Watching through Book 2 again, I actually think I really enjoy the arc where Mako plays detective. To be fair, I actually didn't mind it the first time through, but looking back, I think it's my favourite part of that book. I certainly liked it a lot better than the whole Unalaq/Spirit stuff, though it took me until now to realize why.
I feel the Mako arc fits so much better with the time period of Book 1 than any of the other stuff in Book 2. Think about it: you have a young, honest cop looking into a seemingly open-and-shut case, only to find a bigger conspiracy with ties to an influential and powerful business, where his investigation is stone-walled by corrupt superiors, and which causes him to lose a lot in taking said businessman down. That's a basic Film Noir plot there. And tell me, which decade was Noir popular in North America? The 1930's, that's when.
Though my opinion may be unpopular, the Mako arc is my favourite part of Book 2, so I'm going to give it some of the love I think it deserves. One, Mako is the character who acts the least stupid in that book (though, to be fair, that doesn't mean much considering everybody else had a brain aneurysm that season). Two, you have Varrick as a villain, which is awesome. I mean the "hello Mako" scene from The Sting has to be one of my favourite scenes from the whole show, and not to mention, a villain reveal that actually was shocking, unlike the Unalaq reveal earlier. Three, I love Film Noir, and I think the Noir-inspired plotline was really interesting, certainly more interesting than anything involving Unalaq.
So yeah, I like that plotline in B2. I sort of wished they stuck with it, and maybe drew Korra and the other members of Team Avatar into the conspiracy. It certainly felt more natural considering the time then the plot of giant kites trying to destroy the world. I liked the 1920's-1930's vibe of B1, and I felt that was the stronger points of all the books (ie. Earth Queen death in B3 reflecting the Chinese Revolution, and Kuvira representing the rise of dictators in the 1930s). I wish they stuck with that more in Book 2.
