THE LEGEND OF KORRA - Season 4 - Episodes 3-7 (Patreon)

Check out all my recaps of the previous episodes / seasons under this tag. 

3. THE CORONATION

I’m feeling like I’m watching two different shows.

Because I have to admit that the political conflict of this season so far is sort of a snooze fest. I get that it’s essentially trying to do some important set-up with Kuvira so that she can make her power move on the world later. But after some efficient introductions in the first episode, they’re already treading water with her stilted stand-offs. Granted, the show that’s never really been good at chamber drama mechanisms (and it’s even worse at political pontificating), but the bigger problem is the way the narrative will bend over backwards to give characters unmotivated conflicts. Like Mako and Bolin can argue about their respective paths and whether Bolin is “backing a dictator,” but none of it feels ingrained in their reality or in something personal. As a viewer, I have no real reason to get behind Bolin’s belief in Kuvira or really any of this. He’s just being obtuse. 

Which gets into the larger problem of how Kuvira’s… just kind of a dud. 

Ideologically it makes sense that she would resent the new sucky boy king and want to change the system, just as she wants to help the people like her. But even as the narrative is presenting this lip-service, it’s also presenting the lip-service of “she just wants power.” I feel like I’m just constantly being talked at and don’t know what to do with it because I don’t really understand anything about her. This isn’t complexity. This is convolution. 

Worse, there’s absolutely no charisma in her character. Where Zaheer had that pontificating, unflappable calm in his terrifying demeanor, Kuvira just falls flat. She’s a series of stoic postures and monotone deliveries. And it would really be more interesting if Kuvira was a deluded ideologue or something, but instead of always tipping her hand saying villainy things like, “I always get what I want!” without a hint of campy deliciousness. And as a result, It’s hard to get behind any of this core conflict or figure out what I’m rooting for.

Meanwhile, the Toph / Korra plot is much more fun!

It’s also funny how it makes me realize that in many ways, Toph always WAS a cranky old lady from the get go. But she’s a shot of vim and vigor into the atmosphere of this season. She’s also exactly what Korra needs right now. Because when it comes to Korra’s recovery, everyone else has been walking on eggshells, giving the love and support she desperately needs, but sometimes that’s only half of the equation. Sometimes, you also need the jarring push, or that proverbial cold water on the face. It’s not that these things always work. It’s that after getting so caught up in her own head and the endless pressures, suddenly Korra has Toph is screeching at her: “get over yourself, the world doesn’t need you one bit!” 

Please understand it’s less that Toph is right (especially she understands the Avatar’s importance more than anyone), it’s just a helpful way to get Korra out of her cyclical demons. It’s part of what gets her to remember there’s a whole world that doesn’t care that she’s stuck, nor thinks of her as their savior. Korra needs to stop thinking all together and just remember she is *alive* right there in her dang human body. That and that alone.

But as a quick note, I want to be very careful when talking about the seeming merits of this approach, because there are people who walk around like this is THE WAY to deal with depression and mental health. To give it one big “snap out of it!” or “what’s wrong with you!” And that is some grade A harmful bullshit. Misunderstanding / tough love doesn’t cure anything (especially because there’s nothing to “cure”). And support and love and understanding are at the heart of recovery, too. Because you need people to reassure that your pain is valid. That your depression is valid. That you have space to grow. And there’s a reason Korra needed to go through all those depths first. Ultimately, what the Toph method is really about is grounding you back in the physical space.

Thus, they get right into it with methods of physical exertion and meditation (it’s also purposefully reminiscent of the Avatar episode “bitter work” which is one of the best in the series). So much of Korra’s struggle is about finding the kind of “good anger” inside, which in the end is really just the willingness to fight for oneself. But it also quickly leads to the reveal that Korra actually does still have some of the poison metal inside her! I’ll admit I kind of worried for a second that this would be the presto chango solution to the problem (if only because the first two seasons were guilty of simplifications like this). But luckily they hone right in on the metaphor. For as Toph tries to get the poison metal out, Korra immediately clinches, tensing up and terrified of past memories that it unlocks.

Of course, Toph’s had it because Korra’s still holding on. Korra asks with confusion, “why would I want to keep it in?” But it’s not that Korra’s afraid to get healed. It’s that she’s afraid that getting healed means she might get hurt again. Which really means that she might go right back to that crushing reality of trauma. This is ALWAYS the root of the fear. The notion leaves Korra’s at a loss, but again, Toph is there in tough love: “I can’t deal with all your issues for you.” She’s gonna have to do it on her own cause Toph ain’t got time for this shit. 

God I missed that sass… 

And quite frankly, the show really missed it too.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Getting Toph back in full form has essentially confirmed something to me: I’ve never been able to really embrace Lin Bei-Fong because she never really felt 1) QUITE as strident and grumpy and funny and original as Toph while 2) never having anything else about her that made her DIFFERENT enough either. I know there were some backstory episodes that certainly tried, but it’s just always felt like a half-measure. Something that’s emblematic of much of how the show’s just literally recycled personalities of characters from the series before… and not in a way that benefits them for the better.

-Ooooh, Eska is back for a brief second and at least gets two strong lines: “I see you have replaced me with a new girlfriend. Well done, she seems very threatening.” / “Boss. Girlfriend. Same thing.” (which, to be clear, is not a joke I laugh at because I agree with that kind of normative bullshit, but I believe Eska believes it in a more fun, coven-esque way).

-The Mako and the Prince stuff is fun, especially when the wee lad is barging into the restaurant to get on his little throne, but I have to say that the position still feels largely unmotivated for Mako. I know why it’s funny, I know they keep saying he has to do it, I just honestly don’t get WHY he’s really doing it outside of the show’s contrivance and thinking it’s funny. It just needs that little layer of reality under it. Maybe it’s just part and parcel of the fact that the show also has no idea what to do with Mako any more and isn’t giving him an arc. 

-This may be weird, but part of me kind of wishes all the original voice actors were cast and we heard them doing old person voice? Is that dumb? I dunno, I just never like these kinds of recastings... maybe I’m weird.

-Again, I honestly don’t even remember Bataar Jr. from last season and this and the whole stuff with his mom Suyin feels SUPER forced… Honestly, his character just kinda sucks.

-Okay, sending the three kids after Korra is a smart narrative move!

-Hahahahah, Mako’s face when Bolin says “Kuvira is just like Korra!” I like when the show can actually underline a misguided line.

-Hopefully it changes, but Varrick is really just hanging around at this point? Again, I get why it’s fun but I really want them to do something more with him. Let’s hope for the best.

4. THE CALLING

I really feel like the show is starting to fan out in its scope in a nice way, mostly by examining characters that normally don’t get focused on. Of course, this is not an uncommon tactic. It’s even pretty common within the entire history of TV! Not just because it adds breadth to the world. Not just because it deepens storylines and dramatic conflict. But because it helps change the nature of “egocentric” storytelling that so focus on the viewpoint of the main character. It’s a crucial myopia remover.

Take Jinora, whose journey was one of the unexpected joys of season three. The story perfectly crested into her mastery and tattoo ceremony, also serving as a crushing comparison to Korra’s injury. But now, we go another level deeper with Tenzin’s family to focus on an adventure with three kids. And I have to say I really dug the way it unpackages their dynamics. Jinora is now the young adult who has become focused, stoic, and also a bit removed from them because she has taken on the responsibility of leadership. Meanwhile, Meelo has gone from the cute, irascible toddler to that point where little boys become t h e  w o r s t. He is Enfant Terrible. And when a cute old lady walks up to tell him how adorable he is, he can only shout back “i’m not adorable! I’m dangerous!” Really, he’s just at the juvenile age where he’s ready to push aside childish things and embrace his capacity for menace and even young puppy dog love that makes him seem like a grown up (i’m pretty sure the flower girl is a nod to Aeries / Aerith). But even then, a lot of the Meelo stuff is just surface, honestly. 

Meanwhile this is really the first time we’ve gotten a sense of Ikki’s interiority in a meaningful way. At first, she’s gently frustrated by the lack of inclusion, especially when she sheepishly asks “if you get through to Korra, tell her I said hi!” But of course she just gets chided away. Yes, Jinora is just genuinely trying to concentrate, but we understand why Ikki now sees Jinora as someone who thinks she is above it all. At the same time, Ikki is rightfully frustrated with Meelo’s childish bravado (“we’re vegetarians, we don’t hunt!”). Between the two, Ikki’s really put in the heart of classic middle child issues. 

And it seems like this is going to be the thrust of the entire episode, especially when Ikki gets caught by two dweeby earth kingdom guards. But rather than play with their collective trust or sort out any of these dynamics in terms of conflict resolution and growth, the narrative sort of rushes into it, then rushes out of the solution without putting too much of a stamp on a larger point... But it at least has the dignity to be amusing?

The real strength of the episode comes once again in the form of Toph and Korra’s Dagobah-esque training. I particularly love the fact that Toph is just, like, super lazy now. I also love the way we see all the familiar poses of her trademark bending style, which hit the nostalgia button in non-cloying, unsentimental way.  Speaking of unsentimental, I also love how little interest Toph has in reliving the past. Korra asks for stories about her famous training of Aang (the aforementioned “bitter work” episode), but all Toph can offer is truncated fragments, “What? Sokka fell in a hole.” Same goes for their epic battle with the fire lord, “It was hot. I think a giant turtle showed up.” Just priceless.

All that matters is what’s in front of them and honestly, Toph barely even cares about that. As Korra still desperately clings to her pain, Toph gets fed up and instructs Korra to go fetch some mushrooms. But once in the forest, she has some horrible visions of the past. Specifically, the three “all is lost” moments from each of the preceding seasons. But turns out this was a pointed intention. Toph wanted her to encounter the vines and genuinely learn something from each of these previous encounters… I’ll admit, I got my hopes up for a moment, thinking they might actually dig deeper into seasons past and what Korra should have learned from those encounters. Why, maybe it could be some kind of thematic reappraisal that would help her make future changes in her characterization! 

Instead it just falls back on the same tired generalizations that plague the show’s political insight. Iman wanted equality for all! Unalaq wanted to bring back spirits! Zaheer wanted to bring anarchy and chaos! Toph only offers the notion that their villainy existed because they weren’t balanced and “took their ideologies too far,” which of course can’t help but sound like some above it all centrism (especially where the obvious problem is these villains were murderous totalitarians, end of sentence)… Sigh. 

Anyway, it all leads to this big moment where Korra connects back to the world by using the big tree roots aaaaaaaand this is a little too easy. But perhaps it’s par for the course for a show that was never QUITE as good at making the “breakthrough moments” as dramatically solid as Avatar. But hey, I’ll still take the solid thematic work of Korra’s trauma. I’ll also take how Toph makes Korra do the healing bending herself (Little detail: she even takes Toph’s power stance to do so!). And better yet, I’ll take the results. For the moment where Korra cries and starts hugging the kids who have found her is something genuinely earned through affinity.

But most of all, I’ll take the fact that this season has really taken a whole four episodes to address the fallout of Korra’s injury and really get into her interiority. This attention was something so utterly lacking from seasons past. They really had the “main character problem.” And so I appreciate this plot line through and through. But as they leave Toph behind, they know “that fight is over.”

Now it’s time for another to begin.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-“The Avatar? We still have one to those?!”

-I love the moment where the little terrified flying rodent gets its hair blown back.

-Guard 1: “Do you know what that means?” Guard 2: “No, but try this macaroon.”

-Gotta admit, we’re four episodes in and I’ve had lots of light smiles, but way less of the monster jokes landing so far? I think it’s because we’re getting less Bolin in comic relief? Maybe?

Moving on!

5. ENEMY AT THE GATES

Okay, I’m now five episodes in and feel like I can say it... this main plot is not working.

But the main reason it’s not working is because it constantly requires character inconsistency!

Let’s take the most egregious example: pretty much everything about Bolin so far. The story is trying to position him as the loyal soldier who is blinded by Kuvira’s leadership, as if placing him as this pivotal figure in some kind of Shakespearean manipulation. But absolutely none of these crucial manipulations feel earned. There’s no Iago-ing. Bolin’s just uneasy about Kuvira, but believes in her still because… he’s afraid? And he takes that weird allegiance to the point he’ll shout back at his girlfriend, “you’re wrong Opal!” But why would Bolin not trust her? 

We get THAT Bolin is behaving this way, but as an audience we have no real understanding of why, nor empathy for why he’d do so. The only reason this behavior exists is to give the story some flimsy, artificial conflict. I mean even for Bolin, this is logic-stretching ignorance for him not to see the obvious problem with Kuvira. There’s no motivation. And then when it finally becomes clear he’s been cartoonishly wrong about her? Then it’s just, “oh no, Kuvira’s crazy!” like its some reveal, which just highlights the absurdity of his false belief in the first place.

To that point, back in episode three I was worried about it, but now I can say it outright... Kuvira sucks so far. 

I talked about her falling flat from a charisma stand-point, but the problems are really becoming evident on the page now. I mean, we constantly get her lip service about how she doesn’t WANT war, but it’s also clear she wants war / control. But narratively speaking she’s not conflicted, she’s just ending up right in that vague, confused zone where there isn’t a rooting interest forming. Is it her lying? Is it delusion? Is she wrestling with her soul between the two? The story is playing NONE of these. And this is so painful to watch unfold because we don’t actually understand her character’s core psychology, nor why she is the way she is. I’m just constantly asking: what’s actually driving this megalomania? Why should I give a shit? 

What’s funny is that the episode absolutely tries to answer that question about 12 minutes in, but the writing falls back on the “tell” instead of showing anything meaningful. We’re told she was “like a daughter” to Suyin. We see that Kuvira wanted Suyin to rule the earth kingdom cuz reasons. We see they got driven to combat. We see animosity and that they will not be “exotic birds in your cage.” We see Baatar Jr. is mad and doesn’t want to give up, “so i can go on living in your shadow!” I keep getting all these lines that supposedly give insight into the dynamics… But in my notes I literally wrote the harshest explanation: “none of this is motivated or dramatized and I genuinely don’t give a shit.”

Because the show has once again fallen into that trap where it explains it… but it doesn’t humanize it through story. I don’t see Suyin taking in a little girl and loving her so much. The break-up scenes are purely informative and stilted instead of getting at ANY emotion or characterization. It’s almost robotic-like communication of fact. Again, SHOW ME why I should give a shit about all this happening. Because if you don’t, Kuvira will just come off like a posturing annoyance. 

But I also realize this commentary may invite a question from you: do we really have to know more about Kuvira? Can’t she just be a bad guy? Well, if that’s the case then she needs to be The Heavy in a much more significant way than this portrayal. Which brings us directly into the function of villain goals, which means I have another pointed question…

Why did the Fire Lord work?

He was a pure warmonger, right? One who was trying to take over the world? Well, that’s the whole thing. It was presenting his character as menacing, un-nuanced totalitarianism. He was an embodiment of masochism, terror, and fiery malice. I know some people think that inherently makes for a one dimensional characterization, but nope! It was honest to his psychology and had different forms of genuine cruelty within him. Much more importantly, that malice provided fodder for the dramatic situations that followed in his angry wake. The fire lord’s abuses and manipulations made us feel for Zuko. They created conflicting loyalties and webs of familial betrayal. That’s where the “humanity” of the story was located (remember, humanity doesn’t mean nice, it means human). And as a viewer, it was part of a great dramatic system with laser-targeted intentions. 

But with Kuvira? The show doesn’t know what it wants from her. It just points at the duality of her being “the great uniter” over and over again, as if it was some kind complexity, but really it just serves as facile irony. And from a dramatic perspective, it has no real understanding of how to achieve any kind of effect from her characterization, nor how to explore any shift in the audience’s rooting interest with her. It just throws up this constant static vagueness that makes characters go like “I dunno about this!” episode after episode, which makes for the dullest of conflict. I realize that may sound harsh, but perhaps we should throw out a hypothetical approach that helps illustrate what I’m talking about. 

So, let’s say the goal with Kuvira is to genuinely explore that core idea “that she wants to unite the earth kingdom, but is going to become so driven by this goal she’ll lose her humanity.” In that case, you need to build an arc we can empathize with from the start, which means there should be a clear villain to pit her against. They already tried some form of this with the bandits in the first episode, but it honestly needs to be much bigger than what they did (because it makes it feel obligatory). Seriously, give us a bandit who seems like The Big Bad of the season. Show us the ways that this bandit ravages the countryside. Show the reasons for us to really get behind Kuvira. But then start dramatizing the slow slide of her ethics as she constantly moves the goal posts to try and beat him. Show the way she deals with pressure of having to lead in an Avatar-less world. Show us her begging Zaofu for aid in the fight and them not intervening. Give us some nugget of understanding of WHY she wants to hold the world together, not simply THAT she does. And show us the way she ultimately comes undone in that pursuit. Show the ways she uses power to crush and then cannot stop crushing halfway through. Show the empathy that has been built and the heartbreaking way it now has to be crushed.

Tell her story as a tragic one, not an obvious and inevitable one.  .

Instead, I’m just sitting around waiting as it futzes around vaguely and fills us in with more just “telling” backstory. There’s no arc to the experience. From the very end of the first episode, I know exactly where she’s at and now we’re just waiting for it to catch up. Without another villain in the mix, there’s only the inevitability of Kuvira and a series of discussions spoken in rote platitudes. She is the start and end of her own conversation.

And it is a dull one.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-One of the shames is that so far we’ve only gotten introduced to the metaphor of technology’s effect on war, what with the metal on metal fighting here. There should be all sorts of stuff in this narrative about modern progress and colonialism, but so far it’s only alluding to it. But we’re also getting hints of the powerful thing Varrick is working on and... oh god this is going to be a nuclear bomb isn’t it? I mean, metaphorically speaking.

-The moment with Zhu Li falling on Varrick is interesting and sudden and I don’t know what to make of it... because this ongoing joke suddenly having a real moment? And the fact that it’s the set-up for her changing sides in a sudden and shocking way? Well, it makes me deeply curious as to how this is going to play out… But right now I’m worried. Because as a gag it always worked, but the more real you make it, the ickier the whole codependent assistant / boss dynamic can feel.

-The gag of Varrick discovering his conscience is great.

-In and of itself, the subplot with Asami and her dad is an honest approach to forgiveness that I like. But if it feels like it sticks out completely in this episode, the reason is simple: the writers have no idea how to fit it into the larger story. Which also gives rise to a further uncomfortable truth: they’ve never really figured out how to fit in Asami on the whole, either.

Which is a gosh dang shame.

6. THE BATTLE OF ZAOFU

Okay, the first half of this episode was… frustrating.

I literally wrote in my notes “I think I’ve had it,” and it came precisely at the moment Korra started DEFENDING KUVIRA to Opal by saying, she “was just defending herself!” Like what the fuck is this? Not only does Korra already know the full scope beyond the moment, you can see the writers bending over backwards to create unmotivated artificial exchange THAT LITERALLY JUST DISAPPEARS from meaning a scene later. It’s just the most hollow contrivance. It’s some season one / season two Korra-is-nakedly-gullible-to-the-point-of-high-comedy shit. And seriously, you want Bolin to still believe in Kuvira at this point DESPITE HAVING EVERY REASON NOT TO?!?!?!? 

Gah, plus we just keep going with the Kuvira sucks parade. Okay, you genuinely want me to think she’s doing good because she’s giving technology to the land? FINE, SHOW ME. Do something, anything that isn’t the same static questioning of her motives again and again and again while having to accept her lip service to the alternative. This is EXACTLY why I say that these seasons don’t need “more episodes'' to flesh out their story. They’ve basically wasted four episodes of characterization with Kuvira, which is just sign number one of directionless, arc-less writing.

Okay, frustration out.

The truth is once it finally stops dilly-dallying around and gets to the actual fight? The show roars back into the space of what it does well, particularly the fight itself. I genuinely love the animation of Korra being off her game. You can really see it in defensive stances. The show is just so dang good at this stuff. Even my favorite bit of characterization with Kuvira this season comes in the simple disheveling of her hair after Korra nearly gets her… Ugh, it would be a shame if that’s the best they can muster?

Anyway, the truth is there’s not a whole lot to discuss because the whole fight exists just to serve as a reset moment. Kuvira takes Zaofu. She arrests her former family and nothing really happens here that isn’t cartoonishly lacking in nuance. But I still am hoping that now that all the cards on the table, maybe they can just get into the damn thing?

One can hope.

BEST JOKES / RANDOM THOUGHTS

-Part of the reason I know the show gets lost in political points is because “the great uniter” is a term sometimes ascribed to Abe Lincoln and if that’s the closest thing they have to a parallel I’m not sure they understand what they’re doing.

-I genuinely hope there’s something to seeing the old glowing Korra image in Kuvira?

-The remote / timer explanation gag with Varrick is just aces. As is, “you did it Bolin! You did the thing!” But notice how much better their entire dynamic works when they have goals and genuine conflict to encounter!

-Artist bro teaching Ikki is great! But ending on “you’re crushing my individuality!” is like… dude, not the time for the joke.

7. REUNION

Let’s talk about the single most important moment in this episode... 

Which is when Asami says: “Love the hair.”

And then OH SHIT, KORRA BLUSHED AT ASAMI’S HAIR COMPLIMENT. Make no mistake, the meaning of this interaction is clear and I’m slapping my forehead on this because it makes so much sense (especially with the later reveal that they were the only ones writing to each other). I also wish it’s something they actually could have room to dramatize in a real, earnest way these past few seasons. I can also imagine that given Nickelodeon’s infamously conservative content standards, this may not get explored in the way it really needs to. But that moment says it all.

Truth be told, even though we’re now further away from the drama-suck of the Kuvira plot line,

we only get another light episode that doesn’t provide much further discussion outside of other similar moments that work on their lonesome. 

For instance, the whole Bolin and Varrick plot line? It’s finally cooking. We have them with clear survival goals, trapped off behind enemy lines and having to put their trust in prisoners. Better yet, we’re starting to get a sense of the larger growth. Varrick understands what he lost in Zhu Li! And it’s great seeing him have to fend for himself and get flustered in his off-model design.

Meanwhile, the reuniting of Mako, Asami and Korra is also a little bit of fun! Even the Prince Yu kidnapping at least has the dignity to have its moments, a la “the one time I don’t watch him pee and this is what happens!” It also provides a nice callback for Mako’s grandma still being around and being the appropriate space of solace for the Prince in hiding.

But even with these moments of delight, I’m still questioning so much of this in the slapdash sloppiness I feel in this episode. So far, I’m a little past half way through season four and it feels like it’s hitting the full scope of the show’s highs and lows. The high? Well, the character work with Korra has been pretty stellar for once. But for the low, we are once again back to vague motivations, artificial conflict, and paper-thin villainy that’s only supported by lip service. 

I’m genuinely hoping the back half of season four has more to offer.

<3 HULK