Review: The Legend of Korra “Day of the Colossus / The Last Stand”

Did I really just watch this? What did I just watch?

Spoilers Below.

Rage…so much rage! How can a series have so much potential just flop on the final two episodes? I have seen my share of finales, but this is insane. The Legend of Korra Facebook said “Grab the Tissues,” and I am. It’s not for sadness, or happiness. It’s for the amount of rage I have for this.

This was the safest way that Bryan Konietzko and Michael DeMartino could have played it. Every single major player made it through without so much of a threat of death. There’s a giant platinum death machine with a gun powered by spirit vines? That’s cool. But there was no real sense that anyone was going into peril. Korra never woke up out of her fog of self doubt, or if she did, she did it off screen.

And then there was the fight with the giant platinum mech, coupled with Korra fighting with Kuvira. This was a clusterfuck from the word go. Kuvira went trigger happy with her spirit gun, which really didn’t do much except tear down buildings in a deserted city. To me, the stakes were small. The only loss in this 45 minute finale was Asami’s father Hiroshi, who was just an afterthought until Kuvira crushed the little metallic mosquito. Never before has anything Varrick said ever been filled with this much premonition.

 

I was waiting all night for Kuvira to keep that evil streak up from last week. Last week, she shot on Future Industries’s warehouse where her fiance was. She knew he was there. This week, it was like she was going about things nonchalantly. For whatever reason, “Day of the Colossus” and “The Last Stand” felt like a completely different writing staff took over with little or no knowledge of what has been going on. Kuvira has been on that line of evil and criminally insane. This week, she seemed rather aloof until Korra showed up.

Speaking of Korra, if she were able to step in front of this spirit cannon, why didn’t she do this earlier? I mean, there was no reason for her to know that there would be a new Spirit Portal ripped into reality in the middle of the Spirit Wilds. So, she could have just walked in front of Kuvira’s lumbering death machine and take out the mech. There was just so much wrong, I didn’t know where to start.

Just one more thing. Where the hell was Toph? Yeah, the one time where a cartoon stuck with what a character said, it had to be during “Day of the Colossus” and “The Last Stand.” Then again, it harkens back to the team being in no real harm. However, Toph wasn’t even around during any of the cleanup after Kuvira turned herself in. On top of that, there was no Zuko either. There was no Zuko during the entire season. These characters were given the spotlight as fan service, and then when there was a perfect time to show them, they were nowhere to be found. I plan on tackling all of this during the season review, don’t worry.

With that said, that doesn’t mean everything was bad. Hiroshi finally atoned for his crimes and actions during Book One by sacrificing himself so that his daughter and the Avatar can succeed against the giant death machine. Yes, that’s what I am calling it. It’s kind of like calling a fat person tiny. I think Hiroshi coming full circle was a sign that Korra proved herself. Maybe I am being too hard on her, but I feel Konietzko and DiMartino dropped the ball on her.

And this is where I acknowledge every person preaching “Korrasami.” You win the game. This was one time during this 45 minutes that Konietzko and DiMartino didn’t play it safe. They gave the fans exactly what they wanted, and every single fan on Tumblr fan was vindicated. Me, on the other hand? I can care less about what shippers want. I just think that this was a great stand to potentially show support for same sex relationships. A children’s show is tackling a potential same sex relationships like it isn’t an issue. I keep saying potential, because it isn’t like they kissed on screen. If they did, I think Tumblr would have exploded. But they took a girl’s vacation to the Spirit World, and held hands. Take that for what you will.

This may not sit well with all of the Korra fans, but I did not like this finale. The entire time, I felt like there was no threat of harm that was going to come from anyone. Blame it on the voice actors, or blame it on the story. I’m not sure where I want to go. All I know is that I felt like this finale was a symbol to how this season felt on a whole. There was a lot of disappointment, and that’s what got me so raged out. This is where I would normally say, “well, we always have next season,” but this wound is going to fester for a long while.