The Legend of Korra

We're doing least favorite episodes?

Water: The Great Divide and The Fortune Teller

Earth: Avatar Day, The Swamp, and The Cave of Two Lovers

Fire: Nightmares and Daydreams and The Ember Island Players(Least favorite overall.)

Air: The Spirit of Competition

Spirits: The Peacekeepers

Change: The Original Airbenders(This one is better than the above episodes it's just the weakest of the season.)

edited 17th Sep '14 11:20:07 AM by kostya

Hmm, I don't remember a lot of episodes from the original series that I just flat-out don't like. I guess "The Great Divide" and "The Painted Lady" would be up/down there. A for Korra, I think the show's problems tend to be accumulated over time rather than specific to individual "bad" episodes, but if I had to point at my least favourites I'd have to go with...

Season one: "Endgame". It's a lackluster finale to the season, and I'm not just saying that because I didn't like the Amon reveal. The premise of Korra trying to expose Amon publically despite having no evidence, or indeed even any solid details of her incredibly far-fetched accusation is essentially an Idiot Plot; the off-screen capture of Tenzin's family is a total Ass Pull; the showdown with Amon is anticlimactic and feels less like Korra beat him and more like he got beat by a bunch of convenient circumstances; Asami's showdown with Hiroshi is lacking in any emotional resonance because Hiroshi is written as a cardboard villain with exacly one note to play; General Iroh, while partaking in some cool action sequences, is an utterly pointless character and one of the few times the series has actively used the first series as a crutch, there is no reason at all to care about him except because he reminds you of Zuko, and the time spent with him would have been better used to give Bolin something to do (and in the previous episode, to provide a more detailed explanation to Amon's ability). And finally, the double-whammy of the incredible Deus ex Machina of Aang curing Korra and Korra hooking up with Mako despite us never having seen him break up with Asami is is probably the worst moment in the entire franchise, negating any growth Korra should have had through her experience, and basically affirming her view that she's nothing without her powers. It all leaves the first season on a really sour note.

Season two: "Civil Wars, Part One": Probably my pick for the worst episode of the series overall. Despite my numerous gripes with "Endgame", that was at least somewhat engaging on a base level because of all the action scenes. "Civil Wars" is just really unpleasant and dull, being an entire episode devoted to characters' mean-spirited and bitter in-fighting, and it all feels very unreasonable, like every single character just had a really bad day and is taking it out on everyone around (except, ironically, Unalaq). It could work if it was attached to an hitherto engaging storyline and if there was a good grasp on the character's feelings, but it wasn't, and there wasn't. It feels even more pointless in hindsight, with Unalaq revealed as the unambiguous villain of the conflict, and with a goal that had almost nothing to do with the Southern Water Tribe occupation, at that. It, and the next episode, are the only episodes in the whole series where I really wasn't even very interested in seeing what would happen next.

Season three: "Original Airbenders": A somewhat below-average episode but not remarkably bad, just worst by default. It did cement my dislike for Jinora, though, and it is probably the most skippable episode of the series. I think you could potentially not watch it and still not feel confused by anything that comes after it.

Gosh darn it, surely I'm not the only one who likes the lighter, silly episodes?

I'd say that Original Airbenders is important, as it shows the new Airbenders training. Since they weren't going to show up until close to the end, I think they needed an episode to themselves.

While this is not meant to be any opinion on the episode's place on the quality scale, "Original Airbenders" had earned my favour by finally showing why exactly Bumi reached the rank of a commander.

"Original Airbenders" is a fairly entertaining episode, it's just the least of the third season, which I don't think has a single truly bad episode in it. And it's not at all the case that you wouldn't miss anything if you skipped it — it shows the airbenders progressing and has some Character Development for Kai, Jinora, Bumi and Tenzin — but it has no essential progression of the main story, and the events of the episode are never directly referenced again afterwards. You could skip it and not realize you missed an episode, though you might find the airbenders' extended absence a bit odd.

About "Tales of Ba Sing Se"...I'm absolutely appalled by the lack of support here for Momo's tale,and shame on the troper who said "Oh,well none of the characters were at their best".

If anything,Momo's tale was the only time Momo really got much of a fleshing out,and it showed us his companionship with Appa....and here's something revolutionary,...just maybe the part where Momo falls asleep in the footprint of Appa just might be more effective than any of Iroh's Tale.

And Sokka's Tale was hilarious, Katara and Toph's Tale was a great bonding moment, and Zuko was given a damn break for a bit.

No,it fucking deserves to be towards the top and not just because of Iroh,which of course everyone is talking about. All of them except Aang were good character episodes with amusing (Katara/Toph, Zuko, Sokka) or [[Tear Jerker gut-wrenching

And to put that back into Korra, I wish they'd do an episode in which Naga and Pabu are the main characters. Because right now Pabu seems to be mostly just something for Bolin to scream at, and Naga is practically just a vehicle.

As for best episodes and worst for Korra

BEST OVERALL: "Beginnings" (Spirits)

BEST OF Air: "When Extremes Meet"

BEST OF Spirits: "Beginnings"

BEST OF Change: "The Ultimatum"

worst of Air: "The Spirit of Competition"

worst of Spirits: "Peacekeepers"

worst of Change: "Original Airbenders"

worst overall: "Peacekeepers"

edited 17th Sep '14 2:43:12 PM by terlwyth

Damn you ninjas...

Of course. That's why I said I didn't mean to rate it in any way, that was just the most memorable thing I found in it.

As for the Season 1 and 2, in the former I didn't like too much the penultimate episode, and in the latter, a bit too large a part of it consisted of the characters getting lost in the spirit world, searching the spirit world for those who got lost and getting lost in the process, and the like. Perhaps I'm missing the point of that season. You know, "Spirits". But anyway. Those are my gripes, not saying I would rate them the worst if I had to make a list, just what comes to my mind when I think of the episodes I enjoyed less.

Naga and Pabu episode would be fun, but chances are there won't be enough place for that. By the way, I wouldn't say Naga is just a four-legged vehicle... but both animals are a bit less of a character and a bit more of an actual animal than Momo and Appa were.

edited 17th Sep '14 2:43:05 PM by lordGacek

Calm down... really, to each his own. Besides, I never said any of it was bad, or even below-par (except maybe Aang's tale). I just don't think it's among the very best episodes of the series, which is mild criticism if anything is.

That's the thing I like about this series, even their weaker episodes aren't terrible. It's not like other shows like, say, Star Trek where one episode is brilliant and full of great moments and character and another ends up turning two of the characters into lizards because "science."

I liked the lizard episode.

The holodeck bit where Geordi was figuring it all out was great

Actually I was referencing Voyager's "Threshold."

I never liked Voyager.

TNG for best Star Trek

Do you think Picard would make a fine Air Nomad? He's already bald for a good start.

No, he's not a big spiritual guy.

Kirk would be the Avatar. Hands down.

Regarding Tales of Ba Sing Se, most of the episode didn't really work for me. It was mainly boredom through Aang, Katara/Toph and Sokka (Sorry Haiku buffs), mild interest through Zuko and Momo, and all of the feels ever felt in the history of feels for Iroh. Without that scene that episode probably doesn't crack the top 10 of Favourite Avatar Episodes.

As for the worst episodes?

1: Water - 'The Fortuneteller' (because Katara and Aang are too young to have entire episodes devoted to the possibility they might bone someday), 'The Waterbending Master' (because Patriachy!Pakku is just the dumbest thing ever.)

2: Earth - 'The Cave of Two Lovers' (see: The Fortuneteller). I almost added Oppa's Lost Days here, not because it's bad, but because I cannot force myself to rewatch it. Too many sad feels.

3: Fire - 'The Headband' (because however interesting it is to see a kid's show depict brainwashing and a cult of personality, the plot is just the second dumbest thing ever.)

1: Air - None.

2: Spirits - 'Light In The Dark' (because while season finales in this franchise typically involve some level of wondering how the hell you're supposed to understand this without a grounding in Eastern spirituality, this took things too far.)

3: Change - None.

While Korra's shorter season structure gives them can lead to certain things feeling rushed, it also means there are very few filler episodes and even fewer outright weak episodes. Even in the episodes people don't seem to like, important stuff is still happening. They just don't like the stuff.

edited 17th Sep '14 5:13:04 PM by oppyu

How did Light in the Dark not make sense if you don't understand Eastern spirituality?

edited 17th Sep '14 5:26:53 PM by kostya

Specifically the parts where Unalaq turned into a giant monster, and then Korra turned into a giant monster, and then Jinora turned into a glowing ball of light that helped one of the giant monsters.

I dunno, I assumed there was some paradigm in which that made sense, but I didn't have access to it.

The Unalaq bit is probably because he destroyed Raava. Notice how Raava got huge after Korra beat him. Without the spirit of darkness/light holding them back they can become more powerful. Korra growing probably had to do with her connecting to the cosmic energy like Tenzin told her to. It was heightened during Harmonic Convergence so it allowed her to supercharge her astral projection. I'm pretty sure that's it. Granted the show doesn't spell that stuff out but I think you can sort of figure it out from what the characters say and do.

Jinora doesn't really make sense though which annoys me because there's a very simple explanation. Just say she got Raava's light from the teapot and used that to jump start the regeneration.

edited 17th Sep '14 5:34:05 PM by kostya

Filler in the defense of good characterization and humor is no vice. And nonstop action in the pursuit of good ratings,and badassery is no virtue.

Both depend entirely on whether the characters are worth it and we understand the stakes. Air was a fantastic example of everything wrong with no Filler except one episode. That one episode did little to help characterization though.

The runner-up for worst "Air" episode was "Out of the Past",and it was very plot packed compared to the actual worst.

"Avatar Day" is single-handedly the worst episode in all of ATLA and maybe even the verse,it's useless filler. But "Tales of Ba Sing Se" is excellent filler.

"The Siege of the North" and "Crossroads of Destiny" are excellently done but plot-packed and action-y,...on the other hand so is The Last Airbender film that very poorly attempted to emulate the former

So I repeat, "Filler in the defense of good characterization and humor is no vice. And nonstop action in the pursuit of good ratings,and badassery is no virtue."

edited 17th Sep '14 5:40:02 PM by terlwyth

Made perfect sense to me, but whatever.

I will continue to defend Avatar Day, and will never consider learning about the life of a past Avatar to be filler.

edited 17th Sep '14 5:50:56 PM by KarkatTheDalek

I think it's similar to what happened with Toph. The show invoked Show, Don't Tell and some people didn't understand how she was able to bend metal.

How. How can you dislike The Cave of Two Lovers?

SECRET TUNNELLLLLLLLLLLLLLL SECRET TUNNELLLLLL THROUGH THE MOUNTAINS SECRET TUNNELLLLLLLLL!

The show did tell with Toph's metalbending though - it was just the Chakra Guru doing the telling.

I mean, I don't want to come across as an idiot who needs the Dragon Ball Z-esque Mwahahaha! With that flash of light I have evolved into my perfect form and now enjoy a resultant increase in speed, power and ki blasts! My power level now exceeds yours, thus explaining why the rest of this fight will be brutally one-sided in my favour! exposition every time something happens, but a little context on what exactly Jinora did would have been nice.

edited 17th Sep '14 5:51:21 PM by oppyu

@Oppyu:

The commentaries made it sound like the finale was intended to follow dream logic in some ways — it's meant to be evocative and symbolic more than rational, hence the lack of solid explanation for what Jinora did.

With that said, I didn't think it was that strange to think that Jinora felt Raava's death and sought out a light to use to resuscitate her. It might have been helpful to show her finding the light (or to suggest that she found it within herself), but the focus was meant to be on "light can never truly die" anyway.