TV Month - Legend of Korra Book 4 Chapters 6-7 review - Battle of Zaofu/Reunion

We take a look once more into Korra's crazy world, as Kuvira and Suyin come at odds over Zaofu and Korra makes her return to the world.

I'm just gonna use as the series image from now on

Chapter 6 – The Battle of Zaofu

There is only one possible reaction to an episode of this magnitude. HOLY SH*T!

I don't think anyone would think that Zaofu wouldn't fall this day, I think that was inevitable, but everything that happened in this episode was f*cking amazing.

So let’s start with the obvious. Varrick misses Jhu Li, manipulates the guards to have Bolin as his assistant and manages to rework the spirit vines into a bomb, blowing up the train, the carriage, and the remaining spirit vine.

This is Varrick at his finest. He may be a quirky, slightly insane, and often amoral, but he knows how to play people. Bolin went along, using his own initiative to save their lives. Their journey now looks to be one of the most interesting ones yet. Varrick and Bolin are usually brilliant together.

Meanwhile Korra, so desperate to fight for peace, finds herself forced to fight Kuvira one on one, but she’s definitely out of practice, and she's still not entirely over her PTSD as she fails in the Avatar state. It's a show of good character development that she's not immediately recovered, even though there’s no longer poison in her body.

Jinora and Opel both got their moments here, as Opel threatens to break her oath of non-violence to save her mother, whose plan went awry almost immediately. It's nice that outside of Bataar Jr none of the Beifong children surrendered to Kuvira. Jinora meanwhile uses her spiritual connections to mount a rescue that meant Korra, Opel, Jinora, Ikki and Meelo got out safe.

I'm guessing the next part of the story is in Republic City and awkward questions may come for Korra, but what will she do after she lost her battle with a vow never to interfere with Earth Empire business?

Studio Mir do themselves proud with this episode, some of the animation is truly stunning, and the action scenes are incredibly well handled. Also, is it me or are some uncanny similarities between Kuvira and Azula one she takes her hair down.

Rating 9.5/10

• "How would you know? You couldn't discover an elephant-bat if it was building a nest in your butt"
• "I know what you are on the outside, I want to see the inner Meelo"
• "Ooo, got me there Doctor Science"
• "You're crazy" "You knew that when you hired me"
• "You can't handle all this Meelo!"

Chapter 7 – The Reunion

Returning to Republic City was never gonna be easy for Korra, but to return to contact with friends is the first step, and it adds some much needed short action sequences where Korra starts to regain her honour as the Avatar.

We start off with the cutest scene I've ever seen with the animals. Pabu hasn't shown up so far in book 4, but it's well worth the wait, as he and Naaga have a such a cute scene together as Korra arrives back in Republic City.

But the big piece of episode, at least from Korra's side is her reuniting with Mako and Asami. If she was under the impression she can pick up where they left off, she was slightly mistaken as it takes a few shouting matches and revelations would come before they start off on the right.

Of course, interrupting this reunion is Prince Wu, who tries to put the moves on a not remotely interested Korra, and eventually getting kidnapped by Kuvira's soldiers, this provides grounds for 2 action scenes and both were handled fairly well.

It seems Korra has yet another skill added to her collection, the ability to track someone’s energy through spirit vines, and instinct if none are around. It was interesting on two occasions she followed her instincts to find Wu, rather than directly searching for him (or panicking Mako)

Meanwhile we had Varrick and Bolin, still making a fantastic duo together, dealing with a group of fire and waterbenders who had escaped Kuvira's prison camps. As weird as it may sound, Bolin provided the serious edge, whilst Varrick provided the humour.

Leading to another action scene with Kuvira's soldiers. Kuvira's mecha-tanks, even I'll admit they don't blend seamlessly with this animation. It's a minor complaint, but with them becoming more prominent in the battle it’s also becoming more noticeable

And Kuvira's at the swamp, testing out the banyon grove tree, and ordering it chopped down. Calling it, Toph’s gonna kick some ass next week.

Rating 8/10

• "Wu down, Wu down"
• "Keep the aloe water coming, gotta keep this princely skin hydrated"
• "No thanks, I'm allergic to drowning"

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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.