The Legend of Korra - Your opinions?

[thejboy88]

With the second season of LOK now fully underway, I've once again been watching the show religiously. Like it's predecessor, The Last Airbender, I enjoy this show and the episodes it's given me so far.

However, I am fully aware that the Korra show has had more than it's fair share of critics since it began. So, I would like to know where you guys in the Escapist stand with regards to this show.

Do you like it? Dislike it? Or perhaps somewhere in between? Your reasons would also be appreciated.

And I apologize in advance if this is a thread that's been done before.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

I love it. It has great action scene, a good setting, and actually tries to do its own thing, opting not to be marred by the success of its predecessor. But I will admit it has its issues: the romance/love triangle never really worked, Mako is kind of one note (though he is actually becoming a bit more fleshed out recently), and Korra is majorly immature. But I am willing to give the show some more time to correct these issues, as the show had a seriously screwed up production for its first season and the fact that ATLA didn't really hook me until later on.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I don't really feel one way or another about it.

The most praise I can give Avatar: The Last Airbender is that it used the medium of animation to it's fullest to create some very inventive action scenes. I didn't watch Korra for too long to have any solid opinion about that.

Apart from that I've always felt both shows existed in this strange nexus where they're trying to be anime, but not really, and it creates this odd rift.

 

[MrHide-Patten]

I like it, better than most crap out there, but I don't feel that it evokes the same sort of 'hype' as it did initially. It's one of those things that it's hard to judge as it's going along and needs to wrap up before you can pass ful judgment.

The first season felt a bit rushed, but it served the pacing well, it didn't feel like it drags on like it sort of feels like with the ongoing series now. But yeah, still something I take the time to watch online.

 

[WindKnight]

Enjoying it so far, though Korra's character writing was really starting to get on my nerves as of the episode before last.

Its no TLA, but honestly it stands well on its own, But Korra herself has been a massive writing fumble so far this season, when everyone else shows just how much better the writers can be.

 

[Multi-Hobbyist]

-snip-

Pretty much this. I find the animation alright, the characters ... average, the story ... is more telling, rather than showing. There's plenty of faults, but overall, it's only Satisfactory so far. Barely skimming the surface to the finish line.

 

[Lorien077]

I couldn't bring myself to watch season two. After the one dimensional characters of season one (whom I honestly hated), the love quadrangle nonsense, and the creator's douche-y response to fan criticism I'm out. Could go on a really long rant about some of the story aspects I found lazy, but can't imagine anyone wants to read that. But the worst of it was how much time the drama took up as opposed to actual plot and character development.

 

[Realitycrash]

So far Korra has held a massive Idiot Ball for every episode, and the drama seems forced. There's the "You don't support me!"-episode, there's the "Are you taking HIS side?"-episode, there's the "STOP CONTROLLING ME, DAD!"-Episode.
God. A show rotating around a cast of twelve-year olds (i.e the first Avatar) feels far more grown up than this teen-drama-crap.

Korra continues to act like an emotional brat, but the high-point was her agreeing to have the Obviously Evil leader hold a trial for the rebels, and then threaten a judge when the sentence didn't turn out the way she wanted it.
"Justice and Law is fine, as long as it goes my way!"

Korra's emotional maturity is years and YEARS behind Aang's, despite Aang being much younger.

Exactly. They based Korra of Avatar Kyoshi, except Kyoshi was firm and a believer in 'Consequence justifies the means', or at least far more than most Avatars we have seen, claiming that she doesn't see the difference between indirectly killing a man and directly killing him (and that in the end, it wouldn't matter, what had to be done had to be done).
Korra isn't Kyoshi. Korra is just an immature hot-head.

Oh, they also vastly nerfed the Avatar State without any explanation. The Avatar State is the combination of all previous Avatars knowledge and experience (and power). If so, Korra should be able to simply Spirit-Mend (that's what I am calling it) the angry spirits into calm spirits WITHOUT Obviously Evil Leader's help. But she doesn't. She shoots fire, then goes down. That's LAUGHABLY weak compared to the power-levels of the Avatar State that we have seen before.
Possibly, this can be explained as Korra 'being in control' and actively refusing the help and input of the thousands of other Avatars before her, but that would just highlight even more how much of a moron she is. Stubborn is fine. Hybris is not.

 

[Drummodino]

I thought the first season was awesome. Amon was a fantastic villain and the story was great. It was really interesting to see bending in a steampunk environment. Lin, Tenzin, Bolin and Asami were great characters and I liked all the rest as well. I do wish Mako and Asami had stayed together - there relationship felt a lot more realistic than Mako and Korra.

Oh and the sequence with older Aang, Sokka and Toph was fantastic. Seeing a fully fledged Avatar in action was a dream made reality and it didn't disappoint.

Season 2 has started a bit slower but it's steadily gaining momentum. Hopefully Korra will mature a bit as she trains her spiritual side. I'm very curious to find out exactly what Unalaq is up to with the spirits.

The show isn't quite up to Fire Book standard but it's certainly still my favorite TV show airing these days.

 

[Jynthor]

I kind of liked season 1 but season 2 has been disappointing me a lot so far.
All character development Korra had in season one is currently gone, she's become rather annoying even.
But really, the last episode(The Sting) pissed me off, because of 3 reasons.

Spoiler: Spoilers I guess

Verrick one of the few likeable characters is very likely to become a villain. Because capitalism is evil I guess?
The stupid love triangle is back, sort of.
AND KORRA HAS FUCKING AMNESIA

 

[TheFederation]

It's strange, because I like mostly everything about LoK, apart from Korra. She just seems to never learn/develop from what she was at the beginning of the show. In TLA, nearly EVERY character had some form of change or arc, but Korra never listens to anyone, and i'm starting to wonder if that's just her character, or lazy writing.

On a more Spoiler-y note:

Spoiler

I actually think Verrick being the villian was a good twist, it actually makes alot of sense as to how everything has been happening, and it also suggest his zany, over-the-top manner was a disguise to mask his true intentions, making noone suspect him.
Also korra having amnesia might make her abit more interesting, hopefully

 

[Silverspetz]

Oh, they also vastly nerfed the Avatar State without any explanation. The Avatar State is the combination of all previous Avatars knowledge and experience (and power). If so, Korra should be able to simply Spirit-Mend (that's what I am calling it) the angry spirits into calm spirits WITHOUT Obviously Evil Leader's help. But she doesn't. She shoots fire, then goes down. That's LAUGHABLY weak compared to the power-levels of the Avatar State that we have seen before.
Possibly, this can be explained as Korra 'being in control' and actively refusing the help and input of the thousands of other Avatars before her, but that would just highlight even more how much of a moron she is. Stubborn is fine. Hybris is not.

Because giving in to Schizophrenia times 1000 is such a "smart" thing to do isn't it? I don't know why the Avatar state is nerfed, but I'm guessing it is either because Korra has yet to develop her spiritual side so even when she does enter it she doesn't have access to the entire repository of knowledge she should, or it is a side effect of her personality. She is too unwilling to let go of control that she can't access it all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing honestly because going out of control in the Avatar-Sate would be VERY bad.

On the subject of the show, I quite like it. I agree that Korra keeps making big mistakes which is a letdown, but unlike most I think I can actually see WHY she is acting like this. People forget this but right now things are REALLY desperate for her. This is HER home that is under attack and it is HER family who is at the center of it all, and at the same time this is exactly the kind is thing that she as Avatar is supposed to prevent and she knows it. Basically she has both "professional" and personal stakes in this, yet everywhere she goes she meets people who either work against her or are indifferent. The President's first order of business upon meeting her was making sure that the press got a nice picture of the two of them.

I don't like comparing her to Aang because really, they are two very different people, but in this case I think it is justified. Korra's current situation is basically what Aang would have faced, if instead of being frozen in ice he was awake and just figuring out how to handle his responsibilities when Sozin began his genocide of the Air Nomads. It's a very different challenge from "go and defeat clear-cut bad guy".

Throughout the whole season Korra has made it clear that this is the time for her to start taking her job as Avatar seriously. She dumped Tenzin as her teacher because she needed to develop spiritually and Unalaq was at the time proving himself to be a more competent teacher. She goes against her dad when he argues that Spirits should be kept separate from humans ("...it is MY job to be the bridge...") and the same thing happens with Mako when the two break up. Notice that she is just as pissed about the fact that what he did is hindering her work as the Avatar as she is about him "betraying" her. In short, she is making mistakes yes, but she is making mistakes for all the right reasons in my opinion. She is a person with the weight of the world on her shoulders, painfully aware of the fact that the people she love depends on her and she keeps encountering setback after setback. She is allowed to start going a little crazy at this point. How well the show is doing when it comes to portraying this without making her look like a thug on the other hand, is a different matter.

Even with all of Korra's faults though, I still say this is a great show. The side characters alone are worth tuning in for, and Korra herself is a perfectly sevicable character. Better a flawed character who makes mistakes than a bland one I say. The show's greatest weakness is that its titular character is its weakest link.

 

[Realitycrash]

Oh, they also vastly nerfed the Avatar State without any explanation. The Avatar State is the combination of all previous Avatars knowledge and experience (and power). If so, Korra should be able to simply Spirit-Mend (that's what I am calling it) the angry spirits into calm spirits WITHOUT Obviously Evil Leader's help. But she doesn't. She shoots fire, then goes down. That's LAUGHABLY weak compared to the power-levels of the Avatar State that we have seen before.
Possibly, this can be explained as Korra 'being in control' and actively refusing the help and input of the thousands of other Avatars before her, but that would just highlight even more how much of a moron she is. Stubborn is fine. Hybris is not.

Because giving in to Schizophrenia times 1000 is such a "smart" thing to do isn't it? I don't know why the Avatar state is nerfed, but I'm guessing it is either because Korra has yet to develop her spiritual side so even when she does enter it she doesn't have access to the entire repository of knowledge she should, or it is a side effect of her personality. She is too unwilling to let go of control that she can't access it all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing honestly because going out of control in the Avatar-Sate would be VERY bad.

Aang could only enter it under duress, and then he was pretty much unstoppable. Korra can enter it at will, and she is far, far weaker? Doesn't make much sense. She has greater control than Aang, but less access to the required powers?
It's also questionable if the Avatar State is Schizophrenia Times 1000. Seems more to be like "One person, with access to knowledge and memories of others".

 

[Raggedstar]

I steamrolled through the first series in a week. I adored it for it's animation, philosophy, and especially the characters. Some of the best child characters right here and then some. I genuinely struggle to find substantial flaws to the show.

I watched season 1 of Korra right after and...something is definitely missing. The philosophy and artistic side of the bending is mostly gone which is a huge shame (though you can almost assume that it means something, like how technology and science are replacing spirituality). I'm in agreement that Korra is an immature, dumb-headed brat more times than she should, and worst of all rarely seems to learn from it. Most of the characters are pretty one-note and dull (I like Bolin, Tenzin, Bumi, and Verrick though), and this whole love triangle things absolutely SUCKS. The pretty animation is there, Amon has presence to boot, and there are a few good plot points, but it can't stand on it's own.

In short, it's watchable but nowhere near as fascinating or well written as the original. Still, it hasn't gone to a point where I would stop watching in frustration.

 

[bliebblob]

Love it. I feel you could argue to hell and back if it's better of worse than last airbender, but at the end of the day that's like comparing a lamborghini and a ferrari: even if one somehows turns out to be objectively better than the other, the other one is still by no means a slow car and I'd frankly be overjoyed to own either.

If I had to give one criticism though, it would be how Korra constantly makes me want to slap her over the head. She just makes it so easy for her enemies to make her look bad in the public eye. I get that's supposed to be a major plot point, with her growing up in isolation in an otherwise rapidly changing world, but did noone there teach her anything besides kicking ass? Isn't the avatar supposed to be a diplomat before anything else?
The more I think about it, the less sense it makes: she's a hothead who is only interested in the most direct path to the bad guy and then pummeling his ass. Which is exactly what her teachers are training/trained her for. So why did that upset her to the point she wanted to leave? It would've made a lot more sense if she was being educated as a politician, rather than a martial artist. Both in terms of lore and in terms of why she left for Republic City. Sure, you could argue her shock & awe approach is sometimes just the thing that's needed. Because the bad guy won't expect it. But not when her doing so is clearly a trap.

Spoiler: slight spoiler for the last two episodes

And now, on top of that, Bolin is doing the whole 'fame corrupts' routine. I mean come on, these kids are not eleven right? You'd think especially Bolin would be a little more street-wise, being an orphan and all. Yes I know movies (or 'movers') are a brand new thing in the avatar universe but the seductive poison of fame hardly is.

It's because of stuff like that Mako and especially Asami are rapidly becoming my new favorite dynamic duo: they think things through and as a result end up making some pretty smart moves.

EDIT: Oh yeah, almost forgot. She has the avatar state now right? If martial arts is all she knows, maybe she could atleast consult the previous avatars every now and then about the political side of things?

Oh and to people saying there's not that much action. You're totally right. But remember: the last airbender didn't exactly start off as a bending mortal kombat either. Eventually though, the chesspieces got into place and it became a whirlwind of a show, which would've been impossible without first setting it all up.

 

[Silverspetz]

Oh, they also vastly nerfed the Avatar State without any explanation. The Avatar State is the combination of all previous Avatars knowledge and experience (and power). If so, Korra should be able to simply Spirit-Mend (that's what I am calling it) the angry spirits into calm spirits WITHOUT Obviously Evil Leader's help. But she doesn't. She shoots fire, then goes down. That's LAUGHABLY weak compared to the power-levels of the Avatar State that we have seen before.
Possibly, this can be explained as Korra 'being in control' and actively refusing the help and input of the thousands of other Avatars before her, but that would just highlight even more how much of a moron she is. Stubborn is fine. Hybris is not.

Because giving in to Schizophrenia times 1000 is such a "smart" thing to do isn't it? I don't know why the Avatar state is nerfed, but I'm guessing it is either because Korra has yet to develop her spiritual side so even when she does enter it she doesn't have access to the entire repository of knowledge she should, or it is a side effect of her personality. She is too unwilling to let go of control that she can't access it all, which isn't necessarily a bad thing honestly because going out of control in the Avatar-Sate would be VERY bad.

Aang could only enter it under duress, and then he was pretty much unstoppable. Korra can enter it at will, and she is far, far weaker? Doesn't make much sense. She has greater control than Aang, but less access to the required powers?
It's also questionable if the Avatar State is Schizophrenia Times 1000. Seems more to be like "One person, with access to knowledge and memories of others".

And all that knowledge and memory comes from 1000 different life-experiences with completely different personalities and ways of thinking. If having all of that isn't Schizophrenia then what is? Accessing all of that requires BY DEFINITION that you surrender yourself to it, allow others to take the drivers seat or at the very least as you put it, letting them "tell you what to do". Basically, getting more power in the Avatar state means gaining more knowledge, and you can't just "have" knowledge without it influencing you somehow, it just doesn't work that way. Getting more knowledge means allowing more and more voices into your head to GIVE you that knowledge, and that means surrendering more and more control over your actions to them. You say that Korra's Avatar State is weak despite her having much more control, but that is getting it backwards. She isn't controlling a massive amount of power and Knowledge and yet remains "weak". She can control it BECUASE she isn't accessing as much Knowledge as other Avatars did. She isn't taking in so much that it overwhelms her and the flipside to that is that she has less knowledge to work with. At least that is my take on it.

Aang ONLY entered it during duress because that is precisely when he had the least control and thus was more ready to surrender to others. We frequently saw that he was not himself when he went like that. He was either a blank slate with a ton of power but no real interest in what was going on or he was acting like some of the older Avatars. That sure as hell wasn't Aang speaking when he had Ozai pinned down and declared that he was about to execute him