The latest episode of “The Legend of Korra” showed the reunion that fans have been expecting for some time now, as Team Avatar was finally back together after being away for three years. Korra and Asami seem to be getting along well after a meeting at a restaurant where they had lunch together, although there were immediately issues related to Wu and his interaction with the group, something which was obviously driving Korra up the walls.
It’s worth noting that the reunion in this episode wasn’t entirely complete, as Bolin was still not present, as he has been continuing his journey. Things managed to get heated enough for the rest of the group anyway though, as Wu was captured during a bathroom break, causing the rest of the crew to immediately jump to his defense, putting their differences aside practically without thinking about it. Korra has obviously grown, and the fight scenes in this episode were a good opportunity to show that – she now has the ability to actually fight strong, worthy opponents, and she’s not afraid to use that to her full advantage.
Still, the action scenes in this season have yet to live up to the precedent set in season 3 of the show, as viewers definitely saw a lot more action and dramatic fights back then. There are still several episodes left to go and things may very well pick up by the end of the season, but it’s also likely that the producers want to try a change of pace and the smaller scale of the fight scenes has been intentional.
Even though the season has been solid so far, and reception has been positive across the board, some fans still have issues with the new season and are claiming that it’s a departure from the original style of the show. One thing that has been constantly pointed out in particular, is the idea of the mech suits. The way they work and interact with the plot has caused a drastic change in the style of the fight scenes, which no longer put a strong emphasis on the characters’ abilities to bend.
The way the producers have been tackling the relationships between the characters this season has still been quite successful, however, as the show definitely needed a change of pace in its storytelling, at least with regards to inter-character subplots. Whether this trend will continue until the end of the season or if it’s something temporary remains to be seen, but it can definitely have a strong positive effect on the show if the producers give a little more focus to these types of stories.