Initial thoughts on premiere of Korra, Season 2
Musings unadulterated by other people's reactions.
The fundamental problem with LoK compared to ATLA is that ATLA started with a high-stakes premise, and maintained it throughout the entire series. By the end of the first season, Zuko developed in an unexpected, intriguing manner, the Aang Gang won the Siege of the North at huge cost, and a glimpse of Azula promised a new antagonist. And she delivered at the start of season 2. The Aang Gang can't get a break. Literally. Azula won't let them sleep. In LoK, Amon's storyline and character completely derail, Korra enjoys a deus ex machina victory, and there is no setup for a new problem. I am aware LoK was intended to be a self-contained story that didn't require a second season. That doesn't excuse the awful resolution.
LoK S2 opens six months later, and Korra has learned how to use the Avatar State to cheat at airball. And that's it. Bolin has been reduced to non-funny comic relief, and the less said about Mako the better. There has been trouble brewing at the South Pole, Korra's homeland, for a LONG time, yet no one has bothered to inform her.
Even worse, no one from the south has tried to placate the pissed off spirits. Not even Katara. Which makes absolutely no sense. It was criminal that she had almost no lines - Katara has nothing to say about this? Shave off some of Korra's terrible dialogue so Katara can admit that spirit-placating is beyond her scope, and that she was ignorant about the existence of the Southern Lights. This would have been plausible - the Southern Water Tribe tradition is destroyed. What Katara knows is self-taught or from other traditions. The remnants of her people would have been focused on rebuilding and immediate survival, not bending.
Korra's waterbending is already unimpressive. She just hurls geysers of water or chunks of ice. She has never performed stunts of finesse such as octopus, or turning rain into shards of ice and halting them in midair. She doesn't bloodbend or plantbend. At least she can heal - but we've only seen that once, and it was for a boo-boo. Apparently her father is no better - he has no excuse for flooding a forest. There was no reason he couldn't trap his enemies in ice or wrap them in a water tentacle and drag them out. Use a little creativity!
When Korra's uncle did his water-spirit tai-chi, I realized something else that was missing - the beautiful martial-arts inspired moves from ATLA. The LoK benders simply jerk their arms and they're done. Maybe this is intentional. Perhaps bending traditions are being eroded during general peacetime?
Korra may be bratty, but she's not wrong in ditching Tenzin for the time being in favor of her uncle. Tenzin is not working out for her. She needs to return to him eventually to "master" airbending, but her waterbending and spirituality need so much work those take precedence. She's becoming embarrassing.
The premiere ended with the implication that her uncle is supposed to be villainous. But he's not wrong! I hope the writers give him better motivation than Amon. There was a lot of interesting stuff tossed about in this ep. The decayed southern culture and knowledge. Azumi's business prospects. Tenzin and his family get special treatment, his siblings are unheard of and mistaken for servants. What must that do to their relationship?
The fundamental problem with LoK compared to ATLA is that ATLA started with a high-stakes premise, and maintained it throughout the entire series. By the end of the first season, Zuko developed in an unexpected, intriguing manner, the Aang Gang won the Siege of the North at huge cost, and a glimpse of Azula promised a new antagonist. And she delivered at the start of season 2. The Aang Gang can't get a break. Literally. Azula won't let them sleep. In LoK, Amon's storyline and character completely derail, Korra enjoys a deus ex machina victory, and there is no setup for a new problem. I am aware LoK was intended to be a self-contained story that didn't require a second season. That doesn't excuse the awful resolution.
LoK S2 opens six months later, and Korra has learned how to use the Avatar State to cheat at airball. And that's it. Bolin has been reduced to non-funny comic relief, and the less said about Mako the better. There has been trouble brewing at the South Pole, Korra's homeland, for a LONG time, yet no one has bothered to inform her.
Even worse, no one from the south has tried to placate the pissed off spirits. Not even Katara. Which makes absolutely no sense. It was criminal that she had almost no lines - Katara has nothing to say about this? Shave off some of Korra's terrible dialogue so Katara can admit that spirit-placating is beyond her scope, and that she was ignorant about the existence of the Southern Lights. This would have been plausible - the Southern Water Tribe tradition is destroyed. What Katara knows is self-taught or from other traditions. The remnants of her people would have been focused on rebuilding and immediate survival, not bending.
Korra's waterbending is already unimpressive. She just hurls geysers of water or chunks of ice. She has never performed stunts of finesse such as octopus, or turning rain into shards of ice and halting them in midair. She doesn't bloodbend or plantbend. At least she can heal - but we've only seen that once, and it was for a boo-boo. Apparently her father is no better - he has no excuse for flooding a forest. There was no reason he couldn't trap his enemies in ice or wrap them in a water tentacle and drag them out. Use a little creativity!
When Korra's uncle did his water-spirit tai-chi, I realized something else that was missing - the beautiful martial-arts inspired moves from ATLA. The LoK benders simply jerk their arms and they're done. Maybe this is intentional. Perhaps bending traditions are being eroded during general peacetime?
Korra may be bratty, but she's not wrong in ditching Tenzin for the time being in favor of her uncle. Tenzin is not working out for her. She needs to return to him eventually to "master" airbending, but her waterbending and spirituality need so much work those take precedence. She's becoming embarrassing.
The premiere ended with the implication that her uncle is supposed to be villainous. But he's not wrong! I hope the writers give him better motivation than Amon. There was a lot of interesting stuff tossed about in this ep. The decayed southern culture and knowledge. Azumi's business prospects. Tenzin and his family get special treatment, his siblings are unheard of and mistaken for servants. What must that do to their relationship?