Reviewing the new Avatar series, “The Legend of Korra”, will probably be one of the hardest reviews I have written or will write, simply because of the high place the original series holds in my heart. “The Last Airbender” is in the top three of my favorite television series, and I find it so close to perfect that any extension of that series would be doomed to being held in lower regard in my eyes. Especially since this new series takes place seventy years after the final episodes of the original, eliminating most of the characters I had grown to love and introducing a whole slew of new ones. In addition, the series seems to be based mostly if not entirely in a new area created exclusively for it; a more technologically advanced Republic City, where all benders can supposedly live in harmony. I have to admit that I was more than a little wary coming into my viewing of “The Legend of Korra”, but I still had hope in the excellent writers and creators of Avatar, and hopefully can put aside my bias and come to love this new series.
I have decided to split my reviews of “The Legend of Korra” into four installments, one for a half of each of the two “books”, or seasons planned for it. Just a warning, this review, and the three to follow it, are not just focused on my opinions of this series, but more on how well it continues the excellence of the first one. The first thing that came to my mind when I began watching was how extremely fast the watchers are thrown into the new plotline of Korra, our new Avatar, needing to learn airbending, travelling to Republic City, and facing the new nemeses of the Avatar universe, the Equalists. I understand that there is less than half the number of episodes planned for this series as there was for the original, but I still felt a little rushed during the first few episodes. However, I was calmed slightly by the small instances of charm injected into the episodes just like the original series had, and found myself laughing out loud multiple times during Korra’s initial adventures. I just met this new Avatar and Republic City environment, and they are forcing me to like them too soon, however I couldn’t help but find a small place in my heart for them to temporarily reside thanks to the dialogue and events observed early on.
The fast movement of the plotlines introduces the main antagonist, the mysterious Equalist leader Amon, near the end of the first episode, and Korra and her new friends, the bending brothers Mako and Bolin, encounter him and his minions soon after that. This is where I realized that “The Legend of Korra” might be more serious in tone than the first series. In a show set mainly in a terrible war and around a character that had his entire people and culture exterminated, “The Last Airbender” was still able to hold a tone of merriment throughout most of the episodes. However, we quickly come across the frightening ability of Amon to take bending away permanently (an excellent continuation of the highly debated “energy-bending” used in the final episode of the previous series), and Korra’s helplessness in her initial confrontation with him. Aang didn’t fully face the danger awaiting him until at least the end of the second season, and we see our new Avatar confront it in the fourth episode, and come out defeated. I found this a lot more chilling than many of the instances of danger I observed in the original series.
In addition to the serious nature of the antagonists, I find that we are going to be denied in this series one of the more brilliant aspects of “The Last Airbender”; the development of the enemies in the show. Amon and his minions are very mysterious, and the one henchman who we have seen multiple times doesn’t even have a name. What was so great about Zuko and Azula was that we loved to hate them. They were given extensive air time and were able to develop over time, if in opposite directions. I fear that with the always masked Amon and the lack of introduction of any other main antagonists, “The Legend of Korra” is going to be missing a key element that made the original series so amazing. I hope that they can introduce another enemy later that we can watch develop the same way we watched Zuko battle with his destiny and Azula with her sanity.
One of the elements of this series I do really enjoy is the aspect of discrimination arising between benders and non-benders. The main goal of the Equalist movement is to equalize the difference in power the two types of people face, and where in the previous series we mainly saw benders (minus the fire-benders of course) as good people. However in this series we see all types of benders (minus air-bending, which is still confined to Aang’s descendants) in mob-like organizations bullying the non-benders with their powers. On the other side, we never saw this kind of hatred in non-benders in “The Last Airbender”, where most of those we met were happy to assist Aang in his journey to stop the Fire Nation. But now, especially in an environment so confined as Republic City, we see how these powers can create a rift between the two types of people. This also ties in with Korra’s internal struggle. I like how they refrained from making the hardest element for her to learn the opposite one on the spectrum (fire-bending), but the one most unlike her personality. She has completely ignored the spiritual side of being the Avatar, and air-bending being the most spiritual of the elements adds an extra difficulty element.
That being said, we are a quarter way through “The Legend of Korra” and have not seen Korra delve into the spirit side. There has been no travel to the spirit world, no communication with her past lives, and no inclination at all of the Avatar state. I’m sure the spiritual aspect of Avatar will come into play soon, however in this technological world the lack of spirituality in general is a little unnerving. Korra’s knowledge of the spiritual side of bending seems to be very important in closing the rift between benders and non-benders, yet in the first half of the first season she hasn’t even touched it in her training. I have no doubt the interactions between Aang and Korra will be amazing, and I want to see it implemented as soon as possible.
This leads to one of the main reasons I am having trouble developing an unbiased opinion about this series; the lack of tie in with the previous one. I can understand that the creators don’t want to lean too heavily on the previous series, and make “The Legend of Korra” stand alone as much as possible, but I find myself paying more attention to the brief flashes of my beloved Toph than the rest of the present day episode. They have covered some of the connections, almost immediately with an excellent reference to the Zuko’s mother plotline that fans desperately wanted to see, only to be interrupted comically by one of Tenzin’s, Korra’s airbending teacher, children. We are also quickly introduced to an elder Katara early on as well, however there is no mention of any other of the characters except for Sokka (who is dead) and Toph, through her daughter (and she’s probably dead too *sob*). I want my connections to “The Last Airbender”, and while I do enjoy the small quips such as Flameo noodles, the Agni-Kai Triad, and Cabbage Corp (not my Cabbage Corp!), I feel I can’t completely appreciate this series without more prominent communication between it and the original series. It seems that allowing Korra to interact with her past lives and enter the spirit world would initiate this connection I desire, and I hope they do it soon to sooth my itch.
However, on its own “The Legend of Korra” still has its own original elements that work well. In this new world of Republic City, it’s nature vs. technology, a concept originated in the first series with the more technologically advanced fire nation but delved more in depth as how it levels out the distribution of power between the two types of people. In a world that is more like present day society than the vast natural environments seen in “The Last Airbender”, this series can introduce and develop through some newer concepts. One of the more valuable lessons learned in the original series is how not all fire benders are evil, and that moral is flip-flopped a little in this series, where we now learn not all benders are good (and the complete elimination of the fire-benders are evil” notion, seen most prominently with Mako). Like I mentioned before, the mob-like community uses their powers to discriminate against non-benders, and it’s understandable why some would want to fight back. In addition, we see an aspect of city politics we wouldn’t have seen in the previous series, where the council, while there to protect the citizens of Republic City, still have their own, less than honest plans.
Overall “The Legend of Korra” has set the stage for a solid series, however not enough has happened in the first six episodes covered in this review to completely dispel my concern. We are thrown almost immediately into this new storyline, however afterwards there was still little advancement in the overall bender vs. Equalist plotline, as well as Korra’s battle with air-bending and the spiritual side of being the Avatar. In a series that doesn’t have the luxury of the scope of episodes “The Last Airbender” had to develop both the protagonists and antagonists, it would be nice to see some of the familiar journeys into being the Avatar and protecting the world that Aang experienced, and soon. It’s hard for me to develop an unbiased opinion about this new series, and while I want to love it as much as the previous one, and it still has the same charm and elements that should appease my desire for past series connections. “The Legend of Korra” will never live up to the high standard I hold “The Last Airbender” in my heart, yet frankly, I don’t see anything wrong with that.
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