Legend of Korra Book 2 Premiere

[shintakie10]

Hopefully they don't murder the entire season in the last 10 minutes of the last episode like they did with Book 1.

They did that because they didn't know if Nik was going to give them more seasons. So they wanted to end it in the case that it didn't work out. I don't know why Nik didn't trust them with multiple seasons considering how successful A:TLA was.

True, but they wouldn't have had to end it that way in the first place if they didn't waste like....3 episodes worth of time going over the stupid un-needed love triangle.

Oddly I actually really enjoyed the love triangle then absolutely hated how it ended simply because Korra was such a teenage girl about it. Yes go for the aloof pretty boy who hasn't shown any interest at all while the not pretty boy you totally connect with and is very much into you gets passed over for reasons.

I was always pretty torn about Legend of Korra. I really enjoyed it, but at the same time Korra was just extremely unlikable. She was supposed to be rebellious and she was supposed to be a teenager, but did they really have to take so damn long to give her some form of likeable qualities? I get it, she was growin up as we watched her, but fuck it man. There's only so much whinin and bitchin and stupid teenage bs I can take before I want to strangle myself.

 

[Smiley Face]

It's difficult to express just how much I'm anticipating this. I really, really like this show - the art, the music, the world they've created, the way they can hit the comedic and dramatic bits just right...

God damn, that series has some badass music.

Not sure where they're going to take it though. Didn't the first season end with the bad guy vanquished, all his works undone and Korra's OP avatar mojo good to go? Where does the core conflict go from there?

New conflict shows up - why drag on with the Equalists when you can introduce a new and interesting dimension? (Though I do hope they explore the aftermath of the Equalist uprising - do they try to make progress, do they suppress Equalist sentiment, will there be something of a resurgence? Who knows?)

Basically, what they've said about it is that while Korra's now got airbending down, she still doesn't have any experience with the spirit world, and that's where the next big threat is coming from. I'm really looking forward to that - the whole spirit world thing was an interesting aspect of the original series that was only lightly touched on, and now that the show's moved into an industrial setting, it'll be interesting to see how a spirit world will impact things. Also, while Aang's the only one we've seen go into the spirit world, it's not something that was unique to Avatars, so we're going to get to see Tenzin and family head there too, which should be interesting. Also, they're going to explore the origin story of the original Avatar, which also sounds like a really interesting direction to go. And they're going to introduce Tenzin's siblings, and Korra's family, something we also never got to see with hundred-years-out-of-his-time Aang.

In short, it looks like they've got plenty of excellent ideas to run with.

The series appears to have moved on from Republic City. Which is shameful, because half the reason I fell in love with The Legend of Korra was because of Republic City's charm, civilians, politics, limits, and technological advantages. It's a lot like why I loved it in The Last Airbender when they were stuck in Ba Sing Se for several episodes.

I'm still going to watch it and probably like it. But since the first season slaughtered off Amon and Tarrlok in the last few minutes of the finale, how can they hope to have antagonists just as good as two bloodbending, corrupted, politically untouchable brothers?

While the show won't just be in Republic City this time, that seems like it's for the best - I doubt they'll stay away from it entirely, but I think they've done enough with Republic City for now, better to leave it for a time and go show us a new environment.

As for the villains, Avatar's always had excellent villains - Amon and Tarrlok were great, but that doesn't mean the next one won't also be great - and said next one will apparently be voiced by Grey DeLisle, voice of Azula, so if the character and motivation are good, which I'm hopeful they will be, we might get another good villain.

And besides, I think there is something of an argument to be made that having Amon and Tarrlok gone is an acceptable cost for HOW they went out (the fact they got that on a kids show is impressive).

 

[jamail77]

Hopefully they don't murder the entire season in the last 10 minutes of the last episode like they did with Book 1.

They did that because they didn't know if Nik was going to give them more seasons. So they wanted to end it in the case that it didn't work out. I don't know why Nik didn't trust them with multiple seasons considering how successful A:TLA was.

True, but they wouldn't have had to end it that way in the first place if they didn't waste like....3 episodes worth of time going over the stupid un-needed love triangle.

Oddly I actually really enjoyed the love triangle then absolutely hated how it ended simply because Korra was such a teenage girl about it. [...]I really enjoyed it, but at the same time Korra was just extremely unlikable. She was supposed to be rebellious and she was supposed to be a teenager, but did they really have to take so damn long to give her some form of likeable qualities? I get it, she was growin up as we watched her, but fuck it man. There's only so much whinin and bitchin and stupid teenage bs I can take before I want to strangle myself.

What I heard was that from the start the creators planned it as a mini-series. They had the idea to make it into something bigger in the back of their minds, but didn't think too much of it. So, as someone else said it was a bit of both. Greenlighting more Books (1 season is technically 2 books according to the creators) was sort of something they pitched after they saw it succeeding. They said something along the lines of, "Oh, well um we have more ideas if you'd like. Actually, we planned out a lot just in case because we're really invested in the show". The tricky thing about the original series is that while it was successful it also border-lined on being a cult following, so Nick probably took that into account.

The creators also said Nick actually told them they weren't sure on green-lighting it because of its female character and the stigma that comes with that, so previous success wasn't enough. I personally don't care. As the creators said their screen-tested boys thought nothing of it. "They just thought she was awesome".

shintakie10: I know exactly what you mean. That's the infuriating thing about this show: I like it, but at the same time it's really annoying. It makes me want to stop watching, but at the same time I enjoy it enough to not want to. It made up for bad focus on character development in later episodes a little bit, but it never really overcame them completely. Then again, the only way to do that satisfactorily, for me personally anyway, would be to have it do everything right consistently through those 12 episodes and I never felt it did. I hoped the creators would learn from Book 1.

This backs up the theory that the best written episodes of the old show were done by other people and the creators were best at being the visionaries. People like to say there is evidence to that fact especially whenever you saw them dabble in some of Korra's more upfront themes in the old series when they were less prevalent. For example, Aang and Katara's romance was subtle and not thrown in front of us, so any writing problems were mitigated. It was easier to write and better for the overall plot. It had it's "ugh" moment though once or twice and they show up worse in Korra some people say. I'd have to rewatch the two side-by-side to tell you if I think that's true though.

 

[Yuuki]

I was always pretty torn about Legend of Korra. I really enjoyed it, but at the same time Korra was just extremely unlikable. She was supposed to be rebellious and she was supposed to be a teenager, but did they really have to take so damn long to give her some form of likeable qualities? I get it, she was growin up as we watched her, but fuck it man. There's only so much whinin and bitchin and stupid teenage bs I can take before I want to strangle myself.

This isn't technically a spoiler but...I just watched the first two episodes of Season 2 and Korra is just as whiny/bitchy/arrogant as she was in Season 1, if not even more so. She's also giving the impression of running into things headstrong and digging herself into deep shit (sound familiar? ).

I guess once the writers had assigned her that personality they had to go all the way with it.

 

[jamail77]

snip

This isn't technically a spoiler but...I just watched the first two episodes of Season 2 and Korra is just as whiny/bitchy/arrogant as she was in Season 1, if not even more so. She's also giving the impression of running into things headstrong and digging herself into deep shit (sound familiar? ).

I guess once the writers had assigned her that personality they had to go all the way with it.

I was waiting for someone to say that, so I could state my opinion on these new episodes without feeling as guilty about it. I'll reiterate your reply anyway though for everyone else just because I feel like I should regardless: It doesn't have anything spoilerific in it, but my opinion might ruin the experience of those of you about to see it so you've been warned.

"TL;DR: It's fun to watch but at the same time some of the writing and character development and what aspects of the episode the plot focuses on really annoy me.

The same thing happened in Book 1 [that happened in just these 2 episodes]. Something would happen where she'd learn a lesson then go back to doing something that showed she clearly learned nothing. That or she brushed it aside in the heat of the moment far too often or in too serious situations for it to be forgivable anymore. Or that ending Deus Ex Machina that handed her things she hadn't earned or grown enough to deserve.

The thing about Book 1 is there were minor explanations, minor possible implications, and better focus, on things that mattered more for the plot and character development/stuff I personally cared more about, in later episodes that mitigated some of that. The problem is they didn't occur consistently throughout those 12 episodes. She needed those throughout for us to connect deeper and understand her more the whole time. Instead of that they were thrown in to fix the problems we had connecting to her character after the fact [and I'm not sure the little bit of improvement was all intentional or came through revelations from fan reactions or other people working on the series either]. It only sorta works. Now that the Book 2 premiere is done it's clear that won't fly anymore; it's happened one too many times to be mitigated by future, better writing or my urge to want to excuse it or let it slide.

I was upset as it is about Korra having such an easy time with the Avatar State. I know energybending also imparts knowledge, but that is no substitute for experience, wisdom, and training. After everything Aang went through, it just seems wrong. Heck, even when I ignore the first series I know what that power is and how it works, so it still seems wrong. No reasonable explanation, flashback, or struggle has been shown yet to justify it and make me like her better as a character. That's the infuriating thing about this show: I like it, but at the same time it's really annoying. It makes me want to stop watching, but at the same time I enjoy it enough to not want to."

 

[Yuuki]

I was upset as it is about Korra having such an easy time with the Avatar State. I know energybending also imparts knowledge, but that is no substitute for experience, wisdom, and training. After everything Aang went through, it just seems wrong. Heck, even when I ignore the first series I know what that power is and how it works, so it still seems wrong. No reasonable explanation, flashback, or struggle has been shown yet to justify it and make me like her better as a character. That's the infuriating thing about this show: I like it, but at the same time it's really annoying. It makes me want to stop watching, but at the same time I enjoy it enough to not want to."

I wholeheartedly agree, I too felt that Korra was simply handed everything in the final episode, NONE of which she deserved.
That includes her pulling airbending out of nowhere. It made no conceivable sense how Korra could airbend while filled with anger, desperation and vengeance when the style is supposed to be about inner peace, joy and freedom. Oh and she did that while throwing an utterly generic PUNCH that didn't even remotely look like an airbending move. At all.

Then everything went over the cliff (no pun intended) when Aang simply "handed over" ENERGY BENDING over to Korra, along with the knowledge and full mastery of the Avatar State. Something that is supposed to trigger as a defense mechanism in young avatars and make them go berserk, something which Aang (an extremely wise monk) had so much trouble mastering...and Korra just floats there, calm and collected, having learned fully mastered the Avatar State within seconds. This girl only just learned how to finally contact previous avatars, and had learned airbending literally 5 minutes before that. And then she proceeds to use energy-bending to give everyone their bending back.

That is like a big "hey Avatar fans, fuck you" from the creators, I just sat there with my mouth hanging open in disbelief.

Also regarding the fighting choreography, I remember when I watched these clips and found myself squealing like a fangirl because of the sheer awesomeness of bending styles being based on actual martial arts:
Sadly most of that careful attention paid to the martial-art styles / bending choreography seems to be barely there in Korra, only a shade of what it was in AtLA. Bending styles are barely distinguishable.

Hopefully they don't murder the entire season in the last 10 minutes of the last episode like they did with Book 1.

They did that because they didn't know if Nik was going to give them more seasons. So they wanted to end it in the case that it didn't work out. I don't know why Nik didn't trust them with multiple seasons considering how successful A:TLA was.

Unfortunately that raises more questions than it answers:
1) How many episodes was the first season supposed to have?
2) Did the writers know about how many episodes they had to work with? Were they even told?
3) Did the writers craft the story around the fact that Season 2 was guaranteed, or not?
4) If they knew they only had 12 episodes to tie things up then why wasn't the story paced accordingly, why did the last episode feel so bizarrely out of place?

It was WAY too obvious that something unplanned had gone wrong with production. That didn't look like a story that was supposed to end on the 12th episode.

 

[Little Woodsman]

Just watched the first two episodes, and gotta say I have mixed feelings.....

Spoiler: Spoilers for Book 2 Ep 2

Korra was told that she needed to open the gateway to the spirit realm....and her first instinct was to throw bending attacks at it? Huh? And then she does open it, not through learning a lesson or flashing back on some wisdom Tenzen had shared with her at some point but just by going in to the avatar state and touching it? I thought that this series was supposed to be about her growth as a person....
This also highlighted to me that all of her training seems to have been combat oriented....bending is about more than combat. MUCH more. She's one of the world's foremost water benders, and she freakin' studied under Katara, she should have some appreciation of the idea that bending is about healing as well as fighting. She's an amazing earth bender, she should grasp that bending is as much about building up as tearing down....{sigh}

I guess we'll just have to see how it goes....

 

[jamail77]

snip

I wholeheartedly agree, I too felt that Korra was simply handed everything in the final episode, NONE of which she deserved.
That includes her pulling airbending out of nowhere. It made no conceivable sense how Korra could airbend while filled with anger, desperation and vengeance when the style is supposed to be about inner peace, joy and freedom. Oh and she did that while throwing an utterly generic PUNCH that didn't even remotely look like an airbending move. At all.

[snip]

Sadly most of that careful attention paid to the martial-art styles / bending choreography seems to be barely there in Korra, only a shade of what it was in AtLA. Bending styles are barely distinguishable.

snip

snip

Unfortunately that raises more questions than it answers [snip].
It was WAY too obvious that something unplanned had gone wrong with production. That didn't look like a story that was supposed to end on the 12th episode.

Well, I can answer the thing about airbending. Korra wasn't trying to airbend. She was trying to force any sort of bending, hoping for fire judging by the move. Yes, it's a generic punch but that is something you see with firebending now and then especially with Korra since she favors that bending so much. SUPPOSEDLY, it was her concern for Mako, letting go, focus in the moment, "when we are at the lowest point, we are open to the greatest change" thing that allowed her to airbend. Think of that what you will. This is in addition to her inability to unlock it saving it from being taken away, as well of course, which actually makes perfect sense in comparison to the other reasons. The proper movement alone does not necessarily equal the bending occurring, it just compliments and channels it better, if you ask me. Tenzin even says in the Book 2 premiere that Korra has mastered "Korra airbending", not real airbending.

To be fair, she didn't show TOO great of a control. Tenzin's air blasts looked pretty powerful and he did some complicated stuff in comparison to Korra if I remember right. There were moments they seemed to have more power behind them, even if just for a millisecond, than what we saw of Aang most of the time (not including stuff like the air body slam at the Book 2 finale and the airbending I think he did during the volcano eruption in "The Fortuneteller"). Maybe Tenzin's force behind his airbending was just me though. Or maybe it was the bigger cartooniness of the previous series. I don't know.

Now, as to your bending style problem I partially agree. Part of the point of pro-bending and creator commentary in interviews and stuff was to explain that bending has adapted for modern life, especially Republic City life. It's quick-footed, simplified, and fast for encounters in alleys and whatnot. Korra even had this to say about pro-bending, "I've been immersed in bending my entire life and I never learned how to move like that. It's like there's a whole new style here." On one hand, I think it mixes up the formula, sort of fits the theme of the era, and is a nice change of pace. There are still distinctions in the bending styles now and then. And don't tell me a couple key fights with the first chi blockers, one of the lieutenant encounters (I think? Don't remember if that was a cool looking fight), etc. didn't look great. The arms and legs interlocked in a manner that just seemed martial artsy, the finesse was there, it was awesome. There were only 2 short fights like that, but I really enjoyed them. On the other hand, there could be as good a distinction as A:TLA. I liked when Unalaq did that calming spiritual waterbending on the Dark Spirit in the premiere. It looked like legit waterbending.

As for the writing, there are some posts above including one of mine that semi-explain more on this (just Ctrl-F keywords like "mini-series", it was originally intended as a one-shot mini-series of just 12 episodes, or "Nick" or "theory" to find them quickly) but you can look up the confirmed details on the story behind that as well.

 

[Tanis]

I enjoyed the SE2 premiere.

The twins were an...interesting...touch.
Kind of surprised they got away with it.

Also:
Ending of EP2 was...huh.

How does that saying go?

Spoiler

War is a waltz that has no end.
War. Peace. Revolution.

Or, if you're a Gundam Wing fan...

Spoiler

History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

I kinda liked it. It's neat to see a return to the Spiritual side of the Avatar-verse.

 

[manic_depressive13]

At first I was pretty impartial towards Korra and Mako, but now I'm starting to dislike them. Korra especially is crossing the line from proud and headstrong to deluded and unsympathetic. Mako is just boring, and always was. They don't work as a couple either.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Seeing how this thread seen to be about talking the two episodes now and I got a few things to say-

Spoiler

I liked how they had fresh out Korra dad as a character, who would of thought he was a general and could of been the next chief if he didn't destroyed that spirit forest.

I found Korra to be really obnoxious in the premier. She really is living up to her rebellious character archtype. Despite being 17, she isn't mature to understand that it's only natural for the parent/ guardian to be protective to their child/ loved one even if it means keeping secrets from them. I guess I had seen way too many "protective" adult in other show. Beside shouldn't she give Tenzin some credit from season 1 but I do agreed that bring back the balance to the South Pole is more important than the round the world trip (I mean he could of stayed the South Pole forest part and then asked her again to join him after it was sorted out).
While I did get used to her arrogant side but not this time either. It only been two months and she think she had master Air bender or did Tenzin gave her some intense training during those two months (althought I thought she would of been bending undoing Amon chiblocking the bending to those people). It's clear that she is still not intune with her spirital side so she whould of know her flaws and willing to accept more training (the round the world trip) to be the Avatar.

Also I found it way too obvious that Unalaq is the antagonist of season 2 or at least we know he can be the villain given to his distasteful toward the lack of respect for the spirit and that scene at the end of episode 2. Beside I find it questionable how he able to tame those angry spirit at ease or is he really bring back pease to those angry spirit?

Lastly it seen Korra dad isn't the only character who is getting some development to due to Jinora (Tenzin daughter) being able to sense something related to those spirit thing especially toward that statue at the end of episode 2.

 

[Robot Number V]

First of all, I'm not putting my post in a spoiler tag, because I'll be talking about what happens in the premiere. Obviously. Because that's what this fucking thread is about. If you haven't seen it yet, then what the hell are you expecting in this thread? Go watch both episodes, and then come back.


Anyway.


I'm just gonna be lazy and list my thoughts in "Pros/Cons" form.

Pros:
The world they've created is fucking awesome. Just about every facet of the world looks awesome. I also like where the plot is going, from what I can tell. I also really like this guy that seems to be the new villain. It SEEMS like he wants to conquer the Southern Water Tribe, but in the name of "spiritual balance". That's...interesting.

Cons:
Sadly, there's a LOT of them. For one thing, there's way too many fucking characters, and a huge amount of them are contributing nothing outside of humor. (Bolin and the Twins, and I'm looking at you) Aside from that, we still have yet to see any really significant development from Korra. She follows the same pattern: Rebel against authority figure (AKA Tenzin), dive into a situation without fully understanding it, learn that she probably shouldn't have done then, repeat next episode. Maybe these characters will develop as the show continues, but frankly, none of them hold up to The Last Airbender's characters right now.

The twins were an...interesting...touch.
Kind of surprised they got away with it.

Uh...Got away with what?

 

[Robot Number V]

none of them hold up to The Last Airbender's characters right now.

I disagree. We have one character from season 1 that is as interesting and well made as the ones from the first series (especially in regard of the few episodes she's been in). Sadly she only got ~3 minutes screentime of which the majority were stolen my comic relief characters.

I am talking about the beauty that stood up to her father against the equalists, was shown to be both elegant as well as capable, she is a strong fighter with many skills and now she has to rebuild the thing her father ran into the ground thanks to his hate. She showed no bad feelings even though from season 1 she was the one left with the most negative impact on her life....

And she got only 3 fukken minutes.

I assume you know who I refer to.

Ah yes. I forgot to mention her. She was the most well rounded and well-developed character of the entire first season by FAR. Frankly, the show would be a lot better if it was about her. Hopefully she gets more screen time in the future.

 

[Abomination]

The problem with the Legend of Korra is that Korra is the worst thing about the Legend of Korra.

A completely unlikeable character who consistently makes bad decisions and is irresponsible with her powers and arrogant to boot.

The supporting cast are essentially a bunch of janitors who follow her around cleaning up all the messes she makes while trying to shepherd her towards what she should be doing with her abilities.

I still like the series, I just believe that a cardboard cut out with a flamethrower, jet engine, water hose and slingshot loaded with rocks would be a more compelling character than Korra.

 

[lord canti]

The thing to remember about Korra is that they originally didn't have a lot of time to flesh out these characters like they did with the last airbender. Hopefully now since they are doing 4 seasons the show will be much better paced and the characters much more developed. Also I really enjoyed Korra as a character because she is arrogant and hot headed. She is a character who is the exact opposite of Aang and that to me is a good thing.

 

[soren7550]

Yeah, they could of handled Korra a lot better this time around. I mean, in 'A Leaf in the Wind', when she snaps at Tenzin, you get why she did, because you see her growing more and more frustrated with him throughout the episode. However, with the last two episodes, she's snapping at almost everyone with seemingly almost no provocation. Hopefully, things get better in the next episode.