The Legend of Korra: Book 3
- Thread starter Agent Richard07
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Okay, this is my fault for not explaining myself clearly. I didn't mean "scary" in the sense of "chilling," but in the sense of, "I think strong, intimidating women are hot, and I really liked what I saw." So scary in a good way. (After all, this is the heroine of my first original novel.)
There is no way that "if you want to talk or... anything" moment was played completely platonic. They may be required to keep it subtextual, but there is no way that scene wasn't deliberately designed to be suggestive. I figure they're pulling a Xena/Gabrielle -- making the relationship intentionally ambiguous so that fans with different preferences/expectations can read it however they like.
I hadn't considered that she'd be suicidal, but it did occur to me that being physically infirm would be very disturbing for her and would threaten her very physically based sense of identity. It also occurred to me that she might feel she's failed as the Avatar. She could feel she failed to protect the Avatar Cycle, that it was really Jinora and Suyin who saved her and everyone else, and now she's seeing Tenzin and the airbenders taking over what's supposed to be her job. So there's definitely likely to be some self-doubt there.
"Got to?" As if that were a desirable thing? What a disturbing way to put it.
When I saw that tear the first time around, I thought that Korra was moved by Jinora's ceremony but having just watched the two episodes again, it does look like Korra is depressed in some way. Either she'll recover with a new resolve or she'll hang up the avatar cycle on her own terms.
Rearranging your list to fit my preference...
Season 2 (from "Beginnings" onward)
Season 1
Season 3
Season 2 (everything before "Beginnings")
Before this episode, did anyone ever try lightning against Ming-Hua? I saw that one coming.
I can say as someone who knows that that was definitely depression.
Well, they wouldn't spend 13 episodes with Korra moping around and wanting to give up, so I assume she'll find her way back in the first episode or two of Book 4. And I don't get all this speculation about the Avatar cycle ending. The Avatar is the source of balance in the world. Not to mention that there will need to be an Avatar 10,000 years from now when Vaatu reassembles and it's time for the next Harmonic Convergence.
Not to mention that Korra's grown so much into the Avatar role this season, as so many have observed. She's getting pretty good at it and has done things no Avatar has done before, like reopening the spirit portals and learning to metalbend (okay, that was an anticlimactic, if chronological, ordering). If anything, she's a new start to the cycle, not the end. The severing of her past lives has left her a blank slate on which she's starting to build anew. She's the Peter Capaldi of Avatars.
I'm drawing a blank here, I'm trying to remember if Azula ever tried to electrocute Katarra in the middle of her water-bending. That's definitely a weakness!
And have we ever seen Mako lightning-bend before? I don't recall him doing so... and I'm rewatching Book 2 right now...
And have we ever seen Mako lightning-bend before? I don't recall him doing so... and I'm rewatching Book 2 right now...
Mako got a job lightning-bending at a power plant in Book 1. It's how he was trying to raise money for the tournament before he met Asami and got the Future Industries sponsorship.
Damn! I had a whole reply typed out and then I hit something that closed the Trek BBS tab. I'll try to remember what I said. 
What will they do about Vaatu in 10,000 years? I don't know. What did they do before the avatar? If the cycle is to end, I'm sure something will happen to keep him in check. Maybe he and Raava will be sent off in some new twist, leaving this world in peace without them.
Agreed, but it's still possible for her to question things both as a result of what's happened so far and in the midst of whatever new challenge Book 4 brings.
It's something I've glommed onto with Korra and it looks like a lot of other people have as well. Aang's story was about the avatar restoring balance but Korra's so far has been about the status of the avatar itself. On top of that, the world itself is changing in a way it never has before. Given all that, the avatar cycle will inevitably be questioned. I can't imagine not doing so. And as we learned in "Beginnings", the avatar is basically some guy who just happened to acquire four elements and join with Raava. He made a purpose for himself but is the avatar role truly necessary, especially in the modern world? If the natural order or a critical mass of people feel that it isn't then something will change.
What will they do about Vaatu in 10,000 years? I don't know. What did they do before the avatar? If the cycle is to end, I'm sure something will happen to keep him in check. Maybe he and Raava will be sent off in some new twist, leaving this world in peace without them.
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The way I see it, though, the Avatar was an innovation that made things better than they'd been before, like the invention of new tools to protect and provide for people or the development of institutions and laws that provided a better way for people to solve problems than hitting each other. Society progresses through such innovations. The only way I could see the Avatar cycle ending is if it were replaced with something that did the job better.
And I don't want the cycle to end because I want a later series about an Avatar in space.
There's always my old idea about bending multiple elements somehow being made available to everyone. The nature of bending has changed before. First, people energy bended, then the turtles lent out the power, then we had four nations each bending one element, now we have people like Amon, new airbenders, advanced skills coming out and changing attitudes. Who knows what else is due as part of this shift.
Somehow I've always thought that bending was tied to the earth, meaning that people may not be able to bend if they go out in space or to other planets. They can't bend in the spirit world and water benders need the moon for starters. Just an idea.And I don't want the cycle to end because I want a later series about an Avatar in space.
Yeah, that's definitely possible. It was just such a huge element in Season 2's second half and - except for a few cases - just vanished for most of this Season.
Well that's certainly a new use of 'scary' on me, and I tend to think I'm fairly caught up on lingo.
"Scary hot" I'd have probably got. "If you want to talk or..." go bust some triads? Tool around the Future Industries Track? Spar/pracitce/work out? Get away from it all on an airship (heyo more subtext!)? Ok, obviously none of those but the last in her current state, but they're all viable options we've seen between them. They could be going for a Sisko/Jadzia dynamic here. I mean, I get the same read and I'm up for it but I just can't go with it as the only possibility. That way lies Zutara madness.
A suicidal state definitely occurred to me especially when I think back to Season 1; Korra's become enormously more confident and comfortable with herself but the fight with Zaheer was brutal. I don't expect them to come right out and say it but I wouldn't be surprised if the first episode or two has her friends (Asami particularly?) trying to help her get through the crippling physical and mental damage from the poison (fighting the avatar state like that so long probably wasn't good for her either).
I thought of that about 5 seconds before Mako did, heh. It doesn't seem to be something you can call on as quickly or reflexively as regular firebending though - even Azula rarely used lightning in her fights - so maybe that's part of it.
I just finished watching and I'm crying. Korra has to keep fighting, even though she's lost so much...
I smiled at just how much Jinora looked like Aang. But with big brown eyes.
I smiled at just how much Jinora looked like Aang. But with big brown eyes.
Wan is the reason the world became unbalanced in the first place. He only became the Avatar in order to fix his mistake. True balance would be to send Raava and Vaatu back into the Spirit World to duke it out by themselves...without any attachment to the Avatar at all.
The Avatar is nothing more than a bandaid.
Why the hate for early Season 2? I just finished rewatching the first six episodes and the only one I didn't care for was "The Sting" because it just felt like Season 1. I thought the opening four were really good and I loved how a vast new cast of supporting characters was introduced, we got away from Republic City, we saw the spirits again, etc.
Remember, at the end of Season 1, when Korra had lost her powers, she went to a cliff to commit suicide. It was only Aang's intervention that saved her.
Remember, at the end of Season 1, when Korra had lost her powers, she went to a cliff to commit suicide. It was only Aang's intervention that saved her.
I think part of the problem with the first half of season 2 was that Korra's character development seemed to have been reset. With the exception of her air bending, you could go from "Welcome to Republic City" to "Rebel Spirit" and not notice any difference in the character on the surface.
Of course she did change, but only a bit. Season 1's Korra was brutish, almost to the point of being a bully. She reacted to any thing that was in her way with mindless violence and wasn't at all interested in the responsibility of being the Avatar. She was arrogant, being openly a show off and blamed others for her own shortcomings.
Early season 2's Korra had practically the same flaws, minus the brutishness and bully like behavior. After the flashback to Wan (who was very similar to Korra) and the meeting with Iroh in the spirit world, she became far more "balanced" and at peace.
Which led to the far more responsible and less headstrong (certainly less arrogant) Korra we got in season 3.
Of course she did change, but only a bit. Season 1's Korra was brutish, almost to the point of being a bully. She reacted to any thing that was in her way with mindless violence and wasn't at all interested in the responsibility of being the Avatar. She was arrogant, being openly a show off and blamed others for her own shortcomings.
Early season 2's Korra had practically the same flaws, minus the brutishness and bully like behavior. After the flashback to Wan (who was very similar to Korra) and the meeting with Iroh in the spirit world, she became far more "balanced" and at peace.
Which led to the far more responsible and less headstrong (certainly less arrogant) Korra we got in season 3.
I'm not sure whether that would be an improvement or just chaos. For one thing, if different people have different bending abilities, it creates an incentive for them to work together to achieve things that can't be done with just one type of bending.
Somehow I've always thought that bending was tied to the earth, meaning that people may not be able to bend if they go out in space or to other planets. They can't bend in the spirit world and water benders need the moon for starters. Just an idea.And I don't want the cycle to end because I want a later series about an Avatar in space.
I'd settle for an Avatar in a high-tech, futuristic Earthbound setting, I guess. We rarely see fantasy worlds taken into science-fiction-style settings, and it's a blend I'd like to see explored. I often wonder what all these medieval or steampunk fantasy worlds will be like a thousand years later.
It's not just the words, it's the way the scene was presented. Like I said, the first shot in the scene was an extreme close-up of Asami's lips as she parted Korra's hairpin with her teeth. (With the added implication that she'd just dressed Korra.) The way she spoke to Korra and cared for her, the way she looked at her and touched her, the tone in her voice -- I'm sure there was more intentional subtext there than just "Let's be pals."
Well, as I said, they have to keep it ambiguous. But what I'm saying is that it's intentionally ambiguous, that the suggestion of romantic subtext is something the creators wanted to be there rather than just something viewers are reading into it. I mentioned Xena and Gabrielle before; that was a case where the producers were aware that they had a large lesbian fan following but also didn't want to risk alienating their heterosexual fanbase, so they deliberately played the relationship so that it could be read as either a really warm platonic friendship or as a lesbian love affair that happened mostly off-camera. That way, neither category of shipper was explicitly excluded. I don't doubt that Korra also has a strong lesbian fanbase, so it makes sense that Bryan & Mike would do the same thing, make Korra/Asami a relationship that could be read either way.
Well, Mako may have thought of it much earlier; he just couldn't use lightning until he'd gotten himself safely out of the water, which took some doing.
The lion turtles were clear about that one, no human can hold more than one element, even wan only ever had one, Raava held the others, only the bonded human/spirit avatar can bend all elements and that power comes from Raava, she holds all the elements, not the human she's bonded with.
I can't see them changing that, it's a fundamental rule of the world the writers created, even the lion turtles seemed to specialize in one element and didn't have more than one.
Zaheer got so mad I think he went off-model at the end. 
I wonder about the fate of the next book with this move to online-only. They claim it's a positive move somehow but I remain skeptical. Guess we'll find out.
I wonder about the fate of the next book with this move to online-only. They claim it's a positive move somehow but I remain skeptical. Guess we'll find out.
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