Should you watch this, Wiki this, or wait for the recap? Watch this.
Three years after the attack of Zaheer and the Red Lotus, Republic City and President Raiko have made peace with the Spirit World living in their midst. A new but popular ruler, Prince Wu, is poised to take over rulership of the Earth Kingdom. Meanwhile, Kuvira, former member of Zaofu’s royal guard, is uniting the Earth Kingdom’s disparate states. Kai and Opal are sent to aid the beseiged state of Yi as well. But one question remains – where is Korra?
“After All These Years” is the first Chapter (episode) of Book Four: Balance (Season Four) of The Legend of Korra. Three years have transpired since the previous Book, and we get to see some level of growth in our characters. Most notable, there are significant physical changes in the character models for the children – much appreciated, since it can’t be cheap to redraw all those characters! The older characters, inclusive of Team Avatar, look pretty much the same – indicating that they’ve all probably reached puberty before the onset of the series.
There’s a slightly nostalgic, but depressive air in the episode – it’s as if the characters have outwardly embraced the changes that have been wrought, but secretly wish for their original status quo to be kept. But all this is kept in check, which jives well with the theme of this final season, Balance. There’s definitely alot of tension though, and that’s the exciting part – when will all this spill over?
Highlights
Prince Wu is a hoot
At least he’s more amusing and good-natured than that stuck up little pompous fart, Hou Ting. Prince Wu is a character that will potentially see a lot of emotional scarring before he matures and changes for the better in the series, and it’s my personal hope that the Earth Kingdom will finally see peace with Prince Wu. Plus, he’s kind of neurotic when it comes to his safety.
Air Nomad costumes look good
Kai and Opal look pretty heroic in their new Air duds. Not too sure why there’s been a change in the traditional Air Temple garb, though it’s possible that it’s a variance of design, seeing as which not everyone from the Earth Kingdom wears the same clothes, it follows that as the Air Temple expands, their clothes would start to differ too. Nevertheless, a good look for the Air Nomads!
Kuvira is a potentially interesting villain
Promos have already presented Kuvira as the Big Bad of the season, and it establishes her as a formidable Earthbender. It rounds up the slew of elements nicely, as we’ve had Waterbenders and an Airbender as the Big Bads of previous seasons. No Firebenders, because the Big Bad of the previous series was an Airbender so presumably we’ve had enough of that. Kuvira looks conflicted and well meaning, which makes her antagonism a matter of ideals instead of just force.
President Raiko isn’t such a douchebag any more
And he’s got character development too! It’s good to see President Raiko as an ally to our heroes – there’s no real reason for him to shun the greatest free help he can get, so this is not only organic, but logical as well.
Letdowns
Korra only appears at the end
The show being named after her, and given the state we left her in the previous Book, it’s only fair that her fate is explained quickly. Unfortunately we’re left hanging until the end, and even so it doesn’t make sense – have her powers weakened? How is she able to be so irresponsible? What exactly is her motivation here?
“After All These Years” is a slightly sad opening for the final Book of the series, but it does set the stage for a lot of potential conflict. It’s worth watching to quell the curiosity you’ve had of our favourite characters’ fates, but it doesn’t give us enough of Korra.
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