Hey there, Korra Nation! As many of you know, The Legend of Korra Book 4: Balance premiered yesterday, October 3, with the episode “After All These Years.” As promised, I’ve written a recap (which can be found on Black Girl Nerds) in case you haven’t checked it out yet, but now it’s time for this week’s post-cap!

I know some of you are probably wondering just what is a “post-cap.” First, it’s a make believe term I created that by definition is mixed of thoughts, feelings, etc. that one may have after reading (in my case, writing) a recap. Hence, “post-cap”. I know I could as easily call my post-cap a “review,” but I like to do things my way. Got it? Good. 

The Legend of Korra Book 4 Balance, Chapter 1, “After All These Years”:

Everyone’s Grown Up. “After All These Years” starts off a few years since the events of the Season 3 finale ( “Enter the Void” and “Red Venom”), and to make it pretty evident, animators made some changes to the appearances of a lot of our favorite characters. Mako is no longer gelling as much as he used to, and instead has opted her brushed back hair, and an Earth Nation-tailored suit. Asami’s hair is luxuriously long, and Bolin’s hair is slick as well for a more “sophisticated” look. Season 3 addition Kai is not only rocking a bit of height, but he’s got a lovely pubescent voice — indicative of his transition from street rat boy to air bending young adult. And speaking of boys growing up, at the end of the episode we got a good look at Tenzin’s gang of kids — Jinora, Icki, and Meelo. Jinora’s hair has grown back since shaving it to receive her air bending master tattoos, Icki’s hair has grown quite a bit (though she continues to wear her pom-pons) and Meelo is a little man with a full head of hair and height to boot. Rohan the baby is now Rohan the toddler, though we still don’t know if he’s a bender or not.

Kuvira the Conqueror. It appears I guessed correctly that former Metal Clan guard Kuvira will be the “big bad” this season. Opal’s disdain for her made it pretty clear even before Kuvira had her domineering conversation with the Governor of Yai. She’s got the appearance of a socialist (aka “The Great Uniter”), but is obviously working with a dictatorship mentality and I think it’ll be great to see how that plays out. One thing I must give Kuvira credit for: lady’s got some serious bending skills. Her ability to take down a band of 10+ bandits all by herself was pretty amazing… and terrifying. She’s literally a one-woman army. Kudos for giving us a female villain these season!

Korra’s Soul Searching. It’s pretty evident by the last few minutes of the show, that Korra has ditched her Avatar duties in lieu of finding herself. Much like Toph (who snuck out at nights to fight as her alter-ego, “The Blind Bandit”), Korra is fighting in underground bending matches under an assumed identity after cutting her hair and donning Earth Nation robes. I’m assuming that Korra’s going through a phase in which she needs to prove she’s not the weak, PTSD-suffering Avatar that she was at the end of Season 3. She’s been through a traumatic ordeal and now wants to convince herself that she’s no longer helpless — though her efforts (which can be seen as selfish) is allowing Kuvira to prey on the weak in her absence.

‘Ships Are a Go! One thing we do learn in the premiere is that Kai and Jinora are totes a couple! AWWW. Whether it’s just puppy love or something more serious (like Aang’s love for Katara), we’re not sure yet, but I’m guessing we’ll find out. However,  not everyone’s relationship is in tact. We also learned that Opal and Bolin are having issues of being in a  long distance relationship, which is being made even more strenuous thanks to Kuvira being Bolin’s boss. To add insult to injury, Kuvira is marrying Opal’s brother, Baatar Jr., which will definitely make for some family drama. I do hope that Bolin and Opal are able to reconcile, though I won’t expect it to happen too soon, as Bolin still sees Kuvira as a hero.

Thoughts & Theories: The first episode was great. It had a good bit of pacing, showing us just enough to know where we are in the future. Obviously, there will be quite a bit of flashbacks, since we’ll have to learn what Korra was up to for the 6 months she disappeared, which will *hopefully* included her meeting with Toph. As for speculations, I think it may be revealed that Kuvira is secretly working with the bandits to steal goods and supplies to exert pressure on the heads of state to side with her. I don’t see how bandits could’ve known that Opal and Kai were using the sky to get supplies and food without a tip-off from someone. Yeah, Kuvira gives off ruthless in that kind of way. I also see Kuvira kidnapping Prince Wu to keep him from claiming the throne, because it’s clear that she likes power. Oh, and I definitely foresee a fight between Suyin and Kuvira, which will force Baatar Jr. to pick a side.

That’s all that I’ve got for my “post-cap” this week. Check in next Saturday when I dig into next Friday’s episode “Korra Alone.”

What did you think of Legend of Korra Book 4 premiere “After All These Years”?Let’s talk about it in the comments or chat about it on Twitter.