I haven't been around this thread before, but I'm surprised so many people disliked Korra in Season 1 (Season 2 dislike does not surprise me).
First, I dug the attitude of early Season 1. Then she comes into contact with her first real challenge (Amon) and it scares the fuck out of her. She has nightmares. All this while she isn't sure if she can live up to being the Avatar and what that means when it comes to what the people of the world expect from her. Dealing with the darkness of the blood-bending arc (something that was thus far under-utilized in the Avatar lore, if you ask me). I mean, this was compelling stuff to me. The only issue I had is what eventually ballooned into a full clusterfuck, which was the incompetently-written romance stuff. But I'm really hoping that the conversations between Mako-Korra and Bolin-Eska represented a creator-audience conversation as well. "Look, this shit isn't working. We recognize that and we'll be moving on."
I'm all on board for Season 3. At the very least Season 2 - with Beginnings and Korra's decision to leave the portals open - created the basis for interesting plot tension for the rest of the series.