Goddamn, moving in to a new apartment is a pain in the ass.
I couldn't make any replies, but I've been following the thread. Thank you to whose who said kind words said about my post about a thousand pages ago.
I was going to write up a more comprehensive review on the finale itself, but most of the topics that I would have gotten at were covered at some point or another, so I'll try to keep it fresh.
One thing I want to add is that, ultimately, this season had too many characters. The way I perceive things, Change was supposed to be a season of character development, of both characters and even organizations. But change into what, is the question, because change for change's sake is not meaningful in and of itself. Take Kai for example. He is a fairly well written character who got an arc from an obnoxious asshole into a somewhat likable kid. He should have had a minimal role. He's good, but his change is not meaningful or relevant to the one Korra goes through. He just decided he liked the people of the air nation and went with them instead. As much as I feel that the way Zaheer was beaten is true to the heart of TLA's themes, I'm not sure Korra noticed that. For all I know, she's just mourning her brutal loss like anyone would be, but not learning that strength doesn't conquer all. That's why I feel Book 3 ended at kind of a wierd place. Even Book 2: Earth ultimately ended on a happy note for Aang, with him being glad to just have been saved and leaving that cave with his life. It's next season that the bad implications of what happened there set in. Korra's sad tear at Jinora's crowing moment seems to indicate a hopelessness on her part. I hope it doesn't, but who knows. And without Korra's acceptance of the importance of family, Kai's acceptance of it doesn't come off as meaningful in the overall perspective. In any case, Jinora should have been the one who got that kind of developmental arc, partially because she's already Korra's family, partially because it would have made for a stronger scene if Jinora was the one who connected with all the airbenders in prison when she called upon them to help her friend, and partially because....there's no real reason for Kai to exist, except maybe as the main face of the new airbenders, which he could have handled as a side character. Her getting damseled twice this season didn't help either.
Suyin and Lin's story also works in the theme of family, but for the same reasons as above, it doesn't come off as relevant enough to have been given the time it was given. So much time was spent just introducing Suyin's character and whole family, have Lin and Suyin fight for about an episode, to resolve it, only to have that resolution not come into play later on. Like, if the same events happened, but without Suyin and Lin making up, I doubt anything would have been different. I doubt Suyin would have let Lin die in Pli's fight, and I doubt that Lin would refuse to work with someone she disliked for personal reasons when the avatar's life was in danger. So if Suyin's and Lin's story are going to remain relevant, they have to fit in thematically somehow. Again, the 'family'' theme comes up, but does Korra incorporate that?
Mako and Bolin's is the most out there. First they have the family that would fit in the theme....but they don't do anything with them. Mako's 'change', such as it is, is that he and Korra....don't feel as awkward around each other...taht's it. Bolin obviously got lavabending, but that was completely unrelated to anything going on. He just got it because otherwise the writers had nothing to do with him. There's certainly no reason given why he is able to lava bend. It'd have been cool if he actually got the technique from his family, who heard about it or something and said the mechanics of it. Would fit in the theme, but...it doesn't.
And Asami....Asami and Korra's relationship developed the tinsiest bit in the first episode, and they did nothing with it afterwards. They just spent more onscreen time together, and that's it. Then there is a ton of just random things that really have no real point except as funny distractions. Verrick ended up doing nothing that couldn't have happened without him. That scene with Korra and the lazy kid. Who the fuck knows why Kuvira was introduced randomly. Zuko contributed fuck all.
The season should have primarily focused on 1. Tenzin and the airbenders, tying in with Jinora's growth 2. Korra's development as the avatar and her development with her friends and 3. Zaheer's team. When the theme is change, you have to cut out the characters that don't contribute to that change, even if we ended up liking Kai a bit.
