I’m convinced you’re a time travelling version of my childhood paediatrician, you sound exactly like him but I’m assuming you’re a tad younger (the doctors already retired I believe)
Yeah, but still i don't like anything he does in the season, no good character interactions. not a good character arc, not a good purpose in the story and not interesting
@@justjamie5006 Yeah? Character that is shown as insufferable and a horrible leader, portrayed as a child that the only times he says something likable is "to get the girls", all of that for a conclusion in the latest episodes that is him helping people escape in a frankly stupid way to later say "no monarchy now". His time could've been used for something else
i think leaving Korra's reintroduction is a really strong choice narratively. she's avoiding her duties as avatar, so on a meta level she avoids her role as main character of the show. it gets the point across well that we don't get to see her for almost the whole episode
I think Prince Wu works because he gets punished for acting like a goofball. Varrick being a goof is meant to be endearing and funny, Wu is meant to be sad and pathetic, so him acting pathetic becomes funny. Plus he develops more than Varrick
Um, from a different point of view Varrick works because he symbolises capitalism and how he can be stupid and bland but he will get away with it, cause he gives people what they think they want, this is the case of bolin nuktuk film while varrick got asami bussines or how in this season he sees kuvira as the best exploit(cause capitalism is a exploit) to make money . His plot really works for me cause in this season he gets a near death experience making him to start changing for the better and slowly and i mean slowly treat ju li with kindness
Onthe other hand Wu gets backlashed but its from Makko.. who is just shiºtalking wu all the time with almost no reason, which makes me sympatise with wu and hope he gets to be the kings he can be, plot twist that plot really didnt go anywhere and wu just saved some people which is okay but a let down
@andrewlaskas5945 Another way to think about it: Varrick is just David Xanatos but goofier. That is an inherently subjective character archetype, but if it works, it works. You really can't explain why or how it works. It just does.
Zelda Williams voices kuvira and her father passed away during her time on legend of Korra and I commend her for staying loyal to the project from beginning to end
She is such a talented actress. I am sure she has spent her life dealing with nepotism accusations. But her talent is enough for me not to care either way.
@@hotpocketbagel She had absolutely no obligation to go to work and do it, but she did. That takes strength dude. Completely different when it's something you're pushed to do.
@lemon1797 yeah, it's his dislike of the character i think that overshadows his ability to see his usefulness. Varrick is almost like the foreshadower of the series. Most things he says comes to pass but he's so outrageous that no one pays attention to him.
That edit of Iroh at 4:20 HAD me. And I didn't realize at first but the edit is more impressive when you realize that the audio is unrelated to the visual, you just put them together because it is a more recognizable shot of Iroh complaining whilst facing the viewer.
That scene between Kuvira and the governor is so well executed. It stand with the best this franchise has to offer. The politics are interesting, the choreography and cinematography line up perfectly with dialogue. Also well acted. Under rated scene.
I noticed that you didn't speak on korra's redesign this episode. Assuming you will next ep i hope you mention the detail of he losing some muscle mass since a lot of people tend to overlook that
That's also similar to Zuko. We see that during the Beach episode in S3 compared to Southern Air Temple in S1 he lost a lot of muscle mass because for a long part of S2 he was on the road living meal to meal.
Something I've wondered about the bandits in the Bi-plane is whether or not Kuvira sent them. There's nothing that implies that, the guy that swoops in isn't in the line up from the train scene, but it is mighty convenient that those bandits sabotaged the food shipment that leads to the Governor handing over control to her.
I thought the same thing too, unfortunately it goes nowhere. There is also the fact that they need a landing strip and a means of offloading the supplies. Who trained them to fly a machine that existed less than a year prior to the EK collapse? Who trained them to fight in the air?
@@hilgigas09 I think I can answer this reasonably, the bandits are likely former Earth Kingdom military, when the Earth Kingdom disintegrated, it's military was without pay and command structure, it doesn't take much for soldiers to become bandits, especially if they are without pay; it's been a problem historically that soldiers did not want to demobilize. It also happens in reverse, as one can see in the late Qing and early Republican China period, where former bandits turned soldiers turn into warlords leading their own little fiefdoms within the supposed republic of China under the Beiyang system. Them having control over an airfield and a few planes isn't unreasonable if that was already a military base. It's also not unlikely they have Kuvira's support, though not officially of course; warlord and bandits tend to betray each other and their own superiors when the cards are stacked against them. Perhaps the local warlord was persuaded to aid Kuvira, perhaps the local warlord or even a lower ranked officer saw an opportunity to join Kuvira and get in her good graces with this gift. (There is no clear and significant difference between a bandit and a warlord) I see a strong analogy between the fall of the Earth Kingdom and the fall of the Qing Empire, with Kuvira representing a Chiang Kai-Shek/Mao Zedong like person, it's not one to one, of course, but there are strong similiarities.
@@playfulwriter9796 Similar, but the Qing actually attempted to incorporate bandits into their full army, and it worked, the Beiyang army was by their most effective fighting force, unfortunately for them it switched sides to the revolutionaries. Zhang Zuolin is one of my favourite warlords, he started as a small time bandit, grew to command a small-ish army, joining the Beiyang army and eventually took control over China's industrial heartland in Manchuria, even becoming prime minister of China until driven out by Chiang Kai shek
@@MrWheelman82 I find the whole criminal to government official pipeline so funny/interesting. And the fact this still happens today with hackers joining intelligence agencies really speaks to how many skilled people go undetected or unappreciated
Replacing gliders with suits would come with a multitude of benefits, anyone that isnt trained with a staff, doesnt lose out on the gliding mobility being airbender brings. Since usually the Staff can be used to channel airbending into something more destructive, but at the same time, it couldnt be easy to just pick up and learn. So its a nice compromise, and also makes the "stick" stand out more when used.
the wing suit is still notably worse tho, as you can’t transition from gliding to ground combat anywhere near as quickly or as smooth as a staff with a wingsuit
@@GiveMeTheRice It definitely has flaws of its own, its more clunky as it is tied to your body, allowing for less freedom of movement, which is a big downside for an airbender. At the same time, it also is easier to damage, due to being part of the Users Body, meaning if you're gonna hit them anyways, might as well fuck up their wingsuit. In my eyes it's still very much like training wheels for airbenders, once you get acquainted with flying via wingsuit, you can more easily transition to a staff.
I actually really like the wing glider suits, since it’s reminiscent of flying squirrels, which I’m sure exists in the ATLA universe. It’s pretty cool how the people in the show are still drawing inspiration from animals for their bending, like their ancestors did with the Air Bison.
@@elmok not quite; bullet trains do not use electromagnetism to reduce friction, as bullet trains are normal steel-wheeled trains designed for high speed. Maglev trains are the ones that float on magnets to eliminate rolling friction. Different designs may or may not use permanent magnets. Notably, if the design only used electromagnets, you wouldn't normally expect Kuvira's suit plates to stick strongly to the track even if her suit were magnetized, because the electromagnets in the track should be off while the train is stationary.
2:19 Inexplicably doing the coronation in another nation does tie into Kuvira's valid criticism next episode: the Republic is trying to make the Earth Kingdom its puppet state. They are protecting and appointing an incompetent prince to the throne and surrounding him with their own officials, and holding the coronation in their own nation just rubs it in and that they think that the EK is still atill too unstable despite Kuvira's work. Also, it's probably not unheard of for monarchs to ascend to the throne in another nation while theirs is unstable.
I personally love Kuvira's bending style because of how much she represents the newer, more modern bending we see developing during Korra's life. Where drawing inspiration from other bending styles in how one bends was rare advice only given by the wisest of benders (Iroh) in Aang's time, now that's just general bending praxis and we see it in how Kuvira fights. She's an earth bender, but her fighting style draws from all the other bending styles. She redirects attacks instead of blocking them directly like a waterbender, is light on her feet like an airbender, and throws out punches like a firebender.
I agree. I think the one thing that would've made it perfect for me is if she only had a limited amount of those metal sheets she throws all over the place, and we could see them, or a lack of them, whenever she turned her back. I guess what they were going for was that she's only throwing like, the top centimeter or so of metal off the armor on her back, but... when you freeze frame on the metal embedded or wrapped around, well, anything, it looks like a lot more than that, and with the sheer amount of those she throws, in order for it to make sense the armor on her back should be at least a few feet thick, not exactly what you want for what is essentially the backside of a breastplate. Yes I'm overthinking it lol.
i lalso like it and its prob the best example, one of the best, of what the writers intended to do to bending but i like more traditional, real bending
10:10 - those bandits are now funded by kuvira. That long hair guy is the same one that is seen on the train station rail. Because the mayor is refused help...she had to find "other ways" to convince them to join.
4:55 This opening fight has some of the weirdest "bending" in the show Her metal can do what ever the Hell she wants it to do at the moment, including making it stick to things
In this scene they are stuck on a mag lev train track. You could headcanon it being magnetic. If you don't wanna go with that, metal can become magnetic if you angle the atoms inside the same way. It would mean she has control over the very atoms in the metal.
@enstatite2479 No, we mean the track is already magnetic. Magnets are used on certain types of trains and rails irl. Besides, magnetism is already a weird one because the mecha suits in season 1
Can they do that? That would require a hell lot of heat. Even firebenders take time melting the tinest metal. I know ice and lava bending exist but kuriva isn’t one either. That would be so overpowering lol
I agree with the comment above, can Metal Benders like, do that? Forcibly weld metal together without a source of heat? Like I guess Water Benders can turn water into ice and that requires a large shift in temperature but it's never really explored or explained I guess if Magma Bending is a thing that could happen but, seems unclear
@@dylanhentch9719that doesn’t actually work that well. The while the German state that fought in WW1 had a monarch it is referred to as the German Empire. Also the state that Hitler overthrew was not a monarchy but a republic.
8:20 the cutoff age for historical banditry, that is to say privateers, mercenaries, train robbers, and pillaging bands, isn't really a thing. banditry mostly isn't so much a craft or a career choice as much as its a last resort for people who would probably otherwise starve. privateers and mercenaries skew young, because of the physicality and co-ordination involved, but pillaging bands and hobos were infamous for having people as young as 7 or 8 and as old as 70 or 80 robbing people, burning fields, salting land, pickpocketing, the works. think about it; an informal band of brothers is gonna have a really hard time kicking old grampappy hewg. And a thieving commission, when presented with an adorable 6 year old with a penchant for violence, is DEFINITELY going to keep him as a mascot. But for more organized and formal groups like privateers and mercenaries, their purpose being tools to screw with other nations, lords, what have you, were incentivized to get the MOST effective pillagers and robbers possible: meaning young men. And, with the authority of the King, its much easier to fire grampappy hewg. What are the crew gonna do? mutiny? you have the authority to give jail sentences. In some cases privateer captains had the authority to keep haul people, which, without explaining too graphically, is when you grind a human person against the barnacles on the ship until they die. ... ...So anyway, not really a defined age of retirement or of entry to the field, unless you were the kings men, at which point, are you even really bandits?
i think varrick is selling bandits planes to the bandits to prolong the conflict in the earth kinbgdom which i assume hes profiting off, and its in character, unless he suddenly developes a consious this season
He does develop a conscious, but only after accidentally creating a superweapon in the form of a giant laser. Although it does work and continues to develop because Kuvira is immediately drunk with power at the concept, and refuses to allow him to abort it.
Honestly it would be a cool thing to see an avatar with a secret identity, one whom doesn't love the hero worship or constant recognition and secretly lives a quiet life.
korra’s “redesign” here to show her in the earth nation colors because she’s lost the part of herself that sees she’s from the water tribes since she ran from her home/family
I don't understand why it isn't obvious that the Republic is a 5th nation. The show does tell you that explicitly literally in the first episode of Book 1. In the opening of the 1st episode Tenzin says that his father an fire lord Zuko transformed the colonies into the United Republic of Nations with its capital being Republic City. How is that not a 5th nation? Even the name Republic City refers to that
Yeah, it's never been in mich doubt for me. Doesn't the Earth Queen even have a alone in Season 3 complaining about them stealing her father's land or something?
09:20 If only we could have used this idea sooner, in say book 1 and with the main character and her end goal love interest instead of tersiary characters. Imagine the potential for nuanced story telling and showing that both sides have valid points but also takes them to extremes to see their goals through. Not to mention the "enemies to lovers" trope that would have all the shippers drooling. If only the main character had a future love interest with ties to her opposition and for who it would make sense to side with them instead of joining "the good guys" simply because they are our P.O.V characters. Especially if said love interest was originally supposed to be a spy for the bad guys but the writers liked the character so much they wanted them on team good guy instead. Imagine all the potential for doubble/tripple-crossing and for the viewers to not be sure what side the spy was *really* on until the climax of the story. It would separate them from Zuko in the "former bad guy" tier since it was pretty obvious from the begining of book 2 onwards that Zuko was gonna join team good guy, it was only a question of *when* not if it would happen. And for the remaining 3 books of Korra to really dig into how you reconcile and move past old disagreements and wether it's always correct to "forgive and forget" or if you can still work together despite not always seeing eye to eye. Because let's face it, Zuko joined the Gaang so late we didn't really get the time to really dwelve into it, they did amazing with the few episodes they had tho - Southern Raiders is peak bonding mission/revenge plot, don't @ me. And in Korra it would make the love interest the lancer to the lead which could make for some great interpersonal interactions between the lead and their love interest and would give us a great reason to skip the typical "love triangle" story line that many shows do with the lead, lancer and love interest. And LoK has already showed us how absolutely garbage they are at writing love triangles. TL:DR We were robbed of a slow burn enemies to lovers Equalist Asami storyline and I will never stop being salty about it.
His pinned comment is 4weeks old so he definitely planned ahead so that people would have something to enjoy for the holiday. Baller move ino that some creators do this
Korra seems to have this philosophy with new characters that go: “let’s have them start off as being so crappy and unlikeable and annoying so that by the end, everyone will praise their character arc despite their endpoint just being a bland, normal acting character with no stand out traits other than not being annoying anymore”
After you finish Korra, you should analyze what Aaron Ehasz made next. The Dragon Prince Michael and Aaron collabed to make ATLA and then went their separate ways. Michael made The Legend of Korra, and Aaron made The Dragon Prince
5:54 listen i don’t know when you’d use it, but if possible you should rotoscope that and keep it around like the “he’s right” or “you should have been briefed about this”. Maybe if there’s ever goofy fight scenes it’d make for a nice edit? Idk I just think it needs to appear again.
I gotta say. Seeing this episode when it came out was an odd experience. There's a time skip for three years in-between Seasons 3 and 4 but this season started airing about a month and a half after the third season ended on Nicks website and that's it. So you really don't feel the amount of time that has passed. Plus Korra only shows up at the very end but it does set up Korra Alone pretty well so that at least showed me how psychological her part of the story would be.
If you have time skips in shows and movies, you have to wait same amount of time irl between episodes do you can feel 'amount of time that has passed'?
@GobiPLX No I'm not saying that. I'm just saying I would have preferred to wait longer than a month and a half after we ended the last season with Korra in a wheelchair. Yet she has use of her legs again a month and a half later.
2:27 In a later episode its revealed that many people were proposed to run the kingdom but not many were seen fit, but Suyin Beifong was seen as perfect but she declined the offer, thats why kuvira becomes so powerful.
watching korra with my chinese gf after watching the first show and she said she was dissapointed it lost most of its asian influence in exchange for superhero shit. (they notably do a lot of just like fighting petty crime in korra) and i was like, cmon its not that bad... and then we got to these ugly fuckin wingsuits and i could defend it no longer
11:38 Hmm now i think about it, they could make it "lock only earth benders can unlock" aka you have box made out of strong un bendable material and you have to bend material in specyfic way to unlock it, maybe even something in style of numerical lock where you need to know code and be bender to unlock it.
My all-time favorite season of Avatar. I struggle with CPTSD myself, and watching an animated show like Korra accurately depict what it's like was just something that always moves me to this day.
Same. And I love how there is no quick fix for it. She tries multimple things and relapses again. Which is just so real. Only the scene with Zaheer needed a lot more time for it to really work. But wonderful stuff.
@@speljufcharlotte8999 That scene with Zaheer was so powerful but I agree, could've used a bit more screen time. I also really appreciate how they capture Korra's hopelessness in the beginning of the season with Katara. "I'm so tired Katara, just so tired." That brings a tear to my eye even typing it out because I've felt that. Honestly spectacular film making for a kids show. Korra is one of my all time favorite tv characters because of this season.
I would have loved it if she would have sobbed, while accepting what could have happened. That the realisation of "I could have died" really visably hits home to here. And then through the tears she would be able to enter the spirit world, maybe even surprising her because she is still so filled with emotions. Instead of "accept what could have happened." "Ok." And yes. I love how they show that recovering is so hard for her, maybe the hardest thing she has ever done. Despite it not being glamoureus, the being able to walk again being a bigger victory than any other battle she had won. And the tiredness, yes, I feel that. So, so tired sometimes. So, so tired.
This is my favorite episode of korra I really love it I feel as if it’s a direct sequel to the final of the last season and tbh this whole season is dealing with the aftermath of the previous season
The thing that always stuck out to me at the start of this season was the framing of kuvira the governer. At this stage in the story kuvira is operating as representative of the earth kingdom monarchy and has international backing. She has total legitimacy. The governer is opposed to reunification due to mistrust of kuvira or whatever, but for him to be in this situation he must have broken away from the earth kingdom monarchy. He is an illegitimate ruler in total rebellion, but the narrative does not frame it as such. But considering that his is in open revolt, kuvira’s extortion goes from a hardball morally dubious tactic to a bloodless quelling of a rebellion followed by an aid mission. To be frank I found the first few episodes relying way too heavily on hearsay and musical stings to establish kuvira’s villain status while she reunites the earth kingdom seemingly non-lethally
I've always loved the amazing parallel we see from Korra during the last scene of this episode. In her first scene back in season 1, she was very proud of her identity as the Avatar, telling others that they had to deal with it, but now, when told how much she resembles the Avatar, she goes along with it, shrugs, and walks away. If Season 1 Korra was in this scene, I feel like she'd shouting to the rooftops about who she is when questioned.
Things I used to believe about LOK when I was a kid (before rewatching it years later) 1) I thought Toph taught Korra Earthbending 2) I thought Kuvira was an older lady (about the same age as Lin) 3) I thought Kuvira had a much a larger army than she actually had (about 100 times larger) 4) I thought the Earth Empire was going to take over the world 5) At first glance I thought Tenzin was Aang, until I looked closely at his face and when other characters called him Tenzin.
The state if the Earth Kingdom is very much like the Warlord era of China from 1916 to circa 1928. Republic City on the other hand gets to play the role of Taiwan after WWII or Danzig in 1939. Danzig was a city that was belonged to Germany and which germany would annex using the threat and use of firce for it to rejoin the homeland. Kuvira uses much the same rhetoric and actions. Especially Kuvira's belief in threatening war to force appeasement is an overt refrence. Blaming people for fighting back as if she is the victim aligns with German propaganda from 1939.
ignoring the fact that kuvira doesn't just impale people with her bending because this is a nick show I like that she uses her bending to restrain and control her opponents as it reflects how she acts through the season. Also they mention that Republic city is the capital of a 5th nation (the united republic) in the pilot of the show and in book 3
5:10 and technically she kind of is. honestly there is no bender I can see who would be entirely safe from her style of fighting, not even toph. Also this is a natural progression of metalbending. being able to control small, flexible objects and use them like projectiles, much like earthbending but more dexterous. 5:21 one can say than she never wanted to kill korra in this fight until the end. There were many moments in the fight where kuvira was straight up taunting korra, reveling in her own ego even at times she could have ended the fight. In that fight specificaly she could have simply wanted to humiliate her to make a point and then execute her which was what she did. then in their second fight, korra was matching her so she didn't have a chance. 6:32 well it is a magnet train.... also it would very much be an empty threat. the railroad was invented and constructed by varrick and kuvira's empire. its very likely they have the only train. but is also just as possible that there were other trains she owned 12:40 please continue to talk about the animation, choreography and bending as a whole in this show. there are legit people who say atla had better animation when that simply isn't true. even quick meaningless fights like this completely destroy 80% of the fights in atla at least from a cinematic perspective.
I like the idea the episode brings with Korra having snuck away somewhere but also I feel like either tenzin or tonraq would have sent some kind of 'How's korra doing?' letter or even used one of those telephones to send the message given that they both thought she was with the other, and after some communication they would discover she was missing pretty fast. Maybe I'm missing something but seems like a bit of a plot hole.
Mako seems to have lost his Bolin, so he was given a state-mandated replacement Bolin Because we didn't have enough comic relief characters who aren't funny
Have you ever typed a single, even remotely positive comment about this show lol? I know it's way worse than ATLA but there's definitely some banger episodes like this one
I feel like it has been obvious from season one that the URN is a fifth nation. "Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko transformed the fire nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations" and goes on to mention that it's its own society with its own capital. It also has a military featured quite prominently though the name does mislead a little bit I will admit (kinda sounds like UN forces rather than a single nation, think Korean War). In season 2 it even gains a president. I think the show was quite clear on the nation state status of the URN.
@@ThePhreakass the comics are quite clear to if you ask me but that's not really relevant. OA has stated before that diving into the lore shouldn't be required to understand the story so let's keep it within the show. Btw this show takes place multiple decades after The Promise, The Rift and Imbalance.
when you said about all these places being named after the various avatars it reminded me how in England so many things were named after the queen in the past like 10/15 years and yes it does get tedious
Hm… so I haven’t actually seen this season at all, so this may very well be contradicted later, but a mini theory on why Kuvira needed the 2 sheets of metal to break apart the rock: concentration. She’s wearing a full suit of bendable metals, right? What’s stopping an opponent who might just coincidentally be a metal bender from simply destroying her spine? There’s always the argument of “sTrOnGeR bEnDeR” but I think, more logically, if she’s actively bending her entire suit, and therefore more metal too at the same time, then using the metal to break the rock makes more sense as a defensive measure. I also don’t THINK we’ve ever seen a single person bend both metal and rock in the same movement, but again, I could very well be wrong about that. Unrelated but love your content, keep up the good work, and thank you for just being really cool.
Book 4 is the second best if not the best season honestly. Season 3 and 4 are solidly written together, where the other 2 are not. It really makes a difference.
other than how they handle the season climax (giant mech suit is way less cool than a conventional invasion of republic city) honestly I really like season 4 as well
Aside from Wu and the budget cut issues it’s a good season. I wish they could’ve done more with characters like Kai or Tenzin though, they’re kinda just pushed to the side this season.
@@WrenneruI disliked that final battle so much. The anticlimax of not using the army, especially since the Last Airbender tried to showcase the use of armies on multiple occasions, was very disappointing. It felt much like season 1 ending with an anticlimax of Amon losing control and outing himself as a bender, both rendering him far less menacing and causing him to lose the support of his movement/army.
it's heavily implied that after Kuvira forced the bandits attacking the train to join her, she started supplying the bandits with more resources (like aircraft) to further cut off the Governor from food supplies so that he'd be left with no choice but to agree with all of Kuvira's conditions.
How is it not implied that the United Republic isn’t a separate nation until now? Tenzin says as much in opening monologue of the very first episode, season two opened with the explanation of Raiko being elected president of the United Republic, and season three had Mako rolling out a map very clearly defining the United Republic and the Earth Kingdom as two separate things. That’s not counting one of the Earth Queen’s primary gripes was that Earth Kingdom land was used to form the Republic.
6:05 a little hard to tell because of the level of detail causing everyone to look slightly different every shot, but the woman she silences is actually the second one to her right, and her jaw is also barely visibly moving. The lineup is generally kept consistent despite their faces melting between each shot
I'm so hyped for you to review this season. It is my favorite. You're doing overanalyzing and I watched it for fun so there's some difference of "Suspension of disbelief" this episode. The show showcases Kuvira being strong, talented, and immovable this episode. Her boxing those pieces of metal to restrain the Bandits is a great scene and I don't complain about it because it happens later to people that are more talented than some random no-name bandits, BUT it doesn't work all the time. It's a threat and catches some of our main cast sometime but not all the time because they're more skilled. More experienced. The bending in this season is my favorite and the character writing is my favorite this season. There are obvious issues (I really don't like the mechs) and there are some amazing things (I do really like the development of characters across the season, exploring emotional trauma and how that doesn't go away so fast, how it affects your mental and physical body. Sometimes desperate actions to claw yourself back even though it might not be for the best). I honestly love the bending in this season so much, because it often feels like they are able to do things that you expect them to be able to do. No, you cannot write in all the best options like "Earth Bending: just pull them underground" "Oh lightning bending: only fire benders can stop that" "Oh lava bend a whole 30 meter radius around you" at least it's justified with "No I don't want to just straight up kill you"
1:55 It also doesn't help the fact that, while all the other seasons had noticeable gaps between their releases, seasons 3 and 4 released in the same year. Season 3 was in the summer of 2014, and season 4 was in the fall/winter. I understand they didn't have full control over their release schedule since Nickelodeon really wanted to fuck them over, but still. For me, watching these episodes as soon as they came out, it kinda undercut the idea of "It's been so long"
2:38 huh in the hebrew dub of the show Lin made a breathing joke here in reference to the earth queen Weird for me to see the real line was just "almost zero"
don't they talk about how the republic is a 5th nation in the first episode's extended intro? as well as with the fleet iroh leads in s1 and the whole conflict in s2 when korra tried to get the president to intervene in the civil war on the side of the south? seems to me like they were pretty transparent about the whole 5th nation thing and it just didn't come up in s3 because the plot didn't take place there
Buddy, last season the Earth Queen talked about how Zuko and Aang stole Earth Kingdom territory, it was explicated last season that the United Republic/Republic City is a separate nation. Not to mention that you really should've been able to deduce it by the fact that they have a president and their own military, probably some other things I can't pull off the top of my head too. Idk why you're going hard on them just because you missed the worldbuilding
1:12 I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE EPISODE 1 OF OVERANALYZING KORRA TO COMMENT THIS SO PLEASE ALLOW ME TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST Prince Wu is voiced by Sunil Malhotra, who is also the voice actor for Jun in Halo: Reach THANK YOU, YOU MAY NOW CONTINUE WITH YOUR SERIES 🫡
Kuvira's scene could've added the detail of her running out of armor as she uses it as ammo, yeet a pauldron, yeet a belt, yeet a plate... Like "Ma'am this armor doesn't seem very effective" "this isn't armor, this is a weapon, woe, chestplate upon ye".
11:10 that is Akuma, Ryu doesn't wear prayer beads. I would like to take this time to point out that Kuvira is the same age as Korra. She has been fighting to restore the Earth Kingdom for the past 3 years and has to convince people to sign contracts. I can't think of a less qualified person to complete this task. Sidenote: I don't think the writers understand the implications of bandits/roadmen. They don't just take your stuff; they take a lot more.
As much as the idea of Kuvira being this conqueror who used force and intimidation and extortion to unite the Earth kingdom, that's not what the show shows us. It shows Kuvira saying a few mean things to a governor who won't join her, beating up bandits that were attacking his city and then handing out food to people who need it. The only thing is everyone is saying I don't like you, you're evil, and mean. We're told that she's bad for the Earth kingdom but in no way does she actually do anything besides try and help people, even if she does it with an intimidating presence.
10:08 When this season first aired I thought they were foreshadowing Kuvira secretly funding and supplying bandits in holdout earth kingdom states to pressure them into joining.
Like and comment or else you'll remember that horrible thing you forced yourself to forget.
Oh good lord that's horrifying
jokes on you, I always remember that thing
I’m convinced you’re a time travelling version of my childhood paediatrician, you sound exactly like him but I’m assuming you’re a tad younger (the doctors already retired I believe)
Watch Attack on Titan
@@overanalyzingavatar what are you going to do after Korra?
Prince Wu is unlikeable and weird and childish, but I think it's permitted because everyone REACTS to him like he's unlikeable and weird and childish.
fairly good depiction of a child born to a royal family to be fair. weird, unlikeable and unable to interact with normal people well.
Yeah, but still i don't like anything he does in the season, no good character interactions. not a good character arc, not a good purpose in the story and not interesting
@@MatiasCirulliWdym his arc is gold
@@justjamie5006 Yeah? Character that is shown as insufferable and a horrible leader, portrayed as a child that the only times he says something likable is "to get the girls", all of that for a conclusion in the latest episodes that is him helping people escape in a frankly stupid way to later say "no monarchy now". His time could've been used for something else
@@doghat1619 Jaden Smith lol
Air benders struggle to hold onto their staff so much that they just got rid of it entirely lol
😂 True.
As funny as that is I think the more likely explanation is they simply don’t have enough of them and how they were originally made was lost.
@@Matthew_Branagan
I mean the mechanic straight-up made a new one for Aang and it even came with a snack compartment!
@@shooterDisease yeah but I bet he put all his notes in a special disappearing ink he invented and forgot to tell anyone what makes it reappear
Shame, it was a big part of their martial arts. Better than swinging their arms
13:12 “Blinding all those Bandits” you ain't slick big guy
Holy crap I completely missed that one while watching it!
That was slick af
i dont get it
@@Darth_Supaku Toph was called The Blind Bandit in Airbender
RIGHT
i think leaving Korra's reintroduction is a really strong choice narratively. she's avoiding her duties as avatar, so on a meta level she avoids her role as main character of the show. it gets the point across well that we don't get to see her for almost the whole episode
Love that
Idk with all the other soddy writing it just comes across as accidentaly trying to be deep, or just confusingly lazy
7:15 INCONCLUSIVE EVIDENCE OF NORMAL BEES
NOOO HE MISSED IT
@@TheBluePhoenix008 he pulled very vague "mhmm" so technically no
NOT THE BEES!
9:10 This sounds like it's two lovers, forbidden from one another. i wonder if a war will divide their people
"Secret secret secret secret...."
And they would create a tunnel with a complex maze so they can be together without anyone knowing?
Technically, they are "the same people" at least "ethnically".
@@quincy9908depends on if you consider Opal as Earth Nation or Air Nomad.
I think Prince Wu works because he gets punished for acting like a goofball.
Varrick being a goof is meant to be endearing and funny, Wu is meant to be sad and pathetic, so him acting pathetic becomes funny. Plus he develops more than Varrick
I think both characters work, and work better in their story functions than team avatar does after season 1
@@sarasamaletdin4574 ahaha real what the hell was makko doing on these seasons
Um, from a different point of view Varrick works because he symbolises capitalism and how he can be stupid and bland but he will get away with it, cause he gives people what they think they want, this is the case of bolin nuktuk film while varrick got asami bussines or how in this season he sees kuvira as the best exploit(cause capitalism is a exploit) to make money .
His plot really works for me cause in this season he gets a near death experience making him to start changing for the better and slowly and i mean slowly treat ju li with kindness
Onthe other hand Wu gets backlashed but its from Makko.. who is just shiºtalking wu all the time with almost no reason, which makes me sympatise with wu and hope he gets to be the kings he can be, plot twist that plot really didnt go anywhere and wu just saved some people which is okay but a let down
@andrewlaskas5945 Another way to think about it: Varrick is just David Xanatos but goofier. That is an inherently subjective character archetype, but if it works, it works. You really can't explain why or how it works. It just does.
I like that subtle little touch that "airbender" fashion might be popular or at least influencing the fashion in Republic City now.
the wingsuits are VERY slimming so I don't blame em
I'm pretty sure Kuvira gave those bandits the plane, so the governor is forced to swear his state to her
That is a headcannon I can get behind.
Big brain theory
Would have been an interesting plot point if true.
Yeah their jeep has the colors of the earth kingdom military so it tracks
it does have her design....
Zelda Williams voices kuvira and her father passed away during her time on legend of Korra and I commend her for staying loyal to the project from beginning to end
She is such a talented actress. I am sure she has spent her life dealing with nepotism accusations. But her talent is enough for me not to care either way.
it is not heroic or encouraging to go to work while grieving, sick, injured, or when you want to be doing something else
I also reccomend her directorial debut, _Lisa Frankenstein._ An excellent John Waters pastiche.
@@hotpocketbagel She still chose to do the project on her own accord. She wasn't forced to do it, so who really cares?
@@hotpocketbagel She had absolutely no obligation to go to work and do it, but she did. That takes strength dude. Completely different when it's something you're pushed to do.
6:35
it is, the train runs on a mag rail, varrick was developing the magnets in the mid point of season 3 when they were in zaofu
"The future is magnets!!" 🕴🧲
Magnet bending 🧲⚡
kinda frustrates me how many times he says something only for it to have been explained a few episodes earlier
@lemon1797 yeah, it's his dislike of the character i think that overshadows his ability to see his usefulness. Varrick is almost like the foreshadower of the series. Most things he says comes to pass but he's so outrageous that no one pays attention to him.
@@isaiahcaston4539Very Jack Sparrow-esque in that regard
9:25 Hippocows were also in the headband episode. It’s when they go to a meat shop and Sokka says “everyone here eats meat, even the meat”
That edit of Iroh at 4:20 HAD me. And I didn't realize at first but the edit is more impressive when you realize that the audio is unrelated to the visual, you just put them together because it is a more recognizable shot of Iroh complaining whilst facing the viewer.
That scene between Kuvira and the governor is so well executed. It stand with the best this franchise has to offer. The politics are interesting, the choreography and cinematography line up perfectly with dialogue. Also well acted. Under rated scene.
true its the first time i felt this show was complex and i was so intrigued abt kuvira cause she seemed kinda good but there had to be a cathc
@ there had to be what?
Also if you haven’t watched the kuvira video by kay and skittles you need to.
I noticed that you didn't speak on korra's redesign this episode. Assuming you will next ep i hope you mention the detail of he losing some muscle mass since a lot of people tend to overlook that
That's also similar to Zuko. We see that during the Beach episode in S3 compared to Southern Air Temple in S1 he lost a lot of muscle mass because for a long part of S2 he was on the road living meal to meal.
Something I've wondered about the bandits in the Bi-plane is whether or not Kuvira sent them.
There's nothing that implies that, the guy that swoops in isn't in the line up from the train scene, but it is mighty convenient that those bandits sabotaged the food shipment that leads to the Governor handing over control to her.
I thought the same thing too, unfortunately it goes nowhere. There is also the fact that they need a landing strip and a means of offloading the supplies. Who trained them to fly a machine that existed less than a year prior to the EK collapse? Who trained them to fight in the air?
@@hilgigas09 I think I can answer this reasonably, the bandits are likely former Earth Kingdom military, when the Earth Kingdom disintegrated, it's military was without pay and command structure, it doesn't take much for soldiers to become bandits, especially if they are without pay; it's been a problem historically that soldiers did not want to demobilize. It also happens in reverse, as one can see in the late Qing and early Republican China period, where former bandits turned soldiers turn into warlords leading their own little fiefdoms within the supposed republic of China under the Beiyang system.
Them having control over an airfield and a few planes isn't unreasonable if that was already a military base. It's also not unlikely they have Kuvira's support, though not officially of course; warlord and bandits tend to betray each other and their own superiors when the cards are stacked against them. Perhaps the local warlord was persuaded to aid Kuvira, perhaps the local warlord or even a lower ranked officer saw an opportunity to join Kuvira and get in her good graces with this gift. (There is no clear and significant difference between a bandit and a warlord)
I see a strong analogy between the fall of the Earth Kingdom and the fall of the Qing Empire, with Kuvira representing a Chiang Kai-Shek/Mao Zedong like person, it's not one to one, of course, but there are strong similiarities.
@@MrWheelman82So basically like privateers in the 16/1700s hired to mess with other states?
@@playfulwriter9796 Similar, but the Qing actually attempted to incorporate bandits into their full army, and it worked, the Beiyang army was by their most effective fighting force, unfortunately for them it switched sides to the revolutionaries.
Zhang Zuolin is one of my favourite warlords, he started as a small time bandit, grew to command a small-ish army, joining the Beiyang army and eventually took control over China's industrial heartland in Manchuria, even becoming prime minister of China until driven out by Chiang Kai shek
@@MrWheelman82 I find the whole criminal to government official pipeline so funny/interesting. And the fact this still happens today with hackers joining intelligence agencies really speaks to how many skilled people go undetected or unappreciated
Replacing gliders with suits would come with a multitude of benefits, anyone that isnt trained with a staff, doesnt lose out on the gliding mobility being airbender brings. Since usually the Staff can be used to channel airbending into something more destructive, but at the same time, it couldnt be easy to just pick up and learn. So its a nice compromise, and also makes the "stick" stand out more when used.
the wing suit is still notably worse tho, as you can’t transition from gliding to ground combat anywhere near as quickly or as smooth as a staff with a wingsuit
@@GiveMeTheRice It definitely has flaws of its own, its more clunky as it is tied to your body, allowing for less freedom of movement, which is a big downside for an airbender. At the same time, it also is easier to damage, due to being part of the Users Body, meaning if you're gonna hit them anyways, might as well fuck up their wingsuit. In my eyes it's still very much like training wheels for airbenders, once you get acquainted with flying via wingsuit, you can more easily transition to a staff.
I actually really like the wing glider suits, since it’s reminiscent of flying squirrels, which I’m sure exists in the ATLA universe. It’s pretty cool how the people in the show are still drawing inspiration from animals for their bending, like their ancestors did with the Air Bison.
i think they were inspired by winged lemurs
9:40 wasn't there also a non-dream hippo cow in ATLA in the scene where "everything here eats meat, even the meat!"?
did that one have wings?
@GiveMeTheRice nope
The string of episodes from the end of S3 to the start of S4 is easily my favorite part of Korra, the writers were on fire for this bit
6:36 I'm pretty sure it's stated at some point that the trains run on magnets.
Varrick in season 3 says he's working on it. They even come by with the big magnet suit and everything.
Yeah I thought that was obvious ngl, I mean what else would be keeping the metal bindings attached to the track otherwise
Yeah, it’s supposed to be like real life bullet trains, which use electromagnetism to reduce friction and make higher speed trains
@@elmok not quite; bullet trains do not use electromagnetism to reduce friction, as bullet trains are normal steel-wheeled trains designed for high speed. Maglev trains are the ones that float on magnets to eliminate rolling friction. Different designs may or may not use permanent magnets. Notably, if the design only used electromagnets, you wouldn't normally expect Kuvira's suit plates to stick strongly to the track even if her suit were magnetized, because the electromagnets in the track should be off while the train is stationary.
Peak Bolin is season 4 Bolin.
It’s the first time he feels like a real character instead of comic relief
7:24 Your comedy keeps getting better every video and I'm so here for it 🤣
Was not expecting this channel here
0:14 i mean think about how many places we name after presidents airports, libraries, schools, bridges, rest stops etc.
10,000 Avatars vs ....45 presidents?
@@imallin971 and yet only 3-4 avatars seem to actually have something named after them. what's your point?
@@imallin971A vast majority of Avatars are lost to time, so if anything was named after them, it's gone, renamed or the significance has been lost.
I mean, countries like Saudi Arabia name literally everything after kings, princes, or Imams
true and in the end is that a good thing??
2:19 Inexplicably doing the coronation in another nation does tie into Kuvira's valid criticism next episode: the Republic is trying to make the Earth Kingdom its puppet state. They are protecting and appointing an incompetent prince to the throne and surrounding him with their own officials, and holding the coronation in their own nation just rubs it in and that they think that the EK is still atill too unstable despite Kuvira's work.
Also, it's probably not unheard of for monarchs to ascend to the throne in another nation while theirs is unstable.
I personally love Kuvira's bending style because of how much she represents the newer, more modern bending we see developing during Korra's life. Where drawing inspiration from other bending styles in how one bends was rare advice only given by the wisest of benders (Iroh) in Aang's time, now that's just general bending praxis and we see it in how Kuvira fights. She's an earth bender, but her fighting style draws from all the other bending styles. She redirects attacks instead of blocking them directly like a waterbender, is light on her feet like an airbender, and throws out punches like a firebender.
I agree. I think the one thing that would've made it perfect for me is if she only had a limited amount of those metal sheets she throws all over the place, and we could see them, or a lack of them, whenever she turned her back. I guess what they were going for was that she's only throwing like, the top centimeter or so of metal off the armor on her back, but... when you freeze frame on the metal embedded or wrapped around, well, anything, it looks like a lot more than that, and with the sheer amount of those she throws, in order for it to make sense the armor on her back should be at least a few feet thick, not exactly what you want for what is essentially the backside of a breastplate.
Yes I'm overthinking it lol.
i lalso like it and its prob the best example, one of the best, of what the writers intended to do to bending but i like more traditional, real bending
@andrewlaskas5945 yeah the problem with this evolution of style is that it's just visually less interesting.
10:10 - those bandits are now funded by kuvira. That long hair guy is the same one that is seen on the train station rail. Because the mayor is refused help...she had to find "other ways" to convince them to join.
Thank you! I was hoping someone brought this up.
I don't think so? I can't see anyone who looks like the guy from the plane.
Kuvira is also a dancer....her agility is scary and uncanny.
She still makes me sit up straight 😅
4:55
This opening fight has some of the weirdest "bending" in the show
Her metal can do what ever the Hell she wants it to do at the moment, including making it stick to things
She's doing arm movements at least, I don't mind it. I honestly like how fast and precise her bending is
I assume she stabbed it into the metal like nails do
Well since it's metal she can just fuse together two pieces of metal so she actually could have left those bandits stuck to the railroads
In this scene they are stuck on a mag lev train track. You could headcanon it being magnetic.
If you don't wanna go with that, metal can become magnetic if you angle the atoms inside the same way. It would mean she has control over the very atoms in the metal.
@enstatite2479 No, we mean the track is already magnetic. Magnets are used on certain types of trains and rails irl. Besides, magnetism is already a weird one because the mecha suits in season 1
I love the Earthbending MMA-style fights! They're what Pro Bending should've been in the first place
6:31 wouldnt you assume that she'd fuse the cuffs to the tracks? I know they didnt show that, but that seemed obvious to me.
I thought the tracks were magnetic cuz magnetic trains.
People when a metalbender bends metal: 😮
Can they do that? That would require a hell lot of heat. Even firebenders take time melting the tinest metal. I know ice and lava bending exist but kuriva isn’t one either. That would be so overpowering lol
I agree with the comment above, can Metal Benders like, do that? Forcibly weld metal together without a source of heat?
Like I guess Water Benders can turn water into ice and that requires a large shift in temperature but it's never really explored or explained
I guess if Magma Bending is a thing that could happen but, seems unclear
aahhaa ya
Kuvira : monarchy is outdated
Also Kuvira : I created a Earth Empire
You see, dictator is much more modern and fun than monarch!
Now swap Kuvira with Adolf and Earth with German
@@dylanhentch9719that doesn’t actually work that well. The while the German state that fought in WW1 had a monarch it is referred to as the German Empire. Also the state that Hitler overthrew was not a monarchy but a republic.
Many such cases in history.
A qualified leader is quite a lot different than genetic lottery friend. Her creating an empire doesn't change that.
8:20 the cutoff age for historical banditry, that is to say privateers, mercenaries, train robbers, and pillaging bands, isn't really a thing. banditry mostly isn't so much a craft or a career choice as much as its a last resort for people who would probably otherwise starve.
privateers and mercenaries skew young, because of the physicality and co-ordination involved, but pillaging bands and hobos were infamous for having people as young as 7 or 8 and as old as 70 or 80 robbing people, burning fields, salting land, pickpocketing, the works.
think about it; an informal band of brothers is gonna have a really hard time kicking old grampappy hewg. And a thieving commission, when presented with an adorable 6 year old with a penchant for violence, is DEFINITELY going to keep him as a mascot.
But for more organized and formal groups like privateers and mercenaries, their purpose being tools to screw with other nations, lords, what have you, were incentivized to get the MOST effective pillagers and robbers possible: meaning young men. And, with the authority of the King, its much easier to fire grampappy hewg. What are the crew gonna do? mutiny? you have the authority to give jail sentences. In some cases privateer captains had the authority to keep haul people, which, without explaining too graphically, is when you grind a human person against the barnacles on the ship until they die.
...
...So anyway, not really a defined age of retirement or of entry to the field, unless you were the kings men, at which point, are you even really bandits?
5:53 Oh god, he's becoming self aware!
i think varrick is selling bandits planes to the bandits to prolong the conflict in the earth kinbgdom which i assume hes profiting off, and its in character, unless he suddenly developes a consious this season
He does develop a conscious, but only after accidentally creating a superweapon in the form of a giant laser. Although it does work and continues to develop because Kuvira is immediately drunk with power at the concept, and refuses to allow him to abort it.
Honestly it would be a cool thing to see an avatar with a secret identity, one whom doesn't love the hero worship or constant recognition and secretly lives a quiet life.
7:55 took me out 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀
korra’s “redesign” here to show her in the earth nation colors because she’s lost the part of herself that sees she’s from the water tribes since she ran from her home/family
I don't understand why it isn't obvious that the Republic is a 5th nation. The show does tell you that explicitly literally in the first episode of Book 1. In the opening of the 1st episode Tenzin says that his father an fire lord Zuko transformed the colonies into the United Republic of Nations with its capital being Republic City. How is that not a 5th nation? Even the name Republic City refers to that
It's just a city
@@ThePhreakassit’s a city state, city & nation in one.
Yeah, it's never been in mich doubt for me. Doesn't the Earth Queen even have a alone in Season 3 complaining about them stealing her father's land or something?
@@kingMT514 Cope. Just read the comics. It was made clear there that this isn't a nation
@@ThePhreakass Stop lying lmao, they made a whole comic about how it's totally justified to steal earth kingdom land
I just realized that most of the eye colors in the series match the nation they're from, and now I can't unsee it.
Yea water tribe ppl in other nations clothes just stare at you with that CRYSTAL BLUE EYES all the time
@@GummyCalicowhich makes you think how the hell Katara and Sokka ever passed for fire nationals
09:20 If only we could have used this idea sooner, in say book 1 and with the main character and her end goal love interest instead of tersiary characters. Imagine the potential for nuanced story telling and showing that both sides have valid points but also takes them to extremes to see their goals through. Not to mention the "enemies to lovers" trope that would have all the shippers drooling. If only the main character had a future love interest with ties to her opposition and for who it would make sense to side with them instead of joining "the good guys" simply because they are our P.O.V characters. Especially if said love interest was originally supposed to be a spy for the bad guys but the writers liked the character so much they wanted them on team good guy instead. Imagine all the potential for doubble/tripple-crossing and for the viewers to not be sure what side the spy was *really* on until the climax of the story. It would separate them from Zuko in the "former bad guy" tier since it was pretty obvious from the begining of book 2 onwards that Zuko was gonna join team good guy, it was only a question of *when* not if it would happen. And for the remaining 3 books of Korra to really dig into how you reconcile and move past old disagreements and wether it's always correct to "forgive and forget" or if you can still work together despite not always seeing eye to eye. Because let's face it, Zuko joined the Gaang so late we didn't really get the time to really dwelve into it, they did amazing with the few episodes they had tho - Southern Raiders is peak bonding mission/revenge plot, don't @ me. And in Korra it would make the love interest the lancer to the lead which could make for some great interpersonal interactions between the lead and their love interest and would give us a great reason to skip the typical "love triangle" story line that many shows do with the lead, lancer and love interest. And LoK has already showed us how absolutely garbage they are at writing love triangles.
TL:DR We were robbed of a slow burn enemies to lovers Equalist Asami storyline and I will never stop being salty about it.
Merry Christmas Overanalyzing!
Wasnt expecting an episode this week. but made my day to see one, merry christmas!
His pinned comment is 4weeks old so he definitely planned ahead so that people would have something to enjoy for the holiday. Baller move ino that some creators do this
@@jaquesvonstraus7287 Probably wise to read the pinned comment.
Shame i never do that ^^;
Korra seems to have this philosophy with new characters that go: “let’s have them start off as being so crappy and unlikeable and annoying so that by the end, everyone will praise their character arc despite their endpoint just being a bland, normal acting character with no stand out traits other than not being annoying anymore”
0:05 I swear it sounds like ParKourra. Dope either way.
To think Kuvira went from a minor character in Book 3 to antagonist in Book 4
Yeah I thought menacing them that plays when she appears was just for laughs
Balls
After you finish Korra, you should analyze what Aaron Ehasz made next. The Dragon Prince
Michael and Aaron collabed to make ATLA and then went their separate ways.
Michael made The Legend of Korra, and Aaron made The Dragon Prince
5:54 listen i don’t know when you’d use it, but if possible you should rotoscope that and keep it around like the “he’s right” or “you should have been briefed about this”.
Maybe if there’s ever goofy fight scenes it’d make for a nice edit? Idk I just think it needs to appear again.
They're called bandits, but remember they are just earth kingdom citizens. The only differences between them and Kuvira are discipline and size.
I gotta say. Seeing this episode when it came out was an odd experience. There's a time skip for three years in-between Seasons 3 and 4 but this season started airing about a month and a half after the third season ended on Nicks website and that's it. So you really don't feel the amount of time that has passed.
Plus Korra only shows up at the very end but it does set up Korra Alone pretty well so that at least showed me how psychological her part of the story would be.
If you have time skips in shows and movies, you have to wait same amount of time irl between episodes do you can feel 'amount of time that has passed'?
@GobiPLX No I'm not saying that. I'm just saying I would have preferred to wait longer than a month and a half after we ended the last season with Korra in a wheelchair. Yet she has use of her legs again a month and a half later.
2:27 In a later episode its revealed that many people were proposed to run the kingdom but not many were seen fit, but Suyin Beifong was seen as perfect but she declined the offer, thats why kuvira becomes so powerful.
watching korra with my chinese gf after watching the first show and she said she was dissapointed it lost most of its asian influence in exchange for superhero shit. (they notably do a lot of just like fighting petty crime in korra) and i was like, cmon its not that bad... and then we got to these ugly fuckin wingsuits and i could defend it no longer
09:17 surprised OA didn't mention the sliding doors. Where is that left panel coming from? The wagon ends like three inches further to the left
11:38 Hmm now i think about it, they could make it "lock only earth benders can unlock" aka you have box made out of strong un bendable material and you have to bend material in specyfic way to unlock it, maybe even something in style of numerical lock where you need to know code and be bender to unlock it.
I've been watching you since you uploaded your first video and you've inspired me to start my own over analyzing channel
I love the full moon trauma kicking at the slightest appearence of a circle
My all-time favorite season of Avatar. I struggle with CPTSD myself, and watching an animated show like Korra accurately depict what it's like was just something that always moves me to this day.
Same. And I love how there is no quick fix for it. She tries multimple things and relapses again. Which is just so real. Only the scene with Zaheer needed a lot more time for it to really work. But wonderful stuff.
@@speljufcharlotte8999 That scene with Zaheer was so powerful but I agree, could've used a bit more screen time. I also really appreciate how they capture Korra's hopelessness in the beginning of the season with Katara. "I'm so tired Katara, just so tired." That brings a tear to my eye even typing it out because I've felt that. Honestly spectacular film making for a kids show. Korra is one of my all time favorite tv characters because of this season.
I would have loved it if she would have sobbed, while accepting what could have happened. That the realisation of "I could have died" really visably hits home to here. And then through the tears she would be able to enter the spirit world, maybe even surprising her because she is still so filled with emotions. Instead of "accept what could have happened." "Ok."
And yes. I love how they show that recovering is so hard for her, maybe the hardest thing she has ever done. Despite it not being glamoureus, the being able to walk again being a bigger victory than any other battle she had won. And the tiredness, yes, I feel that. So, so tired sometimes. So, so tired.
This is my favorite episode of korra I really love it I feel as if it’s a direct sequel to the final of the last season and tbh this whole season is dealing with the aftermath of the previous season
The thing that always stuck out to me at the start of this season was the framing of kuvira the governer. At this stage in the story kuvira is operating as representative of the earth kingdom monarchy and has international backing. She has total legitimacy. The governer is opposed to reunification due to mistrust of kuvira or whatever, but for him to be in this situation he must have broken away from the earth kingdom monarchy. He is an illegitimate ruler in total rebellion, but the narrative does not frame it as such. But considering that his is in open revolt, kuvira’s extortion goes from a hardball morally dubious tactic to a bloodless quelling of a rebellion followed by an aid mission. To be frank I found the first few episodes relying way too heavily on hearsay and musical stings to establish kuvira’s villain status while she reunites the earth kingdom seemingly non-lethally
I've always loved the amazing parallel we see from Korra during the last scene of this episode. In her first scene back in season 1, she was very proud of her identity as the Avatar, telling others that they had to deal with it, but now, when told how much she resembles the Avatar, she goes along with it, shrugs, and walks away. If Season 1 Korra was in this scene, I feel like she'd shouting to the rooftops about who she is when questioned.
Things I used to believe about LOK when I was a kid (before rewatching it years later)
1) I thought Toph taught Korra Earthbending
2) I thought Kuvira was an older lady (about the same age as Lin)
3) I thought Kuvira had a much a larger army than she actually had (about 100 times larger)
4) I thought the Earth Empire was going to take over the world
5) At first glance I thought Tenzin was Aang, until I looked closely at his face and when other characters called him Tenzin.
The state if the Earth Kingdom is very much like the Warlord era of China from 1916 to circa 1928. Republic City on the other hand gets to play the role of Taiwan after WWII or Danzig in 1939. Danzig was a city that was belonged to Germany and which germany would annex using the threat and use of firce for it to rejoin the homeland. Kuvira uses much the same rhetoric and actions.
Especially Kuvira's belief in threatening war to force appeasement is an overt refrence. Blaming people for fighting back as if she is the victim aligns with German propaganda from 1939.
What an excellent and unexpected Christmas gift! Thanks for brightening my evening!
ignoring the fact that kuvira doesn't just impale people with her bending because this is a nick show I like that she uses her bending to restrain and control her opponents as it reflects how she acts through the season.
Also they mention that Republic city is the capital of a 5th nation (the united republic) in the pilot of the show and in book 3
Have a merry Christmas. Thanks for the content
5:10 and technically she kind of is. honestly there is no bender I can see who would be entirely safe from her style of fighting, not even toph. Also this is a natural progression of metalbending. being able to control small, flexible objects and use them like projectiles, much like earthbending but more dexterous.
5:21 one can say than she never wanted to kill korra in this fight until the end. There were many moments in the fight where kuvira was straight up taunting korra, reveling in her own ego even at times she could have ended the fight. In that fight specificaly she could have simply wanted to humiliate her to make a point and then execute her which was what she did. then in their second fight, korra was matching her so she didn't have a chance.
6:32 well it is a magnet train.... also it would very much be an empty threat. the railroad was invented and constructed by varrick and kuvira's empire. its very likely they have the only train. but is also just as possible that there were other trains she owned
12:40 please continue to talk about the animation, choreography and bending as a whole in this show. there are legit people who say atla had better animation when that simply isn't true. even quick meaningless fights like this completely destroy 80% of the fights in atla at least from a cinematic perspective.
I like the idea the episode brings with Korra having snuck away somewhere but also I feel like either tenzin or tonraq would have sent some kind of 'How's korra doing?' letter or even used one of those telephones to send the message given that they both thought she was with the other, and after some communication they would discover she was missing pretty fast. Maybe I'm missing something but seems like a bit of a plot hole.
1:07 excuse me, his mustache is much fuller!
6:25 I think it stands to reason that Metal Benders can spot weld metals together if they're similar.
Mako seems to have lost his Bolin, so he was given a state-mandated replacement Bolin
Because we didn't have enough comic relief characters who aren't funny
Have you ever typed a single, even remotely positive comment about this show lol? I know it's way worse than ATLA but there's definitely some banger episodes like this one
@@LordZemosa
I would not give a single episode of Korra anything higher than a 3/5
@@maskofthedragonme when I lie
@@maskofthedragonI wouldn’t be surprised if you had a criticism comment for every episode pre-written for when the OA video comes out lol
@@LordZemosaI think we should revoke your right to say banger if you think a season set up episode is a “banger”
Does anyone else think tonraq was way too chill when asking where korra was? He’s more like “huh, that’s weird” when he should be worried???
I feel like it has been obvious from season one that the URN is a fifth nation. "Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko transformed the fire nation colonies into the United Republic of Nations" and goes on to mention that it's its own society with its own capital. It also has a military featured quite prominently though the name does mislead a little bit I will admit (kinda sounds like UN forces rather than a single nation, think Korean War). In season 2 it even gains a president. I think the show was quite clear on the nation state status of the URN.
yeah it very clear, idk why he and some other are confused about URN
It isn't! Read the comics. They say it's a city uniting the nations but isn't a nation itself
@@ThePhreakass the comics are quite clear to if you ask me but that's not really relevant. OA has stated before that diving into the lore shouldn't be required to understand the story so let's keep it within the show.
Btw this show takes place multiple decades after The Promise, The Rift and Imbalance.
when you said about all these places being named after the various avatars it reminded me how in England so many things were named after the queen in the past like 10/15 years and yes it does get tedious
Hm… so I haven’t actually seen this season at all, so this may very well be contradicted later, but a mini theory on why Kuvira needed the 2 sheets of metal to break apart the rock: concentration.
She’s wearing a full suit of bendable metals, right? What’s stopping an opponent who might just coincidentally be a metal bender from simply destroying her spine? There’s always the argument of “sTrOnGeR bEnDeR” but I think, more logically, if she’s actively bending her entire suit, and therefore more metal too at the same time, then using the metal to break the rock makes more sense as a defensive measure. I also don’t THINK we’ve ever seen a single person bend both metal and rock in the same movement, but again, I could very well be wrong about that.
Unrelated but love your content, keep up the good work, and thank you for just being really cool.
Probably gonna be in the minority here but I really like Book 4. I honestly think its on par with Book 3 if not just a bit below it.
Book 4 is the second best if not the best season honestly. Season 3 and 4 are solidly written together, where the other 2 are not. It really makes a difference.
Only thing that made season 4 not as great was Nickelodeon sabotaging it during it’s original run
other than how they handle the season climax (giant mech suit is way less cool than a conventional invasion of republic city) honestly I really like season 4 as well
Aside from Wu and the budget cut issues it’s a good season. I wish they could’ve done more with characters like Kai or Tenzin though, they’re kinda just pushed to the side this season.
@@WrenneruI disliked that final battle so much. The anticlimax of not using the army, especially since the Last Airbender tried to showcase the use of armies on multiple occasions, was very disappointing.
It felt much like season 1 ending with an anticlimax of Amon losing control and outing himself as a bender, both rendering him far less menacing and causing him to lose the support of his movement/army.
it's heavily implied that after Kuvira forced the bandits attacking the train to join her, she started supplying the bandits with more resources (like aircraft) to further cut off the Governor from food supplies so that he'd be left with no choice but to agree with all of Kuvira's conditions.
How is it not implied that the United Republic isn’t a separate nation until now? Tenzin says as much in opening monologue of the very first episode, season two opened with the explanation of Raiko being elected president of the United Republic, and season three had Mako rolling out a map very clearly defining the United Republic and the Earth Kingdom as two separate things. That’s not counting one of the Earth Queen’s primary gripes was that Earth Kingdom land was used to form the Republic.
I love kuvira's aesthetic and armour so much tbh
the ability to bend tiny sheets of her armour into weapons is just so fun
6:05 a little hard to tell because of the level of detail causing everyone to look slightly different every shot, but the woman she silences is actually the second one to her right, and her jaw is also barely visibly moving. The lineup is generally kept consistent despite their faces melting between each shot
I'm so hyped for you to review this season. It is my favorite. You're doing overanalyzing and I watched it for fun so there's some difference of "Suspension of disbelief" this episode. The show showcases Kuvira being strong, talented, and immovable this episode. Her boxing those pieces of metal to restrain the Bandits is a great scene and I don't complain about it because it happens later to people that are more talented than some random no-name bandits, BUT it doesn't work all the time. It's a threat and catches some of our main cast sometime but not all the time because they're more skilled. More experienced. The bending in this season is my favorite and the character writing is my favorite this season. There are obvious issues (I really don't like the mechs) and there are some amazing things (I do really like the development of characters across the season, exploring emotional trauma and how that doesn't go away so fast, how it affects your mental and physical body. Sometimes desperate actions to claw yourself back even though it might not be for the best). I honestly love the bending in this season so much, because it often feels like they are able to do things that you expect them to be able to do. No, you cannot write in all the best options like "Earth Bending: just pull them underground" "Oh lightning bending: only fire benders can stop that" "Oh lava bend a whole 30 meter radius around you" at least it's justified with "No I don't want to just straight up kill you"
1:55 It also doesn't help the fact that, while all the other seasons had noticeable gaps between their releases, seasons 3 and 4 released in the same year. Season 3 was in the summer of 2014, and season 4 was in the fall/winter. I understand they didn't have full control over their release schedule since Nickelodeon really wanted to fuck them over, but still. For me, watching these episodes as soon as they came out, it kinda undercut the idea of "It's been so long"
2:38 huh in the hebrew dub of the show Lin made a breathing joke here in reference to the earth queen
Weird for me to see the real line was just "almost zero"
Dude I feel like your comedy is getting even better, and you were already funny
don't they talk about how the republic is a 5th nation in the first episode's extended intro? as well as with the fleet iroh leads in s1 and the whole conflict in s2 when korra tried to get the president to intervene in the civil war on the side of the south? seems to me like they were pretty transparent about the whole 5th nation thing and it just didn't come up in s3 because the plot didn't take place there
Buddy, last season the Earth Queen talked about how Zuko and Aang stole Earth Kingdom territory, it was explicated last season that the United Republic/Republic City is a separate nation. Not to mention that you really should've been able to deduce it by the fact that they have a president and their own military, probably some other things I can't pull off the top of my head too. Idk why you're going hard on them just because you missed the worldbuilding
You know just cause this is avatar adjacent doesn't mean you have to like it 😂
1:12 I'VE BEEN WAITING SINCE EPISODE 1 OF OVERANALYZING KORRA TO COMMENT THIS SO PLEASE ALLOW ME TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST
Prince Wu is voiced by Sunil Malhotra, who is also the voice actor for Jun in Halo: Reach
THANK YOU, YOU MAY NOW CONTINUE WITH YOUR SERIES 🫡
7:01 Oh my, the first ever Pie Bender was spotted at town hall of Republic city 😮
5:53 I died from laughing man🤣
Merry Christmas!
Kuvira's scene could've added the detail of her running out of armor as she uses it as ammo, yeet a pauldron, yeet a belt, yeet a plate... Like "Ma'am this armor doesn't seem very effective" "this isn't armor, this is a weapon, woe, chestplate upon ye".
Season 4 all ready wow I though you were going to take a break till the new year, but im here for it
11:10 that is Akuma, Ryu doesn't wear prayer beads.
I would like to take this time to point out that Kuvira is the same age as Korra. She has been fighting to restore the Earth Kingdom for the past 3 years and has to convince people to sign contracts. I can't think of a less qualified person to complete this task.
Sidenote: I don't think the writers understand the implications of bandits/roadmen. They don't just take your stuff; they take a lot more.
As much as the idea of Kuvira being this conqueror who used force and intimidation and extortion to unite the Earth kingdom, that's not what the show shows us. It shows Kuvira saying a few mean things to a governor who won't join her, beating up bandits that were attacking his city and then handing out food to people who need it. The only thing is everyone is saying I don't like you, you're evil, and mean. We're told that she's bad for the Earth kingdom but in no way does she actually do anything besides try and help people, even if she does it with an intimidating presence.
Honestly It's refreshing to see this episode in such a positive light.
2:50 I like Kai’s hair cut :(
This season in the beginning episodes was good; had so much potential. Why did it devolve into “we have to blowup the Death Star”
10:08 When this season first aired I thought they were foreshadowing Kuvira secretly funding and supplying bandits in holdout earth kingdom states to pressure them into joining.
Thanks for the upload man I was trying not to fall asleep at work. Amazing timing.