What I'd hoped when they first announced the Korra series, was something in the same vein as ATLA - a journey stretched out over multiple seasons with the enemy/villain/conflict also growing on the viewer along with Korra and her clique. That way, when things finally came to a head, all the characters would be in place, fully developed.

But by condensing all the conflicts into single seasons, they were forced to develop and flesh out characters in a hasty manner and it ruined the whole thing. Most of the antagonists fell flat because of that, and same thing happened to Korra too.

Even so, this season may have been really good, if they didn't tell us outright that Kuvira was basically Hitler-in-a-cartoon. That way, we may have started off sympathising with her and as her true nature was revealed - say through Bolin's experiences and changing loyalties - the overall plot may have been more interesting to follow.

 

I think most of the show's failures stem from the fact that Mike and Bryan were writing the first two books thinking that each would be the end of the series.

If Nick had ordered all 3 sequels at the same time, I think the show would have gotten a lot better as time went on. Bryke could and probably would have extended Korra's struggle with her spirituality out over several books instead of condensing it all into Book 2, and then used that theme to unify all 4 stories. As is, Book 3 and 4 just feel like poorly-planned afterthoughts with very little char dev or plot poignancy; whereas Books 1 and 2 feel rushed and scatterbrained.

 

Liked Asami's scenes with her father the best in the last episode.

Kuvira doesn't do it for me if I take the story somewhat seriously, but she does get some lulz out of me for exuding the over the top Hitler vibe. Also, the lines of bullshit she feeds Bolin are gold, if only for their sheer stupidity.

 

Kuvira's pretty shit. I feel bad for Zelda Williams because she's giving a good voice to the character, but this character just doesn't not work at all in how they've presented her thus far. It's as bad as the Amon about-face from Season 1, IMO.

 

The last episode left me with a vague feeling of 'I don't really care anymore'.

Spoiler

For me, the only plus was Varrick and his vine bomb. Battle for Zaofu was lame as hell, in my opinion, and Kuvira still remains the Hitleresque villain with her army of green stormtroopers. Also, sending dissenter with trains to reeducation camps? The name comes from Vietnam, I guess, but as German I'm always thinking of different camps. They were rather efficient, too.

Honestly, at this point, I'm only watching to see it end/have it watched. This story arc is weak.

Ps: I'm still rooting for Toph appearing in the middle of Kuvira's army and wrecking shit. At one point during her conversation with Korra, she mentioned that none of her daughters had learned metalbending completely. All the more reason for her to descend on Kuvira and her troops, showing how it works.

 

I'm fairly convinced at this point that Varric may actually be the main character. He's had more interesting character development than any other character so far.

 

Agreed. I'll still watch to the end, but now it's because I don't like leaving stories unfinished (and there's that lingering hope that we'll see Aang and Wan again, and not just as flashbacks), not because I'm interested in the actual story.

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It was so obvious what was going to happen that I skipped all the Battle of Zhoafu parts. I only saw the last ten seconds of those scenes. Somehow the writers managed to make me feel mortified for Korra before the battle even begun.

I only watched the Varrick parts, which is a true testimony to his character; I still hate the thought of weaponized spirit energy.

Also, the fact that Zhu Li really appears to have Zhu Li'd Varrick makes me want to see his own realization that he is a 'strong, independent businessman that don't need no assisant' to take care of him.

 

Spoiler

Firstly, Varrick is awesome. If he was the main character this season would be the better for it.

But I was just so done when Korra, in avatar state, can lift a big boulder and and shoot two decent streams of air whilst Opal the air bender can repel an entire army by herself. Her bending is so, so sub-par compared to Aang that it just frustrates me.

 

Alright, so I bothered to see Chapter 7. It wasn't as horrendous as the last one, and that's it in a nutshell. Not good, not bad. Basically filler.

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I'm still liking Varrick. There was no development for any of the characters as far as I could tell. That's all that's noteworthy. Which is nothing, really.

... And that firebender escapee looked a lot like Avatar Wan. He even cut down Varrick and Bolin from a trap, like Wan did Mula. I didn't think anything of it at first. Figured they were running out of unique ways to draw extras or something. But then he stood next to that waterbender. It looked like the writers/illustrators were going for a reference to Wan and Korra. Seems really pointless. Just saying.

 

"Horrendous".

I don't understand you people.

 

Imo, Chapter 6 was 'horrendous' by the standards set for it by the previous episodes of Book 4, the previous seasons of the Legend of Korra, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. The higher the bar, the harsher the critics when expectations aren't met. Is it fair to judge the Legend of Korra beside it's epic predecessor? Perhaps not. But I can't help it. They're set in the same universe, written by the same people.

So by normal TV standards, Chapter 6 was great. Chapter 7, good. But on the scale that was set for it? Respectively, I'd rate them horrendous and blah. Even though more important things happen in Chapter 6, I give it a worse rating because Korra's character was backtracked yet again and the main villain has fallen flat, yet again. When mistakes are repeated so many times, it becomes grating, even infuriating. I know the writers can do better. I've seen them do better. LoK would have surpassed ATLA if there was character development and if the consequences of previous seasons carried over. The characters made ATLA epic. But in LoK, they're the downfall. They're static.

Other shows are mediocre in comparison to the Legend of Korra. That's the reason I don't care about those other shows and why I still discuss LoK even if I describe one of its episodes as 'horrendous.' They're on wildly different levels. I'm obviously more invested in LoK because it is great, in general. But I can't say every episode is good when they're not all reaching the same height.

 

Wasn't as bad as I feared. Things will, hopefully, get interesting in the next episode.

Spoiler

I'm so waiting for Toph to wreck Kuvira's army. Now more than ever as the Earth Empire is chipping at her tree, in her swamp, one splinter at a time. God, I hope she kicks the crap out of them.

 

Why the fuck did we waste an episode on recaps?

 

Nick cut the budget on them so they didn't have enough money for all 13 episodes apparently.

 

Considering the circumstances, I think they pulled off the clip show pretty well, but it just makes me yearn for a universe where Varrick's story had the budget available for new animation. I think it would have been even better than 'The Ember Island Players' and that's one of the original series best episodes.

 

Clip show episode is standard clip show episode, a bit frustrating for someone who's watched it all the way through but I hope they put what money they saved to good use down the road.

My hope was that Korra would've reflected a bit more on her lost connection to the previous avatars. I still hope that we'll get some of that spiritual stuff in these last few episodes but with Kuvira being such a human threat I'm not convinced we will.

 

Double post, but:

That episode was a lot better than I expected going in, particularly the second half. Presumably the climax of the series will balls it up but,

Spoiler

I like Zahir, and I generally like spirit world stuff. With the series coming to an end and Korra being 'whole' it'd be great if all the characters could just kick ass and not grab the idiot ball

 

It wasn't as bad as the recap (how could it be?), but I wasn't exactly blown away either.

Spoiler

Zahir helping Korra feels contrived. It fits somewhat with the anarchy-idiology he had going on in the 3rd series, but I still don't like it. Especially that the solution to everything is 'accept what happened to you'. I don't know, it feels lame somehow.

What left me disappointed the most were probably my expecations, though. After seeing the giant tree being cut I really expected Toph to go on a rampage.

Ah well, here's to hope the finale at least will be better. Now that everything's set up somewhat, the good stuff can follow. (Where is Bumi? A rescue mission would be exactly his thing!)

 

I think this was the episode that suffered from having an episode cut. This episode was probably supposed to be two episodes.

 

Heh, just watched the latest episode and contrary to expectations it did not disappoint.

Spoiler

Suyin bending herself into that armor was awesome as was the whole fight coreography.