The Korra of the Matter

I enjoyed "Avatar the Last Airbender" with a ridiculous passion. I still re-watch the series from time-to-time and marvel over the excellent world building, character development, and narrative style. I hold the series finale up to some of the best I've ever seen. It actually runs neck-and-neck with the finales for "Blake's 7" and "Angel" for best finale in my book.

As a fan of the "Avatar" world (not James Cameron's version, mind you), I found myself watching "The Legend of Korra" when it first came out.

"The Legend of Korra" was more of a Roaring Twenties style offering with the teenage Korra getting into her role as Avatar. Korra was the polar opposite of the goofy, pacifist Aang with her aggressive and completely non-spiritual way of dealing with matters. The first season was a fun ride, if a little compressed and suffering of both ridiculous (if not unexpected) teen angst and a choppy narrative. It expanded the world and gave us a hint of what happened to some of the favorites from Aang's era (hint: Toph never lost her badass edge).

The second season has gone in some interesting places. The narrative style is still choppy and tends to go all over the place. There's some good characters, but most of the plot elements feel unnecessarily contrived and don't flow terribly well. Where this season hits its stride is in exploring the mysterious Spirit World and the origins of the Avatar. The swimming into the mythology of the series is some truly awesome stuff and has me hooked enough to forgive and ignore the fairly ridiculous side-plots and forced-feeling side-romances.

I'll be curious to see how they'll conclude this season.