Review: The Legend of Korra “Venom of the Red Lotus”

Ok, shit is finally about to get real.

Spoilers Below

I can describe “Venom of the Red Lotus” in two words: holy shit! When I discussed this episode with some friends of mine, the general consensus was that while the episode was really badass, the script for the dialogue just seemed rushed. Sure, I’ll bend to that, but when I brought up the point was the fight between Zaheer and Korra, they acquiesced. I would have been perfectly okay with “Venom of the Red Lotus” opening how it did, with Zaheer putting the poison (which I can only presume is a derivative of Mercury) in Korra, then fight for 20 minutes.

That’s the thing, though. People get too hung up on a grand total of about eight minutes of dialogue, which make them miss the point of how awesome the episode really is. With the poison forcing Korra into Avatar State (which we’ve seen twice in the last two seasons), she starts to let loose. She nearly destroys the Red Lotus chamber, and didn’t give Zaheer, Gazhan, and Ming-Hua the chance to kill her when chained. Because, you know, Avatar State.

Zaheer has been at least one step ahead of the Avatar since breaking out of his cell. However, his two oversights were underestimating Korra and her Avatar State. Then, he underestimated Korra’s friends, who freed the Airbenders, and used their combined powers to call on Captain Planet! Sorry, I couldn’t help it. They combined their powers to make a super tornado to trap Zaheer. This ultimately led to his defeat.

The only thing I have bad to say about “Venom of the Red Lotus” isn’t the dialogue, or the long fight scene. I think they both were done exceedingly well. My problem was that ultimately, Zaheer was too short sided to see his plans through. Zaheer put Amon and Unavaatu (who made appearances in Korra’s poison induced trip) to shame with his planning up until “Venom of the Red Lotus.” I think the writers dropped the ball slightly on Zaheer. In hindsight, though, it was so miniscule, that it didn’t even detract from the overall experience.

Did anyone pick up Korra’s new dragon ability? I could be wrong, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen Korra breathe fire until today. As “Venom of the Red Lotus” kept going on, she became more dragon like in Avatar State, even with her fire breathing becoming stronger and bigger. I think Korra spent more time with Zuko and his dragon than the season let us to believe. I almost thought Korra was going to lose control and go beast on Zaheer, but it never got that far. I think there was another missed opportunity.

As for the clean up for the season, Korra is bound to a wheel chair, forced to look like she suffered great loss. What did she lose? Yeah, she got poisoned, and hunted by the most powerful villain in the Avatar universe. No one close to her died. There is no reason to look like her family got wiped out by Zaheer:

Seriously, is shit really that bad for the Avatar? No one died for her, she’s going to get better, and she helped Tenzin to rebuild the Air Nomads. Jesus Christ, girl. The good news here, is that Jinora got her one wish since the Air Nation started to get repopulated, and she got her Master’s tattoos!

Now, if this isn’t Aang reincarnated (yeah, Avatar reincarnation bullshit aside), I don’t know who is. Jinora looks like a doppleganger for Aang, with one exception being her eyes. But hell, beggars can’t be choosers.

Overall, the finale was exactly what it needed to be. Korra kicked the shit out of Zaheer, with Zaheer being the only person to survive from his Red Lotus group. Gazhan’s self sacrifice amounted to nothing, because Bolin and Mako survived, and Mako finally used his Lightning to kill Ming-Hua! I called it! There wasn’t a need for a really long, elaborate script until the end, and that’s where it counted. It played to make Jinora look powerful, and possibly make the Avatar take another step to not being needed anymore. Don’t worry, that last part will be covered in the season review in Bubbleblabber: The Magazine.  This episode absolutely slayed this season.

Nick put both Enter the Void and Venom of the Red Lotus in one video, which is the smartest thing they can do. Hop on over to Nick, and if you haven’t watched either episode, set aside 44 minutes, and watch one of the best moments in The Legend of Korra.