EPISODE REVIEW: LEGEND OF KORRA EPISODE 11

The siege of Republic City begins in The Legend of Korra Season 4 Episode 11, Kuvira’s Gambit. Zhu-li and the Beifongs, returning from the rescue operation, alert the Republic City crew of Kuvira’s upcoming attack. The city is evacuated, and preparations for the final battle begin.

While Korra and the gang expect Kuvira to transport the spirit-vine weapon via train and destroy the rails in preparation, Kuvira surprises them by instead showing up with a giant, mountain-sized robot with the spirit-vine weapon strapped to its arm, leaving them unsure of how to stop it.

In an attempt to find a weakness to the mechanical monstrosity in front of them, the crew leads a stealth mission to kidnap the architect of the machine, Bataar Jr. While threatening him with violence doesn’t have much effect, Korra vows to run away with him in tow, and to never let Kuvira and him see each other again. This prompts him to call Kuvira and ask her to stand down—which in turn, prompts her to fire the spirit vine weapon into the building he’s being held in.

While there were some great laughs (the ship showing up without Bataar Jr.) and character moments (Zhu-li and Varrick’s reunion) in this episode, there’s very little action and it serves mainly to drive the plot along and prepare for the finale. While this isn’t a bad thing in any way, it leaves the episode feeling somewhat unspectacular compared to some of the more recent ones.

If I have one complaint about this episode, it’s that we never really see Kuvira and Baatar Jr.’s relationship develop, we’re just told a few times that they’re in love. Maybe things will be better filled in later, but at the moment her betrayal of him doesn’t really seem shocking or remotely out of character. Heck, I’d say it was easy to call. Kuvira still has time to elaborate on her choice during the finale, and I really look forward to the final confrontation in hope that it lives up to the fantastic ending of The Last Airbender. 

SCORE: 7.5/10

-Edward (Left Knee of A7)