Avatar: The Last Hairbender & Legend of Korra

[Sockmonkey]

Spoiler:

Agreed. The ending was way too pat... "we fixed everything in the last 10 minutes". Korra should have had to work to restore her bending (and others), not have it given back straight away. The sudden airbending after getting de-powered seemed odd. I'd have preferred to see the lieutenant allow them to escape while keeping Amon busy instead. Tarlok is quite self centered and selfish, I really don't see him committing suicide so it seemed out of character. He may have been able to convince Amon to restore his bending so he had a reason to not give up right off the bat.

It was entertaining but there were big flaws in the execution of the finale.

Spoiler:

I agree about the deus ex machina ending.

The airbending wasn't totally sudden as she had been training for it. It sort of makes a kind of sense that it would be easier for her to access it when A: She's totally desperate, and B: With her other powers silenced it was easier for her to "listen" to the part of her that's an airbender.

Spoiler:

Meh, I really disliked how they dealt with Amon and the whole equalist thing: apparently, the whole "equalists kinda have a point" thing was dropped, Asami's father got evil and Amon is simply a power-hungry psycho. I expected more ambiguity about his character.

Tarlok's blowing up that boat was awesome, though. Since Tarlok was portrayed somewhat positively before that, at first I thought that he did that because his brother was too dangerous for the world, but the more I think about it, the more it looks like plain vengeance.

Spoiler:

I don't think it was only vengence. I think that on some level he still hated what he and his brother had become and that they both were long past the point of redemption. Also, he lost everything he had worked for, even if he did get his bending back.
Yes it was awesome and I'm glad they didn't cop out with a maybedeath.

Regarding the scars, I thought that Amon had used his bloodbending on himself to fake them and that a few minutes later we would see him use it again to erase them in private.

[Nath]

My thoughts on the finale:

Spoiler:

• I thought the Tarrlok/Amon storyline was resolved well, though their story should have been foreshadowed.
• The actual events leading up to Korra getting her powers back were fine, but the pacing was wrong. I think the season should have ended with Korra powered down, going off on her own to make a new life after Tenzin fails to persuade her that an Avatar's duties do not come from her powers. The next book could begin with her trying to do her duty with only airbending power, and in the process getting in touch with her spiritual side and so on, getting her powers back an episode or two in.
• I never really cared about the Korra/Mako/Asami storyline, but they spent a lot of time on it without it really having anything to do with the story. I don't think they should have gone with the 'rejected lover joins the enemy' cliche, but come on, have someone make a sacrifice or a difficult choice or something.
• I'd have liked to see how regular people reacted to all this. Did non-benders support Amon? Some did, apparently, judging by the size of the crowd at Sato's speech. But what about the friends and relatives of benders? How did they react to seeing the people they cared about forcibly stripped of their powers?

[Xeio]

On the end being too easy:

Spoiler:

Yeah, we could've watched her spend a bunch of episodes learning her way around spirit-bending, and only then had her restore the blocked benders, and that might have been a cool story, but the fact that they've decided not to tell that story isn't necessarily a flaw until we see what story they've decided to tell instead. Time not being infinite, we always have to glaze over some things to get to the stories we want to tell. Maybe they needed a fully realized avatar for the next chapter, so they chose to glaze over the long process of learning spirit bending. Won't know til next season. That said, they teased that story really clumsily in the process of telling their "push the avatar to her lowest point" story.

One really big problem with this? At the time this ending was written, it was not clear there was even going to be a second season. If Nick had not picked the show back up, we would have had to live with that crap forever.

They tied everything up because, gods forbid, there were a few unresolved plot points, and we can't have that.

[Ryom]

Given the critical success of its predecessor I'm surprised Nick wasn't willing to contract outright for at least two seasons totaling 24 episodes. It may not have the merchandising power of say... Spongebob, but it has got to be good to have a critically acclaimed show on your network regardless. LoK is great for what it is supposed to be (a kid's show), but not so good at what it is trying to be (something more).

[Belial]

One really big problem with this? At the time this ending was written, it was not clear there was even going to be a second season. If Nick had not picked the show back up, we would have had to live with that crap forever.

They tied everything up because, gods forbid, there were a few unresolved plot points, and we can't have that.

Do we actually know if they knew about the second season when they were writing the end of S1? If they didn't, then I suspect the nick executives didn't want to let them end on a downer. The "little kids watch this show, try not to crush them" issue. And I suspect they blew all of their "no, hush executives, trust us on this one" points with the boat scene.

[Zohar]

Honestly, if they figured they couldn't have done the story in a single 13-episode run, they should have gone with a different story.

[MinotaurWarrior]

It seems to me that, in retrospect, the equalists would have been better kept as season 2 fodder. Imagine if this season had been about fighting the triads, with the equalists showing up on occasion as unwanted allies, with Amon being kept mostly to the shadows until the finale, when he goes all out and "permanently solves the triad problem" by taking away the bending of their leaders, like he did early on in this season? I feel like that would have provided a much more appropriate plot arch for a 12 episode season, and allowed for better development of the new setting.

[cephalopod9]

I don't think the Equalists are gone.

Spoiler:

The finale didn't really suggest that the movement as a whole was defeated, just that Amon and his efforts were stopped. We don't know whether the movement was started by Amon, if he rose to power in a movement that existed without him, or how much of the movement was carried by his charisma and social presence.
The next season could still focus on tensions between benders and non-benders, or it could go a different direction.
They've brushed other things to the side without making much effort to resolve them, so they might drop it, but I'm hopeful they'll continue to explore that conflict.
In fact, I would love for the next season to be all but entirely giving space to concepts and character interactions introduced in this season.

[Diadem]

Well I can think of several ways the series might be rescued from the pit the writers dug for themselves. But realistically, if they wrote such a final, they are clearly not physically capable of writing good television. It can only go downhill from here.

The show is dead.

[mr-mitch]

I don't think the Equalists are gone.

Spoiler:

The finale didn't really suggest that the movement as a whole was defeated, just that Amon and his efforts were stopped. We don't know whether the movement was started by Amon, if he rose to power in a movement that existed without him, or how much of the movement was carried by his charisma and social presence.
The next season could still focus on tensions between benders and non-benders, or it could go a different direction.
They've brushed other things to the side without making much effort to resolve them, so they might drop it, but I'm hopeful they'll continue to explore that conflict.
In fact, I would love for the next season to be all but entirely giving space to concepts and character interactions introduced in this season.

Spoiler:

Given the statement of his lieutenant, it sounds as if Amon started it

[cephalopod9]

Well I can think of several ways the series might be rescued from the pit the writers dug for themselves. But realistically, if they wrote such a final, they are clearly not physically capable of writing good television. It can only go downhill from here.

The show is dead.

I don't get this attitude of being eager to be first to be disappointed by a show.
There's nothing wrong with disliking a show, but the internet seems to create this competition to be disappointed first, or there's some kind of reward to planning to be unhappy. Maybe it's just the asymmetry and the lack of a similar apparent sense of superiority in enjoying something intensely, but I'm confused and annoyed by people striving to be the best at disliking a show. (See also: IMDB people saying Regular Show "jumped the shark" at episode 4, and "xkcd sucks now" said everything third comic.)

Spoiler:

Given the statement of his lieutenant, it sounds as if Amon started it

Spoiler:

Which statement? The Lieutenant (...mustache and lightening sticks, right?) was clearly a loyal follower of Amon's, but I can't think of anything he said that suggested the whle movement started with him.
There have been bits of dialogue that were hard to catch. (It was the second time watching that I noticed that General Iroh shouts for earth and water benders to detonate the mines, that was smart)

[ycc1988]

Spoiler:

In the new ComicCon previews Tenzin was seen admonishing Korra for abusing her newfound powers. Looks like even the creators acknowledge that Korra became a full Avatar a little too easily. That and they needed a way to extend the plot for 3 more seasons.

[Izawwlgood]

I don't think the Equalists are gone.

It would be very cool to see Korra take up the mantle of the movement, and actually push for equality. I think it was rather intentional that one of the first things Korra does in Republic City is beat up some benders who are terrorizing non-benders. The point of Republic City was to promote unity between all nations, and that includes those who cannot bend.

[Thadlerian]

Mark Watches is reviewing Korra now, for those who have (and haven't) read his reviews on the first series; http://markwatches.net/reviews/

His pattern seems similar to mine: Excited at the first few episodes, skeptical of those immediately following (mostly due to the love triangle starting to form), and the blown away by episode 6.