The Legend of Korra

I just finished watching The Legend of Korra, and I feel like I have to weigh in, since lots of people hate it.

I don't hate it. Actually I thought was pretty cool, although (like in Avatar: The Last Airbender) the episodes that focused on the spirit world were a little wonky. I do see how some people are disappointed with how some of the old characters are treated, particularly the fact that a couple of them are portrayed as having been lousy parents. But if that's the only objection someone has, I think one can look past that and just treat this as a totally separate show, and leave TLA in its own canon. (That's what I've had to do with the new Star Wars and Star Trek movies, and Korra doesn't destroy the past nearly as much as those do.) The show had good characters and a compelling story, and it's nice that each season has a solid ending. (I think each season was at risk of being the last.)

I was a little confused about some of the events in the final battles and stuff. And by that I mean there are some plot holes. But maybe they can be explained away, and since they're toward the end, they don't exactly mess with the show too much. Speaking of the end, it is kind of abrupt. It wraps up the season, but it doesn't exactly tie the show together the way the ending of The Last Airbender did. But it would have been worse if the writers had tried for a four-season story arc and then had to leave it unresolved, so I can't complain about that.

So basically, while it wasn't as epic or endearing as the original, I enjoyed it.

< Spoilers below here >

Okay so the main thing I thought didn't make sense was at the end of the big battle. When they destroyed the power core in the exo suit, it blew up the suit (and damaged surrounding buildings). But when the cannon explodes, it blows a hole in the town. It's worse than that, because didn't they eject all of the ammo for the cannon? And when it was attached the suit, it could only fire for like two seconds before needing a reload. But at the end it fires a steady stream for like thirty seconds. Maybe the spirit vines in the area were giving extra power. And of course, it's not at all clear how Korra managed to absorb the energy, or why she even thought it was worth trying. I understand wanting to save someone from getting blown up, but why risk her life for the enemy warlord? And of course, if she could absorb that laser, why didn't she do it during the battle? I'm just telling myself that the spirits were interfering somehow.

(Although on that note, if I were her I'd be furious at the spirits for not helping. They didn't have to fight the war; all she needed them to do was reclaim the spirit vines so it would be a fair fight.)