After four seasons and a battle that finally put an end to Kuvira’s reign of terror, team Avatar managed to save the day in The Legend of Korra. Varrick and Zhu Li were happily married. Bolin is now a successful movie star and a part-time pastor? Mako is a broken man whose heart has been shattered into pieces by two women. And Korra and Asami are officially a couple! The revelation of the same-sex relationship was praised by most; however, why you look back at what led to the women getting together, was their ending earned?
Here’s the thing, I’m one of those naysayers who wasn’t big on the ending. Now relax, it has nothing to do with the fact that Korra ends up with a woman. In fact, I like that Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko were bold enough to craft such a storyline and I understand the restrictions that the creators had to deal with. In fact, Konietzko detailed in a Tumblr post why the show didn’t ultimately see the two women kiss, stating that it was too mature for a kid’s show. Mind you, The Earth Queen was murdered in season three, but yeah, a simple kiss is too mature. This likely means that the creators really weren’t able to dive into the depths of Korra’s sexuality. With that in mind, it just wasn’t enough. The fault doesn’t lie with the fact that Korra ended with Asami. It lies with the fact that we weren’t given many clues that either Korra or Asami were bisexual characters. And yes, I was fully paying attention. In fact, I actually rewatched the last two seasons to make sure I got everything right before writing this article. There are clear subtle hints that Korra and Asami are becoming a thing. The Avatar grows closer to her whereas she drifts apart from Bolin and Makko in season four.
The problem lies in the mixed signals given here. There were never any true hints of Korra’s sexuality. It doesn’t have to be as blunt as her lusting over another woman or declaring that she’s bisexual. Korra is still a teenager, so she was likely still trying to figure out who she was as a person. However, subtle hints throughout the entire series would’ve been better. Since the early season of The Legend of Korra mostly focused on the love triangle between Korra, Mako, and Bolin, there were never any hints that she could possibly be interested in anything other than boys. Again, Korra is still in the phase of discovering herself, and perhaps that’s the reason she was so angry in the early portion of season two at Mako for no reason. However, that could be left up to speculation as there’s nothing that truly traces back to her battling her sexuality. Exploring her sexuality could’ve been incorporated in the Korra Alone episode. Maybe she becomes smitten with one female she crosses paths with on her journey. There are subtle things that the writers could’ve done to indicate that Korra was bisexual. Even with all the clues presented, it felt out of nowhere because their relationship seemed more of a sisterhood than anything romantic.
This is in part because Asami’s bisexuality is never hinted at either. In fact, she actually tried to get back with Mako in season two! We needed more development between these girls to understand why they could fall in love. I’m not completely trashing on the ending as DiMartino and Konietzko were likely trying to make sure that they didn’t cross the line. Who knows, maybe there’s a script version where Korra’s bisexuality is given more depth, but the Nickelodeon executives turned it down. I understand that bisexuality wasn’t exactly an accepted thing in media, but it’s crazy how this show has murderous blood benders, death on multiple occasions, and emotional and physical trauma, yet a same-sex kiss is too mature. The entertainment business is weird. But still, there needed to more hints throughout each of the seasons. The revelation that Korra and Asami end up together doesn’t ruin the beautiful ending of The Legend of Korra. It just failed to hit the high crescendo that the writers were going for. At least, Korra and Asami got their happily ever after ending. The bold move did help future kids show like Adventure Time or Steven Universe add queer characters to their programming with no shame or guilt. It thankfully paved the way for the future, even though the final minutes wasn’t a truly earned moment.Adventure Time
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