“The Legend of Korra” 4.1 – After All These Years (8.5 out of 10) – Created by Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko. Starting Janet Varney, P.J. Byrne, David Faustino… Rated TV Y7 Aired on nick.com 10/3/14.
Only a month after Book Three ends we have the premiere of Book Four and it does not disappoint. The show opens with a commercial for Republic City. It was a great way to show that three years has past since we last saw the city and also let us know what is going on. The biggest change to the city is the completion of Varrick’s magent-powered rail system, which was only an idea he had mentioned in last season. This by itself let us know that time has passed and the world has changed.
As promised by Tenzin at the end of Book Three the Air Nomads are going out from city to city protecting the towns and helping not only Air Benders but the citizens of the Earth Kingdom as well. They’re sporting new outfits as well; instead of long robes that we have seen in the past they are wearing jumpsuits that have flaps to help them glide along the air currents. These have replaced the sticks that turned into air gliders and even though I’m so used to seeing air benders with a staff it’s a welcome change.
The episode catches us up on Team Avatar quickly but in stages as well. Mako has become the bodyguard to Prince Wu, future leader of the Earth Kingdom, Mako hasn’t changed that much at least not in the little we saw but in his new role there is a lot of room for his character to grow as a leader not only to Prince Wu but the Earth Kingdom as well. Speaking of Prince Wu, this is a character that you immediately hate. It might be because he seems just like his Aunt the former leader of the Earth Kingdom. When she died in Book Three I was extremely happy and while at first I wanted the same for her nephew but after some thought I’m hoping he becomes a character that does a complete 180.
Bolin is working for a new character Captain Kuvira, voiced by Zelda Williams, he simply wants to help and feels this is the best way to do it. However it becomes pretty clear early on that Captain Kuvira is a “rule by the iron fist or suffer” type. She has soldiers and resources to help each town but refuses to give aid unless they swear loyalty to her. Though we didn’t see it happen in “Avatar: The Last Airbender” part of me thinks this is how Firelord Ozai operated. I don’t think that Kuvira is evil just that she goes about things the wrong way. The road to hell is paved with the best intentions and all that.
Returning this season is also Kai and Opal. We got to know Kai briefly during last season and he quickly became one of my favorite characters. What we know about Opal is very small and other than her becoming an Air Bender and having a crush on Bolin we didn’t get to see much from her. This is where the three year time jump really worked its magic. We know that Bolin and Opal are together, it’s not confirmed yet but I assume that Kai and Jinora are as well, and we got to skip the beginning of romance stuff we have seen through out the series. The time jump also fleshed out the characters without having to show us every step. This allows the writers to progress this seasons story but also do flash backs to let us know what happened in the past to make them this way. It’s a different story telling aspect to Legend of Korra that worked well in episodes past.
The only person we didn’t get to see much of was the Avatar herself. Her Father’s ship shows up from the Southern Watertribe, which is where Korra was supposed to be, only to tell Tenzin that Korra left home six months ago to come to Republic City. With her father and mentor having no idea where she is we jump to a scene of her in a cage match of sorts, sporting a new haircut, against an Earth Bender. She looses the fight and clearly doesn’t want anyone knowing she’s the Avatar. This is a vast improvement over where we left her last season, in a wheelchair and crying, but it’s clear that she’s not up to full strength physical and mentally.
I’m excited to see what happens this season and find out what has been going on the last three years. I think Toph will play a big part this season helping to shape the Avatar back into her role and helping her discover that her aliments are not limits but strengths but only time will tell.
Overall the first episode this season was great. A little more bending would have been cool but setting the stage for what is to come was more important and the episode did that in a way that was entertaining and well paced.