I’m going to throw caution to the wind and just start out of the gate with spoilers for The Legend of Korra’s “The Sting.” Heck, you’ve already seen it and nothing I’m going to say is going to shock you, though it sure was an eventful episode. Okay, so, here goes. Well, well, well; a heel turn from Varrick. I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, but then, I could have seen him staying strictly patriotic, as well.
The Legend of Korra seems to be getting very soap operatic, which I don’t mind…but it does bear keeping in mind. It colors expectations, so that when Asami goes in for a kiss, well, of course she did; and when Korra wakes up with amnesia, of course she does. For those of us keeping track for Team Asami—which I’m pretty sure means everyone—she at least waits till Mako is clear and free, which you can’t say for Korra last season.
Let’s talk big picture. We see Unalaq step out of the Spirit Portal, right? My first thought was “uh-oh, looks like the transporter to the Northern Water Tribe is working…” but on second thought, maybe he was just in there getting his marching orders? I know people have guessed that Koh is behind everything—I was bitten by that bug first season—but we’ve got other options besides Koh. We know Wan Shi Tong is in The Legend of Korra, so just by dint of appearing in a trailer, he’s in the running. The first Avatar, Wan, is too, for the same reason. While we’re there at the Portal, Eska, and Desna do seem to suggest that their father is in—was in—control of the spirits, so maybe he was just rallying troops, but I sense a chain of command…
…But how far does it go? Is Varrick just another arrow in the arsenal, or is Varrick an opportunist who sees a chance to make a move on Future Industries while stealing some mecha and selling some movies, as icing on the cake? To get conspiratorial for a second, what do all the villains from Legend of Korra have in common? Well, they’re all Water Tribe. Northern Water Tribe. You know, where the portal to the Spirit World is still open. It would be a big retcon, and maybe I’ve just been watching too much Scandal, but I’d even be open to flashbacks showing Noatak and Tarrlock being moved like pieces on a Pai Sho board by some nefarious spirit, just like Varrick and Unalaq.
The elephant in the room is: this was a pretty good episode—a pretty good episode without Korra. I think a lot of viewers feel the same way I do, which is to say, tired of seeing Korra make the same mistakes again and again. It has been a bit relentless, and I’m ready for the worm to turn. Korra’s character conflict first season was a combination of trust and peace, of knowing who to believe and who to doubt, of knowing herself and being able to let go and “be the leaf.” I’m not saying this second season is as bad at hitting the “reset” button as say, second season of Veronica Mars, but I’m ready for the heroic turnabout, please. This amnesia thing? I’m dubious.
We get more Triad here, which is interesting, very interesting. Did you know Shady Shin is voiced by Fisher Stevens? Hack the planet! Which answers one question—did Korra restore everybody’s bending? Nope; at least some people, like Shady Shin, who had their bending taken away, still don’t have it back. It is no surprise that the Triple Threats betray everyone, seeing as how they are gangsters, but I almost hoped we would get more history on Mako and Bolin. Seems like a missed opportunity. I am always wondering who is the new “Jet’s gang” or “Foggy Swamp tribe” and maybe the Triads will continue to be reoccurring?
Bolin, of course, remains strictly comedic relief. You’d think his association with the “movers” would mean he was ideally positioned, from a narrative viewpoint, to be the one who figures out the use of theater pyrotechnical devices in the arson, but nope, Mako gets it. To be fair; Mako has been much more likable this season, hasn’t he? He was a little vapid first season. Still, I feel like he’s grown at Bolin’s expense.
What do we have instead? Bolin failing to understand the “pretending” part of acting, fails to understand that he isn’t really Nuktuk. He is a good “movie star” but this “rube we’re gonna make a star” plot needs to subvert my expectations, soon, please. Bolin going off book, improvising a kiss. I’ve seen discussion on the kiss with Ginger, and on consent, and I’m curious to here what others have to say.
So; the villain, the amnesia, the kiss. Personally, I’m ready for the dramatic turn. I’m ready for Team Avatar to kick butt. Soon, please.
Mordicai Knode also wants to see Zuko and Azula, please. Old retired avuncular Zuko and wicked old witch Azula, preferably. You can find Mordicai on Tumblr and Twitter.
As a bit of a sucker for old serials, that Nuktuk picture is really fun.
I will agree that I’m ready for the dramatic turn as well. I’m ready for Korra to stop acting like some annoying preteen and kick some serious butt. I want more action scenes. I haven’t been very impressed with the new season so far.
As for the *cough*kiss*cough*, Mako was so not feeling that. He still cares for Korra. Also, no one likes the person who waits on the sidelines for something to go wrong so that they can sweep in with a sneak attack like that. ALSO, let’s not put all the blame on Korra here for what went down in S1. After all, Mako wasn’t honest and forthcoming to Asami either. He’s just as much to blame.
Calling it, Varrick gets Bolin to go darkside for a while because he’s the only person who shows any respect for him. Won’t lie, I’m just hoping for a sibling smackdown.
The recurring theme for the series seems to be, enforced relationships aren’t always the best.
That was the strength of Aang’s series, is that they were a found family, whereas with Korra’s the focus seems to be how all these people are hampered by their familial obligations.
I’m dubious about the amnesia plot, but if it gets some movement in Korra’s story, I’ll be forever grateful. It’s no more ridiculous than Aang’s “Clear all my chakras in a day” quest.
As frustrating as Korra’s lack of growth has been, and how hard it’s been to watch her make mistake after mistake, and watch her friends try to deal with the fallout, it must be remembered. Aang’s character flaws were a BIG part of the driver for ATLA’s plot, and in many ways, those flaws are also affirmed as being a part of what makes him good at what he’s supposed to be doing.
I have faith that the writers are intending to do much the same, and that this amnesia plot is a chance for Korra to really seperate out how much of her personality is innate, and how much is a reflection of her frustration at her upbringing. Case in point, she’s nowhere near as aggressive. The Korra we’ve gotten to know, would have firebended at those Fire Sages. But Amnesia Korra didn’t, she airbended. She reacted in a purely defensive manner.
I felt like Asami’s kiss of Mako was more an emotional response and she immediately knew it was a bad move. Mako wasn’t feeling it, either. I really really hope they don’t get back together; in fact, I could stand to see the Krew grow without the romantic entanglements for now.
Bolin not understanding Ginger’s upset about his unwanted kiss was disturbing to me more than funny. He seems to be getting the bulk of the “uncomfortable sexist plotlines” this season, and I can’t imagine this is entirely unintentional.
2. Lisa (Fic Talk)
I personally don’t think either kiss is foul play. Bad kisses, maybe even kisses that they should apologize for– Bolin for sure– but not super big problems. Asami is vulnerable & hurt, as she’s in the middle of a very hostile takeover. Bolin is…an idiot.
3. Alistair Gretchen
Oh man, given my new paradigm– “is that soap opera?”– I’d say your brother y brother brawl sounds all too plausible. But if it kickstarts some character development? I’m in!
4. Aeryl
I totally agree about Aang’s character flaws! In fact, I’m starting to think the biggest difference might be structural. Since we’re getting Books that are half the length of the Avatar Books, I keep expecting shorter arc…but maybe in the writing room, they are writing them for the same number of episodes? Which is to say, maybe we aren’t at the start of a new character learning arc, when “Spirits” starts; maybe we’re in the middle of one?
I just wanted to say that the image of Varrick at the end is amazing (the one at the top of the article). He looks so nefarious!
So, no Spirit World for us. Oh well, soon I hope.
Review is pretty much spot on with how I felt about this episode.
I have hopes for the amnesia plotline actually. So far, Korra’s life has been almost entirely defined by being the Avatar. Almost every problem she has can be traced back to it (her anger at her father and Tenzin, and her frustration at not being able to fix “everything”). To not be the Avatar for a little while would do wonders to her character, and maybe even help her along the way to achieving the spiritual balance she needs to have to be a real Avatar.
Bolin’s storyline is still disappointing. I’m hoping we get to see some real character growth for him this season; hopefully this moviestar thing will lead to him becoming more self-sufficient, but with Varrick pulling the strings in the background, I somehow doubt it.
The betrayal plot with the Triple Threats kind of made me roll my eyes. Mako thought it was a good idea to get some gangsters in on his plan? And those gangsters conveniently blurt out their entire betrayal plan when he happens to be listening? Man, what a cliche. I remember a time when ATLA actually spoofed that trope with Azula and her friends discussing a “fake” takeover plan with the Dai Li listening. Do they think that ALOK viewers are stupider than ATLA viewers or something? Why on earth couldn’t they have made the reveal in a more realistic way? Still, I’m not complaining too much; Mako’s gotten like a hundred times more interesting in the last couple of episodes because of all this.
I guess I may as well mention the kiss. The way I saw it, Asami was feeling vulnerable and went for it, but she seemed to realize it was a mistake immediately afterwards. I agree with Lisa@2 that Mako wasn’t feeling it. He never kissed her back, not like he did with Korra. And I don’t believe it’s any better to kiss a guy who just broke up with someone, rather than a guy who’s still going out with someone else. Both are pretty dumb actions. Props go to Asami for recognizing that.
I don’t see Asami making moves on Mako being a “I’m gonna get him back” kinda way, but more of a “I’m really hurt and lost, and here’s some comfort” way.
Bolin, oh Bolin. Bolin’s been at the center of all the uncomfortable story lines. I think what this episode is demonstrating, is that he learned back habits from Eska. Eska disregarded his consent, and demanded he remain interested in her. He has in turn taken this lesson, and is trying to use it in his own life.
11. Aeryl
Headcanon accepted.
While the amnesia cliffhanger made me groan a little, upon reflection it would make sense if the spirit ate Korra’s memories, and she has to travel to the Spirit World to recover them and, in the way, she meets up with Wan. Now the mystery is how Jinora ends up in the Spirit World too, as revealed in the first trailer and a piece of script posted on Tumblr.
And Varrick’s face in that last shot is so damn punchable…
The Triad thing actually made sense to me. Remember, Mako and Bolin grew up working for and with those guys. And Mako felt he didn’t have anywhere else to turn. (Though I’m wondering why Asami’s company apparently didn’t have any security forces of its own–either to ride along on the ship or guard the warehouse! Went from lynchpin in a plot to take over the world to a garage full of mechatanks and one employee, the CEO?)
The thing that bugs me is the same thing that bugs The Nostalgia Critic. (His vlogs on Korra are the other episode review I don’t miss.) It’s like everyone in the entire cast has been taking stupid pills since the first season. Lin Bei Fong used to be so smart and trusting of the youngeters’ hunches, and now she’s all, “Get back to your beat, rookie, while these two obviously incompetent and/or corrupt cops handle the investigation.”
And Korra is all, “Hey, yeah, let’s go behind the President’s back and get the Republic involved in a war!” and General Iroh agrees with her. WTF?
@14
Haha. I forgot about that point. Asami and Mako walk into the empty warehouse and I turned to my husband and said something like, “So Asami is the only person who works in that giant warehouse? Where are all her employees?”
13. Al-X
Oh! OR Korra’s soul & body are seperated? We know bending doesn’t work in the Spirit World; maybe her body can bend but is seperate from her spirit?
14. Robotech_Master
I’ll give you Lin being stupid– unless she’s working a sting of her own– but I don’t mind Iroh II being all “let’s ride, Avatar!” I mean, is he loyal to the Fire Nation first & the Republic second?
It would have been a lot more interesting (but narratively more complicated) if Korra remembers herself and her life, but has no memories or knowledge about being the Avatar…. that would’ve meant that she lost the Avatar-soul that gets reincarnated over and over; meeting the First Avatar would be an appropriately epic quest to fix that.
All in all, I agree with several that it’s about damn time the cast pulled their shit together and actually DO things, rather than simply react to events. Mako is so far the only one being proactive.
Okay, so, I’m going to throw out a theory I have about Bolin here.
We know from season one that he’s always more or less let Mako take care of him. Well, more to the point, Mako was always taking charge, ever since they were kids. It’s what Bolin knows and what he is comfortable with.
Now, though, Mako is a cop, and is doing other stuff, with dating Korra, and of course, fighting with and breaking up with Korra.
Bolin is on his own for the first time. He doesn’t have Mako there to follow. He’s trying to figure out what to do, how to do it, and like anyone who has never had to take care of themself, he’s doing a really bad job of it.
He’s also jumping from strong person to strong person, looking for someone to take care of him again. Eska, then Varrick, both very strong and forceful personalities.
Bolin’s story arc is exactly what we are seeing. A person who has never had to be responsible for himself, letting others take the lead, and struggling to come to terms with his need to be resonsible for himself.
Bolin’s story is literally that of a irresponsible person learning to be responsible.
16. Mordicai: I’m all for Iroh being gung-ho for the Avatar, but this is like Boehner going to Colin Powell (well, whoever has his job now) and saying, “Hey, let’s send our ships sailing into Iraq’s harbor and if they just HAPPEN to run into patrols there, gosh, they’ll have to defend themselves won’t they? Obama didn’t want to, but he’s a big doodyhead anyway, who needs constitutional oversight?”
Iroh might be from the Fire Nation, but he presumably swore an oath to obey the Republic’s laws and the legal chain of command, protect the nation’s best interests, and so forth when he joined their armed forces. Unilaterally getting them involved in a war that honestly is none of their business at this point–especially given how shaky the ground is after the whole Equalist revolution nearly succeeded–doesn’t exactly seem like the best way to do that. Rather odd Iroh would seem to think so little of his oath given the emphasis his sound-alike grandfather placed on keeping his honor. “Drag the whole country into a war it has no reason to be involved in right now? F— yeah!”
The weird thing is that the show seems to be doing everything it can to push the idea that going to war even against the President’s wishes would have been the right thing to do, and darn that President for insisting on wielding the rightful authority of his office anyway. (Little things like presenting him as a photo-mugging publicity hound to cue the viewers that they’re not supposed to like him. I mean, if it weren’t for that, his position would have seemed entirely sensible, especially given the US’s own military adventurism over the last couple of decades.)
The right way to play the scene, IMO, would have been for Iroh to point out that, much as he’d like to help, he can’t undercut the President’s lawful authority, especially so soon after a coup nearly succeeded. But the Fire Nation isn’t under any such restrictions, go see them. It would have made the character seem a lot more…y’know, rational. Instead, I’m left wondering how this gung-ho twerp ever got trusted with a nation’s military forces to begin with.
17. Al-X
Gosh, now I totally want to hear the story of Ur-Avatar & Korra on an epic quest to be reunited & become the force of balance in the world that the role is supposed to define; that would be some real Monomyth stuff rith there.
18. CainS.Latrani
I 100% agree with this…but that goes to my parting thought. Let’s do it already! I am ready for the turn, I want to see Bolin step up, I want to see Korra figure it all out, I want Mako to solve the crime. These long arcs…they frustrate me, because they start to seem arbitrary. Does that make sense? They seem less story driven– this happened, so that happened– & more plot driven, as in, “we needed this to happen.”
19. Robotech_Master
You know, I guess I learned this about myself today: I always prefer it if the message is “stick it to the man.” While I, in principal & reality, agree that a message that vindicates the rule of law is the one to win, I think too often that can result in a media that shows that the world is…well, just. A show that deals with a world that is injust, as our world so frequently is, is right on with me. Again, grown up real world me does not want some spoiled legacy officer who got the job ’cause of his great-granduncle name able to unilaterally deploy soverign navies, of course. In fantasy world though, man, punk rock.
The worst of it is, I’m just sure it’s going to turn out that the President was actually in Varrick’s pocket all along, and Varrick didn’t actually want the Republic to join the fight because he wanted to make money by selling weapons which he couldn’t do if the Republic Navy went down and ended the war. Hell, maybe he’s selling weapons to both sides. Maybe he’s even secretly in cahoots with Unalaq, and the whole revolution thing was just another put-on to get Varrick in a position to mug Asami for her mecha so he could send it down to Unie. Though I might be overthinking this.
Judging by the writers’ past performance this season, I’m half expecting Mako to burst into the President’s office and threaten him with a fire dagger until he confesses. (Since, after all, it worked for Korra and the judge.) And then the Republic goes to war with no other real motivation than that Korra wants it to.
More realistically, it will probably come out that whatever Unalaq wants to do with the spirits will threaten the whole world. That makes it all right, and so off they all go!
(Maybe the spirits feel threatened by humanity’s technological progress, and see their power waning as man no longer needs their help and protection? What if the Avatar Cycle ends with Korra, not from her dying in the Avatar State, but because mankind no longer needs an Avatar because it no longer deals with the spirits? Though that’s a bit more philosophical than I really expect them to go…)
@@@@@Robotech_Master Considering how TR spaked the Spanish-American War, it’s not so crazy.
I am less than thrilled with Bolin’s dopiness and hubris the last few eps. I could stand the Eska storyline because he was the vixtim. I do not like him as the jerk.
And I knew Varrick would be a villian from the word go. A captian of industry is always a good, and lazy default villan.
What are these “movies” you all speak of? Bolin is a mover star!
It bugs me that even though “movers” are a brand-new invention, they already have sound. But I guess that was kind of necessary, since if they were silent, the intertitles would be in Chinese characters and most viewers in the States couldn’t read them. Anyway, I suppose the order in which things were invented is different here. In our world, motion pictures predated radio broadcasting by about 20 years, but here radio came first. So I suppose it’s possible they could’ve invented a way to inscribe audio information on film before they figured out how to do it with images.
@ChristopherLBennett – The thing that bothers me is that “movers” were shown as the in-our-last-episode teasers all through the first season when they hadn’t even been invented (or at least made publicly known) yet!
@mordicai
I would be all too happy to see them move on as well, mostly because I adore Bolin and hate seeing him fall on his face. However, as they suddenly have a lot of episodes to play with, I suspect they want to try and go for a longer arc that feels lessed rushed after the season one finale. That’s mostly speculation at this point, but in their shoes, it’s what I would do.
It’s hard to resist that opportunity to really get in depth with a character that has as much potential as Bolin.
@Robotech_Master
I’ve been wondering about that as well. With the march of progress comes a certain loss of spiritual connection.
However, I have a slightly different suspicion about Unalaq. I think he may turn out to be a misunderstood hero in all this.
Here’s what I’m thinking. Varrick is behind the Dark Spirits. Remember, Unalaq did not like him at all. He is obviously an opportunist, and a schemer. I suspect he may be the one angering the spirits, and Unalaq is actually trying to get him.
Korra’s dad joined forces with Varrick, so that left Unalaq no choice but to arrest him to get his brother away from Varrick, before he could use him, and his connection to the Avatar, for whatever it is he’s ultimately after.
Sure, Unalaq seems like the bad guy right now, but I think we may soon discover it’s because he’s playing his cards close to his vest, uncertain of who he can trust, and how deeply Varrick has manipulated both the North and the South.
For all we know, that judge was on Varrick’s payroll. With the reveal of Varrick’s true duplicity, all bets are off.
@24: Well, it’s only been six months or so since the series began. I suppose newsreels could’ve existed, with Varrick’s innovation being the use of the medium for fiction.
@25: While they have “a lot of episodes to play with” in the series as a whole, season 2 itself is only 2 episodes longer than season 1. And as I understand it, they intend to have each season be a self-contained arc, rather than having one story stretching across multiple seasons as in A:TLA.
@ChrisopherLBennett
Well, for central arcs, yeah. But for the smaller character arcs…
21. Robotech_Master
I have an idea for what I think the next Avatar cycle should be about: I’m going to write a post about it one of these days. & I have opinions about the next Avatar after that, too! & the next one after THAT! But after that I’m out of ideas.
22. JAWolf
I don’t know quite that I’d call the whistle on anti-capitalism; after all, Asami is a captain of industry.
23. ChristopherLBennett
I mean, as always, I’m wary of putting out technological development & mapping it onto the fictional one. That said, they did at least show a silent film to start with, & Varrick said he’d improved on it, right?
25. CainS.Latrani
That isn’t a bad theory. I’m just itchy! I mean, they closed the loop on Sokka’s casual misogyny early in the series, & that paid off big; they need little arcs as well as big arcs.
Um, & Unalaq versus Varrick would be a twist that WOULD throw me for a loop!
@@@@@mordicai So was her father.
mordicai
I’m going to go ahead and say I suspect that the Mustache Duo are dirty cops on Varrick’s payroll as well. They are terribly eager to point the finger without any actual police work being done.
I think Lin is on to them as well, and it isn’t that she’s ignoring Mako, so much as she’s trying to keep him out of it. Things could get ugly for Mako fast if he keeps making waves as both a cop and the Avatar’s squeeze.
Speculation, yes, but much like the Unalaq vs Verrick theory, it’s the only thing that makes sense to me right now, if you remove poor writing, and that’s the one thing I’ve never been able to accuse these guys of.
So now I’m wondering…if Varrick is going to be (the/a) big bad, what’s the final fight against him going to come down to? Is he going to be in a mechatank, like Sato? Or is he actually a skilled martial artist himself, of the Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass school? Or maybe Zhu Lee is his Dragon? (Or maybe Ginger is?)
I have to say, if the show’s been slow getting started, at least it’s keeping us guessing. Which is something, anyway.
Honestly, if I was to guess right now, Varrick is going to get spirit eaten, like Zhao did.
Granted, that’s probably more like something I would pull, but I think we aren’t going to get so much a final battle as a confrontation, likely one where he is armed, that ends with a Dark Spirit devouring him.
@31: Given that Zhu Li does everything else for Varrick, I’m sure she’d do his fighting for him too.
…
…
I can’t even…
…anyway, just watched the episode last night, and my wife and I are horribly disappointed with this season. The only character who is acting like themself is Mako…which feels weird that after last season, the only character that I’m liking is him. Lin just being dismissive, rude, and not wanting to get to the bottom of something is completely out of character. Bolin is being an ass…and not even a lovable one. Korra…damn…Korra…AMNESIA PLOT!?!? That is right up there with mind control as one of the laziest plot devices ever. I know that it could turn out to be good…but I’ve been trying to have faith this whole season, and episode 5 was the only one that had any of the spark of the previous seasons.
Anyway. Horribly disappointed with the plot, characters, dialogue, writing, directing, and animation this season. I’ll continue to watch…but it’s been jarring knowing what Konietzko and DiMartino are capable of. (On that note, they haven’t been writing or directing these episodes. Anyone think that may have something to do with it, or do you think that they are involved with the overarching plot in the writer’s room and then just leave the individual scripts to the writers?)
@34: That’s funny, I remember people complaining that the writing in season one wasn’t up to par because Konietzko and DiMartino were writing it all themselves and not bringing in their A:TLA collaborators.
@ChristopherLBennett
Yeah…I loved the first season, though. So, it didn’t feel like that to me. I mean, there was a different tone from A:TLA to Korra, but to me, that tonal shift didn’t come with a drop in quality. I know there are some people who disagree with me, and that’s fine. But this season has felt incredibly jarring.
I think the new season is jarring in part because they want to set up long running character arcs for the rest of the series, something they normally would have done last season. The uncertainty of renewal is part of what has caused the uneven feel between then and now.
Writing a self contained story is one thing, but suddenly having to shift gears to writing something with continuous character growth over multiple seasons of self contained story arcs is a lot tricker when you don’t get to start out doing that.
37. CainS.Latrani
I think you are right; the short seasons, the unfinished agreements…yeah. I also wonder– how badly are they messing things up with this scheduling? Not that it effects the writing, I don’t think, but there is the appearance of a lot more…corporate meddling?
@38: I think it’s important to remember how long it takes to produce animation. At the moment, with the second season halfway through its run, the producers are already in production on the fourth season. And the writing for this season was completed sixteen months ago, while Book 1 was still airing. So I don’t think the broadcast schedule has any impact on the creative process.
@37-39
Christopher, I agree with you. They knew they were getting 4 seasons by the time Book 1 was airing. I don’t think there is any scapegoat for the sub-par writing and plotting. Nickelodeon has always treated the Avatar team with respect and given them astonishing amounts of freedom. They’ve given them more time when they’ve needed it, and they’ve let them have pretty much complete creative control with what they wanted to do. Initially Nickelodeon wanted it to continue the story of Aang, Bryke said no, and they rolled with that. Bryke said they wanted to do more self contained seasons, and Nickelodeon was okay with that too. In the end, if the result is poor, there (unfortunately) isn’t a scapegoat here. It’s completely in Konietzko and DiMartino’s hands.
@40: I think maybe the problem is that this is the first time we’re seeing the leads split off into separate storylines, so we don’t have the same chemistry of their interaction. And maybe that’s the intent. Maybe it’s supposed to feel wrong. Maybe the characters are supposed to have lost their way as they drifted apart, and maybe the arc of the rest of the season will be Korra coming to her senses, making amends, and reuniting the team as a microcosm of how the Avatar needs to unify the world.
@40, Korra was approved for four seasons while it was airing, yes, but that was also when Book 1 was already in the can, which means that what we originally saw was intended to be HALF the story. They had to take their condensed plan for Book 2, and stretch it out for another 2 books. Plenty of other shows suffer from this prolonged schedule(Lost Girl springs to mind). They had to create more character arcs, some are good, some are still need polish.
I myself have few complaints. I loved Book 1, and Book 2 has gotten me hooked. I may feel different if my faith in the creators isn’t paid off, and some of this problematic stuff isn’t addressed, but for now, they’ve earned my forbearance to wait this out and see how it pays off.
@Aeryl
I don’t think that’s correct…about Book 2 being stretched out, I mean. They’ve mentioned in interviews that each book will be it’s own story. So, I’m pretty positive that Book 2-4 will not be one arc, but three separate arcs like Book 1 was.
Anyway, I’m definitely going to continue watching because they’ve earned that from me, but Book 2 has been incredibly disappointing to me thus far. Bizarrely, Mako has been the one redeeming point for me (which feels weird after disliking him last season). The disparity of the writing was more apparent to me because during the first part of this season, my wife and I were watching Attack on Titan at the same time and the characters and writing there are phenomenal.
Each book will be it’s own complete story yes, but the character arcs will have to be extended over three more seasons, and I think that’s where we are seeing problems.
Hmm…that’s a very real possibility. Still, some of my problems this season has been with plotting too. Anyway all that to say, still disappointed, but still hopeful and still watching.
It is worth pointing out that Korra is, regardless, a spectacular show. Saying it suffers in comparison to Avatar: the Last Airbender is like being upset that Bunheads wasn’t as good as Gilmore Girls— true– or that…I don’t know, I don’t want to compare apples to oranges, so the comparison ends here.
@mordicai
Absolutely. And that is why I’m still watching. It’s also precisely why I’m disappointed with how it’s been going. Because we know what heights it can get to. So, my disappointment is definitely coming from a place of love.
Okay. Scrap all my theories. I was wrong.
Well, maybe not about Verrick being a bad dude, but Unalaq isn’t looking so noble now.