We begin with the world having to rebuild after Harmonic Convergence, and we end with Korra having to rebuild her body and her identity after giving herself up to Zaheer. But within the narrative, change isn’t portrayed as being so swift - and morever, it’s painted with the specificity of a different word: rebuilding. Naturally, because this is the season of “Change,” these smooth pivots are particularly helpful. Our world is expanded, and our plot greases forward without a hitch, simply because we’re grounded in characters we care about. Furthermore, these connections to core characters help facilitate the inclusion of thematic and logistical backdrops such as Zaofu, Ba Sing Se, and the Airbender tradition.
Ventures like Jinora’s spiritual journey, the discovery of Mako and Bolin’s family, and Lin’s history with her sister fill out the season meaningfully and organically. Better still is the simultaneous expansion of personal arc for these characters, in a way that progresses with plot. All the characters share screentime together, and most of them are actually relevant to the furthering of the story. Book 2 wasn’t really conducive for this, and it was lovely to see it carried out so nicely in Book 3. This decision to bring Asami into Korra’s immediate circle goes hand-in-hand with a general uptick in the Handling of Supporting Characters. It’s as if the writers woke up from a fever dream and realized JUST HOW BADLY they’d failed the Bechdel Test with Korra and Asami. The blatancy of this choice is LAUGHABLE, and I mean this in the best, most loving way. The premiere more or less glues Asami to Korra’s side, and the remainder of the season gives them a multitude of interactions entirely devoted to putting the Love Triangle behind them and building an independent dynamic. Book 3 finally shelves the lackluster love story, and it does so in the most hilariously pointed way. Okay, that last bit is partly a joke - but just barely. As Korra said, this is a dawning of a New Age, and from the very first episode we understand this to be a world where vines eat buildings and Asami is more important than Mako. There are consequences to Korra’s decision to leave the spirit portals open, and there are also repercussions in the Love Triangle, which has drastically shifted in focus. Things are different, yes, but they’re different as a direct result of the changes from the end of last season. Yet while Book 3 swiftly clears up all of these issues, it doesn’t completely eschew the events of Book 2, as it takes place only two weeks after Harmonic Convergence.
It’s worth noting that Book 3 was able to nimbly rework what didn’t quite gel in the season immediate before - Book 2 struggled with supporting characters, villains, love triangle, and focus. Book 3 shares the swift and organic plot advancement of Book 1, with the strong themes and gamechangers of Book 2 - and altogether turns out a damn good batch of episodes. But it’s nothing so drastic - in fact, it mines a nice blend of characteristics from both previous excursions. So, with such a variation between Book 1 and 2, Book 3 could really go in any direction. And where Book 1’s stand-out episodes ramped up the stakes and obstacles through action and reaction, Book 2’s highlights unraveled backstory that underscored the plot events. Book 1 gave powerful moments to its supporting cast, whereas Book 2 struggled to involve its ensemble with its strong focus on mythology. Where Book 1 was a plot-driven crime story inhabiting a vibrant city and its characters, Book 2 was an Avatar-centric exploration of cosmic themes and world-building mythos. Of course, the first instinct after watching Book 3 is to compare it to Book 1 and Book 2, its vastly different predecessors.