(Hello! Looking back I was pretty mad when i wrote this…. mmm hmmm. Well, read on if you wish. Really, i was pretty mad so I hope you don’t love this series.)
Adamant fans of this show will hate me after this review. If you don’t want to become angry, leave and find someone else to gush about this show for. I need to vent about this show and its absurd ending so that I can find peace about it.
If you didn’t notice, I am not and will never be satisfied with what they did with this story. There are multiple reasons which I will clarify before long. After learning about its abrupt end I looked at so many television critics and magazines praising this show and its “accomplishments”. I don’t blame them for the most part. This whole story is so vibrant and subversive. That is why I loved the original Avatar the Last Airbender series so much. When I heard that Nickelodeon studios were starting work on this second series I was ecstatic. I followed EVERY episode in the first season and was overwhelmed with how much work was put into the new series characters, animation and story. I didn’t mind its length. At the first season’s conclusion I was incredibly satisfied.
The first season was on par with the original Avatar series. What’s more, I loved how they incorporated that new 1920’s feel to Republic City. The new villain, Amon, and his plan to overtake the city and remove bending from the world was nothing short of genius. I have a Bachelor’s degree in History so this series and its early 20th century outlook on politics, ethics, and morality fascinated me. I gushed and gushed and GUSHED about this series. The other element about it that I liked was the romance between Makko and Korra. She didn’t win him in the beginning and it slowly and subtly showed them pulling closer together. Both of them matured and changed. All in all, seeing them fall in love and get together really touched me. I can’t say enough about this first season. It had so much color and depth, while remaining completely different from any show before it.
I had no doubts that the second season would deliver the same exciting story and depth as its predecessor. However, when I watched the first two episodes I was shocked with the poor animation and screenplay. Things happened SO fast and worse they brought in old cliques and dramas. For instance, her uncle Unalaq, the real villain in the story, degraded her father and his separation from the spiritual world. She turned away from Tenzon, her former air mentor, to train with her uncle. That decision among others made her and her people fall right into the cliqued evil uncle’s hands and his plans to take over the South pole and eventually the world. I was dumbfounded only three or four episodes into the season.
The plot and story were dull, Bolin’s jokes fell short and worse I felt no attachment to the characters or their problems. The villain could not compare to Amon or the Firelord from the previous series. Amon represented the collision between the old world and its powers and the new where old leadership and ways of life crumbled under a new generation. Just like our own world, people resented those in power and Amon took those feelings and using mass hysteria and clever manipulation almost took over the city. I am sorry but the only part of this season that could possibly hold up to the first season were the episodes on the first avatar. (That was VERY well done). Even the ending was. . . . ugh. I don’t understand why they had to take things in the direction that they did. They should have taken more time to flesh out the story and its characters. The animation really disappointed me.
From there, things just. . . kept . . . getting . . . worse. Season three. Oh gosh I can’t even begin to describe it. Nickelodeon couldn’t even finish this season on TV. They had to switch it to the internet. Again, we have a cliched villain this time in the form of a terrorist group named (I can hardly say it) the red lotus. Think its sounds like the WHITE lotus. Yeah I think that was the point. There are suddenly air benders popping up all over the place and well she meets new friends is almost defeated again and then BECOMES CONFINED TO A WHEEL CHAIR! I will give them credit with how much they were trying to shape her character through trials and horrible experiences. They also did A LOT better with the plot and character developments. . . but it still is nothing like the first season.
I haven’t even watched season four and I don’t plan to. It was aired WAY too fast, the story was written too soon and its suffered for it. Heck they even had a GIANT robot! Seriously!? I can’t possibly bring myself to watch the rest now. The ending is too ridiculous and conforming. I would have liked it fine if not for the last scene. Why did they have to make this entire series a lesbian love story? Why?! Before the series was deteriorating in seasons 2 and 3, adamant fans of the original, like myself, had stopped watching. How could they possibly pull off this ending?! You know what the worst part is? People love it, praise it and name it one of the most wonderful insightful endings ever done. I don’t agree. I call it caving in to the new morals of today. I hated it and I will hate it forever. This series had so much WASTED potential. I will stick with the original Avatar series and the first season of Legend of Korra and forget that ANYTHING else was EVER MADE. A lot of you will hate me for this. I don’t care. Hate me all you like. Let me keep my opinion and I will let you keep yours.
Season 1: 5/5 stars
Season 2: 2.5/5 stars
Season 3: 3.5/5 stars
Season 4: 2/5
Overall Score: 3.25/5
So Many Thoughts 