an established Airbender Corps of
sorts, helping rebuild the Earth Kingdom, a ‘great unifier’ named Kuvira who is
uniting the people – but with an iron fist – and Korra herself is missing,
still suffering from her fight with Zaheer. It’s a great set-up, and there’s a
lot in this season that goes very well. Sadly, it all rather falls apart
towards the end, and especially for the ultimate finale of the series, it’s a
disappointment. And yes, I’d still rather have the Gurihiru continuations of
the original series animated.
I liked Korra’s quest to find
herself, especially as she found a certain cranky old-timer from the original
series to be her Yoda. I loved the little shopkeeper who had a ‘Wall of
Avatars’ as well! I enjoyed the way Mako and Bolin were split up and their
loyalties to one another tested, and the general idea behind Kuvira’s
philosophy – as well as her personality – was excellent. Of course she had to
push things way too far in order to be an unambiguous antagonist, and her being
badass enough to take down Korra in Avatar State – even having mental issues –
was pretty damn awesome.
But the need for a big
bombastic climax rather ruined this season. If Jinora, Kai and co looked to be
developed this season, they had to be cast aside to give enough time to the
main four characters. The moral dilemma of stopping a strong leader from
uniting the Earth Kingdom gets dropped when Kuvira reveals that she not only
wants to unite the established territories, but also to reclaim the land that
Aang annexed to make his Republic City. This makes her a conqueror ignoring
what had been established by diplomacy, and unambiguously in the wrong – which
is something of a shame.
There’s already a huge problem
with this as the final ending to Korra’s chronicles. After the events in the second
series seemed genuinely apocalyptic, this season needed to at least have a
threat to the world, or destroy the spirit realm, or someone stealing all the
spiritual energy in the entire world, or a war between all spirits and all
mankind...something huge and apocalyptic. I thought that’s where things were
headed when the spirit vines began to become hostile. Instead...well, what we
got was Kuvira deciding to retake Republic
City for the Earth Kingdom .
So the threat was already just one city, and some pride. And how is the ante
upped? Well, with a weapon of mass destruction, naturally.
Mounted on a frickin’ giant
mecha.
Sure, certain series can pull
of giant robots. Evangelion, Bokurano, Gurren Lagann...but in the
Avatar world? The giant drill was the biggest mistake the original
series ever made! Sure, there’s been a progression of technology in this
season, but really? A giant robot? Controlled by bending levers? It really
doesn’t work. And taking it down is far harder than it could feasibly be, the thing
staying upright when its feet are bound, Kuvira is blinded and Bolin uses his
goddamn newly-acquired lava bending to trap a foot. Kuvira’s plan to
sort of stomp into town and smash things up rather than, y’know, imposing trade
sanctions and blockading the ports, goes badly and the whole thing ends with a
whimper. To my great surprise, Korra never even learns to connect with her past
lives properly, because she doesn’t need to.
It’s an ending that sadly lets
down everything that went before it. There were certainly interesting places
this story arc could have gone, and I don’t think it pulled any of it off with
the final direction of the plot.
Then there’s the mild
controversy of the implied lesbian relationship between Korra and Asami with
the final scenes. I like the idea, but I think it was poorly done. It would
make sense that Korra and Asami end up falling for each other and try being
together. But the show would need to have built that up, developed it and made
it less ambiguous. I mean, the creators had to clarify what they intended – and
nobody saw it coming. The result is that it just seems like something tacked on
for a fashionable statement on what can be included in a children’s show. It’s
a welcome statement...but I’d much rather it were done right, and not at the
last minute for its own sake.
In a way, it encapsulates why
I was disappointed with this last season. The ideas were good, but the
execution just didn’t work for me.
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