@insane, and others because ninjas:
Sort of. I was surprised to see Mako in that kind of situation, and it was just believable enough to feel the tension. But you know, yes, I agree that was a good ending for Mako. Quite in character, always the dutiful one. Not surprising he would try something like that. But offing Mako would look like a bit too much of an unnecessary Gut Punch, at least by now once we know it's not what happened.
For a while it did seem to me they might try get Kora and Mako together again. Felt a little awkward, that conversation at the end, as if there was something unspoken between them. Hmm. If Bryke did it this way, I'd probably consider it weird, after all these break-ups and declarations of "just friendship" (if I may say so).
But I fear I might be sounding a bit too much like a shipper, and I will continue to maintain I don't get involved in shipping.
Any other episode and I wouldn't have entertained the possibility of Mako dying, but the final episode is sort of a unique opportunity to kill off main characters. I was genuinely thinking they might do it.
So. The fighting was all really good. I liked the idea of Korra talking Kuvira down, but the execution was... ehhh... eeeeehhhhh... nooot... not very good. She has a five-minute chat with Korra, who shares a few banal observations, and then she surrenders? That just... no. I could buy her leaving Republic City after that, but it didn't sell me on her surrendering. You could chalk that up to spirit world shenanigans weakening her resolve or something, I guess.
I am just a bit disappointed with Kuvira, overall. She's nowhere near as bad as Unalaq, of course, but she still represents a massive waste of an opportunity. If this show had been willing to engage with the political on anything other than a surface level...
Similarly with the spirits: in ATLA, the spirits we saw were much more... mystical, mysterious. The spirit world, and the spirits, felt much more alien. In Korra, they're just a bunch of assholes. But that's more of a general complaint than a problem with this episode.
I liked that they gave time at the end to see what happened to everyone. I liked the final ending, for reasons that everyone else has gone into. The story hasn't ended, it's just that we've seen what we're going to see, and now it's been cancelled. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, and somewhere else the tea's getting cold, that sort of thing.
My absolute favourite bit was Korra straight-up saying that she had been too arrogant, too strident, too unforgiving, and that she was glad that the world went and kicked the shit out of her because it taught her humility and empathy and other proper womanly emotions. Truly, that's how I want to see my female action heroes handled.
(For comparison: Aang literally died, and it took him one episode to get over it.)
edited 19th Dec '14 9:26:08 AM by imadinosaur
Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.![]()
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For me, the final conversation between Korra and Kuvira was all about how Korra recognized how there were a bunch of similarities between herself and Kuvira and used compassion to talk her down, while from Kuvira's perspective, she realized that there was no way in hell she could hope to beat the goddamned Avatar.
IMO, that scene was a reconstruction of Korra as the Avatar after the Curb-Stomp Battle between Korra and Kuvira in "The Battle of Zaofu".
edited 19th Dec '14 9:33:06 AM by higherbrainpattern
On that note, I liked how Zhu Li dipped Varrick for the kiss and he was the one crying. Subverting traditional masculinity/femininity is always nice.
I mean, Kuvira seemed like she was kinda panicking when she couldn't shut down the laser.
edited 19th Dec '14 9:35:38 AM by unnoun
As I see it, Kuvira has just been through a series of misfortunes that sapped her will. At first they took down her robot, then she was beaten by the Avatar she so effortlessly beat up the last time, then the spirit cannon went out of control almost killing her in the process. Take note about that last part. Stuff not being under her control is what Kuvira hates most, and this time, it wasn't like she could send a spirit energy beam to a reeducation camp, was it? And all along the way, she had her butt saved by the one who, by all expectations, should be doing everything to kill her. That talk in the spirit world (mind you, Korra didn't even snark or gloat) pretty much pointed it out to Kuvira.
edit: the fact that Kuvira had a front seat to Korra bending away the full power of Kuvira's superweapon sure didn't work against it.
Well, like I said. That's how I see it.
edited 19th Dec '14 9:49:46 AM by lordGacek
I have a bunch of thoughts on this finale, most of them quite incoherent at present. On the current topic of conversation I'll just say that I think the idea that Kuvira realized her struggle was futile against the overwhelming physical might of the Avatar kind of undercuts Korra's characterization as a more empathic and compassionate person. That seems like a contradiction to me.
Also, Kuvira has a nation at her back, armies at her beck-and-call. All she'd need to do was give the order and scores upon scores of fighting men and women would willingly die for her. I think that at least puts her on equal footing in terms of physical strength with the Avatar.
But the thing that interested me most about this episode was the very end, and the final shot in particular. Have I missed any talk of that?
yeyAgain, I don't really blame the spirits.
What did you expect them to do against the Colossus?
And they didn't come crawling back 'troubles over what what' they came back because a new hole was just ripped in the world and that's kind of something that needs to be investigated.
Oh we've been talking about that. Some people are happy, some not so much.
edited 19th Dec '14 9:51:32 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersOn the subject of what the censors will and won't allow in terms of queer relationships, it's not so much the censors that are the problem. It's countries like China and Russia that have policies against so called queer propaganda.
Because cartoons are generally aimed at a general audience, they wouldn't be aired in those countries if things were too explicit. The whole channel might get pulled.
This is why in Adventure Time, Princess Bubblegum and Marcelline never say directly on the show that they're dating/were dating. The voice actors clarified such at a con panel. (And it was legit since they were quoting a show creator and everyone on the panel acted like this was information they were aware of instead of one of the voice actors pulling a sly one.)
It's also why Gravity Falls hasn't added any queer characters. The creator Alex Hirsch has said he really wants to. And a storyboard for the episode "Love God" included the titular love god saying an elderly woman's soulmate was another elderly woman. The aired version of that episode, however, paired the elderly woman with another man.
(I have no idea how the show Clarence is able to get away with him having two moms. Maybe because it's new and doesn't air in other countries.)
I'm not sure whether or not Legend of Korra falls under this rule since it's currently online. But it wouldn't surprise me if it did.
I don't really buy that explanation. If the network really wanted to, they could create alternate scenes to sell to those countries.
Don't pretend that explicit queer characters in an American cartoon wouldn't get a lot of angry letters from certain people.
The reaction of the Chinese/Russian market probably is part of it but I don't think its the whole explanation.
edited 19th Dec '14 9:54:15 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersAmerica is actually one of those countries.
Because we you give people like the Westboro Baptist Church and Fox News a voice instead of just dismissing them and ignoring them.
Possess the people driving it?
edited 19th Dec '14 9:58:22 AM by unnoun
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Can they? I think we've only seen Aye-aye, Vaatu and Raava do that.
edited 19th Dec '14 10:02:44 AM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the AvengersFair enough.
Point being that I don't think all spirits can do it. I think only powerful spirits can.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

The only person who's explicitly shown to have forgiven Junior was Su, though.