Thoughts on the Legend of Korra Series Finale *SPOILERS*

So, um, wow. I just watched the series finale of The Legend of Korra and I kind of have a bit of a head rush right now. It was certainly much more concise than the finale of The Last Airbender and on a smaller, more intimate scale, but at this point, should we really be comparing these two series?  Structurally and narrative-wise, they're much different than each other. Ok, of course people (myself included) will compare the two, I just mean to say that yes, obviously, the finale of Korra is much different in feel and everything than The Last Airbender's. Korra has been a show that has aimed to tell four distinct stories across four short seasons, while also carrying themes, characters, and some plot elements across each season. With that in mind, I thought the finale was the best season finale in the series, while also hitting all the right emotional and sentimental notes a series finale should. But I don't really want to step back and take a detached, critical look at the finale and the series at large right now. No, I just got done watching the thing, and I kind of just want to tell you how I immediately feel about it, right here, right now. Obviously, spoilers.

From beginning to end, I thought the final 45 or so minutes of Korra were a rush. While I think season four as a whole has been solid, it hasn't really grabbed me in the way that season 3 did, but looking back now, it did a great job building to something. Kuvira could have been a much more interesting and nuanced villain, but if there's one department that she topped Zaheer in, it's that I really, really wanted Team Avatar to win this time. Kuvira was a horrible, corrupt dictator, and left unchecked, history would have repeated itself and it would have been the Fire Nation incident all over again. Luckily, the Avatar was not frozen in an iceberg this time around and was there to stop her and, of course, restore balance, as she should. This said, I was definitely invested the whole way through the finale and it didn't hurt that the final battle here was expertly choreographed and simply a thrill to watch. I don't think Korra has ever felt as cinematic as in this episode (I know technically it was two episodes, but I'm going to refer to the whole finale as one), which managed to combine harrowing action sequences and tender character moments in a thoughtful, engaging, focused way without seeming artificial or forced. Somehow we got satisfying closure for Varrick and Zhu Li, Asami and her father, Su and Bataar Jr., and a giant, explosive battle between all of the shows heroines and heroes and a gigantic mecha. All in under 45 minutes. Even Prince Wu, the worst part of this season, got some great character development here. I'm...impressed.

This finale also highlighted many of my favorite aspects of this show. It delivered on showcasing just about every single unique bending ability that we've seen across the series, while also focusing on the awesome steampunk elements that have helped to really make The Legend of Korra feel unique from The Last Airbender. Watching those hummingbird mechs encircle Kuvira's giant metal monstrosity cemented my love for this world even more, and I also loved Lin and Su (I just love those two period for the record) tearing up the inner clockwork of the colossal mecha. I'm kind of a nerd for giant gears, pipes, valves and industrial, steampunky stuff like this, and all this combined with the always beautiful and enchanting bending abilities was just...just...awesome. I'm sorry, I just can't think of a better word right now.

I also loved seeing all the pair-ups during the battle with the giant mech, with many emotional moments between key characters taking center stage: Mako and Bolin had a tender brotherly moment, with Bolin coming back for his brother and thus cementing the life-long bond they've shared (they've always looked out for each other), Lin and Su, fully past their differences here, working together and doing what they do best, Varrick and Zhu Li just having some of the best scenes of the whole thing throughout, and Asami and her father having a touching moment before their relationship's predictable, but still effective conclusion (I don't know what it is, those two only had a few scenes together in this season, but every one of them had me welling up; chalk it up to some good writing and acting, I suppose; Daniel Dae Kim  just really sold Hiroshi Sato as an old, washed-up, pitiable man full of regret). Tenzin and his family also had some key moments, and I appreciated that for once we didn't get a "Jinora saves the day moment". Instead, Korra was at the top of her game here, done feeling sorry for herself, done being scared and conflicted, she was ready to kick ass and fulfill her role as the Avatar, and I found myself really rooting for her, more than I ever have in the show previously.

And fulfill her role she did, but not quite in the way I expected. Honestly, I was looking forward to her finally kicking Kuvira's ass, because if anyone needed a good ass-kicking, it was certainly Kuvira. I was a bit disappointed at first when their big climactic fight was interrupted by the giant mecha exploding (cool as that was), and was hoping things wouldn't end right there. Luckily, they didn't, and determined as ever, Kuvira blindsides Korra and runs off into the spirit wilds of Republic City. I had no idea what was going to happen next, and I was probably more on the edge of my seat than I ever have been during this show (the closest being the finale to season 3). Kuvira ends up stumbling upon her gigantic spirit cannon, and in one final attempt to murder Korra, harnesses the power of the surrounding spirit vines to fire a final shot. After the weapon went out of Kuvira's control, I was a little worried that it would just explode and kill her in the blast, which would have been predictable and lame. Instead, Korra ends up putting her life before her enemy's and energy bends the destructive force (or does something), ultimately creating a new portal to the spirit world in the end. This scene and the ones that followed it were simply beautiful and the music that accompanied them and the entire finale overall was astoundingly poignant. Series composer Jeremy Zuckerman really did some masterful work here.

So while at first I was disappointed we didn't get to see Korra pound Kuvira's face into the ground, I actually like how it ended up turning out better. It was a perfect demonstration of the difference between good and evil, right and wrong, etc. Kuvira, being the horribly misguided person she is (to put it lightly), does everything in her power to try to kill Korra, meanwhile, Korra, being the good person that she is, ends up doing everything in her power to save her enemy's life in the end. Through this demonstration of power, Kuvira realizes that she is no match for the Avatar and admits defeat. While the last-minute attempt at some character development/motivation in the form of Kuvira's past as an orphan was a bit "too little, too late" and felt a tad ham-fisted, at least it provided some context for her actions, and I thought overall this conclusion worked. It also brought to mind Aang's method of defeating Fire Lord Ozai at the end of The Last Airbender, where instead of killing him, he opted to take his bending away and therefore neutralize him as a threat.

Overall, it was a thrilling conclusion, and the final scenes pulled some great emotional punches, particularly the wedding of Varrick and Zhu Li, the final scene between Korra and Tenzin and especially the final scene between Korra and Asami. The visuals and, again, the music was nothing short of beautiful here and my eyes were watery the whole time. This show has had its ups and downs, for sure, but when all's said and done, I found myself affected. Over the past two seasons, it actually feels like Korra has grown as a character and her stopping a mad dictator like Kuvira finally proved what has been troubling her the whole series, finally demonstrated why the world needs her. She really seemed like she'd grown, and the consistency between season three and season four make me think that if this was only the halfway point of the show, perhaps we could have had a truly amazing show by the end (of course, this is my personal opinion; you may already think Korra is entirely amazing as it is). But alas, this is where it ends, and for that, I think it did a pretty fine job, probably as good as it could have been. I really do feel like Korra deserves a vacation after all this, and I think ending with Korra and Asami's relationship was a poignant end note to the series. Their relationship and how it has developed over the series and the past couple of seasons especially has easily been one of the strongest in the show and seeing these two have a heart-to-heart before walking off into the spirit world, hand in hand, really got me, I gotta say. In fact, I found this moment much more emotionally satisfying than Aang and Katara's kiss at the end of The Last Airbender (I wasn't much of a fan of Aang and Katara's romance and feel it's one of the few weak spots in the otherwise brilliant The Last Airbender). I imagine there will be speculation over the nature of Korra and Asami's relationship (o.k., I don't just "imagine"; I admit, I cheated and have already seen the buzz this is predictably causing on the internet), but...I don't know, I think it was pretty unambiguous, right? I felt it there at the end, and I kept thinking, "are the writers really going for it?" "Just friends" don't clasp hands and look into each other's eyes longingly in a beam of spirit light, right? I guess I'll leave that for you to decide, just like the show's writers have done for us. Either way, there's no denying that it was a beautiful ending scene.

For my money, this finale was pretty much perfect. I had qualms with the way they ended season three, but they clearly had a plan and I think it paid off. Zaheer had to be defeated at the end of season three for Kuvira to take power. and Kuvira had to take power so Korra's role as the avatar could finally be fulfilled in a satisfying, conclusive way. Amon and Zaheer were both ambiguous for me, not really "evil" enough for me to really get behind Korra taking them down (although they did both need to be stopped), whereas Unalaq, on the other hand, was just way too cartoonishly over-the-top "Saturday morning" villain and I simply couldn't take him seriously (plus, he was so boring). Kuvira was a decent middle ground; she could have been better, but she worked. Besides, there's just something a lot more satisfying, a lot more human and grounded and relatable, about Korra and friends struggling to take down a giant mecha with their brains and brawn and Korra having an old-fashioned brawl with Kuvira before talking it out in the spirit world than a giant Kaiju battle between two demi-gods that ends with a blatant deus ex machina. Kuvira may not have been the most interesting villain ever, but she performed her role as a "giant asshole that I really wanted to be taken down" well, and her role as a power-hungry dictator that used a mixture of technology and magic to attain her goals made her in a way a perfect final antagonist for this show, not to mention, as Korra herself pointed out, the two of them's similarities. Kuvira's conquest also parallels nicely with the conflict in The Last Airbender, with her campaign sharing similarities with Fire Lord Sozin's so many years before (and I'm sure Kuvira would not have stopped at taking control of just the Earth Kingdom territories, and therefore we would have been hearing, "But that all changed when the Earth Empire attacked..." some day in the future).

It will be fun for me now to think back on The Legend of Korra as a whole. It's a very flawed show, but that makes it interesting to dissect and think about. Despite its ups and downs and overall being a much lesser show than its absolutely stellar forebear, I find myself focusing now on just all the things I loved about Korra. All the steampunk elements; the interesting world that's a mix of eastern philosophies, magic, spirits, and technology; the beautiful animation and consistently amazing action. While overall, the characters aren't as strong as in The Last Airbender, some are simply cool as nails like Asami and the Beifongs, and there were certainly gems like Varrick, Tenzin, and Zaheer. Mako and Bolin both grew on me as well, particularly in these last two seasons. Korra herself, though her character has gone through a lot of hoops, in the end, I found myself pretty attached to her, and in a way, found her a bit more relatable than Aang (maybe it's just her older age, or maybe her more pronounced character flaws). The Legend of Korra is over and with it, the world of Avatar as far as we know (and the creators have said so), and while I'm certainly saddened to think of the fact that I never will get to explore this rich and amazing world again in a future adventure, I'm looking forward to going back and reliving it all again, starting with The Last Airbender. The Legend of Korra isn't exactly what I'd call a masterpiece, but it's still a work worthy of a lot of praise in many areas, and at the end of the day, I just had a damn good time watching it.

So long, Korra.

Rambling Thoughts on the Season 3 Finale of The Legend of Korra

Perhaps you’ll disagree, as all I seem to be seeing is nothing but praise all across the internet, but I can’t help but feel disappointed and a little cheated by the finale of The Legend of Korra’s third season. Let me back up a bit. Season 3 of Korra was by and large an enormous success in my book. All the characters were given something interesting to do this season and a sense of adventure that has been missing since The Last Airbender was brought back to the show. I still think Korra is a bit of a boring protagonist, but at least she seems more mature this season and I accepted her as the heroine this time mainly because everything going on around her was so engaging. The writers should also be given credit for doing a good job of portraying Korra as a normal teenager who just so happens to have this god-like power and god-like responsibility that she never asked for. The animation has also been at its best this season, with some really unique and beautiful set pieces like the metallic city of Zaofu and countless beautifully choreographed action sequences, each one more stunning and thrilling than the last. And although characters like Asami, Tenzin, and Lin really shined this season (Mako and Bolin weren’t too shabby either), the true star of this season wasn’t Korra and her friends, but the methodical Zaheer and his fearsome gang.

And this is mainly where season three’s finale failed me. It failed in doing any sort of justice for its most interesting characters. This whole season has built up Zaheer, P’Li, Ghazan, and Ming-Hua, as competent, interesting, and sympathetic antagonists, who by the episode entitled “Long Live the Queen”, I actually found myself rooting for. Zaheer’s methods involve murder and other questionable methods, but he still maintained a sense of honor and respect throughout the season. He is someone who is wholly committed to his goal, but also seems sympathetic and human, someone who is not only loyal to his mission but also to his friends and to his lover. I expected to learn more about Zaheer and his friends and what in their lives had led them to where they were; I had expected in the end that they would become more and more ambiguous in their role as the “villains”. Something that The Last Airbender excelled at was giving its villains a human side and treating them like actual people. This seemed to be the case for the Red Lotus as well. The season seemed to be building up to something greater than just a “good guys vs. bad guys” showdown…but that’s pretty much what we got with the finale.

Don’t get me wrong: that showdown was absolutely thrilling and even shocking at some points, with some characters suffering brutal deaths and others very close calls. The finale was emotional, but the whole time I had this sinking feeling inside me as one Red Lotus member after the next met their demise: “please don’t let it end like this”, I kept thinking. You see, Zaheer and the Red Lotus, and the whole story that this season has built, has been so much more interesting than anything else in The Legend of Korra, that there was no way that the writers were going to satisfyingly wrap everything up by the end of this season without rushing things. I figured that the Red Lotus arc would carry over into the fourth season, and Zaheer and his crew would be the show’s antagonists until the series finale. That’s how it should have been, at least. These characters still had plenty of potential and were certainly capable of carrying the villain quota for another season. Unfortunately, the writers of Korra fell back on utilizing deus ex machinas and an unfortunate desire to once again try to wrap everything up in one gigantic, admittedly thrilling, fight sequence.

P’Li’s death felt tragic, especially after the moment her and Zaheer shared just before. I literally felt far more emotion for Zaheer in that moment than I have for Korra the entire series. I was disappointed though because I wanted more from P’Li’s character, and I was also disappointed that the writers were employing the old “kill off the male character’s girlfriend to give him more motivation” (otherwise known as the “women in refrigerators”) trope. But I bought it in the moment as the whole sequence took me off-guard and was really well put-together. But Mako simply using a lightning shock to defeat Ming-Hua felt very anti-climactic and raised the very, very valid question of why he didn’t just do that to begin with (like, the first time he ever fought her). And Ghazan, who I was just really starting to like after his moment with Bolin while riding in the truck a few episodes prior and his sporting attitude during their fight in the finale, shortly afterward resorting to sacrificing himself in order to take down Bolin and Mako (an effort from which they both escaped from extremely easily by doing something that Ghazan himself also easily could have done to escape) felt forced and out of character for the seemingly lighthearted Ghazan (I know he was also trying to avoid going to prison, but he could have just used his lava bending to escape; this just felt like the writers reaching for a way to kill him off because they wanted all the main Red Lotus members dead except for Zaheer). This all just feels like such a waste of characters that this season did a great job of making me want to know more about. The writers seemed to be making them more and more human with each episode, and here in the finale, they just get cheaply picked off one by one like common villains. I feel cheated.

Once again, Jinora saves the day in the end by rallying the other airbenders together to create a giant tornado that sucks Zaheer to the ground. While all the new airbenders working together to use their combined strength to take down the powerful Zaheer was good closure for their story this season and the image of Korra wrapping a chain around Zaheer’s leg and yanking him to ground only for him to be literally encased in earth felt like a poetic defeat for the man who wished to be untethered from the earth, the writers follow this up by committing a huge sin. They take their most interesting character, the star of this season really, and instead of giving him any kind of respectful closure, they turn him into the punch line of a Bolin gag. When Fire Lord Ozai was made to look like a fool at the end of The Last Airbender after his defeat at the hands of Aang, it felt appropriate as comic relief to show that this massive threat was finally quelled, and also felt satisfying because Ozai was a character in desperate need of humiliation. But the writers went out of their way this season to make Zaheer sympathetic and try to get us to see his point of view. I wouldn’t say I one-hundred percent agree with everything Zaheer was doing, but he was far from the kind of villain I wanted to see humiliated in the way that he was. He certainly deserved more than being made to look like a raving madman before getting a sock shoved in his mouth.  It just felt really bizarre and out of place after everything else this season has done to build Zaheer’s character, and also clashed with the overall tone this season has had. Far from laugh, I could only feel confused and slightly agitated during this moment.

Was Zaheer wrong about wanting a world without leaders? Between The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, we’ve seen firsthand how much those with power have continuously screwed up the world in this series. Fire Lord Sozin and later on Fire Lord Ozai sought to conquer the world and assimilate all nations into their own; Tarrlok was a corrupt politician who used his power to manipulate people, discriminate against non-benders, and engage in other crooked tactics in order to defeat the Equalists; President Raiko seems intent on being fairly useless, stubborn and ignorant; Unalaq, former chief of the whole entire water nation, lied his way into power and was willing to sacrifice anything, including the well-being of his own children, in order to gain ultimate power; the Earth Queen…do I even need to go on? Korra herself has shown on multiple occasions that perhaps the god entity responsible for maintaining balance in the world shouldn’t be a flighty teenager. The show seemed to asking its audience an important question this season: Who is right here? Who is really the villain? If Zaheer has his way, will this world be better off? Or is disorder and true freedom not worth all the loss of life and general chaos? It felt like the story was building up to an ambiguous ending where the true best course of action wouldn’t  be clear, and would be up to the viewer to decide, or perhaps it would be up to Korra to decide and make a difficult choice.

 
But the finale ultimately had very little to say about the important question regarding order and the status quo that it has been asking all season. Zaheer was made a fool of in the end, shown as a ranting loudmouth who needed to “have a sock shoved in it”. Shortly after we see Raiko calling the Red Lotus “terrorists” and everyone explaining how they need the Avatar now more than ever. So I guess the show is now telling us that we’re supposed to think that order and leaders are a good thing? Despite all the stuff with the Earth Queen and all the evidence it seemed to be mounting to the contrary? It seems really contradictory and like such a safe, dull conclusion. I just don’t buy it. This is why this “finale” just seems so unsatisfying. While Ba Sing Se is in disarray presently, was freeing all those people and tearing down an oppressive monarchy really all that terrible? Yes, he was willing to kill people including an innocent teenager (Korra), but was Zaheer really just an evil terrorist? Remember when he stopped Ming-Hua from hurting the radio operator in Ba Sing Se and delivered that line about the innocent man being the kind of people that he wanted to help? And if Zaheer lying about giving up the airbenders was meant by the writers as some way of showing his true nature, it really just came off as false and untrue to his character. Judging from the code of honor that he seemed to exhibit all season, I feel like Zaheer would have been true to his word in that instance, and there didn’t really seem to be any reason for him to still hold the airbenders captive.

I do like that not everything was wrapped up in a neat bow at the end of this season and there did seem to be a lingering sense of melancholy in the end, which felt appropriate, and I’m hopeful due to Raiko’s mention of there still being more Red Lotus members out there, not to mention that fact that Zaheer is still breathing by the finale’s end, something that the previous two seasons’ main villains didn’t manage to accomplish (Zaheer is too determined and powerful to go down this easily, right? Perhaps next season will see a vengeful Zaheer making a comeback?). But unfortunately, I don’t see Ghazan and Ming-Hua coming back, even though their deaths were a little more ambiguous than P’Li’s gruesome demise (is this really still a Nickelodeon show? Well, I guess it was technically taken off the air…). The end of the finale seemed to have this odd implication that Jinora is going to be the main heroine next season (I mean, she basically has been the past two seasons anyway), and I’m guessing her tattooed reveal as an airbending master being very reminiscent of Aang’s appearance was no accident. Korra is seen as an invalid, shedding a single tear as she sits in her wheelchair off to one side. Is this ending symbolic of the writers wishing they’d made Jinora the star? Or is this their way of finally just giving in to the cranky fans and having a young airbender be the focus again while poor, unpopular Korra is battered and defeated off in a dark corner? Wasn’t this season supposed to be about “change”?

And what the bloody heck is up with Kuvira, the young female metalbender who got a suspiciously conspicuous introduction and another line about wanting to go with the others to rescue the airbenders and then wasn’t heard from again? (I know we've seen her before, but she got a strange spotlight during the finale, like it was setting something up with her character.) 

The Desert

As he tipped the bottle to his tongue
and drained the last drop of water,
he let out a sigh and looked at the setting sun,
knowing that his time in the desert would soon be done.

Food!

Welcome to my internet diary. Here I will post on a variety of topics that interest me, from music to religion to apple pie to the cosmos and beyond. I'll pretty much be posting whatever pops into my head or is on my mind at any given time. If I want to write a post about milkshakes, for example, I will write a post about milkshakes. This blog is mainly a way for me to keep writing on a consistent basis. You might learn a thing or two about me if you stick around. Feel free to leave a comment if you want to have a discussion!

This is my first post here and it's about food. Everybody likes food, right? These are some of my favorite foods.

Cheeseburger and Fries

'Cause I'm an 'Murican! Seriously though, a solid burger and fries combo, preferably with some kind of fountain soda, has long been a comfort food for me (cheese pizza and a Coke/Pepsi works too). It's filling, satisfying, and reliable. Sometimes when I eat a burger, I imagine myself in a 1950s diner with white counters and a black and white checkerboard pattern on the walls. Other times I think about energy-refilling burgers found inside trash cans and stuff in old-school-style beat em' up video games. What's better than floor burger?

Sushi

I remember the first time I tried Sushi. I had no idea what to expect. I crammed the whole roll into my mouth as I was instructed and...this wonderful texture, this unique taste and mixture of flavors and sensations. I liked it. And I wanted to try more. There's an endless variety of sushi so I've nowhere near tried it all, but I've eaten both raw and cooked sushi and it's all been delicious. I love eating it plain and I love drowning it in rivers of salty soy sauce. On the topic of sushi, I also love...

White Rice...mmmmmmm.....

And I love seafood in general. I've often considered becoming a vegetarian, but I don't think I could ever give up seafood.

I also love...

Fish and Chips! (eating these with a pint of Guinness in England was the best)

...and...

Lobster! (I feel so guilty eating it when it's the whole lobster but it's sooo delicious) 

I also like salmon. Yeah, I love seafood.

Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Sprinkles







 +

Vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate sprinkles (or jimmies as I've grown up calling them) is perhaps the most nostalgic food for me. There's a small, local ice cream shop down the street from me named "Meletharb" (the name being a rearranged form of "Bartholomew", the name of the shop's founder and the man who served me my first ice cream cone...probably) and it was there that I first tasted ice cream. At least, that's the most likely scenario. I don't remember what that first taste was, but there's a good bet that it was plain vanilla, or plain vanilla with chocolate sprinkles. In any case, this was my favorite flavor as a kid and I don't care if you think it's boring! It's just so purely delicious to me and is both a taste that transports me back to my childhood and is also just sublimely enjoyable to me.

Soup 

What kind of soup? Any kind! I love soup, all kinds of soup. I actually love any kind of hot food that warms me up. There's something so comforting about a bowl of soup on a cold night (or even just on any night). It fills my tummy and it fills my soul.

I'm also quite fond of Beef Stew

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Milk

Here it is, my favorite food ever: sweet, wonderful chocolate chip cookies and a tall glass of cold milk. I guess a better name for this list might have been "favorite foods of my childhood" but hey, I'm a firm believer that what you enjoyed as a kid, you'll always enjoy, even if you try to act all adult and tell yourself otherwise. There is nothing more supremely delicious, happy, and enjoyable to me than Santa Claus's preferred snack. Cookies and Milk. Love.

And here's some of my favorite drinks...

Tea

“If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you.” -William Ewart Gladstone, former British Prime Minister

Tea relaxes me. Tea cheers me. Tea warms me. Tea is just heaven in a cup. Drinking tea, any kind of tea, is so calming and therapeutic for me. There's not much that fills me with more pure bliss than sipping a warm, aromatic cup of tea while listening to beautiful music.

Beer

Ok, so I'm not much of a drinker. I gave up drinking "hard liquor" the last time I got sick from it. After suffering for a weekend-long hangover, I decided that I didn't want to voluntarily poison myself anymore. But beer's pretty ok. I'm quite fond of Blue Moon, but really I'm not too picky when it comes to beer (as long as it's not some cheap college student bile like Keystone, Bud Light, Coors Light, etc.). Casually sipping a beer while spending time with some friends is always a good time for me. Beer also goes great with food.
I guess this was mainly a "comfort food" list, but why wouldn't comforting foods be my favorite foods? I'd like to give a final shout-out to all the food that I haven't tried yet, because the only food I might like even more than the ones above are the things I haven't tried yet. I love trying new foods, especially ones from different cultures that I'm unfamiliar with. It's such an adventure!



I like pancakes too...