Korra

[Mongrel]

Yeah, season 2 ended well! I guess I don't really have anything constructive to add there other than to say it was pretty much a steady uphill path after episode 4/5, which is what you guys already said anyway.

I'm just hanging around waiting for a call to go somewhere, so might as well keep right on going.

[Disposable Ninja]

c'mon, man. you have to admit that Bolin saving the President of Republic City was one of the best things ever.

[Mongrel]

c'mon, man. you have to admit that Bolin saving the President of Republic City was one of the best things ever.

Hell yeah! Bolin saves the day was awesome. I just... didn't really have any superlatives to add.

They were pushing the boundaries of the painful old "Multi-episode giant energy martial arts fight" but I think they managed to keep it to a good length; I think if that part had lasted even one more episode it would have been too much, but luckily it was pretty well-paced.

I did think of one beef I managed to have with Season 2:

Whatever, I'm willing to forgive and forget if it means getting to watch Lin beat the hell out of more people

SO MUCH FOR THAT (in season 2).

[Mongrel]

Haha that hipster airbender, holy shit.

[Mothra]

Not exactly Bender of the Year.

[Mongrel]

All caught up. Third season owned. Wow, people even died! Really nice, gutsy ending. Hell there were solidly daring writing choices throughout. The overall plot was vastly more complex this season without being too muddled to follow. Pacing was excellent.

One of the things I really appreciate is how all of Books 3 and (supposedly) 4 pretty much deal with the aftermath of Book 2, which is an awesome change from the usual episodic EVERYTHING BACK TO NORMAL plot. Even in series smart enough to have aftermath-of-the-huge-event episodes, rarely do you see more time devoted to the aftermath than the event itself, even though in real life the aftermath of any major event is longer than that event pretty much 100% of the time. That in particular is really gutsy to do (well, for TV anyway). It actually gives the Book 2 finale a lot of added meaning and weight, whereas that sort of fight is usually meaningless (or quickly rendered so) in similar shows, where the impact sticks to the usual power-up/level-up game.

I see what you guys mean by Bolin looking like a dope, but I guess that's more of a function of just about everybody else in the series growing and travelling in more rarefied circles whereas he just got a few badass XP points (I wouldn't even call it a full level), so Bolin behaving the same way he did in Book 1 becomes jarring.

I guess they've just fallen into the trap of not being able to write comedy as easily for characters who've grown as people. The go-to folks for comic relief, Korra, Bumi, Lin (for straight-manwoman jokes), even Milo are all different people, even though all those characters actually NEED to have some comedic aspects (Korra is especially suffering for this, but that's not to say they they've been doing with her instead hasn't been great). So Bolin-as-Movie-Gimli is getting ridden pretty hard. One of the most blatant ways that shows is how in Book 1, when Korra and Bolin go out, that was actually a credible, fun moment, but the same thing happening with the characters as they are in Book 3 would be absurd. I hoooope that'll be better next season, but I think both 3 & 4 were written at the same time? So they might be pretty close in quality. Though that would still be a pretty damn high standard!

Mako was much better this season, but he still just comes off as sort of bland. He's actually become so sensible and reasonable that he has almost no personality.

Hannibal Lector Korra was good for a laugh, as were the Mad Max earth rebels (they even managed to slip a "walk away" reference in there, yesss). I suspect that earth nation airship crew was a reference to something too, but damned if I know what. And at least Lin got some action time again, finally.

Also, Henry Rollins played Zaheer? Haha what.

EDIT: Another cool thing I noticed is that, except for Bolin's minor ability upgrade, I don't think the series ever falls into the "New power unlocked by WILLPOWER in combat" trope, hell they even make fun of that when Mako and Bolin are in the earth jail and Mako tells Bolin it's his moment. When Korra gets new abilities they're pretty much all the result of her actually learning something.

[Esperath]

Bending is gradually going full D&D.

[patito]

Mako is a basic bitch. As for the villain of part 3, he's pretty great, because he's very unusual when you consider the title of the first show. Asami and Korra going on their own to do stuff without anybody else dragging them down is also pretty quality. And yeah, while the ending of book 2 is pretty disappointing, the fact that book 3 is all about dealing with that shit makes it probably the stronger season so far.

[Büge]

One of the things I really appreciate is how all of Books 3 and (supposedly) 4 pretty much deal with the aftermath of Book 2, which is an gnilley change from the usual episodic EVERYTHING BACK TO NORMAL plot. Even in series smart enough to have aftermath-of-the-huge-event episodes, rarely do you see more time devoted to the aftermath than the event itself, even though in real life the aftermath of any major event is longer than that event pretty much 100% of the time. That in particular is really gutsy to do (well, for TV anyway). It actually gives the Book 2 finale a lot of added meaning and weight, whereas that sort of fight is usually meaningless (or quickly rendered so) in similar shows, where the impact sticks to the usual power-up/level-up game.

If only they had the guts for that in Season 1.

[Mongrel]

One of the things I really appreciate is how all of Books 3 and (supposedly) 4 pretty much deal with the aftermath of Book 2, which is an gnilley change from the usual episodic EVERYTHING BACK TO NORMAL plot. Even in series smart enough to have aftermath-of-the-huge-event episodes, rarely do you see more time devoted to the aftermath than the event itself, even though in real life the aftermath of any major event is longer than that event pretty much 100% of the time. That in particular is really gutsy to do (well, for TV anyway). It actually gives the Book 2 finale a lot of added meaning and weight, whereas that sort of fight is usually meaningless (or quickly rendered so) in similar shows, where the impact sticks to the usual power-up/level-up game.

If only they had the guts for that in Season 1.

In retrospect this made me dislike the ending to season 1 more. See, I was all "More Lin bending fights, yessss!" after the finale of season 1, like this was the implicit tradeoff for the loss of dramatic quality. But when they barely used Lin in Book 2 and only gave her one good fight in Book 3, it was like... why did you even bother? What a waste.

[Mongrel]

Also now I get all of Makani's jokes, which is a 100% bonus, because they are gasoline:





Even better:

[Disposable Ninja]

all i know is she better show up eventually in season 4 or i'm gonna be pissed

[Mothra]

Yeah. They mentioned she was still alive for a reason, I'm sure.

[Mongrel]

Watching TLA now. Will probably take a bit longer because I convinced Starr to watch it too, so straight binging on it is harder.

[Disposable Ninja]

You can go ahead and just skip The Great Divide

ADDENDUM: later on even the show acknowledges how terrible of an episode it was

[patito]

The best rule when people tell you to skip things, is not to listen to them.

[Esperath]

skip patito

[beatbandito]

I wanted to find a reason to defend the episode but couldn't. So there's that.

[Büge]

The Great Divide, Avatar Day and The Painted Lady are all episodes I would classify as optional. They don't really fit in the mythology of the series and only serve as unnecessary detours (both in the narrative and of the narrative).

[Büge]

Although, Avatar Day does have the second and final appearance of foaming mouth guy...