Legend of Korra S1 ending was pretty bad

[cool8man]

Spoilers obviously....



I don't know if this was because of pressure from Nick to not upset little kids, but that deus ex machina at the very end erased the value and weight of everything we had watched up to that point.

If the show had any courage it would have ended on the dour note it had established and forced Korra to go on an actual spiritual journey to regain her powers in the 2nd season. Instead Aang suddenly appears out of nowhere gives her power back and enables her to restore everyone else's power. An awesome emotional season cliff hanger was destroyed in the last minute of the season. And the entire season one plot was marginalized by knowing Aang just needed to appear at any moment and erase everything that had happened.

These guys are obviously great writers and I love their characters so I can't understand this horrendous ending. The episode itself was good, but that ending was a copout, amateur stuff.

[gillsterhill]

The entire first season was written and started production before season 2 was even green-lit. So pretty much the original idea was that season 1 was just going to be the series, so that's why it feels like it's an entire series plot condensed down into one season.

[jtv]

You know, I'm going to be honest here, I completely forgot this was a kid's show when considering the ending.

That does seem to make sense now that I think about it.

As an adult, I thoroughly enjoyed the entire season, though the end was tied up a little too neatly. I would have liked to have seen some sort of cliffhanger for season 2. But to give credit to the show, I'm just as excited for Season 2 as I would have been had there been a cliffhanger.

[rokov]

I was very critical of the ending at first, but having thought about it a bit, I think I'm looking forward to season 2 even more now just because I have no idea what they're going to do. If there had been a cliffhanger, it would have been at least somewhat predictable.

[gglynn00]

Meh, I was satisfied with the ending. Korra was getting flashbacks throughout the season, she just misinterpreted them. She thought that all the visions were solely about the councilman, and did not realize that they were about both Tarlokk and Amon (her mistake). I didn't think the ending was too kid friendly, I mean one of the last few scenes was Tarlokk committing suicide to take out Amon (his own brother).

Also, the very first episode set the precedent that Korra has problems with the spiritual side of bending, therefore is not able to channel the spirit world like Aang was. Think about it, we have yet to see Korra in her Avatar state (except kinda at the end of the last episode). I think this is something the writers will build on.

[jchensley]

The Avatar State is a built in dues ex machina. The writers didn't put themselves into a corner with no way out. The avatar state saved aang countless times.

[descartes]

I enjoyed the whole season more than I feared. It is so tough to follow up such a solid series with so many expectations. The ending had some good and some bad, but overall I still really liked it. In general I despise love triangles, so that part of it I didn't like. But there will be plenty fruits of that to be harvested in Season 2, for those that enjoy that. And it was also not as Nick as the first series was, they actually said the big word and actually kissed. Which was nice, especially considering their age. Also, I thought it was very ballsy to have the relationship between the girl and her father end like that. I really hate how many shows just assume that everyone has a great family life and even if it's bad at times, it will eventually get better. But this show went there and she even called him out.

Honestly the whole last episode I was wondering if they were going to show the Avatar state, since they hadn't the whole season. So I was not surprised when they did. I have conflicting thoughts on it though. It was nice to see and I really give them props for going through the whole season without using it until the end. Aang used it so much in the first series. She is more generally fight proficient, however. But they did miss out on some very fertile story telling opportunities. Like spending half or a full season trying to get her other avatar powers back. She could have had to do a spirit journey for each of them, or learn from previous avatars, or do it in the real world. And meanwhile learn how to live on just Airbending, which she had previously been not fond of.

However, there are some things to look forward to in Season 2. Traveling outside of the city to the world proper. Learning more about the fire nation and the descendants of those we had known previously. Boomie looks to be someone fun to get to know. And certainly I hope to have more of those fun little offshoot episodes that the first series was so wonderful for. Episodes that may not advance the world arc much, or at all, but are fun and also character building. I do hope the extra production budget does not make them afraid to make those kind of choices. As can sometimes be the case in entertainment, extra money often comes with extra strings attached to it.

[darth-ed]

Originally Posted by descartes

But they did miss out on some very fertile story telling opportunities. Like spending half or a full season trying to get her other avatar powers back. She could have had to do a spirit journey for each of them, or learn from previous avatars, or do it in the real world. And meanwhile learn how to live on just Airbending, which she had previously been not fond of.

Well said. I couldn't agree more.

[damnedeyez]

Originally Posted by descartes

Honestly the whole last episode I was wondering if they were going to show the Avatar state, since they hadn't the whole season. So I was not surprised when they did. I have conflicting thoughts on it though. It was nice to see and I really give them props for going through the whole season without using it until the end. Aang used it so much in the first series. She is more generally fight proficient, however. But they did miss out on some very fertile story telling opportunities. Like spending half or a full season trying to get her other avatar powers back. She could have had to do a spirit journey for each of them, or learn from previous avatars, or do it in the real world. And meanwhile learn how to live on just Airbending, which she had previously been not fond of.

Yeah, it would've been nice had they ended with her on the cliff, Aang shows up and credits. Leave season 2 for the whole spirit/rediscovery/whatnot.