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[Fj0823]

I do agree that female characters that are good at stuff get awful reactions from a certain group. Korra is a good example.

Caulifla in Dragon Ball is hated because she transformed into Super Saiyan very easily despite male Goten and Trunks doing it with even more ease a series before her

and of course Rey from Star Wars, even though I agree with a lot of the criticism she gets she still has plenty of backstory to explore that could justify her initial issues. Yet the hate is massive. Another good Star Wars example is Ahsoka Tano having a strong presence in SW media. Real fans™ demand Slave Leia instead of the two cool Jedi girls!

Many here mention Kirito and I would even throw in other unrepentant Gary Stus like Light Yagami and Kvothe. But I feel like these male characters don't get nearly as much criticism, In most cases they're even defended.

Korra has issues as a character, but I would never put her on the same league as Kirito.

 

[BlackDoomShadow]

It's important to understand the psychology of certain male fans and why they behave this way (and it's important to understand why this psychology underpins their political behavior and voting patterns too).

They look at old Star Wars, old Star Trek, old Doctor Who, old Ghostbusters, old Avatar as the stuff they grew up with, and the new versions as "the girl versions," the ones that were "made for girls." And the thing is, some of them are even okay with this! Publicly, they say that they're happy the fandom is expanding and they want to welcome women into the fold.

But on a deep, deep subconscious level, they actually feel that something is being taken from them. Their childhood is being taken away and given to the girls. That resentment, that anger, starts boiling inside them for years until someone finally pokes and prods a little too much, and their real feelings all come pouring out. This is why they start attacking people who enjoy these media and these characters -- it's not enough that they don't like it, they need to make sure you can't like it either. "You stole my favorite movie/show from me, and now I'm stealing it back, bitch." And then come the death threats and the intimidation and the flooded comment sections.

It's okay if you don't like a thing. I think OT Star Wars is better than new Star Wars. I like TOS Trek the best. It's not clear if the Thirteenth Doctor will be my favorite. I like Ghostbusters 1984 and I think Ghostbusters 2016 sucked. And I think ATLA is the best cartoon ever made and Korra is an inferior follow-up.

But the difference between me and others is I don't turn this into some corrupt part of my identity, waging war across the internet to make sure everyone converts to my twisted religion of hating stuff. I choose to embrace the parts of fandom that I love instead of tearing down others.

In short:

 

[WrenchNinja]

This is bordering on a persecution complex.

 

[Red Fire]

Legend of Korra was cool. I dislike Korra as a person because she was cocky and made poor decisions every time but the series was great.

 

[JeremyEtcetera]

Not and BlackDoomShadow, this is just a suggestion but I feel like you two need to create a new thread specifically regarding sexism and misogyny that you see within critiques of media, so that we can participate and provide our own counterpoints and opinions in it specifically involving those issues. That would be better than dragging down this simple "I'm enjoying Korra" thread to go off on this tangent which you are spreading to other shows and mediums.

Like I said, this is just a friendly suggestion. I'm not a mod so you can simply ignore my post if you want.

 

[BlackDoomShadow]

I don't disagree, I'd make such a thread myself but I'm a junior.

 

[Jintor]

I think one thing that ATLA benefited from a lot and Korra suffered from heavily is the scope being set at the beginning. Korra being brought back as a miniseries! then two seasons! Then three! Then Four! really hurt it heavily compared to ATLA's slow steady pace where it knew where it was going - three arcs, a final destination - and that it had time to get there. Korra's moment-to-moment and animation is all beautiful, especially considering the constraints it was developed under, but it really lacks the polish and pacing of its predecessor.

ATLA worked because even when it was story-heavy, it wasn't always 'x happens, and then x happens, and then y happens'. Even when stuff was happening at a rapid clip - the road to Ba Sing Se, for example, or the buildup to the Day of Black Sun - everything felt very character driven and natural. But Korra very often felt like the plot was pushing the pace along and not the characters. You never got time to breath or to just relax, because stuff was always happening and the best Team Avatar ever got to do was make a few quips while they went along with events.

 

[AoM]

I don't know what made me think to check this, but I'm surprised to see that Korra only had one female writer (Katie Mattila), who wrote two episodes and co-wrote a third.

Whereas with ATLA, Elizabeth Ehasz wrote six episodes and co-wrote two others. Mattila wrote one, May Chan wrote one, and four women (among others) wrote for "Tales of Ba Sing Se" (Joann Estoesta, Lisa Wahlander, Lauren MacMullan, and Katie Mattila).

 

[Blizzard]

I just felt the series was very inconsistent compared to Avatar the Last Airbender.

I also disliked almost every one of the villains. The writers tried to give them some sort of nuance but they mostly just came across as maniacs who only care about one single crazy thing, essentially ending up mustache twirling evil just for the sake of being evil.

I also hated what kept happening to Korra after the first season.

On the plus side, I loved Jiu Li and her boss.

 

[NHarmonic.]

That's kind of true, I barely watch TV, so what I do watch is usually things I know are going to be good.

So I basically just judge Korra by comparing it to Legend of Ang, and I feel it didn't hold a candle to it.

Yeah, so that's the problem. ATLA is up there with the best animated shows ever made, so you should avoid tv now because only a few shows might be close to the overall quality of it.

Korra has it's share of problems, but again, it's not the trash people make it out to be.

 

[Lain]

The Legend of Korra is good, but it starts kinda weakish/average imo and is followed by a second season that feels a bit weird, with Korra acting the opposite of what one would expect after the end of the first season.
Third and especially 4th are the best though, and the end obviously. Show got such a cool end. I'm so happy with the followup with the comic. I wish it was a new show but it's pretty dang good so far.

 

[The Maverick]

Why is season 2 so hated? I love ATLA, but have no intention of watching Korra. I will say that her design is probably my favorite female character one in animation, but I'm fine with how ATLA ended.

 

[Oddish1]

Why is season 2 so hated? I love ATLA, but have no intention of watching Korra. I will say that her design is probably my favorite female character one in animation, but I'm fine with how ATLA ended.

So y'know how the Star Wars prequels had an unbearable focus on dull politics, had an unlikable main character who was angry and childish even though they were an adult, retcons a mystical trait of the universe into being much less interesting, and had lame unmemorable villains.

Korra season 2 is that, but also had a climax that made no sense.

 

[SomTervo]

Glad to see you finally posted your thoughts, Lizzy ������

You spoiled the

Spoiler

Korra/Asami

thing for me though, I've not finished the show yet

That's a bloody incredible narrative development if true, though

Pretty much

3>1>4>>>>>>2

So y'know how the Star Wars prequels had an unbearable focus on dull politics, had an unlikable main character who was angry and childish even though they were an adult, retcons a mystical trait of the universe into being much less interesting, and had lame unmemorable villains.

Korra season 2 is that, but also had a climax that made no sense.

Na way

2 is great. I binge-watched it and it was a really excellent season, especially the last 4-5 episodes.

Perhaps watching it week-to-week lent it some bad pacing, dragging it out way too much.

Why is season 2 so hated? I love ATLA, but have no intention of watching Korra. I will say that her design is probably my favorite female character one in animation, but I'm fine with how ATLA ended.

It's a slow political burn, but contrary to what other posters said it has some good characters, nice action and compelling intrigue. The ending does some silly shit but as far as I remember ATLA did similar things a couple of times. I watched it years after the fact during a big binge of Korra.

Korra is amazing btw, I highly recommend watching it. I like it just as much as ATLA. Korra season 3 is better than a lot of ATLA imo (although ATLA is definitely stronger overall).

I think one thing that ATLA benefited from a lot and Korra suffered from heavily is the scope being set at the beginning. Korra being brought back as a miniseries! then two seasons! Then three! Then Four!

You can definitely feel that. It's strange because usually when you posit a show you have to provide hypothetical arcs going forward at least a couple of seasons, but Korra must have been such a one-off in the eyes of the publisher this never happened and as a result it never felt as cohesive as ATLA.

I still think it feels pretty cohesive, tho.

 

[Lain]

Na way

2 is great. I binge-watched it and it was a really excellent season, especially the last 4-5 episodes.

Perhaps watching it week-to-week lent it some bad pacing, dragging it out way too much.

I have no idea what binge watching means. I watched all of Korra back to back. Season 2 felt really weak to me. That's because everything about it is obvious from the first episode: where it's going to go and especially who the baddie is going to be.
It's also weak because Korra acts the opposite of how she's supposed to after the end of the first season only for (what it feels like) the sake of building drama. There is no logical reason to have Korra act like an ass to the people most close and supportive of her.

Basically Season 2 starts with Korra's personality regressing, an obvious villain with an obvious plan of betrayal that doesn't feel all that good. The humorous parts and the first avatar stuff are what kept the season watchable for me.

 

[JustSomeone]

The first season was great. Amon is the best villian in the franchise.
The others,not so much, even Zuko couldn't save them.

 

[shira]

Why is season 2 so hated? I love ATLA, but have no intention of watching Korra. I will say that her design is probably my favorite female character one in animation, but I'm fine with how ATLA ended.

The storylines took a shitter.

Plain and simple.

 

[Azzanadra]

Goddamn it OP, I miss the show already, AGAIN.

This show occupies a special place in my heart, I grew up with the original and Korra was awesome was well. The roller coaster of the great season 1, that long-ass wait between seasons, mediocre season 2, GOAT season 3 and an okay-ish season and the experience of going through the show with the community is a highlight of my High School experience.

Also, Korra might just be my favorite female character on TV. I mean sure the story failed her at times (season 2 hnnnnng) but I think the initial conception of her character and defining characteristics as an impulsive and gung-ho hero made her compelling than Aang who was the vanilla-est of ice cream.

Also what do people hate against Amon? Everyone wanted more blood bending, and that's what we got. The ending itself was quite devastating for a children's show.

 

[AniHawk]

i think season 1 is pretty damn good and hurt by it being a miniseries. this is the problem with the show and the pacing in that nickelodeon didn't know what they wanted and at the end, the show wound up with three finales (season 1, 2, and 4).

some blame is obviously left to the writers - they didn't have to give korra the auto-win. she could have been left with airbending and nothing else and her being okay with that might have been a decent way to show some growth. season 2 doesn't do much to develop her character, but my head-canon is that she wouldn't have grown if she was literally given a win from aang.

season 2 is messy, but gets a lot wrong in the final confrontation. there's a lot of 'it's magic!' that feels like it's out of nowhere. that said, i think the result of season 2 is pretty good: korra loses her connection to the previous avatars, but she opens the connection to the spirit world. with more time i think there could have been more nuance with unalaq since opening the portal wasn't wholly a bad idea. and it led to a great setting for season 3.

 

[Takyon]

Goddamn it OP, I miss the show already, AGAIN.

This show occupies a special place in my heart, I grew up with the original and Korra was awesome was well. The roller coaster of the great season 1, that long-ass wait between seasons, mediocre season 2, GOAT season 3 and an okay-ish season and the experience of going through the show with the community is a highlight of my High School experience.

Also, Korra might just be my favorite female character on TV. I mean sure the story failed her at times (season 2 hnnnnng) but I think the initial conception of her character and defining characteristics as an impulsive and gung-ho hero made her compelling than Aang who was the vanilla-est of ice cream.

Also what do people hate against Amon? Everyone wanted more blood bending, and that's what we got. The ending itself was quite devastating for a children's show.

Well, it just wasn't that shocking after tarlok already showed it off.
"HOLY SHIT, TARLOK IS A BLOODBENDER! AND HE CAN DO IT WITHOUT THE FULL MOON!"
...
"oh, amon does that as well, I suppose"
Also, when a character wears a mask, the audience can reasonably expect that the characters true identity will be someone either the audience or characters already know. This is because the show wants the watcher to be like "holy shit, it was that guy all along". it was disappointing when Amon turned out to be just some water tribe dude.

 

[Sunster]

Kuvira is one of my favorite antagonists. S1 and S3 are awesome. Great show.

 

[Oddish1]

season 2 is messy, but gets a lot wrong in the final confrontation. there's a lot of 'it's magic!' that feels like it's out of nowhere. that said, i think the result of season 2 is pretty good: korra loses her connection to the previous avatars, but she opens the connection to the spirit world. with more time i think there could have been more nuance with unalaq since opening the portal wasn't wholly a bad idea. and it led to a great setting for season 3.

The problem I have with that is that Korra losing her connection to the previous avatars didn't change anything. She still had her super saiyan Avatar state she could use at will and she never really talked to the previous avatars anyway. If anything my takeaway was that the writers just gave up a lot of interesting ideas that could've been done with it.

I always had a problem with the opening the spirit portal thing. Korra's logic of "hey unalaq lied about everything and was unquestionably evil and was the real cause of the spirits going crazy, but maybe we should cause a dramatic change to the entire world just on the off-chance he was right about this one thing" was a little questionable to me.

Oh, I did love how everyone in Republic City then hates Korra because of that and the writers wanted the audience to think that they're unreasonable.

 

[AniHawk]

The problem I have with that is that Korra losing her connection to the previous avatars didn't change anything. She still had her super saiyan Avatar state she could use at will and she never really talked to the previous avatars anyway. If anything my takeaway was that the writers just gave up a lot of interesting ideas that could've been done with it.

I always had a problem with the opening the spirit portal thing. Korra's logic of "hey unalaq lied about everything and was unquestionably evil and was the real cause of the spirits going crazy, but maybe we should cause a dramatic change to the entire world just on the off-chance he was right about this one thing" was a little questionable to me.

Oh, I did love how everyone in Republic City then hates Korra because of that and the writers wanted the audience to think that they're unreasonable.

season 2 could have used a lot more fleshing out the main ideas. that's where i wish unalaq wasn't such an obvious villain and instead he had more merit in opening up the portals. in season 1, amon was much more effective in speaking some truth.

as for past lives, i think it was necessary to give the fight some stakes, but the overall direction for season 2 was pretty flawed. you're right that korra never used it, but it's a pretty major point for the avatar in general and another example of korra failing. intentional or not, i also appreciate that her strong-headedness loses her connections in season 2, but her desire to reach out to others and the connections she builds in season 3 is what saves her. season 3 in general does a pretty good job of cleaning up the problems i had with korra's character in the first two seasons.

 

[Lizzy]

Episode 7 continues Korra's patter of ending on a somber note. This was a great episode that gave a lot of depth to Asami and had some fun interactions between Korra, Tenzin, and Lin.

Well, it just wasn't that shocking after tarlok already showed it off.
"HOLY SHIT, TARLOK IS A BLOODBENDER! AND HE CAN DO IT WITHOUT THE FULL MOON!"
...
"oh, amon does that as well, I suppose"
Also, when a character wears a mask, the audience can reasonably expect that the characters true identity will be someone either the audience or characters already know. This is because the show wants the watcher to be like "holy shit, it was that guy all along". it was disappointing when Amon turned out to be just some water tribe dude.

Not necessarily. Me, in this instance? The mask told me that the dude is completely messed up.

Kuvira is one of my favorite antagonists. S1 and S3 are awesome. Great show.

I'm really looking forward to Kuvira, and especially how they set her up in Season 3.

 

[Lizzy]

ALSO. Asami: “You can’t be afraid to mix it up sometimes.”

guurrrrllllllllll

 

[SomTervo]

I have no idea what binge watching means. I watched all of Korra back to back.

Yeah, it means watch in one sitting. A binge. Fair enough if that didn't matter here.

Season 2 felt really weak to me. That's because everything about it is obvious from the first episode: where it's going to go and especially who the baddie is going to be.

Yes, that's because they didn't try to hide it? Not everything has to be a twist or a surprise.

In storytelling, sometimes showing (or at least strongly hinting at) all your cards up front is the best decision because it means you let the story grow rather than holding out for a twist or big development.

Like, I felt the same about many of the storylines in ATLA (could see them coming from 1-2 seasons away) but that doesn't detract from it. Execution is what matters.

It's also weak because Korra acts the opposite of how she's supposed to after the end of the first season only for (what it feels like) the sake of building drama. There is no logical reason to have Korra act like an ass to the people most close and supportive of her.

That's an interesting take - my feeling at the end of the first season was that the Avatar had saved her from her own repeated failures and that she was left incredibly insecure in herself as a result of that. In season 2 she is trying to act like the Avatar but feels the weight of her failures. As such she took it out on the people around her in Season 2.

It felt like a logical extension and didn't jar with me at all. I didn't notice anything out of place. That said, there is a weird trend in many TV shows where characters in the second season become total assholes to one another. It's a curious thing.

Agreed the first avatar stuff was amazing.

 

[A-V-B]

Caulifla in Dragon Ball is hated because she transformed into Super Saiyan very easily despite male Goten and Trunks doing it with even more ease a series before her

Actually didn't that start with Cabba? The whole tingly back thing.

 

[VeeP]

Actually didn't that start with Cabba? The whole tingly back thing.

Cabba fighting equally with Vegeta, SS3 Gotenks getting knocked out by false Vegita, Freiza powering up in 3 months, Freiza's lacky powering up that much in 3 months, 17 reaching SSB level by fighting poachers, etc. There's been a lot of complaints towards DBS. I'm not sure why people think it's exclusive or started with Caulifla.

 

[P3P5I]

I definitely enjoyed it, even if I liked ATLA more. It's worth a re-watch someday!

 

[Astral Dog]

It's important to understand the psychology of certain male fans and why they behave this way (and it's important to understand why this psychology underpins their political behavior and voting patterns too).

They look at old Star Wars, old Star Trek, old Doctor Who, old Ghostbusters, old Avatar as the stuff they grew up with, and the new versions as "the girl versions," the ones that were "made for girls." And the thing is, some of them are even okay with this! Publicly, they say that they're happy the fandom is expanding and they want to welcome women into the fold.

But on a deep, deep subconscious level, they actually feel that something is being taken from them. Their childhood is being taken away and given to the girls. That resentment, that anger, starts boiling inside them for years until someone finally pokes and prods a little too much, and their real feelings all come pouring out. This is why they start attacking people who enjoy these media and these characters -- it's not enough that they don't like it, they need to make sure you can't like it either. "You stole my favorite movie/show from me, and now I'm stealing it back, bitch." And then come the death threats and the intimidation and the flooded comment sections.

It's okay if you don't like a thing. I think OT Star Wars is better than new Star Wars. I like TOS Trek the best. It's not clear if the Thirteenth Doctor will be my favorite. I like Ghostbusters 1984 and I think Ghostbusters 2016 sucked. And I think ATLA is the best cartoon ever made and Korra is an inferior follow-up.

But the difference between me and others is I don't turn this into some corrupt part of my identity, waging war across the internet to make sure everyone converts to my twisted religion of hating stuff. I choose to embrace the parts of fandom that I love instead of tearing down others.

In short:

Hey i like Korra but the fanbase criticism towards it is not exactly unwarranted(compared to the Last Airbender)

Most problems with EP VII are mostly because its a rehash but Rey and Kylo were the best parts of it.

 

[Fou-Lu]

I think I actually prefer Korra overall to TLA, not by a lot, but it had some very interesting villains (especially in season 1 and 3), it's beautiful to, and I absolutely LOVE where they took the world. Plus the overall quality of side characters is probably higher.

 

[Astral Dog]

LoK was a huge upgrade on art direction, shamw we probably won't see anything like it anymore 😔

 

[Lizzy]

I think I actually prefer Korra overall to TLA, not by a lot, but it had some very interesting villains (especially in season 1 and 3), it's beautiful to, and I absolutely LOVE where they took the world. Plus the overall quality of side characters is probably higher.

So far, and I'm only in episode seven, but I would say: Aside from Korra and Asami, Team Avatar is better in ATLA, but side characters are better in LoK.

 

[Thud]

Just like Avatar I thought it was overrated. Avatar has the better ending sequence. Then again I really enjoyed Book 3 in Korra with a refreshing villain.

 

[Fou-Lu]

So far, and I'm only in episode seven, but I would say: Aside from Korra and Asami, Team Avatar is better in ATLA, but side characters are better in LoK.

I can agree with that. Sokka is probably still my favourite overall character between both shows and I love what they did with the rest of Team Avatar in TLA too. I don't outright dislike Team Avatar in LoK like a lot of people do, but they aren't quite as good. They still all have their amazing moments and you will probably continue to like Korra and Asami more than Mako and Bolin. But yes, those side characters are great and only get better.

 

[ForkNetwork]

WRONG

 

[AlexFlame116]

This is still one of my favorite parts from the LoK series.

 

[Albino_Yeti]

For fuck's sake. Why do people immediately jump to "you must be a misogynist" just because somebody doesn't like a female character?

Korra wasn't as strong a character as Aang. She just wasn't. Her best arc came in Season 4, where she's

Spoiler

psychologically and physically drained to the point where she can barely even function anymore, but then fights through the pain to become stronger than before,

but that's the last season of the show.

She wasn't a terrible character, she had some good moments throughout the other 3 seasons, but she was nowhere near as strong a protag as Aang.

The fact that she's a woman has nothing to fucking do with it.

On the show itself, definitely not as good as the OG show. The original Team Avatar was just so awesome. But the villains in Korra were, for the most part, way better than the villains in ATLA. Except for Azula and her friends. They were pretty great.

Also no character in Korra, or any cartoon, comes even close to the absolute perfect character that is Zuko.

 

[Aiustis]

I enjoy it a lot despite it's shortcomings. It probably has my favorite aesthetic of any animated TV show. I like the setting a lot more than ATLA.

And despite Korra being far from a perfectly written character, I still found her to be very a refreshing a main protagonist. Especially coming off of Aang.

Her being the way she was made sense. She's pretty much a spoiled brat because she was sequestered away, given everything she wanted and grew up in a peaceful world.

 

[Lizzy]

"When Extremes Meet" is an EXCELLENT episode. It was a little slow at first, but once Tarrlok's police (and, really, at this point, they are) started rounding up non-benders for protesting that their power was turned out, the episode really kicked into high gear. "Your our Avatar, too!" was a pretty poignant moment. Of course Korra won't abandon them.

We're also now at the place within the story that Amon's terrorist group seems to have inflamed tensions to the point of no return. Although to be fair, that was mainly Tarrlok's doing. I wonder what the connection is between those two. My favorite part of the episode? When Korra goes to confront Tarrlok. I LOVE the below shot because it kinda mirrors how we first saw her.

And here? Well, she's just radiating power. And Tarrlok is so screwed that he has to rely on blood bending (to Korra's horror). The next episode is gonna be so good!

 

[Principate]

Her being the way she was made sense. She's pretty much a spoiled brat because she was sequestered away, given everything she wanted and grew up in a peaceful world.

That wasn't my problem it's that the writers had absolutely no idea what they wanted to do with the character.

Teen angst, amnesia, more teen angst, character regression. All of that happens in the first two seasons. She gets better in the last two as they were created simultaneously and thus they finally decided to give her an actual arc but the pay off in the end isn't all that great.

Aang had reasonably consistent defined character progression through the series. You can like it or not but you can't really say at any point that they didn't know what do with the character.

 

[7Th]

I do agree that female characters that are good at stuff get awful reactions from a certain group. Korra is a good example.

Korra has the exact opposite problem from that, no? In that she basically gets her ass kicked for 80% of every season before nonchalantly getting granted the ability she needed just for the climax. Other than season 3, in which she just got her ass kicked all the time.

 

[Lizzy]

Finished Book 1! Was surprised to see how dramatic Asami's bit of the story got. Poor girl.

When I wrote the OP, here's what I said about Amon and the Equalists, when I had just finished the sixth episode:

I'm of two minds about Amon. Well, maybe more. It was pretty clear since his first appearance that this dude was nuts (I mean, he wears a creepy mask for god's sake). It was also clear to me not long after that to realize that the Equalists, despite the noble idea supposedly at the core of their cause, was a terrorist group. Their goal -- and I say supposed goal, because their actions have always suggested otherwise -- is for non-benders to have the same rights as benders, but the show so far, and I'm only 6 episodes in, hasn't shown conclusively that non-benders are in some societal disadvantage. Yes, pro-bending is the most popular sport (and it'd make sense they'd turn it into a sport), and the police is all benders, as well as the Council (though non-benders have been part of it in the past). So far, the show hasn't revealed, in what ways, society disadvantages non-benders. I would like the show to explore benders vs. non-benders more, but because it hasn't been depicted as an issue, you can't really explore it. So, Amon at the moment just seems like a crazy guy using a wedge issue to gain power.

And that's what he ended up being. So, in that sense, I'm not disappointed with how Amon turned out. I really, really liked the way he died, though. What a way for him and Tarrlok to go. Tarrlok being able to reconnect with his childhood and have one redemptive act was a great way to end his character.

As for the Equalists, well, as I said, it's hard to delve into an issue when there's not much of an issue there. Certainly, do to the inequalities I mentioned previously -- pro-bending, the council, the police force -- there were areas of legitimate grievance, but I never got that from the Equalists. I think it would've been better if, alongside the Equalists, we had a separate, non-bending movement to ask for things like seats on the Council and non-benders on the police force. With Amon and the Equalists being a terrorist group from the get-go, the core point of discussion for bender/non-bender inequality was...well, Amon's tactics soaked up too much time in place of that conversation.

And there was Korra's arc, which I am...satisfied with! I more than agree with the suicidal interpretation of the last few minutes. It makes too much sense and, actually, there's really no other suitable explanation for what went down. The reason why Korra couldn't connect with her spiritual side, the reason why she was having so much trouble air bending, the reason why she couldn't access the avatar state is because her sense of self was all tied up into the avatar. She had no sense of Korra outside being the avatar. Once she pulls back from considering suicide and realizes that she is more than just being the avatar, only then can she access her past lives, and thus get her bending back.

Would it have been interesting and probably better to see her go on a quest in the second season to go find a Lionturtle to restore her bending or something like that? Sure, but what did happen works, especially if you consider precedence: Aang going all sea-monster at the end of Water, Aang getting the power to remove someone's bending near the end of Fire.

Here's my ranking:
1. Earth
2. Fire
3. Air
4. Water

If you split Fire, though:
1. Earth
2. Second half of Fire
3. Air
4. Water
5. First half of Fire

Looking forward to Spirits! Will start that tomorrow.

 

[AniHawk]

whatever happens with spirits, stick with it. stick with it so you can get to book 3. you might feel at some points like the season is testing you, but books 3 and 4 are worth it.

 

[Lizzy]

whatever happens with spirits, stick with it. stick with it so you can get to book 3. you might feel at some points like the season is testing you, but books 3 and 4 are worth it.

Oh, definitely. From what I've read, I'm really, really going to like Book 3 and Book 4.

 

[Zolo]

Korra has the exact opposite problem from that, no? In that she basically gets her ass kicked for 80% of every season before nonchalantly getting granted the ability she needed just for the climax. Other than season 3, in which she just got her ass kicked all the time.

Only watched the first season, but this was something I enjoyed. I prefer heroes that struggle rather than those who seem to be awesome from the start (though Korra has a point of this due to being the Avatar).

Tbh, I think I liked the characters. I just couldn't get into the story and drama.

 

[DangerMouse]

Oh, definitely. From what I've read, I'm really, really going to like Book 3 and Book 4.

Definitely think you will.

"When Extremes Meet" is an EXCELLENT episode. It was a little slow at first, but once Tarrlok's police (and, really, at this point, they are) started rounding up non-benders for protesting that their power was turned out, the episode really kicked into high gear. "Your our Avatar, too!" was a pretty poignant moment. Of course Korra won't abandon them.

And here? Well, she's just radiating power. And Tarrlok is so screwed that he has to rely on blood bending (to Korra's horror). The next episode is gonna be so good!

Was a fantastic episode.
That was such a badass shot of Korra.

Pretty much

3>1>4>>>>>>2

Yeah I agree with this usual breakdown.

As such I still think it's a fantastic show.
Something I especially loved in season 1 was I really enjoyed how the modern touches of Republic City really got strongly integrated into everything in that season. All the way down to how things would develop through the media, Tarrlock's media politics, the various times with the radio with both news and Amon learning about Korra arriving from her press conference, and broadcasting himself to threaten/challenge her etc.

Also, even though season 2 was certainly the weakest, I still thought there was some good stuff sprinkled around despite the mess, even aside from the part everyone likes I still quite enjoyed all of the endgame stuff, once it got started I felt like there was really good momentum/pacing and buildup/tension all the way through those last few episodes.

Also, I agree with something Bronx-Man said, as a season I really liked season 4 but there needed to be a season 5, it felt more like a second to last season

Spoiler

with Korra's recovery

than a "finale" season that should have happened after it once that was complete.

Yeah, you know what! It is!

The good parts outweigh the bad, and Studio Mir does fucking awesome work.

Yeah!
Such a gorgeous looking show.

 

[ForkNetwork]

Oh, definitely. From what I've read, I'm really, really going to like Book 3 and Book 4.

Dont worry if Books 3 and 4 blow. Theres a certain couple of episodes in Book 2 that are absolutely worth a watch.

 

[SomTervo]

Korra has the exact opposite problem from that, no? In that she basically gets her ass kicked for 80% of every season before nonchalantly getting granted the ability she needed just for the climax. Other than season 3, in which she just got her ass kicked all the time.

On the plus side most of the time Korra's angst or frustration or pain (read: acting like an asshole) directly comes from this 'usually inept hothead' archetype.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Season 2 does have two of the best episodes in the entire series for me, so despite overall being a bit of a miss, I still love it for giving me those episodes.