Ch-Ch-Ch-Chaaaaaanges: Legend of Korra Premier Review

So, at the top I have to say, I was a big Avatar: The Last Airbender fan. But I mean, who wasn’t? The show premiered when I was in middle school, and I took to it right away. The characters, the world, the villains, it was all great. But if you’re reading this, you don’t need me to tell you how great it is, you know. So when Korra was announced, I was excited to return to the world that had been a big part of my middle school life, and it remains the one thing I liked from that time that I’m not embarrassed about.

 

So when the first season of Korra premiered, I eagerly watched it. Now, I wasn’t a middle schooler. I was in college. And I woke up early on a Saturday to watch each episode. Now let that sink in. A college student. Waking up early. But that’s how much I loved the show.

 

Now here comes the kicker.

 

I found the first season to be a bit…lacking. There were elements that I absolutely adored. I loved Republic City. So much of the old series had taken place in these large, sprawling landscapes, I liked the decision to focus on one area. That was well done. I also loved the score. That roaring 20s jazz track was amazing, and perfectly accented the feel and tone of the show. The characters were also a lot of fun, specifically Lin Bei Fong, Tenzin and Bolin. And Amon was without a doubt one of the coolest animated villains I’d ever seen.

 

What fell flat with me was Korra, though I chalked that up to first season character development issues, and the love triangle. Now, let me go on the record as saying I don’t hate love triangles. I think they can work, if they aren’t forced, or overly dramatic. That being said, I was not a fan of the Mako Korra Asumi triangle. I felt it distracted from the cooler elements of the story, like the bending spots, the Amon mystery, and kinda took away from Korra as a character. But all in all, I could live with the season.

 

Season Two shared much of what I disliked. The love triangle was back, and it was painful. Korra didn’t lean any lessons from the last season. And the villain was way too obvious. Like. Dude. Come one. At least try not to be that obvious.

 

But there was still some good. Mako got some development which I liked(even though it was kinda ruined by the love triangle resolution), and they really expanded the mythology with Avatar Wan, which was a glorious two part episode. So honestly I was doing ok. I even liked the storyline, with the spirits invading our world, and the ideas of balance that the show was building.

 

And then there was the ending. Dear god, that deus ex machina ending. It just left me feeling cheated.

 

 

So it was with some hesitation that I went in to this new season of Korra. Like a former heir to the fire nation throne, I’d been burned before.

 

That had to be done. You guys wouldn’t respect me if I didn’t make that joke.

 

But I’ve been watching the first three episodes and I gotta say guys. This is pretty sweet.

So, There are going to be spoilers if you haven’t already guessed. And I’m going to break this down in a good vs. bad format, with bullet points. So let’s get the bad out of the way first.

 

The Bad:

 

1. Awkward Mako. Mako is my favorite character, because of the potential he has. He’s a firebender who has to wrestle with the fact that a firebender killed his parents. He has that same destructive power and he fears it, much like Aang feared his power after burning Katara in The Last Airbender. I feel like the show doesn’t give that detail enough attention, and just shoving him into the “Awkward boyfriend” role does a disservice to him as a character. He’s 17. He made a mistake in his love life. Move on.

2. Bolin as comedicrelief: This is just a pet peeve, but I feel like Bolin being the resident butt monkey is getting old. He’s an accomplished bender, and I feel like he’s not being given enough credit for that.

 

The Good:

 

And now for the good:

 

1. First off: New Airbenders. I love the fact that there are new Airbenders, and that not all of them want to become nomads like Tenzin. The life of an Airbender is not a glamorous one. It requires a lot of sacrifice and dedication, and it’s a lot to ask someone to just give that up, and become a monk. I do like that three episodes in we don’t have an answer as to why this is happening, and I especially love the fact that we have our first Airbender villain. Which brings me too…
2. The villains. Oh lawdy these villains. First off, there are four. That’s new. Second, They involve the order of the White Lotus, which is just interesting to me. Plus, they have a bender who doesn’t have arms. That’s cool. I sense great things coming.
3. Evil Earth Queen making an Airbending army. What is up with the Earth Kingdom? Why they so sketchy? Either way it makes for some damn good TV.
4. Mako and Bolin finding their grandmother. That was just feel on feels.
5. Zuko talking about hiring a hitman to kill Aang. Nuff said.

 

So yeah. There’s a lot I’m really excited for. As long as Korra actually learns her lesson from last season, and Mako and Bolin get some development, we should be OK.

 

This really looks like it’ll be a season of change. Let’s hope it keeps up.

To Boldly Go Back to Where We’ve gone Before: The Case for Optomistic Sci-Fi

So what happened to the Sci-Fi genre guys? I mean, it used to be everywhere. We had TV shows like Star Trek and Stargate, which would take us to the stars, exploring new life, and showing us what humanities potential as a species was. We had cosmic gods coming down to give us a thumbs up, and Patrick Steward leading a crew of the most charismatic people ever assembled.

 

 

But now? Now we’ve got desolate wastelands, war scared earths, apocalypses of both the zombie and nuclear variety, and just a general feeling of doom. Everything is doomed. You’re doomed, I’m doomed, the puppies are doomed and even Hollywood heartthrob Chris Evans is doomed.

 

 

I mean what happened?

 

 

On the one had, I kind of get it. You can’t swing a tricorder without hitting some news story about how either the climate is going to destroy us, a foreign country is going to destroy another foreign country, or how our political process is slowly going to erode the very fabric of our democracy, leaving us in a totalitarian state with no Natalie Portman to save us.

 

 

It’s not exactly an environment that breeds optimism, and our movies have changed to reflect that. That’s why Tom Cruise has done back to back movies about Aliens invading earth and knocking our collective stuffing out of us.

 

 

As a society we’re just more pessimistic about our future. Which is why I think we need to go in the opposite direction, and remember that just because things look almost unbearably bleak, doesn’t necessarily make it so.

 

 

The best part about science fiction is that it can show what we as a species are capable of. I love thinking of the potential we as a species are capable of. I mean that’s why Star Trek is so appealing. It’s a future where humanity has both survived long enough to meet other species and we haven’t destroyed each other. I think if we had more stories like that, we could start a cultural shift, and maybe, we’d start looking towards the future with hope, instead of abject dread.

 

 

And that’s not to say there is no Optimistic Science Fiction coming out. Interstellar, by director Christopher Nolan, seems to be about humanity exploring the stars after we’ve consumed all of Earth’s natural resources which, okay, is still a little bleak but it’s in the right direction. There was also the short lived show Almost Human which dealt with robots in the future, and their interactions with mankind. You can have shows and movies with complex themes and still have them be optomistic. It’s all about tone. And I’m tired of all the weary, what hath society wrought upon itself science fiction. I think we’ve got enough of that already. We need more Pacific Rim, partially because that’s a great example of what I’m talking about, with its fun characters and lighter tones, and mostly because that theme was awesome.

 

 

What I’m saying is, I think it’s time we start regarding our future with more of a “New Hope” vibe instead of a “Mad Max” one. We have the power to change our future. I mean, most every time travel plot ends up saying that. We should exercise that knowledge, lighten up, and while I’m making demands, put a new Star Trek show on TV.

 

-Token Black Guy