The Legend of Korra Book 3 Premiere Review: “A Breath of Fresh Air”
I must admit, I’m a little bit diffident about writing reviews for a show like The Legend of Korra. Maybe it’s because my specialty tends to be dark adult dramas or everyday sitcoms, or maybe because I’m not as in tune with children’s programming after about 2003. Despite these qualms, I have taken up the task of reviewing the show weekly, and I do love Avatar: The Last Airbender as well as LoK, so I couldn’t be more excited.
Platinum Games Developing The Legend of Korra Game
The third season picks up about 2 weeks from where season two left off. After the Harmonic Convergence, Republic city is covered in vines that grow back anytime Korra attempts to remove them. It’s quite the pickle, and of course the citizens of Republic City would rather complain to The Avatar than figure out a solution for themselves. Korra finds herself continuing the transition to being the Avatar. She still isn’t sure of herself and keeps growing with every new experience. Part of what I love about this show is that the heroes continue to struggle with the everyday problems of youth despite being gifted with such otherworldly abilities. Little things like Korra learning how to drive, or the president and avatar having low approval ratings adds some reality into the mythos which I always appreciate. Not to mention, the scenes where Korra tries to do normal things like drive almost always make for a bit of hilarity.
The most important and interesting thing to happen during this episode, however, is the simple fact that after the Harmonic Convergence, people are now able to air bend again. Of course, not everyone who has this new found power wants to use it for good. Our first new villain of the season, a grizzled middle aged man by the name of Zaheer (Henry Rollins of all people), uses his new found powers to escape from a remote prison. I am assuming this will be the start of Korra’s next big task, but I don’t want to jump to any conclusions yet. All I know is that Zaheer has a cool philosophical attitude and obvious natural bending skills. He will definitely be confronting Korra at some point, but I’m guessing he has some sort of plan to take over the world like the majority of villains in the Avatar universe.
All in all, “A Breath of Fresh Air” may not have been a massive departure from the typical LoK formula, but it did have a lot of great moments and picked up the story lines almost exactly where they left off. Korra is still in that oddball love triangle of hers. Tenzin and his family are excited to have more Air Benders join the world and Tenzin in particular has high hopes for rebuilding the once majestic Air nation. For a show that’s only 20 minutes an episode, it always amazes me how much story and character development the writers are able to fit in.
I’m guessing anyone who reads this has already been watching the show, but I always encourage people to check out both Avatar and The Legend of Korra. For a show that’s mostly geared towards the younger crowd, it always has a surprisingly and insightful level of depth. One of my favorite quotes from the episode is by our newest villain who states that, “like all great children’s tales, it contains truth within the myth”. I don’t think I could come up with a better summary for the show than that.
Welcome back Legend of Korra, we have all missed you.
Grade = B+
