Yes shes in Korras fighting stance I needed a reference lol

This is one of the weirdest writing decisions in the show. In the first episode of S4 the entire cast learns that Korra lied to her parents about being in Republic City and instead she is missing for 6 months, no one knows if she is okay or if she is even alive.

Shouldn’t everyone be like SUPER WORRIED. Your supposed best friend was kidnapped, tortured, almost murdered by someone bending the air out of her lungs and was bound in a wheelchair for years because of it. And now you learn that after three years of isolation she is missing and hasn’t been seen in months. But the cast BARELY cares.

If I had a friend who I know is depressed and is going through the worst period of their life and then suddenly I learn that they have been missing for the last 6 months and was lying to her parents about being with me all that time, the first thing that I am thinking is that she killed herself.

Mako continues his life like nothing happens. Bolin continues like nothing happened. Asami does the same, despite claiming she had feelings for Korra at the time. The person you love may be dead for all you know, yet she seems to barely care as well. And with Asami it’s even worse cause she knows how bad Korra was after the letters they exchanged. Mako and Bolin much not know the true extent of how bad Korra was suffering for those three years but Asami?

Not even her parents cared. Shouldn’t there have been a scene with Tonraq and Senna being kind of worried their daughter is missing?

And what’s the worst part for me is that the search party (if the airbender kids can be considered that lol) go out to search her ONLY after Kuvira rose to power and they suddenly remembered that there is an Avatar somewhere that we can use to get rid of Kuvira. Like the arc of Korra missing should have been considered a way bigger deal than the show made it seem.

It was a good moment to show for much Korra meant to them. Like they are an actual team. Am I the only one that finds this super weird and out of character for pretty much everyone?

It’s finally here! The season finale of Book 2 of Legends of Korra!

And for the next two seasons I really need to work out a better system because this current one is just not working. I’m tired of being limited to watching two episodes a month and I’m sure everyone who likes reading these is fed up with it too. How did my life go from having multiple days to myself a year ago to being constantly too busy to have a straight two hours to myself for weeks on end? Ugh. I think I need some time off from work and life.

Anyway, I’m super excited to wrap this season up. It’s been a great one!

Episode 13- Darkness Falls

1- Korra just used one of the cooler airbending moves I’ve seen, making that little mini-tornado to pick up Uncle Chief and throw him away like the garbage he is lol I am so hyped for this fight!

“We can’t just randomly wander the spirit world, call out to Jinora, and expect to find her!” No, but I want to see you do it anyway! All three of Aang’s children wandering the spirit world and getting into wacky adventures deserves an episode all of its own.

“I feel a lot of spiritual energy coming from that direction.” Um… “We’re in the spirit world! There’s spiritual energy in every direction!” Thank you, Bumi, I was about to say! But also, Kya reminded me so much of Aang when she did that!

Don’t go into the scary-looking crevice, Tenzin. Koh is going to eat your face!

Okay, not Koh! Just his slightly less scary cousin lol

2- I love when Korra fights with her hair down. She looks so beautiful and badass at the same time. Also, there’s tentacles restraining her again. How many times has that happened this season? I want to make the same joke I made last time but the novelty’s gone now.

I’m always down to watch Mako and Bolin work together while fighting.

“That’s not the same mushroom.” “Yes, I am.” lmao I wasn’t expecting that.

IROH’S BACK AGAIN! Still just as happy as I was the first time!

3- Hell yeah! I could Korra breathe fire all day! Also, this is the first time I’ve seen Korra spend this long in the avatar state, and I’m pretty sure this is the first time we’ve heard her speak in the avatar state. Now maybe it’s just my hearing loss, but it doesn’t sound like she has the same distortion in her voice that Aang did when he spoke in the avatar state.

“Hello, my feeble turtle-duck.” Have they been fighting the twins this whole time? Honestly, those two are the real MVPs on Unalaq’s team. Gives me strong Azula vibes, where technically the dad is the strongest but the prodigy child (children in this case) does all the work.

Okay, the fog of lost souls. This ought to be good lol Also, Tenzin’s really damn lucky the spirit decided to imprison them instead of just eating them.

4- Korra’s winning too easily. And as soon as I type that, Uncle Chief hits her from behind. At least it wasn’t a lightning bolt this time.

Is Korra exhausted because of how long she spent in the Avatar state? I guess that makes sense, we saw Aang collapse a lot too after using it.

Okay, so Uncle Chief is an avatar now! But he doesn’t have the training that Korra has, and the lion-turtles didn’t give him the other three elements, so maybe he’s not that good at it?

5- ZHAO!!! Holy shit, of all the cameos I thought might happen in this show I never would have expected to see Zhao again! Lmao he thinks Tenzin is Aang!

Oh no… oh no, no no. I’m not claustrophobic but hell no. I need Korra to get out of that wedge right now, please. That is giving me anxiety having it paused on that exact moment

Goddamnit and as soon as I press play the exact worst thing that I didn’t want to see starts happening. Unalaq’s got her wedged below the surface in the ice and now he’s moving the ice together to squish her and I can’t fucking handle this lol

Okay, thank you! And yes, it is awesome to see Korra in the avatar state here but there’s still a whole other episode to go so she’s not going to win this fight right now. Well, unless the next episode is an epilogue, I suppose.

6- Bumi’s hearing cannibals in the fog of lost souls. Also, the avatar universe has cannibals. And now Bumi and Kya have run off into the fog. This is starting to venture into horror movie territory lol

Thank you, male twin! (I can never remember which one is Desna and which one is Eska) I was honestly hoping at some point they’d bring up the fact that their dad almost let him die.

“Big fire of love flames!” Okay normally I don’t approve of men gaslighting women and tricking them into thinking that they really love them, but the world’s ending, so you sell that performance Bolin! Who’s the first movie star ever? You are!

Um… was it really necessary to animate the string of saliva trailing from Eska’s mouth to Bolin’s? I think it was. Who knew she was a sloppy kisser?

“Yeah, right… that was acting.” ...don’t tell me Bolin’s actually into her lmao I mean I get it, on some level. Who doesn’t love being pushed around by a dominant woman?

7- Korra just froze Uncle Chief’s own water whip and used it to pull him to the ground. That’s amazing lol these fight scenes never fail to impress!

Wow… Unalaq’s avatar state is a little more of an Eldritch Horror than Korra’s, isn’t it? He just pulled Raava out of her!

Don’t go to the fog of lost souls now! I need to see what’s happening with Raava!

“But what if I fail?” Okay, I take it back, these scene is amazing. Is that actually Aang?

There’s so many people in the fog. Is it possible to save them all? I know Zhao definitely earned some kind of punishment but nobody deserves eternal suffering, no matter how terrible they were in life.

Annnnd I’m crying lol that was so beautiful. Tenzin, the son of Aang and last hope of the airbenders couldn’t save his family, but Tenzin, the man who loved his daughter and siblings, could.

8- Mako and Bolin are doing their best but Unalaq’s got the avatar state. If Ozai couldn’t beat it, neither can they. If only Mako had snuck up behind him and hit him with a lightning bolt…

Wait, what’s happening? Why did Aang just disappear? Why did Roku and Kyoshi disappear? Why are past avatars disappearing every time Unalaq hits Raava?

...I’m sure the intention of the show is to make us think that Raava’s dead cuz she disappeared and all the past avatars did too but there’s still two seasons after this (plus that new show I keep hearing about)!

Okay, but tragedy aside it is super cool how Unalaq and Vaatu turned into that giant tentacled monstrosity lol it reminds of when Aang and the Ocean spirit turned into that giant glowing fish kaiju.

Episode 14- Light in the Dark

1- Calm down, announcer guy, it’s not eternal darkness. It’s just 10,000 years.

Geez, Republic City has seen a lot of shit lately, hasn’t it? Also, I love that we really are just getting a repeat of the Ocean Spirit incident but for evil this time lol knocking around ships like nothing.

Hey! You leave Aang’s statue alone! But also that transition from Aang’s face to Korra’s was great.

“When Vaatu destroyed Raava, he destroyed my connection to the past avatars too.” Ah, makes sense. They probably don’t want Aang or one of the other avatars coming back to fix the problem, right? I admit, I have no idea how Korra’s gonna win this one.

2- This is so cool (but you know, still tragic cuz of those people Vaatu just killed). I bet the animators had an amazing time with this sequence.

Why giant vines? But also, Varrick! My favorite war criminal! Using Zhu Li as his own personal parachute, I see lmao

So Raava and Wan imprisoned Vaatu in a tree that’s super important for both worlds? That seems risky to me lol like he could have infected both worlds with evil or something (or maybe he did, and that’s why conflict and violence didn’t go away like Wan thought it would)

Tenzin has a point. Nobody knew that Wan fused with Raava, so his legend really was just him. It does seem like Raava takes a backseat to being the spiritual half of the avatar considering no other avatar communed with her.

So I think Korra is going to attempt to do what the Guru tried to teach Aang in Book 2 of his show. If I’m reading this scene right, that is.

3- “He cannot destroy light anymore than I can destroy darkness. One cannot exist without the other.” Yeah, I was wondering about that. Raava must still exist in some form. Maybe if Korra can discover that, they can fuse again? But also, I’m thinking that to achieve real balance she needs to absorb both Raava and Vaatu. Separating them might have been a mistake, like trying to separate Yin and Yang.

This IS what Aang was attempting to do! It took him like 80 years but he finally got there!

Oh… is Korra becoming a giant woman? Something you should know about me… I love giant women.

“Uh… what did you say to her, exactly?” lmao I love Bumi

4- Maybe Vaatu uses vines because he symbolizes nature, where Raava is more of civilization and working together. Nature is pretty brutal and horrifying, so it makes sense to me that the spirit of chaos and darkness would have sway over it.

“Korra’s back!” “And she’s a blue giant!” lol Tenzin’s family are so adaptable to basically any circumstance, aren’t they?

“Bend the energy in yourself.” So this is kind of like what Aang and Ozai did but on a bigger scale. They even had the same color scheme!

Annnnd here we go… Korra being restrained by tentacles again, but this time as a giantess. Calm down, Japan!

Korra’s team using all four elements to defend her is an amazing shot. But also… if Vaatu is so sure he can beat Korra, why send goons after her body? Is somebody a little nervous?

5- I guess Eska and Desna are cool again lol “Eska! I love you! Let’s face the end of the world together!” “You’re so romantic.” lmao okay, I ship them.

Holy shit, I don’t know why it took me this long to realize it but the spirit bending that Unalaq does is the same kind of bending Aang used on Ozai. I mean, duh, it’s energy bending, but it took me seeing him using it on Korra here to realize it’s the same thing. It just looks different when used on external spirits versus people who have internal spirits.

It is an amazing image to see Jinora’s spirit descending from the sky to help Korra. I suppose I can ignore the deus ex machina aspect of it lol If it’s okay for Aang to be handed the solution from a lion-turtle, then it’s okay for Korra to be handed the solution from her granddaughter

I think I theorized about this at one point (not sure, have to go back) but seeing Korra pull Raava out of Vaatu is pretty vindicating! They may be separated, but they’re still two parts of a whole. Now all we need is for Korra to absorb Vaatu too and I’m gonna feel so smug and smart lol

The technique to defeat Vaatu is the same that they’ve been using on regular dark spirits!

Wait… Jinora better not be dead. I don’t know why but when she said, “I’ll see you soon, Dad” I got a sudden burst of fear that she doesn’t mean in the physical world.

Okay, she’s fine!

6- Wow, I think Unalaq counts as the first person Korra’s killed. He did kind of have it coming, so not exactly sad about that. But what happens now? Will there be a second avatar born soon with Vaatu in them?

Also I love how much the twins just don’t care that their father’s dead lol couple of sociopaths here but I love them. And I suppose it’s a good thing that Eska and Bolin are figuring out healthy boundaries now because as much as I wanted to see it, that would have been one disaster of a relationship!

WHAT?! Korra hasn’t reconnected with her past lives even though she restored Raava?! But… that means no more memories of past lives, no more talking to Aang and Roku and Kyoshi and Kuruk and Yang-chen or Wan! Damn it!

I mean, from an objective point of view I do actually approve of that storytelling decision because it gave Korra’s fight with Unalaq real stakes. She did lose something permanently from their battle and from saving the world, and that makes it that much more meaningful and powerful.

But from an emotional point of view, fuck you writers!

7- She’s going to leave the spirit portals open. I tentatively think it’s a good idea, but have slight concerns. After all, if there was a little piece of light in Vaatu, then there must be a little piece of darkness in Raava, and who knows how much it’s influencing Korra now? But on the other hand, Yin and Yang are all about balance, push and pull. Just like maybe Raava and Vaatu shouldn’t be apart, maybe the two worlds shouldn’t be so apart either.

And besides, it’s not like spirits don’t cross over into the physical world all the time anyway. At least now humans have the option to do the same!

I feel bad for Mako. First he had a beautiful wealthy billionaire girlfriend, then he had a girlfriend who is literally the avatar of a god and he lost both. My man will never reach those heights again lol but jokes aside, I am glad that Korra and Mako can be mature about it and recover from their more heated argument. Hopefully they can still be friends.

But hey… now Korra and Asami are both single.

Yay! The south is finally independent from the north! ...man, the emotional weight of that comment really depends on the context it’s said, huh? But good for them! And good for Tonraq! You are now Daddy Chief.

Concluding thoughts: Wow, what an amazing ending! You know, I had a couple of doubts towards the beginning of the season but now I think it’s possible that this is my favorite single season in the Avatar franchise. That was great! Honestly, Korra’s speech at the end felt like a series finale, not a season finale.

I loved just how many things and concepts introduced in ATLA really came to the forefront here in TLOK. Particularly the whole energy/spirit bending thing. In ATLA and book 1 of Korra, it mostly felt like a super convenient plot device. But now that it’s been expanded upon here, it really feels like a natural part of the universe and not quite as forced, you know?

It was also pretty great to be vindicated in my theory that the avatar was part spirit (sort of). I’ve been hanging on to that one since NATLA!

I think this season is really where the potential of TLOK shines. So many things about this season retroactively improve on ATLA and NATLA. Literally, knowing what I know now makes me want to go back and rewatch both series with the context I now have! Now Korra really feels like a true Part 2 of a greater story.

I really want to see Book 3 now. I desperately need to work out some kind of new schedule where I can do commentary more often.

I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on TLOK Book 2, and I’ll be seeing you soon with Book 3!

I just started a rewatch of LOK after not seeing it since it originally came out and something has been really bothering me.

We know Amon used bloodblending to take away people's bending. Which means he probs did some type of chi-blocking right?? Having been bloodbended, and having used bloodbending herself, I don't get how Katara wouldn't have picked up on this when trying to heal Korra after her bending was taken at the end of the season.

I feel like it makes more sense for it to be healed with reversal of bloodbending than the Avatar doing a special Avatar reversal.

I wasn't expecting this face expression 💀 💀 💀 

We see in the Yakone flashbacks that the Avatar State made Aang immune to blood bending, which should have been foreshadowing for how Amon would ultimately be defeated. Korra entering the berserker AS to save Mako would have felt much more natural to the story than her suddenly being able to airbend while also suddenly being able to resist Amon’s blood bending enough to get a final attack in.

I noticed that Korra doesn't really have a brother figure and I can't unsee it (kinda sad about it too ngl) so I thought of asking what do y'all think Korra would be like as a sister? For the sake of diversity let's say it's either an older or younger brother depending on your preference.

I'm interested in understanding how do you view being a direct blood relative to the Avatar would affect someone and their view of things.

Personally I imagine her to be the cool sibling who tries to uphold an image for her younger brother who genuinely thinks she's the coolest person alive.

Apparently the Avatar line is destroyed whilst in the Avatar state so howcome vaatu is going to have another successor since Unalaq died while In the Avatar state technically?

Youtube’s resident Korra defender here, back with a video specifically covering her amazing development and character writing! I’ve always loved Korra so much, so it was about time I made a video conveying my immense love for this character and her journey!

If I was Korra I would lowkey earth bend a hole and live there until the next harmonic convergence.

i was watching LoK (specifically the second last episode of season 1) when my mom from the other room asked me if i was watching a chinese dance show bc the music sounded similar

i just thought that it was cool that the team behind LoK incorporated other chinese elements other than just the text in the signs and such

and regarding the signs and chinese text i’ve asked my dad multiple times what it means and it all makes sense (like for a caution tape it had like “republic city” written on it and something else, the banners of the equalists has the word “balance”, etc.)

Images from https://www.darkhorse.com/Blog/4444/preview-the-upcoming-beasts-of-four-nations