287 replies to this topic

[Jared]

I liked the filler episode. I felt it was needed, as the series is coming to a close and people need time to reflect on the past.

[Fabbrizio]

Oh my god, I just realized what the writers are doing.

Spoiler

Its a World War II metaphor. Rebublic City and Korra are the allies, Kuvira's army is the axis, with Kuvira herself as Hitler. Spirit vines are nuclear energy, with the spirit reactor as the atom bomb. That would make Varrick Albert Einstein. The parallels are almost exact. It hit me when Varrick and Raiko were talking about the suits, how Raiko thought there was no other way to stop Kuvira than using spirit vines. Sounds a lot like Hiroshima to me. And Varrick refuses to let them use it as a weapon - yep, Einstein. In conclusion, holy shit and well played.

[Russ]

Spoiler

There's more World War II parallels where that came from.

But yeah, Kuvira's been pulling a Hitler from day one. Concentration camps for the political dissidents and ethnically impure? Check. Taking "temporary" dictatorial power? Check. Just having one "final" territorial demand, since the land technically should belong to the country anyways? Check. She's been following Hitler to a tee.

[Fabbrizio]

Spoiler

I was wise to Kuvira's Hitler antics early on, I just didn't pick up on it being Axis and Allies down to the letter. The fact that everyone is in place and filling their roles blew my mind.

Also, the Su versus Kuvira metalbending fight, though brief, might have been the coolest bit of animation this season.

[Beefster]

Spoiler

Wow... That's an early WWII... They didn't even have a great depression. Skipping straight from the Roaring Twenties to WWII.

 

Unless...

 

Harmonic Convergence is supposed to be a parallel of the 1929 stock market crash, and the vines in Republic city represent the depression. The fall of the Earth Queen parallels the spread of the depression to Europe.

 

But that might be stretching it a little. You could find symbolism on a starburst wrapper if you wanted.

 

Either way: It's interesting that Raiko resembles FDR  Theodore Roosevelt. Wrong Roosevelt for the parallel, but still interesting.

 

....

 

EDIT:

 

But wait. In a way, doesn't that make the Water Tribe Civil War sort of a parallel to WWI? Republic city parallels America, so because Raiko refused to get involved and that reflects the attitude of America, and the only modern war that relates in that way is WWI... Then in that case, the resemblance of the President makes more sense.

 

What would the Equalist movement relate to then? It can't be the populist movement, as that was after WWI IIRC. I suppose it could relate to slavery, but that is probably too far of a stretch.

 

...

 

Honestly, the parallels have to be pretty fuzzy. Varrick would have to represent a handful of other inventors/scientists (Thomas Edison & Nikola Tesla, to name two), not just Einstein, given his past inventions. Plus whoever started Hollywood.

Edited by Beefster, 07 December 2014 - 11:51 PM.

[Russ]

Spoiler

Obviously you can't draw out these parallels too far. Hiroshi Sato is based on Henry Ford, for example, and yet I don't seem to recall Henry Ford building weapons of mass destruction for supervillains at any point in history. That said, it is fun seeing just how closely you can compare Korra's history with out own. I actually hadn't thought of the Water Tribe Civil War being WWI, but it kinda works.

[Beefster]

I don't know if this has been discussed on another page, but I just found this picture of a quote from one of the Dalai Lamas, whose name was "Tenzin Gyatso."

Tenzin was named after Monk Gyatso. His first name was never mentioned originally, so it only makes sense that Monk Gyatso's secret first name was Tenzin, especially considering that Aang/Katara's other two kids are named after important people in their lives. (Bumi after the king of Omashu and only living contemporary to Aang, and Kya after Katara's mother)

[Beefster]

Spoiler

Kuvira is a monster. Truly, she is Hitler reincarnate! Minus the genocide...

 

When are Varrick and Zhu Li going to kiss?

Next week is the finale!...

That's a little bittersweet...

[Jared]

Very bittersweet. Needless to say, I'm sure it'll be tear inducing. I'm excited for it, but I'm also dreading Friday.

[Jared]

The end is near. If anyone didn't know, the final episode(s) go online at midnight EST (In less than an hour and a half), or 9pm PST.

 

Gotta get my tissues ready.

Edited by Jared, 18 December 2014 - 10:49 PM.

[Jared]

Well...it's all over now. That finale was AMAZING. In fact, I think it was my first show finale. Ever.

 

I'll wait until tomorrow to spill it all in the thread, just in case.

[Moonbread]

/!\SERIES FINALE SPOILERS AHEAD/!\

 

Spoiler

I'm just waiting for everyone who's in shameful, shameful denial that Korra and Asami are an item.  I'm basically preempting this response for inevitable posts about this.

 

 

Because if that ain't the look of two people in love, I don't know what is.  I don't know about you, but I don't just hold hands with anyone while saying that we should go on a private vacation, just the two of us, while staring into each others eyes. (While yes, going in for a kiss would've been nice, homosexuality is considered illegal in some countries that the show airs in, so that may have caused problems there.  Plus Nickelodeon is full of ignorant shit-bags.)  But anyway, honestly, there was a lot of build up to it.  I mean, the reason Asami and Korra both had struggles with Mako, to me, is that there wasn't really a friendship built as a solid foundation.  For them, the relationships were just sorta jumped into willy-nilly, because "it felt good at the time."  But Korra and Asami had a friendship built over time.  If you paid attention, they grew closer and closer, to the point that Korra didn't even trust anyone else but her, at one point.  That's how good relationships blossom.  People talk about wanting them to just be close friends, but guess what- your partner should be your best friend in the first place!  Otherwise, what the hell are you even doing with them?  The most successful relationships I've seen, the people I've seen get happily married and/or happily living together were all really good friends before dating, or at the very least, learned to become best friends before putting a ring on a finger.

 

I know people will think they were strictly straight and that this is purely platonic because, "Well they like boys, they dated Mako."  Discovering your own sexuality and how you feel about certain people is a growing process.  Some people feel completely set in stone from the get-go, but a lot of people spend a good chunk of their lives questioning how they feel.  I'm friends with plenty of both.  With Asami as someone she was close to, especially since she'd never really had any girl friends before for the past 16 years of her life, that could've very easily led Korra to consider feelings she'd never thought about before.  Or maybe she always felt open about who she could fall in love with.  Either way, there's no cut-off date to think about how you truly feel about yourself and/or another person.

 

And besides, who ends an amazing series with two people intimately standing together, alone, in a gorgeous atmosphere following an incredibly intense climax, after the most romantic kind of occasion ever, saying, "Let's be really good friends like we've already been!"  Pffffffffft.

 

(Also I totally freaking called it when Bolin said, "You may now do the thing."  Didn't know he could marry people though, that's pretty dang neato.  Varrick and Zhu Li are tied for best relationship and best characters in this series.)

[Fabbrizio]

Because of finals I'm actually two episodes behind. But I plan to make time today to watch both. Super excited.

[Jared]

/!\SERIES FINALE SPOILERS AHEAD/!\

 

Spoiler

I'm just waiting for everyone who's in shameful, shameful denial that Korra and Asami are an item.  I'm basically preempting this response for inevitable posts about this.

 

 

Because if that ain't the look of two people in love, I don't know what is.  I don't know about you, but I don't just hold hands with anyone while saying that we should go on a private vacation, just the two of us, while staring into each others eyes. (While yes, going in for a kiss would've been nice, homosexuality is considered illegal in some countries that the show airs in, so that may have caused problems there.  Plus Nickelodeon is full of ignorant shit-bags.)  But anyway, honestly, there was a lot of build up to it.  I mean, the reason Asami and Korra both had struggles with Mako, to me, is that there wasn't really a friendship built as a solid foundation.  For them, the relationships were just sorta jumped into willy-nilly, because "it felt good at the time."  But Korra and Asami had a friendship built over time.  If you paid attention, they grew closer and closer, to the point that Korra didn't even trust anyone else but her, at one point.  That's how good relationships blossom.  People talk about wanting them to just be close friends, but guess what- your partner should be your best friend in the first place!  Otherwise, what the hell are you even doing with them?  The most successful relationships I've seen, the people I've seen get happily married and/or happily living together were all really good friends before dating, or at the very least, learned to become best friends before putting a ring on a finger.

 

I know people will think they were strictly straight and that this is purely platonic because, "Well they like boys, they dated Mako."  Discovering your own sexuality and how you feel about certain people is a growing process.  Some people feel completely set in stone from the get-go, but a lot of people spend a good chunk of their lives questioning how they feel.  I'm friends with plenty of both.  With Asami as someone she was close to, especially since she'd never really had any girl friends before for the past 16 years of her life, that could've very easily led Korra to consider feelings she'd never thought about before.  Or maybe she always felt open about who she could fall in love with.  Either way, there's no cut-off date to think about how you truly feel about yourself and/or another person.

 

And besides, who ends an amazing series with two people intimately standing together, alone, in a gorgeous atmosphere following an incredibly intense climax, after the most romantic kind of occasion ever, saying, "Let's be really good friends like we've already been!"  Pffffffffft.

 

(Also I totally freaking called it when Bolin said, "You may now do the thing."  Didn't know he could marry people though, that's pretty dang neato.  Varrick and Zhu Li are tied for best relationship and best characters in this series.)

 

 

Literally couldn't have said this better if I even tried. *Cries more*

[The Satellite]

Spoiler

A ton of shit happened and all people care about is lesbians.

 

I'm keeping the above line because it's actually kind of funny, even if not for the reasons I intended in 2014. Speaking of, 2014 me, stop being a goddamn homophobe. The short paragraph that was here was borderline and no longer exists. Everything from here on down is as originally written.

 

Like how a third portal is gonna affect the next Harmonic Convergence. Seriously, the energy that flowed through two portals was astounding already, but three? That's gonna be insane. Granted it won't be for another 9,997 years... and honestly I wonder what the Avatarverse will even be like in that time. Probably scarily advanced, I mean in less than a hundred years, things got pretty advanced already, give them one hundred times that and... my mind hurts. I'm gonna go sit down...

 

Zhu Li is the most patient person in the world, just saying, but at least she and Varrick tied the knot, Varrick with the best proposal of all time. And Bolin was apparently a licensed clergy, who knew? Varrick definitely was one of the best characters of the series, though he should've gotten arrested after the wedding for escaping from prison.

 

I called way long ago that Hiroshi would reappear to help build something anti-Kuvira, though I figured he would end up dying once he appeared in this episode and got into the fight. That was kinda sad, but he redeemed himself for his actions in book one, going out like a true hero. If you'd told him way back when what he'd end up doing, he'd probably zap you.

 

Part of me feels like Mako should've died. It's awesome on Bolin for going back in there to nab his brother in the nick of time, but Mako sacrificing himself for the city would have been pretty powerful and maybe made the finale a little better. I'm glad he got out, but I'm a sucker for good sacrifices. I know Hiroshi died but he wasn't incredibly prominent; something should've happened to someone we cared about. Maybe. I dunno.

 

Kuvira got off too easy, I think. It appears everyone was right all along, that she was a well-intentioned extremist, but honestly I reflect and think she's kind of a weaker villain. Amon, Unalaq, and Zaheer were aiming for more widespread effect, globally, whereas Kuvira just wanted to unite her people and rule them with an iron fist; she didn't seem like she was going to become the next Ozai or anything. Closing out the series with her as a villain seems... kind of deflating somehow. I mean it was cool how the spirit wilds fueled the cannon, made it go out of control, and Korra managed to energybend the lasers into a new spirit portal somehow, but what I was expecting (and it would have been awesome) was for Kuvira to get offed by vengeful spirits after her cutting up the swamp.

 

On that note, I don't feel like this finale really wrapped up the series very well. It left a lot of things open, and I know Raiko said something about expanding Republic City, but it felt like a hand-waving the fact that the city was so messed up and left things in a sorry state, though not as sorry as Ba Sing Se was left at the end of book three. I would have liked to have seen Kuvira and Baatar, Jr. have some kind of heart-to-heart, instead of Kuvira turning herself in and disappearing. I dunno, a lot just felt way too open, as opposed to book one's ending where they made sure everything was wrapped up. Maybe they're sequel hooks for eventual comic series or something. We can hope. Who knows.

 

Final thing was... with the undertones every season has had so far, all the implication that the world didn't need an Avatar anymore, I'm surprised Korra made it out of there alive. I was expecting it to end with, well, the end of the Avatar. Again, maybe that will happen, but if they were to do that, it would feel cheap to do it in a comic book instead of in animation. However, I wouldn't blame them for never wanting to go anywhere near Nickelodeon ever again.

 

Book Four was still good. The Legend of Korra is still a very good series. These are just some of my own observations, but we'll see how the future holds.

 

Oh, and I never want to hear Wu sing again.

 

Well, it was a wild journey, hard to believe it's over. I'm curious and hopeful to see what comes next after this. But... for the love of God, I hope they can find a better network or owner than Nickelodeon so they won't get screwed around anymore.