Legend of Korra Book 4 Chapters 8-9 review - Remembrances/Beyond the Wilds

It's TV Month

Except it isn't, but with TV seasons drawing to a close, let's dig into chapters 8-9 of Book 4 of the Legend of Korra and see how things progress

Please note: When I originally wrote the review for remembrances, I was unaware of the budget reasons behind the clip show format of it. I have modified to review slightly, increasing its review score and adding a few references to it, but I kept it mostly in tact for comedic purposes.

Chapter 8 – Remembrances

Why? Why did you have to do this? Did you have an episode that really needed filling this badly? War Studio Mir swamped? WHAT WAS IT? I HAVE TO KNOW? WHY!?

This episode is a clip-show, because we all know this is what the audience wants at this point, a f*cking clip show.

OK, calm, peace, calm. Apparently there was a budget cut, that explains everything, sort of, SCREW YOU NICKOLODEON!

So, the story, if you can really call it that is 3 fold. Mako's training Wu, sort of, and reveals his relationship history. Because that was the thing we so loved about Books One and Two, Mako's relationship problems.

Then we have Korra worrying about how things always seem to get worse whatever she accomplishes, with Asami there as a second voice, they’re talking about stuff they both already know about, that’s a rule of storytelling broken there. Then Tenzin comes in, how he knew where Korra was and managed to get there is beyond me frankly (ok, that was air-temple island, ah makes sense), but there you go. And that story's closed.

Then we have the third story. OK, this is where the effort was in the writing. Varrick tells Bolin's story as a pitch for a mover, and its f*cking hilarious. And it's self-referential where Varrick says that Unalaq was a boring villain. His version of the events doesn't make any sense, but it still has the problem that it's mostly made up of clips from the last 3 books. The Ember Island Players was creative, and it also developed character by focusing on certain exaggerated aspects of the protagonists. This didn't do either of those things, although Bolin/Varrick's story is the closest thing to an attempt to.

The biggest issue is that nothing happened in this story. No plot, no character development, it's just played for the laughs, and while I could possibly forgive that in 20-episode book like TLA, it's a lot harder to forgive in a 13-episode book like this.

Also, this episode, didn't recap much from book 4 at all, what’s the point of a series recap, if it doesn't even recap anything from the current series?

I’m sorry, Varrick being hilarious isn't good enough. This episode was not asked for and not necessary.

Rating 5.5/10

• "The evil Unalaq, the diabolical but incredibly boring and unpopular sorcerer from the North"
• "It seems like you're so afraid to disappoint anyone, that you end up disappointing everyone"
• "But it turns out the airbender recruits are a sorry lot so Bolin brings them to his secret mountaintop training facility where he teaches them the ancient arts of dodging fruit and balancing on sticks"

Chapter 9 – Beyond the wilds

Wow, this was not the follow-up I expected at all. Not to say it was a bad episode, it wasn't, but if you're expecting a battle in the swamp, you will be disappointed, in fact, this episode was yet another episode light on the action.

So, the spirit vines in Republic City are reacting to Kuvira's attempts to chop down the spirit vines, capturing people and trapping their souls in the spirit world. Korra's attempts to rescue her but cannot enter the spirit world, not until she can confront Zaheer.

Meanwhile Varrick and Bolin return and try to reconcile with the world they abandoned by warning them about the spirit weapon. Bolin is clearly desperate to reconcile with Opal, although Opal, still fearing for her family, couldn't bring herself to forgive him yet, even with sweet buns. But helping her along is Lin, who is taking Opal to Zaofu to rescue her family. It's setting the stage for a full on Beifong battle next week. I can't wait!

We also have a moment for Varrick and Asami as they must put aside their differences and devise counter-measures for Kuvira's spirit weapon. I don't think Kuvira ever thought they were dead, given that several of the guards had wanted posters for them, and they were discovered crossing the border, so Kuvira may have countermeasures for this.

Politics returns to the forefront once again as world leaders, sans the water tribe, make their opinions known on the solution. Ironically given what happened in Book 2 Reiko is all for sending in the armies, whilst Tenzin maintains his usual position of not fighting back unless provoked, whilst Fire Lord Izumi wants to be on the right side of history for once and not engage in pointless conflict, how things have changed.

Meanwhile Korra feels shunned by the world leaders, and feels as though they don’t think she’s ready, and in many cases she isn't, but it does lead to one of the most interesting encounters with Zaheer. With Zaheer's motivations being the complete opposite of Kuvira's, Zaheer makes the interesting choice of helping her overcome her block. Korra won't be haunted by Zaheer, and now has access to Raava again. Does that mean she's past all her blocks? Time will tell

Rating 8.5/10

• "That's my boy, Ryu. He used to live in the basement, but then he got airbending, and he's been doing important Air Nation stuff all over the world"
• "Oh, steam buns, my favourite. This will totally make me forget that you worked for Kuvira, the woman who captured my family and is probably torturing them right now, but let's sit down and have a great picnic because we're so in love"
• "Do we know if Kuvira  has any allergies?"
• "I heard rumours about her, but I didn't know she attained so much power, she has to be stopped"
• "That poison should've killed you, but you managed to fight it off. You think your power has limits, I say, it's limitless"
• "I own that building, a man has the right to blow up his own property"

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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.