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Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance

Man, I was hoping Zhu Li x Varrick would come to fruition this episode. I definitely believe the two rely on each other more than they think. I can't wait for them to be reunited later in the season. I absolutely loved that Bolin was involved in the failed escape too. It helped tie some loose ends from the second book.

I definitely agree with what others have said about Asami's reunion with her father. It's a poignant reminder that her father's involvement in the Equalist Revolution completely tore her life apart. I was tearing up too as the single tear streamed down her face; it was a beautiful scene.

I can't wait for next week's episode. I want to see Kuvira in battle when a proper challenger approaches.
 

Mask-Salesman

And now.. That imp has it
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Next week's episode will be awesome, I just know it. Can't wait to see what Korra is going to do. Is the Korra (or any Avatar) a match for an entire army of earth/metalbenders? The avatar state is powerfull, but is it as powerfull as it was before? Since the Avatar State draws it's power from the previous Avatars combined, how powerfull is it now that this connection is destroyed? We've only seen the Avatar State used in actual combat versus Zaheer, but Korra was poisened and it wasn't that impressive.

So, do you guys think she stands a chance?
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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Next week's episode will be awesome, I just know it. Can't wait to see what Korra is going to do. Is the Korra (or any Avatar) a match for an entire army of earth/metalbenders? The avatar state is powerfull, but is it as powerfull as it was before? Since the Avatar State draws it's power from the previous Avatars combined, how powerfull is it now that this connection is destroyed? We've only seen the Avatar State used in actual combat versus Zaheer, but Korra was poisened and it wasn't that impressive.

So, do you guys think she stands a chance?

We saw Korra use the Avatar State in her battle against Unalaq at the south pole. The fight against Zaheer wasn't the only time, and that fight was hella impressive regardless of her being poisoned (actually, the fact that she fought like that despite being poisoned was very impressive). But you're right, we haven't seen it used much in combat.

In Book 2 of The Last Airbender, we saw how easily four kids broke into the Earth Kingdom palace, though that wasn't exactly against an army like what Korra is facing. I doubt she'd fight the entire army all by herself, she'd definitely need help. I am gonna guess General Iroh and his forces will make a return to help in the battle. I've heard we're gonna see Zuko's daughter, so maybe she'll be involved in that. Either way, there's no telling where this will go.
 

Sheik

:the:
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...I'm... I'm finally caught up...

After 105 episodes in just a few weeks, I am caught up. I went back and re-watched every single episode of Avatar and Seasons 1-3 of Korra. Just now did I watch what has begun of Season 4. So here I am. In the present.

I don't know how to organize this. Thoughts I have in unsequenced bullet point formation, go.

  • I like how in Season 3's finale, you get a small glimpse of Kuvira. Seriously yesterday I was just watching it and I'm like "oh **** that's season 4's antagonist, isn't it" (having seen her in the trailer for Book 4). Nothing much, but it's kinda neat.
  • Speaking of Kuvira, I'm okay with her so far. She's not a monster. She just has a vision of the future that she believes will help everybody, but will go to completely radical measures to ensure that that vision comes true... Which, as old Toph pointed out, is kind of the recurring theme of Korra's villains (with the exception of Unalaq, because while at first it seemed his goal was to unite both the Poles and the Spirit and Physical Worlds... Well, he was just an underwhelming, world domination-bent villain in the end. Don't go the world-domination route, please. And while at this point, it does kind of seem like Kuvira is more intent on dominating the Earth Kingdom than she is "uniting" it... Well, at least we got that from the start.)
  • Old Toph is awesome.
  • Am I sensing some development in Varrick's character? Because I was thoroughly convinced that Varrick was completely static. It's almost surreal. And Zhu Li abandoning him? That's even more impossible. This is just weird.
  • Korra's internal struggle was interesting to watch. I don't necessarily have any complaints about how quickly she bounced back from it, as others have expressed.

Overall, I'm really enjoying Season 4 so far. So... yeah.
 

Terminus

If I was a wizard this wouldn't be happening to me
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There's no reason for anyone to be mad about her recovery. Would you be mad if someone got faster after they had ankle wights taken off? She had what was holding her back taken away. Simple.
 

Mask-Salesman

And now.. That imp has it
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About Varrick and Zhu (or Ju?) Li abandoning him? I don't but it. I think she is still loyal to him and she's playing Kuvira to plot an escape!

God, this week is taking forever. Can't wait to see a fully healed Avatar Korra in action. Is it possible that, now that she's the first Avatar metal bender, that her metal bending abilities are enhanced in the Avatar State. That would be devastating for Kuvira's army.

Edit: typo
 

Mask-Salesman

And now.. That imp has it
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I've just watched episode 6. Man, I'm so extremely disappointed in this episode. What the hell are they doing?!?! Why, after 6 winey episodes, is Korra still a weak, tormented individual that looks like nothing she has been before?! I mean why? I knew they had to give her some time to recover, but after 6 friggin' episodes she still is worth nothing? What ever happened to the Avatar, the most powerfull individual in the world who could erupt volcanos, create islands and destroy the most powerfull benders in their prime?

And now we have Korra, an extremely badass Avatar who faced some of the greatest treats ever seen? An extremely powerfull bloodbender Amon, the incarnation of Darkness Vaatu and perhaps the most dangerous group ever to walk the Avatar universe; the Red Lotus. Seriously, if the Red Lotus would have teamed up against Firelord Ozai, he would be defeated in 2 minutes. Korra survived them and is now defeated by some semi-skilled metal bender? And because of what? She is still not healed!? How long are the creators gonna play that card? I don't want to see a weak, struggeling Korra that is running away from everything, I want a Korra that deals with the problems at hand.

And yes, offcourse I know in the end it will all be fine, since that's always the deal in these kind of stories. But from the final season I expected more! Go out with a blast! Korra was one of the strongest characters I've ever seen, not also physically but also mentally. And now? Seriously guys, i'm so disappointed. Worst Avatar episode ever since the first episode of TLA.

The only positive thing is that I'm really digging team Varrick/Bolin. Awesome combo those two. But the rest was pure crap.
 

Fig

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I've just watched episode 6. Man, I'm so extremely disappointed in this episode. What the hell are they doing?!?! Why, after 6 winey episodes, is Korra still a weak, tormented individual that looks like nothing she has been before?! I mean why? I knew they had to give her some time to recover, but after 6 friggin' episodes she still is worth nothing? What ever happened to the Avatar, the most powerfull individual in the world who could erupt volcanos, create islands and destroy the most powerfull benders in their prime?

And now we have Korra, an extremely badass Avatar who faced some of the greatest treats ever seen? An extremely powerfull bloodbender Amon, the incarnation of Darkness Vaatu and perhaps the most dangerous group ever to walk the Avatar universe; the Red Lotus. Seriously, if the Red Lotus would have teamed up against Firelord Ozai, he would be defeated in 2 minutes. Korra survived them and is now defeated by some semi-skilled metal bender? And because of what? She is still not healed!? How long are the creators gonna play that card? I don't want to see a weak, struggeling Korra that is running away from everything, I want a Korra that deals with the problems at hand.

And yes, offcourse I know in the end it will all be fine, since that's always the deal in these kind of stories. But from the final season I expected more! Go out with a blast! Korra was one of the strongest characters I've ever seen, not also physically but also mentally. And now? Seriously guys, i'm so disappointed. Worst Avatar episode ever since the first episode of TLA.

The only positive thing is that I'm really digging team Varrick/Bolin. Awesome combo those two. But the rest was pure crap.

If you are honestly disappointed by this episode, then I don't think you know what it's like to suffer either mentally, physically, etc. Sure Korra got rid of the poison outside of her, but that doesn't mean she is fully recovered. Using Term's analogy of someone recovering from a broken ankle I assume, sure the ankle can be fully fixed on the medical side, that doesn't mean you should just start running miles after the surgery. More than like, the patient will either have to use crutches to still support himself/herself or simply be careful when doing extreme or casual activities such as walking. There's a reason why doctors will say "The procedure was a success, however you can't do ________ for 5-6 weeks." because while they did successfully healed the person from pain, the patient can't just willy-nilly do things that the body used to do.

And this part of the episode is what makes it great because it reminds us that this is Korra who is trying to recover. She's always about doing things right on the spot and never wanting to wait a second later, and that's what she did with her recovery. Even when it took her three years to recover, she was trying to get better as quick as possible. All I'm saying is to criticize realistically even with fictional characters. There's a reason why you like such characters, so it's only fair to criticize their actions, personality, and ideologies with proper criticism than just "this is terrible because I didn't want this to happen".
 

Mask-Salesman

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If you are honestly disappointed by this episode, then I don't think you know what it's like to suffer either mentally, physically, etc. Sure Korra got rid of the poison outside of her, but that doesn't mean she is fully recovered. Using Term's analogy of someone recovering from a broken ankle I assume, sure the ankle can be fully fixed on the medical side, that doesn't mean you should just start running miles after the surgery. More than like, the patient will either have to use crutches to still support himself/herself or simply be careful when doing extreme or casual activities such as walking. There's a reason why doctors will say "The procedure was a success, however you can't do ________ for 5-6 weeks." because while they did successfully healed the person from pain, the patient can't just willy-nilly do things that the body used to do.

I really don't see why my personal situation should have anything to do with a cartoon. If you recognise yourself in characters or situations from a show, you might like the show more or better. But that doesn't mean that if I never experienced such a situation (not saying I did or I didn't) I can't say a particular scene or episode is bad. I respect your opinion, but come on?! Before the season started Korra has been recovering for 3 years. Now we have seen 6 episodes filled with Korra suffering and recovering. I love the story lines in the Avatar series, the awesome characters, the humor. But the awesome fight scenes and total bad-assery of the Avatar is a big part of the charm. I personally have seen enough recovering. Korra lost every single fight in this season. I mean come on, she's the Avatar! The fact a series is good or bad has nothing to do with my personal situation. I'm just not really feeling the season so far.

And this part of the episode is what makes it great because it reminds us that this is Korra who is trying to recover. She's always about doing things right on the spot and never wanting to wait a second later, and that's what she did with her recovery. Even when it took her three years to recover, she was trying to get better as quick as possible. All I'm saying is to criticize realistically even with fictional characters. There's a reason why you like such characters, so it's only fair to criticize their actions, personality, and ideologies with proper criticism than just "this is terrible because I didn't want this to happen".

Why should my critisism be ''unrealistic''? Because I say Korra is taking to long to recover? If I'd watch Dragonball Z and Goku would fight again 5 minutes after he's been beaten to a bloody pulp and I'd say that he was recovering to fast, would you also say that's unrealistic? How can you put a reasonable recovery time on a cartoon character that's been recovering for 3 years straight?

Listen kind sir, don't get me wrong, I love to discuss the series with someone in this way, but I do think the series is missing some serious pace right now. Maybe this is because season 3 was so extremely good. But you can't call someone unrealistic simply because he looks at the series different then you do.
 
I love the Varrick side of the story. It keeps getting better and better. With Zhu Li now tasked to be Batar Jr.'s assistant in developing the project, things have gotten quite complicated.

The fight between Korra and Kuvira was alright. It mostly served as a preview of what we'll see later in the season. I definitely agree with Fig that seeing herself helpless in Kuvira shows that while Korra may no longer be physically afflicted by the metal poison, she still has a lot to go mentally. It was also a clever way to once more present Kuvira as a foil to Korra.

The pacing of the book has been pretty good thus far. I think peoples' opinion are positive if they prefer a good story, which this book has offered in spades, whereas others want more action. Since we'll be hitting the halfway point of the season next week, things will likely get a lot more heated. Here's hoping for more Mako screen time.
 

Zorth

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I am more disappointed with this season than Bataar is with his son. Main issues would be both the protagonist & villain, plus the lack of logic in how events are unfolding.

Korra arrives at the last city left by Kuvira to conquer and still manages to be naive and useless even with "training" by Yoda (Toph) prior to that. When it comes to the fight, Kuvira could've just stayed put since Korra basically defeated herself with those lame visions coming back. She was terrible without the avatar state and still managed to need the help of 2 airbenders when she failed miserably with god-mode enabled. I feel that the writers could've at least made her escape, wreaking some havoc behind her and intimidating Kuvira a little bit.

Kuvira is also just a boring character in my opinion. The previous villains at least had some deeper reasons for doing what they did, this girl is just being a classic douchebag and I am finding it hard to stay interested in her character. Her origin story was fine and was a good start, but her bad lying and extortion schemes to expand her empire are just so far in the wrong direction, resulting in weird power hunger for... reasons. I would much rather have an insane Kuvira that actually thinks what she is doing is for the better than just an evil witch that is pretending to be some saviour and is just terrible at keeping up the fake act.

Then there's my issue with the use of characters.

- The level of Suyin's stupidity in her recent stunt is just beyond my comprehension

- The world leaders just being off-screen letting some annoying woman expand her empire is also baffling

- Mako and Asami having so little screen time is also very weird/stupid/illogical/

- The air-bending kids actually getting their own episode where we find out more things about them which we already knew is also a pretty cool move

- Bolin still being the same immature and slightly mentally underdeveloped person that he was in season 1 except that he can now add 1 more thing to his "not to do list" which would be being useful by lavabending


I am honestly more interested at this point in how Asami & her father's relationship will turn out, than if some metal city gets captured and the avatar dies and never comes back. Oh well, shouldn't complain too much. This show did afterall have its moments, and it probably wasn't made to be perfectly logical and unique all the time.

6/10
 

Sydney

The Good Samaritan
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Am I the only one who really liked this week's episode? I've seen quite a few people that were disappointed with it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it (especially long-haired Kuvira MMMM QIMME DAT). I also noticed that a lot of people we're complaining that Korra's recovery was almost instantaneous, and I hope that this episode serves as a reminder that it wasn't. In fact, I don't expect her to "recover" until the end of the book at the very soonest. I think it's still a little early to judge the book, as we can definitely expect to see Team Avatar reunite in the near future, and see how far Kuvira advances with the Spirit Vine technology. On a side note, I'd personally like more background info on Kuvira. We got some, but I feel that there could be more.

Also, there's an obvious... pfffttt KORRALATION BETWEEN KUVIRA AND KORRA

HUHHH

HUHHHHHUHUHUHUH

okay i'll stop now
 

Azure Sage

March onward forever...
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I loved this week's episode. Seeing that Korra was still struggling put a smile on my face, because now her recovery really doesn't feel rushed anymore. So happy about that. I mean, it sucks that she got her butt kicked, but still. (Saying it put a smile in my face is kinda mean, heh.) Everything else about this episode was great, too. Kuvira continuing to be the hardass that she is, Su trying to do everything she can to stop her but still failing, Bolin in general (love that guy, he's the best), and Varrick essentially trying to kill himself because he lost Zhu Li was powerful. Zhu Li thought he didn't give a monkey-rat's butt about her, but without her he's losing his mind. I doubt he's considering that he should've treated her nicer, considering he's, y'know, Varrick, but it's still cool to see him realizing how much he needed her.

also can't wait to see mako's face when he learns bolin is "dead"
 

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