Right. I'm not happy. Sorry I just skipped to the last page of this thread without reading the crazy long comments :P
Pacing. All sense of pacing was through out of the fucking window. I know the Avatar series was known to show a tremendous amount of events happening in one episode, but this...was plain RUSHED. I know the directors said they wanted to have the series a lot "tighter" with no messing around with fillers. But in doing that they made it SO tight that there was pretty much nothing else.
1) The FIRST TIME Korra goes into the Avatar state she has full control of it. I call bullshit. Don't try to make sense out of it, it was plain rushed and forcefully wrenched into the last episode.
2) How the hell did Korra learn airbending from having her other 3 elements taken away? Airbending comes from peace of mind and freedom. Korra saw her friend's bending being almost taken away and then literally started
punching the air (the
exact moves that shoots fireblasts or hurl stone discs), at which point Amon conveniently forgets how to dodge. "I can airbend!" she yells with determination and throws a few more jabs/uppercuts. Bullshit.
Airbending is supposed to use circular movements to build up kinetic energy and then unload it in massive gales. I can imagine Aang doing that exact same air torrents except he would've rotated both arms (or his body) with fluidity, like airbenders are supposed to do. That whole scene made jack-all sense, nobody attempted to explain how she suddenly learned airbending while having everything else taken away, it was just left at that.
3) We never find out how Bloodbending could remove (or disable, or whatever) the ability to bend. I don't want to hear theories or speculation about it, I want to hear what the WRITERS had to say about it. I want a definitive answer and we never got one, and now both of the most powerful waterbenders on earth are dead.
4) Mako. He's a dick. Why would you have one of the main supporting characters be such a gigantic dick? How come Korra didn't ask Mako about silently betraying his relationship with Asami? Why is he allowed to play a "I loved you all along" card and nobody has any problems with that? Asami just seems bitter. If I was Asami I would electrocute the asshole and tell him to atleast LET HER KNOW CLEARLY that their relationship was over and he liked Korra more.
5) Overall comic relief. Every_single_time there's supposed to be a "funny" moment, the characters pull a sarcastic face. It was alright in the first few episodes but it is endlessly repeated in the remainder of the season. This is just a minor point though, the show did have it's funny moments.
6) Iroh just came there to fight and show us he could firebend quite well. Where is Zuko's personality? Where is Uncle Iroh's patience? He has no connection other than his looks and being voiced by the same guy.
7) Pacing, the most important one. This was slowly pushing against the window in most of the series, and then it was booted violently out the fucking window with the last episode (or the 2nd half of the last episode). There was a desperate attempt to tie-up all knots at the end of the season. Amon dead, Tarrlok dead, Asami's dad defeated, Korra equalized, then back to full power (and mastered avatar state), full connection with all previous avatars, she can now ENERGY BEND, everyone's bending got restored. This happened in a space of 20 minutes. Sorry but no.
I fully knew (before I saw the rest of the episode) that Korra could gain her connection back with the elements. But I thought that part would've been paced out into Season 2, meanwhile she would learn advanced airbending with Tenzen and strengthen her connection with the spirits and finally take an adventure to regain her other elements, helping people on her way. You know, a different spin on the Avatar journey as the travel around the world. Instead what we got was a "tie all knots" ending that looked extremely rushed.
Don't get me wrong, I did feel very sad when Tarrlok took himself and his brother out. I almost shed a tear when I saw Aang and all the previous avatars return.
But overall I have no connection with Korra. I don't feel sad when she cries (she cries a bit randomly IMO as if to remind us "hey I'm a girl, see how I sporadically burst into tears and attempt to display emotion"), I don't feel happy when she's happy. I'm more interested in Aang's life than Korra's life because Aang's journey (and all support characters too) was so amazingly paced, their personalities so well-defined etc etc that by the end we were all left with a bunch of characters with AMAZING depth. This all comes back to pacing. The series so far has been far, far too "tight".
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