THE LEGEND OF KORRA - Season 4 - Episodes 8-10 (Patreon)

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

8. REMEMBERENCES

Well that was… interesting. 

Don’t worry, from watching alone I knew enough to look up the history of how this slapdash episode got made. Nickelodeon totally screwed them over on budget and rather than cut pay or lose an episode, the creators did the truly humane thing and went with the decision to just produce a clip show so everyone wouldn’t lose out (sadly the only one it “hurts” is the viewer). The thing is that clip shows are a time honored tradition of TV. Heck, there are Simpsons clip shows that somehow rank among the best (like the April Fools one and the 138th episode spectacular). The thing about these episodes is they really do depend on the quality / pointedness of the wrap around. 

For example, “The Ember Island Players” In Avatar wasn’t so much a clip show, but it felt like a wonderful way to look back at the journey and summarize and understand the lessons of how they got there (along with making a few great jokes of self-awareness). While it’s worth noting that this Korra episode was clearly cut off at the budgetary knees than most, it still has the unfortunate job of trying to summarize a show that had such problems early on, what with with rambling and delaying plots, the vague motivations, and actually the meaningless eureka moments. Mako almost seems to characterize this outright:

“It was all very confusing.”

But honestly, his romance plots with Korra and Asami weren’t so much confusing as they was convoluted and contrived. Same goes for the way Korra tries to characterize her early journeys and battles with Iman and Unalaq. They both try so damn hard to explain their interiority during these moments, but neither of these explanations represent their actual actions. And the ones that do, still fall flat. 

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the attempt of this kind of remembrance, but it’s an impossible task unless you can truly unearth real meaning in their modern understanding. And deep down, the creators seem to be aware of this nagging problem, which is why they are constantly cracking jokes at how stupid their character’s behavior really was. But in the end, all it does is help serve to highlight the dysfunction at its core.

More functional is the story of Bolin from Varrick’s perspective, largely because he’s making stuff up whole cloth and having fun reframing the entire adventure (I especially liked the bad guy cadre all talking on the phone). Here, the jokes at least serve to offer something new, to point an alternate version of the show entirely. Honestly, I know the goal was to get everyone paid but part of me wishes Varrick got to do the whole adventure. Then it would be at least entertaining and have better meta points. But who knows, maybe it would have gotten tired quick.

Either way, we know why the episode had to exist. 

And thus, the less said about all the faults the better.

RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES:

-Bolin: “I left my friends of family to join the side of psychotic dictator!” Once again the show only knows how to use jokes to lampshade unmotivated, horrible, contrived behavior that never made sense.

-Mako “You don’t know anything about me, do you?” / Wu: “Yeah, I’m drawing a blank.”

That’s it, that’s honestly all I got for this one. Onto the next!

9. BEYOND THE WILDS

Let’s get to the big news; Ryu is back y’all!

What? I’m the only one who cares that the slovenly nerd played by Jon Heder is back as an air-bender and running budget tours of new republic city? Okay then!

 Truth is that summarizing this episode is a little tricky because there isn’t any really active story-lines, it’s more all the characters constant running around as we do a lot of table-setting.

First up, the vines are attacking people in the city! Oh no! But turns out it’s because far away, Kuvira is harvest the roots from the big tree in the swamp for her super weapon! At first I’m thinking about whether or not the show is suddenly gonna go environmental? (edit from the future: not really) But I honestly find some kind of meta enjoyment of the fact they are taking specific imagery from James Cameron’s Avatar, which I find a funny and light karmic comeuppance.

Meanwhile, Bolin has come back has to face the consequences of his earlier siding with Kuvira. Once again, they just try to lampshade the horror of this with jokes like, “wow it does sound really bad when i say it out loud like that!” For the millionth time, it is that bad. Just outrageously bad. And part of what makes it so bad is that it was an unmotivated conflict-creator the writers forced on us instead of an understood-but-misguided choice. If Bolin actually had a good reason to follow her, then it would feel resulted in meaningful drama. Instead, it just gets swept under the rug. Nowhere is more evident then in the forgiveness from Mako, Asami, and Korra who literally just shrug it off.

Thankfully, Opal is not in the shrugging mood. She rightfully is furious with Bolin’s attempts to make nice and avoid the real conflict, but I’m honestly unnerved by the way it ultimately gets wraps up. Because Opal and Lin are going to go rescue mission for their family, and says they can maybe get back together if he comes with and helps. I’m sorry, but overtly making her forgiveness of Bolin a mission-dependent thing feels like another way of avoiding the real emotional issue at the heart of their characters. Worse, it makes means love a reward for heroic deeds, which honestly just feels archaic and fucking weird.

Slightly more functional is Korra’s journey, because she has to go find the kidnapped Jinora in the spirit world! It’s amazing how much having a little thing to root for can drive the events of this show in a much more compelling way. But the episode’s obstacle is that Korra can’t go into the spirit world anymore. In fact, when she tries now, the past images of Zaheer show up again and she goes into panic… So Korra realizes she has to do something… she has to confront what’s bothering her… 

Which means she has to go prison to confront Zaheer himself.

I’ll admit, I literally got goosebumps the moment we see him: meditating and floating in mid-air, heavy chains around him, hair wildly grown once again. Everything about the scene highlights what made him such a great character. I understand who he is and why he is. I understand why he’d try to scare her. I also understand why he’d discuss honestly and openly with her. I understand why his calmness still terrifies her. I understand what he actually means when he says ““neither of us is the same as before” because it speaks to real effects of their battle on BOTH of them instead of lip service. I understand his pangs of regret with Kuvira taking over. I understand why he’d “help” her in some small way. I understand exactly why sometimes the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Yes, I understand everything about the scene and it makes it so fucking wonderful. 

And makes me realize how much I wish they got a lock on Kuvira, in turn.

RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES;

-Love the beat of Korra playing the little block game with Naga. Kinda wish we weren’t in such a rush all the time and having more of it.

-Gotta say, Prince Yu has stuck around so much longer than I figured he would… it’s kinda weird at this point, but let’s see what they do.

-I dig the Asami and Varrick team up, but are they actually going to do something with her? Or is this just another way she’ll get lost in the shuffle? This at least works.

-Pointed question: why does Varrick work in this show? I mean, he’s done some crappy stuff no doubt, but the show’s affinity for him comes through again and again… I think it’s just the tangible joy of whenever a chaotic neutral character finds more chaotic good in them. Sometimes it works great, but this season feels a little wonky sometimes too?

-I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the ending beat with Korra in the spirit world. She comes back into contact with Rava and she gets the age-old trope of “I have always been inside of you!” and then Korra is like, “but i’m powerless here!” But then Rava’s like “nah!” and Korra can just do all the stuff again. Sigh. It’s just is part of the trademark rushed / emptiness of the first couple seasons of the show. And I just have to point out once again that Avatar never cheated this kind of stuff. But honestly so far? It’s the biggest difference between the two shows.

Let’s hope it doesn’t show again.

10. OPERATION: BEIFONG

I’m gonna be up front: making Opal and Bolin’s relationship reuniting be dependent on his heroics is some bullshit. It’s reductive, archaic, and I don’t like it.

But I do like the episode, more or less!

Which makes sense, given that it’s one of the show’s trademark rescue missions. One where the action, the stakes, and the execution show off an incredible proficiency. But there’s a moment that stands out to me, which is right Suyin makes the metal armor for herself on the fly, because it was the coolest fucking thing I’ve seen from this show in ages. And it sort of made me ask, “where have those kind of inventive moments been?” Again, the action is always competent, but I feel like Avatar was always littered with those kind of ingenious, surprising moments that made me smile. And I feel like this season has been a little light on them so far?

Anyway, as far as broad ideas go, I love that the Beifongs all coming together for an adventure. At it’s best, there feels like there’s some real dynamics being played here. Toph’s hard-ass-ness comes to the obvious crux and we begin to unpack more of their back history. It wasn’t just the Suyin being rebellious, but seemingly that Toph drove away the father she never knew? But sadly once again, it all feels like we’re getting storytelling as “information.” And I’m sad at how few emotional fireworks come out in this. It’s not that I genuinely “want to know more about Kanto,” it’s that I want it to mean something and articulate more about the character’s psychology. They use this stuff as “reason” Lin is mad. But don’t go deeper. What does Lin wanting a father really mean to her? We never know. Which means that we can never get real catharsis that hits on core problems. 

Instead, we always just get token forgiveness comes after some action scenes. 

It all comes back to the show’s ongoing evasive-ness when it comes to character motivation. For the millionth time I’ll ask: What makes Lin different? What would have happened if instead of getting angry, she finally broke down in front of her mother? What if, god forbid, Toph would have actually had to comfort her? It’s the kind of thing that is so obvious as I describe it and seemingly every other good TV show knows how to go there. And yet time and time again, they don’t go there. At this point it’s because I’m convinced they’re not starting from that place of character. When the come up with one, they focus on surface details. They look to broad ideas and seemingly have no real way of getting into psychology. With many of the main characters, it took them three years to get there!

And I sincerely hope it can come through again by the finale…

 RANDOM THOUGHTS / BEST JOKES:

-Ooooh, a fun Zhu Li turn that actually makes sense!

-Toph: “What you have to pee or something?”

-Toph: “What’s up with him?” Lin: “He’s an actor”

-Lin: “Good thinking Bolin!” / Bolin: “Thanks! I kind of have a headache now.”

-I feels like it directly addresses why Katara didn’t get involved in previous battles and, like, was this like one of those “why didn’t the eagles take Frodo to mordor?” things that the fandom actively discussed? Because that never occured to me once.

- l love Juicy. I want more juicy.

-Kivira attacks in two weeks? That feels weirdly specific and less urgent?

Either way, we’re heading into the culmination now. 

<3 HULK