Review Post: 1x11, 1x12 (Part 1)
Many of the reviews are already up so I thought I'd go ahead and make a post for it!
CSICon by Mandi Odoerfer
Images and captions are part of original review.
I went into the Legend of Korra finale not knowing how they’d manage to wrap up all the season’s plot lines in a satisfying way. The last string of episodes, while very good, had started to feel rushed, and with only two episodes to go, it seemed like the pacing problems could only get worse. Still, I put my faith in Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, because they’ve more then earned it.
The Korra finale was indeed a good, occasionally great hour of television, but I don’t feel like my fears about the last two episodes being rushed were at all unfounded. These episodes were littered with moments where I wanted to feel more excited then I did, that could have been epic if they’d had a little more time to build up to them. There were scenes that could have matched the early intensity of episodes like The Revelation if they’d lasted just a few minutes longer, and I felt pangs of disappointment several times, especially in the second half of the show.
I don’t mean to imply that the episodes were devoid of powerful, shocking moments. I still can’t believe that a Saturday morning kid’s show got away with showing a murder/suicide that wasn’t even a little unclear, and I’m pretty sure Korra almost threw herself off that cliff. My jaw dropped when Amon took off his mask and actually did have a scarred, damaged face, even if that turned out to be a bit of trickery. The fight choreography on this show has always been spectacular, but this episode had some of the best executed action sequences they’ve done so far. And there are certain moments that will stick around in my head for a long, long time.
Just looking at these two as kids makes me want to burst into tears.
For me, the strongest part of the episode by far was the painful history of Amon and Tarrlok. Korra called it “one of the saddest stories I’ve ever heard”, and that feels about right to me. What Yakone inflicted on his sons seems more horrible every time I think about it - he was essentially sneaking them away and forcing them to torture animals in secrecy. Noatak and Tarrlok both wanted a better life, but they were so twisted by their father I don’t think they ever had much of a chance at happiness. I still can’t believe the show got away with ending their story the way that they did, but it was the perfect conclusion to a tragic tale. Little Tarrlok tugged on my heartstrings, and I think I’m really going to see him in a new light when I watch the series again. I’d gladly read a spin-off comic about what happened to Noatak in the time between him running away and his reemergence as Amon, even knowing where the story will eventually wind up.
However, the weakest part of the finale also involved Amon - the way his followers eventually turned against him. In the early episodes, the show took pains to show that there was real truth to what Amon was saying, and it was only as he gained more power that his actions became more and more evil. I’d hope to see some of his followers gradually turning against him, realizing that they wanted equality, but not at this cost. However, no one seemed to care about anything except whether Amon was telling the truth. When the people went from “evil Avatar!” to “Amon’s a liar!” in a matter of minutes, they looked like idiots, and I don’t see the Equalists as idiots. I think they’re normal people who wanted to address some genuine inequalities, and got caught up in something awful instead. Amon is gone, but Republic City is as torn as ever, and I sincerely hope the next season addresses that. Lance Henriksen‘s Lieutenant turning against Amon was a nice touch, but it wasn’t enough.
Amon’s tears here were subtle, but powerful. I got the sense he knew what was coming before they ever got on that boat.
I theorized that Amon’s abilities were based on bloodbending back around episode eight, and it’s cool to be right, but I also wish we’d learned just a little more about how that worked. I guess the lack of explanation was probably foreshadowed in Sokka’s speech at Yakone’s trial. I also wish they’d spent more time on Katara’s attempts to restore Korra’s bending. It seems like the most obvious way to counter what Amon had done would be to use bloodbending, and it could have made for a really interesting dilemma - Katara’s aversion to bloodbending versus the importance of reconnecting the Avatar to the other elements.
I’m not much of a shipper, and I didn’t really think the Makorra stuff was handled particularly well, but it bothered me less than I expected. I’m not sure if it’s because I knew it was coming, or if it’s because I liked Mako more here than I have in a while. I’m relieved the characters are coupled, and I hope that’ll be the end of love triangle drama, but that’s probably asking for too much. I’d rather watch characters as a couple than see them pine over each other any day, but I get the feeling I’m in the minority there.
Asami deserved much, much better than she got here, but I’m hoping the show gives her some great stuff next season to make up for it. Between putting up with Mako’s immaturity and dealing with her terrible, terrible father, she’s perfectly poised to get her groove back in season two. I’d love to see her take over Future Industries and develop some amazing tech for characters who aren’t villains. It’d be a great way to have nonbenders get some real power in Republic City, and for her to prove she’s better than the man her father became.
Was I the only one who was reminded of Celes in Final Fantasy VI here?
The part I have the most mixed feelings about is Korra’s own journey. There were parts that I loved, like the way Korra finally got access to her Airbending, and that she truly did feel like a full fledged Avatar by the end of the show. There were elements I disliked - Aang showing up and instantly giving Korra the power to restore bending was borderline deus ex machina. And, more than anything else, I just feel unsure. Early on in the show, we saw that Korra feared losing her bending would make her nothing, and I think the writers were carrying that threw here. When she looked down the edge of that cliff, I think she seriously considered hurtling herself off the other side, though it was very vague for obvious reasons. If we’d seen just a little more of her sense of loss, and more of her accepting herself as something other than the Avatar, I think her journey would have felt amazing. As is, I’m not unhappy with Korra’s story, but I feel like I need to fill in too many of the blanks in my head.
Who managed to take down this family? I suspect they may have been captured by the Hulk.
Korra badly needed at least one more episode to tell its story. If we’d gotten episode 11 this week, and had a two part finale next week, I think almost all my complaints would have been addressed. As is, Mike and Bryan did what they could with the time that they had, and despite all my nitpicking, I still think they delivered something pretty great. Right now, if I was asked to give my overall opinion of the first season, I’d say “really rushed, but still really good”. I’d rank the first season of Avatar as “really good, but takes too long to get going”, so my hopes for season two and this show as a whole are still very high. I’m incredibly grateful for the time I’ve spent watching Korra, and I think I’d feel that way even if this season was it.
We still don’t know when season two will air, but I can’t help but wonder what it might be like. Characters like General Iroh and Bumi were barely introduced, and I’d love to see both of them become a bigger part of the show. Republic City is badly damaged, and I think there’s a great story in seeing how Korra brings it back to the utopia Aang once envisioned. Even though Korra getting the ability to restore bending felt a little cheap, I think it sets up a great moral dilemma. Obviously, Lin’s police force and the White Lotus will have their bending restored, but what about Lightning Bolt Zolt or other members of the Triple Threats? What about characters like Tahno, who was willing to really injure people in the Pro-bending arena, but was never shown to be a genuine villain? Korra will be coming into the season with a tremendous amount of power, and, to paraphrase Spider-Man, an awful lot of responsibility.
Legend Of Korra was originally planned as a miniseries, and although I can see it as a finite story, I can’t help but feel that Korra’s adventures are just beginning. I can’t wait to review Korra season two, whenever that might be, and I hope anyone who enjoyed this season’s reviews comes back for the ride. No matter what direction Mike and Bryan decide to take Korra in, we should get to see some pretty amazing stuff.
TV.Com by Noel Kirkpatrick
As a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend Of Korra had some sizable shoes to fill. Its predecessor achieved a level of maturity and accessibility that few series billed as "children's programming" (whatever that term means) have, and helped to launch a successful franchise of video games, comic books, and toys. (Repeat after me: There was no movie.)
It also created-thanks its captivating storytelling, well-choreographed action, stellar acting, and engaging (and diverse) characters-a passionate and devoted fandom that was completely geared up for a story that continued in that same universe. It's a fandom that, like any fandom, will compare the two series and debate over which one is "best."
I'm not going to do that as I discuss Korra's first season. First, it's not fair to do so, since Korra's not even done yet (we still have another 14-episode season to go). Second, Korra and A:TLA have different structures, tones, and thematic concerns that making declaring "best" a tricky thing. Certainly you can prefer one to the other, but they're different series, at least so far.
So when I sat down to collect my thoughts on Korra's first season, I decided to look at some of the less-than-enthuastic fan reviews that have been posted to the TV.com page for Korra to get a sense of how those who didn't love the series were seeing and experiencing, and where their frustrations were centered. I'm not looking to change anyone's mind, but I do want to put those frustrations in a dialogue with my own enjoyment of the series in an effort to not only refine my own perceptions, but hopefully to refine some viewers' frustrations as well.
Korra is really plot-driven, as opposed to character-driven (and the short season hasn't helped)
If there's one thing I think we can all agree on, likers and dislikers alike, it's that Korra is very focused on its narrative about the Equalist revolution within Republic City, and how it threatens the very existence of benders everywhere. This has led to a number of gripes that the series' characters aren't as well-defined or unique as those of A:TLA. And I think it is a legitimate critique.
Korra's characters are all fairly flat (Korra is hot-tempered and rebellious; Bolin is goofy; Mako is...aloof?) and none of have been given a real chance to develop beyond their initial traits. Certainly the shorter season is partially responsible. A:TLA used its episodic, "adventure roadshow" format to allow its characters space to breathe and develop, but it had more space to tell those stories. By the time you reach the final push of episodes in any given season of A:TLA (and certainly by the end of Season 3), there's a real sense of attachment to the characters that Korra just hasn't made the time for.
Yes, the time spent with pro-bending stuff was largely to help establish the New Team Avatar dynamics, and sports are a good way to develop the sense that characters know each other, like each other, and can work together, but apart from little tidbits about their pasts (Mako, Bolin, and Asami's parents) the room to stretch the characters was never really there.
I feel like this need for plot was made even more obvious by the finale itself. With most of her bending removed, the series' second season would benefit from a chance for Korra to explore her identity and what happens when that most identifiable trait-being the Avatar-is stripped away. But again the series backed away from that opportunity, restored her bending, and nullified the chance for sustained character development.
Elsewhere, characters moved around and responded as needed to developments to keep things going or the character development came a bit too late, so while some things worked better than others (Tenzin and Lin's history was a particular highlight for me), Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko didn't do much to create a sense of investment in the show's characters. And without much investment, it can make caring about both of those things rather difficult...
But what a what an engaging and thoughtful plot!
I'm willing to excuse some of the lackluster character work because I found the Equalist revolution and its politics to be well-executed and discussion-generating. The notion of bender-led oppression was something that the show never sold me on until we actually started seeing it happen in "When Extremes Meet," but it still encouraged us to think about things critically.
Is it okay that the ruling council is currently comprised entirely of benders? And what about the police force that is entire made up of metalbenders (in a city that seems designed to make use of both their metal and earthbending abilities)? While it's not oppression per se, it's certainly not "equal"-seeming either.
While those seeds took root in our minds, thanks to Amon's penchant for speechifying, when Tarrlok began to mobilize the police force against non-benders (how wonderfully clever was the use of the police barricades as both a way to keep people contained and then using them to people people truly contained?) we started to see how the series is carefully challenging those preconceived notions that we may have come into the series with.
And seeing as it is a "kids' show," Korra deserves credit for (hopefully) encouraging its intended audience to think critically about what it means to have power, who should have power, and what the justification for that power is. If the intended audience isn't, I certainly hope thoughtful parents are maybe nudging their kids to do so.
Republic City, modernization, and the loss of fantasy
If there is one other major complaint about Korra, it's the series' "steampunk-lite" setting. The use of cars, electricity, and mecha suits coupled with the de-emphasis on the mysticism of A:TLA all contributed to a notion that Korra is a bit more generic feeling, and ultimately a betrayal of its predecessor's fantasy roots.
I'm not exactly in that camp. Korra is still, in my mind, a fantasy series even with its use of modern technology. Part of this is based on the fact that bending continues to be a force in the world, but the other part is that it seems like a natural evolution of the series' universe-in which submarines, tanks, giant drills, and airships were all developed. Yes, some of those particular instances of technology did rely on benders, but they couldn't forever, not without creating an odd caste system of benders as workers (and Korra hints at this, as lightning bending seems to be the source of Republic City's power... or at least it's a green, renewable resource).
But also consider the larger thrust of the show in relation to these technological developments. What does bending (the fantastic element of the show) mean in this world with these technologies? For that matter, what does the Avatar mean now? A shift toward a more industrious society, one that is less impressed and/or concerned with the spiritual aspect of the four elements calls into question all these things.
While the series reaffirmed the need for this spiritual aspect in Season 1's painfully deus ex machina-y final moments, it did shift away from those questions at the same time. A more interesting avenue for exploring these questions would have been Korra having to figure out how to harness the Avatar state after having most of her bending removed, and whether or not the world even needed that to happen, whether or not the world still needed an Avatar.
But overall...
Those are the big, macro-level ideas I had about the first season of Korra. On a less overarching view, I found the season to be a delight to watch. The animation from Studio Mir is crisp, clean, and has a wonderful atmosphere (I loved that much of the series occurred at night). Jeremy Zuckerman's score, a mix of 1920s jazz and ragtime with more Asian-influenced orchestral pieces, did a nice job of enhancing the series' on-screen aesthetics.
And of course there's Joaquim Dos Santos (a.k.a. Dr. Fight) and Ki Hyun Ryu and their teams of storyboard artists (led by Ian Graham), who put together a well-directed and dynamic season, with most of the big action sequences feeling reminiscent of, but also surpassing the action sequences of A:TLA Season 2, in their wall-to-wall insanity. I'm thinking, of course of the stellar action sequences in "And The Winner Is..." and "When Extremes Meet."
What about you? What are your thoughts on what I've laid out here, as well as other aspects of the show I didn't mention, like the romance subplot (which was by far the weakest aspect of the season for me) or the important role that family ended up playing? How did you feel about the finale? What do you think Season 2 will be about, and what do you hope to see?
Den of Geek by Kaci Ferrell
Identity. Agency. Equality.
We've talked about these things over the course of the season, seen them play out in Korra's fear of losing her bending, in the terror in every bloodbending victim's eyes, in Amon's so-called quest to right the wrongs of Republic City. We've seen everything stripped from these characters bit-by-bit in a way that even the original series never dared. There's a graphic going around on Tumblr right now poking fun at the fact that most AtLA episodes ended upbeat with everyone reaffirming their friendship and desire to do good, as opposed to the way Korra episodes end in which every one is broken and things look even bleaker than they did before. I haven't spoken of this much other than my emotional reaction to last week's episode, but I've honestly loved that Korra was willing to go to continually sadder and harder to deal with places all season long. Korra never gave us easy answers or toned things down for us: sometimes, things suck and that's the way life is. Deal with it, kids.
And it's because I've loved how heartbreaking and bleak this show has been that I'm disappointed with the final few scenes of this season. There was a moment when Korra was on the ground, weeping as she dealt with the fact that she couldn't possibly be the Avatar with only one element to her name, and not even her home one at that. As I saw her in her Water Tribe clothes, standing on the snow and weeping, I couldn't help but think that somehow, the fact that she was a Water Tribe girl who was an airbender of all things just twisted that proverbial knife somehow even deeper.
I thought that was the end of the season. I thought we were going out on Korra's heartbreak, on Mako's disappointment that his finally-admitted feelings weren't able to be reciprocated, on Asami's tears as she realized that Hiroshi was a horrible father, on the look in Lin's eyes when Katara said there was nothing she could do for Korra because it meant there was nothing that could be done for Lin herself - on so many things that would've made for a heartbreaking end of the season that, however sad it might've been, would've been far more realistic in portraying the cost of war.
But then Aang showed up. And believe me, I never thought I'd be disappointed in seeing Aang on this show, or all the other past Avatars for that matter, but I knew in that moment I knew that a hand was going to be swept over the costs Team Avatar had paid. Korra and Lin get their bending back. Mako finds that Korra loves him, too. And the only character who has really lost anything at all is Asami, who just lost not only her father, but her boyfriend, too. But a second can't be spared for her sadness because for practically the first time all season, the writers decided that The Legend of Korra needed a happy ending.
It didn't. In fact, I'd argue that not leaving a cliffhanger between this season and the next was a detriment. There were so many questions left unanswered if her crying had been the final scene, questions that could've been explored at length next year. As of now, the only questions I have left to ask are ones that mostly deal with plot holes. (The biggest one being: bloodbending can take away a person's bending...how exactly?)
However, with all of that out of the way, I don't want to detract from the fact that this was probably one of the better season finales I've seen in a long time, regardless of format. I know many commenters had long ago guessed that Amon and Tarrlok were brothers, but their previous meeting had seemed to discount that and so I had written the theory off entirely. I guess that's why I was so surprised by the twists in this finale: I bought into it. I believed every word Amon said because it made perfect sense. How many villains can you name without even having to think too hard about it whose motive is almost identical to the one he laid out? I've been trained to accept villainous backstory monologuing for so long that it didn't even occur to me that his story could be a lie. The revelation that he's been a bender all along, some kind of strange combination between Katara's skill at bloodbending and Combustion Man's ability to bend with his mind, shocked me to my very core. It added so much depth to the rest of the season and I can guarantee you that I'll be revisiting old episodes very soon.
What impressed me most about the revelation was the development it allowed Tarrlok to have in the eleventh hour. In a heartbeat, I began to feel sympathy for him and even got choked up when he made the decision to blow up the boat taking him and Amon to safety. Who would've thought that a character as seemingly selfish and cruel as Tarrlok would do something so noble?
But ultimately, as happy as I am with almost the entire episode, I can't shake my disappointment in the tacked-on happy ending that was unnecessary and completely ruined the tone of the episode.
Were any of you disappointed as well, or were you happy to see the characters you've come to love finally catch a break? Do you believe that Tarrlok and Amon are really dead? What do you think the next season will be about, now that it seems like all the loose ends from the Amon arc are tied up? And am I alone in my heartbreak for Asami? Hit up the comments for the final time this season!
AV Club by Emily Guendelsberger
Well! I’d like to talk as much about the series as a whole as the details of two finale episodes that aired today-hence, this got rather long. Korra was initially supposed to be a standalone miniseries, plotted out before the show was picked up for a second season. I went in, then, looking for resolution of the three big series-long story arcs: Korra’s spiritual problems, Amon and the Equalists, and makeouts. I’ll break this up a little by addressing one at a time:
Korra vs. her spiritual block / Korra vs. lack of identity outside of Avatar
Resolution: Highly satisfying, if you read it this one particular way
At first, I had “not so much” written down for resolution on both of these, as there isn’t a ton of obvious cause-and-effect in why Aang showed up like a god from the machine to restore Korra’s bending-other than the lame excuse of “You looked sad.”
But watching the end again, this way of reading the last five minutes popped into my head, and it makes more and more sense the more I think about it. Korra’s lack of identity and her block were actually the same thing, and they’re both resolved in a kind of great under-the-censor’s-radar way.
Korra’s just found out the best healer in the world can’t do anything for her. Her last hope to hang onto the identity she’s had since childhood is gone. Mako tells her he loves her; she tells him to go away, that she’s “not the Avatar anymore.” Her misery calls back to the dream she had in “The Voice In The Night,” where her own subconscious-dressed as scary Amon-tells her “Once I take your bending away, you will be nothing.” Korra goes out to a cliff, and walks up to the very, very edge-she’s close enough that from her looking-down POV we see a tear actually falling all the way down the side of the cliff, which means her head is leaning out over the drop.
I can’t think of a reason to use that specific shot unless it’s to imply that she went up there to throw herself off the cliff.
Supporting this theory: When she pulls back, sits down, decides to keep living as a person who isn’t inherently special, and starts thinking for real about what that means-that’s the instant Aang finally shows up to declare “You have finally connected with your spiritual self!” This all feels like fan-wanking, but the alternate explanation seems to be “He showed up then because she was… continuing to be sad? And that continuing sadness somehow resolved her spiritual block?” That’s unsatisfying, unearned, and also doesn’t really make a lot of sense. The more I think about the oddness of that POV shot, Aang’s timing, and, most importantly, how not okay Nickelodeon would be with showing a hero contemplating suicide, the more sense it makes to consider the final-final battle of the season as completely internal-and pretty damn dark.
Since Avatar: The Last Airbender ended its second season with its heroes getting schooled and running away, it didn’t seem obvious that the writers would end Korra’s first season on an up or down note. It’s almost greedy to go for an ending with both the “Whoa!” of The Empire Strikes Back and the “Yay!” of Star Wars. It’s also risky, as that sort of “J/K, they’re fine,” can feel unearned and detract from the weight of what came before; further, people try it often enough that it’s usually pretty easy to see right through the Empire Strikes Back ending. The Legend Of Korra handled the switcheroo ending about as well as you can: I found it plausible that the writers would leave her de-powered going into the second season; and, if you read that scene on the cliff as a big deal, Korra and Lin getting their powers back feels earned.
Non-benders vs. benders
Resolution: Not so satisfying
This one seemed like the most interesting out of all the arcs as the series started, so it’s disappointing that by the end of the season, the Equalist storyline had straightened itself out, going from ethical grayness into a straightforward heroes vs. bad guys deal. In the first few episodes, the Equalist movement doesn’t appear to be something that could be “fixed” by getting rid of Amon; it’s shown more as a grassroots movement made up of normal citizens. The writers practically yell “Dude has a point!” on multiple occasions by making Korra, Tarrlok, or the Council act like clueless, privileged dicks about non-benders. But those moments get rarer and rarer as the first season goes on, and Amon gets more and more tyrannical, until, at the end, the reveal that he’s a bender himself renders his earlier points invalid. Even the Lieutenant, who seemed to be a true believer in the cause, is shown to be entirely disillusioned as he pops in to get owned one last time.
“Character commandeers a grassroots movement with a legit gripe and bends it to serve his own sinister purposes” isn’t an unsatisfying story at all, but information that was dropped early on to make you feel like Amon had a point-the bending gangs, the most popular sport only being open to benders, the lack of non-bender representation in city government and law enforcement-those weren’t tiny details. They were a big deal early on, and if we’re treating this as a self-contained season, they weren’t resolved by Amon and Tarrlok skipping town.
Makeouts vs. makeouts
Resolution: Makeouts!
Hey, sure! I didn’t pump my fist in the air or anything when Mako and Korra got together, but I buy it. I don’t know how I feel about these two being at “I love you”; Mako, maybe for lack of time, felt more like a brass ring for Korra than a character we’ve watched slowly fall in love with someone who’s not his girlfriend and be troubled about that, which I think is what the writers were going for. He’s got a personality, but we haven’t gotten to know him enough to understand and empathize with why he’s behaving like an indecisive dick.
Mako got pumped full of do-awesome-things steroids for the finale, presumably to make up for the fact that his defining trait in recent episodes has been “well-meaning but kind of thoughtless and a crap boyfriend.” Mako gets the drop on Amon with lightning, and as if that wasn’t enough, the writers even have Amon talk Mako up, all, “Hey, way to get the drop on me! That was pretty badass, in case the audience can’t remember why our heroine is so crushed out on you. Too bad I have to take your bending!”
I’m curious what they’ll do with Korra and Mako next season-stable relationships are notoriously boring to watch, as are the repetitive fights of “fiery” ones. If I can take the parallel history of Tenzin, Beifong, and Pema to mean that the big message here is “sometimes people break up, and it’s sad but not the end of the world,” with a side order of “if your boyfriend appears to be checking out another girl, it’s his fault, not hers”-that’s actually satisfying as a rare voice of reason in entertainment intended for youth and adult markets.
Stray observations:
CSICon by Mandi Odoerfer
Images and captions are part of original review.
I went into the Legend of Korra finale not knowing how they’d manage to wrap up all the season’s plot lines in a satisfying way. The last string of episodes, while very good, had started to feel rushed, and with only two episodes to go, it seemed like the pacing problems could only get worse. Still, I put my faith in Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, because they’ve more then earned it.
The Korra finale was indeed a good, occasionally great hour of television, but I don’t feel like my fears about the last two episodes being rushed were at all unfounded. These episodes were littered with moments where I wanted to feel more excited then I did, that could have been epic if they’d had a little more time to build up to them. There were scenes that could have matched the early intensity of episodes like The Revelation if they’d lasted just a few minutes longer, and I felt pangs of disappointment several times, especially in the second half of the show.
I don’t mean to imply that the episodes were devoid of powerful, shocking moments. I still can’t believe that a Saturday morning kid’s show got away with showing a murder/suicide that wasn’t even a little unclear, and I’m pretty sure Korra almost threw herself off that cliff. My jaw dropped when Amon took off his mask and actually did have a scarred, damaged face, even if that turned out to be a bit of trickery. The fight choreography on this show has always been spectacular, but this episode had some of the best executed action sequences they’ve done so far. And there are certain moments that will stick around in my head for a long, long time.
Just looking at these two as kids makes me want to burst into tears.
For me, the strongest part of the episode by far was the painful history of Amon and Tarrlok. Korra called it “one of the saddest stories I’ve ever heard”, and that feels about right to me. What Yakone inflicted on his sons seems more horrible every time I think about it - he was essentially sneaking them away and forcing them to torture animals in secrecy. Noatak and Tarrlok both wanted a better life, but they were so twisted by their father I don’t think they ever had much of a chance at happiness. I still can’t believe the show got away with ending their story the way that they did, but it was the perfect conclusion to a tragic tale. Little Tarrlok tugged on my heartstrings, and I think I’m really going to see him in a new light when I watch the series again. I’d gladly read a spin-off comic about what happened to Noatak in the time between him running away and his reemergence as Amon, even knowing where the story will eventually wind up.
However, the weakest part of the finale also involved Amon - the way his followers eventually turned against him. In the early episodes, the show took pains to show that there was real truth to what Amon was saying, and it was only as he gained more power that his actions became more and more evil. I’d hope to see some of his followers gradually turning against him, realizing that they wanted equality, but not at this cost. However, no one seemed to care about anything except whether Amon was telling the truth. When the people went from “evil Avatar!” to “Amon’s a liar!” in a matter of minutes, they looked like idiots, and I don’t see the Equalists as idiots. I think they’re normal people who wanted to address some genuine inequalities, and got caught up in something awful instead. Amon is gone, but Republic City is as torn as ever, and I sincerely hope the next season addresses that. Lance Henriksen‘s Lieutenant turning against Amon was a nice touch, but it wasn’t enough.
Amon’s tears here were subtle, but powerful. I got the sense he knew what was coming before they ever got on that boat.
I theorized that Amon’s abilities were based on bloodbending back around episode eight, and it’s cool to be right, but I also wish we’d learned just a little more about how that worked. I guess the lack of explanation was probably foreshadowed in Sokka’s speech at Yakone’s trial. I also wish they’d spent more time on Katara’s attempts to restore Korra’s bending. It seems like the most obvious way to counter what Amon had done would be to use bloodbending, and it could have made for a really interesting dilemma - Katara’s aversion to bloodbending versus the importance of reconnecting the Avatar to the other elements.
I’m not much of a shipper, and I didn’t really think the Makorra stuff was handled particularly well, but it bothered me less than I expected. I’m not sure if it’s because I knew it was coming, or if it’s because I liked Mako more here than I have in a while. I’m relieved the characters are coupled, and I hope that’ll be the end of love triangle drama, but that’s probably asking for too much. I’d rather watch characters as a couple than see them pine over each other any day, but I get the feeling I’m in the minority there.
Asami deserved much, much better than she got here, but I’m hoping the show gives her some great stuff next season to make up for it. Between putting up with Mako’s immaturity and dealing with her terrible, terrible father, she’s perfectly poised to get her groove back in season two. I’d love to see her take over Future Industries and develop some amazing tech for characters who aren’t villains. It’d be a great way to have nonbenders get some real power in Republic City, and for her to prove she’s better than the man her father became.
Was I the only one who was reminded of Celes in Final Fantasy VI here?
The part I have the most mixed feelings about is Korra’s own journey. There were parts that I loved, like the way Korra finally got access to her Airbending, and that she truly did feel like a full fledged Avatar by the end of the show. There were elements I disliked - Aang showing up and instantly giving Korra the power to restore bending was borderline deus ex machina. And, more than anything else, I just feel unsure. Early on in the show, we saw that Korra feared losing her bending would make her nothing, and I think the writers were carrying that threw here. When she looked down the edge of that cliff, I think she seriously considered hurtling herself off the other side, though it was very vague for obvious reasons. If we’d seen just a little more of her sense of loss, and more of her accepting herself as something other than the Avatar, I think her journey would have felt amazing. As is, I’m not unhappy with Korra’s story, but I feel like I need to fill in too many of the blanks in my head.
Who managed to take down this family? I suspect they may have been captured by the Hulk.
Korra badly needed at least one more episode to tell its story. If we’d gotten episode 11 this week, and had a two part finale next week, I think almost all my complaints would have been addressed. As is, Mike and Bryan did what they could with the time that they had, and despite all my nitpicking, I still think they delivered something pretty great. Right now, if I was asked to give my overall opinion of the first season, I’d say “really rushed, but still really good”. I’d rank the first season of Avatar as “really good, but takes too long to get going”, so my hopes for season two and this show as a whole are still very high. I’m incredibly grateful for the time I’ve spent watching Korra, and I think I’d feel that way even if this season was it.
We still don’t know when season two will air, but I can’t help but wonder what it might be like. Characters like General Iroh and Bumi were barely introduced, and I’d love to see both of them become a bigger part of the show. Republic City is badly damaged, and I think there’s a great story in seeing how Korra brings it back to the utopia Aang once envisioned. Even though Korra getting the ability to restore bending felt a little cheap, I think it sets up a great moral dilemma. Obviously, Lin’s police force and the White Lotus will have their bending restored, but what about Lightning Bolt Zolt or other members of the Triple Threats? What about characters like Tahno, who was willing to really injure people in the Pro-bending arena, but was never shown to be a genuine villain? Korra will be coming into the season with a tremendous amount of power, and, to paraphrase Spider-Man, an awful lot of responsibility.
Legend Of Korra was originally planned as a miniseries, and although I can see it as a finite story, I can’t help but feel that Korra’s adventures are just beginning. I can’t wait to review Korra season two, whenever that might be, and I hope anyone who enjoyed this season’s reviews comes back for the ride. No matter what direction Mike and Bryan decide to take Korra in, we should get to see some pretty amazing stuff.
TV.Com by Noel Kirkpatrick
As a sequel series to Avatar: The Last Airbender, The Legend Of Korra had some sizable shoes to fill. Its predecessor achieved a level of maturity and accessibility that few series billed as "children's programming" (whatever that term means) have, and helped to launch a successful franchise of video games, comic books, and toys. (Repeat after me: There was no movie.)
It also created-thanks its captivating storytelling, well-choreographed action, stellar acting, and engaging (and diverse) characters-a passionate and devoted fandom that was completely geared up for a story that continued in that same universe. It's a fandom that, like any fandom, will compare the two series and debate over which one is "best."
I'm not going to do that as I discuss Korra's first season. First, it's not fair to do so, since Korra's not even done yet (we still have another 14-episode season to go). Second, Korra and A:TLA have different structures, tones, and thematic concerns that making declaring "best" a tricky thing. Certainly you can prefer one to the other, but they're different series, at least so far.
So when I sat down to collect my thoughts on Korra's first season, I decided to look at some of the less-than-enthuastic fan reviews that have been posted to the TV.com page for Korra to get a sense of how those who didn't love the series were seeing and experiencing, and where their frustrations were centered. I'm not looking to change anyone's mind, but I do want to put those frustrations in a dialogue with my own enjoyment of the series in an effort to not only refine my own perceptions, but hopefully to refine some viewers' frustrations as well.
Korra is really plot-driven, as opposed to character-driven (and the short season hasn't helped)
If there's one thing I think we can all agree on, likers and dislikers alike, it's that Korra is very focused on its narrative about the Equalist revolution within Republic City, and how it threatens the very existence of benders everywhere. This has led to a number of gripes that the series' characters aren't as well-defined or unique as those of A:TLA. And I think it is a legitimate critique.
Korra's characters are all fairly flat (Korra is hot-tempered and rebellious; Bolin is goofy; Mako is...aloof?) and none of have been given a real chance to develop beyond their initial traits. Certainly the shorter season is partially responsible. A:TLA used its episodic, "adventure roadshow" format to allow its characters space to breathe and develop, but it had more space to tell those stories. By the time you reach the final push of episodes in any given season of A:TLA (and certainly by the end of Season 3), there's a real sense of attachment to the characters that Korra just hasn't made the time for.
Yes, the time spent with pro-bending stuff was largely to help establish the New Team Avatar dynamics, and sports are a good way to develop the sense that characters know each other, like each other, and can work together, but apart from little tidbits about their pasts (Mako, Bolin, and Asami's parents) the room to stretch the characters was never really there.
I feel like this need for plot was made even more obvious by the finale itself. With most of her bending removed, the series' second season would benefit from a chance for Korra to explore her identity and what happens when that most identifiable trait-being the Avatar-is stripped away. But again the series backed away from that opportunity, restored her bending, and nullified the chance for sustained character development.
Elsewhere, characters moved around and responded as needed to developments to keep things going or the character development came a bit too late, so while some things worked better than others (Tenzin and Lin's history was a particular highlight for me), Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko didn't do much to create a sense of investment in the show's characters. And without much investment, it can make caring about both of those things rather difficult...
But what a what an engaging and thoughtful plot!
I'm willing to excuse some of the lackluster character work because I found the Equalist revolution and its politics to be well-executed and discussion-generating. The notion of bender-led oppression was something that the show never sold me on until we actually started seeing it happen in "When Extremes Meet," but it still encouraged us to think about things critically.
Is it okay that the ruling council is currently comprised entirely of benders? And what about the police force that is entire made up of metalbenders (in a city that seems designed to make use of both their metal and earthbending abilities)? While it's not oppression per se, it's certainly not "equal"-seeming either.
While those seeds took root in our minds, thanks to Amon's penchant for speechifying, when Tarrlok began to mobilize the police force against non-benders (how wonderfully clever was the use of the police barricades as both a way to keep people contained and then using them to people people truly contained?) we started to see how the series is carefully challenging those preconceived notions that we may have come into the series with.
And seeing as it is a "kids' show," Korra deserves credit for (hopefully) encouraging its intended audience to think critically about what it means to have power, who should have power, and what the justification for that power is. If the intended audience isn't, I certainly hope thoughtful parents are maybe nudging their kids to do so.
Republic City, modernization, and the loss of fantasy
If there is one other major complaint about Korra, it's the series' "steampunk-lite" setting. The use of cars, electricity, and mecha suits coupled with the de-emphasis on the mysticism of A:TLA all contributed to a notion that Korra is a bit more generic feeling, and ultimately a betrayal of its predecessor's fantasy roots.
I'm not exactly in that camp. Korra is still, in my mind, a fantasy series even with its use of modern technology. Part of this is based on the fact that bending continues to be a force in the world, but the other part is that it seems like a natural evolution of the series' universe-in which submarines, tanks, giant drills, and airships were all developed. Yes, some of those particular instances of technology did rely on benders, but they couldn't forever, not without creating an odd caste system of benders as workers (and Korra hints at this, as lightning bending seems to be the source of Republic City's power... or at least it's a green, renewable resource).
But also consider the larger thrust of the show in relation to these technological developments. What does bending (the fantastic element of the show) mean in this world with these technologies? For that matter, what does the Avatar mean now? A shift toward a more industrious society, one that is less impressed and/or concerned with the spiritual aspect of the four elements calls into question all these things.
While the series reaffirmed the need for this spiritual aspect in Season 1's painfully deus ex machina-y final moments, it did shift away from those questions at the same time. A more interesting avenue for exploring these questions would have been Korra having to figure out how to harness the Avatar state after having most of her bending removed, and whether or not the world even needed that to happen, whether or not the world still needed an Avatar.
But overall...
Those are the big, macro-level ideas I had about the first season of Korra. On a less overarching view, I found the season to be a delight to watch. The animation from Studio Mir is crisp, clean, and has a wonderful atmosphere (I loved that much of the series occurred at night). Jeremy Zuckerman's score, a mix of 1920s jazz and ragtime with more Asian-influenced orchestral pieces, did a nice job of enhancing the series' on-screen aesthetics.
And of course there's Joaquim Dos Santos (a.k.a. Dr. Fight) and Ki Hyun Ryu and their teams of storyboard artists (led by Ian Graham), who put together a well-directed and dynamic season, with most of the big action sequences feeling reminiscent of, but also surpassing the action sequences of A:TLA Season 2, in their wall-to-wall insanity. I'm thinking, of course of the stellar action sequences in "And The Winner Is..." and "When Extremes Meet."
What about you? What are your thoughts on what I've laid out here, as well as other aspects of the show I didn't mention, like the romance subplot (which was by far the weakest aspect of the season for me) or the important role that family ended up playing? How did you feel about the finale? What do you think Season 2 will be about, and what do you hope to see?
Den of Geek by Kaci Ferrell
Identity. Agency. Equality.
We've talked about these things over the course of the season, seen them play out in Korra's fear of losing her bending, in the terror in every bloodbending victim's eyes, in Amon's so-called quest to right the wrongs of Republic City. We've seen everything stripped from these characters bit-by-bit in a way that even the original series never dared. There's a graphic going around on Tumblr right now poking fun at the fact that most AtLA episodes ended upbeat with everyone reaffirming their friendship and desire to do good, as opposed to the way Korra episodes end in which every one is broken and things look even bleaker than they did before. I haven't spoken of this much other than my emotional reaction to last week's episode, but I've honestly loved that Korra was willing to go to continually sadder and harder to deal with places all season long. Korra never gave us easy answers or toned things down for us: sometimes, things suck and that's the way life is. Deal with it, kids.
And it's because I've loved how heartbreaking and bleak this show has been that I'm disappointed with the final few scenes of this season. There was a moment when Korra was on the ground, weeping as she dealt with the fact that she couldn't possibly be the Avatar with only one element to her name, and not even her home one at that. As I saw her in her Water Tribe clothes, standing on the snow and weeping, I couldn't help but think that somehow, the fact that she was a Water Tribe girl who was an airbender of all things just twisted that proverbial knife somehow even deeper.
I thought that was the end of the season. I thought we were going out on Korra's heartbreak, on Mako's disappointment that his finally-admitted feelings weren't able to be reciprocated, on Asami's tears as she realized that Hiroshi was a horrible father, on the look in Lin's eyes when Katara said there was nothing she could do for Korra because it meant there was nothing that could be done for Lin herself - on so many things that would've made for a heartbreaking end of the season that, however sad it might've been, would've been far more realistic in portraying the cost of war.
But then Aang showed up. And believe me, I never thought I'd be disappointed in seeing Aang on this show, or all the other past Avatars for that matter, but I knew in that moment I knew that a hand was going to be swept over the costs Team Avatar had paid. Korra and Lin get their bending back. Mako finds that Korra loves him, too. And the only character who has really lost anything at all is Asami, who just lost not only her father, but her boyfriend, too. But a second can't be spared for her sadness because for practically the first time all season, the writers decided that The Legend of Korra needed a happy ending.
It didn't. In fact, I'd argue that not leaving a cliffhanger between this season and the next was a detriment. There were so many questions left unanswered if her crying had been the final scene, questions that could've been explored at length next year. As of now, the only questions I have left to ask are ones that mostly deal with plot holes. (The biggest one being: bloodbending can take away a person's bending...how exactly?)
However, with all of that out of the way, I don't want to detract from the fact that this was probably one of the better season finales I've seen in a long time, regardless of format. I know many commenters had long ago guessed that Amon and Tarrlok were brothers, but their previous meeting had seemed to discount that and so I had written the theory off entirely. I guess that's why I was so surprised by the twists in this finale: I bought into it. I believed every word Amon said because it made perfect sense. How many villains can you name without even having to think too hard about it whose motive is almost identical to the one he laid out? I've been trained to accept villainous backstory monologuing for so long that it didn't even occur to me that his story could be a lie. The revelation that he's been a bender all along, some kind of strange combination between Katara's skill at bloodbending and Combustion Man's ability to bend with his mind, shocked me to my very core. It added so much depth to the rest of the season and I can guarantee you that I'll be revisiting old episodes very soon.
What impressed me most about the revelation was the development it allowed Tarrlok to have in the eleventh hour. In a heartbeat, I began to feel sympathy for him and even got choked up when he made the decision to blow up the boat taking him and Amon to safety. Who would've thought that a character as seemingly selfish and cruel as Tarrlok would do something so noble?
But ultimately, as happy as I am with almost the entire episode, I can't shake my disappointment in the tacked-on happy ending that was unnecessary and completely ruined the tone of the episode.
Were any of you disappointed as well, or were you happy to see the characters you've come to love finally catch a break? Do you believe that Tarrlok and Amon are really dead? What do you think the next season will be about, now that it seems like all the loose ends from the Amon arc are tied up? And am I alone in my heartbreak for Asami? Hit up the comments for the final time this season!
AV Club by Emily Guendelsberger
Well! I’d like to talk as much about the series as a whole as the details of two finale episodes that aired today-hence, this got rather long. Korra was initially supposed to be a standalone miniseries, plotted out before the show was picked up for a second season. I went in, then, looking for resolution of the three big series-long story arcs: Korra’s spiritual problems, Amon and the Equalists, and makeouts. I’ll break this up a little by addressing one at a time:
Korra vs. her spiritual block / Korra vs. lack of identity outside of Avatar
Resolution: Highly satisfying, if you read it this one particular way
At first, I had “not so much” written down for resolution on both of these, as there isn’t a ton of obvious cause-and-effect in why Aang showed up like a god from the machine to restore Korra’s bending-other than the lame excuse of “You looked sad.”
But watching the end again, this way of reading the last five minutes popped into my head, and it makes more and more sense the more I think about it. Korra’s lack of identity and her block were actually the same thing, and they’re both resolved in a kind of great under-the-censor’s-radar way.
Korra’s just found out the best healer in the world can’t do anything for her. Her last hope to hang onto the identity she’s had since childhood is gone. Mako tells her he loves her; she tells him to go away, that she’s “not the Avatar anymore.” Her misery calls back to the dream she had in “The Voice In The Night,” where her own subconscious-dressed as scary Amon-tells her “Once I take your bending away, you will be nothing.” Korra goes out to a cliff, and walks up to the very, very edge-she’s close enough that from her looking-down POV we see a tear actually falling all the way down the side of the cliff, which means her head is leaning out over the drop.
I can’t think of a reason to use that specific shot unless it’s to imply that she went up there to throw herself off the cliff.
Supporting this theory: When she pulls back, sits down, decides to keep living as a person who isn’t inherently special, and starts thinking for real about what that means-that’s the instant Aang finally shows up to declare “You have finally connected with your spiritual self!” This all feels like fan-wanking, but the alternate explanation seems to be “He showed up then because she was… continuing to be sad? And that continuing sadness somehow resolved her spiritual block?” That’s unsatisfying, unearned, and also doesn’t really make a lot of sense. The more I think about the oddness of that POV shot, Aang’s timing, and, most importantly, how not okay Nickelodeon would be with showing a hero contemplating suicide, the more sense it makes to consider the final-final battle of the season as completely internal-and pretty damn dark.
Since Avatar: The Last Airbender ended its second season with its heroes getting schooled and running away, it didn’t seem obvious that the writers would end Korra’s first season on an up or down note. It’s almost greedy to go for an ending with both the “Whoa!” of The Empire Strikes Back and the “Yay!” of Star Wars. It’s also risky, as that sort of “J/K, they’re fine,” can feel unearned and detract from the weight of what came before; further, people try it often enough that it’s usually pretty easy to see right through the Empire Strikes Back ending. The Legend Of Korra handled the switcheroo ending about as well as you can: I found it plausible that the writers would leave her de-powered going into the second season; and, if you read that scene on the cliff as a big deal, Korra and Lin getting their powers back feels earned.
Non-benders vs. benders
Resolution: Not so satisfying
This one seemed like the most interesting out of all the arcs as the series started, so it’s disappointing that by the end of the season, the Equalist storyline had straightened itself out, going from ethical grayness into a straightforward heroes vs. bad guys deal. In the first few episodes, the Equalist movement doesn’t appear to be something that could be “fixed” by getting rid of Amon; it’s shown more as a grassroots movement made up of normal citizens. The writers practically yell “Dude has a point!” on multiple occasions by making Korra, Tarrlok, or the Council act like clueless, privileged dicks about non-benders. But those moments get rarer and rarer as the first season goes on, and Amon gets more and more tyrannical, until, at the end, the reveal that he’s a bender himself renders his earlier points invalid. Even the Lieutenant, who seemed to be a true believer in the cause, is shown to be entirely disillusioned as he pops in to get owned one last time.
“Character commandeers a grassroots movement with a legit gripe and bends it to serve his own sinister purposes” isn’t an unsatisfying story at all, but information that was dropped early on to make you feel like Amon had a point-the bending gangs, the most popular sport only being open to benders, the lack of non-bender representation in city government and law enforcement-those weren’t tiny details. They were a big deal early on, and if we’re treating this as a self-contained season, they weren’t resolved by Amon and Tarrlok skipping town.
Makeouts vs. makeouts
Resolution: Makeouts!
Hey, sure! I didn’t pump my fist in the air or anything when Mako and Korra got together, but I buy it. I don’t know how I feel about these two being at “I love you”; Mako, maybe for lack of time, felt more like a brass ring for Korra than a character we’ve watched slowly fall in love with someone who’s not his girlfriend and be troubled about that, which I think is what the writers were going for. He’s got a personality, but we haven’t gotten to know him enough to understand and empathize with why he’s behaving like an indecisive dick.
Mako got pumped full of do-awesome-things steroids for the finale, presumably to make up for the fact that his defining trait in recent episodes has been “well-meaning but kind of thoughtless and a crap boyfriend.” Mako gets the drop on Amon with lightning, and as if that wasn’t enough, the writers even have Amon talk Mako up, all, “Hey, way to get the drop on me! That was pretty badass, in case the audience can’t remember why our heroine is so crushed out on you. Too bad I have to take your bending!”
I’m curious what they’ll do with Korra and Mako next season-stable relationships are notoriously boring to watch, as are the repetitive fights of “fiery” ones. If I can take the parallel history of Tenzin, Beifong, and Pema to mean that the big message here is “sometimes people break up, and it’s sad but not the end of the world,” with a side order of “if your boyfriend appears to be checking out another girl, it’s his fault, not hers”-that’s actually satisfying as a rare voice of reason in entertainment intended for youth and adult markets.
Stray observations:
- I added a list of questions I had going into the finale at the end of the last review, and had ’em next to me while I watched, and I found answering them interesting in how short and simple nearly all of the answers were:
- Might there be a reason aside from Korra just being a doofus that there’s a lot of static between her and the Spirit World? Nope, but “doofus” was defined in a much more satisfying way.
- Can energybending be used to do things other than taking bending away? Yep!
- What’s the significance of the slightly different methods Aang and Amon are shown using to remove bending? They’re not the same thing. Using bloodbending to block bending permanently came out of nowhere, but seeing as how I had no problem suspending disbelief for temporary blocking of chi via physical pokes and how healing was vaguely explained as waterbending chi points, I can’t really object.
- Where and from whom did Amon learn to do it? At the North Pole, from his dad.
- What does Amon have going on under the mask? A normal face; not one the audience would have recognized, but one that a high-ranking politician would have.
- How could Yakone bloodbend in the daytime with his hands tied? The show hasn’t always been consistent on whether you need to be able to move your hands to bend, or whether specific moves are always tied to specific, uh, bends. Plenty of characters are shown being incapacitated when tied up, but a lot of times bending seems to be uncoupled from motions-a whole bunch of people (including Uncle Iroh, Meelo, Korra, Mako, and Aang) who can shoot various elements out of various, uh, orifices without a specific motion. One specific example of bending sans motion is one of my favorite moments of Avatar: the end of the final fight when Katara freezes both Azula and herself in that giant block of ice. Katara can’t physically move any more than Azula can, but she can still bend while Azula cannot. I think we were supposed to take the explanation Sokka gives in the flashback, which was basically “You’re thinking too hard about this. Some people just can do weird things, who knows why?” to heart about trying to define specific parameters and rules for bending-like technology, it’s constantly evolving. If so, though, I could have done with less “NO FULL MOON?!” buildup.
- Why did firebenders kill, like, everyone’s parents? Well, they didn’t kill Amon’s, so we’re one example short of a trend piece. Whatever.
- Fun game for the finale: Drink every time there’s token evidence that a random combatant didn’t die, he parachuted out before the explosion/crash! Drink twice if you spot one without the token evidence (rare, but there are a few). Finish your beer when Tarrlok blows himself and his brother to kingdom come, because how great was that?
- It was a cute idea, but Zuko’s voice did not work coming out of another character, particularly because some of the line readings are oddly stiff. The character didn’t seem to be able to speak in contractions, it sounded very formal.
- Composer Jeremy Zuckerman did an amazing job last week with a quiet, understated score for a high-drama scene; here, he does a similarly excellent job with the big, dramatic return of the Avatar theme from the original show, which I don’t believe we’ve heard used for Korra before.
- Korra receives another compliment from a prospective suitor that, like the one in episode five, includes neither “nice” nor “pretty.”
- Even more variations on the theme of terrible fathers so present in Avatar, from Yakone’s abuses ruining and shaping Tarrlok and Amon to Bolin literally yelling “MR. SATO! YOU ARE A TERRIBLE FATHER!”
- A few final thoughts: It’s been really interesting watching this in a participatory way with you all, picking out details, seeing other people’s opinions-it’s completely different from the way I watched the original series, all three seasons of which I shotgunned over a period when I was stuck in bed with an injury last year-pure entertainment, consumed on some hard-ass painkillers. This series was all about pick-pick-pick-pick-picking it apartweek by week, discussion, theories, extra-show information about the production schedule-all this meta stuff that wasn’t present in my experience of watching Avatar. I can’t help but think it must have had a huge effect on my opinions. I’m genuinely curious about how much whether or not/the way people watched Avatar: The Last Airbender affects their perceptions of The Legend Of Korra. If you’ve got a minute, on your way out could you pop down into the comments and answer the survey? I think the aggregated answers could be illuminating.
- New things for season two: Bumi, who looks fun; baby Rohan, full-fledged Avatar Korra; hopefully zero Eskimo kisses; a now-unlocked door to the Spirit World. Still no word on when that’s going to première. Perhaps I’ll see you there!