150 replies to this topic

[SteveT]

Spoiler

Such meh.

 

Ok, so the action sequences were good.  I was cool with Zaheer's master plan.  Killing the avatar made sense for his worldview, and the mercury poisoning thing was as good a way as any.  I was wondering how long it would take for Korra to realize that the chains were connected to rock anyhow, but I suppose it's fair that she couldn't bend earth without direct physical contact outside the avatar state.  Earthbenders seem to always block rather than change the course of incoming projectiles.

 

For the Red Lotus: Much petard hoisting.  I would have liked more character development from them, but oh well.  Bolin lavabending was cool, and the Mako/Ming fight ended pretty much how I expected as soon as they dropped into a puddle.  It was a nice touch to take down each member of the Red Lotus with secondary powers, since that was their specialty.  Ghazan died to lava, Ming to lightning, P'li to metal, and Zaheer to weather-bending.  

 

Not sure why I'm not supposed to like the hostage situation--except for the fact that there were hostages to begin with.  Pretty much the only way to wrap an Avatar in chains is to convince her to let you do it.

 

The major complaint is how many cheap fake-out deaths there were in the past three episodes.  All the good guys were wearing incredibly obvious plot armor.  Tenzin or Tonraq should have died, at least.  Korra's slow recovery helped make up for that a little, but it's kind of a retread of the Book 1 finale.  Once again, Korra's main source of emotional distress is that she 100% ties her self worth into her physical abilities, which she just temporarily lost.  Letting one of the good guys die would have made for more effective pathos.

 

It also bugged me how Suyin was apparently just introduced to flesh out Lin's backstory (and introduce Captain Namedrop), yet there was so much reason to believe she was Red Lotus. 

 

 

Overall, I say this Book was a huge step up from Book 2, which I've already bashed plenty.  So I'll say good things about Book 3 instead.  It had character development, Zaheer was a decent villain, Korra made sane decisions, and the writers didn't stomp all over continuity or make up random powers that don't make sense with the world the established.

[Jasi]

The only gripe I had was Jinora declaring that the poison was metallic. How the fuck you know that, kid?

 

 

She was in the room when they gave Korra the poison. Maybe she just saw that it looked metallic? idk.

[Selena]

Not sure why I'm not supposed to like the hostage situation--except for the fact that there were hostages to begin with.  Pretty much the only way to wrap an Avatar in chains is to convince her to let you do it.

 
 
I was thinking you wouldn't like it because of how much you didn't like the Jinora-hostage-crisis from Book 2 and the lack of "inventive third solutions," but.... I guess not! They did, at least, have a bunch of other people trying to break up the trap this time.

 

Regarding Suyin -- There's still one more season left, so it's entirely possible that she'll come back and bring more to the table. Same with some of the other "open" ends. Book 4's already almost done, and it's supposedly a direct continuation. 

 

There are a ton of bigger and more devastating emotional things the writers could have done, but hey. It's a kid's show. "But...!" Nah, let's be real, it's a kid's show, they can only do so much. Major character deaths in the original series were few and far between. Lots of creepiness and harrowing moments, but few deaths. They've already got more adult themes in the show than 98% of other kid's shows out there now. 

 

 

 

I would have liked to have the Red Lotus team around for longer, though. I don't necessarily like the "villain of the season" approach, since they all come across as being fairly shallow due to time constraints. The Avatar villains weren't fully fleshed out until their third season. Prior to that, Zuko was emo-conflicted-teenager-bad-boy, Azula was the unstoppable magnificent bitch, and Ozai was Sauron -- the bad dude who is only really bad by reputation, since you never see him do anything directly. 

 

 

 

edit: I also like how Tenzin's kids were the only ones to make Korra smile at the end, and she put her arms around Meelo as she was wheeled into the air ceremony. She's always been good with kids, and kind of a mama bear, and that's one of the humbling traits I like most about her.

 

edit 2, regarding Egann and Asami being "useless": Rewatch the original series and you'll notice that Sokka is never too involved in big bending battles, either. Sokka and Asami see about the same amount of raw action. They both typically just beat up faceless non-dangerous mooks. And they both primarily serve in support roles. Sokka as strategist-guy, and Asami as vehicle-and-engineering-girl. The only thing Asami is lacking is comparable character development.

[SteveT]

I was thinking you wouldn't like it because of how much you didn't like the Jinora-hostage-crisis from Book 2 and the lack of "inventive third solutions," but.... I guess not! They did, at least, have a bunch of other people trying to break up the trap this time.

 

Well, this one had a more valid premise, and was handled in accordance with the stakes.

 

Season 2: Single hostage vs. Unleashing the Evil God

Season 3:

Spoiler

Threat of genocide vs. one life

 

In season 2 it was stupid because 

 

A. Unalaq should not have even had the skills he was using to manufacture the crisis.

B. Korra made the selfish choice

C. The consequences of letting Jinora die were nothing compared to letting Vaatu out.

D. Korra, by all rights, should have had the upper hand in that conflict.

 

In season 3, it was not stupid because

 

Spoiler

 

A. This sort of ruthlessness is 100% in line with Zaheer's character and he didn't pull any new abilities out of his butt to kidnap the air tribe

B. Korra and other characters came up with a reasonable plan with a chance of working.

C. Self-sacrifice of the Avatar isn't a big deal compared to the final destruction of the Air Nation.  She would have resurrected.  The Air Nation would not have.

D. Korra held onto her agency while making the decision. 

 

 

So overall, this one felt less like the writers forcing Korra into making a senseless decision, and more like Zaheer forcing Korra to walk into a trap.

[Egann]

 

Not sure why I'm not supposed to like the hostage situation--except for the fact that there were hostages to begin with.  Pretty much the only way to wrap an Avatar in chains is to convince her to let you do it.

 
 
I was thinking you wouldn't like it because of how much you didn't like the Jinora-hostage-crisis from Book 2 and the lack of "inventive third solutions," but.... I guess not! They did, at least, have a bunch of other people trying to break up the trap this time.

 

 

Not entirely relevant, but I did have a beef with the hostage situation I left out of my first post.

 

It ended with Asami dishing out a KO, assisted by Jinora, Opal, and Lin. Coincidentally the Equalist Asami KO'ed in Season 1 was ALSO a triple assist: Mako, Bolin, and Korra. That is one crazy character hindrance.  

Edited by Egann, 23 August 2014 - 02:54 PM.

[Selena]

A surprisingly succinct summary of Korra's personal arc so far:

 

(https://38.media.tum...894so1_1280.png)

 

 

 

The writers have said in commentary that they never wanted Korra to be flawless -- and that her faults are meant to be in stark contrast to Aang's. Being the Avatar is all she's ever known or cared about. She lacked the social development of other characters. Never had friends. Doesn't know how to react around normal people. And now her role is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Aang needed to learn how to set aside his humanity to become the Avatar, and now Korra has to learn how to set aside her role as the Avatar to become a well-rounded human. She's never embraced the Clark Kent side of being Superman.

 

Hopefully this will come full circle in Book 4. Hopefully. There are lots of good plot lines the writers don't explore due to time constraints.

[SteveT]

That's a really good summary.  Hopefully they really delve into it in Book 4.  

[Selena]

Post-season news roundup, since the creators are already talking about Book 4:

• Book 4 will again have a new villain (likely another Red Lotus person).
• Book 4 is apparently very tightly linked with Book 3.
• Book 4 is pretty much done -- the animation is just in post-production.
• Book 4 may come out in the early months of 2015.
   
• The creators state that the new Air Nomads will become like the Jedi -- an order of sage-like peacekeepers. They will travel the world to break up conflicts in Korra's absence. They state this is a huge change from the original Air Nomads, as they envisioned Aang's people being really reclusive and indifferent to world affairs.
   
• This season's violence (Earth Queen) was not why the show was taken off the air, although they were required to not outright say that she had died. The creators were upset by Nick's handling of the show, but trust that it will find life on other mediums, as people have always been drawn to the franchise. Book 2 was wildly successful online. Book 3's online ratings have not been charted yet.
   
• Bolin was always a lava-bender, but only unlocked it in this Book. (His father was Earth descent, and his mother was Fire descent, so that makes a degree of sense. Would be interesting to know if the same was true of Ghazan.)
   
• Zaheer was a master martial artist before the show, which they use as justification for his natural bending prowess. Their rationale was: "If you throw a broom to Jackie Chan, he is going to turn it into a weapon." They didn't understand why people started complaining about that, as bending is merely an extension of traditional martial arts.

[SteveT]

Bolin was always a lava-bender, but only unlocked it in this Book. (His father was Earth descent, and his mother was Fire descent, so that makes a degree of sense. Would be interesting to know if the same was true of Ghazan.)

Mixed bloodlines would be an interesting explanation for the secondary bendings that seem to step on the toes of other elements.  Combustion is another good example -- that one seems to cross over with air a little (since it seems to be causing explosions by super-heating air).  I could see lightning bending as a fire/water crossover as well.

 

• Zaheer was a master martial artist before the show, which they use as justification for his natural bending prowess. Their rationale was: "If you throw a broom to Jackie Chan, he is going to turn it into a weapon." They didn't understand why people started complaining about that, as bending is merely an extension of traditional martial arts.

 

Zaheer being super good at airbending didn't bother me at all.  He was established as someone who studied Air Nation culture and martial arts, and was the only non-bender in a quartet of people who planned to kidnap and train the Avatar.  He knew everything about Airbending; he just didn't have the actual power.  Once that switch flipped, he wouldn't need much time to become competent.  Besides, have you even heard of Guru Laghima?

[Egann]

That's a really good summary.  Hopefully they really delve into it in Book 4.  

Ditto. I think they undercommunicated how this relates to Korra's character. They focused too much on the action sequence when a few seconds on Korra's character in the denouement could have bookended Tenzin unintentionally striking against her being the avatar more clearly. I still like Book 2 a hair better; both seasons had some slow or weak episodes or wasted some minor dramatic potential, but on the whole Season 2 wound up playing with being the avatar a bit more.

 

Here's hoping they handle the new direction well come the next season.

 

 

 

Mixed bloodlines would be an interesting explanation for the secondary bendings that seem to step on the toes of other elements.  Combustion is another good example -- that one seems to cross over with air a little (since it seems to be causing explosions by super-heating air).  I could see lightning bending as a fire/water crossover as well.

 

Yeah, but Avatar is pretty clear that secondary abilities are already derived from bending. From a world-building perspective spirit bending would be a fascinating. It could augment already existing bending powers. Create bizarre powers like light bending out of fire bending....Or you could use it on non-benders as a form of compulsion and manipulation.

 

I'm now picturing Korra going up against the manipulator from Ghost Trick. Oh, that would be awesome.

 

 

 

This season's violence (Earth Queen) was not why the show was taken off the air, although they were required to not outright say that she had died. The creators were upset by Nick's handling of the show, but trust that it will find life on other mediums, as people have always been drawn to the franchise. Book 2 was wildly successful online. Book 3's online ratings have not been charted yet.

 

Yeah, I also noticed how we didn't see the explosion when P'Li blew her own head off. Heck, we didn't even hear it. I will not complain, however, about censoring the content. Arguably implying what happens makes it worse, especially when the choreography for the fights felt so...brutal. I mean Jeez, the Matrix was a great martial arts flick, but it didn't convey the sense of death behind every blow the way Kaya facing off with Ming Hua did. Supplementing danger with a body count really feels like a cheap way out after watching that.

 

 

 

Zaheer was a master martial artist before the show, which they use as justification for his natural bending prowess. Their rationale was: "If you throw a broom to Jackie Chan, he is going to turn it into a weapon." They didn't understand why people started complaining about that, as bending is merely an extension of traditional martial arts.

 

I'm not surprised, either at the rationale or the response. In the creator's defense, Aang was effectively an air master at the age of 12, and Zaheer had potentially months to train in his cell. Still, one of the things about bending in the Avatar world is that each element has it's own style. You can distinguish which element is being bent simply by watching the bender's moves, which means it is about like learning a martial art style only by watching a few video clips. Difficult, but possible. 

 

The Red Lotus weren't even particularly bad offenders in this regard, either. With the *possible* exception of Amon, who seems to have learned spirit bending on his own, every villain in Avatar has felt balanced to their backstory. Zaheer came off as "you're the season antagonist who just gained airbending, by GM Fiat gain ten levels."

 

Avatar, however, is not a bad offender when it comes to stupidly overpowered villains. I have yet to find worse than the Wheel of Time.

Edited by Egann, 25 August 2014 - 07:03 PM.

[SteveT]

I was under the impression that Amon wasn't using spiritbending, but a combination of chi blocking and blood bendimg.

[Selena]

Yeah, it's very briefly mentioned in Book 1 that Amon's blocking technique derives from using bloodblending to stop chi flow. Think of it as a bender's version of what Ty Lee could do. Probably learned through experimenting with his powers as he got older.

 

 

 

 

You know, I did really like the Wan episodes artistically and thematically well enough, but I was disappointed by the energybending retcon. The Lion Turtle in Avatar told Aang that before elemental bending, humans were energybenders (the technique Aang used on Ozai), but it was an extremely dangerous art.  I had been looking forward to seeing energybender-duels in Wan's time, but alas.

 

I guess they never said specifically hold old the world is, so maybe the energybenders were before Wan -- and the Lion Turtles took it away, after which they regulated humanity's access to bending. 

 

Still, would've been cool. Though maybe the animators just didn't know how to depict it beyond what they'd already shown.

[Selena]

Minor update: All of Book 4 will be released online in January! Really short off-season for Korra, so I guess that's one good thing about digital release. They can put it out there as soon as it's finished. Sounds like they're just doing final post-production and fine-tuning right now. Looks like they're gonna put up all the episodes at once, so we can binge-watch. But that's not for certain yet.

 

edit: Wait, this is for Australia. US release may be at the same time or even earlier!

[Jasi]

YAAAAAY

 

Is that the end of Korra? I thought I remembered that being the case. 

[Selena]

Yep, Book 4 is the final season of Korra. After that, the creators say they're going to take a break from the franchise, but admitted that they "always get drawn back in," so there might be another project a few years from now.

 

 

 

(C'moooooon Avatar Kyoshi series!)

[Jasi]

Yes a Kyoshi series would be the bomb.

 

edit: why did I say that, is it like 1999 or what?

Edited by Jasi, 29 August 2014 - 02:20 PM.

[Selena]

Another minor update: Book 4 will be called "Balance." 

[Egann]

I'm kinda sad to hear this is the last season, but it's probably for the best to end Korra well than drag it out.

 

And GOLLY is January close.

[JRPomazon]

I've spent a few days to get into Korra, caught up with the various seasons. They really hit the high water mark with Book 2, which left me a little wanting after the end of Book 3. The stakes didn't seem as high this time around but the villains did a better job of seeming like more a threat throughout the season rather than near the very end. Looking forward to Book 4, hopefully will finish up where Book 3 left off (as so it has been mentioned already in this thread).

[Wolf O'Donnell]

What the...? You guys are ahead by a season... again? Gee, by the time Season 3 starts over here, you'll be on Season 4.

[Selena]

!!!

 

 

 

Book 4 premieres NEXT MONTH! 

 

October 3rd -- one new episode every Friday on Nick.com and affiliate sites. Uhhhhh, surprise!

[SteveT]

Wow. That is...incredibly soon. I guess they're sick of leaked episodes.

[Egann]

GHAHAAA! That's like three months off air!

 

I kinda understand the reasoning, actually. An October launch means it ends smack dab in the middle of the holidays. If they stick with the 12 episode season, the last episode will go up on December 19th.

 

They're testing how strong the Avatar brand is, especially considering online viewing is more convenient. Will people find the time in the middle of the holidays to watch Korra?

Edited by Egann, 10 September 2014 - 09:53 PM.

[Jasi]

Will people find the time in the middle of the holidays to watch Korra?

 

 

YUP. I will do my part. For America. /salute

[Selena]

A while back, the animation team said that Hiroshi Sato would be back. Since this didn't happen in Book 3, it must be happening in Book 4. Which means Asami might finally get a storyline. Things were mostly focused on Korra and Tenzin's family in Book 2, Mako and Bolin got some family time in Book 3, so it makes sense for it to be Asami's turn. Especially since she has Fire Nation heritage, and that's likely where things will take place this season.

[Egann]

OHH, an Asami season. And if it's in the Fire Nation we might even see Azula. I like all these thoughts.

[Selena]

Also, costume change. Korra gets her Book 2 sleeve-things back, and a haircut. Long bob. No more pigtails!

 

 

 

 

 

She also gets better, evidently.

[SteveT]

I liked the triple-tails.  Having a wacky hairstyle made her more identifiable as Water Tribe.  

[Egann]

I kinda liked the old cut, too. It made Korra look a bit too young, but it still looked good without looking girlish. Well, TOO girlish.

 

There were several situations which actually sold the emotional situation by having Korra's hair down. The climax to Season 2 is a really good example.

[JRPomazon]

Spoiler