Fixing Korrasami and the End of Korra

I love Quorum it has some of the most profound and Powerful moments in all of Avatar and I'll ask for one last chora good in the comments actually no Cora not good Cora great I'll not stand for people saying it's trash it's it's just not it has its weaknesses as all shows do and I want to explore those as much as its strengths which is why we're fixing the final season this is just a fun thought experiment there are only two rules one they only got 13 episodes so that's all we get as well and two we are fixing not rewriting it entirely it's easy to be the guy who says oh they should have just done something entirely different but no we're not gonna do that we're working to make the story we already have better so I see three issues with season four one let's be honest korosami just wasn't really set up or at least it wasn't enough for me I mean Nickelodeon was afraid that the moment a child saw two women kiss on a screen they would immediately combust into rainbow confetti so we're gonna fix that two the uh giant robot was weird out of place and tonally bizarre and three kuvira kind of bounces from sympathetic to cartoonish villain and I think we can handle her better in just a few scenes we've actually already fixed the previous three seasons and you don't need to watch those videos if you don't want to all you really need to know is one Cora has regained her water bending and air bending after a month but not her fire bending and Earth bending quite yet two she's see me banned from Republic City because the equalists and three opal is an airbender but she's not a bayfong orb cheat is a bayfong but not any Airbender it doesn't really matter it's whichever you prefer but do go check out those other videos they're linked up in the corner episode one after all these years just like in the series we jump forward three years in Time Prince we was about to be crowned earth king Marco is his bodyguard while Bolin and varic are working with kuvira to unite the Earth Kingdom after the chaos in the wake of Zahir we are introduced to kuvira in that same iconic scene on the rail line which is just fantastic a brilliant way to introduce your main antagonist but there is going to be one slight World building change here so in the show supposedly every province of the earth Kingdom fell into Anarchy and Chaos after Zahir killed the Earth Queen in basing say now there's Bandits everywhere but the thing is the earth kingdom is extremely decentralized politically already passing safe falling apart would not cause the rest of it to fall into chaos like imagine if Florida collapsed it wouldn't mean that California collapses as well but bassing say was still the biggest boy on the Block and if any of these outlying provinces started fighting amongst each other then the earth king could prob probably step in to stop them so we're actually going to make it so that the chaos that the show talks about was the result of Earth Kingdom provinces picking up old grievances in a ton of little Civil Wars with nobody to stop them this does three things one it's more realistic two it means that kuvira isn't just extorting and blackmailing these states into giving up control so that they feel safe again yeah she's still extorting them but she's extorting you know Lords who want to wage their own little pity Wars for selfish gain Wars that affect the Common People the most in the opening episode she'll confronts the governor but this time she'll say something like your people are running out of food your borders are collapsing you can't wage this little war of yours any longer the question is not if your people will starve but win you'll stop this little tantrum put down your grievances against the yay Province and return to the folds of the earth Kingdom your people will thank you for it you'll remain in charge but under my supervision and three I actually think it's more interesting to have kuvira go from someone who puts down warmongers in the name of unification and Order and peace to becoming a warmonger herself it'll also make Bolin and varric's moral decision to leave her cause more complex because in the show it's really just about them finding out the truth of how extortionate and blackmailing kuvira always was in this version they'll instead have to reconcile their own values with her actions as she begins pushing too far and taking states that aren't like this in the show they're just kind of lied to we also see how decadent and disconnected princewa is from his own people even though he insists he's just like everyone else and we're meant to see how Antiquated the institution of the monarchy itself is immediately juxtaposed with kuvira's efficiency and meritocracy and inclusiveness opal as in the show doesn't like kuvira and this is called caused a rift between her and Bolin elsewhere Cora is wandering in the wilderness having renounced her identity as the Avatar she's managed to heal enough after Zahir to walk again but she's lost emotionally and spiritually losing cage fight after cage fight so episode 1 is basically the same these characters are in the same places and we've really just softened kuvira's starting position episode 2 Cora alone this episode parallels Zuko alone centering on a single character's struggles when they feel most lost in themselves physically emotionally and spiritually and it's literalized by them being lost out in the world some people have complained that it's dumb that Cora is struggling so much here because I don't know she went through harder things before and she was fine but I think this really misunderstands trauma and korra's Arc trauma isn't a linear experience and the path to recovery is rarely predictable especially when you've been physically debilitated the way that Cora has it has lasting psychological implications we often feel out of control of our own bodies and I think the show captures that really really well we see flashbacks of the past few years as she tried to heal at the South Pole meditation and physical therapy and katara's healing and in this time she did manage to improve she even even managed to get back some inkling of the earth bending and fire bending inside her again the same way that she regained her water bending in season two she can feel it inside her just beyond the tips of her fingers but she can't control the elements at all and she certainly can't control the Avatar State just like she feels barely in control of herself course I'm frustrated she says a crazy man poisoned me and now I can't dress myself or cook myself or do anything for myself and this whole time my friends have been off helping the world while I'm stuck here with you and you can't even heal me I'm I'm sorry that came out wrong tired Katara I'm so tired people do come to visit her every so often and send her letters but Cora feels so isolated that she stops replying to all of them except Asami we're meant to get the impression that these two have bonded over the last few years I remember watching this when the series first aired and thinking it was odd that she wrote back to Asami but hopefully in every Rites of season two and three and one we've given that a little bit more of a build up Cora writes to Asami saying don't tell the others I'm writing to you not them I mean Tenzin is all busy and Marco just keeps talking about how excited he is for me to come back to being the Avatar and Berlin just says all they need is a distraction I just I can't handle that it's like I've had a wall sometimes I worry if I'll ever fully recover you're the only one that seems to listen Asami is her confident in this scene and we meant to see a level of empathy from Asami that Korra doesn't get from others there's a romantic subtext here too but I didn't want it to be about sexual attraction and when you look at the supposed evidence of them building up to this relationship in the series a lot of it's just casual flirting between the two of them which I think is a pretty shallow way to explore the relationship it's got to be about this intense sense of isolation and shame after having lost so much in her place in the world and Asami is the only one that seems to be able to break through so Cora decides to leave she's fed up and she tells everyone that she's going to Republic City but after being defeated by just a couple of Bandits on the way all her insecurities take over and she begins that Wilderness wandering she can't get better she can't return so what is she to do but disappear Corey cutting off her here here resonates symbolically with that moment that Zuko does the same in both cases it's a rejection of their identity as much as it is them being unable to figure out who they should become the only person Cora keeps in contact with throughout her wandering is Asami sending her letters from place to place and Asami keeps her secret from the others Cora travels to the South Pole to the spirit world to the desert she seeks out a dragon and Badger moles the original Bend is hoping to reconnect with the Avatar State and the final two elements in all the while she keeps seeing this dark chain division of herself following her this is the image of herself in the moment of her trauma her Journeys across the world though end her up and those same fighting pits we saw at the end of episode one and it's here that she stops sending Asami letters wanting to truly fall into hiding finally she's Laird into the swamp just like she is in the series and to Toth again episode 2 is virtually identical with just a few Twigs to make Cora's Journey align with a rewrite and how she's trying to get back to those elements her Identity or sense of self and to further that relationship with Asami which is so important episode 3 the coronation this episode plays out again basically the same Prince Wu is due to be crowned but we continue to see how immature and effectual and inappropriate not only he is but the institution of the monarchy that's a crucial difference right so fantasy including like Avatar the first series has this all you need is the right man on the throne approach but season 4 explicitly says no the monarchy itself is Antiquated and bad as a system and kuvira's speech highlighting that technology and Innovation should be the way forward you can't help but kinda want her to take power and that's a really cool trick again though we're gonna soften her rhetoric to one be clearly less villainous and two actually make her more fascist which is clearly the inspiration her character design is coming from if you didn't get it from the whole I will bring order and uniforms and everything kavir will say something like and let me assure my fellow leaders of one thing we will not interfere in your or Internal Affairs and we expect you not to interfere in the earth Empires as we bring our people back together and reclaim our historic lands see dictatorships often slip into fascism when they take on this nationalistic historical narrative right with representing the capital P people and capital L land often as a populist way to frame their restoring order or Seeking Justice for historical wrongs this leans into kuvira's populism and shows how she's slipping from it just being about bringing order to Bringing about her order that's the difference that there is now kind of a virtue to her herself being in charge it's got to be her whereas in the show she seemingly frames herself as the aggressor from the start so Marco and Bolin fall out over whether kuvira is doing the right thing Berlin is fully drinking the Kool-Aid here kuvira is uniting the earth Kingdom and Hell helping the common people while Marco is defending Prince Wu who sort of represents this Antiquated World Order meanwhile Toff quote trains Cora by basically beating her up and afterwards they'd sit down to talk Cora explains how she's tried for so long to find what she's been missing a new way to get back to who she was but she can't find it she asks what made you want to go off the grid and Toff says I'm more connected to the world than you've ever been the roots and Vines here they run all over the world I can see Sue and Lin and zafu and Republic City I see all those I've forgotten all those I love you're blind compared to me though tough senses that there's still some metal inside Cora from Windsor here poisoned her which Cora leap said because this is an answer this is why she's still being so ill this is why she can't get back to who she wants to be but Toph can't bend it out of her because Cora can't relax and and Toff tells her maybe you don't want to get rid of the poison because it means you have an excuse for not going back to being the Avatar and you don't have to risk getting hurt again Cora shaken by that suggestion that on some level she doesn't want to go back wanders off episode 4 the calling Cora has managed to throw her friends off her Trail but with kuvira taking power they decide they need to find her Asami is worried because Cora's letters have stopped though she only tells tens in this not Marco and Bolin Asami gives korra's last known whereabouts and tins and scenes as kids defined her after the Airbender kids leave though we see Asami packing a bag too Korra explores the spiritual swamp because Toff really isn't being all that helpful she tries over and over again to connect with the fire and Earth elements in spiritual ways she even encounters a bad Jamal and mimics them for a time but just as she exercises some small control over the metal in her body she suffers from a flashback that dark vision of herself and then Zahir striking at her collapsing in a spasm of pain and memory we're only really adding in the bedroom all here it might not be necessary but she needed to encounter one at some point in the story I feel same with the dragon the Airbender kids follow Cora's Trail but when the trail runs did Genora decides he's gonna try to contact Cora through spiritual means and begins meditating iki gets captured by Earth Empire soldiers but Milo manages to rescue her Toph brings Cora to the Banyan Grove this huge spiritual tree tough tells her your problem is you're being disconnected for too long disconnected from the people who love you disconnected from yourself I can sense everyone I need from here so can you following toff's instructions Cora touches and meditates with the Banyan Grove she reaches out to the people she needs most and at the same time genora's eyes snap open with realization so I'd like to frame this moment so that we think these two are connecting Genora and Cora when it's actually revealed that Korra has connected with a Sami who has followed the trail on her own and was drawn into the swamp when Korra imagines the people she needs and loves she sees Asami first see there is a real problem with kurosami in season 4 okay we don't get a single real scene between the two of them until episode 7 over half the series gone and even then it doesn't amount to much more than light floating it certainly doesn't communicate anything deep about their personal relationship Asami just gets mad at Korra over her dad so in this we're working to make Assam made this emotional Touchstone again and give them more screen time together Asami will help Korra patch up after a training as they talk I suppose you're here to tell me the whole world has gone to Hell Without Me ah well yeah but that can wait till later you stopped writing not exactly a post office and a swamp why are you out here all alone I met an old friend you could say has it helped I thought if I could find something out here that would help heal me nothing was working back in the South Pole I thought it's all right you don't have to say I just get so angry because I've tried so hard and I'm still not better she puts her head in her hands Why'd You Come why'd you find me because every time you try to go at it alone it doesn't work out huh but I'm here now I guess you are and just like in the show having reconnected with others and herself Cora bends the poison metal out of herself allowing her to re-enter the Avatar State and regaining control of the earth and fire elements I didn't want to make this story about Corey getting the four elements we've already had that with Aang so I wanted to bring it back in but with more meaning in a different way in the final scene of this episode Genora reveals that she has sensed kuvira's Army moving towards zaofu and a lot quicker than they ever first suspected episode 5 Enemy at the gates this is the first episode that we really see the spirit Vine laser that varican Berlin are working on I am not a fan of this plot beat or aesthetic whatever you want to call it for two reasons one it feels like bringing artillery into Middle Earth it just doesn't fit but more importantly two this whole thing right is based on the idea that spiritual energy is a harnessable quantifiable force of nature in the world that can be turned into a laser no spiritual energy is a psychological philosophical thing even as far back as Ang's conversation with Guru patik the power of spirituality or the like was so much more subtle expressed through bending ability and wisdom and the ability to controls one body like Kyoshi used it to slow down her aging to 230 years turning it into raw power hour like this feels almost antithetical to the role spirits and spirituality of played in the series just like I don't like the laser battle at the end of season 2 I don't like this it is also meant to be a rough parallel to nuclear weapons Varick even says this power is too dangerous for anyone to have but I don't know I I don't think the show explores that Prospect particularly well you know especially with how flippantly the laser is used so no we're gonna change this I don't mind the idea of varic building super weapons and having second thoughts but we're gonna scale it back to something like the sphere Gustav the largest piece of artillery ever built by the Nazis that moved along Railways and also here's why it's the very inspiration for the railway gun that we see in a later episode this doesn't feel as unnatural to the world and it doesn't undermine the spiritual themes and as in the show varic will test this new weapon with greater range and destructive power than anything we've seen before but varic is going to have second thoughts that this can't fall into the wrong hands only for kuvira to insist that she is the right hands and threaten him one funny side note about this though is so every single time people tried to build these huge artillery guns to be terrifying they always failed they were useless they never worked in battle and they've just always fell apart and were super expensive failures I love it so they're not actually threatening but this is fiction kaviro demands our Fu joining the Empire and when suyin refuses kavirus is ah alright I'll just take it by force Bolin and varicop conflicted they were on board with stabilizing the Empire but not conquering regions that weren't doing anything that weren't Waging War like zaofu the two decide to abandon the cause but here Julie betrays them and they're captured suyian implores Korra to go stop kuvira herself just like in the show but Cora is reluctant and she'll say something like I don't know last time I got involved in politics because of my friends it didn't turn out well the other nations appointed kuvira they should be involved but fine I'll talk to her at least see if I can make her turn back here she's thinking back to the water tribe Civil War Cora parlays with kavera but it doesn't work Korra returns only to find Su Yin and her two sons have already left to try and assassinate kuvira episode 6 the battle of zaofu this is probably my favorite core episode it is perfect from start to end Soo Yen and her sons are captured after trying to assassinate kuvira who's enraged that their peace was broken Opel wants to attack kuvira damning her Airbender oath of non-aggression but genorian says she should keep it kuvira challenges Korra to a duel for control of zafu and Korra initially refuses the other nations have to be involved but when kuvira says well all right I'll just take it anyway Cora agrees reluctantly partly because she has no choice and also because she wants to prove herself as the Avatar again and then Cora gets absolutely nailed in a brilliant scene this moment where kavera says like fight me use whatever you want even the Avatar state it is such a good tone Setter and moment for Avril and really establishing the threat she poses the thing is even without the poison Cora is out of practice and still mentally unstable she hallucinates a dark vision of herself in the middle of of the fight and zaofu Falls Asami watches in horror what's wrong with her we got the poison out I I don't understand Asami rushes to pick Korra up in the last moments dragging her away while the Airbender kids whip up a whirlwind to help them Escape zelfu surrenders in the meantime Bolin and Varick make a daring Escape together there's not much else to it I wish I could spend more time in this episode because it's so damn good but there are no big changes episode 7 reunion Cora Sami and crew make it back to air Temple Island across from a public city Marco and Prince Wu are hiding out together it comes out that Korra wrote to Asami but not Bolin and Marco Asami defends Korra but Korra doesn't know how to explain it why she felt the way she did she apologizes but Marco walks off feeling betrayed after he wrote all those letters to her too one difference with our version of season four is that asami's father doesn't play a role he doesn't really exist see in our version of season 1 Asami was the equalist owner of Sato Industries which by the way was the Creator's original intention before they backed off from it so we don't have asami's conversations with her father and Asami also still has ties to the equalist factions who help rule Republic City it's only with those connections that Korra is temporarily allowed back in seeing our version the equalists weren't sort of wiped out they were sort of incorporated into the government Asami the Airbenders and Korra talk about zaofu and what kuvira has become a dictator Cora feels ashamed and guilty for not stopping her and even though everyone tells her not to worry she still feels it that it's her responsibility Prince Will was kidnapped by kuvira's forces and they chased them across the city as they do Korra blames Marco for losing him as the king's bodyguard but this only even Flames the distance between them they managed to rescue Prince Wu but only just at the same time varric and Bolin are sneaking past an Empire checkpoint they learned that kuvira is coming for a public city now there's a weird detail at this point in the show we also learned that kuvira is rounding up firebenders and waterbenders into camps yeah like like it's pretty clearly meant to be a holocaust parallel if you didn't get the Nazi comparison yet but this always felt really out of place for me because they don't really do anything with this it never comes up again and even though kuvira has a nationalistic streak we never see that paired with prejudice towards non-earth Empire citizens like she never blames them for the Earth Empire falling apart which is a common fascistic scapegoat tactic right like this group of people love why our country is in chaos it's a tiny detail but I'd probably just replace it with a prison camp for Rebels or something in the show as it stands I think this is a pretty clumsy bit of commentary even if you are doing the fascist thing because if you're gonna do a holocaust parallel you know I think it should be done better than this but we don't really have the space in this series so instead we should just probably cut it episode 8 beyond the wild now okay technically episode 8 is remembrances which is a flashback episode it's not very good it's not important it doesn't do anything to further the story so I'm not going to bother with it keep it if you want I'll discard it I don't care I thought it was annoying in our version varic and Bolin arrive and explain that kuvira has set up this schveera Gustav super weapon which we're gonna call the Colossus and they're planning to take Republic City too now the show kinda makes the sound like this is purely about lore and Order and power for kuvira and see while Fascist governments did rise with populist Promises of Law and Order their expansionism is usually justified by appealing to reuniting or liberating the capital P people or capital L land that they feel entitled to because of historic ties see Russia Today now the show does pay lip service to the land idea once but if the show wants to comment on nationalism or fascism then I think it should have delved more deeply into these sentiments that are behind them you know is especially given this kind of expansionism doesn't come from just one person's desire for power which again the show kind of suggests it does but a dangerously widespread cultural belief that's why we're gonna have kuvira emphasize these ideas in the historic Earth Kingdom lands and reuniting their people it's a small tweak even then it's not a perfect parallel right like fascism exists almost inherently in opposition to democracy and we don't have democracy here we've got a bunch of monarchies I I still think though that this change in Focus does do the original intention of her character more Justice Asami tenzen and the Republic city council reach out to the water tribes and Fire Lord Azumi who I always wanted to see more of I wanted to see what the Fire Nation had become they asked for help to take the fight to kuvira but Izumi as in the show insists that the fire nation has made War too much a part of its history and intends to stay out of it once again people pressure Cora to go fight kuvira but Korra says she can't and sort of breaks down and leaves tenson says lever but hours later Asami finds Cora in the forest outside the city I don't know what's wrong with me I thought the poison was gone I thought I'd I'd go back to normal but I I still see him so here it's like I'm not in control of my own body maybe it's not as easy as that I'm over people telling me it'll get better it hasn't it won't tensin is tired of me being like this Marco is angry at me teensen isn't angry Marco is Marco is just being Marco look sometimes there's a big difference between what we know and what we feel maybe you know you're safe maybe you know that your body is okay again but you don't feel it and that doesn't mean that those feelings aren't real Cora looks up yeah I think I want to face Zahir teensen takes Cora to zahir's prison and asks her do you think you can do this they have a touching moment of mentor to apprentice and she goes in to face sahia honestly this episode is a little bit of a Miss in the series Genora gets taken by the spirit Vine so they need to get her back but to do that they need to go into the spirit world but Cora can't and that's why she goes to face Zahir but it all feels a little bit contrived and distracted and weirdly paced from the main story I think this is a more intimate exploration of korra's trauma and a more meaningful reason to go talk to Zahir Bolin tries to make up with opal but she will not have any of it he worked for kuvira Marco Comforts Bolin but doesn't have any great advice on women it seems and neither does Prince Wu making the whole situation worse at the same time varric and Asami enter a tense unfriendly working relationship to help stop kuvira and Shore up the city's defenses Cora faces are here in the same way that she does in the show I think it's a really great moment good visuals and dialogue and it holds a lot of meaning so here hates kuvira this Tyrant who has risen up in his wake and he offers to help Cora bring her down in the show this moment is all about reconnecting with rava but personally I I just don't put that much stock in Cora and rava's relationship you can go watch my video on Beginnings to understand why further but she faces up to Zahir this person who has caused her so much trauma and in doing so she regains a sense of control over herself after that he helps her meditate into the spirit world connecting with the past avatars and understanding her own pain better than ever before letting go of her guilt and hopefully giving her the ability to face kuvira as well this episode closes with Opel and Bolin making up but only when Bo Lynn promises to help rescue the bayfongs episode 9 operation faithful the crew tracks down kuvira's huge ass super cannon Toff turns up to help but things are tense between her and Lynn during the fight Cora and Marco have to rely on each other and together they rescue the bayfongs but they have to leave when kuvira and her Army close in just as the super weapon test goes off and they can see it Blow apart a mountain I gotta be honest I always felt like Toff was underutilized in this scene that they kind of held her back because she was so op but that's really a little bit contrived isn't it so we're gonna have tough fight kuvira while the others get away and kuvira is gonna have to make a calculated retreat but even Toff is gonna have to escape too when the rest of the army arrives and it becomes just all too much and she vanishes into the ground in the aftermath Lin and Toff make up and talk about the past Marco and Cora apologize and admit to their wrongs back in Republic City varic and Asami are inventing some kind of machine though we don't get to see what it is in the show it's these weird hummingbird machines but we're going to do something a little bit different with it one detail about this episode that I always kinda hated was Julie okay it turns out she was faking the Betrayal and actually loves varic unconditionally ah no see it was more interesting to have varric's constant mistreatment of Julie turn her against him motivating him to reflect on his behavior afterwards whereas this just kind of says oh verit can actually get away with anything so no Julie is going to stay with kuvira in this episode episode 10 kuvira's Gambit principal and Marco Evacuate the city and Republic City calls up its Navy now Prince Wu does have an arc in the series he has to live amongst the common people and he Bloons to see what really matters in the world his characters fine he's kind of in the background uh and so he's gonna do all the same stuff that he does in this episode kuvira has already seized much of the surrounding land in aori right so they haven't been able to sabotage the railways and prevent the Colossus from moving forward because of this though they do set out to destroy the super weapon before it ever gets into range of Republic City they go with a few airships a sky bison and bombs and just like in the show it goes wrong the airships are shot out of the sky by this huge cannon none of the bombs make it and they flee back to Republic City luckily though in the chaos they managed to kidnap Bataan Jr kuvira's lover and her second in command when kuvira arrives at Republic City she obliterates the Navy from a distance taking out the ships one by one it's all a display of force and power a warning the ships fire in return but they simply don't have the range kavira issues an ultimatum to the city these lands she says were Earth territory many years before for as long as history remembers till they were taken from us and our people by War and tyranny and even in our Victory our people were kept from them and their Birthright the United Republic is the stunted child of politicians and monarchs who know nothing of what it means to lose their home their families we offer you now a chance to return home to join your brothers and sisters those who rule you might resist for selfish reasons but we come here as liberators lay down your arms the Republic city council partly made up of equalists after season one sees this as just more Bender war and expansionism just like Oman said and they refuse to surrender Korra intervenes and tries to calm everyone down just give me one more chance to talk to kavira they allow her that and Cora asks kuvira to leave she even allows Batar to talk with her but the man communicates their position through coded language and kuvira tearfully orders to fire on their location killing Batar and severely injuring Asami the council urged on by Asami says that they will not surrender not after everything the equalist fought for episode 11 day of the Colossus after the explosion everyone is separated Asami and Korra together Bolin and Marco tenzen and Lin the kids too now this episode in the show is mostly centered around trying to destroy the Colossus till Hiroshi Sato asami's dead sacrifices his life so that they can get inside but we have neither the Colossus nor Hiroshi Sato by the way one other thing about the Colossus I could just never buy that it was a threat it was such a clumsily built thing and when it's like getting tripped up it looks so inept no so anyways kuvira's forces into the City and the fight Begins the leadership evacuates with Tenzin to air Temple Island every so often the Colossus Cannon will take out their positions leveling the city before kuviru's soldiers move in Marco and Bolin decide that they need to take out the Colossus they find a sky bison and fly off meanwhile varric sets off a number of traps for enemy forces passing through the city electrical tripwires and bombs that that sort of thing insisting that they just need to lure the enemy further into the heart of Republic City Cora points out that kuvira always stays on the front lines herself and the two sneak past the lines hoping to take kavira out Asami is injured and Cora has to support her the whole way but Asami insists that she wants to stay with her she manages to point out enemies several times saving korra's life they managed to find a quiet ruin of a building and take a break from the fighting to help wrap up asami's League explosions echoing in the distance it's my turn to take care of you says Cora you've got more important things to worry about than me there's silence for a moment all those years writing me letters why did you come to find me in the swamp I told you kuvira just declared she was in charge and I was worried everyone else came looking because they needed the Avatar back yeah we all did I guess I was just wondering if well you could have waited you could have waited till janora found me so maybe you came because I missed you yeah but if you I missed you in that way in every way this is basically them both saying that they care about each other but more than that it's romantic there's also a symmetry between the Banyan Grove and here when Asami helped Cora heal in this moment they'll be found and attacked Cora will beat them off and get kuviru's location Kora and sisami stay behind while she's injured that she has to do this herself and she can't worry about Asami if she's going to fight kuvira the episode ends with Korra finding her enemy kuvira I'm here she declares episode 12 The Last Stand kavira talks to her straight we've already done this Avatar I beat you korobizer one last time to stand down and let the other nations decide her fate but kuvira says she'll have to take her down herself if that's to happen nobody can say I didn't give you a chance is Cora entering the Avatar state kuvira orders her soldiers to stand back I've done this before at the same time Marco and Bolin are trying to take down the Colossus Cannon they fight their way past lines of kuvira's soldiers and their movements flash between the past and present a symmetry between their fine now and how they trained alongside each other for pro-bending when they were younger varric the Airbenders and Lin all find each other in the city Vara consists they have a plan grinning a covered machine in the city Square Cora is holding her own in a way that she couldn't before Ed zaofu but it's relatively evenly matched between the two of them even with all the elements and the Avatar State Cora is well out of practice while kuvira is battle-hardened and isn't injured she didn't just get out of a massive explosion she mostly avoids Cora's blows hoping to wear the Avatar down Bolin and Marco fight their way up to the super weapon they can see it being ready to fire once more we get more of these flashbacks between the two brothers as they fight all the times Marco defended Bolin when they were younger on the streets of barsing say Bolin pushes a spread of lava underneath the Colossus Cannon but it's not enough the two break inside into its inner workings and Marco begins unleashing a torrent of lightning just like he kind of does in the show kuvira's forces are taking the city street by street with tanks and mix but for every tank they destroy it feels like two more right is in their place Lynn says you'd think I shed enough blood for this damn place maybe it's waiting till I die here too hopefully not today sister by this point in their duel both Cora and kuvira are injured stumbling through the city ruins but Cora does have the upper hand kavira insists that Korra will have to kill her I'm not going to kill you she says you're going to call off your army and surrender we can end this kuvira if you want in this then come to it yourself kuvira attacks Cora but Cora brushes it aside approaching her slowly back with Marco and Bolin the super weapon is sinking into the lava overloaded and about to explode Marco is still blasting it with lightning trying to stop it before it goes off and kills more people but he realizes it won't be enough he looks to bowling he orders him to go to get out he says that it's his job to take care of his little brother Bolin insists that he won't leave him but Marco blasts him out of the machine right as the super weapon explodes killing Marco in the process but not before it lets off one last shot that last shot fires directly at Cora and kavira and Cora sensing the huge caliber bullet coming for them with her air bending spins to protect kuvira she enters the Avatar State rending the metal from metal and controlling The Inferno around them a blazing storm of red and gold and white we still get that iconic chorus scene that so vividly encapsulates Cora's character Rock she goes from someone who is just looking for the right person to punch to someone who puts her life on the line to defend even her worst enemy at that same moment varic reveals what he and Asami were working on as kuvira's Army is drawn into the city square and EMP goes off and deactivates a lot of kuvira's tanks and mix this gives the Republic City forces just enough of an advantage to turn the tides in the confusion see how the laser went off in the original version of Korra and kavera's fight always felt a little bit clumsy to me that Cora walks into this place and then there's a giant gun in front of her and kuvira is up at the top and pulling it it just felt a little bit contrived and odd I don't know what it was about it but I do like the conversation that kind of follows in its wake so they're sitting in the ruins of Republic City in the wake of this blast there are some lines that I didn't really like all that much kuvira basically confesses that her own parents abandoned her and it's implied that this is why she turned into a dictator that she wouldn't stand by when her Nation needed Guidance just like she needed guidance as a kid again this seems to diminish the role of the people in the land in nationalistic and fascist ideas and instead focuses on one person's childhood insecurities when that wider cultural context is so important it's odd it's a clumsy comparison and then there's this ham-fisted stuff about Cora being poisoned when kavera wouldn't know about any of that so this conversation is going to just focus on the other parts of that the something else kavira is going to say you know she didn't want war that the Avatar was gone and someone needed to do something so she did Cora empathizes with that like she does in the show and she admits that the two of them are similar they both have that drive to take action to protect others when they have the power to do so it's a responsibility not like this though Cora insists this is the culmination of korra's Ark and every right in season 1 she learned that sometimes it's better to empathize and listen than fight in season 2 she learned that it wasn't always up to her to decide how the world organizes itself even as the Avatar she can't just choose to kill kuvira in season 3 she saw the importance of self-determination and this brings us here at last to this moment kavira calls off the last of her forces and is taken into custody Prince Wu is inspired by Marco's sacrifice and does the same as in the show he abdicates with the regions becoming Loosely connected Democratic states Bolin is heartbroken with the death of his brother but he's comforted by Opel the city begins to rebuild itself now unlike in the show we don't have that new spirit portal which was an interesting idea with beautiful fantastic visuals But ultimately doesn't really work in this rewrite not without the spirit vines or super weapon the way the show does it Marco's funeral kinda replaces Julie and varric's marriage which I do realize makes it a bit of a more somber ending though maybe they reconnect after kuvira's fall tinsen and Cora have the same conversation they do in the show about how she's transformed more in the last few years than many avatars did in their entire lifetime Cora remarks how the pain helped her understand people even kuvira more Berlin and people decide to travel the world together that Bolin needs to be away from the place that he and Marco spend so much time together so maybe the happiness streak kind of comes from their relationship working out Cora and Asami meet up a few weeks later this Army is healed and the two openly talk about their feelings Cora says she thinks the Avatar just needs to go back to being the bridge between humans and the spirits that in all her travels it's always the spirits who lose out that things could have gone very differently in another world she says she needs a vacation that Asami should come and they should call it a date Sami blushes and asks where Cora asks if she's ever wanted to see the spirit world the last shot of them at the South Pole entering a brilliant beam of light this is fundamentally the same right it keeps the Integrity of the story but I think we do it in a more thematically cohesive way with more narrative build up to the beats that really matter like kurosami now I gotta be honest I thought for a long time about how I was going to do this because there's something really interesting to me with Cora see Legend of Korra has a thematic undercurrent about the place of the Avatar in a modernizing world you know in season one reflect on class status as a bender and she is the ultimate Bender to conflicts being so complicated that the Avatar can't solve them you know not on their own and that's the water tribe Civil War to the avatars institutional Authority and whether or not she actually deserves it in season three season four could have had kuvira be the good guy with Korra reflexively defending the the monarchy or the States you know the people who have been in power for so long because that's the way things are meant to be and supposedly she's meant to keep the world in Balance only to realize that kuvira is democratizing and modernizing the places she's taking over and that Cora she's actually on the wrong side of History this time and then at the end deciding the Avatar should be a spiritual figure again which we kind of did at the end there it'd be a real full circle if it played out like this from Cora being an avatar who just wants to fix the world through raw power to someone who understands the nuances of power and restraint to minimizing her own role but I mean that would have required a greater rewrite than I felt was fear for the series so here we come to the end we've done all four seasons it was a lot of fun I really didn't think I would get through this so quickly but my goodness there we are especially because it's taken me years to do the other series you know the on uh world the World building the different nations I've done three of them in like four years or something like that and people going when are you getting the last one I will I'll get to it uh in the meantime have a completed series that I did in the last few months what did you think of the series I think looking back season two is probably the best rewrite thinking back you know I don't I don't think I quite address the Iman conflict as well as I could have or you know the equalists more broadly and the ramifications of what happened afterwards but yeah it is it is a really hard story to do I think it required more time than we really had and I just I just couldn't quite figure out a way to to work around it I still think it's it's pretty good it's got a lot of really good beats in it uh and a better focus maybe but yeah no I mean it's it's not perfect but I do like this version I do like this version do it like season two and then season three is just of course amazing because of course it is anyways stay nerdy and I will see you in the future foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign thank you foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign foreign thank you

Channel: Hello Future Me

Views: 384,387

Keywords: explained, theory, lore, analysis, how to, korra, season 4, kuvira, atla, lok, legend of, airbender, firebender, earthbending, waterbending, aang, katara, zuko, toph, sokka, suki, asami, bumi, iroh, fire nation, earth kingdom

Id: rXmWT5Fe2eU

Length: 60min 10sec (3610 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 07 2022