If you’re not interested in Avatar: The Legend of Korra spoilers or theory or anything related, come back in a day or two when I can guarantee the subject will not be Korra. Otherwise, consider yourself warned that this post may contain spoilers for the Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Legend of Korra.
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Last year, I unexpectedly became a fan, a real fan, of the Nickelodeon series, Avatar: The Legend of Korra. I confess, while I watched all of Season One (Book One), it was the last 3 episodes, Turning the Tides, Skeletons in the Closet and Endgame that truly made me a believer. However, it was the Season Two episodes Beginnings, Parts 1& 2 that will keep me a fan forever.
In season one, we watched young Korra literally mature in front of us and at the conclusion of Endgame, I think we were satisfied that Korra would be a welcome addition to long line of Avatars. Then Season Two (Book of Spirits) began with the episode Rebel Spirit and suddenly, I wasn’t so sure that Korra had learned a darn thing.
The Korra of Season Two was a snotty little brat who continually jumped to conclusions about others until the episode, Peacekeepers. In this episode, Korra throws away her relationship with Mako and while on her way to see the Fire Lord to get his assistance for a military attack on the Northern Water Tribe, is attacked by a dark spirit. She washes up on shore with amnesia.
This leads to perhaps the best back story ever told. In the episode Beginnings, we learn the story of Wan, the first Avatar, and more importantly, why the Avatar is needed to bring balance to the world. This tale, written by Michael Dante DiMartino and Tim Hedrick is a masterpiece of storytelling. And it is a story that could only be told when our bratty, know-it-all, Avatar Korra needs a connection to her Avatar past. This tale would not have worked with Aang, who seemed to have almost intimate knowledge of his Avatar past, but it works wonderfully with Korra. In short, Beginnings is the linchpin episode for the entire Avatar series. I don’t know how the series will end, but I do know that Korra will be a better Avatar because of her newly acquired knowledge of her corporate past.
While Nickelodeon has picked up the Legend of Korra for a 52 episode run, the show is struggling in its current time slot on Friday nights. It has routinely lost to competition from the Disney Channel’s Jessie and Dog with a Blog and sheds nearly a 1/4 of the audience from lead-in programs like SpongeBob Squarepants. Therefore, it’s reasonable to believe that if the program doesn’t find a better time slot or does better in its present one, the current Book Two could be last of the series. I certainly hope that’s not the case because Beginnings shows how good this series can really be when it reminds Korra (and us) of why being the Avatar matters. And it does matter a great deal.