The Legend of Korra Series Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

[Steve]

In a way, I do.

I mean, don't get me wrong, ATLA/TLOA was on the whole a better series. It was a properly-planned 61 episode series that, with the exception of Ursa's fate, saw its plot arcs all properly resolved. "Sozin's Comet" was an epic series finale that still ranks, for me, beside TNG's "All Good Things" and B5's "Sleeping in Light" as the best TV show finales I've ever seen.

While TLOK had none of those things, what it did have was a lead that I fully sympathized with in a way I didn't with Aang. Korra's journey was bumpier (both in a Doylist and Watsonian way) and her flaws came up more than once, but she grew in a way I don't think Aang ever quite matched. She was a more compelling character.

Additionally, the show's flaws are what, to me, set it apart from ATLA in a good way as well as a bad. Bryke took risks with TLOK that they didn't with ATLA, from the season-by-season arc structure to some of the story-telling decisions and elements. It didn't always work - Book 2 is ample proof of that - but it gave the show a unique feel, and it resonated with me in a way ATLA didn't.

I don't think I can come out and say I like TLOK more than ATLA. What I can say is that it appeals to me in a different way than ATLA did, at some points, and that if you go by lead characters alone... I would pick Korra over Aang as a favorite.

[Winter]

I agree, I like Korra more then Aang as a character as she feels more flawed and, as a result, more real then Aang. She's kinda like Zuko, she seeks something that she has been raised to believe is hers by right and does everything in her power to achieve it, and when she comes up against an obstetrical she does what she can to over come it. However, what she learns along the way is that the thing she is chasing is not something that will be easy to achieve and that she will stumble and fall many times before she is able to get it.

And in the those moments when she fails she breaks down and shows just how human she is and while Aang did have moments like that, they weren't quite as powerful as the moments when Korra and Zuko failed and I think the reason is this. Aang goal was the learn the elements and defeat a enemy he had never met while fighting for a world he barely knew. Aang and to find what this new world meant for him and while that was powerful I think that Korra and Zuko's goals were far more relatable. With Aang, everyone he met told him what was at stake but with Korra and Zuko, they were the only ones reminding themselves what they were fighting for.

Zuko sought to restore his honor and reclaim his throne and to win back his father approval and love, Iroh never had to remind Zuko what he was fighting for because he saw how much Zuko was pushing himself to achieve this goal that, in the end, was something he could never truly achieve. In the end Zuko had to learn what honor truly meant.

With Korra, she had built up what the Avatar was and sought to become what she believed the Avatar to be and believe that it would be easy to achieve. As her journey went on she began to learn that while the world does need the Avatar she also had to learn who, as cheesy as this will sound, she was as Korra. I think this is one of the reasons why her relationship with Asami is such a big deal to her because Asami was the only person she ever allowed to see her at her most vulnerable and admit her greatest fears, something she was never comfortable doing even around Tenzin or her own parents. Like Zuko's relationship with Iroh Asami is the one who sees Korra for who she is.

Iroh saw Zuko as his surrogate son, the true heir to the throne and as just as Zuko. Likewise Asami saw Korra as her best friend, the person she grew to love, the Avatar and just as Korra.

So yeah while TLOK does have its flaws and think the strengths of the show more then make up for it. Could it have been done better, sure but I'm still happy with what we got.

[Wilahelm2]

I love both series but if I had to choose I would say Last Airbender is an A- and Legend of Korra is a B+.

As far as changes to the first season, I wouldn't actually change much since I liked it overall. The main issue I have with it is that the ending feels rushed so I would have added three more episodes to the season. I would also have had Amon and Tarrlok working together from the beginning. The Equalists can still be a real political movement but one the brothers are using. The twist could be that they were using the Equalists to take over but Amon ends up actually believing in the cause which leads to them turning on each other. It's not much different from what happened but it does make Tarrlok's actions make more sense. The extra time would could also be used further flesh out the characters and the various subplots. They could also be used to show some of the inequality non-benders are facing. We're told a lot about the tension between benders and non-benders but we don't really see much of it.

[RobbyB1982]

Korra was only meant to last one season and even then Air didn't seem to be that well planned out as Water was and a big part of that was the fact that they had to many characters and too many subplots and while the Equalist claims to be the main plot of the season, it feels like there is more time devoted to the Love Triangle and Tarrlok's bid for power. In fact the Pro-Bending Tournament has more development in the first six episodes then the Equalist plot does and it ended up being rather pointless.

There was toooons of discussion about "drop the pro-bending" back when the season first aired. And yes, as a big focus for like, 6 episodes out of 13 it was a bit much. But in context of the series as a whole, it was okay. And yes, combining some characters would have helped. Mako was shallow and they were trying waaaaay too hard to replicate Sokka inBolin and it was forced until he turned into his own person... while Tenzin and Lin, being directly connected to the original cast had an easier time holding our attention in the first season.

Still, it did all lead to this, at least. What everyone agrees should have been the real ending.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/ori ... 64/dcb.jpg

[Steve]

Still, it did all lead to this, at least. What everyone agrees should have been the real ending.

http://i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/ori ... 64/dcb.jpg

Uh... no. No, I'll take the actual ending over that.

[Wilahelm2]

I've heard the criticism that the pro-bending subplot took up to much time but I never saw it as taking up that much time. Pro-bending is introduced in the second episode along with Mako and Bolin and wraps up in the sixth episode. During those five episodes it's a prominent part of the story in only three of them (A Leaf in the Wind, Spirit of Competition, and And The Winner Is). In the other two episodes the focus is on Korra and her facing Amon and the Equalists with the pro-bending stuff in the background. You could argue that The Revelation is a pro-bending focused episode but that one ends up being more about Amon. Even the final episode of the arc ends up being hijacked by Amon in the end.

[Winter]

I've heard the criticism that the pro-bending subplot took up to much time but I never saw it as taking up that much time. Pro-bending is introduced in the second episode along with Mako and Bolin and wraps up in the sixth episode. During those five episodes it's a prominent part of the story in only three of them (A Leaf in the Wind, Spirit of Competition, and And The Winner Is). In the other two episodes the focus is on Korra and her facing Amon and the Equalists with the pro-bending stuff in the background. You could argue that The Revelation is a pro-bending focused episode but that one ends up being more about Amon. Even the final episode of the arc ends up being hijacked by Amon in the end.

Allow me to make my counter argument, and if you disagree then that's fine I don't wish to offend anyone. Yes, Pro-Bending is only directly focused on in three episodes but plays a major role in two other. As you said The Revelation could be considered a Pro-Bending episode but it switches over to Amon, and I will admit that it is done very well. However, the fact remains that Pro-Bending does play a big role in that episode as it is the impetus that gets Team Avatar aware of the Equalist. And then in The Voice in the Night, the B plot of that episode introduces the love triangle and is about the Fire Ferrets getting the money they need to participate in the Tournament.

So that's three episodes focusing directly on Pro-Bending and two where it plays a major role in the story. And because of that it feels like the Equalist plot has less development because it is sharing the spot light with a subplot that had little connection to it. And all I can think of is the time spent on a subplot that, for me, felt pointless and is soon forgotten about in the next episode. Throughout Air the Equalist have only four episodes that focus solely on them with none of the other plots getting in the way, (The Aftermath, Turning the Tides, Skeletons in the Closest and Endgame). The first half of the season gives more attention to Pro-Bending and the episodes leading up to Turning the Tides focus more on Tarrlok's bid for power.

And what's worse, the Only plot, be it sub or main, that will have any impact on the series after Air was Asami's conflict with her father. Its kinda like The Hobbit, with all its big battles, killing a dragon and having a leader of the Dwarves die, the only think that has any significance moving forward was Bilbo stealing one homeless guy's ring.

The tension between benders and non-benders, Tarrlok's bid for power and the pro-bending tournament all have either minor or no impact on the series as a whole. Asami's conflict with her father on the other hand lead to her family company nearly going under which was a major plot point in Spirits and her rebuilding her relationship with her father plays a huge role in the finally of Balance. The only other plot I would say had a impact on the series was the love triangle as it lead to Korra and Asami's relationship but in my opinion, that could have been accomplished by just giving them a established history prior to the series.

Again I mean no disrespect and I hope I haven't come off as rude, these are just my opinions and if you don't see any issue with the Pro-Bending Tournament then that's fine. I mean I like the Pod Race in The Phantom Menace so who am I to judge.

[Wilahelm2]

You like Pod Racing, now we have to be mortal enemies

Seriously though I get why the pro-bending subplot can be annoying but it does have its merits. At the beginning of the series its not clear how dangerous a threat Amon and the Equalists are. It's not until The Revelation and The Voice in the Night that we get a real sense of how dangerous Amon is. Its also shown that Korra is terrified of Amon so that she decided to focus on pro-bending as a distraction makes sense. Its also though this arc that we meet Bolin, Mako, Asami, and Hiroshi

It also makes the attack in And the Winner Is hit harder. Like Korra we had been distracted by the tournament and romance subplots. The attack at the championships was Amon showing everyone that the sideshows were over and the real fight was starting. The rest of the series deals with Amon and the Equalists to some degree or another. We discover Hiroshi is working with Amon, Tarrlok uses the crisis with Amon to try to gain more political power, and Amon launches his war against the city.

I also liked how it helps flesh out the world more. I've always liked world building and seeing how the world looks not only decades into the future but in peace time was something I enjoyed. Aang's story was of a person trying to stop a war and restore peace and balance. Korra's story is one of a person trying to keep the peace. Exploring that peace is an important part of that story.

[Winter]

Hm, I see your points though I still am not a fan of this subplot and felt it could have been left out. I think my biggest issue with it is the fact that it lead to what is, in my humble opinion, the overall worst episode of Avatar, The Spirit of Competition. For me, this episode failings is that it focus on the two elements Bryke were never really that good at, IMO, romance and comedy. Now in regards to the former they did get better at it in Change and Balance and they did have a few hits in TLOA with Sokka's love interests and Zuko and Mai was good, but that was mostly due to the chemistry between the actors rather then the writing.

To go off on a tangent, to which I apologizes in advance, but for me, the greatest failing of Makorra is the overall lack of chemistry between Janet Varney and David Faustino, something that Varney and Seychelle Gabriel had in abundance. As Chuck pointed out Mako and Korra spend most of their time arguing with one another throughout most of the series and we are never given any reason why they like each other. Their interest in one another is just comes off as shallow as out of left field. Not helping matters is, odd as it may sound, their body language. In most of their interactions, especially in the first two seasons, Korra and Mako are drawn as stiff or defensive with their arms often crossed, with them often glaring at one another, and usually kept at arms length. In contrast Korra and Asami are shown to be more relaxed, with them usually standing right next to each other to the point that they are in almost every scene together in Change and later in Balance when they interact their moments together have them even more relaxed around each other. Jill Bearup covered this much better over on her review of Attack of the Clones

And that's part of the problem with TSOC, because of Korra and Mako's lack of chemistry and the poorly handled language the moments that are meant to come off as romantic become uncomfortable to watch which is not helped by just how little time they have spent with each other at this point. And then there's the comedy. Now comedy is The most subjective form of art out there and what I am is just my opinion on the matter but, I feel that the comedy in TLOK is vastly inferior to TLOA and I think the reason for that is Bryke trying to recreate what made the comedy in TLOA so great. The problem is that most of the best jokes in the series were either ad libbed by the actors or was re-written by the the other writers.

Now some actors, like P. J. Byrne, did ad lib some of their lines but from what I understand, most of jokes were Bryke originals. I think the actors who ad libbed most of their lines were John Michael Higgins and Stephanie Sheh who pretty much just said whatever they wanted and were so good at it that they were just allowed to keep doing so for the whole series. Now this is Third hand information so don't quote me on that. And because these are the two major elements on TSOC it dragged the whole pro-bending plot to a halt and made it feel a lot longer then it probably was.

Now I do agree that we needed a more lighthearted subplot to help contrast the more serious Equalist plot but for me, it was very poorly executed and given how the romance ended, rather pointless, though the series finally does make TSOC rather funny to re-watch.

"Besides he's all into that prissy, beautiful, elegant, rich girl." Oh Korra, if you only knew. XD

[RobbyB1982]

In the context of the series as a whole, pro-bending wasn't overdone. In the context of what was at the time a limited run season of only 12 episodes? 5 episodes of that content was LOT and it definitely sticks out as something that maybe should have been cut back at a time when they thought it was going to be all they were getting.