And now we move onto what is most often considered to be the best season in the entirety of Korra. Let’s see if I agree!
Episode One ~ A Breath of Fresh Air
The ramifications of Korra leaving the Spirit Portals open immediately make themselves apparent. For one, Republic City is now partially overrun by Spirit Vines, to the annoyance of President Raiko. For another, random people all across the world suddenly find themselves possessing Airbending. Thirdly, and most pressingly, dangerous criminal Zaheer is one such individual, and he escapes from prison.
It shouldn’t be as much of a foreign concept as it is sometimes, but I love to see how the consequences of the previous season legitimately influence this season here, and in a huge way! This is an awesome first episode that gets us right back into the action by establishing what our protagonists have been doing, how the world around them has changed, and who our next main villain is going to be. It’s exciting, it’s got plenty of sweet and funny moments too, and it does it all within the short time constraints of a twenty-two minute runtime! A great episode with big ramifications for the world of Avatar.
Rating: 9
Episode Two ~ Rebirth
Tenzin tries to recruit new Airbenders, but only finds success with young pickpocket Kai. Korra, who has been banished from Republic City, vows to keep helping him in his search. Meanwhile, Zaheer ruthlessly and efficiently frees two of his close compatriots from their prisons, coming one step closer to revitalizes his old Red Lotus radical movement.
Another awesome episode that manages to maintain its momentum by thematically splitting-the-load (so to speak) between its two halves. On the one half we have some very comedic character-and-world building with Tenzin and Korra’s efforts to recruit new Airbenders, and then on the other side we have some tense action set pieces with Zaheer freeing his fellow dangerous criminals of the Red Lotus from their prisons. We manage to avoid having an episode that leaned too far in either direction by perfectly balancing it all. Great stuff.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Three ~ The Earth Queen
Ba Sing Se is now ruled by the entitled and narcissistic Earth Queen, who rebuffs the attempts of Korra and the others to locate the new Airbenders in the city. Mako and Bolin reunite with the extended members of their family, and Kai is kidnapped by the Dai Li, who are trying to form an enslaved army of Airbenders. More reinforcements arrive to try and keep P’Li, the final Red Lotus member, from being broken out of jail.
In a lot of ways, this episode is similar to the previous one. Korra and her team bring a lot of character development and world-building, especially with regards to what’s been happening in Ba Sing Se since we saw it last (it’s as awful and corrupt as always). We get less Zaheer stuff this time around, but we do see Korra’s network of allies working to shore up their reinforcements to prepare to fight against Zaheer, and this includes getting to see a wise older Zuko! There’s also a tense cliffhanger to denote this as a two-parter.
Rating: 8.5
Episode Four ~ In Harm’s Way
Zaheer frees the final member of the Red Lotus, and the quartet pledge to hunt down Korra. Meanwhile, Lin meets up with Korra to tell her that she’s being hunted by the Red Lotus, and Lin also aids in freeing Kai and the other Airbenders from the Earth Queen. Tenzin then leaves with the Airbenders while Korra and the others go to the metal clan city-state of Zaofu.
The freeing of the final member of the Red Lotus is as crazy and action-packed as the previous prison breaks, only this time the Red Lotus half of the episode is matched beat-for-beat with craziness by Korra’s side! Jinora demonstrates that she’s still a master at spiritual projecting, and then we get to see our heroes openly throw down with the corrupt Earth Queen and her lackeys. It’s super exciting stuff that only gets cooler once Lin gets involved (and it’s amazing to truly see her in action after her somewhat embarrassing portrayal in Season Two). This season continues to impress!
Rating: 9
Episode Five ~ The Metal Clan
In Zaofu, Korra and the others are introduced to Suyin, the governor and also Lin’s estranged younger sister. They are also introduced to Suyin’s children, and most notably her daughter Opal, who is a new Airbender. Korra starts training Opal, while the others attempt to manage the barely-restrained tension between Lin and Suyin (and also are surprised to see a slightly-repentant Varrick again). Zaheer attempts to sneak into the Air Nation, but is sussed out and chased off by Kya.
Oh man, I love everything about Zaofu and what it brings into the story so much. Obviously, Suyin ranked #3 on my list of favorite characters in Korra, and her daughter Opal would’ve been #11 had I extended the list. There’s so much nuance to Suyin and Lin’s relationship and how everything works out between them, to the point where it’d need an article on its own to get into. Varrick’s here too, and he brings a lot of laughs to what is otherwise a fairly tense family drama. And, once more, we get another awesome fight scene with Zaheer to top it off!
Rating: 9.5
Episode Six ~ Old Wounds
Suyin trains Korra in the art of metalbending, which Korra grasps fairly quickly to the disappointment of Bolin (who can’t grasp it himself). Meanwhile, Lin undergoes spiritual acupuncture therapy, but it backfires after she relieves her traumatic past with Suyin. Full of anger, she confronts her sister and the two furiously fight to a draw until Opal interferes. With everything out of her system, Lin patches things up with Suyin.
Let’s get the side stuff out of the way first. Korra being trained in metalbending, and Bolin’s self-loathing embarrassment to grasp it, is both fun to watch and great character work. But, obviously, the real star of the show is Lin’s backstory flashbacks, and her subsequent battle and reconciliation with Suyin. Her backstory is amazing and almost shockingly layered given the frequent black-and-white morality of similar animated shows (and ATLA). And the fight is super good too, though that’s of course an area that Korra has never disappointed in. A true standout episode in every way.
Rating: 10
Episode Seven ~ Original Airbenders
Tenzin tries to train the new generation of Airbenders, but runs into difficulty trying to get the recruits to take it as seriously as he wishes they did. When he pushes them too hard, Jinora and Kai sneak off on their own and stumble upon sky-bison poachers. The duo, and the rest of the Airbenders, defeat and chase off the poachers, and Tenzin begins considering promoting Jinora to master status.
Probably the weakest episode in the season, but that doesn’t mean its bad. We cut away from Korra and the rest of Team Avatar to focus instead on Tenzin and his new crop of Airbenders. It’s a fun enough episode, but it definitely toes the line of ‘filler‘ (not completely, of course, as it still helps to flesh out and build up characters like Jinora). It’s harmless, and has a few good funny moments. There’s also some inherent catharsis in seeing some no-good sky-bison poachers get the smackdown, so there’s that!
Rating: 8
Episode Eight ~ The Terror Within
In the dead of night, Zaheer and the Red Lotus sneak into Zaofu and almost kidnap Korra after drugging her. She is rescued by her friends and the united forces of Zaofu, who manage to corner the Red Lotus and force them to flee. Afterwards, it is decided that only a traitor could’ve let the Red Lotus into the city, and Suyin’s advisor Aiwei is revealed as the traitor, though he escapes.
Bouncing back from the Airbenders we immediately launch into the stratosphere of greatness with another fantastic episode. The fight scenes that take place her are superb, and it’s amazingly refreshing to see villains on the back-foot for once (as it often feels like baddies just keep being unstoppable until the hero wins in the finale). Everyone coming together to defend Korra is excellent. And then we have the short but tense interrogation scene with Aiwei where he’s revealed as a traitor, which includes several clever little bits of set-up and payoff. This episode also shifts us into the middle chunk of this season’s plot.
Rating: 10
Episode Nine ~ The Stakeout
Team Avatar track down Aiwei, and Korra heads into the Spirit World once she realizes that that is where he’s hiding. In the Spirit World, she sees Zaheer kill Aiwei, and then she engages in discussion with the well-mannered but radical man. In the real world, Mako, Bolin, and Asami attempt to fight off the Red Lotus, but are caught off guard and captured by the Earth Queen’s forces instead.
This episode keeps most of its tricks in its back pocket until the second half. The first half of the episode is slow and methodical (but also hilarious, housing some of the season’s best jokes), but then you get slapped in the face with the second half. An awesome philosophical debate in the Spirit World between Korra and Zaheer, and then an exciting throwdown in the real world with Mako and Bolin and the Red Lotus. And right when you think it might be over, you get a final bit of a reveal that the Earth Queen is still an antagonist in play, making this a three-way battle for the plot!
Rating: 8.5
Episode Ten ~ Long Live the Queen
Korra and Asami escape their confinement enroute to the Earth Queen, but end up having to work alongside their enemies to survive the desert. Meanwhile, Zaheer confronts the Earth Queen and uses his Airbending to suffocate her to death as a symbol of his detestation for authority figures and governments. Over the radio, he declares Ba Sing Se a free nation to be ruled by no laws and no man. Zaheer sets Mako and Bolin free under instruction for them to give Korra a message.
There’s a lot of awesome stuff to unpack here. First, we get some great humanization for the Red Lotus courtesy of Bolin trying to befriend them despite being their prisoner. Then we have the extremely infamous death of the Earth Queen, which is so memorably graphic that it’s incredible the showrunners got away with it. Zaheer’s follow-up radio call is pretty chilling too, as is seeing the Red Lotus tear down the walls of Ba Sing Se. This city just can’t catch a break!
The B-plot involves Korra and Asami escaping confinement but then having to work with their imprisoners to survive being hunted by a massive worm in the desert. It’s arguably filler, and it’s for sure the weakest part of the episode, but I always welcome moments of heroes and villains having to team up to accomplish a bigger goal. The prison captain is a pretty cool dude too, and parts ways amicably with Korra and Asami when their little adventure comes to an end.
Rating: 9
Episode Eleven ~ The Ultimatum
Mako and Bolin barely escape the anarchy and chaos of Ba Sing Se with their family in tow, and when they meet up with Korra they inform her that Zaheer plans to kill the Airbenders at Tenzin’s temple unless Korra gives herself over. Korra manages to pass the warning onto Tenzin over radio, but not in time for him to evacuate his students. Tenzin and the others fight bravely against the Red Lotus, but end up overpowered and captured in the end.
Most of this episode serves as the pre-requisite set-up for the climactic two-part finale, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its own merits too. Korra has a really nice conversation with Zuko, and I like the scene of Bolin convincing his grandmother to leave behind her ancestral home for the sake of survival. The real start of this episode is the Red Lotus assault on the air temple, of course, and Tenzin and his siblings’ efforts to fight back. Each of the mini fights are stellar, but Tenzin’s dramatic and flashy fight with Zaheer takes the cake. It’s the first moment in Korra where we get to unequivocally see a Master Airbender pop off, and it sure is something (even if he gets ganged up on and beaten in the end).
Rating: 9
Episode Twelve ~ Enter the Void
While Mako, Bolin, and Asami go to rescue Tenzin and the Airbenders, Korra goes to give herself over to Zaheer in a joint ruse. Zaheer proves one step ahead, however, as a trap springs that causes the temple to begin to collapse on Korra’s friends. Korra and her allies fight back against Zaheer, with Suyin and Lin defeating P’Li. Korra and her father just barely fail to defeat Zaheer, and Korra is captured and taken away by the anarchist. Korra’s father is saved at the last second by Suyin’s captain-of-the-guard, Kuvira.
Action, action, and more action. What else could you want from the penultimate episode?
Bolin, Mako, and Asami head up the rescue of Tenzin, and Bolin finally unlocks the power of lavabending much to his delight. He’s just such a charming and likable character that seeing him be both happy and awesomely competent makes me happy too!
The bulk of the craziness involves the attempt to defeat Zaheer and P’Li on the mountaintop, and it’s filled with excellent moments. P’Li accidentally killing herself by detonating an explosion on her own head is equal parts gruesome and fantastic, as is seeing Suyin and Lin work wonderfully side-by-side. Korra and her father squaring off with Zaheer is awesome, and they pull off some amazing team-attacks that almost get the best of him. And then, of course, Zaheer freeing himself from his earthly tether and learning how to fly. It’s a supremely goosebumps-inducing moment!
Oh, and also, Kuvira!
Rating: 10
Episode Thirteen ~ Venom of the Red Lotus
Korra is tortured mercilessly with mercury poisoning in an attempt to force her into the Avatar State so the Red Lotus can kill her. Her allies come to her rescue by saving the other Airbenders and creating a distraction, and Korra gives into her rage to escape her bindings and engage in a fierce showdown with Zaheer. Mako and Bolin defeat the rest of the Red Lotus, and when Korra is about to succumb to her poisoning, she is saved by Jinora and the Airbenders, and she finishes off Zaheer. Her life is just barely saved, but at deep physical and mental cost. Later, Jinora is promoted to Master Airbender.
It’s not just the best episode of Season Three. It’s not just the best episode of Korra. It’s one of the best episodes of any television show I’ve ever seen. The amount of incredible perfection crammed into these twenty-two minutes is nothing short of legendary.
First, Korra’s torture. There aren’t any strings pulled here. There’s no teasing and then a last-second fakeout. It’s rough, it’s brutal, and it’s dark. It’s frightening how close she gets to dying, and the hallucinations she sees that try convincing her to give up, stop fighting, and let herself be killed are downright nightmarish. You can really feel her rage and desperation when she succumbs to the Avatar State and starts attacking the Red Lotus in a wild panic.
What follows, though, is one of the most spectacularly animated battles not just in Korra but in any animated show of this ilk. It’s hard to properly capture the scale and magnitude of an aerial battle in animation, but by golly did the animators somehow do just that with Korra and Zaheer’s flying fight. It’s epic in proportion and downright crazy, and it only ramps up as Korra’s poisoning worsens and Jinora comes in for the assist with the giant tornado. The final blow to defeat Zaheer is extremely cathartic.
And then we have Jinora’s promotion ceremony to cap off the season. She’s come a long way since Season One, and its wonderful to see her really grow into her power and become a guiding figure for the fledgling Air Nation. Her ceremony is sweet, and the soundtrack behind it all is gorgeous. It’s a touching way to end off the season…
…and then we get that final shot. The closing frame of the season before shifting to credits. Korra, her expression a conflicted mess of emotions, with a stream of tears running down her face as she watches Jinora. This isn’t a U.I.C.S. about Korra, so I don’t have the ten-thousand words I’d need to properly explain just how perfect, incredible, shocking, heart-breaking, and profoundly depressing this final shot is, but it is. It’s the thing that sticks in your mind for weeks after seeing the episode. I haven’t been this crushed by a closing shot since Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order.
Perfection in animated form.
Rating: 11
SEASON CONCLUSION
So, yeah, I agree with the common consensus here. Season Three is absolutely the peak of Korra, and equal to any individual season from the original ATLA as well. It’s fantastic from start-to-finish, and some of the darkest and most mature storytelling we’ve ever gotten out of the Avatar universe. But at the same time, we don’t lose the charm or whimsy either, as this season is chock full of incredible jokes and light-hearted bits (like the side-episode with the Airbenders saving the sky-bison).
A lot of this season’s greatness is carried on the shoulders of Zaheer and the Red Lotus. Nowhere else in the Avatar universe do we get villains as charismatic and likeable as the Red Lotus, to the point where the constant cuts to them feel just as engaging and important as what’s going on with Korra and her allies. They each feel like real people with their own goals and desires in life, and not mustache-twirling unrealistic caricatures. Their rapport is awesome, and I’d love to see more from them in a prequel comic or something someday.
And, as I touched on up above, I can’t say enough about how amazing the entire final episode is, and especially that last shot. It’s good on a thousand million levels that I don’t have the words here to gush about. This season is simply amazing, and one that almost seems to get better with each watch.
Rating: 9.5
Buy hey, that’s just my opinion!
The Contrarian Corner 