Asami Deserved Better script

Intro:

The Legend of Korra… is a mess. But it is my mess. As a sequel to one of the most beloved series of all time, the bar is incredibly high, and trying to live up to that standard of quality is… difficult. I adore the show for what it is, but it’s because of that I must admit it has numerous issues, especially on recent rewatches with an expanded media diet. One issue that has bothered me from day 1, however, is the treatment of one Asami Sato, the resident nonbender of the new Team Avatar, a.k.a. The Krew.

Ever since she was introduced, Asami has been a favorite of mine. And it’s because of that I tended to notice how often the show would sideline her. She felt less like a member and close friend of the team, and more like an occasional acquaintance, and an honorary member we call on when we need a ride. But when the going gets tough, Asami’s out.

So, what gives? Why do I love Asami to begin with, and why is it that her character feels underutilized compared to the other protagonists, to the point I’m not even sure she’s qualified to be considered a protagonist?

Why I Love Asami:

Asami’s introduction is perfect, mostly because she hits Mako with her moped. Obligatory fuck Mako joke aside, Asami is introduced as the high-class daughter of Future Industires C.E.O. Hiroshi Sato. It’s through her dating Mako that the Fire Ferrets were able to be sponsored in the Probending Tournament. However, not everyone was grateful for this, especially Korra. Korra’s jealousy of Asami led her, and by proxy, some of the audience, to assume Asami was a stuffy, vain rich girl who had stolen away the brooding love interest from our leading lady.

However, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Asami is actually pretty down to earth, incredibly apologetic when she hits Mako and wanting to make up for it with a dinner, gladly footing the spill and providing Mako with some fancy threads for the dress requirements. Not to mention that she’s a huge Korra stan, honored to meet her and always complimenting her, even when Korra doesn’t believe in herself. Hello unintentional sapphic foreshadowing, how are you today?

She’s also a bit of a rule breaker allowing Mako and Bolin to stay in her home when they needed a place to live against her father’s wishes. And given she’s able to defend herself thanks to her father putting her in self-defense classes from a young age, and losing her mother in tragic anime backstory number seventeen, she’s ready for anything. She’s kickass, and an excellent racer, even freaking out Korra when she takes her future girlfriend out for a test drive on the track.

Her personality is quite understated. She doesn’t seem to draw much attention to herself or make a big show of her status, instead just… being chill and minding her business. Not much can be said for her motivations, which… we will get to, but I still appreciate the personal strength of her character, and her sense of conviction in doing what she believes to be the right thing, even when it’s difficult.

When her father is exposed as an Equalist, and he’s about to capture Korra and potentially kill Mako and Bolin, Asami questions her father. And once she sees the vengeful fury in his eyes, she makes her decision - silently. She’s smart. Playing her cards close to her chest, she takes the glove offered by her father, a symbol of him offering her a spot next to him under Amon. But when she takes the glove… (cue Asami taking out her dad and the Lieutenant)

It’s painful. Hiroshi is her father, the man who loved and raised her, and all the family she has left. And still, when she believes he’s in the wrong, and he threatens her friends, Asami makes the tough call and turns on him. She’s not spiteful towards him for this revelation. Instead, she incapacitates him so as not to escalate the situation, and gets her friends to safety. It takes all of her strength to do this, and while the portrayal of the Equalists is… a thing, on a personal level within the framing, I still respect the hell out of Asami, and also want to hug her.

She’s incredibly capable, observant, and resourceful. Not to mention, holy crap she’s gorgeous. I really appreciate that the show has two female leads who are incredibly different, but still manage to work together well and become close friends, especially in the second half of the show. Asami could’ve easily been made the victim of Korra’s “not like other girls” energy, but instead, she got to be a full character endeared to the audience. She is strong, kickass, and feminine, all in one. And also… her hairflips? Need I say more?

But with all of that said, a lot of my love for Asami is still… hypothetical. Or at the very least, within my own diseased headcanon. Because honestly… the show really has no clue what to do with Asami outside of the love triangle, especially after Book 2.

Irrelevancy:

I remember back when the show was initially premiering on Nickelodeon, I couldn’t help but notice that in most of the promotional art featuring the ensemble cast, it was mostly Korra, Mako, Bolin, and… Tenzin. Or if not Tenzin, not just those first three. Rarely did Asami get a spot alongside her friends, despite being the supposed fourth member of the Krew. But honestly, it’s pretty accurate to her portrayal in the show.

Originally, Asami was actually meant to be an antagonist. She was a double agent, working with her father to spy on Korra for the Equalists. Arguably, it’s why her meeting with Mako feels so… convenient. Yes, it’s fiction, so of course it’s gonna feel like it was destined. But when you look at it through the lens of the original intent, it seems staged.

She recognizes Mako as a member of the Fire Ferrets, meaning that by getting close to Mako, she’d be able to get close to Korra as well. And it’s in the same episode where Korra’s anxiety and paranoia towards the Equalists, especially Amon, takes centerstage. What better episode to introduce an Equalist spy into the mix?

At some point in development, however, this was changed to Asami knowing nothing of her father’s involvement with Amon, and her opposition towards the Equalists. Literally, her entire thing is, “We’re not like those evil nonbenders yelling about equality - we’re good nonbenders who ask nicely for rights, or better yet, say we aren’t oppressed at all.” This was done supposedly because Bryke, the show’s writers, preferred Asami as a protagonist. And while I do agree, as an Asami stan myself, I’m also a hoe who loves messy bitches.

Say she actually started out as a spy who believed in the Equalist movement. Perhaps she could come to turn against her father and Amon’s radical idea of exterminating bending as she got to know Korra, Mako, and Bolin. Then she’d probably feel less like the token nonbender, and more like a nonbender who has a nuanced view of the crisis in Republic City.

In general, the show’s understanding of the political spectrum is… very neoliberal. Which to be fair, that’s about standard for most Americans brought up in the last few decades. The capitalist world we live in is the default, and anything else is an aberration that must be stamped out. For reference, I highly recommend Kay and Skittles’ video series discussing the politics of the Legend of Korra (and yes, that includes his response to Hello Future Me’s response to Amon’s communist coding).

Speaking of Hello Future Me though, I adore his Korra rewrites, and especially how he allowed the Equalists to be more nuanced, and restructure the government of Republic City with Asami as a political leader. She’s even an antagonist in Book 1, operating Future Industries herself and proving as a rival for Korra. It makes their relationship far more complex and interesting, and even forces both of them to reconsider their beliefs and grow as people. Perfect for their eventual romance.

There’s also her treatment in the love triangle with Korra and Mako, which… okay, look, I don’t hate this as much as I used to. A lot of people don’t enjoy romance subplots in non-romance shows, and I get why. When the world is literally on fire and we’re fighting Satan, the last concern anyone realistically would have is whose lips are you gonna smash into? However, I would like to once again state before the court, I am a lover of mess. And hoo gurl, this is a a mess for the ages.

Mako often gets dunked on for being a two-timing fuckboi, which… I don’t know, I think that comes down to the fact that Mako’s characterization as a whole feels very undercooked (Ironic given he’s the firebender, but ya know). He starts off moody and standoffish with Korra, which she falls for immediately because that’s all the rage in YA anything. And honestly, I get it gurl, Mako is pretty as hell, and he’s voiced by David Faustino. You keep on swooning. (Also it’s the first boi her own age she’s probably ever met besides Bolin, so like, spirits give her strength)

I’ve actually come to really like Mako as a people-pleasing dork who doesn’t even realize he’s a people-pleasing dork. Having to take care of Bolin from a young age, doing what had to be done to survive, he doesn’t really have a solid grasp of his emotions, which sounds like a field day in terms of writing. That kinda extends to how he dates, too, where he talks about being a ladies man, when really he doesn’t get the first thing about women, because he doesn’t know the first thing about himself.

That’s kinda what winds up leading to all the love triangle nonsense. He accidentally winds up in a relationship with Asami mostly cuz she offered to help him, and she seems nice. He likely doesn’t wanna let her down, or maybe he doesn’t even realize he’s not all that into her. So when his feelings take hold with his concern for Korra, Mako doesn’t fully even realize what’s happening within himself… but Asami does, cuz she got a brain.

While Asami is unnecessarily snippy with Mako and Korra at the end of Book 1 given… ya know, Republic City being under siege, I’m kinda happy she was allowed to be that moody. It’s rare that female characters are allowed to express negative emotions, cuz when they do, hoo boi, there’s hell to pay for. I mean, just look at what certain folks have to yell about anytime Korra breathes. Granted, Asami can get away with more of it being fairer skinned and more feminine, because we live in a hell world, but ya know.

My issue really comes down to the fact Mako doesn’t ever… clearly break up with Asami or apologize to her. It’s lampshaded in the recap episode in Book 4, but I hardly count that as reconciliation. It’s worse in Book 2 though, where Asami never gets an apology for when Mako doesn’t tell Korra that they broke up after she kisses him in front of everyone, all the while Mako and Asami were kinda back together unofficially. It’s not even an entertaining mess at this point, it’s just annoying.

Book 2 in general feels like it doesn’t quite know what to do with Asami… or Mako, or Bolin. They’re all off on their own subplots for the most part, with Asami focusing on trying to save Future Industries from going under. It is interesting how it leads into Varrick trying to become a war profiteer, essentially holding Asami’s company hostage so he can profit from selling arms to both Water Tribes, all the while kidnapping President Raiko to force the United Republic to join the War of the Water Tribes.

However, what undermines this is the fact Asami doesn’t even do much within her own plot. She helps Mako with the sting operation, but that’s about it. Mako is the one discovering Varrick’s secrets, while Bolin gets to save the president as his movie plays in the background. Asami just… kinda exists on the periphery. She doesn’t get to be an active lead in her own subplot, instead letting the boys take the lead. But that said, I do love her friendship with Bolin, we needed more of that.

And once that’s done, it becomes aggressively clear how little Asami, Mako, and Bolin have to do with the actual plot of the season. From the moment they return to Republic City, they’re completely removed from both the civil war and Korra’s quest to stop Satan Kite—I mean, Vaatu. They don’t even seem confused when Korra mentions Harmonic Convergence when she comes back, as if it’s just common knowledge now.

There were already issues early on in the season of Asami not being involved with Team Avatar aside from business meetings. She didn’t arrive at the port with them, she didn’t go to the festival or fight the first dark spirit with them, she didn’t go to the South Pole with them, and she didn’t even get involved with the chaos going on with her friends until she got roped in by Varrick, her business partner, being pursued by Unalaq.

And so in the finale, it feels a bit jarring that Asami is so adamant on helping Korra and the others when… she doesn’t even seem to be all that close with them at this point. She does help with the strategy on trying to reach the portal, and has her Amelia Eartheart moment, but once Korra and the others enter the Spirit World, Asami flies the injured Tonraq back to Katara, and from thereon, does absolutely nothing. She gets one line asking what happened to Korra when Jinora awakens, and that is all.

And as much as I love Book 3, Asami really has nothing to do anymore. They try to build up her friendship with Korra, which I do appreciate, but she doesn’t really have any motivations or goals anymore now that Future Industries is back on track. Not even any concerns when she decides to join the hunt for new airbenders with Korra throughout the Earth Kingdom. I guess we can just leave that to whatever faceless board is helping to operate the company?

But the whole plot with new airbenders, fighting the Earth Queen, catching the Red Lotus? Asami doesn’t really have any reason to care about any of this. I’m also working on a video on my issues with Korra’s Team Avatar as a whole where I’ll go more into this, but suffice to say, Asami’s only motivation is wanting to help friends she doesn’t even seem all that attached to, which is about the weakest motivation a character can have. They don’t have their own story, or their own goals - they’re a set piece for other people’s stories.

It gets even worse in Book 4, though. Asami’s apparently been well off, helping redesign Republic City’s infrastructure so it can thrive alongside the spirits and vines. But the most she actually gets is her facing her father, which is confined to a handful of scenes that feel very out of place while Zaofu is about to be invaded by Kuvira. She doesn’t even seem very interested in Kuvira’s rise to power, given she’s not featured in “The Coronation” episode.

If Asami’s meant to be the closest person to Korra who gets her like no one else, you’d think she’d be incredibly concerned when everyone discovers that Korra is missing, and has been for months. Again, I very much appreciate Hello Future Me’s rewrite, where Asami accompanies Tenzin’s kids to find Korra. It makes her more active of a character, gives her more to do, and allows more moments between Korra and Asami when Korra is at her lowest point.

In canon, all Asami gets is… to design and pilot robot hummingbird suits to use against Kuvira’s ugly mecha. Which… cool? I mean, it’s something, but too little too late. The death of her father breaks my heart every time, but it admittedly feels stapled onto the plot, not given the time it deserves, just like the rest of Asami’s character.

Nonbender Combat:

Some of the best fighters in the original Avatar were nonbenders. Sokka’s strategy, boomerang, and sword, Suki’s martial arts and war fans, Mai’s throwing knives and agility, and Ty Lee’s acrobatics and chi blocking. Nonbenders regularly proved they could keep up with benders regularly, and even surpass them. Hell, Mai and Ty Lee individually, but especially together, could take down just about any bender, even Katara, or an elite square of Ba Sing Se’s earthbenders. And shall we mention the icon, the legend, the moment Master Piandao?

Yet in the Legend of Korra, for as much as bending seems to have improved on just about all fronts, it seems nonbenders have received the inverse treatment. It’s only recently I realized there aren’t really any notable nonbending fighters in the show outside of Amon and the Equalists… and Amon’s a bloodbender, so he doesn’t even count! Asami then becomes an actual nonbending token, forced to bear the responsibility of showing how nonbenders can handle themselves… and the show never really gives her a chance to do that.

Yes, she has her cool Equalist glove to electrocute people, and she’s agile. However… what else does she have? Most of her moments come from taking out worthless goons, like the chi blockers, random bandits, the nameless Red Lotus guards, and Earth Empire assassins. She’s never in an actual head-to-head fight with anyone of importance, save for the mecha fight with her father in the Book 1 finale.

When Korra and Mako are taking shots at Unalaq, Asami just hangs back and watches, and she gets written out of the Book 2 finale, so she’s not even given the chance to help Mako and Bolin against Unalaq and the twins. She doesn’t fight any of the Red Lotus, which would’ve been a golden moment if they kept her as a reformed Equalist. Could you imagine a chi blocker who once opposed bending up against an elite bending team? Ooh gurl, teach them to fear a nonbender who knows her chakras.

It wouldn’t even be that hard to let her kick ass. She’s rich, so you could just give her a bunch of high-tech gadgets in battle, like smoke bombs, bolas, maybe a full-on taser to shoot out of the glove. If she actually could chi block, that’d be invaluable against bending opponents. And, I don’t know, a weapon or two could help, like a sword or throwing knives. She could’ve been a high-tech fusion of Mai and Ty Lee for god’s sake. Batman, but make it fashion.

But even with this, the show needed more nonbending fighters to keep the burden from falling all on her shoulders. Seriously, what happened? The nonbending fighters of the original series were some of the best and most feared opponents of the rogue’s gallery, and Legend of Korra has next to no faith in any of them, containing all of that potential to Asami before throwing her in the garbage while her friends get all the cool fights.

Korrasami:

There’s long been debate on whether Korrasami was well written or deserved. But honestly, most of that discussion is usually had by people who don’t realize just how difficult it is to get queer representation onscreen in the first place. The companies and networks that produce these shows want profits, and nothing makes executives more scared for their bottom line than offending reactionary and queerphobic audiences, or even their assumption that cishet viewers aren’t interested in queer stories. Just look into all the difficulty Alex Hirsch had in even getting background gays into Gravity Falls if you’re curious.

So for The Legend of Korra, especially back in 2014, it was next to impossible to have explicitly queer characters on Nickelodeon. The fact the writers could even release a statement confirming their relationship after the finale is kinda impressive, and I’m convinced they only could because the show was over now, and Nickelodeon didn’t have to worry about homophobic parents writing in letters about their children being recruited or whatever.

That being said, while I do love the idea of Korrasami, I often tend to prefer in fan works where creators can actually go full gay, allowing their relationship to develop. Bryke couldn’t really do much, but even so, I do wish they did more with Korra and Asami’s friendship. I appreciate the attempt in Book 3, but it feels like they could’ve done a lot more with it, and damn, they really dropped the boll for most of Book 4.

Again, let Asami go out and help find Korra in Book 4. Give her and Korra more intimate conversations she’s not having with anyone else. Like that conversation they have in the recap episode where Asami brings her tea, and she’s trying to convince Korra she’s actually pretty dope? More of that please. Even in Book 3, there’s often fewer moments of true friendship between Korra and Asami than I realize, and they tend to get weaker with every rewatch.

Again, I wanna emphasize the writers did the best they could when it comes to queer rep at the time, but I feel like a lot of this is rooted in the fact that the new Team Avatar just… doesn’t feel very close. They feel less like close friends and found family than they do coworkers or acquaintances.

Conclusion & Outro:

Asami is one of my favorite characters, not so much of how she is in canon, but rather, the image of her I have conjured within my braincage. And I freely admit that. She’s kinda just there, not given much to work with, and not allowed to shine like the other characters. She could’ve easily been one of the most iconic members of the cast, up there with the likes of Mai and Ty Lee, but instead… she simply exists. And she deserved better… bitch.

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I’m the Unicorn of War, and Asami’s life is a shit show.