Korra Fumigation

Alright, so.

That last episode of Korra infuriated me and I need to write about it. I need to rant about it.

As such, I’m interrupting the regularly scheduled nothing on Tuesdays to bring you the reasons I was furious with the writing of the Legend of Korra’s finale. Let’s get to it.

In no particular order, here are a large bunch of generalized grievances:

1. Bolin continues to be no Sokka. This is a minor grievance, to be sure, but it irks me all the same. Sokka had actual legitimate character growth as a master strategist in A:TLA. While he was the comic relief character, he progressed and struggled with the challenges of living up to his father’s legacy, dealing with being a non-bender in a bender’s world (and all the feelings of inadequacy that comes with that) and the humility of realizing how weak he is, requiring him to play off of the few strengths he does have. Bolin, by contrast, is the comic relief character who makes literally no development between the beginning and end of the show. He’s a goofy character romantically interested in Eska despite her being an awful match for him.
2. Eska and Desna. Two really fascinating characters that were able to show us what truly in-sync benders can do. The idea of bending twins was spectacular and something interesting to be thrown into the show lore-wise, branching into a comparison of similarities between real world twins and twins in the Avatar universe. Until their characters didn’t develop in any realistic way. Eska, a powerful and disinterested elitist becomes completely obsessed over Bolin for no logical reason. In and of itself, that’s a small gripe. They’re teens. They do stupid stuff because of hormones. But Bolin is in love with her despite her attempts to kill them and her clear possessiveness? The twins were obsessed with the idea that their father knew best. They were dependent and functionally lost without the heavy hand of their father. Until he died. At which point, they inherently grasped that he was an awful person who didn’t deserve respect. In the span of a single episode, they went from being willing to kill for him to not caring that he died.
3. The eternal problem with Korra. Everything is handed to her on a silver platter. She never works for anything. Does anyone else remember Aang struggling throughout all three seasons to try to find a way to save everyone without killing anyone? Or how he spent a season and a half struggling to avoid using his Avatar state for fear of causing irreparable damage? Where did that kind of development go? Korra gets handed everything. She loses her memory? Free vision quest to meet the first Avatar. Her frustrated mood is ruining the spirit world? Instantly figures out how to have a happy and calm mind. Raava died? Here, have Raava back. Lose her bending? Magically get her bending back and also master the Avatar state at the same time. Can’t brute-force her way into learning Airbending? Brute-forces her way into learning Airbending anyway. There is no concept of consequences for Korra. Everything works out fine every single time.
4. Unulaq being completely one-dimensional. It was really cool that his vision was a world in which spirits and humans lived together. It was really cool that he wanted to be the other Avatar. That was a sweet angle. Too bad we didn’t hear about it until it was already happening- no hints that it was his desire at all. Too bad the last episode changed “Other” into “Dark” and his mission was really just to bring on 10,000 years of darkness (read: evil because the writers lack depth). Unulaq was power hungry. So we have two basic villain types in all of Avatar:
1. Insane. Azula. Verrick. These are the most interesting villains by far. Both are calculating, individualistic, and lack empathy, but they’re not out to watch the world burn exactly. They’re just out to see the world more livable for themselves.
2. Power hungry. Ozai, Sozen, leader of the Dai Li, Tarrlok, Amon, Yakone, General Zhao. 
3. The noteworthy exceptions to this case are Zuko and Iroh, two of the best characters in the first series for it, and Mai/Ty Lee. Ty Lee probably had the most unexpected and interesting change of heart, creating an incredibly powerful moment in the first series, and by extension, and even crazier Azula. The only four characters that had growth as villains were all deep and interesting additions to the cast.
5.  Jinora. Jinora was one of my favorite characters. Underestimated despite her natural connection to the spirit world. Then, she ultimately doesn't do anything! How exactly does her entering the spirit world magically make Korra able to do it? The two weren't physically or spiritually connected insofar as the show was willing to describe. Does anyone else remember Aang struggling to get into the spirit world? (Side note: Tenzin's growth as a result of this is probably my favorite part of the season) Jinora, upon leading her into the spirit world, proceeds to get captured after doing approximately 0 things worth noting. Her triumphant return at the end of the season is startlingly nonsensical. How does she revive Raava? Where did she get her? Why could only she do it? Do you remember how the original series explained a very similar phenomenon? Yue had to give up her life to revive the spirit, and it was only possible because the spirit had saved her life at birth. So what made Jinora special? What made her able to revive Raava? 
6. Holyshit themes! They tried so hard to push two themes that they ended up taking a complete crap on.
1. Dark and Light are not the same thing as Good and Evil. They avoided so ardently using the word "evil" because that's not what Vaatu is. That's not what Yin and Yang is about (the very metaphor behind Raava and Vaatu). But despite their verbal inclinations away from the notion that "Dark" is not quite the same as "Evil," they managed to make the Dark characters completely indistinguishable from Evil characters. Furthermore, despite trying to center the Avatar as a balancing point, their direction for the other Avatar was complete destruction and power. This is, perhaps, a nitpicky detail, but I'd have been far more impressed to see the other Avatar's focus be on achieving balance in another way. Just a different philosophy of balance, because that's the heart of Yin and Yang. The very act of not referring to Korra as the "Light Avatar," but choosing to refer to Unulaq as the "Dark Avatar" meant that they deliberately defined his character as the embodiment of destruction rather simply a counter-balance to Korra's place in the world.
2. Light and Dark cannot exist without one another. This was something that was pretty heavily pushed. And rightly so, it's what Yin and Yang is all about. The two are intrinsically connected, inseparable, and despite their apparent differences, they're really the same thing. They introduced something unique into the mix by forcibly separating Yin from Yang. Raava and Vaatu were separated by Wan. However, instead of delving into the philosophical ramifications of the separation of Yin from Yang, they decided that it wouldn't really change the way the world functions. Furthermore, they decided that, despite defining Light and Dark as impossible to exist without one another, Vaatu goes ahead and kills Raava. And she's dead. Game over. Fun story. Except for not making any sense in the world that they themselves built up. Then, of course, Raava comes back to life! Also in a fashion that is totally inexplicable. Except that for some reason, Raava no longer has any connection to the past Avatars. This? This all would've been bad enough. But then, they decided that Korra should be able to disintegrate Vaatu. Once again despite the explicit necessity for Darkness to exist by virtue of Light existing. They just throw that theme out the window and decide that Vaatu is dead now.
7. Asami being part of the wallpaper for the entire season upset me. She's a strong character with a complicated background, and has the potential as a non-bender to have a lot of development. Nope. She loves Mako. And that's her only role. To be conned and to be in love.
8. Ohmigod why did Korra turn into Dr. Manhattan?! How.... What.... NO! This makes absolutely no sense. It's a worse deus ex than the Lion Turtle. Where does that power come from? Why didn't they mention it before? Why not deliberately use it before? Why does the human spirit functionally have more power than the spirit of darkness? What's the point of being fused with Raava at all if she can just become a Megazord whenever she wants? Seems like that would be a far more efficient means of problem solving. Furthermore, why did this process wind up allowing her to travel on the same Rainbow Road that Aang took to master the Avatar state? The two are completely different. One is energy bending, the other is a connection with your past lives via a spirit that lives inside you!
9. Eternity Tree. Way to bring up something so important that it can teach you energy bending in the last two episodes and never explain why it wasn't important or considered beforehand. Wouldn't Vaatu, a spirit of incredibly power, have been able to bend energy? Or is that only something humans can do? Which brings us to our next point...
10. Why Korra? Korra no longer had any connection to Raava. Therefore, she was nothing but an ordinary water bender. So why was she so special that she could turn into Dr. Manhattan? Why didn't Jinora do it? She was more in touch with her spiritual side. Better yet, why didn't everyone do it if it was that easy. Double better yet, why is this only a thing that was discovered now? And what does that mean as regards to everyone else now that the portals are open? Can't anyone who wants just go become Dr. Manhattan by virtue of being human and meditating?
11. What the everloving fuck makes Korra think that she has the authority to decide that the spirit world and the human world should be connected without consulting anyone?! Let alone a logistics nightmare, there are a million difficult and complicated implications for such an act. Tenzin would have been aware of this. Even if he hadn't been aware of it, he would've known that it's not Korra's place to make a decision like that on her own.

 In all, not only did the show avoid making the interesting philosophical connections that were begging to be addressed (The same issue I had with season 1 of Korra), but they also took all of their own worldbuilding, and passed it through a blender. I was completely okay with the direction they were going up until the very last episode. Everything before that was nitpicky and I was willing to accept for the quantity of episodes available. But not after the finale. Not after they ruined every possible lesson they could've been trying to teach.
(Not quite accurate. They taught one lesson in the entire show. Forge your own future. You are not defined by your past.)

In its own right, the show would be acceptable, and even pretty good. But following up from the original ATLA, it gets a 'D'. The loving craftsmanship of the entire first series was just completely absent in Korra.