The Legend of Korra Series Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

[Winter]

So on the subject of Mako's rather poor characterzation, back when the series was first announced I, like many fans, was very exited to see this new character who was being advertised as the New Zuko only for that not to be the case as Mako had all of Zuko's brooding and a tragic backstory but none of his depth and emotion. He lost his parents, and had to raise Bolin on his own, worked for a gang just so they could have money to eat and almost became a major sports champion and yet, like Chuck said, he was so utterly boring.

And as Lizuka pointed out it seemed like the writers really didn't have any idea what to do with him as he's character kept changing almost episode to episode. Sometimes he was completely stoic who rarely showed any real emotion, sometimes he wear his emotions on his sleeves, sometimes he was a complete jerk for no reason, sometimes he was a jerk for completely valid reasons. Sometimes he was the soul voice of reason, other times he was a complete incompetent who fails in the most simplest of tasks and sometimes he was all of these things at once.

The same thing could be said about Bolin as he seemed to just wonder around the series without a point other then to make jokes but at least he's character was consistent. He's a goof ball who can never take anything serious but is a loyal and kind friend who you can't help but love.

But Mako went around the series without a point and without a constant character. We're told in Remembrance that he and that he's learned to put others ahead of him because of Korra's example. Please note this is one episode after Reunion, where Mako blamed Korra for his mistake while she was fixing his mistake and the reason he made said mistake was because he was to busy pouting that she wrote to Asami and not him.

With Asami she had a constant character and was always contributing to the series or to Korra's character growth while also developing herself. She's a kind hearted person who seeks to do the right thing even when there is nothing in it for her and pushes on despite going through some rather harsh times. Her conflict with her father, trying to save her family company, her growing relationship with Korra and her rebuilding her broken relationship with Korra all help move the story forward.

In contrast Mako's biggest contribution to the series plot is that he brought Asami into the show when she ran into him. And in terms of character development his failed relationship with Korra and Asami helped get the two to bound and end up in a relationship.

Even in The Sting, AKA the show briefly labeled itself as The Legend of Mako, he was useless. He didn't get the proof he needed, he caused Asami to lose everything she had by following his plan and didn't even defeat the thugs. In Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc while Indy was ultimately useless he was at least competent on a scene to scene viewing as he is almost always a step ahead of the Nazis and they are only to beat him due to them getting lucky. But Mako, doesn't even manage that and in fact only figured out that Varrick was the bad guy because the episode literally handed him the evidence he needed.

ARGH!!!

[CharlesPhipps]

Indy saved Marion's life which is the big accomplishment in Raiders for him. Certainly, Indy would think it worthwhile.

Basically, Mako's problem is the same one in Timeless. Writers throw in a love triangle then have the guy waffle versus making a choice. Which makes him sleazy. If Mako had loved Asami, only Asami, and then stuck by Asami then Korra/Mako would not happen but it would be a plot people would have loved because we rarely see it.

[Lizuka]

Really I'd say even Bolin was a lot better managed than Mako was. He certainly annoyed me more to start, but I never disliked him anywhere near as much as I did Mako after the kissing an amnesiac Korra thing and was entirely on Balon's side in their conflict that season - although that's mostly a mix of Mako pettily boiling the water he was in over a minor argument and the fact Bolin's the one who actually saved the day in that stupid plot - and come season three (I can pretty much specifically point to that, "And then she died," quip) he really started to grow on me. Still wouldn't really call Bolin a great character or anything, but they did eventually start making the comedy with him land better and seasons three and four did a good job of making him not just a clown.

That's really more than can be said for Mako. They did back off some of the troubling aspects of his character in the latter seasons, and I do really enjoy his part in the clip show, but I really can't claim I ever reached a level above barely tolerating him.

[Independent George]

I wrote a few posts on the subject on the old forums which I don't want to repeat here, but my big problem with Korra was that despite supposedly being for an older audience, all of the characters and plots felt like they had less depth than Airbender.

We managed to meet numerous sympathetic characters from the Fire Nation without ever losing sight of how evil their war was. Azula managed to be both terrifying and pitiable at the same time. We could see them as human even if they were on the wrong side - and we could see how some of the people fighting them could be just as bad, if not worse. With Korra... we mostly didn't get any of that.

In S1, instead of showing us the problems faced by muggles in a world of benders (maybe show Mako taking the place of multiple workers when he gets that job at the power plant), the entire Equalists were a movement based on a lie and led by a hypocritical psychopath.

Despite being supposedly being about balance, S2 treated Vaatu as simply the Devil instead of a necessary (and natural) counterbalancing force to Raava's God. Worse, the entire backstory with Korra's father was a huge missed opportunity that actually made the exact opposite point than what was probably intended. Instead of Korra learning to see her father as a person - specifically, a person with the exact same flaws as Korra (pride and impulsiveness), and how those flaws led to tragedy. Instead of being about how he grew & learned from his mistakes and finally came to be at peace, we instead learn that he was actually the "good" brother, and he was right all along. No need for self reflection - Unalaq was a supervillain from the beginning. Tarloq wasn't reckless - he just got caught up in his brother's EVIL PLAN.

I remember S3 being better than the others, and having the best villains, but S4 followed the exact same pattern as 1 & 2. Instead of making Kuvira a well-intentioned extremist who gradually into a despot, they made her a power-hungry tyrant from the start. Suyin should have been much more flawed than they depicted, and Batar Jr. should have been much more sympathetic instead of being an emo teenager trying to rebel against his parents. It was as if they were afraid of making the villains too sympathetic, so they portrayed them in the shallowest manner possible to make sure people knew to root against them.

[Winter]

Again I think the reason TLOK wasn't as deep as The Legend of Aang was that it was rushed through development. By everything I can find Book 1 didn't begin production until the film adaptation The Last Airbender was finished, and Mike and Bryan would be the only writers working on the first season. Now it did still have about 2 years to get done but factor in that Mike and Bryan had A) Never worked on a miniseries before, B) had fewer episodes to work with then what they were used to and C) Were trying to recreate what made the first series so great while also trying to make the show its own thing.

Book 2 was put together in about a few months with several episodes scripts being put together at the last minutes while Book 3 was being worked while they they were finishing up Book 2. And Book 4 was written at the same time and was going to be released a mere three months after Book 3.

Remember the last episode of season 2 of TLOA was released in December 1 2007 while Book 3 was released on September 21 2007, almost a full year apart and there was a mid season gap in Book 3 that lasted nine months. And most regard the third season of TLOA as the best season of Avatar.

And again, with Turf Wars, many, myself included, regard it as the best "Season" of TLOK to date and that is thanks in large part due to Mike having almost four years to figure out where he wanted to take the story. As I've also said before, Turf Wars is the first season of Korra done right. It's a romance, like Air, it's set mostly in Republic City, like Air, it has a huge cast despite having a much smaller "run time" then previous seasons, like Air, heavily features politics as a major plot point and the threat is a small terrorist group with a "Nonbender" who is revealed/gains supernatural powers.

Yes the villain is evil for the sake of being evil but like Azula he's so much fun to watch and genially intelligent that he ends up being the best villain Korra has ever faced despite having no real power, in the human world anyway. You don't necessarily need the villain to be nuanced and moral grey to be good, a villain who is just evil and petty can be just as engaging as the morally complex villain.

[Independent George]

You don't necessarily need the villain to be nuanced and moral grey to be good, a villain who is just evil and petty can be just as engaging as the morally complex villain.

They don't need to be nuanced and morally grey, but if they're human, they need to be believable and understandable (especially if they're depicted as having substantial popular support, as the Equalists, the Northern Water Tribe, and Kuvira's armies all did). The Red Lotus were not sympathetic in the least, but their ideology was clear and comprehensible, each member was consistently and richly drawn, interesting to watch, and a fully realized person on their own merits. The other villains were, if you'll pardon the expression, cartoonish by comparison. Everything about the Spirit world and the Raava/Vaatu duality felt oversimplified for the opposite reason (it was too human, and became a straight good vs evil battle instead of something more complex and alien), and then was largely abandoned rather than explored.

Korra was clearly intended to be a more mature exploration of the Airbender world, and yet in so many ways it clearly wasn't. I agree wholeheartedly that the rushed nature was likely the biggest culprit, but we can't react to what I imagine they could/should/wanted to do. We can only talk about what was actually produced, which in my opinion was subpar for the reasons I agued.

Airbender was set in a war against a single powerful, genocidal regime; Korra was set in a relatively prosperous post-war era against a more complex series of problems. The latter has the potential for a far richer tale, but requires nuance to pull off. That lack of that nuance was a problem throughout, and weakened the series substantially as a result. The story about a ragtag group of adventurers fighting an evil empire ended up being more complex than the story of a superpowered individual trying to find her place in a rapidly changing world that needs something more than a superhero punching the bad guy. They set up a world where Korra's role as a political and spiritual leader was at odds with her tendency to seek out a direct confrontation. Instead of watching her learn to navigate a new, complex world and growing into a role opposite her personality, they decided to resolve each season by giving her a bad guy to punch.

ETA: I want to make one thing clear - I love Korra herself as a character; she had all the nuance and depth that you want in a protagonist, and her personal journey was wonderful. But all of those internal character dynamics were happening in spite of the larger storyline and world, and not as an integral part of it.

[TrueMetis]

Raava/Vaatu showed the creators don't actually understand the cultures they used as a basis of creation for their series. It's like when people talk about star wars and how "Anakin really did bring balance to the force". It's a shallow interpretation that ends up getting everything completely backwards.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Well, they are usually really good about researching the cultures that form a basis for the series. I guess I'll chalk that up to Spirit being rushed.

[TrueMetis]

Some stuff yeah, but even the few interactions with spirits we see in TLA, and definitely what we see the those comics, make it pretty clear they didn't really go into the details. Should have said the cultures religions, not just cultures. My mistake.

[Independent George]

Oh My God! How did I not see this before?

Bunny Cat is from the Avatar universe. He's the spirit of dickishness.