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My Korra Finale Thoughts


Lyichir

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First and foremost, a spoiler-free review: IT WAS AWESOME. It was a fitting end to the series and certainly approached the greatness of the A:TLA finale even if it didn't necessarily match it.

 

Now, to the spoilery bits, sorted for your viewing convenience.

 

Story

 

I was very happy with the story progression of the finale. It started from a moment of weakness, with the cast barely surviving the previous episode's cliffhanger alive. And for the first half of the story, there was a growing sense of futility as the cast tried various ineffective methods of fighting the mecha-giant.

 

I admit I was a little disappointed by Meelo's plan. When he saw the paint I was hoping he was going to try something more unorthodox and artistic, like painting some sort of decoy to draw Kuvira's fire. Blinding the mech was significantly less interesting, and didn't really deliver on the artistic talent he'd developed this season. But I'm glad it allowed them to try the obvious "AT-AT" approach to taking it down, and demonstrate why it wouldn't work—unlike an AT-AT, a humanoid mech has the dexterity necessary to right itself rather than being crippled by a fall.

 

The side-plot, with Prince Wu and Pema evacuating citizens, served as a nice respite from the action, and helped to bring Wu's arc to a satisfying close. I like that while he HAD developed enough as a character that he might have made a tolerable ruler (as competent as Kuei from A:TLA, at the very least), he found it in him to give up the throne (without necessarily abandoning the fame he's used to, if his singing career pays off). Also, I noticed that his and Pema's songs were the FIRST songs in the series—I had originally hoped for more in the series, thanks to the jazzy soundtrack and the advent of recorded music in the Avatar universe, but at the very least we now have some silly songs on par with "Long way to Ba Sing Se" and "Secret Tunnel". :P

 

Back to the main story, after so many failed attempts to stop the mecha-giant, it was super-satisfying when they finally broke in (with a noble sacrifice by Hiroshi Sato, of all people). This marked the start of Kuvira's time to shine—as her mecha-giant started being broken down so did she, ripping her own mech apart just to try and stop the intruders. The infiltration of the mech was a fantastic sequence that brought back memories of Sokka's airship raid in the A:TLA finale (which I might consider the best plotline of that multifaceted climax).

 

When they finally brought down the mech, it was nice to see that it wasn't enough to bring back Kuvira. Broken, her retreat into the spirit wilds served as a great way to slow down the action and build up to a final climax with just her versus Korra. And Korra's eventual bending of the Spirit Cannon's energy was incredible—I had imagined that she might have the potential to do so (as bending of spirit energy was essentially how Aang triumphed over the Fire Lord in the original series), but I'm glad they saved that trick until the point where it was literally her only option to save Kuvira. And the way she eventually won Kuvira's surrender—not by force, but with words—was a nice change of pace for a series which, compared to its predecessor, hadn't spared many of its villains.

 

The conclusion, with a wedding and a party filled with various faces from throughout the series, was a fantastic way to end the series—but more on that later.

 

 

Execution

 

The animation in this finale was mostly solid, even though the Hummingbirds might constitute the most jarring and least convincing use of CGI in the series. But overall I loved the fight cinematography, the painted backgrounds depicting the destruction of Republic City, and the amazing skill at character art that helped emotional moments like Kuvira's breakdown resonate.

 

The music, as always, was stunning. I dearly hope we get another soundtrack CD at some point.

 

 

Shipping

 

Finally, let's talk about the ending, which I'm sure everyone's dying to discuss. I have a slightly unpopular opinion of the shipping at the end. I loved it, of course, as most people seemed to. But I actually think it was good that there wasn't a kiss.

 

Hear me out. I do think that Korrasami is maybe the strongest ship in the series so far, far better than Makorra or whatever you call Korra and Bolin. But up until this season, there were barely more than hints at it, and I basically regarded it as a crack ship—interesting to think about but not necessarily realist. This season furthered Korra and Asami's relationship a LOT, to the point where it really was the most plausible ship to end the series with.

 

But even at the end, I don't feel like their relationship was at a stage where a kiss would make sense. There had been no confession of love or anything like that. And I think that, to force a kiss at that point wouldn't be true to the characters. The OLD Korra might have done something like that—the same way she kissed Mako in Book 1 when the two of them weren't in anything resembling a committed relationship. But the thing that I feel sets Korrasami apart from Korra's previous flirtations is that there's a degree of steadiness and stability to it. Korra has matured a lot since the start of the series, and I imagine she's less prone to acting on impulse (including in romance, where her impulsiveness has gotten her into several rocky relationships). Meanwhile Asami has been a comforting presence during that time—she allowed Korra to take the time she needed to heal from her injuries, and I imagine she'll give Korra time to explore her feelings as well.

 

So in short, while I absolutely love the idea of a romantic relationship between Korra and Asami, I think the ending we got was the best possible one—one that foreshadows a relationship but doesn't force it before it's ready. I hope that that can be better explored if there should be subsequent Korra media, like the current A:TLA graphic novels.

 

Oh, and I suppose Zhu Li and Varrick's relationship was decent too. "You may now do the thing." :P

 

 

So yeah. I was extremely satisfied with the finale as a whole. Mike and Bryan don't seem intent on returning to the Avatar universe right away, but that's okay—I'll be glad to see whatever they might come up with next.

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