I thought the avatar was supposed to maintain balance between humans and spirits, and the various bending factions. I suppose that could be done without world leaders and states but maybe I have it wrong.
In practice balance between the bending fractions means balance between the peoples and their nations. And in any case balance is a sort of order … an avatar working towards a more balanced world is a potential powerful force against anarchy and disorder.
Think of Zaheer in the context of the anarchist movement of our world as technology emerged. A true believer of radical beliefs, more willing to let go of earthly connections than Aang was, and willing to sacrifice much, including the lives of others, for the sake of those beliefs. Do you really need the backstory for real world characters like Johann Most to feel that their motivation is real and understandable?
They decided to move it off TV due to the deaths they occur.
AVclub speculated that Nick objected to content, but have you read a reliable source confirming this?
Some kid died in the original Avatar series didn’t he? I remember that…but even with the earth Queen, they didn’t make it abundantly clear that she was murdered. I think it started out rather coy.
It was striking how they handled the deaths actually. Even combustion bending lady … it took a second to realize what had happened and to comprehend that her head was now mush inside the helmet. This is old school the camera looks away from the actual death and the details of it. Or a critical last half second of each death edited out to make it less … graphic? explicit?
Another speculation on Korra’s final state … maybe she realizes that she really had been of no value here? She was the rescued, not the rescuer. Others were in danger because of her.
The Legend of Jinora continues!
These villains were fun. Too bad they had to go.
I agree with Yumblie about Korra losing her identity. She was raised as a kid to be the Avatar, but the world seems to push her away more than not.
Not sure if I like how they fit Zaheer’s goals into the world. I’m fine with him being a straw anarchist, it’s just he was seemingly proven right because as soon as he offed the Queen (Bosco sends his regards) the city turned into lootville. I figured they’d have more national pride than that. Even the guards?
I’d have liked to see a 30-second scene where some citizens get together and try to stop others from looting and maybe tell Zaheer that his way isn’t so natural if he has to force other people to live that way by blowing everything up. They could’ve cut out one of the many animal licks owner scenes for something like that.
The Avatar/poison drama suffered from unclear mechanics. Surely this isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Would the Avatar state activate if a person was deathly sick? Bleeding badly? It somehow kept Aang alive for a hundred years in the frigid ocean. Does Raava have no say in this? After she slipped into the state was Korra forcing her will to get revenge because she thought her dad was dead? Could she have been like yo, Raava, just let me die, it’s not worth it?
I like how the new, inexperienced airbenders helped take out Zaheer. I guess the moral is team work. Although the bad guys used team work too…
There’s been some criticism over how Korra can never win by herself and it makes her look weak. I think that’s fine. They had to handicap her and give Zaheer a new magic power to make the fight interesting. You have to do stuff like that, otherwise it’s just “lol I go white eye and win now, k?”
I dig the Asami/Korra and Lin/Suyin relationships. Four solid female characters in a Western cartoon? My god, the writers must be a feminist collective. Though Korra is still the least interesting one. She doesn’t have much of a personality other than generic heroic resolve and minor sarcasm, but she’s easy to feel empathy for at least.
Mako continues to be dull and seems to just tag along to make grim faces. Bolin is discount Sokka. Giving him lava bending didn’t really involve character development, it just sorta happened. Tenzin was finally allowed to do something, even if it was futile. I won’t be surprised if Jinora ends up being the key to bringing harmony to both worlds. Zaheer could be right that Korra is the last Avatar, just not in the way he thinks.
I liked the hallucination scene. That was kinda freaky.
All the fights are top tier. This show is just gorgeous, probably one of the best for TV cartoons I’ve seen aside from maybe Attack on Titan but Korra keeps the nice animation unlike a lot of anime. And the music! Man.
Nitpicks that don’t matter too much but fridge logic is fun:
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Zaheer can fly because he has no Earthly desires. Except wanting to kill the Avatar and destroy all governments. And he kinda wanted to fly, since he stole that locket with the wisdom on it he was reciting throughout the season.
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Couldn’t Korra have gone Avatar state before the poison hit her?
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Does the Avatar state give super strength now too? She just busted out of those cuffs. She didn’t bend the platinum, right? Then again, why can’t she just bend the rocks the chains are secured to?
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Why didn’t Korra go into the Avatar state when she was fighting Zaheer with her hands tied behind her back? I thought at first since she lost her connection to her past selves she couldn’t turn it on like a switch, but she did it in the pilot when she tried to get rid of the vines.
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Zaheer could’ve won at the end if he just flew away and left Korra to die on the pillar. Or maybe slung her over his shoulder and fly away like he did before. Just get away from her friends.
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It was weird seeing Lin stand to the side while her sister pulled the poison out. Couldn’t she have helped? Maybe she’s more of a fighter than a healer. But I think seeing them work together to save Korra would’ve been a nice cap on their season arc (obviously they already had the nice teamwork taking out P’Li, but why not moar).
This +1000. I started watching season one on a flight going to my first trip to Las Vegas 2-3 years ago. On the strip, there was a Chinese Erhu player who was really amazing. I’m basically in love with the instrument and desperately want to find more.
Would you, or anyone, mind spoiling what happened to Zukos’ mother?
BUMP
October 3 of this year! Wow!
Here is what I remember and if I am wrong, someone can come in and correct me.
His mother ran away when he was young. She had been in love with a man from her home town, but the fire-lord-to-be liked her and forced her to be his wife. There was a plot thread that hinted Zuko may not be the Fire Lord’s son, but in the end it is revealed he is definitely the true heir.
They(team Avatar plus Azula) look for his mother and end up learning that she returned to her home town to be with her true love. Her true love ends up being dead, but she falls in love with another man from her youth and wants to marry him. However, there is great risk.
She ended up going out and finding a powerful wish-granting spirit. It agreed to help her by removing her memory…but this included all memory of her fire-nation life, including both of her children. Painfully, she agreed to it and the memory of Zuko and Azula was removed, along with all memory of the Fire Lord.
This protected her somehow, but in the end of the story, she does gain her memory of Zuko and apologizes for running off and for forgetting about him.
It’s not a perfect ending, but it does more or less wrap things up. He found his mother and made a small reunion. She does remain in the small town with her husband and that is pretty much it.
Great news short term! Bad news long term?
Unsatisfying but I’ve got nothing better myself…