Review: The Legend of Korra: “The Coronation”

What happens when Prince Wu and Kuvira are in the same city, at the same time? I have your answer after the jump!

Spoilers Below

This episode may have been called “The Coronation,” but it could very well be called “Get Fucked.” “The Coronation” was all about taking the two expectations that the two main focuses had, and smashing them into pieces. The writing this week was top notch, and I wasn’t expecting some of what went down.

For starters, who really expected Wu to get screwed out of his kingdom this fast? It was a given going in, but not so soon. The writers definitely tickled my fancy, because they are getting right into the meat of the plot now. Kuvira has taken over the Earth Empire. I can’t even argue with her decision. Wu is just another in a line of aloof Earth Kingdom royality that perpetrated the extreme class warfare. The rich stayed rich, and the poor stayed poor. That all changed under Kuvira’s rule, apparently. Almost all of the former Earth Kingdom has joined up with her, and Zaofu is the next target on her map.

The crown in this episode for Kuvira, is the ceremony where Wu gave her the Kyoshi medal of Freedom. She practically slapped Wu in the face with the medal, and took the Earth Kingdom for herself, re-christening it as the Earth empire. According to her, all borders are closed, and anyone will who gets in her way will be crushed. You can just see the little joy Wu had just leave his lungs. I loved it, because I admire any character that sticks it to the status quo, and just does their own thing. I, for one, welcome my new Earth Overlord.

And then, there’s poor Korra. Throughout last episode, Korra thought that everything was just in her head. She thought that it was just recovering from being a borderline cripple that has made her lose a step. Toph put her through the ringer, annihilating Korra even at her age. Toph then mentions that it isn’t anything in her head, but there’s still remnants of the poison Zaheer used in Korra’s body. When Toph tried to take it out, Korra’s body resisted the Metalbending to the point of pain. Here’s something we learned: no matter how good Su and Lin are at Metalbending, they pail in comparison to Toph.

Now, wen I say put through the ringer, I mean Toph kicked Korra’s ass without even trying. It was magnificent. No matter how much Korra tried, she still couldn’t catch up to Toph. I was amazed at how well Toph fought, even at the age she was. One thing that this entire part of the episode made me feel was the nostalgia for The Last Airbender. I missed Toph and her interactions with Aang. They had a relationship unlike any other. I wouldn’t be surprised if Aang was said to be the father of Toph’s two kids.

Anyway, back on point. This is only step one of getting Korra back to fighting shape, and maybe back in touch with her past lives.This is one of the few hanging stories that are left, and that needs to be cleared up. If you think about it, that which is taken away, can be acquired again. It’s just a question of how. Hell, they did an about face to Amon’s power sealing from Book one, so they can do anything.

I really dug “The Coronation,” not just for the reasons above, but there was no fighting. The good news is that there was plot to drive the show. The writers stepped out and made their show more about plot than fancy fighting scenes. I love the fighting as much as the next fan, but there’s a time for plot bombshells. this week was it, for sure. Kuvira made her play, and Korra is finally on the way to being her old self. All in all, “The Coronation” was pretty great. It’s on nick.com right now!