The flood of Legend of
Korra posts begins as I spend the next two Majestic Twelve posts discussing the BEST and WORST episodes of Legend of Korra. Unlike Last Airbender, I will be separating
these into two separate posts, but I may go into more detail as to why an
episode is good or bad. That being said, I love this series to no end and think
that for all the flaws it has (see my review) and while I can’t say there aren’t
bad episodes, even the worst episodes here are better than most average TV
shows do anyway. So… yeah.
Today we’ll start with the worst. Partly because I want to
end on a high note and partly because I want to take unrelated frustrations out
on something and certain bad episodes and characters in Legend Of Korra will offer up just that kind of cathartic pleasure.
#12 – Book 3: Episode 7: Original Airbenders
Not a bad episode in any real respects. In fact, had
there been a couple episodes of watching the new Airbenders learning the ropes
of their new skills, I might have been kinder to this episode. But this just
feels kind of out of place between two rather heavy episodes, and the whole
terrorist attack that follows jumps the tone from this episode’s
super-happy-fun times to the dark and kind of terrifyingly awesome tones in the
following episode. But my issue here is that it’s another one of those Tenzin
learning how to deal with people, or family, or whatever else. I thought he’d
kind of come to some sort of zen-like understanding in Book 2 when he was
wondering around the Fog of Lost Souls (coolest idea from Book 2 by the way).
But here we see he really hasn’t grown from the character he was prior to
entering that event. That’s what disappointed me the most is that I had grown
to really like Tenzin in Book 2 by the end of it all and here he was kind of
being an idiot and failing to understand how to play his part in bringing back
the Air Nation. And not failing in a way that anyone could honestly do, but he
does so in a comically strange way that I feel doesn’t work well for his
character since he always felt like the straight-man in the series similar to
Zeppo Marc of the Marc Brothers. I love Bumi, I love Kai, and I love the little
story arc that involved the Bison poachers, but everything up to that involving
Tenzin just didn’t feel as interesting as it could have been.
#11 – Book 2: Episode 12: Harmonic Convergence
Last of the “Not bad, just not good episodes” I promise. For
me, this episode wasn’t bad, it was just kind of weird. In an episode where the
stakes have been raised and time is running short, it feels incredibly weird to
pause for all kinds of jokes, one-liners, and visual gags. Don’t get me wrong,
I found Bumi’s entire rescue operation to be one of the most hilarious and one
of the saving graces of this episode. But getting to that point felt incredibly
long. And then we have that near-the-end fight with Unalaq against Bolin and
Mako (and Korra kind of). Question, while I know Unalaq is older and has more
experience, how is it that two pro-bending champions (because if the WolfBats
didn’t cheat, these guys would have been champions) can’t handle fighting ONE
guy?
#10 – Book 2: Episode 5: Peacekeepers
Honestly, this is just kind of a boring episode. We get a
nice cameo from our favorite Zuko voice actor. We get a funny moment with
Varrick. But nothing in this episode accomplishes much of anything. I suppose
the one big benefit is that the Korra and Mako relationship comes to an end (mostly)
though that’s also one of the annoying moments of the episode. See, I was never
sold on the relationship ever working out or even being interesting enough to
base entire scenes too. But that’s mostly because I find Mako to be a generally
unlikable and uninteresting character (I think the latter part is somewhat
intentional). So while I’m happy he gets his ass dumped by Korra, the fact we
even had to go through watching the relationship happen to see it crash and
burn is, in itself, a tad underwhelming. All that coupled with everyone’s
horrible ideas to push the Republic of Nations to go to war against Unalaq was
sort of a waste of time too. I get that parts of it were supposed to be comical
(and the Nuktuk story arc really is a lot of fun) but you can’t help but sit
back and see just how dumb everyone sounds when thinking these ideas are good
in anyway.
#09 – Book 2: Episode 9: The Guide
The Tenzin of this episode is much like the Tenzin of the Original Airbenders episode I mentioned
not long ago. You’d think with this being before he has his life-changing
character development moment that this would be ranked lower. And normally,
you’d be right. But the problem here is that there’s a logical dilemma with
this episode that makes it worse. Frankly, Korra approaches Tenzin in need of a
guide to the Spirit World without a moment to waste. I get the attempt is
supposed to be funny, but Tenzin is an adult and I feel he’d be wise enough to
at least admit that he can’t get to the Spirit World instead of throwing away
what little time they have prepping different areas to try and enter the Spirit
World. Pride be damned, the fate of the world is at stake and Tenzin is worried
about his spiritual abilities being emasculated. And I also get this is part of
his story arc that causes the good character development in the next handful of
episodes, but I feel a less clunky and obnoxious way to do this could have been
achieved.
Story-wise, this episode is fine. It’s the one episode where
I actually enjoyed the pro-bending (and I didn’t have much of a problem with
it, but it never really got interesting until this episode for me). It’s one of
the big episodes where you see just how bad Amon really is. But my issue is
more of a logical/art problem over anything else. During the scene in which
Amon appears to take away the bending of the WolfBats, he rises on the
tie-breakers stand in the middle of the floor. But we can see just how
impossible this feat truly is. First, there is no elevator from below the
stadium to get back up through the center of the arena. So if this is supposed
to be an elevator, where did it come from? For those needing help with
navigation, in this same scene, we see the heroes tied up below the arena to
one of the support beams. Here, you can clearly see there is nothing below the
stadium from which Amon could have risen from. The other option is that he was
hiding beneath the arena in that center-tie-breakers stand. But that is also
not feasible because that same stand is used during the match and he would have
been seen then. Meaning he HAD to descend from the blimps above, but he clearly
comes UP and not down. And blimps don’t arrive on the scene until after Amon
has appeared. This complete disregard for the scene and the logic of it earns
this episode a spot on the list. Just… what the hell happened with this
episode?
I like Suyin and the Chief. I like the Beifongs in general.
But this episode definitely has its issues. I think my biggest issue was how
their conflict escalated and resolved. The conflict, for those who forgot, was
the basically the culmination of the relationships between Su, Lin, and their
mother Toph. Lin never forgave the other two for the crap she put up with in
her youth and in this episode we relive some of that as flashbacks. After a
series of flashbacks, Lin lashes out at Su in a metalbending battle until Lin
passes out. She wakes up the next morning bright-eyed and chipper, looking to
restore amends and be happy for a while. First, the escalation just seems
weird. Again, both of these people are adults who, in most normal
circumstances, would solve their problems with words instead of throwing giant
slabs of metal at one another. Sure, if bending was a real world things,
perhaps we’d have more fights to solve issues, but I feel like metal bending is
something we’d hold off on for personal problems like this to avoid major
injury. And the fact Lin is going after Su with what feels like murderous intent
seems bizarre to me (if you’re metal bending to hurt someone, I assume it’s
murderous on some level). Not only is she a cop, but I feel she’d be rational
enough to see that murdering Su solves nothing and gets her into worse
problems. Then the resolution of all this is just an overnight personality
change that doesn’t quite work. I get this series has lots of issues with
rushing character development and story arcs due to Nickelodeon’s budget cuts
and other bullshit, but this episode definitely felt off from the stronger
character-building episodes.
#06 – Book 1: Episode 9: Out of the Past
This episode is basically fanservice personified as Korra
looks into the memories of Aang to see visions warning her of the enemies
lurking near her and the strange abilities they possess. While these visions
come a little late to be useful (or so it seems) right away, that really isn’t
the main issue here. The main issue is that we’re getting the episode of our Last Airbender kids all grown up that we
wanted all these years. We’re getting another pseudo-adventure with Sokka,
Toph, and Aang as they take down a criminal with bloodbending powers. And while
all of it is cool, I’m sorry, I can’t get over the fact this episode feels like
nothing more than blatant fanservice. Subtle things like Katara being around in
the South Pole while Korra is training is fine. Zuko going out to deal with the
Red Lotus while his daughter remains at the seat of power in the Fire Nation is
fine as well. Even finding Yoda-Toph in the swamp is fine since that didn’t
overstay its welcome to any major degree. But I feel this episode was thrown
into the mix solely to appease fans who hadn’t grown to love this series yet
because they didn’t think it felt enough like Last Airbender. But the writers fail to realize that by putting
this in the show, you immediately push those comparisons back to the front of
everyone’s minds all over again. Not to mention you also make everyone WANT
adult Aang and friends to have their own spin-off show to see what life is like
for them when they’re older. Just saying, guys.
#05 – Book 3: Episode 12: Enter the Void
One of three bad episodes that suffer from the same exact
problem. Deus Ex Machina nonsense. For this episode, it’s not nearly as bad as
the others because the sudden onset of new powers to solve a problem
immediately is given to the villain (which isn’t something that happens all
that often, honestly). But the fact is that it’s still Deus Ex Machina and it’s
not the only case of this in the show. Bolin’s discovery of lavabending is
another such example of this in the same episode. But Zaheer’s power of flight
just doesn’t look right from an animation perspective. It feels off from all
the other animation we’ve seen in the show up until now. But, yeah, this basically
boils down to how annoying the concept of Deus Ex Machina pops up in this
episode right when things are heating up. Granted, there is some build up to
these newfound skills, just not enough to avoid getting the DEM label. The
build up, for those not paying attention, for Zaheer’s flight is his constant
repetitive phrase of releasing your earthly tethers, which he repeats a couple
times throughout the series. For Bolin, there are the couple episodes where he
tries to metalbend and fails, but everyone still expects something special from
him (for whatever reason). The problem with both these is a result of
Nickelodeon’s inability to support this show with a larger budget or more
episodes so these kinds of developments could be built up properly. I already
spoke to this in the review or the BulletPoints I did on the same topic, so I
won’t get into it here. Needless to say, with enough proper build up, this
episode could have actually been spectacular. Instead, it comes off as a case
of “and suddenly we got powers to save us from imminent danger cliché”. Also, killing off a character after we just gave them a bit of humanizing. For that, I have two words. MIND BLOWING!
#04 – Book 1: Episode 12: Endgame
Deus Ex Machina is just as bad here as it was with Enter the Void, but in this case,
there’s less of an excuse for it. Yes, we got build up for Korra’s acquisition
of airbending, but the fact of the matter is until this episode, she had
absolutely no talent for airbending, the main crux of the season. If she had
slight airbending abilities, then perhaps the moment where she suddenly gets
airbending would be less of a left-field moment. Another similar moment is her
sudden solid connection to the past-lives of Avatars and the ability to regain
her bending and restore the bending of others. Granted, yes, it only makes
sense that if an Avatar can take bending away, they can restore it. But, once
again, there wasn’t build up to this and with how sudden it is, it feels like a
cheap way to get a happy ending for everyone.
#03 – Book 2: Episode 14: Light in the Dark
But the worst case of Deus Ex Machina has to be Book 2’s
finale. What’s Korra going to do to stop the Kaiju form of the Unalaq and Vaatu
fusion (Unatu)? She’s going to go to the tree of flashbacks and remember season
one and then basically become Dr. Manhattan. But her power isn’t there as Ravaa
is gone. No worries, Jinora disappeared last episode to inexplicably bring
Ravaa back from the dead without explanation and give Ravaa to Korra before
she’s killed in the final battle. None of this really makes any sense and all
it does is serve the plot so the ending can have the good guys win.
And what really sucks is the concept of the Dark Avatar was
something I thought COULD be interesting if taken to another level. What would
a world with two Avatars be like and how would each function? I loved the idea
at the end where the spirits and humans now had to live together in harmony.
But between all of the convenient plot developments in the final battle and the
fact the final battle was visually uninteresting, this entire finale was
disappointing. It lacked all of the weight that fighting Amon brought to the
table. It lacked the intense action that fighting the Red Lotus pulled off. And
don’t even try to compare this to the Book 4 Finale… just… don’t. I loved Book
2, but it did have a lot of stinker episodes.
#02 – Book 4: Episode 8: Remembrances
Do I have to explain why this episode is here? Even the
creators expressed their distaste for the episode, stating it was one of the
worst episodes they put together. If they say it’s bad, who are we to argue?
But fine, I’ll explain. Basically it’s a clip-show episode where we see all of
the best moments (and worst) from the series up until now. And when I first saw
this episode, I was ready to basically hate it from the start as the first
third of the episode is devoted to Mako talking about his adventures with Korra
and most of it focused on the romance subplot of seasons 1 and 2 (you know, the
least fun parts of seasons 1 and 2). So we have the worst character talking about
the worst moments of the series in one of the worst formats possible for doing
so. That being said, the Korra section wasn’t as bad and the Varrick section
kept this episode from being the absolute worst.
Again, this episode ONLY EXISTED because of Nickelodeon’s
refusal to give this show a proper budget and treat the creators with any level
of respect or decency. According to the creators, they were given a budget cut
but still required to have the full 13 episodes from the contract. The options
were to fire everyone a week early or to do a clip-show. And I respect them for
taking the option that allowed people to keep their jobs on this wonderful
serious. But fuck Nickelodeon for forcing them into this corner. And fuck them
for not supporting this show, which is the BEST THING IN THEIR LINE UP. And
fuck them for basically being the shittiest network next to Fox. Avatar and its
creators deserve better than this garbage and I hope that they find employment
elsewhere now that the franchise is basically over. 
#01 – Book 1: Episode 5: Spirit of Competition
This episode encapsulated the worst aspects of season one
into one big bubble. Many fans didn’t like the pro-bending. I myself wasn’t
enthralled by it, but never hated it. This episode is nothing but pro-bending.
On top of that, this episode was all about the love triangle between Bolin,
Korra, and Mako (and Asami to a degree). I’ve already stated my dislike of Mako
so anything that gives him spotlight is already bad enough. But love triangles
are one of the most frustratingly annoying things to watch in any show. It’s
not really entertaining, just stupid. It wasn’t entertaining in Friends and it wasn’t really
entertaining in Community or any
other sitcom or drama. And what really sucks is this isn’t where the romance
ends. It’s the episode you’d want it to just stop but it comes back around
after Korra returns from getting kidnapped. It comes back in season two. And
it’s still just as hamfisted as ever. But maybe that’s because, again, it all
involves Mako. And Mako has the personality and subtly of a brick.
Those are my WORST episodes of Legend of Korra. It’s sad to see this series go and I don’t want to
leave you guys on a low note. So come back for the next Majestic Twelve when we
talk about the BEST episodes this series has to offer (I had way more trouble
narrowing down this list). There are lots of good moments to talk about and I
want everyone to check it out just for those big moments we’ll be discussing…
next time. If you like this and want to see more content like this, please be
sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. See ya next time!
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