Legend of Korra Book 4 Chapters 2-3 review: Korra Alone/The Coronation

Book 4 of the Legend of Korra continues on Nick.com

Chapter 2 – Korra Alone

When you name your episode after one of the best standalone episodes A:TLA's ever had, you know you've got a high bar to jump. Fortunately this episode succeeds in clearing that high bar, and makes for the best episode this show has ever offered

Korra alone deals with Korra's recovery. I said I'd have liked to have seen Korra in a wheelchair till at least the end of episode 1, but to know that rather than about 4 months, she was there for 6 months (maybe even 7) is satisfying to realise she wasn't brushing off this injury lightly.

And it made for some brilliant moments with Katara. Katara had only minor roles in  books 1 and 2, and was absent in book 3, and this makes for her best appearance, where she gives guidance to Korra in a way that felt better than her guidance in book 1

Even with her able to stand, Korra's still not fully healed. Her body is still getting visions of Zaheer in a great example of post-traumatic stress. It was saddening to see her facing a similar scenario to her opening battle in book 1 and fail so miserably.

But even though she has been patient, her patience has worn thin, and she decides that she needs to figure it out alone, much like Zuko and Toph, her stubbornness is not forgotten (although I like how she immediately backed down after letting out her frustrations on Katara, the old Korra would never have done that)

Her journey in the Earth Kingdom is plagued rather than by flashes of Zaheer but an all too real manifestation of who she once was. She seems to act, both as a guide, and as an obstacle to overcome before Korra can become spiritually whole again.

The letter narration made for some touching moments too, as we see each of the characters show how they're moving on. It's a nice touch that Korra managed to write to Asami, but neither of the others about their problems. It's great to see how far their friendship has become (and no, I don't give a damn about shipping them)

Then there are spirits, lots and lots of spirits, and really is the first really useful thing they've done (aside from that one scene in Original Airbenders) by trying to bring Korra to the one person who may be capable of spiritual connections. Taken back to the Foggy Swamp and Korra is forced to fight her former self, and as you might expect she loses, dragged into what she perceives as the metal poison that defeated her

But we end on a hopeful note, as we are reintroduced to Toph. Her tough love approach to training may well be what Korra needs right now, but more importantly it'll be interesting to see whether Toph's enlightenment allows spiritual healing for Korra.

If there's one minor nitpick I'd have about this episode, is that we all knew the twist with Toph was coming, as we saw it in the trailer, but that's not the fault of the creators, so I'm not even counting it in my review score.

Rating 9.9/10 

Memorable Quotes

• "Spoiler alert - Pabu and I already miss you" whatever happened to Pabu anyways
• "Nice to see you again twinkletoes" - says the blind woman

Chapter 3 – The Coronation

So begins the long games of politics… and Star Wars references

So, as a surprise to no-one, Kuvira has shown herself to be the antagonist of the series, dethroning the Earth King, at his coronation no less, and announcing the birth of the Earth Empire, even going as far as to threaten Suyin.

But, you can't argue her methods are effective; she has the support of the people, and why wouldn't she? She has brought order where before there was chaos and while she may not be the most moral, there's no denying her results. And while Bolin will eventually discover the truth behind her schemes, it seems he is supporting her crusade, despite his reservations.

It’s quite funny that President Reiko trusted someone because, "she gave me her word," that's cute and funny, and honestly I don't think anyone smart would fall for it in the Avatar world any more.

Meanwhile Korra is at the swamp, getting her butt kicked by Toph, and we see a possible reason for her problems, she's still got the poison inside her body. OK, this feels like it could be a cop-out (surely it wouldn't have been that difficult to strap Korra down while she metal-bends the poison out) it is interesting that Toph left Korra to figure it out herself, even suggesting (and perhaps it is in Korra's mind) that Korra does not want to be the Avatar and be hurt again.

Toph's character in this is very similar to that of A:TLA, although noticeably different from her flashback counterpart. It might be fan service, but in a universe built on it's lore, that is no problem for me.

Tenzin is right to see the world heading into conflict, and has sent his kids out to help.

We see the first glimpse of Zuko's daughter, the Fire Lord, pity her job really is to just sit there

We also get a bit more development for Wu, aside from being knocked off the crown on his coronation, he also sees, perhaps for the first time that he really isn't the people's favourite, and isn't angry when Mako gives him some tough love explaining why. That to me is something I quite like about Wu, he’s still an annoying pr*ck, but at least he accepts his faults, with the idea of someone getting angry the moment someone says something negative about them being a plot-line that’s all too familiar.

It’s a 2-sided battle and neither is ideal – and worse Varrick is experimenting with the spirit vine.

Rating 9/10

Memorable Quotes

• "You want to hug something go hug a tree, we're here to work"
• "I'm the original Beifong"
• "Of all the Avatars I've trained, you're the worst, granted that's only one other Avatar but still"
• "Boss, girlfriend, same thing"
• "It's no mistake, Desna sleeps in the tub"

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Images used in this review are from The Legend of Korra and belong to their respective owners. All images in this review are subject to fair use.