So... For a little while now I've been debating on if I want to review different... things, be they TV shows I'm watching, movies, books... entertainment options. As well as analyzing news stories of the day, offering quotes and other thoughts, and all sorts of other junk. Even maybe recipes and going all foodie. I think I'd like to, but I doubt many people would want to read it, let alone my figuring out where to post these things, and all that jazz. Regardless of all that, I still really wanted to give my 2 cents about Book 2: Spirits, the show overall, and specifically the 'season finale.'

So, SPOILER WARNING!!!!!! Especially if you are waiting for the last 2 episodes to premiere on Nick!

On Korra (series):
Meh. Everyone and their uncle (Iroh) knows and says that this series is not up to snuff compared to A:tLA. It's true. Team Avatar 2.0 doesn't have the same heart, or chemistry. The characters lack some consistency, and experience little apparent growth. It's a fine show, sure. Better than most shows on TV period, arguably. Sadly for Korra, it will (and should) be compared to tLA, and it will fall short. The best parts of the show are the side characters, truth be told. Varrick and Ju Li (spelling, I know) were a lot of fun this season, let alone a fan favorite from the original series. Lin was the best part of book 1, aside from Steve Blum voicing Amon (though he was only meh as a villain, at least we got some background and motivation, and he was a more 'mature' villain than Ozai (and Unaloq)). Obviously I'm leaving the best for last with Wan and Origins parts 1 & 2. Would I LOVE a season or two following the first first avatar? YES! Will we get one? Probably not.

On Spirits (Book 2):
Is it better than book 1? In parts, yes. Other parts, not so much. Did it expand a lot of the mythos, give us a few answers, give the writers a lot of potential future stories and introduce a lot of fan service elements? Heck yeah! Did it remind us why we love Mako and miss him, re-introduce a stupid love-triangle element,
Honestly, I really liked the Tenzin arc. For disliking him a majority of the time in book 1, he really grew on me this time. His family did too (except for the creepy and annoying little boy of his). The overall idea of the spirits was pretty cool, and again the whole Howard Hughes thing Varrick was playing with all season was a hoot. Unaloq got NO background or motivation (nor did Vaatu, now that I think of it, in reference to his actions after being imprisoned. How did he and Unaloq meet up anyway?) the ENTIRE time. The civil war didn't feel important, at all, even though Korra's dad proved to be pretty awesome. Nuntuk got grating after a while, up until he fought the 'kidnappers' in the stadium last week, which was pretty fun. Yet another thing everyone seems to have mentioned is the animation studio issues, with Mir being great (see Origins) and Pierrot (?) giving us non-blinking mannequins. All told..... I'n not buying it. I already downloaded Origins, and that's well enough for me.
Oh, and how come ALL dark spirits follow Vaatu/oppose team avatar, and all light spirits kinda maybe sorta help maybe?

On the season finale episodes:
I didn't like them. I'm one of those people who generally speaking follows along and wants to see what the writers are doing. I survived famously bad movies like both Ghost Rider films, Batman and Robin, and more to the end before actually deciding I didn't like them, granted I immediately during the show realized I hated parts of them (ie every line of dialogue from Robin). At the end of the 1st part of the finale, I just couldn't really go on with that suspension of judgement, which felt really weird. Needless to say, I did finish watching, and my opinion did not change during part 2.
There were a LOT of things that stuck out to me, and I'm just going to list them for ease.
1. Unaloq beating Korra time and again even though she's the freaking Avatar, and using the Avatar State half the time. I understand he's more experienced, but she can call on thousands of past lives, given that Unaloq barely beating Papa Avatar
2. Super-sized DA and Spirit Korra. Why? What purpose does it serve? How can they do that? Why did no previous avatar do that? (Yeah, yeah, Aang and the Ocean spirit, but not the same thing).
3. How are Raava and Korra forcibly separated? And what's this bullcrap about the past lives being severed? Granted their spirits can show up (see Papa Aang) but that's still a TERRIBLE development. Let alone 'dark water whips' from Unatar....
4. Jinora. Great character, lot of development, great guru material, etc. What did she do at the end there? Gather the particles of Raava and push them into Vaatu so Korra could pull it back out?? What??
5. Finally a GOOD point, but Tenzin growing as a person, as a sibling, father, spiritually, etc. That mist was the best thing to happen to him in 2 years.
6. I'm sure there are others. I'm still sifting through this stuff in my mind, but I wanted a fresh take for my first real public review, and mainly so I didn't forget how miffed parts of this got me.


I will point out that I've heard other people complain. Dark Unaloq ONLY used water (and spirit) bending. Oh, also there should be NO Dark Avatar cycle.


I'd be glad to hear feedback in general, and to have a discussion of the episodes, series, etc. Thanks!