Book 2: Spirits aired its season finale tonight. The fandom now awaits Book 3: Change. In the meantime, here's my extremely long-winded review of the season.
This season is incredibly difficult for me to judge as a whole. On the one hand, the latter half of the season produced some of my absolute favorite episodes in the Avatar-verse, and ended on a powerful, emotionally-satisfying (if somewhat head-scratching) high note that left me excited for the possibilities to come. On the other hand, I think back to my frustrations with the early part of the season, and Book 2's flaws become apparent.
If I had to describe Book 2 in one pithy phrase, it would be: great ideas, poor execution.
Let's start with the source of the problem: too much going on with too many people. Not unlike Game of Thrones, the Legend of Korra is packed with a slate of interesting characters that the viewer wants to get to know and see develop. Some have "ties" to the Avatar: the Last Airbender Series (e.g., Tenzin's family, Lin Beifong, General Iroh), some are new LOK characters from Book 1 (e.g., Team Avatar 2.0), and some were newly introduced in Book 2 (e.g., Unalaq's family, Korra's parents, Varrick and Zhu Li). Unfortunately, the writers didn't quite know how to handle all these characters and their disparate moving plotlines, which resulted in poor pacing and, in some cases, unsatisfying character development.
Several problems followed from this that the show just didn't have the air-time to solve. Chief among them is that:
Unalaq needed to be a more compelling, balanced villain. For me, this was biggest of all of Book 2's problems.
The creators had a great idea in fomenting civil war between the two water tribes, and tying the conflict to the larger cosmic conflict between Light and Dark. Unfortunately, the civil war itself lacked any emotional heft, and became ignored almost as quickly as it began -- largely because it was overshadowed by the parallel cosmic conflict, and because the writers did little, if anything, to develop the Unalaq-Tonraq dynamic. I think the show could have raised the stakes of the civil war more -- while simultaneously raising the stakes of the cosmic conflict -- by spending more time with Unalaq.
I would have loved to see Unalaq get serious -- and better -- development as a villain. He started out incredibly promising: a religious fanatic with fervent, if misguided intentions to open the spirit portals and bring about a new spiritual age. Contrast that with brute-force Tonraq, who seemed much more in tune with his muscles than with the spirits.
Unfortunately, the show never moved past that and developed their relationship as brothers -- or their relationship to Korra as a family unit, or even Unalaq's pre-Vaatu-obsession relationship to Desna and Eska. We never truly got a sense of how the brothers' relationship came to be so strained, or why Unalaq had such sway over Korra at the beginning of Book 2, or why Desna held his father in such high esteem. Or how Unalaq acquired his spiritual knowledge and became considered as a friend to the spirits (I'm lookin' at you, Wan Shi Tong!). I wanted to see who Unalaq was before he went down this path, and I wanted to see that he was a person (albeit flawed), with relationships and people he cared about and people who cared about him, and motivations other than to be a giant asshole.
And it would have been nice if the show had showed Unalaq interacting with the spirits in a positive way (outside the context of him giving spirits Spirit Valium), to bolster Korra's decision in "Light in the Dark" to keep the spirit portals open like Unalaq wanted all along. I found Book 1's Amon and the Equalists to be fascinating villains precisely because their cause stemmed from a big kernel of truth: inequality in treatment of non-benders. Book 2 seemed like it was trying to do that by making Korra decide to keep the portals open, but never justified that decision by showing that Unalaq may have been right about the relationship between spirits and humans.
Anyway, I digress.
Without any historical background for the family relationships, the writer's choice to make Tonraq's banishment a betrayal orchestrated by Unalaq made Unalaq seem irredeemably and cartoonishly evil without any emotional payoff. We knew we were supposed to feel betrayed, and, indeed, Korra and Tonraq both declared that they felt betrayed, but the viewer did not experience the betrayal at all. Because at that point we barely knew either Tonraq or Unalaq, and didn't care about either of them.
Consider, for example, Zuko's choice in "The Crossroads of Destiny" to attack Aang and Katara instead of following the advice of Uncle Iroh in Book 2: Earth of Avatar the Last Airbender. Now consider that same betrayal without any of the Book 2 Zuko-Iroh buildup. The viewer would not experience the betrayal in the same powerful way and, instead, Zuko would just be a giant asshole.
Which is, unfortunately, all Unalaq turned out to be: a giant asshole. The only history we got about Unalaq is that he betrayed his brother as a power grab, with no explanations of how he became that way, or any shades of gray whatsoever. And the only scenes we'd get with him during the course of the season would be glimpses of him scheming or being an ass toward his offspring or bribing judges. I cannot say it enough: Unalaq should not have been a one dimensional villain. We already had a heartless Darkness and Chaos Entity to occupy that role: Vaatu. More importantly, Unalaq was the Avatar's friggin' FAMILY. The war, and Unalaq's ultimate demise, should have hit home in a big, emotional way. And it would have, if the show had taken the time to develop Unalaq, clothe him in some gray (at least in flashbacks to his earlier years, to show he was not always irredeemably bad, or to show that he was, in many ways, right vis-a-vis the spirit world), and giving him a few (or at least one?) redeeming quality.
What if, instead of Unalaq just being a cackling power-hungry villain that wanted to unleash 10,000 years of darkness, he were a true believer -- i.e., he believed that true balance meant that Raava and Vaatu should both inhabit avatars in the world, and that the civil war with his brother was a necessary means to an end? What if Unalaq really did love his children, and showed that he cared for them? What if Unalaq and Tonraq started out close as brothers, but a father that constantly showed favoritism eventually drove Unalaq to betray Tonraq, but then he instantly felt bad about it? What if Unalaq regretted his strained relationship with his brother, and wanted to show him the true spiritual way and make amends? What if, what if, what if.
Sadly, this season was too busy with everything else going on to give us a good tragic real human villain. That, in turn, sapped all of the emotional heft out of the civil war -- and almost all of the emotional heft in the final cosmic kaiju fight between UnaVaatu and Korrazilla.
---
So what was the rest of the season too busy doing?
We did get some great subplots with Tenzin and his siblings (and his family) that focused not on plot, but on character development, and the relationship between the characters. As a result of that time well spent, the Tenzin story arc (and, to a lesser extent, Jinora's) had big payoff toward the end of the season.
But we also got various subplots with only minor payoff:
(1) Bolin/Eska Romance Plot -- Bolin was long overdue for character development. The Bolin/Eska subplot, though, was not the right vehicle. Indeed, it added nothing to Bolin's character -- and even detracted from it, I would argue. What happened to the confident, ladies-man Bolin that strode up to Korra in Book 1, and whom the probending fangirls squealed over? What happened to the likeable, wonderful Bolin that Korra went out on an accidental date with? Bolin was dumbed down this season -- too much so -- so that he could be rebuilt in the Movers storyline (which, to be fair, did turn out awesome in "Night of A Thousand Stars"). But as far as Eska goes, I can't think of a single thing it brought to Bolin as a character. Rather, Eska appeared to be largely as a way for Aubrey Plaza (who I love, don't get me wrong) to deliver some [admittedly] hilarious and quotable one-liners. I love hilarious one-liners, but I love character development more.
(2) Eska/Desna, period -- I really enjoyed watching the twins be creepy and participate in cool water-bending fights. And, as I said, I enjoyed many of Eska's lines. ("Let's face the end of the world together!" "You're so romantic!") But I can't say that the Twins' presence in the show added anything -- at least not in their current form. I could see keeping them if Bolin/Eska had actually done something for Bolin's character, or if Desna's worship of his father had been developed more such that Desna could be a way to humanize Unalaq as a villain -- in other words, if the Twins were devices to develop other characters.
The younger airbender kids are a great example of this kind of device. Recall the episode(s?) where Tenzin spent time lemur-training Meelo, and having tea with Ikki and the baby sky bison (I wish I could remember their names!). Those scenes were not about developing the airbender kids as characters. Ikki and Meelo, much as I love them, are minor characters in this huge cast. And while they are awesome, they were serving as sounding boards to develop Tenzin.
In sum, Eska/Desna were never meant to be major characters who'd get their own story arcs. They did nothing (at least for me) but add to the already overcrowded cast of characters that needed screen time without developing anyone else through their interactions/relationships with them. In other words, they occupied valuable screen time that could have been used elsewhere -- i.e., they were essentially dead weight.
(3) Varrick / Detective Mako / Asami Gets the Shaft / Lin Beifong Takes a Stupid Pill -- I feel conflicted about this subplot, because I liked it in so many ways.
a) I mean, Varrick was a great villain -- because he made you want to like him (see? That's what Unalaq needed, in a way!). He and Zhu Li were just hilarious. Even though their villainy was not particularly villainous, that was part of the charm. No cosmic battle between light and dark here -- just pure greed and capitalism.
b) Mako sorely needed some non-Korra-related character development given how Book 1 went. So the Detective Mako part of this subplot, where he uncovers Varrick's dastardly plot, was appreciated -- or at least the effort was appreciated. Though query whether him hiring the Triple Threats in "The Sting" made any sense at all -- you know, him being a cop and all (it didn't). Still, anything to develop Mako as a character is a good thing.
Buuuuuut unfortunately this subplot also made Lin Beifong -- such a great character in Book 1 -- take a stupid pill. It also made Asami the stepping stool of Avatar-verse. Poor girl just can't catch a break.
I guess a) and b) outweigh the negatives and make this subplot a net positive for the season. Though . . . this subplot also ended rather anticlimactically in "Night of a Thousand Stars." So I was excited again when Zhu Li "d[id] the thing" and the Business-Bending Duo sailed off into freedom. (Perhaps there will be more capitalism-villainy in Books 3 or 4! Yes, please.)
Alternatively, perhaps this Varrick subplot would have made a better Book 2 main plot -- to give us time to get to know all of these characters -- and the civil war & Raava/Vaatu battle should have been deferred until the next book. But who knows. I don't know what Books 3 or 4 have in store. What I do know is that cramming a bazillion characters and a bazillion storylines into this one season was highly problematic. The writers needed to cut, cut, cut and focus on making people the audience cares about (including the villain).
____
Well, so far I've just been ragging on Book 2 (whining almost as much as Korra, ba-dum-ching!). Why isn't it the worst of the 5 Avatar-verse books so far, then? Because there was stuff to love in Book 2 as well.
First off, the second half of Book 2 had some
amazing episodes. I have already
gushed at length about "Beginnings." That two-parter about the first Avatar single-handedly rejuvenated my interest in Legend of Korra, right when the gripes above were really starting to weigh on me. It is currently among my top 3 favorite Avatar-verse episodes ever.
Also up there in my favorites is "A New Spiritual Age," the episode in which Korra and Jinora venture into the spirit world (and come across some familiar faces!). That episode was visually stunning, and symbolically powerful in how it handled Korra's complete immaturity when it comes to spiritual matters. The writers made a brilliant choice in manifesting that immaturity in the form of Baby Korra (I still love "I'm the Avatar! You gotta DEAL with it!" One of the best character intros this show has done). This episode softened the edges around Korra, who, like the rest of Team Avatar 2.0, seriously needed character development. And here, the show delivered!
I confess to being a detractor of Korra's earlier in the season. Where is her character development, I kept asking? Well, second half of Book 2. That's where. (But then again, this is another serious pacing issue -- the audience should not hate its main character through nearly 2 entire seasons...)
In truth, the second half of Book 2, from "Beginnings" onward, really just blew me away. I felt so many feels, and bent so many tears. And what capped it off, in my opinion, was a really powerful season finale.
In particular, though many other fans hated it, I, for one, loved (while being simultaneously crushed by) the storytelling choice to destroy Raava and Korra's connections to her past lives -- and NOT to restore the connection after Korra rejoined with Raava. Here's why:
1) Consequences. Losing the connection permanently lent an appropriate amount of gravitas to what happened. She lost a big fight to Vaatu (at first, anyway) and had the light spirit ripped out of her and destroyed. It would have felt somewhat . . . cheap (for lack of a better word) for that to have no consequences. The lack of consequences is why I didn't particularly care for the end of Book 1, when Aang magically restored Korra's bending. Not because of the Aang ex Machina -- I didn't mind deus ex machinas so much -- but because with no long-lasting consequences, the stakes that the writers had ratcheted up all season felt all of a sudden deflated. So too, here.
2) Book 2 has been trying to wrestle with the power (and burden) of legacy. Making Korra (and Tenzin, I might add) find her own way forward is thematically powerful, even if it breaks from a part of the show that we all love. Yes, in the ATLA mythos, the avatar state was so powerful, in part, because of access to all the past lives. But part of the beauty of "Beginnings" was that we found out Wan was just an ordinary guy who made an epic mistake -- and spent the rest of his life trying to make up for it. He defeated Vaatu and locked him away without reliance on the knowledge of any past lives. I still have no idea what exactly happened with Korra in the Tree of Time and how she managed to turn her spirit into a Big Blue Kaiju, but thematically, it fit in perfectly with Korra's (and Tenzin's, as her guide) development this season. She has spent the whole season being told how the avatar should be acting -- from Tenzin to the little water tribe girl [and many fans/critics...] yelling "You're the worst avatar ever!" to Unalaq instructing her on how the avatar shouldn't be taking sides in a civil war. That she could scrappily fight her way to victory without her connection to the past avatars just felt . . . right (to me). So, for me, having Korra have to figure out how to bring balance in a new spiritual age blindly -- without the guidance of past avatars also feels . . . thematically right.
To be sure, I don't think I would mind if somewhere down the line, Korra somehow fought her way back to a connection to the past avatars. (So long as it wasn't easy.) But I would personally be okay -- if extremely sad -- if that connection were never restored, for the reasons explained above.
The finale has its detractors, of course (just as I was a detractor of Book 1's season finale). Many complained about the Jinora Ex Machina. I have no idea what Jinora did, or how, but I believe it given her demonstrated natural connection with the spirits. I just wish there had been a
little more setup earlier in the season for her connection with the
spirits, or a little more explanation as to what happened. Others didn't like the Big Kaiju fight. But the Kaiju fight was no weirder than Aang turning into the giant Ocean Spirit Monster at the ending of Book 1: Water in ATLA. What this Big Kaiju fight lacked was emotional heft -- which circles back to the Unalaq Needed To Be A Better Villain problem discussed above.
But ultimately, the finale hit home for me because Korra and Tenzin's story arcs completed in a satisfying way for their characters. As a result, the season half of this season kind of redeemed a weaker first.
Overall: an uneven, poorly paced season, but a wham-pow ending.
