Overall, I thought it was a very strong season and series finale. Why? SPOILERS ABOUND.
The Action!
The action scenes in this finale were incredibly well done. Seven seasons in this universe, and I am still blown away by the inventiveness of the action sequences. I enjoyed the teamwork required to slow down and take down the Colossus, including sibling teamwork from Mako/Bolin and Lin/Suyin (and Wing/Wei channeling their inner Luke Skywalker on Hoth fighting imperial walkers), which provided a nice contrast to the Zuko vs. Azula sibling battle from the ATLA finale. I also enjoyed that Kuvira's henchmen were, as far as henchmen go, pretty darn competent fighters. Good job, anonymous metalbenders!
The highlight, of course, was Korra v. Kuvira. I am pretty sure I screamed, "Don't fuck with the Avatar!" during Korra's fight with Kuvira inside the mecha. I quite appreciated that Korra didn't go into the Avatar state all that often: we got enough of that in the Book 2 and 3 finales. It actually made Korra and Kuvira's fight much more fluid and tense -- much like Kuvira's fight against Suyin in Operation Beifong. The bending was incredible, as were the martial arts take-down moves. Just a pleasure to watch.
The Music!
The music in this show can wring tears from a rock. And melt my stone cold heart. Thanks for everything, Jeremy Zuckerman. The score itself was a storyteller.
Voice Acting
I really started to appreciate the voice actors this last season, particularly after I rewatched the earlier Books of Korra and realized how the voice actors had aged up their characters' voices. The voice actors sometimes go a little under-appreciated, so I'm recognizing here that in many cases, the delivery of lines in this finale made the scenes for me. Examples:
- Hiroshi's sacrifice didn't really impact me emotionally when I first watched the scene -- mostly because we had not spent enough time with him and Asami this season. But when I watched the scene again subsequent times, I found myself crying -- not because Hiroshi had redeemed himself or had any emotional hold on me -- but because of the pain we see on Asami's face and the deep anguish we hear in her voice as she is ejected from the hummingbird to watch her father die. Actress Seychell Gabriel's delivery of the single word, "DAD!" was just gut-wrenching.
- In the scene where Baatar Jr. finally apologizes to his mother, Suyin's line, "She's a complicated woman" was delivered to perfection by Anne Heche. It had all of the love of a mother for her son, while hiding the bitterness of a surrogate mother re her surrogate daughter and the shame that Suyin herself had also been led astray in her youth. And it was all tempered by the weariness of a matriarch. Just excellent.
- Janet Varney's quiet and firm delivery of her lines by Korra to Kuvira in the spirit world completely sold to me four-seasons' worth of spiritual and character growth. This was a woman brimming with compassion, and the voice acting emoted that with every intonation and syllable.
Of course, our main characters all got a chance to shine in the finale.
Asami (and Varrick and Zhu Li) demonstrated their tech prowess by getting incredible-looking hummingbird suits -- along with their plasma saws -- ready to go.
Bolin building-bent. And lovingly officiated a wedding! (PJ Byrne's delivery of "You may now ::pause:: do the thing" was very nicely done.)
Mako had a noble almost-sacrificing moment (accompanied by amazing music from Jeremy Zuckerman) where he single-handedly lightning-bended-down the spirit core of the Colossus mecha giant. Although the payoff for the scene would have been much more had the character done more growing over the course of the series, overall I was still happy with the courage he demonstrated in this battle. And his fakeout-swansong-goodbye moment with Bolin had me at the edge of my seat fearing for his life. ("You ARE awesome, Mako!" I shrieked. "Don't die!")
And, of course, Korra frickin' STOPPED A SPIRIT RAY CANNON with her bare hands and created a new spirit portal. BOOM.
What I really enjoyed was that even smaller characters had their moments in the finale.
- Pema tenaciously kept the crowd calm with adorable airbender songs.
- Wu showed inventiveness by badger-mole-whispering his way out of a pickle, and great maturity by recognizing his own limitations as a leader and stepping down from the monarchy.
- Perpetually ignored middle child Ikki got to save Jinora.
- Meelo got some of his battle ideas implemented and saved Tenzin.
- Zhu Li / Varrick! Adorable. And Zhu Li dipped Varrick for the kiss. Just sayin'.
Thematically Fitting
Given that technology has played such a big role in this series, it was fitting that the final battle wasn't just one really good bender vs. another really good bender (although there was that too). Instead, much of Day of the Colossus was spent trying to take down all of these instruments of technology . . . with any means necessary, including other technology. Very thematically fitting for the Korra universe, where Amon started out by trying to even the playing field for non-benders using technology.
It was so fitting that Korra's final exercise of the Avatar state was to spirit-bend massive spirit weapon rays and defend her enemy's life. It truly showed Korra's tremendous growth and development from the beginning of Book 2, where she used it as a booster rocket. Korra really came full circle from the brash, hotheaded young woman we first met in "Welcome to Republic City," who knew how to solve her problems only through her fists. Her conversation in the spirit world with Kuvira was all sorts of fulfilling from the perspective of Korra's character development. (Though less so from the perspective of Kuvira's character, or narrative cohesion. I really felt Kuvira needed more screen time and humanizing earlier in the season for that scene to make sense for her character. As it was, the orphan sob story felt conveniently dropped in, and didn't feel like something that had been motivating and driving her this whole time.)
Feminist and Progressive
Avatar the Last Airbender had so many amazing female characters and characters of color. Legend of Korra is no different, and this finale really pushed a wonderful message of the power of Korra as a heroine. It wasn't Korra's physical strength that ended the conflict -- even though Korra has plenty of physical strength to go around and can kick ass and take names any day. It was her understanding of and compassion for Kuvira. And talking with her. "I needed to understand what true suffering was so I could become more compassionate to others, even to people like Kuvira." Such a beautiful, beautiful line, with incredible delivery by Janet Varney. Sure, the whole idea of talking to end a war seems idealistic, but . . . it was really well done here.
And, of course, the Fandom cannot stop buzzing about and debating the last scene of the finale, which ended with what I thought was a completely unambiguous** beginning to a Korra-Asami same-sex relationship (dubbed #Korrasami by fandom shippers). I was not a shipper (of this or any other ship), but this scene was just incredibly beautiful and well done and genuinely moving. Their healthy female friendship, which had been strengthening over the course of the series (particularly in Book 3), organically grew into the beginning of romantic exploration. In the Spirit World! The staging, the music . . . god, everything was just perfect. I loved it. (And it is so nice for the LGBT community to finally get some representation on screen!)
**Mike and Bryan have now both confirmed that Korrasami was their intention.
IN SUM
This finale wasn't perfect. No series finale is. But for me, it was deeply personal, thematically fitting, and immensely satisfying. It did not reduce me to an ocean of tears like the Book 2 Finale (where the link to the past avatars was severed), or have the incredible display of Korra god-power on offense like the Book 3 Finale, but . . . it was beautifully done. And I loved it.
Was it better than Avatar the Last Airbender's "Sozin's Comet" as a series finale? What a Sophie's Choice. I can't decide right now; I'm too emotional. For now, I will just say . . . both were incredible in their own way. Thank you, Mike and Bryan, and the entire cast and crew for these 2 amazing shows. I will cherish them forever, and hope to share them one day with any progeny I am lucky enough to have.
But guys, guys . . . what about closure? What about all of my unanswered questions, including regarding characters from the first series?
I
think I might be the only fan of Avatar the Last Airbender who never once wondered what
happened to Zuko's mom. For me, Zuko's story in A:TLA was complete without knowing that answer, although it was
certainly fun to imagine that he went on a quest to find her later (and, eventually, to read The Search comic book).
So it genuinely baffles me when some Legend of Korra fans criticize the finale either for not giving them closure on things that have already been given closure, or for not giving them answers on questions that don't need answering. Prominent examples:
So it genuinely baffles me when some Legend of Korra fans criticize the finale either for not giving them closure on things that have already been given closure, or for not giving them answers on questions that don't need answering. Prominent examples:
- "We never got closure on her past lives." This one really confuses me. Korra told us after reuniting with Raava in Book 2 that the link was gone forever. What more is there to get closure on? Sure, for a moment in the finale, I thought the spirit weapon blast had blasted Korra back in touch with all of the past avatars, but it didn't. And, well, that's that. What more could the show have said? "Hey guys, the link is STILL gone forever!"?
- What happened to Sokka? We needed more Toph/Katara/Zuko, or some variation of wish/question about characters from Avatar the Last Airbender. The Old GAang got their own send off, their own denouement, in their own series. What in the world needed closure in this series about those old characters...? As Toph said, it's time to leave it to the kids.
- Who is Lin's Dad? Who is Suyin's Dad? Who is Izumi's Mom? etc. This one drives me crazy too. I loved that "Kanto" was Lin's dad. Just some random guy Toph met later on in life. That made perfect sense to me. (How many friends from when you were 12 are you still friends with -- let alone have reproduced with and/or married? I'm 30, and I think I'm still in touch with 1 friend from that age group. Though I guess my friends and I didn't go through a crucible like saving the world together.) I like the idea that the characters we loved from the old series had full lives, filled with people and experiences that expanded beyond the characters we met in ATLA. Would I like to find out about those lives one day? Sure, I buy the comics, same as everyone else. But do I need those questions to be answered in a show about Korra? No, not really. Not unless the characters themselves needed those answers. Kanto's reveal was important only insofar as it was important to Lin, and her relationship with her mother. Su didn't seem to have the same daddy issues as Lin -- particularly not in the finale -- so . . . I'm fine with never knowing.
- Closure on Kai/Jinora, Bolin/Opal, etc. I guess I have a different sense of what "closure" is than others. For me, Kai/Jinora did reach closure. Their story ended at the end of Book 3 / beginning of Book 4. After a season of young flirtation, the two are in a healthy, cute long-distance relationship with no drama worth any screen time. The creators didn't have much more to say about it. That story was complete. And Jinora herself got closure in a big way in the form of airbending master tattoos. Similarly, Bolin/Opal reached closure in "Operation Beifong," when Opal forgave Bolin. Closure. What more needed closing . . . ?
