So I think we can all agree that, generally speaking, Legend of Korra is an all-around great show. And since it’s from the same people who did Avatar: The Last Airbender, I kind of expected a lot from the season finale. I mean, Avatar always gave us real gut-wrenchers, so Korra was probably going to do the same thing, right? I was so convinced of this, in fact, that I purposefully didn’t watch it until Monday because I was home alone for the weekend and didn’t trust myself to be able to handle my emotions properly.
It turns out that was kind of unnecessary. You see, as great as this season of Korra has been episode-to-episode, season finales tend to put in perspective overall season arcs, and the fact of the matter is, Korra suffered hugely from being only 12 episodes instead of the usual 22-24. If Korra wants to tell the same sorts of epic stories that Avatar did, they need more than twelve episodes to do it, because the pacing on this series was all off. It didn’t strike me until the season finale, but Korra has been stuffed almost too full of plot and left no time for character development. Like, where has Bolin been for the second half of this season? Do we know anything about General Iroh Jr.? I mean besides that he can use his firebending like a jet pack and looks like a Disney Prince? I felt like there were a lot of things I got in this finale that I didn’t earn, either. Like, how is Amon already dead? Why are Mako and Korra already a thing? Because I still have no idea what Korra sees in him and none of his problems had time to be fixed. Character-wise, Asami probably suffered the most from this shortchanging, and she really deserves some emotional wallow time next season, because her life kind of sucks. But plot-wise, Korra reaching the Avatar state when she’s not supposed to be in touch with her spiritual side at all felt especially egregious.
The story Korra seemed to set out to tell was a good one, but it was so jam-packed that character development completely suffered, as did the writing, which was basically all exposition in these episodes and very little else. And the thing is, it didn’t have to be that way. What this season really, really needed was an episode like “Tales of Ba Sing Se” in the second season, which served no real narrative purpose but made the viewer so much more attached to the characters that even the tiniest things that happened to them packed a huge emotional punch. Looking back, I’m pretty sure each episode we’ve had could have been broken down into a few, and the storyline could have proceeded more naturally. The pacing should have been that the planes attacking Iroh Jr.’s warships should have been its own episode. Amon and Tarrlok’s backstory should have been another. And the season should have ended where I was positive it was going to end — Korra frees Tenzin and his kids, but gets her own powers taken and “kills” Amon. And then the entirety of season two should have been Korra on her own, the way Aang went on his own in season 2. She should have struggled with reaching the spirit world while the benders in Republic City struggled with how to proceed now that Amon was gone, and while Tarrlok and Noatak hid away. Because that was another thing — Tarrlok’s transformation was way too easy, and while his murder-suicide of him and his brother could have been devastating, instead I sort of shrugged and went “eh, better that they’re dead now.” Instead, we have two more seasons to go and I really have no idea what’s left to even accomplish in the plot. In fact, if I didn’t know there was going to be a second and third season, I’d think that this was a series finale instead.
It’s not that these episodes were bad episodes, it’s that they weren’t very satisfying season finales. They couldn’t possibly have been for a story as high-concept as the one Korra was trying to tell. High-concept stories take time to mature and grow, and while Korra is a great show that’s started laying some great groundwork, this season’s finale tried too hard to do too much, too fast.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Jun 27, 2012 @ 03:20 EST5EDT
Should be noted though that at that time, they didn’t know there was going to be a Season Two
Aang was not in tact with his Spiritual side until the episode when Sokka’s kidnapped, otherwise it was more just gut-feelings and Air Nomad mannerisms. Air Nomads are like the Buddhist Monks of today world, they’re, in a way,already spiritually sensitive so Aang’s always been sensitive. Now, Korra’s been seeing visions of the past which is impressive considering the fact Aang had to undergo a traumatic experience to activate the Avatar state and later have some kind of contact from Avatar Roku. There’s always questions at the end of each season so that’s nothing special. Legend of Korra is a different storyline to Avatar, yes it contains same world, similar aspects but thats it. You can’t really compare series since they’re different stories. LoK is starting at a different age than AtLA started, for one, the age group for Korra is older than Avatar originally started even though it ended on the same level as Korra. Plus, the characters are different. Mako and Asami are still friends regardless of what happened, so stop complaining considering it could be completely different, like Asami could’ve changed sides because of the betrayal or make a scene but she didn’t. She took the high path which takes a lot of guts, and still remains on their side, being their friend. As a very big fan of both series, I say stop making incompetent arguments just because one series is taking a different flow than the other, it’s a new story, new flow so just suck it up and appreciate it for what it is for it could be WAAAAAAY worse. It could be (I give Shymalan credit for trying but) like The Last Airbender. Yeah, I said it. Now, enjoy Season 2.
Yeah, but the fact that there was originally one season doesn’t excuse the sloppy writing and no character development or growth. You can make a good functioning story with complete arcs in twelve episodes, it was just that they tried to fit too many plotlines within those episodes. I’m not going to ust wave off that a series I was really looking forward to was pretty shitty just because it was originally one season, because it could have done a lot better with that twelve episodes than it did.
I didn’t read the rest of the comments, but as the very first poster said. They didn’t know there was going to be a second season. As a matter of fact this was just supposed to be a mini-series. So look at it from that perspective. As a mini-series they did a good job of bringing most things into closure. They are just now still working on season 2 which means it probably won’t be out until late next year.
I wouldn’t take this season so finite. It’s kind of like an integrity test. If you know the lore of Avatar then surely you’ll know that it is easily expanded upon with the many untouched upon understandings of the world itself. This season can just be Korra learning how to cope with a crisis and taking up the authority and duty of the Avatar. The next seasons could go into how the Avatar actual asserts their order in the world, how they deal with inevitable threats that arise (like the face stealer in the spirit world and even the sunken library; how much history and other pages of knowledge were kept there and what other evils await?). This series (Korra) seems to take a different approach from Last Airbender’s journey to becoming the Avatar to Korra’s Journey to fulfilling the Avatar’s shoes or upholding the faith in the Avatar. You could write/expand on many things from what we know of the Avatar world now.
@ChBee: This makes perfect sense. I think they wanted to extract out the characters and focus on what you stated. Korra had a hard time filling the shoes of the role of Avatar, and this season mostly focused on that. The wise choice would be to focus on character development in the next season, now that Korra has resolved this issue.
Also I agree with bigtukker. They went into this series originally just doing around 6 episodes (they wanted to do a mini series), than 12, than 2 seasons and now three. I think they did a good job since they were basically uncertain if they’d be successful a second time with Avatar. Like a fail safe, if the season went bad and they pulled the plug for whatever reason, this finale would make perfect sense. I think they wrote this finale with failure and a proper ending in mind, just to be safe. Now they can expand like I mentioned.
I agree with the character development we didnt learn much but as someone else stated they didnt know there were gonna be more seasons. And as far as her learning the avatar state, Remember that in The Last Airbender, aang was just unfrozen and had JUST found out he was the avatar, korra has known how to bend all elements except air since she was a child, naturally she would be closer to obtaining the avatar state. Plus we dont know that she can do avatar state at will maybe the past avatar’s just taught her to restore bending. There is pleanty of time for it to grow. Well seeing as season 2 is gonna be 14 episodes that actually remains to be seen. But lets give it time to grow before we harsh on it. Plus Avatar: The Last airbender didnt really get popular tell long after it was out. Maybe they were planning on the same thing but didnt realize how dedicated avatar fans were. Lets just wait out the next 2 books then bitch and moan.
I agree with how it ended so quickly… I began watching it after I heard the season finale was aired and I was disappointed tbh cause I expected at least 15 episodes. Also, I found alot of the story of korra to be incomplete compared to aang’s as we learned how he mastered the elements as oppose to korra starting off being able to do everything but airbend… Even if they had a teeny flashback going like “oh so korra learned this and this and age this”, I would’ve been more satisfied. Also, I would like to add that mako was the name of iroh’s dead son… Woulda also been more satisfied if more was provided on his name as it could’ve been done quite easily in season 1.
Korra still hasn’t lost that exciting “touch” that the last airbender had however, but what it’s missing is the full and complete story which the last airbender provided. Plus, personally and from many friends of mine, we seriously think that the season was too short and less epic compared to the last airbender. Notice the season finales of the 2. The last airbender: aang turned into a several story beast and wiped an entire fleet out; ending an invasion. Korra: learns airbending and goes into the avatar state AFTER facing a life and death situation which really shoulda set it off when naotak was about to rid her of bending.
So overall, it was good, but lacking quite a bit in comparison to the last airbender…I am finished :)
I TOTALLY agree with everything written here. I was saying the exact same sentiments to my wife and my friends. I was so emotionally WRECKED at the end of each season of A:TLA, and especially the finale of that series just flattened me.
My wife and I really love Korra and hope to see subsequent seasons, but yeah… it kind of feels like the story has been told and everything is all wrapped up, for the most part. I’m not left with any nagging questions to make me hunger for season two. There’s no dramatic cliffhanger to carry me through. I know there weren’t plans for any more seasons when they wrote this, but the creators aren’t new to the business. They’re masters of weaving a saga and even if they weren’t planning on further seasons, a nice “what if….” type cliffhanger would have been nice to allow the viewer to flesh out the story themselves.
Just stop complaining ur not da ones doing the show if u dont like it then dont watch it no one is making ya to watch it so stop complaining
I complain about the things I like, because I want them to be better than they are. I love the korra universe, the animation, and the potential of the plot and characters and it let me down, therefore I’m going to say what I think would have made it better. Anyone is allowed to complain, analyze, and criticize and it’s because I and many others loved the potential and we’re sticking with the franchise to the end.
Just because I didn’t make something doesn’t mean I won’t criticize it.
I do not agree with many things stated, one of my favorite series ever was Slayers, and on this series the main character was kick-ass from the beginning, (not to say that the series became so popular it aired in over 60 countries and endless seasons were made) I think to have a series of someone getting to the top again from the bottom… is too boring and too much of an american-cinema cliche. And if this series pulls so much from japanese-anime, I can’t possibly come across any reason to go back to the same boring american cliches we see in hollywood and blockbusters every day…
I can’t help but see that the pressure on the producers has already been making some predictable turns on the script for the audience they required to be sponsored for a second season. However I would be much happier if they were not filling all gaps so irrevocably, one of the best qualities of some animes are that many things remain unexplained and open to interpretation (just like real life)
As much as you came for Korra after Aang when no knots for her were left, what makes you think you will not come for Korra’s season two only because you cannot predictate any major plots for the next season.
Stop complaining
So i was reading on wilipedia, that this show really was meant to be a miniseries in the avatar universe, but received such high critical acclaim that they decided to expand. However, I don’t think the creators really intended for there to be that many filler episodes on characterization or backstories. I’m super interested in finding all of the little details out though, so I definitely agree with you. Anyways, there are supposed to be 14 episodes in the next season that had already been written before the airing of season one, so there is probably lots of stuff to be learned! :) I love the avatar shows, and am personally satisfied with this one so far, but the finale was a little overwhelming and kind of lacking, so I suppose we will just have to wait until next season, right.
I completely agree with this article. You captured my long-growing sentiments and concerns exactly. I too was thinking, “what happened to Bolin” “why should we care about a romance with characters we know next-to-nothing about?” and plenty of other questions. Yes, the series was way too fast pace, not that I didn’t love every epic minute of it, but yes. There are no slow emotional personal struggles. The equivalent is as if Aang lost appa, stopped the drill, lost hope, gained hope, found appa and could freely enter/leave the avatar state at will in one episode.
There is not a struggle for Korra. I was a bit excited when she lost her bending, because I was like “yes, she finally gets to realize what it’s like to not be all-powerful strong never-without-control buff macho Korra, and truly learn what it is like to develop air bending and rely on defense and patience, for at least ONE FRIGGIN EPISODE, COME ON!” But no, Korra can’t have sympathy with characters like Asami who cannot bend, or like Katara and Sokka who relied solely on bending or combat but not both. No, God forbid the all mighty Korra exists one half of a minute without her powerful beyond belief avatarness, and low and behold she’s back in control, can master the avatar states, all 4 elements, and airbending by the end of one season. Aang could barely water bend after the first season, and the rest took him 3! Plus he had to struggle and develop over a long period of time to do this. Oh, and goes from depressed to loving Mako in 3 seconds flat!
Though I do admit Korra struggled with airbending the entire season and finally got it, they never showed much of how hard it was to do. Everyone just assumes she’s studying and working in the second half of the season because actually showing it is so already done in one episode. Oh and Pema? who is she? she has maybe 3 lines in the whole series? I want to love her, but I don’t actually know her to prefer her over Lin. I actually think Meelo got more screen time and development.
I actually disagree with the disappointing nature of the season finale. I really loved it! SO EPIC! (and yes, far too packed) I was actually glad that Mako was shown to be an actually formidable bender, (because we know next to nothing about his true skill) and I loved that Korra unlocked her airbending, and how dark of a murder-suicide! I absolutely love this show regardless, but it’s like eating 12 dense dark chocolate truffles in one sitting without any other cookies or milk filler. I wish it could have been spread out in more episodes, not digested in one short one.
I’m sorry for my wordiness, but I just absolutely love TLOK. I am so thrilled they took on another avatar, and I can’t wait for how they will surprise me in season 2 (because, really, what is left to be done?). :) I am really excited still.
This is a perfect response! It is exactly how I felt about this series. And it is evident that they did not intend to write for 2 more seasons. I feel cheated and disappointed in this season. Hopefully this is just a sophmore slump.
I thought it would be more interesting if after loosing her bending she had to go back and “re-learn” how to bend like book two i.e. water or whatever would be about her path to learn how to bend water again, I think that would have been awesome, but I do understand why it had such a fast pace, I feel like the story was spat out as fast as possible because the simply were not sure if they’d get another season
personally I think Amon will be brought back,
and I feel like the overall this show is much more mature than the last airbender simply because of age which bridges a nice gap between those of us who grew up with it and newer possibly younger audiences.
Wow who ever wrote this article is a fucking dumb ass. The season finale was amazing they crammed as much content in there as they could and all loose ends were tie tight. Just because it wasn’t Aang is no reason to hate on it. So to the dumb fuck who thinks the finale was not good FUCK YOU DICK WEED. If you watch it like a real person with no “I’m a lil bitch” going on you would have seen that they are trying to make something “NEW” not the same Avatar from the past. I can only assume that the person who wrote this must have loved the dumb live action movie (Which we all know sucked ass). So lets give the creators a little more credit for making something that was well worth the wait and that blew my mind at every turn and thats not even bringing up the perfect HD animation.
The season finalle was terrific from an entertainment standpoint. Lots of action, and pleanty of questions answered. As for the character development, I don’t think that it is a probem that they didn’t go as far into the details of each of them as in the origional series. In the origional series throughout book one we really didn’t know that much about the character stories, compared to what we learned in Book 2. I say give them time, there was a lot of material that we expected to be referenced from the origional series that got covered. Now that we know everyone, they can add each characters backstories and play on some of the drama they’ve created in Book 1.
Having said that, regardless of Korra being older than Aang, she should not have been able to master the spirit realm so easily. Aang not only had a personality more suited to mastering it, but he also went through extreme meditation and reflecting. I could see the effect of her loosing her bending mabey connecting her to the spirit realm temporarily, and allowing her to return everyones bending while being in the avatar state… But I hope she hasn’t mastered it yet and will not be able to use it at will after 12 episodes when It took Aang almost 8 times that.
Its so weird how the series is for kids though. For those that did modern history in high school, will know all the Nazi references they had from Hitler to Holocaust of benders, etc…