finished korra! spoilery thoughts in thread:

kuvira kinda came out of nowhere but she was honestly a very good antagonist, she reminds me of Ozai, in that they have a surface "take over the world" plan but that is grounded in the fact that they're both colonizers. its understandable since its a real-world politcal move.

someone like unalaq who wanted to take over the world via new world order dark avatar shennanigans lacks that grounding and feels like cliche bullshit by comparison.

one thing i really appreciate about the last season is how characters i was ready to write off as gags actually had compelling character arcs. i love varrick from the get go as this wild 20s inventor capitalist semi-villain,

but having him actually reckon with how he makes his money and how he treats zhu li? golden.

prince wu was another one. i literally thought he'd just be a gag character for half the season, but Mako really helps him turn around into someone with some level of understanding of what other people want above his desire for royal riches.

i feel like LoK overall just has great characters. I don't think any of them quite reach the peak of Zuko and Iroh, but outside of Unalaq there's not anyone I outright disliked. the main team avatar found a lot of ways to play w the dynamic in ways TLA didn't.

the worst part of the series is its pacing though. if they wanted to, Amon could've been a series long villain. The wrapup of his arc felt waaay too fast (even tho what Tarlokk did was INCREDIBLY satisfying to watch). Same can go for Zaheer and co as well.

these villains not being so black and white in their moral approach (again, unlike unalaq) helped the series stand out compared to TLA, where the fire lord was so obviously evil and only smaller villains (and Zuko) were given the same consideration.

like i cant tell you how many times i said "he's kinda right thooo" when Zaheer went on about his no kings, no queens mantras. its a matter of approach, is the message, and i see how people have framed the series as anti-radical. i think more than anything it's anti-power grab.

like Amon, Unalaq, and Kuvira all sought to rule and gain power with noble missions as a facade. this is what the series really stands against, people who want to rule to oppress or rule for the sake of it.

This doesn't fully apply with Zaheer, but ig they were just going for "killing is bad mkay" on that one.

The other big misstep of Korra, sort of, is the lack of the sense of adventure. The show has great worldbuilding, but team avatar rarely goes places in LoK. There's a lot less travel and many arcs take place in 1-3 settings, as opposed to across the entire world.

like i don't even think the fire nation was shown on screen a single time lmao. it made LoK have the progression of an anime rather than a western adventure show with an anime sense of scale. the latter isn't bad, it just isn't the same and it was something I had to get used to.

i also thought korra and asmai's relationship was a bigger deal within the show than it actually was. like i get that them holding hands as the show ends was a big deal for when the show aired and for being aired on nick.

but i cant be the only one watching it today on netflix that knew about it and expected a big romantic moment or more buildup to it than there actually was.

overall, korra is a great series with highs and lows like most any other. it kinds still stands in the shadow of TLA but it has a lot of unique points that allow it to be its own, great thing.

if anything i wish it got to be off nick so every character could get 1 f word pass