Meh. First I feel I have to get this out of the way.
Can we just stop comparing LoK and ATLA outright? Minus them being helmed in the same universe, they're almost completely different shows. They each have their own pros, and their own cons. Some different, some the same.
ATLA was far from perfect. Aang and Zuko's voice actors were awful (and Zuko's voice actor is still awful in Korra). 80% of the show was throwaway filler fluff, and before book 3 there was little to no character development. I assume the creators went in to storyboard the last season and went, "Holy ****. We're 2 seasons in and Aang is still the blithe little boy he was in the beginning. He's only months away from fighting the battle that will ultimately destroy or save the world, and he's still more preoccupied with riding penguin turtles than figuring out how he's going to learn firebending. While Zuko has shown other emotions besides RELENTLESS MANPAIN a grand total of 2 times throughout these entire 44 episodes and we're practically writing Sokka's jokes on autopilot now." This show had a lot of flaws, as is, I guess, to be expected for a show with a key demographic that it had, but we were able to overlook those thing for the ultimately enjoyable experience that it was.
I don't mind having some problems with the show. I definitely have some of my own, but can we just enjoy the show that we're watching? Because honestly it looks as if some of the people in this thread are only watching it at this point to accrue more things to complain about. And that's really not the kind of atmosphere that I want to be a part of.
I realize that this all sounds very *****y, and there's probably a better way I could've worded it but at this point I've accepted the fact that even when I'm trying to be nice I'm still going to come off as a douche. So I apologize if I have offended anyone. My goal in this is not to deter anyone from the show or this thread, but to possibly reroute some of the energy of the discussions to hopefully have a more communal experience.
Huff. Now on to Korra...
Beginnings episodes were great. Definitely the highlight of this season.
Eska, Desna, Varrick are all awesome. The show's take on Varrick's character right now is particularly odd, though. He's clearly depicted as doing some awful things, but the way he has been portrayed puts him more in the moral grey area, I think. You don't get the sense that he's a bad guy, even near the end. It's interesting, and I hope they expand on this in the future.
The additions to the whole avatar mythology this season introduced were nice, though not fully explored. Which might have been purposeful, so the viewers could come to their own conclusions or what other creative license garbage.
Korra/Mako was a very realistic portrayal of a couple who both deeply care for the other but can't work together romantically. Coming from a show that's aimed for mostly kids/teens, I was impressed. Their mutual breakup was an extremely powerful moment and I didn't expect it to work out like that at all. I expected more angst and love triangles and blah blah blah. I can't express how grateful I am that I don't have to sit through that for another season.
I can't remember which one exactly but there was a fight scene near the end that I really enjoyed.
Kya is great. Lisa Edelstein is doing a better job at voicing her than I expected.
The ending. I think it's cool how Korra decided to keep the portals open. I look forward to watching spirits and humans try to work together. I'm really miffed at Korra losing her connection to the past avatars though. I don't think that was necessary at all. Why can't she be her own person without disowning her past lives? Hundreds of other avatars did it before her. The whole 'learning who you are' subplot was a really nice touch until that happened.
There were probably more things but I forgot them.
Blueberry Spicehead is still the best character.