alright I've finally seen the Korra finale and it's time for a reaction/rant!
lemme get the good stuff out of the way first so those of you who don't wanna hear my whining can just skip it
firstly, I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this finale as much as I did the AtLA finale. the excitement and suspense and even the humor was completely perfectly executed, and I wouldn't change much about it. I actually thought that Kuvira's mecha was even more threatening and dangerous than Zaheer or Unavaatu were, and she caused wayyyyy more destruction. I felt like I was watching Attack On Titan or a superhero movie LOL
pretty much all the characters had a good amount of screen time and were given important things to do. the only ones who felt shafted were Kai and the airbabies (minus Meelo), which was disappointing, but I can overlook that minor detail.
I was happy to see a lot of different uses of bending, especially earth and metal (Su, Lin, and Bolin dropping that building on Kuvira was friggin' sweet). all the fight sequences were REALLY good. the stuff between Kuvira and Korra was a sight to behold.
all the familial relationships shown were very satisfying; I felt a bit of my soul die inside each time a character said "I love you" to another person. I was hoping that Varrick and Zhu Li would get together, and they did, and it was beautiful and ahhhhhhhhh X3 also, I was genuinely shocked to see what happened to Hiroshi, and Mako and Bolin nearly broke me.
speaking of which.... everything with Mako was, to say the least, very umm... DSLFKGJHIGOHGFLDSKWJEFRITGKH I MEAN SERIOUSLY WTF WAS THAT WHOLE THING WITH THE VINES AND HIS ARM AND THEN THE HAIR AND HIS TALK WITH KORRA AND I'M JUST SLFGKHIOFDSKJWHUEIREOTYLJKGUFIDOSKJD
*ahem* anyway, I'm also very satisfied with what happened to Kuvira. they've never really had a villain redeemed before in Avatar (and no, Mai and Ty Lee don't count), and the way Korra behaved with her was a perfect close to Korra's character development. Korra is seriously one of the best female characters ever created. no, I take that back. she's one of the best characters ever created PERIOD. I'm very happy with her :3
I actually only have one grip with the finale, and I'm pretty sure you all already know what it is. get ready for the rant folks.
basically, it was completely unecessary to have that last scene with Korra and Asami together. the previous scene with Korra and Tenzin would've been the PERFECT ending, but no, they had to go and imply a romance between the two female characters. and you know what, maybe I wouldn't be so upset about it if they had some better development in their relationship. I mean, I don't think the two of them even talked to each other at all in either of the episodes? they put more focus on Asami and Hiroshi, and then went and had a random Korrasami moment as the very last scene. the whole thing reeked of making a statement as opposed to a real series ending. Bryke knows that Korrasami is popular with the fandom, so instead of going with what they've been implying throughout the entire series (Bryke even left subtle hints in their interviews and stuff that Makorra would be endgame), they decided to be edgy and imply a lesbian romance between the two female characters who've barely spoken to each other throughout the entire series.
I've never really outright stated this before, but I don't support same-sex couples. never have, and probably never will. I've become more tolerant of them over the years (I even ship a couple of them), but I will never fully support them. that being said, if two people of the same gender are shown to have an interest in each other, then I will accept it as that and move on. a good example of this is MakoHaru. those two are practically confirmed married at this point, and although I don't like it, I can at least see the potential of it as a romantic relationship. Korrasami however has had subpar development and therefore completely came out of nowhere to have it as the final sendoff of the series.
overall, Book 4 has felt like it catered more towards fans and what the fandom is interested in, and you know what, it's a poor decision to make when making a television show. it worked for Ember Islands Players, which was both a clip show and meant to be lighthearted and goofy. but there've been way too many scenes, lines, and plot points that felt like they came directly out of a fanfic for me to say that there was nothing wrong about it. Korrasami in of itself is nothing but pure fanon, and the fact that it was implied at all is honestly disgusting to me.
I've supported Bryke in every single instance that's occurred in this series; even the love triangle wasn't enough to make me doubt them. but this single scene has me side eying them so hard that I think I might go blind from it. I can see why they would want to step away from the franchise now, and maybe it's a good thing that they do so.
so tl;dr, everything about this finale was beautiful and flawless and perfect, save for that one extremely stupid scene they slapped on at the very end for dumb reasons~
