Since your opinion is basically a sheep following of Doug Walker's I guess I can use your "review" as a platform to criticise his opinion:
- Personally, I find the lack of sympathy for Korra downright sociopathic. In Book 2, she A) discovers she has been lied to by her father figures, B) understands how much they baby her around and have no trust in her, C) is witnessing tensions between the Water Tribes grow to mutually dangerous degress, D) again comes to realisation she has been manipulated and lied to by another father figure, E) pretty much everyone and their mother blame her for the Civil War and try to do their hardest to prevent her from getting help (albeit not unreasonably, as Raiko explains). To just call her a bitch is being asinine and beyond the level of coldness she supposedly displayed towards Tenzin.
- I also find the double standards to perceiving character development rather asinine too. Korra evolved far more in the 2 books than Aang did on 3. Granted, her development isn't as closely followed as his (which actually works in her favour, as I don't feel like being talked down to when exploring the characters), but it's still quite impressive.
- I honestly don't find Book 2 "inconsistent in tone". Sure, it has three distant tones (the "mysterious and spiritual" first two episodes, the political and morally gray episodes 3-6, and the remainder which is straight High Fantasy), which may work against it's advantage, but it isn't inconsistent.
- I hate it when "fans" whine about the romantic subplot. It took what, one episode? As if I didn't have to sit through Aang crushing on Katara for 3 books...
It doesn't take sheeping on a bigger name across the net to know when something previously said in the most laconic phrase speaks for what I would say on the same issue. It's just giving credit where it's due.
-The criticism she warrants is WELL beyond treating Tenzin with harshness. If it weren't for the fact that her entire portrayal OF C, and D do nothing but PROVE WHY B is logical, then A might have had more impact to the story. It didn't. I don't care how bitchy they find her, but I do care how poorly and senselessly it's portrayed. She does a helluva lot worse than witness tensions grow she outright attempts to magnify it for the sake of her family-a respectable cause, but the manner of which she goes about it, NO. Hell, I think they didn't play up enough how much it made Mako seem like the Only Sane Man in that issue. Thus, in turn, the show fails to prove how it isn't a completely ass-backwards approach. She warrants no sympathy because A. It lessens the impact of her changes and development in book one by completely ignoring them. B. What parts they may or may not ignore of it do a better job of again, downplaying them because fuck all we wanna get this far superior prequel two-parter out of the way and pin her there for the sake of some half-assed moment of empowerment just because she's the main character despite the last seven episodes proving they have no damn clue what to do with her.
-My last ABC points are enough to explain what I think of that. Her development is more or less what renders her writing quality pretty asinine in itself. Honestly, I only ever found her points of development to be all that impressive when in regards to how she interacts with Tenzin, from her breakdown in episode 4 of S1 to their reconciliation in S2, it's usually Tenzin where Korra manages to best portray the growth intended for her.
-I'm talking more about quality than tone. In my opinion, alot of the characters relegated to them are the deciding factors for what you're calling tone. Case in point, Unalaq made too much of the high fantasy as you call it seem too boring with his own utterly generic presence that leaves no lasting impact as a character on his own merits.
-That's one of the biggest problems about the romantic subplot, considering they tried to make one out of essentially one episode, from which it progressively festered. I'll go on record and say Aang and Katara's romance wasn't good either for that reason you stated, sure, considering how one-sided they kept the perspective and for how long.
Logical? Are you forgetting she's a teenager (a Hot-Blooded one at that)? Instinctive responses and poorly-thought-out actions are practically their thing; so of course it was senseless. Korra is very little different in that regard, even if she has more responsibility and knowledge heaped on her than most teenagers.
And no sympathy despite all that Helio pointed out? That tells me you either don't understand the intended angle (that she's being a teenager, saying and doing things that she later regrets), or you do and simply hate her despite any good points... or so it seems imo. I admit it could also be you get no sympathy from characters who act like she does, period.
There's a fine line between poorly thought-out instinctive nature and impulsive streak written to the point of borderline repulsiveness. You can't contribute to an escalating war and write that off as being merely Hot-Blooded, especially when it's eventual treatment comes off as more of an Aborted Arc by the time The Sting rolled around. Or at least you can't do that and consider it good writing or character portrayal in the case of the world of Avatar. Once again, her motives in the issue are respectable to a point, but the rest of the series dilutes so much of that you question just how much of a damn the creators gave with that. Comparing it to her previous exploits in season 1 is especially what makes it not only a rehash, but one that comes off as senseless, desperate, and regressive. The idea to try and build her back up from amnesia wasn't even done right considering how little of it felt like it was made to re-establish Korra in an empowering manner and instead re-establish the lore of the franchise. Oh no wait, I was wrong—throw in a two minutes worth of humongous spirit fight to symoblize her sense of newfound independance from her Avatar lineage—NOPE, last-second MacGuffin Girl Jinora!
There's so much thrown in for the sake of some superfical epic scale within the finale that by that time, the only real potential it ever had was establishing the potential for season 3. Even then, I'm still on the fence of whether I like that idea or not. However beneficial or consequential to the world in Korra that it will turn out to be remains to be seen, but the question is if they can truly make good of it beyond the concept itself.
The intended angle is the problem overall when taking into account the circumstances at hand, and most importatnly, the overall execution from a viewer's perspective. In my opinion, so much of what's spoken in defense of the series' spike-chart quality is by just the WHAT, and not the HOW.
I realize you have a point, but imo, it just comes down to a matter of opinion: if Korra's behavior is justified or not. I think it perfectly is, and being similar to last season is not a bad thing, and I'm flexible about what 'has' to be done right, or done this way instead of that... list goes on.
Clearly, you're on the opposite fence. It is your opinion, but the reasoning is somewhat... superficial, I guess would be the word. And I say that because your reactions seem to be sorta nitpicking imo, such as why this wasn't done right, and why you think so... and that's about it, as far as I've seen.
And on another subject, it's been noted that 'Beginnings' could have easily just been a device to get Korra's memory back. The fact that they managed a good story in of itself is worthy or praise; plus, they didn't have to make it all about getting Korra's memory back (simply remembering worked out very well, and not just for me)
No, what's superficial is just how so many aspects shown are handled and tossed aside just as quickly, . In this case, virtually the entire first half of the season's arcs for Korra. If I wanted to argue superficialities in opinions, I'd bring back up the last thing I said in my previous pott. Nitpicking is just calling out how Studio Pierrot is doing a clearly inferior job here with the animation. In my opinion, they went for scale and presentation by the second half to the extent that there was so much less room for any lasting sense of perspective or development of the characters—what was there came off as either rushed or unnecessary (or both in the case Bolin and Eska's entire 'relationship').
I don't think anyone's disagreeing with Beginnings being a strong story in itself, and in fact I think the same. By the first five minutes, it clearly stopped giving a damn about letting Korra get her memory back, and the problem on Korra's part there was that I didn't mind it. While I don't question the quality, I do question the point when it was clearly not a very Korra-centric moment, and if it was intended to be, it sure wasn't done very well on that aspect. To bring up something I said "(...) for the sake of some half-assed moment of empowerment just because she's the main character despite the last seven episodes proving they have no damn clue what to do with her."
Okay, those first few sentences came out feeling harsher than I thought to your opinion, really. Suffice it to say I more than comprehend the appeal in the ideas presented (for season 2's latter half mainly), I just don't find that they built up from or connected to each other very well, nor followed through quite as well as other forms of media have with other characters.
Nah, don't worry about it; I kinda got the wrong impression because your wording threw me off (so my bad)
For me, not every aspect of a story/plot/character needs to be in-depth, period. If it is, great, if not, still fine. You're not on the same fence, but that's no less valid.
Leave a Comment:
Good, close to great at times, but never groundbreaking.
All I can say is that Doug Walker had pretty much hit the nail on the head with alot of things I could say. The first season started good but waned a tad by the end, and the second season was just inconsistent, and too much so to really stand as something as cohesive as it was clearly tying to be either. Beginnings was definitely the high point of the second season and more or less the show since Amon, and it essentially didn't even center around Korra beyond using her as the subject of a pretty contrived and almost emotionless take on self-discovery, especially compared to Wan himself, or Aang for that matter. That doesn't say very much on how well they establish and develop her as a protagonist. In my opinion, the most dramatic turn was when she broke down in Tenzin's arms after admitting how scared she really was of Amon. Otherwise, she's not very relateable. In fact, how she treats the others is what makes them all much more relatable and feel more established. Some moreso than others, of course, and in the sense that these characters should have had more time for development instead of just shoving the blandest villain in the franchise and establishing that position with each episode.
While they've said Korra's attitude in season 2 was very much intentional, it was so much a rehash of season 1 on a basic level that it really did feel more like a contrivance than a supposed sense of self-discovery in its overall execution, which is a problem with many of this show's plot points revolving around the protagonist. In my opinion, I could bring up Kung Fu Panda 2 as something that did a better job of that entire aforementioned story structure (but that's my all time favorite animated film so, yeah, I'd probably end up coming off as biased).
Basically, Lo K simply lacks the same level of quality in perspective-driven execution that Avatar The Last Airbender had. That, to me, is one of the most defining aspects of any good story-heavy character-driven series (also why I loved Kung Fu Panda 1 AND 2 so much, but I digress). The show favored adding to the lore by the second season, and adding characters—not adding TO the added characters.
And yes, "Spirit of Competition" was EVERYTHING WRONG WITH ROMANTIC SUBPLOTS AND THE COLLECTIVE PROBLEM OF THE SHOW'S TAKE ON ROMANCE IN GENERAL.