The Legend of Korra, Book 5: It's canon. Deal with it.

[Morty]

I'd actually argue the issues with Aang and Katara, and the sheer deathdoom of Mako and Korra, made them realize that relationships should be really funny and cute (Variq and Julee (I forget how to spell her name) ) or subtle and nuanced (Zaheer and the Giantess, Korra and Asami).

Varrick and Zhu Li's relationship was mildly amusing, so I didn't mind it, yeah. Zhu Li also finally told Varrick to shut up and start treating her seriously, which he had badly needed.

In broad concept, perhaps. Given they weren't actually trying to do anything as complex as the ideas they based the season on lead us to believe though, maybe not so much in practice.

That's true. They didn't really know how to handle the plot they chose for that season.

Maybe, maybe not. They did okay with Katara and Aang in the first series, mostly - slow buildup with them being friends for a long time before Aang tries to take his early-established crush any further, which worked well. And yeah, most of the minor couples work fine - not great, definitely not complex, but not bad. I kinda think the main reason they screwed up the relationships involving Mako so bad is because of the decision to make a love triangle out of them. I can't imagine what good could ever come from one of those, personally.

It also occurs to me that doing that meant that they had no chance to do any sort of buildup of the relationships, as they did with Katara and Aang. Korra had to fall head over heels for Mako almost right after meeting him, and his developing feelings for her was only delayed until after he started seeing Asami for the sake of setting up the love triangle in the first place, and they quickly jumped right into the triangle's drama almost as soon as Asami was introduced. And going so fast with it leaves you with the impression that everyone is chasing shallow crushes or simple physical attraction, not that they're really in love. Part of this of course is because they thought they only had the twelve episodes to work with too, but you could still do some buildup to a romance in that time, if you weren't also trying to fit in love triangle drama.

I'm not a huge fan of Aang/Katara, actually. It's not nearly as bad as the romance in Book One of LoK, obviously, but it's just hopelessly formulaic. Boy meets girl, pines after her for three seasons, but she does love him in the end.

Mako/Korra... yeah. Apart from the love triangle, it's just incredibly forced. At its core, it's also a formulaic love story - hot-headed girl, handsome brooding boy. Except that it was crammed into a story that was already strained beyond capacity, so it skips from one cliché to another, with nothing in-between.

At least we got to see Mako get grilled by Wu, Tu and Grandma Yin over it later. That counts for something.

[LaZodiac]

I can't imagine what good could ever come from one of those, personally.

Korrasami happened

Varick is almost never serious, outside of hatching a few evil schemes. Serious Varick, is boring Varick.

Serious Varick also Tony Starked an EMP generator to kill a squad of robots out of a border guard control panel.

[Zevox]

Varrick and Zhu Li's relationship was mildly amusing, so I didn't mind it, yeah. Zhu Li also finally told Varrick to shut up and start treating her seriously, which he had badly needed.

Oh yes, definitely. I also quite liked the scene where Zhu Li brown-noses Kuvira by insulting Varrick. I know she says later that she didn't mean any of it, but I kinda want to think she meant something like half of it, because it sounded like the kind of things someone in her position would've been holding in for a long time, no matter how enamored with the guy she might be.

I'm not a huge fan of Aang/Katara, actually. It's not nearly as bad as the romance in Book One of LoK, obviously, but it's just hopelessly formulaic. Boy meets girl, pines after her for three seasons, but she does love him in the end.

I certainly wouldn't say I'm a huge fan of it, but I don't think any less of it than I do most of the romances in the series. It's simple and very by-the-book, sure, but so are pretty much all of them in these shows, and most of them at least work okay in the end. The only thing that ever really bothered me about it was that they introduced the idea that Katara was unsure of her feelings for Aang in Ember Island Players, but then never addressed it again, just having them get together in the last scene like they obviously were always going to do. Kinda pointless to include that if they didn't even have time to give it a brief resolution before that happened.

At least we got to see Mako get grilled by Wu, Tu and Grandma Yin over it later. That counts for something.

Ah yes, that was great. It almost justifies the clip show episode's existence by itself, really.

Korrasami happened

Very indirectly, maybe, in that the love triangle's problems may have been why the creators decided to break Mako and Korra up, which gave that the opportunity to happen. That's stretching the definition of "coming from it" beyond my breaking point for it though, personally.

[LaZodiac]

Ah yes, that was great. It almost justifies the clip show episode's existence by itself, really.

Very indirectly, maybe, in that the love triangle's problems may have been why the creators decided to break Mako and Korra up, which gave that the opportunity to happen. That's stretching the definition of "coming from it" beyond my breaking point for it though, personally.

The clip show had a very justifiable real world reason, in that Nick jumped into the room Jason style and slashed their budget and episode count.

Good point. Though I'd like to suggest that from a purely in universe perspective, Korra and Asami sharing that kind of "man, Mako's a **** up" adventure as well as meeting each other through Mako lead to them realizing that wow, they...like, really like each other.

[Zevox]

The clip show had a very justifiable real world reason, in that Nick jumped into the room Jason style and slashed their budget and episode count.

I know. I was just speaking to how entertaining that part of the episode was.

Good point. Though I'd like to suggest that from a purely in universe perspective, Korra and Asami sharing that kind of "man, Mako's a **** up" adventure as well as meeting each other through Mako lead to them realizing that wow, they...like, really like each other.

Eh, it gave them something to bond over, sure, but I don't think that gives it that much causal significance to their relationship. I suppose meeting each other through it is true enough, but still too indirect for me - they could've met each other through Mako just from becoming friends with him, without any of the love triangle drama, and still wound up with each other.

Plus, in any event, my original statement there was about the relationships involved in the love triangle to begin with, not side-effects down the road.

[Morty]

The clip show was pretty good, I felt. Given what it had to work with. A good example of doing more with less. Mako's portion gave us some closure over that love triangle fiasco, and finally saw Mako called out and made to answer for the way he acted back then. Varrick's portion was just hilarious. Korra and Asami's was probably the weakest. It was a moment of bonding for them, leading up to their relationship in the finale, but apart from that, it was just Korra being down on herself and recounting the past seasons. Which, given their quality, was annoying in itself. Especially Korra being given credit for beating Amon and installing democracy in Republic City. Then again, the ending of that segment kind of reinforces the message of the finale - the Avatar's work is never done and Korra's journey has just begun. So it's still significant in a way.

[Zevox]

*dusts off thread* So, looks like there's actually some news to share, believe it or not. No, not the show itself coming back, but the one thing that seemed plausible is happening: Legend of Korra comics, to be published by Dark Horse and written by the show's creators (mostly Michael DiMartino, but Brian Konietzko is apparently consulting with him, too). And if the gif used to announce it is anything to go by, it'll be picking up right after Korra and Asami get back from their vacation.

Spoiler: The aforementioned gif.

Show

I must say, I'm certainly interested.

[dehro]

Yay... That sounds interesting.

[-D-]

Looking forward to not reading it :P

I didn't read Last Airbender comic (and what I read underwhelmed me), why would I read this IMHO worse story/character line?

[Metahuman1]

I will be happily reading them when money allows. XD! I'm Sooooo glad there doing something with the franchise other then just rehashing last airbenders characters.

[Morty]

Not terribly surprising. We did get ATLA comics, and there's a lot of stuff to cover after the LoK finale. Especially in terms of Korra and Asami's relationship, since they won't have to tiptoe around the Family Values hammer this time. Will they handle it right when they have the freedom to be open about it? We'll see. I do hope they don't focus on it too much, mind you. There's a lot of other material there.

I've been thinking about getting some of the ATLA comics, as a point of fact, but there's always something else to spend money on.

[Chromascope3D]

Aw bruh I'll get to see my boy Bolin again?

Spoiler

Show

[Sith_Happens]

*dusts off thread* So, looks like there's actually some news to share, believe it or not. No, not the show itself coming back, but the one thing that seemed plausible is happening: Legend of Korra comics, to be published by Dark Horse and written by the show's creators (mostly Michael DiMartino, but Brian Konietzko is apparently consulting with him, too). And if the gif used to announce it is anything to go by, it'll be picking up right after Korra and Asami get back from their vacation.

Spoiler: The aforementioned gif.

Show

I must say, I'm certainly interested.

[Arkhosia]

there is no other way I can express joy than mouthfoam guy.

[cobaltstarfire]

I'm intrigued by more comics...I just hope they're better than what I read of the AtLA ones...

[Metahuman1]

I've been thinking about getting some of the ATLA comics, as a point of fact, but there's always something else to spend money on.

My understanding is that when you accept there trying to not go too far off the darkness deep end, to the level that people in the series Original Age Range target just outright could not reasonably be expected to handle it (So, no gore for it's own sake or killing on screen for it's own sake and the like.), there rather good and do a good job of tieing off loose ends and continuing to show consequences to previous events and develop them further.)

[Arkhosia]

My understanding is that when you accept there trying to not go too far off the darkness deep end, to the level that people in the series Original Age Range target just outright could not reasonably be expected to handle it (So, no gore for it's own sake or killing on screen for it's own sake and the like.), there rather good and do a good job of tieing off loose ends and continuing to show consequences to previous events and develop them further.)

*looks towards Earth Queen*

[Metahuman1]

I said for it's own sake. The Earth Queen's death wasn't just done for the sake of an onscreen death.

[Zevox]

Looking forward to not reading it :P

I didn't read Last Airbender comic (and what I read underwhelmed me), why would I read this IMHO worse story/character line?

I didn't read the Last Airbender comics either, but there's a big difference between the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra in terms of my interest here. The Last Airbender ended on a weak note, which left me less interested in a continuation than I otherwise would have been, and it felt like it had told a complete story that didn't need continuing. That show was always about Aang's quest to defeat Ozai and end the hundred-year war, and whatever the faults of the finale, it wrapped that story up. Even the one real loose end, what happened to Zuko's mother, didn't seem important enough to me for me to want to buy additional material to find out what happens.

Legend of Korra, by contrast, ended on a strong note, with the latter two seasons being far better than the former two, and it doesn't feel like it had to end where it did. It wasn't just one story, but a series generally about Korra's life and the challenges she faced as a young Avatar. If anything, the fact that the series had finally gotten good only in the second half meant that ending where it did left me wanting more. So yeah, I find myself interested in this where I wasn't in the TLA comics.

Also, for what its worth, the TLA comics were written by different authors, not the series' creators as these ones will be.

Not terribly surprising. We did get ATLA comics, and there's a lot of stuff to cover after the LoK finale. Especially in terms of Korra and Asami's relationship, since they won't have to tiptoe around the Family Values hammer this time. Will they handle it right when they have the freedom to be open about it? We'll see. I do hope they don't focus on it too much, mind you. There's a lot of other material there.

That's more or less my thoughts as well. On the one hand, I want Korra and Asami's relationship to get the development it couldn't during the show; on the other, both shows' track record on relationships is less than inspiring. Granted, Mako's were the only abject failures, but the rest still amount to little more than "this is okay," at least to me. Which works fine if it's just part of another story, such as if the comic is written to be effectively a Book 5 to the show, but probably won't work so well if it's the main, or especially sole, focus of the comics.

I will look forward to seeing how they portray their friends' reactions upon finding out about them regardless, though. Okay, so Bolin's will be pretty predictable I'm sure - he'll be surprised in a comically overblown fashion followed quickly by unconditional acceptance, because hey, they're his friends, so as long as they're happy, he is too. Because that's just the kind of guy he is. But Mako is much less predictable, I think. And I kinda hope they find a way to show Korra's parents finding out, if only because I'm curious if Tonraq will react the same way he did to Mako. (I could see him being the kind of father who just doesn't like anyone his daughter is dating at first.)

[Morty]

Mako's reaction to his ex-girlfriends falling in love and dating is definitely going to be among the most interesting, yeah. There are those who think he already suspected something, based on his "what's going on with you two?" line. But that's just guessing, really. We'll see what Mike does with it.

Romantic relationships aside, I'd like to see more interaction between the cast as friends and family, since it's something the show frequently didn't have time for.

[Zevox]

Mako's reaction to his ex-girlfriends falling in love and dating is definitely going to be among the most interesting, yeah. There are those who think he already suspected something, based on his "what's going on with you two?" line. But that's just guessing, really. We'll see what Mike does with it.

He may, true. If nothing else he had noticed that they were acting differently around each other at that point. Whether or not he came to the correct conclusion about why is up in the air, though, or even if he came to any conclusions about why at all.

Romantic relationships aside, I'd like to see more interaction between the cast as friends and family, since it's something the show frequently didn't have time for.

Agreed, that would be nice.

[Chromascope3D]

Speaking of Mako, I really hope something good happens to him. Aside from the ending battle, Mako basically did nothing but eat **** the whole season.

[-D-]

I didn't read the Last Airbender comics either, but there's a big difference between the Last Airbender and Legend of Korra in terms of my interest here.

I'll just say I'll agree to disagree. I think both wrapped their stories more or less. LoK didn't wrap their Korrasami, but the rest of the story arc is done. Korra has finished maturing, she has her love interest, yada yada.

Also, for what its worth, the TLA comics were written by different authors, not the series' creators as these ones will be.

That doesn't inspire any confidence in me. Their handling of love affairs that aren't tiny children was... less than stellar. Actually I all the relationships were awful. Mako/Korra was painful (it was about as compelling as relationship between Bella and Tommy Wiseau). Rest went from so bad it's hilarious - Bolin/IcePrincess, to meh - Bolin/Opal and Jinora/Kai, to bad (rest).

Speaking of Mako, I really hope something good happens to him. Aside from the ending battle, Mako basically did nothing but eat **** the whole season.

I hope they kill him and put him of my (and his) misery.

EDIT: Also that F- luck. Fate Stay Night Lancers had better luck than Mako when it comes to women.

[John Cribati]

Speaking of Mako, I really hope something good happens to him. Aside from the ending battle, Mako basically did nothing but eat **** the whole season.

I see it m as making up for all the nonsense he got away with in book 1.

[GloatingSwine]

Speaking of Mako, I really hope something good happens to him. Aside from the ending battle, Mako basically did nothing but eat **** the whole season.

Maybe he'll even get a personality...

[-D-]

Maybe he'll even get a personality...

Sadly, he isn't the only recipient of a personality transplant. The waiting list is large.

[Zevox]

Speaking of Mako, I really hope something good happens to him. Aside from the ending battle, Mako basically did nothing but eat **** the whole season.

I liked him having put to up with Prince Wu myself. It was entertaining. Also:

I see it m as making up for all the nonsense he got away with in book 1.

Yeah, that too.

I'll just say I'll agree to disagree.

Fair enough.

That doesn't inspire any confidence in me. Their handling of love affairs that aren't tiny children was... less than stellar. Actually I all the relationships were awful. Mako/Korra was painful (it was about as compelling as relationship between Bella and Tommy Wiseau). Rest went from so bad it's hilarious - Bolin/IcePrincess, to meh - Bolin/Opal and Jinora/Kai, to bad (rest).

I don't even count Bolin and Eska as a relationship. It was more a badly misguided attempt at comedy than an actual attempt at a relationship.

Otherwise, I agree about Mako/Korra (and Mako/Asami wasn't much better), and I'd categorize all the rest I can think of as meh to okay.

[Chromascope3D]

I see it m as making up for all the nonsense he got away with in book 1.

Well yeah, but he could have at least done something. He just went from being a pretty decent fighter to basically useless, which bothered me just a little bit. Although, I suppose if someone had to be the sacrificial lamb, probably better him than characters I like more...

I liked him having put to up with Prince Wu myself. It was entertaining.

I also did, but that's mainly because I kinda liked Prince Wu as a character. I can see why some people wouldn't, since he was pretty annoying, but he also made me laugh, which gave him points in my book.

[Metahuman1]

In fairness he did also take out Zeheer's Waterbending companion in Book 3's final fight. For what ever that get's counted toward.


As for Korra's dad's reaction, I could sorta see it being amusing if he just completely never considered the possibility of his daughter dating a lady, and really isn't sure how to react to it at first.

[dehro]

"Hi dad, you should know that I'm dating Sato Asami"
"what, the owner of Sato Corporation?!?! That's good, they're stinking rich!"
"Yes dad but, did you hear me? I said Asami"
"yes, yes... Whatever you do, don't sign a prenup"
"but daddy, she's a girl!"
"Moneyyyyyy!!"