My main gripe with The Legend of Korra, especially the first two seasons, is that the writers never committed to the bit. They'd set up a very interesting premise with a very interesting conflict, but as soon as things start heating up and things start getting serious, they'd turn tail and run! They'd start throwing spectacle to distract the audience from the grey, nuanced area they'd have to wade through otherwise. So you're left with half-finished plots, half-arsed character arcs, unfulfilling seasons and a show that just fell short.
Here's a teen Avatar who's been isolated her entire life and has only ever been surrounded by people who love her, love bending and love the Avatar. She has been training her entire life to be a warrior, to be the best bender of her generation. But then she's sent to this city, her first taste of being a real Avatar, and the name of the game is politics, not fighting, and she's never even heard of the concept of conflict resolution. Not only that, but this city has led to the oppression of non-benders and suddenly, by virtue of being the Avatar, she finds herself as part of an oppressive class when she doesn't even know what oppression really is; she's never even seen it at a distance because she grew up in a damn compound. It also doesn't help that the only non-bender she knows in the city is a damn one-percenter. And now the Avatar needs to face off against a non-bender, which, honestly, seems like a really unfair fight and isn't going to look good in newspaper headlines. How is this Avatar going to navigate being a bender but fighting for non-benders? How is she going to grapple with the fact that maybe this generation doesn't really need an Avatar? Or that being the Avatar doesn't automatically put her in the right, even though that's what she's been told her entire life? This is a damn good set-up! Well, don't worry about it! Amon is now a bloodbender! So now she's free to beat the shit out of him. And don't worry about the oppression of non-benders, it's never going to be mentioned again. The problem was solved off-screen, maybe. Who knows? Definitely not the writers! And now she can airbend. And now she can spiritbend. And now she has a boyfriend!
Oh, look, there's a civil war brewing between the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, specifically between the Avatar's uncle and her father. The Avatar is a peace-keeper, expected to be an impartial voice of reason; however, this teen girl is very emotional and very much driven by her emotions. How is she expected to be impartial when her home and her people are in danger? How is she expected to punish her own people for their part in this civil war? And, just to add insult to injury, there are war profiteers all over the place, swimming in money. Is the Avatar and her friends, including the one-percenter, going to have to grapple with the pitfalls and exploitation of capitalism? Again, this is a damn good set-up! And, once again, don't worry about it! Because look, spirits! There's one very good one and one very bad one. And they're eternally fighting. And the Avatar is fighting for the good one, so I guess the Avatar is always good, right? Oh, speaking of the Avatar, here's the story of the original Avatar that no one asked for. Anyway, spirits spirits spirits! And side-character shenanigans! Look!
