Review: The Legend of Korra “Beyond the Wilds”

Okay, you win this week, writers.

 Spoilers Below

If you have been following my Legend of Korra reviews for this season, you will see I have been very critical in how the writers pumped the brakes with Korra’s return to society. Ever since Korra fought Kuvira, the plot stood still. They wasted Korra’s first fight with Kuvire, her return to Republic City, reunion with her friends, and had a terrible flashback episode. Now, this is a perfect time to paraphrase a meme  made famous during the time of The Last Airbender. And then everything changed the day the Fire Nation did not attack.

There is so much to digest this week. “Beyond the Wilds” showed us, for one, how far the Fire Nation has come since The Last Airbender. No longer are they the power hungry war mongers they were during the three seasons of The Last Airbender. Firelord Izumi, in one quote, summed up all of the work that Zuko has done since the end of The Last Airbender: “The Fire Nation has spent too much of its history fighting nonsense wars. I refuse to drag my nation into another one unless there’s no other choice.” While President Raiko has a point, going to war unprovoked only works to Kuvira’s favor. I think that the interaction between Izumi, Tenzin, Raiko, and Wu was great. We even get another glimpse into why Wu isn’t ready to lead, but he is still a better choice than Kuvira. Bolin and Varrick make it back to the city just as this was going on, and they inform the table of Kuvira’s super weapon.

Oh, right, Jinora is captured. I should probably go over that as well. The theme of this episode was that the spirit vines in Republic City are attacking and abducting people. Korra touches the root, and it has to do with Kuvira harvesting the Banyan Grove tree roots. Somehow, that is causing the Spirit Wilds in Republic City to abduct people and put them in spirit harvesting pods. This series took a science fiction turn here, and I don’t know how I feel about it. Of course, Jon Hader came back as Ryu, and that was three minutes of my life I won’t ever be able to get back.

If that weren’t enough, Korra started to get hit with that feeling of not being needed anymore. It hit like a brick house when she walked into a meeting with the aforementioned leaders, and she couldn’t understand why Wu was there, and she wasn’t invited. That was the beginning of this week’s “People lost their faith in me” moment. The problem only multiplied when she tried to meditate back into the Spirit World, only to freak out at the flashback of her fight with Zaheer. She thinks seeing Zaheer will break her out of whatever is hindering her, but Tenzin shows no faith in her. Only after pleading and bringing Jinora into the argument, Tenzin lets Korra meet with Zaheer.

And this is where everything just broke. I don’t even know where to begin with this scene. Zaheer starts out looking like he wants to attack Korra, and scares the shit out of Korra while startling me. As the scene continues, Korra just shoves everything that Kuvira has done, and is planning on doing. The look of anger turns straight to “Well, I replaced one dictator for another. Guess who the fuck up is this time.” But Zaheer is right. Korra and Zaheer have a common enemy now. Zaheer believes everyone should be free, and Korra wants to do what is right. So, naturally Zaheer helps Korra break through whatever mental blocks she has on entering the spirit world, and she finds a long lost friend.

So, everything comes full circle with Korra getting in touch with Raava again. So, we get how Korra is getting her groove back. However, the big question remains: What the fuck does Raava coming back mean for her past lives? That has been so integral to the mythos of the Avatar, and people seem to forget that this actually helped Aang a lot. Unfortunately, it was swept under the rug last season, but no one would know. Casual mentions don’t keep it fresh in peoples minds. Finally, something was brought up, even for a fleeting moment. Watching this entire interaction, from Korra meeting Zaheer to Korra talking to Raava just had me slack jawed. All I can really say is “holy shit.” All I needed next was for Wan to casually show up.

“Beyond the Wilds” is a monument episode, because this is the start of the end. And, let’s not forget that this was the first episode in a month that didn’t make me want to scream my face off. Think about it, Kuvira stands no chance with a confident Korra, who seems to be able to get into her Avatar State. Now, we have four episodes to get us there. What can happen next? This could be the best possible start to the final act, and I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe if I didn’t have to listen to Napoleon Airbender, the mutated frog, I’d be happier. I think, however, I’ll just be happy with what I have, and wait until next week.