MAJOR SPOILERS for Second Season Finale of Korra discussion

[Desna]

Do not read any further if you have not watched the entire second season of Korra, the Spirits book.




Okay, just finished watching the last two episodes, "Darkness Falls" and then "Light In The Dark", on Nick.com.

...

What did I just watch? Did I just watch Korra take her giant cosmic self from the rainbow road to have an Attack on Titan showdown with giant Dark Avatar Unalaq in the bay off of Republic City? With spirit beams shooting out of their chests like some kind of Chest Blaster or a Care Bear stare?

Okay, so she has a giant form... somehow, and can take it on walks on the physical plane. Yeah, she's an Avatar. Or was. Without Raava, though, she shouldn't be able to be an Avatar anymore or tap into that power. Just a regular waterbender and human being. Where is she getting this power to do this all of a sudden? Is this something anyone else (with a strong spirit for a human, perhaps) could do, too? I'm not saying other people should have in the episode, but this power she uses to fight Vaatu of all things is just... weird. It has no explanation, it just happens and we're expected to just accept this new development?

Am I missing something?

Further, it is obvious Korra can't kill Vaatu for the same reason Vaatu can't kill Raava. Korra did that cleansing thing on Vaatu-Unalaq which somehow defeats them at the end and made their body scatter. They were still merged. They weren't separated. And Korra cannot cleanse Vaatu away as, again, darkness cannot be destroyed any more than light can. What does that mean? We know Vaatu is still alive. Does this mean there is a baby being born somewhere that is going to be connected to Vaatu? Will s/he grow into a giant after coming into the dark power and play King Kong somewhere with dark spirit underlings now? Will an adult Korra punch evil children?

And what did Jinora do exactly? Did they just toss her in there to have her do something? I thought something interesting was going to happen when she left her dad to help. Maybe she would make a noble sacrifice of some kind, much like Yue did to save the moon spirit? Perhaps not death, but something. Perhaps even emotional. Instead she just suddenly arrives and has this power to light up? Perhaps this will be explained. I hope it is. Because I do not like it how it is. Like the writers felt she needed to do something else and gave her this role, that power, but with no explanation. Just something to help tip the scales in the battle because they had no other ideas on how to do so. And then we the audience are left with nothing. No hints she could have a power beyond a strong spiritual connection. No lead up showing her discovering an inner power while stuck in the spirit world. Not even a glimpse at the conclusion that something has changed about Jinora. Does she have something to do with the Avatar now? With Raava? They better not just press on with the series and never mention it again.

Anyway, the fight scenes when it was still in the spirit world and the fights just outside the south pole's portal were exciting. I liked them. While the parts with Tenzin searching for Jinora were interesting at times (hey Zhao) I couldn't help but sigh, mentally urging the show to get back to the fight. I mean, isn't stopping Unalaq a priority? Shouldn't they be helping with that? Mako and Bolin could have held off Unalaq if there were two more benders to help. Instead they split their forces? Ehh. Not what I would have done. And I still have some trouble understanding why Jinora couldn't just wake up as Korra did after being carried away by the dragon-bird-thing. And why would the fog just suddenly open for Tenzin after he learns his lesson, allow him to collect his family and then cover everything again?

I didn't like that Unalaq-Vaatu grew huge after the fusion. Did he really have to? How does he have that power? Did he have to take the fight to Republic City? He states "now to take back the physical world" and he starts by splashing some ships and knocking over the Aang statue? That's how he starts world domination? He doesn't even do anything that looks like "taking back the physical world". Unless covering the city in some weird vines is the plan? He's just playing Godzilla. I get the feeling the writers wanted to somehow make his threat to the world real to the audience, so they go to the only place the audience has knowledge of and a connection to. It wouldn't be all that menacing if he just hung around a frozen tundra and gloated over an unconscious Korra. However, the growing large and flying to Republic City feels too ridiculous to me. Really, the moment he started to increase in size I groaned.

Couldn't they have done something else? I don't know, but off the top of my head... Perhaps after the fusion and defeat of Korra the new Dark Avatar covers the world in an unnatural darkness, even blotting out the moon, which fills people with dread. Then his power spreads along the lands and the world. As it happened in Beginnings as Vaatu's influence spread, negative energy builds everywhere and effects the hearts and minds of the people. Even among the Avatar Gang. Chaos spreads in the different Nations and scenes of such could be shown in the streets of Republic City. Spirits already in the physical world and as they flood in through the portal turn dark and attack. They could have shown people in the Southern and Northern tribes close to the portals being the first to be subjected to the worst of the attacks. After a retreat from Korra and the gang they could have remembered that Raava cannot be killed and find a piece of her along with new hope. Maybe with Jinora's help in that. Korra and Raava fuse once more and the whole group as a team mount a new attack. Something like that. But whatever. I just feel they could have done something else than a giant spirit fight. *shrugs*

Does anyone else think it is a dangerous idea to leave the spirit portals open? Wan lived among the spirits and the humans. He liked both humans and spirits. He knew them both. And his decision was to close the portals for the sake of both. Korra knows jack about spirits and she makes a world altering decision to leave the portals open? She can't even bring peace to humans and she adds bringing peace to humans and spirits into the mix? She doesn't even have the connection to the past avatars now. Does anyone else remember guys like Koh the Face Stealer? Or how pissy spirits can get, like the panda-spirit and the destruction it caused on that town in the Earth Kingdom? Or the fact that spirits can take over human bodies, which can alter them until they look like spirit-human freaks? Feels like the reasons for leaving it open are rather weak and it was really done to make a problem in the third season.
Oh well.
Actually, I kind of hope we get to see the Face Stealer again. No Avatar Kuruk to warn her about his powers.
And Zuko runs into the portal to have tea with Iroh. >_>;
I did like seeing Zhao again. He needs to escape the fog and head out of the portal. Spread that crazy, Zhao.

As for other bits in the show... I guess I'm happy that Korra and Mako finally broke it off. Please no more romance. gonk And I have no idea why Bolin suddenly likes Eska. That just came from out of nowhere. What about the whole thing with Ginger? Did he just suddenly realize he likes being treated shabbily by Eska? It's not like she would have changed much from what she was at the beginning of the season. She only sided with him in the battle, she didn't have a change of character or personality. But then she conveniently breaks off the relationship so they can go their different ways. So that weird display from Bolin left me confused.



For those who are the TLDR types and want a sum up...
I guess I was not blown away by this finale. In fact, I suppose you could say I did not like it. I was not shocked or left with any real impression other than disappointment and confusion. This season did not leave me wanting more like every season finale in A:tLA did. Sure, it had some good fight/bending scenes, but nothing truly spectacular. I didn't even watch the episodes with high expectations and I was still left somewhat disappointed. They got some good action in there, but action cannot carry the show alone. Certain elements of the episodes felt tacked on and added more confusion. The resolution to the problem was just completely out there with no real attempt to explain it whatsoever, which is weak storytelling. While I wasn't really expecting comedy in the finale, what they did have didn't make me laugh. Save for when giant Korra leaves the spirit world and Bumi looks at Tenzin and asks "Uh, what did you say to her exactly?"

Overall? I didn't like this season. Despite a longer season I never connected with any of the characters, the story and plot were lacking, Unalaq was an uninteresting villain, and I've already said my piece about the deus ex machina in this finale. The only episode I walked away going "wow!" was the two part story of Avatar Wan.

Maybe with the the portals remaining open it will create some interesting stories as the two worlds learn to coexist after a 10,000 year separation. However, at this point, I kind of like the idea of the writers dropping things with Korra. Have her story end here. Move on to the next Avatar. If the franchise must continue I'd rather see a new Avatar with a different history and personality take on that challenge with a different cast of characters to assist.

And really, how much more could one do with the current gang? Korra and Mako split. Korra now has to deal with spirits. Mako has a job as a detective in Republic City. Asami has a business to run. Bolin may remain as a movie star or that could fizzle out with the end of the war and he'll be back to struggling for work. It would be all awkwardness between Korra, Mako and Asami if they did try to work together and I reeeeeeeeally don't want to watch that. gonk All four have their own lives to live and goals to pursue now. Making them team up over every little thing would probably feel forced. Even in this season they kept separating and dealing with their own problems. And while Varrick was amusing, this minor side-story "villain" that kept Mako, Bolin, and Asami busy just took from away from the rest of the show and never really went anywhere plotwise.



Anyway, what did you guys think of the finale and the whole second season of Legend of Korra?



And no, my name has nothing to do with the character from the show. It is coincidence.
And props to those who actually read this entire thing. XD *wrote it when she should be sleeping*

[misleading space shibe]

This will just be in point~ish things in relation to your paragraphs & are of course, what I think is the reasoning.

* I think Cosmic!Korra is a result of that whole inner-Korra-spirit Tenzin was talking about right before. My belief is she was able to do it because of the Harmonic Convergence, along with her own strong-willed spirit. Not too sure if she'll be able to do it again since she left the portals open. I feel like "spiritual energy" is heightened at the HC, just like how the Water Tribe's powers grow stronger with the full moon.
Based on my reasonings later about Jinora, I'm pretty convinced Jinora could become a titan COSMIC.

* I'm really hoping the fact Vaatu isn't sealed plays a part in our next 2 seasons.

* Jinora was able to reawaken Raava or "strengthen" her with her own pure innocence and very, veryyy high spirituality. The audience does know of how strong Jinora is in that department. She's 10 years old. Unlike her father, this is a gift that came naturally to her. She was able to see the spirit bunnies with ease. She was able to sense something was very, very wrong in the Spirit Realm when Raava was being attacked. Korra couldn't find Raava originally, but Raava was there. Jinora's very...bright. razz

* The split up I do think was kinda...bleh. Bolin & Mako aren't super-strong.
* I think Jinora didn't wake up because Unalaq was taking her soul away and her spirit needed time to recover before coming back to her body, but she was passed out. I mean, even in the spirit world, her body's sitting on the ground in the fog.
* I don't think many learn their lesson in that fog. The fog, according to Tenzin, is a spirit itself. "SPIRIT IS PLEASED. Strong human you may leave with your companions."

* Vaatulaq probably grew large because as one side grows weaker, the other gets larger. They appeared to have destroyed Raava to smithereens which means ultragiant darkside.
* IDKWHY HE ATTACKS REPUBLIC CITY. Me during this scene was: "SEE RAIKO. THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DON'T HELP THE AVATAR SAVE THE DAMN WORLD. yo' city is getting attacked by darkside and you can't do shitttt now."
(I'm playing 358/2 days atm and you cannot tell me vaatulaq isn't darkside)

*...I like your idea. :C

* I have no idea about the spirit portals. I'm still confused on what gets into the spirit realm.
We shall run into the spirit portal to have tea with Iroh though.
AND I HAVE THIS DYING QUESTION THAT I ASKED IN MY OWN THREAD I THINK. If some humans (if not all) when they die, go to spirit realm...can they just cross back through the portal o___O zombies zombie spirits

* Bolin is lady-crazy. I wish this side of him was explored a little bit more thoroughly, tbh. They claimed he had a shitton of fangirls ever since Season 1, but I've never seen thisssss.
MAKORRA END WHOO. I just want them all to be friendssss. T____T I really want this awesome Korrasami!Friendship that I feel can't work like this. ;____;

[Ti-AnaRivers]

I have to agree with you a lot on this. I can't help but keep comparing this new series to the old. Don't get me wrong I do love Korra a lot. But story wise there is just a significant lack of flow that is missing that the original had. You could tell the Last Airbender was a lifes work for these two guys. They had though and thought and reworked this to make sure that it was one of the best written and well thought out stories ever written. There were almost no plot holes of any kind in the series or gaps in logic. At least none that I personally found (I'm sure they do exist) But as I have always said about the Korra sory line you can feel that the original creators were just kind of offered more money and they were like "Hmmmm I think we have more story to tell if you really want us to."

These are great writers and I do love what they came up with it but it just didn't have the forethought the original had. A lot of this plot felt "this is just how things work in this situation, trust me" and that felt like bad writing. Which although disappointing I still over all was left loving it and sitting there with my mouth on the floor.

[Desna]

xAliceJae

Hmm. Still don't care for Cosmic Korra being used for a giant being throwdown. It was too over the top for me and a let down in the writing department. I just don't understand how even if Korra (the avatar with the least skill in the spiritual department), now completely normal without Raava, can muster her own cosmic self and put the beat down on Vaatu, ultimate evil, combined with the just as strong-willed and devoted to his goal Unalaq. Harmonic Convergence or not, it was a stretch. One would think Harmonic Convergence would only effect the spirits of Raava and Vaatu as they have their struggle.
Having everyone, human and spirit, gaining extra power should have have been shown through maybe a character stating "hey, does it feel like our bending is stronger to you?" Hint at it or show it, if anything.
And that balance tipper when Jinora arrived with her unexplained light powers did not help. It was weak. The fact they don't explain one little bit of anything that happened adds to the belief they didn't know what to do for the conclusion and the writers were throwing ideas around about what would look cool without working very hard on the reasoning. It's the throwaway excuse "it's magic and you can't explain magic".
If they dodge any questions about the finale and say "we'll let you come to your own conclusions" I will be annoyed.

The show has been effected with "she can suddenly do this" issues in both seasons. When she loses bending, but can still airbend feels like a cheat/work around in writing. Then she suddenly hits her "lowest" point and, without learning anything, Aang and the other past lives grant her not only all her powers, but the power to restore bending (I'm sure most of the blame for the poor ending was due to episode/time constraints and such, but still bad). And then she has amazing powers granted to her suddenly throughout the season 2's finale.

They could have abandoned the entire subplot with Varrick (I enjoyed his character, but he was pointless), sped up the first few episodes, and then immediately focused more on building up and developing the characters and story that actually mattered.

As much as I don't want Vaatu to be a villain again, they can't get rid of him. If a Dark Avatar does truly exist at this point then it will probably be like the Avatar. And that Dark Avatar will be an infant/toddler. I don't think Korra will start punching infants, evil or not. XD
A Dark Avatar also poses a major challenge and not just to the characters, but to the story, as well. When Wan found the two engaged in battle they were in a constant struggle. If suddenly Korra finds herself having to constantly engage in battle with a dark spirit like Vaatu desiring to cast the world into darkness then Korra's attention and energy would have to be focused on that. Just as Raava was on Vaatu. In the end Korra would have to find a way to seal the Dark Avatar to stop the problem or be required to kill him/her. And then the problem continues in the next rebirth in the cycle. If there is no Dark Avatar then you just have Vaatu who will gain strength and be able to run amok in the physical or spiritual world. Korra's still got a major threat to the world running loose. He'd need to be sealed, but I'm really not sure how that would be accomplished. Wasn't the Harmonic Convergence part of what helped seal him away by Wan? (I'd need to rewatch Beginnings to remember every detail) ... But I guess it would probably be more of the power of "suddenly having power" that resolves it...

I'm not really in to any of the relationships in Korra (mostly because I've never really found myself especially fond of any of the main 4), but I do hope that Asami moves on from Mako. If Asami should end up with anyone currently known in that series, I think she should look at General Iroh. Sell the United Forces some weapons and talk it all over dinner with him. Forget Mako.

I think at this point Mako and Bolin are just very, very bad when it comes to women. Mako is indecisive and he's perfectly fine stringing women along. And he doesn't seem to consider the feelings of the girl much.

And Bolin... Bolin is really messed up when it comes to women. He thinks he and Ginger are a couple despite her constant corrections and brush-offs. Then she turns around later, claiming they are an item. Despite knowing she'd been pretty cold to him he quite happily returns her kisses. Then, even after getting Ginger supposedly, he just suddenly realizes he loves being a couple with Eska? Even though their relationship was one of domination, where she treated him poorly, abused him, dressed him up in ways she preferred, and scared him into submission. Even going so far as arranging a wedding only after a veeery short period of knowing one another. And when he finally did leave her she went batshit insane, scaring him quite a bit. This is the woman he loves and wishes to be with? That's terrible. They probably played it up for laughs or something, but in my opinion that is sending an awful message. Go back to your psychotic ex? Because s/he seems to love you even though s/he treats you like a slave?
There is absolutely no explanation for why Bolin would have any desire to be with Eska beyond the theory that he loves being abused. He was clearly miserable while in her presence, crying and begging people at the start of the season to get him out of the relationship. They never once made it appear he liked Eska on any level besides the initial physical attraction that made him approach her in the first place and he never mentioned her again throughtout the rest of the season until they encountered one another at the finale.
The writers need to stay far away from romantic relationships. They have been bad and drag down the rest of the story.

[Desna]

Ti-AnaRivers

I continue to have very mixed feelings about Korra. My main feeling right now is Korra could have been a very good show, but instead they only got out an okay one. It still has things that make it stand above other animated shows on tv now, but it has not at all done anything that makes it truly outstanding. Or point at any element of the show and say it is as good as its predecessor or better. There are problems that can be leveled at the creators, but there are problems that can be pointed at Nickelodeon management, too. All of them just made the show suffer.

A:tLA ended up being a well thought out and mostly well-paced story that gave us great, memorable characters and world development. They clearly had time to think and prepare before pitching it to Nick. Then, as you said, they accepted a deal with Nick to make a new series with Korra. They probably had a basic idea, but barely any time to flesh it out before having to do the pitch. Then they had to run with it in order to get the ball rolling and stay on schedule. And then after the first season, which was very likely made with only one season in mind, they get the greenlight to make more. So they have to somehow work with the material they never prepared anything else for once again. And we get the second season, which ends up suffering things the first season did, and then new problems with continuing a story and working with characters they never had material or future plans for.

I can't think of anything all that outstanding about the show. Even the artwork went down slightly with the switch in animation company. Beginnings was the only standout episode for it's creative designs and world building.

I don't hate The Legend of Korra, but I don't like it either. They haven't done much to make me like it. And I have been trying to watch it without comparing it to Airbender. What I have been doing is looking at it knowing these creators have real talent for story telling and making engaging and enjoyable characters. That they can do far better than what they've been doing with Korra. The world of bending still intrigues me and there are some secondary characters I do like in Korra, but the writing has just been lacking in so many ways. It is disappointing.

[Roy Tsun]

i love you for posting this, it hit all the spots where i was thrown off of, this finale was definitely a deus ex machina and i was disappointed in it, you mostly covered it all for me but also i prefer epic bending scenes and it lacked in it and replaced it with giant monster battle with a few punchs, a throw, and a beam. only good bending scenes would be Unalaq vs Tonroq and maybe b4 the godzilla fight

idk in my opinion was not too good if anything i like season 1 better and that Unalaq was a terrible villain idk i still look forward to book 3 [which is going to be about earth YES!] but we will see what they pull out of their books this time

kinda urks me when i read so many comments on how this finale was on the level or better than ozai's, and thats just.... NO nothing has been on the level of sozin's comet, with the two epic battles of ozai and azula nothing compares

[SuccuViv]

I think you are conveniently missing a lot of stuff because you didn't liked this season x_x

I don't really like the idea of "huge giant showdown!!1" but like someone said before, when one of the two spirits grows weaker the other one grows stronger, and while Unalaq is very skilled with water and spirits he doesn't have any other kind of bending, I saw it as him playing out his strenghts, I mean there's this HUGE amoung of spirit energy, he's fused with this spirit that suddently became how many times more powerful since it's counterpart was kinda killed?, and he can't just start earth/fire/air bending out of the blue, it sort of made sense to take advantage of the situation, take all of that spirit energy inside and just use it, that's what he did, I didn't thought it was out of place x~x Korra giant also wasn't, she might've had her connection to other avatars severed but inside that tree she had access to all of her memories, ALL of them, I mean the tree has recorded everything and she's meditating inside, she's energy bending her soul with the energy of the universe, she might have a really weak spirit link but, really?, she was meditating inside the tree of time, in the spirit world x_x; wouldn't that make up for it?, she's just not a water bender, she bends water/air/earth/fire/energy, all of the lion turtle's gifts, Wan was told by the air lion turtle that Raava would have to "hold the power for him, until he mastered it", so just losing Raava doesn't change her status as having energy bending, and bending the energy of the universe must give you strong results, so giant Korra isn't really farfetched, at least not in my opinion.

Unalaq going to republic city also made sense, where else would he go to show the world he was the big bad to fear?, I mean lets put it in our world, would he go to a small tribe in the Amazon or New York?, Republic City made the most sense, if he wanted to take the world down he'd have to start there, the other places seemed easy enough, not that Republic City was hard to take over XD;

I'm hoping they will explain more about Jinora's journey in the next season and while I was a little surprised they've told us time and time again about how special Jinora's link to the spirit world is, who else could've showed up?, I did thought she was destined to serve the light spirit like Yue was destined to serve the moon spirit and was kind of dissapointed that wasn't the case, but I didn't thought it was hard to accept.

What I really disliked was Korra just "killing" Unalaq/Vaatu, I mean wtf didn't you learn anything?, if she did kill it wouldn't that mean there's like a baby Vaatu forming inside her? DX was Unalaq in "avatar" state when he was killed?, if so that would've killed that "avatar" line, from the way his eyes were glowing it would seem that way, but this is also again next season's job XD they need to clarify where this is going...

Bolin and Eska did explained that well, they were facing the end of the world, those feelings as weak as they were just felt really strong, it's like people who are about to die just kiss and do stuff and when they don't die there's that awkwardness because they aren't really thinking outside of the moment, and you mention Ginger but lol she never liked him!, Bolin might not know that but to bring it up as "what about Ginger!" is just silly, again he just kissed her once after she blew him up and treated him poorly for the entire season, and yes Eska did treated him really bad too but there was something there, even if really small and just at the beginning, they did had feelings for eachother to cling to in a horrible situation XD;

I do wish they would go their separate ways and Korra would just meet new people, it's not like with Toph and Katara and Sokka, they weren't really old and the world was in trouble, they were runaways XD but Bolin, Mako and Asami do have lives in Republic City and stuff they should be doing, I don't know it's up to the writers to not make it awkward next season, but I really enjoyed this one C:

[Sacred Vows]

I enjoyed this season had the shock value, the kick a** moments and pretty good ending. The shock value of Ravaa being pulled out and being destroyed liked damn.
Pretty sure nobody called that happening. Had me thinking like how the heck are they really going to win now.
Bolin showing more of his real self besides the comic relief character also didn't expect him to really like eska. Just though this chick is just cray cray nothing special.
Mako telling Korra what is what being able to come out to Korra though many fans might hate him he doesnt make me rage.
Korra growth that she is making her own path instead of being just known as a bridge to the spirit world. Sad that the past avatar connection is gone but this could me she starts a new ladder for the future as a leader for future avatars similar to Wan. She will have to be the one to make decisions on her own for now... unless she gets it back some how but we will just have to wait and see.

[Desna]

Viviette Valentine

I think you are conveniently missing a lot of stuff because you didn't liked this season x_x

I don't really like the idea of "huge giant showdown!!1" but like someone said before, when one of the two spirits grows weaker the other one grows stronger, and while Unalaq is very skilled with water and spirits he doesn't have any other kind of bending, I saw it as him playing out his strenghts, I mean there's this HUGE amoung of spirit energy, he's fused with this spirit that suddently became how many times more powerful since it's counterpart was kinda killed?, and he can't just start earth/fire/air bending out of the blue, it sort of made sense to take advantage of the situation, take all of that spirit energy inside and just use it, that's what he did, I didn't thought it was out of place x~x Korra giant also wasn't, she might've had her connection to other avatars severed but inside that tree she had access to all of her memories, ALL of them, I mean the tree has recorded everything and she's meditating inside, she's energy bending her soul with the energy of the universe, she might have a really weak spirit link but, really?, she was meditating inside the tree of time, in the spirit world x_x; wouldn't that make up for it?, she's just not a water bender, she bends water/air/earth/fire/energy, all of the lion turtle's gifts, Wan was told by the air lion turtle that Raava would have to "hold the power for him, until he mastered it", so just losing Raava doesn't change her status as having energy bending, and bending the energy of the universe must give you strong results, so giant Korra isn't really farfetched, at least not in my opinion.

You think I wanted to see him start shooting fire, wind and earth? No. Absolutely not. That would have been just awful and inconsistent with what we saw in Beginnings.

What does seeing her memories really do for her, though? What does it actually do? The tree knows everything. Does that mean it's somehow inserting information into her head? Memories that are not hers? Then that is another deus ex machine element.
After reviewing that scene what seems to be implied is that the tree is a connector to the Cosmic forces. And humans have a connection to this force, just as some have a connection to the earth, or the water, or the wind. Korra taps into that and bends her cosmic self, I suppose. How it is still enough to put her on par with a being as powerful as Vaatu isn't clear to me. And the fact that she can get this despite having a rather poor connection to the spiritual side is a stretch, too. Not one that is unbelievable, but still very much a stretch. At least Aang was given a lesson by a lion turtle on bending energy. Korra just gets a pep talk and receives no such lesson on bending the cosmic forces.
There is also the question of how Tenzin even knows the history of the tree and yet no one was aware of spirits as important as Raava and Vaatu? And that Vaatu was trapped in the tree? Or about Harmonic Convergence, which the tree just so happens to stand at the middle, below the aligned planets? Maybe they did know, but it really appeared to be news to all of them when Korra brought it up.
Hmmm... thinking and asking too many new questions. *stops*

Also, just because one spirit grows in strength while one grows weaker isn't much of an explanation for the merged Vaatu-Unalaq's increase in size. How does spirit power increase the size of a human body? It feels like a "it's magic" explanation, only we say "it's spirit power" in this instance.
One could have had a regular Unalaq with those red eyes unleashing immense dark spirit powers. Spirit powers that rivaled all four elements of bending.
It also didn't even appear that Unalaq was in full control. It felt more like Vaatu was in the driver's seat when just being flat out evil became the primary goal after growing big. And I would think Vaatu would not sit back and let someone else be in charge.

Personally, physically altering Unalaq was likely a workaround for the writers into allowing them to "kill" the villain. Making him a monster inside and outside was likely their workaround for how Korra could defeat him and get passed censors. But that leaves me to ask... why kill Unalaq at all? Was Unalaq's merging and further involvement and then death the only way for a satisfying end to his character? *gets into that in a later paragraph*

A villain with power as great as Vaatu's could be completely badass without becoming huge to make him threatening. I thought his power in Beginnings just to be present and cause negativity to infect the minds and hearts in the humans and spirits is a far more terrifying power than knocking over a statue and growing vines over the city. Vaatu, with little effort, could turn people against one another and manipulate things to how he desires. They could have done something interesting with him and these powers, but they go the titan route. I just don't understand why.

I never even mentioned before, but I still don't exactly understand why Vaatu even bothers to merge with a human. Raava did it because she was weak and Wan and her powers together had a chance to win 10,000 years ago. In Korra's time Vaatu is still quite powerful despite his entrapment. Then he merges with Unalaq? For what purpose? Why did he need Unalaq? It's not like he couldn't move around the physical world without a host. He could do that just fine. It's not like he's bound to honor his words to Unalaq. Vaatu has no problem telling lies and bending the truth to get what he wants.
Why couldn't Unalaq be turned over to Republic City? Or be placed on trial by the people of the water tribe? Did they think being imprisoned too much like Firelord Ozai? He could have been destroyed by dark spirits under Vaatu, if Vaatu didn't do the deed himself. One could have swallowed Unalaq as one tried to do to kill Korra.

Hell, it would have been fine in my book if Vaatu had rejected Unalaq. He was useful to open the portals and release his prison. Now he can die off with the rest of the humans as the 10,000 years of darkness begin. Then Vaatu could zip around the globe and start his plans to do just that. Then if he went to Republic City I would have been fine with that. They could have the military try to fight back against him with their technology, which Vaatu could easily whip away with his tentacles. The police and the military could have continued to try to handle Vaatu, which buys Korra time to remerge with Raava, go Avatar State, and use the portals to zip there. Fear and anger could be gripping the people of RC and while Lin Beifong attempts to control the situation with General Iroh and the president, Korra can have a battle with Vaatu. There could have been some incredible bending at this point, with Korra/Raava battling Vaatu in the bay and perhaps even through Republic City. Normal size Korra against the normal Vaatu. The military and the police could have even made an attempt to help her in the fight. The fight could have been huge without being a titan fight.

But bonding with Unalaq, growing huge, and then only doing some rather weak kaiju stomping was not really impressing me. They could have really created a dark and desperate situation there and they went with an idea that feels weak to me. The giant spirit battle was not at all a satisfying conclusion to me.

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Unalaq going to republic city also made sense, where else would he go to show the world he was the big bad to fear?, I mean lets put it in our world, would he go to a small tribe in the Amazon or New York?, Republic City made the most sense, if he wanted to take the world down he'd have to start there, the other places seemed easy enough, not that Republic City was hard to take over XD;

My issue with going to Republic City is that he grew big and went there for some kaiju stomping. As I said above in my alternative ending idea, I am not against them going to Republic City. It is what they did I didn't like. My point is that it was silly for a show like Korra. The giant battle looked cool and that's all it really was. It was a big fight. Literally.
But growing big and having a battle there was a silly choice in my opinion. The show is about bending and instead they were shooting light beams out of their chest and doing wrestling moves.

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I'm hoping they will explain more about Jinora's journey in the next season and while I was a little surprised they've told us time and time again about how special Jinora's link to the spirit world is, who else could've showed up?, I did thought she was destined to serve the light spirit like Yue was destined to serve the moon spirit and was kind of dissapointed that wasn't the case, but I didn't thought it was hard to accept.

I expressed my displeasure because of the lack of explanation at the end. I will wait for the next season to see if anything comes of it or is even touched on because I can see they had time constraints at the end. But, as I said, they had better not just handwave it and act like nothing happened. Something major happened with Jinora's character. If they don't say anything on it it then ends up being "she just had this power all of a sudden to tip the scales" and that is poor writing.

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What I really disliked was Korra just "killing" Unalaq/Vaatu, I mean wtf didn't you learn anything?, if she did kill it wouldn't that mean there's like a baby Vaatu forming inside her? DX was Unalaq in "avatar" state when he was killed?, if so that would've killed that "avatar" line, from the way his eyes were glowing it would seem that way, but this is also again next season's job XD they need to clarify where this is going...

"Inside her"? Err... not really sure what you are saying there.
In another post I already spoke of my feelings on a Dark Avatar. Whether one exists or not, Vaatu is still out there to build in power again. And his presence can't be ignored by the Avatars.

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Bolin and Eska did explained that well, they were facing the end of the world, those feelings as weak as they were just felt really strong, it's like people who are about to die just kiss and do stuff and when they don't die there's that awkwardness because they aren't really thinking outside of the moment, and you mention Ginger but lol she never liked him!, Bolin might not know that but to bring it up as "what about Ginger!" is just silly, again he just kissed her once after she blew him up and treated him poorly for the entire season, and yes Eska did treated him really bad too but there was something there, even if really small and just at the beginning, they did had feelings for eachother to cling to in a horrible situation XD;

It is still strange. Bolin, beyond the initial attraction to her, did not show any positive feeling toward Eska that could lead me to believe he could have a well of feeling in him strong enough to be truthful about what he said to her while trapped in the ice and then as they fought in the spirit world to protect Korra's body.

Sure, Eska realizes that it was all said in the moment, but I can still say that the declaration was out of left field for me. I can understand Eska having feelings since she seemed to believe or actually was holding some emotion for Bolin. Bolin never showed he had any feelings like that. Why would you suddenly exclaim to the girl, even in the thick of battle, that was abusive and treating you like a slave, that you love her and want to be with her? If you were about to die would you scream that to a person who treated you that way? Would you be happy to die right alongside your creepy stalker boyfriend/girlfriend?
It is over the top for what those two shared during the few days together in the South. I will concede that stressful situations make people do strange things. And Bolin is... unfortunately very weird mentally and emotionally. But it still feels very out of place and could have been handled differently. When they are begging the two twins to release them Bolin makes all these admissions, but where did they come from? They could have shown something at any point in all those moments of him in Republic City thinking and reflecting. Anything to show how his character can go from utter fear of Eska and desperate to escape her to all the things he said to her at the finale. This just shows how little the characters are developed through the episodes. Even small hints can go a long way and we didn't even get a twinge. And I am critical on this because the creators did such an amazing job in Airbender in character development and the connections they made between the characters.

At no point in my main post did I ever say that Ginger liked him. I mentioned her because of how Bolin was going after her. In a later response post I wrote that she was saying clearly to him that they weren't a couple in almost every episode they were together and Bolin continued to not get the message. She did a 180 after Bolin became an actual hero, though, and wanted in on that attention. And Bolin shows awareness at that point that she was not truly interested in him in the slightest. But he chooses to ignore or accept the lie she gives and happily returns and even holds the kiss they share in episode "Night of a Thousand Stars".

From the moment he returned to Republic City after escaping the South Bolin's mind was on Ginger and he became somewhat weird about being unable to separate acting and real-life. He pursued her in his weird Bolin way. Then, when he finally seems to understand that she doesn't actually like him, she jumps him outside the arena and lies to his face that she didn't mean what she said before. And he seems excited to go along with it. If they meant for him to have a revelation of some kind he should have pushed Ginger away. Not revel in the attention. In the end any chance he might have shown some character development the writers just seem to let it play out as it did for a laugh.

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I do wish they would go their separate ways and Korra would just meet new people, it's not like with Toph and Katara and Sokka, they weren't really old and the world was in trouble, they were runaways XD but Bolin, Mako and Asami do have lives in Republic City and stuff they should be doing, I don't know it's up to the writers to not make it awkward next season, but I really enjoyed this one C:

I also hope that they drop Bolin, Mako and Asami. Have Korra meet new characters. Not sure if they will since those three are the "gang", but I'm not sure how they can keep the group together when they are people with lives and not like the GAang, who were a ragtag group constantly on the run while working towards a goal for three seasons.

You are entitled to enjoy what you enjoyed. But I personally found this season lacking. Especially because I know these people working on this project are capable of so much better. And I can only hope that they look back at Airbender, examine the elements of what made it such a great show, and strive to fix what is lacking in Korra.


I'm sorry if I don't make myself clear in my responses. Not feeling particularly well today.

[Desna]

Sacred Vows

I enjoyed this season had the shock value, the kick a** moments and pretty good ending. The shock value of Ravaa being pulled out and being destroyed liked damn.
Pretty sure nobody called that happening. Had me thinking like how the heck are they really going to win now.
Bolin showing more of his real self besides the comic relief character also didn't expect him to really like eska. Just though this chick is just cray cray nothing special.
Mako telling Korra what is what being able to come out to Korra though many fans might hate him he doesnt make me rage.
Korra growth that she is making her own path instead of being just known as a bridge to the spirit world. Sad that the past avatar connection is gone but this could me she starts a new ladder for the future as a leader for future avatars similar to Wan. She will have to be the one to make decisions on her own for now... unless she gets it back some how but we will just have to wait and see.

I will agree I was shocked when Raava was removed and her spirit scattered. That was one moment in the show that had me on edge. Seeing the other avatars of the past vanish was also shocking. I have mixed feelings about that being a permanent thing. It is sad to see happen. I'm not sure where they are going with this. And I kind of cling to a small ray of hope that Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Wan and the rest aren't lost forever.

I'm not mad about the breakup. I think it was a good bit of character growth. The two realize that what they have is not working. They realized that while they do love one another, they aren't good for each other either. They step back. They broke up in an adult-like manner and chose to remain friends. Maybe after some character development and working on themselves to iron out the problems they can get back together. But they definitely weren't right for each other as they currently are.

I wasn't happy Mako didn't tell Korra when she encountered him again. They spent a day or so taking that battleship to the South and he didn't sit down with her to talk it out. He was too scared. I didn't care for that. It was unfair to Korra, who was going to get her memories back eventually. And it wasn't fair to Asami, who he was starting to become romantic with after the breakup.

[Simply Kisa]

Man this is what season 2 summarized was like for me.

Begining of the season.
Writers: "I know let's bring up the story of Avatar Wan!"

Finale
Writers: "Wan? Nah korra's the first avatar now. ******** Wan, Roku, Ang.... Clean slate, because everybody loves Korra right?"

Now we'll never see what the past Avatars have done. You know the ones that were not self-entitled and spoiled; the actually good ones.

[SuccuViv]

Desna

It's not that I don't see the issues you point at but Avatar is a show you have to give leeway when it needs it, you are just being overly critical from my point of view, the writers are amazing but they aren't flawless and stuff coming out of the blue isn't new, I wonder how you felt with Aang's finale, I mean we had seen lion turtle imagery all around the world but from that to having it as the last of it's species finding Aang and giving him a new form of bending on the bridge of his battle with the fire lord he didn't want to kill and didn't find a way to "end" peacefully?, isn't that way more glaring than anything in Korra's second season finale? XD;;;

I'm not trying to say Aang wasn't amazing, I love the show!, but again, there are issues each season and a lot of convenient stuff happens, you just have to learn to go with it, I mean with all of the information we have now about Wan and the lion turtle links with the avatar, in 9.900 years none of his many lives found the last lion turtle or needed it?, like I said, you have to learn to ignore some stuff XD;

For all of the stuff I listed before I have little issues with anything in Korra and I mentioned Vaatu growing inside of Korra because of what Raava said to Wan, if she killed Vaatu, darkess (Vaatu) would grow inside her until Vaatu came out, just what happened with Raava and why Korra was looking inside Unalaq/Vaatu for her, why Jinora had Raava is what bothers me xox I hope they spend some time telling us about what she did and why or how... anyways I'm not saying you aren't allowed to dislike Korra, but from reading you I would assume the first installment was flawless and this one had issues, when in truth both had issues.

[Raika Fury]

I feel like they didnt do much with the Dark Avatar. He just happened and turned into a new form of Vaatu. I was hoping that they would copy more elements from the people around him. The moment Bolin and Mako ran into the spirit world he should have taken their elements and BOOM 3 out of 4. Making him more powerful and a true Dark Avatar. But no we get a Kaiju fight infront of Republic city. It would have been cooler to see two multi element users to fight each other.
Yes I was disappointed.

[LilPinkCandy]

Desna

Okay, so she has a giant form... somehow, and can take it on walks on the physical plane. Yeah, she's an Avatar. Or was. Without Raava, though, she shouldn't be able to be an Avatar anymore or tap into that power. Just a regular waterbender and human being. Where is she getting this power to do this all of a sudden? Is this something anyone else (with a strong spirit for a human, perhaps) could do, too? I'm not saying other people should have in the episode, but this power she uses to fight Vaatu of all things is just... weird. It has no explanation, it just happens and we're expected to just accept this new development?

Shes still the Avatar despite her disconnect with the past lives. Basically she is the new first avatar. When in such a spiritual state the avatar can walk on planes. We've seen Aang do it as well. So no, I don't think just anyone could do it. She's the avatar so she could fight Vaatu.

Further, it is obvious Korra can't kill Vaatu for the same reason Vaatu can't kill Raava. Korra did that cleansing thing on Vaatu-Unalaq which somehow defeats them at the end and made their body scatter. They were still merged. They weren't separated. And Korra cannot cleanse Vaatu away as, again, darkness cannot be destroyed any more than light can. What does that mean? We know Vaatu is still alive. Does this mean there is a baby being born somewhere that is going to be connected to Vaatu? Will s/he grow into a giant after coming into the dark power and play King Kong somewhere with dark spirit underlings now? Will an adult Korra punch evil children?
I don't really know but it does seem to me like there could be a dark avatar somewhere with the power of darkness just like Korra has the power of light. That would be very interesting if true.
And what did Jinora do exactly?
I think Jinora just have exceptional spiritual gifts similar to the way Iroh does. We always knew that Iroh was very wise and had a special interest in preserving the spirits. I think Jinora has something similar and they both studied and learned greatly about their gifts. I think Jinora's may be different though. I think her light shone and light was able to make dark fade but not kill it. I do hope they explain her more and that she is able to help Korra further. I think Korra needs Jinora a lot more than she needs Tenzin.

Anyway, the fight scenes when it was still in the spirit world and the fights just outside the south pole's portal were exciting. I liked them. While the parts with Tenzin searching for Jinora were interesting at times (hey Zhao) I couldn't help but sigh, mentally urging the show to get back to the fight. I mean, isn't stopping Unalaq a priority? Shouldn't they be helping with that? Mako and Bolin could have held off Unalaq if there were two more benders to help. Instead they split their forces? Ehh. Not what I would have done. And I still have some trouble understanding why Jinora couldn't just wake up as Korra did after being carried away by the dragon-bird-thing. And why would the fog just suddenly open for Tenzin after he learns his lesson, allow him to collect his family and then cover everything again?
Jinora was lost in the spirit world. She could not find her way back. She was Tenzin's top priority so you really see where his priorities are- his family first and the avatar second. You can see that when Jinora wanted to enter the spirit world. He almost wouldn't allow her. Her priority though was helping Korra as she left him once rescued from the fog. Jinora obviously has much to learn because she seems to get lost when trying to help. I think it was essential that she was rescued in order for her to be the light to help hinder the evil spirit.

I didn't like that Unalaq-Vaatu grew huge after the fusion. Did he really have to? How does he have that power? Did he have to take the fight to Republic City? He states "now to take back the physical world" and he starts by splashing some ships and knocking over the Aang statue? That's how he starts world domination?
Oh I think it was perfect. When light fades the darkness grows. You saw that when Vaatu and Raava were fighting before. Remember how large he was when Raava could fit in a tiny teapot? Unalaq was able to control spirits therefore was able to have power so he was able to manipulate Vaatu from within himself.

Couldn't they have done something else?
I don't know. But they didn't.

Does anyone else think it is a dangerous idea to leave the spirit portals open?
I would have thought Jinora would have said something. You would think she'd know something... anything.
Maybe with the the portals remaining open it will create some interesting stories as the two worlds learn to coexist after a 10,000 year separation. However, at this point, I kind of like the idea of the writers dropping things with Korra. Have her story end here. Move on to the next Avatar. If the franchise must continue I'd rather see a new Avatar with a different history and personality take on that challenge with a different cast of characters to assist.
I don't believe that her story ends here. I think that her story is just beginning to get interesting and that she will have much to deal with. I think that with her past selves severed she will need to learn how to control her inner spirit with Jinora as her teacher. I think coming to the tree might be something she does often. But it wouldn't surprise me if some new dark avatar was born in a new series later or if in this one Vaatu shows up inside Korra driving her to a fight from within.

[LilPinkCandy]

Viviette Valentine

For all of the stuff I listed before I have little issues with anything in Korra and I mentioned Vaatu growing inside of Korra because of what Raava said to Wan, if she killed Vaatu, darkess (Vaatu) would grow inside her until Vaatu came out, just what happened with Raava and why Korra was looking inside Unalaq/Vaatu for her, why Jinora had Raava is what bothers me xox I hope they spend some time telling us about what she did and why or how... anyways I'm not saying you aren't allowed to dislike Korra, but from reading you I would assume the first installment was flawless and this one had issues, when in truth both had issues.

gaia_kittenstar In my opinion Jinora had Raava because she could sense Raava. I think that Raava knew that. Also, I don't think Jinora was a stranger to spirits. She's able to do things with spirits others are not able to. She wanted to use her gifts to help Korra.