This is my lawn

 

This series is definitely getting dark, but it may be a bit too soon to hand out the title for Darkest Cartoon. (Remember Invader Zim?) Though I'm not sure if this is actually related to Nick taking it off the air, it sure seems like the creators might take this chance to get away with stuff they couldn't do otherwise.  That remains to be seen.

 

I don't think the Red Lotus really wants Korra dead, even counting "it needs to be done a certain way".  Zaheer mentioned that their original plan was to train Korra, and while they might just abandon their original plan, I feel like they're still going to end up manipulating her rather than killing her.  Not that we have any hint as to what that might be, unless you count "enter the void."  Whatever that means.

 

Just a few more days and all will be clear...

 

 

 

Yeah, probably too soon to give it the 'darkest cartoon' title.

 

 

And I can't imagine that moving things to streaming would change any of the content for this season- it's not like moving it to streaming was always the plan, and the audience is going to be the same whether you're streaming or not.

I thought they were thinking about moving to streaming, it just happened a little too abruptly for everyone's tastes.

 

 

I'm going to hold out hope that they beat Tenzin into unconsciousness. I would hope that if they were going to kill him, they'd do it more dramatically than just panning away as they all resumed slugging him.

 

Also, I wonder if we'll see a lot of the Fire Nation next season? There seems to be a kind of pattern here: last season spent a lot of time in the Southern Water Tribe, and this season has lingered for a long time around the Earth Kingdom, so following that pattern the Fire Nation should be the focus next year?

 

 

 

We got to see some actual airbending fighting. Finally.

 

That part with the queen completely threw me. I did not expect that. This season is fantastic.

 

 

Yeah, if Tenzin's dead, then I'm totally labelling this as "darkest cartoon ever." 

 

I mean, sure, other cartoons have more gross imagery and all, but I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the villain directly killing another character in cold blood on screen, and I definitely don't remember seeing a show where they beat someone to a pulp to the point where you see them bruised and then pan off-screen leaving you to assume the worst.

 

Invader Zim wasn't dark so much as goofy with gross stuff in my opinion.

 

Maybe Batman:TAS might be darker?  I've seen a fair amount of episodes for that, but I haven't seen them all, and it's literally the only other one I can think of that got this edgey and mature.

 

I also really hope they cut off at a cliffhanger for the finale.  I don't care if it ticks me off, I just want to see so much more of these villians.  They are sooo good.  And this time there's no harmonic convergence nonsense, so we're pretty much guaranteed a non-goofy giant monster fight to end things, right?

 

... right?

 

Oh for the love of Naga, please not again...  (and there's lots of love for Naga)

 

 

Anyway, yeah, I'm sure making a show takes tons of time and effort.  I don't think they could have changed the later episodes mid-season like that, have the voice actors give lines, re-animate everything, inform the network of the last-minute changes, etc like that.  Switching it to online release seemed like more of a recent decision (and I'm pretty sure it was because some morons were impatient or wanted glory or whatever and leaked two episodes because they hate the world, and that made them rush the premier, which meant they couldn't advertise for it, and it totally screwed up the entire episode release schedule.  If that's the case, I kinda hate those guys for hurting a really great show)

 

Still, I kinda wonder if the new tone of the show played a factor into that decision?  It's really hard to say without an official word, so it's just speculation, granted, but I wouldn't think it's impossible.

 

I don't care if it ticks me off, I just want to see so much more of these villians.

 

 

I'm I the only one who kind of-sort of hopes that  Zaheer gets a redemption arc? In spite of his twisted goals, he seems to have some legitimate admiration (maybe even respect) for the air benders and their history. It just seems that if he was properly guided, and not trying to kill people, he could be a strong asset for the future air nation.

 

"That's what we'd shout whenever someone made a goal.  REDEMPTION!"

 

Good guy Zaheer?  Hmm...  I dunno, I think he's kinda entrenched at this point.  I mean, he believes in his ideals enough that he would murder and attack a pacifist nation.  He kinda reminds me of Fire Lord Ozai (and Fire Lord Sozin).

 

It really is a shame, because if he weren't so freaking nuts, he'd make a pretty awesome ally and council to the Avatar.

 

Unfortunately, he's "crazy and needs to go down."

 

 

I dunno, Ozai and Sozin where bent on being 'supreme ruler of the world' (or equivalent title)- something that goes directly against Zaheer's philosophies. And, unlike them, Zaheer didn't attack the air benders (I'm assuming that's who you meant by pacifist nation) to eradicate them, only to draw Korra out. Not that that makes him much better of a person.

 

As for being entrenched... so was Zuko for a time, and we know how that ended. Admittedly, though, with only about 14 episodes left in the series I'm not sure the writers can pull off that kind of character development. But I'm not writing him off just yet.

 

All I have to say is that I caught up with the season yesterday and that stupid scroll bar is my new arch-nemesis. Nothing really ruins the immersion like having to fiddle around with a dumb glitchy video player for 5 minutes during an important part of an episode. Nick's video player is terrible

"Darkness"