The shitty writing of TLOK season 2 is even more tragic when you consider what a GOLDMINE of personal drama could've been contained in there completely unrelated to the love triangle. Unalaq is Korra's uncle! Eska and Desna are her cousins whom she interacted with as a child! That's her family!!! They knew each other before season 1!!!!!
Imagine you are the supreme being of your world, but you care deeply about your homeland and your people. Your uncle brings a colonizing force to steal the resources of your home, calling it "spiritual guidance." You plead with him to end the occupation. Your people are suffering. You have been told you must remain neutral. Someone tries to assassinate him. You stop them. After all, he's still your uncle. He's still family.
He accuses your father. You knew they had a strained relationship, but this is pushing it.
The trial is a sham. You find out the judge was a corrupt puppet. You go to free your father. Your uncle is there. He tells you that you are failing your sacred position. He tells you only he can help your people. Your cousins chase you down and try to kill you. Your uncle puts a little girl in a coma. He says he wants to put an end to your era. He uses you to advance the apocalypse.
You and your friends face the end of the world together. Your cousins join your side. He attacks your new home with vengeance.
He tries to kill you.
You are forced to kill your uncle. For the good of the world.
Everyone talks about how he was an evil man. You remember the festivals you attended together as a child. You have to tell your cousins after. How will they tell their mother?
Do you mourn the man you lost? Or wonder at the man you never really knew?
Not even to MENTION the red lotus connection, which I always thought was a real wasted opportunity.
UGHHHH THERES SO MUCH POTENTIAL WHYYYY NICKELODEON
There was so much tragedy there to explore. I always hated Eska and Desna's apathetic reaction to Korra telling them she couldn't save their dad. Like that was their FATHER!! They witnessed their own father being corrupted by an evil spirit, watched as he grew into a monster the size of a skyscraper, and tried to plunge their world into darkness and ruthlessly tried to kill their cousin. And sure, Eska and Desna have always been very apathetic people, that was their characters shtick, but after Bolin left without saying anything Eska was so heartbroken and angry she tried to chase him down all on her own over a whole ocean. There's no way in hell she would just shrug at the idea of her father dying. She also seemed very distraught when her father prioritized opening the spirit portal over Desna's life, but they NEVER even got into that. The only way they rounded back to it was Korra trying to convince E&D to let them go bc their father is evil and Desna did have that moment of hesitation where he almost cracked. There should have been a better exploration of E&D's feelings towards their father slowly deteriorating, succumbing to Vaatu. There should have been a better exploration of that family as a whole. We never even get to see their mother or family dynamic! WHY are E&D the way they are? WHY is their mother not traveling with them to the SW? We never get to even think of our own theories bc they gave us too little to go on.
Not to mention: we never even see Korra try and save Unalaq during their fight. She never mentions wanting to help her uncle, or attempting to dissuade him and bring him back to the good side. Sure she never really had a very good relationship with him but there's a reason she wanted to follow his teachings and stopped the assassination attempt on him and there's a reason she kept trusting him even while he laid siege on the SW, UNTIL she found out her father's trial was a farce. We never see her try to do anything to conserve Unalaq's spirit during her fight with Unavaatu, but then she goes and tells her cousins very casually that she "couldn't save him." And then they try and make it a funny moment by having E&D wonder how they'll tell their mother that her husband died.
Idk, it's just so much wasted opportunity, but the same goes for the cloud family where they made a very piss poor attempt at portraying a mixed family. At least they kind of explored their family dynamics for an episode.
The Avatar being dragged into personal drama could be so interesting!!! Being torn between your duty and your family, or duty to your family vs your duty as Avatar vs duty to your tribe. And love for those things as well......Considering that's not Aang had to deal with at all. It's like they didn't have money for writers on TLOK.
