I thought that Book 4 ended up being the weakest season. I still liked it, but it was very underwhelming for me. I think I’d let some of the issues with the previous seasons slide because I knew there would be more episodes, but by the time the show ended I felt like it wasted some of its potential.
I think we should have had an episode showing Kuvira’s backstory more clearly- what we got wasn’t much, so it made Korra’s conversation with her at the end feel a lot weaker. I enjoyed Kuvira’s fight scenes though.
I liked Korra’s arc in this season, but wish that they hadn’t had that line about her learning ‘compassion’ at the end. It didn’t fit with her earlier characterization. I also would have liked it if she’d seemed a bit more like her old self by the end, rather than seeming so worn down.
Asami’s sudden promotion to main character’s love interest felt very rushed a lacklustre. The show barely gave her any character development after Book 1, and Book 3- the season she has the most prominent role in- doesn’t give her a subplot at all. And the fact that they obviously only thought of pairing her up with Korra midway through the show was painfully obvious. It wouldn’t be so bad if Asami contributed to the show in a significant way, but she was often sidelined during key moments and storylines. She doesn’t do anything in the Book 3 finale, and in the Book 4 finale she’s just there to be sad when her dad dies. When she does make a contribution- like inventing the hummingbird suits- it’s often overshadowed by another character, like her dad or Varrick.
And they give her so much less screentime than other characters in Book 4 that it’s hard to understand why they thought that ending would fit. It comes across like the creators got halfway though Legend of Korra, realised that there were no gay or bisexual characters and felt bad, so they quickly added on this aspect without considering whether it would fit the larger show. They could have developed the relationship far more, but instead it just feels half-baked. I know that they had network restrictions, but that doesn’t excuse pairing Korra up with somebody who barely feels like part of the main cast.
Honestly, if they wanted an LGBT relationship, it would have made more sense to have it happen with Bolin, Mako, or Asami with somebody new (or even Korra with somebody introduced in Book 3, though her story arc between the last two books doesn’t accommodate romance very well). There’s too much history between Asami and Korra that makes a romance between them feel weird, and many of their interactions don’t hint at a particularly deep friendship. Asami shows way more interest in Korra than Korra ever shows in her.
Weirdly, even though Mako’s not supposed to be her love interest in Book 4, it felt like they spent more time showing their relationship than showing Korra/ Asami. He’s even with her when she goes to visit Zaheer, and in the clip show his segment focuses largely on their romance. Even their final interaction could be seen as hinting at romance if it wasn’t for the scene that followed it.
I wish they’d given a clue as to what Mako and Bolin will be doing after the finale. Is Mako still a bodyguard or can he rejoin the police? What’s Bolin going to do?
I liked Varrick coming back (he was one of my favourite parts of Book 2). That said, I wish he’d gotten a little less screentime, especially in the finale. I think other characters and storylines needed that time more than he did.
). Not to mention Varrick! I really love him in this season; he was funny before, but this book he just steals the show.